fractions rework

location/deep-cellar.md

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ The only entrance is the **concealed iron door** in the Upper Cellar (see [cella
 - **DC 15 Investigation** on the north wall behind the barrel racks — the "living rock" there is a cleverly fitted iron door faced with a shell of real stone. A cold draft and a faint drag-scuff on the earth floor give it away.
 - **DC 15 Perception** — the same cold draft, plus the smell (copper, tallow, something animal underneath).
 - **Orenn's keys** (on his body) include a heavy, plain black iron key that fits nothing upstairs. It fits here.
+- **Vetch's lead:** if the players agree to recover his confiscated Veil Dust, he shows them the cold seam behind the northern racks. They find the door automatically, though they still need Orenn's key, *Knock*, or another way through its Arcane Lock.
 - **Mags** will only reveal it under the most extreme trust (see [mags.md](../npc/mags.md)) — and even then reluctantly. Players who *find it themselves* rob her of the choice, which is very much the point of this track.
 
 The door itself is locked (**Arcane Lock**, DC 20 to force, DC 25 Thieves' Tools; Orenn's black key or *Knock* bypasses it). Behind it: rough steps cut into bedrock, descending.
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ A low chamber sealed by a banded door under a permanent **Arcane Lock** (Orenn's
 ### The Fixers' Arsenal
 Rewards for going deep — none of it breaks the Reckoning, most of it *helps* it. Most of this is the **summoners' leftover safety kit** (you stock silver and holy water when you call up fiends for a living), topped up by the couple's own reactive buys from the handful of jobs that turned out not to be human:
 
-- **Fiendbane Salt (4 doses).** A pinch thrown at a fiend within 10 ft. forces a DC 14 Charisma save; on a failure the fiend is anchored to its current plane (can't use Ethereal Jaunt / Slip Between) until the end of its next turn. *This is the exploration reward that makes pinning Xarrul possible without buying Tallow's manacles* — cheaper in gold, dearer in danger.
+- **Veilhook Salt (4 doses).** As an action, throw a pinch at an extraplanar creature you can perceive within 10 ft. A target on the Ethereal Plane can be targeted only by someone able to see and interact across the boundary (such as a creature under Veil Dust). The target makes a DC 14 Charisma save. On a failure it is **dragged fully onto the Material Plane**, appearing in the corresponding space or the nearest unoccupied space, and cannot change planes until the end of its next turn. A target already on the Material Plane is simply anchored there for the duration. *This is the exploration reward that lets a Veil Dust user hook Xarrul across the boundary so the rest of the party can drive it into the binding circle.*
 - A **quiver of 10 silvered crossbow bolts** and a **matched silvered hand crossbow** (well-kept, +0 but silvered).
 - 2 vials of **Holy Water**, 1 more vial of **Silversheen**, and a jar of **warding chalk (2 uses)** — stacks with the storage-room supplies for a party that hunts both caches.
 - A **Potion of Heroism** and a **Potion of Greater Healing** (×2) — the couple's "before the bad jobs" stash.
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ Two cells cut side by side, iron-barred, fitted with the runed nails and a warde
 
 **Occupied.** A changeling the couple has held for years and used as an off-book asset. Full write-up, stat block, leverage, and dialogue in **[npc/the-guest.md](../npc/the-guest.md)**.
 
-Short version for the DM: the Guest is the beating heart of "they still have something going on." It's alive, lucid, a fluent liar, and it knows more about Orenn, Mags, *and the Order of Mending* than anyone the players have met — because Orenn used it to spy on the cult. Freeing it, using it, or leaving it is a genuine moral choice, and it can end in a fight ([doppelganger](../npc/the-guest.md), CR 3) or a very memorable escape. Read its file before running this room.
+Short version for the DM: the Guest is the beating heart of "they still have something going on." It's alive, lucid, a fluent liar, and it knows more about Orenn, Mags, *and the Order of Mending* than anyone the players have met — because Orenn used it to spy on the cult. It has also spent weeks speaking to Xarrul through the walls, helped the fiend choose Orenn, and negotiated to exchange its body for spectral ownership of the Inn. It intends to betray that bargain with the party's help and take both Xarrul's power and the tavern. Freeing, killing or trusting it determines whether [the Vacancy](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-g-the-vacancy-the-guests-gambit) is available. Read its file before running this room.
 
