Seeking Mr Eaten's Name (Guide)

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Diamondsmall.png Early PoSI Content and Onwards
Appallingsecret.png

Why? In God's name, why? What can you possibly hope to gain? Stop now. Before it's too late.

Wiki note: The old version of this guide has been moved to Seeking Mr Eaten's Name (old).

For the purposes of this guide, various qualities are often abbreviated:

  • Seeking Mr Eaten's Name = SMEN
  • Unaccountably Peckish = UP
  • Marsh-Mired in Dreams of Sustenance = MMiDoS

Why, Indeed?[edit]

So, you've decided to buckle down and join the quest for the Name with like-minded lunatics such as ourselves! Good on you! The road ahead leads only to misery and damnation and woe and personal loss and financial ruin and loneliness and death and imprisonment and ultimately, most famously, your character becoming permanently unusable.

Why would a player pursue such folly? Because Seeking Mr Eaten's Name is a story like the rest of Fallen London, and what a tale it is; the madness and obsession your character descends into is mirrored by your own as the Search devours all the progress you've worked so hard to gain. Because you simply have to know what happens at the end of the road. Because at every turn the game itself screams for you to stop, turn back, abandon this insanity before it's too late. Because the imp of the perverse sits on your shoulder the whole way and whispers "but aren't you curious?" Because no other form of media makes you or even allows you to jump through so many hoops and fulfil so many requirements for what is explicitly and unequivocally A Bad End. Because you want the item granted by turning back at the last moment as a morbid trophy of your fool's errand. Because you bloody well want to and nothing will dissuade you.

You can't say you haven't been warned.

Beginning the Search[edit]

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In order to start the process of Seeking, you must first find a proper entry point into the quest. There are several options for this, though in most cases they require a bit of legwork. (It only gets harder from here on out, of course.)

Requires: 81-100 The Airs of the Forgotten Quarter, 5 Nightmares, and A Scholar of the Correspondence
A point or two of Unaccountably Peckish can initially be gained by relaxing in your Voluminous Library, from eating fresh Rubbery Lumps at Zee, and via other methods listed here.
Afterwards, you will begin to draw black-bordered opportunity cards (described in more detail below). Playing any option unlocked WITHOUT Marsh-Mired in Dreams of Sustenance will give you one level of SMEN.
While you can begin your seach for the Name via these UP cards, MMiDoS prevents you from gaining further levels of SMEN until your next visit from Time, the Healer.
Requires: 7-9 Having Recurring Dreams: Death by Water and no SMEN
At a later point in SMEN, Seekers may send social actions to betray their friends. Accepting a betrayal will make a fellow Seeker very happy, and it is unlikely that you will need to wait very long to find someone willing to send one to you.
Requests for betrayals may be posted in this forum thread, or anywhere else that Fallen London players congregate.
This option requires the player's having Watchful 30, though this can be easily attained even by a brand-new character via leveling and Watchful gear like the Blemmigan Tourist.
This takes place only during the Christmas season, on Day 9 of Experiencing Strange Times: Twelve Days of Mr Sacks.

First Steps[edit]

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So, you're flirting with disaster, contemplating searching for the Name. Now what? A black-bordered card should show up...soon. The Northbound should turn their eye to their opportunity deck to wait for either of these cards: An Alphabet of Scars or A Banner with a Strange Device, where you have a choice to make. Either option sets you to SMEN 3, although the bolder choice offers more punishing consequences.

Upon reaching SMEN 2-3, you are given A WARNING, which prompts you to choose between A Bad End (by continuing your search for the Name) or to exit the story altogether. You do not want to exit! Your course is set! You seek the Name. Now is an excellent time to boost your UP to 1 and wait for the ACE OF HUNGERS card (see below). This will raise your weekly dose of SMEN to 4 and reduce UP back to 0.

Around London[edit]

Rarely, options around London can help in your search. If you're lucky. Most of these are functionally irrelevant, since starting your search properly will put you at SMEN 4, and in a week (at most) you'll be at SMEN 5.

