"Incidents of sudden and violent death are interspersed with aphorisms: 'Hours don't dream. Long try not to.'"
AK posts a conversation snippet every Friday in the Weather Factory subreddit, giving a glimpse into what part of Travelling he's been working on that week. But many people don't use Reddit, so we thought we'd round up some of those in-game moments for your delectation this week. Adding some new insights and art since we posted these originally, too!
First up is a conversation with Torgue, the imposing Long you probably met as part of an Edge-dyad with 'Mistress Dearday' in BOOK OF HOURS. A decade or so on, Mistress Dearday has gone, and the tattered, furious half-dyad lingers on as part of Travelling's Rosa Mundi circus. (How has a half-dyad survived this long? All will be revealed.)
AK would like you to know immediately that he's fixed the 'reconnaisance' typo, and that Vincent's description of Chaima has changed in the current version, since 'you wouldn't forget her' has become a bit of a leitmotif for Nina. I've been reading some introductory dialogue with Chaima this week and let me tell you, she does not take kindly to being pushed to discuss her romantic history with Vincent. Look what a lovely couple they make, though!
I am also happy to share that Torgue plays Fracasse, the proud and bathetic soldier-archetype, in the Rosa Mundi's commedia del Sole. His mask and costume:
Next up, something Very Important. Let it be known officially that Detective-Ostiary Douglas Moore, aka the Weary Detective, aka the person you'd want to spend most time with from the Secret Histories (?) is making an appearance in Travelling At Night.
This is a pivotal scene in Mimata, the suspiciously overgrown village overlooked by an omened convent. Douglas is, as a result, troubled with an acute case of nuns. The order's Mother Superior featured in our newsletter this month, and Douglas happens to exist in the same Photoshop file as the sisters, which always makes me laugh when I open it up:
OK, some minor spoilers in the image below so only click if you'd like some early information about a conversation with the Witch of Lagasse. Note that while the dialogue shows a three-way conversation between Spencer, Nina and Mother Mamerta, the nun is invisible because they are creepy her art was not yet in game. She is now in the game, I'm glad to say.
It is odd that Nina gets called 'Mademoiselle' when she's probably older than the convent in the picture (itself was converted from an older château). But she gets severe when she's called anything else. Her age was also no barrier when it came to designing what she wears during a circus performance - yes, she too has a role in the commedia. Though unlike most of the rest of the cast she refuses to wear a mask, playing a variant of one of the commedia's heroines, Elise. Mask or no mask, she doesn't half grab attention:
Onto another character from the circus: Bronek! You might not notice him as much as some others in the cast, but so far he's arguably the most significant member of the cast in terms of Spencer's plot. He facilitates something that I think every lore-hound reading this will get excited about - but more on that when we have art to show you.
AK notes that a Redditor asked if Bronek was the Secret Histories incarnation of Bronisław Piłsudski, brother of the legendary Józef. He's not - we usually avoid putting historical figures in speaking parts in our games - but the question, he adds, highlights my successful evocation of warrior moustache force.
'It was another age'. Also this week, our composer sent through 'Fiaker at the Centrale', our 'lost glories of Vienna' track, and it made us both proper tear up. AK's art direction for the track reads: "The lost glories of old Vienna and central Europe. The women en route to the balls in their finery; the candles lit in the windows across the Empire to commemorate Franz Josef's coronation; Zweig on a park bench somewhere with a notebook. All gone but all remembered." I absolutely love the soundtrack we've ended up with - I'll write a blog post all about it soon! - and this idea of lost glories, of change, of life going on amid the the rubble, all play central parts in Travelling's general vibe. Soon you too can cry to the clarinet of a broken world.
Bronek doesn't cry, though. He just puts on his Cassandro mask and robe and gets on with things.
Speaking of getting on with things, Arun Peel is one of our most Long-running (ha ha) characters. First met as the author of the Victory of Crowns in Cultist Simulator, you can invite him to tea in BOOK OF HOURS and finally get to actually hang out with him in Travelling At Night. This is because he is inexplicably charismatic despite his apparent attributes of (a) snakes (b) bloodied goo. So here's today's snippet, from an early conversation with the man:
AK notes, of aniline ink: I was delighted to learn that the purple ink widely used for travel documents in our period is almost exactly Knock-coloured. And of 'the strega': Rosa Mundi employees avoid referring to the management by name, for a reason that will become apparent a few cities in.
Arun's character in performances is Metaphraste, the 'decadent doctor' archetype from the commedia, which is appropriate as Arun is a) ancient and knowledgeable b) in need of constant medical attention himself c) quite happy to sell you drugs from his circus tent. Good drugs, that is, before our age rating shoots up massively high in South Korea! So here he is in-costume, looking dashing as ever:
That's all for now! AK will be finishing up the scripting for the major plot skeleton this week, and has some pretty ingenious ideas about how to branch the endings satisfyingly while not locking you out of things you might regret later. More art, animation, music, lore and more coming soon. I can't wait to get this game into your hands.