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
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
M-O-N-S-T…
Oh, how sweet. The corvette's captain is signalling over a list of local hazards, and details of his vessel's recent course. Pay attention, and you should be able to avoid a great deal of trouble. Huzzah for the Navy!
Approaching Journey's End increase
1 change point
Troubled Waters decrease
2 change point
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.)
Steaming boldly away
You match the corvette's swift pace for hours. You prowl the decks, your presence keeping the crew alert. The captain is dogged, but as time drags on he realises that he won't catch you. You've made splendid time, of course, but now the Navy is hunting for you.
Suspicion increase
(3 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
Approaching Journey's End increase (3 change points)
Not as wanted as one might think
The corvette steams ever closer. And then changes course crisply and surges away towards the horizon. They're running away. Good God! What did they see? What's coming?
Troubled Waters increase
(10 change points)
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
Getting there
You steam away from the Shoals, keeping your boiler as quiet as you can. Another few hours and you can light the lamps again. Progress.
Approaching Journey's End increase (4 change points)
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.
Requires 8 Fate
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
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.
Doing the right thing
You approach the stricken tramp steamer. Her engine gurgles like a Rubbery choir, and sections of the transmission have given up entirely. You have the necessary parts and the skilled crew to make matters right, although it means losing a day. Still, it was the right thing to do, and the steamer's captain, a taciturn Scotsman, might say something good about you at the next port.
Approaching Journey's End decrease
Magnanimous increase
but no higher than 6
Troubled Waters decrease
Hoist the black flag
You may even choose to spit upon your hands. Seaborne extortion ho!
Not even a throat to slit
Your victim is a tramp steamer. The crew are more concerned with keeping their ship in one piece than resisting you. The hold is mostly cobwebs and smoke, but you do spot a crate of something interesting. Who says that crime doesn't pay?
Ruthless increase
but no higher than 6
Suspicion increase
(2 change points)
random reward ~100-120pp
Approaching Journey's End increase
(1 change point)
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
Make your depth fifteen fathoms
You wipe condensation from the glassy dials of your brass instruments and peer at the readings. The weather up there must be lethal. But you are safe in the cold silence, and the storm will soon pass. Tiny stone fragments drift harmlessly past the portholes. These vessels are surely the future of sea travel!
Approaching Journey's End increase
(2 change points, may have been 3 in the past)
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.)
Steamer on the storm
The storm front is following your course. It's not fast, but it's miles wide. You have no choice but to run. This is a marathon, not a sprint. The murderous clouds follow you for days, inching ever closer. You can hear the roaring hiss as thousands of tiny stones strike the water just behind you. It sounds like a cauldron of boiling cats. Your crew stumble around, hollow-eyed. You have to put out a fire in the engine room. They are getting clumsy.
And then as suddenly as they appeared the clouds dissipate. You let the crew rest for a while. You're now well ahead.
Approaching Journey's End increase
Not a good day to be out
The clouds envelop you. You order the crew below decks, and close every hatch and porthole. The tiny stones scour your ship back to the steel. From the heart of the storm comes a rhythmic thumping, like some great drummer of the clouds, directing its course. You can't see a thing. Your ship is tossed on uncaring waves for hours that stretch into days.
And then, as suddenly as it began, the storm is over. You have half a day of repairs before you, and you'll need a new coat of paint once you make port. You haven't the first idea where you are.
Approaching Journey's End decrease
(1 change point)
Troubled Waters increase
(3 change points)
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.)
A near thing
Nothing is visible beneath the waves, but you feel certain that jagged spires lurk in the darkness, ready to cut your ship in half. Decisive orders and a swift crew save the day. You steam away from the monster's path and ahead to your destination. Looking back at the great black thing, you glimpse a few spots of light near the base. Are those gaslamps? Does someone actually live on that thing?
Approaching Journey's End is increasing…
Troubled Waters is dropping…
2 x Appalling Secret
CRUNCH
The hull screams as a shard of black mountain tears into it from below. Breach! Man the pumps! It's not a fatal tear, but it will take days of desperate work to repair. The black mountain drifts away, satisfied with its work.
Approaching Journey's End decrease
(3 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
(2 change points)
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.
Heave to and cast lines
The zailors are burnt, shivering and half-crazed with fear. But they've learned a valuable lesson in engine maintenance. You're behind schedule, but that's a small price to pay.
