Ambition: Light Fingers (Guide)

Early MYN Content and Onwards

Spoiler warning! This page may contain spoilers for Ambitions or other major storylines.

Before you came down here, you heard through a contact here that she had a line on a diamond 'the size of a cow'. She did tend to exaggerate. But even if it's only the size of, say, a pig, or even a kitten, it's worth your time.

Ambition: Light Fingers! starts out as a heist story and turns into something much darker, and as such is the only Ambition that offers players a free opportunity to switch to another Ambition. The main attributes are Shadowy and Persuasive.

For more information on Ambitions and choosing between them, consult the Ambitions guide.

Progress

This Ambition can be started in Spite with Shadowy 6. You can check your progress at any time on the Myself tab under Ambition; the number after the Ambition title is the part of the story you're currently on. This can be helpful when you're unsure where to go next; just find the corresponding part number below.

Searching for the Fading Music-Hall Singer (0–16)

0–2: Track down your contact, the Fading Music-Hall Singer, in Spite.

• 0: Ambition: Light Fingers! 0: The Fading Music-Hall Singer once told you about a massive diamond. Where is she now? ( Shadowy 6)
• 1: Ambition: Light Fingers! 1: Look for her at Mahogany Hall. ( Persuasive 10)
• 2: Figure out where she lives.
  • Ambition: Light Fingers! 2a: Use 6 x Whispered Hint to bribe the doorman.
  • Ambition: Light Fingers! 2b: Slip in through a window ( Shadowy 16) and find the Painting Fragment.

3–5: Investigate the Painting Fragment in Veilgarden.

• 3: Ambition: Light Fingers! 3: Do some subtle poking-around ( Persuasive 19).
• 4: Track down the painter.
  • Ambition: Light Fingers! 4a: Bribe the Struggling Artist with 30 x Bottle of Greyfields 1882 for the Ginger-Haired Fellow's Address.
  • Ambition: Light Fingers! 4b: Search the painter's studio ( Shadowy 25).
• 5: Ambition: Light Fingers! 5 in Veilgarden: Talk to the painter ( Persuasive 25).

6–11: Mr Fires' Representative in Wolfstack Docks. If you haven't yet done so, you'll need to reach A Name Scrawled In Blood 4 by advancing through all the fighting rings in Watchmaker's Hill; this will give you access to Wolfstack.

• 6: Ambition: Light Fingers! 6: Follow Mr Fires' representative ( Shadowy 30).
• 7–8: What was a representative of Mr Fires doing in that churchyard? You can either ask someone (2 actions), or find out firsthand (1 action).
  • Speak to the sexton for 100 x Moon-Pearl ( Persuasive 30), and then the vicar ( Persuasive 35); OR
  • Do some digging yourself ( Shadowy 42) if you can stand the Nightmares +2 CP.

• 9: Ambition: Light Fingers! 9: Find a way into the representative's house ( Shadowy 43).
• 10: Ambition: Light Fingers! 10: Question him ( Persuasive 43).
• 11: Ambition: Light Fingers! 11: A clue... of sorts?

12: Ambition: Light Fingers! 12: But what does it mean? ( Persuasive 47) This storylet appears in multiple locations, but you'll only find the information you need in one of them.

13: Ambition: Light Fingers! 13 in Spite: Sneak into Mahogany Hall ( Shadowy 47) to find Hephaesta.

14: Ambition: Light Fingers! 14 at The Singing Mandrake: Meet with Hephaesta.

15–16: Search The Forgotten Quarter for the Faded Music-Hall Singer.

• 15: Ambition: Light Fingers – Searching the Forgotten Quarter: You'll need 8 x Amanita Sherry, 25 x Soul, 150 x Bottle of Greyfields 1879, and 20 x Relic of the Fourth City to go searching for the singer.
• 16: Ambition: Light Fingers! 16: Inspect the scene ( Shadowy 52).

A Mystery of Sisters (17–36)

The Sisters (17–24)

17–18a: Listen to the singer in Veilgarden

• 17: Ambition: Light Fingers! 17: Try to get some sense out of her ( Persuasive 57) and obtain the Locket Depicting Twin Sisters.
• 18: Ambition: Light Fingers! 18a: Listen to her songs to increase your Nightmares until you reach A state of some confusion. (Alternatively, you can Gaze into Dream's Mirror at Mrs Plenty's Carnival to instantly reach this state.)

