These Opportunity Cards appear when your Watchful quality reaches a certain level. They generally challenge the Watchful quality but some have options which test other Qualities. The links below will jump to the section of the page describing Cards which unlock at that level of Watchful Quality.
Cards which unlock between 0 and 9
An intriguing rumour
A gentleman of the Orient hiding something near Dead Monk's Bridge? Surely worth investigating.
Now, where was it?
The gentleman in question is a representative of an organisation that does not embrace publicity. Just where is the stash?
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 16)
Aha…
Discreet surveillance reveals that he's using an alcove to store jade away from the watchful eyes of the Masters and their taxes. Taking it is nothing less than a civic duty.
Gain: 12 x Jade Fragment
Watchful increase
Coming up empty
It seems that these gentlemen noticed your scrutiny and moved the stash before you could get to it.
Watchful increase
Graffiti with a sting
A crowd pushes and shoves round a brick wall crowded with diabolical graffiti. Some are trying to read it, whispering it aloud. Others stumble away, clawing at their eyes and screaming.
Move a little closer
Will you learn something of moment? Or will you damage your mind, your eyesight, your very sanity? It all depends which words your eye falls on first. Perhaps you should just move on. Warning: may damage your Watchful.
A matter of luck; it could go either way.
'Fascinating. And they never told us? I wonder why…'
Your brain buzzes with black and heady secrets. It's an intoxicating feeling, although not a comfortable one. You leave, realising as you do that the smirk playing around your lips is not entirely your own.
As you go, a squad of Special Constables with white gloves and heavy canvas masks comes up to disperse the crowd. They bring up a squat brass machine on a wheeled cart and begin to spray the offending wall with cleansing acid.
Gain: 2 x
Appalling Secret
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
[6-9 cp]
Someone is Coming increase
'Get it out! Get it out -'
You hear a voice shouting, and realise it's your own. You reel away, beating at your ears, trying to forget what you just saw.
As you go, a squad of Special Constables with white gloves and heavy canvas masks comes up to disperse the crowd. They bring up a squat brass machine on a wheeled cart and begin to spray the offending wall with cleansing acid.
Watchful decrease
Nightmares increase
significant (at least 7 points)
Ask someone else what they saw
There are old neophilologists, and bold neophilologists…
A matter of luck; it could go either way.
[Unlocked with Counting the Days 10-13]
[Unlocked with Spending Secrets 4]
Who is that?
The woman is petite and looks consumptive, but the voice issuing from her mouth is a thundering roar. 'The bargain holds! The Name is gone! We count the days!'
Counting the Days increase
Spending Secrets increase
What don't?
The fellow's eyebrows are smouldering, but he seems otherwise unharmed by the graffiti. He only says, 'They don't look like coins!' before shouldering you aside.
Counting the Days increase
Spending Secrets increase
Just who is Blue Jack?
A notorious pickpocket that usually haunts Spite - but his identity is a mystery. You think you just spotted him at work.
There might be a reward…
Perhaps you can describe the man you saw well enough that the Constables will reward you.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 19)
A mind like a camera!
You note down every last detail of the skilled pickpocket you saw working the crowd. The constables are pleased with your description, and they hand you the traditional reward of the clothing of hanged men.
Watchful increase
Gain: 6 x Ragged Clothing
Two eyes, a nose…er…definitely a nose…
Your description isn't enough for the constables to go on. They politely show you the door.
Watchful increase
Eavesdropping in the garden.
Taking a detour through Tyrant's Gardens, you spot a bandaged woman and a priest deep in conversation…
This has to be worth listening to
Perhaps you can sneak a little closer and hear what they are saying.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 24)
And then the priest said…
The mismatched pair are discussing conducting bulk funerals for those among the many-times dead who appreciate that sort of thing. This is a grey area for both the church and the tomb-colonists. Someone is bound to be interested.
Watchful increase
Gain: 12 x Whispered Secret
I was admiring the mushrooms!
The tomb-colonist hisses harshly at you, and you feign interest in a nearby fungus-growth. You don't learn anything today, and the odd pair take their conversation somewhere more private.
Watchful increase
A protector of cats
Cat-chasing is a tradition in Fallen London, but lately the practice has become a fad. Few are stupid enough to injure the cats, but the Duchess disapproves nonetheless. (Should this go here? It needs Watchful to unlock, but doesn't use watchful for any options.)
Unlocked with Watchful 4
Rouse the city’s residents in defence of the cats
Is London not a city of animal-lovers? An inspiring pamphlet ought to do the trick.
(Persuasive challenge; straightforward at 13)**
Take to the alleys and defend the cats yourself
Let the cat-wranglers beware.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 20)
Seek advice from Madame Shoshana
Do you wish to know what your romantic future holds? Of course you do.
Unlocked with Watchful 5
Have your horoscope cast
The movements of the flocks of bats in the cavern roof make seasonal patterns. Through careful application of Science, these can predict your future.
Unlocked with 5 x Moon-pearl
Ask for an extispicy
It is much more costly to have Madame Shoshana read the entrails of an animal for you. But she does promise results. (A matter of luck.)
Unlocked with 20 x Moon-pearl
An unsolved riddle
On a hunch, you pick up a battered journal, claimed to belong to an Exiled Russian Princess, for a half-echo at an auction. Its contents are in cipher: there might be valuable secrets in here…
Unlocked with Watchful 9
Decipher the cipher
Bend your intellectual weaponry to the task.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 21)
Interesting…
The book includes an account of the early days of the Bazaar, including fascinating hints that there's a feud between Mr Spices and Mr Wines. Someone will pay well for this.
Watchful increase
Gain: 5 x Cryptic Clue
What? There are two ciphers?
This is a remarkably subtle text. Or you are seeing patterns where there are none.
(Watchful challenge; chancy at 23)
Cracked it!
You've broken the code, for all the good it does you. What in God's name is a Snuffer? And why would it pretend to be a clergyman?
Watchful increase
Gain: 12 x Cryptic Clue
Cleaning up the neighbourhood
The area near your lodgings is rife with footpads and burglars. Something must be done!
Unlocked with Watchful 9
Ensure your own security
If the Constables cannot ensure your safety, you will have to see to it yourself.
(Watchful challenge: straightforward at 24)
Like a fortress
Good locks, sturdy doors and a mousetrap in the letter-box for good measure. Your neighbours see your improvements, and ask your help with their own homes. You earn their gratitude and learn some interesting gossip.
Watchful increase
Gain: 9 x Whispered Secret
A concerned citizen
The Constables cannot be relied upon for patient evidence gathering required to catch the whole gang. You must do that yourself.
(Watchful challenge: chancy at 24)
A city full of thieves
The recent crime wave is due to a small but busy gang of hoodlums, that were organised here by a devil absent-mindedly creating mischief. It takes a week of vigilant observation before you discover the gang's next big score: they intend to rob the takings of an opera house! You present your evidence to the Constables, and there is a score of bobbies waiting for them on the night of the robbery. However, nothing comes of it. The gang fails to appear and as you explain yourself to an inspector a smiling devil nods to you on his way to his seat.
Watchful increase
Connected: The Constables decrease
Cards which unlock between 10 and 19
A little omen
Something colourful! Flowers? Don't be ridiculous. Playing cards, scattered in the gutter. You have just got time to snatch one up before those urchins get to them with their quick little fingers…
Unlocked with Watchful 10
Choose the crimson card
It has a luxuriant rose on the other side.
Choose the turquoise card
The one with a picture of a sparkling diamond.
You are secretive
Your preference for this card shows that you feel at home in the shadows. Furtive pursuits are your forte. And you have the dash of ruthlessness that is common to all the most successful venturers.
Shadowy increase
Ruthless increase
Someone is Coming is increasing…
Choose the amber card
It bears a picture of a calmly unblinking eye.
You are clever
Sharp, cunning and possibly even devious. Perhaps you knew in advance these cards were to be found here: perhaps you had your own reasons for picking one up.
Subtle increase
Someone is Coming is increasing…
No gain noted to Watchful stat, possible bug, reported.
Choose the black card
On the other side is a picture of a bright-eyed raven.
You are fearsome
You are a dangerous soul. Unfortunately, you're as dangerous to your friends as your enemies. Perhaps you find it lonely. Perhaps you don't quite care about such things.
Dangerous increase
Heartless increase
Someone is Coming is increasing…
A dusty bookshop
It's a quiet, particularly dank afternoon when you stumble on a little bookshop lurking in a cobbled lane. Some peaceful browsing will help pass the time…
Unlocked with Watchful 10
Browse tales of pirates
Pirates, scimitars, treasure chests; heaving bosoms a-plenty - you are looking for pure escapism.
Browse the natural philosophy section
Erudite tomes on mycological taxonomy, that's what you feel like today.
