Chapter 6: Faction Visits (optional)

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).

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From Walkthrough: Act 2 › Chapter 6: Faction Visits (optional)