Update 2: Winterlocked
EJ: By popular vote, our player character will be a nonbinary former envoy with an interest in the Architects of Ink, and their name will be Rosal because I didn’t get any other suggestions.
In accordance with the initial vote, for the time being I’ll prioritize choices that will get us points with the Architects of Ink when possible, and I’ll be playing to our strong stat, Finesse, when possible as well. There will be more votes to come, and you can always let me know in the thread if there’s anything you’d like to see, in terms of outcomes of particular choices on particular cards.
But first we’ve got to finish up the intro:
A curious sighting (unlocked with a stranger 4 – you have 4)
You’re passing through the sullen streets when you see something around the corner, where the ice hangs in great sheets: an intimation of iron feathers, gears, talons. It might be dangerous, but it might also be a clue. You can’t afford to ignore it.
It’s probably a threat. Best to get rid of it before it activates. (A very chancy challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 50% chance of success.)
Best to stay away from trouble. The kind that comes with sharp edges, anyway. (A chancy challenge – Your Finesse quality gives you a 60% chance of success.)
Actually, you’re intrigued. And why wouldn’t you be? You’ve never spied anything quite like this in Iria. (A very chancy challenge – Your Resolve quality gives you a 50% chance of success.)
It’s probably a threat, and you’d do best to get rid of it from a distance. This is what guns are for, after all. (A tough challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 40% chance of success.)
EJ: Since Finesse is our high stat, we’ll be picking “Best to stay away from trouble…”. The result is:
Something like success
You fold back into the shadows, listening carefully. Nothing. The streets are tricky here. From above, you imagine, they would look like what you’d get if you crossed a labyrinth with a broken mirror. The air is cold, and you are busy warming yourself by a sputtering fire when you hear an odd creaky purring. Or maybe it’s the sound of gears wound a smidgen too tight. An fledgling ironbird steps into view, all corroded surfaces and keen-edged wings. You have the sudden, not entirely unwelcome feeling that it desires your company.
Finesse has increased to 3!
You succeeded in a Finesse challenge!
You now have 1 x Fledgling Ironbird.
Your “A Stranger” quality has gone. Welcome to the world!
You now have 1 x Winterlocked.
EJ: Winterlocked is, I believe, our new story-progress-tracking stat. As for the ironbird, we’ll find out more about it later. I am interested to know how people react to it. I am maybe a bit too much of a soft touch when it comes to animals, even odd mechanical ones, and developed an affection for it basically immediately (it’s making a purring sort of noise! It wants to be friends!) but based on later developments I am not sure that was the intention.
Anyway, now we’re finally in the main part of the game. I forgot to show it earlier, but choosing to be a former envoy not only set our high stat but gave us a special item, the Petaled Key:
It has such a bewitching fragrance. Even the locks seem to like it.
EJ: This may open up opportunities for us later. Uh, no pun intended. Meanwhile, our first hand of three cards gives us the following storylets:
A children’s game (Unlocked with Winterlocked 1 – you have 1)
[Quick EJ note: All our cards say this right now, so I’m going to start leaving it out; just assume that this is the quality that unlocks all our cards unless/until I say otherwise. Now back to the game text:]
A small group of children are playing a game with dice, and brittle dolls, and a circle stamped into the snow.
The younger children, who stand at the circle’s boundary, are chanting a curious atonal song. You listen in an effort to catch the words.
The children’s laughter cheers you, and you have an extra trifle in your pockets that they might appreciate on this cold afternoon. [Locked – requires 1 x Evanescent Treat (you have 0)]
You’ve heard this chant before, but you could swear that the children are singing a different version. [Locked – You need Ice 5]
The wind whips around you and scatters the dice as you come closer. Now that you think of it, the dice sound like they’re made of hollow ice. And what is it the children are saying to each other?
Playing this option will get you 20x Dubious Omen. [THIS BRANCH IS NOW FREE TO PLAY]
[Locked – You need Ice 15]
EJ: A couple things to note here! One, that last option used to be a Nex-locked branch, which is to say it required premium currency (known as Nex) to unlock. This is the way that StoryNexus games were supposed to be monetized. Obviously it did not work out.
Two, here’s our first encounter with the Ice quality. You get Ice for doing cruel things and lose it for doing nice things. Personally I’m the sort that struggles to be mean to pixels, but there are branches that are only available with high Ice. I may put it to a vote later whether we should be trying to accumulate Ice.
Three, and least importantly, note that requirements are phrased slightly differently if they’re referring to needing an item (1 x Evanescent Treat) than if they’re referring to needing a stat (Ice 15).
Anyway, there’s only one thing we can actually do here, so we’ll be selecting that first option:
The children’s voices are unnaturally steady: “Sister bird, brother bird/ High up in the rocket bird—”
At this point, a foxfolk kit spots your ironbird and toddles after it. The ironbird lets out an indignant squawk and spreads its wings in a pandemonium of clanking feathers. You urge it away before it can do anything more, and the children scatter.
You now have 1 x Fleeting Merriment.
EJ: Onto the next card!
