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 What is this game? Sunless Sea is a game made by Failbetter Games, creator of the browser-based game Fallen London. It's the story of a captain who zails the Unterzee, a massive, still lake that the now-underground city of London sits by. It's one part merchant ship simulator, one part choose-your-own-adventure game, and just a touch of rogue-like and real-time naval combat, all wrapped up in really nice storytelling and a vibrant setting. In it, we will explore the Unterzee, visit fantastic places, make a pile of money, and only possibly be devoured by a terrifying Zee-beast. We might also go crazy and eat one another instead! While the game play itself isn't more than average, the setting of Sunless Sea is amazing, and I hope we can all enjoy a trip through it. Together. How will this LP work? This LP will be in screenshot format, with a narration written in the style of the captain's journal – This should permit a interesting investigation of the setting. However, since the game is very open-ended, there is going to be ample audience participation! It can be divided into two categories - First – Direction. I know the game well, and seeing me make my normal rounds would get boring fast, so I'll regularly be looking to the thread for advice about where to go and what to do, especially when we have important, irreversible choices to make in port. We will have to make important choices about who to help and what goals to pursue, many of which are mutually exclusive. I'll be trusting you in these cases to guide our captain to victory (The poor shlub). I'll do my best to keep us alive between these choices, but no promises – plus, dying leads to the inheritance mechanic! Second – Zailors. You can't zail the zee without zailors. I'll be taking applications for Zailors, in a manner similar to signing up for dwarfing in Dwarf Fortress. Individual zailors are rarely brought up, but having names for them will add narrative consistency to the ship, and besides, maybe you can be the lucky one to get eaten by Blemmigans. Saying a few words about why you are crazy enough to go to zee with a captain who plans to sail beyond the Tomb-Colonies would be pleasant as well. I will also be doing my best to keep things informative as we go – Comments from me will be kept in italics, with major mechanics drops in quotes. Spoiler policy This is a very story-driven game. Please do not talk about things that haven't come up in-game that are usually considered 'secret' in the setting. If the Special Constables wouldn't let a newspaper print it, don't talk about it. Journal entries - Entry zero – The making of a captain The Journal of captain Petra Blackwood Entry one - A new Correspondent's course Entry two - Venderbight Entry three - Finding Pigmote Entry four - Rats and boxes Entry five - The Mourn and mutton Entry six - The Inner-Sea Loop, part one Entry seven - The Inner-Sea Loop, part two. Entry eight - Northern exploration Entry nine - A long way home Entry ten - Up in flames Entry eleven - A most particular smell Entry twelve - Checkerboard dreams Entry thirteen - Faffing about in Fallen London Entry fourteen - A bloody voyage Entry fifteen - Masks Entry sixteen - Irem always waits Entry seventeen - Monkey business Entry eighteen - A risky thing Entry nineteen - Serious firepower Entry twenty - Inexcusable company Entry twenty one - Quickly home again Entry twenty two - Zafari Entry twenty three - The deep South Entry twenty four - Scintillating Entry twenty five - Deja-vu Entry twenty six - Dissolution Entry twenty seven - Additional monkeys Entry twenty eight - That which came before Entry twenty nine - Brilliantly glowing Entry thirty - A light, still glowing Entry thirty one - Great and terrible truths Entry thirty two - Twisty little passages, all the same Entry thirty three - HE SUN THE SUN THE SUN TH Entry thirty four - Imeplled Entry thirty five - The Highest Wilderness Entry thirty six - Final preparations Entry thirty seven - Filial piety Entry thirty eight - A backwards approach Entry thirty nine - Officer's day in Entry forty - The Stigma of the West Entry forty one - Loyalties Entry forty two - The Scars of the North Entry forty three - The Mark of the East Entry forty four - The Light of the Sun Entry forty five - The Touch of the South Entry forty six - The Name-Which-Burns A loose letter - The Last Horizon Black Wombat fucked around with this message at 09:06 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Feb 20, 2015 19:48
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 skoolmunkee posted:from the Evening Tidings, back page, Happenings section: The Neathbow posted:A wakes APOCYAN, the blue memory of brightest coral. Black Wombat fucked around with this message at 19:07 on May 30, 2015 |
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Feb 20, 2015 19:49