Magnanimous increase
but no higher than 6
Heartless decrease
Approaching Journey's End decrease
Let the Unterzee have them
Someone else will rescue them. Possibly.
Passing by
Why should you interrupt an important journey to pick up a shower of zailors who can't look after their engines properly? Let the Unterzee take its due.
Approaching Journey's End increase
Heartless increase
but no higher than 6
Magnanimous decrease
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)
'Hard at it, lads, and we'll live another day!'
Your crew break out the heavy tools and attack the ebony menace with gusto. The coral grows astonishingly fast, but it cannot match the hearty fury of your crew. Black tendrils quail beneath a hail of hammer blows and they soon retreat to the depths. Splendidly done.
Persuasive increase
Approaching Journey's End increase
2 change point
How did these get there?
Your crew break out the heavy tools and attack the ebony menace with gusto. The coral grows astonishingly fast, but it cannot match the hearty fury of your crew. The clang of hammers on metal. What's this, caught in the black tendrils?
Persuasive increase
Approaching Journey's End increase
2 change point
Gain: 3 x
Correspondence Plaque
Hammer and fronds
The crew works hard, hammering sharp black shards back into the water as quickly as they appear. Undeterred, the coral surges up to the rail. Its tendrils wrap around iron with the jerky speed of a zoetrope image. Your passengers have joined in by now, wielding umbrellas and handbags, swords and quoits. Eventually, you beat the menace back to the depths. But everyone is bleeding and exhausted. Can the crew stoke the engines in this state?
Persuasive increase
Approaching Journey's End increase (1 change point)
Troubled Waters increase (3-4 change points)
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)
Crunch crunch cruch
A rope around your waist and a hammer in each hand, you beat the coral as if you wanted to convert it into horseshoes. The uncanny growth cannot match your violence, and soon your ship is free of its unwanted passenger. The crew cheer and sing as they pull you up.
Dangerous increase
Approaching Journey's End increase
Black spined menace
The coral flows over your legs the moment you crest the rail and drags you towards the water. You smash your way free, but the dd thing is still forcing its way upward. You can fight this menace off, but at what cost to your crew?
Dangerous increase
Approaching Journey's End increase (1 change point)
Troubled Waters increase (<4 change points)
Calm Seas Cards
These cards cannot be played if Troubled Waters is higher than 6.
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.)
Glim-fall the like of which…
You can see the purple haze that marks the glim-fall. A diaphanous lavender curtain over the black waters. Quite beautiful, until you're under it. It falls by the crashing handful into your nets. A zailor screams as a sharp little stone rips through his forearm. Still, there's a decent haul here.
Approaching Journey's End increase
(1 change point)
Troubled Waters increase
(1-2 change points)
Gain: 120 x Glim
Someone is Coming increase
(1 change point)
It fell and it fell, but not here
You can see the purple haze that marks the glim-fall. A diaphanous lavender curtain over the black waters. Quite beautiful. But it's beyond your reach. You steam towards the glim, but to little avail. The curtain falls and is gone, leaving only a few specks on your deck.
Troubled Waters increase
(2 change points)
Gain: 10 x Glim
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.
Staying at home
The cruiser's smoke-stacks disappear over the horizon, inch by inch. The waft of French perfume and wine stays with you all day.
Approaching Journey's End increase (1 change point)
Troubled Waters increase
2 change point
Invite them aboard for a party
But is your vessel handsome enough for these particularly refined tastes?
Unlocks with 1 x Majestic Pleasure Yacht
Blinking in the cool darkness of day
Well, that was quite a party, wasn't it? Was it? These things are so d—nably hard to remember. Your crew has rounded up and repatriated the passengers from the other ship, but you'll keep a few cherished, hazy memories.
You've also got all these addresses, written on lingerie that's still warm.
Scandal increase
Hedonist increase
but not higher than 6
Gain: 1 x Scarlet Stockings of Dubious Origin
Gain: 5 x Secluded Address
Troubled Waters increase
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.
What do the zailors say?
Do you know what zailors say? Well, nonsense about Flukes and requests for more grog, in the main. But they also say that great monsters follow small ones on the Unterzee. Your crew mount double-strength watches without having to be told.
