Hushfold and the Hour Stair

Snow, silence and bells: an abbey where nobody speaks and a cliff where every hour is kept. Work comes from Sister Ise and Choirmistress Wen in Hushfold (Act 2 on) and from Keeper Hale and Old Pim on the Stair (Act 3 on). Yarn file: Dialogue/Side/highlands.yarn.

The Owl on the Arch (side_arch_owl)

• Giver / where: Sister Ise (Evane, Still Choir, signs only), hushfold, the signing hall, Mark_ise. The owl is on the broken arch above the abbey, Event_arch.
• Available from: Act 2, hushfold.stage >= 1.
• Story: An echo owl has nested on the broken arch and repeats every sound in the valley back, footsteps, doors and the Choir's one evening tone, so the abbey hasn't had a silent night in a month. The monks are tired in a way only monks can be. The protagonist can fight it, or Calm it from the foot of the arch and stand still in the snow until it settles. Before it goes quiet the owl repeats a sound no monk made: a low hum, many voices, very far off. It has been copying the Sallow's hum, carried across the highlands.

{
  "id": "side_arch_owl",
  "title": "The Owl on the Arch",
  "description": "Something on the broken arch repeats every sound in the valley back. Hushfold hasn't had a quiet night in a month.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "ise",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "hushfold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "arch", "text": "Climb to the broken arch above the abbey. Walk, don't run.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.arch_owl.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "owl", "text": "Quiet the echo owl.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.arch_owl.choice", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } },
    { "id": "ise", "text": "Tell Sister Ise.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.arch_owl.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } }
  ]
}

• Fight: arch_owl (echo_owl, the bestiary's), choice 1. Choice 2 is the field cast <<prompt_cast calm>> (needs spell.learned.calm).
• Rewards: 80 copper from the abbey door and 2 still_water. Choice 1, fought: rep.choir +5. Choice 2, calmed: rep.choir +10, morality +5; the owl stays and the monks keep it as the abbey's one sound.
• Yarn: Side_Hushfold_IseOwl, Side_Arch_Owl, Side_Arch_OwlCalm, Side_Arch_OwlHum, Side_Hushfold_IseAfter.

Wen's Letters (side_wen_letters)

• Giver / where: Choirmistress Wen (Evane, Still Choir), hushfold, her writing room, Event_wen. Deliveries go to Sorrel at Lanternfall's Unbinders' alcove (or to the open council's ring of seats if the player hasn't met Iver), and the last to Keeper Hale at the Hour Stair.
• Available from: Act 2, once the first letter is delivered (wen_letter.delivered != 0, the hushfold quest). The last letter is given only after act2.done != 0 and delivered once act3.stage >= 7.
• Story: Act 2's "running courier chain between Hushfold and Lanternfall". With the first letter delivered, Wen gives the protagonist one letter per visit, each sealed in Choir silver with amber over it. Wardens at the Far Gate yard now check satchels on the Long Road, and harder if the courier on the board was handed to the watch (side.quiet_courier.choice == 3): at each check the protagonist can show the letter, lie, or refuse. A seal can be broken in the letters viewer, and Wen knows by the next visit; the letters say sorry, over and over, for something two thousand years old, the first hint of the Choir's guilt. The last letter is addressed to the one Evane who already knows what the Choir did.

{
  "id": "side_wen_letters",
  "title": "Wen's Letters",
  "description": "Wen has more letters for Lanternfall, one at a time, so that only one can be caught.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "wen",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "wen_letter.delivered", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "second", "text": "Carry Wen's second letter to Lanternfall.",
      "completeWhen": { "any": [
        { "flag": "side.wen_letters.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 },
        { "flag": "side.wen_letters.caught", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] } },
    { "id": "third", "text": "Go back to Hushfold for the next letter, and carry it to Lanternfall.",
      "completeWhen": { "any": [
        { "flag": "side.wen_letters.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 4 },
        { "flag": "side.wen_letters.caught", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] } },
    { "id": "hale", "text": "Carry Wen's last letter to Keeper Hale at the Hour Stair.",
      "completeWhen": { "any": [
        { "flag": "side.wen_letters.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 6 },
        { "flag": "side.wen_letters.caught", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] } }
  ]
}

• Stage flag: 1 second letter taken, 2 delivered, 3 third taken, 4 delivered, 5 last taken, 6 delivered to Hale.
• Rewards: 40 copper from Wen per delivered letter (120 in all). Each Lanternfall delivery: rep.choir +5, rep.facets +5. The letter to Hale: hale.trust +1, rep.keepers +5. At a satchel check, show it: rep.wardens +5, rep.choir −10, and the chain ends (side.wen_letters.caught 1). Lie: morality −5. Refuse: rep.wardens −5. Breaking a seal: rep.choir −10, side.wen_letters.read 1. Prop: wen_letter (the walkthrough's, reused for each letter in turn).
• Yarn: Side_Hushfold_WenChain, Side_Lanternfall_SorrelLetter, Side_LongRoad_SatchelCheck, Side_Hushfold_WenSealBroken, Side_Stair_HaleLetter.

