fractions rework

location/main-hall.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ A massive slab of darkwood, scarred by decades of knife marks, spilled drinks, a
 - A loaded hand crossbow (Orenn's insurance, DC 13 Investigation)
 - A flask of **Sovereign Glue** (for situations that needed permanent solutions)
 - A small leather journal in coded shorthand (DC 16 Intelligence to decode — contains names and debts owed to the house, including entries for both Sevra and Haddon)
+- An ornate brass fitting used as a **bottle opener**. It is Vey Corren's signet, filed down and mounted beneath the bar after the Grey Quay betrayal. Sevra recognizes it instantly; Orenn's journal records the debt as closed.
 
 ### The Fireplace
 
@@ -29,19 +30,21 @@ Two other unnamed blades fill the rest of the table. They defer to Sevra complet
 
 ### Cultist Table (South-West)
 
-A round table covered in papers, open books, and half-empty inkwells — maintaining the scholar facade. **Haddon** sits at the center, composed. **Dalla** is on his left, distracted and pale. **Rennt** is on his right, leaning forward with intense energy. **Essek** sits slightly apart, saying nothing.
+A round table covered in papers, open books, and half-empty inkwells—maintaining the scholar facade. It is not merely the cultists' chosen seat: Haddon and Vyre used it as their worktable during the original cleanup fifteen years ago. Tiny catalogue numbers cut by Haddon remain along one edge, and regulars know not to take his chair. **Haddon** sits at the center, composed. **Dalla** is on his left, distracted and pale. **Rennt** is on his right, leaning forward with intense energy. **Essek** sits slightly apart, saying nothing.
+
+Beside it stands a narrow bookshelf containing the original summoners' volumes Haddon and Vyre classified as safe enough to keep upstairs. Early pages carry cautious notes in Haddon's left hand and responsible annotations from Vyre before doctrine consumed her. Later volumes contain Bren Aldara's precise corrections. Haddon now writes right-handed because the containment circle that saved Orenn ruined his left arm.
 
 **After the murder:** Haddon immediately begins constructing an alibi — "we were all engaged in discussion, none of us left the table." This is technically true but irrelevant (the fiend killed from the Ethereal Plane). Rennt is agitated and defensive. Dalla doesn't seem to care about the investigation at all — she's thinking about her child.
 
 **On the table (DC 12 Investigation):** Among the scholarly papers, one diagram shows planar boundaries with annotations about "thinning points." Haddon will claim it's theoretical research. It's actually a map of potential Opening sites, and the Nether Inn is marked.
 
-### Tallow's Booth (South, near wall)
+**Haddon's personal journal:** A narrow black volume with a brass clasp stays beneath Haddon's hand or buckled inside his robe. Stealing it requires DC 16 Sleight of Hand during a distraction; its clasp is DC 16 Thieves' Tools and the cipher DC 18 Intelligence. One deciphered page is printable physical evidence against Dace; see [Haddon's journal](../npc/cultists.md#his-journal-dc-16-sleight-of-hand-to-steal-dc-16-thieves-tools-to-open-dc-18-int-to-decipher).
 
-A small booth with high-backed wooden seats that create a natural privacy screen. **Tallow** has claimed this spot as his office. His bag of holding sits under the table between his feet — he never lets it out of reach.
+**The missing folio (DC 14 Investigation after the brawl):** One leather folio lies open with two cut binding threads and clean rectangles where pages protected the dusty inner cover. Haddon insists it held irrelevant calculations. In fact, Xarrul stole both restricted extracts during the blackout; see [Haddon's Missing Research Folio](../storylines/order-of-mending.md#haddons-missing-research-folio).
 
-He has a clear sightline to the bar, the entrance, and both faction tables. He sees everything and pretends to see nothing.
+### Curtained Booth (South, near wall)
 
-**Under the table (DC 18 Perception or Sleight of Hand while Tallow is distracted):** A lockbox bolted to the underside of the seat. Contains 3 doses of Veil Dust, 80 gp in mixed coin, and a sealed letter addressed to "V." — it's a message from Tallow's supplier about a new, more potent formulation of the dust. The supplier is unnamed but the handwriting matches Mother Vyre's (DC 17 Investigation to match, requires seeing another sample of her writing from cultist documents).
+A small booth with high-backed wooden seats and a moth-eaten curtain. It has a clear sightline to the bar, the entrance, and both faction tables while giving anyone seated inside a little privacy. Nobody claimed it before the brawl. During the investigation it is the obvious place to isolate Essek, question a witness, hide a frightened Vetch, or stage a conversation someone else wants to overhear.
 
 ### Bren's Corner (North-East, near bar)
 
@@ -51,7 +54,7 @@ The space beside him where he talks to is **occupied** in the Ethereal Plane by
 
 ### Vetch's Spot (South-East, near cellar stairs)
 
-**Vetch** sits on a stool near the stairs that lead down to the cellar. He's not here by accident — he knows Tallow keeps extra product and he's been trying to figure out how to get to it all night.
+**Vetch** sits on a stool near the stairs that lead down to the cellar. He's not here by accident: two nights ago Orenn confiscated his last packet of Veil Dust and carried it below. Vetch followed far enough to find the cold seam behind the northern barrel racks, but not far enough to open it.
 
 He's jittery, sweating, picking at the skin on his forearms. He flinches when spoken to but warms up quickly if shown even basic kindness.