  1. Look into the water in the Cave of the Nadir will raise SMEN by 1, up to 4. Requires SMEN 1. Gives 2 Irrigo, 2CP Nightmares, and 1 Unaccountably Peckish. Basically irrelevant as you're wasting precious time in the Cave of the Nadir and can get the 1 SMEN from ACE OF HUNGERS
  2. Ask for help with a certain... obsession during an Interview with the Interpreter: Death by Water from the The Interpreter of Dreams opportunity card. Increases SMEN by 1 on a 10% Luck check. Requires 10 Having Recurring Dreams: Death by Water and SMEN 2-5. Also costs around half of a level of Dangerous and Watchful even on a failure and gives 10CP Nightmares (5CP on a failure). Generally not worth it as it's functionally equivalent to TWO OF BATS and THREE OF ROSES in terms of costs; unless you absolutely care about preserving your Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar for some reason; and those cards do not have a very hard luck check.
  3. Mr Pages' Educational Picture Postcards and Assorted Souvenir Stationery in the The Labyrinth of Tigers raises SMEN up to 6 on a (very) rare success of a 10% Luck check. Requires SMEN 2-5, but doesn't give any penalties on a failure and a normal non-SMEN success gives 2 EPA worth of Cryptic Clues and Secluded Addresses; not great, not terrible.
  4. Accept the Name! from Mr Sacks on his ninth visit during Christmas. Requires SMEN 3 and raises it by 1, up to SMEN 28. Seasonal, but has no tremendous costs aside from 20CP of Nightmares.

Options on The Seeking Road[edit]

These options from your lodgings will let you increase SMEN, independently of the UP cards. They options start out expensive and become even more so as you gain more levels of SMEN, rapidly becoming prohibitively expensive and eventually impossible. All options here with Watchful challenges require 0 Sudden Insights: it is far too late for second chances.

Drown your Secrets is cheapest option, and is most likely to prove useful. It costs approximately E 11.5 in Appalling Secrets per level of SMEN you have. However, both its Watchful difficulty and its costs increase very quickly.

The alternatives of Set fires around the city and Char yourself with Enigmas are more expensive, though they have easier Watchful challenges. Make a wild guess is a worthwhile gamble if you have no Searing Enigmas already. After SMEN 5, Pervert your studies requires literally impossible levels of SotC A Scholar of the Correspondence. Blacken your mind like paper is unlikely to ever be helpful, though since when has that stopped a truly devoted Seeker? Light a Taper is both the most expensive and the most useful: this forbidden rite gives a valuable item and 2 levels of SMEN with no known limit. The cost is prohibitively expensive, particularly the Impossible Theorem. To get one requires either an abundance of luck and Searing Enigmas or an advanced laboratory (and probably still some Enigmas).

Unaccountably Peckish[edit]

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Seekers hunger for forbidden knowledge, but there are more literal hungers as well. Satisfy those cravings, and perhaps your scholarly cravings will be satisfied in turn.

The easiest and most reliable way of raising SMEN at this early stage is through the sinister, black-bordered opportunity cards unlocked with Unaccountably Peckish. These give 1 level of SMEN per week, to a maximum of 28.

Gain[edit]

  • Requires: 1 x Starveling Cat
  • Gain: 1 x UP
  • N.B. Good for trading back and forth with a dedicated alt, because it has no other prerequisites. Costs 2 actions per character (one to send, one to receive) when doing it as more than a one-off.

Loss[edit]

Deck of Hungers[edit]

The cards listed below are unlocked by increasing levels of Unaccountably Peckish ( UP). They are all non-discardable and occur with Ubiquitous Frequency, so they will rapidly fill your hand with little further intervention.

Each card has at least one option that gives one level of SMEN for varying costs, capped at 3 times the card's UP unlock requirement. Each of these options are locked with Marsh-Mired in Dreams of Sustenance and can thus be used only once per week.