Approaching Journey's End increase
Troubled Waters increase
3 change points
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)
Perhaps you should ask for the recipe
You hurl a harpoon at the snaking mass and it smacks home with a sound like a sledgehammer impacting a goat. Your crew hauls the impaled horror aboard, chops it into bite-sized gobbets, and fries it up.
It's repulsive! Awful! Inedible! This isn't just the cook having an off day. This thing tastes like ash and poison. It's nothing at all like a delicious bag of Rubbery Lumps. Perhaps you've been misinformed as to their origin.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 2 x Appalling Secret
Approaching Journey's End increase
(3-4 change points)
You've gained a new quality:
Unaccountably Peckish at 1 OR
Unaccountably Peckish hasn't changed, because it's higher than 0
Someone is Coming increase
(1 change point)
This works with whales
You pull back your arm and hurl the harpoon at the snaking mass. It smacks home with a sound like an ice-pick hitting a grapefruit. The monster lashes the water to foam and dives, taking your harpoon with it. The rope plays out, and out… and then goes taut. Your ship tips towards the water. It's pulling you over! Dear God, how strong is this thing? Cut the rope!
Dangerous increase
Troubled Waters increase
(2 change points)
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!
Down to the canopy and then nothing
The little island dwindles to nothing in your wake. A prudent measure, or a great opportunity missed? Maybe you'll never know.
Approaching Journey's End increase (2 change points)
Troubled Waters increase (2 change points)
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.)
In the garden
The island is wreathed with frost-moths. They cluster around your lanterns, dooming themselves as their wings melt in the heat. It's a garden: fat, inviting mushrooms clump around black-leafed ferns. More moths flutter from the sky: many more. You shout at your crew to grab what mushrooms they can and race back to the ship before you are all sliced to shreds by tiny sharp wings.
Approaching Journey's End increase
Stay under cover
The island is wreathed with frost-moths. They cluster around your lanterns, dooming themselves as their wings melt in the heat. It's a garden: fat, inviting mushrooms clump around black-leafed ferns. More moths are coming. Many more. You instruct your crew to douse the lanterns and hide, but the moths swarm towards you nonetheless. It's not the light they're after, it's you! Their wings are delicate, but very sharp. Sprint back to the ship before you are cut to pieces.
Troubled Waters increase
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.
If only it was always like this
The crew is relaxed, even playful. You're making fine time and there's not a pirate nor a storm to be had. Can this last?
Approaching Journey's End increase
(4 change points)
Troubled Waters increase (at least 3 change points)
Someone is Coming increase
(1 change point)
Lashing Waves Cards
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)
Aim for the captain
The Circumcellions draw along your port rail and prepare boarding ropes. You instruct your crew to aim for the bridge. One fusillade later, the rickety wooden structure is a bloody ruin. The Circumcellion ship drifts out of control. Away from you, fortunately. The fanatics lining the decks howl with frustration and praise God at you with raised fists.
You suspected that few among them could pilot a ship, and your intuition was correct. They drift off to find their martyrdom elsewhere.
Dangerous increase
Approaching Journey's End increase
(2 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
(2 change points)
'Oh, just shoot them…'
Clubs are no match for revolvers. The Circimcellions martyr themselves on your bullets with a joyous ad convenient zeal, but they brain a few of your crew in the process. Progress will be slow until your engineer recovers.
Dangerous increase
Troubled Waters increase
(3 change points)
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 .
Technology over muscle
Once they see you intend to outrun them, the Circumcellions use their clubs as oars for a little more power. You shake your head sadly as their ship shrinks behind you.
Approaching Journey's End increase
(3 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
(1 change point)
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
A reasonable arrangement
The Clay Man is happy to work his passage, and can shovel coal like a natural. Everyone is happy.
Ruthless decrease
Magnanimous increase
but no higher than 9
Approaching Journey's End increase
Heave him over the side
You'll have no argillaceous freeloaders on this ship!
Unlocks with Ruthless 1
A splash and then nothing
The Clay Man puts up no resistance. The black waters turn a muddy brown as he sinks below the waves.
Ruthless hasn't changed, because it's higher than 9
Magnanimous decrease
Approaching Journey's End increase
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.
Off you go
You pen the island's position into your log. It's d—ned odd that it doesn't appear on the charts.