A particularly noble courage
Yours is a remarkable brand of heroism. You are the sort of person who braves swamps, inaccessible crags and foul caverns to track down the specimens you crave. And there is no shortage of wide-eyed students who find that simply thrilling.
Making Waves increase
(3 points? Confirmation?
Someone is Coming is increasing…
Browse the society romances
Frocks, bonnets, fainting ladies, devilishly handsome heirs, wicked stepfathers; all life is here. All life that is normally found in genteel parlours, anyway.
Browse the military history
You've always admired Tacitus. You find meditations on martial strategy terribly fascinating.
You can learn such a lot
from the great generals of the past. Your eye is keener. Your mind is quicker. You know a peculiar mode of attack in chess that is usually practiced only by poets, madmen and fakirs.
Ruthless increase OR Ruthless hasn't changed, because it's higher than 8
Someone is Coming is increasing…
Cards which unlock between 20 and 29
You've said that there's a certain well-known tree…'
that grows from nothing in a day….lives only as a sapling, dies just at its prime, when good men raise it as their idol…' That tree's blossoms are ears that drink the secrets of the city. The tree is flowering now, they say, somewhere in the Forgotten Quarter…
Unlocked with Watchful 20
Find it. Its secrets must be worth hearing
It won't be easy to track down…
(Watchful challenge; chancy at 25)
Find it. It can put me on the trail of my quarry.
You'll need to find it first…
Unlocked with Seeking… 1
Find it. It can tell me what I need to know about my target.
It won't be easy to track down…
Unlocked with Investigating… 1
A face from the past
You catch sight of a young beauty sitting with a Clay Man in a Veilgarden tavern. They remind you of another ill-matched couple you once knew…
Unlocked with Watchful 20, a Finder of Heiresses 1
You do not wish to be reminded of them.
Try to sidle out of the public house before you see any more. You do not wish to be depressed any further.
You cannot help but overhear
The tavern is small. You overhear a brief exchange, but it is enough to tell you that the two of them are living in impoverished circumstances, but very, very happily. Their words are loving, and even the Clay Man's eyes are alive with joy. You are not sure how this makes you feel about what you did to the Comtessa.
Melancholy increase
Direct increase
You are intrigued by the resemblance.
Stay quiet and see what you can gather about their relationship.
The secrets of rats
A human gunsmith seeks a discreet agent to learn the secrets of his Rattus Faber competitor.
Unlocked with Watchful 21
How do they do that?
Rat gunsmiths are renowned, so much so that a human gunsmith has given up trying to compete fairly. He wants you to discover the tricks of their trade.
(Watchful challenge; modest at 22)
Tiny secrets and honey
You're hardly going to pass for a rat, but you manage to strike up a relationship with a poor student of smithing among rat-kind, who has a fondness for prisoner's honey. A few tiny drops of the precious liquid and the rat squeals. He’s not an advanced student and doesn’t know too much, but your client is pleased with the scraps of new knowledge. He rewards you with infernal brass from his workshop.
Watchful increase
Gain: 21 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Figure it out for yourself
A …whatever you are of genius such as yourself can surely replicate the advances of mere rodents, if you can find a weapon to experiment on.
Unlocked with 1 x Ancient Hunting Rifle
All a matter of size
Rat-work mechanics isn't particularly in advance of its human counterpart. It's just smaller. You make some suggestions to the gunsmith regarding mounting rat-sized tools on human-sized handles. He is desperate enough to try anything, and rewards you with some spare brass.
Gain: 36 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Divining the dirigibles
A wealthy, secretive individual requires an investigative genius to deduce the pattern behind the occult New Newgate Prison dirigible schedule.
Unlocked with Watchful 21
Cracking the timetable
It's based on no sane calendar, but the dirigible schedule does seem to have some pattern to it. This is going to take considerable upward observation.
(Watchful challenge; low-risk at 24)
Bats! It’s all about the bats!
After eliminating the tides, the seasons, the unseen movement of planets and no fewer than fourteen different calendars from your hypotheses you deduce the truth. The prison dirigible schedule is based around the movements of the largest flocks of bats in the cavern above the city. What you’re not sure of is whether this link is based on the practicality of flying dirigibles into bat swarms or something more symbolic. Whatever it is, you rub your aching neck and are paid as agreed.
Watchful increase
Gain: 11 x Primordial Shriek
Connected: The Great Game increase
I’ve got it! No – wait, what’s that one doing there?
Strain and try as you might, the thinking behind the dirigible timetable remains infuriatingly elusive. Whoever is in charge of the schedule must be completely insane or solidly dedicated to the destruction of your reason. You expect your employer to be disgruntled by your failure, but she is instead curiously satisfied as she departs. You remain unpaid, alas.
Watchful increase
Hang on, where's that one going?
One particular dirigible doesn't visit New Newgate Prison at all. Where is it going?
(Watchful challenge)
Putting up stars?
It takes the dirigible most of a day to climb to the ceiling of the cavern. At that distance it is difficult to be sure, but was that glimmering light there before? Did the occupants of the dirigible just add another 'star' to the ceiling? A thick swarm of bats greets the craft as it returns towards the ground: you are not sure where it landed.
Watchful increase
Gain: 18 x
Cryptic Clue
The smugglers' grave
In a city where death is a temporary inconvenience, graves are often empty and graveyards quiet. They make ideal spots for smugglers to store their loot. This will use up some of your Connected: Criminals.
[Unlocked with Watchful 21, Connected: Criminals 10]
One stone in a thousand
Now, if I were a grave filled with illicit goods transported at night out of the sight of the Constables, which grave would I be?
A challenge for your Watchful quality. [straightforward at 27]
Eliza Trove, beloved mother? That was foolish of them.
It takes a few days of careful observation and an hour’s furtive, frantic spadework to uncover the smuggler's cache. You come away from the operation a little wealthier, although you can’t help but wonder why this particular commodity is coming in across the Unterzee.
Watchful increase
Gain: 250 x
Soul
Connected: Criminals decrease [~60 cp]
Try to glimpse a notorious smuggler
Persistent rumours have placed a Notorious Honey-smuggler at the graveyard. The Constables would pay for a detailed description.
A challenge for your Watchful quality. [chancy at 39]
Seeing his face
Days of persistent surveillance pay off. The Notorious Honey-smuggler meets a pair of tomb-colonists in the dead of night. His quick, quiet steps are hard to follow, but you catch a glimpse of him: pale skin and a wispy beard. He sees you! The smuggler bolts, and you give chase.
He flings something at you: it's a substantial patch of skin. Enough for a face. It has wispy whiskers on it. You drop the horrid thing, and the smuggler escapes. Despite its macabre nature, the Constables will be interested in your story.
Watchful increase
Connected: the Constables increase
< 12cp
Gain: 18 x Ragged Clothing
Connected: Criminals decrease
~100cp
Gain: 1 x
Appalling Secret
Gain: 1 x
Tale of Terror!!
Gain 200 x Rostygold
Nothing visible
It takes a few days of vigilance before the Notorious Honey-smuggler shows his face. Well, he doesn't actually show his face at all: he's bundled up in scarves and his hat is pulled low. He meets a pair of tomb-colonists in the dead of night. As they leave, the smuggler throws something casually into the bush you are hiding in. It is the stump of a candle. It is covered in teeth marks.
Watchful increase
Panning the Unterzee
Jewel fragments fall into the Unterzee from the lofty cavern roof. A tin pan and a quick eye could provide riches for a bold sea-skimmer.
Unlocked with Watchful 21
Sea skimming
Panning the 'Glim' from the shallows takes nerve as much as good eyes. Smugglers, pirates and natural hazards are in good supply.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 34)
Beauty won from murky waters
You manage to slip past the shallows-folk and set to panning in a quiet cove. Your calculations prove accurate – there is Glim here and you've beaten them to it! You retrieve some very pretty but disturbingly organic shards of the stuff from the muddy, oily water. You crave more, but there is something wrong here. Surely that black coral was further away when you started. Those crustaceans are scuttling a little too quickly. You pack up and head back, casting nervous glances back at the quiet shoreline.
Watchful increase
Gain: 36 x Glim
Finding a rich spot
It is said that glim falls according to some hidden pattern. Breaking even a small part of that code could bring riches.
(Watchful challenge; high-risk at 34)
Too late…
Arriving at the shallows, you are dismayed to see that you are not the only one who can calculate Glim-fall. There is a little tent village out here, and a series of elaborately staked and signed claims along the shoreline. Eyes narrow as you approach, and you're rapidly convinced that the good spots have all been claimed. As you return home, you can't help but wonder why the sea skimmers are taking the trouble to smash up the black coral near their claims with pickaxes. You shiver as you leave.
