It sounds like you’re about where I was this morning. There were two things that unblocked me:
Finding the elemental earth. Do you have something that could help you with this?
Hi,
That still doesn’t help much. Do you mean I should try to burn different woods for the gold ignition ritual
That is a solution for if
you are having trouble lighting the blackwood to use in gold ignition.
If that’s not the problem you’re having, can you be more specific about what the trouble is?
Hmm, I’m surprised.
Not only do I not know of anything I have that could help me with that (I don’t really have any rituals related to creating other elemental substances except fire, or purifying existing objects like the stone chips) but I don’t know what I would do if I had some – it only allows me to perform the Gaian precipitate synthesis ritual, and I don’t think I have any purpose for Gaian precipitate right now.
Since this game’s release coincided perfectly with my vacation, I have been completely immersed in it! So much fun – I love a good thoroughly-built IF world!!! 
My best general get-unstuck tip has been to:
wander around with the oculus, even to places you’ve been before.
But now I’m stuck in the mid/late game (I think) – maybe around where optimality and jalapeño_dude were? Only they got past and I haven’t?? I think I may only need a minor hint on one of these, but I’m really not sure which one comes next.
Stuck point #1 (the one optimality got past):
I can’t figure out how to complete the Great Marriage
Nothing I’ve tried “invokes the dragon” or finishes the ritual – none of the bindings i know, or putting a seal in the bound, or any of the mathematical formulas, or saying the names of the dragons I’ve heard of.
Does it have something to do with the drawing that replaces the name of the dragon on one of my papers?
Stuck point #2 (jalapeño_dude – have you solved this yet, or are we stuck here together?):
I can’t figure out a catalytic environment without platinum either.
I’ve looked at everything I have through the planetary lens and I still can’t find anything else with an eclipse.
I’m wondering if there’s something in the Tertiary Alchemy Lab or the Deep Lab, since I can’t get into either one yet?
Stuck point #3:
I can’t get into the Tertiary Alchemy Lab.
I’ve tried adapting the permeability ritual with ashes, but couldn’t get that to work.
I’ve tried adapting the solvent synthesis ritual to work against pine, but couldn’t get that to work either.
I’ve tried setting the door on fire with elemental fire, but couldn’t get that to work either.
Stuck point #4:
I can’t get over the stone bridge due to the gravity issues
I tried increasing the weight of the lead rod and carrying that, but it had no effect on my gravity issues.
I also tried increasing my own weight with the lead weight inscription, but it had no effect on me.
Maybe I need one of the suits from the dressing room?
But I don’t know how to wear them?
Stuck point #5:
I can’t get the paper from the exoscape bay.
I can make the window permeable, but I can’t enter or survive in the depressurized bay.
I don’t know how to make the attraction ritual apply to paper.
I’m guessing this might be what I need a homunculus for, from the Great Marriage?
Stuck point #6:
I can’t get past the Barosy gate.
I’ve tried reversing the tarnish and rust rituals to rust the lock or the bars, but had no luck.
I’m guessing there’s something else I’ll need for this that I’ll find somewhere else?
Thanks, all! I will keep trying my best general tip…
cata, have you tried
visiting places you’ve been before with the oculus?
I can’t remember what turned up when, but I found new sparks did turn up after certain events in certain locations that often helped me get unstuck.
Bookofkell:
About what your focus should be:
Work on the Great Marriage. The other things you list will become more solvable later.
A hint about that:
Sometimes attempting a ritual you’re not fully ready for still has something to offer you.
Thanks, emshort – will do!
(And sorry to be such a space hog, folks – I got totally carried away there before!)
@bookofkell: Nope, haven’t figured out #2. But I can solve your #6:
Look at the gate carefully.
Is there some material here you can do something with?
There’s a ritual that applies to brass.
The clock tincture “will induce perfection in any brass mechanism it touches.”
You’ll need elemental earth and water (for the mud) and elemental fire (for the sublime spirit). Once you have those, making the clock tincture is straightforward.
