The Calling from Below

Calling From Below — 1.0.17
The Witch Update

This release collects the full coven update: the witch identity, six schools of magic, the grimoire trials, the rank ladder, the hut and its matron, and the paper items for rerolling and leaving.

The Coven

A third path
The coven is a full player identity alongside vampire and hunter. Join through the Coven Matron in the witch hut; the three paths remain mutually exclusive.
Leaving is possible in-game. /witch leave warns you, /witch leave confirm completes it, or sneak-use a Letter of Resignation. Leaving ends the cat shape and erases the books, spells and rank.

Six schools, 59 spells
Lightning, Fire, Void, Earth, Necromancer and Blood, each with its own grimoire, colour, spell list, particles and playstyle.
Spells have mana costs, cooldowns and real effects: damage, control, summons, wards, fields, blood magic and the blood clone.
Blood is a full tenth-slot school with Blood Spear, Crimson Drain, Blood Prison, Blood Sacrifice, Crimson Rain, Blood Puppeteer, Sanguine Execution, Crimson Carapace, Blood Moon and Crimson Doppelgänger.
Spell kills are credited to the caster, including damage-over-time fields and summoned creatures.

Grimoires and the timing trial
A new witch is handed one weighted first book: earth is common; fire, lightning and necromancy are rarer; void and blood are legendary.
Reading a book opens a timing trial. Winning binds the school; losing usually costs the attempt, but a miss can burn the book and take the school with it.
Spells are taught one at a time through the same trial. Slots 1–3 are Novice, 4–5 Adept, 6–7 Witch, 8–10 Matron, so a new witch cannot learn a whole book in one sitting.
Books are worn, not just owned. A witch may keep one book equipped; a Matron may keep two.
The codex shows the rack, spell lists, study progress, stats and the cat page, and lets you bind, release and study.

Ranks, points and stats
Novice → Adept 150 → Witch 500 → Matron 1200.
Points come from books (25), spells (4) and magic kills (4). Placing a stat point costs 4.
The hexagon covers Health, Speed, Mana and Focus, up to 20 points each.
Rank-ups play a ceremony: “THE COVEN RISES”, the new rank, the level-up sound and witch-fire.
Cat form needs Adept. The broom needs Witch. Witches also regenerate half a heart every two seconds.

The hut, the matron and the loot
Witch huts generate in forests, taigas, swamps, plains and meadows, with the Coven Matron inside.
The hut chest now has a real loot table: amethyst, glowstone, gunpowder, string, bottles, redstone, lapis, spider eyes, books and experience, plus a 35% rare pull of a ward candle or a grimoire.
The Matron trades with sworn witches: emeralds for coven supplies, and ward candles for emeralds and amethyst. Non-witches still get the oath dialogue.
Nine coven advancements track the oath, first book, first spell, second book, ten spells, each rank and the first brew.

The ward
The ward is a purple candle block, crafted from amethyst, a candle and glowstone.
It must be lit with flint and steel or a fire charge. Unlit, it gives no light and does nothing.
Lit, it lights 11 blocks and covers a 50-block square. The outer ring weakens, slows and fatigues uninvited vampires; inside 10 blocks it sets them on fire for 8–12 damage a second.
Its hitbox matches the candle instead of the whole block, and it burns with a small orange flame rather than loose purple crosses.

The cauldron
A heated water cauldron opens the witch’s brewing list for sworn witches.
Four draughts: Mana, Ember (fire resistance), and two more utility brews. The draughts only work for witches.

New and changed items

Second Draw — four paper, two amethyst shards, glowstone dust. Rerolls a grimoire for a different school. It works on an unopened book, or on a book you have already learned; a learned book is unmade, its spells are lost, and you receive an unopened book of a school you do not already know. Rank and points are untouched. The coven then waits a random 15–20 minutes before the next draw; the wait survives death, relogging and server restarts, and a failed use does not consume the page.

Letter of Resignation — four paper, black dye, amethyst shard. Sneak-use to leave the coven. Plain use only warns you, so a stray click cannot erase a character.

Ward candle, six grimoires, and the existing witch supplies are all in the creative tab with their own textures, models and recipes.

Quality of life

The first-book reveal is a carousel that spins, lands on the drawn book and can be skipped by clicking or pressing space.
The reveal backdrop is opaque, the text is no longer scaled or resampled, and the footer fits on one line.
The Matron’s trade screen stays open instead of closing on the first tick.
The witch hut chest is no longer empty.
The ward has a clear lit state, a candle-sized hitbox, and no disconnected purple particle crosses.
Reroll failures report why (cooldown, no book, no school left) and never eat the paper.
Leaving the coven asks for confirmation.

LOTS OF BUG FIXES