Shadows Of The Orphanage

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A dark stain at the centre of Spite, encircled by a lightless labyrinth. A hospital? A prison? Or something worse? It is part of the Light Fingers Ambition storyline.

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Opportunity Cards

There are only a maximum of 2 cards in your deck in this area, and also interesting there is no way to discard opportunity cards that you have drawn other than using them.

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In the shadows of the Orphanage: she sells sea shells

A woman of indeterminate age sidles up to you, pointed nose twitching. 'My children are hungry. I need shells. Shells to sell. I'll be grateful. So grateful.'

Give her a little glim

Unlocks: 5 x Glim
There's something chitinous about it. It's the closest thing you have to shells.

Rewards spoiler

'The milk! The castings!'

She stuffs the glim into her mouth, crunching avidly away with the decayed stumps of her teeth. Her eyes close. 'Oh yes. That's how it was,' she breathes. You back away carefully.
Rewards:
Lose: 5 x Glim
Nightmares increase

In the shadows of the Orphanage: the Beggar

A slender youth stands shouting in a high, cracked voice. 'Tea! Where is the tea?'

Give the fellow something to buy a cup of tea

Unlocks: 4 x Jade
A little jade will buy you a handsome quantity of tea in Spite.

Rewards spoiler

'No! TEA!'

He flings the jade into an open manhole and screams his rage into your face. Apparently he doesn't want jade, he wants tea. Immediate tea. Spittle beads the corner of his mouth as he batters at your chest. He leaves you alone eventually, but you've got turned round in the Labyrinth.
Rewards:
Magnanimous increase (capped at something less than 16)
Lose: 4 x Jade

In the shadows of the Orphanage: the Audience

A plump woman in a stained apron is whistling, with a look of fierce concentration. Each time she breaks off, tutting. You half-recognise the tune.

Join in

Can you remember the rest of the song?

Rewards spoiler

'I'll dye my dress, I'll dye it black…'

The plump woman joins in with a beatific smile. You finish the song with a flourish and wait for your well-earned applause. The woman's smile vanishes. 'No no no,' she growls. 'Encore. Encore!'
 
When you explain that you have other business, she roars with rage and sets about you with a chair-leg. You extricate yourself, but your sense of direction has suffered under the blows.
Rewards:
Persuasive increase
Wounds increase
Gain: 1 x Cryptic Clue

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Storylets

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Ambition: Light Fingers! Navigating the labyrinth

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 38
You are somewhere inside the labyrinth that surrounds the Orphanage. The darkness here has peculiar properties: candles burn down to their stubs with unnatural speed. The path divides, and divides again. Which way now?

Option 1: Leave the Orphanage's labyrinth

A touch eery in here, one must admit. One is not averse to danger, but then again, perhaps one would be better prepared after a good meal with friends and a healthy snooze by a warm fireside.

Rewards spoiler

Flowerdene has never seemed so welcoming

The marks you scored into the walls are where you left them, and the architecture appears unchanged. It's not one of those labyrinths. Soon you are back in the light and fresh air of Spite. Oh, very well then, the gloom and dank vapours of Spite. It's an improvement nonetheless.
You've moved to a new area: Spite
Your Opportunity deck can now hold 6 cards.
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 37!

Option 2: March fearlessly into the labyrinth

Unlocks: 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub, Persuasive 82
There are people in here with you. Well, they're probably people. It's hard to be sure - they keep to the edges of the candlelight. They have limbs and eyes, that much you can be sure of. Show them that you are unafraid!

Rewards spoiler

Back, you rabble!

Indistinct fleshy figures hiss and scuttle away from your confident footsteps. You whistle a cheery tune and they fly from the noise. Why, these creatures are pathetic specimens, more hungry and ragged than fierce! You move deeper into the maze, tossing used candle stubs behind you. [Raise your Ambition: Light Fingers to 40 to continue.]
Persuasive increase
Lose: 50 x Firefire Candle Stub
'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality increase

Failure spoiler

The ragged figures

You march into the darkness, head held high, whistling a cheery tune. A pale and naked figure sprints towards you, cradling a wineglass as if it were a newborn. He slashes at your face with his fingernails and disappears into the darkness. All around, you can hear murmuring; songs of the tenderest affection, sobs of inconsolable loss. Miserable figures snarl from the shadows. Perhaps you took a wrong turn. In any case, these labyrinth dwellers are unimpressed by your posturing. Best be moving on.
Persuasive increase
Lose: 50 x Firefire Candle Stub
Wounds increase

Option 3: Embrace the shadows

Unlocks: 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub, Shadowy 89
Darkness is your business partner and silence is your closest friend. You have nothing to fear from this place.

