The Committee on Semiotic Safety
Unlocks: Watchful 97
Various bloody incidents involving the Correspondence have caught the attention of Parliament. Ministers have formed the Committee on Semiotic Safety in response.
Address the committee
As London's foremost scholar of the Correspondence, it is only fitting that you advise the committee.
Smartly done
The committee is made up of experienced politicians, but they are not academics. They need you to start from the beginning. You sketch out a symbol. The secretary twitches a little, but nothing untoward happens.
The Correspondence baffles the committee, but you sound calm and confident. They are pleased to have your experience. Could they see their way to letting you have a few blacklisted texts to help with your work? They could.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Connected: Society increase
Gain: 21 x Proscribed Material
A colleague with a problem
Unlocks: Watchful 97
An acquaintance at the Department of Chiropterochronometry can't get her paper published.
Help her out
The subject falls outside your field, but you know a few tricks that will appeal to the respectable journals.
'We shall be publishing…'
Those stuffy codgers at the Proceedings of the Royal Chiropterological Society can't see any value in your colleague's work. Luckily, you know a sub-editor at the Bat Review. It isn't so prestigious, but your colleague is happy enough when they accept the article. You've made a friend and learned some tradable academic gossip. A good day's work.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Connected: Benthic increase
Connected: Summerset increase
Gain: 40 x Cryptic Clue
First steps for your new department
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 6
You are undoubtedly the foremost authority on the Correspondence, but there will be others here who have studied the symbols.
A long list
Unlocks: Sudden Insight x 3
There is no mention of the Correspondence in your list of University departments. Still, somebody must have worked in your field. A little detective work is in order.
The Department of ___
Yes! You knew it! A few half-forgotten rooms, tucked between the Infernal Rarefactors' noisome laboratories and the steel holding pens of the Cryptozoologists.
Pale patches on the walls mark where the signs used to be. The name, if it ever had a name, is not spoken. The staff receive their salaries in secret. Their work is rarely published. They are the Department of ___. It can only be the Correspondence that has brought them to this state of anonymity.
Watchful increase
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 7!
Gain: 2 x Appalling Secret
Lose: 3 x Sudden Insight
Meet the Department of _______
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 7
The University has a secret. Well, probably it has thousands. That business with the registrar and the cake, for instance. But these are mere whispers compared to the mysterious Department of _______.
Tea time
The clock in the quad strikes three. Even secret University departments gather for tea at three, do they not? An ideal time to meet them.
Tea with the Department of _______
You make your way past the animal cages of the Cryptozoologists, skirting around anything that looks poisonous or hungry. You knock on the common room door and walk in.
The Department of
_______ doesn't have any students. You were expecting massive eccentricity, but this gathering of tea-sipping scholars could hail from anywhere in the University. Their gowns are a little threadbare and the tea is somewhat nasty, but nobody is on fire or obviously insane.
The Department of
_______ doesn't have a Dean as such, but the Semi-semiotic Fellow speaks up for them: 'There you are! Capital! We've been hoping that you might find us. I think we've got a great deal to talk about. Now, our work on the… yes… is entirely theoretical, but I think you might…'
The sentence is destined to remain unfinished. A young academic bursts into the room, gown flapping. 'I heard screams from the Cogitation Chamber! The Senior Reader's in there!'
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 8!
Horrors in the chamber!
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 8
Horrors in the chamber!
Screams issue from the Department of _______'s Cogitation Chamber. The Senior Reader in _______ is inside!
Charge!
This is your chance to show your colours to the Department of _______. Rush to the scene and see what's wrong!
Murder most perplexing
The door to the Cogitation Chamber is locked from the inside. You seize a carved stone aspidistra and set to smashing it open. Crash! Tinkle!
You fling the splintered door aside. The Cogitation Chamber is a bare room with seven mirrored sides, one of which you destroyed on your way in. The Senior Reader in
_______ is lying on the floor. He's as dead as ash. His eyes are missing, and blood puddles around his sightless face. He won't be coming back. In his left hand is a vial of roiling liquid that could be Cantigaster venom. There is nothing else in the room except for the slivers of the mirror you broke on your arrival. No eyeballs are in evidence.
Within moments the Constables, college authorities, academics and half a dozen curious students have squeezed into the chamber. Everyone is talking at once. Summerset's Provost wants to leave matters to the authorities, but the Principal is adamant. You see an opportunity to strike a deal: in light of your academic ability and reputation for solving crimes, the College should retain you as a consulting detective! You graciously waive all payment in return for permission to start work on your new Department.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 9!
Your 'Term Passing…' Quality has gone!
Investigations in the university
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9
The Senior Reader in _______ has been murdered, and the university has engaged you to find the culprit! And if you should come across other secrets, so much the better. [Raise your Investigating… quality to 15 to make progress on the case.]
Head to the library
Peace, quiet and solitude. A good place to think, and to consult the collection.
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 103
A little progress
You spend a morning in the library. The calm air and the silence soothes you. The collection provides just what you were looking for. Tomorrow, surely, will bring this case to a conclusion.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Investigating… increase (3 change points)
Gain: 49 x Cryptic Clue
Interview the suspects
The Consumptive Cryptozoologist, the Venomous Rarefactor, possibly others. What do they know?
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 105
Reading them like yesterday's newspaper
It's not so much what they say, but how they say it. You have an idea for a new direction. Yes! You could be on to something here.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Investigating… increase (3 change points)
Gain: 50 x Cryptic Clue
Conduct forensic analyses
The tools of the contemporary consulting detective. One must strive for modernity when investigating at the University, of all places.
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 107
A busy laboratory
This particular case has little in the way of physical evidence, but you still have a few experiments to try. The retorts bubble away while you ponder your latest results. Perhaps there's something here, after all..
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Investigating… increase (3 change points)
Gain: 55 x Cryptic Clue
Interview students and staff
The University is blessed with bystanders. Of course, nobody saw what happened in the Cogitation Chamber, but that's no reason not to talk to them.
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 109
A complex picture
Nobody saw the murder itself, but you are gradually discovering who was frequenting the Department of
_______ at the time, and why. It's slow going, but that is the detective's lot.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Investigating… increase (4 change points)
Gain: 52 x Cryptic Clue
Interview the Department of _______ staff
The staff of the Department of _______ are eager to assist. You were with them at the time of the murder, but they can help you to understand the victim.
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 111
A public menace?
The Senior Reader in
_______ was relatively well-versed in the Correspondence and even proposed practical experimentation. You can see why his colleagues thought him dangerous. Is that why he was killed?
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Investigating… increase (4 change points)
Gain: 53 x Cryptic Clue
Nothing new
The Senior Reader in
_______ was a secretive fellow. There was little trust between him and his colleagues. He was working on some alarming projects with the Correspondence, but you discover nothing new about the case.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
Talk to the Porters
Unlocks: Cryptic Clue x 25
The University porters are tight-knit and close-mouthed. If they know anything, it'll be the devil's work getting them to talk. Perhaps sharing a few secrets with them could help.
