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Ambition: Bag a Legend!
On long evenings at the Medusa's Head, where the monster-hunters drink, they brag about the beasts they've bagged…
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Storylets for this Ambition first appear Watchmaker's Hill but eventually are found all over Fallen London. Your Dangerous and Watchful qualities are most important for this Ambition. |
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And so it begins…
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
On long evenings at the Medusa's Head, where the monster-hunters drink, they brag about the beasts they've bagged - the Cantigaster, the Eater-of-Chains, the Spider Council, Jack-of-Smiles in his many bodies. But no-one tells stories about the Vake: the Vake, for whose head the Department offers a standing reward of four million Echoes. Four million.
Unlocks: Dangerous 6
Find out more about the Vake
This is an Ambition: a major storyline with enormous rewards if you reach the end. Once you've picked an Ambition, it is very hard to change it. Choose carefully!
Your Dangerous and Watchful qualities are most important for this Ambition.
Boldly done! You have chosen an Ambition!
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
You have chosen…boldly…
What is the Vake?
They say it's not a monster at all. It's a man who dresses up as a bat. To, ah, prowl the city by night. But that would just be stupid.
Sidebar text.
Ambition - Bag a Legend! [Continue 1]
You need to know more about the Vake to have any chance of finding it. But everyone at the Medusa's Head is mumbling and staring into their beer.
Unlocks: Ambition: Bag a Legend! 1
Demand answers
'Sit down and shut up, you silly young pup.' A Drunken Hunter is threatening to teach you a lesson unless you stop asking questions about the Vake. You'll have to show him the error of his ways!
(Dangerous challenge; modest at 11, straightforward at 15)
Ambition: Bag a Legend increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! [Continue 2]
Deep in Bugsby's Marshes lives the last man alive to see the Vake and talk about it. You'll never find your way there unguided.
Unlocks: Ambition: Bag a Legend 2
Option 1: Pay your way through the marshes
A Taciturn Lighterman is prepared to teach you the route through the marshes to the Scarred Naturalist's home - for the right price.
Unlocks: Rostygold x 20
Lose: Rostygold x 20
Gain: Way Through The Marshes x 1
Bag a Legend! [3]
You squish cautiously through the low-key fungal hell of Bugsby's Marshes. You skirt the poisonous spore pits, sorrow-spider hatching grounds and deep sinkholes marked on your map - and an area marked simply YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
Unlocks: Ambition: Bag a Legend! 2, The Way Through the Marshes 1
This map isn't easy to follow
The only light you have is a flickering oil lantern, and the faint glow of the faux-stars in the Neath's roof high above.
Modest: Watchful ?
Straightforward: Watchful ?
Ambition: Bag a Legend increases
Watchful increase
Bag a Legend! [4]
At the house of the Scarred Naturalist, you warm your cold hands with a cup of horrifyingly bitter coffee, and try to talk about the Vake. The Naturalist seems disappointed when you explain how little you know.
Unlocks: Ambition: Bag a Legend! 3
Question the Scarred Naturalist
He will confirm that it's 'sort of leathery'. He is vague about whether it has the power of flight. He does mention in passing that it's been on or under the Earth for nearly four thousand years. He requires some assistance before he'll tell you anything else.
Unlocks: Rat on a String 90
Straightforward:
Lose: Rat on a String x 90
Gain: Scarred Naturalist's Conservatory Key x 1
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
Recapture the escaped sorrow-spider in the Scarred Naturalist's conservatory.
[Unlocked with 1 x Scarred Naturalist's Conservatory Key]
[Unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 3]
Catch it!
The horrid thing scuttles across the glass roof with astonishing speed, the hairs on its legs rasping at the panes.
_ challenge
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 4
Dangerous increase
Lose: 1 x Scarred Naturalist's Conservatory Key
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
The Scarred Naturalist needs some materials for a Vake-lure.
[Unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 4]
Bring the Shrieks to the Scarred Naturalist
He needs primordial shrieks. 'As many as you can: I'll want to pick out the best.' He's not clear about what makes one primordial shriek better than the next.
[Unlocked with 20 x Primordial Shriek]
Gain: 1 x Deafening Hat
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 7
Bag a Legend! [7]
A Wild Mandrake is the next component in the lure to catch the Vake. You'll need some help to flush it out of Bugsby's Marshes.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 7, Deafening Hat x 1
Assemble your beaters
You'll need to train, and recruit friends as beaters to help you.
[You can acquire the Hard-Earned Lessons you need by inviting other players to a Sparring Bout at your Lodgings, or through some Opportunity cards.]
Unlocks: Hard-Earned Lesson x 4 (Surprise Attacks Plans will not do).
Gain: 1 x Mandrake-Hunting Plan
Lose: 4 x Hard-Earned Lesson
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 8
Hire people
Actual text lost
Unlocks: 50 x Rostygold
Gain: 1 x Mandrake-Hunting Plan
Lose: 50 x Rostygold
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 8
Bag a Legend! [8]
You're ready to hunt the Wild Mandrake that you need for the Vake-lure.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 8, Deafening Hat x 1
Begin the hunt!
There's nowhere to hide. Besides the mud. And the river. And the clusters of bloated fungus. the endless wastes of tussocky underground grasses. But apart from that -
Unlocks: Dangerous ?? (Modest at 26)
Dangerous increase
Gain: 1 x Jar Full of Mandrake
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 5
Bag a Legend! [9]
You've brought the Jar Full of Mandrake back to the Scarred Naturalist. He needs wine to tame it. 'A good vintage! None of your vinegar.'
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 9/5, Jar Full of Mandrake x 1
Provide the wine the Naturalist needs
Apparently a drunk mandrake is more biddable than a sober one.
Unlocks: Greyfields 1882 x 200
The beast is tame! Ish.
The Naturalist seals the jar with wax, then bores a careful hole through the lid…
Note: the Half-Wild Mandrake is a useful combat pet.
Lose: 100 x Greyfields 1882
Lose: 1 x Jar Full of Mandrake
Gain: Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 10
Bag a Legend! [10]
You have the Mandrake for the Vake-lure. 'Now,' says the Scarred Naturalist. 'We'll need to teach it to sing.'
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 10, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Find a Singing Teacher for your Half-Wild Mandrake
There aren't many in Watchmaker's Hill. You'll need to look elsewhere.
You set off, looking for a Singing Teacher
The Naturalist shakes your hand and bids you good luck. 'Remember,' he says, 'Don't take any nonsense from the thing. Don't let it out of your sight. And be sure to pay the Singing Teacher in honey. It's a tradition.'
was Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 10
now Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 6!
