Menace Locations (Guide)

Early MYN Content and Onwards

This is a guide to the menace locations where you end up when either of the main menaces ( Wounds, Nightmares, Scandal or Suspicion) reaches 8. Upon reaching that, you will be transported to one of the following locations, once you're out of any current storylet you're doing.

Note that this guide is meant as a guide for navigating the locations and will not contain a comprehensive list of storylets unlocked through ambitions.

a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river (Wounds)

When you reach 8 Wounds you'll end up on a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river. You will have several storylets available, and a special deck of cards. There are three ways to leave the location:

• Once you reach Wounds 0, you will be instantly ejected.
• Additionally, owners of Firkin of Hesperidean Cider may drink it in order to leave the location.
• During HALLOWMAS there is a special card that allows you to escape with Wounds 5.

Storylets for reducing Wounds

There are several storylets to play while on the river.

• Offer the Boatman a sacrifice allows you to give up all of your Lucky Weasels or Sulky Bats for -2 CP Wounds. Unless you only have a single one of either, this option is bad.
• Play chess with the Boatman allows you to take an increasingly difficult Watchful challenge in order to lose wounds, as long as you have less than Wounds 15. A success will lose you -2 or -3 CP Wounds and up until the final level a failure will gain you +2 CP Wounds. Wear wounds decreasing items to reduce the penalty of failure. Playing chess with the boatman will also improve your The Boatman's Opponent, which has some use on the Chessboard. This action is better than playing dice if your chance of success is >63%. Additionally successes will gain you Approaching the Gates of the Garden up to 16.
  • With The Boatman's Opponent 40 this action changes and in addition to being a very tough check ( 300 Watchful) you will gain Appalling Secret on successes, but you will also gain Nightmares on both successes and failures, meaning this will never be menace negative. With a success rate of 70% or higher, you will still lose wounds faster than if you are playing dice.
• With The Boatman's Opponent 5, the option to play Dice with the Boatman opens up. This is a 50% Luck challenge, where successes will reduce Wounds by -3 CP and failures you gain +2 CP Wounds. This yields on average -0.5CP on average per action. Wear wounds decreasing items to reduce the penalty of failure.

Cards

• The Listing of all cards.

Your opportunity deck while in this location will be filled with a wide swathe of red bordered cards that will reduce your Wounds by 1-2 CP for no action cost, assuming you have already used all your actions playing dice or chess. If you are close to getting out, it may be worth spending actions on red bordered cards rather than gambling. Having a Running Battle... or Fascinating... will each add a beneficial -2 CP Red Card to the deck.

Notable Red Cards

• Remember the Regretful Soldier - Also gains +1 CP Dangerous
• Remember the Repentant Forger - Also gains +1 CP Persuasive
• Stare at the shore of the living world, Trail your fingers in the water, and You remember the tomb-colonists, and shudder - Also gain +5 CP Approaching the Gates of the Garden up to level 16.
• Remember a certain hunger... - Beware this card, it gains you +3 CP Wounds

White Cards

• "Take a message to the living world!" removes -3 CP Wounds and begins the repeatable quest, A Courier for the Dead which allows you to take a message to the widow with Meet the Gracious Widow in Spite for +3 CP Connected: The Widow. Or you can use it to Duel with Chi Lan, and cheat for an automatic success. Beware abandoning the commission though, for it will cost you -10 CP Persuasive and +15 CP Nightmares
• Remember where you fell - the FATE option instantly clears your wounds. - The other option just recovers -2 CP Wounds
• Pilfer a few breaths from another passenger - Recovers -2 CP Wounds

The following cards are not recommended to play

• How much can you see of the far bank? - gains you 3 x Appalling Secret), +5 CP Wounds, and +3 CP Nightmares
• ...or you could just give up - gains you +3 CP Wounds and loses -3 CP Nightmares

Other Points of interest

• The Renown: Constables 40 item is found on the boat: The Place Where they Bury the Bodies. For more information on this, see Renown Items (Guide).

