Aethereal Pathways (Walkthroughs)

	SPOILER ALERT!
	This article reveals in-game secrets, spoilers, walkthroughs, or other information not intended for general knowledge in-game.

At the present 8 Aethereal Pathways have been released along with Barrage.

Syntax

PATHWAY [option]
Values for option are:

LIST - Lists out which Aethereal Pathway abilities you know

HELP - Gives you this help message

STOP - Ends whichever Pathway ability you may be using.

SENSE - Lets you sense your Manipulative Resolve status.

CHECK - Lets you see which Pathway ability you have active.

FOCUS [option] - Activates a specific pathway ability

Options: DAMAGE, QUICK, EASE, POWER, ACCURACY, SECRECY, PRECISE, DEFEND

Notes: If you have not completed any of the Pathway quests, typing in "pathway" will result in the following messaging: "You lack the knowledge needed to focus on the aethereal pathways."

(For example, you would type "pathway focus damage" to activate the first pathway.)

Example Usage

>path sense
You turn your perceptions inward for a moment, assessing your mental reserves.
Your mind feels completely refreshed, full of the resolve and nimbleness necessary for the manipulation of your surroundings.
>path check
You sense that the aethereal streams are following their normal course through the area.
>path focus damage
You focus on manipulating an aethereal pathway to enhance the damage of your targeted spells.
>path check
You focus your mind to survey the aethereal energy swirling around you.  You sense that you are focusing on the pathway of damage.
>path stop
You gently relax your mind and release your hold on the aethereal pathways.

Manipulative Resolve

Your ability to manipulate pathways is based on your manipulative resolve. Similar in concept to a mana pool, this pool is used only for manipulating pathways. Your reserves seem to drain constantly while a pathway is active, but actually casting a spell with a pathway active seems to drain it at an accelerated rate. Thus, you don't want to keep a pathway focused unless you are actually casting spells with it, and should stop the pathway when you take a break from casting. Like mana, this pool will refill itself over time. You can see if you are currently focusing on a path by typing PATH CHECK. You can check the status of your pool with PATH SENSE.

The possible output strings from PATH SENSE are here, listed in order from 100% attunement to empty:

• Your mind feels completely refreshed, full of the resolve and nimbleness necessary for the manipulation of your surroundings.
• Your mind is undistracted and ready to focus strongly on the challenges of manipulating elemental forces.
• Your mind is a potent well of force for manipulating the elements around you.
• You feel that you still possess most of your capacity to manipulate elemental forces.
• Though the effort of manipulation has worn down your focus somewhat, your mind still possesses the strength to go on.
• You sense that your capacity for manipulating the elements is roughly halfway spent.
• Your mind is clouded by the prolonged burden of manipulating elemental forces, which has taxed its endurance.
• Your abilities of manipulation are still strong, but your mind could nonetheless benefit from some rest.
• Your elemental manipulations have left your mind tired, feeling easily distracted and in need of rest.
• The burden of directly manipulating the elements has left your mind greatly clouded and unable to focus on such manipulations for long.
• Your mind has nearly completely exhausted its control over elemental currents in the area.

When your resolve is completely depleted while focusing on a path, you will get the following message and your pathway will be ended:

• Unable to hold up under the terrible strain any longer, your mind lets the complex web of manipulations collapse, allowing the aether to fall back into its natural channels.

Pathway of Damage

"Now on to the first ability. The first of these abilities which we're looking at is called 'Pathway Focus Damage'. This one is fairly straightforward. It provides a damage boost to TM spells if they hit the target. The reasoning behind Pathway Focus Damage (PF Damage) being the first ability of AP is that we'd like to help the younger folk in learning TM. A boost to TM damage should help add some experience to the TM pool and hopefully make it a bit easier to learn the skill. The best part is wreaking more havoc upon your enemies by adding some extra oompf to you spells." -- GM Chakram (Taken from the folder on Warrior Mage Ability - Aethereal Pathway)

Quest Notes: Begin at the guild in Crossing. Gauthus regards you appraisingly and says, "I see you are worthy to begin learning of the Pathways. The first pathway I shall show you is the Pathway of Damage. By manipulating this pathway into your targeting matrices, it will allow you to increase the damage capacity of your targeted spells." The GuildMaster gazes thoughtfully at you then explains, "But before I just hand this potent tool to you, you must do something for me. Defeat a cougar. You must accomplish this task in four anlaen (2 real world hours). Bring the cougar pelt from the beast back to me by that time, and I shall teach you what I know.

