Walkthrough: Act 2, Two Courts

How to read this Open page

• Chapters follow the ticket: the fork at Halfway (0), Twinhold (1), the Long Road (2), Lanternfall (3), threading (4), the midpoint choice (5) and the optional faction visits (6).
• Two orders. The player chooses which letter to deliver first. Chapters 1 and 3 are written once; the table in "Order of play" gives both routes, and every scene marks its order-dependent lines with [Twinhold first] or [Lanternfall first].
• Scene fields: Where, When (the story gate), Who, What happens, Player does, Content to make, Art and audio, Screens used.
• Ids follow the data that exists: Yarn nodes are Act2_<Place>_<Beat> like Prologue_Steps_Lesson; flags are dotted lower case like prologue.stage and spell.learned.coil; encounters, enemies, locations and spells are snake_case like golem_spar and facet_seal.
• Screens use the names the game has today (Dialogue box with choices, Battle with its HUD, Spell Book, the glyph prompt in its Trace and Cast modes, Pause menu). Screens that don't exist yet are marked (Idea) and left to the screens spec (VEL-62).

Starting state Open page

Act 1 was written at the same time, so this act starts from what the Story Bible says Act 1 leaves behind. The continuity pass (VEL-63) has reconciled the two.

• The player is at Halfway, the neutral market town. The Sallow Wyrm is beaten.
• Tamsin Vale (Wardens) and Rook (Facets) both reached Halfway looking for "whoever rang the Glass", and both are still there.
• Known spells: Repel and Coil. Act 1 can also teach Brace (Aske traces it hand over hand at the Sallowbank ferry, quest aske_brace; she doesn't cast) and Mend (Sister Orla, a Tender healer at Halfway, quest mend_lesson). Both are optional, so this act works with or without them.
• Carried: both letters, unopened (letter.twinhold = 1, letter.lanternfall = 1, set in send_off.yarn).
• Flags this act reads from Act 1 (Idea): act1.done != 0 opens the act (Act 1 sets it to 1 in scene 6.4). VEL-63 renamed everything Act 1 named differently.

Act-wide systems this act uses (Idea)

• Reputation (Codex section 7: personal morality tracked apart from standing with each side). Integer flags from -100 to 100, all starting at 0, moving in steps of 5:
  • side standing: rep.evane, rep.facets;
  • faction standing: rep.wardens, rep.tenders, rep.keepers, rep.choir, rep.waymakers;
  • personal: morality;
  • companions: tamsin.trust, rook.trust (0 to 5, never below 0, like the existing aske.trust). Moves below are written as +10 rep.evane. They need an add_flag Yarn command next to set_flag (new code).
• The name you use. Calling the Facets "the Shattered" in front of a Facet costs -5 rep.facets; calling them "Facets" in Twinhold costs -5 rep.wardens. Dialogue choices offer both words where it matters. (Story Bible section 2 suggests this.)
• The drawing profile. Story Bible section 4 and Codex section 6: factions court the player according to how they draw. Here the profile comes from three draws at the Measuring in Twinhold (scene 1.2), scored by the existing scorer, so the player sees why each faction comes. A longer cast history can feed it later.
• Un-teaching risk. The narrow rule from Story Bible section 2 applies all act: a Warden court seals a spell only after the player is caught casting a forbidden (Facet) spell on Evane people or inside an Evane town. Twinhold, Greenvault and Hushfold are Evane towns. The Shardfield, the Long Road's wild stretches and Lanternfall are not. Repel can never be sealed.

Order of play Open page

(Idea) Why the Long Road sits between the courts: Twinhold, Lanternfall and Halfway form a triangle. Halfway has a road to each court, and the Long Road is the highland caravan route that joins the two courts directly. Whichever city the player starts in, Dace's caravan takes them to the other one, so Gale is always learned between the two letters and the first thread always comes after Gale.

Beats that change with order

Chapter 0: The Fork at Halfway Open page

Two guides, two letters

• Where: Halfway, the market square at the crossroads stone (marker Event_fork). The north road climbs to Twinhold, the south road runs down to the Shardfield edge and Lanternfall.
• When: act1.done != 0 and act2.first == 0.
• Who: the player, Tamsin, Rook.
• What happens: Tamsin and Rook have each waited out the Wyrm, and each wants to walk the player to their own city. The two letters come out: pale blue seal for Twinhold, amber for Lanternfall. Tamsin offers an escort and a bed in the Hall of Measure; Rook offers "a door that's never shut". Both admit the other city is days away the other way, and both mention that a Waymaker caravan runs the Long Road between the courts. (Idea) The names on the letters are now readable: Ondine Ash, Speaker, the Hall of Measure and Iver Kest, Lanternfall. Tamsin goes quiet at the first, Rook laughs at the second.
• Player does: talk; choose which letter to carry first. (Idea) A side choice: break a seal and read a letter now (scene 0.2).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Fork_Start, Act2_Fork_Tamsin, Act2_Fork_Rook, Act2_Fork_Choose. Sets act2.first (1 = Twinhold, 2 = Lanternfall), met.tamsin and met.rook if Act 1 didn't, and starts quest act2 (stage choose_first completes). The guide not chosen says where to find them: Tamsin "at the Mirror Gate, whenever you remember your manners"; Rook "at the Shard Gate. It's open. It's always open." (Arriving later by the Long Road, each meets the player at the gate the caravan comes in by: scenes 1.1 and 3.1.)
• Art and audio: the crossroads stone with two worn arrows, one pale blue, one amber (Idea). Halfway's market theme (Act 1) thinning out to a single instrument as the guides leave.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

(Idea) Reading a letter

• Where: anywhere, from the item view, until that letter is delivered.
• When: letter.twinhold == 1 or letter.lanternfall == 1.
• Who: the player alone.
• What happens: Aske said not to read them. The player can break a seal anyway. The Twinhold letter reads: "Ondine. This one rang the Glass. Keep them out of your mending circles. You know why. A." The Lanternfall letter reads: "Iver. They're not yours either. You owe me one crossing. This is it. A."
• Player does: choose to open or not.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Letter_Read_Twinhold, Act2_Letter_Read_Lanternfall. Sets letter.twinhold.opened or letter.lanternfall.opened to 1. Each recipient notices the broken seal (scenes 1.4 and 3.4). Ondine takes it badly (-5 rep.wardens); Iver approves ("Never carry what you haven't read"). Either way aske.trust drops by 1 when Act 3 brings Aske back (VEL-57 to pick up).
• Art and audio: two letter props, the seals in pale blue and amber wax. A paper-tearing sound.
• Screens used: (Idea) Letter view (an item view that shows the paper).

The road to the first court

• Where: overworld, the Halfway north road (route A) or south road (route B). (Idea) Each road is one short overworld stretch with a waystone halfway (Walk_A_1, Walk_B_1) for a guide conversation.
• When: act2.first != 0, before arriving at the first city.
• Who: the player and the chosen guide.
• What happens: [Twinhold first] Tamsin explains the five factions, sure the Wardens lead. Tamsin warns that casting a Facet spell inside Twinhold's walls is a crime ("not wise, a crime"). [Lanternfall first] Rook walks out ahead into the first standing shards, shows how the Shardfield throws back a different sky in every pane, and explains cuts and giving ("A Facet's worth is what they've given away"). One glint pack attacks on the road in either case.
• Player does: move, talk, fight.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Road_Tamsin, Act2_Road_Rook. Encounter road_glints (enemy glint, from the Prologue pack). No flags beyond met.*.
• Art and audio: route A: the Evane road with paired milestones carved mirrored. Route B: the first shards rising out of the dry lakebed, each pane showing a slightly different sky (a cheap screen-space reflection with a tinted sky per shard). The guide's theme over the road theme: Tamsin's in strict even bars, Rook's in an odd meter.
• Screens used: overworld HUD, Dialogue box, Battle.

Chapter 1: Twinhold, with Tamsin Open page

The Evane capital, a city built as two mirrored halves on either side of a river, joined by the bridge-palace of the Hall of Measure. Tamsin guides. [Lanternfall first] Rook leaves you at the Far Gate; Tamsin meets you there.

At the gate

• Where: Twinhold's gate: the Mirror Gate arriving from Halfway (route A, spawn Spawn_mirror_gate) or the Far Gate arriving from the Long Road (route B, spawn Spawn_far_gate). Both gates are built alike.
• When: act2.first == 1 on arrival from Halfway, or long_road.stage >= 5 arriving from Lanternfall. Sets twinhold.stage 1.
• Who: Tamsin; two gate Wardens; [Lanternfall first] Rook, briefly, outside.
• What happens: the gate is two identical arches, one for each half of the city, and the gate Wardens stand mirrored. They check hands, not papers: travellers press both palms to a pale-blue glyph plate, which lights evenly for the player, and the Wardens stare. Tamsin enjoys it. The gate board lists the city's rules, the first being "No unmirrored casting within the walls". [Lanternfall first] Rook stops short of the road's last bend: "They know my face. Well. My sleeve." He asks the player to find Pell, a runner from his cut, held in the Hall since last week, and say "Rook's still giving".
• Player does: move, talk, press the glyph plate (a tap).
• Content to make: location twinhold (scene Twinhold). Yarn Act2_Twinhold_Gate, Act2_Twinhold_Gate_Rook (route B only, sets pell.word 1). Interactable Event_gate_plate.
• Art and audio: the double arch, gate Wardens in mirrored silver, the glyph plate prop with a pale-blue emissive glyph. Twinhold theme: a two-voice canon in which the second voice plays the first upside down (harp and strings).
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

The Measuring

• Where: the Hall of Measure, the Measuring Floor (marker Event_measure_glass): a round chamber at the centre of the bridge with a standing mirror the height of three people, the Measure Glass.
• When: twinhold.stage == 1. Sets twinhold.stage 2.
• Who: Tamsin; a Warden Measurer; the envoys of all five factions in the gallery: Tamsin for the Wardens, Brother Fallow (Tenders), Novice Tull (Keepers, sent by Keeper Hale), Sister Ise (Still Choir), Caravan-master Dace (Waymakers).
• What happens: every caster who comes to Twinhold is measured. The player draws three times on the Measure Glass: Repel, Coil, and then "whatever your hands want", any spell they know. Drawing on the Measure Glass is not casting, so nothing fires and nothing is a crime. The Glass shows each pair of strokes laid over its reflection, and the gallery reads the result. [Lanternfall first] The player knows Facet Seal and can draw it as the free draw: the Measurer stops the room, Tamsin looks away, and Sister Ise signs something quick to Novice Tull.
• Player does: cast three times in Cast mode (scored, no effect); choose the free draw.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Hall_Measuring, Act2_Hall_Measuring_Result. New command <<measure_draw>> that scores a draw without casting and stores its parts; then <<court_profile>> sets court.lead (1 Wardens, 2 Tenders, 3 Keepers, 4 Choir, 5 Waymakers):
  • Wardens: best corner score (Repel, Brace).
  • Tenders: best pace score on smooth curves (Coil, Mend).
  • Keepers: the most even quality across the three draws.
  • Still Choir: the closest size match and the slowest steady pace.
  • Waymakers: the best thumb sync. Drawing Facet Seal sets measure.facet 1: -5 rep.wardens, +5 rep.choir, +5 rep.keepers.
• Art and audio: the Measure Glass, a tall mirror whose reflection draws the strokes back mirrored a moment late. Five gallery envoys in their faction colours. A single held note during each draw, the room's breath.
• Screens used: glyph prompt in Cast mode with a "measured, not cast" label; (Idea) Measuring card: five bars, one per faction, with a line on why each one is interested.