Disgraced exile in the Tomb-Colonies (Scandal)

When you reach 8 Scandal you'll end up a Disgraced exile in the Tomb-Colonies and gain Favours: Tomb-Colonies in the process. You will have several storylets available, and a special deck of cards. Once you reach Scandal 0, you can choose to leave.

As a special note, the Tomb-Colonies are an excellent place to gain Favours: Tomb-Colonies, though at the cost of having to spend many actions here to escape.

Many choices will be either Austere or Hedonist. Picking one will result in +3 CP (Up to Level 10) in that quality and unless noted, -3 CP in the other quality.

When you reach Scandal 0, you can choose to leave via Home: at last, transporting you back to your lodgings.

Leaving will cost 5 actions and you will gain 1 x Zee-Ztory and 1 x Memory of Distant Shores. Additionally if you have Austere or Hedonist above 10, you will have to halve the other quality. This option will affect the amount of Making Waves you receive upon leaving.

• Austere and Hedonist < 10: +5 CP Making Waves
• Austere ≥ 10: +2 CP Making Waves
• Hedonist ≥ 10: +10 CP Making Waves, 1 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip, and Scandal set to level 2.

During HALLOWMAS, A repairer of reputations (Hallowmas) is available, allowing you to leave at Scandal 5.

Storylets for reducing Scandal

• A letter to an old flame - allows you to trade favours and connections for a quick scandal reduction.
  • 1 x Favours: The Church for -6 CP Scandal
  • Favours: Society for 90% chance of -6 CP Scandal, otherwise gain +5 CP Scandal (Expected: -4.9 CP Scandal) Wear scandal decreasing items to reduce the penalty of failure.
  • -10 CP Connected: The Duchess for -3 CP Scandal
  • Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar for -10 CP Scandal
  • Tip: Prior to being exiled, in order to save connections you may Curry favour with the Duchess in The Shuttered Palace in order to have Connected: The Duchess for quick scandal reductions.
• The price of forgiveness - trade resources for scandal reduction. Each of these options reduce -3 CP Scandal
  • 200 x Foxfire Candle Stub = 4.00
  • 50 x Proscribed Material = 4.00
  • 50 x Primordial Shriek = 2.00 and also +1 CP Suspicion
  • Spend FATE to instantly clear your Scandal
• A letter to a trusted friend
  • By failing a Persuasive 50 you can lose 1 CP Scandal. Unfortunately, successes increase your scandal, making this a bad choice for most characters.

Cards

The Listing of all cards

Red Cards
There is only 1 red card to lower your menace. With friends like these... will decrease -1 CP Scandal at the cost of -5 CP Persuasive.

White Cards

Any cards or options not listed here will not reduce scandal, and may in fact increase it.

Gaining Favours

There are several cards that will gain you Favours: Tomb-Colonies.

• 1 for Investigate it on Remnants. Also gains 1 x Memory of Distant Shores and +1 CP Scandal
• 1 for 'As it should be.' on A letter from the Comtessa's Father. Also gains +3 CP Scandal
• 1 for the card gained from All Things Must End with either choice. Also results in -3 CP Scandal

Gaining Second Chances

There are several cards that give you opportunities for second chances.

