Look around.
Choose one: open your Starshine Ledger and cancel a preview, step through the academy tower door, or ask Tutor Garran Feld how training works. Notice whether the next step makes sense.
Field guide 03 / Read me first / The Things We Earn
Published · ready for playtest
PC & Steam Deck
A useful blade.
A place to learn.
A worthy reflection.
Three ways to make your next adventure matter: turn found goods into equipment, explore the Starshine Academy, and earn your next step beside a tutor.
Choose one route. Published delivery and your optional playtest are separate.
Choose your pace
A small visit is useful.
Follow one route.
Use unwanted loot at the forge, explore a floor of the academy, or attempt an eligible reflection. Pick a mission below and record what you actually observed.
Starting a first weapon from nothing is tuned toward 20–40 minutes of active play. A short forge visit can check the flow with materials or loot you already own. No XP grinding is needed to complete this guide.
Route 01 / The forge
Make something worth keeping.
Find Bramm in Starshine Reach. Use the Starshine Ledger in your inventory; it is your character’s shared record of materials, recipes and trade.
1
Preview before you commit.
Browse an ordinary weapon recipe. Read its materials and gold fee, then cancel once. A preview spends nothing.
2
Put unwanted loot to work.
Beside Bramm, preview salvage of an ordinary unequipped item or trophy. Confirm only the whole item or stack you mean to consume, then check the material balance.
3
Choose a blade—or another kind of kit.
Craft when you have the displayed materials and fee. Ordinary recipes need no reflection victory. Your ledger also offers a two-for-one exchange between physical materials at the smith.
One island, one resale shelf.
Beside a friendly participating shopkeeper, use the ledger to sell an unwanted ordinary item or browse the shared finite resale shelf. Its name, properties, stack and remaining charges are retained. One buyer gets that lot. Ordinary shop stock is shown separately.
Use something cheap for a buyback check: the purchase price is higher than the sale proceeds. Crafting and salvage stay with Bramm or a smith; enchanting belongs at the academy.
Five materials · one familiar gold balance
Worked MetalSeasoned TimberCured Hide
Woven FibreClear Crystal
- A ledger that belongs to your character →5-minute case · open, preview, cancel and reopen
- Turn found goods into your chosen weapon →15-minute flow check with existing loot · from-zero timing is a longer adventure
- A sold item stays on the shelf →8-minute case · sell one cheap item and inspect its exact lot
Route 02 / The academy
Walk through the front door.
Use Tester’s Compass → Magic, gardens and school → Academy — Outer Gardens. Follow the approach to the tower and enter through its visible doorway.
1
Get your bearings.
The teaching hall, library and resonance workroom share the public floor. Upper stairs lead to meals and resident rooms; the High Mage works above the residence.
2
Meet the people who make it a school.
Watch one adult resident study, eat or change activity. Visit the High Mage in her study. Record game time and NPC name if a route, seat or conversation feels wrong.
3
Visit the resonance keeper.
Ask Keeper Olyne Tess to attune your Resonance Lens. Inspect the enchanting focus and its commission explanation. You can understand the next step without buying or fighting anything.
A supervised demonstration
In the adult demonstration gallery, watch two battlemages fight under the marshal’s supervision. Clerics approach a defeated mage, cast Resurrection and direct recovery. A player entering the marked court should stop the round.
The court gives no player loot or essence.
A little resonance, earned slowly
After attunement, eligible wild sources can yield Wild Essence, crypt watchmen Umbral Essence, and guarded Redbough caches Aether Essence. Your own contribution matters at guarded caches.
Drops are occasional. One empty roll is expected; repeated observations with a named source are useful.
- A proper arrival at the Starshine Academy →6-minute case · doorway, safe return and purposeful rooms
- Meals, study, sleep and the High Mage →8-minute case · one resident, the shared rooms and the High Mage
- Real spellwork, then real Resurrection →8-minute case · supervised adult spellwork and Resurrection
- Attune, collect and understand your next unlock →10-minute case · attune and inspect the next unlock; a hunt can wait
Historical route — superseded. These original instructions no longer describe player advancement. Use the current Mercy training guide; the former Garran/catch-up service is retired.
Route 03 / Your reflection
Bring your experience to a tutor.
Find Tutor Garran Feld in the academy teaching hall. Earned XP remains yours; training grants permission for a future level. Target levels 3, 6, 9 and later multiples of three require a won reflection.
1
Choose the challenge you are ready for.
Train when you naturally have enough XP. Existing characters of level 3 or higher can request an attunement reflection at their current strength, without losing levels or replaying trivial earlier tiers.
2
Let the tutor prepare the court.
Leave room to unequip worn items, allow temporary spell effects to fade and leave companions outside. Your original possessions remain protected while blue player and red reflection receive matching trial regalia.
3
Use your ten seconds, then fight.
After the preparation countdown, face a reflection of your character’s abilities. On return, inspect your original equipment, gold and XP. A normal win or loss is enough for a useful report.
What a victory opens
Ordinary recipes: open now→
Won milestone 3 + lens: +1 work→Won milestone 6 + commission: +2 work
The tier-two commission names three guarded proofs—Redbough Hearth, Redbough Captain and the Reach Crypt watch— and its material cost. Each enchantment has a separate exact preview. New equipment stays within the +2 ceiling; existing possessions and earned progress are retained.
A catch-up victory recognizes the appropriate won milestone. It does not award free XP or an otherwise unearned level. The private Hall of Reflection is entered through the tutor, not through a Compass shortcut.
If a recovery receipt remains held, keep its text and report the outcome. Let the recovery sequence finish before inspecting or moving the restored items.
- Earned XP leads to training, not field levelling →5-minute case when XP is ready · instruction and cancellable level permission
- Face your reflection and return with your own gear →12-minute case · preparation, a won reflection and original equipment restored
- A lost trial costs neither possessions nor progress →Optional 10-minute outcome · protected possessions and the Stillwater return
Leave one useful clue
What did you try? What happened?
Place + person
Name the area, NPC, recipe or button. Add game time for a schedule problem, and your class for a reflection problem.
Before + after
For a trade, note the receipt and relevant balance or item. For a room or panel, add the camera angle, screen size or device.
The moment itself
A screenshot or short clip helps. Use the direct mission link above; your private report can hold the evidence. A clear successful check is useful too.
What is checked, and what still needs real play?
Private native-server checks cover material accounting, item custody, actual gold changes, duplicate/stale actions, restart recovery, source exclusions, academy routines and trial restoration. The release record carries the final evidence.
Connected-player save-event delivery, reconnect timing, panel comfort, lighting, sound, camera cutaways and exact NPC appearance still need real-client observation. NPC fixtures and offline images do not establish those results. No player acceptance is implied.
The illustration above is concept art. Any offline academy views linked from the release record are labelled as offline renders, not NWN screenshots.