Bag a Legend! [11]
You need to find a Singing Teacher. Perhaps there's one in Veilgarden. There's certainly a great deal of singing.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 11/6, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Look for a Singing Teacher in Veilgarden
There are plenty of notices about singing lessons, although on closer examination many of them seem to be advertising a slightly more personal service. But most seem less than keen to teach a demonic vegetable.
unlocked with Watchful 20
So much for the 'Singing Mandrake'
You have satisfied yourself that there are no Singing Teachers in Veilgarden who are prepared to teach a mandrake. You almost think the poor thing looks disappointed. You stroke its greens and ponder your next move. Perhaps you should look somewhere rougher.
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 12
Bag a Legend! [12]
You need to find a Singing Teacher. Perhaps there's one in Spite. There are music-halls here, after all. The singers there can't be too fussy. Can they?
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 6, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1 (Note that you do not need to do the Veilgarden event to do this)
Search for a Singing Teacher in Spite
Find someone who's prepared to tutor your Half-Wild Mandrake.
unlocked with Watchful 20
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 7
Bag a Legend! [13]
You've found a Sardonic Music-Hall Singer to teach your Half-Wild Mandrake. To sing. If the Scarred Naturalist is having you on, you'll drown him in his own marsh.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 7, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Find the tuition fees to fund your Half-Wild Mandrake's musical education.
'Pay them in honey,' the Naturalist said. 'It's traditional.' It might be traditional. It's also expensive.
Unlocks: Drop of Prisoner's Honey x 400
Lose: 400 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 8
Bag a Legend! [14]
Your Half-Wild Mandrake is, rather to your surprise, learning to sing. It has a piping but powerful voice, like a chaffinch crossed with a bear. Unfortunately, its singing has attracted attention.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 8, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Option 1: A gang of youthful ruffians has taken to gathering under the window, singing along with the Mandrake
Inevitably it becomes over-excited and turns to struggling, howling and biting the high-chair where it's strapped. You'll have to deal with them.
Unlocks: Dangerous 30
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 9!
Bag a Legend! [15]
Your Half-Wild Mandrake's education has been proceeding smoothly. But now it seems unwell. The fire has gone from its eyes, and its voice is warbling and weak.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 9, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Find the source of the problem
Can mandrakes become ill? Has it been poisoned?
unlocked with Watchful 30
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 10
Bag a Legend! [16]
Last time you came to the marshes, you were looking for a mandrake. Now you're looking for mud.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 10, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Find mud of suitable quality
Your Mandrake, it seems, is picky about its mud. You'll have to find mud from near where you found it. Fortunately, you recall a few landmarks. Unfortunately, the place is hip-deep in monsters.
Unlocked with Dangerous 35
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 11
Bag a Legend! [17]
Your Half-Wild Mandrake's education is almost complete. And now that it sleeps in a bucket of evil-smelling marsh-mud in the corner of your rooms, it seems healthier. But there's another problem.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 11, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
The Mandrake is growing wilder again, becoming hard to control.
What's causing it to become so unco-operative? This morning it chewed through its box and interrupted your breakfast by attacking the table. You need to find a solution before it becomes dangerous.
Unlocked with Watchful 35
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 12
Bag a Legend! [18]
Your Half-Wild Mandrake's education is complete. Time to be on your way. But what about the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer?
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 1, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Option 1: Thank the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer brusquely
She did her job. And you've already paid her.
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 13!
Option 2: Offer the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer a token of your appreciation
She's worked hard on this. And you suspect she's even grown fond of the little horror.
Unlocks: Modish Bonnet
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 13!
Option 3: Invite the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer out for an evening's dancing
Perhaps you've come to enjoy her company in all those afternoons you've spent together. As a friend, or otherwise.
unlocked with Persuasive 30
Persuasive challenge, straightforward < 85
Persuasive increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 13!
You've made a friend, or at least a contact:
Acquaintance: Sardonic Music-Hall Singer.
Bag a Legend! [19]
You find the Scarred Naturalist's home in the marshes in disarray. The door has been smashed in! The Naturalist is nowhere to be seen.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 13, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Assembling a picture
There is a confusing mess of marsh-mud tracks over and around the house. Perhaps you can deduce the Scarred Naturalist's fate?
Unlocked with unlocked with Watchful 40
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 14
Bag a Legend! [20]
The Scarred Naturalist has been dragged off by an unlikely pair: a sorrow-spider and a marsh-wolf that seem to be comrades.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 14, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
A motley trio
You follow the tracks through sucking mud and past poisonous fungus-patches. When you find them, the sorrow-spider and the wolf (who appears a little too bipedal for your liking) are examining the Scarred Naturalist's body. He looks to be dead. Fangs are bared: you represent a fresher meal than the Naturalist.
unlocked with Dangerous 40
Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 52
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 15!
Bag a Legend! [21]
The Scarred Naturalist, while a little nibbled, is much revived, and very grateful. He explains the next part of the Vake Hunting plan:
'The Vake loses teeth sometimes. Sinister things! Independently mobile. You need a sandalwood club tipped with one of those teeth.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 15, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Option 1: Track down a sandalwood tree
Rumour says an aromatic tree grows in the far East of the city. A place where relics that predate even the Fourth City can be found. You'll need a little bribery money.
unlocked with Watchful 45, Rostygold 40
Watchful challenge, straightforward < 80
Gain: Sandalwood Club x 1
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 22
Option 2: Persuasion of another stripe
A Notorious Headbreaker among the neddy men has a sandalwood cudgel that was used a century ago to hunt the Vake, albeit unsuccessfully. You could persuade him to part with it. By stabbing him, for example.
unlocked with Dangerous 45
Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 57
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 16!
1 x Sandalwood Club
Buy enough sandalwood from a Gossipy Perfumier
Sandalwood is expensive in this sort of quantity. However, if your pockets are full this might be the easiest way.
This choice is locked for now.
unlocked with 8 x Incendiary Gossip
Bag a Legend! [22]
Now that you have a sandalwood cudgel, you need a tooth of the Vake to hammer into it. But where to get one?
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 16, Sandalwood Club x 1
And now… teeth!
The Scarred Naturalist cannot help you here. Where would such a strange thing be found?
unlocked with Watchful 45
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 17
Bag a Legend! [24]
[Location: The Shuttered Palace]
You make your way to the Shuttered Palace in search of the Junior Minister. You are instructed to take the long, winding corridors in a mostly abandoned wing to find his office.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 17
Ambushed!