Stories of note

• Gaining a Tomb-Lion
  • If you have Making Progress in the Labyrinth of Tigers 16 and presently do not have a Tomb-Lion, you can get one on the card 'I Met a Curious Creature.' with '...I made overtures...' for 1 x F.F. Gebrandt's Tincture of Vigour
• Flowers for Peter
  • If you are on a mission from Dapper Underworld Boss, which you receive in Newgate Prison, you can spend 1 x Favours: Tomb-Colonies with Flowers for Peter (Card) to progress it.
• Renown: Tomb-Colonies 40 item - See Renown Items (Guide)
• Haunted by Stairs
  • When you become Haunted by Stairs, you will need to visit the Tomb-Colonies to clear this quality. Initially, you will need to play the card Burial of the Dead: Still Haunted by Stairs and then you will find new options on A letter to an old flame, and A letter to a trusted friend and several opportunity cards for this. All of them decrease -18 CP Haunted by Stairs. The only notable one is An Unusual Remedy, which also removes -1 CP Nightmares
  • Once your Haunted by Stairs is < 15, the storylet Burial of the Dead: the Choice of Kings will become available, where you can take the path of ice with the moths, gaining 1 x Night-Whisper, or the path of fire, with the candles, gaining 1 x Diary of the Dead. Both of these conclusions will clear your Haunted by Stairs, gain you 10 x Relic of the Third City and 1 x Appalling Secret, while lowering your -5 CP Nightmares and clearing your Scandal, ejecting you from the Tomb Colonies.
• Evolution
  • Several storylets related to the Evolution Storyline take place in the tomb colonies.

New Newgate Prison - again (Suspicion)

When you reach 8 Suspicion you'll end up in New Newgate Prison - again!. Reaching it in this way will raise A Criminal Record:. You will have several storylets available, and a special deck of cards. Once you reach Suspicion 0, you will be instantly ejected. Additionally there are other ways to escape prison, including a prison break.

Storylets for reducing Suspicion

• Bribery allows you to spend resources in order to reduce your suspicion. The fate option allows you to escape immediately.
  • 50 x Bottle of Greyfields 1879 for -3 CP Suspicion 0.50
  • 50 x Foxfire Candle Stub for -3 CP Suspicion 0.50
  • 1 x Skyglass Knife for -7 CP Suspicion and 1 x Favours: Criminals 6.40
• Contact your lawyer allows you to spend actions to reduce Suspicion, and at an even greater rate once you're A Person of Some Importance - Wear suspicion decreasing items to reduce the penalty of failure.
  • Non PoSI - Pen a letter - 50% chance of either: -2 CP Suspicion or +1 CP Suspicion (averages -0.5 /action).
  • PoSI - Write instead to the Ambitious Barrister - 50% chance of either: -4 CP Suspicion or +2 CP Suspicion (averages -1 /action).
• Prison life allows you to spend actions to decrease suspicion.
  • Observing New Newgate decrease -1 CP Suspicion and on a Watchful 40 challenge, either gain 20 x Cryptic Clues or lose -1 CP Persuasive
  • Keep your nose clean trades -1 CP Persuasive for -2 CP Suspicion
    • If you can't reliably pass the watchful check, you're better off doing the second option for more suspicion reduction at the same cost. Bringing suspicion from 8 to 0 this way would cost 36 CP Persuasive.

Cards

The Listing of all cards

Red Cards
Here there is only 1 red card to lower your menace. Voice from the oubliette will decrease -1 CP Suspicion and gain you 2 x Appalling Secret

White Cards The talkative gaoler's nonfavor option and Starvation day are particularly bad cards, costing you stats with very little gain or suspicion loss. Avoid bad company on University of Crime also will lose you less suspicion than you would with any other choice.

Loss	Card	Option	Check/ Req.	Pass	Fail
-3	The Governor	Having a little word	40  2x	-3 CP  -2	+1 CP  -2
-3	The Stuttering Fence	Connections	1 x	-3 CP  -1	-
-2	Scratched on the wall	Read it	-	-2 CP  2-20  +1 CP	-
-2	Scratched on the wall	Scratch a ribald ballad of your own	60	-2 CP  +4 CP	-1 CP
-2	The Warden	The Snuffer	40	-2 CP  +1	+1
-1-2	A visit from a priest	Admit nothing	-	-1-2 CP	-
-1	The talkative gaoler	Listen to his woes	-	-1 CP  +5 -2 CP	-
-1	The Stuttering Fence	Look after him	-	-1 CP	-
-1	The screaming prisoner	Ask around	2 Actions	-1 CP  +1  +1  +1 CP	-
-1	The screaming prisoner	Keep your head down	-	-1 CP	-
-1	Start a brawl	"Who among you would like some of this?!"	40	-1 CP  +5 CP	+1 CP
-1	University of Crime	Avoid bad company	60%	-1 CP	-
-1	Starvation day	Nothing to be done	-	-1 CP  -5 CP  -5 CP  -5 CP  -5 CP  +1 CP Wounds Rare: Only -1 CP	-

Any cards not mentioned here will not decrease suspicion, and may in fact increase it.