18b–19: A state of some confusion

• 18: Ambition: Light Fingers! 18b: If you have any F.F. Gebrandt's Tincture of Vigour, you can trade that to reduce Nightmares (-1 CP); otherwise, you'll need to take another hit of Nightmares (+10 CP) and lose a little Persuasive (-5 CP).
• 19: Ambition: Light Fingers! 19: Find out who's been watching you ( Shadowy 57).
• Now you'll need to reduce your Nightmares to 0 in order to return to London proper. (In general, the Opportunity Cards will reduce Nightmares by more CP than the static storylets will.)

20–21: The Drownies at Wolfstack Docks

• 20: Ambition: Light Fingers! 20: Follow up on what you learned from the maid; requires 500 x Shard of Glim.
• 21: Ambition: Light Fingers! 21: Learn about the Drownies' songs ( Shadowy 62) to obtain the Drownie Song of the Deep.

22–24: The singer is recovering in Veilgarden

• 22: Ambition: Light Fingers! 22: Visit with the singer at Hephaesta's ( Persuasive 62).
• 23: Ambition: Light Fingers! 23: Find out who knows the location of the jewel for 200 x Fistful of Surface Currency.
• 24: Ambition: Light Fingers! 24: Look into this "Poor Edward" ( Persuasive 67).

Who is Poor Edward? (25–36)

25: Ambition: Light Fingers! 25 at Mrs Plenty's Carnival: You have three options to find out more about Poor Edward via the Star-gazing Roustabout:

• Bribe the carnies with 400 x Moon-Pearl, OR
• Sneak after him ( Shadowy 67), OR
• Get friendly with the carnies ( Persuasive 67)

26: Ambition: Light Fingers! 26 in Spite: Bring 200 x Piece of Rostygold and the Locket Depicting Twin Sisters ( Shadowy 72).

• Succeed or fail, you will progress the story. You keep the Rostygold if you succeed; if you fail, you lose the Rostygold and go immediately to New Newgate Prison (and will need to reduce Suspicion to 0 in order to escape again).

27: Ambition: Light Fingers! 27 at Mrs Plenty's Carnival: Try once more to locate the Star-gazing Roustabout ( Persuasive 72).

28–29: Searching Winewound Heath, beginning at Your Lodgings

28: Ambition: Light Fingers! 28: You'll need 3 x Vision of the Surface to prepare for your search.

29: Ambition: Light Fingers! 29: Search the cottage ( Shadowy 72).

30–32: Do some poking around at Wolfstack Docks

• 30: Ambition: Light Fingers! 30: Ask around ( Persuasive 77).
• 31: Ambition: Light Fingers! 31: Get the Avuncular Engineer to tell you about the dirigible Poor Edward uses.
  • Bribe him with 400 x Nevercold Brass Sliver, OR
  • Blackmail him ( Shadowy 77).

• 32: Ambition: Light Fingers! 32: Sneak aboard the dirigible ( Shadowy 82).

33: Ambition: Light Fingers! 33 in Spite: Ask the orphans of Spite about the Orphanage ( Shadowy 82).

34: Ambition: Light Fingers! 34 in Veilgarden: Meet with Hephaesta ( Persuasive 82) and get the Locket Depicting Twin Sisters back.

35: Ambition: Light Fingers! 35 in Spite: Plan to break into the Orphanage.

• Spend 20 x Appalling Secret and 8 x Memory of Distant Shores, OR
• Spend 2 x Memory of Distant Shores and 5 x Hastily Scrawled Warning Note

36: Ambition: Light Fingers! Lunching with the Enemy: Accept Poor Edward's invitation and obtain a Bag of Lethean Tea-Leaves.

• Between now and the end of the next (Orphanage) section, you can use the tea-leaves to forget this Ambition and choose another. If you don't use the tea-leaves by part 47 (The Escape), you will lose them.

The Orphanage (37–47)

You will cross the Labyrinth to get to The Orphanage.

The Labyrinth has pretty tough Shadowy challenges, so maybe arm yourself with Hastily Scrawled Warning Note or two (or more), and have low Wounds and Nightmares when entering.

To enter, you need at least 800 x Foxfire Candle Stub. These aren't consumed upon entry; instead, each step consumes 50 of them, and if you cannot make enough progress, your only option is to leave, and lose all progress. So it's best to over-provision, and come in with ~2000 candles. Oversupplied candles are not lost, and can later be used for other things.