The courting

• Where: Twinhold, the Near Hand and Far Hand terraces (the two halves of the city), the evening after the Measuring. Each envoy has a marker: Envoy_wardens, Envoy_tenders, Envoy_keepers, Envoy_choir, Envoy_waymakers.
• When: twinhold.stage >= 2. Every envoy is available; the one matching court.lead finds the player first, at the Hall steps.
• Who: the five envoys, Tamsin.
• What happens: the factions compete for the player as the Codex says they always compete. Each envoy makes a pitch and offers something. The lead envoy's pitch is warmer and its gift better; the others speak to what the player drew. None of the pitches is binding, and Tamsin tells the player so with visible effort. The rivalry shows: Fallow calls the Wardens "accountants", Tull says everyone is in a hurry, and the other four dismiss Dace as "barely Evane".
  • Wardens (Tamsin): an offer to join the recruits' drill, which teaches Tally.
  • Tenders (Brother Fallow): an invitation to Greenvault and a seed charm.
  • Keepers (Novice Tull): a sealed note from Keeper Hale: "Come to the Hour Stair when you are ready. You are not." An Act 3 hook.
  • Still Choir (Sister Ise, signing): an invitation to Hushfold and the Choir's courting token, two vials of still water.
  • Waymakers (Dace): a job on the Long Road caravan, which leaves in two days. [Twinhold first] This is how the main line moves on. [Lanternfall first] Dace already knows you from the road and offers the Waymaker side quests instead (Tailwind and Squall; side quests tab).
• Player does: talk to any or all envoys; accept invitations; choose who to sit with at the Hall supper (+5 to that faction's rep).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Court_Wardens, Act2_Court_Tenders, Act2_Court_Keepers, Act2_Court_Choir, Act2_Court_Waymakers, Act2_Court_Supper. Sets court.<faction> 1 when each envoy is met, invite.greenvault 1, invite.hushfold 1, offer.tally 1, long_road.stage 1 (route A). Items: seed_charm, 2 × still_water, hale_note.
• Art and audio: the terraces at dusk, pale-blue glyph lamps lit in pairs. Envoy models: Fallow in vine-grey with violet trim, Tull with an hourglass at the belt, Ise in snow-white with mirrored hand-signs. Each envoy gets a two-bar motif drawn from the faction's drawing style.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; (Idea) item received notice.

The public un-teaching

• Where: the Hall of Measure, the Bridge Court: an open court on the roof of the bridge, the river visible below on both sides (marker Event_bridge_court).
• When: the morning after the courting, twinhold.stage == 2. Sets twinhold.stage 3.
• Who: Tamsin; a Warden court of three; Pell, a Facet glyph-runner from Rook's cut (Idea); a crowd from both halves of the city; Sister Ise at the back.
• What happens: Pell was caught casting Prism Snare on a Warden patrol inside the walls while carrying copied glyphs. The court reads the crime, names the spell, and seals it: the three Wardens draw one mirrored glyph together over Pell's hands, pale-blue bands lock round Pell's wrists and fade, and Pell is told to cast. The Snare fizzles: "Your hands have forgotten Prism Snare." The crowd is quiet. Tamsin explains it is narrow, fair and rare, and then can't look at Pell. [Lanternfall first] The player found Pell in the holding cell an hour before and passed on Rook's word (scene 1.4a). [Twinhold first] Pell is a stranger; Rook will ask about Pell in Lanternfall.
• Player does: watch; then choose a reaction: stay silent; call out against it (-5 rep.wardens, +5 rep.facets, -1 tamsin.trust); or, after the crowd leaves, tell Pell that a Lanternfall unbinder can break a seal (+5 morality, sets pell.told_unbinder 1).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Unteaching, Act2_Unteaching_After. New command <<seal_spell pell prism_snare>> that only plays the sealing effect on an NPC (a player seal uses the same effect plus the known-spell change, Story Bible section 2). Sets unteaching.seen 1.
• Art and audio: the sealing VFX: three mirrored pale-blue glyphs closing into bands round both wrists, then a fizzle on Pell's attempted cast (reuse the player fizzle effect). Pell's model: Facet mismatched clothes, one painted sleeve. A single bell before the reading; no music during the seal, only the crowd and the river.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

1.4a [Lanternfall first] Pell in the holding cell

• Where: the Hall of Measure, holding cells under the east pier (marker Event_cell_pell).
• When: pell.word == 1 and unteaching.seen == 0.
• Who: Pell, a cell Warden.
• What happens: Tamsin gets the player in for one minute. Pell hears Rook's message, laughs, and asks the player to tell Rook "I gave it away first. Three copies before they caught me." Pell asks nothing for themself.
• Player does: talk.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Cell_Pell. Sets pell.word 2. Rook's later line in Lanternfall or at the midpoint reads it.
• Art and audio: the cell is the one asymmetric room in the Hall, cut where the pier settled. No music.
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

The Hall of Measure: the Speaker's letter

• Where: the Hall of Measure, the Speaker's Chamber, the upper storey of the bridge (marker Event_speaker).
• When: twinhold.stage == 3. Sets twinhold.stage 4 and letter.twinhold 2.
• Who: Prelate Ondine Ash; Tamsin, waiting at the door.
• What happens: the player delivers the pale-blue letter. Ondine reads it twice, folds it and puts it in a drawer rather than the fire. She pays the carrier 100 copper, counted out exactly. Ondine asks about Aske the way a commander asks after a captain who left, carefully, and about the ring the player sent across the Glass. Ondine is warm and sincere, and lays out the Great Mending in plain words: close every warp for good, so no more farms like the player's get glints at the door. Then the ask: when the time comes, guard a mending circle at the Sallow warp, upstream of Sallowbank. "You'll be defending your own river." [Lanternfall first] Ondine knows where the player has been: "You've met Iver. Did he show you his hands?" (Idea) If the seal was broken, Ondine notices and says only "Aske would have told you not to."
• Player does: talk; deliver the letter; answer the mending offer for now (agree, refuse, or "ask me later"); none of these is final until the midpoint.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Speaker_Letter, Act2_Speaker_Mending. Sets offer.mending 1 (2 if the player already said yes). Gives 100 copper. Quest act2_twinhold completes its letter stage; act2 advances (first_letter or second_letter).
• Art and audio: the Speaker's Chamber, perfectly symmetrical, with a long table whose two halves don't quite meet. Ondine's model: silver robes, both sleeves embroidered alike, glyph bands worn outward (the opposite of Aske's). A slow solo for Ondine's theme, sincere rather than sinister.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

The Measure Vault

• Where: the Hall of Measure, the Vault antechamber, inside the west pier below the river line (marker Event_vault_door).
• When: twinhold.stage == 4. Sets twinhold.stage 5.
• Who: Tamsin; two Vault Wardens; a Warden golem standing guard.
• What happens: Tamsin is proud of this part. The Vault holds every glyph the Wardens have judged unsafe, plus fragments taken from Facets: shelves of shards and stones behind pale-blue wards, and a Warden golem, newer and sharper than Aske's training golem, that never moves unless a ward breaks. The player sees the antechamber only. Through the ward on the inner door they can make out one sealed shelf labelled Corran, five-seal, and Tamsin doesn't know what it means (an Act 3 hook). Tamsin says aloud what the Facets would say ("we keep glyphs from people") and answers it ("we keep them from people who'd burn a village with them"). The player notes the layout: the drain grate under the east pier, the ward pattern, the golem's post. This is what Iver uses in route A.
• Player does: move, talk, look (two interactables: the Corran shelf, the drain grate).
• Content to make: location hall_of_measure (scene HallOfMeasure, shared with 1.2, 1.4, 1.5). Yarn Act2_Vault_Tour, Act2_Vault_Corran_Shelf, Act2_Vault_Grate. Sets vault.seen 1, vault.drain_seen 1. Enemy warden_golem is introduced here (not fought).
• Art and audio: the Vault: dark pale stone, shelves of glyph-stones each in a small glowing ward, water sound through the walls. The Warden golem model is the bestiary's warden_golem. Low strings and dripping water.
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

Optional in Twinhold: Tally and the bulletin boards

• Where: Twinhold, the recruits' yard on the Near Hand (Event_drill); the bulletin boards at both market squares (Board_near, Board_far).
• When: offer.tally == 1; boards any time after twinhold.stage >= 1.
• Who: a Warden drill-master, recruits; board posters.
• What happens: the drill-master teaches Tally (Wardens, mirrored Z) as a whole glyph on a drill stone, then runs the player through a spar against a drill golem. The boards carry Evane side jobs (Codex section 8): escort grain to Greenvault, find a missing Choir courier on the Long Road, a reward for "an unregistered caster seen on the Far Hand roofs" (Pell's copied glyphs, now loose in the city).
• Player does: learn (trace), fight, read boards, take jobs.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Drill_Tally. <<learn_spell tally>> (spell data tally.json, from the Spell Set tab). Encounter drill_spar (enemy warden_golem). Board entries for the side-quest library.
• Art and audio: the drill yard with practice posts set in mirrored pairs; the drill golem is the bestiary's warden_golem.
• Screens used: glyph prompt (Trace), Battle, (Idea) Bulletin board.

Leaving Twinhold

• Where: the Far Gate caravan yard (route A) or the Mirror Gate (route B, to the midpoint).
• When: twinhold.stage == 5. Sets twinhold.stage 6.
• Who: Tamsin; [Twinhold first] Dace and the caravan.
• What happens: [Twinhold first] Tamsin decides to ride the Long Road too: Ondine asked Tamsin to keep an eye on the player, and Tamsin says so outright. The caravan leaves at dawn (chapter 2). [Lanternfall first] Both letters are delivered and threading is known, so the midpoint opens (chapter 5).
• Player does: talk; travel.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Twinhold_Leave. Quest act2_twinhold completes.
• Art and audio: the caravan yard: pale-green-lit sails on the wagons, oxen, Waymaker ribbons. The Long Road theme starts here.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; (Idea) Travel map.