Approaching Journey's End increase
(2 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
(2 change points)
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
Into the maw
You steam slowly into the cave. Powerful lamps on the hull of your zubmarine illuminate dead black walls. A greenish metallic glow seeps up from the stone floor. The coral here is different. It's simpler, more coherent. Almost geometric.
Your lamps sweep across the cave. There! A carving! Rounded, organic spires and creatures descending from them. What are they? Moths? Angels? You can't get any closer.
5 x Appalling Secret
Troubled Waters decrease
2 change point
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.)
Who is out there?
There's another ship out there. Very close. Too close. Hard to starboard! You pass close enough to shake hands, and someone on the other ship shouts hoarsely at you: 'It fell from the roof! The legs! The legs!'
1 x Appalling Secret
Approaching Journey's End increase
(3 change points)
A silent companion
There is something behind you in the fog. It's best to consider it another vessel, as the alternatives are alarming. The fog makes it bold. It's not far behind you now. Not far at all.
Troubled Waters increase
(1-2 change points)
Nightmares increase (1 change point)
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.
It's gone
The patch of still water is replaced by the usual oily waves. Whatever was there has gone now. But is it just your imagination, or do you see something down there, impossibly deep in the black water? Is that a pair of red eyes gazing up at you?
Approaching Journey's End increase
(1-3 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
(2 change point)
Take a closer look
It would be shameful to journey across the Unterzee without recording its more colourful inhabitants.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 125)
Benthic depths
The creature down there is the size of the Shuttered Palace. It doesn't surface, but you follow its movement by tracking a diffuse ruddy glow, deep in the water. Good God! This must be a gigantic deep-sea fish! But how can that be? The Unterzee isn't particularly deep, at least when compared to the Surface oceans. Or have the charts been wrong all this time?
Watchful increase
Approaching Journey's End increase
(2 change point)
Troubled Waters increase
(1-2 change points)
BANG! Scraaaape…
Something's on the hull of your ship, below the water-line. You've little idea what, but the black water around your vessel is turning red. It's not blood, it's light - a ruddy glow from the depths. The glow seems to cling as you steam away. Have you been… marked?
Watchful increase
Troubled Waters increase
(5 change points)
Fury of the Unterzee Cards
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.)
missing title
The song is vast and melancholy. It tells of brotherhood and comfort in the cold depths. You are lost in it.
No! They will surge up from the water and they will come for you! And you will let them! You cover your ears and open the throttle so hard that the lever breaks off. They will not have you!
You cover your ears until the island is a black mote on the horizon. Was that necessary? Did the song really call to you? Perhaps you imagined its power. You straighten your collar and call for some tea. And an engineer to repair the throttle.
Approaching Journey's End increase
(~2 change points)
Troubled Waters decrease
(2 change points)
All gone forever
The song is vast and melancholy. It tells of brotherhood and comfort in the cold depths. You are lost in it.
You wake, standing in the bridge. The island is gone. So is half of your crew. You have no idea where you are. You can still hear the song. You may never stop hearing it.
Your
Approaching Journey's End Quality has gone!
Your
Troubled Waters Quality has gone!
Nightmares increase
Fury of the Unterzee: Lost, Forever Lost
The broad empty Unterzee fills the world…
Auto-fire
The broad empty Unterzee fills the world. You've not seen land for months. You have no idea where you are. Is this the end? You resolve to pick a heading and steam on until you find land or die.
Your
Troubled Waters Quality has gone!
Approaching Journey's End Quality decrease
(significant)
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.)
Making do
Your crew trusts you to see them to port. They may be weevil-infested and hungry, but they'll stay loyal until the stores are completely gone.
Troubled Waters decrease
A voyage stretching ever longer
The crew grows resentful and listless. The stokers slack their pace. Bellies growl day and night. Will you ever see land?
Approaching Journey's End decrease
(~4-5 change points)
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.
Not accustomed to hardship
'Yes, another macaroon would be delightful. It's a little early for the laudanum, though, don't you think?'
Troubled Waters decrease
(~2-3 change points)
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
A close escape from damnation
A great beast of the Unterzee! It means to swallow your ship! You order the engines quelled and the crew silent. The red lure brightens to white and swishes about above your head. Then there is a great slap of a tail hitting the water. A wave rolls your vessel like a pig. And then it is gone; the fog lifts, and the waters show no sign of the leviathan's passing.
