fixing plotholes, streamlining

location/cellar.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Beneath the Nether Inn, accessed through the trapdoor in the storage room. The air changes immediately — colder, damper, and carrying a faint metallic tang that doesn't come from the pipes.
 
-> **DM note — this is the *upper* cellar.** Everything the endgame needs is here: the thin point, the summoners' binding circle, and the old foundation sigils. The [Reckoning](../storylines/the-reckoning.md) still plays out in this room, unchanged. But behind the barrel racks is a **[concealed door](#the-concealed-door)** down to the [Deep Cellar](deep-cellar.md) — the vast, hidden warren where Orenn and Mags kept the real secrets (their fortune, their prisoners, their laboratory, and a widening rift). The Deep Cellar is the module's exploration track and is entirely optional. Casual visitors to the cellar see only this room.
+> **DM note — this is the *upper* cellar.** Its occult centerpiece is the summoners' **binding circle**, supported by old foundation sigils. There is no thin point or tear in this room: both names refer to the single breach in the [Old Work](deep-cellar.md#the-old-work), far below. Behind the barrel racks is a **[concealed door](#the-concealed-door)** down to the [Deep Cellar](deep-cellar.md) — the vast, hidden warren where Orenn and Mags kept the real secrets (their fortune, their prisoners, their laboratory, and the breach). Casual visitors to the cellar see only this room.
 
 ## Read-Aloud: Descending
 
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ The cellar is a single irregular space carved into bedrock, roughly 10 meters by
 │ ╚══════╝     └──────────┘       │
 │  [Barrel                         │
 │   Racks]                         │
-│  [Old        [Thin Point]        │
+│  [Old                            │
 │   Crates]                        │
 │  [Orenn's                        │
 │   Circle]    ┌────┐              │
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ Wine and spirits too good for the upstairs crowd. A few barrels are marked with
 - A stoppered clay jug of **Alchemist's Fire** (3 flasks worth)
 - A bundle of **iron nails inscribed with tiny runes** (10 nails). Hammering one into a surface creates a minor ward — any fiend crossing within 5 feet of it takes 1d4 radiant damage and the nail glows white-hot for 1 round, alerting anyone nearby. Single use per nail.
 
-### The Concealed Door (Behind the Barrel Racks, North Wall)
+### The Concealed Door
 
 What looks like raw bedrock behind the barrel racks is a **shell of stone facing an iron door**. This is the entrance to the [Deep Cellar](deep-cellar.md) — the hidden lower level, and the module's exploration track.
 
@@ -62,14 +62,15 @@ See **[deep-cellar.md](deep-cellar.md)** for the full lower level.
 
 Genuinely old supplies: moth-eaten cloth, rusted tools, empty bottles. Nothing useful — but the crates themselves are positioned to obscure the circle on the floor behind them. Someone (Orenn) arranged them this way deliberately.
 
-The crates and the whole west corner are furred with thick, greyed spider-silk — far more than a damp cellar earns. **(Foreshadowing:** something big webs the dark below; see [Twinkle](deep-cellar.md#encounter--the-guardian).) The silk thins to nothing at the barrel racks, which are swept clean by regular handling — a tell in its own right (see the [Concealed Door](#the-concealed-door-behind-the-barrel-racks-north-wall)).
+The crates and the whole west corner are furred with thick, greyed spider-silk — far more than a damp cellar earns. **(Foreshadowing:** something big webs the dark below; see [Twinkle](deep-cellar.md#encounter--the-guardian).) The silk thins to nothing at the barrel racks, which are swept clean by regular handling — a tell in its own right (see the [Concealed Door](#the-concealed-door)).
 
 ### The Binding Circle (South)
 
-Hidden behind the crates. A permanent **Magic Circle against fiends** etched into the bedrock with silver inlay — **master-level work, and not Orenn's.** It belonged to the summoners who ran this house before them: DC 16 Arcana identifies it as a **summoning-and-binding circle**, the kind a warlock calls a fiend *into* so the thing can't reach them while they bargain and bind it. Orenn and Mags left it where they found it and never had cause — or the craft — to use it. (This is exactly why the cult's own Haddon can work it in the [rebinding](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-b-the-rebinding): it's a summoner's tool, and he's a summoner.)
+Hidden behind the crates. A permanent **Magic Circle against fiends** etched into the bedrock with silver inlay packed with fine black salt — **master-level work, and not Orenn's.** The packing is the stable, geometric form of [Veilhook Salt](deep-cellar.md#the-fixers-arsenal): silver carries the prohibition while the circle sustains it, preventing a captured creature from escaping between planes. It belonged to the summoners who ran this house before them: DC 16 Arcana identifies it as a **summoning-and-binding circle**, the kind a warlock calls a fiend *into* so the thing can't reach them while they bargain and bind it. Orenn and Mags left it where they found it and never had cause — or the craft — to use it. (This is exactly why the cult's own Haddon can work it in the [rebinding](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-b-the-rebinding): it's a summoner's tool, and he's a summoner.)
 