You make your way through the gloomy, claustrophobic halls of the Palace, only to be ambushed. This fellow is of the trading classes (how did he get in here?) but wishes to hunt the Vake as you do. He's after your cudgel!
Unlocked with Dangerous 57
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 18!
[[/div]]
Bag a Legend! [19(?)]
[Location: Shuttered Palace]
A Junior Minister collects strange and macabre items. He might be able to help you find a Vake-tooth.
Unlocks: Ambition: Bag a Legend! 18, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
The warrior of the card table
The Junior Minister will help you. However, a card game against the palace functionaries is imminent. He wants a large stake to 'give those dusty old fellows a drubbing to remember'.
Unlocks: Deep Amber 500
Lose: Deep Amber x 500
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 19
Bag a Legend! [25]
[Location: Shuttered Palace]
New Newgate Prison, eh? It can't be difficult to return there, if one is of a mind.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 19
Clout a functionary
An episode of gratuitous thuggery would be a fast and reliable route to New Newgate Prison. If that's what you want.
Bag a Legend! [26]
[Location: New Newgate Prison — Again!]
You have returned to New Newgate, tracking a Vake-tooth.
Unlocks: Bag a Legend! 19
Tracking the tooth
There are all manner of intriguing and disreputable characters here. One of them must know something.
Unlocks: Watchful 50
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 20
Bag a Legend! [27]
[Location: New Newgate Prison — Again!]
The Snuffer - whatever it is - has the tooth of the Vake you need. It lurks in the forgotten corners of the prison.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 20
The brave prisoner
A hunter of your reputation could contact the warden and volunteer to slay the beast. You'll need some candles as bait, though, and they are in short supply here.
Unlocks: Foxfire Candles x 20
Gain: Vake Tooth x 1
Dangerous increase
Lose: 20 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 21
Wounds increase
Bag a Legend! [28]
[Location: All on the map (including new locations eg the Labyrinth of Tigers]
Now that you are back in the city, everywhere you go you hear tales of the Vake. The newspapers are full of sightings. What has happened?
Unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 21, Half-Wild Mandrake x 1
Spread some money around and find out
The newspaper stories are contradictory and sensational. You will have to spread some jade about to discover the truth.
unlocked with Jade Fragment 300
Gain: Black Wings Absinthe x 1
Lose: 300 x Jade Fragment
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 22!
Bag a Legend! [29]
[Location: Watchmaker’s Hill]
You return to the Scarred Naturalist, who is pleased with your progress.
**unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 22*
Make the Vake-killing club
You have the perfumed sandalwood club and the squirming tooth of the Vake. Hammering one into the other should be a simple matter. Shouldn't it?
unlocked with Dangerous 55
Dangerous challenge
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 23!
Gain: Vake-Killing Club x1
Lose: 1 x Vake-tooth
Lose: 1 x Sandalwood Club
Wounds increase
Bag a Legend! [30]
[Location: Watchmaker’s Hill]
Many days have passed, with no word from the Scarred Naturalist of Watchmaker's Hill. What has become of the man who promised to help you defeat the Vake?
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 23
A Note from the Naturalist
On a dank and smoggy evening, a month to the day after you hammered a Vake’s tooth into a sandalwood club, the note arrives. It bears your name in the Scarred Naturalist's cramped copperplate. You tear it open…
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 24!
Bag a Legend
[Location: Veilgarden]
Procure Black Wings Absinthe
Thyrsus Wines is one of the few shops in London that sells Black Wings Absinthe…
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 24
It's an elegant little emporium, nestled incongruously in the stink and screams of the Rendering Yards, south of Veilgarden.
Option 1: A bottle of your finest Absinthe!
The Portly Sommelier behind the counter will part with a bottle of Black Wings Absinthe for some less alarming tipples.
unlocked with Greyfields 1882 250
Option 2: Steal a bottle
The Portly Sommelier has a weakness for his own stock, and he is usually pretty well oiled by lunchtime. A skilled thief should have little trouble liberating a bottle of absinthe as he snoozes.
unlocked with Shadowy 57
Shadowy challenge, straightforward < 81
Almost too easy
You wait until the Sommelier's eyelids begin to droop and nip behind the counter. The absinthe is nestled between the chanterelle champagnes and an unpleasant Germanic liqueur flavoured with what look like flecks of lead. You slip it neatly up your sleeve and depart.
Shadowy increase
1 x Black Wings Absinthe
Bag a Legend! [31]
[Location: Watchmaker’s Hill]
Once again you trudge the long and squelchy path to the Scarred Naturalist. He shoos you inside. In the greenish light of a marsh gas lantern, his face is a gruesome fresco of scar tissue. "You have it?" he whispers, "Excellent, we must begin at once!"
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 24, Black Wings Absinthe 1
A toast to the Vake
"Fascinating stuff. Each bottle, I'm told, contains a single drop of Vake blood. You must concentrate. Focus all your attention on the Vake, or you will simply wake up in a ditch at the centre of some difficult stories. Drink up!"
unlocked with Watchful 57
Watchful challenge
Dreams of the Vake
You drain the shot of absinthe in one gulp and pour another. Mmm. It is moreish stuff, fragrant on the nose, with a coppery undertone. You reach for a third shot, but the bottle slips from your hand. The cottage walls swell and explode into oily black fragments. You tumble howling into the abyss…
night cool up here in the stalactites crumbling city below fold wings drop wind whips !glorious speed! there black speck among the tumbledown temples !prey! swoop silent to street level sandstorm in my wake closer jaws wide teeth primed she turns too late fall and feast and drink her down…
You wake the next evening in a spare bedroom of the Naturalist's cottage, quite clear-headed. The flavour of your dream lingers - a strange mix of hunger and barely suppressed amusement. You have a thousand questions, but the Scarred Naturalist is nowhere to be found. As you let yourself out, you catch a sound from high above, like the snapping of a yacht's sail. It is gone almost before you hear it.
Rewards :
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 25!
Watchful increase
A twist in your tale! You are now
Hearing Things...or are you? Storylet unlocked
[[/div]]
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
[Location: Watchmaker’s Hill]
Somebody is following you…
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 25
…A woman. You catch a flash of black robe in the corner of your eye, and a glimpse of some kind of spiky wimple. A nun?
Confront her!
