At present my Featuring in the Tales of the University story quality is at 5, and I’m loathe to raise it higher.
My reason for this is that I’m currently able to use Enjoying the pace of academic life -> Perhaps you might read a book today as a reliable, grind-able, non-Laudanum, way of dealing with Nightmares.
I know I can also deal with Nightmares via social actions, but that’s not a solution I can employ at the drop of the hat. It’s just that if I continue the University story (via A most notable academic) then I expect I’m going to forfeit my current method for handling them.
(I’ve recently regained Stormy Eyed, and don’t want to lose it due to madness all over again if it can be helped. :3 )
Will I still have the option of Perhaps you might read a book today, if I continue at the university beyond ‘5’?
Failing that, is there a similar option further along the University storyline? 3) If neither of those will be available, is there an alternative storylet people know of that I can turn to instead?
or
Am I looking at this with the entirely wrong approach?
There’s at least two other opportunities to remove nightmares at little cost (though I don’t know what you’ve access to). These are permanently available once unlocked.
At some point it’ll actually become a bit harder to acquire Nightmares than it is to deal with them. There’s no harm in staying in the first half of the University content until you reach a point where Nightmares aren’t something you have to manage.
Out of curiosity, what would you consider is that point? I am just shy of 200 Watchful with equipment and while I can’t say Nightmares are a bane of my life I definitely have not felt that they are hard to acquire…
For me, it’s not that they’re hard to acquire, it’s that they’re easy to get rid of too. The orphan /widow conflict card reduces them nicely, and there are plenty of other cards that help as well, if you’re not obsessed with epa. Church card removes nightmares and gives MW, a couple of fate-locked stories give you cards with minor nightmare reduction options. Finally, there comes a point where it’s too much of a nuisance to find a watchful action with 90% chance of success and you just switch to 100%-ing everything, at which point you can keep nightmares under control by just persuading orphans to drop out of school.
For me that point comes when most of the actions you take are 100% and you only get the occasional point when a Dream card drops into your hand. My Nightmares rarely exceed 2, and usually Time the Healer keeps those little points from adding up. If I want Nightmares I need to go out of my way to get them.
The Cave of the Nadir can also help get rid of Nightmares, even if it does so at the cost of your stats. Still, if you’re going in there anyway it helps keep things under control if your playstyle is a little more Nightmares heavy than mine.
I do do things that raise nightmares as I love poking around the Forgotten Quarter. To deal with them I normally go gawp at the Hyena in the second coil of the Labyrinth which swaps nightmares for wounds (and some items); then I spend some time in bed (hoping to see the Music-Hall Singer). That along with opportunity cards deals with them.
Thankyou! These answers have been helpful.
I’d forgotten I had visited the Somnolent Hyaena (while wandering aimlessly in the Labyrinth), so I think I’ll turn to that option and move onwards with the University.
While I’m moving through that storyline, are there any actions that are particularly interesting (or profitable) that I should make sure I attempt before I get kicked out of Uni?
There’s the university/flit exploit where you spend investigating… from the uni for the courier’s options options in the flit. Gives a ton of cryptic clues.