Flash Lays (Guide)
|
Early MYN Content |
- Laying a Flash Summary
- Locked Limited-Length Activity
- Setup
- 1 A
- Progress
- 1+ A
- End
- 1 A
- Progress Details
- Raise
Flash Lay's Progress to 75, (up to 100 with bad card draw) - Items Inputs/Outputs
- Raw EPA
- 2.5
Flash Lays are stories found in 
Your Activities and require 
A Name Whispered in Darkness 3 and 
A Name Signed with a Flourish 3.
Currently there are 2 repeatable free cases available:
- A Successful Spirifer - Suggested
Persuasive and 
Shadowy around 50 - An Avid Auditor for the Ministry of Public Decency - Suggested Persuasive and Shadowy around 125
And a number of others are one time fate-locked cases.
The Basics[edit]
The in-game instructions for Flash Lays can be found in Flash Lays: A Guide.
When you start a Flash Lay, you are taken to a special area (
A Flash Lay). Your opportunity deck and hand are replaced by a new deck of special Flash Lay cards. There is no deck limit and cards can be drawn as long as room remains in your hand, but the cards cannot be discarded – playing them is the only way to make space to draw new cards.
Your goal is to reach 75 Progress, then play the appropriate action on the Make your Move: a Confessional Evening card. Alternatively, if you have 100 Progress, you will automatically get the appropriate storylet. If your 
Nightmares, 
Suspicion, or 
Scandal reach five, you will need to take immediate countermeasures or the Flash Lay will fail.
Up your Sleeve is a unique resource that some cards will give you. Up Your Sleeve can be used to remove obstacle cards/convert these to advantage cards and gain additional progress or reduce your menaces.
The Flash lays at a glance[edit]
| Flash Lay | Difficulty Multiplier | Suggested attributes | Starting Obstacles | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Successful Spirifer | 2 x | ~50
|
| |
| An Avid Auditor | 5 x | ~125
|
| |
| The Owner of Triple Orpheus FATE | 1 x | None |
| |
| Bildersborn & Nephew FATE | 1 x |  ~25
|
|
3 x
Opportunity Cards[edit]
Opportunity cards will allow you to increase Progress, grant Up your Sleeve, or have other effects. Some cards are Obstacle cards - special cards which will automatically fire when drawn and will hinder your progression until the obstacles are eliminated.
Basic Opportunity Cards[edit]
These cards usually have an easy challenge that gives 3 Progress, as well as a hard challenge that gives 7 Progress.
They may have additional options that give Progress, but also gives an obstacle. Some choices may take more than one action.
One of the opportunity cards allows you to spend 
Steadfast to gain Progress or Up your Sleeve.
Obstacles and Openings[edit]
Starting from 33 Progress in the Spirifer Flash Lay and from the beginning in the Auditor Flash Lay, obstacles may be drawn and will autoplay once drawn. If you have 5 x Up your Sleeve you may spend them to get 25 Progress and eliminate the card. You may also spend 8 x Up your Sleeve on a hard challenge to get 25 Progress and convert the card into an opening.
If you do not have sufficient Up your Sleeve, you will be forced to do an action to increase your menaces as well as gaining 1 Up your Sleeve. This is inefficient and should be avoided.
Each Flash lay begins with 2 obstacles, and more may be added based on your choices on other cards. In addition, 
a Mysterious Stranger may be gambled to receive either an obstacle or an opening on one of the cards, if you're not happy with the ones you have already.
Openings allow you to gain Up your Sleeve and Progress easily. A rare 'success' on this card will remove the opening.
| Obstacle Quality/Opening Quality | Type | Card | Option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gain | An Avid Auditor for the Ministry of Public Decency | Starting Quality | |
| A Mysterious Stranger | Follow them_2 | ||
| An Embarrassing Encounter | "So sorry – distant relation, honey-addled..." | ||
| Obstacle | Obstacle: an Awkward Friend | ||
| Opening | Opening: an Informant | ||
| Gain | An Avid Auditor for the Ministry of Public Decency | Starting Quality | |
| Obstacle | Obstacle: Legal Complications | ||
| Opening | Opening: a Corrupt Constable | ||
| Gain | A Successful Spirifer | Starting Quality | |
| The Perils of Enthusiasm | Beg your mark to fetch a Constable | ||
| Obstacle | Obstacle: an Importunate Constable | ||
| Opening | Opening: a Corrupt Constable | ||
| Gain | A Successful Spirifer | Starting Quality | |
| Structural failings | Take the basement passage | ||
| Obstacle | Obstacle: an Inconvenient Door | ||
| Opening | Opening: a Ring of Duplicate Keys |
Menace cards[edit]
If Nightmares, Scandal, or Suspicion reach 3, you will start drawing menace cards. These will allow you to spend Up your Sleeve to reduce your menace, or do a challenge that will increase the menace, even on a success. These are inefficient, so it may be a good idea to keep your menaces low.
Additionally if any of the above reach 5, a storylet will autofire where you can either spend 5 x A Flash Lay: Up your Sleeve to reduce the menace by 5 points, or you will be forced to abandon your flash.
Strategy[edit]
Each flash lay can be divided in 2 or 3 parts:
- Stage 0 (Less than Progress 33, the Spirifer flash lay)
- Stage 1 ( Progress 33-74)
- Stage 2 ( Progress 75+)
For stage 0 with the Spirifer flash lay, you can't normally draw obstacle cards. This means you have some time to plan ahead, and it may be worth getting some Up your Sleeve in order to spend later.
For stage 1, you will draw obstacle cards, and dealing with these give you 25 Progress per obstacle. You should try to get some Up your Sleeve to help with these.
For stage 2, you essentially only have to draw the reward card, or build Progress up to 100.
An estimate of 5 progress/action leads to an EPA of ~1 for the easiest Flash Lay and 2.5 for the harder one.