The Labyrinth (37–42)

• 37: Ambition: Light Fingers! The Labyrinth in Spite, needs at least 800 x Foxfire Candle Stub, moves you to the shadows of the Orphanage.
• Ambition: Light Fingers! Navigating the labyrinth. Each option here consumes 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub regardless of outcome; success advances the Ambition: Light Fingers! quality by 9 CP. You need 13 successes to advance Light Fingers to 40.
  • Shadowy 96 (160 for 100%)
  • Persuasive 89 (149 for 100%)
  • Luck 20–30%

40: Ambition: Light Fingers! The Creature in the Labyrinth, Shadowy 103

41: Ambition: Light Fingers! The Blind Cartographer

42: Ambition: Light Fingers! The Candle, gives you Everlasting Candle, needs one of

• Shadowy 110 check
• 5 x London Street Sign
• 30 x Foxfire Candle Stub, A Scholar of the Correspondence 3

The Orphanage (43–47)

43: Ambition: Light Fingers! The Orphanage

44: Ambition: Light Fingers! the Hulking Orderly

• Steal his Uniform, Shadowy 117
• Bribe him, Persuasive 96, needs 500 x Piece of Rostygold, which you lose even on failure

Now you can enter the Orphanage. Note that you can leave and return at will during this section.

45: In The Silent Corridors of the Orphanage, you will encounter high Shadowy and Persuasive checks. Successes will raise Exploring the Orphanage, which is needed to access certain rooms. Failures will increase Attracting Attention in the Orphanage, which you do not want to do.

The White Corridors storylet gives you two options, at Shadowy 124 or Persuasive 110, either of which can give you your first point of Exploring the Orphanage. Now you can begin searching the rooms.

Step by step:

• Enter whatever combination of Rooms 215, 324, 387, 451, and 839 you choose to raise Exploring to 6. This will require a total of 20 CP Exploring. Most options give 1 CP Exploring on success and 1 CP Attention on failure, with a few exceptions:
  • Room 101: only increases Attention
  • Room 324: Failing the Dangerous challenge gives 2 CP Attention
  • Room 387: no Exploring for the theft option
  • Room 451: the Shadowy challenge gives 1 CP Exploring and 3 CP Magnanimous on success, and a whopping 5 CP Attention on failure; success on the alternative action gives 2 CP Exploring and 3 CP Heartless
  • Room 839: 2 CP Exploring and the Orphanage Roof Key on success, 2 CP Attention on failure. You must succeed at some point, because you need the key to escape later.
• With Exploring 3–6, you can enter Room 122, the basement (optional, but relevant to the story).
• At Exploring 6, you can enter Room 547, the records room. This enables you to find the sisters.
• Enter Room 316 and rescue the sisters.

If Attracting Attention in the Orphanage reaches 6 (which requires only 6 CP total, since you start at 5), Edward will catch you and bury you alive. The only way out of that is to either slowly increase your wounds until you die, and embark on a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river; or, with Attending to the Needs of a Singular Plant 5, rely on botanical assistance. Either way, once you're back home, return to the orphanage to get back on track.

Once you've found the sisters and the Roof Key, it's time to Escape. And decide what to do about the Orphanage. Whatever you choose, once you play this storylet, your Bag of Lethean Tea-Leaves is gone; if you want out of this Ambition after that, visit the Fate page and choose "Reset your Ambition (50 Fate)".

Dr Vaughan's Encampment (48–54)

Make sure to check all the requirements from this section before Zailing, for example you have no option to lower your Scandal or obtain many of the required items after you have left London.

48–49: Ambition: Light Fingers! - Taking Care of Clarabelle (Back to London), Persuasive 127 challenge

50: Ambition: Light Fingers! Seeking Dr. Vaughan, at The University, needs 20 x Volume of Collated Research

51: Ambition: Light Fingers! The Southern Archipelago, at A Secluded Coastline (you need to Zail to get here)

52: Ambition: Light Fingers! - Meeting Doctor Vaughan, Persuasive 130

53: Ambition: Light Fingers! Doctor Vaughan Explains (Requires Respectable 7, Scandal < 3 and not having Unwelcome at the University -)

54: Ambition: Light Fingers! Scientific Requirements (Requires 1 x Nodule of Warm Amber, 24 x Amanita Sherry, 20 x Correspondence Plaque, 2 x Puzzle-Damask Scrap, 20 x Aeolian Scream, 2 x Whirring Contraption)

Preparing an Expedition to the Roof (55–65)

55: Ambition: Light Fingers – Preparing an Expedition to the Roof

Getting Ready to Fly (you need three points):

• Light Fingers: Acquire Moon-Miser Snaring Supplies 9000 x Shard of Glim, 3 x Strong-Backed Labour, 1 x Primaeval Hint
• A crew through one of these:
  • Light Fingers: Hire University Students for your Crew 1250 x Whispered Hint, 2 x Antique Mystery, 2 x Cellar of Wine
  • Light Fingers: Hire Rubbery Men for your Crew 1250 x Nodule of Deep Amber, 5 x Nodule of Trembling Amber
• A Zeppelin through one of these:
  • Light Fingers: Steal a Prison Zeppelin 125 x Flask of Abominable Salts, 5 x Aeolian Scream, 5 x Favours: Criminals, 5 x Favours: Constables
  • Light Fingers: Ready the Market Beast Key to a Lair in the Marshes (costs 300x Rat on a String), A Shadowy 300 challenge, increases Wounds and Nightmares

• Light Fingers: Something is Wrong at A Secluded Coastline, so you need to zail again.