Nun or no, she will regret tangling with a hunter of your stature.
unlocked with Dangerous 69
Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 74
Kicking the habit
You manoeuvre the robed figure into a quiet back alley and draw your weapon. Beneath the wimple she's a mere slip of a girl. You feel bad about intimidating her, but answers are required…
A many-lobed metal missile whizzes past your ear and lodges in the brickwork. She feints with astonishing speed and is somehow behind you. She leaps, twirls and kicks in one motion. You dodge the blow - just - and launch a foot into her stomach. It clangs painfully off steel. What on earth? Is there armour beneath that habit?
She backs away, fiery eyed, twirling a spiked rosary. Her head-dress has come loose, spilling a raven's wing of hair across her forehead. she really is remarkably pretty - if you have eyes for that sort of thing - but in any case perhaps this isn't the time.
"Why are you following me?" you say, keeping well clear of that glinting rosary. "Clodhopping fool!" she replies. "Know this: you have been judged by the Sisterhood. You are not worthy to face the Beast!"
And with that, she shimmies up a drainpipe in a most unclerical manner and is gone, leaving you bewildered. A sisterhood of armoured nuns protecting the Vake? The Scarred Naturalist never mentioned that. What else has he not told you? Return to Watchmaker's Hill and confront him.
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 26!
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
Enough is enough…Your beautiful Vake-killing club is gathering dust, your mandrake sits in the pantry looking sulky, you are under constant attack from what can only be described as armoured nuns, and worst of all, you are still nowhere near that elusive four million Echo reward. Go back to the Naturalist and demand answers.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 26, The Way Through the Marshes 1
Search the house
The cottage in the marshes lies empty and silent. Bracket fungus has grown over the windows, and the rooms are choked with creepers. There is no sign of your mysterious mentor.
unlocked with Watchful 64
Watchful challenge, straightforward < 81
The Creeping Unknown
You turn the house upside down, cursing furiously. No Naturalist, no maidservant, no vivarium, no letters, no bloodstains, not even a stray sock… but something is not right. It nags at you like a forgotten tune. What did you see?
It takes an hour of frenzied pacing and furniture thumping to get it. The creepers. They festoon every room. There is more than a year's growth here, but you were last in this house only a few weeks ago.
You examine the foliage more closely. Barbed leaves, dark red stems, a faint scent of camphor. You've seen this stuff before, but where? More pacing, a therapeutic thrashing of a guiltless chaise longue, and finally you have it. Apiales cruentus, also known as Bloody Ivy. It is as tough as oak and grows a yard a day. It's said that certain psychotic criminals stake their victims out on beds of apiales and taunt them with a watering can.
The ivy is not native to Watchmaker's Hill. In fact, there is only one place in Fallen London where the Naturalist could harvest it. The Botanical Reserve in Tyrant's Gardens, the perfumed heart of Ladybones Road. Of course. Where else would a Naturalist hide?
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 27!
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
You have tracked the Scarred Naturalist to the Botanical Reserve in Tyrant's Gardens…
[location: Ladybones Road]
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 27
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
You have tracked the Scarred Naturalist to the Botanical Reserve in Tyrant's Gardens. You can see the devious fellow silhouetted in the topmost greenhouse tower.
unlocked with Dangerous 69
Dangerous challenge, low risk at 79 & 80
The Betrayal
You leap up the steps, dodging, feinting, ducking and slashing. Questing stems fall beneath your knife, gnarled vines lash at your ankles, but you simply tear them out by the roots. A Daisy Chain rips the skin from your back, and halfway up the steps a weeping nettle lands a stinging slap across your neck, but nothing can slow your momentum and at last the gauntlet is run. Panting and shaking, trying to ignore the pain, you creep up to the window and peek in…
The Scarred Naturalist has company. He sits at a wrought-iron table with a red-haired, impressively moustachioed man. It takes a moment for you to place him. Of course - the fool who ambushed you at the Shuttered Palace, the other Vake hunter! He still bears the marks of your last encounter.
"And the Sisterhood?" says Moustache.
"Nothing to worry about." The Naturalist smiles unpleasantly. "They are too busy chasing your rival to see the real danger. You must journey north to the Prickfinger Wastes. The Sisters have hidden something… rather valuable there. You have been more than patient with me, Von Schadlinge. Trust me when I tell you that this is the final piece of the puzzle."
You reel back from the window. Betrayed! Your heart thumps. Your vision blurs. With a queasy shock, you notice that your arms have sprouted ugly red lumps. This is more than shock - what's happening to you? The world tips like a ship on a high sea and you are tumbling, tumbling from the tower towards the spike-tipped bushes below…
…a refreshing interlude of oblivion…
There is a cool hand on your forehead and a bottle at your lips. "Weeping nettle poison," says a low, sweet voice. "Easily cured - lie still." Time passes. You open your eyes and find yourself alone. The lumps on your arms and the pain in your head are gone. Even the bruises from your fall have disappeared.
Slowly, the night's events creep back to you. The Scarred Naturalist, in league with a rival hunter. The man with the moustache. Prickfinger Wastes. The last piece of the puzzle.
Dangerous increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 28!
Wounds decrease
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
The answers you seek lie deep in the Prickfinger Wastes…
[Location: Any]
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 28
Whoever came up with that name had a sour sense of humour. A labyrinth of rock and crystal, the Wastes are deadly to anyone but the most sure-footed. Some ancient geological effect has fashioned every stalagmite into a razor edge. Many a foolish prospector has ventured here, lured by tales of precious gems as commonplace as pebbles on a beach. They return - if they return at all - with their skin in ribbons and no treasure but a handful of worthless geodes.
Into The Wastes
Blood loss is the greatest threat out here. Brush one stalagmite too many and you'll bleed out long before you make it back to safety. It's dark in the Wastes, beyond the brightly coloured lamps of Mrs Plenty's Carnival. Watch your step.
unlocked with Watchful 71, Foxfire Candle Stub 100
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 83
Requiem for a moustache
You knew the Wastes were deadly, but you never realised that they were beautiful. Giant crystal trees, intricate as snowflakes, gleam in the light of your lantern. Geodes sparkle underfoot.
It is a glorious sight, but you force you eyes downwards and concentrate on placing your feet, one pace at a time. And it is by doing so that you discover a tiny blood trail.
It leads deep into the Wastes, through a treacherous undergrowth of sharpened rock and hanging crystal copses, down a jagged ravine and finally into a clearing. Von Schadlinge, the rival Vake hunter, is here. He's dead. If there were degrees of deadness one could safely say that he has achieved the deadmost. His whole body is ploughed with gouges - the work, presumably, of the Vake. An unpleasant detail: his top lip, complete with that luxurious moustache, has been neatly snipped away. A trophy perhaps?
