All of the great cities (those with novice academies) boast a well developed city school. The school is accessible to all graduates, once they have completed their accolades. It is necessary to complete the city school before a youngster is allowed to take up a guild apprenticeship. The schools offer four distinct courses to aid the budding apprentice in his or her first steps into Avalon proper.
The school courses bestow access, temporarily, to a range of low-level specialist skills to better help the youngster adapt to the rigours of Avalon life and, later on, have some insight into the choice of apprenticeship in a guild. These specialist skills are held only for the duration of the course. Permanent skill acquisition (and advancement) comes from a guild apprenticeship but the school should provide a taste and a better insight into Avalon. Choice of guild is one of the singlemost most important decisions any Avalon character can make and the school is a buffer, to allow you breathing space and exploration time before making any lifelong commitments. The schools are located close to the academies in all the great cities.
It is mandatory to graduate from at least two of the four courses. Completing a course requires a bare minimum number of successes and thus you are able to rush through courses or stay longer and perform a greater number of course missions, quests and disciplines. You will be informed of the minimum standards necessary to complete a course at the point of enrollment and, subsequently, after each mission or quest or deed you perform successfully. It is possible to accumulate an apprentice's dowry by excelling at the scholastic courses - more missions, more quests, more successful disciplines in a single course. The extent of your success beyond the minimum requirements translates into an apprentice's dowry after you graduate; faster early progress in your apprentice skills and a purse of gold. How much gold and how many skills are in the dowry depend entirely on how far in excess of minimum course requirements you elect to go.
The trade-off between time spent in the school building, a more advanced apprenticeship, and the time gained from early graduation and therefore early apprenticeship are a matter of individual taste. See HELP COURSES for details on the four scholastic courses and HELP SCHOOLCOM for a list of scholastic commands. The latter should be etched in your memory.
