Things to do in Ladybones Road...
When you're On the Velocipede Squad
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This storyline unlocked with this opportunity card:
The Inspector Calls
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector hammers at your door with his truncheon. 'Open up! I need to 'ave a little word.'
Unlocks with: 1 x Velocipede, Dangerous 110
Your reputation as a pugilist serves you well
'We're a bit short-handed in the Velocipede Squad right now. And I've heard you're a bit handy when it comes to putting the boot in.'
Unlocked with A Bringer of Death 1
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 130)
A bit tasty with a shiv?
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector helps himself to your dinner while you brew some tea. 'Like I say,' he says through a mouthful of pastry. 'we're short-handed and yer known to be a bit tasty with a shiv, so yer in. Officially we're the Velocipede Squad, but the local villains call us the Pennies. We get in fast, we put the boot in, and then we pedal off. We ain't pretty, but we get results. And Mr Iron looks after us if we get a bit excitable.'
'I see you've got yer own boneshaker, which will save us a few notes. You'll need a barker, but we'll buy yer bullets. Now get yer arse down to Concord Square. It's off Ladybones Road. There's villainy to be foiled!'
An occurrence! Your
On the Velocipede Squad Quality is now 1 - Putting the Boot In!
does not increase Dangerous
You come highly recommended by the Chief Constable
'The guv'nor sent me round. He said you can help us out. The Velocipede Squad is short-handed…'
Unlocked with Connected: The Constables 30
Colourful language for an inspector
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector helps himself to your dinner while you brew some tea. 'Like I say,' he says through a mouthful of pastry. 'we're short-handed and the guv'nor vouches for yer. So yer in. Some calls us the Velocipede Squad, but the local villains call us the Pennies. We get in fast, we put the boot in, and then we pedal off. We ain't pretty, but we get results. And Mr Iron sees us all right if we get a bit excitable.'
'I see you've got yer own boneshaker, which will save us a few notes. You'll need a barker, but we'll buy yer bullets. Now get yer arse down to Concord Square, it's off Ladybones Road. There's villainy to be foiled!'
An occurrence! Your
On the Velocipede Squad Quality is now 1 - Putting the Boot In!
You bunged the Chief Constable a monkey
Expensive tastes in primates, that Chief Constable. But the Velocipede Squad sounds like a fine amusement. And good exercise to boot.
Unlocked with 1 x Comprehensive Bribe
You're in
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector helps himself to your dinner while you brew some tea. 'Like I say,' he says through a mouthful of pastry. 'we're short-handed and the guv'nor vouches for yer, so yer in. Officially we're the Velocipede Squad, but the local villains call us the Pennies. We get in fast, we put the boot in, and then we pedal off. We ain't pretty, but we get results. And Mr Iron looks after us if we get a bit excitable.'
'I see you've got yer own boneshaker, which will save us a few notes. You'll need a barker, but we'll buy yer bullets. Now get yer arse down to Concord Square, near Ladybones Road. There's villainy to be foiled!'
You've lost 1 x Comprehensive Bribe
An occurrence! Your
On the Velocipede Squad Quality is now 1 - Putting the Boot In!
Foiling Footpads
Someone has been robbing drunks. Actually, someone is always robbing drunks. But the last drunk was the Chief Constable's aunt.
Unlocked with On the Velocipede Squad 1
Into the street with bottle and truncheon
Your orders are to impersonate a drunk. Should be easy enough with this generously provided bottle of vile gin. If you encounter footpads, you are instructed to give them 'a bleeding good hiding'.
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 127)
Six times before dawn
You pretend to fall asleep in the gutter. The gin shields you from the worst effects of the fog and the cramp. You kick away an insouciant tabby that wishes to mark you as his territory. You are robbed six times before the lighting of the lamps. Well, 'robbed' is generous. Anyone who so much as breathes on your pockets suffers a swift beating. Is everyone in this city a villain?
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (2 change points)
Out all night and nary a footpad
Now that you've had a few swigs, this gin isn't so awful. You could have a little more. It keeps the dank fog out and the spirits burning bright. That bench looks comfy. Time for a nap. Just a little one - wouldn't do to be seen like this come morning.
