Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion (Guide)

Mid-Game Content

Guide to progressing Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion, both part of and a continuation of the A Name Whispered in Darkness storyline.

Level 0: The Heights of Chicanery

The Wars of Illusion story begins in The Flit at A Name Whispered in Darkness 6 in the storylet The Heights of Chicanery. There is a secret world beyond what you've already discovered about The Flit, and to uncover it, you start with what worked before: following couriers and finding out what they know.

Increasing Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion to 2 requires rare successes on particular options from The Heights of Chicanery, some of which require certain levels of Seeking... and/or Investigating... to access.

You can use the options in The Tricks of the Courier's Trade to build Investigating... and Shadowing Couriers to build Seeking.... (Alternatively, if you have other sources for Investigating... and/or Seeking..., you can use those storylets to build them up and then spend them here.)

The several of the following options give Embroiled on a rare success (+1 CP, except for Dropping the Eaves, which awards +2 CP).

Investigating Gain

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Rare Success	Failure
The Tricks of the Courier's Trade	Spy on the couriers		85	+2 CP	+2 CP  +1 CP (up to 7)	+1 CP
	Spy on those who supply them		90	+3 CP	+3 CP  +1 CP (up to 7)	-1 CP  +1 CP
	Spy on the Topsy King's court		95	+3 CP		+1 CP
	Deploy your Suspicious Iguana	Suspicious Iguana	70%	+2 CP	+2 CP  +1 CP (up to 8)	+1 CP

Seeking Gain

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Rare Success	Failure
Shadowing Couriers	Follow at a distance		85	+2 CP	+3 CP  +1 CP (up to 7)	+1 CP
	Follow closely		90	+3 CP	+3 CP  +1 CP (up to 7)	-1 CP  +1 CP
	Disguise yourself as a courier		96	+3 CP		+1 CP
	Deploy your Unerring Elver	Unerring Elver	70%	+2 CP	+2 CP  +1 CP (up to 8)	+1 CP

Cashing In

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Rare Success	Failure
The Heights of Chicanery	Raid a Message-Drop	5	4	+270  reset	+270  reset  +1 CP (up to 8)	-5 CP  +1 CP
	More than just Messages	5	4	+540  reset	+540  +10  +1  reset	-5 CP
	Encounters in the Smoke	5	4	+540  reset	+20  +200  reset	-5 CP
	Intercept a Message	5	4	+270  reset	+270  reset  +1 CP (up to 8)	-5 CP  +1 CP
	Dropping the Eaves	5  5	85	+536  reset  reset	+540  reset  reset  +2 CP (up to 8)	-5 CP  -5 CP  +1 CP

Level 2: Wars of Illusion

Once you've gotten Embroiled to level 2 (a total of 3 CP worth of rare successes), a new option appears under The Heights of Chicanery titled Making Your Name: Wars of Illusion. This redirects to the main Flit storylet Wars of Illusion.

Selecting the only option here (What is going on?) sets Embroiled to 6.

Level 6: Bats and Cats

You now realize that the bats and cats of The Flit know something about the Wars of Illusion. A new storylet appears in The Flit titled Bats and Cats.

To progress from here and unlock the Bats and Cats option What is going on with these people?, you need to raise all of these qualities to 5: Making Use of Bats, Making Use of Cats, Investigating..., and Seeking...

As before, you can also raise Investigating... and Seeking... elsewhere and apply it here. You can also spend your Bats and Cats qualities in the rewards storylets. Note, however, that all these actions reset those progress qualities on success, meaning you'll have to build them up again to satisfy the above requirements for unlocking What is going on with these people?

Making Use of Bats

Making Use of Bats Gain

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Failure
Bats...	Try intercepting some bats	Reprehensible Lizard	85	+2 CP  1 x	+1 CP
	Train some bats of your own	10 x  Sulky Bat	90	+3 CP  -1 x	-1 CP  +1 CP  -2 x

You can combine Seeking... with Making Use of Bats for skill check successes.

Making Use of Bats Rewards

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Rare Success	Failure
Making Use of Bats	Intercept a bat on its way to the Palace	5	4	Reset  270 x		-5 CP  +1 CP
	Track a bat heading towards Veilgarden	5  5	82	Reset  Reset  540 x	Reset  Reset  540 x   +3 CP	-5 CP  -5 CP

Making Use of Cats

Making Use of Cats Gain

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Failure
Cats...	Try to find out about their allegiances		90	+3 CP	-1 CP  +1 CP
	Make contacts among cat kind	10 x	85	+2 CP  -10 x	-10 x   +1 CP  -2 x
	See what your Starveling Cat knows	Starveling Cat	90	3 x	3 x   10 x

You can combine Investigating... with Making Use of Cats for skill check successes.

Making Use of Cats Rewards

Storylet	Option	Req.	Challenge	Success	Rare Success	Failure
Making Use of Cats	Ask for help with a little sabotage	5  3 x	4	Reset  140 x   260 x   3 x	Reset  270 x   3 x	-5 CP  +1 CP  +1 CP  3 x
	Track a bat heading towards Veilgarden	5  5	85	Reset  Reset  540 x	Reset  Reset  540 x   +3 CP	-5 CP  -5 CP

Once you unlock What is Going on with These People? in the Bats and Cats storylet, you will be redirected to a storylet with the option Convoluted like a weasel. This is a Shadowy 95 challenge; failure will subtract 5 CP of each of the tracking qualities, and success will set Embroiled to 9 and A Name Whispered in Darkness to 7.

Level 9: Make More Use of Bats and Cats

A storylet now appears in The Flit called Make More Use of Bats. Or Cats. Here you can choose whether to work with the bats or the cats — though, as the game informs you, the choice isn't permanent at this point. (Ultimately, siding with the bats will align you with The Glass later in the story, while choosing the cats will align you with The Shroud.)