60: Light Fingers: Edward and the Clay Men

65: Light Fingers: Leaving London

Castles in the Ceiling (70–160)

You will use your Zeppelin to visit and milk the moon-mother.

You can return to London for the cost of five actions, and go back to the Castles in the Ceiling for another action. You'll have to do this round-trip at least twice to lower your Nightmares, and more often if you don't have the items prepared that you need to advance.

70: Light Fingers: Intrusion, needs one of:

• Ancient Hunting Rifle, which you lose if you fail a Dangerous 200 challenge
• 3x Puzzling Map, of which you lose 2

75: Light Fingers: Through the Dead, needs one of:

• 25 x Vision of the Surface
• Cellar of Wine
• Heartless 12, Ruthless 12

80: Light Fingers: Being Followed

85:

• Light Fingers: Lonely as a Cloud (5x, adds Nightmares 1 CP each time)
• Light Fingers: The Thick of It, needs one of:
  • 15 x Correspondence Plaque, 25 x Muscaria Brandy, 1 x Uncanny Incunabulum
  • 3 x Extraordinary Implication, 25 x Emergency Blunderbuss, 625 x Maniac's Prayer

90: Light Fingers: A Second Coming

100–115:

• 100–115: Light Fingers: The Citadel Requires
  • Nightmares at 0 to acquire Knowledge of the Arts (which sets your Nightmares to 7)
  • 1 x Night-Whisper and Nightmares at 0 again to unlock the next step
  • 1 x Primaeval Hint, 1 x Nodule of Pulsating Amber, Knowledge of the Arts
• 110: Light Fingers: Mother Star

120: Light Fingers: Ready the Milk

150: Light Fingers: A Place for the Impossible

155: Light Fingers: A Parting of Ways

160: Light Fingers: The Starved Men's Requirements 3000 x Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax, 30 x Memory of Light, 1 x Searing Enigma, 25 x Muscaria Brandy, 1 x Night-Whisper

The Skin of the Sun (165–190)

165: Light Fingers: The Skin of the Sun

170: Light Fingers: Atop the Spire

175: Light Fingers: A Painstaking Descent Needs one of:

• Passing a Persuasive 125 Challenge
• 1 x F.F. Gebrandt's Superior Laudanum
• Ruthless 10

180: Light Fingers: The Boiling Sky 1 x Drownie Song of the Deep

185: Light Fingers: Lost in the Isn't Requires you to reduce 3 x Lost in the Is-Not to 0, each step needs one of:

• Profession: Monster-Hunter (works only the first time)
• 20 x Memory of Light, 4 x Extraordinary Implication, Locked with Nightmares 3
• Glasswork 4 challenge, 20 x Memory of Light, 20 x Tale of Terror!!, Locked with Nightmares 3
• 10 x Memory of Distant Shores, 20 x Vision of the Surface, 20 x Zee-Ztory , Locked with Nightmares 3

190: Light Fingers: A Perilous Pilgrimage Requires one of

• 100 x Maniac's Prayer, 5 x Puzzling Map
• 50 x Maniac's Prayer Profession: Silverer

Parabolan Base-Camp (195–240)

Parabola is a dream-land behind the mirrors, and you will need to gain access to it to advance your Ambition.

If you already have access to a Parabolan Base-Camp, this part will be easy. If not, you have basically two options:

• Are or become a Silverer (Profession), then you need:
  • 300 x Memory of Light
  • 1 x Antique Mystery
  • 1 x Set of Cosmogone Spectacles (which you automatically have if you are a Silverer)
  • 1 x Direful Reflection
• Otherwise, you need:
  • 1001 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
  • 1001 x Memory of Light
  • 1 x Uncanny Incunabulum
  • 1 x Antique Mystery

The Parabola (Guide) has some hints as to how to obtain the necessary items, and what other preparations you can make to enter Parabola. If you go there for the ambition, nothing stops you from doing other business there.

In the course of this ambition, you will be jumping a lot between London and Parabola; each time you enter, it costs 100 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey, or 50 of them if you are a Silverer. It might be worth it change your profession for that, and for unlocking Parabola in the first place.

195: Light Fingers: A Long-awaited Return

200: Light Fingers: Baseless Speculation

203:

• Light Fingers: The First Gift
• Light Fingers: A Parabolan Base-camp?

