Update 9: Wintry Suspicions
EJ: Hello again! Today on Let’s Play Winterstrike, we’ll be getting a new tattoo.
Coldhouse flowers
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.
The Archivist takes you down, and down, and down to a basement where you can hear the pattern-drumming of insistent footsteps. You are soon distracted, in the partial dark, by the flower-ink’s nippy fragrance. Just breathing it makes you feel your pulse slowing.
The next thing you know after that, you are reclining in a luxurious chair. Someone has left a mirror angled just so: you tilt your head to examine the tattoo’s second level, with its tiny, detailed figures under siege.
To progress to the endgame, you should now raise your Associated with the Architects of Ink quality to 15.
You’ve lost 3 x Coldhouse Flower (new total 0).
You’ve gained 1 x Tower Tattoo (new total 2).
You’ve gained 1 x Associated with the Architects of Ink (new total 21).
EJ: We already have Associated with the Architects of Ink 15, so let’s take a look at this new card:
Wintry suspicions (Architects of Ink)
The Architects are increasingly nervous about your friendship with the ironbird—something to do with writings recovered from sites uncovered by the winterstrike.
Note: Choosing a branch will advance you toward the endgame.
The Lecturer tries to persuade you that the ironbird is dangerous, but you stop him midway through his rehearsed speech, assuring him that you are of like mind.
The ironbird may or may not be an artifact itself—its true nature isn’t entirely clear to you even now—but it’s worthy of preservation in its own right. When the Architects approach you about it, you will have to put off the Emaciated Lecturer they send with a plausible story.
[LOCKED – You need 10 x Ironbird’s Regard (you have 10); You need Ice 15]
The Emaciated Lecturer would have entertained you in the past, but you realize that your calling is written in frost and spindled ice, not ink. You will have to start by disposing of the Lecturer.
[LOCKED – You need Ice 15]
EJ: I want to put this to a vote, but I can’t end the update here, so I’ll do an update focused on advancing connections as far as possible and there’ll be a poll at the end.
A Sardonic Captain
The Captain is good company when off-duty, if you have a taste for his particular dry humor.
The Captain has what would be a weakness for gambling if he weren’t so good at it. He invites you to a game of cards.
[You need Connection: A Sardonic Captain 2 and Connection: A Sardonic Captain no more than 2 (you have 2); You need 10 x Labyrinth Crystal (you have 12)]
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]
[You need Connection: A Sardonic Captain 2 (you have 2)]
The Captain has what would be a weakness for gambling if he weren’t so good at it. He invites you to a game of cards.
There are six of you at the card table, in a room where figures hung on mobiles spin out a drama of entangled flowers and mutant lizards and the occasional swaying fungus. Fortunately, you don’t lose anything you can’t afford to lose. In the meantime, the Captain lets slip that he’s seen service in a vast, unending interstellar war before landing in Iria. He is silent on whether he finds this de facto exile an improvement on his circumstances, and you notice that he drinks smokewater in copious quantity.
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Sardonic Captain (new total 3).
You’ve gained 3 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (new total 29).
You’ve lost 10 x Labyrinth Crystal (new total 2).
EJ: His next storylet requires Sparks of Camaraderie, which we also have, so let’s continue with him:
The Captain sends a terse request to see you. Something about a battle history he wishes to share with you.
[You need Connection: A Sardonic Captain 3 and Connection: A Sardonic Captain no more than 3 (you have 3); You need 10 x Spark of Camaraderie (you have 15)]
Well, he wasn’t dissembling entirely. The two of you meet over glasses of summerfruit wine. He discusses, in understated detail, a particular battle that was won against odds of eight to one. You’re almost convinced he’s not exaggerating. In any case, there are many lessons to be taken from the account.
Toward the end, the Captain comes to his point. “Do you know,” he says quietly, tilting the wineglass this way and that to watch the light pooling in the pale green wine, “there are any number of civilizations where Avian Temples are taboo. Yet people build them, often at great risk, and once the things are there, people leave them alone. Unless they’re Architects. I’ve never found out, despite visits to dozens of worlds, what the common thread is.”
He doesn’t so much as glance at the fledgling ironbird.
You’ve lost 10 x Spark of Camaraderie (new total 5).
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Sardonic Captain (new total 4).
You now have 3 x Penetrating Discipline.
You now have 1 x Seen with the Ocular Guard.
EJ: At this point the Sardonic Captain pinned card disappears; I didn’t realize that was going to happen (in my first playthrough I was ride or die for the ironbird and eschewed human friends), so I didn’t do his Nex-locked branch. I’m not sure if the connections only go to 4 and this is the end of their stories, or if they’ll pop back up once we enter the endgame.
