fixing plotholes, streamlining

storylines/possession.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ## Overview
 
-Bren Aldara was an arcanist. Seven years ago, he studied a thin point between planes — this one, beneath the Nether Inn — and something latched on. **Skein**, a parasitic entity from the Ethereal Plane, attached itself to Bren's mind and has been feeding on him ever since. What the tavern patrons see as a madman talking to himself is a prisoner begging his captor for mercy.
+Bren Aldara was an arcanist. Seven years ago, he studied the thin point—the still-sealed tear in the Old Work beneath the Nether Inn—and something latched on. **Skein**, a parasitic entity from the Ethereal Plane, attached itself to Bren's mind and has been feeding on him ever since. What the tavern patrons see as a madman talking to himself is a prisoner begging his captor for mercy.
 
 This subplot is about recognizing that what looks like madness is actually captivity, and choosing whether to do anything about it.
 
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ Skein is not a fiend, not undead, not aberrant in the traditional sense. It's a
 
 **Parasitic Bond.** While bonded to a host, Skein can see through the host's eyes, hear through the host's ears, and speak through the host's mouth. It can suppress or override the host's actions (no save — the bond is too old for resistance). Skein always knows the host's location and emotional state.
 
-**Ethereal Existence.** Skein exists on the Ethereal Plane. It cannot be seen, attacked, or affected by anything on the Material Plane without ethereal sight or effects that cross planar boundaries.
+**Ethereal Existence.** Skein exists on the Ethereal Plane. It cannot be attacked or affected by anything on the Material Plane. *See Invisibility* and similar magic can reveal it, but do not allow interaction across the planar boundary.
 
-**Thread Tendrils.** Skein's tendrils extend up to 10 feet into the Material Plane through the host's body. Severing a tendril (AC 13, 5 HP per tendril, must have ethereal sight to target) causes Skein to lose control of the host for 1 round per tendril severed. Skein has 6 tendrils. They regenerate in 1d4 hours.
+**Thread Tendrils.** Skein's tendrils extend up to 10 feet from it and overlap the host's body across the planar boundary. Severing a tendril (AC 13, 5 HP per tendril; it must be attacked from the Ethereal Plane) causes Skein to lose control of the host for 1 round per tendril severed. Skein has 6 tendrils. They regenerate in 1d4 hours.
 
 **Mind Drain.** Each day Skein remains bonded, the host's Wisdom is reduced by 1 (minimum 1). This reduction can only be restored by Greater Restoration or by permanently killing Skein. Bren's Wisdom has been reduced from 16 to 6 over seven years (it didn't drain every day — some days Skein rests).
 
@@ -75,12 +75,12 @@ Players talk to Bren and notice he's not just raving randomly:
 - **Detect Magic** on Bren: Abjuration and Enchantment signatures. Something is bound to him.
 - **DC 14 Arcana** while examining Bren: There's an anchor point — something attached to his mind from another plane. It's not a curse in the traditional sense; it's a *presence*.
 - **Detect Evil and Good** (Dalla can cast this): Registers as an aberration/monstrosity anchored to Bren from the Ethereal Plane.
+- **The bookmarked arcane volumes beside Haddon's table:** Three entries initially look plausible: [Ethereal Skeins](../prints/o-eterickem-predivu.md), [Mist Leeches](../prints/o-mlznych-pijavicich.md) and the [Return Echo](../prints/o-navratove-ozvene.md). Observation eliminates the latter two: a mist leech cannot censor speech or control movement, while a return echo has no independent body or tendrils. Only the Skein entry matches everything, and its marginal notes are signed **B. A.**
 
 ### Stage 3: Seeing Skein
 Requires ethereal sight:
-- **Veil Dust** — see Skein clearly, a knotted spider-thing with tendrils in Bren's skull
-- **See Invisibility** (Essek can cast this) — reveals Skein's outline
-- **Orenn's silver mirror** — DC 15 Perception while using it near Bren shows a distortion clinging to his head
+- **See Invisibility** (Essek can cast this) — reveals Skein directly
+- **Orenn's silver mirror** — provides the effect of *See Invisibility* within its reflection, revealing Skein and the six tendrils entering Bren's skull; it does not make Skein Material or allow attacks to cross
 
