Helicon House (Guide)

Late-Game Content

Helicon House is a location in Ealing Gardens. It is unlocked by acquiring an Acquaintance with Helicon House. With The DF or a Rubbery Bellringer, this can be done with opportunity cards in Ealing.

If you don't have these, you need to build up Investigating... to 5, then "Track the rumours you've been hearing" under the Tour the Neighbourhood storylet. The best sources of investigating before Jericho Locks are either in The Flit, The University or from other sources. See Investigating (Guide) for more info on these. With access to Jericho Locks, Ply them with lager and see what they'll share will give you all the progress you need in a single action.

Entering the House

To enter the house, you must pay with either a single Surface Bloom or Slim Volume of Bazaarine Poetry, or have either the Oneiric Key ( Bohemian renown 40 item), or the Location of an Underground Organ ( Rubbery renown 40 item). In addition to not removing your renown items, the renown options give 5 Romantic Notions and Warm Amber respectively, and 2 Fitting in at Helicon House (see below).

After this, you can choose which (if any) companion to bring with you. It is recommended within the game, and this guide, to enter with a companion, though the benefits vary greatly. Many of the options are FATE-locked, and both Fate-locked and not can give an increase to Fitting in, Investigating..., Fascinating..., Casing..., or Inspired...; the only notable exception are those who took a particular ending of Nemesis, which gives -3CP of both Suspicion and Nightmares.

Helicon House Qualities

Visits to Helicon House use two qualities to determine which actions are available: Time Remaining at Helicon House, and Fitting in at Helicon House (hereafter "Time Remaining" and "Fitting In"). Both of these are reset every visit. In addition there are progress qualities which are not reset.

Time Remaining

Time Remaining in Helicon House tracks the progression of the evening, and has a slight resemblance to the Time Remaining... quality from Veilgarden Parties, but is not as rigid. Time Remaining starts at 5 (or 4 if entering with the Pendant), and is lowered by 1 every action you take in Helicon House.

Many actions are restricted by Time Remaining, but generally to ranges rather than specific values. Roughly speaking, Time Remaining 4-5 is early in the evening, Time Remaining 3-2 is later in the evening, and Time Remaining 1 is when things are winding down and guests are leaving.

Fitting In

Fitting In represents your acceptance among the counterculture of Helicon House. Successful actions generally raise it by 1 or 2 points, a handful of options with exclusive requirements raise it by 3 points, and some failures decrease it by 1. Entering Helicon House with any of the Free Entrance methods will start your evening with two free points, and your choice of Companion may give you a free point.

A few actions are gated by Fitting In, sometimes requiring you to take less-profitable actions first to Fit In enough. The profitable options for exiting Helicon House require Fitting In, and several of those options have rewards which scale with Fitting In, although the scaling rewards are not worth being excited about.

In practice, Fitting In is not usually a significant obstacle. A few optimized grinds must fiddle with it to shave an action off of a loop, but most core actions do not require high values. The actions that require values which are difficult to obtain are the ones that will make you Closest To - Rubbery Men or Bohemians.

Progress Qualities

Helicon House makes use of four Progress qualities that are used elsewhere in Fallen London: Casing..., Fascinating..., Inspired..., and Investigating.... Helicon House does not reset these qualities, and can freely mix with other sources or uses of them in the broader game.

All four qualities can be raised in Helicon House, and the first three can be cashed in profitably. Helicon House uses Investigating... to unlock certain areas, but has no repeatable use for that quality. Casing can be exchanged in the Upstairs Honey Den with Lay claim to any left-behind items, and Fascinating and Inspired can be exchanged in the Prussian Salon with Attract a companion for the rest of the evening and Accept a commission, respectively. Note that all three of those exchanges end your visit in Helicon House.

Several Ambition rewards unlock an option in Helicon House. Many of these are unique ways to raise one of the Progress qualities. Likewise, many of the Companion choices give free Progress on entrance.

Overview of Storylets

The storylets are ordered into different rooms, which have different focuses. You can mix and match rooms as much as you want to.