Guildmaster Gauthus grins widely at you and exclaims, "Congratulations Baelth! In return for completing the task I gave you, I shall teach you more about the Aethereal Pathways."

• NOTE If the 2 real world hours lapse you can simply reinitiate the quest by asking the guild leader "about quest". The skin/pelt/feather or what ever you are asked to gather can and will change. So if you are directed to gather a Booberie feather and haven't a clue as to wear to get one, wait a couple of hours and ask [guild leader] about quest. On the second or subsequent requests you may be told to get a Snowbeast hide.

Pathway of Quickness

"Today we highlight the second of the Aethereal Pathway abilities! Pathway Focus Quick! This handy little ability lets the mage speed up the targetting process, letting a mage reach the state of fully targetted in less time than it would normally take. It should arrive somewhere around 8th circle where it will greatly aid mages of that age (where targeting time is longest). At any age, a mage can utilize reduced targeting time so is also something useful throughout a mage's career." -- GM Chakram

Quest Notes: Begin at the guild in in Riverhaven. Gauthus gazes at you, studying intently. You find yourself squirming a little at his scrutiny. The GuildMaster lets out a chuckle and says, "I see you are a fast learner. Indeed, you are now ready to learn of your next pathway, the Pathway of Quickness. This pathway is an interesting one. By infusing this pathway into your spell patterns, it allows you to more efficiently manipulate those patterns. The overall effect of this is that it will take you less time to fully target your spell." Gauthus seems to smirk to himself before saying, "Ahh, but as you may have guessed, I do have a task you must complete for me before I teach this knowledge to you. Defeat a boobrie. You must accomplish this task in four anlaen (2 real world hours). Bring the boobrie feather from the beast back to me by that time, and I shall teach you what I know.

• NOTE If the 2 real world hours lapse you can simply reinitiate the quest by asking the guild leader "about quest". The skin/pelt/feather or what ever you are asked to gather can and will change. So if you are directed to gather a Booberie feather and haven't a clue as to wear to get one, wait a couple of hours and ask [guild leader] about quest. On the second or subsequent requests you may be told to get a Snowbeast hide.

Pathway of Ease

The third in our series of Aethereal Pathway abilities is Pathway Focus Ease! PF Ease is gained at 12th circle and decreases the difficulty of casting TM spells so that the mage is able to put more mana than they are usually able to harness into the spell matrix. This nifty ability is the third as it will let the younger mages put a bit more power behind their spells than they normally would, and at this point in their career a mage should be able to sense more mana than when they begin, increasing the usefulness of this ability. Thus younger mages get more use out of it than they would at lower circles and are able to make use of it while they are still young. It will also help the older mages to get those more difficult spells off more easily. -- GM Chakram

Quest Notes: Begin at either of the guild in Riverhaven or Crossing. Gauthus scrutinizes you and lets out a grunt before saying, "Well, I don't think there's a single GuildMaster who likes teaching what I am to show you. However, because it does have a certain degree of utility, I will do as Lathaelor bids and tell you about it." Gauthus sighs and continues, "The Pathway of Ease makes it easier for you to cast your targeted spells. By infusing this pathway directly into your spell pattern, it allows mana to flow through it with less resistance." Gauthus glares and exclaims, "But I better not catch you using this ability to slack off on your studies! Cause Lathaelor be damned, I'll not be happy should that happen."

Gauthus calms down a bit and says, "There, now that I have gotten that out of my system, before I teach you this knowledge you must defeat a rock troll. You must accomplish this task in four anlaen (2 real world hours). Bring the grey troll skin from the beast back to me by that time, and I shall teach you what I know.

• NOTE If the 2 real world hours lapse you can simply reinitiate the quest by asking the guild leader "about quest". The skin/pelt/feather or what ever you are asked to gather can and will change. So if you are directed to gather a Booberie feather and haven't a clue as to wear to get one, wait a couple of hours and ask [guild leader] about quest. On the second or subsequent requests you may be told to get a Snowbeast hide.

Pathway of Power

"Next in our series of Aethereal Pathway abilities is Pathway Focus Power! PF Power allows one to overcome the Magical Resistance of an opponent with a bit more ease than one normally would. It helps give a bit of an offensive boost to the Targetted spell as well. This comes at about 16th circle. It will help younger and older mages alike to better cast their targetted spells on those targets which give resistance problems." -- GM Chakram

"It doesn't work with any non-targeted spell."

