session: save progress — mill tunnel explored, construct bypassed, guards ambushed, weaver's study discovered

session/ambience.md

@@ -1 +1 @@
-silence
+dungeon

session/ambience_sources.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ re-downloaded without keeping the audio files in git.
 | dungeon_01.ogg | dungeon | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh9maYRrU4s |
 | dungeon_02.ogg | dungeon | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtFKomQfLUg |
 | forest_01.ogg | forest | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbefWLz9jwA |
-| tavern_01.ogg | tavern | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQzKGrCwFtk |
+| tavern_01.ogg | tavern | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyhIqnyXduI |
 | tension_01.ogg | tension | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoxxBeH7J3Q |
 | town_01.ogg | town | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0zfiRLVpKU |
 | wilds_01.ogg | wilds | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXkcbVKxs9k |

session/character.md

@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@
 - **Max Health:** 10
 - **Current Health:** 10
 - **Armour:** Leather (-1 reduction)
-- **Weapon:** Mace (1d6+1)
+- **Weapon:** Mace (1d6+1, freshly sharpened — 1d6+2 for one job)
-- **Cash:** 37 silver
+- **Cash:** 52 silver
 
 ## Chains
 
@@ -31,14 +31,23 @@ Jaggard — a rich merchant whose name Dillion sullied.
 
 - Mace (1d6+1)
 - Leather armour (-1)
-- Rations (9 days)
+- Rations (14 days)
-- Torches (6)
+- Torches (10)
 - Rope (30ft)
 - Waterskin
 - Bedroll
 - Flint & steel
 - Small sack
 - Healing salve (restores 1 HP)
+- Creature ear (trophy)
+- Rusted iron key
+- Silver locket (auburn hair, engraved "E — never forgotten. M.")
+- Bundle of love letters (Marren → Elara, mentions the mill being watched)
+- Clay jar (empty — grey powder used on cellar lock)
+- Brass button (crest: closed fist gripping a gear)
+- Handbill (fist-and-gear crest, list of names with "Kellis — LATE")
+- Brass key ring (2 keys: ornate + simple)
+- Note: *"The Weeper is restless. Bring another before the Chime. — H."*
 
 ## Notes & Scribbles
 

session/journal.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Journal
+
+## TODO
+
+- Explore the tunnel under the river (return with Rina, gear up)
+
+## DONE
+
+- Talk to Lark about the mill for intel
+- Investigate the old mill at Three Bridges — 2 creatures killed, Rina rescued, tunnel discovered
+

session/log/2026-06-23.md

@@ -1,17 +1,21 @@
 # Session Log — 2026-06-23
 
-## Before Start
+- *World Change:* World and Keep established. Character created: Dillion (Guardian, failed jester, secret princess).
 
-Character created: Dillion the Guardian. Failed jester, secret princess, looking for love, fleeing Jaggard's grudge.
+- **Morning** — Splintered Tankard. Dillion checks the notice board at Market Square. Notices: mill at Three Bridges clicking at night (ask Weber's Smithy), vanished caravan (Guild, 15 silver), bones wanted in Amber Hills (2 silver/skeleton at Guild Hall), lost signet ring (ask Fenna's Curios).
 
-## What Happened
+- **Late Morning** — Asks Otta about the mill. She warns it's been dead ten years — just kids' dares and rat droppings.
 
-- 
+- **Late Morning** — Weber's Smithy. Meets Weber (hunchbacked smith, talks to his hammer "Bell"). Counters Weber's 5 silver offer to 15, settles at 8 silver + free mace sharpening if danger. Spit-handshake seals it. *World Change:* Weber added as known NPC; mill job accepted.
 