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 3)]
The Pale Archivist would like your opinion of a recent research discovery.
[LOCKED --You need 5 x Scholarly Wonderment (you have 4); You need Connection: A Pale Archivist 3 and Connection: A Pale Archivist no more than 3 (you have 3)]
EJ: We still need one more Scholarly Wonderment, but we can do the formerly Nex-locked branch now:
Almost all the Architects keep their tattoos easily visible. Where is the Archivist’s?
The answer comes to you when you’re not looking for it. During a discussion of biomimetics over tea and toast, a lightning-flash from the window hits her eyes at a particular angle. A scroll, tiny and perfect, is visible in her right pupil, as though someone limned it there in silver ink. Then the thunder comes, and the eye-tattoo is no longer visible.
You’re convinced that even tinier writing was to be found on the scroll, but there’s no way you could discern it without a magnifying lens.
You’ve gained 20 x Dubious Omen (new total 74).
You now have 1 x Glimpse of a Pale Archivist’s Tattoo.
Finesse is increasing…
EJ: Out of curiosity, I checked, and you can indeed tattoo your eyeball, although the idea of having such fine detail might be a science-fictional concept.
Now let’s check out the Nex branch for the Vision-Reaver:
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.
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]
[You need Connection: A Vision-Reaver 2 (you have 3)]
On one of his visits, the Vision-Reaver’s eyes alight on your collection of odd machines. He asks whether you have considered them from an aesthetic viewpoint, rather than a strictly engineering one.
[LOCKED – You need Connection: A Vision-Reaver 3 and Connection: A Vision-Reaver no more than 3 (you have 3); You need 10 x Enigmatic Gadget (you have 6)]
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.
The Vision-Reaver catches up to you before you get too far. His face is flushed, but not with anger, as you would have expected. “It’s a good thing I found you,” he says, ushering you out of the rock garden with its sere frost-patterns.
In a more discreet location, he explains that his counterpart has mastered the trick of stealing people’s voices, and he has no wish for you to lose yours. Even if his colleague has lately been amusing herself collecting bird-chants.
You’ve gained 20 x Brittle Rumor (new total 28).
You now have 1 x Spared a Voice-Reaver’s Lure.
Finesse has increased to 14!
EJ: We now have enough Brittle Gossip to advance the regular storyline for the Unsmiling Thief, as well:
An Unsmiling Thief
Her very lack of expression is itself expressive. There’s a certain degree of understated charm to be found here.
You hear of a party where the Unsmiling Thief will be in attendance. Perhaps she’ll consent to speak to you there.
[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 28)]
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 hear of a party where the Unsmiling Thief will be in attendance. Perhaps she’ll consent to speak to you there.
The rumors aren’t entirely wrong, but it turns out that the Thief has already left, pleading headache, by the time you arrive. You spend a little time snacking on crackers spread with heady mousse and exchanging candied pleasantries with other guests. A Solemn Sculptor is a long-time friend of the Thief’s, however, and is happy to send her your best wishes via his birdplane.
If nothing else, the brandy-cakes, topped with black-red cherries, are most delightful.
You’ve gained 3 x Evanescent Treat (new total 39).
You’ve lost 10 x Brittle Rumor (new total 18).
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: An Unsmiling Thief (new total 3).
EJ: And the next connection level requires Fleeting Merriment, which we also have; since the Nex-locked option destroys the connection, I feel okay about going ahead with advancing the connection level to 4 and making the card vanish without doing that.
There’s an unsmiling birdplane at your bedside one morning. What could it mean?
[You need Connection: An Unsmiling Thief 3 and Connection: An Unsmiling Thief no more than 3 (you have 3); You need 10 x Fleeting Merriment (you have 38)]
The Unsmiling Thief wishes to pay a call. You are only too amenable, and you spend the morning obtaining suitable refreshments—no great difficulty for one who knows where to look.
She comes with her birdplane, which is laden with a small quaint basket of cookies. The fledgling ironbird watches the birdplane during the whole conversation, which ranges over topics as diverse as insectine tactics and the proper recipe for summerfest punch. After the Thief leaves, her demeanor unusually restful, the ironbird finds a perch from which to gaze broodingly at the night sky. One of the stations in orbit particularly captures its attention.
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: An Unsmiling Thief (new total 4).
You’ve gained 3 x Subtle Delight (new total 7).
You’ve lost 10 x Fleeting Merriment (new total 28).
You’ve gained 1 x Flirtation with the Scarf and Feather Society (new total 17).