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Entry zero – The making of a captain It takes a special kind of person to zail the zee. Courage, greed, curiosity and desperation have sent many ships out into those still, inky waters – Almost all return scarred, if they return at all. Today, a new captain is setting out to zee. What kind of stories will be told of them?  This shows the main method of interacting with things in Sunless Sea – selecting choices in your ship's log. Naturally, we're going to be creating our character now.   Our first choice is who we were prior to being a zee-captain. Each choice comes with a very large increase to one of our stats. Let's take a minute to talk about stats. Statistics posted:Like all roguelikes, Sunless Sea has statistics. However, the ones you'll find here are far more abstract than usual, and named after the Masters, the unusual, faceless merchant-kings who run the Bazaar. Many of them are used in the zailing part of the game, and all of them are occasionally checked against in a pass/fail scenario while having adventures in port.  Every captain sets out with a reason. Our captain today is no different. Long ago, the zee had taken someone important out of their life; today, they set out to bring them back... Or whatever is left of them. This screen lets us determine our own win condition. Both 'Acquire Wealth' and 'Be the greatest explorer of all time' are simply resource-gathering ambitions, with no unique stories, and are consequentially kinda boring. We will be choosing 'Your father's bones'.   One last bit of paperwork was all that was left to file, and then the voyage could be underway. Sunless Sea, much like Fallen London, is very friendly to the concept of gender fluidity. Our title here does not establish a gender, and gender never actually comes up. Take what sounds best.  And so began the story of a brave new captain. Finally, we choose our name and our portrait. There are seven feminine, seven masculine, and seven non-gendered portraits to choose from. Below is an image of all of them.  So, we need to know... Who are we? I'll be taking submissions! Things up for choice are History, Title, Name, and Portrait. We also need a name for our ship! I strongly encourage anyone interesting in determining our future also write a few words about who our captain is. Black Wombat fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 20, 2015 19:52
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Name: Noah History: Priest Title: Citizen Portrait: 16 Ship: The Good Word Now maybe on land we got shamed out of the church, but there's nobody to keep us from preaching out at zee! You can bring the gospel to distant lands and maybe whatever happens to be at the bottom of the lake. You've got a diving suit after all, and there's probably all sorts of stuff down there that's never heard your words of kindness. Its your duty to tell them! Internet Kraken fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Feb 20, 2015 |
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Feb 20, 2015 20:50
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Name: Miss Spoken History: Poet Title: Madam Portrait: 7 Ship: The Readiness "The Readiness is All," said Hamlet, and now my ship the Readiness is all I have. My father bought me the luxury of a life where I could give lease to my muse and hone my craft. The least I can do is spend the last of my patronage to bring him home.
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Feb 20, 2015 22:11
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Name: Millicent Stonecrawler History: Natural Philosopher Title: My Lord Portrait: 6 Ship: The Indescribable horror Millicent has always wondered. Wondered things like Why SHOULD the Farthingtons have more wealth and all the cushiest positions. How can they best be relieved of their wealth. Recently, Millicent has wondered Why did father disappear at Sea. How do I keep the thugs the Farthingtons have hired from murdering me. Thus Millicent decides that this is probably a good time to be anywhere but London for the moment, and thus begins on a journey across The Sunless Zee!
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Feb 20, 2015 22:57
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So far so good! I should point out, I will be making my decision at noon, PST, tomorrow - in other words, about 22 hours from this post. The first journal entry should be up not long after that. I look forward to seeing what shape our next captain takes!
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Feb 20, 2015 23:10
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Oh, yes! I was very interested in this game, since I am a citizen of Fallen London, but it turned out not to be the kind of game I believe I'd enjoy. I have no suggestions for now, but I am going to make a very good case for becoming a Zailor eventually...
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Feb 20, 2015 23:37
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Name: Homer B. Ewer History: Veteran Title: Captain Portrait: 9 Ship: The Bursting Keg All this talk of hell and zees and deep zee gods can drive a man to drink. You must understand this is for my sanity sir, no I have not had too much for my own good, why listen to those joyless natural philosophers when happiness and stability come served neat with a wedge of lemon? What do you mean I'm barred? This is the last speakeasy around that I'm still allowed in? Poppycock! I can make my own! I have the means and ability! What do you mean it's illegal? Well there are no laws out at Zee so I bid you charlatans good day. And I find myself here out at Zee, dangerously sober. So why not make the most of it and make some strange and potent brew along the way?