"Focus Power simulates the effects of using more mana than you actually did (this may increase spell damage). This bonus increases as you invest more mana in the spell, until you approach the mana cap. At that point the spell plus the bonus is considered as powerful as it's going to get, and the effective bonus decreases -- until it becomes exactly zero when you hit the cap."

"So in a nutshell, Focus Power does effectively nothing at the min prep and mana cap. There's a 'sweet spot' involved in getting the most out of this particular pathway." -- GM Wythor (11/15/07)

Quest Notes: Begin at either of the guild in Riverhaven or Crossing. Gauthus' expression brightens considerably. He sounds very excited as he tells you, "I see you have progressed in your sojourn to learn of the Aethereal Pathways. What I am about to explain to you has to be one of my favorite utilizations of the pathways." Gauthus leans forward as he explains, "The Pathway of Power is what we use to help us penetrate an opponents innate resistance to our magic." The GuildMaster grins and says, "Yes, you heard correctly. A useful tool, no?" Gauthus leans in closely and whispers to you, "Its extraordinary fun using this to toy with Agonar, but you didn't hear that from me." Gauthus winks at you, then regains his composure and says, "Before I teach you how to use this pathway, you must first defeat a lesser sluagh. You must accomplish this task in four anlaen (2 real world hours). Bring the sluagh hide from the beast back to me by that time, and I shall teach you what I know.

• NOTE If the 2 real world hours lapse you can simply reinitiate the quest by asking the guild leader "about quest". The skin/pelt/feather or what ever you are asked to gather can and will change. So if you are directed to gather a Booberie feather and haven't a clue as to wear to get one, wait a couple of hours and ask [guild leader] about quest. On the second or subsequent requests you may be told to get a Snowbeast hide.

Pathway of Accuracy

"The fifth in the series of abilities comes at 20th circle, called Pathway Focus Accuracy. PF Accuracy, as the name implies, increases the accuracy of your spells as if you had more skill in Targetted Magic than you really have. This, in effect, increases the power of the spell and the likeliness that you'll actually hit something (nifty, huh?). This comes fifth as it basically incorporates some of the earlier PF abilities (though not as powerful as say Damage alone) and lets a mage grow into it as he or she gains skill." -- GM Chakram

1. Ask leader about quest at any guild hall (I think) I'd suggest doing this in Riverhaven since it's the closest city to Throne City. The guild leader will tell you that you need to go to a ruined Tower in Throne City

2. Travel to the ruined tower in Throne City, from the stone docks go: South, Southeast, Southeast, Climb Slope, Go gate, south, southwest, southwest, southwest, go alley, south, west, west, west, climb stair, southwest

3. Give the letter that the guild leader gave you to the tower guard then climb tower

4. When you are in the Tower climb stairs and you'll be in a room with the Zombie Dean

5. Ask dean about college, fire, dean, and light in that order and he'll attack you

6. Kill the dean and take his papers, I'm not sure how easy the dean is, I killed him rather quickly but I'd imagine he'd be more on level with the min circle req that is required to get the quest.

7. Take the papers back to the guild leader that issued the quest. You might as well read the papers while traveling since the guild leader will not teach you the quest until you've read them. There are several pages, turn papers to get to the next page

Walkthrough written by Dasffion

• NOTE After a period of time the authorization letter will disappear. You can reinitiate the quest by going to a guild leader and “ask [guild leader] about quest”

Pathway of Secrecy

"The sixth ability is called Pathway Focus Secrecy. PF Secrecy will increase a mage's ability to remain concealed while they target a spell (yay for stealth!). It will happen some time after PF Accuracy. This comes sixth as hopefully a mage by this time will be a bit more skilled in the arts of hiding (let's face it, it's not the easiest thing to train for us), thus allowing mages to be able to use this." -- GM Chakram

1. Ask leader about quest at any guild hall (I think) I'd suggest doing this in Riverhaven since it's the closest city to Throne City. The guild leader will tell you that you need to go to the tower you went to for Accuracy.

2. Travel to the ruined tower in Throne City, from the stone docks go: South, Southeast, Southeast, Climb Slope, Go gate, south, southwest, southwest, southwest, go alley, south, west, west, west, climb stair, southwest

3. Give the letter that the guild leader gave you to the tower guard then climb tower

4. Climb step go hallway climb stair

5. Here you'll need to put 5 spells into the east pillar, I'd suggest using TM spells since they prep quickly. Prep a spell then when fully prepared touch east pillar. Do this five times then open east pillar, go east pillar.