205-207: Light Fingers: Establishing a Parabolan Base-camp

215: Light Fingers: Bring Dr Vaughan and Clara to Safety 35 x Memory of Light, plus another 15 x Memory of Light for each time you fail a Shadowy 180 challenge,

220: Light Fingers: Safety at Last

225: Light Fingers: The Hookman House Caper Back in London, Shadowy 180, needs and consumes

• 1 x Night-Trimmed Frock Coat
• 50 x F.F. Gebrandt's Superior Laudanum
• 100 x Bottle of Strangling Willow Absinthe
• 100 x Compromising Document
• 1 x Favours: Constables

Failing the challenge consumes some of the resources.

230:

• Light Fingers: The Second Gift
• Light Fingers: The Pocket Watch

235: Light Fingers: The Search for Mr Vaughan

240: Light Fingers: The Missing Husband

An Old Enemy (245–275)

You will lay a trap for Poor Edward to free Hephaesta; afterwards you bring her to your Parabolan Base-Camp where she can recover from being drugged.

245: Light Fingers: A Message from an Old Enemy

250: Light Fingers: A Dinner with Poor Edward

254: Light Fingers: The Third Gift

255: Light Fingers: The Lure is Cast, 500 x Stolen Correspondence, 20 x Strong-Backed Labour, 3 x Uncanny Incunabulum, 3 x Favours: The Docks, 3 x Favours: Urchins, Locked with Wounds, Nightmares

260: Light Fingers: The Lure is Cast 2

265: Light Fingers: Poor Edward's Proposal

270: Light Fingers: Hephaesta's Condition 5 x Bottle of Greyfields 1868 First Sporing (which you lose even if you fail a Persuasive 170 challenge)

275: Light Fingers: A Shelter from the Zee (back in Parabolan Base-Camp) Needs one of:

• The Pirate-Poet or The Pirate-Poet, Inscribed Anew
• 2 x Diary of the Dead, 100 x Zee-Ztory, 1 x Midnight Matriarch or 1 x Midnight Matriarch of the Menagerie of Roses

Preparing an Impossible Birth (279–284)

You will need to a arrange a Counterfeit Constellation, and reunite the sisters, which involves, depending on your previous choices, tracking down the Faded Music-hall singer by spending favours and cryptic clues, or dying and convincing the Boatman to let you take her back. If you go this route, and plan to persuade the Boatman, make sure you assemble all the necessary Unusual and Touching Love-Stories before you die, and also get rid (convert, sell or use) your Romantic Notions, since you lose them if you fail the check.

279–284: Light Fingers: Necessities

• Light Fingers: The Song, the Sap, the Stars
• Light Fingers: The Fading Music-hall Singer
  • If you have Remembering the Orphanage exactly 1, you need:
    • 5000 x Cryptic Clue
    • 5 x Favour in High Places
    • 3 x Favours: Criminals
    • 3 x Favours: Urchins
    • 3 x Favours: Bohemians
  • With Remembering the Orphanage exactly 2, you need to:
    • Stabilize your Horse-Head Amulets so that they don't protect you from dying (you can later get them back in their active form).
    • Die, either by spending 5000 x Piece of Rostygold, or by naturally accumulating Wounds 8. An easier way is Gaze into Heart's Mirror at Mrs Plenty's Carnival.
    • Light Fingers: The Faded Music-hall Singer, Deceased: while dead, needs one of:
      • 1 x Unusual Love Story, 10 x Touching Love Story ( Persuasive 200; if you fail, you lose all your Romantic Notion).
      • 40 The Boatman's Opponent
      • 1 x Alluring Accomplice

• Light Fingers: The Search for Stalactite Nectar

• Light Fingers: A Counterfeit Constellation, needs one of:
  • 10000 x Shard of Glim, 2 x Puzzling Map, 10 x Engraved Pewter Tankard, 5 x Favours: The Docks, 1 x Searing Enigma
  • 5500 x Shard of Glim, 1 x Captain Amelia Whitlock (Fate-locked, seasonal)
  • 5500 x Shard of Glim, a Luxurious ship
• Light Fingers: Stars Across the Zee
• Light Fingers: Stars Across the Zee 2
• Light Fingers: A Sisterly Reunion back at Parabolan Base-Camp

284: Light Fingers: From Above

Poor Edward and Mr. Fires (285–309)

You still need a Moon-Silk Swaddling for the birth of hybrid, and Mr. Fires is the only one who can provide it.

He proposes a deal: Remember that, in the beginning, it was all about a diamond the size of a cow? He'll give you that, in exchange for the hybrid -- after it has been born, of course.