Watchful increase
Night duty at Concord Square
The Constables at Concord Square are undermanned, and need vigilant citizens to make up the numbers for the night.
Unlocked with Watchful 21
Take up your badge and truncheon
Most of the regular Constables have been called away to an affray at the docks. You’re left in charge of the night shift at an out of the way station. What will the night bring?
(Watchful challenge; chancy at 21, straightforward at 41)
What's all this then?
Well, that was quite a night. In addition to the usual parade of vagrants and drunkards you dealt with: two pickpockets, an arson attack on a publisher's office, a spate of mysterious cat-burglaries and a honey-mazed maniac chopping a butcher's shop to pieces. You stagger exhausted to your lodgings after being commended for a fine job and rewarded with the clothes of hanged men.
Watchful increase
Gain: 10 x Ragged Clothing
Consult with detectives
There is a shortage of skilled medical examiners. Could you give informed opinions on such matters as stab wounds and poison?
(Watchful challenge; low-risk at 40)
An educated opinion
This one was run over by a horse at the gallop. That one has been stabbed by a pair of dwarfs. The lady was fed a poison extracted only from beetles. The detectives are rapt, hanging on your every word. Perhaps there is a career to be made in this?
Watchful increase
Gain: 36 x Rostygold
An opinion of sorts
This one was run over by a horse at the gallop. That one has been stabbed by a pair of dwarfs. The lady was fed a poison extracted only from beetles. You are making most of this up and the detectives are not convinced.
Watchful increase
The devil’s parrot
That devil was eccentric in many ways, and when she was recalled to Hell she left her pet parrot behind. That bird must know things. Secret things.
Unlocked with Watchful 21
Chastity want a cracker?
The bird was present for many secret meetings. Surely careful observation and the application of Mr. Murgatroyd's Fungal Crackers will yield some infernal tidbits.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 41)
A bold approach
Perhaps the bird's memory can be jogged if you show it one of the alphabets of hell. Surely the creature will recognise it?
(Watchful challenge; modest at 37)
A commotion above!
Somebody is clumping around on the roof of your lodgings. Several somebodies, judging by the rain of roof-tiles whizzing past your front window. A hessian sack thumps into your firepace, throwing soot everywhere. What do you think is inside?
This is a Rare Opportunity - you lucky thing! Allowing your Menaces to get too high, or leaving Fallen London, may mean losing this card. Use it wisely!
Unlocked with Watchful 25
You must be at your Lodgings to receive or play
Jewels!
See how they coruscate in the moonish light from your window.
Wine!
Enough for a riotous party with all your friends, or several months of debilitating alcoholic abuse all by yourself.
Beetles!
Disgusting, but profitable.
Cards which unlock between 30 and 39
The Tower of Sleeping Giants
The bookshop is frequented by radical scholars, and occasionally the censors. The owner is melancholy and given to buttonholing you at the door and weeping into your hat.
[Unlocked with Watchful 30]
Buy a key to rooms above a bookshop
Let's see - rooms on three levels above a winding, dusty stair. Lots to read and no shortage of interesting customers. Allows 3 cards in your hand. The key will cost 10 Tales of Terror!! You can acquire Tales of Terror!! by using Mysteries items in your inventory.
[Unlocked with 10 x Tale of Terror!!]
[Unlocked with no more then 0 x Key to your Rooms above a Bookshop]
Congratulations
You have the key to Rooms above a Bookshop: rooms on three levels above a winding, dusty stair. The owner is melancholy and given to buttonholing you at the door and weeping into your hat. But he does have some interesting customers. Use the key in your inventory to move here.
You've changed lodgings. Your new lodgings are Rooms above a Bookshop. The opportunities this address provides mean you can keep 3 Opportunity cards in your hand.
Lose: 10 x
Tale of Terror!!
Gain: 1 x Key to your Rooms above a Bookshop
Examine the stock
There must be something interesting here. It can't all be bodice-rippers and treatises on the diseases of domestic animals.
_ challenge
[Unlocked with 1 x Key to your Rooms above a Bookshop]
The good, or at least better, stuff
Well, it is mostly bodice-rippers and treatises on the diseases of domestic animals. At the back of the bookshop there's a pile of ripped pages, mouldy covers and discarded bookmarks. Perhaps there's something of worth if you have a rummage.
Watchful increase
Gain: 1 x
Certifiable Scrap
Hmph.
No, apparently it can all be bodice-rippers and treatises on the diseases of domestic animals.
Watchful increase
The owner
The owner is either melancholy or weeping. You think it likely he is one of the soulless. Perhaps he will recognise your pocket watch.
_ 
challenge
[Unlocked with 1 x Key to your rooms above a Bookshop]
[Unlocked with 1 x Shepherd's Timepiece]
Requires an item from a Fate-locked story
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
1000 Nevercold Brass wanted! Will pay handsomely!
An elegant, enigmatic, honey-voiced woman of a certain age needs 1000 Nevercold Brass for reasons she does not care to discuss. She is prepared to offer 500 inherited Cryptic Clues, and future favours, in exchange. (Making this exchange will increase your Connected: The Great Game, which may open other doors for you…)
Unlocked with Watchful 30; only playable in Ladybones Road
Make the exchange
Exchange 1000 Nevercold Brass for 500 Cryptic Clues.
Unlocked with Nevercold Brass Sliver 1000
Make the trade - and convince her to tell you what this is all about
There's a secret here. Don't we all adore secrets? But this woman is as close-mouthed as a locksmith's confessor.
Unlocked with Nevercold Brass Sliver 1000, Connected: The Great Game 10
(Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 105)
A long slow reptilian blink
Your efforts at flirtation are politely ignored. Your hints about bribery provoke steely amusement.
Lose: 1000 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Gain: 500 x Cryptic Clue
Digging in the city
There are rumours of a find of Fourth City relics near Ladybones Road. Intriguing.
Unlocked with Watchful 33
Swift archaeology
It's not obvious where the relics might be and there is pressure from the other amateur archaeologists.
(Watchful challenge; modest at 34, straightforward at 53)
A find!
Your investigations lead you to a venerable and abandoned stone stable, and in the filthy floor of the place you unearth a trove of relics from the Fourth City. Wherever the city was in its surface days, it was definitely somewhere closer to Samarkand than Rome. Fascinating, and reasonably profitable.
Watchful increase
Gain: 10 x Relic of the Fourth City
A score of archaeologists
How can one city have so many investigators of the past? You track down the find with little difficulty, but by the time you arrive two respectable academics are having a screaming match that borders on fisticuffs, and a number of handlers of antiquities are hanging about hopefully with sacks. You leave the tawdry scene with not so much as a potsherd to your credit.
Watchful increase
Make a deal for knowledge
Agree to help out another archaeologist in return for information about the Fourth City.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 53)
A little chat about business
You spend a trying day with brushes and trowel, working on behalf of the archaeologist who was first to arrive at the site. The site is a rich one and a creditable pile of horseheads and potsherds accumulate on her table.
At the end of the day, you speak of antiquities and archaeology. She once went to the Forgotten Quarter to seek out relics, but found the experience too harrowing. There are packs of devils that hunt there. They are not above carrying a lonely scholar off to some helllish fate. Also, if you should come across any Second City items, the Duchess is always interested.
Watchful increase
Gain: 48 x Whispered Secret
Get off out of it
The archaeologists are in no mood to deal with you or each other. The mood at the dig is rather ugly and you retreat before fisticuffs break out.
Watchful increase
Tracking the thief
A notorious dragsman has gone to ground in a huge, squalid rookery. Can you find him?
Unlocked with Watchful 33
The bold detective
The Constables won't go in there, but perhaps you will.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 53)
Death in the rookery
Nobody in a rookery would trust such a sterling citizen as yourself, so you take on a disguise of a hopeless gin-addled wretch and enter the terrible place. You avoid the disease, the almost casual stabbings and the occasional sorrow-spider and get to work. By the time you get to him, though, the dragsman has been killed in a dispute over a cup of foul spirits with a toothless harridan. It is with no little relief that you make your way back to civilisation.
Watchful increase
Strike a deal with him
Perhaps he will turn and provide evidence on the other inhabitants of the rookery. If you can find him.
(Watchful challenge; chancy at 47)
Death in the rookery
Nobody in a rookery would trust such a sterling citizen as yourself, so you take on a disguise of a hopeless gin-addled wretch and enter the terrible place. You avoid the disease, the almost casual stabbings and the occasional sorrow-spider and get to work. By the time you get to him, though, the dragsman has been killed in a dispute over a cup of foul spirits with a toothless harridan. It is with no little relief that you make your way back to civilisation.
Watchful increase
Unravelling arson
An arson attack is a serious concern. The Constables are willing to bring in a consulting detective.