-## Aftermath
+- **Late Morning** — Catches Lark in the Market Square. Asks him about the mill — Lark heard scratching, knows about a loose board. Pressed further — he saw a dark shape moving inside. Dillion recruits him with promise of loot.
-
+- **Late Morning** — Grabs a pitchfork from a market stall for Lark. They head east on the King's Road.
-- **XP / Progression:**
+- **Noon** — Arrive at Three Bridges. Scout the perimeter. Spot a dark shape through the window, motionless. Find the loose board behind the wheel.
-- **Loot:**
+- **Noon** — Pry the board open. Light a torch. Crawl inside the storage room.
-- **World Changes:**
+- **Noon** — Combat! A pale sinewy creature drops from the ceiling. Dillion wins initiative, smashes it into the wall for 2 damage. Finishes it with a head shot (5 damage). Creature is dead. Found 3 silver and a rusted iron key in its gut. Cut off an ear as a trophy for Weber.
-- **Next Session Seeds:**
+- **Noon** — Opens the iron-bound chest with the key. Inside: 12 silver, a silver locket with auburn hair, a bundle of love letters from "Marren" to "Elara" — hints the miller was watched. *World Change:* Thread deepened — the miller's disappearance involved more than just the creature. Head upstairs.
-- Let's start building the world first.
+- **Noon** — Upstairs: creature's nest. Found a journal (miller trapped the creature, Guild stored something in the cellar, hooded watchers) and a clay jar of grey powder with a note: "For the lock. Sprinkle on the hasp."
+- **Noon** — Finds a padlocked trapdoor behind a collapsed shelf. Sprinkles the grey powder on the lock. Yells an insult into the darkness below.
+- **Noon** — A juvenile of the same creature climbs up — killed with one mace blow (7 damage). Lights a fresh torch, drops it into the cellar — reveals an iron chest and a woman. She claims she was hired to crack the chest, ambushed by hooded figures, locked in for three days. Lark pats her down — clean. Dillion jumps down to explore the cellar.
+- **Noon** — The woman is Rina, a locksmith. Chest contained something long (oilcloth). Found a brass button with a crest: a fist gripping a gear. Dillion peers into the crack — a natural tunnel sloping down, likely passing under the river.
+- **Noon** — Decides to head back to the Keep first. Report to Weber, get paid, gear up Rina, then return to explore the tunnel.

session/log/2026-06-24.md

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Session Log — 2026-06-24
+
+- **Early Afternoon** — Back at the Keep. Head to Weber's Smithy with Rina and Lark. Dillion tells Rina they'll settle with Weber first, then get her rested.
+- **Early Afternoon** — Weber pays 8 silver and sharpens the mace (1d6+2 for next job). Asks if Rina is "one of Fenna's lot." Dillion explains she was locked in the cellar.
+- **Early Afternoon** — Dillion, Rina, and Lark head to the Splintered Tankard. Dillion asks Otta to help Rina get cleaned up. Otta agrees — sends Rina to the back for a bath, finds her a change of clothes.
+- **Early Afternoon** — While Rina recovers, Dillion hits the Market Square. Buys 6 torches (6 copper) and 5 days rations (5 silver). Pays Lark 5 silver for his help and sends him off. Lark leaves with a grin.
+- **Early Afternoon** — Dillion sits down with Rina to learn her skills and background. She's a locksmith and trap-finder, proficient with a crossbow and dagger. Dillion takes her to Weber's for a crossbow, then to the market for a leather vest.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Dillion and Rina head back to Three Bridges on the King's Road. Bought two long ropes on the way (4 silver). Reach the mill as the sun begins to dip. Enter through the loose board, descend into the cellar tunnel.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Cautious descent into the tunnel. Air grows acrid — blood, decay, mint. The rough-hewn tunnel slopes steadily down, walls sweating moisture. After ~15 minutes, the tunnel opens into a natural cavern. Faint light pulses from bioluminescent fungi on the ceiling. A stone door with the fist-and-gear crest stands on the far wall, slightly ajar.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Dillion decides to enter through the ajar stone door. Sneaks in successfully (DEX 5). Rina spots a tripwire — they step over it and proceed into the chamber beyond.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Chamber contains a tall construct (grey stone skin, red eyes, cloth/rusted metal armour). It watches but doesn't attack. Dillion and Rina edge along the wall toward the left corridor without triggering it.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Left corridor leads to an iron-banded wooden door with a heavy lock. Rina picks it while Dillion stands watch.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Beyond the door: a storage room with two men (Beard and Scar) on guard duty. Dillion and Rina slip into cover behind crates (DEX 9). Ambush: Rina bolts Scar through the neck, Dillion cuts Beard's throat. Both killed silently.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Bodies hidden. Dillion searches the guards (19 silver, key ring, handbill). Rina finds delivery manifests and a note mentioning "The Weeper" and "H." Dillion takes the loot and moves to the iron-reinforced door. Listens. Opens it safely with a rope from behind crates. Beyond: a dark tunnel sloping downward, humid air, slow rhythmic breathing sound.
+- **Late Afternoon** — Dillion and Rina descend into the tunnel. It opens into a chamber with a pit at the centre — chains descending into darkness, slow wet breathing from below. A second iron door on the far side. Dillion and Rina skirt the pit silently (DEX 7). Beyond the door: a hallway with a velvet curtain, warm light and a chanting voice beyond. Dillion peeks: a weaver's study, chalk circle with a dagger at the centre. He pulls back to consult Rina.