285: Light Fingers: Another Meeting with Poor Edward (gives you a Smiling Mask if you agree or play along)

287: (Only applies if you didn't agree to play along marrying Poor Edward)

• Seek out Jasper and Frank to offer a bribe, needs 300 x Cryptic Clue which you lose (and have to spend again) if you fail a Shadowy 176 challenge.
• Light Fingers: Bribing Jasper and Frank, needs 2000 x Jade Fragment, 10 x Sapphire, 3 x Blackmail Material

290: Light Fingers: The Painter's Studio

295: Light Fingers: The Painted Door, needs one of:

• 500 x Cryptic Clue
• 1 x Favours: The Docks

300: Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum

302: Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 2

306: Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 3

307: Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 4

308: Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 5

309: Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Ultimatum 6 or Light Fingers: An Unburnt Archive

Light Fingers: The Fourth Gift

The Birthing (310–345)

310: Light Fingers: A Tap-Tap-Tapping

315: Light Fingers: The Moment is at Hand in Parabolan Base-Camp, needs 1000 x Shard of Glim

320: Light Fingers: The Moment is at Hand 2

330: Light Fingers: A Difficult Labour

332: Light Fingers: Something New

335: Light Fingers: A False-Star Born

340: Light Fingers: A False-Star Born 2

345: Light Fingers: The Aftermath

The Raising (350–360)

350: Light Fingers: A Family Visit Five times you have to wait 24 hours and then feed the hybrid a Nodule of Pulsating Amber and other things, see Light Fingers: A Family Visit for details. Your choice of supplied food influences whether it comes out more monster-like or more human-like.

360: Light Fingers: The Rejuvenated Music-hall Singer

Abduction (360–374)

You go to sleep, and have a very nasty dream where you meet Poor Edward, and wake up to find the hybrid stolen from the Parabolan Base-Camp.

360: Ambition – A Good Night's Sleep

365: Light Fingers: The Burial of the Dead

370: Light Fingers: The Hybrid, Stolen

372: Light Fingers: The Calm After the Storm

374: Light Fingers: The Calm After the Storm 2

• Light Fingers: Finding Hephaesta, 100 x Foxfire Candle Stub at Shadowy 180; you lose half on failure.
• Light Fingers: Mr Fires' Henchmen, 300 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey (half of that if you are a Silverer), 10 x Bottle of Morelways 1872

Reclaimation (375–400)

You have to reclaim the Hybrid, and for that you need help (which in turn costs lots of resources, once again).

Preparations (375)

375: Light Fingers: Prepare to Reclaim The Hybrid

First you need

• 5 x Uncanny Incunabulum
• 5 x Antique Mystery
• 100 x Tale of Terror!!
• 30 x Volume of Collated Research

If you seek help from the Duchess, you'll do

• Light Fingers: A Word to the Duchess
  • Either 200 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip, 3 x Favours: Society, 2 x Personal Recommendation
  • Or Connected: The Duchess 15, 200 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip, 1 x Personal Recommendation, 2 x Favours: Society
• Light Fingers: A Session of the Court of Cats, needs 1000 x Rat on a String, 1 x Searing Enigma, 5 x Sworn Statement, 1 x Entry in Slowcake's Exceptionals
• Light Fingers: A Title is Bestowed, gives Lyon Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary (Affiliation)

Your other option is to find and appease the Boil of Calamities:

• Light Fingers: Seeking the Boil of Calamities in The Dome of Scales
• Light Fingers: Access to the King's Chambers, needs
  • 250 x Appalling Secret
  • 250 x Maniac's Prayer
  • 1 x Ravenglass Knife (required for the next step)
  • 6 x Ostentatious Diamond
  • 6 x Venom-Ruby
  • 6 x Sapphire
  • 3 x Favours: Fingerkings
• Light Fingers: The Tribute, needs 1x Ravenglass Knife, gives Tatterskin Shawl (Clothing)

Then you need to Check your preparations are complete, which requires

• 1 x Ratwork Derringer
• Parabolan Defences 2 (see Build up your Base-Camp)
• 1 x Infernal Sharpshooter's Rifle
• 10 x Storm-Threnody
• 10 x Skyglass Knife

Take heart, this is the last (or second to last, depending on a later choice) big item investment into this ambition. You're nearly there!

The Wedding (385)

385

• Light Fingers: The Parabolan Orphanage
• Light Fingers: The Wedding

386: Light Fingers: The Wedding 2

390: Light Fingers: A Final Proposal

395: Light Fingers: Poor, Poor Edward OR Light Fingers: Poor Edward's Dilemma

397: Light Fingers: The Fate of Poor Edward OR Light Fingers: Marrying a Monster (gives you Smiling Mask and A Loyal Nightmare of Poor Edward)

400: Light Fingers: Leaving Nightmares Behind

The Hybrid's Fate (405–End)

405: Light Fingers: The Hybrid's Fate: Choose wisely.

