10-16-2004, 02:54 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-11-2005, 03:35 AM by MongoJerry.)
ADVENTURES OF NERIAD: Schooling Scholomance, part VI, The Viewing Room and the Laboratory
Neriad and her party opened the door to the Viewing Room and walked inside.
Breaking away from the narrative for a moment, let's talk a bit about Scholomance's design. I would rank the three most difficult sections of Scholomance as follows:
1. "The Room from Hell," the room containing Jandice Barov
2. The Reliquary
3. The Great Ossuary
Notice something about this list. We've already finished them all! Or technically, we passed by "The Room from Hell," did only a small section of the Reliquary, and finished the Great Ossuary completely. Up until the two final boss challenges (which are really fun) the rest of the instance is a piece of cake. The instance is literally divided into two halves by the Viewing Room Door. Before the door is a grueling instance with few minibosses and little treasure of the kind players look for. After the door is a series of treasure rooms filled with easily killed minibosses that give players the items of their dreams. The difference between the two halves of the instance could not be more striking.
![[Image: viewingroom.jpg]](http://www.lurkerlounge.com/mongo/viewingroom.jpg)
The Viewing Room itself is eerie. It's a large schoolroom filled with yellow non-aggroed mobs, much like the bar in Blackrock Depths. At the front of the room is the headmaster, Vectus, who is supposed to be the final boss of this instance, and yet he is non-aggroed as well. You can talk to the students who respond with various comments about their studies or your dress, and you can even talk to Vectus who will tell you to get in your proper school uniform and open your books. The room is disorienting, because you know that at some point all these people are going to attack you, but you don't know when.
![[Image: laboratory.jpg]](http://www.lurkerlounge.com/mongo/laboratory.jpg)
Opposite the Viewing Room Door is a stairwell leading down to the Laboratory. This room has mobs similar to those that were in the Safe Room. Here, like there, the mobs can be safely pulled. The only problem mobs are the Spectral Teachers which occasionally break up into multiple parts for a small amount of time. It's best to shackle the Spectral Teachers in each pull and deal with them last.
![[Image: laboratory2.jpg]](http://www.lurkerlounge.com/mongo/laboratory2.jpg)
The laboratory is run by the lich, Ras Frostwhisper. He moves around the sarcophagus at the front of the room, which is convenient, because when he's behind the sarcophagus, the skeleton guards in front of the sarcophagus can be pulled without pulling him. There's not too much more to say about fighting him. Hit him as hard as you can and keep your party members healed.
![[Image: bonechill.jpg]](http://www.lurkerlounge.com/mongo/bonechill.jpg)
Frostwhisper dropped the Bonechill Hammer pictured above. In my first run, he dropped some robes that gave a bonus to frost damage spells and to frost resistance. Unfortunately, neither bonus was very big and the robes had no other peripheral stats. Not even a dedicated frost mage would want to wear them. That's a lukewarm item to drop from a cool boss (pardon the puns).
The laboratory itself is quite interesting. For one thing, a chemistry set on the counter can be clicked on to pick up "Frostwhisper's Embalming Fluid." No one in our party knew what it was used for, but we guessed that it's used in some sort of rare alchemy recipe. Note that this embalming fluid is classified as bind on pickup, so if it is indeed for an alchemy recipe, then make sure that only alchemist characters pick it up.
The room has a strange feel about it. For one thing, the laboratory is way off to the side of the other "treasure rooms" in the area. Kronos suggested that the laboratory could be the alchemist's equivalent of the anvil and forge in Blackrock Depths. That is, perhaps there are some rare alchemy potions that can only be made while standing in the Scholomance laboratory. It'd be neat if that were true.
One other thing: The laboratory also has the Deed to Brill.
![[Image: laboratory3.jpg]](http://www.lurkerlounge.com/mongo/laboratory3.jpg)
Brill: pwned
UP NEXT: The Six Treasure Rooms
Neriad and her party opened the door to the Viewing Room and walked inside.
Breaking away from the narrative for a moment, let's talk a bit about Scholomance's design. I would rank the three most difficult sections of Scholomance as follows:
1. "The Room from Hell," the room containing Jandice Barov
2. The Reliquary
3. The Great Ossuary
Notice something about this list. We've already finished them all! Or technically, we passed by "The Room from Hell," did only a small section of the Reliquary, and finished the Great Ossuary completely. Up until the two final boss challenges (which are really fun) the rest of the instance is a piece of cake. The instance is literally divided into two halves by the Viewing Room Door. Before the door is a grueling instance with few minibosses and little treasure of the kind players look for. After the door is a series of treasure rooms filled with easily killed minibosses that give players the items of their dreams. The difference between the two halves of the instance could not be more striking.
The Viewing Room itself is eerie. It's a large schoolroom filled with yellow non-aggroed mobs, much like the bar in Blackrock Depths. At the front of the room is the headmaster, Vectus, who is supposed to be the final boss of this instance, and yet he is non-aggroed as well. You can talk to the students who respond with various comments about their studies or your dress, and you can even talk to Vectus who will tell you to get in your proper school uniform and open your books. The room is disorienting, because you know that at some point all these people are going to attack you, but you don't know when.
Opposite the Viewing Room Door is a stairwell leading down to the Laboratory. This room has mobs similar to those that were in the Safe Room. Here, like there, the mobs can be safely pulled. The only problem mobs are the Spectral Teachers which occasionally break up into multiple parts for a small amount of time. It's best to shackle the Spectral Teachers in each pull and deal with them last.
The laboratory is run by the lich, Ras Frostwhisper. He moves around the sarcophagus at the front of the room, which is convenient, because when he's behind the sarcophagus, the skeleton guards in front of the sarcophagus can be pulled without pulling him. There's not too much more to say about fighting him. Hit him as hard as you can and keep your party members healed.
Frostwhisper dropped the Bonechill Hammer pictured above. In my first run, he dropped some robes that gave a bonus to frost damage spells and to frost resistance. Unfortunately, neither bonus was very big and the robes had no other peripheral stats. Not even a dedicated frost mage would want to wear them. That's a lukewarm item to drop from a cool boss (pardon the puns).
The laboratory itself is quite interesting. For one thing, a chemistry set on the counter can be clicked on to pick up "Frostwhisper's Embalming Fluid." No one in our party knew what it was used for, but we guessed that it's used in some sort of rare alchemy recipe. Note that this embalming fluid is classified as bind on pickup, so if it is indeed for an alchemy recipe, then make sure that only alchemist characters pick it up.
The room has a strange feel about it. For one thing, the laboratory is way off to the side of the other "treasure rooms" in the area. Kronos suggested that the laboratory could be the alchemist's equivalent of the anvil and forge in Blackrock Depths. That is, perhaps there are some rare alchemy potions that can only be made while standing in the Scholomance laboratory. It'd be neat if that were true.
One other thing: The laboratory also has the Deed to Brill.
Brill: pwned
UP NEXT: The Six Treasure Rooms