Unlocked with Watchful 33
Burning curiosity
An infamously brutal landlord is suspected. There could be peril in the collection of evidence.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 53)
Fire and smoke
The landlord is complicit: you know it, and the Constables know it. The issue is evidence. Most of the locals are too cowed to talk, and the hired agent who actually lit the match is long gone. The fellow knows his business, but you manage to dredge up evidence of lesser crimes - intimidation and a little extortion. It wasn't the result the Constables were after, but they're satisfied enough and reward you with some of the landlord's confiscated property.
Watchful increase
Gain: 48 x Greyfields 1879
Connected: The Constables increase
Find the hired arsonist
The match was lit by a hired agent. The trail is cold, but you may be able to find something.
(Watchful challenge)
A most peculiar person
You do not find the arsonist, but the things you hear of them! A series of jewellery shop robberies. A passing acquaintance with high society. A series of wins at the ring fights. Entanglements with surface folk. Even forays into the arts of detection. Just who is this complex individual?
Watchful increase
Gain: 48 x Whispered Secret
A most peculiar feeling
No traces remain. The hired agent is as a ghost. But… the case disturbs you. You dream of ceaseless pursuit. Are you chasing or being chased?
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
Stealth watch repair
A Near-Sighted Horologist is repairing an antique watch for a prominent citizen. The Brass Embassy wants you to replace the mainspring with another - indistinguishable by sight, just a little warmer to the touch. This calls for an accomplice.
[Unlocked with Connected: Hell 5, Watchful 35]
Let's make this sporting
The Talkative Rattus Faber is a liability; the spice of unpredictability in an otherwise routine housebreaking. He's bound to chatter about the watch, though. You might learn something.
A challenge for your Shadowy quality.
[Unlocked with 1 x Talkative Rattus Faber]
Enough about baking
Who would have guessed? When he gets to the watch itself, he's all business. The old mainspring is out and the new one in before he has time to tell you more than half the recipe for morelcap and Cheddar scones.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 55 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
A calculated risk
More experienced than most rats, but not too proud for this kind of work. If his old wounds don't trouble him that night, it should go without a hitch. If it goes badly and the devils hear you took an inappropriate companion, however, your reputation will suffer.
A matter of luck: a long shot…but you might win.
[Unlocked with 1 x Disgraced Rattus Faber Bandit-Chief]
Slow but steady
He works less quickly than some of his kin, but he knows the business and doesn't compromise the mission. The devils are satisfied and your Disgraced Bandit-Chief looks a little more confident.
Gain: 55 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Not too impressed
Thanks to a collapse at the wrong moment, the watch winds up entirely ruined. The devils hear more of the tale than you hoped.
Connected: Hell decrease
It's beneath his dignity, but…
You've never known him to be particularly interested in watches, let alone ones made by human fingers. Still, the Bandit-Chief has a way of making things profitable.
A challenge for your Persuasive quality.
[Unlocked with 1 x Rattus Faber Bandit-Chief]
Masked lightning
The Rattus Faber Bandit-chief gets through the mainspring replacement in a trice, and emerges from the Near-sighted Horologist's desk with a bulging sack of other trinkets. Leftovers, he says, from settings and clock faces. Nothing that will be missed.
Persuasive increase
Gain: 55 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Gain: 1 x Diamond
Gain: 25 x Moon-pearl
Gain: 1 x Sapphire
You'll have to stand guard
The Working Rat can do the job, given time. You'll have to guard the corridors for him. Make sure the cats don't wake and the clocks don't chime.
A challenge for your Watchful quality.
[Unlocked with 1 x Working Rat]
Easy in, easy out
It's a quick businesslike job. The Near-sighted Horologist's mechanical genius does not extend to locks. The devils pay well. The Working Rat is strangely melancholy afterward, but a lump of Stilton cheers him up.
Watchful increase
Gain: 55 x Nevercold Brass Sliver
Maybe she'll find it comforting
This is the sort of thing she was born to do. Of course, an all-white rat does show up better in the darkness. Success here is not guaranteed.
A challenge for your Shadowy quality.
[Unlocked with 1 x Albino Rat]
Requires 1 Fate
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
Cards which unlock between 40 and 49
Miniature mausoleums
In the garden of the Shuttered Palace is a maze of tombs and gravestones, none of them bigger than a foot high. Why not take a stroll?
Unlocked with Watchful 45
You must be at The Shuttered Palace to receive or play
Examine the inscriptions
The stones are covered in carvings; someone had a lot to say, but what are they saying?
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 60)
Worth a thousand…
The symbols on the gravestones aren't words at all, they are rows and rows of precisely-carved images. Stylised hawks and oversized lizards; something which must surely be the sun; a boat with a single sail; water poured from a jar. Everywhere, twined around and between everything, there are cats curled up as if asleep. And what's that in the corner of the oldest stone? A row of tiny cloaked and hooded figures, one bearing a goblet?
Watchful increase
Gain: 24 x Cryptic Clue
A spot of grave-robbery
The only way to find out more is to get your hands dirty.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 65)
Digging up the dirt
It's only a matter of moments to lift a layer of earth and prise open the lid of a small coffer. You catch a strong whiff of dust and rotting fish. Inside is a bundle surrounded by a number of interesting trinkets. You pocket a few to examine later on. The bundle is wrapped in yellowing fabric and is terribly thin, with a narrow neck, a triangular head, and no limbs. A painted scene on the inside of the coffer shows a boat with a single sail, and a sleeping cat.
Watchful increase
You've gained 4 x Relic of the Second City.
The Ways of the Forgotten Quarter
Empty avenues of dust and memory. The remains of the Fourth City.
Unlocked with Watchful 40
Quite the find
Good Lord! Your local bookseller has a copy of Wilberforce's The Forgotten Roads of the Forgotten Quarter! You'll be strolling around the ruins in no time!
Requires 5 Fate
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
A trip to the Forgotten Quarter
A devil would be pleased to show you around the Forgotten Quarter, if you could make the trip worth his time.
Unlocks with 50 x Soul
An unusual job
An anonymous agent wants you to photograph devils in the Forgotten Quarter while they're out hunting. She won't say who the client is. Are you ready for an excursion?
Unlocked with: Route: The Forgotten Quarter 1
A day in the garden
Tyrant's Gardens are pretty, and thick with the meetings of spies and other clandestine types.
Unlocked with Watchful 45
A pleasant walk
It might be worth your while to take an extended stroll and do a little eavesdropping.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 65)
'… and then the ambassador grabbed the parrot…'
A tomb-colonist is speaking to an Oriental lady about steel prices. Two zailors are arguing about the validity of a treasure map near the roses. A well dressed banker is meeting a pair of devils on a misty bridge. A gaggle of academics are discussing the theft of ancient tablets at their picnic. The place just hums with little secrets. You come way with many snippets and a pleasing sense of the brisk business going on around you.
Watchful increase
Gain: 60 x Whispered Secret
Not a day for scandal and intrigue
A tomb-colonist is speaking to an Oriental lady about his pet rat. Two zailors are arguing about a debt measured in pennies. A well dressed banker is meeting another well dressed banker on a misty bridge. A gaggle of academics are discussing the laxity of students. The place entirely fails to hum with little secrets. You come away wondering what has happened to the Neath. Has everyone become honest while you weren't looking?
Watchful increase
Undertakings
A Troubled Undertaker needs help with his corpses.
Unlocked with Watchful 45
A second eye on the dead
The Troubled Undertaker needs a keen eye to help discern the very-actually-dead from those who might return.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 65)
Dead. Dead. Not dead.
The Troubled Undertaker is in a certain degree of legal difficulty. Several of his clients have proved to be not actually dead and objected to being buried. While he has a day in court, you spend a macabre afternoon assaying corpses for any signs of remaining life. You soon pick up on the signs to look for, and you're sure that you haven't made any mistakes. The Troubled Undertaker returns from court a free man, albeit a poorer one. You suggest the adoption of a belled coffin to mitigate subsequent troubles.
Watchful increase
Gain: 60 x Foxfire Candle
An inconveniently imprisoned employer
The Troubled Undertaker is in a certain degree of legal difficulty. Several of his clients have proved to be not actually dead and objected to being buried. While he has a day in court, you spend a macabre afternoon assaying corpses for any signs of remaining life. You soon pick up on the signs to look for, and you're sure that you haven't made any mistakes. You are concerned when your employer fails to return that evening. It transpires that he is on his way to New Newgate for kidnapping, and you are unlikely to be paid.
Watchful increase
The Dean's distress
The Dean of Infernal Rarefactions is concerned that there may be revolutionaries among his students.