Dangerous increase
Scandal increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Foil a Robbery
'Two villains are doing over a fancy jeweller's in Veilgarden. Mount up and nick 'em before they scarper!'
Unlocked with On the Velocipede Squad 1
Get to it
This is it. Smoke and fog in your hair. Panicked screams of pedestrians. A mission of justice.
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 127)
How it's supposed to be done
Your iron rims slam against the kerb as you take the sharp bend out of Burly Street. You're over the handlebars, but up again in a moment, truncheon out. The two thieves are still in the shop, one cursing at a tricky safe. You stride in and administer the swift and thorough kicking of Justice. Many satisfying thuds and crunches later, you drag them back to the station behind your velocipede.
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase
VELOCIPEDE SQUAD FOILED!
The turn into Burly Street is sharper than the Devil's steak knife. You lean into it, further, further… and your velocipede slides out from beneath you straight into the wheels of a brewer's dray. Your fall is cushioned by an amply-padded theatrical critic, but the Inspector isn't going to be pleased.
Dangerous increase
Scandal increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
In the Boozer with the Lads
The Velocipede Squad drinks at the New Justice. Outside, velocipedes are parked in a neat row, ready for action. Inside, the floors suck at your boots and the coppers scowl and sup.
Unlocked with On the Velocipede Squad 1
Get a pint in and sit down
There are jungles more friendly than this yellowing taproom. Will the narrowed eyes acknowledge you?
(Connected: The Constables challenge, straightforward at 30)
Your round
A copper shifts a file full of blurry photographs from a nearby stool. You sit. The conversation drifts around you. '…bit him as hard as I could…', '…got to the lockup, it was full of bleedin' tigers…' '…rubber rims? No bloody good, mate…'.
Empty tankards and expectant glares. It's your round. You're in.
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (2 change points)
Connected: The Constables increase (1 change point)
Not getting along
Two pints later, you're sitting on your own. The ale tastes like someone dropped a rat in it. From the sly smirks around the taproom, perhaps someone did.
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Connected: The Constables decrease (2 change points)
Listen to what's going on in the snug
A pair of veteran officers are having a private discussion in the small, smoky room.
Unlocked with The Spinning of the Wheels 1
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
Messenger Duty
The Velocipede Squad looks to its own ranks for couriers. Half the time when you see one of the Squad pedalling like the clappers, they're summoning reinforcements or reporting to the Masters.
Unlocked with On the Velocipede Squad 1
Your turn today
Your name is scrawled on the blackboard in the smoke-filled back room of the station. Best mount up.
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 127)
Waking the blue beast
There's a riot in Veilgarden. Well, it might be a party that's spilled into the streets. In any case, the Knuckle-Scarred Inspector orders you to loop around all the stations between Ladybones Road and Spite, whistle blaring. Your oily iron rims strike sparks on the cobblestones as you rouse London's finest away from their kettles and to their business. Urchins and vagabonds slink into their alleys as the blue beast wakes.
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (2 change points)
Veilgarden to Wolfstack in twenty minutes?
Someone's having a laugh. You pedal like a maniac, scattering gowned scholars and the urchins of Spite behind you. You squeal to a halt outside the Wolfstack station, five minutes late and with a burning pain in your thighs.
Dangerous increase
Wounds increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles 5
Having a Lark
A band of well-dressed robbers is preying on society events. They strut about, stealing watches and jewellery, then ride off on fine horses.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 5
After them!
The robbers have struck an elegant party in Veilgarden! On yer boneshaker and off like the clappers!
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 130)
Not so funny now
You pedal after the fleeing horses like a champion. It's hard to steer your contraption while holding a firearm. Your iron rims cut furrows in the smooth brown turf of Tyrant's Gardens.
You chance a shot at the last of the fleeing riders, who wheels around, horrified. He loses his seating, and plummets to the ground in an elegant heap. He's not a hardened criminal. More likely, he's one of the Young Stags out on a lark. That won't spare him the sound thrashing he's owed, though.
