They say that once every nine years there's a card game where you can gamble your soul and win your heart's desire. That sounds like tremendous fun.
Unlocked: Persuasive 6
Necessary qualities: Watchful and Persuasive
Starts at Veilgarden.
Follow up the rumour
Ambition: Heart's Desire! [Begin]
[Location: Veilgarden]
They say that once every nine years there's a card game where you can gamble your soul and win your heart's desire. That sounds like tremendous fun.
Unlocks: Persuasive 6
Follow up the rumor
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 Persuasive and Watchful qualities are most important for this Ambition.
You have chosen this Ambition.
The bit about gambling your soul is bound to be an exaggeration. Surely.
Rewards :
Boldly done! You have chosen an Ambition! Ambition: Heart's Desire!
Ambition: Heart's Desire! [1]
[Location: Veilgarden]
Find someone who can tell you more about this notorious card game.
Unlocks: Ambition: Heart's Desire 1
Option 1: Ask around
People say it's bad luck to talk about the game. You'll have to be convincing.
A lead…
You have the address of a Devious Bookseller in Spite who's supposed to have played the game once in his youth. Go to Spite to find him.
Rewards :
Ambition: Hearts Desire increases
Ambition: Heart's Desire! [2]
[Location: Spite]
You've found the Devious Bookseller who claims to know the location of the card game you're looking for, which he calls the Marvellous. He insists that he can sell you a book which will reveal its location.
Unlocks: Ambition: Heart's Desire 2
Purchase the book
It's some sort of antique encyclopaedia of animal diseases. But it's the only lead you have.
(unlocked with Whispered Secret 30)
The bookseller writes something inside the front cover before he gives it to you…
You see that he's written an address on the grubby fly-leaf. You don't think you've ever paid that much for just an address.
Although, interestingly, whenever you try to copy it out, you can't seem to get it right. You keep writing the house number down wrong, or putting a completely different street name. So don't lose the book.
Rewards :
You now have 1 x On the Maladies of Goats, volume 1
You've lost 30 Whispered Secrets
Ambition: Heart's Desire! [3]
[Location: Fallen London]
You have a book with the address where the Marvellous, the card game where you can win your heart's desire, is held. But no-one seems to have heard of the street.
Find someone who knows where this mysterious address is
It sounds like a street name from London before the Fall. That must be why it's not on any maps.
Persuasive challenge
You're not alone, it seems.
No-one has heard of the street - or is prepared to admit it. But apparently an unusual young woman has been asking the same questions that you have, around the Veilgarden area. Someone else is looking for the Marvellous! Well, it's a lead of sorts.
Rewards:
Persuasive increase
Ambition: Heart's Desire! has increased to 3!
Ambition: Heart's Desire! [4]
[Location: Veilgarden]
A striking, expensively dressed young woman with a scarlet headscarf and a pet monkey, they say. You'd think she'd be easy enough to find. But no-one seems to know where she lives. You'll need to build up your network of acquaintances to open some doors.
Arrange an introduction to the young woman in question.
Raise your profile high enough and she'll meet with you.
[You can acquire the Confident Smiles you need through social actions with your friends at your Lodgings; or through some Opportunities.]
Unlocked with 4 x Confident Smile
A meeting in the Forgotten Quarter…
Whoever this woman is, she has a flair for the dramatic. The Forgotten Quarter! No-one goes there. No-one remembers why.
Check your inventory to read the note. You can learn to access the Forgotten Quarter via your Lodgings.
Rewards:
You now have 1 x Note: A Meeting in the Forgotten Quarter
You've lost 4 x Confident Smile
Find the Forgotten Quarter
[Location: Your Lodgings]
If you can't afford a London Street Sign, you may be able to find another way.
Unlocked with 1 x Note: A Meeting in the Forgotten Quarter
Work far into the night, trying to solve the puzzle of the Quarter
Laundry piles up. Friends are neglected. Your walls are webbed with half-mad scrawlings. All that matters is finding a way in!
Unlocked with Watchful 8
It's starting to make sense…
As your notes and diagrams become more intricate, you think you're beginning to see a way through the labyrinth of the city…
Rewards:
Watchful is increasing
Heart's Desire: Scrawled Notes on the Walls is increasing (1 point)
Nightmares is increasing…
Nothing! Nothing makes sense!
You tear down a great swathe of wallpaper in a fit of rage. You thought you were so close!
Rewards:
Watchful has increased
Nightmares are increasing
Open the way to the Forgotten Quarter
And they said it would cost you your sanity! The fools!
Unlocked with Heart's Desire: Scrawled Notes on the Walls 5
You follow the path laid out in the writing on your walls…
It wasn't easy, and you'll dream about it for a good many nights. But the way to the Forgotten Quarter is open!
Rewards:
Nightmares has increased
You've lost a quality: Heart's Desire: Scrawled Notes on the Walls.
You've learnt a new route: Route: The Forgotten Quarter
Ambition: Heart's Desire 8
You're ushered into a turret room where a blind man waits. 'I understand you've brought that wretched monkey with you,' he says sourly. 'Yes, I can help. But you'll need to make it worth my while.'
Option 1: Pay the Blind Astronomer his due
Moon-pearls: the Observatory's favourite currency.