 > **Read-Aloud: Cell One**
 >
@@ -156,6 +157,8 @@ Short version for the DM: the Guest is the beating heart of "they still have som
 >
 > *"No konečně," řekne. "Začínal jsem mít strach, že na mě zapomněli."*
 
+**The conversation stain.** A character viewing the cell through Veil Dust, Oil of Etherealness or another Ethereal sight sees hair-thin amber lines caught around the bars, running down the corridor toward the thin point. They do not resemble claw marks or an attempted breach; they gather at head height, where two people might stand to speak. **DC 15 Arcana or Insight:** the fiend has visited this cell repeatedly, and the prisoner was not merely being hunted. They communicated. The Guest answers a direct question truthfully—*„Nabídl mi cestu, za kterou žádná klec nedosáhne”*—while omitting the bargain's terms.
+
 ### Cell Two — The Long Dead
 
 **Empty of the living.** On the floor at the back, a **desiccated corpse** — humanoid-shaped, but wrong: the bones too long, the jaw unhinged, the skin drawn to grey parchment over a frame that doesn't sit right. It has been dead for years. The manacles are still locked around wrists that shrank out of them.
@@ -183,11 +186,13 @@ A long, low chamber that smells of vinegar, sulphur, crushed herbs, and cold ash
 This is the other half of "still something going on." The couple never stopped brewing:
 
 - **Fiend-hunting alchemicals** — the source of the holy water, silversheen, alchemist's fire, and warding chalk found throughout the tavern. They supplied *themselves*.
-- **Veil Dust research.** A locked drawer (DC 14) holds **3 doses of Veil Dust** plus a notebook studying it — *not* as a drug but as a *tool* for watching the thin point. **This connects to the [ethereal-trip](../storylines/ethereal-trip.md) subplot**: Orenn and Mags used Veil Dust to monitor the fault for years. It does **not** contradict Tallow's supplier being Mother Vyre — the couple brewed their own small batch for work; they were never in the trade. (If a player is hunting the source of Vetch's addiction, this is a red herring that *feels* hot and cools on inspection — DC 13 Investigation on the ledger shows they never sold a gram.)
+- **Veil Dust research.** A locked drawer (DC 14) holds **4 doses of Veil Dust** plus a notebook studying it—not as a drug but as a tool for watching the thin point. Three are Orenn and Mags's measured work doses; the fourth is still folded in Vetch's grubby academy-paper packet, confiscated after his collapse. **This connects to the [ethereal-trip](../storylines/ethereal-trip.md) subplot** and pays off Vetch's lead immediately: the Workroom is the first chamber beyond the concealed descent. The notebook confirms the couple brewed only small diagnostic batches and never sold them.
+- **The Veilhook recipe.** The same notebook contains Orenn's field formula: grind **1 sprig of silvervein root**, **one vial of Holy Water**, and **5 gp of powdered silver** into black salt over low heat. Ten minutes of work and a DC 13 Arcana check or DC 13 check with Alchemist's Supplies or a Herbalism Kit produces **2 doses of Veilhook Salt**; on a failure it produces only 1 dose. The bench has powdered silver for two batches (10 gp total). Orenn's margin note explains the name: *"It does not repel. It catches the far side and pulls."*
 - **The Ledger (DC 12 to read):** entries for materia, ward maintenance, and — chillingly — line items for "the Guest": *"fed," "used — Order, 3 nights," "compliant," "trim dose"* (a suppressant they keep the Guest on; see [the-guest.md](../npc/the-guest.md)). If the players read this before meeting the Guest, they'll know it's been drugged into cooperation for years. A separate running column headed *"T."* tracks the pet as a resource: *"milked, 2 doses," "webbing spent — new batch," "bit M. again — she laughed."*
 
