fixing plotholes, streamlining

storylines/order-of-mending.md

@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ During Essek's gust in the opening brawl, Haddon's folio bursts open and its pap
 Use the extracts as two paced discoveries rather than one exposition dump:
 
 1. **Maternal-conduit extract** — [print handout](../prints/vyre-zaznam-matersky-konduit.md). Xarrul plants this first, after whispering to Dalla in Haddon's voice. Good locations: beneath the cellar stairs, folded into Haddon's displaced book, or pushed from the Ethereal Plane into Dalla's reach. It identifies Dalla but hides the meaning behind clinical terminology. DC 14 Arcana, Medicine, or a direct explanation from Haddon/Essek establishes that a *maternal conduit* is a blood-relative used to reach and drain Nessa across planes.
-2. **Dislocation-event extract** — [print handout](../prints/vyre-zaznam-dislocacni-udalost.md). Xarrul withholds this until the players can understand its value. Good locations: beside the thin point, in the Deep Cellar near Xarrul's worksite, or offered during negotiation. DC 16 Arcana translates the argument: Nessa's projection was healthy enough to return until experiment E–III diverted it into the Border Ethereal and trapped her silver cord. The phrase *iatrogenic transplanar dislocation* means the researchers caused the condition they later claimed to treat.
+2. **Dislocation-event extract** — [print handout](../prints/vyre-zaznam-dislocacni-udalost.md). Xarrul withholds this until the players can understand its value. Good locations: beside the tear in the Deep Cellar's Old Work, elsewhere along Xarrul's ethereal route, or offered during negotiation. DC 16 Arcana translates the argument: Nessa's projection was healthy enough to return until experiment E–III diverted it into the Border Ethereal and trapped her silver cord. The phrase *iatrogenic transplanar dislocation* means the researchers caused the condition they later claimed to treat.
 
 Neither handout names Xarrul or explains the conclusion plainly. Let the players ask what the terms mean. Haddon initially calls them preliminary models taken out of context; Essek recognizes Mother Vyre's approval mark and can interpret both.
 
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ Dalla can absorb the exposed summoning and remain loyal: she believes it served
 >
 > „Našla nás, protože už věděla, co udělala."
 
-Essek's testimony or Vyre's correspondence can add the final horror: the Opening would release Nessa only by abolishing the world she could return to. After either full proof or proof plus Essek's explanation, Dalla shares everything she knows and openly opposes Haddon. But she does **not** automatically support the dual-plane kill; Xarrul now offers what sounds like the safer rescue.
+Essek's testimony or Vyre's correspondence can add the final horror: the Opening would release Nessa only by abolishing the world she could return to. After either full proof or proof plus Essek's explanation, Dalla shares everything she knows and openly opposes Haddon. But she does **not** automatically support killing Xarrul in the Ethereal Plane; Xarrul now offers what sounds like the safer rescue.
 
 ### Xarrul's Offer to Dalla
 
@@ -253,14 +253,31 @@ If players never uncover the two research extracts—or if they side with the cu
 - Requires the complete summoner's binding coffer from the [Deep Cellar Workroom](../location/deep-cellar.md#the-workroom-laboratory)
 - Requires Dalla's blood (she gives it without hesitation only while loyal; after the conduit extract, she refuses)
 - Requires the binding circle in the cellar (DC 16 Arcana to adapt the summoners' circle)
-- Haddon leads the ritual, Rennt assists, takes 10 minutes
+- Requires two readers to use the coffer's [Litany of the Averted Step](../prints/litanie-odvraceneho-kroku.md) as directional wards while a third character forces Xarrul into the circle
+- Takes ten minutes to prepare outside initiative; the final three knots take three rounds with Haddon, Dalla and Rennt all actively maintaining separate stations
+
+The true-name Recall brings Xarrul to the outer edge of the upper cellar, not into the circle. Each litany reader prevents Material Xarrul from willingly moving closer to them; two readers positioned apart create a funnel, while melee hits that forgo damage, shoves and other forced movement drive it inward. The litany does not stop Ethereal Jaunt, so the party still needs *Private Sanctum*, Veilhook Salt or another planar anchor.
+
+During the final three knots, all three cultists must act. Three active voices advance the ritual, two stall it, one loses progress and none releases Xarrul. When one voice breaks, the other active ritualists each take 2d6 psychic damage, which can cascade through their concentration. PCs therefore keep the ritual alive by healing, protecting concentration, taking over a station or using what they learned upstairs to answer Xarrul's truthful attack on each cultist's loyalty. See the complete mechanics in [The Reckoning](the-reckoning.md#scenario-b-the-rebinding).
 
 **If it succeeds:** Xarrul is bound again. The cult has their weapon back. Dalla's connection stabilizes — Nessa stops getting worse but doesn't improve. Her body remains suspended. The cult continues toward Phase Two. Dalla tells herself this is progress. Players leave having "solved" the murder by rebinding the weapon, but they've handed the cult exactly what it wanted.
 
