xarrul rework

storylines/the-reckoning.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Players arrive at the Reckoning through any combination of:
 - Essek revealing the summoning
 - Veil Dust trip exposing Xarrul
 - Orenn's letter and preparations in the storage room
-- Exploring the [Deep Cellar](../location/deep-cellar.md) — the chalk-wall notes and the [Guest's](../npc/the-guest.md) cult-infiltration intel both point at the Lambent Order and the summoning; the vault arms the party for the fight
+- Exploring the [Deep Cellar](../location/deep-cellar.md) — the chalk-wall notes and the [Guest's](../npc/the-guest.md) cult-infiltration intel both point at the Order of Mending and the summoning; the vault arms the party for the fight
 - Logical deduction from the ambiguous clues
 
 There is no "right" order. The Reckoning begins when the players know enough to act and choose to do so.
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ There is no "right" order. The Reckoning begins when the players know enough to
 
 ## The Clock
 
-The Reckoning is player-driven, but it is not *timeless*. With Orenn dead, no one is mending the ward-sigils, and the thin point widens as the night runs — the **ward-clock** ([xarrul.md — The Night's Clock](../npc/xarrul.md#the-nights-clock--presence--escalation)). The longer the players wait, the colder the room, the bolder Xarrul, the higher the body count. If they never act at all, the clock runs out and Xarrul **crosses over completely**: permanent, material, no Slip Between escape, far worse to fight. This is the pressure that keeps Act 4 from drifting. Slowing it — the iron bell, re-powering the cellar containment, the fifth rule's burn-and-seal — is the pushback; letting it run is its own quiet choice.
+The Reckoning is player-driven, but it is not *timeless*. When Mags shattered the summoners' lockstone in Act 2, she sealed the house across every plane into a **closed vessel** — and that is exactly what Xarrul needed to finish crossing. It now has until **midnight**, when the seal lapses, to complete the crossing through the old tear in the cellar — the **lockdown clock** ([xarrul.md — The Night's Clock](../npc/xarrul.md#the-nights-clock--presence--escalation) and [the ward-crystal's true nature](../location/tavern-overview.md#the-enchanted-door)). The longer the players wait, the colder the room, the bolder Xarrul, the higher the body count. If they never act at all, the clock runs out and Xarrul **crosses over completely**: permanent, material, no Slip Between escape, far worse to fight. This is the pressure that keeps Act 3 from drifting. Slowing or breaking it — **breaching a sealed exit** to re-open the vessel, the iron bell, re-powering the cellar containment, the fifth rule's burn-and-seal — is the pushback; letting it run is its own quiet choice.
 
 ---
 
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ Players know about Xarrul, have combat resources, and go to the cellar to fight
 
 **Methods to force Xarrul into the Material Plane:**
 - **Fiendbane Manacles** (from Tallow, 200 gp): Restrain it on the Material Plane for 1 hour
-- **Fiendbane Salt** (from the [Deep Cellar](../location/deep-cellar.md#the-cleaners-arsenal) vault, 4 doses): a thrown pinch anchors it to its plane until the end of its next turn (DC 14 CHA save) — the exploration reward that lets a party pin Xarrul without spending gold at Tallow's
-- **The iron bell** (main hall fireplace): Partially restores wards, giving Xarrul disadvantage on Ethereal Jaunt
-- **Orenn's binding circle** (cellar floor): If lured inside, DC 17 CHA save or trapped
+- **Fiendbane Salt** (from the [Deep Cellar](../location/deep-cellar.md#the-fixers-arsenal) vault, 4 doses): a thrown pinch anchors it to its plane until the end of its next turn (DC 14 CHA save) — the exploration reward that lets a party pin Xarrul without spending gold at Tallow's
+- **The iron bell** (main hall fireplace): an old house-relic that wakes the foundation sigils for a time, giving Xarrul disadvantage on Ethereal Jaunt
+- **The binding circle** (cellar floor; the summoners', not Orenn's): if lured inside, DC 17 CHA save or trapped
 - **Warding chalk circles** (from storage): Minor constraint, 10 minutes per use
 - **Force damage:** Affects ethereal creatures from the Material Plane
 
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ The "easy" resolution. Haddon proposes recapturing Xarrul using the binding circ
 **Requirements:**
 1. Binding components from Tallow (~50 gp)
 2. Dalla's blood (she gives it willingly — rolls up her sleeves without hesitation)
-3. Orenn's binding circle in the cellar (DC 16 Arcana to adapt it for rebinding rather than containment)
+3. The summoners' binding circle in the cellar (DC 16 Arcana to adapt it for rebinding rather than containment)
 4. Xarrul must be lured to the cellar or forced onto the Material Plane
 5. Haddon leads the ritual (10 minutes, concentration), Rennt assists
 
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ The "easy" resolution. Haddon proposes recapturing Xarrul using the binding circ
 
 The "true" way to destroy Xarrul — synchronized destruction in both the Material and Ethereal planes. This is the method that cures Dalla's child. It's also the method that tears the veil.
 