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (2 change points)
A sudden pain in the knee
Can you possibly keep up with a well-bred horse, cantering gaily across Tyrant's Gardens? No, you cannot.
Dangerous increase
Wounds increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Dealing with a Hard Case
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector has a Stone-Faced Recidivist who won't talk. He wants you to sort the fellow out.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 5
Have a little word
The Stone-Faced Recidivist glares sullenly through the iron bars in the cell door. Perhaps you can do better than the Inspector.
(does not test any Qualities)
Nothing to be done
The Stone-Faced Recidivist knows that his brief will be here soon. And he knows better than to deliberately provoke members of the Velocipede Squad. He sits and waits and stays silent. Your words slide over him like the Hollow Street fog.
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Walk away
What the Inspector has in mind is neither just nor legal.
Unlocked with The Spinning of the Wheels 1
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
Do whatever is necessary
Violence is just another tool. Maybe even another entertainment. He'll get a bit more talkative once you've thrown him down the station stairs four or five times.
Unlocked with The Spinning of the Wheels 1
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
A Blaze in Spite
Some local villain has set matches to a tenement building in Spite. The blaze has yet to spread beyond a few rooms.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 5
Speed over there
Someone else will have to deal with the fire. You're after the arsonist.
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 130)
What's all this then?
The stinking black smoke blinds you. The flames drive you back. The tenement creaks and pops alarmingly. It won't be long before the place collapses. But what's this? The hot metal sears your fingers, but you have the evidence, right where the fire started. A Constable's badge.
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (2 change points)
In and out
The tenements are full of rags and filthy straw. They billow thick black smoke as they burn. You are blinded, and the heat drives you back outside, coughing and retching.
Dangerous increase
Wounds increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Rescue an Informer from Devils
One of the Inspector's most productive informers, a waiter at Dante's Grill, has blown his cover. You need to repair his reputation.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 5
Run to the scene!
Dante's Grill is just around the corner from Concord Square.
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 130)
Getting off lightly.
You crash through the elegant stained-glass doors and into the dining room. You point a finger. You accuse, you swagger, you take the waiter outside to the scrubbed cobblestones for a corrective kicking. You drag him back to the station. You wash the blood from your knuckles as the Inspector nods his approval. The bruises will heal. The devils had something more permanent in mind.
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (2 change points)
Delicious friend
No informer. Just a smug infernal maître d’hôtel and a new dish of the day.
Dangerous increase
Riding the Savage Cobbles increase (1 change point)
Nightmares increase (1 change point)
Riding the Savage Cobbles 7
An Eye Wide Open
You've seen much as a member of the Velocipede Squad. More, perhaps, than you should.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 7
Turn a blind eye
One of the lads, now.
(does not test any Qualities)
Off again
'Coach robbery in Veilgarden! Get your barkers and yer boneshakers!' Another day, another duty. All this pedalling is keeping you fit, though.
Dangerous increase (2 change points)
Connected: The Constables increase (5 change points)
note that this does not reset Riding the Savage Cobbles
Out of the public view
[This will unlock the secrets of the Velocipede Squad and allow you decide what do to about them. A dozen storylets and opportunities of metropolitan savagery!]
Unlocks with A Person of Some Importance 1
Requires 20 Fate
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
Another Strike
They've blown the Black Whistle at Concord Square. All officers must report to Wolfstack Docks and deal with yet another strike. Well, all officers who aren't known socialists.
[You can't play this Storylet unless your Union Sympathiser quality is less than 5]
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 7
Go and crack some heads
This rabble need to accept their lot in life and do as they're told. Those that don't can't expect a kicking.
(Dangerous challenge; low-risk at 123)
The guns of Wolfstack
You stand in a wedge with neddy men and Special Constables on the oily wharf. Half the neddy men are actually Royal Marines. You're glad of them when the shooting begins.
It's not so much a gun battle as a huge, chaotic fistfight. As if a hundred pubs had spilled onto the docks one blood-red Friday night. Only a few of the dockers have guns, but that's enough to add a deadly resolve to the strikebreakers. You see a pair from the Velocipede Squad systematically hurling dockers into the water. Most of them can't swim. You gather up rifles as you find them.