Unlocked with Watchful 45
Enter the detective
The Dean is prepared to hire a consulting detective to investigate his concerns
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 65)
The visiting scholar
You soon learn that the study of Infernal Rarefactions has application in the construction of bombs, and set about infiltrating the department as a visiting scholar. You learn a little of the subject and manage to keep up with conversations in the various common rooms and lecture halls without damaging your cover. You confirm the suspicions of the Dean: several of the students are there to further the revolutionary cause with their knowledge of dangerously unstable compounds, rather than for the pure, clean love for that knowledge. You turn in your report and are paid.
Watchful increase
Gain: 60 x Foxfire Candle
Stone by stone
The Fragrant Academic is studying the Third City. Perhaps you can help?
Unlocked with Watchful 45
[This card can only be played in The University]
Seduce him
Missing text
Playing around
The two of you spend a honey-fuelled evening where you do everything you can to distract him from his studies. Sometime in the early hours you have the opportunity to study the scraps of paper on his desk very closely. Amongst them is a small piece of cardboard with the picture of a smiling child on it, painted in bright colours. How intriguing. Still, your mind’s on other things.
An occurrence! Your 'Playing with Broken Toys' Quality is now 1!
Hedonist increase
Lead him astray
A supply of artifacts from the Third City, and a naïve academic? Wonderful.
Extra-curricular activity
Over the course of a few days you drip-feed him juicy clues, and he invites you to spend several honey-fuelled evenings in speculation. You pick his brains, paying careful attention to his ideas — skyglass knives, black mirrors, and well-attended sporting events? Fascinating! After a pleasant week you offer to take some of his relics away for further study. These academic types are so gullible.
Watchful increase
Gain: 7 x Relic of the Third City
Further his research
You've stumbled upon a few artifacts that may be helpful.
Unlocked with 5 x Relic of the Third City
Smoke and mirrors
The two of you spend a honey-fuelled evening in speculation and study. By the early hours of the morning, you are both absolutely certain you know where the Third City was and why it fell. Sadly, when the hangovers wear off, neither of you can remember anything but fragments. Was it something about black mirrors? Or well-attended sporting events? Still, you've learned a lot.
You've lost 5 x Relic of the Third City.
You've Gained 30 x Cryptic Clue
Coals and souls
A boat with tattered sails glides into the same dock once a week. A group of vagrants boards as sacks of coal are unloaded. What's going on here?
Unlocked with Watchful 45
Investigate the sacks
Perhaps there'll be a clue
A piece of a puzzle?
You recover a coal-stained scrap of cardboard. On it is a picture of a smiling child, painted in bright colours. It looks to have been torn from the lid of a box.
An occurrence! Your 'Playing with Broken Toys' Quality is now 1!
A word to the neddy men
Smuggling on the dockside? Mr Fires, who runs the docks, should be told.
(Watchful challenge)
Mum's the word
You seek out a neddy man and tell him about the ship. He stares at you for a full minute. Then he winks. He digs into his pocket, and presses a leather purse into your hand. "Least said, fewest dead, right?" A sharp whistle, and he's joined by two of his mates. Sticks in hand, they saunter off towards the dock in question.
Watchful increase
1 x Scarlet Stockings of Dubious Origin I got 2 x Relic of the Second City, so either changed or a random reward
Stow away
What's a little discomfort when there are secrets to be learned?
(Watchful challenge)
All aboard
A dock in a sewer-mouth underneath the spires of the University. A long table, where the vagrants sit down to a meal of beef and dumplings while the zailors load the coal. A black iron door with three locks, which opens to reveal a passageway, along which the diners are led after their meal. From your hiding place amongst the barrels you can't see where it leads. Perhaps it's better that way.
Watchful increase
Gain: 60 x Whispered Secret
Infiltrate a gentlemen's club
London may now be subterranean, but gentlemen still need somewhere to smoke, gamble and socialise in peace. The clubs guard their privacy jealously; but you and your collection of fake moustaches enjoy a challenge.
Unlocked with Watchful 45
Start with a more sedate gentlemen's haunt
The Parthenium is a place where the most exciting thing that happens of an evening is a game of billiards, but these austerely grand surroundings do attract a great number of men of power. Dressing up and getting in is the easy bit; now to try to obtain some useful tidbits of information. And some port. The port is very, very nice here.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 65)
One of the chaps already
You bluff your way nicely into a conversation between two red-faced old fellows, both of whom are so, not to put too fine a point on it, soused, and so delighted at the prospect of a fresh listener that they share all manner of confidences with you. In fact, they gossip like fishwives! A very profitable evening indeed.
Watchful increase
Gain: 22 x Cryptic Clue
You prefer a livelier sort of place
The Young Stags' Club is a much friskier sort of place. The racy young clientele make easy marks, to be sure, but the fun and larks to be had do shade towards the illegal and ill-advised. Dress in your eccentric best and off you go to attempt the basic initiation ritual.
Unlocked with Watchful 50
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 75)
I say. Not quite the right sort of fellow, what?
Oh dear. You were rumbled straightaway. What gave you away? It seems the way you knot your cravat went out of fashion last week. No self-respecting fop would be seen dead like that.
Watchful increase
Gain acceptance to the Stags' most exclusive clique
The rite of acceptance to Beau Britches' fashionable inner circle at the Stags involves dressing up as Jack-of-Smiles and leaping cackling out of dark corners to frighten young ladies.
Unlocked with Watchful 55
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 80)
Recapturing a prison escapee
It seems that someone has escaped from New Newgate Prison! Someone other than you, that is.
Unlocked with Watchful 57
Well, you do know how this is done…
Assuming you can keep a straight face, you attend to the serious business of recapturing the felon.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 77)
How on earth did you do it?
The escapee went out of New Newgate in the same manner that you did when you were last there. Recapturing her is too easy: you have to make a show of working things out for the watching Constables. They think you are a genius! They move to shower you with more work as a consulting detective.
Watchful increase
Connected: The Constables 36+ change points
Too many memories
You return to New Newgate on an official dirigible, and… there are too many here who know you from your days as a prisoner. You have to get out. You refuse the case, and your dreams for nights afterwards are of that old dripstone cell and the heavy footfalls of gaolers.
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase 1 change point
Cards which unlock between 50 and 59
The mechanics of progress
The Dean of Infernal Rarefactions has heard that you know a thing or two about dangerously unstable compounds.
Unlocked with Watchful 57
Would you care to give a guest lecture?
The students are keen. The staff are coolly intruiged by your theories. F.F. Gebrandt may be in the audience.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 77)
What exactly is below this hall?
Well, your concoction doesn't explode, but it does melt through the protective screens, the desk and from what you can see at least two floors below the lecture hall. You receive thunderous applause: the department likes little better than a good melting. Even F.F. Gebrandt has to suppress a mischevious chuckle. You exchange scientific notes with the staff and Mrs. Gebrandt.
Watchful increase
Gain: 36 x Cryptic Clue
It doesn't seem to work
Your concoction doesn't explode. The Dean's hair remains unruffled and F.F. Gebrandt's eyebrows remain unsinged. Everyone is a little disappointed. On the other hand, you have a theory that the resulting concoction may be of some use in combating chilblains.
Watchful increase
Lies below the Palace
'Lies below the Palace' is a thoroughly scandalous novel set in and below the Shuttered Palace.
[Unlocked with Watchful 57]
An insider's knowledge
It is thought to have been written by a palace functionary and to contain all manner of secrets. Of course, getting a copy is hardly easy.
A challenge for your Watchful quality. [high-risk at 70, straightforward at 77]
A proper page-turner
An anarchist hears of your interest and arranges for a copy to make its way to you. The book is for the most part a coy bodice-ripper, but has some interesting passages that might be based on truth. Why do the Palace cellars have five locks? What causes the strange hootings and moanings that can be heard below the Palace? Is that really where the Rubbery Men come from?
Watchful increase
Gain: 18 x
Proscribed Material
Apparently not
The usual bookshops: no. The unusual bookshops: no. Contacts in the underworld: no. Scouring of obscure private libraries: no. Not even a begging letter to Mr. Pages produces the book. Perhaps it no longer exists? Will your works be suppressed so thoroughly? An awful thought.
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
Cards which unlock between 60 and 69
The Ways of the University
The genteel battleground of Benthic and Summerset colleges. The crucible of the future.
[Unlocked with Watchful 60]
A day trip to the University
A member of the Stoats, the club for high-spirited university larks, will show you around the University. As long as you can provide for their next practical joke. You can acquire Compromising Documents by using Influence items in your inventory.
[Unlocked with 1 x Compromising Document]
[Unlocked with Route: the University no more than 0]
An honorary degree!
The University authorities have invited you to accept an honorary degree! How lovely! If nothing else, this will allow you to come and go at the University as you please. This will allow permanent access to the University. The University is most interesting to those with Watchful 85+
This branch costs 5 Fate to play.