In the corpse's outstretched hand you find a crystal bottle, no larger than a thumb. The label, penned in tiny copperplate, reads "Black Wings Absinthe Nouveau, 1890." The liquid within is not ebony but purest red.
[You should return to your lodgings to continue this Ambition.]
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 29!
lose 100 x Foxfire Candle Stub
1 x Black Wings Absinthe Nouveau
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
The Vake is almost within your grasp…
The tiny bottle that you took from Prickfinger Wastes sits in the palm of your hand. You turn it over and over, preoccupied with a trio of questions: What dreams will it bring? Do you have the strength to face them? And what will it actually taste like?
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 29
Drink and be damned
Remember, the last person to take a swig from this bottle ended up dead and missing important parts of his face.
Warning! Once you drink, there is no going back. Be sure you are prepared to take a leave of absence from the Fifth City: and to face the Vake.
unlocked with Hearing Things…or are you? 4, Dangerous 76
Into the abyss
You let a single drop fall from the bottle onto your tongue. It is a pleasure far beyond the grasp of a sommelier's similes. The liquid is so fiercely alcoholic that it evaporates before it can be swallowed. You catch a scent of honeysuckle and fresh grass, a poignant flash of sunlit countryside from many years ago. You close your eyes and dream of..
Running. Running through the city heading east, towards the Carnival. You sprint past St Fiacre's and down the shuttered slums of Blythenhale, through the filthy warren that is Spite. The streets are deserted. Gas lamps flicker and extinguish as you pass. The lights are going out all over Fallen London.
The Carnival is up ahead now, silent and deserted. You see your destination: The Big Wheel, like an iron cobweb stitched across the sky. You leap, impossibly high, arcing into the abyss beneath the wheel and tumbling down, past the gaudy painted devils, past the gondolas hung slack upon their pulleys, past the fossils in the earth, down into the very entrails of the world where nothing can survive except the blind and monstrous.
You thump into a heap of something soft. Awake now, definitely. Impossible to tell if you are hurt. There is no light here, none at all.
"Ah, there you are," says a familiar voice.
You've moved to a new area: The Abyssal Depths
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 30!
Hearing Things…or are you?** increase
continued in the The Abyssal Depths
then in Lodgings:
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
[Location: Lodgings]
You survived - barely - your encounter with the Vake and its henchman the Naturalist…What happened in the Abyssal Depths was a harsh lesson. Perhaps you need to take a step back to catch your breath.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 32
Rest and recuperate
You need to approach this problem from another angle. Think about it while you gather your strength. You deserve a little rest.
Just who are the Sisterhood?
Now you know that these curiously talented nuns are not in league with the Vake, the obvious thing to do is follow up their Mother Superior's offer of help. Even though she called you an idiot. The only problem is, you know almost nothing about them. Well, they're a religious order. Perhaps you could begin your research in the churches of Spite.
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Bag a Legend!' Quality is now 33!
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - the Churches of Spite
[Location: Spite]
You may be already be familiar with the Melancholy Curate who's been seen at St Dunstan's…Anyway, the Church seems like a good place to start asking questions about mysterious nuns.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 33
Option 1: Make use of your connections
If you are well thought of in clerical circles, the Curate will feel obliged to help you.
unlocked with Connected: The Church 20, Watchful 83
Connected: The Church challenge, straightforward < 119
A history lesson
The Melancholy Curate eyes you, but if he remembers you, he keeps it to himself. He bows, and says, 'For such a good friend of the Bishop, anything…'
He hints that your questions are distasteful, but begins an earnest diatribe about the disparity between the clerical and monastic traditions in the Neath. The upshot of which is, each kind of holy order deeply mistrusts the other, and the Church can't actually offer you any useful information at all.
That night, you dream of laying your head on rough wood, the smell of stale beer in your nostrils. This all began in the Medusa's Head in Watchmaker's Hill, where Vake hunters gather. Maybe there are more answers there.
You succeeded in a Connected: The Church challenge!
Connected: The Church decrease (approx 200 points)
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 34!
Option 2: Make a small donation
The modern Church is a pragmatic organisation. A sufficient gift of candles will help the Curate overcome any moral qualms he might have about helping you.
unlocked with 1000 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Return to the Medusa's Head
[Location: Watchmaker's Hill]
Go back to where it all began…The Medusa's Head. Smile a rueful smile at how much water has flowed under the bridge since you began your hunt, adopt a disguise, and settle down for some eavesdropping.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 34
Buy a round or two
They're a wary bunch, the little gang of hunters drinking in the snug. Silence falls as you enter. Eyes watch you over the tops of tankards. You'll need to keep the porter flowing if you want their tongues to loosen.
unlocked with 500 x Pennies, 8 x Morelways 1872
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 100
Strong stuff
You buy a round. Then another, and another. They think they're taking advantage of the outsider, but they're getting more indiscreet with each sip. Still, it's a while before anyone mentions the Vake. And all you can glean about the Sisterhood is a whisper of a convent 'far to the south, guarded by dread zee monsters, from which no man has ever returned alive!' The nuns are rumoured to be protected by one of the Masters, too.
Later that night, you dream of close confinement in a creaking wooden box. You wake, gasping, with the realisation that the university library is the next place you should try.
Watchful increase
lose 100 x Glim
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 35!
Nightmares increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Stacks at Midnight
[location: the University]
The University library…If anything qualifies as an arcane and specialised area of knowledge, surely it would be an order of lethal, gorgeous, Vake-defying nuns who carry highly specialised weaponry secreted about their habits.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 35
Academic research
This is midnight work. Sneak in late one night, when the darkness in the stacks is black as undertakers' ink. Take candles. Don't set fire to anything.
unlocked with Watchful 93, Foxfire Candle Stub 20
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 105
Secrets in the stacks
You make for the shelf dedicated to exotic weapons. After all, there are many religious orders but few spiked rosaries. The shelf is in one of the restricted areas, far from the spacious reading rooms and deep in the dusty stacks. You sidestep a cat's cradle arrangement of string - a crude booby trap - and start to browse. Just as you grasp a promising book, you hear an ominous creaking sound… and realise that the first trap was just a decoy. Books begin to tumble from the highest shelves! You just make it out of the stacks in time and head back to the safety of your lodgings with your prize.
Watchful increase
lose 20 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 36!
40 x Proscribed Material
Ambition: Bag a Legend!
