I’m a bit behind in my MOM posts because I have a video course for Blender that I’m working through right now and haven’t had time to fire up the game. I did move ahead a bit a few days ago and took some screenshots, so I’ll talk about what steps I took, concluding with the summoning of our first student.

More Resources

At this stage of the game, resource gathering is important. The Arcane Secretary is working through research, and as each node is completed, more and different types of resources are needed to be able to build those items.

One thing that I just noticed recently was the presence of “Entrance Ore”. This is a small pile of rocks in the Underschool that provide iron. Iron isn’t needed until researching certain secondary nodes, and I had been putting off building those things because the only way to get iron — or so I thought — was to engage in battles in the Underschool. But I sent an Earth mage into the basement to harvest these rock piles for iron.

I set up some Gutberry planters outside of the school. As stated, gutberries are needed to perform the Repel Fog ritual and as such are always in demand. While I could rely on the natural respawn of gutberries in the yard, as the Fog moves back and forth, access to yard items is uncertain. Planters ensure that I have access.

In the same vein, I planted some Sunshadow Tree boxes on the other side of the school so I could have access to wood. This isn’t nearly enough, though, so I might need to add more.

As gross as it is, I needed to start hunting Dire Rats for viscera and sinew. I needed the viscera specifically for the Firelight lanterns.

Each room needs a lightsource to bring the lighting level of each room to a certain minimal threshold, lest Voidshrooms grow in that room. These shrooms sap the mana from passing mages (but not the ghosts) which reduces their effectiveness. While voidshrooms can be harvested are are needed for some recipes, I find it best to prevent them from growing until needed.

Summoning a Student

I had reached the point where another set of hands would be welcome, so the first order of business was to set down a Wand Shaper. I put this on the other side of the Mana Stone, although I probably should have put it on the same side of the room as the entrance to the student summoning machine.

Before summoning a student, I had to choose the element I wanted them to attune to. Students must have a wand waiting for them in order to be summoned, and since I didn’t have a Fire mage, I thought that this would be the best choice right now.

The summoning machine is in the Underschool, on the left. This ritual takes about an hour (in-game time, if I recall correctly).

Once the student arrived, I had to make room for them. I didn’t get a screenshot, apparently, but the empty room on the left of the second floor has been designated as the student dorms, and the empty room on the right of the second flood has been designated as the classroom. In the above screenshot, our new student is studying at the learning stone.

Going Forward

I have one more post planned, covering the battle situation, as I still have yet to tackle the first encounter in the Underschool. I had been waiting for my Academics to become over-leveled for the event, and wanted to get one student to carry through as participation awards a good amount of XP. Hopefully I don’t get them killed.

At this point, my goals are to build out the school and summon students as I am able. This is not a quick nor is it an exciting task, so the posts may fall off a bit or arrive with fewer specifics. Certainly if I run into any kind of Big Deal Mechanic or similar trend I’ll devote a post to it, but otherwise I’ll be resuming my normal cadence of posts going forward.

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