Once I accepted Intimate of Sulfury Individuals storyline, and now my opportunities are plagued by them. It was said it’s possible to sheer luck them out to Intimate 20, but seems it’s simply not true, as relevant stat in fact doesn’t increase any more past 17 or so despite numerous ‘almost-agreements’. Any means to shuffle these two persona out of my hands? Thank you dear citizens!
edited by Kharsirr Lynx on 8/20/2014
Oooh, sounds like you’re too fortunate for your own good. But keep at it. You’ll have some bad luck eventually, I’m sure. Then you’ll be rid of them.
If you don’t want to inadvertantly accept their offers you can tell them to go away repeatedly and i think they’ll eventually give up.
Oh, it’s certainly possible to show them the door, so to speak, but according to the wiki that only reduces the ‘intimate’ quality. And while it can be reduced to nothing, as long as the regular connection is three or more the first one will keep coming back.
I have found it completely impossible to eradicate the connection. The lowest-level connection card increases Connected:Hell even on a rejection! I think that a combination of repeatedly rejecting advances and then failing to rob the Embassy might do it, but at some cost…
[quote=Ewan C.]The lowest-level connection card increases Connected:Hell even on a rejection![/quote]Not really sure what card that would be, but if you’re ‘sharp’ with your rejection of the one who takes a shine to you, that should reduce the connection. You should also be able to cash in your connection at the Forgotten Quarter when it is at 15 or more, and keep doing that until you have less than 15. Then you can increase it until it’s 15 again, and cash it in to get very close to zero. At that point you should be able to do something that ticks them off, such as writing a satirical song about their grand hunt (at The Singing Mandrake). And surely you don’t have to play any card they might throw at you?
also you could side with any faction over hell in the various conflict cards (i think urchins and the church are there, there might be more; that’ll burn through your connections with hell quickly)
You should probably only do this when you no longer need high level Hell connections e.g. for the brass embassy upgrade
Not everyone wants a connection to Hell, of any sort. I avoided one completely for months. In my impatience to find Flute Street I was finally induced to get a small one to advance the Solitary Glim-Sculptor’s story. Since then I’ve tried and failed to find a way to reduce it to zero again - though I’ve taken note of Gillsing’s helpful hints - thank you, Gillsing. But sadly, to be a shepherd, I need a higher connection to Hell so that I can steal souls to return them.
Apparently, you need to hire devils to start a newspaper, and you need to become an Intimate of Devils at that, which is very dispiriting. Looks like I’ll give up my newspaper plans. It was bad enough to learn that I can’t ever start a salon.
edited by Edmund Winterset on 8/22/2014
[quote=Edmund Winterset]Apparently, you need to hire devils to start a newspaper, and you need to become an Intimate of Devils at that, which is very dispiriting.[/quote]You don’t have to become an Intimate of Devils, that’s just the cheaper alternative. You can instead choose to hire professionals (for all positions where you lack friends). Though hiring professionals in this case costs a Portfolio of Souls, which I suppose might be equally unthinkable.
Yes, pretty much. It’s even not the creation of one so much as the need to actually give it to devils which is unthinkable.
I harbour no illusions about Fleet Street, so I find the story apt and amusing, but I wish there was some way around it.
Just for the record, I did finally decide to start a newspaper. I reached a point in Survivor of the Affair of the Box where I faced an ethical dilemma. My choices were to either expose the Masters’ plan, or to side with them against London, or to abandon the story and walk away.
Stringing some devils along to help start a newspaper to print the story seems better than turning a blind eye. So I became an intimate of devils - a thoroughly hideous experience - since I certainly wasn’t going to pay with a portfolio of souls. It’s similar to the way I keep a low level connection to Hell, in order to do something fate-locked.
Basically if you want your character to be good the game forces you to make hard decisions, i.e. to either rub shoulders with devils or to commit worse sins of omission. It’s clever game design. (But I still think you should be able to run a newspaper without a gossip column, dammit.)
[quote=Edmund Winterset]
Basically if you want your character to be good the game forces you to make hard decisions, i.e. to either rub shoulders with devils or to commit worse sins of omission. It’s clever game design. (But I still think you should be able to run a newspaper without a gossip column, dammit.)[/quote]
To be fair you can rub shoulders with them without actually doing questionable things of consequences or getting yourself harmed. Just sit in all day long on their talk about souls being buoyant.
edited by Estelle Knoht on 1/21/2015
[quote=Estelle Knoht][quote=Edmund Winterset]
Basically if you want your character to be good the game forces you to make hard decisions, i.e. to either rub shoulders with devils or to commit worse sins of omission. It’s clever game design. (But I still think you should be able to run a newspaper without a gossip column, dammit.)[/quote]
To be fair you can rub shoulders with them without actually doing questionable things of consequences or getting yourself harmed. Just sit in all day long on their talk about souls being buoyant.[/quote]
That’s not quite true. The lecture at the Brass Embassy merely increases your connection to Hell, which isn’t what you need to start a newspaper. To do that, you must either have Intimate of Devils 5 or be prepared to pay "professionals" with a Portfolio of Souls.
Going to dinner with devils and dancing with one wasn’t a thing of great consequence, and it didn’t result in me getting harmed, but it was something that I absolutely did not wish to do. And now I’m stuck with the constant reminder of it, as those bloodshot eyes turn up in my deck all the time. It might seem trivial to you, but it’s not to me.
I understand your position, I had the same issues and lost my soul briefly to Hell, got it back and have devoted my life to attending their lectures in order to betray the devils to urchins and the church.
Now there’s a tale of courage and commitment. I had no idea that it was possible to betray the devils. Good for you.
Oh wait, you mean with opportunity cards, don’t you. Ah yes, I always help the child keep his soul. And it’s always such a pleasure to do so.
There’s a rare success on the Beneath the Neath that will give you a Portfolio. And since there’s no way to free the souls, you might as well trade them away, guilt-free.
I actually had Jass, who is in no way fond of Devils, fall for that just so I could get rid of the Intimate storyline for her. It has been a year, and I’m now grinding Fun with the Fisher-Kings to get it back.
Despite an aversion to all things Hellish, I also like to remain a nodding acquaintance to the Devils. The main reason for this is in order to be able to side against them with the Church and the Urchins, as already mentioned. The easiest way I can maintain my "friendship" with them is to pass them information on criminal endeavours in the Flit. This takes me from Connected 0 to 7, good for one or two betrayals, only costs one action, and doesn’t involve doing anything I consider too morally questionable.