Things to do in The Flit...
When your Shadowy is 81-90
As your Shadowy improves, more actions open up to you
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…Further into Fallen London
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The Tricks of the Courier's Trade
Unlocked with Shadowy 85
The couriers of the Flit have their own trade secrets. Learning these could bring knowledge and wealth.
Spy on the couriers
Learn their ways through stealth
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
Little by little
A secret handshake here, a message drop hidden in a chimney-stack there. You are making progress.
Shadowy increase
Investigating… increase
2 change points
Little by little
A secret handshake here, a message drop wrapped around a hand mirror and hidden in a chimney-stack there. You are making progress.
Shadowy increase
Investigating… increase
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
but no higher than 8
Pant, pant…
The couriers are fast, and know the Flit well. It's all you can do to keep up with them, and you learn little this time.
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Spy on those who supply them
The contacts, the tattooists, the code-men, the message-holders. The are wary, of course, but they know a great deal.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 95)
The trade
Fashions change in spycraft with a speed that rivals Parisian clothing. One week it's all numerical cryptography and the next it's hand gestures and false moustaches. Nevertheless, you are keeping up.
Shadowy increase
Investigating… increase
3 change points
The trade
Fashions change in spycraft with a speed that rivals Parisian clothing. One week it's all numerical cryptography and the next it's hand gestures and false moustaches. Nevertheless, certain patterns are emerging. Bats and cats are always popular, and Veilgarden is seeing far more than its share of intrigue.
Shadowy increase
Investigating… increase
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
but no higher than 8
Getting a reputation
A code-man sees you and scurries away. A seller of teapots who you know to be a handler will no longer speak to you. Perhaps you should be more careful.
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Investigating… decrease
Spy on the Topsy King's court
Sit with the smoke-blackened beggars and share a bite of rat. You might learn something if you can stomach it.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 100)
A useful night
The beggars of the court find occasional work for couriers. Once the foul spirits and fire-grilled rats are consumed, the beggars start talking.
Shadowy increase
Investigating… increase
3+ change points
A long night
This lot are more lucid than their king, but that doesn't make them useful. They would talk about bat droppings and painful joints until the sun came up, if it came up here.
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Shadowing Couriers
Unlocked with Shadowy 85
The Flit is a road for numberless clandestine couriers - men and women whose cargo is too valuable to trust to the streets. Shadowing these messengers will eventually net you valuable secrets
Follow at a distance
A safer option, although you might miss some details.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
The ways of couriers
The couriers that use the Flit are a nervous sort, prone to backward glances and sudden darting about. Nonetheless, you keep up. This one heads to St. Fiacre's twice a week. That one goes between Tyrant's Gardens and the Palace. You are starting to get a feel for how this works.
Shadowy increase
Seeking… increase
2 change points
The ways of couriers
The couriers that use the Flit are a nervous sort, prone to backward glances and sudden darting about. Nonetheless, you keep up. This one heads to St Fiacre's Cathedral twice a week. That one goes between Tyrant's Gardens and the Palace. That one waits for a certain tattooed cat. You are starting to get a feel for how this works.
Shadowy increase
Seeking… increase
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
How does she run like that in a dress?
This one's a runner. She leaps over bat-coops, ducks under gantries and hurtles about the precipices of the Flit most alarmingly. She outpaces you on a long rope bridge and is gone.
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Follow closely
Risky, but you will learn more.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 95)
Ropes and smoke
That's why they kept outpacing you! There's a short-cut between two levels of the Flit. The rope descends through a smoke-column rising from a forge. It's murder on the lungs, but possible if you're in a real hurry. You'll have to remember that one.
Shadowy increase
Seeking… increase
Ropes and Oils
When you get really close, you can hear her whispering. It's something about a gathering of sorts. A macabre party? A seance? In any case, who was she talking to? There's nothing in this part of the Rope Court bar paintings of forgotten society types and a dusty mirror.
Shadowy increase
Seeking… increase
3 change points
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
but no higher than 8
Not this time
He definitely saw your face before he bolted. There's no point in chasing him now. He's experienced and will be heading to somewhere public, away from wherever he was going before. D - - n!
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Seeking… decrease
Disguise yourself as a courier
Who knows what secrets they might let slip to a colleague?
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 100)
Scratch your ear with your little finger
A plausible disguise and a decent approximation of the week's hand signals. You're getting a feel for the whole vertiginous business.
