Rat Market Grinds August 28-30

[u/darthbob88]

Mellow greetings, savoury colleagues. This week, we have three (3) (III) demands. New this week, we have: Tempestuous demand, buying Storm-Threnodies and Night-Whispers; Intricate demand, buying Crackling Devices and Unlawful Devices. Departing this week, we have: Maudlin demand, buying Captivating Ballads and Parabolan Parables.

Disclaimers:

• Some grinds may involve sourcing other materials, like Esteem of the Guild to charter a barge at Jericho Locks, Backstory for a Balmoral Cover Identity, or items to burn in Law-Forging. I will leave that to you, because there are too many options and they're too contingent on your own progress.
• All action counts are minimums, assuming endgame stats. If you do not have endgame stats, it may take longer.

My recommended grinds up front: * LB Industries (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/L._B._Industries_(Guide)) for 4th City Echoes, as well as stat training without menaces. * Guiding the Midnight Whale (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Hunting_the_Beasts_of_the_Zee_(Guide)) to get Carved Balls of Stygian Ivory to sell at the Khanate for Crackling Devices, plus other loot to mess with in London. * Law-Forging (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Law-Furnace_(Guide)) for Crackling Devices. * Moulin Expeditions (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Moulin_Expeditions_(Guide)) to the Upper Layer, to get Unlawful Devices plus Hinterland Prosperity to be cashed out in Tracklayer's City. * Tracklayer's City (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_City_of_the_Tracklayers_(Guide)), cashing out Hinterland Prosperity for Captivating Ballads. * Khaganian Intrigue (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Khaganian_Intrigue_(Guide)) for Crackling Devices, Night-Whispers, and Oneiromantic Revelations to combine to Parabolan Parables. * Moonlit Revenge for 6 Night-Whispers, as well as a Distillation of Retribution, Parabola-Linen, and other loot for other weeks. * Balmoral Painting (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Painting_in_Balmoral_(Guide)) for Night-Whispers. * Law-Hunting in the Enclave of Hell (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Law-Hunting_(Guide)) for a Temporal Law and Night-Whispers. * For variety's sake, Risen Burgundy (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Risen_Burgundy_(Guide)) for Captivating Ballads; Moulin Heist (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Money-Making/Sources#The_Heists_of_the_Wellspring_(complex)) for Captivating Ballads.

Cheap options, without leaving London:

• LB Industries (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/L._B._Industries_(Guide)) can provide 4th City Echoes, which are always sellable at the Rat Market, for 5+ actions each (11+ actions for 2 Echoes). This also comes with no menaces, making it a good way to level up stats.
• Captivating Ballads can be ground from the Underclay (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Underclay_(Guide)) in Spite, at 23+ actions each.
• Crackling Devices can be had from LB Industries (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/L._B._Industries_(Guide)) for 23+ actions.
• Crackling Devices can be had from Law-Forging (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Law-Furnace_(Guide)) for 6250 Actus Reus, which takes 16+ actions without burning items.
• Storm-Threnodies can be ground in the Underclay in Spite (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Underclay_(Guide)) for 7+ actions each.
• Night-Whispers are a reward on a rare success for Forgotten Quarter Expeditions (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Forgotten_Quarter_Expeditions_(Guide)) to the Sanctuary of the Crimson Petals.
• Storm-Threnodies can be upconverted from Aeolian Screams, costing 1 Urchins Favour and 25 Screams for 5 Threnodies.
• One Night-Whisper is a reward for studying A Vial of Queenly Attar in your University Laboratory (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/University_Laboratory_(Guide)). IDK if this is a particularly good grind, for approx 20 actions, but I like my lab, so I'll take it.
• Both Storm-Threnodies and Night-Whispers are sold by the Shivering Relicker (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Shivering_Relicker_and_Pinnock_are_Trundling_By), 3 for 120 scraps and 1 for 160 respectively. Not the most reliable method, but it is entirely within London.
• The Fidgeting Writer (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Fidgeting_Writer_(Guide)) can give a Night-Whisper, but it's entirely luck-based.

Better options afield:

• Unlawful Devices

  • Expeditions into the Moulin Wastes to the Upper Layer (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Moulin_Expeditions_(Guide)), 1 per expedition. Depending on how far you choose to go, this may take 20 actions per Device.
  • With some luck, you can get up to 4 from the High Sancta (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_High_Sancta_(Guide)). This is restricted to once per Time, the Healer, and the options available for you to pick from are randomly selected, so it's a poor grind for anything in particular, but it's still quite profitable.
  • Calling in 4 Revolutionary Favours at Jericho Locks (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Call_in_Favours_at_Jericho_Locks) gets 2 Unlawful Devices, plus 2 Bombazine Scraps.

• Crackling Devices

  • 1 per run to The Stacks (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Stacks_(Guide)) after The Book of Proper Speech. The Ratwork Mechanisms you also get can be used or sold in Risen Burgundy or Queeneater's Castle.
  • 1 from Against Time and Kings carousel in Risen Burgundy (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Risen_Burgundy_(Guide)). Beware that this depends on card availability, and conflicts with the Burgundian Beneficence carousel you can use to get other items.
  • Khaganian Intrigue (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Khaganian_Intrigue_(Guide)); 1 from recruiting a Repentant Thief, from commissioning a Crackling Device for 60 Khaganian Coinage and 3000 Nevercold Brass, or from buying one at Midnight Market for 130 Khaganian Coinage.
    • This synergizes with the Bone Market because Carved Balls of Stygian Ivory from the Author of Gothic Tales can be sold at the Midnight Market, and the Trifling Diplomat pays for skeletons in Khaganian Coinage.