EJ: Now we’re at the point where we need to accumulate Scholarly Wonderments and Enigmatic Gadgets. I blast through a bunch of cards that have nothing new to show us; I’m frankly not even capturing them. But there is something significant in the random cards that we have yet to succeed at:
An invitation to duel
The Circle wishes to extend to you an opportunity to duel.
You don’t just want to defeat the Duelist All in Gray. You want to do it spectacularly.
[Playing this option will get you 3x Caught in the Circle of Bullets; 5x Spark of Camaraderie; and, if your Connection is 0, 1x Connection: A Duelist All in Gray.
Success!
You don’t toy with her, exactly; the Circle frowns on that sort of thing, although some duelists find it irresistible. But you fire three shots in quick succession, the first two bracketing her head, and the third burning out her left eye. The Duelist All in Gray only gets off one shot, and it scorches a comet-streak into a steel wall.
The duelmaster murmurs appreciatively. She’s not the only one.
Resolve is increasing…
You succeeded in a Resolve challenge!
You’ve gained 5 x Spark of Camaraderie (new total 11).
You’ve gained 3 x Caught in the Circle of Bullets (new total 19).
You now have 1 x Connection: A Duelist All in Gray.
Force has increased to 11!
EJ: Wooo, finally! Now we have a new pinned card for the Duelist All in Gray’s storylets:
A Duelist All in Gray
Her story is a familiar one, in Iria. Once a soldier supreme, she deserted to devote herself to the Circle. There has to be more to it, though.
You track down some of the many duelists she has bested to ask them why her signature color is gray.
(A straightforward challenge – Your Resolve quality gives you a 100% chance of success.)
[You need Connection: A Duelist All in Gray 1 and Connection: A Duelist All in Gray no more than 1 (you have 1); You need Resolve 4 (you have 13)]
After a particularly harrowing match, a Hunched Woman comes up to the Duelist All in Gray with something in her hand that shines like a condensate of stars. The Duelist pales and shoulders past her. What could it be?
Playing this option will get you 1x Steadfast to the Gray, which locks off this branch in the future, and you will lose 10x Ice.
[LOCKED – You need Connection: A Duelist All in Gray 2 (you have 1)]
You track down some of the many duelists she has bested to ask them why her signature color is gray.
Success!
You eventually fall in with one of the Duelist’s companions, a Veiled Musician. The Musician declines to take up firearms herself, but is sympathetic to the Circle’s code. “It’s true,” the Musician says over a cup of bitterflower tisane. “The Duelist was once a high-ranking officer in the Fleet of Dire Brilliance, and she was rewarded a rare prismatic medal. When she cast it aside to become a duelist, she swore never to wear colors again except the red of blood.”
You murmur your appreciation of the Duelist’s steadfastness, and the two of you share a smile of understanding.
Resolve is increasing…
You succeeded in a Resolve challenge! (Simple challenges mean you don’t learn so much.)
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Duelist All in Gray (new total 2).
You’ve gained 1 x Spark of Camaraderie (new total 12).
The only way to earn the Duelist’s lasting respect is to best her. Perhaps understanding her past will help you to do so.
[You need Connection: A Duelist All in Gray 2 and Connection: A Duelist All in Gray no more than 2 (you have 2); You need 10 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (you have 31)]
There are any number of tales attesting to the Duelist’s versatility. You are viewing an artist’s sketch of her duel against a Venerable Swanfolk Gunslinger—raw, but the harsh, hurried strokes of nocturne-charcoal are oddly compelling. A woman’s chuckle nearby startles you: it’s the Duelist herself.
“Pure vanity, I realize,” the Duelist says conversationally. “I like the piece for being monochrome, although my opponent’s stance didn’t look like that at all.” She regales you with other tales as the two of you stroll through the gallery. She has a lively sense of wit for someone who dresses so drably, and you part in good humor.
You’ve lost 10 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (new total 21).
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Duelist All in Gray (new total 3).
You’ve gained 3 x Fleeting Merriment (new total 33).
EJ: Aaaand here I lost track of where I was with the Duelist All in Gray’s connection level and accidentally vanished the card before I could do the formerly Nex-locked branch. Oops! But here’s the last level of her connection storyline (for now?):
The Duelist All in Gray contacts you through the Veiled Musician. She asks your assistance in a personal matter.