Shadowy increase
Seeking… increase
3+ change points
Scratch your nose three times and stick a finger in your ear
It's no use. You just don't know this week's hand signals. The couriers scowl at you and move on.
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Intercept a message
Many secrets cross the aerial byways of the Flit. They could be yours.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Seeking… 5
Lift the message
You know enough to work out when a courier will be carrying something substantial. All you have to do is remove it quietly.
Unlocked with Seeking… 5
(Seeking… challenge; straightforward at 8)
The cipher
There are few crowded places in the Flit, but you pass the courier as he heads through the Topsy King's rope court. You use the distraction of a Raggedy Man's sudden screaming outburst at a painting to bump up against the courier and deftly take the message. You are away before he is any the wiser.
Aha! The content of the message is encrypted, but you recognise the code. It's the Endymion cipher. You don't think you can crack it, but you know a foreign agent interested in getting a good sample. This message is pages long - you'll be well paid.
Shadowy increase
Lose: all Seeking…
Gain: 270 x
Cryptic Clue
Raid a Message-drop
There are places where messages are left in the Flit. Delightfully secret messages.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Investigating…5
Getting the timing right
Messages are picked up quickly. You need to get there first.
(Investigating… challenge; straightforward at 8)
The King in the Forest extends a hearty handshake…
A climb, a stroll, a little sleight-of-hand as you pass the message drop. No problems at all. Right, let's see… A 'hearty handshake' is aid to revolutionaries. 'The King in the Forest'? Is that the Tsar? Probably not - that would be too obvious. This one is going to take a while to crack, but looks like it will be valuable. A fine afternoon's work.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 270 x Cryptic Clue
'Investigating…' has been reset: a conclusion, or a new beginning?
How very rude
That is not an encoded secret message. That is a harshly-worded rejoinder concerning the professional ethics of spycraft and a scathing critique of your sartorial choices. That was hardly called for.
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Investigating… decrease
Dropping the eaves
Once a fortnight, a senior agent and a prominent revolutionary meet somewhere in the Flit. They think nobody will hear what they say.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Seeking… 5
A trial of cunning
Will it be a quiet corner of the rope court, or some far forgotten haunt of bats? It will take every scrap of your spycraft to eavesdrop on this conversation. But it should be worth it.
Unlocked with Seeking… 5, Investigating… 5
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
Under the bridge
You string your cosy improvised hammock under the planks of the gantry. Lulled by the drifting noise of the city below, you wait for the agent and the revolutionary. They come! They speak of targets and plans and agents and codes. You frantically write it all down.
Much of what they say concerns their immediate plans. You should sell this material on quickly!
Shadowy increase
Gain: 536 x Cryptic Clue
Bridges and theatres
You string your cosy improvised hammock under the planks of the gantry. Lulled by the drifting noise of the city below, you wait for the agent and the revolutionary. They come! They speak of targets and plans and agents and codes. You frantically write it all down.
Much of what they say concerns their immediate plans. Some sort of pattern is emerging, though. Why are theatres being targeted? Why do they keep mentioning mirrors?
Gain: 540 x Cryptic Clue
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
but no higher than 7
Encounters in the smoke
Sometimes, strangers meet among the rope bridges and rising smoke. Who are they? What is their business?
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Seeking… 5
A little diversion
Take a little time away from chasing couriers to see who else is walking these creaking boards.
Unlocked with Seeking… 5
(Seeking… challenge; straightforward at 8)
Nobody at all…
Nobody of any importance would be seen dead in the Flit. Thus nobody of any importance was seen. Certainly not the Ambassador, for example. And he definitely did not buy your silence with a handsome jade necklace. Because he wasn't there. Not at any point.
Gain: 540 x
Jade Fragment
A clandestine conversation
Why is Mr Inch meeting a tortoiseshell cat on the rooftop? Is this an envoy from the Duchess? You don't get close enough to get all the details, but the scraps you hear are fascinating.
Gain: 20 x Appalling Secret
Gain: 200 x Cryptic Clue
Nobody of any moment
Perhaps that was a foolish notion. Nobody of any importance would be seen dead in the Flit. Back to business.
Seeking… decrease
4+ change points
More than just messages
There are perhaps a thousand hidden corners in the Flit. Ten thousand nooks. A hundred thousand crannies. Dead-drops and caches and hidey-holes without number.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Investigating… 5
A direct approach
Spycraft costs money. Substantial amounts are left around the Flit. Payment, bribes, hush money, slush money. It's all the same once you've stolen it.