-**This scenario is only available if Dalla has broken from the Order** (see [Lambent Order — Dalla's Breakdown](lambent-order.md)). A loyal Dalla would never consider destroying the fiend over rebinding it — destruction serves no purpose to the cult. The dual-plane kill requires a Dalla who understands the real cost of the cult's path and is willing to abandon it for her daughter. Players who never uncover the truth about The Opening never reach this option.
+**This scenario is only available if Dalla has broken from the Order** (see [Order of Mending — Dalla's Breakdown](order-of-mending.md)). A loyal Dalla would never consider destroying the fiend over rebinding it — destruction serves no purpose to the cult. The dual-plane kill requires a Dalla who understands the real cost of the cult's path and is willing to abandon it for her daughter. Players who never uncover the truth about The Opening never reach this option.
 
 **Requirements:**
 1. At least one character on the Ethereal Plane (Veil Dust at the thin point = 10 minutes, or Oil of Etherealness from Orenn's bedroom = 1 hour)
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Then the veil snaps back. The tear heals. Xarrul is gone.
 Xarrul is ancient and pragmatic. If cornered and unable to escape, it will negotiate.
 
 **What Xarrul offers:**
-- Everything it knows about the Lambent Order, Mother Vyre, and Phase Two
+- Everything it knows about the Order of Mending, Mother Vyre, and Phase Two
 - The truth about Dace's treachery
 - Information about Skein and how to kill it
 - The names and locations of other fiends bound by mortal cults in the region
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ The darkest ending — and the one that most fully commits to the module's thesi
 **What it requires**
 
 1. **A vessel.** Default: the caged **Guest** — a body that can be anyone, poured full of an honest fiend. The knife: the Guest is **annihilated** in the process. A party that frees the Guest out of *mercy* may be handing Xarrul its skin — and the Guest, who reads thoughts, may know it, becoming either a desperate ally against Xarrul or a rival racing to the same door. *(Alternatives: a PC volunteers as host — the most personal; that character leaves the party. Or simply leave the door open — Xarrul crosses as itself, weaker, and finds a host later.)*
-2. **The crossing.** Run out the [ward-clock](#the-clock) (keep the players from mending the wards) or complete the crossing at the rift, while holding off anyone who tries to stop it.
+2. **The crossing.** Let the [lockdown clock](#the-clock) run — keep anyone from breaching the seal or waking the sigils — or complete the crossing at the rift, while holding off anyone who tries to stop it.
 3. **Getting past Mags.** She will not accept this.
 
 **Mags, and the shape of the finale.** Mags says *"No"* — simple, final. Siding with Xarrul means going through the widow of the man it murdered, in front of her. So Xarrul triggers the [Warden's Mark](../npc/mags.md#the-wardens-mark-dm) — its first favor to its new allies — and Mags fights *compromised*, grief-broken and half-frozen in a vision of Orenn's death. This is not a slugfest but a **desperate holding action**: complete the crossing while a diminished Mags throws everything she has left at the objective. Winnable, tragic, and *the players'* to win. It ends not with a clean kill but with her going down and the fiend quietly thanking them. (For a bigger fight, add **Sevra** at her side.)
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ If players pursue the dual-plane kill, they face the moral question at the heart
 | **Rennt** | Ecstatic. Helps eagerly. "The planes want to touch!" | Validates everything he believes. |
 | **Essek** | Terrified. "You're proving her right." | Knows what Phase Two means. |
 | **Haddon** | Quiet. Watching. Taking notes. | This is exactly the data he needs. |
-| **Mags** | Conflicted. She wants Xarrul dead. But not like this. "Orenn spent fifteen years keeping this thin point stable. You're going to tear it open to kill one fiend?" | She respects the sacrifice but fears the consequence. |
+| **Mags** | Conflicted. She wants Xarrul dead. But not like this. "That tear's been sealed under my feet for fifteen years and I slept fine. You want to rip it *wider* to kill one fiend?" | She respects the sacrifice but fears the consequence. |
 | **Sevra** | Pragmatic. "Does it work? Then do it. Worry about theory later." | Results-oriented. |
 | **Bren** (if lucid) | "The thin point has been growing for years. One more tear won't matter." (This might be true. Or it might be exactly what Skein wants him to say.) | Unknown — is this Bren's genuine assessment or Skein's manipulation? |
 
@@ -252,9 +252,9 @@ Dawn comes. Mags opens the doors. People leave. The night is over.
 
 ## Alternative Ending: The Bell
 
-If players repaired the wards AND rang the iron bell AND have Xarrul trapped in the cellar's binding circle:
+If players **rekindled the foundation sigils** AND rang the iron bell AND have Xarrul trapped in the cellar's binding circle:
 
-The wards flare to life. The thin point *contracts*. Xarrul, caught between the binding circle and the restored wards, is crushed between planes — not killed, but *sealed*. Trapped in the space between Material and Ethereal, conscious, unable to move, unable to escape. A fate some would call worse than death.
+The old sigils flare to life. The thin point *contracts*. Xarrul, caught between the binding circle and the woken sigils, is crushed between planes — not killed, but *sealed*. Trapped in the space between Material and Ethereal, conscious, unable to move, unable to escape. A fate some would call worse than death.
 
 The child is not cured (the binding energy isn't released). But Xarrul is contained. The thin point stabilizes. The tavern is safe again.