Walkthrough: Prologue and Act 1

How to read a scene Open page

Every scene has the same fields:

• Where: the location id (Data/Locations/<id>.json), and the marker or area in it.
• When: the story gate: quest stage or flags, written as the when condition the location JSON will hold.
• Who: the characters present.
• What happens: 2–6 sentences.
• Player does: move, talk, choose, cast, fight or learn.
• Content to make: Yarn node titles, encounter ids, fragments and spells, items, and the flags and quest stages it sets.
• Art and audio: models, props, VFX and music.
• Screens used.

Conventions the scenes follow, all from the game as built (Docs/Writing/Dialogue.md):

• Story state is integer flags, saved with the game; a flag never set reads 0. A stage flag never goes backwards: every set_flag on a stage is guarded with <<if flag(...) < n>>.
• Node titles are <Act>_<Place>_<Beat> (Prologue_Steps_Lesson), so the Act 1 nodes are Act1_…. Each act's Yarn lives in Data/Dialogue/<Act>/.
• Scene markers: Spawn_ (where the player arrives), Exit_ (a way out, with its sign), Event_ (a thing to tap or walk into), Mark_ (where an actor stands), Cam_ (a camera angle for <<camera>>). The overworld's walk-in markers are Walk_n; Act 1 adds Road_n.
• Gates (VEL-53): interactables and triggers take if, unless, once and when; locations take actors and enter. A when uses the same JSON as a quest's completeWhen.
• Screens are named as the game names them today: Title, Dialogue box, Choices, Tap prompt (the verb button: "Talk", "Go in", "Trace"), Exit sign, Quest log, Pause menu, Spell book, Cast prompt (<<prompt_cast>>), Trace lesson (<<learn_spell>>), Battle HUD, Battle result. New screens Act 1 needs are marked (Idea).

Prologue: The Door-Mark (as built) Open page

Sallowbank, the Sallow Road and the Drowned Steps. The player wakes on the farm, meets Aske, draws the door-mark when glints come up the river, spars with Aske's training golem, takes two letters and walks with Aske to the Drowned Steps, where they trace Coil. Aske turns back for home.

Stage table

prologue.stage drives the whole Prologue. The order is the Lead's decision in VEL-53.

Where Aske stands (VEL-53): at the ferry (Mark_aske_ferry) at stages 0–1 and 4; at the barn door (Mark_aske_barn) at stages 2–3; gone from Sallowbank from stage 5, because she is walking with the player; at Mark_aske_lesson on the Drowned Steps at stage 6 only. Tobin, Marra and Fenn are always in the square, and their nodes pick their lines by stage.

Scenes

Scene P1: Wake

• Where: sallowbank, at Spawn_farm_bed in the farmhouse.
• When: prologue.stage == 0. Plays from New Game as the location fades in (VEL-53 enter). Doesn't replay on Continue, because it sets stage 1.
• Who: the protagonist.
• What happens: Grey morning; the Sallow has been loud for three days with no rain. Narration sets up the farm (one goat, nine hens, the leaking roof) and the door-mark the protagonist's mother painted and their father taught them to trace. The ferry bell rings: Aske is up. Something silver flicks through the reeds.
• Player does: choose how to start the day: trace the door-mark (the first hint of warm thumbs), see to the hens, or stay in bed. The choice only changes the next line.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_Wake (wake.yarn). Sets prologue.stage 1. VEL-53: the enter entry in sallowbank.json.
• Art and audio: Built: Sallowbank dressed with the village kit (VEL-47), music_sallowbank_loop. Still to come: the ferry bell sound; the protagonist model.
• Screens used: Title (New Game), Dialogue box, Choices.

Scene P2: The square

• Where: sallowbank, the village square (Mark_tobin, Mark_marra, Mark_fenn, VEL-53).
• When: any stage. Each villager's entry node picks a part by stage: before the glints (0–1), after them (2–4), after the send-off (5 and up). Talking again within a part gives a one-line bark (visited()).
• Who: Tobin (eel-catcher), Marra Hesk (bakehouse), Fenn (Marra's grandchild).
• What happens: Before the glints, the village is uneasy: no eels, the river climbing with no rain, Marra's freshly painted door-mark, Fenn pushing hard on a chalk door-mark that never does anything. After the glints, everyone saw the river go flat and is talking about the protagonist's door. After the send-off they say goodbye; Marra takes the hens, Fenn has chalked a door-mark on every fence post to the ferry.
• Player does: walk, talk, and a few small choices (deny or admit what happened at the door).
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_Villager_Tobin, _Marra, _Fenn and their _Before, _After, _SendOff parts (villagers.yarn). No flags. VEL-53: the three actors and their "Talk" interactables.
• Art and audio: VEL-53: placeholder capsule figures tinted per NPC, until the character models (VEL-36/37). Concepts: tobin-concept, marra-concept, fenn-concept, lineup-sallowbank in Art/Concepts/characters/.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Choices.

Scene P3: Aske at the ferry

• Where: sallowbank, the ferry landing (Mark_aske_ferry; the player can also arrive at Spawn_ferry).
• When: prologue.stage == 1. The quest log points here after Wake.
• Who: Aske.
• What happens: Aske has been out on the river before dawn. The crossing is free, as always, but not in this current: water doesn't climb on its own. She asks what the protagonist heard in the night, tugs at her inside-out wrist bands, and tells them that if anything comes out of the water they go inside and bar the door.
• Player does: talk; answer what they heard (admitting fear earns trust); answer her warning.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_FerryAske (ferry_aske.yarn). Sets met.aske 1; may set aske.trust 1. VEL-53: the Aske actor at the ferry and the new quest stage that completes on met.aske.
• Art and audio: the ferry raft and landing (village kit); Aske's placeholder figure until her model.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Choices, Quest log.

Scene P4: The farm door

• Where: sallowbank, the walk-in trigger at Event_farm_door, radius 2.
• When: all[prologue.stage == 1, met.aske != 0], with no once (VEL-53), so quitting mid-scene lets it play again.
• Who: the protagonist, a pack of glints, then Aske.
• What happens: The hens go quiet. Glints climb out of the Sallow and come up the lane as one flock (<<glints_approach>>). The protagonist's thumbs go to the doorposts and draw the door-mark: the Cast prompt shows the mirrored Ls (<<prompt_cast repel>>). A shockwave flings the glints back into the river and the whole river goes mirror-flat for a heartbeat (<<glints_repelled>>). Aske arrives at a run, works out it was the protagonist, and tells them to come to the barn after dark and tell no one.
• Player does: cast Repel (the first cast; the prompt waits as long as it takes, slowing and brightening after three misses); choose how to answer Aske.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_FarmDoor_Before and _After (farm_door.yarn), the glints_approach and glints_repelled commands (VEL-32). Sets prologue.stage 2. Repel is learned by the cast (it starts learned anyway).
• Art and audio: Built: the glint flock, the Repel shockwave and the still-river effect (VEL-32); Repel VFX in Assets/Art/VFX/Repel. Concepts: glint-swarm-farm-door-a, sallowbank-glint-night-a.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Cast prompt, Choices.