(Investigating… challenge; straightforward at 8)
The cost of doing business
The intriguing sack that you've spent all day following around contains a considerable amount of rostygold and a hand, severed halfway up the forearm.
Gain: 540 x Rostygold
A peculiar miscellany
The intriguing sack that you've spent all day following around contains an enormous quantity of foxfire candlewax, a little gypsum head, an indolent lizard and what appears to be a little glass box of skin.
Gain: 540 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Gain: 10 x Relic of the Second City
Gain: 1 x Reprehensible Lizard
Wars of Illusion
You have picked up disturbing hints in your spying and ferreting out. There is something… untoward at work here.
Unlocked with Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 2
To raise Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion, you need to have rare successes at options for "The Tricks of the Courier's Trade."//
What is going on?
Trained bats. Cats as accomplices. Mirrors, theatres, spiritualists. Why are all these things mixed up with honest spy work?
What is your interest?
Something is going on behind the intrigues and espionage. There is a conflict that uses spies and their work, but is hidden even from them. There are secrets to be found here, or at least work to be had.
Shadowy increase
An occurrence! Your
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion Quality is now 6!
Bats …
Trained bats are used as messengers in the intrigues of the Neath. Perhaps you could get in on that game.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6
Try intercepting some bats
If only one bat in four dozen has a message, it will be worth the effort. Let's see: a net, a lizard, one of those strange blue lights…
Unlocked with 1 x Reprehensible Lizard
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
A cloud of bats
The bats don't much like being snatched out of the air. They complain and chitter about it endlessly. Still, one or two of them have little cylinders containing messages tied to their legs, and you're learning more about how they operate.
Shadowy increase
Making use of Bats increase (2 change points)
Gain: 1 x Sulky Bat
Train some bats of your own
If you have bats, you could train them to carry messages. The world of intrigue will then surely beat a path to your door.
Unlocked with 10 x Sulky Bat
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 95)
'Fly, my leathery beauties!'
The bats are getting the hang of going to specific places. A few of them still gnaw at their message-tubes and one has left to work for another operator. But still, fine progress!
Shadowy increase
Making use of Bats increase
Lose: 1 x Sulky Bat
Cats …
Cats are involved in the Neath's intrigues. Perhaps you can make use of that.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6
Try to find out about their allegiances
Who are they working for? Are they all in on the same thing? Are they individual agents?
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 95)
Herding cats
You take the most oblique approach possible to this enquiry. You drop a page from The Unexpurgated London Gazette on the floor, ever so casually, making sure not to look directly at it. Sure enough, within minutes there is a cat sitting neatly in the exact centre of the sheet. You make casual conversation for a while, and repeat the exercise later on.
As there is room for only one cat at a time, you are able to find things out without the usual chorus of sarcastic banter. It turns out that alliances are complex and somewhat fluid, but you feel more confident now of being able to keep up.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Cats… increase
Make contacts among cat kind
They seldom have much to do with human spies, but one never knows. Try buying their affection.
Unlocked with 10 x Rostygold
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
How to win feline friends
Cats are still cats, even in the Neath. The simple purchase of the most outrageously expensive fish you can find at the Bazaar is enough to attract interest amongst cat-society. Letting it be known that you are willing to share achieves the rest.
Cat friendship is based on the next meal, not the last, however. Keeping this up, not to mention accommodating the whims of the fussiest eaters, is going to prove expensive, but needs must.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Cats… increase
Lose: 10 x Rostygold
See what your Starveling Cat knows
If you are unfortunate enough to have to share your lodgings with the dratted creature, you may as well try asking it.
[Unlocked with: 1 x Starveling Cat]
The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat!
It eats anything! But it won't eat that! You bring home some Rubbery Lumps specially, and offer one to the Starveling Cat. It turns up its nose - this must be the first time you have ever seen that happen - and offers the observation that it 'wouldn't feed those to a glass bat'. What? The d—ned thing then takes advantage of your distraction to filch the pie you had brought home for your own supper.
Shadowy increase
Unaccountably Peckish increase
Making Use of Cats does not increase
The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat!
Promised you a secret! Brought some rotting rats!
Shadowy increase
Unaccountably Peckish increase
10 x Rat on a String
Making Use of Cats does not increase
Sabotage!
