Things to do in The Flit...

When your Shadowy is 71-80

61-70 81-100

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Steal paintings for the Topsy King Villainy: Steal paintings for the Topsy King The Topsy King likes to decorate his swinging rope-bridge court with paintings. Unlocks: Shadowy 72 Actions for this Venture all occur in the Flit. They are gathered on their own page.

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Dealing with suspicion

If the authorities are interested in your activities, the Topsy King and his Raggedy Men can throw them off the scent.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Suspicion 1

A Feast!

They will help you if you throw a feast for the whole beggar-court. They like rats. Oh God, how they like eating rats.
Unlocks: 50 x Rat on a String

Reward spoiler

'Goden! Goden to pawb!'

Which is worse - enduring the attention of the Constables or sitting through a riotous rat feast at the Topsy King's particularly high table? It is difficult to be sure.
Lose: 50 x Rat on a String
Suspicion decrease (1 change point)

The big one

Now you're settled in the Flit, it's time for a big score. You will need to prepare for such a daring robbery.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73

Look for the targets

There are treasures out there. Things a master thief might make their own, if they can be found.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 79)

Reward spoiler

Whispers

You are hearing intriguing things. The carnival strongbox is a possibility. The Ministry of Public decency is another. There may be more worthy targets out there.
Casing… increase (2 points)

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Examine the target

A brief stroll to the target of your larcenous interest is in order.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 81)

Reward spoiler

Getting the hang of the place

Tools needed. Help needed. Weaknesses for burglarious entry. Paths for expediting retreat. Guards and their movements. You know, that sort of thing.
Casing… increase (2 points)

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Criminal assistance

Some of these jobs are too big for a thief working alone. You should acquire the services of thugs, bag-men, morally flexible carriage-drivers, magsmen, fences and so forth.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 83)

Reward spoiler

One of the good ones

This one seems pretty trustworthy for a criminal. He knows a few snippets of underworld gossip, too.
Casing… increase (2 points)
10 x Whispered Secret

Failure spoiler

Doesn't look right

You are not sure that you can trust that last one. Still, you'll cut him into gobbets if he goes to the Constables.
Shadowy increase.
Suspicion increase.
Casing… decrease.

Scapegoats and alibis

Indisputable excuses and convenient idiots are essential to the modern criminal. Arrange your alibis in advance.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 85)

Reward spoiler

'I wasn't even there…'

'I have no idea what you're talking about. Here is a list of twenty people who will swear I was at choir practice. And in any case it was him over there, in the hat.'
Casing… increase (3 change points)

Failure spoiler

Damnable dupe!

Using scapegoats does have its risks. They sometimes go to the authorities before you are ready. Someone seems to have been talking out of school.
Shadowy increase.
Suspicion increase.

Formulate a plan

Every great criminal endeavour needs a plan. Even if it is a formality before chaos breaks out.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 87)

Reward spoiler

'Cunning? Of course. Why do you ask?'

It is a good plan. A fine plan. A subtle and many-layered stratagem for larcenous wealth and underworld notoriety. It may even work.
Casing… increase (3 points)

Failure spoiler

Probably just bats

Your papers look ruffled. Was it the wind? A stray flock of bats? Or has someone been looking though your plan?
Shadowy increase.
Suspicion increase.

The decoy

Sending your minions to do a little robbery far from your real target might deflect attention nicely. Any loot garnered would be a little bonus.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 89)

Reward spoiler

All going to plan

The robbery worked nicely, and you think might draw some of the law's attention away from your real target. Now, what's in the sack they brought you?
Casing… increase (3 points)
Random goods, sell value ~10-15 pence

Failure spoiler

It's gone a little awry

The decoy robbery went badly, and one of your employees is now in the hands of the Constables. You don't think they will talk. Much.
Shadowy increase.
Suspicion increase.
Casing… decrease.

Well-planned villainy

A thief of your status needs to take certain precautions. Slow, perhaps, but the results will speak for themselves. [This will give you a substantial boost to Casing…]
This storylet will cost you 3 actions! Unlocked with A Person of Some Importance 1.
Does not test any stats

Reward spoiler

Nothing left to chance

New Newgate is full of bold thieves. Your plan coalesces like a rat out of the fog.
Casing… increase (10 change points)

Set your gang of hoodlums to business

They take more wrangling than a pack of angry cats. But the scale of their thievery will make it all worthwhile. [This may gain you a large amount of Casing…]
This storylet will cost you 5 actions! Unlocked with Gang of Hoodlum.
(Shadowy challenge)

Reward spoiler

Breeding confidence

Your villains understand the plan. They know the drop-offs, the code words and the reserve meeting points. Whatever could stop you now?
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… increase (18 change points)

Thefts of Particular Character

If you have a need for certain items, you could go shopping. But who does that? [This will get you a decent haul even if you fail.]
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing 5.