The Entrance Hall

• Gain Casing... (faster at the beginning of the evening)
• Gain Investigating...
• Spend Investigating... to unlock various locations (all of them also require Fitting In 3 to unlock):
  • Discovered: the Upstairs Honey-Den - requires level 7
  • Discovered: the Mirrored Salon - requires level 7 and 1 x Favours: Fingerkings
  • Discovered: Below-Stairs - requires level 10
  • The Sculpture Garden - Requires level 7 and (fate-locked) A Pendant of Helicon Amber.
• At Time Remaining 1, end your visit for Crate of Incorruptible Biscuits and Pot of Venison Marrow, Solacefruit and Hand-picked Peppercaps, or Hand-picked Peppercaps and a Thirsty Bombazine Scrap.

The South Parlour

• Options to increase Fitting In that are easier with high Renown: Rubbery Men and/or Closest To - Rubbery Men.
• Gain Inspired...
• Buy A Pendant of Helicon Amber.

The Yellow Salon

• Options to increase Fitting In that are easier with high Renown: Bohemians.
• Different option depending on Identified with a School:.
• Gain Inspired...
• Display your Completed Painting for Hinterland Scrip and, depending on painting qualities, Inspired.../Fitting In.

The Prussian Salon

• Options to increase Fitting In that are easier with high Renown: Bohemians.
• Gain Inspired...
• At Time Remaining 2, end your visit for Bottle of Strangling Willow Absinthe and Hinterland Scrip.
• At Fitting In 5, end your visit by cashing in Fascinating... for Nightmares reduction and Favour in High Places, Blackmail Material, Cryptic Clue, Extraordinary Implication.
• At Fitting In 5, end your visit by cashing in Inspired... for Hinterland Scrip and Nodule of Warm Amber.

The Supper Room

• Gain Fascinating...
• Gain Inspired...
• Serve up a Culinary Tribute to the Sea of Spines for Hinterland Scrip and Inspired...

The Upstairs Honey Den

Must be discovered.

• Gain Inspired...
• Become Closest To - Bohemians.
• Get Discovered: the Sea of Spines.
• At Fitting In 3, end your visit by cashing in Casing... for Hinterland Scrip, Drop of Prisoner's Honey, Moon-Pearl.
• At Fitting In 5, if you have The Long-Dead Priests of the Red Bird, end your visit by cashing in Inspired... for Expertise of the Third City, Memory of Light, Memory of Distant Shores, Memory of Discordance, Memory of a Much Lesser Self.

The Mirrored Salon

Must be discovered.

• Gain Inspired...
• Sell Glass Gazette for Hinterland Scrip.
• Gain Making Waves (Astonish the company with an illusion)
• If you have Master Jewel Thief, spend Casing... for Sapphire and Ostentatious Diamond.

Below-Stairs

Must be discovered.

• Become Closest To - Rubbery Men.
• Spend Nodule of Warm Amber for Withered Tentacle.
• Upgrade various bones.
• Gain Shapeling Studies.

FATE The Sculpture Garden

Must be discovered, requires A Pendant of Helicon Amber.

• Gain Inspired...
• Gain Making Waves
• At Fitting In 5, get an Extraordinary Implication
• At Fitting In 5, get an Unearthly Fossil, or a bit of Bone Fragments and some Warm Amber
• At Time Remaining 2 or lower, end your visit by presenting an amalgamous and implausible skeleton for a good amount of Warm Amber and a slight increase in the skeleton's value, based on Fitting In (the skeleton is not consumed)

Tables

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

What needs work: Lead them like sacrifices to the Priests of the Red Bird missing info.

Tables of Progress Quality Sources

Casing... Sources

Action	Location	Gain	Time Remaining	Notes
Just the right person	Alone, or with a companion?	+2		Also gives Fascinating and Investigating
Your Platonic Partner in Crime	Alone, or with a companion?	+2
Your Platonic Eminence Grise	Alone, or with a companion?	+2		FATE
Keep a close eye on everyone present	The Entrance Hall	+5-1	2+	Gives more Casing earlier Also gives Investigating
Deploy your Morally and Physically Flexible Rubbery Cat	The Entrance Hall	+6	4+	Costs 3 x Hand-picked Peppercaps