You have worked hard to maintain a delicate network of contacts among cats. You have spent a small fortune on fishy snacks and allowed your shoe-laces to be put to undignified uses. It is time to get something back.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6, Rat on a String 3
Ask for help with a little sabotage
Appeal to the cats' nature - they are territorial and playful animals. Ask them if they wouldn't mind shredding a rope or two in a strategic part of the Flit, just before a certain messenger is due to make a run… and throw in a rat or two to ensure cooperation.
Unlocked with Making use of Cats 5, 3 x Rat on a String
(Making use of Cats challenge)
Creeaakkk…snap!
The cats have exercised their claws extensively on the rope you specified. The messenger you have your eye on makes the same run most days of the week, and he turns up right on time today. As soon as he sets foot on this particular bridge, his weight causes the frayed cord to break, and he goes tumbling.
You are waiting several levels below, and you catch his bag with a graceful movement that even the cats applaud. It is bursting - but only half the secrets you expect are there. It seems he has been paid for the rest already. Still. Not a bad haul.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 140 x Cryptic Clue
Gain: 260 x Rostygold
Lose: 3 x Rat on a String
Bats and the Palace
The air above the Flit is crowded with bats. But bat-couriers take one particular path between two blackened chimney-stacks on their way to the Palace.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6
Intercept one of these bats
They must be carrying something good if they are going to the Palace.
Unlocked with Making use of Bats 5
(Making use of Bats challenge)
The museum and the bat
The intrigues of the Shuttered Palace are endless, but you probably didn't expect this. The message you have is a report on the identities of people visiting the Museum of Mistakes. For such a dusty institution it certainly has some interesting callers. One lord. Several radical academics. Some people from something called the C.V.R. What does this place hold?
You succeeded in a Making Use of Bats challenge!
Shadowy increase
'Making use of Bats' has been reset: a conclusion, or a new beginning?
Gain: 270 x
Cryptic Clue
The Bats of Veilgarden
The more evasive and well-trained bats often head toward Veilgarden. What is going on there?
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6
Track down where they are heading
That won't be easy. It will require leg-work as well as wing-work.
[Unlocked with Seeking… 5, Making use of Bats 5]
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
Saleable but frustrating
They are going all over Veilgarden! A pattern is yet to emerge, but they fly to a garret here, a rough theatre there. They fly to honey-dens and public houses and coffee-shops. The inhabitants of Veilgarden are notably bohemian, of course, but even when you intercept a few messages you can't seem to work out any real order to the bats' flights.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 540 x Cryptic Clue
A trick of the hands
What is going on? The bats are flying primarily to one particular group and their friends and contacts: prestidigitators. Stage magicians, shell-game men and taproom card-tricksters are involved with some sort of large-scale intrigue. The messages themselves make little sense to you, but that they are being sent at all is worthy of note.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 540 x Cryptic clue
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
but no higher than 8
Shadowy increase
Suspicion increase
Making Use of Bats decrease
Seeking… decrease
The Cats of Spite
You used to spend time cat-catching in Spite, back when you were wet behind the ears. Since you have been cultivating the acquaintance of cats in more depth, you have begun to realise that there is much more going on than you thought.
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6
Follow up a tip-off
A cat you remember from your Spite days has suggested you might like to accompany her to a gathering. More than that, she will not say.
Unlocked with Making use of Cats 5, Investigating…5
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 90)
A strange gathering
You and your cat friend head to a quiet house near Ladybones Road. A little old lady leads you to a dim parlour, uncomfortably full of people. A hush falls as you enter, but not for you; a man in a purple turban is pressing his hands to his head. 'I feel something. There is someone there. I have a message for someone called… Violet,' he says.
Gasps of shock all around. A lady faints dramatically. A cat laughs quietly. Things continue in this vein until a break for tea, where conversations turn to what the spirits have said on other occasions. These spirits seem to be well informed, and you learn some eminently valuable secrets. You are entreated to 'do come back next time, dear.' You must have done something right.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 540 x Cryptic clue
A cryptic parlour-game
Your feline friend leads you to an unremarkable terraced house near Ladybones Road, and presses an especially low bell with a delicate paw. A little old lady leads you to a dim parlour, full of people and cats who are all listening to a man in a purple turban.