Scene P5: Aske's barn

• Where: sallowbank, Event_barn, verb "Go in"; Aske stands at Mark_aske_barn.
• When: prologue.stage 2 or 3. Stage 3 means the player quit mid-spar, and the scene replays.
• Who: Aske, the training golem.
• What happens: Lantern light and tar. Aske asks whether the protagonist meant to do it, then pulls an old sail off a stone-and-iron training golem ("Bought it. Cheap. Doesn't eat."). Its chest glyph makes it pull its punches, mostly. After the spar, win or lose, Aske names what she saw: an even pair, hands that draw like one hand in a mirror. Ferry at first light, and boots that don't leak.
• Player does: talk, choose (honesty raises aske.trust), fight the golem with Repel. Losing is allowed: Aske stops the golem.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_Barn (barn.yarn), encounter golem_spar (enemy training_golem, canLose: true, no flee, 20 XP). Sets prologue.stage 3 before the battle and 4 after; may set aske.trust 1 or 2.
• Art and audio: Built: the Training Golem model (Assets/Art/Models/TrainingGolem, toon material), the battle arena, music_barn_night_loop, music_battle_loop, music_victory_sting. Still to come: the barn interior (VEL-39 kit concepts) and the golem's emissive chest glyph.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Go in"), Dialogue box, Choices, Battle HUD, Battle result.

Scene P6: The send-off

• Where: sallowbank, the ferry landing (Mark_aske_ferry).
• When: prologue.stage == 4.
• Who: Aske.
• What happens: Morning; the river has dropped a hand's width. Aske has packed for the protagonist. Someone will come asking after them, two someones likely, and each will blame the other for the river. She sets down two letters, one with a pale blue seal for a Warden in Twinhold and one with an amber seal for Lanternfall: "Deliver both. Believe neither until you've met both." She will walk with the protagonist as far as the Drowned Steps.
• Player does: talk, choose.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_SendOff (send_off.yarn). Sets letter.twinhold 1, letter.lanternfall 1, prologue.stage 5. After this, Aske is no longer in Sallowbank.
• Art and audio: the two letters (concept items/letters-ref-a) once items have icons.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Choices, Quest log.

Scene P7: The walk

• Where: overworld (titled "The Sallow Road"), walk-in triggers at Walk_1, Walk_2, Walk_3, radius 6, once each.
• When: prologue.stage == 5 (VEL-53 adds the when).
• Who: Aske (in dialogue only: she doesn't follow on the map yet; that is a companion follow-up).
• What happens: Over the hills the sky has a shine like a window with no sun behind it: the warp the glints came from. Aske won't talk about her inside-out bands. At the third marker the river widens and the Drowned Steps come into view, stairs that walk down into clear water. The script never says whether the Steps are up or down the river.
• Player does: walk; small choices.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_Walk_1, _2, _3 (walk.yarn). _3 sets prologue.stage 6.
• Art and audio: Built: the overworld greybox diorama (VEL-27), music_overworld_loop. Concepts: sallow-valley-overworld-a, river-road-kit.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices, Exit sign (to the Drowned Steps).

Scene P8: The Drowned Steps

• Where: drowned_steps, Event_fragment (verb "Trace"); Aske at Mark_aske_lesson.
• When: prologue.stage == 6 (VEL-53 when), unless: spell.learned.coil.
• Who: Aske.
• What happens: A glyph is cut into the lowest dry step: two long curves, like a vine on both sides of a trellis. Aske teaches the method: glyphs are found, not made; trace slowly; don't hold your breath, because the stone holds the Glass open. The protagonist traces Coil until their hands remember it. It feels warm, like the door-mark ("Warm. Huh. Mine never were."). Aske turns back for the ferry, reminds them about the letters, and walks off without waving.
• Player does: learn Coil by tracing (learn_spell, three counted traces at 55% or better, no breath limit); choose.
• Content to make: Built: Prologue_Steps_Lesson and _Done (drowned_steps.yarn), the lesson camera (VEL-34). Sets spell.learned.coil 1, prologue.stage 7. The Prologue quest completes.
• Art and audio: Built: the Drowned Steps greybox, Coil VFX (Assets/Art/VFX/Coil). Concepts: drowned-steps-a/b, landmark-drowned-steps-a.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Trace"), Dialogue box, Trace lesson, Choices.

Quest

Data/Quests/prologue.json with VEL-53's changes: a new stage between wake and farm_door, and farm_door reworded so it no longer gives the attack away. VEL-53 doesn't name the new stage; see_aske is a placeholder for whatever its branch uses.

{
  "id": "prologue",
  "title": "The Door-Mark",
  "description": "Glints have come up the Sallow to the farm. Something answered when you drew the door-mark, and Aske the ferry keeper wants to know what.",
  "stages": [
    { "id": "wake", "text": "Wake up and see to the farm.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "see_aske", "text": "The ferry bell rang. Go down to the ferry and see Aske.",
      "completeWhen": { "any": [
        { "flag": "met.aske", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
        { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } ] } },
    { "id": "farm_door", "text": "Go home to the farm.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } },
    { "id": "aske_barn", "text": "Go to Aske's barn by the ferry.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "training_golem", "text": "Spar with Aske's training golem.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 4 } },
    { "id": "two_letters", "text": "Take Aske's two letters.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 } },
    { "id": "walk_to_steps", "text": "Walk with Aske along the Sallow to the Drowned Steps.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 6 } },
    { "id": "trace_fragment", "text": "Trace the glyph fragment on the Drowned Steps.",
      "completeWhen": { "all": [
        { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 7 },
        { "flag": "spell.learned.coil", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] } }
  ]
}

Locations

Rough layout. Sallowbank: the farmhouse and its yard on the west bank by the farm lane, the square in the upper middle, the ferry landing and Aske's barn on the river, the road out toward the overworld. The overworld: a river road along the Sallow, Sallowbank at one end and the Drowned Steps' turning further on. The Drowned Steps: a riverbank landing with stairs into clear water and the fragment on the lowest dry step.

Characters

Encounters

Spells gained

• Repel: starts learned (the door-mark); the farm-door cast is the first time it fires.
• Coil: a whole glyph, traced at the Drowned Steps. The player ends the Prologue with Repel and Coil, which the prototype already lets them chain into a composite (see question 2 in section 13).

Flags the Prologue sets

Act 1: The Sallow Road Open page

(Idea) The protagonist walks on alone with the two letters, reaches Halfway, the market town under truce where the roads to Twinhold and Lanternfall meet, and is found there by Tamsin Vale and Rook, both looking for whoever rang the Glass. News comes that something has risen out of the Sallow at the Drowned Steps; the protagonist goes back and drives off the Sallow Wyrm with Repel and Coil while whichever recruiters came watch from the bank. The act ends at Halfway's two gates, choosing which letter to deliver first.

Beats from the Story Bible and where they land:

act1.stage drives the act, as prologue.stage drives the Prologue:

Chapter 1: Alone

Scene 1.1: Mind the current

• Where: drowned_steps, a walk-in trigger Event_steps_alone between the fragment and Exit_to_overworld, radius 3.
• When: all[prologue.stage >= 7, act1.stage == 0], no once (the stage decides).
• Who: the protagonist, alone. Something under the water.
• What happens: For the first time since the river started climbing, it is calm, and in the quiet there is a hum on the water, low and many-voiced: Tobin's drowned choir, or something like it. Past the lowest step a long pale shape turns under the surface, as long as a barge, and is gone. The protagonist is alone with two letters and a road.
• Player does: walk into the trigger; choose a reaction ("Tobin was right." / "Something's down there." / say nothing and go). The choice changes one line.
• Content to make: Act1_Steps_Alone (Dialogue/Act1/steps.yarn). Sets act1.stage 1 and heard.choir 1. Quest sallow_road starts (its startWhen is the Prologue's end).
• Art and audio: an under-water shadow of the Wyrm sliding past the steps (a moving decal or a dark mesh under the water plane, no model needed); a choir-hum ambience stem for the Steps, reused whenever the Steps are calm.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices, Quest log (new quest).