A Turncoat

If you are willing to burn criminal favours and gain A Turncoat, The talkative gaoler can get you out with A grass, as long as you have at least as many favours as you have remaining suspicion. This will consume all your favours, regardless of how much suspicion remains.

Suspicion and Favours: Criminals Needed:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
CP Loss/Favour	1	1.5	2	2.5	3	3.5	4

Leaving

When you reach Suspicion 0, The misty air of freedom! will autofire, transporting you back to your lodgings.

Alternatively:

• During HALLOWMAS, A Pile of Stinking Rags is available, allowing you to leave at Suspicion 5, if you can draw the card.
• You can plan The even more daring escape! to break free before that point.

The even more daring escape!

You need to obtain 3 items, and upon doing so you will have an autofire event to escape. Once the Prison Shiv is acquired, it will not be consumed, though the other 2 items will be. Escaping this way even grants you +5 CP Shadowy and clears your Suspicion.

• Prison Shiv - can be obtained on The Troubled Undertaker
• Rope of Knotted Rags - The red card The passing dirigible will provide you one, provided you already have a Prison Shiv
• Notes on the Dirigible Schedule can be obtained on the unusual (20% frequency) card The new cell with the option Decipher the graffiti, costing 4 actions.

Generally, this is a good strategy if you have high suspicion (5/6+) and you manage to draw The new cell. Gambling that you will draw this card is probably not going to be fruitful in most cases, however.

Other Actions of Note

Favours: Criminals can be gained through two ways.

• Bribery for 1 x Skyglass Knife each, and some suspicion loss
• You can Volunteer on the card Bilge duty. This make you lose -2 CP Suspicion as well, at the cost of -10 CP Dangerous, -10 CP Persuasive, -10 CP Shadowy and +2 Wounds or half the stat loss and get a 1 x Magnificent Diamond on a rare success.

Acquaintance: the Repentant Forger

• If you have not already done so, you can gain an Acquaintance: the Repentant Forger on The Repentant Forger 2. If you have played through Uncovering Secrets Framed in Gold, you may pay fate to befriend him once more.

Bat with Attitude/ Flowers for Peter

• A Favour for an Old Friend is the most reliable way to gain Bat with Attitude. You begin this quest with 1 x Favours: Criminals and then must travel to the exile in the Tomb Colonies, before finally returning here to turn it in on this card.

Commissioned to Enact Love's Revenge

• You can help a Betrayed Lover with Promises of revenge. This will begin a storyline that you can finish in The Flit.
• Tracking down the Faithless Rake has no reward, but giving up here will cost 1 x Favours: Criminals
• Dealing with the Faithless Rake
  • Murdering him gains 10 x Stolen Correspondence
  • Extorting him for money gains 80 x Shard of Glim
  • Leaving him alone gains 1 x Favours: Constables and 25 x Whispered Hint
• All in all, this storyline is a pretty bad deal mechanically, as even the best option is 3 actions for one favour.

Increasing Shadowy

• University of Crime allows you to trade 1 x Favours: Criminals for +15 CP Shadowy. This is slightly less than on the Criminals faction card.

Renown: Criminals 40 item:

• The renown item from the criminals can be found in prison. See Renown Items (Guide) for more info on this.

Nightmares - a foreword

Unlike the other menaces, Nightmares has several possible outcomes, depending on where you are and what you have. Under the most basic set of circumstances - in London, without either at least one Memory of Light or Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? 10 - when you reach 8 Nightmares you'll end up in A state of some confusion. If you do have least one Memory of Light or Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? 10, you will instead end up in The Mirror-Marches. And finally, if you reach 8 Nightmares while in Parabola, instead of either of the first two options, you will receive the Conflagration storylet, which is not its own location and only reduces Nightmares by 8 CP. This is the only way to get Sighted the Storm-bird, but also reduces your Glasswork and Monstrous Anatomy skills by one level each, and so advanced players will likely want to avoid this.