• Handing over the Hybrid to Mr. Fires
  • 1000: Light Fingers: Out of Parabola
  • 1010: Light Fingers: A Jewel for a Jewel Gives you
    • Accomplishment: A True Denizen of the Neath
    • Accomplishment: A Co-Conspirator of Mr Fires
    • A Kitten-Sized Diamond, Liberated from the Mountain (Treasure)
    • +5 CP Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar
    • 1 x Searing Enigma
    • 1 x Primaeval Hint
  • 1500: Light Fingers: Epilogue – Dr Vaughan's Dilemma

• Smuggling the Hybrid Away
  • 2000: Light Fingers: Back to London
  • 2010: Light Fingers: A Rendezvous with Dr Vaughan, needs
    • 12500 x Penny
    • 5 x Blackmail Material
    • 5 x Bazaar Permit
  • 2020: Light Fingers: A Rendezvous with Dr Vaughan 2, needs
    • 100 x Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax
    • 100 x Shard of Glim
    • 1 x Bright Brass Skull
    • 50 x Flask of Abominable Salts
  • 2030: Light Fingers: Burying a Child, needs 1 x Mourning Candle
  • 2040: Light Fingers: Undercover, needs 200 x Cryptic Clue
  • 2050: Light Fingers: Dr Vaughan's Dilemma
  • 2060: Light Fingers: Free Gives you:
    • Accomplishment: A True Denizen of the Neath
    • Accomplishment: Looked Upon Fondly
    • Accomplishment: A Consequence of your Ambition – (set to 2)
    • A False-Star of your Own (Treasure)

Aftermath

Unlike the other Ambitions, there is no need to wait 24 hours for a resolution. You have already waited for several days when the Hybrid was growing up.

Have Hephaesta complete her moon-milk withdrawal and complete her acquisition of zee-knowledge - and gain some research assistance.

Ask Hephaesta to help you from Parabola

Long-Term Rewards

Eventually, Hephaesta recovers, and she becomes a potential research assistant. She is best with anything related to cartography (most notably, giving extra options for both the smaller and larger projects for Survey of the Neath's Bones, and creating a Cartographer's Hoard).

• Employ the real Hephaesta in Parabola
• Hire Hephaesta into your Lab

In addition, you can receive the following BDR items during the ambition, depending on your choices:

• Smiling Mask (Hat, if you accept any one of Poor Edward's many proposals, or marry him)
• Lyon Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary (Affiliation, from asking the Duchess and the cats for help) OR Tatterskin Shawl (Clothing, from going with the Boil of Calamities instead)
• A Loyal Nightmare of Poor Edward (Affiliation, if you marry him)

And (probably) most importantly, you get a Treasure and a monthly reward based on the chosen fate of the Hybrid.

Ambition Rewards

Ending	Treasure	Rewards of Ambition
Gave Mr. Fires the Hybrid	A Kitten-Sized Diamond, Liberated from the Mountain Persuasive +13 Watchful +6 Respectable +2 Dreaded +2 Artisan of the Red Science +2	Enjoy the satisfaction of possessing an incomparable diamond 4 x Confident Smile +10 CP Making Waves -5 CP Wounds 1 x Primaeval Hint 1 x Magnificent Diamond -1 x Ostentatious Diamond
Smuggled the Hybrid to the celling	A False-Star of your Own Watchful +6 Shadowy +13 Bizarre +4 Shapeling Arts +2 This treasure also unlocks two unique options to reduce Troubled Waters at Zee while maintaining speed: Your False-Star card (from the Looked Upon Fondly quality from freeing the Hybrid) Let your own star guide you on A Navigation Error	Enjoy the knowledge that the Hybrid is safe -5 CP Nightmares 2 x Hard-Earned Lesson 2 x Sudden Insight +10 CP Making Waves 1 x Searing Enigma

Pretty early progress also unlocks a a slightly favourable option in Cave of the Nadir on the card Lost at Sea

Items needed

This is an attempt to list all possible items needed in Light Fingers, for help with planning. The quantities listed are the fewest you can get away with (min), and the most you will need (max). This list only includes items that can be found outside of this Ambition; items like the Painting Fragment that are unique to Light Fingers are listed elsewhere. This does not include all the Drop of Prisoner's Honey that you need to enter Parabola.

