Chapter 2: The Long Road · The Velan Codex

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).

From Walkthrough: Act 2 › Chapter 2: The Long Road