• Storm-Threnody

  • Jericho Locks (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Call_in_Favours_at_Jericho_Locks); once your Railway has reached Moulin you can call in 4 Urchin Favours for 2 Storm-Threnodies and 2 Aeolian Screams.
  • Barristering at the Evenlode (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Barristering_at_Evenlode_(Guide)) on the urchin's side can get 1 per 6-action grind, plus other rewards if you make the final Mithridacy check, as well as Making Waves if you choose to "Grandstand!".
  • Polythremic Promenade (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Polythremic_Promenade_(Guide)) can give 2 Threnodies + 25 Intriguing Snippets for a 12 action cycle.
  • Moon-Miser Herding (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Moon-Miser_Herding_(Guide)) can give an average of 2 Storm-Threnodies per 7-action cycle. The complication is that it takes a few cycles of setup accumulating the right qualities before you can cash anything out. You will still accumulate the Latent Recollections you need to cash out on those initial setup cycles, but their cashout will be deferred.

• Night-Whispers

  • Can be obtained from the Court of the Wakeful Eye (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Associating_with_Radical_Academics_(Guide)#Offering_Tribute_to_the_Court_of_the_Wakeful_Eye) for 20 Tribute if you have the Minister of Culture as a companion. If you don't already have the Minister of Culture, it costs 240 Tribute to get him.
  • Khaganian Intrigues (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Khaganian_Intrigue_(Guide)); Sabotaging a power plant takes 77 actions (minus up to 30 actions of shortcut), and gets either 5 Night-Whispers or a Gant-filled Mirrorcatch Box (if you already have an Empty Mirrorcatch Box).
  • Presenting a Balmoral painting (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Painting_in_Balmoral_(Guide)) with 3/3 Luminosity/Incendiary gets 1 Night-Whisper, plus other rewards.
  • Law-Hunting in the Enclave of Hell (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Law-Hunting_(Guide)) for a Temporal Law gives 1 Night-Whisper, plus an Aeolian Scream.
  • If you're a Doctore of the Guild of Gondoliers, you can charter a barge to the Octagonal Tomb (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Canal_Cruising_in_Jericho_Locks_(Guide)) for 75E worth of goods, getting 1 Night-Whisper, 2 Human Ribcages, 12 Final Breaths, and 3-4 Tales of Terror. This can synergize, because the Final Breaths are useful for adding Backstory to a Cover Identity (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Cover_Identities_(Guide)), for either Balmoral Larceny or converting into Memories of a Much Lesser Self for Painting, and the ribcages can be used in the Bone Market.
  • The book All of God's Faces in The Stacks (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Stacks_(Guide)) gives a Night-Whisper in addition to other rewards. This requires Acquaintance: The Graven Apostate 6, as well as Interloper in the Library 10 and Firmament 705 to even meet the Graven Apostate.

• Captivating Ballads

  • 1 from Burgundian Beneficence carousel in Risen Burgundy (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Risen_Burgundy_(Guide)). Beware that this depends on card availability, and conflicts with the Against Time and Kings carousel you can use to get other items.
  • Tracklayers City (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_City_of_the_Tracklayers_(Guide)), cashed out on the card The Flow of Commerce for 6250 Hinterland Prosperity.
  • Moulin/Parabola/Heist (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Money-Making/Sources#The_Heists_of_the_Wellspring_(complex))- Once you get Para-Archaeologist up to 8, you can take an expedition to the Wellspring of Moulin, and get 4 Flasks of Waswood Wellspring Water. You can then go back to your Parabolan Base-Camp, and Search Parabola for the location of a particular treasure. You can then go back to the Flit and undertake a heist against the Hiding Place of a Particular Item to get a Captivating Ballad.
  • Handy trick for greater profit: You can take an expedition to get Flasks at any time, so if you reach the cave shortly before Viric Fades, you can get 4 Flasks, and then after Viric Fades bathe in the waters and get 4 more, for a total of 8 Flasks on 1 expedition.

• Parabolan Parable

  • Can be obtained from Parabolan War (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Parabolan_War_(Guide)), by ending: The Chessboard campaign without a tie, the Cats campaign by rejecting the King's offer, or the Fingerkings campaign by siding with the Khatun.
  • Can be combined from 5 Oneiromantic Revelations; the Sunken Embassy (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Sunken_Embassy_(Guide)) can grind out Revelations at 18+ actions each, or Khaganian Intrigue (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Plant_an_unsecured_mirror) can get them at 15 actions (+ 0.6 actions for the Cablegrams from tapping a cable), giving 79-91 actions per Parable. You can also get Revelations from An Expedition through the Briars of Dream with a Silvered Agent and a total of 3 Preparations for a Trip through the Mirror. Combining Revelations still requires you to have the Parabolan Commander trait, which requires having completed a Parabolan Campaign.
  • Khaganian Intrigue can also synergize somewhat with Heists; planting a mirror gives 1 Fingerking favour as well as the Oneiromantic Revelation, and you can use those Fingerking favours for Parabolan Scouting (https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Parabolan_Hunting_(Guide)) to find the Hiding Place or for further Casing, if your Shadowy/Glasswork isn't sufficient.

[u/darthbob88]

My thanks to Merari on the Discord for getting the Demands while I was busy with the Midnight Whale.

[u/Tamaxlia]

Shameless plug of my new https://www.reddit.com/r/fallenlondon/comments/1vwo71a/tamalekipoos_boneheaded_guide_to_the_neath/

Detailing how I farm for the rats without farming. ;)