Glass Cartographer
High on the dry shelves of the Windscar Highlands, a circular stone meridian court holds an old Marchkeeper survey automaton of brass transits, sighting vanes and prism glass. The Cairn Keepers call it the Glass Cartographer. It was built to sight the mountain passes from peak to peak, and it still tests the footing of anyone who wakes its astrolabe.
The Highland Survey Ring
Look for a stone meridian ring with four compass causeways, eight lantern pillars and a central lodestone pedestal. Its northern shelter holds a Survey Astrolabe, a supply chest and a two-page instruction book, The Glass Meridian. The chest can hold Sky Reading, Sun Reading, Moon Reading, Starchart or Lodestar runes. Walking into the ring earns The High Meridian and adds a Places entry to your lore journal.
Use the astrolabe in Survival to begin the optional challenge. The guardian gives you three seconds before its first measurement. Reading the book, visiting the ring or finishing the peaceful Paired Cairns story does not begin combat. Guardians must be enabled, and the world must be above Peaceful difficulty.
The Cartographer remains anchored at the central meridian pedestal. Its brass frame, rotating transit arm, suspended plumb weight and opening prism array each announce its next survey before the strike lands.
Read the meridian
| Move | Warning | How to answer | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transit sweep | The brass transit arm draws back for 1.6 seconds. A marked arc shows its locked bearing and 6.5-block reach. | Step to the sides, behind the locked arc, or beyond its reach. | 1.2 seconds |
| Plumb drop | A golden circle marks the landing for 2.2 seconds. | Leave the 2.25-block-radius circle. The plumb weight keeps its marked spot when you move; a hit pulls you slightly toward the pedestal. | 1.6 seconds |
| Meridian grid | The prism ring opens for 2.8 seconds. Crosses mark danger, and two clear sightlines bound the safe lane. | Stand in the unlit 3.5-block lane between the sightlines through the impact. | 2 seconds |
The ground markings remain readable with Minimal particles. Each attack can hit you once, and every recovery window leaves time to answer on foot. Base damage is 6 for the transit sweep, 5 for the plumb drop and 7 for the meridian grid, before ordinary difficulty, tempering and defences. Base health is 180 with 6 armour.
At half health the Cartographer shifts its survey order and rotates later safe meridian lanes between the east-west and north-south axes. A tell already underway keeps the bearing and safe lane it showed you. Read each new grid rather than relying on the previous lane.
Leaving and returning
The four compass causeways stay open. Stepping outside the ring cancels an attack aimed at you. After ten seconds without an eligible challenger, the guardian heals and returns to rest at the central pedestal. Wake the astrolabe again whenever you are ready. Reloading a saved encounter also returns it to rest so no unfinished survey lands as the world reopens.
The astrolabe remembers its guardian. Repeated clicks do not create extra bosses, and an astrolabe placed outside a real Highland Survey Ring has no encounter to wake. The ring generates only in newly explored chunks.
Compass of the High Meridian
When the Glass Cartographer yields, each surviving player still in the arena who dealt an accepted hit during that attempt receives 80 XP, a permanent Learned entry in the lore journal, and one Compass of the High Meridian. The compass points back to that exact survey ring in its dimension without requiring you to place a lodestone.
Return to a Highland Cairn Keeper after the victory. Once you have heard the keeper’s four stories, they recognize the compass you carry and record their parting acknowledgement in your journal’s Talk tab.
The astrolabe stays complete after victory and does not repeat its reward. Leaving an attempt or reloading clears that attempt’s participation. The peaceful Highland cairn route keeps its own clues and rewards.