[Unlocked with Route: the University no more than 0]
Requires 5 Fate
Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.
Glowing and chittering
Someone has dropped a box of glowing beetles at the University entrance. It was destined for the Esoteric Cryptozoologists but the label's fallen off the box. You should demonstrate your academic credentials before the porters grab it.
_ challenge
The glowing prize
Well, that went splendidly. The porters are convinced the beetles are for your research. They want the package taken elsewhere quickly. No problem there.
Watchful increase
Gain: 8 x
Phosphorescent Scarab
Property most intellectual
Your lodgings have been robbed! The villains took some paperwork relating to your latest work. Who is trying to steal your ideas?
[Unlocked with Watchful 69 and Watchful no more than 106]
Just get the papers back
The identity of the miscreant is of little importance. It is the work that matters.
A challenge for your Watchful quality. [straightforward at 74]
Following the trail
A footprint. A carelessly discarded spore-toffee wrapper. A few pointed conversations in the winding alleys of Spite. They cannot escape you. You recover your works, but are left with the nagging feeling that this may not be over.
Gain: 14 x
Stolen Correspondence
Find the identity of the miscreant
The papers are only half the problem. Uncover the name of the one who would steal your work!
A challenge for your Watchful quality. [straightforward at 89]
Shadows and bright lights
A footprint. A carelessly discarded spore-toffee wrapper. A few pointed conversations in the winding alleys of Spite. They cannot escape you. You recover your works with a minimum of fuss.
Signs point to Mrs. Plenty's Most Distracting Carnival. You can't get a name, but you think the villain is a man who lurks there. What do carny-folk want with your ideas?
Gain: 17 x
Stolen Correspondence
The Eye and the Camera
The young art of photography is especially difficult in the dimness of the Neath. A Prudent Photographer suspects that rivals are copying his technology.
[Unlocked with Watchful 69]
Look into the matter
Detecting pays the bills around here.
_ challenge
A traditional method
The matter is hardly a challenge for a consulting detective of your abilities. You pose as the senior servant of a respectable household and your client's rivals fall over themselves to demonstrate their equipment. Nothing but the best to record the likeness of the household's little darlings! The evidence suggests your target is innocent, but your client isn't convinced. He pays you nonetheless.
Watchful increase
Gain: 7 x
Phosphorescent Scarab
Gather evidence… with a camera!
What a marvellous device! If only it didn't weigh as much as a child. A stout child, one raised on beef and radishes.
_ challenge
Modern investigation
Getting into the rivals' office is easy. Carrying forty pounds of photographic equipment at the same time is more challenging. You take photographs of anything that looks suspicious, and escape before the flashes call attention. The evidence points to there being no theft of ideas, but your client isn't convinced. He pays you nonetheless.
Watchful increase
Gain: 8 x
Phosphorescent Scarab
Medical emergency
A young man lies stabbed and bleeding in an alley. He's not quite dead yet, but it won't be long.
Unlocked with Watchful 69
Examine the scene for evidence
You can't save him, but you might be able to tell the Constables something useful.
Try to save him
He's not dead yet! He's lost a great deal of blood, but you might be able to save him from a trip on the river.
What's this?
You staunch the worst of the bleeding. You remove shards of broken mirror from the wound. Interesting. You'll have some questions for this fellow when he wakes up.
Watchful increase
Gain: 84 x Whispered Secret
Hold the front page
The Shabby Philology Professor is running late yet again, and has asked you help distribute Versilege, the university gazette.
Unlocks with Watchful 69
Do as he says
It won't take long, and he’s been generous in the past.
The grand tour
The list of subscribers is longer than you expected and the University is a maze. It’s long past four o'clock when you put the paper into the last pigeonhole. But the Professor does make it worth your while.
Gain: 4 x Relic of the Second City (This reward is random, and you will receive an item or items of roughly 50 pence, such as 1 x Pirate Hat.)
Dump it in the river
After all, no-one actually reads the thing.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 86)
Pulped
You drop the bundle in the river, collect your fee, and that seems to be that. You’d swear no-one was the wiser, if it wasn’t for the Emeritus Professor of Horology’s hurried purchase of a number of large-leafed, soft-paged books. Still, he doesn’t pursue the matter.
Watchful increase
Gain: 14 x Relic of the Fourth City
Improve the newsletter
Where better to stir up a bit of scandal?
(Persuasive challenge, straightforward at 86)
Making headlines
The gazette is improved vastly by the addition of a vitriolic attack on the Dean of the Medical Faculty and his private ‘experiments’ with some of the students. This goes down extremely well with your fellows, and not at all with the poor Dean, who’s never experimented in his life.
Persuasive increase
Gain: 37 x Greyfields 1882
Consulting detective required for government work
Forbidden texts have been stolen from Hookman House, the Ministry of Public Decency's central stock of the salacious, seditious and vile.
Unlocked with Watchful 69
Accept the case
The public needs to be protected from this filth. And the Ministry pays decently, as it happens.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 76)
Accept the case, but…
Knowledge needs to be free! Pretend to help the Ministry, but keep any forbidden texts you recover.
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 89)
'I'm afraid they eluded me…'
As expected, it was a revolutionary cell who took the texts.They escape into the Flit mere minutes ahead of you: you find the stash of stolen texts hastily abandoned. Not that you tell the Ministry that, of course…
Gain: 21 x Proscribed Material
Subtle increase
Investigate the Topsy King's court
The Constables don't go into the Flit, but there are rumours of revolution. They're sending in a detective.
Unlocked with Watchful 69
Spy on the Raggedy Men
The Raggedy Men are the beggars of the Topsy King's aerial court in the Flit. They generally squabble, cackle and eat rats. What else to they get up to?
Unlocks with Route: The Flit 1
(Watchful challenge; straightforward at 76)
Rags and silk
They bicker. They catch and eat a great many rats. They admire the Topsy King's impressive collection of paintings. They occasionally wander off and do some begging. They allow criminals to store stolen silk in bundles hanging from the court. The Constables pay you for the information.
Gain: 69 x Rostygold
Spy on the dealings with revolutionaries
The Flit provides a haven for cells of anarchists fleeing from the law.
Unlocks with Route: The Flit 1
(Watchful challenge)
Map the new heavens
The Bewhiskered Astrologer is devising an alternative zodiac based on shifting patterns of city lights. 'There are clear cycles of which windows are lit and when — the future is ours to predict!'
Unlocked with Watchful 69
Suggest a symbol
That pattern of street lanterns looks a bit like a…
‘Why, so it does!’
A magnificent symbol, tying perfectly into the arcs of prophecy that the Astrologer has been plotting. He rewards you handsomely for your insight. ‘This will show that charlatan Shoshana!’
Watchful increase
Gain: 14 x Stolen Correspondence
I got 22 Surface Currency, maybe this is a random reward?
Sneak in a symbol
Alter the map while the Astrologer isn’t looking.
Copy the map…
…and use it to stage a series of daring burglaries.
Easy money!
Which homes are occupied and which aren’t, in perfectly predictable cycles! It’s only a matter of a few nights’ work to strip several modest homes of their wealth.
Shadowy increase
Gain: 45 x Glim
Cards which unlock between 70 and 79
The Tower of Sun and Moon
The Royal Bethlehem Hotel. The most luxurious place to stay in London. The guests are surprisingly singular for such an expensive establishment.
[Unlocked with Watchful 70]
Investigate the guests
There are some very unusual people staying at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel. Perhaps there are secrets to be learned here.
[Unlocked with 1 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem]
_ challenge
A common madness
This one is obsessed with the moths of the Neath. That one is convinced the Rubbery Men will revolt and kill us all. A third is chasing about after a maid who is apparently dead. The guests are mad. Every last one of them. Their presents leave something to be desired, too.
Gain: 3 x
Certifiable Scrap
Harvesting the hotel
It's a bold plan, but perhaps some of the more unusual guests here have loosely-tethered souls that might be harvested.
[Unlocked with 1 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem]
[Unlocked with a Merchant of Souls 1]
_ challenge
A sack of souls
The guests put up remarkably little resistance to having their souls gently drawn out. A few of them seem to enjoy the experience. One fellow is entirely revitalised by your attentions and starts packing a suitcase the moment you are finished with him. You slope off before the staff get suspicious.
Gain: 40 x
Soul
Obtain a permanent reservation at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel
Let's see - there's nowhere like the Royal Bethlehem Hotel. Its luxury is unparallelled: its guests, beyond baroque. Lock your door, or you don't know who you might wake up in bed with. Allows 4 cards in your hand. The reservation will cost 40000 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
[Unlocked with no more than 0 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem]
[Unlocked with 40000 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey]
Congratulations.