The table below summarises the options available. Where there are mulitple options, the cheapest one is shown (click through to see the full set). All regular options reduce 1 x UP (except for the KNIGHT OF FEASTS), while all the Marsh-Mired in Dreams of Sustenance options give MMiDoS and increase SMEN. These effects are not shown in the table for lack of space.

UP Card Regular Cost MMiDoS Cost Max SMEN Gain
1 ACE OF HUNGERS -10 x Piece of Rostygold 4
2 TWO OF BATS Free 7
3 THREE OF ROSES 10
4 FOUR OF EYES 13
5 FIVE OF LIGHTS 16
6 SIX OF PEARLS 19
7 SEVEN OF WORDS +7 CP Wounds Free 22
8 KNAVE OF REGRETS 25
9 KNIGHT OF FEASTS Free 28

Detailed Strategy Notes[edit]

For ease of opportunity deck management, it is generally recommended to raise your UP only as much as is needed to obtain the lowest-tier card which will still raise your SMEN However, do take care to balance this tactic with the costs and Menace gains associated with each MMiDoS option taken.

For example, the SEVEN OF WORDS ( 7 UP), the KNAVE OF REGRETS ( 8 UP), and the KNIGHT OF FEASTS ( 9 UP) are worthwhile stretch goals even for players who have less than SMEN 22, as these cards have no cost, give no Menaces and have high SMEN-gain caps.

The SIX OF PEARLS, while having a high Wounds gain associated with its MMiDoS option, is not terribly objectionable either.

Because UP cards are Non-discardable and occur with Ubiquitous Frequency, they have a tendency to clog your hand. Larger Lodgings which offer 4 or 5 card hands will prove useful at this stage.

Undesirable cards can be avoided by reducing your UP below the threshold needed to unlock the particular card (upon which they will disappear from your hand). This can be done reliably by buying Rubbery Lumps in the Labyrinth of Tigers or sending Lyme to the market in Mahogany Hall/taking the Louche Devil to the Doubt Street Scullery. You can also clear some cards by simply playing the non-MMiDoS options on lower-tier cards; for example, buying roast chestnuts on the ACE OF HUNGERS or accepting the note on the TWO OF BATS will remove the card and lower UP for little cost. A few normal opportunity cards reduce UP as well, but it is innefficient to rely on those especially when SMEN cards are more likely to be drawn instead.

To reduce the action and monetary costs of reducing UP and to avoid having your hand clogged with SMEN cards all the time, you should raise your UP and play the card with the MMiDoS option you want shortly before your Time the Healer will fire off, and then once it does, to play another card with the MMiDoS option you want. This permits you to raise your SMEN practically twice in a single week, and thus you don't have to waste time raising and lowering UP every single week, instead only having to do so every two weeks.

Scars, Memories, Stains[edit]

At SMEN 7, the card A Dream of Dark Waters will appear, granting you first Weeping Scar.

  • SEVEN IS THE NUMBER: Gain a Stain on your Soul (SMEN 18): Mark your soul with the unspeakable. Only a monster can help you now, but soon you will be the monstrous one. Soon. Seven are the stains that mark your soul. If you don't own your soul, you must regain it first. And never, never, never sell a stained soul.

A Warning About Damaged Goods!![edit]

If you do sell your soul after staining it, DO NOT enter The Forgotten Quarter — lest you be set upon by devils attempting to forcibly re-insert it. Unless you escape into madness via a difficult Shadowy challenge, you will lose most of your Infernal items ( Soul, Brilliant Soul, Coruscating Soul, Silent Soul, Bright Brass Skull, Favours: Hell), certain valuable treasures ( Eyeless Skull, Ray-Drenched Cinder, Vial of Cantigaster Venom), all your E , and of course your life and sanity ( 15 Wounds and 15 Nightmares).