Unlocks: 200 xMoon-pearl
Unfortunate timing
'You're looking for the Marvellous, aren't you. There's no other reason you'd have that monkey with you. Well, you're out of luck. They only play at very specific planetary conjunctions. That's why they come to us. Find out what and when. There won't be another one for at least…ooh, five years. I'd compose your soul in patience, if I were you.'He adds, meditatively, 'Unless…' Before you can ask him what he means, he sits bolt upright. 'Where's the monkey?' he demands. 'I can't smell the monkey!'
Ambition: Heart's Desire
You need to obtain seventy-seven First City coins. The Bishop's words linger in your ears: 'You can't steal them. You can't find them. They have to be bought, or gambled and won, or freely given. Anything else is bad luck. You don't want to go into the Marvellous with bad luck.'
Tell you what, though, that does mean you could pay someone else who's just happened to steal them. Probably.
Unlocks: Ambition: Heart's Desire - The Bishop of St Fiacre's 4
Option 1: Arrange for a theft from the Museum of Mistakes
There's a trove of First City coins in the Museum of Mistakes. But you'll need to expend a great many secrets to plan the theft, and even then no ordinary thief will be able to rob that place. [You'll need to enlist the help of another player - it won't be a straightforward task. Who do you trust? They should have Persuasive or Shadowy at least 70.]
Unlocks with Cryptic Clue 400
Should your friend accept, the following venture appears for them throughout Fallen London.
Prepare your theft from the Museum of Mistakes!
Very few are permitted to visit the Museum. It's the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Public Decency, which manages secrets too lethal or embarrassing or disgusting for public exposure. If you're going to break in, you'll need to be very, very careful. But the friend who asked you to carry out the theft has bought enough information to give you a decent chance. [Increase Planning a Theft to 5 or more to make the attempt.]
Use your contacts to prepare the ground
There must be academics who know floorplans, bureaucrats who've processed applications, rich and idle wasters who've managed to sneak a look at the treasures within. Someone will know.
Unlocks: Persuasive 70
Reconnoitre
They say the Museum has three gates, of iron, amber and poison-cedar. They probably made that up, but you'll be going in the back way. If you can find it.
Unlocks: Shadowy 70
Making progress
The Museum has seventy-seven doors. (Why does that number sound familiar?) Some are locked. Some are bricked up. Some are painted on the wall. Some are designed to leap outwards under the pressure of tremendous springs and squash interlopers flat. And if you think that's bad, you should see the windows.
Shadowy increase
planning a Theft from the Museum of Mistakes increase
After planning a Theft from the Museum of Mistakes increases to 5, the concluding storylet appears.
A theft from the Museum of Mistakes
Everything is prepared. You are frankly jittery. You must really like your friend. Or are you planning to use the inside information they gave you to rob it for your own reasons?
Steal the coins!
You're ready to steal the silver coins your friend needs. You have a route across the rooftops planned. You have the location of a chimney-stack that seems to serve as a disguised entrance for senior Museum functionaries… if the stalking black-cloaked things you've seen are in fact Museum functionaries. You have the new locations of the major exhibits memorised. You might even be ready.
Unlocks: planning a Theft from the Museum of Mistakes 5
Hang the coins! Take whatever looks most valuable!
You've worked hard for this! And your friend isn't that good a friend. You'll just tell them it didn't work out.
Unlocks: planning a Theft from the Museum of Mistakes 5
Option 2: Gamble for silver!
Your quest for the Marvellous is well known among your more colourful friends. Some of them may be failed Marvellous seekers themselves - they might have access to First City coins, if you can get word to the right ears…
Unlocks: Connected: Bohemian 15; Drop of Prisoner's Honey 70
Luck is with you this evening…
Note: This happens approximately 25% of the time.
The cards fall just right, one after another, like the passage of lost and delicious summer days. Your opponent is dismayed. 'I should've known not to test my luck against a Marveller,' she says, and 'the Five of Cats! I need to stock up on my prayers!' and 'Double or nothing?'.
You win two coins in the end. They're icy cold: you suspect her of leaving them on the windowsill to generate atmosphere. When she handed them over, did she really whisper, 'For the Ferryman?'
Rewards :
You were fortunate!
You've gained 2 x First City Coin.
Option 3: Send your monkey out into the night looking for coins
Well it's worth a try. And if he steals them, the bad luck's on him. You don't actually want him to win the Marvellous, do you?
Not for the first time, you wonder exactly what a card-playing monkey's heart's desire actually is.
(A matter of luck: a long shot…but you might win.)
A sticky prize
The monkey returns just after midnight. It seems pettish and sullen, but it does spit a single First City coin into your hand! You clean the simian spittle from the coin, and when you turn around the monkey's gone to sleep in your hat. For once, you let it stay there.
You were fortunate!
You've gained a new quality - Inciting a Simian Revenge? (small increase)
You now have 1 x First City Coin
A shivering monkey
The monkey returns just after midnight. It seems pettish and sullen and it has nothing resembling a coin. Never mind. You wrap it in a blanket and offer it hot tea, which seems to cheer it up.
You've gained a new quality - Inciting a Simian Revenge?
Option 4: A polypous offer
A Rubbery Man you know knocks politely at your door one evening. They always knock, the Rubbery Men. He makes a sound like the wind in a broken bottle. He wants something from you: he gestures bonelessly at the fire. What does that mean?
