Pursuing A Case Of Books

Begins with the Opportunity Card

A Terrible Shame, all Agreed

Unlocks: A Person of Some Importance 1
An Irregular Scholar has passed on, reputedly from a surfeit of prunes. Given the transient nature of death in Fallen London, it must have been one hell of a surfeit. All agree it is a tragedy.

Hang on a moment

Wasn't the Irregular Scholar a distant relation of yours? Didn't she have a notable library? There could be a legacy in this. To the will-reading!
Modest at Watchful 121

Reward spoiler

Unsound

The solicitor from Baseborn & Fowlingpiece reads the will in a sitting room with standing room only. Disaster! The Irregular Scholar has bequeathed her considerable library to Mr Pages. What madness is this? It'll be on the bonfire before supper! No, this won't do at all.

The Irregular Scholar was probably of unsound mind or somesuch. Yes, that's the ticket. The problem is making a court see that. Mounting a contestation will will be expensive. But the library just might be worth it.
Watchful increase.
A twist in your tale! Your Pursuing a Case of Books Quality is now 1!

Pursuing a Case of Books

unlocked with Pursuing a Case of Books 1
The Irregular Scholar's library will be yours!

Abandon the case

D—n it all! You don't want to see those books burn, but they can't be worth the cost of the court case. Humbug! Humbug!

Reward spoiler

Feeding the fire

The books crackle and crisp and blacken. And then they are gone. What a waste. What a senseless waste.
Your Pursuing a Case of Books Quality is gone!
Nightmares increase

Press your case

Let slip the dogs of law. You must have those books!
Unlocked with 6 x Legal Document, 200 x Cryptic Clue
[Note: the lawyers will only take the Legal Documents if you win, but the Cryptic Clues are non-refundable even if you lose.]
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)

Cost information

Costs for necessary items (available on the Bazaar Sidestreets)

Legal Document	each: 1000 x Cryptic Clue, 100 x An Infernal Contract , 500 x Proscribed Material, 2000 x Whispered Secret

Lucky spoiler

'We find that the plaintiff's argument moves us'.

After weeks of incomprehensible courtroom wrangling, your lawyers have won through. The books are yours!

You can't actually recall the Irregular Scholar adopting you, or that sacred promise you made to protect her library. Can her second half-cousin, your rival in this case, really be an agent for foreign revolutionaries? He doesn't seem the type; his intellect gutters like a dying gas lamp. But when all is said and done, who cares?

The judge - a conveniently sozzled old oaf - finds in your favour, and the books are delivered to your lodgings shortly thereafter. The lawyers pocket their considerable fees and depart.
An occurrence! Your Voluminous Library Quality is now 1!
Your Pursuing a Case of Books Quality is gone!
Lose: 6 x Legal Document
Lose: 200 x Cryptic Clue

Unlucky spoiler

'We find against the plaintiff'

D—n! All that time, effort and money for nothing! Your barrister pats your shoulder sadly. There was nothing to be done. The judge was a drunken oaf. And so forth. Your bill, albeit much reduced, will arrive with tomorrow's post. The books will be on the bonfire the very next morning.
Your Pursuing a Case of Books Quality is gone!
Lose: 200 x Cryptic Clue

Opportunity Cards

A library of your own

Unlocked with Voluminous Library 1
How comforting, how civilised, to have your own library. But what use will you make of it?

Diligent research

You've still not catalogued all the books. You could spent a worthy afternoon poking about in your library.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)

Lucky spoiler

A thumping good read

You leaf through the Irregular Scholar's journals. My, she had quite the life. Liaisons with Russian nobility. Intimate correspondence with a cardinal. Was her supposedly prune-related death something more sinister? Many powerful people would have suffered if she had published these books. And now they are yours.
You've gained 10 x Proscribed Material
You've gained 10 x Stolen Correspondence
You've gained 1 x Appalling Secret

Unlucky Spoiler

Secrets of an everyday sort

The Irregular Scholar had many secrets, but most are long out of date. Still, her library was comprehensive, and now it's yours. You spend a pleasant day ferreting about for useful tidbits. By the time that lamps are lit, you haven't amassed enough to bring down a government, but you could annoy a few academics and embarrass a journalist. Well enough.
You've gained 75 x Cryptic Clue

A comfy chair by the fire

It does look particularly inviting. Research can wait. There's always tomorrow.
Unlocked with Nightmares 2
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)

Lucky spoiler

A pleasant dream

You settle down with Mrs Cleghorn's latest volume and a snifter of something aged and mellow. You close your eyes for a moment. When you wake, there's something new in the mirror over the mantelpiece. Green foliage, tiger-striped with sunlight. A flash of hot, vivid colour as a bird flits through it. You wake again, and this time the library is just a library. But something warm has stayed with you.
Nightmares decrease ~3 change points

Rare Lucky spoiler

Dappled with light

You settle down with Mrs Cleghorn's latest volume and a snifter of something aged and mellow. You close your eyes for a moment. When you wake, there's something new in the mirror over the mantelpiece. Green foliage, tiger-striped with sunlight. Root-wrapped stone and fallen temples. A flash of hot, vivid colour as a bird flits through it. Serpents and roses. You wake again, and this time the library is just a library. But your mind is still dappled with light.
Nightmares decrease
Gain 2 x Memory of Light

Unlucky spoiler 

An unpleasant dream

You settle down with Mrs Cleghorn's latest volume and a snifter of something aged and mellow. You close your eyes for a moment. When you wake, you're lying on gritty floorboards. Did you fall out of the chair? No. It's dark. And the floor is tilting. And it's raining. You're at sea? Salt spray hits you in the face and you wake with a start. On the table at your side, you've written something in spilled brandy with your finger. Just one word. NORTH.
Nightmares increase
Unaccountably Peckish increase

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