Field experience is garnered at the time that the carcass of a demised critter decays into compost. The adventurer who delivered the final, killing blow gains full experience for the kill, so also do others who made a great contribution to the kill. Others making a lesser contribution may get lesser amounts of experience. Even a beast who has fled your clutches or one which you have abandoned after landing a series of blows will provide you with some experience once someone finally terminates its existance. You may be long gone from the area when the beast finally meets his reward, yet you will experience some learning upon its departure.
Volners seek favors of the gods by destroying the undead carcasses which enslave the sprits of fallen adventurers. Favor is gained only by observing the death of the undead being. The Volner who kills the beast receives full favor for the kill, while all others watching (even passers-by) will receive half-favor whether they contributed significantly to the death of the undeader or no.
There is nothing more pathetic than a live wizard standing over the dead body of a fallen comrade. Lacking strength enough to drag, all we can do is life-keep them and cry for help. Voln master wizards can at least fog them home from most places.
Ye wizards of stature, maintain ye the elemental defenses of your hunting partners. Build a reasonable mana share so that your friends can help you to keep their defenses alive. Keep mana on reserve so that none of your friendship circle expires in your presence. The wizard's job is to keep the members of the group alive. In return, your friends will shower you with wands.
Wizards must chose the beasties upon which we prey with great discretion. We must be able to easily kill the nasty in very few blows, particularly when we are relying upon the finite quantities of mana to hunt with. But we must not splatter any of our own blood or body parts in the process.
The most dangerous critters to us are those which have maneuver attacks. Death clouds and boil earth spells can really do us in. The best defense against a critter like that is to avoid them unless we are in groups which are big enough that the critter will not live long enough to prep and cast a spell. Training in combat maneuvers will help, but it takes a lot of trainings to make us immune to that sort of attack. CM is an expensive train for us, so we cannot train in it at the same time that we are banking training points for triple spell trainings.
You can buy articles from other adventurers on the amunet. Take any crystal amulet, wear it and rub it. This is a thought network. Now pull the amulet, and you are on a thought network devoted to buying and selling things. I do not recommend that you buy many things until you have attained level 10 and bought your vultite sword and shield. But you may want to buy some 2x full leathers when you hit level 5. This will give you an extra +10 defense and it should not be overly expensive. 2x leather is armor which has been twice enchanted by an elder wizard. Normal merchants do not sell enchanted armor.
At an early age, a drake weapon that you find on a beastie is good to use. From time to time, drake weapons spit out fire critical hits when you hit something, inflicting more damage. An even better idea is to ask for a lord or lady wizard to put a miner edge on your plain bladed weapon. Be sure that you are holding the weapon in your right hand when you ask. You can cast that spell upon yourself, but it lasts a lot longer when someone older casts it. It gives you a temporary +15 on your attacks, and you need that.
Hunting undead, you will need to have your sword blessed. Undead creatures are immune to attacks by weapons which are not blessed. Weapons can only be blessed by a cleric, or by a member of the Order of Voln, and for all intents and purposes it requires a Master of the Order of Voln, unless you are the member and you are blessing your own sword. Weapons enchanted by wizards cannot be blessed. Weapons which have edge or e-blade cast upon them cannot be blessed.
When you ask for a blessing, hold your sword in your right hand. If you have a normal, non-magical metal weapon -- a falchion for example, ask "Would anyone be so kind as to bless my normal falchion, please? If you have a magical weapon, such as an imflass broadsword, be sure to mention that you have a magical weapon. "Would anyone be so kind as to bless my imflass broadsword?
For a cleric of level 50 or greater, blessing a magical weapon is a very simple task. A Voln Master can also bless magical weapons, but the master must first hold the weapon in his or her own hand, and blessing a weapon will cost a Voln Master favor from the gods, where a cleric will only use a tiny bit of mana. For this reason, Voln Masters are often more reluctant to bless magical metals. If you ask "Can anyone here bless magical metals? a master is likely to not say anything. If he or she blesses one weapon in a crowded room, they may be asked by a half-dozen others for blesses.