Unlocks: 1 x Warm Amber ; Connected: Rubbery Men 5.
A bag of coins!
The Rubbery Man hands over a chinking bag of coins. He holds the amber to his chin-tentacles. He caresses the warm amber with something like tenderness. It makes your stomach turn over abruptly. Fortunately he turns away then, and you close the door before the whistling begins.
You've lost 1 x Warm Amber (new total 0).
Connected: Rubbery Men has dropped to 4
You've gained 6 x First City Coin
Option 5: Visit the Numismatrix
The Numismatrix can obtain any coin in the world or under it, but her prices are eccentric and she never sells more than a single coin. Besides you dislike the vivid mossy verdigris-green of her beady little eyes. And she smells of beeswax and decaying rope.
Unlocks: 111 x Surface Currency
Option 6: The Master's Voice
The Masters of the Bazaar know where to find anything. Who to speak to? Mr Stones, who deals with jewels? Mr Iron, whose domain is metals and tools? That famed connoisseur, Mr Cups?
Unlocks: Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar 1.
To your surprise, it's Mr Mirrors you hear from
You're not given an audience with Mr Mirrors itself, but a package is delivered by a sniggering woman in a painted mask. 'Mr Mirrors wishes you good fortune,' the messenger says. 'He's certain you'll remember him.'
The package contains a generous number of silver coins in a lovingly polished cigar box, and a scrap of paper in an unfamiliar hand…
Rewards :
Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar decreases.
You've gained 1 x Hastily Scrawled Warning Note
You've gained 50 x First City Coin.
Option 7: Accidentally commission burglaries
If you know the wrong kind of people, you can casually mention that you're in the market for coins. Criminal habit will do the rest.
Unlocks: Connected: Criminals 10, 200 x Moon-pearl
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Seventy-seven silver coins jingle in your pockets. Time to find the Topsy King. He holds court in the Flit, far above the streets of the Fifth City. They admit only the most athletic variety of criminal. But if that's not you, there may be another way in.
Unlocks: First City Coin x77
Option 1: Bribery!
It is inconceivable that a Flitling might betray all those dramatic and blood-curdling oaths, just for a bribe. Inconceivable. Unless it's a really big bribe.
Unlocks: Moon-pearl 1000
Option 2: Persuasion!
Of course they won't let just anyone into the Flit. You understand that. But surely they can make an exception for someone like you?
Unlocks: Confident Smile x3
Ambition: Heart's Desire [2-6]
NOTE: The following spoilers were not recorded and are from "REMINISCE about your adventures."
Ambition: Heart's Desire!
You've found the Devious Bookseller who claims to know the location of the card game you're looking for, which he calls the Marvellous. He insists that he can sell you a book which will reveal its location.
Purchase the book
It's some sort of antique encyclopaedia of animal diseases. But it's the only lead you have.
The bookseller writes something inside the front cover before he gives it to you…
You see that he's written an address on the grubby fly-leaf. You don't think you've ever paid that much for just an address.
Although, interestingly, whenever you try to copy it out, you can't seem to get it right. You keep writing the house number down wrong, or putting a completely different street name. So don't lose the book.
Ambition: Heart's Desire!
You have a book with the address where the Marvellous, the card game where you can win your heart's desire, is held. But no-one seems to have heard of the street.
Find someone who knows where this mysterious address is
It sounds like a street name from London before the Fall. That must be why it's not on any maps.
You're not alone, it seems.
No-one has heard of the street - or is prepared to admit it. But apparently an unusual young woman has been asking the same questions that you have, around the Veilgarden area. Someone else is looking for the Marvellous! Well, it's a lead of sorts.
Ambition: Heart's Desire!
A striking, expensively dressed young woman with a scarlet headscarf and a pet monkey, they say. You'd think she'd be easy enough to find. But no-one seems to know where she lives. You'll need to build up your network of acquaintances to open some doors.
Arrange an introduction to the young woman in question.
Raise your profile high enough and she'll meet with you.
[You can acquire the Confident Smiles you need through social actions with your friends at your Lodgings; or through some Opportunities.]
A meeting in the Forgotten Quarter…
Whoever this woman is, she has a flair for the dramatic. The Forgotten Quarter! No-one goes there. No-one remembers why.
Check your inventory to read the note. You can learn to access the Forgotten Quarter via your Lodgings.
Ambition: Heart's Desire!
The Forgotten Quarter. Shadow and silence and moonish light. And somewhere, a woman with a secret.
Find the Fountain of Names
There are no maps of the Forgotten Quarter. You've been asking around, and you have an idea what you're looking for. But there a great many fountains.
Life in the ruins
You follow the sound of dripping water to a shadowed courtyard. A thin trickle runs from the broken stones of the Fountain of Names into the Quarter's dust: there's a patch of green where the weird underground grasses of the Neath have sprung up.
Which is all terribly symbolic, no doubt, and if you feel in need of inspiration this'd be the first place you'd come, but where the hell is your letter-writer?
Something lies on the edge of the fountain: a scarlet head-scarf. When you lift it, it's dappled with blood.
Ambition: Heart's Desire!
You came to the Forgotten Quarter to meet a woman who was also looking for the Marvellous. What's happened to her?
Pick up her trail
There are drops of blood on the dry stone, but the light is terrible, and they're small and few. Still it's all you have.