Chapter 2: The Long Road Open page

The caravan route over the highland wind pass between Twinhold and Lanternfall. Caravan-master Dace runs caravans for both sides, which the other four factions resent. The direction depends on the order; the scenes don't.

Dace's caravan

• Where: [Twinhold first] Twinhold's Far Gate yard. [Lanternfall first] Lanternfall's caravan yard at the Sand Gate (marker Event_caravan_yard).
• When: route A: long_road.stage == 1 from the courting. Route B: lanternfall.stage >= 4 (the Shardfield is done) and the player talks to Dace. Sets long_road.stage 1 if not already set.
• Who: Dace; Ness, Dace's outrider (Idea); caravan hands; the riding companion (Tamsin in A, Rook in B).
• What happens: Dace hires the player as a guard for the wind pass, where glints have been riding the wind down on caravans for a month. Dace doesn't care which side the player favours; the cargo goes to whoever paid. [Twinhold first] Evane grain and mirror-polish going to Lanternfall. [Lanternfall first] Salvaged shard-glass going to Twinhold glaziers, "who'll swear it's Evane glass by the time it's in a window". Dace tells the Endless Caravan legend as a promise the Waymakers still keep.
• Player does: talk; accept the job; the Market is open at the yard (the Act 1 Market rules, Codex section 9).
• Content to make: location long_road (scene LongRoad, a long overworld stretch with the yard at both ends). Yarn Act2_Caravan_Hire, Act2_Caravan_Legend. Quest act2_long_road starts. Item caravan_seal (key item: you ride with the caravan and it vouches for you).
• Art and audio: wagons under pale-green-lit sails; Dace's model: road-worn coat, both hands ribboned the same way (parallel, not mirrored); Ness, younger, with a sling. Long Road theme: fiddle and accordion over a walking beat, with wind.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; Market (from Act 1).

Gale, taught on the move

• Where: the Long Road, the first windmill ridge (marker Event_windmill).
• When: long_road.stage == 1. Sets long_road.stage 2 and spell.learned.gale 1.
• Who: Dace; the companion; caravan hands.
• What happens: a ridge windmill has stopped and the caravan needs its pump. Dace teaches Gale hand over hand, a taught glyph (Story Bible section 3): Dace stands behind the player and draws the same peak with both hands moving the same way. "No mirror shows this. That's the point. We're not asking the world to stay put." The player traces Gale until it holds, then casts it at the windmill to turn it.
• Player does: learn (trace); cast in the field.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Gale_Lesson, Act2_Gale_Windmill. <<learn_spell gale>> then <<prompt_cast gale>> at Event_windmill (both commands exist). The windmill turns on success; a fizzle gives a retry line.
• Art and audio: the windmill prop with a spinning-sail animation; Gale's VFX (Art Direction: twin peak glyphs, crescent wind blades and leaves) blowing into the sails. A rising flourish in the Long Road theme on the first turn.
• Screens used: glyph prompt (Trace, then Cast).

Night camp

• Where: the Long Road, the camp below the pass (marker Event_camp).
• When: long_road.stage == 2. Sets long_road.stage 3.
• Who: Dace, Ness, the companion, caravan hands.
• What happens: the companion talk of the act happens here. [Twinhold first] Tamsin admits the un-teaching bothered them and that they'll never say so in Twinhold. [Lanternfall first] Rook teaches the hands a Facet card game in which every hand you win you must give away. Ness offers to teach Drift, the Waymaker dodge, for help with a side errand. Dace mentions that the other four factions call Waymaker casting barely Evane, and that Dace "carries Facets for the same price, so they're not wrong".
• Player does: talk; optionally learn Drift (Ness's errand: find three lost ribbons along the ridge, a short field search).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Camp_Tamsin, Act2_Camp_Rook, Act2_Camp_Ness, Act2_Camp_Dace. <<learn_spell drift>> (spell data drift.json, from the Spell Set tab). Items waymaker_ribbon x3. +5 rep.waymakers for joining in.
• Art and audio: campfire under the wagons, sails dimmed. Fireside arrangement of the Long Road theme.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; glyph prompt (Trace).

Raiders on the road

• Where: the Long Road, a cutting below the pass (marker Event_raiders).
• When: long_road.stage == 3, triggered on walking through.
• Who: two outlaw casters from the Undermere (Story Bible section 5's recurring enemies): a forsworn mender, Evane-trained, and a hollow cut, Facet-trained; the caravan.
• What happens: the outlaws want the cargo. Both are casters: their casts telegraph in the upper middle, and a Repel stagger cancels a cast in progress. The fight teaches interruption before the set piece. If the mender lands a binding, the player's last spell fizzles for a while ("Your hands won't answer Coil."); a binding can never hold Repel. Dace says, as they flee, that outlaws used to stay underground. They drop a little copper as they run.
• Player does: fight.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Raiders. Encounter road_raiders (enemies forsworn_mender, hollow_cut, at lower stats than the bestiary's Undermere versions: 160 HP each; needs multi-enemy encounters, new code). A cast telegraph on enemy attacks (new code, shared with Act 2 bosses). Drops: a little copper (items tab).
• Art and audio: two outlaw models: hooded, mixed Evane and Facet scraps, glyph bands torn. Battle music: the Act 1 battle theme with a road-percussion layer.
• Screens used: Battle.

Set piece: the wind pass defence

• Where: the Long Road, the wind pass summit (scene WindPass), a saddle between two ridges lined with windmills; a small warp glows in the rock face above the road.
• When: long_road.stage == 3 after the raiders. Sets long_road.stage 4.
• Who: Dace, Ness, the companion, the caravan; winged glints; the Windglass Kite.
• What happens: the caravan runs the pass in a gale. Glints ride the wind from the warp in the cliff and dive at the wagons: winged glints, hawk-sized and fast. In the air, ground-bound spells like Coil do half damage to them; Gale hits them full and knocks them down. Three waves come, the wagons move between them, and each wave adds a wagon to protect. The last wave is the Windglass Kite, a large glint with sail-like reflective wings. While airborne it only takes Gale, and a Gale hit grounds it; on the ground Repel staggers it and Coil hurts it. If a wagon is lost the caravan still gets through, but Dace pays less and Ness is hurt (Ness's glass-sickness hook for Greenvault, scene 6.2).
• Player does: fight three battles in a row; move the caravan forward between them.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Pass_Start, Act2_Pass_Between, Act2_Pass_Won. Encounters pass_kites_1, pass_kites_2 (enemy winged_glint, 3 at a time), pass_windglass (enemy windglass_kite). New code: the bestiary's flying state (winged glints), an airborne state that only Gale hits (the Windglass Kite), and a protect objective (wagon HP) on the encounter. Sets pass.wagons_lost (0–2); if > 0, ness.hurt 1. +10 rep.waymakers, +5 rep.evane.
• Art and audio: the pass under fast cloud; windmills spinning hard; the winged glint model (the bestiary's winged_glint, hawk-sized); Windglass Kite (about 5 m wingspan, sail-wings that show the sky behind them in reverse). Wind-blade VFX for grounding hits. Set-piece music: driving strings with the Long Road fiddle on top, rising one step each wave.
• Screens used: Battle (with (Idea) a wagon health bar); overworld between waves.

The summit and the descent

• Where: the wind pass summit, then the far yard at the other court: Lanternfall's Sand Gate (route A) or Twinhold's Far Gate (route B).
• When: long_road.stage == 4. Sets long_road.stage 5 on arrival.
• Who: Dace, Ness, the companion.
• What happens: Dace pays 120 copper (80 if a wagon was lost) and gives the player a Waymaker ribbon to wear: any caravan on the Long Road will carry them for free from now on, a fast-travel unlock. [Lanternfall first] At the summit Dace teaches threading (scene 4.1, route B). [Twinhold first] Tamsin and the player walk down into the Shardfield's edge, Tamsin silent at the first shards. The other guide is waiting at the far end (Rook at the Sand Gate in A; in B, Rook leaves at the last bend before Twinhold's Far Gate, scene 1.1).
• Player does: talk; travel.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Pass_Pay, Act2_Descent_Lanternfall, Act2_Descent_Twinhold. Item waymaker_ribbon_worn (Long Road fast travel). Gives 120 copper (80 if pass.wagons_lost > 0). Quest act2_long_road completes. invite.waymaker_job 1 opens the Waymaker side quests (side quests tab): Dace teaches Tailwind after the first job, and Squall is a sail-patch fragment (fragment_squall) at the Endless Caravan's last known camp.
• Art and audio: a long-shot over both slopes from the summit: Evane fields on one side, the shining Shardfield on the other. The Long Road theme resolves.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; (Idea) Travel map (Long Road fast travel added).

Chapter 3: Lanternfall, with Rook Open page

The Facet city inside the largest standing shard of the Shardfield. Amber sunlight broken into colours, mismatched buildings of salvaged glass, no hierarchy. Rook guides. [Twinhold first] Rook waits at the Sand Gate, and Tamsin comes in with you.

At the gate

• Where: Lanternfall's gate: the Shard Gate arriving from Halfway (route B, spawn Spawn_shard_gate) or the Sand Gate arriving from the Long Road (route A, spawn Spawn_sand_gate). Each is a split in the great shard wide enough for two wagons.
• When: act2.first == 2 on arrival from Halfway, or long_road.stage >= 5 arriving from Twinhold. Sets lanternfall.stage 1.
• Who: Rook; [Twinhold first] Tamsin.
• What happens: there is no gate and no guard; it is an open crack in a mountain of glass, lit amber from inside. Doors inside carry their owners' sigils, each made of two unlike shapes. Rook's welcome is the city's: nobody asks who you are. [Twinhold first] Rook greets Tamsin by name ("Vale. You came in. Nobody's going to stop you, which I know you hate."). Rook asks after Pell; the player says what they saw at the un-teaching. Rook takes it badly and changes the subject.
• Player does: move, talk.
• Content to make: location lanternfall (scene Lanternfall). Yarn Act2_Lanternfall_Gate, Act2_Lanternfall_Gate_Tamsin (route A), Act2_Rook_Pell (route A, or route B's message from 1.4a once the player returns to Rook at the midpoint).
• Art and audio: the crack in the great shard, amber light, prismatic edges (teal and violet) where light breaks through (Art Direction). Lanternfall theme: hand percussion in 7/8, glass harmonica, a melody that never repeats a phrase exactly.
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

The Giving Steps: the circle half

• Where: Lanternfall, the Giving Steps, a broad stair at the city's centre where Facets hand glyphs to anyone who asks (marker Event_giving_steps).
• When: lanternfall.stage == 1. Sets lanternfall.stage 2.
• Who: Rook; Facets of several cuts giving and taking glyphs; Lio, watching from the steps; [Twinhold first] Tamsin.
• What happens: the circle half of Facet Seal is given freely. Rook gives it the Facet way: a round amber lens with the circle glyph cut into it, the left-hand half of the first Facet lesson. Rook tells the legend of the Girl with the Circle and the Square, Facet version ("she saved it"). The square half isn't given: it's found in the Shardfield, and Rook says so ("The circle is you. The border you choose for yourself."). The circle alone won't cast; the player can look at it in the Spell Book but not learn it yet. [Twinhold first] Tamsin points out that a Warden would never hand a stranger a glyph without asking what they meant to do with it. Rook says that's exactly the point. Lio, a girl of about nine sitting two steps up, says only "Don't take it."
• Player does: talk; receive the lens; look at it in the Spell Book.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Giving_Steps, Act2_Giving_Legend. Item fragment_facet_seal_circle (key item, the circle half). Sets fragment.facet_seal.circle 1. The Spell Book shows Facet Seal as "half found" (a new entry state). +5 rep.facets for asking for it.
• Art and audio: the Giving Steps lit through a ceiling of cut glass; the amber circle lens prop with a glowing circle glyph. A crowd loop of Facets talking with their hands.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; Spell Book (half-found state, (Idea)).