[You need Connection: A Duelist All in Gray 3 and Connection: A Duelist All in Gray no more than 3 (you have 3); You need 10 x Oddment of Honor (you have 57)]
One of her friends is dying of a disease carried into the lungs by the winter winds, and one for which the medic-priests have no remedy. This friend of hers wants a distraction, and as you are a stranger to him, the Duelist hopes that you will be able to divert him. You tell him the best stories you know, all true. The choicest of all concern red moments and the thunder of guns and fights bravely fought.
When he tires, the Duelist leads you to an adjoining room. “He was the only one to come with me when I deserted,” she says quietly. Her mouth crimps a little. “I can say the word now. Time was when I couldn’t. But I have given the Circle my loyalty, and I don’t regret a moment of it. In any case, thank you. Any small ease you can bring him eases my heart as well.”
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Duelist All in Gray (new total 4).
You’ve gained 3 x Duelist’s Credo (new total 8).
You’ve gained 1 x Caught in the Circle of Bullets (new total 20).
You’ve lost 10 x Oddment of Honor (new total 47).
EJ: When we get An invitation to duel again, we can also see what happens if we battle the Duelist All in Gray the normal, cheap way:
An invitation to duel
The Circle wishes to extend to you an opportunity to duel.
A Duelist All in Gray wishes to face you. Her expression is wry as she regards you with those grave gray eyes, but not entirely unfriendly.
You can’t say whether it’s the distracting gusts of icy wind, or the way she fades against the crenellated shadows, but you have no luck reaching her with your shots.
Her luck, on the other hand, starts bad and gets better. There’s a moment’s fierce merriment in those eyes before she fells you.
Your latest scar bears a curious resemblance to a star-shape.
Resolve is increasing…
Resolve 13 failed in a challenge! (This challenge was old territory for you - you won’t learn so much.)
EJ: Just because we beat her once doesn’t mean we can do it reliably, I guess! Here’s the next card with new stuff for us:
The writings of an Avian Prophet
While 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.
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.
The study is harder to get to than before, but your persistence pays off. The commentary is contained in a tetrahedral crystal mounted in the wall, with wing silhouettes painted around it in silver-edged black. Its author is devoted to the odd notion that starships evolved from birds, with careening illustrations to support this contention.
You’ve gained 20 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (new total 42).
Resolve has increased to 14!
EJ: Fate also sees fit to give us another crack at the Duelist All in Grey:
An invitation to duel
The Circle wishes to extend to you an opportunity to duel.
A Duelist All in Gray wishes to face you. Her expression is wry as she regards you with those grave gray eyes, but not entirely unfriendly.
Success!
Despite the Duelist’s drab coloration, you have no trouble following her movements. It’s as though the awful swirling chill has lent you heightened awareness; as though you see her through a lens of wintry clarity. Your first two shots graze her shoulder. The third takes her cleanly in the throat.
The duelmaster doesn’t congratulate you, but the nods and murmurs of the Circle’s watchers are most encouraging.
Resolve is increasing…
You succeeded in a Resolve challenge! (Simple challenges mean you don’t learn so much.)
Connection: A Duelist All in Gray has not changed from 4 because it’s higher than 0.
You’ve gained 1 x Spark of Camaraderie (new total 9).
You’ve gained 1 x Caught in the Circle of Bullets (new total 19).
EJ: Just after this we get A museum’s ruins again (only the second time we’ve seen it in this playthrough) and get the last Scholarly Wonderment we need to advance our relationship with the Pale Archivist:
A Pale Archivist
The Pale Archivist would like your opinion of a recent research discovery.
Uncharacteristically, when yhou [sic] show up, you spy a tray of bonbons in the study. The Archivist’s expression is rueful. “Asceticism is all very well,” she says, “but once in a while it helps to indulge.”
You can tell that the paper wasn’t authored by the Archivist herself. The style is elliptical, with a reliance on winging metaphors, while the Archivist’s prose tends toward elegant understatement. The argument is sound, however, and you express your appreciation of the unnamed scholar’s skill.
“I thought so, too,” the Archivist says. She goes on to ask you about areas where she might fruitfully assign follow-up research. The tray of bonbons is quite empty by the day’s end.
You’ve lost 5 x Scholarly Wonderment (new total 0).
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Pale Archivist (new total 4).
Here’s another card where we haven’t seen all the possible branches yet:
The writings of an Avian Prophet
While 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 ironbird gives a single triumphant cry when it spots the book. Some of the gears in its chest rattle alarmingly. What does it want?
The ironbird hops from foot to foot as you draw the book out. The book’s chanting grows louder. The ironbird sings back.
In concert, they sound like the crescendo of a starship engine as it powers up for flight, and the heady rush of stars, and—
When you return to yourself, the book is gone. For a second you hear a tiny whisper from within the ironbird’s mechanisms, then that, too, is gone.
