Guide: Seeker of the Arcane
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The Arcana and Magic Items mod used to be part of 0.D (Danny), adding a wide array of magical items and crafting recipes. Also notable is its starting scenario, Seeker of the Arcane. This scenario is the quickest way to get immersed in the skill, as well as the lore going on behind the scenes.
However, it also adds a challenge due to quickly throwing a starting character against an infested, ruined structure, each having a boss-like enemy at the end. This guide will mainly cover actually completing each of the structures, along with advice for getting into the arcana skill in general.
Where to get the mod
You can find the mod at the following site CDDA arcana mod on github.
How to install
- Download the mod files from the link above.
- Copy the arcana directory into the data/mods directory.
- Activate the mod in a new game world.
Character creation
The first step is deciding how to start things off, and much of it depends on playstyle, along with the desired location to clear out.
Professions
The default profession is apprentice. This has the bare minimum to acquire a bit of arcana skill, some decent clothing, and a knife. Sticking with the default will save points, but will make actually completing a structure incredibly difficult.
The same goes for the alchemist, scribe, and summoner professions. They are geared towards diving into crafting the items associated with them, not purging an infested arcanist enclave. Of those, the summoner can immediately deploy a kreck and triffid, and has the ingredients to craft a couple more, making them potentially a (point-intensive) option. This leaves three other good choices for completing this scenario without building up a combat-ready character.
The blood mage has the lowest point cost of those three options, and has a both melee and a ranged weapon available. The hellfire stave is a powerful ranged weapon, but potentially disastrous if it burns the place down around you. The silver athame is best used for making more blood essence to load the stave, but is a decent emergency weapon. The revenant crown has a passive effect of silencing your footsteps, but its main uses aren't combat-oriented (aside from making one of the bosses a lot less dangerous). This profession will also suffer a lot in the process of crafting blood essence, and will need a lot more rags than the one they start with.
The mage hunter starts off with a bit of experience in melee, and the gear to back it up. The hammer of the hunter is best used as a weapon and a way to keep the gilded aegis supplied. Its flashbang ability is useful in emergencies, but can't be used to full effect without a mask of insight active. The gilded aegis is a valuable method of healing, but the pain it generates makes it best used after combat. If anything, it's better for the mild protection its golden scales provide. As for the mask of insight, its main use will be protecting you from your own hammer flashes, but its short-range clairvoyance can be useful as well. The drawback is it limits your vision range to the 8-or-so tile range of its clairvoyance.
The dark priest is tied with the summoner for highest point cost of the available professions, and starts of almost purely geared towards using the magic items available to it. They also rely on regular essence, making this profession easiest to keep supplied in this scenario. The robe of shadows is a life-saver if its invisibility is used correctly, but it also goes through energy rapidly.
Traits
For the most part, your trait selection will depend on personal preference and playstyle. Traits that help with combat and speed will prove useful if you intend to clear the place out early on. In particular, speed-increasing traits are a big help if you start in the Impact Site or Island Temple, due to certain potential surface hazards.
Spiritualist is useful if you want to make the most of The Cleansing Flame or Oaths to The Chalice, as it will readily offset the morale penalties for reading them.
About the only obvious bad choice would be Illiterate, as this precludes actually reading the books you find along the way. You can still use whatever you find, your starting skill may have unlocked a few recipes for you, and there are a handful of magic items that don't require books to learn.
In addition, the scenario adds a handful of arcane blessings to the trait list. These are effectively spells in mutation form, consuming fatigue in exchange for a single-use magic sign with various effects. Some of the arcane blessings on the list can be obtained via mid-to-high level recipes to craft spellcraft scrolls, while a few are otherwise only obtainable via specific endgame content
Stats
Strength and dexterity are useful to any challenge that involves diving into the fray early on, and strength will further suit melee-focused characters.
Perception will benefit a blood mage or dark priest immediately, as their magic ranged weapons use this stat just as mundane ranged weapons do. The only arcane location to have traps don't use types that perception will help with, so perception won't be immediately useful for that.
Intelligence will make life easier after things have calmed down, as many of the arcane books have high intellect demands, but this stat is less useful for short-term survival.
Skills
It you're trying to clear the structures immediately, you might want to spend a point or two in combat skills. None of the professions start off with marksmanship or dodging, and only one starts with melee skill.
Fabrication, cooking, and tailoring are all as useful as with any survivor. They aren't essential, but can make life easier if you have points to spare.
Additional points in arcana can help get into crafting, but they have other uses too. Magical ranged weapons use this as their weapon skill, and thus an extra point here can help if you start off with one, or quickly acquire one. Summoning items also use this, though the profession geared toward this has a decent amount of skill already.