session/world.md

@@ -1,47 +1,149 @@
 # The World
 
+## The Realm
+
+_A land bleeding at the seams._
+
+The Realm was not always broken. Once, it was a province of the Old Kingdom — a fertile valley ringed by grey mountains, ruled by a line of kings whose names have rotted out of memory. The Old Kingdom fell three centuries ago, not to war or famine, but to a **tear in the sky**. No scholar agrees on what caused it. Some say the king's sorcerers dug too deep. Some say a star fell and cracked the world. Some say the gods simply left, and without them the fabric of reality went slack.
+
+What remains is a land where **wild magic surges** roll across the moors like weather. Where time loops in sunken glades. Where the dead sometimes forget to stay dead. The old roads still hold, but travel between settlements means gambling with the Chaotic — the ambient instability that warps flesh, memory, and landscape alike.
+
+### The Calendar & Sky
+
+The Realm keeps time by the **Chime**, a distant bell-toll that rings at dawn and dusk from no tower anyone can find. The sun rises amber and sets green. Two moons hang overhead — **Luna** (bright, pocked, always full) and the **Splinter** (a jagged shard of what was once a second moon, trailing dust that glows on clear nights). Star charts are useless; the constellations shift every few years.
+
+### Known History
+
+| Age | Events |
+|-----|--------|
+| **The Old Kingdom** (?? — 300 years ago) | A prosperous realm of nine duchies. Stone circles, chalk roads, and underground vaults date from this era. Magic was orderly, taught in academies. |
+| **The Sundering** (300 years ago) | The sky tore. The king's castle vanished overnight — just a crater left, bedrock still warm. Half the population was lost in the first year. Reality became porous. |
+| **The Bleed** (300 — 100 years ago) | Two centuries of chaos. Monsters poured from rifts. The old nobility died off. Settlements walled themselves in. The chalk circle network was discovered/rediscovered. |
+| **The Present** (last 100 years) | A fragile equilibrium. The Keep rose as a de facto capital. The Empire sniffed at the borders. The Darkmal began spawning beasts in the deep wilds. People rebuilt, but the land remembers. |
+
 ## The Keep
 
-_The starting point. A fortified settlement at the edge of The Realm._
+_A muddy fist of a town, walled and wary._
 
-### Notable NPCs
+The Keep started as a refugee camp after the Sundering — a natural choke point where two rivers meet beneath a granite outcrop. A warlord threw up a palisade, then a stone wall, then a second wall. Now it holds roughly two thousand souls, packed into crooked timber-and-stone buildings that lean into each other like drunks.
 
-- _to discover_
+**First thing you notice:** the smell. Woodsmoke, wet wool, horse dung, and something metallic underneath — the tang of Chaotic residue that clings to anything brought in from the wilds.
+
+**Second thing:** the bells. The Keep has seven bells — dawn, noon, dusk, market open, market close, gate open, gate close. They ring at odd intervals and never quite harmonize.
+
+**Third thing:** the look in people's eyes. Half hopeful, half haunted. Everyone here is either fleeing something or looking for something.
+
+### Districts
+
+- **The Gut** — lower town, packed earth streets, tanneries and cheap taverns. Where the Splintered Tankard sits.
+- **The Crown** — upper town, cobbled streets, the old garrison, a tiny temple, a few stone houses of well-off merchants (including Jaggard's).
+- **The Market Square** — between Gut and Crown, open-air, a permanent scrum of stalls, pickpockets, and rumour-mongers. The notice board is nailed to a dead oak at the centre.
+- **The Warren** — a slum of lean-tos and caves pressed against the eastern wall. Not lawless — the Watch goes in pairs — but close to it.
+- **The Underkeep** — old cellars and sewers beneath the town. No official map exists. Every so often something comes up from below.
+
+### The Splintered Tankard
+
+A two-storey tavern built around the stump of an enormous black tree. The taproom is low-ceilinged, smoke-stained, warm. Mistress **Otta Venn** runs it — a broad woman in her fifties with one good eye and a no-nonsense manner. She was an adventurer once; she still wears a curved knife at her belt.
+
+**Menu:** Thick barley stew (2 copper), bread and cheese (1 copper), roasted root vegetables (3 copper), the Tankard's Special (unknown, 5 silver — changes daily based on what Otta finds).
+**Drink:** Water (free), weak ale (1 copper), strong ale (3 copper), mead (1 silver), "something Otta won't name" (3 silver — might be hallucinogenic).
+**Rooms:** 3 silver a night, includes breakfast. Shared room (dirt floor, straw pallets) is 5 copper.
 