Dangerous increase
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Gain: 1 x Ancient Hunting Rifle
Gain: 2 x Rattus Faber Rifle
Not who they seem
You stand in a wedge with neddy men and Special Constables on the oily wharf. Half the neddy men are actually Royal Marines, but that won't be enough if things get ugly.
You are few, and they are legion. You spend a tense day enduring jeers and the occasional half-brick from the picket line. But who's that chap standing behind the dockers? Well, well. One of them, is he?
Dangerous increase
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Gain: 3 x
An Identity Uncovered!
Riots in Watchmaker's Hill! Shops are Burning!
You can see smoke from Concord Square. For some reason the veteran officers call these affairs 'April Riots', whatever the month. Go and sort it out.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 7
Read them the Riot Act
'Our Sovereign Monarch the Empress chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, to disperse themselves, and peaceably depart…'
(Dangerous challenge; straightforward at 130)
An odd sort of victory
The crowd is a rabble of dockworkers, zailors, and a few villains from Spite on a day out. A few of them are shouting garbled revolutionary slogans, but most are here for the looting.
You finish reading out the Act. A platoon of your brethren arrive at your back, squealing to a stop in a ragged but formidable line, truncheons high and boots gleaming. The mob falters and falls back into the smoke.
Your colleagues send up a victorious cheer. The Fire Brigade will be here shortly, so they content themselves with a little looting at the local vintner's. The Velocipede Squad drinks well for nearly a week afterwards.
Dangerous increase
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Gain: 7 x
Broken Giant 1844
Tumultuous assembly
The crowd is a rabble of dockworkers, zailors, and villains from Spite on a day out. A few of them are shouting garbled revolutionary slogans, but most are here for the looting.
You finish reading out the Riot Act. Nobody is dispersing themselves, nor are they peaceably departing. What they are mainly doing is chasing you into a smoke-filled bookshop, throwing insults and bricks. May as well save some books from the coming flames.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 19 x
Compromising Document
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Attend a Funeral
A colleague in the Velocipede Squad has shut her last case. Best bib and tucker, now.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 7
Keep a quiet dignity
Fog muffles the heavy tread of policemen in the graveyard. She died on the job, they say, working for the Ministry of Public Decency. Velocipede Squad officers swap sneers with Special Constables in Bazaar-skin black. This could turn nasty.
(Persuasive challenge; straightforward at 125)
Keeping the peace
The deceased was tracking a group of Correspondence-graffitists. The Special Constables use an acid-spewing machine to erase such crimes, but it's a volatile contraption given to unexpected explosions. Your colleague was caught in the blast. There's not much left to bury. Each squad blames the other for the incident.
During the eulogy, the Knuckle-Scarred Inspector seems about to launch into a tirade against the Ministry. Your coughing and steely glances shame him out of it. The two squads line up on either side of the grave, like two quarrelling ancient clans meeting at a ford. But the solemnity of the event and an occasional harsh look from you keeps order.
Afterwards, a Decency Evaluator approaches you. 'You seem the wisest of these scoundrels,' he says, over tea and scones at Concord Square. 'Take her case notes and put them to some good purpose.'
Persuasive increase
Gain: 1 x
Blackmail Material
Gain: 2 x
An Identity Uncovered!
Gain: 2 x
Incendiary Gossip
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Getting shirty
The deceased was tracking a group of Correspondence-graffitists. The Special Constables use an acid-spewing machine to erase such crimes, but it's a volatile contraption given to unexpected explosions. Your colleague was caught in the blast. There's not much left to bury. Each squad blames the other for the incident.
During the eulogy, the Knuckle-Scarred Inspector says something uncouth about Decency Evaluators. A Special Constable calls the Velocipede Squad 'a gang of dockside hooligans, bent as a nine echo note'. You acquit yourself honourably in the graveside fracas that follows, but it's hardly a solemn and dignified send-off. On the other hand, you do come away with something knocked out of an Evaluator's briefcase.
