Troubled Waters
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Descriptors for levels of this Menace Quality:

  • 1 - Calm Seas.
  • 2 - Calm Seas.
  • 3 - Calm Seas.
  • 4 - Calm Seas!
  • 5 - Calm Seas!
  • 6 - Calm Seas!
  • 7 - Lashing Waves!
  • 8 - Lashing Waves!
  • 9 - Lashing Waves!
  • 10 - Lashing Waves!
  • 11 - Fury of the Unterzee!
  • 12 - Fury of the Unterzee!
  • 13 - Fury of the Unterzee!

Non-dependent Cards

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A Corvette of Her Majesty's Navy

A swift corvette of the Royal Navy steams out of nowhere and heaves to alongside you.

Exchange pleasantries via semaphore

Let's see what her captain has to say.
Not available at Suspicion 5

They're not slowing

Do they mean to board you? Flank speed!
unlocked with Suspicion 5
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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A Wily Zailor

You know your way around the Unterzee now. Journeys will be easier.
Unlocked with An Experienced Zailor 1

Zail around the Pelagic Upheavals

They never did a vessel any good.

Skirt the Howling Shoals

Make sure the screaming is always well to your port side, and run with no lights.
Unlocked with An Experienced Zailor 5

Steam straight through the Beechey Currents

What? Are you mad? No vessel could survive such a thing!
Unlocked with An Experienced Zailor 10

"I'll be in my bunk."

A sufficiently experienced captain knows when it's safe to let the crew manage the vessel. Once you are a sufficiently experienced zailor, you can pay Nex to arrive directly at journey's end. This is a little cheaper than the tramp-steamer quick-sailing option.

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Requires 8 Fate

Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.


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Those engines don't sound healthy

You pass another ship. The smoke from her engines is blacker than it should be, and she's barely making headway.

Offer to help out

It will delay you, but you can hardly leave her in that sorry state.

Hoist the black flag

You may even choose to spit upon your hands. Seaborne extortion ho!


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The Killing Wind

There is little breeze on the Unterzee. But the Killing Wind, when it comes, is filled with tiny razor stones from the Elder Continent. It can flay a man to the bone faster than a piranha.

Make ready to dive

Why should one endure the Killing Wind, when one may simply slip beneath it?
unlocked with Zubmarine 1

Outrun the storm front

Stoke the boiler, slam the throttle open. And if you're the sort that prays, now is a fine time.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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A Mountain of the Unterzee

If it were white they would call it an iceberg. But this moving mountain is black against the black water. Huge as it is, your lookouts see nothing until it is nearly upon you.

'Hard to port! Reverse engines!'

Close up, it looks more like glass than ice. How much more of it skulks below the waves?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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She's Going Down!

On the horizon, you glimpse the last moments of a dying steamer…She's blazing like a Viking funeral, her bow rising higher by the second above red-litten black waters. A handful of crew members have put to zee in lifeboats.

Stop and rescue them

It is nothing less than your duty.

Let the Unterzee have them

Someone else will rescue them. Possibly.


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The Clinging Coral Mass

Coral clings to your ship with sticky black fingers. You need to get rid of this vile, tenacious stuff before it cracks your hull like a walnut.

'Put your backs into it, lads!'

Break out the hammers and inspire your crew to violent industry.
(Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 125)

Grab a hammer yourself

Leap over the side on a rope. You'll show them how it's done!
(Dangerous challenge, almost impossible at 148)



Calm Seas Cards

These cards cannot be played if Troubled Waters is higher than 6.

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Calm Seas: Creaking from Above

The dim lights in the cavern roof blink out and return. The pattern is hypnotic. What's that you can hear?

Glim-fall!

The creaking and whistling from above presages a bountiful fall of glim. Man the nets! Heads down!
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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Calm Seas: A Steamer full of Passengers

An enormous ship is passes on the starboard bow. She's a cruise vessel, sometimes used by the extremely rich and scandalous to journey and party away their time in exile.

Steam past them

A merry blast from the whistle and you're on your way.

Invite them aboard for a party

But is your vessel handsome enough for these particularly refined tastes?
Unlocks with 1 x Majestic Pleasure Yacht


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Calm Seas: A Huge Terrible Beast of the Unterzee!

A monster! A leviathan of the deep! Well, a little one. Not much bigger than a cow, really. If a cow had tentacles and a toothy beak.

Steam on by

The monster doesn't look like it's seen you. Not that it has eyes anyway.

Delicious, delicious lumps

Are those Rubbery Lumps they serve at the carnival ever really fresh? Here's your chance to make some of your own. Break out the harpoon!
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 125)


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Calm Seas: A Spit of Land

Is that island new? It's not on the charts, but at least it doesn't appear to be moving.

Steam on by

Your stores of fresh food and water are adequate, and time is short. Full speed ahead!

Stop briefly at the island

It could be filled with tasty fresh food. And it will be good to stand on solid ground for a little while.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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Calm Seas: Fair Zailing

The Unterzee is calm, but not too calm. The air is cold and brisk. The horizon is empty of cloud and ship and beast.

Take advantage

Steam on merrily, in the expectation of making good time.



Lashing Waves Cards

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Lashing Waves: A Ship of Zealots

The Circumcellion Brotherhood, chanting drunken prayers and waving heavy clubs, is steaming straight toward you.