Chapter 2: The Sallow Road

The overworld scene grows: past the Drowned Steps' turning the road goes on to Halfway's bridge. New markers Road_1 to Road_3 and an exit Exit_to_halfway with a matching Spawn_from_halfway.

Scene 2.1: The milestone

• Where: overworld, trigger Road_1 beside a milestone, radius 4, once.
• When: act1.stage >= 1.
• Who: the protagonist.
• What happens: A milestone at a fork in the towpath reads HALFWAY twice: once in neat Evane letters cut mirror to mirror, once scratched below in a Facet hand with someone's sigil. Narration explains the name: Halfway sits halfway between Twinhold and Lanternfall, and both cities say they walked further to reach it.
• Player does: walk; read.
• Content to make: Act1_Road_Milestone (Dialogue/Act1/road.yarn). No flags.
• Art and audio: a milestone prop with both inscriptions (fits the river-road kit, concepts river-road-kit-a/b).
• Screens used: Dialogue box.

Scene 2.2: Glints in the reeds

• Where: overworld, trigger Road_2 in a reed bed by the towpath, radius 5, once.
• When: act1.stage >= 1.
• Who: the protagonist, three glints.
• What happens: The first fight without Aske. Three glints slip out of the reeds onto the road, hungry, their spoon-bowl mirror faces all turned the same way. Without the door behind them the protagonist has only their hands: Repel to throw them off, Coil to finish them. Afterwards they melt into puddles of quicksilver that run back to the river.
• Player does: fight: the first battle where Coil matters. Flee is allowed.
• Content to make: Act1_Road_Glint (starts the battle; a win line and a flee line). Encounter road_glint (3 glint). Sets fought.glint 1.
• Art and audio: the glint model (concepts glint-ref-newt-a/b, glint-poses-a, glint-defeat-a); a riverbank battle backdrop (the arena with reeds, or arena-drowned-steps-a reused); glint hit and melt sounds.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Battle HUD, Battle result.

Scene 2.3: Wagons with green sails

• Where: overworld, trigger Road_3 where the road leaves the river for the last hill before Halfway, radius 6, once.
• When: act1.stage >= 1.
• Who: Jory, a Waymaker drover, and his wagons (passing).
• What happens: A short train of wagons rolls by under pale-green-lit sails, windmill toys spinning on the roofs. Jory the drover slows to say Halfway is full of pale blue and amber this week: everyone felt something ring, and everyone's come to see who did it. He offers a lift as far as the gate and won't take a copper: "Waymakers carry. That's the whole of it."
• Player does: talk; accept the lift (a fade cuts to the Halfway exit) or walk on.
• Content to make: Act1_Road_Jory. A cut to Exit_to_halfway on accepting (<<fade_out>>, place the player, <<fade_in>>). Sets met.jory 1. Seeds Caravan-master Dace and the Long Road for Act 2.
• Art and audio: a Waymaker wagon with a pale-green sail (concepts long-road-kit-a/b); Jory (concept waymaker-driver-concept).
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices.

Chapter 3: Halfway

The town itself is described in section 4.

Scene 3.1: The Truce Stone

• Where: halfway, arriving at Spawn_from_overworld by the bridge gate; the scene plays at the Truce Stone just inside.
• When: act1.stage == 1, as a location enter entry.
• Who: the Gate Pair (Sef, a Warden, and Wren, a Facet), then Reeve Hollin Tace.
• What happens: Sef and Wren check everyone who comes in, each their own way: Sef looks at the visitor's hands, Wren at their sigil, and they finish each other's sentences while pretending not to. They set out the truce: everyone trades, nobody casts inside the walls except in the Proving Ring, nobody recruits by force. Wren asks the protagonist's sigil; they have none, which Wren finds sad and Sef finds proper. The Reeve, passing, welcomes them: "Everybody's welcome. Nobody's welcome to cast." Rooms are at the Split Loaf.
• Player does: talk; choose how to introduce themselves (a farmer from Sallowbank, a traveller, or nothing).
• Content to make: Act1_Halfway_TruceStone (Dialogue/Act1/halfway.yarn). Sets act1.stage 2, met.reeve 1. Afterwards the Reeve's "Talk" plays Act1_Halfway_Reeve, which picks lines by stage. Truce rule in data: Halfway has no field-cast interactables outside the Ring.
• Art and audio: the Truce Stone (a standing stone with a mirrored glyph on one face and a Facet sigil on the other), the bridge gate; the Halfway music (section 4). Gate Pair concepts: warden-guard-concept, facet-guard-concept.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices, Quest log.

Scene 3.2: The Rows

• Where: halfway, the Pale Row and the Amber Row (section 4).
• When: act1.stage >= 2. Free roam.
• Who: Sister Orla (Tender healer), Harl (Evane silversmith), the Measure Post clerk, Quill (Facet glass-cutter), Nell (Facet glyph-giver).
• What happens: The two rows face each other across the Middle Market. The Pale Row is pale blue awnings, symmetrical stalls and very polite prices; the Amber Row is mismatched glass, amber lamps and haggling. Nell sits at a table giving away chalk copies of Facet glyphs to anyone who asks, and the protagonist learns that a copy fizzles until it's traced from a real fragment ("The glyph's free. The tracing's up to you."). Sister Orla is treating bargefolk for cuts from "something in the river", the first rumour of the Wyrm.
• Player does: walk, talk, browse the shops, start the Mend side quest (scene 3.5).
• Content to make: Act1_Halfway_Orla, _Harl, _MeasurePost, _Quill, _Nell, each with a before-the-Wyrm and after-the-Wyrm part, as the villagers have per stage. Taking a chalk copy from Nell sets took.chalk_copy 1 (rep.facets +5). Shops: section 4.
• Art and audio: stall kit in two versions (pale blue awnings, amber glass); NPC placeholders until models (concepts tender-adept-concept for Orla, facet-merchant-concept for Quill). Concepts: halfway-a/b, halfway-market-a/b, halfway-kit-a/b.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk", "Browse"), Dialogue box, Choices, Shop (Idea).

Scene 3.3: The Middle Market

• Where: halfway, the Middle Market square: Hob's Sundries, the Market board, the Truce Board and the token-changer.
• When: act1.stage >= 2.
• Who: Hob (sundries and the Market board), Bram Tolley (innkeeper, at the Split Loaf door).
• What happens: Hob runs the general store and keeps the Market board, where traders post goods for sale and buyers take them: the Market (main tab, section 9), where trading happens through the board and never hand to hand. Today it holds traders' listings; Hob says it fills up with travellers' goods "when the roads are busy". Next to it, the Truce Board carries jobs anyone can take (side quests, section 11). Hob sells boots that don't leak, which Aske asked for.
• Player does: browse; read both boards; buy.
• Content to make: Act1_Halfway_Hob, Act1_Halfway_Board. Sets seen.market 1. Items: section 4.
• Art and audio: the Market board and Truce Board props (notice boards, one with pale blue and amber pins); market crowd ambience.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Browse", "Read"), Shop, Market board (Idea), Truce Board (Idea), Satchel (Idea).