'I have a message coming through,' he says, pressing his hands to his temples. 'Is Violet here? Or… Reginald?' Ladies gasp, and one faints dramatically. A cat giggles. 'Better ask old Reggie about the finger…' But it trails off as it catches you watching. D—n. What finger? Things continue in this vein until a break for tea, where conversations turn to what the spirits have said on other occasions. These spirits seem to be well informed, and you learn some eminently valuable secrets. You are entreated to 'come back next time, dear.' You must have done something right.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 540 x Cryptic clue
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion increase
What is going on with these people?
Stage magicians and mesmerists are conducting intrigues, possibly against each other. What is going on?
Unlocked with Shadowy 85, Embroiled in the wars of Illusion 6
Convoluted like a weasel
So, if you intercept that bat, and ask this cat to decrypyt the message, that should reveal the contact you need to shadow in order to find out… [Warning: failing here may mean you have to start over! Although that could be the least of your worries.]
Unlocked with Making Use of Bats 5, Making Use of Cats 5, Seeking… 5, Investigating…5
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 100)
Part of the picture
Most of the plan works. One overheard conversations was just nonsense, and one of your assistants terminated his employment by enjoying prisoner's honey for longer than was entirely convenient for your aims. Still, you have many more secrets than you did, even though not all of them make sense yet.
The stage magicians and shell-game men are doing more than passing messages about. The mesmerists and mediums are equally serious. There is kidnapping, vandalism and the occasional murder and spate of arson. A full third of the messages mention mirrors. And what on earth is the Parabola?
Shadowy increase
Gain: 1080 x Cryptic Clue
Your
Investigating… Quality has gone!
Your
Seeking… Quality has gone!
Your
Making Use of Bats Quality has gone!
Your
Making Use of Cats… Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion Quality is now 9!
Steal from the gullible
Unlocked with Shadowy 97
You're coming into contact with a lot of credulous people these days. You should take advantage.
Fleece a crowd of Carnival-goers
Set up as a street 'magician'. The age-old game of Follow the Duchess never fails, does it?
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 108)
Finding the Lady
A classic short con trick, this, but people fall for it in droves. The aim is simple: shuffle three cards, invite the mark to pick the Duchess to win the bet. You fumble the cards a couple of times until a mark steps up with a bet; then you switch and flip and take the money. Easy. Unpleasant, when they're betting with rats, but easy.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 53 x Rat on a String
Gain: 50 x Jade Fragment
Butterfingers
This may be a well known confidence trick, but people still think they can beat it. When you accidentally switch cards in the wrong direction, you prove them right.
Suspicion increase
Steal from the Theosophisticals
They have built up quite a library of esoteric texts. They'd be profitable on the black market.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 111)
Grimoires and almanacks
The Theosophistical Society has begun to collect its books in the back room of a salon. It's easy enough to slip in during a meeting and rifle through the texts. The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra. The Clairvoyant Correspondence. Practical Dreams and Visions. The Correspondence Unveiled. These give you pause; is this the Correspondence you know? Anyway, you take them to the right sort of literary fence, and they fetch a decent price.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 22 x Cryptic Clue
Gain: 53 x Moon-pearl
Visionaries or lunatics?
The Theosophistical Society has begun to collect its books in the back room of a salon. It's easy enough to slip in during a meeting and rifle through the texts. The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra. The Clairvoyant Correspondence. Practical Dreams and Visions. The Correspondence Unveiled. Sadly, none of the booksellers you know will offer you anything for them but scorn.
Scandal increase
Set up your own fortune-telling business
All you need is a stall in Spite and a pack of cheap tarot cards.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 114)
Easy money
This fortune-telling lark is simple. Peer at grubby palms and deal a few cards; they're all so highly symbolic, it doesn't matter what you actually say. Tell people that they will meet handsome devils or inherit money and they'll pay you handsomely in secrets and pearls.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 55 x Moon-pearl
Gain: 27 x Cryptic Clue
Harder than it seems
It should be simple to make up a few fortunes - just tell people good things will happen to them and to avoid talking to black cats. But you're not projecting the right kind of confidence, and people just aren't paying up.
Nightmares increase
Make some money on the side
Unlocked with Shadowy 97
It's all very well, spying on bats and cats and fortune-tellers, but you've got to eat. Find out what you can do that's immediately lucrative.