Lio

• Where: Lanternfall, the Bevel cut's house, a door painted with a triangle-and-line sigil (marker Event_lio_door).
• When: lanternfall.stage >= 2. Sets met.lio 1.
• Who: Lio; Garnet, Lio's mother (Idea); Cass, Lio's older brother, with one forearm stilled to clear glass (Idea); Rook, who stays at the door.
• What happens: Lio was handed a glyph too early, Bevel Lash, and her first cast went wild and hit her family. Cass's arm is glass to the elbow. Now she sits on her hands. Garnet doesn't blame the glyph; she blames nobody, which is the Facet way and which Lio can't stand. The player learns, from Cass rather than Rook, that Rook gave Lio the glyph. Rook won't come in. [Twinhold first] Lio asks whether the Wardens would un-teach her and whether it would hurt. The player can answer honestly. [Lanternfall first] Lio is the player's first close look at what a glyph can cost.
• Player does: talk; optionally confront Rook outside (+1 rook.trust for being straight with him, -1 for cruelty); optionally start the side quest "Lio's door" (section Hooks): teach Lio the door-mark, Repel, the one spell that can never be sealed.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Lio_Door, Act2_Lio_Rook, Act2_Lio_Unteach_Question (route A). Sets met.lio 1, and lio.rook_confronted 1 if the player confronts Rook.
• Art and audio: the Bevel cut's house, mismatched glass furniture. Lio: small, oversized one-sleeved coat, hands tucked under her knees. Cass: a clear-glass forearm (the Corran stilling effect at small scale, an early look at the Act 3 look). A three-note music-box figure for Lio.
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

Iver the Cutter: the amber letter

• Where: Lanternfall, the Cutter's Workshop, high in the shard where glass is cut into lenses (marker Event_iver).
• When: lanternfall.stage >= 2. Sets lanternfall.stage 3 and letter.lanternfall 2.
• Who: Iver Kest; two of Iver's cut, cutting glass; Rook.
• What happens: the player delivers the amber letter. Iver reads it, laughs once, and tells the story behind "you owe me one crossing" (Idea): un-taught as a boy in Twinhold, he walked south with sealed hands, and the Sallowbank ferry keeper carried him across for nothing. He retraced the sealed glyph twice out of spite. He shows the player his hands, still crossed with the faint marks of the old seal. He is charming, direct and angry. Then the ask: the Wardens' Measure Vault holds hundreds of glyphs taken from Facets; Iver wants them back and given away, all of them. He needs an even pair to open the wards. [Twinhold first] He asks what the player saw in the Vault, and the drain grate becomes his way in. [Lanternfall first] He gives the player a drain map to check when they reach Twinhold (item vault_map). (Idea) If the seal was broken: "Good. Never carry what you haven't read." Iver doesn't pay for the letter. He gives the player a sigil pendant instead, because a Facet gives.
• Player does: talk; deliver; answer the Vault offer for now.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Iver_Letter, Act2_Iver_Vault. Sets offer.vault 1 (2 if agreed). Items sigil_pendant (the letter's gift, catalogue effect) and vault_map (route B). Quest act2_lanternfall advances; act2 advances.
• Art and audio: the workshop: lens grinders, shards on racks, amber light concentrated through lenses into hot white points. Iver's model: one sleeve cut off at the shoulder, scarred hands, a sigil of a broken line inside a circle. Iver's theme: the Lanternfall meter, faster, played on struck glass.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

Unbinders and Table Mend

• Where: Lanternfall, the Unbinders' alcove off the Giving Steps (marker Event_unbinder), and the healers' lane (marker Event_table_mend).
• When: lanternfall.stage >= 1. Optional.
• Who: Sorrel, an unbinder (Idea); a Facet healer.
• What happens: the unbinder breaks Warden seals for 200 copper, the second way back from un-teaching (Story Bible section 2). The player learns the price now, in case they need it later in this act. The healer teaches Table Mend, the strongest heal, to anyone who asks; Facets give it freely. The healer mentions the Tenders turning away the dying in Greenvault.
• Player does: talk; optionally learn Table Mend.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Unbinder, Act2_Table_Mend. <<learn_spell table_mend>> (spell data table_mend.json, Spell Set tab). Unbinding is a service (200 copper): removes spell.sealed.<id> and relearns the spell; sets unbound.used 1, which Evane NPCs hear about (-5 rep.evane).
• Art and audio: the alcove, hung with broken pale-blue bands as trophies. The healer's lane in warm amber.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; glyph prompt (Trace); (Idea) a service prompt for the unbinder's fee.

Set piece: the glass storm in the Shardfield

• Where: the Shardfield, three hours' walk from Lanternfall toward the old Corran road (scene Shardfield; markers Event_storm_start, Event_reflected_square, Event_corran_shard).
• When: fragment.facet_seal.circle == 1 and lanternfall.stage >= 3 (the letter is delivered). Sets lanternfall.stage 4 and spell.learned.facet_seal 1.
• Who: Rook; [Twinhold first] Tamsin; storm glints.
• What happens: Rook takes the player out to find the square half. A glass storm comes in: wind full of shards, every standing pane ringing. Rook lost his arm in one. Facet Seal is a split glyph, and its square half is shown the way a reflected glyph is (Story Bible section 3): it is visible only in one standing shard while the storm is up. The player runs between shelters through two waves of shard volleys, finds the shard showing the square, holds up the amber circle lens in the left hand and traces both halves together while the reflection lasts. Then the storm peaks and the player casts Facet Seal for real, the first cast of it, to shelter the three of them. A storm glint comes out of the glass after the peak. On the way back, the player picks up a shard sliver with half of an unknown glyph cut into it, a low wave, lying by a broken Corran road marker. It won't trace ("the Glass won't hold half of something"). Nobody knows what it is. This is the half Aske's Corran girl was missing (Story Bible section 3), and the player doesn't know that yet.
• Player does: move between shelters; learn (trace, timed by the storm, not by breath); cast Facet Seal in the field; fight; pick up the shard.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Storm_Start, Act2_Storm_Square, Act2_Storm_Shelter, Act2_Storm_After, Act2_Corran_Shard. <<learn_spell facet_seal>> at Event_reflected_square, gated on fragment.facet_seal.circle; then <<prompt_cast facet_seal>>. Encounter storm_glint (enemy storm_glint: a glint armoured in shards, heavy, slow; Coil and Gale hit it; its big shard volley is blocked by Facet Seal). Field hazard: shard volleys while moving between shelters (new code, or a scripted sequence of prompt_cast moments). Items fragment_facet_seal_square (key item, the record of the square half) and corran_half_wave (key item, no use yet: the low-wave half of the Corran glyph). Sets fragment.facet_seal.square 1, item.corran_half_wave 1. +5 rep.facets.
• Art and audio: glass storm VFX: wind streaks full of glinting shards, panes flashing different skies; the reflected square appearing in one shard as the light catches it; Facet Seal's shield (Art Direction: circle and square fusing into a jagged prismatic shield). Storm glint model: a glint crusted in mirror shards, about 2.5 m. The storm has no melody: wind and ringing glass, with the Lanternfall percussion entering when the Seal holds.
• Screens used: glyph prompt (Trace, with a storm timer instead of the breath bar, (Idea); then Cast); Battle.

Leaving Lanternfall

• Where: the Sand Gate caravan yard (route B, to the Long Road) or the Shard Gate (route A, to the midpoint).
• When: lanternfall.stage == 4. Sets lanternfall.stage 5.
• Who: Rook; [Twinhold first] Tamsin.
• What happens: [Lanternfall first] Rook decides to ride the Long Road with the player: "Somebody has to make sure Dace doesn't overcharge you." Dace's caravan leaves for Twinhold (chapter 2). [Twinhold first] Rook teaches threading first (scene 4.1, route A), then both letters are delivered and the midpoint opens (chapter 5).
• Player does: talk; travel.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Lanternfall_Leave. Quest act2_lanternfall completes.
• Art and audio: the Sand Gate yard; the caravan under pale-green sails against amber glass.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; (Idea) Travel map.

Chapter 4: Threading Open page

The first composite, Headwind: Repel into Gale. In-world, a composite is a thread: both thumbs stay down from one spell into the next, so the Glass never closes (Story Bible section 7). The code already lets any two learned spells chain; this chapter is the lesson and the first named thread.

The first thread

• Where: [Twinhold first] Lanternfall, a practice floor below the Giving Steps (marker Event_thread_rook). [Lanternfall first] The wind pass summit, among the windmills (marker Event_thread_dace).
• When: spell.learned.gale == 1 and, in route A, lanternfall.stage >= 4; in route B, long_road.stage == 4. Sets thread.taught (1 Rook, 2 Dace).
• Who: route A: Rook, with Tamsin watching. Route B: Dace, with Rook watching.
• What happens: [Twinhold first] Rook shows how he casts with one arm: he draws one half, holds it open in the Glass, and draws the other half with the same hand. Threading is the same trick between two spells: don't let the Glass close. He threads Repel into Gale with one hand, slowly, and the push lands and then the wind carries the target further back. Tamsin says that's not a Facet trick, the Waymakers do it; Rook says the Waymakers got it from somewhere. [Lanternfall first] Dace teaches it the Waymaker way: what moves keeps its course, so don't stop. Dace draws Repel and runs straight on into Gale without lifting. Rook, watching, says "Huh. That's how I do it with one hand." In both routes, if the player has already threaded something on their own, the teacher notices ("You've done this. Who showed you?" "Nobody." "Course not.") and the lesson is shorter.
• Player does: watch; draw Headwind (Repel into Gale) three times on a practice target, then win a short spar using it.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Thread_Rook, Act2_Thread_Dace, Act2_Thread_Already. Composite data headwind.json (Headwind, Repel then Gale; per the spell roadmap: 30 damage, 4 s stagger, the push lands and then the wind carries the target further back; 1,020 ms). Encounters thread_practice_rook (enemy cut_glass_dummy) and thread_practice_dace (enemy sail_dummy), easy, canLose false. Flags thread.practiced 1 after the spar; composite.known.headwind 1 the first time it's cast.
• Art and audio: Headwind VFX: Repel's L-shockwave, then Gale's wind blades in the same motion, the target sliding back further than either spell alone. A one-armed casting animation for Rook (one hand, two halves, a held glyph hanging in the air). Practice dummies: a cut-glass post (Lanternfall) and a sail on a frame (the pass). A short "two motifs joined" sting: the Repel brass figure running into the Gale fiddle figure.
• Screens used: glyph prompt (Cast, with a thread guide that shows Repel joined to Gale, (Idea)); Battle; Spell Book (a composites page lists Headwind once found).