Choosing bats sets Making Use of Bats to 1, and choosing cats sets Making Use of Cats to 1. Whichever you choose, Embroiled is set to 10.

Level 10: Choosing a Side

Your choice also unlocks a new Flit storylet, either Working with the Bats or Working with the Cats. (You can unlock the other as well by raising its Making Use quality to 1 on the Bats and Cats storylet.)

When your Bats or Cats quality reaches 6, a new Flit storylet appears, either Gain the full trust of the bats or Cement your place with the cats.

The following cards may also appear in your opportunity deck during this section of the story, and give Cryptic Clues and/or Seeking... on success. Additionally, the option Anything but that on A Theosophistical Enquiry gives 2 CP of Plagued by a Popular Song.

Theosophistical Society

Card	Req to Draw	Choice	Req	Challenge	Success	Failure
A Theosophistical Enquiry	97 10-15	Get involved with the Theosophistical Society			set to 1 20 x
		Anything but that			+2 CP
A Theosophistical Discussion	1-4 10-20	Listen with an open mind			+2 CP 20 x
		Remain sceptical			+1 CP 20 x
A Theosophistical Debate	3-4 10-20 In	Listen with an open mind			10 x
		Reject the invitation			Reset 5 x
A Philosophical Commission	5-8 10-20	Draw a satirical cartoon		104	+3 CP 104 x   -10 CP	-1 CP +1 CP
		Come prepared		108	+3 CP 108 x   -20 CP	-1 CP
		Intellectual indignation		110	-1 CP 50 x   +15 CP	-1 CP +2 CP
A Theosophistical Development	5-8 10-20 In	Break up the fight		105	+3 CP 52 x   +1 CP, Up to 5	-1 CP +1 CP
		Encourage the fight		106	+3 CP 53 x   +1 CP, Up to 5	-1 CP +1 CP
A Theosophistical Excursion	5-8 10-20 In	Take the class to Watchmaker's Hill		108	+3 CP 54 x	-1 CP
A Theosophistical Séance	5-8 10-20 In	Play a vital part		110	55 x   55 x	+2 CP
A Theosophistical Decision	9 10-20 In	There's definitely something in it			set to 12
		It's nothing but a confidence trick			set to 10 10 x
A Theosophistical Occasion	9 10-20	Speak on the Bazaar's Correspondence	1	114	80 x   80 x	+1 CP
		Speak on Spiritualism	1	112	112 x	+1 CP
A Theosophistical Profit	10 10-20 In	Expose the scam		110	Reset 110 x   +3 CP Up to 10 +3 CP Up to 10	set to 8 +1 CP
		Get in on the scam		108	Reset 54 x   54 x	set to 8
A Theosophistical Profit	11 10-20 In	Look for wealthy donors	Renown: Society 10	110	Reset 300 x   +1	+1 CP
		Find some unconventional donors	Renown: Hell 10	114	Reset 310 x
		Look for donors where you can	Renown: Hell 10	112	112 x	+2 CP

When you're ready to progress, Gain the full trust of the bats or Cement your place with the cats. Both require Shadowy 97 to be unlocked, and the challenge level is Shadowy 101 (but thankfully, you don't lose Bats or Cats CP on a failure).

On success, Embroiled is set to 15, and Connected: Glass (if you chose bats) or Connected: Shroud (if you chose cats) is set to 1.

Level 15: Mahogany Hall

To continue the storyline, you need to unlock the route to Mahogany Hall, which will now appear in the Spite area of your map. ( Mahogany Hall can also be unlocked temporarily, or permanently for 5 FATE, from the opportunity card The Ways of Mahogany Hall.)

When you reach Mahogany Hall, you will be welcomed to either the Glass or the Shroud, and once more get the chance to rethink your allegiance. If you choose to play both sides, your Embroiled will be reset to 9, and you can play through that part of the storyline again (note that this option results in +3 CP Subtle (up to level 10) and is repeatable if you choose the same side again). If you choose to remain loyal to your side, Embroiled will be set to 20 and you can continue with the story from here.

See Tales of Mahogany Hall (Guide) for more information.

Level 20: An Illusion or a Séance

The following storylets are available in Mahogany Hall with Embroiled 20 and certain levels of Connected:

Increasing Connected: Shroud	Shroud	Glass
Hold your own séance?	exactly 1
The mystic arts	2–5
Before the grand séance	6–14	exactly 0
Become a double agent for the Shroud	6–9	6–9
Watching the Grand Illusion	6–10	0–6
Sabotaging an illusion	11–14	6
Final preparations for the grand séance	15

Increasing Connected: Glass	Glass	Shroud
Star in your own illusion?	exactly 1
The magic of the theatre	2–5
Before the grand illusion	6–14	exactly 0
Become a double agent for the Glass	6–9	6–9
Sabotaging a séance	11–14	6
Final preparations for the grand illusion	15

Up to a point, you can continue playing both sides and raise both Connected qualities. However, to progress to the final stage of your performance, you have to choose one of the options in the associated Before the [performance], Become a double agent, or Sabotaging storylets that cements your alliance with your chosen faction and raises the associated Connected to 15. This will unlock the Final preparations storylet for your chosen side. That storylet will raise your Connected to 16 and set Embroiled to 25, unlocking a new storylet for the final performance.

Level 25: The Performance

It's time to put on your big séance or illusion. In either case, it's a Shadowy 113 challenge, and success raises your Connected to 20.

• The grand séance! (unlocked with Connected: Shroud 16)
• The Most Daring Feat of Illusion and Escapology! (unlocked with Connected: Glass 16)

Note: Unlocking The Most Daring Feat of Illusion and Escapology! also requires Day of the Week to be set at 6 (Saturday) via The weekly variety bill!