Item	Min	Max	Parts
Aeolian Scream	20	25	54, 55
Alluring Accomplice	0	1	284
Amanita Sherry	32	32	15, 54
Ambiguous Eolith	0	5	350
Ancient Hunting Rifle	0	Unbounded	70
Antique Mystery	5	8	55, 207, 375
Appalling Secret	0	270	35, 375
Bazaar Permit	0	5	2010
Blackmail Material	0	8	287, 2010
Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise	0	5	350
Bottle of Greyfields 1868 First Sporing	5	Unbounded	270
Bottle of Greyfields 1879	150	150	15
Bottle of Greyfields 1882	30	30	4a
Bottle of Morelways 1872	10	260	350, 375
Bottle of Strangling Willow Absinthe	100	Unbounded	225
Bright Brass Skull	0	1	2020
Captain Amelia Whitlock	0	1	284
Cellar of Wine	0	3	55, 75
Compromising Document	100	Unbounded	225
Confident Smile	1	Unbounded	230
Correspondence Plaque	20	45	54, 85
Cryptic Clue	0	Unbounded	284, 287, 295, 2040
Diary of the Dead	0	2	275
Drop of Prisoner's Honey	150	1301	206, 375
Emergency Blunderbuss	0	25	85
Engraved Pewter Tankard	0	10	284
Entry in Slowcake's Exceptionals	0	1	375
Extraordinary Implication	0	15	85, 185
F.F. Gebrandt's Superior Laudanum	50	Unbounded	175, 225
F.F. Gebrandt's Tincture of Vigour	0	1	18b
Favour in High Places	0	5	284
Favours: Bohemians	0	Unbounded	284
Favours: Constables	1	6	55, 225
Favours: Criminals	0	8	55, 284
Favours: Fingerkings	0	3	375
Favours: Society	0	3	375
Favours: The Docks	3	9	255, 284, 295
Favours: Urchins	3	6	255, 284
Fistful of Surface Currency	200	200	23
Flask of Abominable Salts	0	175	55, 2020
Foxfire Candle Stub	900	Unbounded	37, 37-39, 42, 375
Hastily Scrawled Warning Note	0	5	35
Infernal Sharpshooter's Rifle	1	1	375
Jade Fragment	0	2000	287
Key to a Lair in the Marshes	0	1	55
Live Specimen	0	2	350
London Street Sign	0	5	42
Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax	3000	3100	160, 2020
Majestic Pleasure Yacht	0	1	284
Maniac's Prayer	50	975	85, 190, 375
Memory of Distant Shores	2	38	35, 185
Memory of Light	65	1126	160, 185, 207, 215
Midnight Matriarch	0	1	275
Moon-Pearl	0	500	7, 25
Mourning Candle	0	1	2030
Muscaria Brandy	25	50	85, 160
Nevercold Brass Sliver	0	400	31
Night-Trimmed Frock Coat	1	1	225
Night-Whisper	2	2	105, 160
Nodule of Deep Amber	0	1250	55
Nodule of Pulsating Amber	6	6	115, 350
Nodule of Trembling Amber	0	5	55
Nodule of Warm Amber	1	1	54
Ostentatious Diamond	0	6	375
Parabola-Linen Scrap	0	4	203
Parabolan Defences	2	2	375
Parabolan Orange-apple	0	1	350
Penny	0	12500	2010
Personal Recommendation	0	2	375
Phosphorescent Scarab	0	250	350
Piece of Rostygold	200	5700	26, 44, 284
Portfolio of Souls	0	5	350
Primaeval Hint	2	2	55, 115
Puzzle-Damask Scrap	2	2	54
Puzzling Map	0	10	55, 190, 284
Rat on a String	0	3500	350, 375
Ratwork Derringer	1	1	375
Ravenglass Knife	0	1	375, 375
Relic of the Fourth City	20	20	15
Romantic Notion	0	99	235
Sapphire	0	16	287, 375
Scrap of Incendiary Gossip	0	200	375
Searing Enigma	1	3	160, 284, 375
Shard of Glim	16000	20600	20, 55, 284, 315, 2020
Skyglass Knife	10	10	375
Solacefruit	0	5	350
Soul	25	25	15
Stolen Correspondence	500	500	255
Storm-Threnody	10	10	375
Strong-Backed Labour	23	23	55, 255
Sworn Statement	0	5	375
Tale of Terror!!	100	160	185, 375
The Pirate-Poet	0	1	275
Touching Love Story	0	10	284
Uncanny Incunabulum	8	10	85, 207, 255, 375
Unusual Love Story	0	1	284
Venom-Ruby	0	6	375
Vision of the Surface	3	88	28, 75, 185
Volume of Collated Research	50	50	50, 375
Whirring Contraption	2	2	54
Whispered Hint	6	1256	2a, 55
Zee-Ztory	0	160	185, 275