You’ve gained 1 x Dubious Omen (new total 85).
EJ: Did it… eat the book? As an Architect of Ink, I’m not sure Rosal approves of this. Also, we very much do not need more Dubious Omens (which as the game has gone on I’ve become more convinced represent the PC’s anxiety about the situation… all the more reason to not keep accumulating them).
Anyway, I momentarily forgot that we had yet to actually succeed at the Architects option for A repository of antiques, so…
A repository of antiques
It used to be an armory for an order of warrior-poets. You’re not sure why it escaped being plundered this long, but now it’s cracked open. The statues of gun-saints are toppled, and a tapestry of ash-fibers and bristling wires lies shredded by fingers of ice.
Circle duelists here, Architects there. In the confusion, you might be able to liberate some items for your own use. Perhaps even one of the ancient pistols someone has mentioned.
Success!
Sometimes the presence of more people makes it easier to penetrate an objective, especially if they are getting in each other’s way. You tiptoe through dank halls hung with skeins of whisper-silk, and whose walls have been painted with hexameter praises of the warrior-poets’ lost generals. Snaky wires slither away at your approach, leaving a residue of red-orange sparks. A low murmur in a language the living have abandoned teases your ear as the armory’s machines attempt to make sense of you.
You don’t have as long as you’d like for your search, but you come across a forgotten bottle of smokewater and a journal inscribed in pulses of light within a metalglass pendant. Later, after you’ve gotten away, you have to chuckle at the writer’s anecdotes of upside-down feasts on some distant moon, not to mention the incident with the space fungus.
Finesse is increasing…
You succeeded in a Finesse challenge! (Simple challenges mean you don’t learn so much.)
You’ve gained 1 x Fleeting Merriment (new total 37).
You’ve gained 1 x Smokewater (new total 2).
You’ve gained 1 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars (new total 39).
EJ: Luckily, we soon get the opportunity to try again:
A repository of antiques
It used to be an armory for an order of warrior-poets. You’re not sure why it escaped being plundered this long, but now it’s cracked open. The statues of gun-saints are toppled, and a tapestry of ash-fibers and bristling wires lies shredded by fingers of ice.
The Architects are determined to preserve the artifacts in the armory, weapons or otherwise, so that the warrior-poets’ legacy won’t be lost at the hands of deathmongers. You could offer your assistance.
Success!
The duelists may have determination on their side, but the Architects are better at planning. Rapid questioning reveals that a couple of them are familiar with the armory’s layout, including a secret passage that may not have been blocked when the winterstrike hit. You lead a sortie against the duelists and are bemused by their surprise. A few well-placed shots from militant Architects scatters them, and soon you have the upper hand.
When you report back to the Architects’ leader, an elderly man with a cockerel tattooed on his face, he praises your courage. “They’ll be back later,” he says, “but for now, we excavate what we can.” You are given a few baffling artifacts, like Moebius sculptures, to study in your spare time.
Force is increasing…
You succeeded in a Force challenge!
You’ve gained 1 x Associated with the Architects of Ink (new total 23).
You’ve lost 3 x Caught in the Circle of Bullets (new total 14).
You’ve gained 3 x Enigmatic Gadget (new total 12).
EJ: And as a nice side benefit, that got us the Enigmatic Gadgets we need for the Vision-Reaver! (I still haven’t seen that goddamn market again.)
A Vision-Reaver
On one of his visits, the Vision-Reaver’s eyes alight on your collection of odd machines. He asks whether you have considered them from an aesthetic viewpoint, rather than a strictly engineering one.
The Vision-Reaver has great facility in putting together facets of a whole. Like a magician of angles and ratios, he shows you that a number of the machines can be rewired together into a primitive miniature stardrive calibrator.
You take a closer look after he has left. You’re positive that all of the machines were altered even before that by a hand not yours.
The ironbird has its back to you and is studying a crack in the floor with exaggerated interest.
You’ve lost 10 x Enigmatic Gadget (new total 2).
You’ve gained 1 x Connection: A Vision-Reaver (new total 4).
You now have 3 x Scholarly Wonderment.
You’ve gained 1 x Associated with the Architects of Ink (new total 24).
EJ: Ironbird, have you been messing with our stuff without asking? I hate when roommates do that!
Anyway, now for the promised poll:
- Agree that the ironbird is dangerous
- Come up with an excuse to fob off the Lecturer
- Murder the Lecturer
Note that even if we choose not to murder the Lecturer, getting to Ice 10 will most likely require killing a bunch of other people.