You follow the trail through the ruins
Eyes fixed on the ground, you follow the trail painstakingly through the ruins, your steps slow and careful. There's a drop every dozen feet, no more. Finally it ends. You cast about, but there's nothing.
You can hear something, though - in the distance, what is that? A child screaming? Wait - a monkey?
Ambition: Heart's Desire
You came to the Forgotten Quarter to find a woman. No luck. But you might have found her monkey.
Lure the monkey down
A broken, tarnished silver tree stands before a palace. Once it was a fountain. Perched at its top, the monkey watches you without warmth.
The monkey descends
You try every tactic you can think of to bring it down. You threaten, you promise, you unwrap your lunch and eat it greedily. At last you even try your most convincing monkey noises, stopping now and then to make quite certain that no-one is watching you.
Perhaps that's what swung it. It's hard to be sure. You have the nasty suspicion that it might have just felt sorry for you. But eventually it descends the trunk, fearfully examining the shadows around you as it comes. At last it leaps to perch on your shoulder.
More reminincing (different source, later, and posssibly in the wrong order):
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
the Topsy King claims that all his desires are fulfilled: he has no interest
in the Marvellous. Perhaps you should burn down the Flit. That'd show him.
Or perhaps you can find something he still wants. Who is he, really?
Talk to the Raggedy Men
Who was the Topsy King before he was the Topsy King? The Raggedy Men serve
their tattered lord with pride. That pride may incline them to boast. But
you're going to need a lot of rats.
Improbable stories
The Raggedy Men are full of stories. The King is the illegitimate son of the
Traitor Empress. The King is the illegitimate daughter of the Traitor
Empress. The King is a Clay Man who replaced his clay body piecemeal with
stolen flesh. He's the former music tutor of Mr Mirrors. He's a Third City
resident who still speaks the Third City language. You know better than to
believe them outright, but there there are glints of truth in the bluster
and flummery…
[Keep gathering information.]
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
There must be a hundred stories about the Topsy King, but two elements come
up again and again. His career as a musician and scholar, and the Shuttered
Palace.
Where to begin?
You once traipsed all over Watchmaker's Hill asking about a monkey. You
don't remember the experience with affection, but it taught you a lesson.
You need an oblique approach to the problem.
A possibility…
On Wednesdays, between three o'clock and half-past five, the public is
admitted to the Umber Wing of the Shuttered Palace. There they can view the
Bale Collection of antique and exotic musical instruments. The curator of
the exhibition is garrulous and eccentric. Perhaps he can shed light on the
Topsy King's past. To the Shuttered Palace, then…
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
At the Bale Collection in the Umber Wing of the Shuttered Palace, you may
find hints about the Topsy King's past.
Quiz the curator
He's only too eager to talk, but filtering useful information out of all
this blather about motive organs and Andalusian peasant tumps is going to be
challenging.
'…quite mad. Although still an excellent violinist…'
That catches your attention. Who?
A Mr Tristan Bagley, apparently. "Violinist. Composer. Scholar. Tried to
write an opera. 'The Bell and the Candle.' Manuscript's over there. Genius.
Nonsense. Opera. Wanted an entire orchestra of glass instruments. Never
finished. Lost his mind. In the Flit now. Some sort of criminal."
This can't be a coincidence. You must get a look at that manuscript.
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
In his former life, the Topsy King tried to write an opera. The Bale
Collection has the manuscript. You have to see it!
Induce the curator to let you take a closer look.
'Out of the question! These are precious and extraordinary articles! I can't
have you running your greasy fingers over them!'
You look around. In the case to the left of the manuscript sits a rattle
formed from grimy fingerbones. To the right is a drum that appears to have
been chewed by a dog. But the curator is inflexible.
Grudging acquiescence
With passion and eloquence you describe your long fascination with vitreous
music: your dreams of glass flutes as a child, your unfortunate experiments
with glass drums, your researches into the obsidian prophecy-pipes of the
ancient Mexicans. You listen with some pleasure to the sound of your own
voice: God, you're plausible. Certainly, the curator is convinced. He
unlocks the case: you are permitted to examine the manuscript.
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
The case is open. The Topsy King's unfinished opera lies before you. What
now?
The Correspondence?
Bagley's alternate notation system contains something that looks very much
like bastardised Correspondence sigils! This may be your only chance to
study it.
hieroglyphic filth!
More interesting than useful, but interesting. The Bell loves the Candle;
the Candle hates the Bell but can't resist her. The Correspondence-like
sigils that accompany these passages are positively lecherous in their
implications. You almost find yourself blushing. You didn't know it could be
used to imply those things. You make a few careful notes.
You leaf through the rest of it. The notes towards a libretto tail off into
a series of half-legible ravings about echoes, stars and couriers. Useless.
But here, between two pages stuck together by what might be soup… a
daguerreotype!
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
You've learnt several things. The Topsy King was once Tristan Bagley. He
failed to write an opera. He liked soup. And now here he is, in this
daguerreotype.
Examine the daguerreotype
The Topsy King, in a crowded ballroom. Happier times. He is younger,
cheerier and unencumbered by bat or umbrella.
A double coincidence? Impossible!
A woman sits to his left, watching him gesture. There is a resemblance. She
could be his cousin, or even his sister. Her hair is hidden beneath a
headscarf. In the daguerreotype the colour is merely sepia, but - you
remember the woman that led you to the Forgotten Quarter. It could be
scarlet. And crouched on her chairback, almost invisible in the faded and
curling border of the photo - that's definitely a monkey.Your monkey?