Persuasive increase
Gain: 240 x
Proscribed Material
Wounds increase
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector is Indisposed
Well, that's what the sergeant at the front desk said.
Unlocked with Riding the Savage Cobbles 7
Try to calm the Inspector down
His cases have gone badly of late. He never got to the bottom of that Veilgarden soul ring. And now it sounds like he's rearranging the station furniture with a hammer.
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 132)
The real problem
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector takes a break from from punching his locker to inform you that his subordinates are 'a feckless shower', and that spirifage is 'a bleeding disgrace in a Christian city' and that he's going to 'sort it out and put the boot in'. You calm him down enough for a pint at the New Justice.
When he's gathered his wits and taken a prodigious wad of snuff, the Inspector confesses his real problem. 'It's Jack-of-Smiles. My lads can't cope with him. And I don't mean the stabbing. I'd bet on my boys against all comers. It's what happens after.'
'Look at these case notes. You see, I've had lads hard after Jack over the years. And you know what happened to them? Every one became Jack, sooner or later. Every last one. It's a tragedy, and no mistake.'
Dangerous increase
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Gain: 1 x
Uncanny Incunabulum
Gain: 2 x
A Journal of Infamy
Gain: 2 x
Extraordinary Implication
A heartfelt tirade
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector takes a break from punching his steel locker to inform you that his subordinates are 'a feckless shower', and that spirifage is 'a bleeding disgrace in a Christian city' and that he's going to 'sort it out and put the boot in'. Then he throws an evidence chest at your head.
Gain: 4 x
A Journal of Infamy
Gain: 3 x
Extraordinary Implication
Wounds increase
BLEF! BLEF!
The Inspector's indisposition is due to a prodigious wad of snuff. You stay out of the blast radius until it's over.
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 1
The perils of snuff
'Oh, that's bleedin… BLEF! better. Now, where was I? BLEF! A bit of payment for the Jack case. Don't argue… BLEF! You deserve it. And it's not like it's on the books. BLEF!'
The Inspector wipes his teary eyes with a grey handkerchief and hands you a thick dossier of diaries, journals and confessions from the evidence box.
Your
Riding the Savage Cobbles Quality has gone!
Gain: 36 x
Compromising Document
This will needs its' own page. These options cost 5 actions each.
Warming up the Case
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 1
Jack-of-Smiles…The murderous buffoon, plaything of the press, and London's most notorious killer. And now he's your problem.
Number 37
There's a page in the Jack-of-Smiles case notes that bears the signature of each officer to lead the investigation. Thirty-seven signatures, once yours is added. Is that enough? Will there be a thirty-eighth, looking over the notes as you are now?
Unlocked with Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case 4
A tiny breakthrough
Bodies and knives and blood and reports. You've never seen such a pile about one case. The box the Inspector gave you was just the first volume. The rest is delivered to your lodgings by cart. What's behind Jack? What is it that the thirty-six previous detectives couldn't see? You work through the night and back into the day. Your room becomes a library. A shrine devoted to a killer who can give fresh smiles to a pub full of burly zailors one day, and be fought off by a nanny with an umbrella the next. What's this, though? Unique in the case notes. A Jack that was caught alive. And was pronounced cured and then released. The whole business was hushed up and forgotten. Most of the notes are missing. There's no name. No address. It must have been someone important. There is a date: eight years ago. Are they still in London? You must speak to them, whoever they are.
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 2 - Hunting Jack!
Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case has dropped to 1!
Hunting That Which Was Jack
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 2
The case notes you have imply that someone who was Jack lived through the experience and recovered their wits…The murderous buffoon, plaything of the press, and London's most notorious killer. And now he's your problem.
Who are you?
Someone out there was Jack-of-Smiles. Someone was powerful or well-known enough to warrant a cover-up. Tricky, but you'll find them.