Scene 3.4: The Proving Ring

• Where: halfway, the Quarry at the end of Quarry Lane; Ringmaster Ulla Stroud at Mark_ulla.
• When: act1.stage >= 2. Optional now; required in scene 4.5.
• Who: Ringmaster Ulla Stroud; a practice bout on the sand.
• What happens: The old quarry is a round sand floor under tiered stone seats, pale blue banners on one side and amber on the other. Ulla explains the Ring: the one place in Halfway where casting is allowed, under ring wards painted beneath the sand that make every spell pull its punches, like the glyph on Aske's golem. People come from both sides to prove their hands against each other here, and only here. She looks at the protagonist's thumbs and tells them to come back with someone worth fighting.
• Player does: talk; watch a practice bout between two strangers (a short cutscene).
• Content to make: Act1_Ring_Ulla. Sets seen.ring 1. The Ring is where PvP lives later (main tab, section 10); in Act 1 it hosts story bouts only (question 3 in section 13).
• Art and audio: the Proving Ring as a location and as a battle arena (concepts proving-ring-a/b, arena-proving-ring-a); a crowd loop; ring-ward glyphs glowing under the sand during a bout.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box.

Scene 3.5: Sister Orla's errand (Mend)

• Where: halfway, Sister Orla's stall on the Pale Row, then the Barge Landing.
• When: act1.stage >= 2; any time before the end of the act. Optional, but the quest log suggests it before the Wyrm.
• Who: Sister Orla, Dorrit Mallow (bargewoman).
• What happens: Orla needs tonics carried to Dorrit's crew at the Barge Landing, who were cut by something under the river. Dorrit is blunt about it: something has been rocking barges near the Drowned Steps for two nights. Back at the stall, Orla teaches Mend hand over hand, a taught glyph with no fragment, because the protagonist has "two good hands and a long road". She is a Tender: she heals what would heal anyway, and says so.
• Player does: talk, carry, learn Mend by tracing.
• Content to make: quest mend_lesson; nodes Act1_Orla_Errand, Act1_Landing_Dorrit_Tonics, Act1_Orla_Lesson (ends in <<learn_spell mend>>). Orla gives 3 mend_tonic to carry (<<give_item mend_tonic 3>>) and Dorrit takes them (<<take_item mend_tonic 3>>). Sets orla.stage 1–3, spell.learned.mend 1, rep.evane +5.
• Art and audio: the Barge Landing and a moored barge; Mend Tonics (concept items/healing-tonic-ref-a); Mend VFX (doesn't exist yet: a violet cup of light).
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices, Trace lesson, Quest log.

Chapter 4: Whoever rang the Glass

Scene 4.1: The morning after

• Where: halfway, the Split Loaf (interactable "Rest" at Bram Tolley), then the Truce Stone.
• When: act1.stage == 2. Resting is open as soon as the player arrives; the quest log nudges them to look round first.
• Who: Bram Tolley; a crowd at the Truce Stone; Tamsin and Rook glimpsed.
• What happens: Bram gives the protagonist the last room ("The town's full of people looking for someone."). In the morning the Truce Stone has a crowd: a Warden in silver and pale blue is asking stall-keepers about whoever rang the Glass three nights ago, and a one-armed Facet on a crate is asking the same thing louder. Neither knows yet who they're looking for.
• Player does: rest; walk out into the morning.
• Content to make: Act1_SplitLoaf_Rest, Act1_Halfway_Morning (plays on waking, with <<fade_out>>/<<fade_in>>). Sets act1.stage 3. Actors: Tamsin at Mark_tamsin_pale_row and Rook at Mark_rook_amber_row, when act1.stage == 3.
• Art and audio: the Split Loaf interior (an inn whose sign is a loaf split down the middle); morning variant of the Halfway lighting if cheap, otherwise a fade.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Rest"), Dialogue box.

Scene 4.2: Tamsin Vale

• Where: halfway, the Pale Row, Mark_tamsin_pale_row.
• When: act1.stage == 3, unless: met.tamsin.
• Who: Tamsin Vale.
• What happens: Tamsin is questioning the Measure Post clerk with a list. She is earnest, quick, and quotes rules the way other people quote proverbs. She guesses it's the protagonist when she sees the pale blue seal on Aske's letter, then asks to see their hands: she draws a small mirrored mark in the air with one finger of each hand (not a cast; she keeps the truce) and asks them to copy it. Their copy is so even that she goes quiet for a moment.
• Player does: talk; admit to ringing the Glass or deny it (she knows either way); copy her mark. Until there is a gesture for an uncast drawing, the copy is told in narration.
• Content to make: Act1_Halfway_Tamsin (her entry node; it picks a part by stage, as the villagers' do) and its _Meet part. Sets met.tamsin 1; tamsin.trust +1 for honesty; hid.glass 1 if they deny it. If met.rook is already set, jumps to scene 4.4.
• Art and audio: Tamsin's model (concepts tamsin-concept-a/b, tamsin-ref-a, tamsin-expressions-a); her glyph bands glow faintly when she draws.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Choices.

Scene 4.3: Rook

• Where: halfway, the Amber Row, Mark_rook_amber_row.
• When: act1.stage == 3, unless: met.rook.
• Who: Rook.
• What happens: Rook is on a crate juggling a glass shard with his one hand, telling a crowd that whoever rang the Glass should be handed every glyph there is. He spots the protagonist's thumbs before anything else: calluses on both, in the same place ("Farmers get them on one."). He sees the amber seal and laughs at the name on it. He calls the Evane "the Wardens' lot" and his own people "Facets"; the protagonist can answer with either word for them.
• Player does: talk; choose "Facets" or "Shattered" (Rook notices); admit or deny.
• Content to make: Act1_Halfway_Rook (entry node, by stage) and its _Meet part. Sets met.rook 1; rook.trust +1 for honesty; hid.glass 1 if they deny it; name.facets 1 if they say "Facets", 2 if "Shattered" (Story Bible section 2: the name is a choice NPCs notice). If met.tamsin is already set, jumps to scene 4.4.
• Art and audio: Rook's model (concepts rook-concept-v3-a/b, rook-ref-v3-a, rook-expressions-a): one arm, cloak over the empty left side; an amber shard prop for the juggling idle.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Choices.

Scene 4.4: The table at the Split Loaf

• Where: halfway, the Split Loaf, a corner table (Mark_table_tamsin, Mark_table_rook, Cam_split_loaf).
• When: plays straight after whichever of 4.2 and 4.3 comes second: all[met.tamsin != 0, met.rook != 0, act1.stage == 3].
• Who: Tamsin, Rook, Bram Tolley.
• What happens: They have plainly met before: Tamsin's company once chased Rook out of a Warden town, and neither will say which. Under the truce they sit at one table and make their cases. Tamsin: Twinhold can teach the protagonist properly, under rules that keep people safe. Rook: Lanternfall will give them everything and let them choose. Each sees the other's seal on Aske's letters, and each recognises the name on their own city's letter (Ondine Ash and Iver Kest, as Act 2 has them; question 5). They agree on one thing: in Halfway the only place to see the protagonist cast is the Ring.
• Player does: talk; choose who to answer first (sets which guide warms faster); agree to the Ring.
• Content to make: Act1_SplitLoaf_Table. Sets act1.stage 4; tamsin.trust or rook.trust +1 depending on who was answered first.
• Art and audio: inn table and benches; a tighter camera; the Halfway music drops to the inn ambience.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices.