 ### Services
 
-- **Inn:** _Splintered Tankard_ — cheap ale, warm stew, gossip
+| Service | Location | Details |
-- **Smithy:** _to discover_
+|---------|----------|---------|
-- **Temple:** _to discover_
+| **Splintered Tankard** | The Gut, Tankard Alley | Inn, meals, gossip, storage |
-- **Market:** _to discover_
+| **Weber's Smithy** | Market Square, west edge | Weapons, tools, horseshoes. Weber is a hunchbacked man who talks to his hammer. |
-- **Guild Hall:** _to discover_
+| **Temple of the Echo** | The Crown, bell tower | A single priest, **Mother Alda**, tends a silent flame. No official god — she says she tends "the listening silence." Heals for donations. |
+| **The Guild Hall** | The Crown, old garrison building | Board of Trade meets here. Also the Watch headquarters upstairs. |
+| **Fenna's Curios** | Market Square, north corner | A cramped shop of salvaged Chaos-touched oddities. Fenna is a twitchy woman with too many rings. |
+| **Grain & Salt** | Market Square, granary | Bulk supplies, rations, feed. Run by a consortium of farmers. |
+
+### Notable NPCs
+
+| Name | Role | Notes |
+|------|------|-------|
+| **Mistress Otta Venn** | Innkeep, Splintered Tankard | Former adventurer, one eye, wears a curved knife. Knows everyone worth knowing. |
+| **Weber** | Smith | Hunchback, talks to his hammer. Does good work. Hard of hearing. |
+| **Mother Alda** | Priest, Temple of the Echo | Elderly, serene, blind. The silent flame in her temple never flickers. |
+| **Fenna** | Curio dealer | Twitchy, wears too many rings. Her shop smells of dust and ozone. |
+| **Captain Rekke** | Watch captain | A tired woman with a scarred face. Does her best with too few guards. |
+| **Jaggard** | Rich merchant | Well-dressed, cold eyes. Holds a grudge against Dillion. Lives in The Crown. |
+| **Lark** | Errand boy, stable hand | A scrawny kid who knows every shortcut in the Keep. Can be hired for a few coppers. |
+| **Rina** | Locksmith (companion) | Gaunt, sharp-tongued. Hired to crack a chest at the mill, ambushed and left for dead. Indebted to Dillion. Equipped with light crossbow, dagger, padded leather vest. Skilled in locks and traps. |
+
+## Beyond the Walls
+
+_Chaos hasn't swallowed everything — but it's winning._
+
+### The Roads
+
+Three main roads leave the Keep:
+
+| Road | Destination | Condition |
+|------|-------------|-----------|
+| **The King's Road (east)** | Toward the coast and the old capital crater | Best maintained, patrolled (sporadically). Several hamlets and farmsteads along it. |
+| **The Old Pilgrim Road (north)** | Into the hills, past abandoned monasteries | Overgrown in places. Strange lights at night. Hermits and bandits. |
+| **The Fen Road (southwest)** | Down into the marshlands and beyond | Muddy, treacherous. The marsh absorbs sound. Witchlights lead travellers astray. |
+
+### Known Geography
+
+| Region | Description |
+|--------|-------------|
+| **The Amber Hills** (north) | Rolling hills, old orchards gone wild, abandoned hill forts. Good hunting. Also home to wildlings and worse. |
+| **The Weeping Marsh** (southwest) | A vast wetland of black water and standing stones. Mist clings year-round. Follow the witchlights and you disappear. |
+| **The Ashwood** (east) | A forest of pale, leafless trees. The ground is ash-grey. Fires burned here once — or something else did. |
+| **The Scar** (far east) | The crater where the Old Kingdom's capital once stood. Still warm. No one goes there. |
+| **The Spine** (northwest) | The grey mountain range that borders the Realm. Old dwarf tunnels rumoured. Something rings like a hammer deep inside at night. |
+| **The Deep Fens** (beyond the marsh) | Unmapped. The Wilds come from here, some say. The Darkmal's territory. |
+
+### Factions at Play
+
+| Faction | Agenda |
+|---------|--------|
+| **The Empire** | A powerful realm beyond the Spine. They claim the Old Kingdom was theirs once. Scouts have been seen on the passes. The Emperor wants the Realm's resources — and its secrets. |
+| **The Reaper** | The Emperor's agent. A figure in a rust-red mask, seen in the Keep twice in the last year. Collecting something. Looking for a path to lichdom. |
+| **The Huntswoman** | Works for the Reaper. Hunts weavers — those who practice arcane magic. Some say she's not human. |
+| **The Wilds** | Feral humanoid packs from the deep wilderness. They're getting bolder. Raids on outlying farms have doubled this year. |
+| **The Darkmal** | An entity (or force) in the deep wilds. It spawns beasts — warped creatures that serve its will. No one knows what it wants, only that it's growing. |
+| **The Ghast** | Daughter of the Darkmal. Works against him. A rumour, mostly — no one in the Keep has met her. |
+| **The Ancients** | A scattered cult that prophesied the Darkmal's coming. They believe the Paragon — a being buried somewhere in the Realm — can kill him. They're looking for it. |
+| **The Guild of Weavers** | A secret network of magic-users. Illegal under Empire law, barely tolerated in the Keep. Weavers keep their heads down. |
+
+### Arcane Traditions (Weavin')
+
+Magic in the Realm is called **weavin'** — the act of pulling on the Chaotic threads of reality. It is **unpredictable, dangerous, and often illegal**. Practitioners (weavers) draw on one or more of six traditions:
+
+| Tradition | Source | Risk |
+|-----------|--------|------|
+| **Wild Magicks** | Drawing raw Chaos from the environment | Surges, mutations, reality glitches |
+| **Blood Magicks** | Using one's own life force | Physical exhaustion, permanent HP loss |
+| **Bone Magicks** | Using remains or tokens of the dead | Attracts undead, spiritual attachment |
+| **Storm Magicks** | Tying to weather and sky | Uncontrollable in calm weather |
+| **Veil Magicks** | Dealing with spirits and the dead | Spirits can lie, possess, or follow |
+| **Rune Magicks** | Inscribed, prepared in advance | Time-consuming, rigid |
+
+The Huntswoman hunts weavers. The Reaper collects them. Most practice in secret.
 