Unlocked with Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case 4
Formerly known as Jack
This former Jack-of-Smiles didn't leave much of a trail. But you reasoned that they would have fled to exile in the Tomb-colonies, and ship-captains keep records. You were nearly a week in the oily dockside archives before you found him. The Reformed Hellraiser is now a leading industrialist, and a part-owner of the Great Downward Engineering Company. His family were mill-owners before the Fall. He's a little middle-class to be truly influential, but he's not short a few Echoes. He doesn't wish to be reminded of those days. But he agreed when you pointed out his civic duty. And promised to continue to keep his name off the case notes. The Reformed Hellraiser takes a hearty gulp of sherry before he speaks. 'To be honest, I don't really remember much of that time. And that's not the effect of the years. I didn't remember back then. I just found myself in the Tomb-colonies with an awful lot of my former friends very angry with me. They had to explain to me what had happened. I'd just gone berserk in the wood room one afternoon. No warning. My family spent half their fortune covering it up. They tell me I killed four people, one of them for good. But I don't remember any of that. All I remember is the knife. It was a raggedy old blunt thing, not like the rest of the wood room tools. I must have picked it up. I don't remember anything after that.'
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 3 - Hunting Jack!
Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case has dropped to 1!
Jack's Knife
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 3
It's not hard to obtain a murder weapon. Jack-of-Smiles likes to use knives. Whether they're bayonets, butchers' cleavers or flick knives, Jack does love his little blades.
Finding a knife
This knife was used by Jack last week. Ten inches long, wood and copper fittings, the sort of thing a fisherman might carry. Now, what to do with it?
Unlocked with Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case 4
Found him
The tip of the blade has snapped off. Blood. The handle is worn. It's not particularly sharp. Cut them to little pieces. Not the weapon one would choose for a lunatic rampage. Revenge. Blood. You fling the knife away and it clatters to the floor. You've handled Jack's knives before, but never for this long. That's it. It's the knives. Jack's in the knives. IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ. You're about to be asked to make a decision about Jack and the knives. Please read the warning text carefully. Some of the options ahead won't be to everyone's taste. IMPORTANT.
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 4 - Hunting Jack!
A twist in your tale! You are no longer
Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case.
Two Ways to Jack
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 4
The knives are the key to the Jack-of-Smiles case. Two ways forward. Please read the warning below - it's important.
More Detective Work
You've got more sense than to touch that knife again. Wrap it in a rag and back to the evidence cupboard with it. You'll stick with proper detective work.
Unlocked with Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case 4
Put safely away
You lock the evidence cupboard. There are dozens of knives in there. Do they still have the… principle that you just experienced? Best not to think about it. But how to proceed now? The knives vary in form and age and materials, but none of them are expensive. There's no master cutler or weaponsmith to call on. But you'll think of something.
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 5 - Hunting Jack!
[[Watchful]] increase
Become Jack
Pick up the knife. Become Jack. Find out. WARNING - doing this will mean you become Jack-of-Smiles. The content here will be significantly more graphic and visceral than usual for Fallen London. This branch costs 10 Fate to play.
Hoping Nobody Understands What You Have
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 5
The evidence cupboard contains enough of Jack's knives to kill half of London. You have to keep them out of the wrong hands. Any hands.
Look to the humble tradesman
The markets of Spite boast a score of knife-sharpeners, shiv-makers and cutlers. One of them will know something.
Unlocked with Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case 4
The lives of knives
The knives are too dangerous to transport, especially to a place like Spite. So you use up a good portion of your expense allowance to bring the cutlers and knife-sharpeners to you. They're not keen on being searched on the way out, but you can't take any chances with these things. And money silences complaints handily. Six sharpeners and four cutlers later and a pattern's emerging. The knives are up to twenty years old. A few bear makers' marks. Four different marks only - nobody local. The blades are cheap steel, with ash or cedar handles and copper or brass fittings. There's something else. One of the cutlers mentions the Clay Puppeteer. Not many Clay Men would take up entertaining children. But this one has a talent with the lives of small objects. His puppet show is, apparently, 'summat to see, even if it is bleedin' unnatural, like.'
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 6 - Hunting Jack!
A twist in your tale! You are no longer
Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case. (reduction of about 10-12 pts)
Hoping Nobody Understands What You Have
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 6
The evidence cupboard contains enough of Jack's knives to kill half of London. You have to keep them out of the wrong hands. Any hands.
