I’ve recently been having correspondence with a player on the Seeker of the Name path. We’ve both remained in-character throughout and it has been an enjoyable and delightfully disturbing experience. Now, however, my acquaintance has sent me a message that my email tells me means he "wants to speak, monstrously, of the Name and the inks of the undernight" and warns me not to listen, and I’m a tad concerned for the future of my character.
I’m not a Fallen London expert. While I’ve had an account for years, this is really the first time I’ve ever played the game enough to consider myself a player, so I’m not sure what will happen if I accept this invitation. I know enough to know that seeking the Name can brick your character pretty bad, but I don’t know if just accepting this will put me back too far, and I’d rather not ruin the mood of the correspondence by breaking character and asking my acquaintance directly.
Has anyone else had a similar invitation they’ve accepted? If so, has it harmed your character’s prospects too badly? Is it likely I’ll face some consequences for this significantly more problematic than a few actions spent in the Tomb Colonies? I have some of my own goals for this character I’d like to pursue before I consider going after the Name, and I’d rather not lock myself out of them.
You will gain Nightmares and 1 point in Seeking Mr Eaten’s Name. Nothing character-breaking.
SMEN is very painful for those seeking, but not right away, and it is -at most- annoying to those who don’t seek. Even better, I remember a time when not being a Seeker was rather advantageous in the Knife and Candle game (our names were disclosed on twitter, iirc, to those wo wanted to stab us hahaha ^^). So don’t worry, that’s just a little tiny first step into this amazing and sublime story.
edited by Emain Ablach on 5/25/2019
There’s nothing to worry about. While SMEN can do a lot of damage to your character, it’s all willingly done. If you accept the invitation the only mandatory effect is that you’ll draw one card, letting you choose whether to quit or continue the story. Everything past that requires actively pursuing the storyline, with no penalty to leaving it inactive. If you decide to quit SMEN from the card, you’ll suffer no ill effects and be able to start later at any point you so desire.
Regardless of whether you choose to Seek now, I would suggest accepting the invitation. It’ll help your friend significantly, and while it will give you a chunk of Nightmares, it’s nothing insurmountable.
Thank you very much for the responses, they have been very helpful in resolving the situation. I was worried that even taking a bit of Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name would brick me, but that does seem kind of silly in retrospect.
Yeah, think of it more as the very start of the Genocide run in Undertale rather than a single permenantly bad choice - it takes a long time to actually perrma-doom yourself by going that path.