Tristan - the Topsy King to be - is resting his left hand on a book. You
peer closer. You can just make out the title through your Scrutinizer. 'ON
THE MALADIES OF G-'.
This can't be a coincidence. But where can you go with this?
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
The woman you inherited the monkey from is connected to the Topsy King. The
Topsy King owned a copy of the book you bought…the one the Devious
Bookseller wrote the address in. What does it all mean?
Go back to the Topsy King and try to get some sense out of him
Good luck.
Terrible things
The King examines the daguerreotype and the book with an expression of
drowning melancholy. He shakes his head, and seems disinclined to stop
shaking it. He begins to mutter things: terrible things. He speaks of the
darknesses under the city, of the sensations of death. You've never heard
him this articulate. Fascinating. Horrible. And that's all you get out of
him.
He does, however, gently but firmly confiscate the book from you as you
leave. The Raggedy Men watch, daring you to object.
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
The woman you inherited the monkey from is connected to the Topsy King. The
Topsy King owned a copy of the book you bought…the one the Devious
Bookseller wrote the address in. What does it all mean?
Purchase a replacement copy of 'on the Maladies of Goats'
You've lost it? Perhaps the Devious Bookseller can help. But the price has
risen.
The purchase is made
The Devious Bookseller carefully writes the address in the Forgotten Quarter
that he'd originally written. He winks at you.
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
The woman you inherited the monkey from is connected to the Topsy King. The
Topsy King owned a copy of the book you bought…the one the Devious
Bookseller wrote the address in. What does it all mean?
Visit that address in the Forgotten Quarter
…the one in the book. You never did go there in the end: you tried to meet
the woman in the scarlet headscarf at the Fountain of Names.
An abandoned place
You think this is the street, but the house is gone: nothing remains but a
tumbled heap of lichenous stones. You spend an hour or three picking through
the wreckage, but find nothing of any use. The brass hunting-horns of devils
rise in the distance. Time to leave.
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
The woman you inherited the monkey from is connected to the Topsy King. The
Topsy King owned a copy of the book you bought…the one the Devious
Bookseller wrote the address in. What does it all mean?
Go back to the Devious Bookseller
A shrewd-eyed, unsympathetic little man: he has no reason to help you.
Perhaps you can give him a reason. Load up on secrets.
Success!
He sucks his cheeks in. He looks at your armful of coded papers. He sighs.
'Listen carefully. I won't say this again. A woman paid me to give out that
address. She stipulated the book I gave you, too. She left her own address,
so I could report who came looking. Not long after, I heard the Ministry of
Public Decency picked her up. I'll tell you the address. And that's all I
know.'
The address is in Wolfstack Docks. You note it carefully. One thing. Cora
paid him to give you the address? And then he charged you for it?
He shrugs. 'Didn't want to look suspicious,' he says blandly.
More reminiscing
Ambition: Heart's Desire
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
The woman you inherited the monkey from is connected to the Topsy King. The Topsy King owned a copy of the book you bought…the one the Devious Bookseller wrote the address in. What does it all mean?
Search the book for hints
The subject matter is not what you'd call enthralling. You didn't look at it in detail last time.
The faintest of marks
The scuffed leather binding of the book has suffered a hundred indignities. But the marvellous lens of your Scrutinizer detects something specific: marks that resemble traces of handwriting. Did someone once write something on a piece of paper resting on this book?
Painstaking work with the Scrutinizer and the softest of pencils eventually reveals that they did! There is a name - 'Cora Bagley' - and an address in Wolfstack Docks. The woman in the red headscarf?
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King
This is the address you've been given for Cora Bagley: a neat brick house in a street beside a little fungal park. Lights blaze in every window. Special Constables, the strong arm of the Ministry of Public Decency, stand watch front and back.
Listen to the Constables' conversation.
You may be able to pick up something of interest.
Whispers in the park
These two are quite chatty for special constables. You sit nonchalantly on a bench in the park, listening to the juicy tidbits they drop. 'Parabola'? What is 'Parabola'? And why are their faces so grim when they say the word?
Aha! They're waiting for Cora Bagley. They're convinced she'll be coming back. If you wait off to the side, in the doorway of that abandoned public house, perhaps you can spot her before they do…
Heart's Desire - will she be back?
You're waiting for Cora Bagley by the little house in the park. She might come. She must come. If she doesn't come, you'll have to go back and talk to the Topsy King again. Let her come.
The lights of London
Gaslight blooms in windows as you wait. The streets grow empty. A raven lifts its voice in song. A hissing squall of rain passes.
Flurries in the fog
Your monkey perks up. He's staring at the busy coils of fog beneath the withered willow in the park. Is someone there? Yes: a figure, pressed against the bark of the tree, barely visible from here, quite invisible from the house.
You cross the street casually, and approach, hands at your side. It's Cora all right: no red headscarf, but you recognise the face from the daguerreotype. She stiffens when she sees the monkey.
Heart's Desire - a long-delayed conversation
Here, finally, is the woman you tried to meet in the Forgotten Quarter: the owner of the monkey. What did she want with you? Why is the monkey shaking its head?
She's leaving!