Detailed Strategy Notes[edit]

The methods by which you gain a Memory of Chains and Weeping Scar do not give CPs of Suspicion and Wounds respectively, but instead set those respective qualities to a specific value before sending you to the associated Menace Location. Therefore, optimal play would have you wait until your Suspicion and Wounds are at least at level 7 before you gain your next scar or memory. Staining your soul will wound you in the process so doing that first can give you headway on getting to level 7 in Wounds, however the seventh and final stain will send you to the slow boat automatically, so be careful to not waste the wounds build-up of the previous steps.

Optimal play for these storylets will also necessitate that you minimize item wastage. None of these storylets actually cost the items that are not required to play the storylet, so therefore you should use or sell the items before playing these. With the exception of your Hastily Scrawled Warning Notes, all the storylets will cost you your Second Chances if you have them, so use them before you lose them.

The Candles, Part One[edit]

With body, mind, and soul each marked seven times, you may comprehend the Candles. This is the final Seven at last, written high in fire. This is your true purpose, your life's meaning. The reckoning shall come.

St Arthur's Candle[edit]

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Requires 7 x Weeping Scar, 7 x Memory of Chains, 7 x Stain on Your Soul, and SMEN 21. The Number and the Candles will appear in The Seeking Road. This is where you begin the quest for St Arthur's Candle. You must betray your friends and companions. The easiest option is to betray other players through social actions. It's also possible to betray (and lose by doing so) certain NPC spouses, a Midnight Matriarch, or even your Noman, though the Noman is perhaps best saved for later in the process. The Matriarch is technically the cheapest of the bunch, though betraying NPCs is really not worth it. The seventh betrayal, and only the seventh, may be performed at Mahogany Hall during a Wednesday show.

Each The Stench of Betrayal must be converted to Footsteps of the False Saints through seven rituals. Each requires 1 x Searing Enigma and additional materials. In order, these are:

The final step will have a savage effect on your Dangerous and Persuasive. More importantly, you will gain St Arthur's Candle and a level of SMEN.

St Beau's Candle[edit]

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Requires St Arthur's Candle and SMEN 24. Searching for St Beau's Candle requires you to pass a 20% Luck check, or spend 1000 x Appalling Secret), to reach Mrs Plenty's Carnival at midnight. Bring 150 x Memory of Light and 3330 x Moon-Pearl; you will lose all your Carnival Tickets and must buy more with the Moon-Pearls to enter the House of Mirrors. Then—then—you will have a Conversation with a Lady. She will require you to surrender one of:

It is not terribly difficult to raise faction Renown to 5 via Mrs Plenty's (non-nightmare) carnival, and if your account was created specifically to Seek you may not consider the loss of Renown a lasting downside.

Dealing with Menaces[edit]

If you Surrender your health, you're going to be in the Menace areas for quite a while, one after another. In order, you will experience death, for at least the eighth time ; then exile; then confusion or madness; then finally imprisonment yet again. Be prepared for this before going to the Carnival. You may want, for example, to ensure high enough Making Waves to tide over your Notability for a week or two, as well as Memories of Light if you want ensure a trip to The Mirror-Marches instead of the State of Confusion. If you are willing to cheat yourself, then time it so that Time, The Healer triggers while you are on a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river. This reduces all menaces by 1 CP, letting you avoid the other Menace Areas and giving you more time to clear Menaces.

For a full detail of how to best deal with the menace locations see Menace Locations (Guide)

You can also accept social actions to just as you are sent to your lodgings, before using the Onwards button. You'll need to ask for Suspicion and Scandal assistance ahead of time. Wounds and Nightmares reduction require only an acquaintance with good timing; surely they wouldn't betray your trust or make matters worse in your hour of direst need. Would they?

