Update 7: Mysteries of Avian Research
EJ: Soooo… I had put together a fun new update, full of new storylets and exciting accomplishments, and then instead of downloading the transcript I accidentally hit refresh and my beautiful transcript vanished into the ether.
On the bright side, the repetitive nature of Winterstrike is in our favor here. The update only contained one storylet that wasn’t repeatable; everything else we should be able to see again.
Here’s a quick summary of what happened in the lost update:
- We met a new person, the Unsmiling Thief, and advanced our connection with her to level 2 (this was the unrepeatable storylet). We learned that her grave demeanor is due to her worries about her sister, a star-captain whom she hasn’t heard from since the winterstrike.
- We saw the wounded duelist again and took the option Tabitha requested (I’ll show it again if the card comes up), which opened up a lot of storylets/options related to both the duelists and the Ocular Guard. Through this we made another new connection, the Sardonic Captain, but we need a higher Force stat to raise our connection level with him.
- Luckily I had already started building Rosal’s Force stat because of a card where the Architects of Ink-related option requires Force 5; it’s now at 7, though this is not nearly high enough for the Sardonic Captain.
- I’m also working on my Finesse stat because we need it to advance the main story via Coldhouse flowers. It’s now at 10. Resolve has also reached 10, kind of incidentally.
- I took the option in A dusty parlor that gives us 10 Labyrinth Crystals because I wanted them for an option on a card we haven’t seen yet that would let us trade in five of them for three Enigmatic Gadgets. This is important because you lot voted not to get Enigmatic Gadgets the quick way.
I did then get the chance to trade in five of them.
Here are all our currently available pinned cards:
A Pale Archivist
The Archivist appreciates your ceaseless interest in Iria’s curiosities. She doesn’t get out as much as she used to: you can be her eyes, and a sounding-board.
Almost all the Architects keep their tattoos easily visible. Where is the Archivist’s?
Playing this option will get you 20x Dubious Omen and 1x Glimpse of the Pale Archivist’s Tattoo; the latter locks off this branch in the future.
[This branch is now free to play]
You need Connection: A Pale Archivist 2 (you have 2)
You’ve uncovered a trove of components that looked like they were yanked from several different makes of stardrive. But why would they be stored in a pearwood box and cushioned in moth-velvet? Perhaps the Archivist will have some insights.
[LOCKED – You need Connection: A Pale Archivist 2 and Connection: A Pale Archivist no more than 2 (you have 2); You need 10 x Enigmatic Gadget (you have 3)]
A Sardonic Captain
The Captain is good company when off-duty, if you have a taste for his particular dry humor.
Like many Ocular Guards, he likes to spar during his off hours. You wouldn’t mind giving it a go. (A tough challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 40% chance of success.) [You need Connection: A Sardonic Captain 1 and Connection: A Sardonic Captain no more than 1 (you have 1); You need Force 4 (you have 7)]
You’ve heard stories of a general from a faraway realm, never defeated in battle, who has come to live here in penance for some terrible crime. You wonder if the Sardonic Captain could be this individual.
Playing this option will get you 20x Dubious Omen and 1x Portent of Winter Warfare; the latter locks off this branch in the future.
[This branch is now free to play]
[LOCKED – You need Connection: A Sardonic Captain 2 (you have 1)]
A Vision-Reaver
The Vision-Reaver won’t share his spoils except with staggeringly wealthy clients, but on occasion he can be persuaded to critique artworks and fashions.
There’s a display of fractal ice sculptures along one of the promenades. He’s sure to show up. (A modest challenge – Your Finesse quality gives you a 70% chance of success.) [You need Connection: A Vision-Reaver 1 and Connection: A Vision-Reaver no more than 1 (you have 1); You need Finesse 4 (you have 10)]
You grow curious about one of the Vision-Reaver’s rivals, who specializes in aural delicacies. Maybe it would be instructive to seek her out.
Playing this option will get you 20x Brittle Rumor and 1x Spared the Voice-Reaver’s Lure; the latter locks off this branch in the future.
[This branch is now free to play]
[LOCKED – You need Connection: A Vision-Reaver 2 (you have 1)]
An Unsmiling Thief
Her very lack of expression is itself expressive. There’s a certain degree of understated charm to be found here.
You’ve heard what happened to the missing sister. The Thief won’t like the story, but if anyone can tell her, it’s you.
Playing this option will get you 5x Ice and 1x Teller of Unpleasant Truths which removes Connection: An Unsmiling Thief forever, locking off this card entirely.
[You need Connection: An Unsmiling Thief 2 (you have 2)]
You hear of a party where the Unsmiling Thief will be in attendance. Perhaps she’ll consent to speak to you there.