Steal Tales of Terror from a noted author

Her stories make stone-faced matrons drop their crumpets in horror. She's affable and a bit dotty in person, but her menagerie of pets might present a problem.
Unlocked with Casing 10.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 125)

Success spoiler

The bold approach is best

Yes, of course you're the courier from her publisher, here for the new manuscript. No, you've not time to stay for tea. Yes, you'll deliver it safely. Heh heh.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 25 x Tale of Terror!!

Failure spoiler (Unknown)

++++

Steal Journals of Infamy from an Iniquitous Solicitor

The life of crime has certainly paid for this fellow. Let's hope he's written down the good stuff.
Unlocked with Casing 10.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 125)

Success spoiler

Target selection is the key to efficient theft

Nobody would steal from a solicitor. Which is exactly why it's so easy to steal from a solicitor. You sweep an armload of handwritten legal notebooks into a satchel and you're away.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 25 x A Journal of Infamy

Failure spoiler (Unknown)

++++

Steal Muscaria Brandy from the Infernal Sommelier

The old fellow has a quick eye, but the devils keep him busy managing their collections of liquor and souls.
Unlocked with Casing 10.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 125)

Success spoiler

It's not the likeliest of places

The thing about really expensive booze, is that it's worth pinching even in small amounts. Your accomplices distract the Sommelier with tales of a genuine saint's soul rattling around Spite. You slip a few bottles under your hat.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 5 x Muscaria Brandy

Failure spoiler

More elaborate than it should have been

The Infernal Sommelier treats the brandy bottles like they were his grandchildren. You're only able to make off with one through the use of a spirifer's fork, a pair of fake goat-demons and a hastily drawn image of the Virgin Mary on the side of a hansom cab.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 5 x Muscaria Brandy

Steal Brilliant Souls en route to Hookman House

Why is the Ministry of Public Decency collecting them in the first place?
Unlocked with Casing 10.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 125)

Success spoiler

Smoother than it should have been

The security precautions for the souls are laughable. Is the Ministry deliberately encouraging you to steal them? Did you get here just before some devils? Perhaps it doesn't matter. The bottles safely stowed in one of your lockups, rattling gently to themselves.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 25 x Brilliant Soul

Failure spoiler

A smack and a leap

Perhaps your tastes are more refined than a blackjack to the ear and a leap into a waiting carriage. Perhaps not. In either case, the approach is good enough for government work.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 25 x Brilliant Soul

Steal an Antique Mystery from Feducci

Best get this one right. Feducci knows all sorts of things. But if he catches you… let's not think about that.
Unlocked with Casing 10.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 125)

Success spoiler

If only it were always this easy

Feducci is hardly ever at home. He's particularly active for a dead fellow. You're away into the cool fog with your prize and nobody the wiser.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 1 x Antique Mystery

Failure spoiler

Just out in time

Feducci is personally formidable. But he's always scurrying about London on some errand or another. It's a close scrape, but you're away with your prize just before he returns from another trip to Wolfstack Docks. What's that he's carrying? It glows in its box.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 1 x Antique Mystery

Steal a Bazaar Permit from the offices of Baseborn & Fowlingpiece

The trick is getting one that's nearly finished, but doesn't yet have a name on the top.
Unlocked with Casing 10.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 125)

Success spoiler.

The weakness of a profession

You distract the front office of Baseborn & Fowlingpiece with a complex legal case. You outline a generations-long family dispute over a string of elegant country houses on the Surface. While the lawyers hide their salivating behind pale handkerchiefs, your accomplices are ransacking the back office.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped ( 32 points)
You've gained 1 x Bazaar Permit

Failure spoiler

Going through a sheaf of loot

That one's for permission to erect a greenhouse. Those in the pile grant rights to lead-mining in the Unterzee. Aha! This one will do nicely.
Shadowy is increasing…
Casing… has dropped (~50 Change Points)
You've gained 1 x Bazaar Permit

Sell information

Perhaps you're too busy to attempt that big job. Perhaps you'd like to curry favour with someone who has an interest.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 3

Pass on information to a colleague

If you don't want the job, someone else will.

Reward spoiler

A quiet conversation, a grin, a handshake

You've let another enterprising criminal know that they can take advantage of your hard work. Let's hope it doesn't go wrong, or you could be having some difficult conversations.
Connected: Criminals increase 30+ change points
Casing… decrease ? change points

Pass information to the Constables

Look, no-one needs to get arrested over this. And a friend at Concord Square might come in useful.