 ### Rumours
 
 | # | Rumour | Status |
 |---|--------|--------|
-|   |        |        |
+| 1 | Old mill at Three Bridges clicks at night — gears turning on their own. Someone's been in there. | Resolved — creatures killed, chest looted, tunnel found |
-
+| 2 | Merchant caravan on the Eastern road vanished. Cargo found intact. People gone. No tracks. | Active |
-### Jobs
+| 3 | Baron's hunters in the Amber Hills found a pit of bones. Pays silver for every skeleton brought back. | Active |
-
-| # | Job | Pay | Status |
-|---|-----|-----|--------|
-|   |     |     |        |
-
-## The Realm
-
-_What lies beyond the gates._
-
-### Locations Discovered
-
-| Name | Terrain | Threat Level | Notes |
-|------|---------|-------------|-------|
-|      |         |             |       |
 
 ### Active Threads
 
-- 
+- Dillion is a newcomer to the Keep. People don't know his face or his past yet.
+- Jaggard the merchant is in the Keep. Their paths haven't crossed — yet.
+- Mill job complete — 2 creatures killed, Rina rescued, iron chest looted (contents taken by hooded figures), tunnel discovered under the river. Need to report to Weber and gear up Rina for a return trip.
+- Brass button crest (fist + gear) — inner Guild Hall circle. Leads on who hired Rina and took the chest contents.
 
-### Factions at Play
+## Lore Notes
 
-- _to be revealed_
+- The Splintered Tankard's namesake black tree stump has a hollow centre. Otta keeps her private stock down there. She also hides a chalk circle — "for emergencies."
+- Fenna's Curios is built over a sealed Underkeep entrance. She denies it.
+- The bell tower of the Temple of the Echo predates the Keep. The seven bells were found, not forged.
+- The name "Chaos" for the ambient instability was coined by a scholar named **Velden** eighty years ago. He was found dead in his locked study, mouth open in a silent scream, eyes turned to amber.