Rewards spoiler

The denizens of the labyrinth

You slide through the shadows, tossing candles ahead of you. Every now and then, you slip past one of the labyrinth's inhabitants. A woman sits cross legged in a filthy corner, tenderly stroking a soup spoon. A man turns slow, dazed circles in a vain attempt to kiss his own shoulder blades. Just what is going on here? You move deeper into the maze. [Raise your Ambition: Light Fingers to 40 to continue.]
Shadowy increase
Lose: 50 x Firefire Candle Stub
'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality increase

Failure spoiler

The stuff of nightmares

You slide through the shadows, tossing candles ahead of you. Every now and then, you slip past one of the labyrinth's inhabitants. A haughty aristocratic woman squats by a lamp post, chewing a string of pearls. She sees you and howls through splintered teeth. her cry brings other figures crawling from the darkness; a man dragging the skeleton of a dog on a leash, another who weeps copiously into a leather satchel. You hurry away into the dark.
Shadowy increase
Nightmares increase
Lose: 50 x Firefire Candle Stub

Option 4: choose a path at random

Unlocks: 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub
What's the worst that could happen? Hmmm. Maybe one should not dwell on that. Look at it this way instead: what's the best that could happen?(A matter of luck: the odds are against you here.)

Rewards spoiler

'Have you seen the clouds?'

Halfway down an alley of houses that curve towards each other like trees, a woman steps from the darkness and tugs at your sleeve. 'Have you seen the clouds?' she asks. 'I miss them so much. Please, can you tell me where they are?' She seems sane and calm, but her eyes are raw with old tears. You disentangle yourself gently and move deeper into the labyrinth. [Raise your Ambition: Light Fingers to 40 to continue.]
Lose: 50 x Firefire Candle Stub
'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality increase

Failure spoiler

Darkness Visible

A few strides down this path, your candle splutters and dies. You pull out another, but the darkness consumes it in under a minute. The further you explore the less effective your candles become. Eventually, they won't light at all. You are lost.
Rewards:
Nightmares increase
Lose: 50 x Firefire Candle Stub

Ambition: Light Fingers! a Return to Spite

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 40
You know the way through the outer labyrinth now. You can leave and return later.

Follow the marks

With unsteady hand, you've carved a trail of marks into the walls of the labyrinth. Follow them home.

Rewards spoiler

Blinking in the light

It's good to be back in Spite. There aren't many places you could come back from that would make you say that. But the bustle of the surly, knife-carrying crowds is like a warm blanket now.
Rewards:
You've moved to a new area: Spite
Your Opportunity deck can now hold 6 cards.

Ambition: Light Fingers! The Creature in the Labyrinth

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 40
Something is following you down these lightless alleyways. You are certain of it.

Sneak behind the beast

Unlocks: Shadowy 96
It should know better than to tangle with a master of the shadows.

Rewards spoiler

A man in a hurry

You drop your candle and step into the shadows. Moments later, a figure dashes down the alley. You extend a casual foot and your assailant flies head first into a puddle. You light a match and regard the sodden, spluttering figure at your feet. This is no monster, just a man. He wears a shabby suit and carries a sheaf of rolled papers. His face is deeply creased and decorated with an enormous handlebar moustache. He has no eyes, just concave sockets filled with shadows. The match flame gutters and dies.
 
'Wot you ave to go an trip me for?' the old man says. 'I'm only tryin to elp you. Aah, my bloody maps is soaked now, fanks a lot. Ere, gis an and up will you? Ta.'
Rewards:
Shadowy increase
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 41!

Ambition: Light Fingers! The Blind Cartographer

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 41
You encountered a man in the labyrinth that surrounds the Orphanage. He claims to be a cartographer of prelapsarian London. He offers you sludgy tea and a slice of tart in a shack several storeys above the darkened streets.