You have moved to a new home! - a Room at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel there's nowhere like the Royal Bethlehem Hotel. Its luxury is unparallelled: its guests, beyond baroque. Lock your door, or you don't know who you might wake up in bed with.
Lose 40000 x
Drop of Prisoner's Honey
Gain: 1 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem
Move to new
lodgings - Rooms in the Royal Bethlehem Hotel
Buy a permanent reservation with antiquities
The Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel is known to enjoy the most ancient of antiquities. If you don't have enough honey to float a cruiser, this might be a little cheaper. You can acquire Antique Mysteries by using Elder items in your inventory.
[Unlocked with no more than 0 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem]
[Unlocked with 50 x Antique Mystery]
Boldly done
You have a permanent reservation at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel: there's nowhere like the Royal Bethlehem Hotel. Its luxury is unparalleled, its guests beyond baroque. Lock your door, or you don't know who you might wake up in bed with. Use the reservation in your inventory to move here.
As you're settling in, a maid knocks demurely on your door. 'The Manager sent these for you with his compliments. The previous guest has now resumed his seat in Parliament and didn't want them any more.'
You've changed lodgings. Your new lodgings are a Room at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel. The opportunities this address provides mean you can keep 4 Opportunity cards in your hand.
Lose: 50 x
Antique Mystery
Gain: 1 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem
Gain: 2 x
Stolen Kiss
Gain: 1 x Blackmail Material
Gain: 1 x Cellar of Wine
The stories weren't true. No vampires. No farms. No inexplicable fashions for spiked hair.
Perhaps you know someone whose tastes have been jaded by the commonplace wares of the Surface. Someone who might enjoy the Neath. Or have you been here too long?
An opening in the Game of Knife-and-Candle!
Someone slips a charcoal-scrawled note under your door. It's barely coherent, but you make out the smudged sign of the Committee of the Hill. An opening!
[Unlocked with 1 x Reservation at the Royal Bethlehem]
[Unlocked with **A Participant in the Underground Leagues of Knife-and-Candle 1]
[This storylet will not cost you an action!]
The Western Tower
The Brass Embassy, the centre of infernal activity in the Neath. And how busy it is! Devils coming and going at all hours. Furtive spirifers, anxious diplomats and the occasional beastly demon. Much can be gained here and much lost.
[Unlocked with Watchful 70]
Find out more about the soulless
How many of the soulless are there in London? What are the effects of losing one's soul? If anyone knows, it is a devil.
_ challenge
[Unlocked with 1 x Blistering Brass Key]
A candid discussion with a devil?
'Despite what you have heard, no more than eight or nine in a hundred of the Neath's mortal citizens have misplaced their souls. The Masters of the Bazaar have been most forward-thinking in their trade policies. The effects? Well, nothing one would really notice. A little depression of mood. A pleasing melancholy here and there. Perhaps a lessening in appreciation of beauty. But does not beauty cause so much of the world's difficulties? Look at these things - the contents of pockets and such. The detritus of spirifage. Are they beautiful? No. But they have value nonetheless.'
Gain: 3 x
Certifiable Scrap
The devils and the Correspondence
The deviless Virginia is currently busy in another part of the city. Perhaps you can find out what the Embassy knows of the Correspondence while she is gone.
_ challenge
[Unlocked with 1 x Blistering Brass Key]
[Unlocked with a Scholar of the Correspondence 1]
The patience of Hell
It takes weeks of work to piece together the morsels you find in the Embassy. The devils' interest in the Correspondence is still unclear, but something to note is that their records of investigating it go back a long way. To at least the Third City, in fact. They have been looking for something for at least a thousand years.
Gain: 7 x
Appalling Secret
Move to a guest room at the Brass Embassy
Let's see - the luxury is sinful. The staff are always polite. Warm? I'll say it's warm. Good cigars, urbane conversation, and just the slightest possibility of accidental damnation. Allows 4 cards in your hand. The key will cost 40000 x Souls.
[Unlocked with no more than 0 x Blistering Brass Key]
[Unlocked with 40000 x Soul]
Congratulations.
You have the distressingly warm key to a guest room at the Brass Embassy : the luxury is sinful. The staff are always polite. Warm? I'll say it's warm. Good cigars, urbane conversation, and just the slightest possibility of accidental damnation. Use the key in your inventory to move here. You might wish to wear gloves.
You've changed lodgings. Your new lodgings are a guest room at the Brass Embassy. The opportunities this address provides mean you can keep 4 Opportunity cards in your hand.
Lose: 40000 x
Soul
Gain: 1 x Blistering Brass Key
Buy a key from your Infernal friends
If you're very friendly with a certain sort of devil, and you're not afraid to show it, they might see their way to helping you acquire a key for less than the official price. You can acquire the items you need by using Infernal items in your inventory.
[Unlocked with no more than 0 x Blistering Brass Key]
[Unlocked with 600 x Brilliant Soul]
[Unlocked with 120 x Muscaria Brandy]
[Unlocked with 1 x Brass Ring]
[Unlocked with Connected: Hell 20]
[Unlocked with an Intimate of Devils 1]
Moving up, or possibly down
You have the distressingly warm key to a guest room at the Brass Embassy. The luxury is sinful. The staff are always polite. Warm? I'll say it's warm. Good cigars, urbane conversation, and just the slightest possibility of accidental damnation. Use the key in your inventory to move here. You might wish to wear gloves.
Your special friends come and welcome you personally. Isn't it marvellous that you'll be so handy? They shower you with gifts. But they won't tell you who used to be in the room before you, or what happened to them.
You've changed lodgings. Your new lodgings are a guest room at the Brass Embassy. The opportunities this address provides mean you can keep 4 Opportunity cards in your hand.
Lose: 120 x
Muscaria Brandy
Lose: 600 x
Brilliant Soul
Lose: 1 x
Brass Ring
Gain: 1 x
Uncanny Incunabulum
Gain: 5 x
Aeolian Scream
Gain: 1 x Blistering Brass Key
An opening in the Game of Knife-and-Candle!
You find a curled brass shaving wrapped around your bedstead, inscribed with a message from the Committee of the Hill. An opening!
[Unlocked with 1 x Blistering Brass Key]
[Unlocked with A Participant in the Underground Leagues of Knife-and-Candle 1]
[This storylet will not cost you an action!]
Cards which unlock between 80 and 89
A private detective
A junior editor of Slowcake's Exceptionals - the guide to the notable citizens of the Neath - wants a potential listee to be monitored.
[Unlocked with Watchful 81]
An eye for society
The target is a rising young socialite. The editor wishes to learn about any… unfortunate habits or skeletons in the cupboard.
_ challenge
An old familiar tale
Your target is a little shallow and has moderately vile taste in hats. You dig deeper. It seems that they have been currying favour with a seamstress, manipulating servants and seducing certain other parties for gain. It's enough to satisfy the editor, and you are sent a case of wine for your efforts.
Watchful increase
Gain: 40 x Greyfields 1882
Just who is Mr. Slowcake?
The book's editor is not seen at public events. Just who is this person?
_ challenge
A man of infernal character
Mr. Slowcake is a fiction. Specifically, he is the invention of a cabal of devils. It takes all your skill to tear through the misdirections and subterfuges, but you are convinced. The force behind Slowcake's Exceptionals is the Brass Embassy. Of course, this raises more questions than it answers.
Watchful increase
Gain: 48 x
Cryptic Clue
A slippery character
Mr. Slowcake has no address. He makes no appearances. He is a member of no clubs and no academic societies. He does not deign to visit the offices of the book's writers or publishers. Perhaps he doesn't exist at all.
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
Expedition to Winewound Heath
Situated to the South and West of the city, Winewound Heath is perpetually covered in fog thick enough to knit with.
[Unlocked with Watchful 81]
Go for a stroll on the heath
The fog could hide many things.
challenge
Braving dampness and mud
It seems that, this month, it is fashionable for spies to use the heath for message drops. They rely solely on the fog for obscurity. A careful search of mushroom-patches and a rusted bandstand reveals a handful of interesting letters.
Watchful increase
Gain: 16 x
Stolen Correspondence
What are they up to?
Dirigibles are rumoured to land in the fog. What is going on there?
challenge
Clay and air
From the outskirts of the heath, you see a dirigible descend into the fog. You find your way to it by sound more than sight: men are loading heavy crates into the vessel. An argument breaks out: there is too much cargo for the dirigible to lift off. One crate is hidden under a bush and the dirigible departs. Clay tablets? Well, they do look valuable…
Watchful increase
Gain: 6 x Relic of the Second City
Publish your scientific work
Whether it is a new investigative technique, your knowledge of secret languages or an innovative explosive concoction, the world needs to know!