Fleece a fortune-teller
Madame Shoshana keeps her takings in her tent. And opportunities for lifting purses abound when a person's attention is focused elsewhere.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 103)
Rich pickings
You loiter outside Madame Shoshana's tent, deftly picking pockets as people come and go. At the end of the day, you go in for a consultation. While she's peering into her crystal ball, you help yourself to a good portion of takings. eventually she looks up and warns you that your star is in the Hunter right now, and to beware of mushrooms.
Avoiding mushrooms in the Neath is not an easy business, as you discover on the way home.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 24 x Cryptic Clue
Gain: 49 x Moon-pearl
Uncanny awareness
You lurk outside Madame Shoshana's tent, but dipping is proving impossible today. Everyone's pockets are empty, purses are hidden, jewellery concealed. It's almost as if they know you're there.
Suspicion increase
Follow a conjurer
He provides entertainment at children's parties. What easier way to rob rich houses?
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 105)
'Is this your card?'
You follow the conjurer to a very wealthy residence. A small boy is celebrating a birthday with thirty of his jam-smeared friends. As soon as the magician is inside, you knock on the door and claim to be his assistant. Soon, you're a bit richer.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 70 x Moon-pearl
Gain: 1 x Relic of the Second City
Gain: 1 x Relic of the Third City
Gain: 1 x Relic of the Fourth City
The screaming starts
You claim to be the conjurer's assistant and gain admission to a small boy's birthday party. Unfortunately, the maid ushers you straight into the drawing-room, where thirty young chaps are waiting -loudly - to be entertained…
Nightmares increase
Rob a séance
It should be easy to do. The room will be dark, attention will be diverted.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 107)
A nice haul
Séances often involve all parties around the table holding hands. It is actually fairly tricky to accomplish, but you manage to leave your neighbours holding each other's hands instead of yours. After that, taking what valuables you can find is plain sailing.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 50 x Moon-pearl
Gain: 26 x Jade Fragment
Gain: 26 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
The iron grip of the elderly
Did you forget that séances tend to involve holding the hands of the people seated on either side of you? In this case, that's two elderly ladies. It's proving impossible to loosen their grips.
Wounds increase
Make more use of bats. Or cats.
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 9, Shadowy 97
You have been dabbling at the edges of an intriguing conflict that uses bats and cats as spies. You know it involves mediums, mesmerists, magicians and mirrors. Time to find out more. [The choice between bats and cats is not permanent. You may be able to do something else later.]
Ask a bat for some work
Accost a passing bat. Tell him you'd like to get more involved.
(Shadowy challenge, straightforward at 103)
A tiny little note
You mention your interest to a bat. He looks you up and down, squeaks at you, and flutters off. Later, a bat taps at your window. It could even be the same bat. They all look fairly similar. Anyway, this one's carrying a scrap of paper rolled around his little leg. The note says, 'We will be in touch.'
Shadowy increase
An occurrence! Your
Making Use of Bats Quality is now 1!
Gain: 49 x Cryptic Clue
An occurrence! Your
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion Quality is now 10!
The scorn of a bat
You mention your interest to a bat. He looks you up and down. Can bats look affronted? Apparently they can. You wouldn't think they had the requisite facial muscles. He squeaks indignantly at you and flutters off.
Shadowy increase
Ask a cat for some work
Hint - obliquely - to the next cat you see that you're keen to know more.
(Shadowy challenge, straightforward at 103)
Feline approval
You make polite conversation with a cat. She tells you quite a lot of things that you didn't ask to know, but you know better than to interrupt.
Eventually, you bring the topic round to spy work. She nods. 'I think we can use you, yes. We'll let you know.'
Shadowy increase
An occurrence! Your
Making Use of Cats… Quality is now 1!
Gain: 49 x Cryptic Clue
An occurrence! Your
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion Quality is now 10!
Feline disdain
You make polite conversation with a cat. But you are too eager when you bring up the subject of spy work. She gives you a haughty glare and turns tail.
