How do I become a Scholar of the Correspondence?

Solution 1:

The content for becoming a Scholar of the Correspondence has changed. It now involves becoming a skilled archaeologist, going on repeated expeditions, and then finding and examining the Correspondence Stones.

The first step is straightforward: go on expeditions until your Archaeologist quality reaches 3. This will take around four expeditions.

1. In the Forgotten Quarter, use the Prepare for an Expedition in the Forgotten Quarter storylet (which unlocks at Watchful 60) to pick up expedition supplies; those supplies will cost you Whispered Secrets, Appalling Secrets, Connected: Docks and a little Rostygold, or cold, hard Echoes. Feel free to give yourself a generous buffer of supplies: you may need them, and any leftovers can be used on the next expedition.
2. There's one more storylet in here, which I don't have the text for and can't recall precisely: to gain Archaeologist 1, which allows you to begin your first expedition, you must first spend ~200 Whispered Secrets, ~20 Appalling Secrets, and some other resources to gain a basic understanding of the Forgotten Quarter.
3. Once you have enough supplies, play the Begin an Expedition storylet (inside the storylet for preparing for an expedition). This will let you pick a specific expedition; harder expeditions require more supplies and a higher Archaeologist level. The first expedition, Seek a thieves' cache, requires Connected: Criminals 3.
4. Once you're on the expedition, the storylets there will let you advance slowly or quickly, depending on how many Expedition Supplies you're willing to risk and how difficult you want the Watchful check to be. Occasionally, the ever-changing quality Airs of the Forgotten Quarter will allow some other storylets; these are invariably good things, but some of them cost Fate/Nex. The Shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven (and later expeditions) will also have Rivals; if their progress reaches 10, they'll need to be driven off: this will cost 10 Expedition Supplies, plus some other resources depending on which rival it is.
5. When you complete the expedition, you'll find a random treasure, and your Archaeologist quality will usually increase. (Archaeologist is not one of the usual qualities that has its progress tracked; I don't know if it racks up change points as normal, or has a different mechanism for improvement. I found that my Archaeologist quality increased by one on every second expedition. I always chose the most difficult expedition available to me, so I don't know if the difficulty of the expedition changes the odds or amount of Archaeologist increase. As a side note, I have just increased Archaeologist from 3 to 4 using an expedition that only required 2.)

The second step is a reprise of the first: go on an expedition to find the Tomb of Seven, and get there before your Rivals do; you will need Archaeologist 3 and at least 30 Expedition Supplies. You will have two rivals on this expedition: Dr. Orthos and Virginia.

Once you complete the Tomb of Seven (which finishes with a Dangerous check), you'll have the Correspondence Stones. These stones open up two new storylets in the Forgotten Quarter. One of them is called The Secrets of the Stones, and I can't recall the other one's name (it had a gold border), because it became unavailable after I played the first one. Play this storylet, and you'll become a Scholar of the Correspondence.

Note: There are no requirements beyond Watchful 60 and Connected: Criminals 3 to become a Scholar of the Correspondence. Once you have those minimum qualities, everything else is about how many actions and resources you're willing to spend, and succeeding on enough Watchful checks to complete expeditions. You may want to have a decent stash of Sudden Insights (the Watchful second-chance item) to allow you to reliably advance an expedition quickly if you're falling behind your Rivals.