-**If it fails** (Xarrul breaks free mid-ritual, DC 17 CHA save): Combat. The cellar. Xarrul is furious at being bound twice. This is the worst-case scenario — a fight with no preparation and the cultists caught in the crossfire.
+**If capture fails:** Xarrul remains loose in the upper cellar and attacks the readers, salt-carrier and whoever is operating the Recall. **If all three final stations fail:** the prepared components burn out, the adapted circle releases Xarrul and the fight resumes with the cultists injured by backlash.
 
 **This resolution is available even to players who don't dig deep.** It's the easy answer. It solves the immediate problem. It feels like a win. It isn't.
 
+The restored binding preserves the connection to Nessa. She does not wake, but a future Opening could still pull her home. This makes rebinding a genuine rescue route as well as a restoration of the Order's weapon—and makes its moral price sharper.
+
+### Bell-and-Sigils Containment
+
+The party can refuse both rebinding and immediate destruction. If they restore the foundation sigils, hold Xarrul inside the upper-cellar circle and ring the iron bell correctly, the three workings seal Xarrul consciously between planes. The Order does not regain command, and Xarrul cannot act. Nessa remains lost, but her connection stays intact for an Opening or safer future research. See [The Bell-and-Sigils Seal](the-reckoning.md#the-bell-and-sigils-seal).
+
+### Banishment Drives It Home
+
+The Border Ethereal is Xarrul's native plane. *Banishment* sends it to the corresponding place there and prevents it from jaunting Material while the spell lasts; it does not end the encounter or release the harvested vitality. Material death likewise fails: Deathless Slip leaves Xarrul Ethereal at 1 HP even through planar restraints. Permanent destruction requires reducing it to 0 HP in the Ethereal Plane, whether during a planar pincer, the exposed Vacancy or the Hollowing.
+
+If Dalla dies, Nessa does not immediately die. Her suspended body remains stable and unaging, but the easiest living conduit is gone. Reaching her becomes much harder and requires reconstructing the path from the blood records, Xarrul or the stored vitality in an empowered Guest.
+
 ### The Cult Fractures (Requires Truth)
 Only happens if players uncover the real nature of The Opening and share it:
 - Dalla turns on Haddon when the extraction is explained; the E–III report destroys her remaining faith in Vyre
@@ -282,8 +299,9 @@ If the assassins learn the cult sent a bound fiend into their archive to steal t
 Deep investigation does not make Dalla the mouthpiece for one correct ending. It gives her three terrible options:
 
 - **Rebinding:** before the conduit extract, she supports it because Haddon calls it progress. Afterward, she knows it reconnects the extraction and refuses to give blood willingly.
-- **The dual-plane kill:** destroying both halves of Xarrul should release the harvested vitality back along Nessa's silver cord. It might pull her home; a violent recoil might also damage the cord. No one in the inn has tested it. Dalla wants the possibility but fears gambling Nessa when another route exists.
+- **Ethereal destruction:** killing Xarrul in its native plane should release the harvested vitality back along Nessa's silver cord. It might pull her home; a violent recoil might also damage the cord. No one in the inn has tested it. Dalla wants the possibility but fears gambling Nessa when another route exists.
 - **The Open Door:** Xarrul claims it can guide Nessa back after the lockdown ends. Dalla becomes this option's strongest advocate because it is the only offer made by someone who both understands the binding and has not yet lied to her.
+- **Bell and sigils:** sealing Xarrul between planes preserves the cord without handing it back to Haddon. Dalla accepts this as a delay only if the party commits to continuing Nessa's rescue.
 
 Her argument is not that Xarrul is good:
 
@@ -293,7 +311,7 @@ The opposing voices become clean and strong:
 
 - **Rennt and Haddon:** rebind Xarrul; preserve the work and the only "proven" path to the Opening.
 - **Dalla:** free Xarrul and make it keep its promise.
-- **Essek:** attempt the dual-plane kill; end the extraction now rather than trust a fiend later.
+- **Essek:** maintain a pincer across both planes and kill Xarrul Ethereally; end the extraction now rather than trust a fiend later.
 - **Mags:** destroy Xarrul by whatever method does not loose it into the world; Nessa cannot erase Orenn.
 
-The central choice is earned by finding the notes. Players who only scratch the surface receive Haddon's rebinding plan and think they have found the safe answer. Players who learn what Dalla and Nessa really are must decide which dangerous witness deserves their trust.
+The central choice is earned by finding the notes. Players who only scratch the surface receive Haddon's rebinding plan and think they have found the safe answer. Players who learn what Dalla and Nessa really are must decide which dangerous witness deserves their trust. If they bargain with Xarrul, Dalla insists that the spoken terms explicitly name Nessa, her safe return, the people to be spared and the moment the obligation is complete; Xarrul keeps exact words, not implied mercy.