[LOCKED – You need Connection: An Unsmiling Thief 2 and Connection: An Unsmiling Thief no more than 2 (you have 2); You need 10 x Brittle Rumor (you have 5)]
Coldhouse flowers
The Architects wish to make sure of your commitment. Their tattoos can’t be removed, after all.
The Pale Archivist requires coldhouse flowers for the next stage of your initiation. She even tells you where to find them, instead of leaving you to research that for yourself. (A tough challenge – Your Finesse quality gives you a 40% chance of success.)
[You need Finesse 7 (you have 10); You need Tower Tattoo 1 and Tower Tattoo no more than 1 (you have 1)]
Why would anyone need a coldhouse in a winterlocked city? This can’t bode well, and it would be just like the Architects to take their obsession with preservation too far. (An almost impossible challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 10% chance of success.)
[You need Tower Tattoo 1 and Tower Tattoo no more than 1 (you have 1); You need Force 7 (you have 7)]
The Pale Archivist is highly placed. Out of curiosity, you track down her thesis from her days as a university scholar.
Playing this option will get you 20x Dubious Omen and 1x Mysteries of Avian Research; the latter locks off this branch in the future.
[This branch is now free to play]
[You need Connection: A Pale Archivist 1 (you have 2)]
You’ve brought the Pale Archivist a sufficient supply of the flowers. For her part, she has prepared the ink for the next stage of the tattoo.
[LOCKED – You need 3 x Coldhouse Flower (you have 0); You need Tower Tattoo 1 and Tower Tattoo no more than 1 (you have 1)]
EJ: So right now we need:
- Enigmatic Gadgets for the Pale Archivist
- Brittle Rumors for the Unsmiling Thief (whose Nex-locked option also tells us we know what happened to her sister when we didn’t actually learn that within the game, which is kind of a weird storytelling choice)
- A higher Force stat for the Sardonic Captain
- A higher Finesse stat for Coldhouse flowers
…but I did notice that we’re in good shape to attempt to increase our connection with the Vision-Reaver already, so let’s try that real quick!
A Vision-ReaverThe Vision-Reaver won’t share his spoils except with staggeringly wealthy clients, but on occasion he can be persuaded to critique artworks and fashions.
There’s a display of fractal ice sculptures along one of the promenades. He’s sure to show up.
Success!
You run into the Vision-Reaver while he is sizing up a grandiose statue of a fabled starship-temple. You remark that it lacks subtlety, and he nods in vexed agreement. By and by you find yourselves in a parlor debating the perilous trends in hairstyles since the winterstrike.
It’s late when the Vision-Reaver drops a hint that you should be careful of the starport, no matter how much the branching intricacies of the tunnels call to you. People who go in tend to leave pieces behind.
Finesse is increasing…
You succeeded in a Finesse challenge!
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Vision-Reaver (new total 2).
You’ve gained 1 x Brittle Rumor (new total 6).
EJ: Anyway, on to the randomly drawn cards. We start out with one we’ve seen before…
The archaeology of star travel
This is far from the only dead starship you’ve seen in Iria, but this one has a team of tattooed scavengers investigating it. No—those aren’t just tattoos. These are members of the Architects of Ink, a faction with a great interest in the preservation of history.
EJ: But due to our need to accumulate Enigmatic Gadgets, we’ll be doing something different this time:
Of course, just because you spotted something near some Architects doesn’t mean the Architects have first claim on it. They’re not even likely to notice you making off with the box.
Carrying the box away is as easy as you suspected it would be, although you don’t like the way the wind gusts around the starship’s hull. When opened, the box—itself of little value—reveals a thing of wires and gears and slanted transistors. Someone valued this once, although it’s anyone’s guess as to what it does.
You’ve gained 1 x Enigmatic Gadget (new total 4).
EJ: This doesn’t quite go along with the bit of roleplaying I’ve been trying to do, but let’s say the tendencies of Rosal’s sneaky spy past reasserted themselves for a moment even if it was perhaps counter to their current best interests.
Next we get A children’s game, which we’ve seen (or at least I’ve seen) probably dozens of times at this point and which has no new options for us, and then another Winterlocked 1 card, but at least this one has some options we haven’t explored:
A roving market
Frozen spheres containing storm-eels with pleading eyes. Winsome thieves. Human-headed snakes in lambent cages. The market moves from street to street, square to square, but some of the sights never change.
EJ: Now that we’ve been building our Force stat, we can try wrestling the insectine soldier:
A small audience has gathered around a man wrestling an insectine soldier. The insectine—unusual to see one so far from its squad—is doing quite well. Perhaps you could best it. (A very modest challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 80% chance of success.) [You need Force 1 (you have 7)]
Success!
