Things to do at Watchmaker's Hill...

When your Dangerous is 41-50

31-40 51-60

Donate your body to science for an hour or two.

Because death in the Fifth City is often transitory, there is a shortage of corpses upon which surgeons can practice their trade. Instead, they rely upon brave volunteers capable of lying very, very still.
[Unlocked with Dangerous 41]

Lie very, very still.

After all, they pay well, they'll sew you back up afterwards, and they promise to put everything back where they found it.

_ challenge

Success spoiler

"This won’t hurt a bit…"

It's a lie, obviously, but it's polite of them to say so. You begin a studious examination of the ceiling, and whistle a music hall number as loudly as you can to drown out the sound of steel parting flesh. You manage to make it through the procedure with only minor twitches. The surgeons are pleased. They pay you handsomely, and are flamboyantly complimentary of your spleen.

Dangerous increase
Gain: 45 x Jade Fragment

Failure spoiler

Hang on…

Your suspicions are first aroused when the lead surgeon asks his colleague for a "shcalpel". As he bends over you and makes the first incision, your fears are confirmed – the man reeks of gin! You spring from the operating table and make your excuses as his eyes struggle to focus and his blade weaves unsteadily. There are better ways of making a few echoes in this city and you depart, shaking your head at the backwards state of the medical profession. Don't they know it's supposed to be the patients that are drunk?

Dangerous increase

Talk them through your wounds

It will require prodigious willpower and grit, but how impressive it will be when you guide them calmly through your collection of scars as they cut you open to get a good look.

_ challenge

Success spoiler

'And if you open up my kidney, you’ll see an old wound from a chisel…'

Students of the medical aspects of gruesome murder gather to have your previous wounds explained in detail. This involves having them re-opened with scalpels, and oddly that hurts more than when you got them the first time around. All present are fascinated and you manage to only wince and spasm a few times during your discourse. One of the doctors gives you a little something for the pain.

Dangerous increase
A living story will begin soon. [Your A Name Written in Blood quality is now 1.]
Gain: 45 x Jade Fragment
Gain: 2 x Greyfields 1879

Failure spoiler

'And that scar on my shoulder is ARGH!'

It's best not to think about what happened there. Perhaps this isn't really the career for you. There are many exciting professions where there is only a chance of being repeatedly butchered.

Dangerous increase

The Painted Ring: Take part in an illegal fighting ring

The last of Feducci's fighting-rings is just a red circle daubed around the dome of St. Fiacre's Cathedral, high above the city.
[Unlocked with Dangerous 44]

Step into the ring and fight without mercy

Feducci himself is watching this bout, perched upon the cross atop the dome. Let's see if it's possible to impress the old crow.
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 53)

Reward spoiler

Was there ever any doubt?

The spectators crowding the rooftops below cheer as your scrabbling opponent accelerates down the curve of the dome and rockets off the edge into the darkness. There is measured applause from above you, and Feducci says, in his dusty, breathless voice: "Indeed. In-deed. An impeccable performance. I have something which may interest you. Expect a letter. Look for the sign of the Black Ribbon."

Dangerous increase
Gain: 48 x Glim

Failure spoiler

It was the rain that beat you, not skill

Your opponent didn't even land a blow. A slick patch of curved stone was what did for you, plunging you from the ring and down the dome. Only a convenient gargoyle halts your plummet. Looking up to the ring, where your opponent is celebrating his undeserved victory, you catch a glint of Feducci's bandage-hooded eye. He inclines his head imperceptibly, as if expecting to see you again.

Dangerous increase
Wounds increase

Step into the ring and fight patiently

The cavern breezes of the Neath are stronger up here. The stone is slick with dripwater. You can't afford mistakes.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 52)

Reward spoiler

Down he goes.

Cautiously, you and your opponent circle the cross atop the dome. When he makes a move, you counter. When he presses forward, you step aside. When his heel strays into a rivulet of rainwater, you strike like a serpent. Your blow upsets his balance, his foot slips, and he plunges down the slope of the dome to be swallowed by the darkness of the streets below. The spectators on the rooftops below chant your name. Suddenly, a figure joins you upon the cathedral: a bandaged gentleman in a wind-tugged overcoat. Feducci. "Your precision is exceptional; your acuity, enviable. I have something that may interest you. Expect a letter. But for now, enjoy your success."

Dangerous increase
Watchful increase
Gain: 51 x Glim

Failure spoiler

Down you go…

Your opponent didn’t even land a blow. A slick patch of curved stone was what did for you, plunging you from the ring and down the dome, where a convenient gargoyle halted your plummet. You look up: and catch a glimpse of Feducci's bandage-hooded face. He inclines his head imperceptibly, as if expecting to see you again.

