Chapter 1: Twinhold, with Tamsin

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.

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From Walkthrough: Act 2 › Chapter 1: Twinhold, with Tamsin