What's this? Cora's leaving? She shrugs your hand from her arm. The monkey must have given her some secret sign!
Gone into the fog
With luck she'll be back tomorrow night. You need to repair relations with your Cardsharp Monkey before then.
Heart's Desire - a simian revenge
Whatever you've done to the Cardsharp Monkey, it seems to be bearing a grudge. Cora Bagley won't speak to you without its good opinion.
Sweeten it with honey
Bribery: the most elemental form of diplomacy. The most honest, one might say. Wait, it wants how much? What's it planning? A bath?
A monkey mollified
You provide a cask of finest-quality prisoner's honey. The monkey sniffs it expertly and nods, satisfied. Then it leaps away to the roof-tops with its prize! You fear the beast has fled, but after a tense hour it scampers down a nearby drainpipe and climbs onto your hat. Its leathery little face is wreathed in monkey smiles. Back to the park.
Heart's Desire - the Topsy King's Sister
The last you saw of Cora Bagley was a bloodied headscarf in the Forgotten Quarter. Is this a trap? What strategy will you use with her?
Warmth
You're just glad to see her alive! Her brother will be relieved, too. If you can make him understand… it must be difficult, to have the Topsy King for a brother.
An informal chat
Her face relaxes. 'I'm sorry,' she says. 'I had meant to meet you in the Quarter: but they followed me there. Let's talk about my brother.'
+++Heart's Desire - Desperate Intentions
Cora wants to talk to you about her brother, the Topsy King.
'That damnable opera,' she says. 'And the Correspondence. He was a driven man. I'd never seen him like that. The Marvellous is a family affair for us, but Tristram never wanted to… until then. He gambled his mind away. What was left of it.'
You understand…
You've learnt a great deal about the Marvellous, these past few days. You can guess her intention.
'Double or nothing?'
"Double or nothing. Yes. I had hoped… if he played the game again… if he could win his mind back… and I'd heard the stories about you. I knew if you set your mind to it, you could arrange a session of the Marvellous.
"But it's hopeless, isn't it? I thought he'd recover enough to play. But he's farther gone than ever. I don't know what to do. I fear I've wasted your time. I'm sorry."
Heart's Desire - Double or Nothing
Perhaps Tristram Bagley - the Topsy King - can win his mind back in the game of cards. But if he's lost his mind, how can he possibly win? And how can you even convince him to play? Is this the end of your quest? Of course not. You're cleverer than that.
'What if…'
There must be a way.
A cheery gentleman…
The Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel! The Bishop said he was a player of the Marvellous. And - if the stories are true - he knows something of madness. Can he help Tristram? Can he help you?
Cora is dubious. The Royal Beth has a reputation that goes beyond the strange, strays into the menacing and loiters in the foyer of the chilling. But she doesn't have a better idea.
[You'll meet the Manager when your Nightmares are at least 5 - but you won't be in any shape to talk to him if your Nightmares are 8 or more.]
Heart's Desire - a Word with the Manager
The Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel leans elegantly against the lamp-post. The buttons on his coat sparkle like stolen sun.
'Your friend has lost his mind? Tristram? Tristram! I know him of old! Tristram! Of course I can help! Ice in his heart and pepper in his veins. Cut his hair and give him to the moon. All yours. I'll need some gifts first. Little favours. Nothing special.'
[You have reached a content boundary. Heart's Desire will continue here very soon - but in the meantime you can discover what gifts the Manager might like.]
'The milk of human kindness! Let me taste it.'
The Manager wants to kiss your hand. Do you want to give up Magnanimous for Confident Smiles? Or save it for when he can help you with Heart's Desire.
A buoyant euphoria
Your heart is lighter. Perhaps because it's smaller. But it does feel good.
Heart's Desire - Desperate Intentions
[Location: Wolfstack Docks]
(unlocked with Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King 16)
Cora wants to talk to you about her brother, the Topsy King.
'That damnable opera,' she says. 'And the Correspondence. He was a driven man. I'd never seen him like that. The Marvellous is a family affair for us, but Tristram never wanted to… until then. He gambled his mind away. What was left of it.'
You Understand…
You've learnt a great deal about the Marvellous, these past few days. You can guess her intention.
unlocked with Appalling Secret 20
REWARDS UNKNOWN - Help us fill the wiki!
One Last Secret
She bites her lip. Why all the layers of intrigue? There's something she wants, but she can't bring herself to say it.
unlocked with Persuasive 94
First choice removes 20 appalling secrets!
'Double or nothing?'
"Double or nothing. Yes. I had hoped… if he played the game again… if he could win his mind back… and I'd heard the stories about you. I knew if you set your mind to it, you could arrange a session of the Marvellous.
"But it's hopeless, isn't it? I thought he'd recover enough to play. But he's farther gone than ever. I don't know what to do. I fear I've wasted your time. I'm sorry."
Persuasive is increasing…
You've gained 1 x Appalling Secret
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 17!
Heart's Desire - Double or Nothing
Perhaps Tristram Bagley - the Topsy King - can win his mind back in the game of cards. But if he's lost his mind, how can he possibly win? And how can you even convince him to play? Is this the end of your quest? Of course not. You're cleverer than that.
(unlocked with Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King 17)
'What if…'
There must be a way.
unlocked with Watchful 97
A cheery gentleman…
The Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel! The Bishop said he was a player of the Marvellous. And - if the stories are true - he knows something of madness. Can he help Tristram? Can he help you?