Shadowy increase
Working with the Bats
You have chosen to work with the bats' spy ring. They send notes offering a choice of distressingly menial jobs, especially for a thief of your stature. Hopefully the secrets you learn will be worth the affront to your dignity. Increase your Making Use of Bats… to 6 to reach the next step…
[Unlocked with Shadowy 97]
[Unlocked with Making Use of Bats 1]
[Unlocked with Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10]
Run errands for an illusionist
The famed Henry Peppercorn needs assistance disposing of certain items every morning. It's a specialist job, apparently.
challenge, straightforward at 104
A nasty job…
..but someone has to do it. You turn up early at the stage door of Mahogany Hall and take charge of a sack which, you're told, is best not opened. There will be something 'for your trouble' if you get rid of it discreetly. You toss the sack into a quiet stretch of the Stolen River, where it sinks with no trace beyond some unpleasant bubbling and squelching. You are paid in rats. Mahogany Hall is infested, so management has plenty to spare.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Bats increase
Gain: 98 x Rat on a String
Unmentionable
You turn up early at Mahogany Hall's stage door and collect a sack. You dispose of it in an unpleasant alleyway on the way home. Soon afterwards, a Constable arrests you for disturbing the peace. What was in that sack that could possibly cause such trouble?
Shadowy increase
Fetch a conjurer's shopping
Jonesion is the stage name of a popular conjurer and ventriloquist. His real name is Jones, you see. Anyway, he needs someone to collect goods from the Bazaar.
challenge, straightforward at 103
A peculiar list
The note is so long, the bat that delivered it was flying lopsided. This is no ordinary grocery list. You track down rare silks, expensive silverware, decks of cards and eye-popping quantities of ordinary rats. Jonesion must not be very good, if he's losing this many props. Still, he pays you well.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Bats increase
Gain: 50 x Rat on a String
Gain: 49 x
Silk Scrap
'Not puce! Not puce! I said mauve!'
You you (sic) spend hours tracking down the supplies on Jonesion's enormous shopping list. But when you deliver them, he's persnickety with your selections. Eventually he throws the lot at you and stamps away, muttering.
Shadowy increase
Help an assistant with her costume
Probably less glamorous than it sounds, but still, why not?
challenge
Sequins and feathers
Your job is not to dress the assistant. No, your job is to pick sequins up from the filthy dressing-room floor and sew them back on to the assistant's costume. By candlelight. While the assistant is taking a well-earned break in a Veilgarden tavern. You, who once robbed half the great buildings of Fallen London! Still, the wardrobe people are dreadful gossips.
Watchful increase
Making Use of Bats increase
Gain: 50 x
Cryptic Clue
For want of a thimble
Your job is to pick sequins up from the filthy dressing-room floor and sew them back on to the assistant's costume. But you only have one candle. You have to give up when you start getting blood on the skirts.
Watchful increase
Making Use of Bats decrease
Wounds increase
Gain the full trust of the bats
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Shadowy 97, Making Use of Bats 6
You are ready to progress in the bats' organisation. About time, after all these menial tasks. Naturally, you have to steal something to prove your loyalty.
(Shadowy challenge; straightforward at 106)
A tricky assignment
The bats have asked you to steal one of Madame Shoshana's tarot cards.
An auspicious card
You construct an elaborate scarf swaddled disguise and set off for Mrs Plenty's Carnival. Madame Shoshana's tent is a dark, confusing, heavily-scented grotto, and it takes all your skill to locate the tarot deck in the clutter. Like everything else here, the deck is swathed in multi-coloured silk. You extract a card and fumble for the exit. Something nudges you. It's Madame Shoshana's goat. He seems happy enough to let you go, thankfully.
You bring the tarot card to a tavern frequented by theatrical types and hand it over to the waiting magicians. It is the Gibbous Moon. Whatever that means. Conjurers and illusionists shake your hand, buy you drinks and say, 'Welcome to the Glass. Dear friend, well done. Welcome to the Glass. We will see you at Mahogany Hall.'
[Note: the Wars of Illusion continue at Mahogany Hall. You can find a way there from your Lodgings.]
Shadowy increase
Your
Making Use of Bats' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your **Connected: Glass Quality is now 1!
Gain: 101 x Cryptic Clue
An occurrence! Your
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion Quality is now 15!
Working with the Cats
You have chosen to work with the cats' spy ring…Sleek, gossipy cats drop in at your lodgings, offering a choice of menial jobs. Very menial, for a thief of your stature. Hopefully they'll let you in on some secrets once you've proved your worth. Increase your Making Use of Cats… to 6 to reach the next step…
[Unlocked with Making Use of Cats… 1]
[Unlocked with Shadowy 97]
[Unlocked with Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10]
Run errands for a Mesmerist
Philonous, the famous Mesmerist, needs someone to fetch his supplies.
_ challenge
'The perfect weight. Thank you.'