Watchful challenge, straightforward at 1
The humble porter
The porters listen intently to your secrets. You wait in a dusty gown-room as they confer and assess. Your secrets are of the required standard and the porters open up a little. Good God! They don't know much that's relevant to the case, but they know a vast amount about anything else that happens at the University. How do they find all this out? This could change everything!
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Investigating… increase (4 change points)
Gain: 1 x Sudden Insight
Lose: 25 x Cryptic Clue
Gain: 108 x Whispered Secret
Meddling in the affairs of porters
The porters find your secrets plain and for the most part irrelevant. For the next few days, your post goes missing. The lock on your office door is changed. Your requests for books are ignored. That's how it is, then?
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Lose: 25 x Cryptic Clue
Nightmares increase
Consider your initial suspects
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Investigating… 9
The crowds have dispersed. The authorities have examined the corpse and removed it. A sour-faced Porter guards the scene, humming an off-key tune.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
The evidence
Review the evidence and the suspects so far.
A deep mystery
The physical evidence shows that the Cogitation Chamber was securely locked from the inside. There was no assailant, no murder weapon. The removal of eyeballs suggests sorrow-spiders, of course, but none were present.
The victim was the Senior Reader in
_______. His colleagues report nothing unusual about his recent activities. His work was, perhaps, a little less theoretical than some at the Department of
_______ preferred. You note that they pronounce '
_______' silently, but with a knowing glance, a waggled eyebrow and tilted head.
You have two suspects. There is little evidence against either of them, but one has to start somewhere. The first suspect is the Consumptive Cryptozoologist. Her office lies near the Cogitation Chamber and she is an authority on the habits of sorrow-spiders. Your second suspect is the Fellow in Venomous Rarefaction. The Cantigaster Venom found on the Reader's body belonged to the Fellow.
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 10!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
The next step of the investigation
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 10, Investigating… 9
The key to this investigation is those missing eyeballs and their means of departure. How is such a thing possible in a locked room?
A matter of spiders
The eyeball removal suggests a sorrow-spider. No such creature was present in the bare room. But, didn't you once hear something…
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
They can do what?
You search your memory. What is that little tickle in your lobes?
That's it! You've heard somewhere that sorrow-spiders can travel between mirrors. Did you read it in some weighty book on cryptoarachnology, or was it the rant of a beggar in the Flit? Why does the phrase 'tree of ages' come to mind? No matter. You've never seen it happen yourself, and you'll need evidence to support the theory.
If it proves to be true, you may never want to look in a mirror again. Such are the perils of knowledge.
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 11!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
A spidery hypothesis
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 11, Investigating… 9
You have a mysteriously murdered Senior Reader and the most tenuous of hypotheses regarding spiders and mirrors. What now?
Looking for an expert
There are people here that know more about sorrow-spiders than you. It is time to consult an academic colleague.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
A curious alliance
Unfortunately, the only academic who can help you is also a suspect. The Consumptive Cryptozoologist is poking a caged lizard with a long stick when you find her.
'Let's put aside for now the embarassing fact that you suspect me of murder, shall we?' The cryptozoologist turns away from the cage and smiles at you. 'Actually, I think you may be onto something. I've never seen it myself, but I do hear persistent rumours about arachno-speculative travel. And both Kearney and Pender thought it possible. Hmm. Your investigation is funded by the University, is it not? I'll start training some spiders. I'll contact you when we can perform some experiments.'
She bustles off excitedly. The lizard eyes you with something approaching gratitude.
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 12!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
A note from the Consumptive Cryptozoologist
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 12, Investigating… 9
'Have gathered an appropriate selection of spiders. We may begin the great work!'
The great work?
Unlocks: 1 x Iron Hat, 1 x Neathglass Goggles
Cryptozoologists are inclined to the dramatic. Well, it's time to head to the laboratory. A wise scientist brings goggles and an iron hat. Proper goggles. None of your radium nonsense.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
For science!
The Cryptozoologist greets you with a happy grin and ushers you in. A steel rack at the centre of the lab holds spider cages and an array of mirrored boxes.
'In the next room, we have a large mirror, a case of inexpensive wine and a phrenology student wearing sturdy goggles. While the student amuses himself with the wine, we shall release our sorrow-spiders into the mirrored boxes you see here. This spider…' she taps a cage - '…is hungry. That one is ready to mate. And so forth. The next room is devoid of arachnid influences. Everything clear? Let us begin!'
The spiders chitter and hiss in their mirrored boxes. The clock ticks. The Cryptozoologist coughs bloodily into a handkerchief to pass the time. Then - the spider in box four is gone! There is a scream from the next room, and a sound like fangs dragging across reinforced glass. It worked! You have shown that arachno-speculative travel is a reality! The Consumptive Cryptozoologist is delighted, even though this evidence strengthens the case against her. She promises to credit you on her monograph, which is already half-written. The phrenology student is rather less delighted by the discovery, but he's drunk enough wine to blot the adventure from his memory before morning.
So - the Senior Reader in
_______ was killed by a mirror-travelling sorrow-spider. You have the method, but little else. Where now?
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 13!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
Nightmares increase (1 or 2 point change)
Gain: 2 x Appalling Secret
On the matter of spiders
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 13, Investigating… 9
A sorrow-spider travelled through the mirrored walls of the Cogitation Chamber and killed the Senior Reader in _______.
Who has a spider?
University authorities demand that pets and experimental animals be registered. It should be possible to find out who owns a sorrow-spider.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
Lists of spiders
The administrative staff capitulate after an honourable struggle. Teams of junior registrars deliver vast stacks of documents to your chambers on cast-iron trolleys. Much more than you actually asked for. It takes an age to sort through it all, and the Department of
_______ staff complain bitterly throughout because you've commandeered their common room.
As expected, the Consumptive Cryptozoologist has a large selection of sorrow-spiders.
Students aren't generally allowed such dangerous pets. According to the papers, there are no spiders among the students or general academic staff.
The Fellow in Venomous Rarefaction doesn't have a spider. In fact, you find a note on his medical record that says he is highly allergic to the beasts. So, he's probably off the hook. That makes the Cryptozoologist all the more likely.
But what's this? One of the senior staff has a sorrow-spider called Jeremy. He's had it for years. It is no less a figure than the Provost of Summerset. How very interesting.
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 14!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
The Fellow in Venomous Rarefaction
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 14, Investigating… 9
The Fellow in Venomous Rarefaction is allergic to sorrow-spiders, so he's off the suspect list. Still, he might know something useful.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
Visit him at the laboratory
The venomous rarefaction laboratory is not a popular place. The porters say they'd rather set themselves on fire than pay a visit. Still, it can't be that bad, can it?
A chat, but no tea
'You say I'm no longer a suspect? Marvellous. I'm in enough trouble as it is.