Cora is dubious. The Royal Beth has a reputation that goes beyond the strange, strays into the menacing and loiters in the foyer of the chilling. But she doesn't have a better idea.
[You'll meet the Manager when your Nightmares are at least 5 - but you won't be in any shape to talk to him if your Nightmares are 8 or more.]
To increase "Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King 17" to "Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King 18" you must raise your Nightmares to 5. The "A Cheery Gentleman" card that appears has an often-overlooked unlocked option. See the page on Nightmares for more information on this step.
Heart's Desire - the Price of Desire
The Royal Bethlehem Manager has an idea how to entice the Topsy King back to the Marvellous. He wants payment for his opinion. Naturally, he hasn't said how you are supposed to pay him..
Give him your dreams
The Manager knows a thing or two about nightmares. Perhaps your dreams are of sufficient quality to tempt him.[This will cost you all your Death By Water, Burial of the Dead, Fire Sermon and What the Thunder Said dreams].
Unlocks: Recurring Dreams: Death by Water 5
Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead 5
Recurring Dreams: The Fire Sermon 5
Recurring Dreams: What the Thunder Said 5
Memory of Light 1
To the opera
'Dreams, dreams, dreams. I grow tired of them, I do. You can't imagine how long I've let them run through my toes. Well, perhaps you can.' The Manager examines his fingernails for a length of time that goes beyond rude. While his face is no more than middle-aged, his hands are those of an old man. They have an olive complexion that suggests he's not a local.
'Still,' he says at last, 'I must admit that your dreams are quite weighty. Substantial and rotund, you understand. Burly. You must have worked at them endlessly. Very well. Listen now. Tristram's passion was always music. In these days of beggars and stolen paintings, he's forgotten the opera. His opera. The one he never finished. The solution to your dilemma is as plain as toast: you must remind him of his desires. You should stage his opera. Or yours, if you have that rare blend of musical talent and…' The manager looks around conspiratorially, 'cryptophilolological facility.'
[To continue, you could obtain a copy of Tristan Bagley's Opera from the collection at the Shuttered Palace.]
Your 'having Recurring Dreams: Death by Water' Quality has gone!
Your 'having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead' Quality has gone!
Your 'having Recurring Dreams: The Fire Sermon' Quality has gone!
Your 'having Recurring Dreams: What the Thunder Said' Quality has gone!
You've lost 1 x Memory of Light (new total 2).
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 21!
Give him your key
The key opens… well, perhaps you're not sure. But the Manager strikes you as a man who enjoys an enigma.
Unlock: Stone Tentacle-Key 1
A hundred hands
The Manager takes your proffered key and holds it to the light. He rubs distractedly at his chin. A tear wells up in his eye. For a moment, his airs leave him, and the fearsome manager is merely an old, olive-skinned man in a ridiculous frock coat. He speaks to the key rather than you. 'Yes. You've been away a long time, haven't you? A hundred hands and a thousand eyes. And do I smell well water? No matter. I shall have to give you away again. I cannot be trusted with you. Not yet. That would be a weight greater than mountains.' The Manager solemnly places the key in his shirt pocket, next to his heart.
'Listen now. Tristram's passion was always music. In these days of beggars and stolen paintings, he's forgotten the opera. His opera. The one he never finished. The solution to your dilemma is as plain as toast: you must remind him of his desires. You should stage his opera. Or yours, if you have that rare blend of musical talent and…' The manager looks around conspiratorially, 'cryptophilolological facility.'
[To continue, you could obtain a copy of Tristan Bagley's Opera from the collection at the Shuttered Palace.]
Lose: 1 x Stone Tentacle-Key
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 21!
Give him brass for buttons
Shower him in brass! Cover him! Drown him! His buttons will shine like never before!
Unlock: Nevercold Brass Sliver 5000
The strutting peacock falters
'You have noticed my buttons, then. How could you not?' The Manager struts up the street for a few paces, like a gilded peacock. 'They were made for me by… someone who was once very special to me.' The Manager's eyes darken, and for a moment he's just an ancient olive-skinned man in a ridiculous frock coat. He scurries back towards his Hotel, elbowing pedestrians out of his way and dropping most of the brass you gave him in his wake.
Lose: 500 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Heart's Desire - Back to the Bale
The manuscript of the Topsy King's opera can be found in the Bale Collection, in the Umber wing of the Palace. You'll need another look if you plan to stage the thing.
A sticky sort of plan
The curator is unwilling to let you study the manuscript for long enough to make detailed notes. Hmm. What you need here is a silver tongue, a jar of honey and a monkey.This choice is locked for now.
Unlock: Persuasive 103
500 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
'Come down at once, you sticky simian menace! No! Not the psaltery!'
The curator is adamant: The Bale collection is not a lending library. Musical heritage of the nation. And so on. He waggles his stubby, impudent finger in your face.
However, while you endure his lecture, your monkey has the lid of the honey jar loose. You have given your monkey very specific instructions. It can disappear into dreams of jungles, fruit and mischief later. For now, its role is to mat its fur with honey and leap about, hooting and shrieking.
