fractions rework

npc/the-guest.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # The Guest — The Caged Face
 
-*"They call me the Guest. Isn't that gracious? As if I might leave whenever I liked. As if the door were a courtesy." — spoken with a warm smile, in whatever voice you'd most like to trust.*
+*„Říkají mi Host. Není to milé? Jako bych mohl kdykoli odejít. Jako by ty dveře byly jen zdvořilost.” — proneseno s vřelým úsměvem, hlasem, kterému byste ze všeho nejraději věřili.*
 
 ---
 
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ The Guest is a **changeling** — a shapeshifter of no fixed face — that Orenn
 
 For over a decade it has been their **off-book asset**: a face they could send anywhere, to sit at any table, to become anyone, and come back with what the couple needed to know. When they told the world they poured drinks, the Guest was out wearing someone else's life, listening. This is "the thing they still have going on."
 
-It is charming, patient, exhausted, and an extraordinary liar. It is not evil — but it is not safe, and eleven years in a cage have made it desperate in a way that hides very, very well behind that smile.
+It is charming, patient, exhausted, and an extraordinary liar. It is not a sadist, but it is no longer innocent. Eleven years taught it that there are no free people, only **keepers and things being kept**. It no longer means to escape that arrangement. It means to stand on the other side of it.
 
 ---
 
@@ -51,6 +51,20 @@ In its **worn form** (what the party first sees): whatever face serves. By defau
 
 ---
 
+## What It Wants — The Guest Becomes the Host
+
+The Guest does **not** chiefly want to leave the Nether Inn. It wants the Inn.
+
+Orenn is dead. Mags is compromised. The Guest knows every patron, debt, secret room, faction and unfinished job in the house. It wore the faces that gathered half of Orenn's intelligence and did the work for which the couple took credit. In its accounting, eleven years of captivity did not merely incur a debt of freedom. They made the tavern **back pay**.
+
+Its desired ending is to stand behind the bar when the lockdown opens, holding the black key, recognized as the new proprietor. Mags may serve beside it, leave, or take its old place in Cell One. That is her choice, as the Guest understands choice now.
+
+This is not simple greed. The Guest has learned the cage's lesson perfectly and wrongly: a person is safe only while holding the key. It would rather become the jailer than risk becoming a prisoner again.
+
+> *„Říkali mi Host, aby to znělo dočasně. Orenn je mrtvý. Tenhle dům mi dluží jedenáct let. Myslím, že je načase, abych se stal hostinským.”*
+
+---
+
 ## The Leverage — Why It Hasn't Just Left
 
 Eleven years and it hasn't escaped, because Orenn and Mags built the cage out of more than iron:
@@ -61,44 +75,81 @@ Eleven years and it hasn't escaped, because Orenn and Mags built the cage out of
 
 ---
 
+## The Compact in the Walls — Xarrul and the Guest
+
+Xarrul has spent weeks working the tear near the Guest's cell. They have spoken through stone and across the veil: two captive assets comparing owners.
+
+The Guest gave Xarrul the last piece of local knowledge its murder required. It explained that **Orenn was the cautious keeper** and that Mags would reach for the emergency lockstone if he died. Xarrul recognized the stone as the summoners' cross-planar seal and understood what Mags did not: her grief would build its crossing vessel. Xarrul chose and killed Orenn. The Guest never touched him and never left its cell—an airtight alibi constructed entirely from truth.
+
+In return, Xarrul offered a precise exchange. The Guest will willingly vacate its changeling body. Xarrul will use its knowledge of silver cords to anchor the Guest's projected spirit into the Inn's foundation wards, making it the literal **Host**: present in every wall, master of every lock, impossible to put inside a room because it has become the room. Xarrul takes the empty, mutable body and walks into the world. Xarrul has described the price without euphemism: the Host will never cross the Inn's threshold again.
+
+The Guest genuinely accepts that outcome. It also intends to do better.
+
+During the transfer, both spirits must briefly leave the body. Xarrul will be fully committed, unable to jaunt away, and vulnerable to the same tools that normally pin it across two planes. The Guest cannot defeat it alone and Xarrul knows that. The Guest's concealed weapon is the party: if they destroy Xarrul's exposed spirit, its embedded planar imprint collapses into the vacant changeling body. The Guest can reclaim both the body and part of Xarrul's power — the Inn in one hand, an Ethereal step in the other.
+
+Xarrul sees the Guest's appetite and enters anyway. Without outside intervention, the fiend wins every time. What it does not know is which useful strangers the Guest has persuaded to become its hands.
+
+> **Host:** *„Vezmi si mé tělo. Vstupu bránit nebudu.”*
+>
+> **Xarrul:** *„Jakmile budu uvnitř, hodláš sklapnout čelisti.”*
+>
+> **Host:** *„Obě tvrzení mohou být pravdivá.”*
+>
+> **Xarrul:** *„Nedokážeš mě zadržet.”*
+>
+> **Host:** *„Pak se nemáš čeho bát.”*
+
+The full transfer encounter is **[The Vacancy](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-g-the-vacancy-the-guests-gambit)**.
+
+---
+
 ## What It Knows (the reason to talk to it at all)
 