Watchful increase
Troubled Waters decrease
Swallowed!
Stalactites are falling from the roof. Wait a moment, those aren't stalactites. it's a great maw, come to swallow your ship! Giant jaws close around you. Darkness all around, and a stench that makes you gag. Your crew scream, curse and pray. The leviathan must be moving. You can hear waves, and the beat of a massive, ponderous tail. Time has no meaning in this belly. Are you swallowed for days? Years? When it spits you out, you have not the first clue where you are.
Watchful increase
Approaching Journey's End has been reset: a conclusion, or a new beginning?
Troubled Waters quantity has gone!
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.)
Hard to Starboard!
You spin the wheel hard around and make ready to steam away. The water churns unpredictably, but your seamanship is up to the task. Bombs of molten rock land close enough to blister your ship's paint, but you steam hard until the danger is behind you.
Troubled Waters decrease
Approaching the Gates of the Garden increase
The long way home
You spin the wheel hard around and make ready to steam away. The water churns unpredictably. Bombs of molten rock land close enough to blister your ship's paint. The volcano can throw lava for miles! And it's not the only one of its kind. When the danger's past, you are forced to take a long, snaking route around these newly formed mountains.
Approaching Journey's End decrease
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.
Hardly worth firing the boilers up for. Put the kettle on
A drop of lava the size of a quaint cottage lands just ahead of you. Your bow clips smartly through the resulting wave and you're away. The ruddy light stays behind you for days, guiding your course.
Troubled Waters decrease
Gold Bordered Cards
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)
A fine trap
These things can leap. More to the point, they can leap over the rail, where you have men with nets, clubs and a lifeboat as an improvised cage. The beast is yours!
Dangerous increase
A twist in your tale! You are now
In the Company of Monsters or In the Company of Monsters increase (+1 change point)
You now have 1 of this: 'Plated Seal'
Ow!
These things can leap. More to the point, they can leap over the rail, bite an investigative chunk from your leg and then disappear.
Dangerous increase
Wounds increase (1-2 change points)
Ship Dependent Cards
Zubmarine
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.
Hold steady at twenty fathoms
Your zub drops through the oily black water, safely away from sight and turmoil. You can only submerge for a handful of hours before the zubmarine begins to fill with smoke. But it's enough. The silent depths are a tomb for many, but a haven for you.
Approaching Journey's End increase
(1 change point)
Troubled Waters decrease
(3 change points)
The Gates of the Garden increase
(I went from 2-4)
Swift Zee-clipper
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.
Flank speed!
The Clipper's engines churn the black waters to grey and then white. Her bow slices the waves. She flies like an arrow, like a thought. Could there be a faster vessel on the Unterzee? Not today.
Approaching Journey's End increase
(5 change points)
Troubled Waters increase
(1 change point)
Majestic Pleasure Yacht
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.
Enough for everyone
You are, of course, a splendid host. The most beautiful and ambitious passengers compete for an invitation to the captain's table. Or perhaps the captain's cabin. And what adorable presents!
1 x Sapphire
50 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
10 x Relic of the Fourth City
Persuasive increase
unlocked with Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 3
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)
I didn't think so
You break open the weapons locker and have your crew ready to repel boarders. At the last moment, the Fleet of Truth's captain decides that he's not being paid enough to deal with you, and develops a little face-saving engine trouble. You retire to your cabin to continue working on your notes.
Approaching Journey's End increase (2 change points)
You now have 5 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
You now have 5 x A Page of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes
You now have 5 x A Page of Theosophistical Notes
Enjoy the view of my stern, you scoundrels!
Your engines thrash into life. Orthos prefers quantity over quality in his ships and you outpace the battered former coalship with ease. But what's this on the horizon?
Troubled Waters increase
(3 change points)
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.
Off you go
You rub life back into your writing hand. The tiny cylinders are attached and the bats flap away, low over the oily black waves. Let's hope you get something back.
You've lost 10 x Sulky Bat
You have shared academic knowledge with other player to the enrichment of you both. Splendid! - You've gained 15 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes. You've gained 15 x A Page of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes. You've gained 15 x A Page of Theosophistical Notes