It’s no secret that insectine martial maneuvers are fitted to their unique physiology. The soldier has grown careless wrestling humans, however, and it falls for your feint. It chitters in panic as you long one of its limbs and force it to the ground.
The insectine takes its loss gracefully. Its dialect is hard to understand, but you believe that it wishes you many brave fights.
Force has increased to 8!
You succeeded in a Force challenge! (Simple challenges mean you don’t learn so much.)
You’ve gained 1 x Oddment of Honor (new total 41).
EJ: I don’t think we’ve really seen much about the insectines before. I think they pop up more in some later-game stories. This storylet tells us little about them except that they seem to be the most alien aliens around.
Next up we get another familiar card, and for the sake of variety and as we’re trying to build Force I figured we could be a liiiittle mean to the ironbird as long as we weren’t dissecting it for gadgets. Let’s say Rosal is getting fed up after trying unsuccessfully to barricade the thing over and over again (though admittedly you all didn’t observe most of those times).
A question of comfort
It’s time to seek some lodgings, however temporary. But there’s the troublesome matter of your ferrous companion.
The best plan is to ambush the ironbird after it thinks itself welcome. It’s a simple plan, but sometimes simplicity is the right call.
You could have sworn it worked
This wouldn’t be your first choice of shelter for spending the night, with its cobwebby shadows and bleak broken walls, but it is full of good ambush spots, and that’s the primary consideration. You turn sharply, losing the ironbird in the maze of twisty passages too narrow for it to spread its wings and soar.
It doesn’t take long for your stratagems to knock the ironbird to the ground. Just to be safe, you smash it and pile rubble over it. Each time you strike it, the metal carcass makes cracked music box sounds.
All for nothing: in the morning the ironbird is at your side again. Only faint scratches and the occasional dent suggest the ordeal it’s been through.
Force is increasing…
You succeeded in a Force challenge! (Simple challenges mean you don’t learn so much.)
EJ: See, this is even the option that gets you the classic IF reference, so you can’t be mad at me. Also, we’ve learned that the ironbird is apparently indestructible? Just what is this thing?
Next we get a run of old cards, including not one but TWO copies of An importunate thief, which does zilch for us at this stage in the game. I feel like I’m getting a lot more Winterlocked 1 cards this time than I did in the lost update, maybe just to spite me.
Then at least we get this:
A dusty parlor
Some people prefer to ignore the evidence of winter’s crescendo and while away their hours in parlors like this one, exchanging banter and showing each other the oddling treasures they’ve scavenged.
EJ: So now I can at least show you the option I took before with the Labyrinth Crystals:
The map tells you that the parlor used to be no such thing, but once belonged to a Stentorian Councilor. Nowhere to be found these days, of course. You wonder what else the map can tell you.
This will earn 10x Labyrinth crystals.
The map has some ideas of its own. It zooms in to show you a painstakingly detailed floor layout of the room you’re in. It also informs you that someone left a crystal behind a desk. Unobtrusively, you retrieve it. The shadow-pattern in the crystal matches the map’s lines and angles for a moment, then fades to the usual bland facets.
You’ve gained 10 x Labyrinth Crystal (new total 15).
EJ: Then we get A roving market again, which is driving me particularly crazy because the card that I’m looking for to trade in our Labyrinth Crystals for Enigmatic Gadgets has the same icon, so every time I draw A roving market I’m hopeful for a minute only for my hopes to be crushed. We also get An importunate thief again, which is just rude. Importunate, you might say.
But hey, here’s the card I’ve been grinding Force for!
The writings of an Avian ProphetWhile you were looking up the history of Irian religious caricature—you want an evening’s amusement now and then—you come across a book bound in white suede.
The Architects would be interested in this. The trouble is, the book is chanting to itself in a low, unhurried voice. It’s sure to attract attention as you make your way to the nearest contact. (A tough challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 40% chance of success.) [You need Force 5 (you have 8)]
The ironbird gives a single triumphant cry when it spots the book. Some of the gears in its chest rattle alarmingly. What does it want?
There are collectors in the Society who might value the book. Where to get the best price? (A chancy challenge – Your Finesse quality gives you a 60% chance of success.) [You need Finesse 5 (you have 10)]
You’re certain you’ve seen a commentary on this text in that decrepit old study you rummaged through a while back. Time to go back for another look.
Playing this option will get you 20x Memory of Far-Flung Stars.
[This branch is now free to play]
EJ: Unlike the last time I saw this card, I now have a high enough Force stat to unlock the Force option, but our odds still aren’t great. Nevertheless, let’s try it!