An importunate thief
One of the dubiously useful things about the city’s ravaged state is that there is no part of it that is more dangerous than any other. Still, along this crowded sunlit stretch of street, where flowers can be seen frozen into corpse-colors, a young man brushes too close to you.
Some people only understand the language of fists and guns. It’s time to see if this man is one of them. (A high-risk challenge – Your Force quality gives you a 30% chance of success.)
Two can play at that game. Especially since you’re not foolish enough to keep valuables in the outer pockets of your coat. (A very chancy challenge – Your Finesse quality gives you a 50% chance of success.)
It’s not that you have anything against the thief’s line of work, but the street is full of targets. And you can hardly be the most tempting one. Why not offer the thief a pointer?
Playing this option will get you 3x Flirtation with the Scarf and Feather Society and 10x Labyrinth Crystal. [THIS BRANCH IS NOW FREE TO PLAY]
Sometimes it’s better to avoid trouble. You’re sure you can lose the thief in the crowd.
EJ: We’ll start by trying the Finesse challenge, but we will definitely be encountering this card again many times, so you’ll probably see those last two options as well. For now, the results of our Uno Reverse thievery:
Success!
For all your clever hands, what you find in the thief’s pouches isn’t even sustenance, but rather the kind of sweets that they like to pass around at high society parties while someone plays a moon-harp. You think the thief hasn’t noticed, but then he turns abruptly and looks into your eyes. Startled, you let him guide you to the side of the throughfare. “I didn’t realize you were one of us,” he said. You ask who he means by “us,” and he grins. He tugs at the pale scarf he’s wearing, and then you know: the Scarf and Feather Society, which organizes the city’s rogues as much as rogues can ever be organized. A connection to cultivate, surely.
Finesse is increasing…
You succeeded in a Finesse challenge! (Risky challenges mean you learn more.)
You now have 1 x Evanescent Treat.
You now have 1 x Flirtation with the Scarf and Feather Society.
EJ: We pulled that off despite the coinflip odds—Lady Thalia would be proud! And now we have something for those kids when we run into them again. More importantly, though, note that our chosen background/high stat is a little bit at odds with the connection we decided to try to cultivate—Finesse is naturally going to lead us into situations where we’ll catch the attention of the Scarf and Feather Society. I’m not sure what stat Architects of Ink stuff tends to lean towards; I did do Scarf and Feather on my first playthrough (on-brand for me, I guess?). I will still try my best to cozy up to the Architects of Ink instead of joining the thieves’ guild again, though. Now for our next card:
A starship carcass
Any number of starships were ruined when the winterstrike hit Iria. From a small distance you see the hulk in fragments of silver and blue-black, the hull pitted and crumpled and marked by crystals of ice like tiny gnawing teeth.
You spot an opening, all jagged edges and sputtering light: perhaps you can retrieve something from the starship’s interior.
A high-pitched, thready sound draws your attention. What could it be?
You think that’s a hatch over there. Perhaps you can pry it open.
A section of the hull has broken off, which isn’t what catches your attention so much as the fact that it’s entirely free of ice. It almost warms you just looking at it.
Playing this option will get you 1x Shipshard Mirror. You can use this item in the ‘A Dusty Parlour’ card to acquire certain rewards much more efficiently. [THIS BRANCH IS NOW FREE TO PLAY]
EJ: None of these require skill checks, so let’s just go down the list starting with the first option:
You have to move carefully in the uncertain light. The ice has penetrated even here, and the footing is slippery. Nevertheless, after some searching, you find mementos of far-voyages among the distant stars. You are reminded that you haven’t seen any of the characteristic bright-burning skyfire that indicate approaching (or departing) starships since the winterstrike.
You now have 1 x Memory of Far-Flung Stars.
EJ: Of course, let me know if there are options here you particularly want to see.
Now, this post is long enough that Discourse is starting to lag for me, which is something that normally only happens when I’m on mobile, so I think I’d better wrap it up here. But before I go, let’s take a peek at the sidebar, which is a part of the game’s interface I haven’t shown off yet.
EJ: When StoryNexus was a going concern those action limits were much lower. Now it gives you enough that you can play this game in one sitting. There may have also been ways to pay to get more actions; I know Fallen London has that feature.
Also, this is probably mildly problematic of me but I kind of love when nonbinary gender options are framed as if they make you, like, extra mysterious. (I am not very mysterious in real life so I’ll take what I can get, I suppose.)
Now, about those other tabs:
And finally, the inventory:
In addition to the Petaled Key from earlier, we’ve got:
Memory of Far-Flung Stars x 1: A reminder that there are other worlds. Not to mention other threats.
Evanescent Treat x 1: Probably to be enjoyed during stolen twilight moments.
Fleeting Merriment x 1: Even now, in Iria, you find snatches of joy. Winter-colored joy, but still.
Fledgling Ironbird x 1: Its wings are underdeveloped, but it looks at you with such quizzical eyes.
EJ; Okay, that’s all for now, before my browser explodes. I think I’m going to have to start putting these together in Notepad or something…