Reward spoiler

A quiet word and a tiny incentive

You're not sure if the Constable believed you in the end. And you're not entirely comfortable with accepting payment from the law, even a payment this small. But you've earned some credit here.
Connected: The Constables increase
Gain: 10 x Moon Pearl
Casing… decrease

Pass information to the Brass Embassy

Devils are always eager for news of villainy. As entertaining after-dinner stories, if not out of professional interest. Best not to think what they eat at those dinners.

Reward spoiler

'Capital! Capital! How terribly cunning of you.'

The devil giggles and twines his elegant fingers together in excitement. You aren't sure how seriously he's taking this, but he seems happy.
Connected: Hell increase 20+ change points
Casing… decrease 6 change points

You are being watched!

The most difficult and lucrative crimes are only open to those thieves who are not being monitored by the authorities.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5, Suspicion 2

Watching them watching you

It won't reduce suspicion, but you might be able to pick up some secrets from observing your hidden watchers in turn.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 75)

Reward spoiler

A miraculous

You mark the names and faces of the Constables' spies. You follow a neddy man back to his home. In a pub in Veilgarden, you catch the eye of the deviless who's been following you, and raise your glass in a silent toast. You've learnt things of use here.
Connected: Hell increase
Connected: Criminals increase
Connected: the Constables increase
30 x Cryptic Secret

Failure spoiler

They're out there somewhere

There's movement in the darkness; there's an occasional incautious footfall on the cobbles; there's a neddy man's cudgel left propped like a warning on a street-corner; but you never quite see your watchers.
Watchful increase

Steal the carnival strong box

Mrs. Plenty's Most Distracting Carnival is surprisingly wealthy. The strong-box could be taken without undue effort.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5

Rob the strong-box halfway through the evening

The box will be only half full, but that's still a good haul. There will be few eyes watching it then.
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 8)

Reward spoiler

A chorus of howls!

The carnies know a confidence trickster when they see one, so this is a matter of pure stealth. You shimmy up a tent rope and approach the box from above. A few accomplices free a pack of performing wolves from a grimy cage, and the distraction provides you the few seconds that you need. The box is satisfyingly heavy, and you are out of the carnival before the cry goes up. A job smoothly done.
100 x Jade Fragment
100 x Rostygold
100 x Moon-pearl
100 x Glim
16 x Cryptic Secret

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Rob the strongbox at the end of a busy evening

The strong box will be overflowing, but rough roustabouts will be everywhere. Risky.
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 12)

Reward spoiler

A chorus of howls

The carnies know a confidence trickster when they see one, so this is a matter of pure stealth. You shimmy up a tent rope and approach the box from above. A few accomplices free a pack of performing wolves from a grimy cage, and the distraction provides you the few seconds that you need. The box is so heavy you can barely lift it, and you struggle out under its weight to the waiting carriage. And what riches are inside!
200 x Jade Fragment
200 x Moon-pearl
200 x Rostygold
200 x Glim
18 x Cryptic Secret

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Rob the Ministry of Public Decency

The Ministry of Public Decency confiscates all manner of wicked, unsuitable and valuable books. They must end up somewhere.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5

Rob an outlying depository

It probably won't hold the most outrageous texts, but there will be a decent cache there.
Unlocked with Casing… 7
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 10)

Reward spoiler

Forgotten texts

This place has been forgotten. Most of the material here isn't worth that much, but there is an awful lot of it. On your third trip you bring a cart. It takes a few days to sift the good stuff out, but it is worth the effort. You finish with a creditable pile of forbidden books, scandalous journals and saleable secrets.
59 x Proscribed Text
200 x Cryptic Secret
40 x Stolen Correspondence

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Rob the main archive

Hookman House is closely guarded and notoriously labyrinthine. A sack full of its contents could be worth a fortune, though.
Unlocked with Casing… 7
(Casing… challenge; low-risk at 12)

Reward spoiler

A sack of fine, if wicked, books

The place is less of a maze than you had been led to believe. That said, it's full of illiterate guards with rifles and trained dogs. You restrict yourself to walking spider-like in the upper shelves. You pass a room emitting a strange ruddy glow from beneath the closed door. Another time perhaps. You silently pack forbidden texts into your sack. Even glancing at the titles gives you shivers. These books are most shocking! That means valuable, to the right customer. You are out again like a whisper, and away.
Gain: 100 x Proscribed Text
Gain: 5 x An Infernal Contract
Gain: 80 x Stolen Correspondence
Gain: 200 x Cryptic Secret

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Rob the glim shipment

A steam ship is shortly to return to port, with a glistening cargo of glim.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5

Rob the glim ship

There will be a fortune on board if the zailors have had decent luck sea-skimming. You can rob them as they unload.
Unlocked with Casing… 9, Route: Wolfstack Docks 1
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 12)

Reward spoiler

A sack of jewels. Each.