Look to the humble tradesman
The markets of Spite boast a score of knife-sharpeners, shiv-makers and cutlers. One of them will know something.
The Clay Puppeteer It doesn't take you long to track down the tatty rat-eaten booth of the Clay Puppeteer…
Unnatural Vitality
You wait through the show. The voices are awful, but you suspect you know how the Puppeteer operates six marionettes at once.
Unlocked with Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case 4
[[collapsible show="Reward spoiler" hide="hide spoiler"]]
At last
The Clay Puppeteer is cracked and worn. Have you ever seen an older looking Clay Man? He doesn't even ask to be paid when he agrees to look over the collection of Jack's knives. You're nervous about letting a huge brute like the Clay Puppeteer touch the knives, but there's no other way. He runs a stony finger over a few handles, barely touching them. His voice has long lost the typical Clay rumble. The Puppeteer says, quietly, 'They're alive. In a way that I am, and you're not. And they're furious. I don't think that there's anything to be done for them. The poor things. I'd like to tell you that you're after some mad Clay weaponsmith. But the strange thing is that they were made by different hands. Human hands at that, I think. But they do have that spark. Vitality. They have to be from Polythreme.'
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 9 - Back to Ladybones Road!
A twist in your tale! You are no longer
Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case. (reduction of about 10-12 pts)
Jack's Origin
However you came here, you are now sure..
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 9
However you came here, you are now sure. Jack-of-Smiles is the result of a set of knives. Knives with more personality than cutlery should have. Knives from Polythreme.
Tell the Inspector
You'll have to go to Polythreme to get to the bottom of this. But you should report in first.
(single action)
Expenses
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector drums his fingers against the edge of his cluttered desk. 'Polyfreme, eh? Bleedin' ell. Well, yer doin' all right so far. I was expectin' yer to have ended up as Jack by now, 'an all. Bloody good show there. So, what you 'anging about for? There's villainy to be foiled!' You cough and mention expenses. The Inspector's brow furrows, but he can't really argue. 'Right, I'll get yer a chit for some silk. I've 'eard them fancy Polyfreme types likes a drop o' that.'
Go to Polythreme, across the Sea of Voices, to continue this story. You will need to use your own zee-vessel, or buy a ticket at Wolfstack Docks if you do not have one.
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 10 - Hunting Jack in Polythreme!
You've gained 100 x Surface-Silk Scrap (new total 214).
on return from Polythreme
After Jack
The Knuckle-Scarred Inspector gave you this job…
Unlocked with The Jack-of-Smiles Case 14
Best talk to him first.
In the snug
The Inspector is 'reviewing his case notes' in the snug of the New Justice when you find him. His third pint of case notes by the look of it. He regards you expectantly.
(single action)
London loves you Who made this storylet? You start with how you did it. How you cracked the Jack-of-Smiles case. When you're halfway through, by the first mention of the knife, you have an audience of Constables. By the time you've finished, you've had to move to the pub's biggest room. You finish your tale to rapturous, heartfelt applause. They carry you out into the street. The next few weeks are a blur. Newspaper interviews. Endless parties and dinners and speeches and salons. A parade down the length of Ladybones Road. A statue. A statue! It's in a quiet square somewhere, but still. London's memory is short. But today, London loves you.
An occurrence! Your 'The Jack-of-Smiles Case' Quality is now 20 - Case Closed!
An occurrence! Your 'Jack's Gone' Quality is now You did it!! Honoured with a Statue
Some quiet square of London bears a marble image of your good self. How lovely!
An Accomplishment! You are now Honoured with a Statue. Making Waves
Making Waves has increased to 60! 59 Progress 60
Connected: Constables has increased to 75 - Familiar! 73 Progress 75 Connected: Society
Connected: Society has increased to 23 - Permitted!
You've gained 10 x Stolen Kiss (new total 16). Cellar of Wine
You now have 4 x Cellar of Wine
On the trail of London's most notorious killer Your 'Seeking the Next Breakthrough on the Jack Case' Quality has gone!
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