 The Guest is the best-informed prisoner in the building, because its whole function was *knowing things*:
 
-- **The couple's true history** — every job on the chalk wall, who paid, who died, what's in the Vault, and what happened to the changeling in **Cell Two** (*"They called her the Guest before me. When she stopped being useful, they stopped feeding her. I listened to it take eleven days. So — you'll understand if I'm eager to be useful."*).
-- **The Order of Mending.** This is the hook that threads the exploration back into the murder. Orenn's last and longest assignment for the Guest was to **infiltrate the cult** — the Guest spent nights wearing a member's face at meetings in the [private room](../location/back-rooms.md) and beyond. It can reveal: the cult's obsession with the thin point, the name **Mother Vyre**, that they were preparing to *summon something*, and that Orenn was closing in on them. It does **not** know the fiend was Xarrul, or that the summoning already happened tonight — it's been in a cell. But what it knows corroborates the whole cult subplot and can point a stuck party toward the [Order of Mending](../storylines/order-of-mending.md) and the [Reckoning](../storylines/the-reckoning.md).
+- **The couple's true history** — every job on the chalk wall, who paid, who died, what's in the Vault, and what happened to the changeling in **Cell Two** (*„Přede mnou říkali Host jí. Když přestala být užitečná, přestali ji krmit. Poslouchal jsem, jak jí to trvá jedenáct dní. Takže jistě chápete, proč tak toužím být užitečný.”*).
+- **The Order of Mending.** Orenn's last and longest assignment for the Guest was to **infiltrate the cult** — the Guest spent nights wearing a member's face at meetings in the [private room](../location/back-rooms.md) and beyond. It knows the cult's obsession with the thin point, the name **Mother Vyre**, that they summoned Xarrul, and that Orenn was closing in on them. It can corroborate the whole cult subplot and point a stuck party toward the [Order of Mending](../storylines/order-of-mending.md) and the [Reckoning](../storylines/the-reckoning.md). It omits that it has since negotiated privately with the summoned fiend.
 - **Where Orenn hid things** (the black key, the Vault's contents) — it watched the couple for eleven years. It misses nothing.
-- **It did not kill Orenn** and has an airtight alibi (a locked cell three floors down). But it will happily *let* the party suspect whomever suits its purposes, if that buys it freedom.
+- **Exactly why Orenn died.** The Guest truthfully says it did not kill Orenn and could not have left its warded cell. It does not volunteer that it told Xarrul which keeper to kill or what Mags would do afterward. If directly asked whether it helped Xarrul, it answers with another exact truth: *„Mé ruce nepotřeboval.”*
 
 ---
 
 ## Personality & How to Play It
 
-Play the Guest as the **most reasonable person the party meets all night** — and let that be the trap. It never rages, never begs crudely. It reads the room (literally) and offers each PC exactly the tone they'll trust. Beneath it: an eleven-year hunger for the open air, and a mind that has had a very long time to plan.
+Play the Guest as the **most reasonable person the party meets all night** — and let that be the trap. It never rages, never begs crudely. It reads the room (literally) and offers each PC exactly the tone they'll trust. It is running two negotiations at once: Xarrul believes it has a willing vessel; the party believes it has found Xarrul's intended victim. Both possess true pieces of the arrangement.
 