Unlocked with Watchful 81
Publish a respectable article
One must be careful of one's academic reputation. Your theories must be revealed slowly, so as not to cause alarm.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 86)
If only they knew
The article is published on schedule and generates a pleasing ripple of interest among academics. Of course, it's not the full extent of your work, but the world is hardly ready for that just yet. What you published is enough to get you a few lucrative speaking engagements, anyway.
Gain: 81 x Moon-pearl
Watchful increase
Publish a radical monograph
They'll listen to you now! You'll make them listen!
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 101)
It lives!
Of course, half the field won't understand your work, but those few that can appreciate your true genius are even now coming to you with questions and secrets. It appears that you have showed them all. Furthermore, it seems very unlikely that they will laugh at you again.
Gain: 48 x Cryptic Clue
Watchful increase
Tea with the Inspector
The tea is strong to a point just short of savagery, but the fire in the Inspector's office crackles merrily. Conversation turns to business.
[Unlocked with Watchful 81, Connected: Constables 1]
Offer your help with their case
'It's always the same with your sort, isn't it? The Constables are baffled and you consulting detectives swoop in and save the day. Well, let's see what you make of this…'
_ challenge
Ask for help with your case
'Oh, spit it out, would you? We're all friends here and I doubt that you could shock me…'
_ challenge
[Unlocked with Investigating… 1]
The colour of currency
The Neath's dimness breeds currency counterfeiters like rats. The Masters of the Bazaar are little short of rabid on the issue.
Unlocked with Watchful 81
Find the printing press
The Masters spare no expense when it comes to ferreting out forgers of Echoes.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 86)
Blood and money
If counterfeiters wish to live more than a week, they must be nervous beyond paranoia. You find an abandoned printing press in a butcher's pantry, but there's no sign of its owners. You help yourself to the sample currency. You're fairly sure it's the real thing.
Watchful increase
Gain: 27 x Surface Currency
Develop a method for detecting false Echoes
Confound these artistic villains with the application of science!
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 101)
Cards which unlock between 90 and 104
All fear the Overgoat!
The Overgoat. Brooding, irrepressible, immeasurable. Not so much a companion as a force of Nature.
Unlocked with Watchful 100
Learn of the Overgoat
What is this shaggy roaring presence? What is this deep and caprine shadow in the crypt-close Neathy air?
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 115
A bleak and flickering silence
They turn their eyes from you when you speak its name. 'I hear the bleating in the night,' one says. 'Five churns of wolf-milk soured. My daughter woke with a cast in her good eye. May its shadow pass from us!'
Nightmares increase
Ask the Overgoat's opinion
Be prepared for the judgement of the Overgoat!
unlocked with 1 x Overgoat
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 135
A matter of luck: the odds are against you here.
bbbbbRRRRRAAARRRRGH!
The Overgoat is not shy of telling you what it thinks! It roars forth its opinion like a storm escaping from a mountain's captivity! You must placate it with straw and minted spore-toffee immediately.
You were fortunate!
You've gained 1 x Aeolian Scream
Use the Overgoat's… unique talents
Faced with the Overgoat, few secrets can remain hidden. Send it to delve into the deepest heart of the Bazaar. [This will take eight actions, but the reward will be commensurate.]
You need 1 x Overgoat. This will cost you 8 actions!
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 155
"The Overgoat returns "
Its teeth are red and its eyes are rolling. Best leave it alone tonight, with extra hay. Still, it brings with it a secret torn from the skin of the Bazaar itself, a wild and terrible song of mourning for a lost love. It must have climbed halfway up the spires to find this.
1 x Storm-Threnody
Send it to the Surface with an invitation for a friend
What finer ambassador for Fallen London could there be?
You need 1 x Overgoat
Cards which unlock at 105 or higher
The Geology of Winewound
They say Winewound is rich in rare minerals. What can you dig up, out there on the marshy heath?
Unlocks: Watchful 105 can still be played at Watchful 146
Venture a short way in
There may still be valuable rocks to be found. And it's much safer this way.
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 115
How did you manage that?
You only went a little way. Barely even left the path. How on earth did you get lost already? Something cold and wet is dripping down the back of your neck. And there's nothing of value to be found.
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
Dig near the tussocks
Your have a great deal of experience with archaeology now. You know what sort of rocks to look for.
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 125
Junk
You're looking for a certain kind of rock. You'll know it when you see it. Sadly, though, it's looking like this part of the heath is becoming popular with picnickers, and all you find today are a couple of spoons and a Mason jar. To add insult to injury, a lost bat flies into your hair and gives you a nasty fright.
Watchful increase
Nightmares increase
Go as far as you can
People are less likely to have got there before you.
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 135
Investigate Doctor Schlomo
Who is this so-called 'Interpreter of Dreams'?
Unlocks: Watchful 105
Option 1: Read the Doctor's writings
See what you can glean from his published works.
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 115
A fount of… something
Doctor Schlomo has written prodigious amounts on the subject of the human mind. (On the mind of a Master, on the other hand, he remains silent.) You read as much of it as you can take, and gain some insights - of the Correspondence, for example, he says, 'Such an alphabet shapes the world around it, rather than reflecting it; it is no mere method of ordering thoughts, it composes and creates them of its own accord.' Or there is this, on the subject of dreams. 'It was once thought that dreams were the product of nature, of the mind itself. But the sensations that accompany certain kinds of dreams are so common to all men that I cannot but conclude that they are sharing in a commonality of experience in a common space. I shall describe this conclusion further in the chapter on Parabola.' But there is no such chapter in the book, or in any other that you can find.
50 x Cryptic Clue
Watchful increase
Impenetrable
The good doctor has produced volume after volume of densely packed literature about the human mind. You've been reading for hours now, and if there's anything controversial or valuable in there, it's staying buried.
Watchful increase
Nightmares is increasing…
Option 2: Interrogate a patient
Find someone who's actually consulted Dr Schlomo.
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 125
Option 3: Pay the Doctor a visit
unlocked with Nightmares 3
Tell him your dreams. See how he operates for yourself.
Watchful challenge,straightforward at 135
'The drowned sailor. The one-eyed merchant.'
From somewhere behind your head, Dr Schlomo listens to your tales. You tell him of half-remembered dreams, ships and deserts and rain. 'You swing on the heavy spar,' says Dr Schlomo. 'The gilded shell waits always to carry you down stream, past the white towers of Parabola.' You ask him to tell you more about Parabola, but all he will say is, 'The jungle crouches, humped in silence.'
Watchful increase
Nightmares decrease (1-6 change points)
'Good night.'
From somewhere behind your head, Dr Schlomo listens to your tales. You describe dreams of ships upon the sea and faces behind mirrors. But all he will say is, 'This music crept by you upon the waters, didn't it?'
Watchful increase
Nightmares is increasing…
Cards that appear during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose
A dance with devils!
They say the Brass Embassy holds the best masked balls in all of Fallen London. Naturally, you won't want to miss their Exceptional Rose extravaganza…
Unlocks: Watchful 5
Bluff your way in
The guest list is just for show, anyway. The more mortals the merrier, as far as the devils are concerned.
(Watchful challenge)
Attend as an invited guest
If you agree to do just a tiny bit of spying, a contact in the Church can obtain you a coveted ticket to the ball.
(Watchful challenge)
Eminence for a night
Outside the Embassy, as your hansom cab pulls up, you notice Rubbery Men standing in furtive groups. They are whistling rather frantically, and their tentacles seem agitated. Deep amber is changing hands.
The ballroom is a blaze of light - thousands of candles reflected in crystal chandeliers, mirrors and silver plate. Breathtaking. And so romantic! The ambiguously gendered devil escorting you is charming, and soon you find yourself dancing a whirling gavotte. You could get carried away, what with the heavy, sticky, amber-coloured wine, the tiny dumplings, the glittering, shimmering lights…
Where were you? You wake with a start. That wine was more than it seemed. You are upstairs, in a brass-walled office with no windows. A contract lies on the desk before you, a quill and a razor beside it. The devil is next door, whistling. You hastily ransack the desk and leave before the devil returns.
Watchful increase
Gain: 2 x Stolen Correspondence
Connected: The Church increase
Connected: Hell increase
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Connected: the Duchess increase
Admired increase
Gain: 1 x Faded Morning Suit
Seeking increase (From 1 to 5)
Gain: 4 x Venom-Ruby
Gain: 1 x 
Gain: 1 x 
Gain: 48 x Jade Fragment
You've moved to a new area: 
Connected: Bohemian increase
Gain: 30 x Silk Scrap
Connected: The Constables increase
Gain: 49 x Deep Amber
Gain: 68 x Rat on a String
You've gained 5 x Maniac's Prayer