A state of some confusion (Nightmares)

Storylets for reducing Nightmares

• Chat to the guests allows you to reduce your nightmares with a nightmares challenge. This is a challenge you want to fail, and should do so regularly. Even at a high nightmares, its around a 10% chance of success. This provides -3 CP Nightmares, with a small chance of 'success' losing you -1 CP Nightmares and -4 CP Watchful.
• Drink from the fountain in the lobby has two options:
  • Take a deep gulp is nearly the same as chat with guests is, though it risks Persuasive instead.
  • Immerse yourself in the fountain trades -1 CP Stormy-Eyed for -3 CP Nightmares. This is only marginally better at reducing nightmares than risking your stats and is much harder to get back, making this option generally inadvisable.

A word with the manager

By reaching Tracking down the Manager 5, you can have A word with the manager. Each option will reduce this quality by 15 CP, likely clearing it.

• Complain to the manager - Reduces your -10 CP Nightmares
• Ask the manager to make it rain - costs -1 CP Stormy-Eyed and will either reduce your -10 CP Nightmares or -5 CP Nightmares on a 50% chance.
• Thank the manager - Increases +3 CP Nightmares

Cards

The Listing of all cards.

Your opportunity deck while in this location will be filled with a wide swathe of red bordered cards that will reduce your Nightmares by 1-3 CP for no action cost, assuming you have already used all your actions drinking or chatting. Many of the white bordered cards are useful as well.

Red Cards
All red cards are useful in the deck.

Nightmares Loss

Loss Nightmares	Card	Requirements	Notes
-3 CP	A white cat! 2
-1 CP	A lizard of distinction 2		+5 CP Touched by Fingerwork (Up to 16)
-1 CP	Ceiling cracks	A Scholar of the Correspondence 3	1 x Appalling Secret +5 CP Approaching the Gates of the Garden (Up to 16) +5 CP Seeing through the Eyes of Icarus (Up to 16) +1 CP Watchful
-1 CP	Skeins of blood	A Bringer of Death	+1 CP Making Waves +1 CP Dangerous

Tracking down the Manager Gain

Gain Tracking down the Manager	Card	Requirements	Notes
+3 CP	A fungal bloom
+1 CP	A lizard of distinction 1
+1 CP	A white cat! 1

White Cards

• Fail on searching for your missing secret on A lost secret provides for -4 CP Nightmares. With Weasel of Woe equipped, this is the most efficient local card.
• Think on the city on The view from your room 1, or Watch on The view from your room 3 provide for -3 CP Nightmares and bonus as well.
• Spurn her advances on A lamentable affair increases +2 CP Tracking down the Manager. That said, this is less efficient than just spending the actions on reducing nightmares unless you either need to see the manager for some reason, or You're just 2 CP away from reaching level 5.
• A certain choice in an ambition can grant you access to An Abrupt Door which will allow you to leave with Nightmares 6.

All other white cards either increase nightmares, or trade dream qualities for a decrease in nightmares and are not worth taking.

During Hallowmas, A friendly visage is available, allowing you to leave at Nightmares 5.

Leaving

When you reach Nightmares 0, You are yourself again will autofire, transporting you back to your lodgings, losing you -5CP in all dreams, -4 x Memory of Light and gaining you +1-20 CP Watchful.

You can also Set fire to your mirror (11 FATE) on the card A plan occurs to go to the The Mirror-Marches.

Other Noteworthy Actions

• The Renown: Revolutionaries 40 renown item can be found here. See Renown Items (Guide) for more information.

The Mirror-Marches (Nightmares)

When you reach 8 Nightmares, and you have either at least 1 x Memory of Light or Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? 10 you'll end up in The Mirror-Marches. You will have several storylets available, and a special deck of cards. Once you reach Nightmares 0, you will be instantly ejected.