Success!
You know of a skybridge connecting a creaking hall to a haunt of the Architects. So does everyone else—the thing is clearly visible, after all—but during a narrow escape from a Languid Gentleman’s personal guard, you discovered that the skybridge, for all its apparent frailty, will bear your weight. Moreover, the decorative projections, which resemble laughing masks, will conceal you if you are careful.
You have a bad moment when the skybridge starts to sway in response to the book’s mutterings, but the onlookers below react as if the spectacle were being produced for their amusement. Apart from a couple of firecrackers, no one disturbs your crossing.
The Architect who receives you has a phoenix tattooed down one arm to breathe curling fire across the back of her hand. “A book for a book, shall we?” she says, smiling. She helps you pick out an intriguing volume on cryptoideology.
Force is increasing…
You succeeded in a Force challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)
You’ve gained 1 x Associated with the Architects of Ink (new total 13).
You’ve gained 1 x Tome of Scattered Ideals (new total 2).
EJ: And now, speaking of bullying the ironbird a little in search of Force boosts and a bit of novelty:
Fossils in reverse
A wall in what used to be the archivists’ district contains fossils. More accurately, what used to be a wall. The structure has been eaten away by whorls and ripples of ice, not unlike the process by which petrified wood is formed. The fossils are clearly visible, if distorted.
The ironbird’s interest in spectacles like this one unnerves you. It might be best to end your association. (A tough challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 40% chance of success.) [You need Force 5 (you have 8)]
From the moment you set out after it, the canny creature seems to know better than to stay in sight. It vanishes around a corner. It’s only hours later, when your impulse has passed, that it returns to your side, carrying an optic fiber in its beak like a hapless worm.
Force is increasing…
Force 8 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)
EJ: Of course, we know it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway even had we succeeded.
Music in an old concert hall
A concert hall has survived slantwise. All the walls lean against each other in a crazed fashion, and they are additionally supported by pillars of ice with shining facets.
Dancers step nimbly amid the cracked wineglasses and petrified blossoms while musicians play a suite of velvet harmonies.
You have certain musical talents yourself. They are sure to welcome your contribution. (A modest challenge – Your Finesse quality gives you a 70% chance of success.) [You need Finesse 4 (you have 10); You need 5 x Spark of Camaraderie (you have 20)]
Success!
With a smile, you ask one of the musicians for her instrument. She cedes the parabolic harp to you, and you strike arpeggios as pure and true as sweet water from the silver-bright strings. You play for a long time, there beneath the pale lights, as the dancers whirl around you and the other musicians weave their own strange counterpoints. Few people speak to you—they know better than to interrupt—but those who pass you by look upon you with a definite air of respect.
Finesse has increased to 11!
You succeeded in a Finesse challenge!
You’ve lost 5 x Spark of Camaraderie (new total 15).
You’ve gained 1 x Flirtation with the Scarf and Feather Society (new total 12).
You’ve gained 1 x Subtle Delight (new total 2).
Next is another card that we’ve seen before and haven’t particularly been looking for, but at least it’s Winterlocked 2:
A museum’s ruins
The museum is still guarded by two-headed robot serpents, although their eyes are crowded over by frost, and their plasma-breath is pale and anemic. You are strolling through the galleries in a desultory fashion when you startle a vision-reaver. He is contemplating a great curving portrait that probably used to be flat—and yet there’s a certain aesthetic pleasure to be found in the distortion.
In your peregrinations, you’ve seen works of art that would put this pallid portrait to shame. You’d like to offer one of those memories to this Vision-Reaver. (A modest challenge – Your Resolve quality gives you a 70% chance of success.) [You need Resolve 4 (you have 10); You need 5 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (you have 17)]
The Vision-Reaver smiles politely, but you can see your face, all sudden-earnest, reflected in his opaque eyes. “You have only an amateur’s judgment of these matters,” he says. “Come back when you’ve studied the ravenfolk’s knot-sagas, or found the 113 ecstasies represented in the final painting of the dancer Miang Naia, and perhaps then you’ll know what to offer me.”
Resolve is increasing…
Resolve 10 failed in a challenge!
EJ: Next is A question of comfort again, and I did take the barricade option this time. (Rosal, having tried stronger measures and found those ineffective, is going back to what at least kind of sort of works.) Then we get a few cards we’ve seen before with no new options. Then, finally:
A dispute over a dueling ground
A squad of Ocular Guards is threatening to shut down a duel. Not just any dueling ground, either. This hill-shrine is a favorite of the Circle’s.
EJ: Let’s see a new option this time!