-- The circle is **intact and functional**. If Xarrul can be lured here and trapped, the circle activates automatically — the fiend must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma saving throw or be contained.
-- **Limitation:** The circle only works on the Material Plane. If Xarrul is in the Ethereal Plane, it has no effect. Players must first drag Xarrul fully across with [Veilhook Salt](deep-cellar.md#the-fixers-arsenal), catch it during a voluntary manifestation, or pursue the dual-plane kill.
+- The circle is **intact and functional**. If Material Xarrul enters it, the circle activates automatically — the fiend must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma saving throw or be contained. On a failure, it cannot willingly cross the circle or change planes while the circle remains intact.
+- **Rebinding adaptation:** After the first four knots are prepared with the coffer, Dalla's blood and Xarrul's true name, a failed DC 17 save closes a stronger salt-and-name matrix. It suppresses Xarrul's movement and fresh hostile effects across the boundary while the final three knots are spoken. Existing Brand links remain live, and Xarrul can still speak, steal voices and bargain. See [The Rebinding](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-b-the-rebinding).
+- **Limitation:** By itself, the circle cannot perceive or catch an Ethereal creature in the corresponding space. Portable [Veilhook Salt](deep-cellar.md#the-fixers-arsenal), *Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum* or comparable magic must first keep Xarrul Material. The coffer's [Litany of the Averted Step](../prints/litanie-odvraceneho-kroku.md) then limits where it can retreat while the party supplies forced movement. Bell, restored sigils and circle instead close around both planar states and remove the need to anchor it first.
 
 ### Foundation Stones & the Old Sigils (Center, North)
 
@@ -77,29 +78,10 @@ The exposed foundation stones of the tavern above. Carved into them are **sigils
 
 **Current state:** the stone around a few of the sigils is **warm to the touch** despite the cellar's cold. **DC 13 Arcana** reveals the old work is being *drawn on* — something has been feeding on it from the Ethereal side for weeks. **DC 16 Arcana** identifies the influence as fiendish. (This is Xarrul, siphoning the leftover craft to help pry open the [Old Work](deep-cellar.md#the-old-work) far below — the upstairs symptom of the real damage downstairs. It is *not* a broken barrier; it's a breadcrumb pointing the players **down.**)
 
-- **Rekindling a sigil.** A character with the right knowledge (a book from the house, or the [Guest's](../npc/the-guest.md) coaching) plus **warding chalk** (from storage) and a **DC 15 Arcana** check can wake one sigil into a genuine local ward, drawing on the thin point: while it holds, **Xarrul has disadvantage on Ethereal Jaunt within the tavern.** Failure expends the chalk. This is the players *doing* the craft the owners never could.
-
-### The Thin Point (East)
-
-The air here is wrong. Not cold, not warm — *thin*. Characters standing here feel a sensation like vertigo even on solid ground. Hair stands on end. Sounds seem to come from slightly wrong directions.
-
-**DC 12 Arcana or Perception:** The boundary between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane is naturally weak at this exact spot. This isn't artificial — the tavern was built on top of it.
-
-**DC 15 Arcana:** This thin point is why the tavern attracted the clientele it did. Subconsciously, people attuned to the arcane or the extraplanar gravitate toward places like this. The cultists didn't choose this tavern randomly. The fiend didn't target it randomly. Everything leads back here.
-
-**If a player takes Veil Dust here:** The effect is *doubled*. Instead of 1 minute, the trip lasts 10 minutes, and the visions are vivid and controllable rather than hallucinatory. The user can interact with ethereal entities directly (including Skein and Xarrul) for the duration. This is the ideal location for the dual-plane kill.
-
-**If the warding chalk circle is drawn here:** It functions as a full Magic Circle (as the spell, 1 hour duration) rather than the reduced 10-minute version, powered by the thin point's natural energy.
+- **Restoring the lattice.** A character with the right knowledge (a summoner book, Haddon's help or the [Guest's](../npc/the-guest.md) coaching), one use of **warding chalk**, and a **DC 16 Arcana** check can reconnect the surviving sigils. Failure expends the chalk. Restored sigils glow but do nothing alone. While the [iron bell](main-hall.md#the-fireplace) is ringing, they prevent Xarrul from using Ethereal Jaunt while it is inside the binding circle. If Xarrul is driven into that circle while both effects are active, bell, sigils and circle seal it consciously between planes. This is the players *doing* the craft the owners never could.
 
 ## Ethereal Plane Overlay
 
-For the DM: in the Ethereal Plane, the cellar looks different. The stone walls glow faintly with the ghost-light of old wards. The summoners' sigils appear as faint lines being *drained* — thin threads of light bleeding away toward the thin point. The thin point is a *tear* — not metaphorical, a visible rip in the grey fabric of the Ethereal Plane, showing the Material Plane through it in muted color.
+For the DM: in the Ethereal Plane, the stone walls glow faintly with the ghost-light of old wards. The foundation sigils continue as thin silver lines through the floor and down into the hidden level. Most are dark or flickering; the surviving light is being drawn downward toward the Old Work.
 
-**Xarrul** uses the cellar as its lair when resting. Ethereal-plane observers might find:
-- Claw marks on the ethereal stone near the sigils (this is where it's been siphoning the old work)
-- A nest of sorts — shadows coiled into a shape suggesting something sleeps here
-- The faint, acrid smell of the Brand of Spite (the ability that killed Orenn)
-
-## Read-Aloud: The Thin Point
-
-> *Něco tu nesedí. Ne nebezpečného — nebo ne zjevně — ale prostě špatného. Vzduch je tu jiný. Není studený ani teplý, je tenký, jako by tu bylo o jednu vrstvu reality míň, než by mělo být. Cítíte lehké závratě, přestože stojíte na pevné zemi. Vlasy na rukou se vám zvedají. A zvuky — kroky, kapání vody, váš vlastní dech — přicházejí z lehce špatných směrů, jako ozvěny v místnosti, která by neměla mít ozvěnu.*
+The **binding circle** blazes with clean silver light. It is a cage, not a breach: there is no rip, window, nest, or thin place inside it. Xarrul may pass through this room while working elsewhere in the house, but it does not rest here and leaves no lair behind.