Storylets for reducing Nightmares

The storylets and cards within the Mirror Marches are gated based on your current level of Nightmares unlike in other menace locations.

The mirror-frames: These various mirrors provide -2 CP Nightmares reduction at the cost of increasing some other menace. Wear menace decreasing items in order to reduce the menace gain.

• Wooden frame - Nightmares < 3, No cost.
• Brass Frame - Nightmares 3-5, +1 CP Scandal
• Silver Frame - Nightmares 4-5, +1 CP Wounds
• Iron Frame - Nightmares > 5, +2 CP Wounds
• Ivory Frame - When you are Playing Cat and Mouse with an Evasive Target against A Deranged Medium, you can increase 9 x Cat: Getting Warmer and reduce your nightmares at the same time.

The seductive forest is available as long as you have Nightmares 5 and is a great way to reduce your Nightmares.

• Follow the sound of water gives a 50% Chance of either -5 CP Nightmares or +2 CP Nightmares for an average of -1.5CP /Action. Wear nightmares decreasing items to reduce the penalty of failure.
• Follow the scent of roses decreases -1 CP Nightmares

As long as you have at least Nightmares 3 you can explore The temple complex. This is not a great way of reducing nightmares, but it does allow you to easily increase your Walking the Falling Cities, Seeing through the Eyes of Icarus and Touched by Fingerwork.

• Be enticed by the temples grants -1 CP Nightmares, +5 CP Walking the Falling Cities and +5 CP Seeing through the Eyes of Icarus
• Stay away from the ruins increases +1 CP Nightmares and +5 CP Touched by Fingerwork

Cards

The Listing of all cards.

Your opportunity deck while in this location will be filled with a wide swath of red bordered cards that will reduce your Nightmares by 1-3 CP for no action cost, assuming you have already used all your actions drinking or chatting. Many of the white bordered cards are useful as well.

Red Cards
Notable Red Cards:

• A striped cat, A spotted cat, and A black cat all go away below 4 Nightmares, so make sure to use them before then.
• A forest fire trades -1 CP Wounds for +1 CP Nightmares

White Cards
The following cards are better your standard storylet options for reducing Nightmares

• Read the markings, if you know how on A tree of scars requires A Scholar of the Correspondence and provides for -5 CP Nightmares.
• Listen to the thunder on A thunderstorm requires Having Recurring Dreams: What the Thunder Said 10 and provides for -4 CP Nightmares and +5 CP Touched by Fingerwork.
• Reducing -2 CP Nightmares
  • Follow it on A bird-of-paradise also provides +5 CP Touched by Fingerwork
  • Eat some cherries on Heavenly fruits, also reduces -1 x Unaccountably Peckish
  • Purple orchids
• A green vine has a 50% chance to give -3 CP Nightmares, 10 x Cryptic Clue and +5 CP Touched by Fingerwork. Only worth it if you have Nightmares 3
• I will sing with the forest! on A snatch of music only provides -1 CP Nightmares, but it also increases +1 CP Stormy-Eyed

All other white cards either increase nightmares, or are worse than your storylet actions and are not worth taking for nightmare reductions.

During Hallowmas, A face in the mirror is available, allowing you to leave at Nightmares 5.

Leaving

When you reach Nightmares 0, A familiar darkness will autofire, transporting you back to your lodgings. This will cost -1 x Memory of Light and -10 CP Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There?, and gains you +1 CP Wounds.

You can also leave to A state of some confusion at any time if you wish. You just need to take a Step through the mirror on A familiar scene?

Other Noteworthy Actions

• I will sing with the forest! on A snatch of music provides -1 CP Nightmares and also increases +1 CP Stormy-Eyed
• Eat a plum on Heavenly fruits increases +1 CP Nightmares and gains 1 x Unaccountably Peckish
• The Renown: Bohemians 40 and Renown: The Great Game 40 items can be found here. See Renown Items (Guide) for more information.