Location
Sallowbank
Farming village on the Sallow river
No shops and no shop screens: a village of neighbours. Two of them sell from the door, in conversation. Marra sells Honey Bread and Herb Salve at the bakehouse door, and Tobin sells Eel Pie and the Plaited Reed Band, and buys River Reeds. Starting gifts at the send-off: 20 copper (Aske), 2 Honey Bread (Marra), the River Stone Charm (Fenn) and a stick of Ward Chalk (Fenn).
From Items and Economy › Shops: Acts 1–2 and the Undermere › Sallowbank (Prologue and Act 1)
Look
Thatched farmhouses, a mirrored pair of Ls painted on every doorpost, a rope ferry, Aske's barn
Markers and entries
Event_farm_door (trigger), Event_barn (interactable). VEL-53 adds Mark_aske_ferry, Mark_aske_barn, Mark_tobin, Mark_marra, Mark_fenn, the actors and the Wake enter entry.
From Walkthrough: Prologue and Act 1 › Prologue: The Door-Mark (as built) › Locations
Landmarks
Aske back at Mark_aske_ferry from act1.stage >= 1; villagers get Act 1 lines.
Connected
Characters
The Mentor
Trustworthy, but jaded. Once caught up in the endless conflict between the two sides. Was pushed to do something and/or realized the conflict was pointless and…
Tobin
Forty years on the Sallow, and believes every story about it, the Drowned Choir's hum included.
Marra Hesk
Feeds everyone whether they're hungry or not, and believes very little. Minds the protagonist's hens after the send-off.
Spells
Concept art
Elsewhere in the Codex
The player's village is attacked (monsters or invaders).
The Girl with the Circle and the Square. The first asymmetric caster drew Facet Seal over her village on the night of the Breaking. The Facets say she saved it; the Evane say she caused it.
(Idea) Home: a farm at Sallowbank, a village on the Sallow river where Evane land meets the Shardfield. Parents dead; lives alone; Aske the ferry keeper is the nearest neighbour.
(Idea) Motivation, in order: keep Sallowbank safe from the warp upstream; find out what they are; later, help Aske undo what Aske did.
Section 5 has the beat: the village is attacked, a prompt shows mirrored Ls, the character "accidentally" draws them and casts Repel. (Idea) How that works in-world:
From Story Bible › Protagonist and Mentor › The first cast: Repel
Name and look: Aske Tarran, a woman of about sixty, ferry keeper at Sallowbank for twenty years. Broad, rope-scarred hands. She still wears her Warden glyph bands, turned inside out so the marks face her skin.
(Idea) Arc: refuses to go back; follows the player to Corran in Act 3 when the warps reach Sallowbank; faces Prelate Ondine, who gave the Corran order; casts again, once, to help undo the stilling. Joins neither side afterwards.
The warps spread and reach Sallowbank. Aske leaves the ferry and comes with the player.
A practice golem built by the village: pale stone blocks lashed to training-dummy planks with rope and iron. Top-heavy, with huge fists, a tiny head and short legs, so it reads as a 3D creature even at small size. The glowing glyph on its chest is the one point of light and doubles as the natural aim point. This front view is the input image for the 3D model.
The faux-3D overworld: a steep top-down camera over a miniature diorama, with tilt-shift blur at the edges. Landmarks (shrine, bridge, village) are chunky and toy-like so they read at a glance.
Sallowbank, the Sallow Road and the Drowned Steps. The player wakes on the farm, meets Aske, draws the door-mark when glints come up the river, spars with Aske's training golem, takes two letters and walks with Aske to the Drowned Steps, where they trace Coil. Aske turns back for home.
From Walkthrough: Prologue and Act 1 › Prologue: The Door-Mark (as built)
- Stage
- 1
- Where
- Sallowbank, free roam
- What plays
- Tobin, Marra and Fenn in the square. Aske at the ferry (
Prologue_FerryAske): "go home".- Sets
met.aske, maybeaske.trustFrom Walkthrough: Prologue and Act 1 › Prologue: The Door-Mark (as built) › Stage table