Hadean Lands Hint Request (Mid/Late Game - I think)

(I originally posted this over on the Steam page for Hadean lands almost 5 months ago - I spent another week or two stuck at the same place then took a break. Whenever I come back I hit(apparently) the same mental block preventing progress - just knowing WHICH puzzle I should solve next will hopefully be enough)

This is not in the open-hint thread because I don’t want to even LOOK at that thread in case it spoils something for me.

I hate to ask for a hint on this game, but I’ve been stuck on the same puzzle(s) for 10 days now and I’m not making any progress. I’m probably overlooking something obvious (like my overly complex initial attempt at lighting the blackwood splint), but that’s how it goes some times.

Since I’d like to solve as much of this as possible on my own, I’m really just looking for a suggestion on ONE puzzle I can try and solve next (i.e., that isn’t contingent upon solving any of the others first). Hopefully that will allow me to focus my efforts and lead to a solution.

Here’s where I’m at and what I’ve done:
I’ve made/encountered all 5 elements (Fire/Air/Earth/Water/Wood)
I’ve visited the Antechamber and all 4 Dragons
I’ve made both glass and aluminum permeability charms
I’ve constructed a wide variety of stone solvents
I’ve attempted to tweak a lot of rituals, fruitlessly (other than those previously implied or mentioned)

Here’s what’s blocking me:

[spoiler]

  1. The graffiti - I’ve never done any useful interaction with it. My current assumption is these are dragons mid-subsumption but all the attempts I’ve made to test that have failed (and I don’t know the Dracon Invocation).
  2. The “gravity” puzzles - the bridge to the Deep Lab and the crawlway between Baros and Pneuma. I assume I must interact with either active or subsumed Baros for both of these.
  3. The “exoscaphe bay” puzzles - the evacuated bay and the exoscaphe hatch - I assume I need to interact with Pneuma for these.
  4. The “cracks” maze - I assume Aistheta is the key here - but I’ve played with creating a lodestone of non-centrality as well.
  5. Fractures - I have not done anything interesting with any fractures - I assume Syndesis is the key.
  6. The Chancel - I’m assuming that I need “aura imitation” here (and that invisibility won’t cut it, based on the different descriptions between this and the birdhouse stricture) but I can’t test that - I haven’t successfully phlogisticated electrum for a second source of elemental fire (for Invisibility), and the fractures still block me from accessing any officers. I’ve also tried various things on the writ screen in order to access the chancel from the other side.
  7. Phlogisticated Electrum - Once I make electrum, I’ve been unable to make catalytic environment - I assume the Deep Lab’s (quicksilver?) bound will provide the solution.
  8. Tertiary Alchemy Lab - I have been unable to open this door. I suspect an as-yet-unknown ritual to modify the thick key
  9. Dragon Subsumption - Even if I don’t need to make a new fulcrum(yet), I lack the Dracon Invocation necessary to complete this.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time on (A) Graffiti , (G) Phlogisticated electrum, (H) Tertiary lab, and (I) Attempting subsumption without the Dracon Invocation[/spoiler]

I would really appreciate a suggestion as to a puzzle that I can solve WITHOUT first solving the others - could be finer grained than the list I’ve provided(if for instance I shouldn’t have tied both excoscaphe puzzles together). I don’t want a puzzle solution at this time(and hopefully I’ll never need one) - just a puzzle that I should spend my time on. If there are multiple puzzles I could independently solve, please just tell me one (knowing whether there are multiples is also additional information I’m hoping I don’t need.)

Thank you

It sounds like everything is hinges on one or two puzzles. You haven’t mentioned one particular thing you should be able to do at this point but which would not have been useful until you solved one of your puzzles listed.

If you want something more specific, I can tell you the next puzzle that you need to solve, or the missing thing I mentioned above, or what you have to do to obtain the missing thing.

Thank you for the response. I’m not going to ask for something more specific just yet, but I am going to ask for a point of clarification.

To clarify - you are stating that there is something I should be able to do, that I haven’t mentioned, and that is only useful AFTER I solve one(or more) of ‘A’ through ‘I’? Or, that only just now became useful, because it will let me solve one of the listed puzzles?

Actually, I misspoke. What I meant to say is, there is something that you should be able to do now that you haven’t mentioned which will allow you to solve a puzzle.

You are on a core puzzle which is a stopping point for many players, I believe.

Thank you so much!
Your hint was sufficient.

I had long ago written off the puzzle I had to solve as not even an option yet.

I had stopped working Great Marriage because I didn’t know how to Invoke the Dragon and assumed I needed a fixed Aistheta to make an accurate ephemeris billet that I never noticed the armillary sphere was made of brass. I will say… it’s odd to make progress on a ritual I didn’t actually complete. I wasn’t wrong that I didn’t know how to invoke the dragon - maybe I’m correct that the graffiti are subsumed dragons and the fact that the graffiti is in the room counts. (Also if you have the wrong billet, then when you add elements it suggests that you’re not in the right place - I assumed that meant I had to be in the Chancel, and that the “nave” part, which seemed tentative, was wrong)

I look forward to finishing the game now.