See them off

These maniacs intend to board you in their quest for martyrdom.
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 125)

Race away from these lunatics

Their ship is a fast one - a new design from the the Iron Republic. They must have stolen it recently. Still, it's no match for you in a sprint. Leave them frothing in your wake.
Unlocks with 1 x Swift Zee-clipper .


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Lashing Waves: A Stowaway!

You have an unexpected passenger, hiding in the bilges. A Clay Man who does not speak.

Let him off at the next port

The poor fellow could make use of charity. And it's not like they eat much.
Unlocks with Magnanimous 1

Heave him over the side

You'll have no argillaceous freeloaders on this ship!
Unlocks with Ruthless 1


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Lashing Waves: A Tiny Coral Island

The coral is a little odd, perhaps. Strangely geometric.

Record it and move on

There's nowhere to land on the little island's sharp black cliffs, so the best you can do is record your position and steam away.

What's that down there?

Is that a cave in the side of the island, under the water? More than big enough for your zubmarine. Curiosity demands! Make ready to dive!
Unlocks with Zubmarine 1


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Lashing Waves: A Blanket of Fog

Even the smogs of Spite can't compare with this stuff. The visible world ends three feet from your fog lights. There is no sound but the thump of your engine, the lap of water against iron, and another noise that you can't place.

Is there someone out there?

You strain your ears to hear… what?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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Lashing Waves: A Shape in the Depths

There's a calm patch in the waves, somewhere off your port rail. It's larger than your ship. And it's moving.

Steam briskly away

Curiosity killed the captain. And his crew. And the ship's cat for that matter.

Take a closer look

It would be shameful to journey across the Unterzee without recording its more colourful inhabitants.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 125)



Fury of the Unterzee Cards

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Fury of the Unterzee: A Blank Space on the Charts

Your current position isn't marked on your charts. It was once, but someone put out a cigar on it. The strange thing is, they did it on all three maps of the area.

There's an island here

An island big enough to be inhabited. Are those lights? Is that singing?
[Warning: this could remove all progress on your journey.]
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)


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Fury of the Unterzee: Lost, Forever Lost

The broad empty Unterzee fills the world…

Auto-fire



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Fury of the Unterzee: Hardship and Want

There's little food left. Your crew is losing its collective patience and its collective hair.

Tighten your belt and make the best of it

What else can you do?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)

Let them eat pies

What nonsense! Your stores will last for a year of parties and feasting! Steam on! Steam on!
Unlocks with 1 x Majestic Pleasure Yacht.


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Fury of the Unterzee: What are Those?

More fog. One could be back on a London street. But wait, what are those glowing red orbs off the port rail?

Something is wrong here

But will you realise it in time?
[Warning: this could remove all progress on your journey.]
Watchful challenge; straightforward at 145


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Fury of the Unterzee: The Stone Pigs Cough

The water trembles. Waves dwarf your ship. A great spike rises from the zee, piercing the sky like a rocky finger. Volcano!

At your earliest convenience

Globs of lava fly through the air and crash into the black water, throwing up gouts of steam. They are all around. You must flee!
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)

Race away

No vessel could outrun flying gobbets of lava. Well, perhaps one could.This choice is locked for now.
Unlocks with 1 x Swift Zee-clipper.



Gold Bordered Cards


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Fury of the Unterzee: cold, calm waters

Your breath frosts as you step from the bridge….
Unlocked with Troubled Waters 11, Making progress in the Labyrinth of Tigers 16
Your crew are wrapped up in jumpers and oilskins.

Thump! SCRRRRRR….

Something is investigating your ship. Something is fifteen feet long and armoured like a battleship. A plated seal! Savage predator of the icy water! You could bring it aboard and take it the Labyrinth of Tigers!
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 115)



Ship Dependent Cards

Zubmarine

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Submerge

A storm is brewing… Fortunately, you can sail straight underneath it.
Unlocks with 1 x Zubmarine 1.

Run deep, run quiet

Into the silent crushing depths, away from the turbulent surface.


Swift Zee-clipper

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Good weather for a Zee-Clipper

A blustery following wind curls the waves to foam. They're just the right height for you to 'clip' through.
Unlocks with 1 x Swift Zee-clipper.

Full speed ahead

Stoke the boiler to red-hot! See if she's still got the pace that took her from Liverpool to Wellington in eighty days.


Majestic Pleasure Yacht

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Zailing in Style

Who cares about your destination? This isn't a journey, it's a cruise.
Unlocks with 1 x Majestic Pleasure Yacht.

Days of black and gold

Oh the endless round of shipboard parties, fine dining with the passengers, deck games and cocktails. It goes on until morning, and morning never comes.

unlocked with Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 3

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The Fleet of Truth

That ship is running no lights and flying no colours. Good Lord! It's a vessel in Dr. Orthos' Fleet of Truth!

Villainy!

The Fleet of Truth is made up of equal parts venal academics and dockside bruisers. They aim to board you and steal your research!
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 125)

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Share your Research with a Fellow Scholar

It is the duty of the modern scholar to publish and share work with the academic community. But there's no harm in letting a friend look at it first.

Away, my beauties!

You'll have to use messenger bats, and plenty of them. Write small. [Your academic collegue must have research to share, and sufficient bats for a reply.]
Unlocked with: 10 x Sulky Bat, 50 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes, 50 x A Page of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes, 50 x A Page of Theosophistical Notes.


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