The Third Bell (side_bell_ringer)

• Giver / where: Old Pim (Evane, Keepers), hour_stair, the third bell landing, Event_ringer.
• Available from: Act 3. side.ringer.asked != 0, which Pim's ask sets at act3.stage >= 7.
• Story: Detailed in walkthrough-act-3.md, scene 3.5. Old Pim has rung the third bell on the hour for sixty years, and his knees have gone. The protagonist rings it three times at the right in-game hours, a timing errand. Pim teaches Toll in return: "One loop, one rope. The bell does the rest, later."

{
  "id": "side_bell_ringer",
  "title": "The Third Bell",
  "description": "Old Pim has rung the third bell of the Hour Stair for sixty years. His knees have stopped agreeing to it.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "old_pim",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "side.ringer.asked", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "ring_three", "text": "Ring the third bell on the hour, three times.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.ringer.rings", "op": ">=", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "learn_toll", "text": "Let Pim show you the bell's glyph.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "spell.learned.toll", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } }
  ]
}

• Rewards: spell toll (taught); rep.keepers +5. No copper.
• Yarn: Act3_Ringer_Ask, Act3_Ringer_Ring, Act3_Ringer_Teach (walkthrough).

Back on the Shelf (side_back_on_shelf)

• Giver / where: Keeper Hale (Evane, Keepers), hour_stair, the archive, the confiscated-glyph shelf. The quest is also a deed on the Atonement board (undermere, Event_atonement).
• Available from: Act 3, if the player stole from the archive: the triangle half of Prism Snare (scene 3.4) or the records after knocking Hale out (scene 6.3). any[act3.stole_half != 0, hale.robbed != 0].
• Story: Act 3's atonement deed "return a stolen fragment to Hale". Keepers notice everything, so Hale knows what was taken. Taking it back means the gate if the player is clean enough (morality above −20), or Nell's smugglers' climb if not, and Hale is waiting, as he was at the window. He puts the shard back on its shelf (the spell stays learned) or takes the stolen records back. Then he hands the protagonist the shelf label with their name on it, written the day they took it.

{
  "id": "side_back_on_shelf",
  "title": "Back on the Shelf",
  "description": "You took something from the Hour Stair. Keeper Hale wrote it down.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "hale",
  "startWhen": { "any": [
    { "flag": "act3.stole_half", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
    { "flag": "hale.robbed", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "climb", "text": "Take what you took back up the Hour Stair.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.back_on_shelf.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "give", "text": "Give it back to Keeper Hale.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.back_on_shelf.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } }
  ]
}

• Rewards: morality +5 (one atonement deed), hale.trust +1, rep.keepers +5. item.prism_snare_half_triangle goes to 0 (relearning after an un-teaching would need the shelf again). If hale.robbed, the records stay closed to both courts (scene 6.3), but side_hundred_year_hour still opens later.
• Yarn: Side_Stair_ShelfGate, Side_Stair_HaleShelf, Side_Undermere_ShelfDeed (the board entry). The fallen route reuses Undermere_Climb.

What the Choir Sang (side_choir_guilt)

• Giver / where: Choirmistress Wen, hushfold, Event_wen; then the abbey's sealed undercroft, Event_undercroft.
• Available from: Act 3, after the Hour Stair records. all[lore.breaking != 0, hushfold.stage >= 1].
• Story: Act 3's "Still Choir's guilt" hook. The records showed that the Drowned Choir was the choir of the first Great Mending, the Still Choir's own forebears. When the protagonist tells Wen, she signs that the Choir has always known, and the letters to the Facets were its only apology. She takes them down to the sealed undercroft, and the hushed one that guards it wakes anyway, because the rule is older than she is. Inside is the Mending's score, the song that pulled the Glass taut, with its last page missing; if the player found the hymn page (side_drowned_choir), it is a copy of those lines. Wen asks what to do with it: sing it once aloud, so the valley hears what the Choir did; keep it sealed and keep writing letters; or send it to Lanternfall's open council.