'You see, I'm not really supposed to have Cantigaster venom. It's proscribed, you understand. But the Senior Reader in
_______ and I had an agreement. He used the venom in his work. Don't ask me how or why, I've no idea. But the stuff comes from the Palace, and he had some kind of arrangement with them. I would look after it and store it safely, and he'd occasionally give me a drop to study. Fascinating stuff. Did you know that one drop in a barrel of water can kill a tiger? Don't ask me how I know that.
The fellow glances under the laboratory tables. Finding no eavesdropping tigers, he continues.
'In any case, the Senior Reader was using the venom in his Correspondence work. All I know is that he told his colleagues nothing about it and refused to keep notes. Perhaps someone at the Palace knows what he was up to. Dangerous business, I'll bet.'
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 15!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
The Poison and the Palace
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 15, Investigating… 9
The Senior Reader in _______ was holding a vial of Cantigaster venom when he died. That venom came from the Shuttered Palace.
Where did he get it?
The Shuttered Palace holds secrets without number. Can you find out who supplied the venom to the Senior Reader?
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
A little good luck
You tread the silent, lavishly carpeted hallways of the Shuttered Palace. You make quiet enquiries and throw a little of your expenses money around. You get nowhere. The servants here are well paid and loyal.
Just as you are leaving, an incident: a servant, carrying a cache of confiscated musical instruments, crashes into you. A precariously balanced euphonium sails gracefully through the air toward a glass-fronted cabinet full of porcelain goats. You leap forward and catch it! The servant gasps with relief. You have his career, and possibly his life, in your nimble hands. He speaks:
'I've heard what you're looking for. I can't tell you much, but if you're in the third wine-cellar at midnight on a Sunday, you'll see what's what. Be quiet and quick. And for God's sake don't let either of them see you.'
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 16!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
The Duchess and the Cantigaster
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 16, Investigating… 9
It's Sunday, approaching midnight. The servant said that you'd learn what you needed to in the third wine cellar.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
Set forth into the cellars
Liveried guards armed with oversized pistols patrol the under-stairs levels. Rumours abound that the cellars hold things far more dangerous than wine.
The Lady and the Cantigaster
A screech, almost too high to hear. The beating of a great drum. A long, lonely wail. What is happening down there? You slip past the guards and… d—n it! This door is locked fast.
Lights appear from behind you. You duck behind a firkin of madeira and observe. A woman passes you. She is dressed in a simple white linen shift and about twenty pounds of gold jewellery. She is dark-skinned: African, perhaps. There's something familiar about her, though. Good God! It's the Duchess! Freed from from her paints and powders, she is much darker. And younger! She looks barely thirty. It's definitely her, though, strange eyes, cat-earrings and all.
The Duchess uses a great bronze key to open the door that defeated you. She slips inside. You peer past the hinges. The room beyond contains the Cantigaster.
You can see immediately that the Cantigaster was once a man. Now he is a living, shuddering sac of poison. His flesh swells green and soft like rotting fruit. Foul venoms ooze beneath his skin. The Duchess kisses him fondly and they embrace. You watch as the Duchess… as she milks the poison from his skin. The Cantigaster sighs with relief as his venoms trickle into a stone bucket. The Duchess looks up. Has she seen you? You flee the cellar.
Rewards:
You succeeded in a Investigating… challenge!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 17!
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
Gain: 5 x Appalling Secret
Nightmares increase
The sounds of the cellars
A screech, almost too high to hear. The beating of a great drum. A long, lonely wail. What is going on in these depths?
Rewards:
'Investigating…' decrease
Nightmares increase
The note you were half-expecting
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 16, Investigating… 9
A note arrives for you. It smells faintly of cats. The Duchess, no doubt.
'…appreciate the pleasure of your company…'
The Duchess would like you to call upon her at the Palace, at your earliest convenience. Well, it looks like she did see you that night. No use putting off the inevitable. You'd better go.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 15 as of April 7th, 2012, no challenge required
Look to love
Now that you know the origins of Cantigaster venom, would it be terribly impolite to ignore your tea cup? It would. You force down another sip of delicious tea and watch the Duchess. Cats wander across your lap as if you were part of the sofa.
'You've seen matters that are not your affair. I trust I can rely on your discretion? A less discreet gentleman would soon enjoy a more intimate acquaintance with my husband. I understand the dangers of a curiosity half-satisfied. So: you shall have the truth of it. That truth will remain quite buried. Yes?
'A long time ago… three cities ago in fact… I was betrothed. I loved him a great deal, and when a serpent stung him, I was distraught. I would have done anything to save him. The Bazaar knew as much. It has its own motives, you understand. And its own… what is the word? Its own appetite. Yes. For lovers and for love. A need. So it saved my beloved, in a manner of speaking. There is always a cost that is known, and a cost that is not. The Empress knows this now. In the deepest matters of the Bazaar, always look to love. Always.'
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 18!
Gain: 3 x Appalling Secret
'…look forward so very much to your next visit…'
Unlocks: Connected: the Duchess 24
The Duchess' note is more cordial than you expected. She must remember you kindly. Perhaps it'll be all right. Off you go.
Fond memories
Now that you know the origins of Cantigaster venom, would it be terribly impolite to ignore your tea cup? It would. You force down another sip of delicious tea and watch the Duchess. Cats wander across your lap as if you were part of the sofa.
'You've seen my true face. And my husband's. I choose to trust you with the secret: but I do not wish to speak of it again. Listen, then.'
'A long time ago… three cities ago in fact… when I was more than a Duchess, but still a friend to cats… I was betrothed. I loved him a great deal, and when a serpent stung him, I was distraught. I would have done anything to save him. The Bazaar knew as much. It has its own motives, you understand. And its own… what is the word? Its own appetite. Yes. For lovers and for love. A need. So it saved my beloved, in a manner of speaking. There is always a cost that is known, and a cost that is not. The Empress knows this now. My sisters and I learnt it then. In the deepest matters of the Bazaar, always look to love. Always.'
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 18!
Gain: 3 x Appalling Secret
An opportunity for blackmail!
Unlocks: Ruthless 1
'…I may soon be forced to sell my most precious secrets to the rude public! I dream of a benefactor who will repair my finances, and who will explain certain particular secrets that have troubled me. I feel confident that in those circumstances all my secrets would go with me to my grave…'
A chilly response
Written, you might think, with an icicle. You could swear the envelope is cold to the touch. It contains a handsome banker's draft and this cryptic message:
'The Bazaar has its appetites, which will not be denied. Look to love. Always look to love.'You now have 4000 x Jade Fragment
Connected: Society has dropped (15->14)
Connected: the Duchess has gone
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 18 - A Guest Lecturer!
Ruthless has increased (1->3)
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
Look into love
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 18, Investigating… 8
The Duchess advised you to look into love. Was there a hidden meaning in her words?
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
Seeking love
Was she being entirely rhetorical? Is there some romantic relevance to this case? It's worth looking into. [Your investigation is gathering pace. From now on you will need less Investigating… to progress.]
A connection at last!
You investigate matters of love at the university. The Senior Fellow in Venomous Rarefactions, the Consumptive Cryptozoologist and Summerset's Provost… whom do they love the most?