Pour yourself a well-deserved drink and curl up with the book you purloined from the University library…
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 36
Discover more about the Sisterhood
You may wish to take notes.
A ripping yarn
The book you found presents itself as a learned history of esoteric weaponry, but it reads more like an anthology of swashbuckling tall tales. The section on the spiked rosary is a good example.
'Our knowledge of this weapon is drawn from the memoirs of Sir Arthur Quicksilver. Exploring the distant islands of the Southern Archipelago, he chanced upon a hidden convent, perched high on a cliff above a silver lake, and disguised by a waterfall. He managed to gain the trust of the Sisterhood of nuns that lived there; he describes their legendary prowess with weapons, the art of which is, to them, the expression of true devotion.'
On it goes. It's an absorbing yarn, but there's no information about the Vake at all. In fact, you only learn one immediately useful fact. A crypt in Veilgarden that houses a plaque that is said to commemorate one of the bravest fighters of the order. She is now barely stuck together with bandages in a tomb-colony somewhere. It's not much, but it's all you've got, so it's worth following up.
Later, you dream of being huddled up, tucked into a rocky niche. Hot eyes glow in the night. No face, just eyes and teeth somewhere out in the darkness
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 37!
Nightmares increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - a forgotten shrine?
[Location: Veilgarden]
Perhaps the tiny, underground Church of St. Vincent of Saragossa holds a clue to the answers you seek.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 37
Option 1: Gain access to the crypt by bribery
The church is disused and dilapidated now, but the ancient wooden door remains solid. The rector's wife has the key, though. They say she's a keen collector of Second City antiquaria.
unlocked with 100 x Relic of the Second City
'The bravest and noblest of her Order…'
You tiptoe through the rotting, mildewed church, and find the door to the crypt. The steps are slimy with lichen, and the crypt, when you reach it, is little more than a damp, dark hole in the ground. A bat flies at you as you enter, and you nearly drop your lantern.
You find the plaque. By flickering lamplight, you read the simple dedication to a nun whose outstanding bravery in battle saved many of her Sisterhood. Is that it? You brush away some of the moss at the bottom of the stone. There, you can just make out a shape. The outline of what looks like… is that a bat's wing? It looks familiar. Did you see it in a book, or on a label, perhaps?
It is good to get out of the church. Your generosity means the rector's wife is pleased to show you the entry for the plaque in the church register. There, under the heading 'donated by the generosity of' is a signature reading 'Mr Wines'.
So the rumours that said a Master of the Bazaar was interested in the Sisterhood were true. But arranging an interview on the subject with Mr Wines will be a challenge…
Later, you dream of confinement again, but this time, silk sheets are wound about you. You are breathing a heady, spiced perfume, intoxicated and weak.
Watchful is increasing…
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 38!
Lose: 100 x Relic of the Second City
Option 2: Break into the crypt under cover of darkness
There must be other ways into the building. Try going round the back. Through the little graveyard. Where all the shadows are.
unlocked with Dangerous 93
Dangerous challenge, High Risk at 97
'The bravest and noblest of her Order…'
You find a way in through a broken window and narrowly avoid the bite of the spider whose web stretches across it. You tiptoe through the rotting, mildewed church, and find the door to the crypt. The steps are slimy with lichen, and the crypt, when you reach it, little more than a damp, dark hole in the ground. A bat flaps at you as you enter, and you nearly drop your lantern.
You find the plaque. By flickering lamplight, you read the simple dedication to a nun whose outstanding bravery in battle saved many of her Sisterhood. Is that it? You brush away some of the moss at the bottom of the stone. There, you can just make out a shape. The outline of what looks like… is that a bat's wing? It looks familiar. Did you see it in a book, or on a label, perhaps?
It is good to get out of the church. Your generosity means the rector's wife is pleased to show you the entry for the plaque in the church register. There, under the heading 'donated by the generosity of' is a signature reading 'Mr Wines'.
So the rumours that said a Master of the Bazaar was interested in the Sisterhood were true. Arranging an interview about this is going to be a challenge…
Later, you dream of confinement again, but this time, silk sheets are wound about you. You are breathing a heady, spiced perfume that leaves you intoxicated and weak.
[You have reached a content boundary! Bag a Legend will be continued very soon, in Veilgarden.
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 38!
Dangerous increase
Watchful increase
Subtle security
You sneak through the cemetery, guarding your lantern carefully. You find a broken window, and climb through. You are just congratulating yourself on avoiding the shards of glass that line the opening like teeth… when you feel a hot flash of pain in your hand. When there are venomous, irritable spiders building webs across a window, the glass is redundant as a security measure. You beat a retreat to nurse your wound.
Dangerous increase
Wounds* increase (3 change points)
SUB Ambition
Prematurely released April 2011, It was been rounded up and re-corralled and then re-released on or about the 8th of May. This either continues to Ambition or is a side plot to it. More exploration is necessary.
SUB Ambition: Bag a Legend! - What is Mr Wines' involvement?
So Mr Wines has an interest in this Sisterhood…
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 38
Getting an audience with it is likely to prove difficult, though. But it does have a butler…
Option 1: Enquire at the Parlour of Virtue
Perhaps you have the right sort of connections.
Unlocked with occasionally seen at Mr Wines' Revels 1, Connected: Bohemian 20
Drugged!
You are waved through to one of the Parlour's reception rooms. This one has a green theme; jade silks and mint satins, green teas and absinthe on the sideboard. You settle down to wait with a glass of crème de menthe. Suddenly, something soft is clamped across your face. Chloroform! Everything fades to black.
You feel the presence of leathery wings. Hot breath tickles your ear. The world is red and black and red again. And it's shaking and rattling…
You drag yourself to consciousness. It's a slow process. You appear to be tied to a chair, sitting in a pool of warm yellow light. You can just make out stripes on the walls - curtains? wallpaper? - but nothing more. A dapper man in a dark suit is regarding you thoughtfully. 'I am Jervaise,' he says. 'I believe you have been asking questions about my employer. A certain… Master of the Bazaar? Ordinarily, we don't bother so much with you Vake-hunters, but that rosary of yours raised a red flag. it's my job to… assess these situations.' He tips his head to one side and puts a white gloved finger to his chin. 'But I think on this occasion we can let you go. You're no danger to anyone, are you?'
Jervaise unties the ropes and helps you up. You're still dizzy from the chloroform, and the ground seems to tilt as you walk. Jervaise lifts one of the striped curtains and ushers you through, and you realise it's actually a tent flap. The noise and lights and smells of the Carnival hit you with a wallop. Jervaise shakes your hand. It's only after he's melted into the shadows that you realise he's slipped you a piece of paper, folded into a tight and tiny square.
