Given the current composition of our party there was something very specific we needed to look for now that we had finally gotten ourselves to the Emporium. Mana and mana regeneration. Top tier equipment could boost skills and target specific Talents but we weren't there yet financially. So the best way to improve our impact was to prevent ourselves from running out of spells.

If you looked at the Basic Aspects I previously displayed you might see a unique problem we suffered from because we all had Tier 2 or better Aleatory Talents. Normal adventuring parties might have 1 person with a high level Talent this early but mostly they had Tier 4 or Tier 3 magic. The 8 Basic Aspect Talents were tier 4 as were some of the martial Talents. Tier 3 Talents were usually single composite Aspects although sometimes one like Igneomancy qualified for Tier 2. We almost all further compromised ourselves by taking Tier 3 Arbitrary Talents. Lutomancy, Spodimancy, Lignumancy, and Roboromancy were all Tier 3. The Miasmist was actually the only one who took a Tier 4 Talent, although the 4 "Basic Elements" were the lower end and Tenebramancy was a bit more finicky.

We lacked the "scaffolding" to support our very high level Aleatory Talents. A Forest Mage would usually have Hydromancy and Limusomancy. Although the Treant was technically and off-tank and not a pure mage. That mana support would be quite valuable. We also lacked our Healer who usually had mana support as well. Chronomancy was a Tier 0 Talent which usually had at least 1 Tier 1 and 2 Tier 2 talents as well as a more varied but higher number of Tier 3 and Tier 4 talents behind it. Additionally we had excessive battlefield control and monster control but lacked raw damage output, especially as our mid/frontline party members were prevented from engaging while Ground Wall was active.

Some of this could be remedied by adding more party members to fill roles but that was a long term goal and we didn't expect to get a full 8 person team for optimal *Challenge* attempts for a while. The 5 of us all had our amulet and bracelet slots filled and we all burned the single slot on a health item. Ring slots were more numerous, 2 for each hand, but generally took weaker enchantments. The head slot could take mana trading off against other options of similar value. Shoes or boots were not highly receptive to mana enchantments and neither were other non-core parts of body slots. Special cloth armor could take mana enchantments although it was expensive and traded off a ton of protection.

As we perused the quality magical gear that was a specialty of even the independent crafters in the Academy's bazaar we ended up with slightly different choices. We all decided to purchase very high quality head gear, for our experience level, but with slightly different styles. The Miasmist got a traditional pointed hat while the rest of us opted for plain circlets with quartz enchanted. Meanwhile the Treant opted for a laurel crown threaded with silver. The enchantments were equivalent on 4. +1 mana/s and +40 mana. The Treant's crown provided REC +5HP/s and +3 mana/s.

Unless you took a crafting path early you probably don't know exact process for how it works. To craft an item you need to possess the associated Talent plus the appropriate crafting Talents. To enchant items you need to possess an associated magical talent. Many Talents work for healing or mana boosts, you needed Manasophy to make the +attunement damage effect on our Academy Staffs, to add a fire damage buff you needed a fire Aspected magical Talent. Some things could not be provided by enchantments. % mana cost reduction was one example. This could only be provided by Talents.

We lacked the cash for any really high quality items of other kinds. We ended up with, relatively, cheap cloth armor for all of us with +10 health and +20 mana. Our primary casters now all had Base(20)+Manasophy(50)+Headgear(40)+Armor(20)+Staff(20)+Bracelets(42)=192 bonus mana. I had Attunement(21*4)=84 mana putting me at 276 total. This gear was a pretty significant boost and would have made the wolf/warg fight almost laughably easy. The Miasmist and the Eruptor had 272 mana. The Shieldmaiden had 206 and the Treant had 146.

Chronomancer Miasmist Shieldmaiden Eruptor Treant Health 78 Health 78 Health 170 Health 78 Health 128 Mana 276 Mana 272 Mana 206 Mana 272 Mana 146 MOV 5m/s MOV 5m/s MOV 5m/s MOV 5m/s MOV 5m/s

After finishing our time in the bazaar we returned to the inn at the request of the Miasmist to discuss party issues. How we'd divide loot, Dungeon Cores, and more about what Talents and Tier Ups we should pick to optimize the party. To some degree these choices dependend on what was available. If our first young Dungeon discovery was Aspected towards physical Talents that would obviously go towards the Treant or maybe the Shieldmaiden. I went upstairs to unwind and avoid the lively meal times after a long day while the other 4 stayed downstairs at the inn to chat. I had no idea I'd come down the next morning to a new party member.

I spent my time that night thinking about some of my potential Talent choices and what Tier Ups to get. Time was a rare Aspect so it might take a while to find an appropriate mature dungeon to boost it to the next stage. Manasophy meanwhile could be upgraded right here at the Academy Dungeon. The Academy dungeon had a broad array of low level Aspects but the ones strong enough to count for Tier Ups were Manasophy, Force, Air, and Light. This did allow for Tier Ups of composites containing Light and Force.

You've already seen Darkness but here are the other 3 Basic Aspects.