The Senior Fellow in Rarefactions is - perhaps unsurprisingly - entirely free of romantic connections. It goes with the career choice. In any case, he's no longer really a suspect.
The Provost of Summerset is married. His wife returned to the surface a few years ago. You hear rumours of strange affairs, but that's to be expected around a man of influence.
The Consumptive Cryptozoologist is fashionably delicate and gaunt enough to have a few admirers. However, her most intriguing connection is familial. She has a Radical Postgraduate sister, currently residing at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel. It was hushed up, but she was driven to madness by some experiment she performed with the Senior Reader in
_______. A connection! A motive! This requires further investigation.
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 19!
Loveless
It seems as if there is precious little love in the Neath today. Or at least, there is precious little for people who ask awkward questions about romantic entanglements. You are beginning to feel rather unpopular.
'Investigating…' decrease
Nightmares increase
What were they up to?
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 19, Investigating… 8
The staff of the Department of _______ don't want to talk about the Senior Reader's work. They deplored his hands-on attitude to Correspondence research.
Make them talk
This is an official investigation, and they will talk sooner or later. Of course, you might be recruiting these people into your new department, so tread gently.
Investigating… challenge, low-risk at 9
A telegram of a sort
With a symphony of sympathetic noises and lake of tea, you finally persuade the Semi-semiotic Fellow to blab.
'You understand that the rest of the department didn't approve of the applied nature of his research. The Correspondence is not something to be trifled with, and the Senior Reader's projects were foolhardy in the extreme,' he says, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.
'As you are of course aware, the Correspondence is a form of language. We are still investigating what form of person or creature actually used this language, and what concepts it can communicate. The Senior Reader had this outlandish idea that one could use it to speak with, ah, celestial entities.'
You press him to a biscuit. He speaks haltingly, punctuating his tale with flying crumbs.
'My understanding is that the Radical Postgraduate and the Senior Reader were attempting to contact the sun. The process drove that poor girl out of her mind. A pity, of course, but I'm thankful that they didn't burn the University down and drive the Neath to madness. Such experiments are just too dangerous to contemplate.'
Rewards:
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 20!
Dig up some dirt on the Provost
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 20, Investigating… 12
The case against the Consumptive Cryptozoologist is looking strong. However, it would be wise to eliminate the Provost from your investigation.
Investigating… challenge, chancy at 12
Look into the Provost's activities
And if you should dig up a few juicy secrets in the name of thoroughness? Well, that's hardly a problem.
Picnic in the fog
You investigate and interrogate. You peddle what influence you have at the university. You have a screaming argument with the Provost's personal secretary that almost descends into a fist-fight. But you've managed to sneak a look at the Provost's appointment diary.
Something is irregular here. It is well hidden but unmistakeable. The Provost's Thursday afternoons are always full. He meets committees that you suspect are fictional. He has a consultation with a 'Dr. Affectation'. Last week it says he met you. He most certainly did not. He's up to something. It's Thursday today, so you do the decent thing and follow him.
The Provost leaves the University, dressed in a dapper suit with a fresh orchid at the lapel. He hails a hansom and heads out West. You follow in a cab of your own. You follow him to the edges of London, to Winewound Heath. He is meeting someone. A devil. They lay out a picnic and sit together in the thick fog. Your mouth waters at the smell of sharp pickle and real ham.
A devil? Meeting such a person could cost him his position! You retreat before they realise you are there, but this must be worth further investigation. Perhaps next Thursday.
Rewards:
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 21!
Gain: 1 x Appalling Secret
Cautious by nature
The Provost is a prudent and a careful sort. People in positions are often so, but the Provost has the caution of a one-armed steeplejack. His behaviour suggests that he has something to hide. You'll find it eventually, whatever it is. Even if you have to strangle his private secretary for the details.
'Investigating…' decrease
Scandal decrease
this is likely a bug
The Provost and the devil
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 21, Investigating… 6
You saw the Provost of Summerset picnicking with a devil on Winewound Heath. The University authorities will surely dismiss him if they discover he is cultivating infernal acquaintances.
Intrepid Investigation
Wait until Thursday comes and follow the Provost once more.
Investigating… challenge, modest at 7
A confession at the Parlour of Virtue
You hardly recognise the Provost when he leaves the university. He's wearing an anonymous suit, Neathglass goggles and a bowler hat. You only know him by his impressive moustache. Today, he walks to Veilgarden, to that noted of bordellos: the Parlour of Virtue! As he enters, so does the devil he met last week. They do not acknowledge each other in public.
You follow them in, handing over a big chunk of your expense allowance to the door-keep. You can worry about explaining the receipt later. Security inside of the parlour is discreet but ubiquitous, and it takes all your craft to find a position near the Provost and his infernal companion. You can hear the burbling of a hookah as the Provost speaks.
'… regret having to set Jeremy on the poor fellow… wouldn't listen to reason! … our meetings here… temerity to blackmail… besides… the Sun? Madness! Utter madness… only responsible… in any case, the Radical Postgraduate loved him… civic duty… a fine story to go with the rest… You know how they get if the quota isn't met… Tell me that you understand…'
The devil understands. He is the very soul of kind acceptance. That confession seals matters. The Provost killed the Senior Reader in
_______. You slip away to consider your next step. The Provost and the devil move on to other matters.
Rewards:
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 22!
What connects the Bazaar and love stories?
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 22, Investigating… 9
The Provost of Summerset murdered the Senior Reader in _______, that much is clear. Before you decide what to do about it, you should consider matters of love.
Further investigations
Is the Bazaar really some kind of sentient thing? Does it really enjoy stories of love? And what does all this have to do with the Correspondence? You must find out!
Investigating… challenge, High-risk at 9
Letters of love
You walk through the city to the glistening black spires of the Bazaar. Your studies have advanced to the point that you understand a little of the grammar of the Correspondence. Symbols close to each other may be entirely unrelated. Sometimes a 'sentence' can span four levels of three different spires.
Most of the Correspondence carved into the lustrous stone is still impenetrable… but here and there you can decipher scraps, although it will cost you nights of ceaseless terror.
'The hateful priest whose lusts killed thousands.' 'The act of drowning your sister to be with the man she loves, although you do not share that love.' 'The mounting excitement when one's beloved reaches the closest point of his orbit.'
The spires of the Bazaar are covered in this stuff. Whatever the Bazaar is, the Duchess wasn't lying when she said it had a hunger for love.
Rewards:
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 23!
Gain: 5 x Appalling Secret
Nightmares increase
No!
But how to go about this? The Correspondence symbol for 'A Great Maw to dispose of the Unwary' swims into your mind. Make it stop! Make it stop!
Rewards:
'Investigating…' decrease
Nightmares increase
A note from the Masters
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 23, Investigating… 9
An envelope arrives for you. Heavy white paper, and a black seal depicting many spires. It is from the Masters of the Bazaar. It reads, 'Come hither.'
