Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour

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Clathermont's tattoo parlour

Clathermont's tattoo parlour! The place to come for a singing mermaid or a message encoded onto your scalp.
Unlocked with Shadowy 50, Connected: The Great Game 1

Meeting Mr Clathermont

An urchin drops off a message in your lodgings. Mr Clathermont would like to meet with you tonight, after the parlour closes.

Reward spoiler

An evening with the Clathermonts

The blinds are down when you arrive at Clathermont's. You knock. You knock again. Nothing. You try the door. It swings open, clanging a little bell. In the parlour Mr Clathermont is attempting, with little success, to disentangle himself from an embrace with his supposed 'daughter'. If that was a paternal clasp, you're a Rubbery Man. You busy yourself with a sample book while they rearrange themselves. Finally, Mr Clathermont saunters over.
 
'Good to see you! Splendid. Not an hour ago I was telling Mrs Clathermont how much I hoped you'd come. And here you are! It's a matter of business, you see. I'm sure you know that we do business with the, ah, players of the Great Game.' The young lady greets this indiscretion with a sour pout. Undaunted, Mr Clathermont continues: 'We find ourselves in need of an agent to sort out certain difficulties. People wanting to know about other people's tattoos. That sort of thing. I'm sure you can help us out. We'll be in touch.'
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour' Quality is now 1!

The independence of young ladies

Mr Clathermont is concerned about one of his 'daughters'.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 1

The concern of a 'father'

'Edie and Myrtle are the sweetest things. Lily was always the wild one, though. I think she may be working independently. The thought is more than I can bear. Could you look into it?'
(Dangerous challenge)

Reward spoiler

The lady and the Game

Identical triplets have an unfair advantage in matters of stealth and misdirection. But you're fairly sure it's Lily that you're following about. She buys a new hat. She takes tea at a fashionable place near Hollow Street.
 
What's this? She strolls to Tyrant's Gardens. That can't be innocent. The place is thick with spies. She doesn't actually speak to any of them, but there's a nod here and an eyebrow-scratch there. She's up to something. Perhaps she's more deeply embroiled in the Game than her father knows.
Shadowy increase
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase
Connected: The Great Game increase
Gain: 25 x Primordial Shriek

Failure spoiler

To be fair, it is a good hat

Identical triplets have an unfair advantage in matters of stealth and misdirection. You follow the sister you think is Lily, but she does nothing more sinister than buy a new hat.
Shadowy increase

A pretender in ink

Mr Clathermont is beside himself. A new tattooist has emerged from the docks and is threatening to move into Clathermont's more sophisticated patch.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 1

Discover the pretender

The interloper's identity is a mystery. There isn't even a permanent establishment to ransack. Mr Clathermont needs you to find out more.
(Watchful challenge)

Reward spoiler

The golden needle

This tattooist clearly knows spycraft. You never catch so much as a glimpse. All you have are rumours. The tattooist is a woman. She wears a mask while she works. She uses a golden needle.
 
Is any of this any use? Mr Clathermont seems to think so. He dismisses you and goes to speak to his daughters.
Watchful increase
Gain: 30 x Primordial Shriek
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase

Failure spoiler

How very rude

This new tattooist must have known someone like you would be sniffing around. You discover nothing, but someone has sent you a dead bat covered in obscene tattoos.
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase

A burglary of tattoos

Clathermont's tattoo parlour has been burgled! The floor is covered in broken glass and scraps of tattoo designs.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 1

Motive over loss

Mr Clathermont doesn't much care about what is missing. He wants to know who did this and why. Can you find out for him?
(Watchful challenge)

Reward spoiler

It's always the Dutch

The tattoo parlour burglars were very good. They gave the impression of an amateur job, but covered their trail impeccably. This points to the Americans or the Dutch. Mr Clathermont nods at your report. 'It's the Dutch, then. They've been after the Singer of Roses for years. They won't find it here, of course. The missus never wrote that one down.'
Watchful increase
Gain: 30 x Primordial Shriek
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase

Failure spoiler

An inch beyond you

The tattoo parlour burglars were very good. They gave the impression of an amateur job, but covered their trail impeccably. This in itself tells you something about them, but it's not enough for Mr Clathermont. He wonders aloud whether your reputation is deserved.
Watchful increase
Scandal increase

Tattoos and extortion

Mr Clathermont has a problem with a gang of extortionists. This is unusual: Ladybones Road, while not exactly respectable, is at least orderly.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 1

Bruiser for a day

They say this gang of villains is backed by a scion of the Brass Embassy. Mr Clathermont needs protection from the protection racket. He'd like you to stay at the parlour for a day and administer any necessary beatings.
(Dangerous challenge)

Reward spoiler

A good day's work

You loiter about the tattoo parlour for a day. Customers come and go, The triplets wield their needles studiously, like scriveners. You notice that Mr Clathermont doesn't seem to do any of the work himself. One customer asks to see Mrs Clathermont about a special commission, but she isn't available today. Come to think of it, you've never seen her here.
 