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Feb 20, 2015 23:39
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Name: Petra Blackwood History: Natural Philosopher Title: Captain Portrait: 2 Ship: The Correspondence Why, sir, I have no idea what is it that you mean! The name of my ship came from the only thing that kept me and my father in touch, obviously! sobs My dear, dear father! And now to go into the dark to find his final resting place! What horrors await me... Oh, all my paperwork is in order? I can leave immediately? Thank you, thank you so much for your expediency! What? No, no, nothing will ingnite because of my signature, whyever would you say such a thing..? Wombat, could you resize your bigger screenshots? They're a bit table breaking. Lokapala fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 00:03
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Name: Maynard G. Krebs History: Poet Title: Citizen Portrait: 21 Ship: The Hepcat "No, listen. You gotta understand how we, like, came from the sea and one day we'll, like, go back. The sea is our mother and our father. Our marther. That's what I'm trying to get across in my latest poem: The Incredible Squid. It's 800 lines of the most amazing free verse and erotic aquatic imagery. Let me just read it nouuuaaaarrghhhh! Unhand me! Get this bag off my he--mmmfffhgh!!! Mmmff!!!"
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Feb 21, 2015 00:41
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Name: Ethan Archibald History: Natural Philosopher Title: Captain Portrait: 11 Ship: The Estate The world is a place, that holds main strange things. Some things are claimed to be only understood by men of the cloth, but that is a blind view. A view too bound by tradition. There is always an answer to the mysteries, and knowledge of man can find that. I shall be the one who find the secrets and bring them into the light of day, so that they will all see, how wrong they were.
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Feb 21, 2015 01:15
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Name: Elijah Darkendrum History: Street Urchin Title: Captain Portrait: 13 Ship: The Silver Leaf The ways I sees it, the rooftops are a bit too small for the likes of little ole me and I have set mine eye on the sunless zee. So I'm going to set my sails into the broken storm and bring back the old paps bones. And steal some cash or a soul or too, to keep things interesting you see. The name of the ship? It’s a story my mother used to tell me of a silver tree so amazing it would take your breath away, and of eagles that knew where secrets lay. So I took a leaf from the silver tree, for luck when I sail into that cold black zee. A passage from the captains diary: They must never know. They must never know why I want those bones. He knew, he knew where it was. He had to have known where it was. He found it, I know he did, that d----d name. The dreams still reach me. North, North, North, North... Edit: I just had to add that to the end, I couldn't resist. Heliosmajestus fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 02:06
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Lokapala posted:Name: Petra Blackwood Inferior posted:Name: Maynard G. Krebs These are both amazing. I have no captain to add, although I would like to vote for Portrait 4. The tentacle head will not be denied!
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Feb 21, 2015 02:19
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Name: Sister Abigail Heston History: Priest Title: Madam Portrait: 5 Ship: The Grace Father was hardly a pious man. Greedy, envious, petty, and ambitious. Perhaps he sent me to the open arms of the Church to get them off his back, perhaps in that blackened heart of his, there was some remnant of paternal love and the understanding that he could hardly raise a daughter. But the zee claimed him, as it has claimed so many others. His debts came back, even when he didn't. First to my brother, who turned to crime. Then to me, now that my brother's earned a place at the gallows. My father's sins took my brother's life and it has taken my reputation. The church has raised me, but it cannot abide the daughter and sister of criminals and sinners. Instead, I must follow my father's footsteps and bring him back, if there's anything left to bring back. It will not pay off his debts, it will not redeem my family, but perhaps it will bring peace of mind. Edit: added some flavor text. Sinner Sandwich fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 03:02
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Name : Götz von Berlichingen (the only realistic steampunk name, and also better at zailing ze zee then any Brit) History : Solider Title : Captain Portrait : 16 (The diving helmet is the only appropriate mask for a 300 year old cyborg) Ship : Iron Hand VictualSquid fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 12:20
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Inferior posted:Name: Maynard G. Krebs This gets my vote, except I think it'd make more sense with portrait 4.
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Feb 21, 2015 13:46
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Lokapala posted:Name: Petra Blackwood This
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Feb 21, 2015 15:03
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Corzanth posted:These are both amazing. I was REALLKY tempted to go squidhead.
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Feb 21, 2015 16:18
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Alright! I'll be starting the first journal entry now. If your captain didn't make it, don't worry. There's certainly a chance something will happen to our brave captain, and I'll have to choose another of these poor souls to follow in her wake. If you want to get aboard as a Zailor in the original eight, now is the time to pipe up.
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Feb 21, 2015 21:05
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I'm ready to sail across the zee captain! 
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Feb 21, 2015 21:08
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Lookin fer zee crew are ye? Well sign me aboard, hopefully we find something to kill. 
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Feb 21, 2015 21:25
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Sailor reporting for duty! Big Daddy Jones, in it for the money, and eager to smash some skulls. Not so eager to die, though, and will get upset at the captain for straying too far from the shore.
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Feb 21, 2015 21:26
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Sign me up for this first voyage which will in no way go wrong.