St Cerise's Candle[edit]

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Requires St Beau's Candle and SMEN 27. You must sacrifice something precious to the well:

If timed well, the Noman may be the easiest and cheapest tribute for this step. Otherwise, an Overgoat costs 11,700 Echoes and is purchasable from the Bazaar; Fluke-Cores may be obtained (very slowly) from the Cave of the Nadir, and Classic Short Stories may be written with the help of at least two Trade Secrets (which accumulate at the rate of one per month from Time, the Healer).

Once the sacrifice is made, you'll gain St Cerise's Candle and a level of SMEN, or two levels if you sacrificed an Ubergoat.

With St Cerise's Candle and SMEN exactly 28, you may spend 7 x Uncanny Incunabulum for a hint to continuing your search for the Name. This is not required to progress but the single level of SMEN you gain may prove useful.

Winking Isle[edit]

Once you can no longer gain SMEN levels from Peckish cards, the next step acquiring Mr Eaten's Calling Card? to reach Winking Isle. The very fortunate might receive one from a former Seeker who no longer has use for theirs, so try asking on the forums or on Discord.

Otherwise, you must reach SMEN 29 and ask God's Editors for help (as either a member or a potential member). If you have the correct amount of Proscribed Material, you will be allowed to progress.

Once you have the Calling Card, you can travel to the Isle from The Seeking Road, but make sure you have what's required before doing so.

Preparations[edit]

To travel to Winking Isle, you must have A Question -. To study the Lower Mysteries, you must have modified Watchful 200. What you must not have is rather more important and more extensive. Before arriving, you must give up the following:

  • All but E 7.77
  • Glim, diamonds, gemstones, and jewellery
  • Society favours
  • Rumour and influence items
  • Puzzling Maps, Partial Maps, Map Scraps, and London Street Signs
  • Wines and Docks favours
  • Nostalgia items
  • Elder items
  • Valuable treasures (worth E 312.50 or more)

To go deeper still, and reach The Sun beneath the Sea?, you must give up still more before arriving at the Isle:

  • Zee-Ztories
  • Rag-trade items
  • Mysteries
  • Wild words
  • Rubbery items
  • Mysteries

These lists are broad and not comprehensive. See Preparations for the complete list.

A detailed analysis of Winking Isle can be found here and here. The nearly-optimal strategy is:

  1. Prepare when <77
  2. Watch when 77-99
  3. Circle when 100-395 (this range only comes up if you fail some luck rolls)
  4. Watch when 396-1616
  5. Circle when >=1617, except:
    1. Watch if within 550 of target
    2. Wait if within 50 of target
  6. Cash out at 60000 (best) or 10000

Gaining 7 SMEN at a time takes ~220.27 actions, while stopping at 10k to gain 1 SMEN} takes ~49.05.

Because the process of preparing for Preparations is so onerous, it is generally recommended that players get all their Fasting and Meditating done in one go. This will save some time, compared to leaving and returning as various candles' unlock requirements are met. Make sure you get rid of all the stuff you need to for Preparations before departing; there is no way to sell or discard them on the island

Players who wish to preserve some portion of their Echoes despite the requirements of Preparations may invest a few items.

Incidentally, Winking Isle has no lighthouse. You may enter anyways, if you so desire, but it will cost you no candle in exchange for 1 SMEN.

With SMEN 71, it's safe to leave the isle behind for good. Destin's, Erzulie's, and Fortigan's each give one level, while the process of gaining Gawain's will always gain you at least three levels of SMEN and perhaps as many as six. If you intend to Offer yourself and Refuse soup you may leave with only SMEN 68. Theoretically; if one is willing to blow 7 actions returning later for the Book of Crimson Prayer; you could also leave at SMEN 65 if you decided to be the sort of madman who left for the isle without acquiring Arthur's, Beau's, and Cerise's candles first. Exceptional madmen could leave at SMEN 63 if they sacrifice Destin's candle to the above-mentioned lighthouse, as they will receive another point of SMEN from reacquiring Destin's. Unaccountably insane Seekers could leave with SMEN 61-62 if they decide to throw an Ubergoat down Cerise's well and/or Light a Taper, although at that point you're better off just toughing it out for two more cycles around the Well.