Lumenomancy Light Ray 20 dmg Single Target Ranged 30m Cast 1s 40 mana Shine -1s control -1 mark Single Target Ranged 30m Cast 1s 30 mana Glitter +1s distract Sphere 4m Ranged 30m Cast 1s 25 mana Blind +2s distract Single Target Ranged 30m Cast 1s 20 mana

Light and the associated Aspects have a boost to range and fast casting times. Light itself has stronger versions of the weaker forms of control, primarily *Distract* at lower tiers, and a little bit of positive energy such as Shine. Light is relatively unique in providing control time reduction although mark removal is more common. Light Ray is the traditional 1s low damage spell with an Aspected affinity.

Vitamancy Remedy REC 5HP/s DUR 10s Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 1s 40 mana Inoculate -1 mark -3s DoT DUR Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 1s 30 mana Anatomy Permanent Passive Self -10% mana cost TYP GRP (Life) Recover +40 HP Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 1s 50 mana

The vast majority of focused healers take Vitamancy no matter what their Aleatory Talent. The Self only mana reduction is extremely valuable. No other Talent has more than -5% Life mana cost and even then only at higher Tiers as an evolution of a domain spell. Inoculate has a very rare but not unique effect as well. Remedy and Recover are perhaps more efficient than other spells but are otherwise very standard.

Impetumancy Stun 2s Stun Single Target Ranged 15m Cast 1s 50 mana Barrier 50 Health BAR 4m linear Ranged 10m Cast 1s 30 mana Smash 35 dmg Single Target Ranged 15m Cast 1s 40 mana Shove Push 10m Impetumancy has strong control effects as well as a strong single target blast spell. However it pays a cost in range for the benefits of relatively low mana and high effects. Impetumancy users are often mid or frontline combatants although broad composites can gain the benefits of strong control with a much more minor penalty to range. Light, Force, and Gravity combine into Astromancy or Star Magic and Light and Force offset their contrasting expansion and contraction of range.

I had a personal goal of getting Gravity as a Talent. While Space had only a little less control ability it had a lot of movement capacity which is not what our party was geared for. Astromancy was a good step in that direction if I could find it. I had a slightly less intense desire to pursue Arcana or Abstraction. I wanted to make the most of my luck in gaining such early access to an Elder Aspect and merely dip into lower tiers to focus on Deep Magic.

I was also interested in Glacial Magic(Ice/Fortification/Time) or Ocean Magic(Wave/Blood/Gravity).

Fluctumancy Riptide Push 10m Fluctumancy or Wave magic was one of the rare Talents with an early Domain. It also had 2 strong control abilities and an aoe environmental spell. Uncommon outside of Fire Aspects. Water was the primary Mana Affinity Aspect and as such had more domain spells with mana reduction than anything else. Gelumancy also had a cost reduction domain spell.

Gelumancy Frostbite 7 DoT/4s +1mark +2dmg/mark Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 2s 45 mana Winter -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Air) -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Water) 1.5x MOV cost AoE 16m Self Cast 3s 80 mana Blizzard 20 dmg ENV/3s AoE 8m Ranged 20m Cast 2s 50 mana Freeze 2s Stun AoE 5m Ranged 20m Cast 2s 50 mana

Ice and Wave magic both had strong movement restrictions and even environmental effects. Ice even had a rare DoT although in the style of Ash it was a *burst DoT* with a short duration but high damage. Suffocation and Frostbite would usually be a followup and not a ramping DoT. Marks were permanent even if damage ended, if I haven't made that clear.

The abilities of Ocean or Glacier magic were not widely known, even I didn't have a lot of information at the time, but they could be extrapolated from the component aspect. Ocean magic focused on movement control while Glacier magic was primarily about lockdown control.

I woke up the next morning to plenty of "excitement". Those who had stayed downstairs had connected with a woman who had abandoned their first attempt at a party due to personal friction. Her Aleatory Talent was superior to theirs but they were a group of long time male friends, who I'm told were a bit juvenile, and that combination did not go well. I guess our party looked a bit friendlier to her, especially since I was upstairs at the time and she slotted in well as a healer and support which we very much needed. I was Primary Control/Secondary Support and she was Primary Healer/Secondary Support and we provided different variations of support so that was a big plus.

She was a standard Manasophy Mage by childhood and education but her Aleatory Talent was the Tier 1 Abluomancy(Healing/Shadow), or Cleansing Magic. She took Vitamancy as her Arbitrary Talent.

Manasophy Mana Boost Permanent Passive +50 mana Mana Efficiency Permanent Passive -5% mana cost Mana Strike +1 magic dmg per attunement Boost 10 mana Mana Bolt 25 magic dmg Single Target Range 20m Cast 1s 40 mana Vitamancy Remedy REC 5HP/s DUR 10s Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 1s 40 mana Inoculate -1 mark -3s DoT DUR Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 1s 30 mana Anatomy Permanent Passive Self -10% mana cost TYP GRP (Life) Recover +40 HP Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 1s 50 mana Abluomancy Attunement +6 Retention +4 Rigor +4 Will +2 Revitalize REC 5HP/s DUR 8s +40 mana Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 2s 60 mana Infusion -2 marks -4s DoT DUR Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 2s 50 mana Unbind -3s control Single Target Ranged 20m Cast 2s 80 mana Unravel -1 buff effect AoE 8m Self Cast 2s 80 mana

With our newest ally we headed out into the *Near Wild* to scout for young dungeons and random rare ingredients. She didn't provide a *huge* benefit to us outside of perhaps Revitalize. It was an excellent spell for our frontline who had low mana and might need some extra health. Still, she could always cast Mana Bolt.