 ### Read-Aloud: Seeing Skein for the First Time
 
@@ -97,11 +97,11 @@ Requires ethereal sight:
 ## How to Save Bren
 
 ### Option A: Kill Skein (Permanent, Difficult)
-Requires entering the Ethereal Plane (Veil Dust, Oil of Etherealness) and fighting Skein directly.
+Requires entering the Ethereal Plane and fighting Skein directly. The Deep Cellar contains **two [Faded Scrolls of Etherealness](../prints/faded-scroll-of-etherealness.md)**, one in the Workroom and one in the Vault: each takes an action to read, works for 1 minute and can be used by anyone who can read a written language. They provide enough time for a short confrontation without consuming the longer-lasting Oil of Etherealness. Oil remains an alternative if the scrolls are missed, destroyed or saved for Xarrul.
 
 **Complications:**
 - Skein uses Bren as a shield — threatening to kill the host (Suppress Host to make Bren harm himself) if attacked
-- In the Ethereal Plane near the thin point, Skein has advantage on Stealth checks (home terrain)
+- In the Ethereal Plane near the tear in the Old Work, Skein has advantage on Stealth checks (home terrain)
 - If Skein drops below 10 HP, it tries to Flee — players must prevent this or it escapes and attaches to a new host eventually
 - Xarrul's presence makes the Ethereal Plane more dangerous — the fiend might interfere (it finds Skein amusing but not threatening)
 
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ Requires entering the Ethereal Plane (Veil Dust, Oil of Etherealness) and fighti
 - He remembers everything: seven years of captivity, watching his own body be puppeted, feeling himself erode
 
 ### Option B: Sever the Tendrils (Temporary)
-Requires ethereal sight and targeted attacks.
-- Each tendril: AC 13, 5 HP (must be attacked on the Ethereal Plane or with force damage)
+Requires entering the Ethereal Plane and making targeted attacks.
+- Each tendril: AC 13, 5 HP (must be attacked on the Ethereal Plane)
 - Severing all 6 tendrils frees Bren for 1d4 hours
 - During this time, Bren is lucid, coherent, and desperately helpful
 - He can provide testimony about the murder, information about the thin point, and his own background
@@ -128,6 +128,12 @@ The spell suppresses Skein's control for the duration (10 minutes, concentration
 - When the spell ends, Skein reasserts control with a vengeance — Bren takes 5 (1d10) psychic damage
 - Repeating this method angers Skein and makes it more aggressive with the host
 
+### Option D: Silvervein Root (One Clear Moment)
+Crushing **1 sprig of silvervein root** beside Bren consumes the sprig and weakens Skein's grip for 1 round.
+- Bren can speak and act lucidly during that round
+- Skein cannot use Silence the Host or Suppress Host until the start of the next round
+- This does not damage the tendrils or prevent Skein from reasserting control afterward
+
 ---
 
 ## Bren's Testimony (When Lucid)
@@ -138,7 +144,7 @@ If players free Bren temporarily or permanently, he provides:
 "I saw it happen. Something came through — from the other side. Like smoke with hands. It reached through the air behind the bar and touched Orenn. He didn't even flinch. He just... stopped. The thing pulled back and it was *smiling*. I could feel it smiling."
 
 **About Skein:**
-"It found me seven years ago. I was studying the thin point — the cellar beneath this tavern. I got too close. It latched on and it's been... eating me. My memories. My will. Every day there's a little less of me. I can feel the edges of myself going soft."
+"It found me seven years ago. I was studying the tear in the old chamber beneath this tavern. The thin point. I got too close. It latched on and it's been... eating me. My memories. My will. Every day there's a little less of me. I can feel the edges of myself going soft."
 
 **About Xarrul:**
 "The thing that killed Orenn is different from what's in me. Bigger. Older. Crueler. My — [he struggles to find a word for Skein] — my *passenger* is afraid of it. Deeply afraid. That's why I had those moments tonight — it was distracted, watching the fiend, and I could push through."