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Feb 21, 2015 21:29
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Well, sign me up. This ship will need someone that knows how to organize things. edit, male for me please. grandalt fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 21:33
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I have been in London too long and I am ready to set sail! To the zee!! Edit: male would be nice Heliosmajestus fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 21:57
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I live in London IRL, so I'm a natural pick for this crew! I've always been drawn zeewards. There's something so soothing, isn't there? About the dark... Edit: lady zailor btw, also like IRL but not the zailor part that would be hard because the unterzee isn't real Meis fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Feb 22, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 21:58
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I'm pretty expendable. Zign me up! Edit: I'll be a woman ajkalan fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 22:01
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I am ready to die horribly on a sunless sea, weeping for the lost hope of mankind. Male Zailor. Mailor. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 22:02
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I've always wanted to gather a few zee-ztories.
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Feb 21, 2015 22:24
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I just realized - Those of you requesting to be a Zailor should specify a gender, should you care. I'll be looking back through previous posts, so feel free to simply edit those. And beyond the eighth person, I am sorry, you will not be on this voyage. For certainly nothing will ever happen to our original zailors that will require them to be replaced.
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Feb 21, 2015 22:37
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Black Wombat posted:I just realized - Those of you requesting to be a Zailor should specify a gender, should you care. I'll be looking back through previous posts, so feel free to simply edit those. 
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Feb 21, 2015 22:49
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Journal entry one – A new Correspondent's course From The journal of Captain Petra Blackwood November 27th, 1887 While preparing for my voyage overseas, I noticed a very particular thing in the newspaper today. The Gracious Widow had commissioned a fair-sized obituary for my long-lost father in The Magazine Formerly Known as the London Magazine. (The new name is rather a mouthful, isn't it?) I went to speak to her about this matter – I had no idea why the Widow would care so much about my father, so I went to speak with her. She claims information about him, but would not part with it easily.  She requires that I provide her with scintillack, the mesmeric coral. You cannot find scintillack in London – it is more important than ever that I receive my sailing papers. November 30th, 1887 – Morning I received the notice from the Admiralty yesterday afternoon. Finally, all my paperwork has cleared. They have been convinced I am neither spy nor traitor and will be permitted to sail the Unterzee! I can barely contain my excitement! And it comes not a moment too soon. Daddy's money is almost gone; I barely had enough echos to lease a room above the Blind Helmsman for a night in preparation for my departure.  But just because I am eager does not mean I can deviate from my routines. Routines fortify the mind. I took breakfast as I usually did, while reading the morning papers. I must admit to eating faster than I normally do, but one cannot blame me for my eagerness. Soon, all my preparations and study will come to a fruition! I am beyond excited to finally test some of my theories.  Your lodgings are is the best place to get rest. Resting is good at getting rid of Wounds, and poor at getting rid of Terror. Once we have some Echos in our pockets, we can upgrade to a proper house and do a bit more here. For now, let's move on. Fortified by a proper meal of fishcake and fungus, I ventured out into London to make my final preparations.   The central London card is mostly used to repair your hull and restore crew, and meet new NPCs, who get their own cards once we know them. My first stop was the Admiralty office. They informed me they would pay for information about goings-on at other ports in the Unterzee. While I am not exactly interested in compiling reports for the benefit of others, they will pay for them, and zailing is not a cheap endeavor. So long as I am compiling reports, I may as well make second copies for the Admiralty and make a few Echos on the side. They told me they especially needed a report on conditions at Gaider's Mourn. I made a note of that, thanked them, and back to London.   It is time to gather my crew. I had already recruited them, of course – Most zailors are unwilling to go on a voyage with a new captain into the unknown, so I did not tell them those things. It made recruiting far simpler, and I would not let myself be straddled with delays for my departure. In particular, a friend of mine, who studied with me at Benthic, has come aboard.  The second button is supposed to have a 'Chat with the Plausible Surgeon' tag besides it... All the other starting companions have it.  He apparently wants to visit some sort of beast-corpse repository, far to the east. While I admire his willingness to take risks in the pursuit of knowledge, I do wish he was seeking more dignified knowledge. November 30th, 1887 – Afternoon Finding my men was no difficult task. They are a diverse lot; the sort who are willing to sign on to voyages far from London usually are. The most dependable-looking of the lot is a man who calls himself Grandalt. I've elected him as my boatswain, and set him with most of the tasks of preparing the Correspondence for launch. As my ship was preparing for departure, a ragged-looking tomb-colonist approached one of my zailors and asked to speak to me. He asked for transport to Venderblight, a city not far too the north. It seemed to be a good first trip for the Correspondence, and agreed to give him passage. (I think it was a him. It can be hard to tell with colonists.)  