You've moved to a new area:
Mrs Plenty's Carnival
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 39!
Gain: 60 x Cryptic Clue
Connected: Bohemian decrease
Option 2: Enquire at the Singing Mandrake
Flash your spiked rosary discreetly and tip the barman generously.
Unlocked with 500 x Moon-pearl
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 125, almost impossible at 110)
Drugged!
The barman pushes a drink at you and tells you to 'sit tight for a bit'. So you wait, drawing shapes in spilt beer on the worn wooden bar. Suddenly, something soft is clamped across your face. Chloroform! Your mind fades to black.
You feel the presence of leathery wings. Hot breath tickles your ear. The world is red and black and red again. And it's shaking and rattling…
You drag yourself to consciousness. It's a slow process. You appear to be tied to a chair, sitting in a pool of warm yellow light. You can just make out stripes on the walls - curtains? wallpaper? And two lumpen shapes that can only be Clay henchmen stand on either side of you. A dapper man in a dark suit is regarding you thoughtfully. 'I am Jervaise,' he says. 'I believe you have been asking questions about my employer. A certain… Master of the Bazaar? Ordinarily, we don't bother so much with you Vake-hunters, but that rosary of yours raised a red flag. it's my job to… assess these situations.' He tips his head to one side and puts a white gloved finger to his chin. 'But I think on this occasion we can let you go. You're no danger to anyone, are you?'
Jervaise unties the ropes and helps you up. You're still dizzy from the chloroform, and the ground seems to tilt as you walk. Jervaise lifts one of the striped curtains and ushers you through, and you realise it's actually a tent flap. The noise and lights and smells of the Carnival hit you with a wallop. Jervaise shakes your hand. It's only after he's melted into the shadows that you realise he's slipped you a piece of paper, folded into a tight and tiny square.
Watchful increase
You've moved to a new area:
Mrs Plenty's Carnival
Lose: 500 x Moon-pearl
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 39!
Gain: 60 x Cryptic Clue
Gain: 1 x Hard-Earned Lesson
SUB Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Find out more from Jervaise
Jervaise told you you were no threat, let you go - and then slipped you a note… What does it say?
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 39
'Meet me at the contortionists' tent at midnight.'
Apparently, Jervaise has not finished with you after all.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 132
Vested interests
You wander the Carnival for a few hours, eating toffee-puffballs and dodging pickpockets. Around midnight, you arrive at the tent advertising 'The NEATH'S most AMAZING CONTORTIONIST! More BONELESS than a RUBBERY MAN!'.
You're watching the act when you hear a discreet cough behind you. You turn - and see the Carnival's Bearded Lady. She wears a yellow and pink striped crinoline and carries a frilly parasol. Her beard is… actually, her beard is familiar. You look again. It's Jervaise.
'We can talk now,' he whispers. 'You ain't heard the whole story. Listen. Mr Wines has vested interests? It don't want to be associated with Vake-hunters. It has its reasons, don't it? But it's also authorised me to use my discretion to help them - if I think they deserve it. It's all a big game, you see?' He adjusts the ties of his bonnet. 'The wife and I have an obligation, you know? We make the best of it. Sometimes we can work around it, if you understand me. Look. I like you. I'll introduce you to the right cove if you can do something for me in return.'
He leans in closer. 'Listen, my wife has been nagging me to find cheaper fireworks for months now. But I can't speak to the Gracious Widow on account of who we work for most of the time. Conflicts of business interest, right? So if you can act as go-between for me, I'll make the, ah, introduction.' He disappears in a flounce of satin.
Fireworks, eh? You should probably talk to the Gracious Widow's people, in Spite.
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 40!
Gain: 61 x Cryptic Clue
How many can there be?
You wander the Carnival for a few hours, snacking on sugary pink moss-floss and watching people lose at the puffball-shy. Around midnight, you turn up at the tent advertising 'The MOST ACROBATIC & BIZARRE CONTORTIONISTS! For your WONDERMENT & DISGUST!'. But Jervaise doesn't show up. Still, the act is comprehensively revolting.
Watchful is increasing…
Nightmares increase
in Spite
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Talk to the Gracious Widow
Jervaise's wife, whoever she may be, wants a reliable source of cheap fireworks…He has sent you to negotiate with the Widow on his behalf. Apparently, she's the best person to talk to if you don't want to pay Mr Fires' prices…
unlocked Ambition: Bag a Legend! 40
Option 1: Favours past
The Widow is likely to remember you kindly. You helped her when she needed it… or at least you didn't get in her way.
unlocked with in search of a Stiff Drink 5
The repayment of debts
The Gracious Widow welcomes you into her home. Once again there is green tea in porcelain cups, polite small talk. Eventually, you turn the conversation to firecrackers. 'Ah, yes,' says the Gracious Widow. 'The amber powder. My first love. Peach-kernels, milled fine. Sulphur from the Iron Republic.'
You haggle for a while. Jervaise will be pleased with the arrangement you've made. Go back to the Carnival and find him.
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 41!
Option 2: A difficult history
You caused the Widow considerable misery. You'll need to make it worth her while.
unlocked with in search of a Stiff Drink 7, 1 x Comprehensive Bribe
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Fireworks at the Carnival
Jervaise has his contract for cost-price firecrackers… All you need to do now is prove the quality of the merchandise to his wife. He's asked you to bring your samples to the Hall of Mirrors. In disguise. Of course.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 41
Put on a little show
Be careful. These things are essentially miniature bombs.
Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 125
Showers of stars
You wear your best false moustache. It's the least you can do, given the elaborateness of Jervaise's Carnival costume. When you arrive at the Hall of Mirrors, he's waiting with his arm around… Mrs Plenty. Of course. The puzzle pieces click into place. 'Wotcher,' she says. 'That's a classy 'tache, that is. 'Oo's yer costumier? Orl right. Show us yer Roman candles, then.' She cackles to herself. 'Or 'ave yer got Catherine wheels? I can't tell in that get-up.'
You excuse yourself and withdraw to a safe distance. Now for the tricky part. You light the fuses on the rockets and run as fast as you can.
The Gracious Widow's fireworks exceed all expectations. Cobalt-blue peonies, vermillion spider-councils and sulphurous orange tigers explode across the cavern roof, crackling as they dissolve into drifts of gentle sparks. Passers-by gasp and sigh. Mrs Plenty gives you a grudging nod and hands over the payment. 'Jervaise 'ere will take yer to meet 'er, then. Be at the Singing Mandrake tomorrer. Bring plenty of cash, dearie. You'll need it.'