You and four associates handily assault, capture and replace four of the dockside labourers and make short work of tipping glim from the carefully packed crates into your waiting sacks. You don't dare take it all, but you have a substantial pile of the moist jewels when you decide to make your escape. As the brains behind this caper, you take the lion's share of the glim. You can barely carry it.
1296 x Glim (this seems an odd value - maybe it's a random value ~1300?)

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Wait until it docks and rob the warehouse

The glim warehouse usually has a good stock, but you could wait until the ship docks and unloads. It will be heaving with both glim and Constables.
Unlocked with Casing… 9, Route: Wolfstack Docks 1
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 16)

Reward spoiler

Sweet as a nut

It has taken you weeks to clear out the old zee water tunnels underneath the glim warehouse. Filth, disease and the occasional huge crab have taken their toll on your hired help. None of that matters now, though, as you carefully lower the glim crates to your trolleys and quietly wheel them away. You only get a quarter of the glim in the warehouse before you are discovered, but you chain shut the gate in the tunnel as you run out, and you are away before the Constables can break it down. The glim is yours!
1872 x Glim (another odd value - perhaps random ~1900?)

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Bringing revolution!

You're a professional, but you dabble in politics from time to time. The pay is usually just as good. And the explosions are often more entertaining.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5, Plotting against the Masters 1

Destroy a statue

The towering brass statue is a powerful symbol of the Bazaar's authority. It's a bit old and worn and the plaque has gone. It's either Mr Stones or Mr Fires, you think. You will be paid for destroying it.
Unlocked with Casing… 9
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 12)

Reward spoiler

Do not spill it

A fellow revolutionary studying in the department of Infernal Rarefactions is impressed by your preparations. She provides you with a weighty stone jug stoppered with wax. The stuff inside will melt brass statues, cobblestones and careless anarchists, so you treat the jug with care.

The destruction goes smoothly. Constables are distracted and the statue is a bubbling puddle in moments. You are hailed as a champion of the coming revolution.
Connected: Revolutionaries increase ~50 change points
Gain: 200 x Proscribed Text
Gain: 90 x Stolen Correspondence

Failure spoiler

Damnably solid thing

You can't find enough explosive materials to remove the statue, and for the moment the Constables are watching the area too closely to consider attacking it with picks. Has someone else been working around here? Inconsiderate fools!
Casing… decrease
Suspicion increase
Shadowy increase

Bomb a meeting of financiers

These fellows govern some kind of monetary exchange mechanism with the surface. They report directly to the Masters of the Bazaar. Someone will be happy to pay you to bomb their meeting.
Unlocked with Casing… 9
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 16)

Reward spoiler

Boom!

Bits of banker fly everywhere! Some of those fat financiers won't be coming back. Long live the revolution! You are sure to be the talk of anarchist cells all across the Neath.
Shadowy increase
Connected: Revolutionaries increase ~50 change points
Gain: 300 x Proscribed Material
Gain: 200 x Cryptic Clue

Rob the chambers of the Duchess

The Duchess has few guards, but is attended by many cats. Making off with her treasures will be far from easy.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5, Suspicion < 4

Rob the study

The Duchess writes many letters. Her grace's patronage of certain courtiers means she must receive many more. There should be secrets enough in her private study for a storm of scandal and some very lucrative blackmail. Best take some cat-bait, though.
Unlocked with Casing… 11, 20 x Cryptic Secret, Route: The Shuttered Palace 1
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 14)

Reward spoiler

Never write a letter and never destroy one

The bulk of the cats are distracted by the secrets you scatter over the rooftops. Some acrobatics and a little deft rope-work sees you to the study door. You pick the three locks in less than a minute and help yourself to the stacks of immaculately-ordered letters. Why do people ever write these things down? Will they ever learn? They will when you're finished with them.
Gain: 300 x Stolen Correspondence
Gain: 50 x Cryptic Secret
Gain: 122 x Whispered Secret
Gain: 10 x Appalling Secret

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Gleams in the darkness

The Duchess has an impressive collection of jewellery. Her jewellery box will be yours!
Unlocked with Casing… 11, 20 x Cryptic Secret, Route: The Shuttered Palace 1
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 16)