Listen to the Cartographer

'You'll be lookin for the Orphanage I spose.' He measures a slice of lemon meringue tart with filthy fingers and waves it in your general direction. 'You want some free advice wiv yer pie?'

Rewards spoiler

The Cartographer's counsel

The Cartographer leans forward and his hand finds your knee. 'Forget it,' he whispers. 'I bin there once an look how that turned out. Pulled my own eyes out. Wiv a dinner fork. I ad to do it, or I'd be as mad as them that wanders round below. There ent no gettin in there less the Masters want you in there, eh? Only reason I ended up in there was my map. Old London, see? not allowed. Still, I might be able to elp you find the place at least. The darkness round the Orphanage int natural. You need an everlastin candle just to walk frough it. Fortunately…' he leans back on his stool and smiles. 'I appen to ave one lying about, as it were.'
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 42!

Ambition: Light Fingers! The Candle

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 42
You need an Everlasting Candle to penetrate the darkness around the Orphanage. The Blind Cartographer has one, but he won't part with it for nothing.

Help the Cartographer

Unlocks: 5 x London Street Sign
The Cartographer is making a map of London before the Fall - a highly illegal activity. Any old street signs you can procure will speed his work along.

Rewards spoiler

There is a light that never goes out

An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 43!
Gain: 1 x Everlasting Candle
Lose: 5 x London Street Sign

Create your own Candle

Unlocks: a Scholar of the Correspondence 3, 30 x Foxfire Candle Stub
The Cartographer's candle is just an ordinary waxen cylinder inscribed with letters from the Correspondence. If one had the expertise, it would be a simple matter to replicate the symbols.

Rewards spoiler

Candlecraft

Let's see… That's the symbol for Light, obviously, and the one on the base is Constancy…
 
It's meticulous and painful work. If you miss a glyph or put them in the wrong order, the candle explodes in a fountain of boiling wax. After a long night of failed attempts and gingerly applied camomile lotion, you hold an Everlasting Candle in your blistered fingers.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 43!
Gain: 1 x Everlasting Candle
Wounds increase
Lose: 30 x Foxfire Candle Stub

Steal the candle

Unlocks: Shadowy 103
Consider the facts: you are a master thief, and the Cartographer is blind. What could possibly go wrong?

Rewards spoiler

A surprisingly shabby feeling

You have the impression that the Cartographer knows exactly what you are up to, blind or no. He shakes his head as you - with such delicate patience and care! - lift the candle from the bookshelf and pocket it. 'On yer own ead,' he mutters as you slip out of the door.
Rewards:
Shadowy increase
Heartless increase
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 43!
Gain: 1 x Everlasting Candle

Failure spoiler

No ordinary candle

Stealing candles ought to be child's play to someone like you. But this is a very unusual candle. It senses your approach and burns with a finger-scorching light. In the corner, the Cartographer nods to himself sadly.
Shadowy increase
Wounds increase

Ambition: Light Fingers! The Orphanage

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 43
You have your Everlasting Candle. You have learned the ways of the Labyrinth in Spite, and its pitiful inhabitants shrink from your footsteps.

Through the Labyrinth

Unlocks: 1 x Everlasting Candle
Nothing stands between you and the Orphanage except your own resolve. Are you ready to make the journey?

Rewards spoiler

Welcome to The Orphanage

The Orphanage sits at the heart of the labyrinth, unremarkable as a clod of earth. The building itself is an ordinary red brick mansion, rather low and ugly in aspect but otherwise indistinguishable from a thousand others. There are small gates in the exterior wall marked IN and OUT - perhaps it was a school, once. The grounds are modest but well-maintained, and tastefully scattered with brickwork topiary. The building has four doors and and two dozen windows and every one is firmly shuttered. They emit no light at all.
 
As you circle the building, a scream scrapes across the darkness. It lasts for longer than you can hold your breath.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 44!

Ambition: Light Fingers! - a way into the Orphanage

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 44
This storylet no longer exists—the plot continues!
Here is the Orphanage: tightly locked and shuttered. Surely a door will open soon.