{
  "id": "side_choir_guilt",
  "title": "What the Choir Sang",
  "description": "The Hour Stair showed you whose song broke the Mere. Choirmistress Wen will want to know that you know.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "wen",
  "startWhen": { "all": [
    { "flag": "lore.breaking", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
    { "flag": "hushfold.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } ] },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "tell", "text": "Tell Choirmistress Wen what the Hour Stair's records showed.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.choir_guilt.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "undercroft", "text": "Go down with Wen to the abbey's sealed undercroft.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.choir_guilt.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } },
    { "id": "score", "text": "Decide with Wen what happens to the Mending's score.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.choir_guilt.choice", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } }
  ]
}

• Fight: abbey_hushed (hushed_one, the bestiary's "forcing a sealed door").
• Rewards: 150 copper and 3 still_water. Choice 1, sing it: morality +5, rep.facets +5, rep.choir −5 (the silence is broken for one night). Choice 2, keep it sealed: rep.choir +10. Choice 3, send it to Lanternfall: rep.facets +10, rep.choir +5. If side.drowned_choir.choice == 2 (the page went to Wen), the score is whole and Wen signs one line more.
• Yarn: Side_Hushfold_WenRecords, Side_Undercroft_Hushed, Side_Undercroft_Score, Side_Hushfold_ScoreChoice, Side_Hushfold_ChoirSings.

The Ledger's Other Seals (side_other_stillings)

• Giver / where: Keeper Hale, hour_stair, the warp ledger lectern, Event_ledger; the stilled place is in Hushfold's echo valley, hushfold, Event_stilled_fold.
• Available from: the end of Act 3, once Thaw is known. all[lore.sallow_warp != 0, composite.known.thaw != 0].
• Story: Act 3's "other stilled places" hook. Hale's ledger has more five-person seals than Corran's, and he marks the nearest: a shepherd's fold in Hushfold's echo valley, stilled thirty-one years ago under a captain the ledger doesn't name. The Still Choir has walked past it in silence every day since, because silence was the rule. Frost glints and an echo owl have gathered on the old seal's leak. When the protagonist threads Thaw over the fold, the shepherd, Abner Coll, wakes thirty-one years late, and the abbey's goats turn out to be his flock's grandchildren. Then someone has to decide who hears about it.

{
  "id": "side_other_stillings",
  "title": "The Ledger's Other Seals",
  "description": "Corran wasn't the only five-person seal in Keeper Hale's ledger. He has marked the nearest one.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "hale",
  "startWhen": { "all": [
    { "flag": "lore.sallow_warp", "op": "!=", "value": 0 },
    { "flag": "composite.known.thaw", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } ] },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "page", "text": "Read the ledger page Hale marked.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.other_stillings.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "fold", "text": "Find the stilled fold in Hushfold's echo valley.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.other_stillings.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } },
    { "id": "leak", "text": "Clear the leak from the old seal.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.other_stillings.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "thaw", "text": "Thread Thaw over the fold.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.other_stillings.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 4 } },
    { "id": "who", "text": "Decide who hears about it.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.other_stillings.choice", "op": "!=", "value": 0 } }
  ]
}

• Fight: fold_glints (new): 3 frost_glint + echo_owl, Act 3 on, difficulty about 3.5, 70 XP. Field cast <<prompt_cast thaw>> at Event_stilled_fold.
• Rewards: 200 copper ("the Keepers pay for corrections"), hale.trust +1, morality +5. Choice 1, tell the Wardens in Twinhold: rep.wardens −5, rep.evane +5 (they have to answer for it, and Evane folk hear they will). Choice 2, tell Hale only: rep.keepers +5. Choice 3, let Abner and the Choir decide: rep.choir +5. Prop: ledger_page. The ledger's other seals are rumours for the warp-born glyph hunts.
• Yarn: Side_Stair_LedgerPage, Side_Valley_StilledFold, Side_Valley_FoldGlints, Side_Valley_FoldThaw, Side_Valley_AbnerWakes, Side_Valley_WhoHears.

