My noman just died, which absolutely blindsided me because I finally managed to find some Tears of the Bazaar this week and that got my Noman’s Friend up to 51. I thought this would be enough to carry me through to next week even if I ended up with, like, Noman’s Friend 2 after Time the Healer got to me, but… no. No it did not.
I’m really quite annoyed about this, because I was flipping cards waiting for the Portly Sommelier to show up so I could give him the seven airags I collected (and I couldn’t even force-draw him with Favourable Circumstances like I did last week to get one last bucket from the urchins), and I had Noman Knows 14 so even if I’d decided to cut my losses I didn’t quite have enough even to take that option. Bad luck and bad timing in spades. I did an expedition at the last minute, too, but didn’t get the Tears I was hoping for (I got Elemental Secrets).
Does anyone else still have a noman? Mine had already outlived all my friends’ nomen by at least a week because of my tireless Wild Words grinding and repeated archaeology digs for airag and tears. I was already getting suspicious that they were speeding up the noman melt rate last week because I saw more people losing forty-something points of Noman’s Friend, including one who lost 49 when the biggest loss I’d seen before that was 44. (I lost 39 last week; I had 61 before that after I boosted it all I could, and while I don’t remember the exact losses before that, I do recall that one was in the low forties, one was in the mid-thirties, and one was in the high twenties.)
Honestly, last week I was predicting that this would be the day my noman died, but then I finally got seven airags together and that gave me a little spark of optimism. Which grew into a rather far-fetched dream of seeing my noman through to the Feast of the Exceptional Rose if I got lucky with the archaeological digs. It did not turn out that way. edited by CameoAppearance on 2/6/2014
Said goodbye to my last one yesterday, ahead of the expected arrival of Time and at Noman Knows 15. Trying to remember to use up pails of lacre now, also :-((
Mine has fought off its slushy demise for another week, but the 54 point hit surprised me - I must admit that I thought that the upper band was 50. I’m going to have to step up my farming - if the damage is ramping up I don’t think my poor Noman will survive another week.
I thought the range was 25-45 based on the losses I saw people taking in January, although I suppose it could have been more like 25-50, but I swear they started increasing it.
Oh, I’m positive they did. It’ll be even worse in March, assuming anyone still has their Noman then. I suppose you could leave London and never come back if you want to keep it forever? Or at least until the end of winter.
Edit: Assuming the storylet doesn’t trigger outside of London, that is. edited by Sara Hysaro on 2/7/2014
I dunno if that’s a safe assumption, but… maybe. Also your Noman’s Friend would still drop every week. Maybe if you stockpiled a bunch of Tears of the Bazaar beforehand that would be worth trying, though. If the Noman’s End storylet doesn’t fire outside London you could camp out somewhere else that lets you use items and use the Tears from inventory whenever it hit 0.
Actually, if you did have Tears maybe you could tab out of the storylet and do that anyway. I mean, if you can keep yourself out of menace states by immediately equipping/using a menace reducer when it hits 8 but before the storylet to move you there fires (which I have done), then it might do the trick. Maybe. edited by CameoAppearance on 2/7/2014
You can definitely save your Noman with 1 Tear a week by ignoring the storylet and clicking the Tears in your inventory. It’s the only reason I still have mine, and might be able to keep it through the Feast.
Well I haven’t got my Noman any more - took the Noman’s friend 15 opportunity. But I should say don’t count on being able to use your Tears outside London - I’m in the Iron Republic and the Tears have a “can’t be used in this place”. It is the same when you are actually at Zee though you can do conversions. I haven’t checked the other Islands yet.
I’m not too sure about that - there are two different types of red border to items - one where you can still click and use the item (if you are in a storylet for example) and another where you can’t even click on the item. Certain items at Zee - like lodgings and Tears of the Bazaar have this but you can still do conversions. In the Iron Republic all your items have the unusable red border. I’m doing a tour of the Islands at the moment and will see what can be used where.[li]
Edit to add - last time I was in Polythreme (a while ago I must admit) you couldn’t convert items. edited by reveurciel on 2/7/2014
We’re in Polythreme at the moment, and we can confirm that items cannot be converted from that location. One can’t even use items such as Ablution Solution or Tinctures of Vigour. Our characters seem to enjoy travelling without much in the way of provisions.
That was the case last I was there, but my friends have been to Polythreme more recently and they said they could get at their items when they were there. Perhaps it’s a bug that’s since been patched. (Also I didn’t know there were situations outside London where you could use only some of your items. So I kind of… ignored that bit about conversions.)
On the plus side, even though you can’t take your healthful tinctures with you, you can’t seem to die or go insane outside London either. edited by CameoAppearance on 2/8/2014
Now on the Sea of Voices - you can use convertible items but not Tears of the Bazaar and certain other London specific items (lodgings keys, etc.) but you can use Tinctures of Vigour, Laudanum, etc.
I am currently wandering around Hunter’s Keep with my entourage, Noman included. If possible, I’ll probably forgo a paycheck and spend one more Tears to have her around at the beginning of the Feast, then let her go.
Ack. :( And I accidentally triggered it by clicking on the access code from twitter, I think – it hadn’t set off when I was just wandering around Hunter’s Keep.
I’m not sure whether to go ahead or stay away from the site for a while and hope they change their minds. Which I realize is unlikely. dismal
Edit: I suppose they probably just changed things around as a more general trap. I gave her a hug while she melted and I guess I’ll just go back to London. If anybody manages to hang on to one until the feast, post if it does anything interesting? edited by Schefflera on 2/11/2014
My Noman’s Friend is at 87 with one more visit of the ‘healer’ before the feast starts, so beyond another dramatic ramp up in melt, he should make it that far. I’ll post if anything interesting happens.
Incidentally, I have no plans to keep the thing alive through to the end of the feast, unless some hint is dropped that it would be worthwhile to do so. Can anyone tell me if that ‘flash of light’ that happened last year was at the end of the feast, the beginning or an unrelated event?