'Her'? Better head off to Veilgarden to find out who she is.
Dangerous increase
126 x Moon-pearl
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 42!
in Veilgarden
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Back to the Singing Mandrake
Jervaise is waiting for you at the bar…'I 'ope you've got plenty of glim,' he says. 'We're goin' to the Parlour.'
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 42
Show him the money
You have brought plenty of glim, haven't you?
This choice is locked for now.
unlocked with 3000 x Glim
The Parlour of Virtue
Your glim disappears as if by magic, and you're shown to the violet drawing-room. Lavender couches, amethyst chandeliers, bowls of real damsons and glasses of crème de cassis. 'Miss Jenny will be with you shortly,' murmurs the butler.
So you're seeing Sinning Jenny herself. You look at Jervaise. 'I don't care if you know her or not,' he says. 'She won't talk about Mr Wines' business without my say-so.'
Jenny arrives, a miniature cyclone of satin and velvet topped with a broad grin. She exchanges kisses with Jervaise and he clasps her petite hands in his broad, hairy ones. 'Dearest,' he says. 'Hello, petal,' she replies. 'I haven't seen you in a while.'
'I know,' he says. 'But with you-know-who always…' He breaks off. 'Miss Jenny,' he says, formally. 'I would be most obliged if you could explain to my acquaintance what you know about the Sisterhood. I authorise it.' 'Very well,' she says, turning her lighthouse smile on you. 'Take a seat.'
Lose: 3000 x Glim
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 43!
[[/div]]
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Talking to Sinning Jenny
You're perched on Sinning Jenny's chaise-longue, deep in the heart of the Parlour of Virtue…Apparently she knows something more of the Sisterhood.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 43
Break the ice with some gossip
You may have met Jenny before, you may not. You do move in similar circles, though, and you've got just the stories to impress her.
unlocked with Connected: Bohemian 25, 250 x Cryptic Clue
(Connected: Bohemian challenge, high-risk at 27, modest at 32)
'Let me tell you a story…'
You tell a few tales, and Jenny laughs immoderately. An impartial observer would be hard pressed to tell who is putting whom at their ease.
The candlelight plays across the velvet as Jenny talks, catching the smoky ochre of the brandy in your glass. 'I was just a girl when I entered the convent of the Sisterhood. It's a beautiful place, you know. It clings to the cliff in a way that looks quite impossible, and it extends deep within the rock. It's the safest place I know. I used to lean out of my little window and watch the rainbows in the waterfall…' She pauses to drop a few waxworms into her salamander tank. The rubies on her fingers flash in the candlelight.
'Anyway. You don't need to hear about my novitiate. It wasn't until I took my vows that I learned the real purpose of our Order. The Sisterhood exists to guard secrets and protect travellers. We're… hands-on.' She smiles. 'I learnt to use our weapons and to defend myself against the dreams. You need to resist them as best you can. I can see them in your eyes, you know.' She crosses her ankles, and you catch a glimpse of the famous scarlet stockings.
'You want to know how I came to be here, don't you? I haven't left the Sisterhood, if that's what you're thinking. I keep the Mother Superior informed of what's going on in Fallen London. And I… liaise with Mr Wines. Its interest in the matters of the Vake is both well-known and officially non-existent.
'Look. I can't do much for you here. You need to go to the Mother Superior. I'll draw you a map, but you'll need to arrange the rest yourself. The convent's only accessible by water, so if you don't own a ship already, I suggest you start looking for one now.'
Jenny drops a soft kiss on your cheek before you leave. 'Good luck, my dear,' she says. 'Remember what I said about the dreams.'
[You have reached a content boundary! Bag a Legend will be continued soon.]
Gain: 60 x Cryptic Clue
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 44!
Offer Jenny some serious information
Mere gossip is beneath her, surely.
unlocked with Appalling Secret 20
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 146
'Let me tell you a story…'
You tell a few tales, and Jenny laughs immoderately. An impartial observer would be hard pressed to tell who is putting whom at their ease.
The candlelight plays across the velvet as Jenny talks, catching the smoky ochre of the brandy in your glass. 'I was just a girl when I entered the convent of the Sisterhood. It's a beautiful place, you know. It clings to the cliff in a way that looks quite impossible, and it extends deep within the rock. It's the safest place I know. I used to lean out of my little window and watch the rainbows in the waterfall…' She pauses to drop a few waxworms into her salamander tank. The rubies on her fingers flash in the candlelight.
'Anyway. You don't need to hear about my novitiate. It wasn't until I took my vows that I learned the real purpose of our Order. The Sisterhood exists to guard secrets and protect travellers. We're… hands-on.' She smiles. 'I learnt to use our weapons and to defend myself against the dreams. You need to resist them as best you can. I can see them in your eyes, you know.' She crosses her ankles, and you catch a glimpse of the famous scarlet stockings.
'You want to know how I came to be here, don't you? I haven't left the Sisterhood, if that's what you're thinking. I keep the Mother Superior informed of what's going on in Fallen London. And I… liaise with Mr Wines. Its interest in the matters of the Vake is both well-known and officially non-existent.
'Look. I can't do much for you here. You need to go to the Mother Superior. I'll draw you a map, but you'll need to arrange the rest yourself. The convent's only accessible by water, so if you don't own a ship already, I suggest you start looking for one now.'
Jenny drops a soft kiss on your cheek before you leave. 'Good luck, my dear,' she says. 'Remember what I said about the dreams.'
[You have reached a content boundary! Bag a Legend will be continued soon.]
Watchful increase
lose 20 x Appalling Secret
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 44!
anywhere in Fallen London
Ambition: Bag a Legend! - Off to zee
Sinning Jenny told you where to find her sisters…Out to zee and the Sisterhood's convent.
unlocked with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 44
Eyes behind warehouse shutters
You head to your ship down the weathered wooden dock, past steamers moored in the oily black water. Is someone watching you?
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 132
Watchful increase
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 45!
Was that…?
For a moment you thought you saw a short figure with a stick. Dockers pushing a crate of iron springs blocked your view, and then there was nobody there. Curious, but nothing you can address right now. To the convent!
Sail to Zee and find the Sisterhood's island convent to continue your ambition.
Watchful increase
Suspicion increase
You've moved to a new area: Wolfstack Docks
Ambition: Bag a Legend! has increased to 45!