Watchful increase

Rescue shipwrecked Clay Men

A barge carrying Clay Men upstream has run aground in Bugsby's Marshes. Its cargo is wandering dejectedly through the marshes, being picked off by monsters.
Unlocked with Dangerous 45

Go to their assistance

The barge owner stands to lose a substantial sum. He'll pay you to retrieve as many Clay Men as you can
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 54)

Reward spoiler

Muddy, miserable but safe

You press deep into the muddy wilderness, skirmishing with marsh-wolves, facing down robbers, discouraging persistent Drownies. At last you find a Clay Man sitting miserably on a stump of bog-oak. He follows you meekly back to the Hill, where you're paid in full.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 49 x Rostygold

Failure spoiler

Seabirds?

No, down here they're zeebats. Their high-pitched cries draw you to the ruined body of a Clay Man, throat ripped out, eyes gazing sightlessly up at the twinkling lights in the Neath roof. The marsh-wolves didn't touch him after the bites that killed him. Clay Men must taste worse than they smell.
Dangerous increase
Nightmares increase

Smiles! Put that man down!

Jack-of-Smiles: half-immortal and all nuisance. The indefatigable body-switching murderer is on another killing spree in Watchmaker's Hill. A committee of concerned citizens has requested your help.
Unlocked with Dangerous 47

Dress up as a victim and wait to be stabbed

You're really not sure about this plan. But Jack-of-Smiles has annoyed you in the past. You'd love to see his face. Whatever it is these days.
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 56)

Reward spoiler

Quiet but profitable

You pace and listen and look out from under the brim of your best victim's hat. Possibly you smoke. There may be a degree of leaning on a lamp-post. You think you feel Smiles' presence once, but he doesn't show himself. Still, you seem to have kept him away tonight.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 39 x Rostygold
Connected: The Constables increase

Rare success

Got him!

One moment you're standing under a lamp-post in your best victim hat. You sense something, and turn to a stab of pain in your arm, a leathery face and a voice shrieking 'MY NAME IS NOT SMILES!' You discharge your trusty derringer directly into Smiles' face. The Constables arrive to remove the body, and pay you well. He'll be back, but you've certainly annoyed him tonight.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 49 x Rostygold
Connected: The Constables increase
An Annoyance to Jack-of-Smiles increase

Failure spoiler

Stabbed! The embarrassment!

One moment you're standing under a lamp-post in your best victim hat. There is a flash, a sharp pain and a voice shrieking 'MY NAME IS NOT SMILES!' The next you remember, you're coming round from a mild spell of death under the concerned eyes of a police surgeon. The swine got you! At least you might have distracted him from somewhere else.
Dangerous increase
Wounds increase

Deal with Unfinished Men

Unfinished Men are Clay Men who lack something, like sight or a voice or sanity or a conscience. A spate of robberies and assaults in the Hill has been traced to Unfinished Men operating under cover of the rescued Clay Men.
Unlocked with Dangerous 50

Stand guard

Shopkeepers will pay well to keep the loamy menace from their doors and windows.
(Dangerous challenge, straightforward at 59)

Reward spoiler

A successful defence

An Unfinished Man comes in the night: a huge and lumbering presence with a missing hand and eye. They're very hard to kill, are Clay Men. Someone without your skills wouldn't last two minutes. You battle him for half an hour, until he turns and lumbers into the night. You fire a parting shot after him, but you're too exhausted to pursue.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 54 x Rostygold

Failure spoiler

He's too much for you…

An Unfinished Man comes in the night: a huge and lumbering presence with a missing hand and eye. They're very hard to kill, are Clay Men. Someone without your skills wouldn't last two minutes. You battle him for half an hour, until he catches you on the side of the head with his single tremendous fist, and everything goes black.
Dangerous increase
Wounds increase

Root out the Unfinished Men

Unfinished Men usually have something physical missing, as well as the sinister elements in their clay souls. But it is possible to mistake a maimed Clay Man for a malignant Unfinished one.
(Watchful challenge, straightforward at 64)

Reward spoiler

'Do you make up these questions? Or do they write them down for you?'

With the grudging agreement of the Constables, you interview a series of Clay Men, asking them ever more intimate and revealing questions about their 'lives', their work, their intentions, their emotions. Tortoises. That sort of thing.

Finally one cracks under the pressure - quite literally. Fissures spiderweb across the glazed clay where one side of his face was burned. He burnt himself, you realise, to hide his missing eye! He lunges for you, but you leap back. Constables pile in and swarm him, bringing him down as he screams threats at you. You are suitably rewarded.
Watchful increase
Dangerous increase
Gain: 54 x Rostygold

Failure spoiler

'They said - there was a new life for us here! A land of opportunities!'

With the grudging agreement of the Constables, you interview a series of Clay Men, asking them ever more intimate and revealing questions about their 'lives', their work, their intentions, their emotions. Tortoises. That sort of thing.

One Clay Man breaks down in muddy tears. Why, he asks? What did they do? You notice he's missing a finger, and signal the Constables. They drag him away for further questioning. But you can't help feeling you've picked out an innocent by mistake.
Watchful increase
Dangerous increase
Ruthless increase

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