Scene 4.5: A bout in the Ring

• Where: halfway, the Proving Ring (Tamsin at Mark_tamsin_ring, Rook at Mark_rook_ring); the battle uses the Proving Ring arena.
• When: act1.stage == 4; Ulla's "Talk" offers the bout.
• Who: Tamsin (opponent), Rook (in the seats, betting on the protagonist), Ringmaster Ulla, a crowd.
• What happens: Tamsin asks for a bout under the wards: a Warden's measure of the protagonist's hands. Rook puts a Facet token on the farmer. Tamsin fights clean, all Warden corners. Win or lose, the crowd saw something: afterwards Rook steps onto the sand and, to show it can be done, draws a Facet Seal one half at a time with his one hand, holding the circle open in the Glass while he draws the square. Tamsin calls it impossible and watches anyway.
• Player does: fight. Losing is allowed (the wards stop the bout); it changes only lines and who collects the bet.
• Content to make: Act1_Ring_Bout (starts the battle, then the after lines), Act1_Ring_RookSeal (cutscene). Encounter ring_tamsin. Sets ring.tamsin.won 1 on a win; rook.trust +1 on a win (he won his bet), tamsin.trust +1 either way if the player fought clean. Stays at stage 4; scene 5.1 follows straight on.
• Art and audio: Proving Ring arena with crowd; Tamsin battle model and casting animations (her Repel and Brace in Warden pale blue); Rook's one-handed Facet Seal VFX: a circle held open, then a square, fusing (Facet Seal VFX exists in Assets/Art/VFX/FacetSeal, split in two).
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Battle HUD, Battle result.

Chapter 5: The Sallow Wyrm

Scene 5.1: News from the landing

• Where: halfway, the Proving Ring, straight after 4.5.
• When: act1.stage == 4, after the bout.
• Who: Dorrit Mallow, Tamsin, Rook, Ulla.
• What happens: Dorrit runs in soaked: "The river stood up at the Drowned Steps. Stood up!" Something made of the river's own reflection took her barge under and is coiled round the Steps, and the water is climbing again. Sallowbank is a morning's walk from the Steps. Tamsin says the Wardens should be sent for; Rook says it's a glint and glints break. Both say they're coming. The protagonist, who rang the Glass three nights ago, wonders aloud whether the ringing woke it (Tamsin: "Things in the Glass hear when it rings.").
• Player does: talk; choose who comes: both, Tamsin only, Rook only, or neither.
• Content to make: Act1_Ring_News. Sets act1.stage 5; companion.tamsin and companion.rook (1 if coming). Quest stage back_to_steps.
• Art and audio: Dorrit placeholder, wet; an alarm bell from the landing.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices, Quest log.

Scene 5.2: The road back

• Where: overworld, from Spawn_from_halfway back toward the Drowned Steps; trigger Road_4 near the Steps' turning, radius 6, once.
• When: act1.stage == 5.
• Who: the protagonist, and whichever companions came (in dialogue; they don't follow on the map until a companion system exists).
• What happens: The towpath is half under water and the river is the wrong colour, bright as a mirror in patches. At the turning, glints are on the road, scattered by whatever is at the Steps. Tamsin and Rook, if both came, argue about the warp: Tamsin repeats the Wardens' line that the Facets did it; Rook says a Warden mending tore it open. Neither knows the whole story.
• Player does: walk; fight a glint pack (optional if they go round the reeds); talk.
• Content to make: Act1_Road_Back (lines vary by companion flags). Encounter road_glint reused on a second marker Road_5, when act1.stage == 5, once. Overworld water level raised and a mirror-patch shader on the river while act1.stage == 5 (a location when on a scene object, or a material swap: question 9).
• Art and audio: high-water variant of the towpath; mirror patches on the river; a tense variant of the overworld loop.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Battle HUD, Battle result, Exit sign.

Scene 5.3: The Wyrm rises

• Where: drowned_steps, a walk-in trigger Event_wyrm at the top of the stairs, radius 4; the battle uses a Drowned Steps arena.
• When: act1.stage == 5, no once: a loss leaves the stage at 5 and the trigger fires again.
• Who: the Sallow Wyrm; Tamsin and Rook if they came.
• What happens: The river is mirror-flat and humming. Then it stands up: the Sallow Wyrm rises in an S-curve beside the drowned stairs, a serpent of clear water plated with mirror-glass, each plate holding a different patch of sky, with a blank mirror for a face. Its plates turn the protagonist's spells aside until Repel knocks it back and the plates gape; then Coil gets in. If companions came, they shout advice from the bank: Tamsin "Measure it first!", Rook "Hit it while it's open!". Neither can cast for them.
• Player does: fight the boss: Repel to stagger, Coil in the stagger window. Brace for the surges and Mend between phases, if learned. Losing is allowed: the companions (or the current) drag the protagonist up the bank, and they can try again or go back to Halfway first.
• Content to make: Act1_Wyrm_Rise (the rise, <<start_battle sallow_wyrm>>, win and loss branches). Encounter sallow_wyrm (enemy sallow_wyrm: the bestiary's plated shield and three phases, section 8). Sets wyrm.seen 1 before the battle; on a win wyrm.defeated 1 and act1.stage 6. The plate itself is given once, in scene 5.4.
• Art and audio: the Sallow Wyrm model (concepts sallow-wyrm-a/b, sallow-wyrm-ref-a/b, sallow-wyrm-ref-side-a; the water body needs a translucent shader with the plates as opaque mirror meshes); a Drowned Steps battle arena (concept arena-drowned-steps-a); VFX for the plates turning a spell aside and gaping open on a stagger; boss music, ideally built on the choir hum.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Battle HUD (with the Wyrm's plates shown open or closed: question 4), Battle result.

Scene 5.4: Still water

• Where: drowned_steps, the landing, right after the win.
• When: wyrm.defeated != 0, the end of Act1_Wyrm_Rise.
• Who: Tamsin and Rook if they came.
• What happens: The Wyrm comes apart into a thousand glints that dissolve like breath off a mirror, and the plates sink. The river goes still and stays still, and for a moment new glyph cuts flash on the steps far below the water, too deep to reach (a hook). One plate washes up, still showing a sky that isn't this one. Tamsin calls the protagonist's Coil "a Tender's spell in Warden hands"; Rook says they drew it like it owed them money. Each, separately, asks the protagonist to come with them.
• Player does: talk; pick up the wyrm plate.
• Content to make: Act1_Wyrm_After (lines vary by companion flags and ring.tamsin.won). Item wyrm_plate (key item, given once, here). Sets steps.deep_glyphs 1 (hook).
• Art and audio: glint-burst dissolve VFX; deep glyph flash under the water; the choir hum resolving to silence; the wyrm plate prop (a single mirror plate).
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Choices, Satchel (item received).

Chapter 6: The road onward

Scene 6.1: Back to Halfway

• Where: halfway, the Truce Stone; the Reeve at Mark_reeve.
• When: act1.stage == 6, as an enter entry on arriving.
• Who: Reeve Hollin Tace, the Gate Pair, Dorrit, a crowd.
• What happens: The barges are moving again and Halfway knows who to thank. The Reeve pays a reward from the market fund, then tells the protagonist plainly that half the town now wants them in Twinhold and the other half in Lanternfall, and the truce only covers the town. Dorrit gives them free passage on her barge for life. The Halfway NPCs switch to their after-the-Wyrm lines.
• Player does: talk; receive the reward.
• Content to make: Act1_Halfway_Reeve_After. Sets act1.stage 7; rep.evane +5 and rep.facets +5 (both sides saw it). Reward: 60 copper (section 4).
• Art and audio: the crowd at the stone; a brighter variant of the Halfway music.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Satchel.