Chapter 5: The Midpoint Choice Open page

Prelate Ondine asks the player to guard a mending at the Sallow warp. Iver the Cutter asks the player to steal glyphs from the Measure Vault in Twinhold. The player can do either, both or neither, and each moves reputation with each side.

(Idea) Timing: the mending takes three nights. The circle forms at dawn on the first day, and the menders then hold the seal at the warp for three nights while it sets. With most of the Hall's menders away, the Vault is thinly guarded on those nights, which is why Iver wants it done then. So both is possible in one order only: guard the circle at dawn, then ride back for the Vault on the second night (Long Road caravans and the Halfway roads make it a day's travel with the ribbon). Neither is a real choice with real costs: both jobs happen without the player, and both go worse.

The warp widens

• Where: whichever court the player is in when the second letter is delivered and threading is learned: Twinhold (route B) or Lanternfall (route A); the news arrives at the city gate (marker Event_news).
• When: letter.twinhold == 2, letter.lanternfall == 2 and thread.taught != 0. Sets midpoint.open 1.
• Who: Tamsin and Rook (in route B, together for the first time since Halfway; in route A they have been together since Lanternfall); a Sallowbank message carried by Fenn (Idea), who walked to Halfway with a Waymaker caravan.
• What happens: the Sallow warp, upstream of the player's farm, has widened: glints on the river every night, the Drowned Steps' top stair gone mirror-bright. Ondine is marching menders to it. Fenn has a message from Aske, who won't come: "Tell them to stand further back than they think." Tamsin brings Ondine's formal request (guard the circle at dawn in three days). Rook brings Iver's (the Vault, the second night). Each knows what the other is carrying. They argue in front of the player, briefly and honestly, each right about one danger: Tamsin about the glints reaching Sallowbank, Rook about what the Vault keeps from people. If the player already said yes to either offer, this is the moment it becomes real.
• Player does: talk; accept or decline each job (both can be accepted).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Midpoint_News, Act2_Midpoint_Fenn, Act2_Midpoint_Argue, Act2_Midpoint_Choose. Sets mending.accepted and vault.accepted (1 yes, 2 no). Declining a job sets its outcome to 2 at once (mending.outcome 2 or vault.outcome 2), and its news comes in scene 5.4. Declining both jumps straight to scene 5.4. Quest act2_mending or act2_vault starts for each job accepted.
• Art and audio: Fenn's model (Prologue villager, now with a travel pack too big for Fenn). The Sallowbank theme in a minor key under the argument.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

The mending guard at the Sallow warp

• Where: the Sallow warp, upstream of Sallowbank, a reed bend where the river runs over a glowing crack (scene SallowWarp; markers Event_circle, Event_hunters, Event_seal_line). The player passes through Sallowbank on the way (scene 5.2a).
• When: mending.accepted == 1. Sets mending.outcome 1 when done.
• Who: Ondine; five Warden menders; Tamsin; two Facet glyph-hunters (Idea), Rusk and Oda, working the crack for fresh warp-born glyphs; glints.
• What happens: at dawn the five menders take their places round the warp and begin a five-person mirrored seal, the same kind as Corran's. The player holds the line, with Tamsin guarding the menders' backs, while the warp throws glints at the circle: three waves, then a glint brute that sheds smaller glints as it breaks. Midway, the player sees the two Facet hunters still in the reeds inside the seal line (the hidden moral choice inside the job, Codex section 8). Ondine sees them too and orders the circle closed on time. The player chooses: hold the line and let the seal close (the hunters are stilled in glass where they stand), or break off, Repel the glints away from the hunters and drag them out (the seal closes late and weaker). Either way the circle closes the seal and the warp dims; the menders stay to hold it for three nights while it sets. A ring of reeds, a heron and Tobin's eel weir at the bend are left standing in clear glass. Ondine thanks the player sincerely and doesn't look at the glass. As a reward she teaches the player Weigh, a Warden glyph, hand over hand.
• Player does: fight three battles and a boss; choose; watch the seal close; learn Weigh (trace).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Mending_Dawn, Act2_Mending_Hunters, Act2_Mending_Close, Act2_Mending_After. Encounters warp_glints_1, warp_glints_2, warp_glints_3 (enemy glint, 3–5 at a time), warp_brood (enemy glint_brute: at two-thirds and one-third HP it sheds two glints; Repel in its rear-up cancels the slam; Gale clears the shed glints; Headwind is the fast answer). <<learn_spell weigh>> (Ondine, after the seal). Sets mending.hunters (1 pulled out, 2 stilled), world.sallow_stilled 1. Reputation:
  • Guarding at all: +15 rep.evane, +10 rep.wardens, -10 rep.facets, +1 tamsin.trust, -1 rook.trust.
  • Pulling the hunters out: -5 rep.wardens, +5 rep.facets, +10 morality; Ondine: "Sentiment. It's how Corran nearly got away."
  • Letting them be stilled: -15 morality, -10 rep.facets more; Tamsin is silent all the way back.
• Art and audio: the reed bend at dawn; five menders in a ring, their mirrored glyphs joining into one pale-blue dome; the stilling VFX (the Corran look: clear glass spreading over reeds, water and the heron mid-step). Glint brute model: the bestiary's glint_brute. Music: Ondine's theme scored for choir as the seal builds, cutting out when it closes.
• Screens used: Battle; Dialogue box with choices.

5.2a Sallowbank on the way

• Where: Sallowbank, the square and the ferry landing.
• When: mending.accepted == 1, on the way to the warp.
• Who: Marra Hesk, Tobin, Fenn (if Fenn walked back); Aske's ferry, tied up on the far bank.
• What happens: the player's home, with the warp's glow on the water at night. Marra has been minding the hens and feeds the player. Tobin says the Drowned Choir has stopped humming. Aske's ferry is on the far bank and stays there; Aske doesn't come over. The player can walk to the landing and look across. (Idea) If the player shouts across, Aske answers with one line: "Further back than you think."
• Player does: move, talk.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Sallowbank_Return, Act2_Ferry_Shout. Reuses the Prologue location sallowbank with new villager lines (Prologue's villagers.yarn grows an Act 2 branch).
• Art and audio: Sallowbank at night with the warp's glow on the river. The Prologue's Sallowbank theme, slower.
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

The Measure Vault break-in

• Where: Twinhold, the Hall of Measure: the east-pier drain, the Vault's ward corridors, the inner Vault (scene MeasureVault; markers Event_drain, Ward_1 to Ward_3, Event_tamsin_watch, Event_corran_shelf, Event_choose_glyph).
• When: vault.accepted == 1, on the second night of the mending (if both jobs are accepted, after mending.outcome == 1). Sets vault.outcome 1 when done.
• Who: Iver; two of Iver's cut; Rook keeping watch outside; two Warden golems and a Warden sentinel; Tamsin, back from the warp for the night watch (Idea).
• What happens: the player and Iver's crew go in through the east-pier drain. The wards are mirrored glyphs; an even pair can draw their reflection and open them without breaking them (a timed draw: the player casts the ward's own glyph, mirrored, inside one breath). Three wards, three guards: a Warden golem at each of the first two doors and a Warden sentinel at the third. The wards "weigh" every spell, so no guard here will take the same spell twice in a row, and the player has to vary their casts or thread. Casting a Facet spell in here is casting inside an Evane town: if any ward breaks instead of opening, the alarm rings, and the next Facet spell the player casts in the Vault is witnessed. In the inner Vault, Tamsin is on watch. The player chooses: talk Tamsin down (needs tamsin.trust >= 2), Repel Tamsin out of the way and run, or fight Tamsin properly. Iver's crew empties the shelves into sacks. Behind the shelves they find a whole Warden glyph cut into the wall: Weigh. The player can trace it while the sacks fill. The Corran, five-seal shelf is here; Iver doesn't care about it, but the player can look (an Act 3 hook). Iver lets the player keep one glyph of their choice from the haul (Idea): the straight-stroke half of Bevel Lash, a Warden Brace variant, or a Still Choir fragment of Listen.
• Player does: move quietly; open wards with timed draws; fight; choose how to get past Tamsin; learn Weigh (trace); choose a glyph.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Vault_Drain, Act2_Vault_Ward, Act2_Vault_Tamsin, Act2_Vault_Corran, Act2_Vault_Choose, Act2_Vault_Out. Encounters vault_golem_1 and vault_golem_2 (enemy warden_golem), vault_golem_3 (enemy warden_sentinel); the Vault wards add a rule to all three: the guard won't take the same spell twice in a row (new code). tamsin_spar (enemy tamsin_spar: Tamsin casts Repel and Brace; canLose true; losing means capture). Ward opening uses <<prompt_cast>> with a ward glyph spell id (new data: ward_measure.json, not learnable). <<learn_spell weigh>> (whole glyph, inner Vault wall). Sets vault.tamsin (1 talked down, 2 Repelled, 3 fought), vault.alarm 1, vault.caught 1 if a Facet spell was cast after the alarm, vault.glyph (1–3), vault.corran_shelf_seen 1. If vault.caught is 1, the player is held overnight, and the next morning a Warden court sits on the Bridge Court and seals the spell used in the crime (<<seal_spell player <spell>>>, spell.sealed.<id> 1; never Repel). Reputation:
  • The theft: +15 rep.facets, -15 rep.evane, -20 rep.wardens, +1 rook.trust.
  • Tamsin talked down: -1 tamsin.trust. Repelled: -2 tamsin.trust. Fought: -3 tamsin.trust, -5 morality.
  • Caught and sealed: -10 rep.evane more; Iver, when the player is let go: "Welcome. Now you know."
• Art and audio: the drain (dark water, pier stone); ward corridors lit by pale-blue mirrored glyphs across each doorway; the inner Vault, shelves to the ceiling. Ward-opening VFX: the ward's glyph flips to its reflection and parts like a curtain. Sneaking music: plucked strings in the Twinhold canon, with the second voice dropping out when the alarm rings.
• Screens used: glyph prompt (Cast, for wards); Battle; Dialogue box with choices.