It was only after Jones and Meis carried him aboard did I realize it was traditional for tomb-colonists to travel in coffins. With final preparations underway, I decided to walk the ship and examine the state of things myself.  The Correspondence may not be the finest ship on the Zee, but she's dependable enough. Her engine is old but serviceable, and her deck gun enough to deal with any threats we'll encounter close to London. The Ligeia-class steamer is, as one would expect from our starter, a bad ship. It's got a small cargo hold, is fragile, lacks any optional equipment slots, and starts with a peashooter. We should avoid any but the easiest of fights until we get upgrades. The weapon statics are, in order – Damage to boats, damage to zee-monsters, crew damage, firing rate, and stun duration. And with that, we were off.  This is the full-sized view of the game. This is the screen where zailing and combat happen, and what you'll be looking at for most of the game. Let's talk about what we're seeing here. The HUD posted:In the upper-left, you have the speed indicator and health indicator making up the upper- and lower-halves of the circle. To the right, you have our Fuel, Supply, and Terror gauges. We currently have 10 barrels of fuel (9 in reserve and a whole one in the engine), 5 crates of Supplies, and 0 terror. Running out of Fuel is disastrous, but supplies can be converted into fuel at a 2:1 ratio. Running out of Supplies is bad, unless you're into cannibalism. As Terror goes up, bad things start happening – Getting progressively worse until we reach 100, at which point – well. It's bad. Let's say that.  November 30th, 1887 – Evening   We'd barely left London when we saw a island rising from the inky blackness of the Neath. Hunter's Keep, home of the three Sisters. Supposedly, they collect stories and relics from far across the zee. Supposedly, sometimes, strange singing is heard and odd lights are seen. So naturally as a gracious zee-captain and envoy for Her Enduring Majesty, I felt it my responsibility to check in on the occupants of Hunter's Keep.    We also have an option to spy on the house, but our Veils is too low to have a good chance of pulling it off. Besides, Captain Blackwood isn't one to snoop on people like this. Despite the relatively late hour, the sisters invited me in for lunch. Of course, with no sun, who can say it is not lunch? Perhaps it is they who know best.  And here we have our first choice! I honestly don't know if which of the Sisters you dine with, or what order you do it in on subsequent visits, changes the fate of Hunter's Keep... But perhaps it does. Who should we dine with today? And, for that matter, is there someone we should snub on future visits? And once we've had our lunch, should we continue north, to Venderblight? Or turn east, and try to find Port Cecil for the Widow?
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Feb 21, 2015 23:26
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Let's have lunch with Phoebe She seems like the most helpful of the bunch
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Feb 21, 2015 23:37
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Port Cecil always seems to spawn in the far east for me, so I don't know if you could make it there and back properly with your starting junk. Also, I realize it's part of the game mechanics, but it strikes me as somewhat amusing that we and our crew are among the least durable folks in the Neath. I mean, I can understand crew being lost to explosions or going overboard and sinking or being devoured by a monster or something, but I've had a captain die for good via getting jabbed by a spear. And not even an eldritch or uncanny one, just a pointy stick.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:16
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Lunch with Lucy. The zea is far too gloomy, maybe she can teach us how to make it a happier place.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:29
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Small Frozen Thing posted:Also, I realize it's part of the game mechanics, but it strikes me as somewhat amusing that we and our crew are among the least durable folks in the Neath. I mean, I can understand crew being lost to explosions or going overboard and sinking or being devoured by a monster or something, but I've had a captain die for good via getting jabbed by a spear. And not even an eldritch or uncanny one, just a pointy stick. It's mentioned one or twice in this game that for some reason dying at Zee makes you far more likely to die for real than when on land. Whatever it is that keeps death away from London (and a few other places) doesn't hold at zee.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:38
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Journal of Grandalt Nodington Well, after about two weeks of searching for a new place after losing my place at Teashad Trading Company, I have found a new postion. The Correspondence is the name of the ship, and Petra Blackwood is the captain of the ship. A young captain and inexperienced, but perhaps fate will be kind. After a brief while, the voyage has begun, and I have been made Boatswain. A fine position indeed, and one with a decent amount of pay. I'll be able to keep my tea in the proper amount, hopefully. Phoebe and Vanderblight is my vote. grandalt fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Feb 22, 2015 |
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Feb 22, 2015 01:04
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Lets have lunch with Cynthia, because its always nice to spend time with such a proper lady. We should also set our sights on Vanderblight, its close by and we DID agree to take Tomb-Colonist, might as well do it now.
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Feb 22, 2015 01:06
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Let's have lunch with Lucy. She seems cheerful! 
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Feb 22, 2015 01:10
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