Scene 6.2: Cut and set (optional)

• Where: halfway, Quill's stall (Amber Row), then Harl's (Pale Row).
• When: all[wyrm.defeated != 0, still_water.stage < 2], before or after the road choice.
• Who: Quill, Harl.
• What happens: Quill can cut the wyrm plate but won't set it in silver; Harl can set it but won't cut mirror-glass. Carried between the two rows, the plate becomes a Still-Water Locket, a silver locket holding a disc of water that has never rippled, which helps its wearer hold their breath. Each craftsman pretends not to know the other's work is in it.
• Player does: talk, walk between the rows, pay.
• Content to make: quest still_water; nodes Act1_Quill_Plate, Act1_Harl_Plate. Quill cuts the wyrm_plate for 20 copper (still_water.stage 1); Harl sets it into a still_water_locket (charm: breath +8%) for 25 copper, and the plate goes into the locket (still_water.stage 2). The first gear that changes casting (main tab, section 9).
• Art and audio: the Still-Water Locket (concept items/still-water-amulet-ref-a); a gear icon.
• Screens used: Dialogue box, Shop (pay), Satchel, gear slot (Idea).

Scene 6.3: Home, briefly (optional)

• Where: sallowbank, the ferry landing (Mark_aske_ferry), and the square.
• When: act1.stage >= 1. Aske is back at the ferry from Act 1 on (a new actor entry, when act1.stage >= 1). The aske_brace quest shows in the log from stage 2, once the player has reached Halfway.
• Who: Aske; Tobin, Marra, Fenn.
• What happens: Aske isn't surprised to see the protagonist and doesn't say she's glad. If the Wyrm is gone she's heard ("Coil. Huh."); if not, she says the Steps are theirs to deal with, not hers. Either way she teaches Brace, hand over hand: she traces it with them but won't cast, her thumbs over theirs and the bands turned to the skin. In the square, the villagers have Act 1 lines, and Fenn shows off a chalk door-mark that gave one spark, once.
• Player does: talk; learn Brace by tracing.
• Content to make: quest aske_brace; nodes Act1_Ferry_Aske (ends in <<learn_spell brace>>), and _Act1 parts for Prologue_Villager_Tobin, _Marra, _Fenn (their entry nodes in villagers.yarn gain a branch for act1.stage >= 1). Sets spell.learned.brace 1, aske.brace 1, fenn.spark 1. Spell Set: Brace is "taught by Aske hand over hand" in Act 1; this is that lesson.
• Art and audio: Brace VFX (a pale blue bracket of light; not made yet); Fenn's single spark on the chalk mark.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Trace lesson.

Scene 6.4: Two gates

• Where: halfway, the gate square between the Pale Gate (the Twinhold road) and the Amber Gate (the Lanternfall road). Tamsin at Mark_tamsin_gate, Rook at Mark_rook_gate.
• When: act1.stage == 7. Both gates' exits open only from stage 7 (an exit when, question 9). Actors when act1.stage == 7.
• Who: Tamsin, Rook.
• What happens: Tamsin waits at the Pale Gate with her satchel of sealed orders; Rook sits on the Amber Gate's mile-post. Neither tries to stop the protagonist going the other way, which is the most either has conceded. The protagonist chooses which letter to deliver first. Whoever's city it is walks with them; the other says they'll be found later. Aske's words come back as narration: "Believe neither until you've met both."
• Player does: talk to either; choose a road.
• Content to make: Act1_Gates_Tamsin, Act1_Gates_Rook, both ending in Act1_Gates_Choose. Sets act2.first 1 (Twinhold) or 2 (Lanternfall), companion.tamsin/companion.rook for the chosen road, act1.stage 8 and act1.done 1. Quest sallow_road completes. Exits Exit_to_pale_road and Exit_to_amber_road lead into Act 2.
• Art and audio: two gates: a symmetrical pale stone arch and a mismatched glass-and-timber arch; the road-choice moment wants a musical sting.
• Screens used: Tap prompt ("Talk"), Dialogue box, Choices, Exit sign.

Halfway Open page

(Idea) A walled market town at the bridge where the Sallow Road crosses the Sallow, with roads out in four directions (concept halfway-overworld-a). Neither side owns it. It runs under the Halfway Truce, kept by an elected Reeve and enforced at the gate. The Act 1 hub.

The truce

• Everyone may trade; every customer is served.
• No casting inside the walls, except in the Proving Ring under its wards.
• No recruiting by force, no un-teaching, no Warden courts.
• Breaking it gets a visitor barred at the gate: Halfway is the first town where the main tab's "refused entry by gate guards" (section 7) can happen. Act 1 never makes the player break it.

Districts

Rough layout: the Sallow runs along one side with the bridge and landing; the Bridge Gate opens onto the Truce Stone; the two Rows run parallel from the stone with the Middle Market between them, so the Pale Row and Amber Row face each other across the square; the Split Loaf closes the far end of the square; Quarry Lane leaves from one corner to the Proving Ring in the old quarry, still inside the walls and the truce stones (the one place inside them where casting is allowed); the gate square is at the far end beyond the inn. Keep the square open in the upper middle of the screen, with stall fronts on the sides.

People

Shops

Prices are in copper, the one currency: Halfway's holed copper coins (concept items/currency-a, which also shows Evane silver and Facet tokens; those are valuables to sell, not money). Every item here is (Idea). Ids, effects and prices follow the items tab's catalogue (VEL-61); dry_boots, rope, lamp_oil and twinhold_road_map are quest props with no catalogue row. Items can't be used in battle yet; the battle effects listed assume they will be.

Act 1 income: 60 copper from the Reeve, and Truce Board jobs. Glints pay in materials, never copper: glint_quicksilver (about 1 per 2 glints), which any shop buys at 4. The protagonist starts Act 1 with whatever the Prologue gives (nothing today; the items tab proposes 20 copper from Aske at the send-off), so the first tonic costs a Truce Board job or a few sales of quicksilver.

The Proving Ring

• An old quarry turned arena: a round sand floor, tiered stone seats, pale blue banners on one side and amber on the other.
• Ring wards: old training-golem glyphs painted under the sand, so every spell pulls its punches. Nobody is hurt badly; a beaten fighter is stopped, not killed.
• It is the one place PvP lives (main tab, section 10): no open-world PvP, no taking anyone's things. Later it hosts player bouts and the scheduled tournaments with their leaderboard.
• In Act 1 it hosts the story bout with Tamsin, and optionally a Ring Card of NPC challengers (section 11).

Halfway music and sound

One loop built from two motifs played together: a mirrored, symmetrical Evane phrase and an off-kilter Facet one, over market percussion. The Split Loaf has its own warm ambience; the Proving Ring has a crowd loop. The existing loops are music_sallowbank_loop, music_overworld_loop, music_barn_night_loop, music_battle_loop and music_victory_sting.

Quests Open page

All Act 1 quests are (Idea). They follow Data/Quests/prologue.json: ids, text and completeWhen, with startWhen where the quest shouldn't show from the start.

