Chapter B: The Inner Shardfield

The walk in

• Where: the Shardfield, inner ring (an area of the Act 2 shardfield location, or a new shardfield_inner location if the Shardfield scene grows too big). Spawn Spawn_inner_ring_west from Corran; exit Exit_heart_pane east.
• When: act4.stage = 1.
• Who: the player, Tamsin, Rook (both travel with the player). Aske, at the start only: she goes ahead with a handcart and is not seen again until 4.5.
• What happens: Aske sets off first, pushing a handcart with her stools and kettle. At the first bend she stops, turns round and waves. In the Prologue she didn't wave (Idea). The shards grow taller towards the centre, and every one reflects a sky a little closer to the Pane's doubled one. Fresh warps flicker along the path, because both rites are already straining the Pane from its rim. Tamsin and Rook argue: whether the Hour Stair records change anything, whose fault the warps are, and whether it is "Shattered" or "Facets" (the name choice from Story Bible section 2). The player's answers move trust.
• Player does: move; talk (two banter stops); fight (glint packs at two warps on the path).
• Content to make: a short cutscene beat for Aske's wave at the first bend. Yarn Act4_Inner_Banter1, Act4_Inner_Banter2 (triggers along the path; each has one choice that moves tamsin.trust or rook.trust). Encounters inner_glints (×2, a glint pack; see section 12). No stage change.
• Art and audio: inner-ring shards (taller, cleaner glass than the outer Shardfield, reflecting the doubled sky). VFX: warp flicker on shard faces; glints peel off the shards. Music: Shardfield exploration theme, with a slow low pulse that quickens as the player nears the Pane (Idea).
• Screens used: dialogue box; battle HUD.

The Undercrack (evil path only)

• Where: the Undermere, a new tunnel undercrack that climbs from the Undermere to the underside of the Heart Pane. Spawn Spawn_undercrack_foot; exit Exit_pane_underside up to the Pane's south rim.
• When: act4.stage = 1 and the player is refused at the inner-ring picket: Warden pickets turn back players whose morality is below the gate threshold, that is −20 or lower (Fallen; Codex section 7). (Idea) undermere.stage ≥ 1 also opens the tunnel to anyone who wants it as a shortcut.
• Who: the player; Rook, if rook.trust ≥ 2 (Tamsin won't take the outlaws' road and meets the player at the rim); an Undermere smuggler.
• What happens: (Idea) A crack under the Shardfield climbs to the Pane's underside, where the Undermere's upside-down reflection of the world (Story Bible section 6) meets the Pane's real one. From below the player sees what neither camp can: the Pane is already cracked from underneath, and both rites are pulling on the same crack. Outlaws of both sides are camped at the top, waiting to loot whatever is left. This is the evil path's way to the act. It is not a punishment: all three paths stay open from here.
• Player does: move; talk; fight (outlaw casters at the climb, optional to avoid by talking).
• Content to make: location undercrack; Yarn Act4_Undercrack_Smuggler, Act4_Undercrack_Underside. Encounter undercrack_outlaws (an Evane outlaw, forsworn_mender, then a Facet outlaw, hollow_cut; see the bestiary). Flag act4.saw_underside = 1. No stage change here; arriving at the rim (4.5) sets act4.stage = 2.
• Art and audio: tunnel kit (reuse the Undermere kit); the Pane's underside as a ceiling of glass with the sky behind it and the camps' lights as blurred shapes. Music: Undermere theme.
• Screens used: dialogue box; battle HUD.

The Rim

• Where: the Heart Pane location (heart_pane), south rim (Spawn_rim_south; Spawn_rim_underside arriving from 4.4). Overlook camera Cam_rim_overlook.
• When: act4.stage = 1, on arrival.
• Who: the player, Tamsin, Rook, Aske.
• What happens: The player reaches the edge. The Heart Pane is a flat mirror a few hundred metres across, with the sky above and the same sky below, and the player stands at its rim as if at the edge of the world. On the west rim the Evane camp is pale stone banners and a circle of four standing stones: the chorus circle. On the east rim, the Facets' lantern line and the Culet cut's glass picks. Aske has already lit a fire on the south rim, between the two, and put four stools round it. "Anyone sits. That's the rule."
• Player does: move (cutscene, then free); talk to Aske.
• Content to make: Yarn Act4_Rim_Arrival (cutscene node: <<camera rim_overlook 2>>, the camps, back to Aske). Sets act4.stage = 2. Unlocks the two camps (4.6, 4.8).
• Art and audio: the Heart Pane location (see section 10). VFX: the Pane's surface, a true mirror of the sky with no visible edge between real and reflected; a faint hairline crack runs from the west rim towards the centre (from the chorus) and another from the east (from the cut) (Idea). Music: the Pane theme's first statement: one unaccompanied line, then the same line again inverted, like a reflection.
• Screens used: dialogue box (cutscene).

From Walkthrough: Act 4 › Chapter B: The Inner Shardfield