(fallen london stamps by okay but I wanna give y'all an idea of just how DEVIOUS this particular clue was
most of the clues this Estival were discovered in like 20 minutes. this clue, the final clue in the final set of clues, the last clue that was needed for the story to progress, took nearly an hour and a half.
why? well, clue location spoilers ahead!
(and Firmament activity stuff ahead!)
Firmament chapter 2 (the most recent release) introduced an activity called the Stacks. the Stacks are not navigated the usual way. when you enter, you pick a route to take. then, you must draw random cards from a deck and play the options on them to make progress. there are three different phases you must progress through in order to claim your reward and leave.
to complicate that further, there are special qualities that alter the options present on the cards. these qualities shift depending upon the route you picked and the phase you're in. all of this means that there is a high amount of variance per run - every run, you will get different cards, and depending on which route you picked and which phase you are in, those cards will have different options.
when the clues dropped, multiple people went in to check the Stacks. all of them reported that there was nothing there. five clues were found within 20 minutes; the sixth clue was found 30 minutes later; we had no idea where the last one was.
I burned through all 40 actions and then some on Lukas chasing a different lead (that didn't pan out). then I went "what the hell, I have 40 actions on Rafael, and he's all caught up on Firmament. maybe I'll check the Stacks, just in case. it's not like I don't like it in there*"
so I went in, meticulously flipping open every card I got, just in case there was a clue there. like I didn't seriously think there would be - multiple people before me had checked, after all. but I might as well be certain-- wait.
what. the fuck. what the fuck???? but people checked the Stacks! why--
a h.
this clue? it was hidden on a specific card, and it was invisible unless you had a specific quality.
the Discord reacted appropriately.
(transcript)
Flux (IGN: Ashton Thorn): How did nobody check the stacks?
Eager Eagle Enthusiast: SUPPOSEDLY MULTIPLE PEOPLE DID
The Eternal Authoress: Somebody did, why is it there now? Poison Gallery card?
Angry Duck (John Cooper50129): I THOUGHT YOU GUYS TOLD ME THERE WERE NO FUCKING STACKS CLUES WHAT THE HELL MAN
Eager Eagle Enthusiast: IT WAS STACKS TIME LOCKED :crying:
April: A
Remnyx: ....it's in the stacks on poisoned gallery on specific time?
Eager Eagle Enthusiast: evil evil evil evil evil lmao
Kirie (IGN: Kirié): god that's worse than fate
It was so evil, in fact, that after the clue had been turned in enough times for progress, FBG removed the quality requirement to make it easier to find.
on top of that? there was an alternate history where I DIDN'T find this clue, not just because of its wicked specificity, but because it was on a card that I had marked as Bad, Do Not Play, It Is Not Worth. when I pulled the card, I almost didn't check it, so used I was to ignoring it - and RIGHT before I went to clear my hand, I remembered why I was in the Stacks at 5 in the AMs to begin with. and the rest is history.
*the Stacks are probably my favorite activity in the game, both flavor and mechanics-wise. I did the base version on release, as well as the expansions, and I did a lot of documentation for the wiki while I was at it. it's so favorite, in fact, that I'm trying to get the vanity quality for doing it 777 times. so basically I have been immortalized for being a Stacks Sicko and I am VERY happy about this