Starting Location
And now the part where you decide which place to clear out. They'll be covered in more detail later on, with a quick run-down here.
The default location is the Curious Structure. Early on it is the most survivable of the four, as the surface is fairly tame, and the real threat is buried two levels down. It also makes the best place to turn into a base later on. However, the boss at the end is one of the more challenging.
The Island Temple (also called the Peculiar Shrine) has a more hectic outdoor and ground floor, but they are still manageable with a combat-focused character. But again, the enemy at the end is among the deadliest of the four.
The Impact Site (also known as Floating Temple) is more or less hectic depending on your gameplay options. There is no decent shelter at ground level, and it is an open area with only shallow pits to slow the enemies that show up. If you have z-levels enabled, enemies up above you will happily join the fray as well.
The Strange Grove is potentially the most hectic to start in, though the impact site is close. While it is less open, it's swarming with a mix of triffids and nether monsters, while the surroundings are a tangled mess of plant life. However, the inside is more manageable, and the end boss is relatively easy, even moreso if mouth protection is acquired first. In addition, some of the enemies are likely to fight among themselves.
Clearing the Structures
This part will elaborate on each of the arcane locations, and strategies for clearing them out. Each location is associated with a certain group hinted at in the background lore, each has certain items and books, each has a specific enemy at the end, and each has an otherwise-unobtainable item to acquire.
Curious Structure
- Associated Group: The Cleansing Flame.
- Hostiles: Zombies, nether monsters.
- Boss: Spirit of Fire.
- Artifact: Demon claw.
- Associated Magic Books: The Cleansing Flame, The Six Pillars, History of Alchemy, Apprentice's Notes.
- Associated Magical Items: Incorruptible sword, hammer of the hunter, wraithslayer crossbow, gilded aegis, mask of insight, certain potions and scrolls, dull essence.
- Other Guaranteed Loot: Singed note, holy symbol, incorruptable sword (upright weapon), essence (boss).
- Possible Spellcraft Scrolls: Overgrowth, Healing, Flame Armor, Clairvoyance, Ward Against Evil.
The curious structure is the only arcane enclave to have zombies shuffling about, inside the main building. While potentially a hazard to an early-game character if something nasty spawns, overall it should be easy to secure the church itself. At that point you have a decent shelter, toilets, a smattering of food in the kitchen, and even bedrooms with some random clothes. This place is well-suited to staying in early on, and taking on the lower levels when you're better prepared.
As with your typical Cataclysm church, you have your altar in the back. And behind it, a door that's not only been locked, but reinforced. Nothing nasty locked away behind it, aside from the stairs down. You can freely leave it locked up until you're more comfortable exploring deeper.
The basement holds the first real threat, a random assortment of nether monsters. The two rooms east and west of the upstairs are safe, and are where you'll find the books you might be looking for. In particular, the desks to the east have a chance of having a strange map. Farther south is where the enemies are lurking, along with corpses that might have some useful gear. Both ways around the central room are narrow hallways, that might help deal with what's down there on your own terms.
At the end you'll have three doors to choose from, with the middle one securely boarded up. Assorted equipment can be found in the side rooms, and may be good for arming up or crafting some of the ideas following your library raid.
Once you force your way into the middle room, you'll find something strange blocking the stairs down. An upright sword prevents you from going farther, and should be a big red flag concerning what's on the next level. It can't be bashed down or deconstructed like in previous versions, but can be taken down by examining it. This will yield an incorruptible sword, in case you want one and didn't find any earlier.
The final level has magma aplenty, and an array of nether monsters that can fly over it with ease. The small area you start in will quickly start filling up with hostiles, so barging in unprepared is a death sentence. However, both ways out of the small room are narrow tunnels, again allowing you to hold them at bay. Unless you brought something big and loud, the real threat should still be waiting for you to enter the main area.
The spirit of fire has the second-highest health of the four main bosses, and it will happily immolate you if you get too close. Taking time to scavenge or craft a ranged weapon before you take it on will help immensely. However, the main area also has a number of pillars you can take cover behind, if you're confident in your ability to kill it quickly in melee. If you decide to fight fire with fire and use the incorruptible sword, you might have a slim chance of killing it in one hit. Otherwise, don't gamble on killing it in melee unless you have something capable of incredible damage.
Your reward is in the small alcove on the other end, the demon claw. It is a ranged magic weapon, with a fiery explosive shot and decent explosive damage. It also works as a rather nasty unarmed weapon, capable of searing flesh and sapping life. However, it has a light effect that can't be disabled, and wielding it exposes you to its corrupting influence.
Island Temple
- Associated Group: The Sanguine Order.