In exchange, I need some basic help with #1 that I think you or emshort should be able to supply:
I haven’t found anything relating to a Great Marriage yet. I’m pretty sure I have access to the same rooms as you (e.g. all the dragons, the dressing room, etc.). This means I missed something, but I have no clue what. In particular, I think I’ve used the oculus everywhere, since the RECALL ROOMS command no longer mentions having to check anywhere. The only thing I can think of that I might be missing is the rutilum door in the High Tower–I was assuming I needed a C-sharp chime (to make a rutilum permeability inscription, as per RECALL MUSIC, which I haven’t found yet, but maybe there’s another way.
Thanks, I’ll work on that!
For yours:
Yes, work on that door.
There’s another way.
Try making a new tool.
And I hadn’t triedRECALL ROOMS - neat!
Wow, I’m super confused!
I know that the oculus sometimes makes sparks in some places but not others, and I even wrote down where it makes sparks, but I don’t know what to make of it yet. I couldn’t find anything in common yet between those places. I didn’t know the places were changing over time. I’ll go take another look.
@cata: You need to examine the sparks (LOOK THROUGH OCULUS, then X SPARK). Once you’ve done that once (or maybe a few times?), RECALL ROOMS will tell you where else you need to check.
@bookofkell: Excellent spoiler, thanks! Had to think about it for a few minutes, then it totally clicked. Now I feel really dumb…
Thanks for the nudge; that’s what I needed!
Hi,
So I solved the fire thing (not looking in the crock, newbie if mistake) but now I’m kind of…stuck…again.
locked doors, seen by the doors command:
the Secondary Alchemy Lab door
the Chymic Lab door
the Opticks closet door
the Deck Suite Venture door
the Tertiary Lab door
the Airlock outer door
the Portico main doors
the North Arcade marble door
the Exoscaphe hatch
the Birdhouse door
the obsidian door
the Barosy gate
the Deep Stacks door
the Observatory ladder
the South Chasm bridge
the Storage Nook cabinet
the Medical Wing Hallway cabinet
the Deck Suite cabinet
twelve fractures
I believe I need to figure out how to
seals from the seal molds
so if anyone could help that’d be great.
Oh wow, I see. That’s really frustrating.
Of course I tried “x blah through oculus” many times, and “x spark” many times (which never gave an encouraging message), and “x oculus” many times, I never just tried “look through oculus.” Meh.
Well, it looks like this basically unblocks all my puzzles!
I just cracked this this morning, with help from this thread, and it opened up a whole bunch.
You should have all you need.
What is the badge you’ve got made from?
How could you reshape that badge?
You’ll need to make yourself impervious to fire again to do it all.
Oh, that didn’t work. But maybe the method is right. What else could you use?
Which metal melts at the lowest temperature?
My answer (there might be others):
Make a fire-resistance potion and drink it. Put a mold in the kiln. Put some lead in the mold. Take it all out and enjoy your new badge.
So it looks like for the next bit I’ll need a quicksilver bound and the names of the dragons. For the first bit, I’ve examined all of the bounds except the one in the deep lab (which presumably will only be accessible after I’ve fixed Baros) and none are obviously Mercury-alloy, unless “moon silver” counts as Mercury. As for the dragons, I’ve examined them under all manner of lenses and I have no idea how to learn/transcribe their name/runes/formulas. Any hints?
Hi,
Last question, I promise!
(…I hope.)
(…i’m kind of new at interactive fiction.)
Could anyone tell me how to find:
Perfect mud (I have the elemental earth and water, think have to do something with them), and gaian precipitate.
Thanks a bunch
@evouga: If you have quicksilver, you’ll be able to use the adjustable bound in the Mechanica lab to create the required bound, with some experimentation.However, you won’t be able to find quicksilver (or the dragon names, though see the actual text of the fulcrum ritual) until after you’ve performed the Great Marriage. (If you don’t know what this is, you’ll need to open the cabinet in the High Tower.) After doing this, you’ll find the solutions to these problems come fairly quickly.
@diggle: These are both products of rituals, not something you find lying around. So you’ll need to find the ritual instructions first.
If you have the elemental earth, you’ve already figured out that you can get rituals from sparks. Try looking for sparks in every location (use RECALL ROOMS to see which ones you need to do.)