Reading the Records (side_reading_records)

• Giver / where: Keeper Hale, hour_stair, the archive, Event_pool. The seats: the Hall of Measure (hall_of_measure), the vine hall (greenvault), Wen's writing room (hushfold), Dace's yard (long_road) and the open council's ring of seats (lanternfall).
• Available from: the world after Act 4, Held only. all[act4.stage >= 8, act4.outcome == 3].
• Story: Act 4's Held hook. The Pane is cracked and standing, and Hale has decided that the records of the Breaking should not wait for each new Speaker to see them once. He gives the protagonist five copies and asks them to carry one to each seat and watch how it is taken. The Tenders are quiet, the Choir is relieved, Dace reads it on the tailboard of a wagon, Lanternfall's council argues all night, and the Hall of Measure reads it aloud if Tamsin stepped out on the Pane and shelves it if she didn't (the epilogue card). Hale asks to hear every reaction, word for word.

{
  "id": "side_reading_records",
  "title": "Reading the Records",
  "description": "Keeper Hale wants the records of the Breaking read in every seat, not just shown to each Speaker once.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "hale",
  "startWhen": { "all": [
    { "flag": "act4.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 8 },
    { "flag": "act4.outcome", "op": "==", "value": 3 } ] },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "copies", "text": "Take the five copies from Keeper Hale.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.reading_records.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "seats", "text": "Carry a copy to each seat: Twinhold, Greenvault, Hushfold, the Long Road and Lanternfall.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.reading_records.seats", "op": ">=", "value": 5 } },
    { "id": "hale", "text": "Tell Hale how each seat took it.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.reading_records.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } }
  ]
}

• Rewards: per seat: Greenvault rep.tenders +5; Hushfold rep.choir +5; the Long Road rep.waymakers +5; Lanternfall rep.facets +5; Twinhold rep.wardens +5 if tamsin.stepped_out, −5 otherwise. From Hale: 250 copper, 3 hour_sand, rep.keepers +10. Prop: records_copy (5).
• Yarn: Side_Stair_HaleCopies, Side_Twinhold_RecordsRead, Side_Greenvault_RecordsRead, Side_Hushfold_RecordsRead, Side_LongRoad_RecordsRead, Side_Lanternfall_RecordsRead, Side_Stair_HaleHears.

The Hundred-Year Hour (side_hundred_year_hour)

• Giver / where: Keeper Hale, hour_stair, the archive; then the empty bell frame above the bell court, Event_thirteenth_frame, and the room behind it, Event_second_pool.
• Available from: the world after Act 4, every outcome. act4.stage >= 8.
• Story: Act 4's long post-game mystery. Hale lets slip that the records were not the only thing the Keepers held in the Hour. The Stair has twelve bells, but the ledger of ringers counts thirteen, and above the bell court is a frame with no bell in it; Toll's field effect rings the hour-door behind it open, and an hour sentinel keeps the room. Inside is a second pool with the Hour still open, and in it the old shore, where two lake-folk draw one glyph between them across the water: the First Pair. "We never closed it," Hale says. "We couldn't find where it stops."

{
  "id": "side_hundred_year_hour",
  "title": "The Hundred-Year Hour",
  "description": "Keeper Hale has let slip that the records weren't the only thing the Keepers held in the Hour.",
  "category": "side",
  "giver": "hale",
  "startWhen": { "flag": "act4.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 8 },
  "stages": [
    { "id": "ask", "text": "Ask Keeper Hale what else the Keepers hid in the Hour.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.hundred_year_hour.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 1 } },
    { "id": "frame", "text": "Find the bell frame above the bell court that has no bell in it.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.hundred_year_hour.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 2 } },
    { "id": "toll", "text": "Ring the hour-door open with Toll.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.hundred_year_hour.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 3 } },
    { "id": "keep", "text": "Keep the hour behind the door.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.hundred_year_hour.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 4 } },
    { "id": "pool", "text": "Look into the second pool.",
      "completeWhen": { "flag": "side.hundred_year_hour.stage", "op": ">=", "value": 5 } }
  ]
}

• Fight: thirteenth_hour (new): hour_sentinel (the bestiary's 500 HP), after Act 4, difficulty 5.0, 110 XP. Field cast <<prompt_cast toll>> at Event_thirteenth_frame (needs spell.learned.toll, from side_bell_ringer).
• Rewards: 250 copper, 3 hour_sand, hale.trust +1, rep.keepers +5. The pool differs by outcome: Held, the glyph on the shore matches the Pane's dawn glyph; Mended, the shore is still and the two figures never finish; Shattered, the pool flickers through other skies. This is the first chapter; the rest stays open.
• Yarn: Side_Stair_HaleSlip, Side_Stair_ThirteenthFrame, Side_Stair_HourDoor, Side_Stair_ThirteenthHour, Side_Stair_SecondPool.

From Side Quests › Hushfold and the Hour Stair