 ### Loot & Craft
 - **2 flasks of Alchemist's Fire**, **1 vial of Basic Poison** (×3 applications), **Antitoxin** (×2).
+- A sealed **summoner's binding coffer** containing silver wire, preserved lethe-marrow, ritual fat, grave salt, and a blank true-name strip—one complete set of components for [rebinding Xarrul](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-b-the-rebinding). Orenn kept it as evidence and an emergency measure, not merchandise.
 - **2 doses of harvested feyspitter venom** in stoppered vials on the milking rack — and more can be drawn from Twinkle (DC 13 with a poisoner's kit; safely from the living spider only if it's calmed or restrained, freely from a dead one). A proficient character can brew a dose during the lockdown (1 hour, DC 13) into **either**: a single-use **Blink Draught** (as a reaction when you take damage, teleport up to 15 ft. to a space you can see), **or** an **injury poison** (DC 14 CON save or 2d8 poison damage and the target is shunted 15 ft. to a random open space — the spider's own lurching venom, bottled).
 - A partially-finished batch of **warding chalk (1 use)** and enough materia for a proficient character (Herbalism Kit / Alchemist's Supplies / Poisoner's Kit) to brew **one more dose of any of the above during the lockdown** (1 hour, DC 13 with the right tools). Rewards a crafter PC with something to *do*.
 - **Silvervein root** (the ward-herb, ×4 sprigs) — matters for weakening [Skein](../storylines/possession.md) and helping Bren. A direct bridge from the exploration track into the possession subplot.
@@ -216,7 +221,7 @@ A party herded down the Cut spills through the warded arch into this room and, f
 ### Loot (weird, useful, cursed-adjacent)
 Let players earn these by braving the haunting. Suggested shelf (pick to taste):
 - A **Cloak of Billowing** or **Hat of Disguise** (mundane-ish utility, great for the social/stealth players) — tag: *"Guest's spare — do not issue."* (Ties to the changeling operation.)
-- A **Bag of Holding** (smaller sibling to Tallow's) — practical for hauling the vault's coin.
+- A **Bag of Holding** — practical for hauling the vault's coin.
 - **3 runed iron nails** (as upstairs — anti-fiend wards) and a **Driftglobe** (portable light for the dark warren; a small mercy).
 - A **sealed lead casket, warded, labeled *"DO NOT OPEN — '06"***. Inside (if a player insists): a **Vial of dark ichor** — a bound fiendish essence. Opening it is a bad idea (DM's discretion: a minor fiend or a curse) but it *can* be used as a component to bait/lure Xarrul. A high-risk, high-reward exploration payoff for a bold party. The wards on the casket (DC 15 Arcana) spell out plainly: *whatever is in here wants you to open it.*
 
@@ -297,14 +302,14 @@ Full tactical block below — it's the "fight a bit" the party will remember. It
 **Pacing:** This is a 30–60 minute side-track, or the spine of the whole night for an exploration-hungry group. It runs parallel to the lockdown upstairs — while some PCs interrogate patrons, others can be down here. Cut between the two.
 
 **The three payoffs, guaranteed:**
-1. **Loot** — the Vault + Workroom + Deep Storage give gear that makes the Reckoning easier (Fiendbane Salt, silvered weapons, alchemy, silvervein root for Bren).
+1. **Loot** — the Vault + Workroom + Deep Storage give gear that makes the Reckoning easier (Veilhook Salt, silvered weapons, alchemy, silvervein root for Bren).
 2. **Backstory** — the chalk wall, the trophies, the child's shoe, Cell Two, the Guest, and the ledger tell the whole truth about Orenn and Mags with almost no exposition.
 3. **A fight on their terms** — rats (trivial), the poltergeist (medium), Twinkle the feyspitter spider (avoidable, or a hard CR 4), rift creatures (scalable), and optionally the Guest (CR 3).
 
 **Threads back into the main game — surface at least one:**
 - The chalk wall / Guest / trophies reveal Orenn was investigating the **Order of Mending** → feeds the murder mystery and the [Reckoning](../storylines/the-reckoning.md).
 - The Workroom's **silvervein root** and Veil Dust → the [Possession](../storylines/possession.md) and [ethereal-trip](../storylines/ethereal-trip.md) subplots.
-- The **Fiendbane Salt** and silvered gear → the means to pin Xarrul without paying Tallow.
+- The **Veilhook Salt** and its Workroom recipe → the means to pull Xarrul onto the Material Plane and pin it.
 - The vault **trophies** implicating both factions → a lit fuse if it ever reaches the main hall.
 
 **If the party burns it (the fifth rule):** Orenn's contingency — *"burn the cellar stores and seal the door"* — is a real option. Torching the Workroom and Deep Storage and collapsing the door denies the loot but also **cuts off the rift's bleed into the tavern** (the fire consumes the failing containment and the stores that feed the fault's attraction), giving a partial ward-restoration effect equivalent to repairing the sigils. It's a scorched-earth ending Mags respects. The Guest, if still caged, dies in the fire unless freed first — make the players sit with that.