5.3a The giving

• Where: Lanternfall, the Giving Steps, the day after the theft.
• When: vault.outcome == 1.
• Who: Iver; a crowd; Lio; Rook.
• What happens: Iver gives the Vault's glyphs away on the steps, to anyone who asks, the way the Facets always have. The crowd is huge. A boy about Lio's age walks off with a split half nobody explained to him. Lio watches and says to the player, "That's what Rook did." Rook, beside the player, has nothing to say.
• Player does: watch; optionally stop the boy and explain the glyph (+5 morality, -5 rep.facets for the "not yet" Facets don't allow).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Giving_Haul, Act2_Giving_Boy.
• Art and audio: the Giving Steps crowded, sacks of glyph-stones, pale-blue Warden fragments mixed with amber.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

Declining: what happens without you

• Where: wherever the player is when they decline; the results arrive as news at the next court or caravan yard.
• When: mending.outcome == 2 or vault.outcome == 2.
• Who: Tamsin or Rook, bringing the news.
• What happens: both jobs go ahead without the player, and both go worse (Idea):
  • Mending without a guard: the glints broke the circle twice before it closed, two menders were hurt, and the seal stilled a wider ring, up to the Drowned Steps' top stair. The Facet hunters weren't pulled out. Tamsin tells it without blame and is plainly hurt by the absence.
  • Vault without an even pair: Iver's crew broke a ward instead of opening it. Two got out, one was caught and publicly un-taught on the Bridge Court. Iver blames the player openly.
  • Weigh, if the player took neither job (mending.outcome == 2 and vault.outcome == 2): Tamsin teaches it hand over hand when the midpoint closes, wherever the player is (she has followed the news there, on either route). Nobody asked her to.
• Player does: talk; learn Weigh (trace) if neither job was taken.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Mending_Without, Act2_Vault_Without, Act2_Tamsin_Weigh (<<learn_spell weigh>>). Sets world.sallow_stilled 2 (mending declined) and vault.crew_caught 1 (Vault declined). Reputation:
  • Declining the mending: -5 rep.evane, -5 rep.wardens.
  • Declining the Vault: -5 rep.facets.
  • Declining both: also +1 aske.trust for Act 3 (Aske stayed out too).
• Art and audio: no new scene art; the news is told in the court or yard where the player is. A short sting: Ondine's theme broken off (mending) or the Lanternfall percussion stopping dead (Vault).
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

Both: two-faced

• Where: the road back from the Vault (Halfway's crossroads stone again).
• When: mending.outcome == 1 and vault.outcome == 1.
• Who: Tamsin and Rook.
• What happens: each side learns the player worked for the other the same week. Tamsin and Rook confront the player together at the crossroads where the act began. Neither side can claim the player now, and both say so. (Idea) This is the first time the game names the unaligned path out loud: Rook calls the player "nobody's", and Tamsin, after a long pause, says "That might be allowed."
• Player does: talk; choose how to answer (defend it, apologise, or say nothing).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Both_Confront. Sets two_faced 1. Reputation: -5 rep.evane, -5 rep.facets on top of both jobs' moves; no morality change.
• Art and audio: Halfway's crossroads stone from scene 0.1, now at dusk. Tamsin's and Rook's themes played against each other, then one held note.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices.

Word from Sallowbank

• Where: the last place the player was when the midpoint resolves.
• When: mending.outcome != 0 and vault.outcome != 0. Sets act2.done 1.
• Who: a Waymaker rider with a letter from Marra Hesk.
• What happens: the mending held for six days, then the Sallow warp split. Glints came up the river to Sallowbank. Marra's letter: "The river's gone to glass at the ferry. Aske says don't come. Come." This hands over to Act 3, where the warps reach Sallowbank and Aske leaves the ferry (Story Bible section 4; VEL-57).
• Player does: read; travel (the act ends on the road home).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_End_Letter. Quest act2 completes. A reputation summary shown once (Idea).
• Art and audio: Marra's letter prop (flour on the paper). The Sallowbank theme, broken off mid-phrase.
• Screens used: (Idea) Letter view; (Idea) Reputation panel.

Chapter 6: Faction Visits (optional) Open page

Greenvault and Hushfold open once their invitations arrive at the courting (invite.greenvault, invite.hushfold). Each is a short chapter of its own, playable any time before act2.done, and stays open after it for side content.

Greenvault: the terraces

• Where: Greenvault, a terraced garden-monastery a day south of Twinhold down the valley road (scene Greenvault; spawn Spawn_lower_gate; markers Event_bramble, Event_decay_terrace, Event_fragment_wither).
• When: invite.greenvault == 1. Sets greenvault.stage 1.
• Who: Brother Fallow; Tender gardeners; Mother Bramble.
• What happens: the terraces climb in rings under a hall roofed with living vines, lit violet. Fallow shows the player that Tenders draw in long unbroken curves, never a corner, and that everything here is allowed to grow and allowed to die. The player can learn Root from the gardeners, a whole glyph cut in a living vine. A decay terrace is overrun by a bramble glint, a glint that has grown into the hedges; Coil, Mend and Root make it stronger, Gale, Repel and Wither hurt it. The Wither fragment, a curl of dead wood, is on the dead stump at its centre. Root's field effect opens the vine-locked doors here (the Spell Set's Bloom is folded into Root).
• Player does: move, talk, learn, fight.
• Content to make: location greenvault. Yarn Act2_Greenvault_Arrive, Act2_Greenvault_Root, Act2_Greenvault_Decay. <<learn_spell root>>, <<learn_spell wither>> (spell data root.json, wither.json; spell roadmap). Item fragment_wither (key item; sets item.fragment_wither 1). Encounter bramble_glint (enemy bramble_glint, heals from growth spells, new code: an effect-type weakness and immunity table). Root's field cast opens vine-locked doors. +5 rep.tenders.
• Art and audio: overgrown terraces, the vine-roofed hall, violet glyph light. Bramble glint: a glint tangled in thorn and hedge, about 3 m. Greenvault theme: slow woodwinds, long phrases that never break.
• Screens used: Dialogue box; glyph prompt (Trace, Cast); Battle.

Greenvault: Mother Bramble turns the dying away

• Where: Greenvault, the vine hall (marker Event_bramble).
• When: greenvault.stage >= 1. If ness.hurt == 1, Ness is here; otherwise a stranger, a Facet glass-cutter (Idea). Sets greenvault.stage 2.
• Who: Mother Bramble; the patient (Ness or the glass-cutter); Fallow.
• What happens: Bramble heals anything nature would heal and nothing it wouldn't. The patient has warp glass-sickness, glass spreading slowly from a wound, and Bramble judges that nature would let it run. She turns the patient away, gently, and means it. The player knows Table Mend if they took it in Lanternfall, and Table Mend would heal it. Casting it here is casting a Facet spell inside an Evane town.
• Player does: choose:
  • accept Bramble's word (+5 rep.tenders, -5 morality; the patient leaves for Lanternfall and doesn't make it, which comes up later);
  • cast Table Mend in the hall in front of everyone (patient saved, +10 morality, -10 rep.tenders, -5 rep.evane; a Tender reports it, and in Act 3 a Warden court summons the player to Twinhold over Table Mend: an un-teaching hook for VEL-57);
  • carry the patient outside the walls to the old orchard, which isn't Greenvault ground, and cast there unseen (+10 morality, no rep change; needs spell.learned.table_mend);
  • or, with no Table Mend, carry the patient to Lanternfall on a Waymaker cart (+5 morality, a timed errand).
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Bramble_Patient, Act2_Bramble_Choice, Act2_Bramble_Orchard. Field cast <<prompt_cast table_mend>>. Sets bramble.patient (1 accepted, 2 healed in the hall, 3 healed in the orchard, 4 carried), crime.table_mend 1 for choice two. If the player knows Mend and Root, Bramble shows them the thread Wellspring (Mend into Root) before the patient is brought in (composite.known.wellspring 1 on its first cast).
• Art and audio: the vine hall, a stone healing bed under hanging flowers. Mother Bramble's model: broad, earth-stained, violet trim, a hand always on a plant. Glass-sickness on the patient: clear glass creeping from a forearm (shared look with Cass, scene 3.3).
• Screens used: Dialogue box with choices; glyph prompt (Cast).

Hushfold: the silent abbey

• Where: Hushfold, an abbey in an echo valley off the Long Road, reached by the Quiet Fork above the wind pass (scene Hushfold; spawn Spawn_quiet_fork; markers Event_wen, Event_bell_tower, Event_listen_stone).
• When: invite.hushfold == 1 and long_road.stage >= 4 (the pass is cleared). Sets hushfold.stage 1.
• Who: Sister Ise; Still Choir monks; Choirmistress Wen.
• What happens: snow, no bells, monks signing with mirrored hands. Running is loud here: the valley echoes footsteps back, and monks stop and look. The player walks. Wen speaks only in mirrored hand-signs, the same gestures as mirrored casting, so the player half understands before the subtitles do. Wen asks about the Drowned Steps and whether the Sallow still hums (the Choir claims descent from the Drowned Choir). Wen teaches Calm and Listen (an overworld spell that shows hidden fragments for 20 s) at a listening stone.
• Player does: move (walk only), talk, learn.
• Content to make: location hushfold. Yarn Act2_Hushfold_Arrive, Act2_Wen_Signs, Act2_Wen_Calm, Act2_Wen_Listen. <<learn_spell calm>>, <<learn_spell listen>> (spell data from the Spell Set tab). A walk-only movement zone (new code: run disabled by location setting). +5 rep.choir.
• Art and audio: snow, the abbey in the echo valley, monks in white. Wen's model: small, upright, hands always visible, sleeves pinned back for signing. A signing animation set (a dozen mirrored gestures, reused). Audio: almost silence: wind, footsteps and their echo; one long sustained tone for the Choir theme.
• Screens used: Dialogue box with (Idea) a signed-line style (hand-sign icons above the subtitle); glyph prompt (Trace).