6. You're now in a room with 4 braziers focus second brazier then pull chain under second brazier, focus fourth brazier pull chain under fourth brazier, focus first brazier pull chain under first brazier, focus third brazier pull chain under third brazier.

6B. I completed this quest on 12-6-07 the sequence above did NOT work for me, I used this script to negotiate the braziers;

put focus third brazier
pause 5
put pull chain under third brazier
Pause
put focus second brazier
pause 5
put pull chain under second brazier
pause
put focus fourth brazier
pause 5
put pull chain under fourth brazier
pause
put focus first brazier
pause 5
put pull chain under first brazier
exit

7. Pick up the tome and exit the same way you came in except instead of touching the east pillar touch the slab.

8. Take the tome back to the guild leader that gave you the quest

Walkthrough written by Dasffion

• NOTE After a period of time the authorization letter will disappear. You can reinitiate the quest by going to a guild leader and “ask [guild leader] about quest”

Pathway of Conserve

Focus Conserve, reduces the minimum prep of TM spells by a small amount (though never below 1). Note that the spell will be considered at minimum power until its mana level reaches its normal minimum prep, and from that point on increase in power appropriately. This pathway requires the completion of a short quest." -- GM Wythor

Quest requires that you kill five xxxxx with the xxxxxx spell within six anlaen. Spell and creature vary. Upon achievment you feel a sense of completion, and the only other requirment is to return to the guildleader.

Pathway of Precision

"Next up! Our seventh ability in the Aethereal Pathway series is called Pathway Focus Precise! PF Precise allows a mage to reduce the penalty that is normally associated with finely targetting a creature, such as targetting an arm or a leg specifically. This ability is seventh, coming some time after PF Secrecy, and hopefully at this point a mage will be able to make use of precision targetting and thus making this ability useful to some of the older mages." -- GM Chakram

Pathway of Defense

"The eighth ability, is called Pathway Focus Defend. PF Defend, happening after PF Precise, allows a mage to manipulate aether, making it harder for targetted spells to hit them. This nifty ability comes eighth as by now the mage is pretty experienced. This ability allows these more experienced mages to defend themselves from incoming targetted magic attacks." -- GM Chakram

Barrage

>barrage draw

You find it hard to maintain your footing.

You focus on manipulating an aethereal pathway to suffuse your targeting matrix, then allow its pattern to direct the force of your scythe-blade.

Invisible strands of aether roil in the air, twisting into a tight braid. With a mental command, you send the unseen coils of the aethereal whip slashing through the air at an ochre la'heke!

The piercing screech of tortured air assaults your ears, punctuated by a sharp **CRACK!**!

An ochre la'heke howls in pain as the unseen whip slices open its chest.

The ochre la'heke is lightly stunned!

Roundtime: 1 second.

A shimmering silvery-blue glow quickly spreads from your hand to the tip of your scythe-blade, then quickly fades.

< Driving in like the irresistable force of a cyclone, you step backward and then slice at an ochre la'heke. An ochre la'heke fails to evade, moving directly into the blow. The scythe-blade lands a massive strike that splinters bones and nearly severs the left arm.

In a gruesome display, the ochre la'heke's eyes glaze over as it reels in an uncontrolled spasm, expiring after one last tremor. [You're slightly off balance] [Roundtime 2 sec.] >

Attack Strings

The string you see just prior to your attack will vary depending on the element of the spell you are casting, as follows:

Fire

Heatless orange flames climb your scimitar before winking out of existance.

Aether

A shimmering silvery-blue glow quickly spreads from your hand to the tip of your scimitar, then quickly fades.

Electricity

Tiny fingers of lightning course rapidly along your scimitar, disappearing almost immediately.

Earth

Water

Air

Pathway Perceive

"The first, Perceive Pathway, is a token pathway offered to anyone at or above the required circle. It is an introductory pathway that will play a key role in future pathways." -- GM Wythor

Pathway Perceive - to list Perceive pathways.

Pathway Perceive [option] - to use

• NOTE Cannot be used with when a pathway is active.

Perceive Pathway

"Lathaelor has bid me teach you about the Pathway Perceive abilities, xxxxx," Guildmistress Karazhil says. "This group of abilities allows you to use your Manipulative Resolve to detect unusual disturbances in the local aethereal pathways."

You focus your senses outward, scanning the area for active aethereal pathways. You sense aethereal streams being twisted about xxxxxx into the pattern of the Focus Pathway of Damage. Roundtime: 1 sec. Detects active aethereal pathways in use nearby.