An audience with a Master
The Masters of the Bazaar would like to speak with you. One does not keep the Masters waiting.
Your Master's voice
The neddy men part as you approach the Bazaar. Special Constables direct you to the one glistening black spire that is free of carved Correspondence. Is someone making a point?
You climb the steps, which would be easier if your feet had claws, and step into the presence of a Master. It sits behind a vast desk of black coral in a circular room thick with shadows. Which of the Masters is it? You cannot tell. Spices? Mirrors? Wines? Fires? It speaks in a high-pitched whisper. It can't be Iron, then.
'We commend your skills: you know what you know. Consider. The Provost is useful to us, but we must question the judgement of a man who would trust his secrets to devils. It would be inconvenient for us to replace him: but merely inconvenient.'
The Master hisses and resettles in its chair. 'The Provost, moreover, is deceived in his convictions. The Bazaar has no use for manufactured tales of love. Such contrivances are to be despised. So: he enjoys our favour, but not our protection. Do what you must. Weigh the truth against our inconvenience. And take this trifle for your troubles.'
Rewards:
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 24!
Gain: 2 x Sapphire
An audience with you
Unlocks: Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar 1
Something extraordinary is afoot. You'll feel safest on home ground. Let them come to you. [This will cost you some of your accumulated favour.]
A closely wrapped visitor
It's sitting in your favourite armchair when you enter your study. The darkness in its hood is deep. Which is it? Veils? Cups? Apples? How the Devil did it get in? Down the chimney? Is it Mr Sacks? Wait: the Master is speaking.
'Cheery, this place of yours. But cramped. Let us resolve this quickly. The guilty party is useful to us, true. But we must question the judgement of a man who would trust his secrets to devils. It would be inconvenient for us to replace him: but merely inconvenient.'
The Master stands. Beneath the cloak at its back, peculiar movements occur. It seems discomfited. 'The guilty party, moreover, is deceived in his convictions. The Bazaar has no use for manufactured tales of love. Its skin is not lightly marked. So: he enjoys our favour, but not our protection. Do what you must. Weigh the truth against our inconvenience. And take this trifle for your troubles.'
Rewards:
Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar Decreases (from 3 to 2 for me)
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 24!
Gain: 2 x Sapphire
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
Refuse the summons
The Masters have no legal authority, after all. They are merely influential businessmen, when all's said and done. Very influential businessmen, possibly immortal, probably not human. But nevertheless.
Days pass
Your name is whispered in the streets. Have you defied the Masters? How exciting!
You hear nothing more from the Masters, although one day a very large dead bat falls down your chimney into the fire with a plop and a shower of sparks. Not an encouraging omen. But whatever their involvement in the affair, it will remain a secret.
Rewards:
Your 'Investigating…' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 24!
Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar Decreases (from 1 to 0 for me)
Connected: Revolutionaries Increase (from 5 to 12 for me)
at this point the term passing… storylets disappear
Consider what to do next
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 24
A complex case. Perhaps the most complex you have yet encountered.
Consider the matter by the fireplace in your study
Weighty decisions are best taken where the coals glow and the port is close at hand.
What to do?
This much you know. The Senior Reader in
_______ was blackmailing the Provost of Summerset over secret meetings with a devil. What was the nature of those meetings? Is love involved once again? In any case, the Senior Reader was also conducting dangerous experiments with the Correspondence, which drove the Radical Postgraduate insane.
The Provost used his trained sorrow-spider to murder the Senior Reader. The vial of Cantigaster venom wasn't relevant to the crime, although it did lead to some startling revelations at the Palace.
So - what now? The Provost is a powerful and dangerous man. If you expose him, you create a fearsome enemy. It will be the end of your new Department for the foreseeable future.
But what is the alternative? The Consumptive Cryptozoologist could make a perfect patsy, though she is entirely innocent. Could you live with yourself? Would it make any difference to your plans? The Provost may already know what you have found. It may be too late for your new department already. What to do?
[You can review this via the Notes on the Case of the Speculative Arachnid in your inventory.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 25!
An occurrence! Your 'Notes on the Case of the Speculative Arachnid' Quality is now 1!
Pray for guidance
Unlocks: Austere 3
Even if no guidance is forthcoming, it may clear your mind. The Stoats are singing outside your study window again. Something about a 'bucket pig.'
Who is without sin?
The University chapel is chilly but at least it's quiet. You settle down in the back row and turn matters over in your mind. Someone is practicing Bach fugues on the organ. A porter is bickering gently with an under-chaplain. The scent of dried flowers fills the air.
This much you know. The Senior Reader in
_______ was blackmailing the Provost of Summerset over secret meetings with a devil. What were the nature of those meetings? Is love involved once again? In any case, the Senior Reader was also conducting dangerous experiments with the Correspondence, which drove the Radical Postgraduate insane.
The Provost used his trained sorrow-spider to murder the Senior Reader. The vial of Cantigaster venom wasn't relevant to the crime, although it did lead to some startling revelations at the Palace.
So - what now? The Provost is a powerful and dangerous man. If you expose him, you create a fearsome enemy. It will be the end of your new Department for the foreseeable future.
But what is the alternative? The Consumptive Cryptozoologist could make a perfect patsy, but she is entirely innocent. Can you turn her in? Even if you think the Provost deserves forgiveness, not justice?
[You can review case information via the Notes on the Case of the Speculative Arachnid in your inventory.]
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 25!
An occurrence! Your 'Notes on the Case of the Speculative Arachnid' Quality is now 1!
Austere decrease
Nightmares decrease
The Persian way
Unlocks: Hedonist 3
Herodotus said of the Persians: 'It is their practice to deliberate first upon affairs of weight when they are drunk; and again on the morrow, when they are sober…'In other words, get hammered now, have a proper think about it later.
(A matter of luck: the odds are against you here.)
Night thoughts
Love! The Postgraduate loved the Reader. The Provost loves the devil. The Duchess loves the Cantigaster. Which of these loves is important? Which would you preserve? Do you even care? Did anyone love poor Jeremy? Poor Jeremy. Poor little shpider. All alone with his eyesh and hish mirrorsh. Have another drink.
Rewards:
Gain: 1 x Sudden Insight
Watchful increase
A disagreement in a public house
What happened? There are moments of clarity. A debate with a colleague who considered himself an authority on Herodotus. Further debate with the publican on the matter of his prices. An energetic discussion of the comparative virtues of Summerset and Benthic. Rather a good extempore speech about the Correspondence. Then someone called you a drunken fraud, and all else is mystery. You have beer in your hair.
Rewards:
Scandal increase
Wounds increase
A memory…
Unlocks: Uncovering Secrets Framed in Gold 8
There was a painting.This choice is locked for now.
The Clergyman and the Deviless
Love takes strange shapes. Sometimes these are shapes that burn the dreams of the unwary. You remember the Repentant Forger's hands: you remember his weeping as he spoke of the Correspondence. What is Hell's interest in this? Were the Masters somehow involved in the story of the Ambitious Clergyman and his Deviless? There are stories in the skin of the painting: in the skin of the Bazaar. Is this a coincidence? Perhaps you should pray that it is.