Listen at a door

The street is brightly lit, but there's no-one here. No-one but you. What's inside?

Rewards spoiler

Hisses and screams

A dialogue: two voices. You recognise one of them. You saw her on the stage, at Mahogany Hall! Something about snakes. Something about mirrors. Something about a devil with a crooked eye.
Rewards:
Gain: 2 x Incendiary Gossip
Gain: 2 x Inkling of Identity
Gain: 2 x Appalling Secret

Failure spoiler

Whispers and sobbing

That's a voice you recognise. He's in here? In the Orphanage? The grip of the Masters is tight indeed. He's whispering: he needs… the moon? Why does he need the moon?
Rewards:
Gain: 1 x Incendiary Gossip
Gain: 3 x Inkling of Identity
Nightmares increase

Ambition: Light Fingers! - the Hulking Orderly

Unlocks: Ambition: Light Fingers! 44
How many months has it been? How many times have you returned to the Orphanage to find the doors and windows shuttered tight? Tonight, your patience is rewarded. An orderly of some kind - a vast and rotting hulk of a man, uniformed and masked - leaves the building by a side door. This is your chance.

Steal his uniform

Unlocks: Shadowy 110, chancy at 117
The Hulking Orderly lumbers through the labyrinth, carelessly scattering crumbs from a hot sausage pastry. When he falls, he'll fall like a hollow oak.

Rewards spoiler

He never knew what hit him

Nothing could be simpler. A sap to the back of his head, just below the ear. The Orderly tumbles like a sack of wet sand. You strip his uniform and white mask. They're terribly loose, but they will have to serve.

You leave the Orderly where he lies - the madmen will see to him - and return to the Orphanage. It sits in the square, squat and shuttered as always. It takes a moment to find the right door. You rap smartly and wait. A section of wood slides away, revealing a pair of cold, disinterested eyes. 'Took your bloody time,' says a voice. 'Come on in, then. There's floors to clean.'

So you walk inside. And the door closes behind you.
Shadowy increase
You've moved to a new area: The Silent Corridors of the Orphanage
Your Opportunity deck can now hold 6 cards.
An occurrence! Your 'Exploring the Orphanage' Quality is now 1!
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 45!

Failure spoiler

A wrong turn

The orderly is light on his feet, despite his size. You turn a corner and… Damn this labyrinth, where did he go? Madmen whisper and weep in the dark. Your target is long gone. Did he realise you were following him? It wouldn't do to attract attention, not with Poor Edward keeping an eye on you. Nonetheless, you must gain entrance. There is nothing for it but to return to the Orphanage and wait.
Shadowy increase
Attracting Attention increase

Bribe him

Unlocks: Persuasive 89, 500 x Rostygold
'My dear sir, I wonder what it would take to part you from your fine white uniform…'

Rewards spoiler

A little wide around the shoulders

The orderly eyes your rostygold with naked greed. 'Alwight,' he says. 'I'll av your coat an we'll call it even.' He strips off his uniform and white mask. They're terribly loose on you but they will have to serve. The Orderly happily agrees to a week of paid leave. With luck, they will never know he has gone.
You return to the Orphanage. It sits on the square, squat and shuttered as always. It takes a moment to find the right door. You rap smartly and wait. A section of wood slides away, revealing a pair of cold, disinterested eyes. 'Took your bloody time,' says a voice. 'Come on in, then. There's floors to clean.'
So you walk inside. And the door closes behind you.
Persuasive increase
You've moved to a new area: The Silent Corridors of the Orphanage
Your Opportunity deck can now hold 6 cards.
An occurrence! Your 'Exploring the Orphanage' Quality is now 1!
An occurrence! Your 'Ambition: Light Fingers!' Quality is now 45!
Attracting Attention increase
You've lost 500 x Rostygold.

Failure spoiler

'You don't know what they'd do to me'

Greed battles with fear in the Orderly's eyes. To a student of the human condition like yourself, it is a fascinating conflict. Fear wins by a whisker, but he has the air of a man who might be tractable in future. You offer him a token of your goodwill and he lumbers off, casting worried glances behind him. Next time, perhaps.
Attracting Attention increase
You've lost 500 x Rostygold.

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The Silent Corridors of the Orphanage

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