`sallow_road`: The Sallow Road (main)

{
  "id": "sallow_road",
  "title": "The Sallow Road",
  "description": "Aske has turned back for home. You carry two letters, one for Twinhold and one for Lanternfall, and the road runs on along the Sallow.",
  "startWhen": { "all": [
    { "flag": "prologue.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 7 },
    { "flag": "spell.learned.coil", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "road_to_halfway",
      "text": "Follow the Sallow Road on to Halfway, where the roads to Twinhold and Lanternfall meet.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } },
    { "id": "halfway_truce",
      "text": "Halfway runs under truce: no casting inside the walls. Look round, then take a bed at the Split Loaf.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "whoever_rang",
      "text": "Two strangers are asking after whoever rang the Glass. One is on the Pale Row, one on the Amber Row.",
      "completeWhen": { "all": [
        { "flag": "met.tamsin", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
        { "flag": "met.rook", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 4 } ] } },
    { "id": "proving_ring",
      "text": "Tamsin and Rook want to see your hands. Meet them at the Proving Ring.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 } },
    { "id": "back_to_steps",
      "text": "Something has risen out of the Sallow at the Drowned Steps. Go back along the road.",
      "completeWhen": { "any": [
        { "flag": "wyrm.seen", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 6 } ] } },
    { "id": "sallow_wyrm",
      "text": "Drive the Sallow Wyrm back under the river. Its plates turn spells aside until Repel knocks it open.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 6 } },
    { "id": "report_halfway",
      "text": "The river is still. Go back to Halfway and tell the Reeve.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 7 } },
    { "id": "choose_road",
      "text": "Tamsin waits at the Pale Gate, Rook at the Amber Gate. Choose which letter to deliver first.",
      "completeWhen": { "all": [
        { "flag": "act2.first", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 8 } ] } }
  ]
}

`mend_lesson`: Sister Orla's Errand (side)

{
  "id": "mend_lesson",
  "title": "Sister Orla's Errand",
  "description": "A Tender healer at Halfway needs tonics carried to the bargefolk, and has a glyph for a pair of good hands.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "orla.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "carry_tonics", "text": "Take Sister Orla's tonics to Dorrit's crew at the Barge Landing.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "orla.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } },
    { "id": "back_to_orla", "text": "Go back to Sister Orla on the Pale Row.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "orla.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "learn_mend", "text": "Trace Mend with Sister Orla.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "spell.learned.mend", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } }
  ]
}

`still_water`: Still Water (side)

{
  "id": "still_water",
  "title": "Still Water",
  "description": "A plate from the Sallow Wyrm still holds a sky that isn't this one. Halfway's craftsmen could make something of it, if they'd work together.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "wyrm.defeated", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "cut", "text": "Ask Quill on the Amber Row to cut the wyrm plate.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "still_water.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "set", "text": "Take the cut plate to Harl on the Pale Row to be set in a locket.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "still_water.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } }
  ]
}

`aske_brace`: Hand over Hand (side)

{
  "id": "aske_brace",
  "title": "Hand over Hand",
  "description": "Aske is back at the ferry. She won't cast, but she might teach.",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "visit_aske", "text": "Go home to Sallowbank and see Aske at the ferry.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "aske.brace", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } },
    { "id": "learn_brace", "text": "Trace Brace with Aske, hand over hand.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "spell.learned.brace", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } }
  ]
}

Locations Open page

(Idea) What Act 1 adds to each location's JSON and scene.

The overworld in order from Sallowbank: Sallowbank, Walk_1–_3, the Drowned Steps' turning, Road_1 (milestone), Road_2 (reeds), Road_3 (last hill), Halfway's bridge. Road_4 and Road_5 sit near the Steps' turning and only fire on the way back (act1.stage == 5).

A sketch of halfway.json in VEL-53's format (marker names as above; actors' tints are placeholders). As in sallowbank.json, an actor's marker is its Mark_ marker without the prefix (reeve stands on Mark_reeve), while interactables name the full Event_ marker. Tamsin and Rook have one entry per place they stand: the Rows at stage 3, the Ring at stage 4, the Split Loaf table at stages 5–6, the gates at stage 7.

{
  "id": "halfway",
  "scene": "Halfway",
  "title": "Halfway",
  "camera": "town",
  "enter": [
    { "node": "Act1_Halfway_TruceStone", "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 1 } },
    { "node": "Act1_Halfway_Reeve_After", "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 6 } }
  ],
  "actors": [
    { "id": "reeve", "name": "Reeve Hollin Tace", "marker": "reeve", "tint": "#B8A27A" },
    { "id": "orla", "name": "Sister Orla", "marker": "orla", "tint": "#B48CFF" },
    { "id": "quill", "name": "Quill", "marker": "quill", "tint": "#FFC66B" },
    { "id": "hob", "name": "Hob", "marker": "hob", "tint": "#A9744A" },
    { "id": "ulla", "name": "Ulla", "marker": "ulla", "tint": "#8A7F74" },
    { "id": "tamsin", "name": "Tamsin", "marker": "tamsin_pale_row", "tint": "#7FD4FF",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "rook", "name": "Rook", "marker": "rook_amber_row", "tint": "#FFC66B",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "tamsin", "name": "Tamsin", "marker": "tamsin_ring", "tint": "#7FD4FF",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 4 } },
    { "id": "rook", "name": "Rook", "marker": "rook_ring", "tint": "#FFC66B",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 4 } },
    { "id": "tamsin", "name": "Tamsin", "marker": "table_tamsin", "tint": "#7FD4FF",
      "when": { "all": [
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 },
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "<=", "value": 6 } ] } },
    { "id": "rook", "name": "Rook", "marker": "table_rook", "tint": "#FFC66B",
      "when": { "all": [
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 },
        { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "<=", "value": 6 } ] } },
    { "id": "tamsin", "name": "Tamsin", "marker": "tamsin_gate", "tint": "#7FD4FF",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 7 } },
    { "id": "rook", "name": "Rook", "marker": "rook_gate", "tint": "#FFC66B",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 7 } }
  ],
  "interactables": [
    { "actor": "reeve", "verb": "Talk", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Reeve" },
    { "actor": "orla", "verb": "Talk", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Orla" },
    { "actor": "quill", "verb": "Talk", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Quill" },
    { "actor": "hob", "verb": "Browse", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Hob" },
    { "actor": "ulla", "verb": "Talk", "node": "Act1_Ring_Ulla" },
    { "actor": "tamsin", "verb": "Talk", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Tamsin" },
    { "actor": "rook", "verb": "Talk", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Rook" },
    { "marker": "Event_market_board", "verb": "Read", "node": "Act1_Halfway_Board" },
    { "marker": "Event_split_loaf_rest", "verb": "Rest", "node": "Act1_SplitLoaf_Rest",
      "when": { "flag": "act1.stage", "op": "==", "value": 2 } }
  ]
}

Characters Open page

New in Act 1, all (Idea) except Tamsin and Rook, who are in the Story Bible cast.

Returning: Aske ("Coil. Huh."), Tobin, Marra and Fenn, in their Act 1 lines (scene 6.3).

Encounters Open page

Numbers are first guesses against a 100 HP player, like the Spell Set's. Enemy stats, behaviour and drops are the bestiary's (VEL-59); this table repeats them for the scenes.

The Wyrm is the bestiary's: the plated shield replaces this tab's earlier guard rule. In Rising, Repel opens the plates and Coil hits the water body. In Undertow it sinks and surges from one side (ripples run toward the player for 2 s first, time to Brace), then rises for a 3 s window with its plates open. In the Drowned Hum the river goes mirror-flat, the plates close for good, and only stagger windows work; a perfect Repel (90%+) staggers it for 5 s, a nod to the first cast. At 600 HP it is a long fight for two spells: Mend, a tonic or Brace makes it comfortable; without them it is tight, as a first boss should be. The shield, the phases and the tells are new battle code (the bestiary lists them).

Placed overworld triggers stand in for random encounters (question 9).

Spells gained Open page

Both match the Spell Set's "Learned" column (Brace: Act 1, taught by Aske; Mend: Act 1, Halfway, taught by a Tender healer). Act 1 adds no fragment.

Composites: with Repel, Coil, Mend and Brace learned, the prototype allows every two-spell chain, so Repel into Coil (34 × 1.2 = 41 damage and a 2.5 s stagger) is possible against the Wyrm before anyone in the story has taught threading. The Story Bible puts the first thread in Act 2 (Rook or Dace, Repel into Gale: Headwind). Question 2 settles it: chains wait for thread.taught.

