Chapter D: The Night and the Dawn

Aske's fire

• Where: heart_pane, south rim, Aske's fire (Event_aske_fire).
• When: act4.stage = 3, at night (the location's lighting is night while the stage is 3).
• Who: Aske, Tamsin, Rook; Lio, if act4.lio_heard = 1 and she followed the player.
• What happens: Everyone ends up at the fire, because it is the only place at the Pane where both sides can sit. Tamsin says what she will do when the chorus sings, and Rook says what he will do when Iver cuts. What they say depends on trust: at tamsin.trust ≥ 3 Tamsin admits she doesn't know whether she can sing; at rook.trust ≥ 3 Rook admits he doesn't want to see the cut. Aske speaks last, briefly. She cast once, at Corran, and she is done; she won't sing, cut or hold. "It's your hands they want. Don't let either of them tell you what that means."
• Player does: talk (a conversation with three companions; choices move trust once more). No choice of path yet.
• Content to make: Yarn Act4_Fire_Aske (talking to Aske at her fire; from stage 2 she has a few idle lines, and once both camps are heard it sets act4.stage = 3 and starts the night), Act4_Fire_Night (one long node with branches for Tamsin, Rook and Lio, ending with Aske's last word). Flags: tamsin.trust, rook.trust (+1 for the reply each companion needs to hear); act4.stage = 4 at the end of Act4_Fire_Night, and the lighting turns to dawn.
• Art and audio: night version of the rim: the Pane reflects the stars, so the fire seems to float in space (Idea). Props: Aske's handcart, four stools, a kettle. Music: a solo instrument playing the Prologue's Sallowbank theme slowly.
• Screens used: dialogue box.

The Pane at dawn: the First Pair

• Where: heart_pane, the Pane's surface just off the south rim (Spawn_pane_dawn; the glyph at Event_first_pair). Camera Cam_pane_dawn.
• When: act4.stage = 4, at dawn.
• Who: the player alone (the companions are asleep); Aske waking at the end.
• What happens: (Idea) The player walks out onto the Pane before anyone is awake. In the dawn reflection, and only there, a glyph shows under the surface: a reflected glyph (Story Bible section 3), older than either side. It is the First Pair's glyph from the legend, and it is a thread: a mirrored half flowing into an asymmetric half in one stroke. The lake-folk drew both kinds together before there were sides. Tracing it teaches the First Pair, a named composite. It also tells the player that the Pane can be held rather than mended or broken. If the player knows both Brace and Facet Seal, they learn the thread. If not, the glyph still shows them that any thread joining an Evane spell to a Facet spell will hold the Pane, more weakly.
• Player does: move (onto the Pane); learn (trace the reflected glyph, no breath limit, as with any fragment).
• Content to make: Yarn Act4_Pane_Dawn with a new <<learn_composite first_pair>> command (tracing a composite's glyph unlocks its named recipe; both parts must already be learned). Composite data Data/Composites/first_pair.json: Brace into Facet Seal (section 13). Flags composite.known.first_pair = 1 (if learned), act4.saw_first_pair = 1, act4.stage = 5.
• Art and audio: VFX: the reflected glyph, drawn in white light under the surface, with the mirrored half on the reflection's side and the asymmetric half on the world's side, meeting at the line between them; it fades as the sun clears the rim. Music: the Pane theme played as a duet, the first time two lines sound together.
• Screens used: learn (trace) screen; dialogue box.

The choice

• Where: heart_pane, the south rim at the Pane's edge (Mark_choice), with the camera framing the chorus circle to the west and the cut line to the east.
• When: act4.stage = 5. Sunrise: both rites begin at once.
• Who: the player; Ondine and Iver (each walks out to the edge on their side); Tamsin and Rook (each going to their rite); Aske at the fire.
• What happens: The chorus starts singing and the cutters set their picks; the hairline cracks from 4.5 begin to glow. Ondine calls the player to the circle and Iver calls them to the cut, each once, in a line or two. The player chooses: they name a side out loud, to both leaders, or they choose neither by walking out onto the Pane between them. There is no going back.
• Player does: choose (three choices):
  • "Ondine. Sing it still." → act4.path = 1.
  • "Iver. Cut it free." → act4.path = 2.
  • Walk onto the Pane. "Neither of you." → act4.path = 3. (Idea) Shown only if act4.saw_first_pair = 1, which it always is by this point; the condition keeps the choice tied to the reason for it.
• Content to make: Yarn Act4_Choice (and Act4_Choice_Ondine, Act4_Choice_Iver, Act4_Choice_Neither, one short node each, jumping to the finale). Flags act4.path, act4.stage = 6. Reputation: none yet; it moves at the outcome (scene 4.18).
• Art and audio: VFX: both cracks glowing, pale blue from the west, amber from the east. Music: the chorus theme and the shattering theme at the same time, clashing.
• Screens used: dialogue box.

From Walkthrough: Act 4 › Chapter D: The Night and the Dawn