Finding exactly the right kind of iron filings is no easy matter. You finally track them down by shadowing a Knife-and-Candle umpire to an unmarked warehouse. Lots of metal here, a little iron won't be missed. Philonous pays you well for your efforts. Before you leave, you see him don heavy gloves and reach for a stone jar on a high shelf. A puff of smoke escapes as he uncorks the jar.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Cats… increase
Gain: 98 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
'Rubbish!'
You cover half the city searching for the Mesmerist's preferred variety of iron. It's all but impossible. The city's metal trades are under strict control. No wonder the Mesmerist delegates this job.
Making Use of Cats… decrease
Help a medium
A respectable medium needs an assistant for larger and more complicated séances.
_ challenge
The mechanics of spiritualism
You accompany the lady, elegantly draped in crape, to a shabby parlour in Stonymonk Street. Doleful people sit at a round table, exuding glum anticipation. Your arrival causes what is probably the nearest thing to a stir they can muster.
The medium, who chattered pleasantly about Society intrigues on the way here, is haughty and distant with the customers. Your task is simple; sit in the darkest corner, and when prompted, rap sharply on the underside of the table. The medium assures you that her processes are entirely ethereal and immaterial, but the customers expect a few theatrics to help the atmosphere. The séance appears to be a success. With folk this lugubrious, it's hard to be sure.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Cats… increase
Gain: 24 x
Cryptic Clue
Gain: 51 x
Jade Fragment
Spiritual disappointment
You accompany the lady, elegantly draped in crape, to a shabby parlour in Stonymonk Street. Doleful people sit at a round table, exuding a glum anticipation. Your job is to provide some atmosphere by rapping at the underside of the table from time to time.
It sounds easy, but you soon discover that a séance is a delicate, complex affair. You realise you've fumbled your cue when the entire room turns to stare at you. The medium is not happy. She pretends never to have seen you before, and you are thrown out at once.
Making Use of Cats… decrease
Assist a fortune-teller
Madame Shoshana would appreciate your assistance in compiling her bat-charts for the day.
_ challenge
'And the Rose is in transit through the House of the Lantern.'
You have to steal some notes from a Chiropterochronometry student to provide Madame Shoshana with her information. She pays, as is customary, in secrets, and offers you the additional observation that it is 'a good day for seed-based cakes.' In her tent, you catch a glimpse of closely-written foolscap sheets, covered in intricate geometrical diagrams.
Shadowy increase
Making Use of Cats… increase
Gain: 50 x
Cryptic Clue
'The Lantern is on the cusp of, erm, the Shepherd's twelfth diagonal?'
Madame Shoshana is not pleased with your hastily scribbled notes and vague diagrams of bat-flights. She sends you away with a dire warning about wearing twill. Bah. She probably makes it all up as she goes along.
Making Use of Cats… decrease
Cement your place with the cats
The time you spent doing menial jobs for the cats is about to pay off. To prove yourself, you have only to perform one job. One risky job.
[Unlocked with Making Use of Cats… 1]
[Unlocked with Shadowy 97]
[Unlocked with Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10]
A theatrical theft
The cats would like you to steal an illusionist's prized white rabbit. Well. Rabbits are fairly biddable, aren't they?
_ challenge
A clever trick
The great Henry Peppercorn's dressing room lies empty. The illusionist's pet rabbit Snowy crouches in a bronze cage lined with straw and old copies of the Gazette. No, wait. As your eyes adjust to the gloom you see the truth. It is the reflection of a bronze cage in a cleverly placed mirror. Peppercorn's dressing room is an illusion in itself! The real Snowy sits in a concealed cubbyhole. You tuck him into a pocket and make your escape. He seems unperturbed. He's probably accustomed to stranger experiences.
A small crowd of cats, mediums and other parlour magicians awaits you at a tavern in Hollow Street. You produce the rabbit with a theatrical flourish, which causes a few frowns. Philonous, the Mesmerist, gently takes Snowy and begins stroking his head. 'Many congratulations,' he says. 'Welcome to the Shroud.'
Note: the Wars of Illusion continue at Mahogany Hall. You can find a reliable way there from your Lodgings.
Shadowy increase
An occurrence! Your
Connected: Shroud Quality is now 1!
'Making Use of Cats… ' has been reset: a conclusion, or a new beginning?
Gain: 50 x
Cryptic Clue
An occurrence! Your
Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion Quality is now 15!