This much you know. The Senior Reader in ___ was blackmailing the Provost of Summerset over secret meetings with a devil. What was the nature of those meetings? Is love involved once again? In any case, the Senior Reader was also conducting dangerous experiments with the Correspondence, which drove the Radical Postgraduate insane.
The Provost used his trained sorrow-spider to murder the Senior Reader. The vial of Cantigaster venom wasn't relevant to the crime, although it did lead to some startling revelations at the Palace.
So - what now? The Provost is a powerful and dangerous man. If you expose him, you create a fearsome enemy. It will be the end of your new Department for the foreseeable future.
But what is the alternative? The Consumptive Cryptozoologist could make a perfect patsy, but she is entirely innocent. Is there some deeper meaning in the pattern repeated here? Or have you been staring at the Correspondence too long? Letters of fire form behind your eyes. No! Enough!
[You can review case information via the Notes on the Case of the Speculative Arachnid in your inventory.]
Rewards:
Watchful is increasing…
Nightmares is increasing…
You've gained 1 x Appalling Secret
An occurrence! Your 'Notes on the Case of the Speculative Arachnid' Quality is now 1!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 25!
Reveal the murderer of the Senior Reader in _______
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 25
Time to wrap up the case, and hope your career survives the experience. It may not. Crossing the Provost would be a dangerous move indeed.
It was the Provost of Summerset!
The Provost of Summerset murdered the Senior Reader over a matter of blackmail. And here is how he did it…
The end of many things
With a grim sort of calm, you explain your evidence to the Constables and University authorities. Your audience is shocked and unbelieving. Murder? Consorting with devils? How could such an erudite and respected individual sink to such depths?
But your evidence is irrefutable. The Provost regards you sadly from across the room, if you had spoiled his plans for your greatness.
When you have finished, the Constables and the University bigwigs withdraw to decide the Provost's fate. You doubt very much that this business will ever become public knowledge, or that the Provost will see a day inside New Newgate. But his tenure at the University is over.
As is yours. Later that day, the Principal of Benthic tells you that the Masters of the Bazaar do not wish to see a new Department of the Correspondence. The university will compensate you for the investigation, of course, but your talents are no longer required. You must clear out your office before the morning.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'unwelcome at the University' Quality is now 1!
Steadfast increase
Gain: 1500 x Primordial Shriek
Your 'Connected: Summerset' Quality has gone!
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 26!
It was the Consumptive Cryptozoologist!
The Consumptive Cryptozoologist murdered the Senior reader because he drove her sister insane. And here is how she did it…
The end of many things
With a grim sort of calm, you explain your 'evidence' to the Constables and University authorities. Your audience is shocked and unbelieving. Murder? Trained sorrow-spiders and mirrors? How could such a quiet and scholarly individual sink to such depths?
Your case is irrefutable. The Cryptozoologist tries to protest a few times, but her wracking cough prevents her from mounting a cogent argument.
It's the gallows for her, and then the tomb-colonies. The Constables will see her bandaged and on a steamer before morning. Her time at the University is over.
As is yours. The Provost finds you later that day. You can't help but feel he's lacking in gratitude. He makes a windy sort of speech about the importance of loyalty. He authorises a considerable grant to your Department, to recognise your service to the University. He doesn't mention any official positions. The Department's position remains precarious. He's polite and stiff and he doesn't say goodbye when he leaves. Ungrateful b
-d. Let's hope at least the Masters of the Bazaar appreciate what you've done.
Rewards:
Ruthless is increasing…
Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar is increasing… (2 change points)
You've gained 3000 x Rostygold
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 27!
Connected: Benthic is dropping…
Connected: Summerset is dropping…
Could we postpone until tomorrow?
You're still not sure what to do. You should consider matters further.
A cautious approach
Yes. A glass of port, perhaps a smoke. Let's not be hasty here. Your career could hang in the balance.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 24!
The wreckage of your career
For the moment, your career at the university is over.
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 26, unwelcome at the University 1
One last stroll
The university authorities are polite enough to not throw you out on your ear. One last stroll around the quadrangle, then? Why not?
Done and gone and finished
Your dream of the Department of the Correspondence lies in tatters. Life was simpler when you were digging up stones in the Forgotten Quarter. Now, everything is lies and love and politics. Will your work and your genius be appreciated while you live? Or will you be rediscovered centuries hence?
A cackling gang of Stoats hurtles past, armed with porridge-buckets and a stuffed giraffe. Enough! Life goes on. This is a setback, nothing more. You will unearth the secrets of the Correspondence, with or without the university. But where to now? Perhaps you should get out a little. You could arrange another field trip, or studies abroad. Is the Carnelian Coast pleasant at this time of year?
Time to leave.
[This is the end of Watchful Book Two… but not the end of the story. Opportunities to pursue your Watchful abilities already exist, and more will be added from time to time.]
Rewards:
You've moved to a new area: your Lodgings
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 30!
Melancholy increase
They'll regret this…
'One last stroll?'
A searing grudge
Your dream of the Department of the Correspondence lies in tatters. The Provost will pay. And his friends at the University. You are not a gentleman to be lightly crossed
You storm out of the University gates, head held high. This is a setback, nothing more. You will unearth the secrets of the Correspondence, with or without the university. But where, and how? Perhaps opportunities will arise in London. Perhaps you could arrange a field trip. Is the Carnelian Coast pleasant at this time of year?
And you're gone.
[This is the end of Watchful Book Two… but not the end of the story. Opportunities to pursue your Watchful abilities already exist, and more will be added from time to time.]
Rewards:
You've moved to a new area: your Lodgings
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 30!
Dangerous increase
Survival, at a price
unlocked with Featuring in the Tales of the University 27
You sacrificed the Cryptozoologist's freedom. Your own remains intact. As does the Provost's. What next?
Back to the research!
There's that paper on Polythreme glyphs. Probably not relevant, but you never know. Onwards and upwards!
Buried in your studies
This is what's important: the Correspondence. You'll unearth its secrets or die trying. Or lose your mind. Or die repeatedly. Or burst into flame and be ejected for setting the Library on fire. Courage! The path of wisdom is a thorny one. But you've shown you're resolved to follow it.
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 40 - A Ruthless Pragmatist!
A
Scholar of the Correspondence is increasing…
(1 change point)
Watchful is increasing…
The lights of the Carnival
It's cold tonight in Fallen London. Coloured lights blaze through the mist. Why have you come here? Is there something you want to forget?
Faces, voices
The urchins clamouring for spore-toffee. The barkers yelling for attention. The haunted eyes of Surface visitors. The Constable, puffing complacently as he peels the crust of a meat pie. The Cryptozoologist! No: it's not her. Of course it's not. All is well. There are noises and crowds and a hundred temptations. This is a wise place to be tonight.
[This is the end of Watchful Book Two… but not the end of the story. Opportunities to pursue your Watchful abilities already exist, and more will be added from time to time.]