- Hostiles: Nether monsters, cultist creatures.
- Boss: Dracolich.
- Artifact: Ring of the fallen angel.
- Associated Magic Books: Sanguine Codex, To Master The Unknown, History of Alchemy.
- Associated Magical Items: Silver athame, veinreaver, hellfire stave, wyrmskin armor, revenant crown, certain potions and summoning glyphs, blood essence.
- Other Guaranteed Loot: Blood-stained note, silver glyph, blood essence, essence (boss).
- Spellcraft Scrolls: Confuse Monsters, Agility, Lightning Ward, Clarity of Blood, Acid Spray.
Right off the bat, you'll have an mixture of nether and cultist monsters around the area, both outside and in the central building. This can be hectic depending on how many show up inside versus outside, and whether you'll be better off hiding indoors versus picking them off in the open.
The biggest hazard on the surface is the potential for flying polyps. They combine speed with hit-and-run tactics, making them hard to handle in melee. They can be stunned though, which is good news if you picked mage hunter. Using the hammer will blind you unless you have your mask activated.
If you secure this structure, you'll have a decent shelter, endless water, and a smattering of corpses to loot. The real fun is underneath. As with the curious structure, this gives you the possibility of staying on the surface and exploring your surroundings, before tackling the basement.
Once you decide to hit the stairs, you'll be in a small room that opens up into a large open area, with small rooms filtering monsters in to make the initial fight more more manageable. As much of the enemy will be scattered around the large room and the side rooms, you might fare better if you clear out whatever pours into the stair room, then fall back to rest up and clear the remainder later.
Each corner holds a side room containing clothing, books, magical items and more. One of these rooms can also hold a map. However, beware the locked-up door to the north. Needless to say, blundering into that area before you're ready will get you killed in short order. For added ominousness, you'll find barriers in the form of candles. These can be dealt with in the same way as the upright sword, and further make it clear that this is one of the most dangerous monsters in the mod.
When you're ready and the area as a whole is secure, you'll have the dracolich to deal with. It is by far the toughest of the four bosses, and it has the same lethal flames as the spirit of fire. Coming back with a ranged weapon and blowing it away might be a solid choice, as there aren't many places to hide behind if you try to bait it into a melee. However, the ring of shallow water around the main room offers another possibility, as moving into water will promptly put you out if you catch fire.
And once you finish it off? You aren't done yet, unless you've disabled zombie revivification. Butcher or pulp the beast, unless you want to fight it all over again. Alternatively, attempting to neutralize the corpse with a knife might net you a very tough ally.
The final prize is the ring of the fallen angel, which can be used to guard against psionic attacks if worn. The real power is using it, readily curing and protecting against a wide array of effects, most of them otherworldly in nature. If you want to mitigate the consequences of using the demon claw or cursed sword, you'll want this.
Impact Site
- Associated Group: The Keepers of The Oath (also called the Chalice Cult)
- Hostiles: Nether monsters, cultist creatures.
- Boss: Host of the Archon.
- Artifact: Cursed sword.
- Associated Books: Oaths to The Chalice, To Master the Unknown, The Six Pillars, Apprentice's Notes.
- Associated Magical Items: Spear of pestilence, symbol of judgement, mantle of shadows, thunder gauntlets, offering chalice, certain scrolls and summoning glyphs, essence, blood essence.
- Other Guaranteed Loot: Strange note, symbol of judgement, blood essence, essence (boss).
The area around the stairs is a massive crater, shallow pits bogging down most of the monsters that will show up at ground level. If you picked blood mage or dark priest, you'll have clear lines of fire and should be able to do a number on them before running out of ammo. Any other profession will have a hard time, and might be better off retreating upstairs.
If you have z-levels enabled, you'll also have flying enemies on the upper level to contend with, another reason why pushing ahead is (for once) a good way to mitigate the horde. Another option is to run for it and come back better-armed, as the impact site doesn't really offer anything of interest on the ground floor to make a base out of.
As with the island temple, flying polyps are a big problem if you went with a melee-focused character, but can be stunned.
Once you end up on the second floor, the only ways into the center room are the stairs, north, and south. This gives you a decent place to hole up if needed, but might get you swarmed if you still have multiple hostiles converging on the stairs below you. Floating walkways offer a way left or right, but both will eventually converge on the same location above you. You have two fairly direct paths, and two winding paths. Unless you're about to get your face eaten, just take one of the long ways. The shorter paths are randomly littered with anomalous traps, and perception won't help you spot them.
On either side, you have fairly empty rooms going up, both converging on the temple proper. Each stairwell also has a side room nearby with potential loot as well as hostiles. There is little space to rest and stock up before taking on the boss, as the archon is lurking in the main room, along with the enemies in the side rooms.
