Okay, so i have a few questions about The Forgotten Quarter:
I have heard a few mention a place called The Nadir. Can you tell me more?
And what do I do with these Correspondance Stones? I wish to study The Correspondence as fully as I can, but all I get is the Investigating option and it’s conclusion.
The Nadir is a strange place, found in the forgotten quarter. Before you go there, you’ll have to advance the stories of the Firebrand and the Missionary, and embark on a difficult expedition; you’ll find it eventually.
And about the stones: the option you see can be repeated, but won’t give anything new; you must go to the university, where you’ll get the chance to study them further, after advancing the story there. Feel free to ask if you need anything.
If you want to find it you’ll also need Archaeologist 5.
Spoilery version
It’s a cave full of irrigo light that basically messes with your head and makes you forget things.
It also happens to be really profitable (most cards in it give 2.50 echo to 62.50 echo items), but is only accessible in short bursts once a week in real time.
Just curious, if a person were to go about looking for such a cave for it’s profitable items to sell or use, how would one go about getting the qualities needed? I assume I will need 7 fate for One expedition to get to Archaeologist 5, but aside from that I have never met a Firebrand or a Missionary.
The Firebrand and Missionary turn up as cards, eventually, but their stories aren’t short and it takes a while to get to the point that they want to go to the Nadir.
You don’t need to spend fate to get to archaeologist 5 just enough change points from repeating the other expeditions to get there.
You will need lots of expedition supplies and some other things to get there as well but I’m sure you will find that out by the time you are ready.
Once you have opened the route you get a quality every week, with Time the Healer, which removes some of the damage and lets you go back in.
On the subject of Expedition supplies, what is a good way of getting them? If I spend money to get 4 each time it defeats the point of me going in there for money. And what exactly am I looking for in Firebrand and Missionary? Do i need a quality or Connection to get it? My Revolutionaries is lacking after I (Alas) spoiled myself on a certain event you give work towards via Luminous items and decided I wanted nothing to do with them.
The consensus seems to be that gathering Whispered Secrets is the best way to pay for Expedition Supplies. You’ll need rather a lot of them, but there are a lot of ways of getting them depending on what your highest stats are. If your best stat is Watchful, then spend time Looking for Curios in the Forgotten Quarter, so long as you have a good way of dealing with nightmares (I personally recommend this; it will likely yield you other treasure that will help you on this path). If you’re more Persuasive, then there are options in Veilgarden and the Shuttered Palace, and so on and so forth.
As far as the Missionary and the Firebrand, your goal is to increase your connection with both of them to 10, which will need to be done via opportunity cards. It can take a while. The Cave of the Nadir is no small quest you are undertaking.
As it happens, completing the quest does not require fate at any juncture, though it can, of course, make certain steps along the way easier. Speaking of making steps along the way easier, you may wish to start acquiring six eyeless skulls.
With regards to your original subject, the Correspondence, once you obtain the Stones, opportunities to further your study of it pop up in the oddest of places, the Carnival, a Cricket match, a symphony as well as a few places you might expect. The truly dedicated scholar however, must expect to undergo great expense and pain in order to master the language.
Whispered Secrets can also be gotten in exchange for Jade, Rostygold or Amber in the Labyrinth of Tigers. And if you are a POSI, you can also break down Appalling Secrets into Whispered Secrets. It takes actions, but if you’re after supplies you’re much better off converting 10 AS and using the WS than buying supplies with AS.
If you’re going to grind secrets directly in the quarter, I suggest you start the Deranged Medium case so you can grind Cat in the mirror marches and cash it in later for memories of light. (don’t worry, no risk of aiding Revolutionaries)
[quote=Caninicus]The consensus seems to be that gathering Whispered Secrets is the best way to pay for Expedition Supplies.[/quote]According to my calculations (link) it’s more efficient to buy an Engraved Pewter Tankard and spend 150 x Glim and 3 Actions to get 75 CP Docks connection, and then spend 60 CP and 50 x Rostygold to Hire a porter from the docks. That option used to be inefficient, but now that it gives three supplies instead of just two, it becomes the best one, more or less tied with getting Strong-Backed Labour through The Acacia and the Butterfly.
Of course, if you already have a lot of Whispered Secrets that should be the most efficient option. Not to mention the fact that the porters during the University investigations give you not only Whispered Secrets, but also Sudden Insights, which can be used to succeed at expeditions and/or raise Watchful, which also helps you succeed at expeditions. So it kind of depends on the situation I guess?
Adding to what Gillsing said, unless you plan on buying the Cinder for € 400 you will need 6 Eyeless Skulls for Nadir. The best way to get them is probably Seeking Curios, and repeating that Storylets to get the Skulls gained me 20.000 whisped secrets over the last few days.
I did use the Pewter as well, but in retrospect, I might as well have been using the WS I got the Skulls grind.
Don’t buy the cinder with skulls though that just painful amounts of grinding for luck checks xP
[spoiler]
They show up at like, 2% chance on the See the Sights and Wander the Quarter storylets under seeking curios.
It is obviously cheaper (you get to kick all the not rare success loot), but a fairly long grind that’s entirely luck based, so.
And if it’s the sort of thing that bothers you, you’re basically one of the main financial supporters the liberation of night at that point.[/spoiler]
Also if costs isn’t the issue, buying strong backed labour at the bazaar sidestreets for supplies is the most efficient in action cost.
Appalling secrets is slightly more efficient in terms of echo cost than whispered secrets, but it raises nightmares. And I’m pretty sure the tankard+docks option outpreforms it.
edited by WormApotheote on 10/10/2014
No, don’t listen to her! I had the best time of my life grinding for Skulls! cough
Well, I may be crazy but all of my characters went the Eyeless Skull to Ray Drenched Cinder route … twice! Just in case there is ever another use for the things.
But I’m a packrat and want as many of the items as I can get
I don’t think anybody playing this game voluntarily can claim to be free of the prerequisite dollops of madness.
It’s abundantly clear the game is clearly designed to keep sane people out. That’s why everyone gets along so well.
Well I think some sane people play it but probably not long enough to reach the cave of the nadir. :P
To be honest, I acquired a great many of my secrets for supplies and eyeless skulls while seeking for curios, and I found a few other treasures that I still use besides. Have to agree about the sanity thing, though. Fallen London has it’s own version of Irrigo.
The way I most recently acquired several thousand secrets for funding the nadir expedition was to go to Mutton Island and cash in all my Implications.
Plus the carousel pays a lot of whispered secrets (and extraordinary implications)
edited by WormApotheote on 10/12/2014