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 40 - A Ruthless Pragmatist!
Nightmares is
dropping
Ruthless is dropping…
Watchful is increasing…
The top of the bell-tower
Climb the hundred and five stairs. Look out over the city. Smile.
A hoard of cities
Cold tonight: your breath puffs in the frosty air. Beneath all those lights, London lies sleeping. And beneath it, how many other cities, how many other treasures? All waiting for the taking, for one who is bold and ruthless enough. Just how deep do your plans run? What do you really intend for the Correspondence?
[This is the end of Watchful Book Two… but not the end of the story. Opportunities to pursue your Watchful abilities already exist, and more will be added from time to time.]
Rewards:
An occurrence! Your 'Featuring in the Tales of the University' Quality is now 40! [A ruthless Opportunist]
Connected: the Masters of the Bazaar is increasing… (1 change point)
Watchful is increasing…
Growing pains
unlocked with Featuring in the Tales of the University 40
Paperwork, research, paperwork. Unfriendly glances in the corridors from various cryptozoologists. Tsk.
Do what department heads do
Watchful challenge
Straightforward at 114
What is that again, exactly? Shouldn't you have people to do these things for you?
A successful afternoon
The piles of paper are smaller on the left-hand side, and larger on the right-hand side. That's good, isn't it? It means you're winning? Time for a half-hour with your studies. Aha! A novel involution on the sigil of the Unconstrained Velocity! Progress little by little. This will keep you going until other opportunities arise, at least.
Rewards:
Watchful is increasing…
You've gained 52 x Cryptic Clue
An afternoon of frustrations
People keep knocking on your door. Who are these people? What do they want with you? Why are there so many students? Who knew there were this many students in the University? Go away! The signs are buzzing!
Why are they looking at you like that?
Rewards:
Watchful is increasing…
Nightmares is increasing…
Term Passing 1-4
Assistants wanted
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9
If you want your new department to succeed, you'll need staff. Junior staff. You don't want to do all those dangerous experiments yourself. Let alone make your own tea.
Ask around
You know people who know people. If you put the word out, you'll surely be deluged with keen graduate students.
A pleasant surprise
Word of mouth clearly works. You mention to a few colleagues that you're looking for assistants, and within days, eager young people begin knocking at your door. You'll be able to take your pick. Some of them have even left you token gifts to indicate their keenness.
Rewards:
Watchful Increase
Term Passing… Increase
Gain 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Gain 57 x Glim
Advertise
You want to make sure you reach as many potential candidates as you can. Put up a notice or two in corridors and students' drinking-dens.
Bright young things
Your carefully-worded notice seems to have done the trick. Intelligent, smartly dressed graduate students begin arriving at your rooms, and some of them are even thoughtful enough to bring little gifts. Competition for jobs must be fierce these days.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Term Passing… increase
Gain: 53 x Greyfields 1882
Seek out some influential help
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9
What do new University departments always need? Generous donations from wealthy patrons, of course.
Use your Society connections
Unlocks: Connected: Society 10, Route: The Shuttered Palace 1
Seek out wealthy, influential people who wish only to support learning. A sheen of respectability on a tarnished reputation is a happy side-effect.
'And this will all be in my name, what?'
Court gatherings offer rich pickings, once you learn how to tailor your approach. This dowager likes to be flattered intellectually, so you assure her she will be helping to advance the sum of human knowledge. That retired colonel just wants to know exactly how big the letters spelling his name over the library door will be. You play them expertly. Even though you explain there will yet be paperwork, they're clamouring to press advance donations on you.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Term Passing… increase
Connected: Society decrease
Gain: 100 x Jade Fragment
Gain: 50 x Greyfields 1882
Try to gain patronage on your own
Unlocks: Deep Amber x 100
Your reputation speaks for itself! You do not stoop to call in favours! Why, all you need to do is host a soiree of your own and people will fall over themselves to support you!
A triumph
You spare no expense when it comes to canapés and wine. You are impassioned as you speak of the work you wish to do. And you make sure all and sundry know just what a tragedy it would be for humankind to let this chance slip by for want of but a few Echoes.
You have done well. Several of your guests have intimated that they might be willing to donate to your department. Some of them have even refrained from describing what they will want in return. What's more, there's been gossip a-plenty since the excellent wine began to flow. This is an auspicious start.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Lose: 100 x Deep Amber
Term Passing… increase
Gain: 53 x Cryptic Clue
Gain: 50 x Greyfields 1882
Use your less savoury connections
Unlocks: Connected: Criminals 10, Route: The Flit 1
Criminals' money is just as good as anyone else's. And good criminals tend to have plenty of it.This choice is locked for now.
Respectability assured
All sorts of people need respectability, and all sorts of people have intellectual pretensions. Your instincts were right. You passed the word to a few of your old cronies in the Flit, and now you have several possible endowments lined up. And a little cash in advance. There will be paperwork and procedures, but you won't be need to disclose exactly where the money came from, will you?
Rewards:
Watchful Increase
Term Passing… Increase
Connected: Criminals Decrease
Gain 105 x Moon-pearl
Gain 50 x Greyfields 1882
Those meddling men from the Ministry
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9
The men from the Ministry of Public Decency are a common sight around the university. Even the Stoats leave them alone.
Deal with the evaluators
If your new department is to become a reality, you must convince the men from the Ministry that you don't represent a threat to order and decency. You must arrange and edit your works to prove yourself entirely harmless.
Untroubled, for now
There are easier tasks than convincing the men from the Ministry that the Correspondence poses no public threat. Eating a penny farthing, for example. Nonetheless, you appeal to their thoroughness. You give them a list of references as long as your leg. They'll be weeks getting through that. And how careless - one of them has left a package of candles behind.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Term Passing… increase
Gain: 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub
The student body
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9
If you're going to form a Department of the Correspondence, you'll need students. You must have the revenue they bring, even if teaching gets in the way of the real work.
Pick out some likely candidates
Students will flock to you when your reputation spreads. For now, you must poach them from other departments.
A packed lecture hall
The Correspondence is exotic and exciting, even for students used to Infernal Rarefactions and Chiropterochronometry. Your introductory sessions are packed, and you explain the simplest outer mysteries without any unfortunate occurrences. The students will be queueing up for your lectures when you start in earnest. A few of them have the foresight to bribe you for a place.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Term Passing… increase
Gain: Random Item So far: PirateHat x 2, 8 x Phosphorescent Scarab, 2 x Iron Ankle Manacles
Term Passing 5-6
Interview prospective assistants
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 5
What is happening in academia these days? Your scrupulous insistence on looking for only the best-qualified has backfired. The candidates are mediocre at best. You can't employ someone who thinks Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of Clay dock-workers. The worry of it all is affecting your sleep.
Select on the basis of qualifications
Well, how else would you propose appointing to academic positions?