Flags Open page

New flags, all (Idea), for the Lead to record:

Hooks for side content Open page

• The Truce Board: Halfway's job board (main tab, section 8: side quests from town centres and bulletin boards). First jobs: escort a Waymaker wagon to the milestone and back (glints on the road); find Dorrit's lost cargo in the reeds after the Wyrm; settle a stall-boundary quarrel between the Rows, where each answer moves one side's reputation, the main tab's moral choices hidden in ordinary jobs.
• The Ring Card: three NPC challengers in the Proving Ring after the act (a Warden cadet, a Facet duellist, a Waymaker who casts only Gale and won't teach it to anyone), for standing and a ladder place, never copper. It becomes the PvP ladder when multiplayer exists.
• The deep glyphs: glyphs cut far down the Drowned Steps, visible only when the river is still (steps.deep_glyphs). A reflected glyph for later: the Drowned Choir's, reachable with Listen (Still Choir) or a Ford across the stair. Ties to the Drowned Choir legend and the Still Choir's claim to descend from it.
• Fenn's spark: Fenn's chalk door-mark sparked once (fenn.spark). A slow thread across the acts: does Fenn have something like an even pair? A gentle mirror of Lio in Lanternfall, a child with a gift that came too early.
• Nell's chalk copies: a Facet who gives away glyph copies that don't work alone. A later quest: someone in Halfway traced a copy over a real fragment and it worked, and the Pale Row wants to know where the fragment came from.
• A sigil of your own: Quill offers to help design the protagonist's Facet sigil from two unlike shapes. Wearing it changes how Facet NPCs greet them; Evane gatekeepers notice too.
• The Still Choir monk: a silent monk signing in the Middle Market, who leaves a folded note in mirrored hand-signs if the protagonist watches for long enough: a seed for Hushfold and Choirmistress Wen.
• Dorrit's barge: free passage on Dorrit's barge, later a fast route along the Sallow between Halfway and Sallowbank.
• Jory's wagons: the Waymakers who carry anyone for free, a way into the Long Road and Caravan-master Dace in Act 2.

Notes for the continuity pass (VEL-63) Open page

• Act 1 ends at Halfway's gate square with act1.stage 8 and act1.done 1, both letters still held (letter.twinhold, letter.lanternfall), act2.first set, and the chosen city's guide travelling with the protagonist (companion.tamsin or companion.rook). Act 2 starts on the Pale Road or the Amber Road.
• Known by the end of Act 1: Repel, Coil, and optionally Mend and Brace. No Facet spell. Composites wait for thread.taught in Act 2 (question 2).
• Seen by the end of Act 1: Rook's one-handed Facet Seal (shown, not given; the circle is given in Lanternfall in Act 2); glints; the Sallow warp's shine from the road; the Wyrm. Not yet seen: the Shardfield, either city, threading, an un-teaching.
• Tamsin and Rook know each other from before (a Warden company once chased Rook out of a Warden town). Act 2 may use or drop it.
• The Wyrm is a glint grown huge in the Steps' still water. Act 1 only hints that the ringing woke it (Tamsin: "Things in the Glass hear when it rings."); nobody states it. The Act 3 reveal (Facet glyph-hunters widened a crack, and a first Warden mending, unguarded, tore it open) is untouched: Tamsin repeats the Wardens' line that the Facets did it, Rook blames the mending, and neither knows the whole story.
• Names that collided across walkthroughs were changed in VEL-63: the Halfway gate's Facet is Wren (Pell is Act 2's sealed runner), the Amber Row's glyph-giver is Nell (Mott is Act 3's Undermere door), and the Waymaker drover on the Sallow Road is Jory (Jory is Act 3's old bell-ringer). Halfway and road names now: Hollin Tace, Sef, Wren, Bram Tolley, Hob, Orla, Harl, Quill, Nell, Ulla Stroud, Dorrit Mallow, Jory. The currency is copper, items use the items tab's catalogue ids, and enemies (glint, tamsin_ring, sallow_wyrm) use the bestiary's.

Open questions for Ray Open page

• 1. Do Tamsin and Rook fight alongside the player in Act 1? The Story Bible says travelling with them is worth exploring; the main tab still lists it as open. Recommendation: in Act 1 they travel and talk but don't cast in battle. One-on-one battles stay readable while the player is still learning two spells, and companions can join battles from Act 2 once there's a design for it.
• 2. Composites before the Act 2 threading lesson? The prototype lets any two learned spells chain, so Repel into Coil works against the Wyrm before anyone has taught threading. Recommendation: lock chains behind thread.taught, the flag Act 2's threading lesson sets, so the Wyrm is fought with Repel, then Coil, and threading arrives as the story's reveal. Keep chains open in development builds (VEL-63).
• 3. Is the Proving Ring live PvP in Act 1? Recommendation: no. Act 1 holds the story bout with Tamsin and an optional NPC Ring Card. Player bouts open when the server, matchmaking and the anti-bot checks (main tab, sections 6 and 10) exist.
• 4. Add a guard rule for the Wyrm's plates? Repel to stagger and Coil to hurt needs Coil to be weaker until the Wyrm is staggered. Recommendation: no guard field. The Wyrm uses the bestiary's plated shield (40 points, opened by a stagger) and its three phases, plus a Battle HUD cue for open and closed plates, reusable for every plated enemy later (VEL-63).
• 5. Who are Aske's two letters addressed to? Still open in the Story Bible. Recommendation: follow Act 2, which every tab now uses as the working assumption. The Twinhold letter goes to Ondine Ash, so Tamsin goes quiet when she reads the name; the Lanternfall letter goes to Iver Kest, so Rook laughs. Each guide then has a personal reason to bring the protagonist to their city, and Aske's past touches both (VEL-63).
• 6. Can the player go home during Act 1? Recommendation: yes. Exits stay open; Aske is back at the ferry from Act 1 and teaches Brace (matching the Spell Set), and the villagers get Act 1 lines. Home stays a place, not a cutscene.
• 7. Is Halfway on the Sallow? The concepts show a walled town at a river crossing with a stone bridge. Recommendation: yes, at the bridge where the Sallow Road crosses the river. The Wyrm stopping the barges then hurts Halfway's market, which gives both sides in town a stake in the fight.
• 8. One currency or three? The currency concept shows Evane silver, Facet tokens and Halfway copper. Recommendation: one currency, copper, as the items tab has it. Evane silver (evane_silver) and Facet glass tokens (facet_token) are valuables the token-changer buys for 50 copper each (VEL-63).
• 9. Gate exits and scene changes by stage? Act 1 wants Halfway's two gates shut until stage 7, and the overworld's river high at stage 5. VEL-53 leaves exit gating out. Recommendation: give exits the same when as triggers (the guard says "Road's shut till the river's settled"), and add a when on named scene objects for variants like high water. Both are small generic features. Placed Road_ triggers stand in for random encounters until those are designed.
• 10. Did ringing the Glass wake the Wyrm? Recommendation: yes, lightly: Tamsin says things in the Glass hear when it rings, and the protagonist has to live with a little of the blame. It gives the boss a reason to rise once Aske has gone, and keeps the "both sides caused it" theme small and personal. It stays a hint, never a confirmed cause: nobody in Act 1 knows for sure (VEL-63).
• 11. Should the overworld be one growing scene or split per act? Recommendation: one Overworld scene for the Sallow valley (Sallowbank to Halfway), and a new overworld scene per region from Act 2 (the Long Road, the Shardfield), so scene ownership stays one ticket at a time.