If you are a member of the Order of Voln, use your symbol of recognition. You will be able to see who the members, and who the masters are of the order. Whisper to a master, asking for a bless. They may say no. Some masters will have a lot of favor stored up, and some will have very little. If a master replies something like "gimme", it means that they will bless your weapon, but you have to hand it to them first.
Once you stop using swords, you don't have to worry about getting anything blessed. Your bolt spells work just fine against the undead. Some may be immune to fire or cold, but in general spells work great against undeaders.
Some folks will buy a new type of magical metal item as soon as they can both hold them and afford them. I recommend that you wait until you are level 10, and buy vultite at that time. If you must buy something before then, buy imflass at level 6. Do not buy mein, it is far too heavy. Save your money and buy a vultite shield for yourself as a tenth birthday present. Buy a vultite bladed weapon as soon as you can after that.
If you are younger than five trainings, you cannot hold or wear 2x armor. If you are younger than six trainings, you cannot hold imflass. If you are younger than 10 trainings, you cannot hold vultite.
But while Wehnimers Landing is where most adventurers congregate and hunt, I might suggest that you consider spending levels 2-4 in Ice Mule Trace. If you have to travel to get to Ice Mule, make sure that you have picked up a couple of deeds before the trip. Travel with a high-level friend, and ask for a half hour or so of traveling spells. It is a dangerous journey.
Beneath the town of Ice Mule Trace you will find a colony of gnomes. These little fellows are not difficult to handle, yet they have a lot of treasure and magical items, where rats do not. Rats can also be found beneath the town of Ice Mule.
I suggest that you frequently place the silvers which you earn into the bank. But take all of the magical items you find on the gnomes and turn them into deeds. This is the most efficient use of magical items for a very young adventurer who has not the skills to really utilize the magical potential of such items, and it will pay big dividends later in life when deeds are far more costly.
You can also hunt kobolds near Wehnimers Landing, but you cannot so easily turn their treasure into deeds as you can at the flow in Ice Mule. Hunting at Ice Mule also gives you a much broader view of the world at an early age.
As a Volner wizard, you're going to have to go to the graveyard to kill a lot of undeaders, and you don't want some nasty goblin striking you down with one punch. You need some meat on your skinny wizard bones first. Members of the other society will find that they are no match for the nasties that they are supposed to retrieve the hides from, and their skinning skills will take a few trainings in first aid to develop. Also, I hear that the Poobah gets cranky when his societarians take too long to advance.
Level five is a good age for a wizard to join a society.
My brothers and sisters in the fraternal Order of Voln will now be hunting in the graveyard in the area outside the crypt. Go inside the crypt to rest up from the hunt and regain mana and spells. Hunt there from five to seven trainings.
My friends and acquaintances in the pseudo-secret society will hunt wherever their beloved Poobah and his minions tell them to hunt. Volners can often sell undead body parts to their counterparts for a substantially higher price than what the furrier is offering.
Hunt in a group with a bard and a cleric. These folks can sing and pray you into one tough fighting machine for as long as you're hunting with them.
Volners, when you turn seven or so, you can hunt mummies through the arch in the crypt. There are three rooms where you stand and wait for mummies to come to you, swarming sometimes. In the center room, there is a mummy sarcophagus. Search, and you should find a crack back there. Go through the crack and there is a much larger area with slightly weaker mummies back there. I like that better than standing still.
At nine or ten you can go back to the bog and hunt death dirges. I always used to do my dark elven dirge dance to attract them. Those were the days. I met some really good friends back in the bog dancing for dirges. If dirges become scarce, as they do at times, you may want to try traveling to Solhaven for the dirges in foggy valley, or you may want to try ice spectres in Ice Mule, who have much the same temperament as dirges.