The archon himself is a fairly fragile enemy, with the lowest health out of all the bosses. He can inflict paralysis as with some of the cultist enemies, but the real threat is the symbol of judgement he wields. Or at least, the lightning attack mimicking it. Compared to being bathed in fire, it's easier to wade into close range with it, but picking it off at a distance is still smart.
Once the archon and any remaining monsters are silenced for good, the rooms themselves are yours to loot. The southern room has basic clothes and some books, potentially a map as well. Most of the loot there is a mix of what the two side rooms can hold.
In a room to the north is your prize, the cursed sword. On its own, it's little more than a big, durable sword. Activating it will increase its damage and your strength, along with granting life-sapping and rarely inflicting instant decapitation. However, you'll be stuck wielding it until it runs out of blood essence, while the active blade will sicken and corrupt you. In addition, with enough skill, you can make something more out of it...
Strange Grove
- Associated Group: Independent Arcanists.
- Hostiles: Triffids, nether monsters.
- Boss: Moruboru.
- Artifact: Bane staff.
- Associated Books: History of Alchemy, The Six Pillars, To Master the Unknown, A Story in Shadow.
- Associated Magical Items: Any random potions, any random scrolls, any random summoning glyphs, essence.
- Other Gauranteed Loot: Tattered note, strange map, essence (boss).
The outside area is a tangled mess of plants and monsters (and combinations thereof), and by far the most hectic start to the scenario. The wall of trees surrounding the entrance can help slow the monsters, along with infighting among them. If you picked blood mage, you're in pyromaniac heaven, while the other professions might have trouble.
Underneath you start in a small room affording some reprieve, while all around is a maze of old walls and roots. Whereas the surface is better off burned to the ground from a safe distance, the tunnels below will suit a melee character better. As before, a mix of minor triffids and nether monsters will make the fight easier, as they'll fight among themselves. Corpses are littered randomly about, providing some potential loot.
The ways north and south of the door will take you in a winding loop, and some small loot will be available in the western part of that circle. Portals can be seen in this western room and just south of it. The northern part of the loop has two ways to go, two tunnels. The option on the right takes you to a side room in the northeast corner, with some additional possible treasure. Hidden away with the books is the only guaranteed spawn of the strange map.
The other way north splits into a small alcove to the west (with a few beds), and a path curving south and west. Following that you'll have a locked-off room, assuming the local fauna and/or flora didn't smash it open. Hopefully you'll have a moment to prepare for the fight ahead.
The moruboru isn't that tough. It can lash at you with vines and inflict a very nasty bite, but overall it can be put down without much trouble. It also fills the air with toxic gas, which might be the biggest hazard unless you go toe-to-toe with it. If you picked blood mage and still have blood essence left, the revenant crown will neutralize pretty much everything it can throw at you.
Unlike the other three bosses, the moruboru drops your prize directly, along with some essence. The bane staff is a fairly damaging ranged magic weapon, and its shots also produce a splatter of acid and a cloud of toxic gas.
The Next Steps
If you've made it through this scenario, then you've earned a solid head start towards mastering the items the mod has to offer. You might've even secured a decent structure to use as a base. On the other hand, you're likely to be far from civilization, and lacking in the bare essentials of survival.
If you're used to roaming around the wilderness, you'll have little trouble applying what you've learned and found in your journey. In terms of combat, whatever magical gear suits your playstyle will likely provide an advantage if you can keep them powered. Your methods will depend on what type of essence your preferred gear uses.
Regular essence can be looted from most anomalous monsters, which all of the starting locations have in force. Otherwise you'll have to get produce your own. Oaths to the Chalice is your main way to do so, and two recipes in it let you dispose of various items using an offering chalice.
Blood essence is a more steady source of power, and it also can be produced to make normal essence. You'll need blood, and lots of it. The silver athame can produce a bleed effect on command, so all you need is a ready source of rags to soak and sacrifice. Human flesh is another alternative, among other methods.
Dull essence is very easy to stockpile after you've cleared out your starting location, but it requires constant hunting for more magic items once you've destroyed every item you don't need or want. If you have access to blood magic, producing blood essence can provide a steady source of dull essence as well. Lastly, the artifact you obtain can be broken down for a massive yield, but doing so requires a very high arcana skill, along with a more elaborate ritual.
You might also hope to find more locations of this sort. Having conquered one arcane location makes it easier to beat others, and items from one place can compliment others. There's also a chance you'll find a map revealing any locations within a given area, not only including the arcanist locations but also ruined shrines and a few vanilla areas. In the end, you'll have seen the best and worst this mod has to offer.
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