A fine choice
Two of the students you interview stand out. Their research skills are proven, their references exemplary. And their parents' donations to the department are more than adequate. And what if one of them cannot speak above a whisper and is prone to fainting fits? What if the other affects an eyepatch and has an unfortunate leer?
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Term Passing… increase
Gain: 53 x Deep Amber
Gain: 53 x Foxfire Candle Stub
Select on the basis of… personal qualities
Well, you will be working with these people. Your ability to get along with them is just as important as their qualifications.
Worthy candidates
You have struck lucky. You interviewed a fair few graduate students, and several of them impressed you with their personal charms. Charms that include, but are by no means limited to, good looks. Why, some of them also come with rich parents willing to offer endowments.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Term Passing… increase
Gain: 107 x Jade Fragment
Secure your funding
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 5
Wealthy people are eager to donate money to your new department. Your only concern should be how best to help them do so.
Take the equitable approach
Every one of your powerful, influential donors wants to be your main benefactor. Perhaps it's best to sidestep the issue altogether, and declare that they're all equally important.
Admirably handled
You were tactful, you were diplomatic. You persuaded all your donors of the benefits of an equal partnership. How gracious they will seem, agreeing to share the honour. How advantageous some of them may find it to remain somewhat anonymous.
After dancing that tightrope, you deserve a little reward. Anyway, all that cash won't be missed until the department actually opens, will it?
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Gain: 104 x Jade Fragment
Term Passing… increase
Institute a hierarchy of donors
If you pay more attention to the richer ones, it stands to reason that you'll get more money. Does it not?
Divide and conquer
You start to hint to your benefactors that the more they donate, the better and more prestigious their reward will be. It works. Several of them are wealthy enough to buy the whole University, and these begin to compete with each other to be most generous. You are able to skim off a very healthy profit indeed by the time the dust settles.
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Gain: 106 x Glim
Term Passing… increase
Getting into the journals
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 5
The Correspondence boasts no academic journals, no erudite gatherings. Well, you have to start somewhere.
Publish and be… well, yes
Perhaps you could publish some of your safer work. The more liberal and wide-ranging publications might take it.
Getting a little closer
'…and although there was no evidence of ecstatic dancing or speaking in tongues, we feel that the academic public is not yet ready for your work. Perhaps you should speak to the Dilmun club? In the meanwhile, would you be interested in reviewing some papers for us? They are rather esoteric, but that shouldn't be a problem for you…'
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Gain: 25 x Proscribed Material
Term Passing… increase
Find allies at the Department of _______
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 5
Nobody at the Department of _______ can match your skill as a scholar of the Correspondence. But they can still be useful to you.
Get the Semi-semiotic Fellow on your side
The Department's staff should form the core of your new domain. The key point of influence is the Semi-Semiotic fellow.
Making progress
'We have, wisely I think, refrained from practical research in the past. I must say, though, that the quality of your work is astounding. You're ahead of us in some key areas. I think that the time has come for us to re-examine our approach. Yes, I do think that we can work together. Now, have you seen this piece of mine? Unaccountably unpublished so far -'
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Gain: 49 x Cryptic Clue
Term Passing… increase
Term Passing 7+
Where is Dr Orthos?
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 7
You've barely glimpsed Dr Orthos at the University. He must be avoiding you after that business in the Forgotten Quarter.
Make your peace with Dr Orthos
Dr Orthos is influential, respected, and richer than a bank. It would be best for your career to come to terms with the man.
A usefully broad mind
'What? The Correspondence? Oh, forgiven and forgotten. That was last year's project. You're welcome to those wretched stones and whatever they bring you. These days, I'm researching the music of the second city. I'll be giving a zummara recital next week. You must come!'
Rewards:
Persuasive increase
Connected: Benthic increase
Connected: Summerset increase
Connected: Society increase
Connected: Bohemian increase
Your 'Term Passing…' Quality has gone!
The patronage of the Duchess
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 7
Your new department will need a noted patron to unveil plaques and present the inevitable honours. The Duchess would be perfect… if you can convince her.
Court the Duchess' patronage
The Duchess is known to be intelligent, even scholarly. You could send her some manuscripts and hope they speak for themselves. Don't mention the burning hair.
Far better than nothing.
The Duchess is charming, but firm. 'I'm afraid I must decline. It would be reckless of me to publicly endorse the study of the Correspondence. The Masters of the Bazaar would be less than pleased. However, I believe in your abilities. Expect a little something delivered to your office.'
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Gain: 15 x Relic of the Second City
Connected: the Duchess increase
Your 'Term Passing…' Quality has gone!
Dealing with Virginia
Unlocks: Featuring in the Tales of the University 9, Term Passing 7
Virginia hounded your steps while you unearthed the Correspondence Stones, but she's not troubled you for a while.
A word at the Embassy
Unlocks: Connected: Hell 10
Virginia will worry at your new department like a cat on a mystery. Perhaps you could convince her infernal superiors to send her elsewhere.
A little kindness
'Although it pains me, I cannot fulfil your request. You see, Virginia's orders come from the very bottom. Her work is important. Hell does support your studies, however. We shall be sending you a little assistance. Virginia has unearthed a number of delightful texts over the years. We shall be pleased to share these with you to advance your work. We hope you remember this little kindness in the days to come…'
Rewards:
Watchful increase
Gain: 55 x Proscribed Material
Your 'Term Passing…' Quality has gone!
unlocked with Featuring in the Tales of the University 30
A Sneering Gentleman
You recognise a vinegar-faced valet of His Amused Lordship in a drizzle-pattered street. He never liked you. He sneers: 'The Dilmun Club is sponsoring expeditions, but the papers with your name on keep going missing…'
unlocked with Featuring in the Tales of the University 30
That's how it is, eh?
You can't let this foul fellow get in the way of your academic career. A little blackmail will see you on your way. [This will begin a journey of scientific discovery across the Unterzee. You can acquire Blackmail Material from the Velocipede Squad or at an Elaborate Party. Books of Hidden Bodies can be created at the Bazaar Side-streets. Extraordinary Implications can be found in the Foreign Office or on the Unterzee Islands.]
unlocked with associating with Radical Academics 3, cultivating an acquaintance with His Amused Lordship 3, 5 x Extraordinary Implication , 1 x Blackmail Material , 2 x Book of Hidden Bodies, Watchful 120
Certain dispensations
An expedition sponsored by the Dilmun Club! The dream of every scholar of the exotic! You have urchins deliver a copy of your material to the valet in a satchel, trussed up tight. That evening, he knocks on your door. His lips are pulled back in a sour grimace. He spits, 'The Dilmun Club is meeting in the upstairs room of the Bridge Without. You are invited to address them upon the matter of your academic background and suitability for certain dispensations that may be available to you.' He spins on his black heel and is away.
The Bridge Without. That's the expensive drinking-hole in the Bazaar Side-streets. Best set about claiming these dispensations.
An occurrence! Your '
Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery' Quality is now 1!
You've lost 1 x
Blackmail Material
You've lost 5 x
Extraordinary Implication
You've lost 2 x
Book of Hidden Bodies