It's a little bit hard to find the minions quarters. You go through the crypt, through the crack in the wall where the mummies move about. From there you go east as far as you can. I think there's a tunnel you have to go through on the way. The northeast corner room has a torch on the wall which you turn, revealing a staircase. Up the stairs, you go west and through a door, then straight south as far as you can and then search until you find some steps. Up the steps and there you are. You can use a gold teleport ring to get there, but you might as well walk.
If you want a bit of variety, you can try werebears and darkwoodes, but your main prey will be wraiths until you get your wizard shield spell at 19. As you get better at wraiths, you may want to try the abandoned inn wraiths. You can also go to wolves den for wraiths. At the wolves den, wraiths travel with spectres and spectres cast evil death clouds. Keep mana handy so that you can scatter any clouds you see with your hand of tonis 505 spell.
Stay away from ghoul masters. You can kill them ok, but they travel with tomb wights which really pack a punch. Skeletal giants are good prey, but you have to walk through gray orcs which cast clouds. Leave the gray's alone, please. The Temple of Love is in that area too. You are welcome to try the nedum vereri. They are fun to hunt because they flirt with you as they try to snuff your life out. But they are difficult to kill with swords and bolt spells. They are cleric and sorcie fodder.
Around age 19 to 20, your main prey shifts from wraiths to zombies. Hunt with a group at first. Some wizards stand in defense and cloud zombies all day long. That's slow and pretty dull. If you have a defense of around 120, zombies will not hurt you. The problem is getting to the zombies in the potters field. Tree spirits are between you and them.
Tree spirits are really nasty critters with death clouds and boiling earth. Tiptoe quickly through spirits invisible and in defensive stance. Go through the copse of trees and then south, and stand up immediately. You're in zombie territory. Set your ring so you don't have to mess with spirits again.
There is a mana node in the middle of potters field, but it's not obvious. You can stand there and regain mana fairly quickly if you know where the spot is, but zombies can venture into the node with no problem.
If you really want to hunt tree spirits in a group, that is ok. Keep in mind spirits are very deadly, but the trick is to have a potent enough group that the spirit dies before it gets a spell off. Likewise arch wights are fun to hunt and fairly easy to kill but they cast clouds and boil earth, so hunt in groups. Stay inside the crypt near the ice room for most of your archie hunting.
Don't go into the gully area of the graveyard. There are too many different kinds of nasties that can do you in. At very least, wait until you have the cone of lightning 518 spell so that you can attack a room full of beasties at once. That gives you a chance to stun everything before the spiders web you and the archies boil your hide off. When things start swarming, get out of there.
Zombies are wonderful prey for wizards. You will hunt zombies for just about as long as you did wraiths. When you stop learning much from zombies, around 27 trainings, that's where we hit a training gap.
You should be a Voln Master now if you're on that tract. Rub a statue or get a cleric or empath to cast alkars on your person and then go through the tapestry in Masters Hall and into the misty chamber. Here you will find spectral monks and monastic liches. Those are fairly safe, but they can land a big punch or spell on you every once in a while if you don't watch out. Use a ring or Voln symbol of return to get out of there.
The best things for you to hunt at ages 27-33 are the rotting corpses around the Castle Varunar, but they travel with roa'ters, which are about the worst thing for you to hunt because of their mobility attack. Another good thing to hunt are the pookas in shadow valley. Pookas are a lot of fun, but shadow valley itself is an issue.
You get to shadow valley through the moaning spirits. Cast a quick round of spells on yourself, enough to get into moaning spirits. Get a full head of mana, cast invisibility on yourself, climb through the opening into the moaning spirits area. Draw your sword, pull your shield, go defensive, walk to the westernmost edge of the moaning spirit arena and then yell Jaron Galarn.
Every spell on your body will instantly melt away, except for a floating disk. You will be in the dark and unable to cast any spells, change your stance, or anything else. From here you search until you find an opening. You go through the opening and you find yourself in a kneeling position, totally spell-less.