No one is paying attention to the hill-shrine’s intended purpose. What would happen if you sat down to meditate, even in these conditions?
Playing this option will get you 20x Dubious Omen, and you will lose 5x Ice.
Humming quietly, you make your way to one of the calmstone meditation benches and sit. Flower imprints can be seen in the snow at your feet, although there are no flowers to be had.
You fall into a reverie of startides and starships, and forsythia blossoms bright in the first sweet days of spring. But the forsythias are no more; the winterstrike saw to that.
When you look down again, the flower-shapes have turned into taloned bird tracks.
You’ve gained 20 x Dubious Omen (new total 30).
Resolve has increased to 11!
EJ: Well, that got sort of ominous! I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about though!
Anyway, there are some more boring old Winterlocked 1 cards, and then this one, which at least offers enough choices that we have some novelty left to squeeze from it (although it’s STILL not the market I’m looking for, dangit!):
A roving marketFrozen spheres containing storm-eels with pleading eyes. Winsome thieves. Human-headed snakes in lambent cages. The market moves from street to street, square to square, but some of the sights never change.
In spite of the troubling signs that you have seen in every corner of Iria. [sic] you are determined to find some cheer in the city.
Playing this option will get you 10x Memory of Far-Flung Stars, 10x Fleeting Merriment, and 10x Oddment of Honor, at the cost of 10x Dubious Omen.
You discover good company in a group of stranded travelers and their scampersome children. You pass a flask of bittersweet wine back and forth, and exchange stories of other cities around other suns. You come away from the encounter much refreshed.
You’ve lost 10 x Dubious Omen (new total 20).
You’ve gained 10 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (new total 27).
You’ve gained 10 x Fleeting Merriment (new total 30).
You’ve gained 10 x Oddment of Honor (new total 51).
Resolve is increasing…
EJ: Aw, how nice. I’m not sure what the flavor justification for trading Dubious Omens in for it is exactly, unless Dubious Omens actually reflect how anxious you are about the whole situation, or something. Anyway, we got a lot of stuff! Cool!
A wounded duelist
A duelist lies fallen in the shadows of a garden. After a moment you realize that she is still breathing, even if the blood has frozen like a rose over her heart.
EJ: Aha! I was hoping this one would appear again!
You can’t offer her a true duelist’s circle, but you can offer her a last flirtation with gunfire.
Playing this option will get you 3x Caught in the Circle of Bullets, 1x Roseate Pistol, 1x Gunslinger, and 10x Spark of Camaraderie.
Success!
Her eyes come alight, despite the ghastly exhaustion in her face. “Yes,” she says, almost to herself. “They can’t deny me a death shrouded in gunsmoke.”
You’re not certain of her ability to stand, but you pace out a circle, not because either of you is in danger of boundary-breaking, but because the ritual will be a comfort to her.
Her aim is good, but not good enough; yours is dead-on, with the bolt catching her squarely in the chest.
“My gun,” she says in a final rattling rasp. “Yours, now.” You would protest, but her eyes have already gone dark.
You’ve gained 3 x Caught in the Circle of Bullets (new total 16).
You’ve gained 1 x Roseate Pistol (new total 2).
You’ve gained 10 x Spark of Camaraderie (new total 20).
You’ve gained 1 x Gunslinger (new total 2).
Force has increased to 9!
EJ: Gunslinger, specifically, is the property we gained that opened a lot of doors to us. I have yet to run into anything that uses the Roseate Pistol.
This seems like a good place to leave it, but first, one last run at Coldhouse flowers:
The Pale Archivist requires coldhouse flowers for the next stage of your initiation. She even tells you where to find them, instead of leaving you to research that for yourself.
You should have known better than to take an Architect’s directions for granted. At least next time you’ll know better than to turn left at that fork, especially when the air reeks of decaying positron sludge.
Finesse is increasing…
Finesse 11 failed in a challenge! (When you try a challenge that’s difficult for you, you learn more even when you fail.)
EJ: Of course, with these pinned cards there is absolutely nothing stopping us from sitting here and clicking this specific option until we win. I just don’t think that’s fun, so we’ll try some other stuff and come back to it later.
There is something we can do now though:
The Pale Archivist is highly placed. Out of curiosity, you track down her thesis from her days as a university scholar.
Her research touched upon the Avian Temples. In fact, it was in Iria that some mentor guided her away from this line of inquiry. Since then, she has been studying the morphosyntax of ink.
You’ve gained 20 x Dubious Omen (new total 41).
You now have 1 x Mysteries of Avian Research.
Finesse is increasing…
EJ: I’ll do the stats and inventory wrap-up in a separate comment since I think this is pushing the character limit already.