HELP - HOW DO I ESCAPE SMEN?????????????????????

Fallen London
1

I need to read more carefully:

Ehh I am an idiot for not advancing scholar of the correspondence before the option to do it in the university passed, now I have to slog though the RNG in the forgotten quarter.

Hmm… maybe this option will increase it faster.

(not reading the story text) Did it work, why is that text in a larger font?

Nothing… why is persuasive decreasing? Hmm I seem to have gotten some Appalling secrets, But I can get that from practically everything in the forgotten quarteeee, EHHHH, AHHHHH.

…

FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD, JUST TELL ME PLAIN AND SIMPLE HOW TO ESCAPE PLEASE!!!

2

What?

3

You don’t have to worry about SMEN - it’s not going to hurt you unless you actively pursue it. That said, there’s a card that will show up with an option to give up the search, and even if you don’t choose that option you’ll end up with an item that will let you quit at any time.

4

If you have Scholar of the Correspondence, you’ll get a black-bordered card soon called An Alphabet of Scars that lets you give up the Search.

5

Thanks, that’s what I thought.
I guess the comments of some of the role-players (&quotI have touched the name and now cannot escape&quot etc) cast some foolish doubts in my mind.
Just to make sure, how clear is the option that allows you to abandon SMEN in the Alphabet of Scars card?

6

It’s pretty clearly signposted with explanatory italicised text, I think (and it’ll be the only option that the game doesn’t tell you is a terrible idea).

7

Wait - is the escape option meant to increase SMEN?

8

Both options on An Alphabet of Scars link to this event: http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/A_WARNING during which you just choose “This isn’t for me”, and you’ll be free as a bird. Nothing to worry about.

9

I am 90% sure that I picked the escape option, I said something about the path being narrow but escape still being possible. SMEN increased to three however.
edited by Zarrg on 10/6/2016
edited by Zarrg on 10/6/2016

10

Reading the wiki suggests that this is meant to happen … I think.
The fact that it is midnight and I should be asleep and various stresses in my actual life are not working in my favor.

11

If it increased to 3, there should be an item in your inventory that lets you leave.

12

Yes. The item in question is A Bad End, first in the Curiosities section. If you don’t have it, check the Story section of your qualities to see if you do still in fact have the Seeking Mr Eaten’s Name quality.

13

[quote=Zarrg]I am 90% sure that I picked the escape option, I said something about the path being narrow but escape still being possible. SMEN increased to three however.
edited by Zarrg on 10/6/2016
edited by Zarrg on 10/6/2016[/quote]

If you have &quotA Bad End&quot in your inventory (it should be at or near the very beginning of the Curiosities section), you can use that to escape.

That said, you should be able to escape with the &quotAlphabet of Scars&quot card, even though it does increase SMEN to 3 first. I have allowed people to betray me and escaped multiple times (I now have the &quotFreed of the Name&quot quality at over 5 in consequence). My recollection is that once you do the &quotThis is not for me&quot option, you immediately get taken to yet another screen that allows you to do the opt-out storylet (which is decorated with the same burning paper image that signifies the Searing Enigma). That storylet will finally zero out your SMEN quality.

Next time I’m betrayed and use the card to escape, I’ll echo the text to my journal and post here with a link.

14

FYI, you don’t need to worry. While in-character the search is supposed to &quotsuck you in&quot, metagame-wise it’s pretty easy to get out. You’re not going to wake up and suddenly find your character destroyed or anything. Once you get the &quota bad end&quot item, you can simply use it to leave at any time, and the card should appear before then. It’s not some hidden secret one-time option that you might miss and accidentally destroy yourself.
edited by Amalgamate on 10/7/2016

15

That said, I am now enchanted by the idea of someone, through a series of misclicks and misunderstandings, accidentally playing through the entire SMEN storyline.

16

&quotA Starveling Cat walked across my keyboard 77 times while I was sleeping, and now I’m NORTH. Send help.&quot

17

&quotA Starveling Cat walked across my keyboard 77 times while I was sleeping, and now I’m NORTH. Send help.&quot[/quote]
125 SMEN? But then I saw who posted this and knew it’s something normal. Stop changing you avatar this often and huge congratulations!

18

(Disclaimer: I’m not actually NORTH, nor do I intend to stop at 125)

19

Passionario, desperately following that compass for his own good, trying to avoid going North so hard – and still the Name pursues him relentlessly, drawing him, consuming him…

D__n! Very impressive. You make me want to return to the Mirror Marches to chase my own quixotic quest again.

20

I escaped, does the “freed from the name” quality actually have any effect?
Thank you.