This is a very vulnerable place to be in. A pooka in the room can stun you with spells or hit you while you are in this position if they are quick enough. Traveling in a group, it is best for a cleric or empath to go though the opening first and immediately cast minor sanctify 213, which prevents any fighting in that room. That will give everybody time to cast a barrage of spells on themselves and on each other.
There is but one node in shadow valley. This node is called, the ledge. When you are in shadow valley, the amunet and the Voln net only work among the folks in shadow valley. If you stand up while you are at the ledge, you have a chance of being toppled over the ledge by an unseen force. Going over the ledge is the way you leave shadow valley. Leaving shadow valley also dissolves any spells which you happen to be wearing.
Between the area where the pookas roam and the ledge are some really nasty ponies. Shadow mares are fairly harmless, but night mares and shadow steeds can spoil your whole day. If you ever have to walk that gauntlet, make yourself invisible, go defensive, and cast haste II on yourself. That way any nasty stares you get from the steeds and the nightmares will not cause you to freeze in your tracks for very long.
Another way to get to the ledge is with the Voln symbol of return. Return fogs you to the ledge, but it does not allow you to fog a group there. The best mode of travel is the gold teleport ring. Rings will let you fog around within shadow valley.
When I hunted shadow valley, shadow steeds would occasionally go down the ramp and into pookas. I don't know if they still do. If they do, it is a good idea to post a familiar as lookout at the ramp so that you will know if one starts down there. Steeds and night mares can both freeze you in your tracks just from being in the same area with them.
Always hunt pookas from an offensive stance. Pookas stare freezes you if you are in a defensive stance. My favorite trick was to let pookas swarm and then hit them with multiple blasts of cone of lightning. Pookas cast spirit fog to get their defenses really high. Don't waste your mana on the high defenses. It is very easy to find pookas with normal defenses and obliterate them.
You can probably have pretty good success with skeletal warhorses at first, then with skeletal lords and phantasmas. All of these beasts can freeze you in your tracks while you are young. You may need some spirit spells at first such as light and deep blues and possibly opals in order to ward off the freezing affects. It won't be many trainings before you are hunting Varunar with only your own spells.
There's not really a good reason to leave Varunar, except to train and to deposit your silvers and perhaps to enchant something. By the time you reach 50, you don't learn much from even the phantasmas. The temptation is to go to Darkstone and hunt banshees. Banshees are difficult to kill before you reach 50, and they travel with stone sentinels. Sents have really nasty mobility attacks, but your major shock 910 spell really does terrible things to a sentinel. They're kind of fun, but very dangerous. And you will lose Voln favor by fogging out of Darkstone because rings don't work there. Still, Darkstone castle is an experience.
Also at Bonespear, your own spells are no longer sufficient to your needs. You have to have spirit spells as well. I suggest that you wear light and deep blues, alkars, and wall of force. Now that is a bit of overkill, I admit. But the object is to not get hit. Even with all of these spells, some creatures will be able to freeze you in your tacks for short periods.
I suggest that you walk around in defense and attack only dybbuks and waerns at first. Start using the elemental blast 409 spell if you aren't already. You can cast it from a defensive stance, it tends to start them out with a stun, and it might pull their legs out from under them. Waerns are easy to stun and to kill, but if they lunge at you and grab your arm they can make you bleed, and drop things. Drop things such as your shield! Eidolons will grab a shield they see lying around, and that makes them harder to kill. Bonespear is a fun place, it really is. But be on your guard.
Carry around a plain, unenchanted vultite shield that you don't mind parting with and a normal-metal blade in case you need to go into a defensive stance. Sorcies have been known to implode beasties carrying enchanted vult shields, one of them mine. The shield died with the beast. Ouch.
Well friends, that's all I can tell you. I'm still living at Bonespear. From here, it looks like I have a choice between very very cold and very very hot. I'll let you know what I find out when the time comes. In the mean time, hunt safely and don't get a lot of blood on your sword.