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General discussionSunless Skies: Share your flash fiction, win sweet swag(87 posts)(87 posts)
(87 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 16, 2019
Welcome, captain.

You took a wrong turn but ended up in the right place: the Haunted Traveler. Nobody remembers how this pub came to be and you'd swear it stands on a different corner every night. Yet somehow, its patrons always seem to find their way here.

Two weeks you were out there, drifting through the High Wilderness up in Sunless Skies aboard your brave locomotive. You got some stories to tell and we want to hear them.

Regale us with your most spectacular, horrific, exhilarating tales and these rewards could be yours:



• a set of three **very limited** pin badges
• and an item of your choosing from the official Failbetter store



The rules are simple: write a short story in English no longer than 101 words, inspired by the Fallen London universe and post it below. Begin your tale with either of these phrases:

The first thing we saw was...
The last thing we expected was...

We'll listen to your tale, sip our ale, and pick the three stories that impressed us the most. Will they be about a soul-crushing disaster, a fascinating discovery, an amusing anecdote? The tone and premise of the story are up to you. You can even participate with more than one story if you fancy.

So go on, captain, spin us a short tale that could make eldritch horrors weep with awe.
You have until February 24th, 11pm UTC to drop your submission(s).
Posted February 16, 2019
This should be more visible *forum pop*
Posted February 16, 2019
I'll probably give this a shot. One hundred words really isn't that much.
Posted February 16, 2019
Pretty good prizes for a 100 word story. No way I'm winning this but trying's free...Already spewed something and all. Waiting till later to post it though, being first is bad luck.
Posted February 16, 2019
I never played either of these, I assume that won't be an issue.

The first thing we saw Was' foot. Was had been bitten, so it had to go in order to save him. But it wasn't enough, so we also had to take the rusty hacksaw to his lower leg. But our mighty pirate survived, and with a brand new peg-leg Was was ready to fight another day. Was picked up the zombie and hacked it to bits. It, because the former gender of this monster wasn't even clear, so misshapen and ugly this thing was. Was chucked the zombie flesh into the firebox of our locomotive and the engine stirred to life.
Posted February 16, 2019

The last thing we expected was cake. Reasonably fresh; expectably cold; a sweet explosion of revelatory experiences, after six days of naught but rusty, warm boiler feedwater.

A collective struggle for restraint. White eyes and shaking hands. Tiny, savoured pieces and carefully collected crumbs. A holy ritual — invented, like all others, to frame our limitless animal want.

Long seconds of trying to tamper down the renewed hunger.

At length, we turned to face the Caterer: standing before the still open hatch, smiling, opening wide his infernal assemblage of tools.

The first thing we saw was what the cake was made of.
Post edited February 16, 2019 by AyeBraine
Posted February 16, 2019
The first thing we saw was a bent penny that Scrounger Dan jumped on.At the same time Skinny Legs Sally also saw it and dived for the bent penny.Sally was faster than Dan but also unlucky as Dan landed on Sally's back.Sally let go of the penny and I calmly picked it up and laughed. I then said to Dan and Sally there's lessons to be learn't here. Scrounger,look before you leap.Skinny,don't dive in the shallow end but the last thing we expected was Bully Bob the local cop to arrest us for stealing.
Posted February 16, 2019
And another one just for the sake of "flash" definition =)

The first thing we saw was an inordinately large button boot protruding through the bulkhead door. Outside, the owner of the formidable leg supposedly contained within the footwear gave an impatient stomp (throwing half of the navigational instruments out of true), and demanded in rich baritone that the crew be a smidgen more careful with her sac voyage. Her demand was met by a desperate skitter of steps, followed by a low thud and a scream. With a sigh that blew skycharts off the table, an enormous head inserted itself into the door — our passenger, the Potent Baroness, has boarded.
Post edited February 16, 2019 by AyeBraine
Posted February 16, 2019
The first thing we saw was that silly, silly girl from Chalkery Road. Kicking our prized mushrooms, she was! Of course we took her straight inside and made her stop. Couple of days passed before her head got bulbous. Took her back outside. Dug that hole right in the middle of the veg patch, took hours too! Dropped her in, filled it up - only left her bloated head sticking out. Thick yellow spores sprouted from it, young and strong and healthy and beautiful, all thanks to our special, tender care, do you see? We always grow the best mushrooms, officer.
Post edited February 17, 2019 by servobeupstry
Posted February 16, 2019
The last thing we expected was a tray of tea and crumpets from our invisible captors. How bizarre! Being the Queen’s servants, we couldn’t resist. An odd note from invisible trumpets sounded. A pair of curtains materialized. The curtains opened and we were treated to the view of an alien solar system. Time seemed to pass quickly and one of the planets in the star system evolved into a living one. Suddenly the mother star faded. The living planet lost vibrancy. We realized they needed our help.
“Now, good sir, are you interested? Then another round if you please!”
Post edited February 22, 2019 by Dr_Adder
Posted February 16, 2019
I keep imagining situations on board, because that's one of the parts of the game that's really vague. What do they eat? How do they live? Do they have an old-timey train toilet, the sort that drops the poo out of a hole right on the tracks?

The first thing we saw was the stoker’s water mug, still full to the brim, chain neatly laid in a spiral. Nearby, the man lay bleeding, pierced by an enormous claw.

The Stoker was often envied by lookouts and riggers, stuttering from cold, nursing their blackened toes. But down here, he was half-mad from heat and dehydration, often engaging in heated conversations with the firebox. It seems the man smuggled crushed hours from the hold, seeking companionship in ghosts of worlds past — revived from lumps of ancient coal only to burn in the furnace. Regrettably, one of them was a dinosaur.
Post edited February 16, 2019 by AyeBraine
Posted February 16, 2019
The last thing we expected was that sense of dread. The Fourth City statue stood in the gloom, eyes glowering from the torchlight.

My companion whispered: "This place... people disappear here."
"Bunkum!", I replied. "Observe the solitary exit from this chamber". I pointed behind us.
"So where did they go? All those who came in and never left?"

As I studied the statue further, that dreadful unease continued to grow. Infinity! A repeating shape, no, a sequence, again and again... I remembered.

The last thing we expected was that sense of dread. The Fourth City statue stood in the gloom...
Posted February 17, 2019
My iz Englisha iza nota gooda enougha fora thisa. :(

But i do love this game tho, it's fantastic!

cheers to the devs!
Posted February 17, 2019
The first thing we saw was the sun. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN. THE SUN.
Posted February 17, 2019
The first thing we saw was the light. Blinding yet underwhelming at the same time. Despite the furious whirl of clockwork and shining mechanisms it seemed to be little more than a pale imitation of something I’d never known. It was simply wrong.

Yet it had a draw, a longing I had felt only once before, in a glistening Geode, nestled in the darkness I once called home.

The calling of the warmth I had never known. A yearning for the dawn. It burns me still.

This isn’t what they promised. What have we done…We belonged in the darkness below
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionSunless Skies: Share your flash fiction, win sweet swag(87 posts)(87 posts)
(87 posts)