The Candles, Part Two[edit]

St Destin's Candle[edit]

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Requires SMEN 35: This is no candle, and so it requires no prior candles. The primary way to obtain it is by consuming yourself: With Notability 12 and no Profession, you may Gain St Destin's Candle during A visit from Slowcake's Amanuensis. There are seasonal alternatives, both of which require St Cerise's Candle:

  • During Hallowmas, with one confession of each type and 77 in all highway stats, grant the candle to yourself and another player. The effects on both of your stats will be devastating, but comparatively less so for your (un)lucky friend; who merely loses 200 CP per highway stat, whereas yours are halved.
  • At any holiday where you can gain a Destiny, visit An abyssal future and give the gift of The Name. You are Tormented. That being said, there are no other penalties associated with gaining Destin's in this way, and you can freely change off of the destiny after receiving it (the same costs for getting another destiny apply) as soon as the next Destiny-granting holiday arrives.

St Erzulie's Candle[edit]

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Requires SMEN 42 and St Destin's Candle. Go to the Cave of the Nadir to meet a companion. To obtain the candle from her, you must become Obscure, permanently giving up the ability to have Tattoos, Professions, Notability, Ambitions, and a Destiny besides Torment. See Obscurity (Guide) for detailed information on what you might lose.

(Although you don't actually have to do any of that. You can simply acquire the candle with no penalties whatsoever. If you prefer. Nobody will ever know. Nobody but you.)

When all is done, you'll gain St Erzulie's Candle and another level of SMEN.

St Fortigan's Candle[edit]

Candlewhite.png

Requires SMEN 49, St Cerise's Candle, and your own Ship. From your lodgings, or on the Winking Isle, gain a Book of Crimson Prayer, then zail to the Chapel of Lights. Attend six services to acquire the sixth candle and one level of SMEN.

St Gawain's Candle[edit]

Candleeye.png

Requires SMEN 63, St Cerise's Candle, and your own Ship. From the Seeking Road, ask your companion about St Gawain's Candle. She will give you her heart. Take it to zee, as she requests, and you will learn that before going North, you must go South. Entering this new area, you will meet another ally and gain a level of SMEN. You'll get two more if you Refuse soup when offered.

After this, you'll be brought to the Chapel of Lights. If you haven't been here before and don't have St Fortigan's Candle, you'll need to gain that first. You'll return to your lodgings, where you may gain the Book of Crimson Prayer from your companion and return to the Chapel of Lights. Attend a service at the Chapel, in the name of St Gawain, and you will be prompted to make an offering. The first two options give the candle and a level of SMEN, while offering yourself gives three levels of SMEN and a new piece of headgear.

NORTH[edit]

With SMEN 77 and all the candles, you can make your Final Preparations from The Seeking Road. Once Embarked on an Expedition to the North. you can never return; you will never be freed from the Name or the ills you suffered Seeking it. Your final destination is the Avid Horizon, the way NORTH. Incidentally, your ship will be destroyed as you arrive. One more precious thing, gone forever. What does it matter, any more?

Or so it might seem, for you have one final chance to turn back. Those who do will find themselves home, with a unique item, but The Seeking Road and its end are closed forever. You will have only stains and scars and trophies of a voyage that can never be completed.

Those who reach journey's end, and Knock, will at last have the chance to choose their Question. "What is due?" and "What is forgotten?" are available to anyone who has made it this far. Those who have seen The Sun beneath the Sea? may also ask "Who is Salt?" In any case, each Question has an Answer, and each Answer is an Ending. A place you won't leave. Your character is gone forever.

Was it worth it? Only you can decide that. Goodbye, delicious friend.

Turning Back[edit]

Should you choose to turn back with with the unique item, you will have the following permanent qualities:

With the exception of Obscurity and Stain on Your Soul, none of these qualities have any mechanical effects or consequences.

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