This is a role your monkey was born for. It starts with a scream from the piano, and then leaps across the European Brass exhibits, leaving sticky paw-prints as it goes. The curator rushes off in pursuit, matching the monkey hoot for hoot and wail for wail. You repair to a quiet alcove with 'The Bell and The Candle' and scribble frantic notes while your villainous simian screeches and leaps around the architrave.
Yes, you could do this. There's sufficient material to stage the opera up to the end of the first aria. You'll just have to hope that is enough to bring the Topsy King back to the game. Now, you'll need musicians and instruments. Veilgarden.
[Head to Veilgarden to gather musicians, unless you're otherwise occupied with opera. In that case, you may already have preparations in place.]
Persuasive has not increased: this quality cannot currently increase past 120.
You've gained a new quality: Scandal at 2 - Sinful.
You've lost 500 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey (new total 0).
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 22
Heart's Desire - Tapping the Baton
To stage the first part of 'The Bell and the Candle', you're going to need glass instruments and some liberal-minded musicians and singers.
Direct solutions
The best way to get the musicians of Veilgarden on your side is to get them stinking drunk. As to the instruments - well, that's what money is for.
[These items are found in the Bazaar Sidestreets. You will need to be a Person of Some Importance to acquire them.]
To unlock, you need 1 x Night on the Town , 1 x Bejewelled Lens , 1 x Comprehensive Bribe .
Positions, please
The percussionists have polished off a case of Black Wings Absinthe and disappeared 'for a bit of a prowl' around Spite. The altos are cracking jokes about you that would make Sinning Jenny blush. The brass players are attempting to rescue one of their own from a tuba. Your plan is coming along nicely. When this lot sober up… actually, it would probably be best to start the performance before they sober up. Most of them are well used to playing while soused. The Singing Mandrake is as good a place as any.
The glass instruments will be here shortly. The Great Downward Engineering Company is nothing if not forward-looking. The engineer barely raised an eyebrow at your plans. Stout fellow.
It is time. Your runner is back from the Flit. Tristram Bagley is coming. The Manager of the Royal Beth is sitting with your tenors. The eyes of the Singing Mandrake turn to you. Let us begin.
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 23!
Lose: 1 x Night on the Town
Lose: 1 x Bejewelled Lens
Lose: 1 x Comprehensive Bribe
Heart's Desire - A Night at the Opera
Your rather shambolic and booze-hammered operatic company is as ready as it ever will be, in the snug of the Singing Mandrake.
Here we go
The Topsy King enters with a flourish of his bat and a 'Garbles!' With that, he sits down next to the Manager of the Royal Beth. Time to begin.
Unlock: Scholar of the Correspondence 1
Unlock: Persuasive 108
Persuasive Challenge
The King's Opera
You raise your baton. The glass kettle drums pound out the the overture. Your vision clouds with blood. You wipe it away and continue. The xylophonist's hair bursts into a violet flame, but he continues playing. He's either a consummate professional or very drunk indeed.
You've read the libretto, of course, but you couldn't have imagined the full impact of the work in performance. The Bell and the Candle is erotic beyond the human experience. You find yourself enamoured of the unseen sky. Desperate with desire for the endless spaces between stars. Consumed with furious lust for the striking of bells. What is this doing to you?
The Singing Mandrake is a bedlam. Half of the customers are cavorting lustily with the other half. A few run out into the street, wild-eyed with passion. The Bell sings her aria. A thing of hatred, of impossible desire, of revenge and bright burning joy. And then, with a juddering wail from the transparent bassoons, it's over. You look to the Topsy King, who sits with his arm around the Manager. His eyes are clear. You have never seen them so clear. He stands and leaves for the Flit without a word. The Manager shrugs. What can you do but follow him?
Persuasive Increase
Scandal Increase (Min 10 CP (0-4))
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 24!
Heart's Desire - The Morning After
The Topsy King, Tristram Bagley, attended your riotous performance of his opera. But what did it do to him?
Not at home to visitors
He's not in the draughty heights of the Rope Court. The Raggedy Men don't know where he's gone. A few of his paintings are missing already.
Unlock: Watchful 108
Watchful Challenge
A brief meeting with a Marvellous player
You find the Topsy King… but this isn't the Topsy King. This fellow is Tristam Bagley. He's leaning on a long-cold chimney-breast, smoking a cigar. His bat is absent.
'We don't have long. I can feel them coming back. The letters, the shapes, the words in the sky… here they come again, up from the depths. I'll burn with them. But you've done enough, and I thank you. Perhaps if I can finish the opera… Perhaps I can get them out. Throw the letters into the sky and be me again. I'll play. Even when I become him again, I'll play. I'll remember. Tell my sister that I love her. And tell the Manager that I won't fall for that bluff again.'
Tristram Bagley looks down at his feet. He drops his cigar. A bat lands on his shoulder. The Topsy King looks up at you. 'Garbles,' he says softly. 'Garbles…'
[You have reached a content boundary. Heart's Desire will return shortly, when you can recruit the next player - The Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel.]
Watchful Increase
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Heart's Desire - the Topsy King' Quality is now 25!
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You've gained 30 x Diamond
You've gained 20 x Relic of the Second City
You've gained 5 x Anticandle
You've gained 40 x Stolen Correspondence
You now have 1 x Ridiculous Hat
Admired increases
Daring increases
Hedonist increases
You now have 1 x Warm Amber
You now have 1 x Horsehead Amulet
You've gained 24 x Jade Fragment.