Reward spoiler

Jewellery box on the line

Your best chance at this is to wait for a society event. Tonight it's some sort of poetry reading. You lurk on her rooftop and watch her carriage disappear, with dozens of cats trotting behind like obedient footmen. The skylight is too small for you, but you assemble your fishing rod and aim the hook at the Duchess' jewelry box. One of the boxes, anyway. The remaining cats see what you are up to, but by the time they raise a yowling alarm, you are away across the rooftops, box in hand. A hefty haul of pearls and jade! And rats, oddly.
Gain: 1000 x Moon-pearl
Gain: 1000 x Jade Fragment
Gain: 5 x Rat on a String

Failure spoiler (unknown)

Rob the Brass Embassy

The Brass Embassy is ridiculously, sinfully wealthy. Nobody would steal from it, however.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5, Suspicion < 3

Nobody would steal from it but you

Are you quite mad? Some very unpleasant things will happen to you if youre caught. On the other hand, how impressive it would be. To be the one who stole from under the noses of all those devils.
[Warning: failing here may mean you have to start over! Although that may be the least of your worries.]
Unlocked with Casing… 13
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 18)

Reward spoiler

It worked!

You know, you are really very good indeed at this. Also, the cruel reputation of the devils works against them. They rely a little too much on nobody having the nerve to rob them. You sneak through rooms of intricate brass machinery and archives groaning with contracts and ledgers.

You pick what you will: some brass here, a little paperwork there, perhaps a few jewels. You stifle a chuckle as you realise you may be doing the Lord's work. The take from this is impressive, but the real point is this: you have robbed the Brass Embassy and lived to tell the tale. Nothing can stop you now!
1000 x Nevercold Brass
500 x Souls
40 x An Infernal Contract
10 x Diamond
25 x Proscribed Text
An Accomplishment! You are now Master Thief.

Failure spoiler

A lucky escape?

Well, they caught you. Was it an informer? Uncanny infernal senses? Or perhaps are you not quite as good as you think?

In any case, your capture seems to have sparked a torrent of diplomatic wrangling between the devils and the Masters of the Bazaar. It seems that they both want to deal with you. Fortunately for you, the Masters win out. As you are collected, a senior devil burns a painless letter from one of Hell's alphabets into your chest. The letter glows bright and ruddy, even through four layers of clothing. Stealth is going to be difficult for a while, although it will fade eventually. The agents of the Masters make no comment on this as they haul you off to New Newgate.
You've moved to a new area: New Newgate - again
Suspicion increase (mine went from 0 to 5)
You've lost a quality: Connected: Hell. (mine was in the 40s)
Shadowy decrease (went from 100 to 99)

Rob the Bazaar

Now, that is just the height of foolishness. Everyone knows that it is impossible to steal from the glittering black spires of the Bazaar.
Unlocks: Shadowy 73, Casing… 5, Suspicion < 2

They know nothing.

The vigilant Constables and numberless neddy men. The endless flocks of wheeling bats. The smooth towers carved with symbols that make your eyes bleed and hair smoulder. Do these things mean nothing to you? [Warning: failing here may mean you have to start over! Although that may be the least of your worries.]
Unlocked with Casing… 15
(Casing… challenge; straightforward at 20)

Reward spoiler

The one who robbed the Bazaar!

Your extravagant preparations have paid off. You know to avoid the swirling bat flocks and the strange symbols carved into the black organic spires. You know when the Constables change shifts, when the gangs of neddy men are distracted and when the agents of the Masters are likely to be elsewhere.

Who else could pick those locks? Is there another who could walk silently over the floors of rice-paper and bat bones? Which other thief has the cunning and bravery to take a sack of forbidden street signs from under the cloaked noses of the Masters? What a performance! What a virtuoso!
An Accomplishment! You are now Master Thief.
16 x London Street Sign

Failure spoiler

What? The bats are part of it?

You were angling from a black silk rope halfway up a glistening organic spire. The bats swirled around you like leaves and you thought nothing more of them. Until they raised the alarm. Your escape attempt was masterful, but the Constables were endless and they surrounded you on a high balcony.

You are brought before a Master of the Bazaar. You are not sure which one - it is wearing an many-layered cloak that makes it look like a winged black orchid, and a metallic mask inscribed with symbols that bend the air and leave your eyes smarting with tears. When it speaks, the symbols burst into agonising fire before your eyes, and the chittering of bats fills your ears. Oblivion looms.
Suspicion increase 9+ change points
Nightmares increase 31+ change points
Shadowy increase

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