I’ve off and on seen misconceptions as to what is and isn’t required to reach the lofty heights of Scholar of the Correspondence 21, also known as Courier’s Footprint, so I thought I’d write up this short guide.
The Basics
There are various ways to reach Scholar of the Correspondence 10 but once you get there the only way to reach higher is using Correspondence Plaques at the University and that requires a whole lot of Watchful. SotC 11 requires 200 Watchful. SotC 12 requires 210 Watchful. And our ultimate goal of SotC 21 requires a whopping 300 Watchful. Reaching that stat is the hardest part of the process but if you can get there the rest is just items. And you’re blood. A whole lot of your blood.
Getting the Stats
300 Watchful isn’t possible without an Overgoat and you’ll want to have reached the Watchful cap of 200. You’re also going to need the Preternaturally Intent mood which fills your hat slot and only lasts an hour. Mood cards are rare so if you see one make sure you hang onto it because it could be months until you see another one.
For now, let’s not worry about the mood and focus on hatlessly reaching 270 watchful. Your Overgoat, capped stat, and the best non-hat gear you can buy from the Bazaar (Smock of Four Thousand Three Hundred and Eight Pockets, Insatiable Gloves, Ratwork Watch) will get you as high as 246 Watchful. From there you need to get another 24 points. I’ve listed the various places you can get those points from below (for items, the bonus is over the thing they would replace).
[ul][li]+2 Mirror-polished Shoes or +3 Meticulously Altered Stocking or +5 Wax-Hardened Boots or +7 Language of Laces[/li][li]+4 Pot of Violant Ink or Notched Bone Harpoon[/li][li]+10 Ubergoat[/li][li]+3 or +5 Destiny[/li][li]+1 to +15 Extraordinary Mind specialization notability stat boost[/li][li]+1 Newspaper[/li][li]+3 Voluminous Library, +6 White Glim Telescope (fate locked), +8 The Great Game, or +9 Shrine to Saint Joshua[/li][li]+1 Spouse[/li][/ul]Ultimately, you’re going to need either an Ubergoat (very expensive) or to be an Extraordinary Mind (easier but can’t change it later) but outside of that there’s some flexibility.
Preparation
Once you’ve got your hatless 270 watchful you’re going to want to do some preparing. As mentioned, mood cards are rare and only last an hour so you’re going to want to make the most of them. First, get your Scholar of the Correspondence as high as possible without a Mood. At a minimum you should be able to reach 18 but with a Semiotic Monocle and a couple extra bonuses you can also reach 19 and if you’re really stretching your bonuses you can break the 300 mark and skip the mood requirement all together. The higher you can get your SotC in advance the easier the last push will be and the less likely you’ll need to wait for a second mood.
Next, make sure you have enough items. Each level of Scholar of the Correspondence you need to clear requires Extraordinary Implications and Aeolian Screams equal to the level you are trying to reach, and Correspondence Plaques equal to L * (L - 1) where L is the level you are trying to reach. So to go from 18 to 19 you need 19 Screams, 19 Implications, and 18 * 19 = 342 Plaques. Rare successes will cut down on that but I wouldn’t count on them. When you spend that mood make sure you have everything you need to do what you want to do.
Actions are a much trickier resource. A mood only lasts an hour and it takes a number of actions equal to the SotC level you are trying to reach to reach the next one; so going from 19 to 20 takes 20 actions and 20 to 21 takes 21 actions. Make sure you save any Darkdrop Coffee or Magnificent Feasts you’re lucky enough to get your hands on. Other than that if you’re still coming up short on actions your only other option is to make multiple mood runs or spend Fate.
The last thing you’re going to have to worry about is Wounds. Rare successes aside, each action you take is going to hurt (between 1 and 3 CP). Dealing with these wounds compounds the action problem dramatically. Make sure you’re healthy when you start a run. If you have a Magnificent Feast, make sure to time your use of it. Remember that Darkdrop Coffee also gives you a point of wounds. If you see an A Dream of Blood card (fate locked unfortunately) hold onto it in preparation for your run. If it comes down to it, Tinctures of Vigor are better than time in bed and above all else make sure you don’t die because by the time you’re back from the river your mood will be gone.
And that’s basically it. Happy corresponding! Try not to singe your eyebrows too badly.
edited by An Individual on 9/28/2017