Hushfold: the echo glint and Wen's letters

• Where: Hushfold, the empty bell tower (marker Event_bell_tower), then Wen's writing room.
• When: hushfold.stage >= 1. Sets hushfold.stage 2.
• Who: Wen; an echo glint.
• What happens: the bell tower has no bells, and something in it has been repeating the monks' signs back wrong. The echo glint copies the player's last spell and casts it back at them one turn later. Calm (Wen taught it at the listening stone) clears what it lands; the trick is to cast cheap spells for it to copy. After the fight Wen teaches Hush and Echo, hand over hand, and then asks a favour in signs: carry a letter to Lanternfall. The Still Choir is the one faction that quietly trades letters with the Facets. If the player has already met Iver, Wen's letter is addressed to Sorrel the unbinder.
• Player does: fight; learn; accept a courier job.
• Content to make: Yarn Act2_Bell_Tower, Act2_Wen_Teach, Act2_Wen_Letter. Encounter echo_glint (enemy echo_glint: repeats the player's previous cast, new code). <<learn_spell hush>>, <<learn_spell echo>>. Item wen_letter (side quest courier to Lanternfall; +5 rep.choir, +5 rep.facets on delivery; -5 rep.wardens if a Warden finds out). Reward from Wen: reed_collar (breath +80 ms, items tab).
• Art and audio: the bell tower with empty bell frames, frost on the beams. Echo glint model: a thin glint that shows the player's own silhouette, mirrored. A delayed-echo effect on the player's own cast sounds.
• Screens used: Battle; glyph prompt (Trace); Dialogue box (signed lines).

Quests Open page

Written like Data/Quests/prologue.json: each quest shows its first incomplete stage, so stages done out of order still count. startWhen is the existing optional field. Each block parses as JSON and uses only the condition forms Velan.Story.Condition reads (flag/op/value, all, any, not).

act2: Two Courts (main)

{
  "id": "act2",
  "title": "Two Courts",
  "description": "Aske's letters go to Twinhold and Lanternfall. Deliver both. Believe neither until you've met both.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "act1.done", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "choose_first",
      "text": "Tamsin and Rook are both waiting at the Halfway crossroads. Choose which letter to carry first.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act2.first", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    },
    {
      "id": "first_letter",
      "text": "Deliver the first letter.",
      "completeWhen": {
        "any": [
          { "flag": "letter.twinhold", "op": ">=", "value": 2 },
          { "flag": "letter.lanternfall", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "long_road",
      "text": "Cross the Long Road with Caravan-master Dace's caravan.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "long_road.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 }
    },
    {
      "id": "second_letter",
      "text": "Deliver the second letter.",
      "completeWhen": {
        "all": [
          { "flag": "letter.twinhold", "op": ">=", "value": 2 },
          { "flag": "letter.lanternfall", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "threading",
      "text": "Learn to thread one spell into another.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "thread.taught", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    },
    {
      "id": "midpoint",
      "text": "Ondine and Iver have each asked for your hands. Answer them both, one way or the other.",
      "completeWhen": {
        "all": [
          { "flag": "mending.outcome", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
          { "flag": "vault.outcome", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "word_from_home",
      "text": "A letter has come from Sallowbank.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act2.done", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    }
  ]
}

act2_twinhold: The Mirror City

{
  "id": "act2_twinhold",
  "title": "The Mirror City",
  "description": "Twinhold is two halves of one city, and every caster who comes is measured.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "twinhold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "measuring",
      "text": "Go to the Hall of Measure and be measured.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "twinhold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
    },
    {
      "id": "bridge_court",
      "text": "A court sits on the Bridge Court in the morning. Tamsin wants you to see it.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "twinhold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 }
    },
    {
      "id": "speaker",
      "text": "Deliver Aske's letter to Prelate Ondine in the Speaker's Chamber.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "letter.twinhold", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
    },
    {
      "id": "vault",
      "text": "Tamsin wants to show you what the Wardens keep safe.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "twinhold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 }
    },
    {
      "id": "leave",
      "text": "Leave Twinhold.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "twinhold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 6 }
    }
  ]
}

act2_long_road: The Long Road

{
  "id": "act2_long_road",
  "title": "The Long Road",
  "description": "Caravan-master Dace needs a guard for the wind pass, and doesn't care which side you're on.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "long_road.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "gale",
      "text": "Help Dace get the ridge windmill turning.",
      "completeWhen": {
        "all": [
          { "flag": "long_road.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 },
          { "flag": "spell.learned.gale", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "camp",
      "text": "Make camp below the pass.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "long_road.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 }
    },
    {
      "id": "wind_pass",
      "text": "Get the caravan over the wind pass.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "long_road.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 4 }
    },
    {
      "id": "arrive",
      "text": "Ride down with the caravan to the other court.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "long_road.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 }
    }
  ]
}

act2_lanternfall: The Open Door

{
  "id": "act2_lanternfall",
  "title": "The Open Door",
  "description": "Lanternfall has no gate and no guard. Rook says the first Facet lesson is given to anyone who asks.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "lanternfall.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "giving_steps",
      "text": "Go to the Giving Steps with Rook.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "fragment.facet_seal.circle", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    },
    {
      "id": "iver",
      "text": "Deliver Aske's letter to Iver Kest at the Cutter's Workshop.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "letter.lanternfall", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
    },
    {
      "id": "square_half",
      "text": "Find the square half of Facet Seal in the Shardfield.",
      "completeWhen": {
        "all": [
          { "flag": "fragment.facet_seal.square", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
          { "flag": "spell.learned.facet_seal", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

act2_mending: The Sallow Mending

{
  "id": "act2_mending",
  "title": "The Sallow Mending",
  "description": "Prelate Ondine will close the Sallow warp upstream of your farm, and wants you to hold the line while it's done.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "mending.accepted", "op": "==", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "go_to_warp",
      "text": "Be at the Sallow warp by dawn.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "mending.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 }
    },
    {
      "id": "hold_line",
      "text": "Hold the line while the five menders close the warp.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "mending.outcome", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    }
  ]
}

act2_vault: The Measure Vault

{
  "id": "act2_vault",
  "title": "The Measure Vault",
  "description": "Iver wants every glyph the Wardens took back, and given away. He needs an even pair to open the wards.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "vault.accepted", "op": "==", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "night",
      "text": "Meet Iver's cut at the east-pier drain on the second night of the mending.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "vault.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 }
    },
    {
      "id": "wards",
      "text": "Open the Vault's three wards without breaking them.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "vault.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
    },
    {
      "id": "inner_vault",
      "text": "Get into the inner Vault and out again.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "vault.outcome", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    }
  ]
}

greenvault: What Nature Would Heal

{
  "id": "greenvault",
  "title": "What Nature Would Heal",
  "description": "Brother Fallow has invited you to Greenvault, where the Tenders let everything grow and everything die.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "invite.greenvault", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "arrive",
      "text": "Travel down the valley road to Greenvault.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "greenvault.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 }
    },
    {
      "id": "decay_terrace",
      "text": "Something has grown into the hedges on the decay terrace.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "bramble_glint.beaten", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    },
    {
      "id": "bramble",
      "text": "Mother Bramble will see you in the vine hall.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "bramble.patient", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    }
  ]
}

hushfold: The Quiet Fork

{
  "id": "hushfold",
  "title": "The Quiet Fork",
  "description": "Sister Ise has invited you to Hushfold. Walk; don't run.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "invite.hushfold", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
  "stages": [
    {
      "id": "arrive",
      "text": "Take the Quiet Fork above the wind pass to Hushfold.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "hushfold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 }
    },
    {
      "id": "bell_tower",
      "text": "Something in the empty bell tower is repeating the monks' signs back wrong.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "hushfold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 }
    },
    {
      "id": "wen_letter",
      "text": "Carry Choirmistress Wen's letter to Lanternfall.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "wen_letter.delivered", "op": "!=", "value": 0 }
    }
  ]
}

(Idea) Flags these quests need that the scenes set: mending.stage 1 on arriving at the warp; vault.stage 1 at the drain and 2 when the third ward opens; bramble_glint.beaten 1 after bramble_glint; wen_letter.delivered 1 on delivery.

Locations

All (Idea). "Spawns" are where the player appears arriving from each exit. Marker names follow the existing Event_* and trigger-marker style.

Twinhold (`twinhold`, scene `Twinhold`; `hall_of_measure`, scene `HallOfMeasure`; `measure_vault`, scene `MeasureVault`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_mirror_gate (from Halfway), Spawn_far_gate (from the Long Road), Spawn_valley_gate (from Greenvault).
• Exits: Mirror Gate to the Halfway north road; Far Gate yard to the Long Road; Valley Gate to Greenvault.
• Landmarks: the Hall of Measure (the bridge-palace), the Measure Glass, the Bridge Court on its roof, the recruits' yard, two mirrored market squares with bulletin boards.
• Rough layout: the river runs north to south through the middle. The Near Hand (west) and Far Hand (east) are mirror images: same streets, same squares, same towers. The few asymmetries are telling: the holding cells where the east pier settled, the Vault entry in the west pier, the recruits' yard on the Near Hand, and the Far Gate's caravan yard, which the Waymakers added later.

          Mirror Gate (two arches)
                 |
   NEAR HAND     |     FAR HAND
  [square]  ===HALL OF MEASURE===  [square]
  [drill ]    |  Bridge Court  |   [cells, east pier]
  [Vault entry, west pier]       [Far Gate yard] -> Long Road
                 |
            Valley Gate -> Greenvault

The Long Road (`long_road`, scene `LongRoad`; `wind_pass`, scene `WindPass`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_twinhold_end, Spawn_lanternfall_end, Spawn_quiet_fork (back from Hushfold).
• Exits: Twinhold's Far Gate; Lanternfall's Sand Gate; the Quiet Fork to Hushfold (above the pass).
• Landmarks: windmills on every ridge, the windmill ridge (Gale lesson), the camp below the pass, the raiders' cutting, the wind pass summit with its cliff warp.
• Rough layout: one long overworld road, Twinhold at the north-west end, Lanternfall at the south-east end, the pass in the middle. The pass is its own battle-and-cutscene scene. Both directions use the same scenes; only the spawn and the side the wagons face change.

Lanternfall (`lanternfall`, scene `Lanternfall`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_shard_gate (from Halfway), Spawn_sand_gate (from the Long Road), Spawn_shardfield (back from the Shardfield).
• Exits: Shard Gate to the Halfway south road; Sand Gate yard to the Long Road; the Shardfield path.
• Landmarks: the Giving Steps at the centre, the Cutter's Workshop high in the shard, the Unbinders' alcove, the Bevel cut's house, the healers' lane, the open council's ring of mismatched seats.
• Rough layout: a city built inside one enormous standing shard, in uneven tiers. The Giving Steps climb through the middle; houses lean off the shard's inner faces at their own angles; light comes through the ceiling cut into amber and prismatic colour.

The Shardfield (`shardfield`, scene `Shardfield`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_lanternfall_path.
• Exits: back to Lanternfall; (Act 3) the old Corran road, blocked for now by a fallen shard line.
• Landmarks: shelter rocks between panes, the reflecting shard that shows the square, the broken Corran road marker where the Corran shard lies.
• Rough layout: an open field of standing mirror shards on the dry lakebed; a path of shelters zig-zags toward the Corran road.