A pair of villains swagger in just before closing. They get as far as 'Wouldn't it be a pity if…' before you hurl them into the street. One falls beneath a passing brewer's dray, his leg snapping noisily under the heavy wheel. The rest get the message.
Rewards:
Dangerous increase
Gain: 30 x Primordial Shriek
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase

Failure spoiler

A quiet day

No extortionists are forthcoming today. You've probably scared them off. Mr Clathermont and his three 'daughters' seem disappointed.
Dangerous increase

A lazy day at Clathermont's

The occasional customer comes and goes. Clathermont and his daughters know you well enough now; you can help yourself to tea and fungal crackers.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 4

Dropping a few eaves

Two of Clathermont's 'daughters', possibly Myrtle and Lily, are having an argument. It would be impolite to listen in, but that won't stop you.
(Shadowy challenge, straightforward < 88)

Reward spoiler

Three pairs of brown eyes.

'…and I don't know why she taught you the Singer of Roses and not me. It's simply not fair.'

'The Singer is the hardest one I know. The hatching has to be perfect or it won't work. And it has to be done by someone with blue eyes. Yours were always brown.'

How very strange. All of the daughters have brown eyes. At least, they do now.
Shadowy increase
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Early closing

It's early closing day at Clathermont's. There's not a spy to be seen, and the three young ladies have already left.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 5

At the last minute

A docker wants a fairly simple tattoo done. Nothing secret or strange. But Mr Clathermont seems strangely unwilling. What's this about?
(Persuasive challenge, straightforward < 87)

Reward spoiler

Is that supposed to be upside down?

After much puffing and protesting, Clathermont agrees to draw the tattoo. Ten minutes later you can see that it's… awful. Clathermont can't draw at all. Is that supposed to be a horse, or a hand, or a wine glass? Even a humorous dancing Clay Man is beyond him.

This is Clathermont, the greatest tattooist in the Neath? Is the talent solely concentrated in his 'daughters'? You are distracted from these thoughts by an irate docker chasing Clathermont around the parlour with a candlestick.
Persuasive increase
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Something going on at Clathermont's

There are the normal tattoos. And then there are the coded messages for spies. But there seems to be more than that going on today.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 5

Poking your nose in

A detective of your calibre can surely deduce what's happening here.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward < 88)

Reward spoiler

Illumination

Mr Clathermont wanders around, chats to the customers and takes care of the money. He doesn't do any of the ink-work. Edie, Lily and Myrtle share the work between them, although Myrtle caters to most of the spy trade.

Customers occasionally ask for something else. An 'Illumination'. That sounds like another term for a tattoo, but from the wary, shifty way these people ask, it's something specific. And they get the same answer each time. 'Not at the moment. She isn't here.' You see three 'daughters'. Who is this mysterious 'she'?
Watchful increase
Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour increase

Failure spoiler

Trusting your senses

Spies and tattoos. Tattoos and spies. Nothing more. You must have dreamed it. Or did you? It's maddening.
Nightmares increase

A cacophony at Clathermont's

You arrive at Clathermont's to a great hullabaloo. Daughters are crying. Clathermont has a face like a pink thunderstorm.
Unlocked with Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour 7

What's going on?

Get the customers out of the shop and try to find some sense in all this.
(Persuasive challenge, straightforward ?)

Reward spoiler

Millie's gone

'It's Mrs Clathermont. My Millie. She's gone! Oh, she's been away for a while, but she was supposed to be back a week ago. She's gone! She's gone forever!'

Clathermont is beside himself. You're fairly sure that Mrs Clathermont is no more the mother of the triplets than you are, but they are weeping nonetheless. Is this something to do with spies, or that business about Illumination? Either way, you'll get to the bottom of it.

[This strand will continue soon!]

Persuasive increase
An occurrence! Your 'Visiting Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour' Quality is now 8!

Failure spoiler (unknown)

The storyline continues at Wilmot's End!

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