The Sallow warp (`sallow_warp`, scene `SallowWarp`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_river_path (from Sallowbank).
• Exits: back to Sallowbank.
• Landmarks: the reed bend, the glowing crack under the water, the five mender stones, Tobin's eel weir, the seal line.
• Rough layout: a bend in the Sallow upstream of Sallowbank. The warp sits mid-river; the menders' circle stands on both banks and a sandbar; the reeds where the hunters hide are inside the seal line on the far side.

Greenvault (`greenvault`, scene `Greenvault`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_lower_gate (from Twinhold's valley road).
• Exits: back to Twinhold; the old orchard outside the walls (scene 6.2).
• Landmarks: ring terraces, the vine hall at the top, the decay terrace, the orchard.

Hushfold (`hushfold`, scene `Hushfold`) Open page

• Spawns: Spawn_quiet_fork (from the Long Road).
• Exits: back to the Long Road.
• Landmarks: the abbey, the signing hall, the empty bell tower, the listening stone, Wen's writing room.
• Rough layout: a narrow snow valley whose walls echo; the abbey across the valley floor; the bell tower at the far end.

Halfway and Sallowbank are reused from Act 1 and the Prologue, with new lines and the Event_fork marker in Halfway.

Characters Open page

Encounters Open page

All enemies and numbers are (Idea). The bestiary (VEL-59) owns the stats, and the numbers below are its numbers. The enemies it is still adding (windglass_kite, storm_glint, bramble_glint, echo_glint, tamsin_spar and the practice targets) keep this tab's first guesses, sized against the Training Golem (120 HP, 12 damage every 6 s). Several encounters need more than one enemy at a time, which the encounter data doesn't support yet.

Spells Gained Open page

The spell roadmap (VEL-60) places all the optional spells above in Act 2 and decides which ship first. The Story Bible's example threads (section 7) are both here: Gale into Coil is Tempest, and Coil into Facet Seal is Thornshield, the first cross-side thread most players find on their own. Tempest and Bulwark already exist as data.

Hooks for Side Content Open page

• Lio's door: teach Lio the door-mark, Repel, which can never be sealed. A Facet child learning an Evane charm from the even pair. Ends with Lio tracing it on her own doorposts. Rewards morality, rook.trust, and a sigil Lio paints for the player.
• Pell's hands: if the player told Pell about the unbinders, Pell turns up in Lanternfall at Sorrel's alcove with no money. Pay, or help Pell retrace Prism Snare from the start.
• The Waymaker jobs (side quests tab): Dace teaches Tailwind after the first job; a later run to the Endless Caravan's last known camp finds the Squall fragment (fragment_squall, a sail-patch). The jobs open Long Road fast travel stops.
• Bevel Lash's other half: the triangle half lies deeper in the Shardfield, past the Corran road (Act 2 to 3, Spell Set tab). The straight-stroke half can come from the Vault haul.
• The Corran shard (corran_half_wave): the low-wave half-glyph sliver from the storm. Wen, Iver and Keeper Hale each react to it differently if shown; nobody can trace it. It pays off in Act 3, where it and Aske's hourglass half make the Corran glyph.
• The Corran shelf: the sealed Corran, five-seal shelf in the Vault, a lead toward the Hour Stair in Act 3.
• Wen's letters: a running courier chain between Hushfold and Lanternfall; Warden attention if caught.
• Ness's glass-sickness: if Ness was hurt at the pass and Bramble's word was accepted, Ness doesn't make it, and Dace remembers.
• Tobin's eel weir: stilled at the warp; Tobin wants it back, a small Act 3 test of undoing a stilling.
• Bulletin boards in Twinhold and Lanternfall: escort jobs on the Long Road, a missing Choir courier, the loose copied glyphs on the Far Hand roofs.
• The Proving Ring (Act 1, Halfway): new opponents trained in each court once the player has visited it.
• Market goods: mirror-polish and grain from Twinhold, shard-glass and lenses from Lanternfall; caravan cargo prices follow the player's faction standing (the items design, VEL-61, owns this).
• Legends told this act: the Endless Caravan (Dace), the Girl with the Circle and the Square (Rook, Facet version; a Warden version in Twinhold), the Drowned Choir (Wen), the Hundred-Year Hour (Tull).

Content and Code This Act Needs Open page

Collected from the scenes above, for ticket writing.

• Yarn commands: add_flag (reputation deltas), measure_draw and court_profile (the Measuring), seal_spell (NPC effect and player sealing), give_item.
• Encounters: more than one enemy at a time; a flying state (winged glints) and an airborne state only Gale hits (the Windglass Kite); a protect objective (wagon HP); cast telegraphs on enemy casts; immunity to the last spell that hit (the Vault wards); weakness and immunity by effect type (bramble glint); a recast-your-last-spell enemy (echo glint).
• Field casting: a Trace mode timed by a storm instead of untimed; walk-only zones.
• Spell Book: a half-found state for split glyphs; a composites page.
• Data: spells weigh, tally, drift, table_mend, root, wither, calm, listen, hush, echo, squall, tailwind (from the spell roadmap), ward_measure (not learnable); composites headwind, thornshield, wellspring (with tempest and bulwark already in data); the enemies and encounters in the Encounters table; locations twinhold, hall_of_measure, measure_vault, long_road, wind_pass, lanternfall, shardfield, sallow_warp, greenvault, hushfold; the eight quests above.
• Art: Twinhold, the Hall of Measure (Measuring Floor, Bridge Court, Speaker's Chamber, Vault), the Long Road and wind pass, Lanternfall, the Shardfield and glass storm, the Sallow warp, Greenvault, Hushfold. Characters: Tamsin, Rook (with the one-armed casting animation), Dace, Ondine, Iver, Lio, Pell, Bramble, Wen (signing set), envoys, Ness, outlaws. Creatures: the winged glint and glint brute (bestiary), the Windglass Kite, the storm, bramble and echo glints, the Warden golem and Warden sentinel (bestiary). VFX: Gale, Facet Seal, Headwind, the sealing bands, the five-person mending dome, the stilling glass spreading, ward opening, glass storm.
• Music: themes for Twinhold (mirror canon), Lanternfall (7/8, glass), the Long Road, the wind pass set piece, the glass storm (no melody), Ondine, Iver, Lio, Greenvault, Hushfold (near silence), the Vault (sneaking).

Open Questions for Ray Open page

1. Who are the two letters addressed to? (Story Bible section 8, still open.) Recommend: Ondine Ash in Twinhold and Iver Kest in Lanternfall. The two people who make the midpoint asks are the two Aske wrote to, which gives "Believe neither until you've met both" its weight. Iver's "one crossing" (Aske ferried him after his un-teaching) is new backstory to approve.
2. Is the Long Road the route between the two courts? Recommend: yes. It makes Gale come between the two letters in either order, and threading always comes after Gale.
3. Does the threading teacher depend on the order (Rook in route A, Dace in route B)? The Story Bible says "Rook (or Dace)". Recommend: yes: Rook in Lanternfall in route A, Dace at the wind pass summit in route B. Both teach the same thread, Headwind. (VEL-63)
4. Should threading be locked until the lesson? The code lets any two learned spells chain today. Recommend: lock it behind thread.taught, which the lesson in 4.1 sets, as Act 1's question 2 proposes, so threading arrives as the story's reveal; keep chains open in development builds (VEL-63).
5. How is Repel into Gale named in data? The Story Bible names threads by their parts; the Codex has named composites (Tempest, Bulwark). Recommend: a one-word name, like Tempest and Bulwark: id headwind, shown as Headwind, flag composite.known.headwind. The Spell Book can still show its parts, "Repel into Gale". (VEL-63)
6. Can the player do both midpoint jobs? Recommend: yes, in one order only (guard the dawn circle, then the Vault on the second night), with the "two-faced" scene as its cost.
7. Does declining have costs? Recommend: yes: both jobs happen anyway and go worse. Otherwise "neither" is the free safe choice.
8. Reputation numbers. Recommend: integer flags from -100 to 100, starting at 0 and moving in steps of 5; side and faction standing apart from morality; changed by an add_flag command. Companion trust (tamsin.trust, rook.trust) runs 0 to 5, like aske.trust. The amounts here are still first guesses. (VEL-63)
9. Where does the drawing profile come from? Recommend: the three draws at the Measuring for now, which is cheap and makes the courting legible. Feed it from the whole cast history later.
10. How is a split glyph traced? Recommend: no half-trace mode. The circle half is a carried lens; the player traces the whole spell in the storm, with the lens on the left and the reflected square on the right.
11. Can the player be un-taught in Act 2? Recommend: yes, but only by a Warden court after a crime, and the court seals the one spell used. Caught casting a Facet spell in the Vault after the alarm: a court sits the next morning. Casting Table Mend in Greenvault's hall: an Act 3 summons. Repel can never be sealed, and the unbinder or retracing always gets the spell back. (VEL-63)
12. Do Tamsin and Rook fight alongside the player? The Codex leaves it open. Recommend: not yet. They travel and talk, and fight only in scripted moments (Tamsin as an opponent in the Vault).
13. How much optional magic ships in Act 2? The Spell Set tab puts twelve optional spells here. Recommend: main line plus Tally, Drift, Table Mend, Root and Hush first; the rest later. VEL-60 decides.
14. New named characters. Pell, Brother Fallow, Novice Tull, Sister Ise, Ness, Garnet, Cass, Sorrel, Rusk and Oda. Recommend: keep Pell, Ness and Sorrel as named characters, since they come back; the rest can stay as roles until they're needed.
15. Fenn walking to Halfway alone to carry Aske's message. Recommend: keep it, with a Waymaker caravan bringing Fenn; it brings Sallowbank into the act without bringing Aske back early.

Continuity Notes for VEL-63 Open page

• Act 1 sets act1.done 1 in scene 6.4. This act assumes Act 1 leaves Tamsin and Rook at Halfway. If Act 1 parts with them earlier, scene 0.1 moves to wherever they are.
• Brace and Mend may or may not be known; nothing here depends on them.
• The Sallow warp mending here is a second Warden mending. Story Bible section 4 says the warp began as a crack widened by Facet glyph-hunters and was torn open by a Warden mending. That was the first one, unguarded, the night before the glints came to the farm door (Act 3's account). Act 2's mending, Ondine's, holds six days and then splits, which is how the warps reach Sallowbank at the start of Act 3.
• Act 3 hooks this act leaves: the Corran shard (corran_half_wave), the Corran shelf in the Vault, Keeper Hale's note, crime.table_mend (a court summons), opened letters (aske.trust), world.sallow_stilled, mending.hunters, two_faced.