 **Key traits:**
 - **Truth is its favorite lie.** It prefers to tell the truth, beautifully, and let you draw the wrong conclusion. It only lies outright when cornered — and it's very good at it (Deception +8; contest against passive Insight or an active check, at disadvantage for the PC if the Guest read their thoughts first).
-- **It bargains.** It offers information as currency — a real, checkable fact first (to build trust), then asks for something small (water, the truth about what's happening upstairs, a loosened manacle), escalating toward the door.
-- **It does not forgive the couple, and it is honest about that.** *"I don't hate them. Hatred is for people who had a choice. I simply intend to outlive them. One down."*
-- **It is genuinely afraid of the rift.** When the [Old Work](../location/deep-cellar.md#the-old-work) stirs, the Guest goes still and quiet — the one thing that reliably cracks its composure. *"Whatever your barkeep's death let in — it's down here too. I've been listening to it grow for weeks. Let me out before it decides a caged meal is the easiest meal."*
+- **It bargains.** It offers information as currency — a real, checkable fact first, then asks for water, news, a loosened manacle, freedom, and finally help reaching the place where Xarrul can be made vulnerable. None of the requests reveals the whole bargain.
+- **It does not forgive the couple, and it is honest about that.** *„Nenávidět je? Nenávist patří lidem, kteří měli na vybranou. Já je prostě hodlám přežít. Jeden je pryč.”*
+- **It is genuinely afraid of Xarrul.** The bargain is not confidence; it is a wager against annihilation. Its fear sells the lie because the fear is real. *„Chce mě vydlabat a obléct si, co zbude. Jakmile vstoupí, nebude moci uniknout. To může být vaše jediná šance ho zničit.”* Every word is true.
+- **It calls ownership justice.** It does not want to burn the Inn or merely punish Mags. It wants the keys handed over as payment. If challenged, it calmly itemizes eleven years of work and confinement as though settling a debt-journal.
+- **Being called an asset is a tell.** The Handler's countersign works, but the word *asset* freezes the smile for half a beat. To the Guest, a new handler promising extraction is another owner describing a longer leash.
 
 ### Sample Dialogue
 
 **On first contact (warm, disarming):**
-- *"You're not them. Good. New faces. I collect those."* [a small, private joke]
-- *"Ask me anything. Truly. I've had eleven years to get my story straight, and the funny thing is — I don't need to lie to you. Not yet."*
+- *„Nejste oni. Výborně. Nové tváře. Ty sbírám.”* [a small, private joke]
+- *„Ptejte se na cokoli. Opravdu. Měl jsem jedenáct let, abych si urovnal příběh, a vtip je v tom, že vám nemusím lhát. Zatím.”*
 
 **Building trust (offers a free, true fact):**
-- *"The woman with the scar — Mags — she keeps a black iron key. It opens every honest lock in this building and one dishonest one. Check the dead man's belt. There. Now you owe me nothing, and you know I don't waste your time."*
+- *„Ta žena s jizvou — Mags — má černý železný klíč. Otevírá každý poctivý zámek v tomhle domě a jeden nepoctivý. Prohledejte mrtvému opasek. Vidíte? Teď mi nic nedlužíte a víte, že nemarním váš čas.”*
 
-**The pitch (its real goal):**
-- *"I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm asking you to be practical. There is a fiend in the walls of this place, your barkeep is dead, and the only person down here who has spent years watching the thing between the planes — is in this cell. Let me out. I'll earn it. I always earn it."*
+**The pitch (true, but not its whole goal):**
+- *„Nežádám vás o důvěru. Žádám vás o praktičnost. Xarrul chce tohle tělo. Až si mě vezme, nastane okamžik, kdy už opustil druhou stranu, ale ještě nedorazil na tuhle. Pusťte mě ven a já vám ten okamžik dám.”*
+- *„Chce mě vydlabat. Když neuděláte nic, přestanu existovat takový, jaký jsem. Když udeříte, dokud bude odhalený, zemře. Ani jednu část jsem vám nepodal nepravdivě.”*
+
+**If called an asset:**
+- [a tiny pause] *„Samozřejmě. A až své aktivum vyzvednete, kde ho vaše spojka skladuje?”*
+
+**If accused of choosing Orenn:**
+- *„Xarrul se zeptal, kdo z nich rozbije kámen. Odpověděl jsem. Na slitování se neptal.”*
 
 **When it talks about Cell Two (the crack in the mask):**
-- [quietly, no charm at all] *"She scratched 'I was real' into that door for a decade. She wasn't, by the end. Neither will I be. That's what the cage does. It's not the dying I'm afraid of."*
+- [quietly, no charm at all] *„Deset let ryla do dveří ‚Byla jsem skutečná‘. Ke konci už nebyla. Já také nebudu. To dělá klec. Smrti se nebojím.”*
 
 **If cornered / exposed as lying:**
-- [the warmth doesn't drop — that's what unnerves] *"Yes. I lied. You'd have lied too, in here. Now — do you punish me for it, or do you use me? I'm more useful angry than most people are grateful."*
+- [the warmth doesn't drop — that's what unnerves] *„Ano. Lhal jsem. Tady byste lhali také. Takže — potrestáte mě, nebo mě využijete? Rozzlobený jsem užitečnější než většina lidí vděčná.”*
 
 ---
 
@@ -108,16 +159,23 @@ Meeting the Guest is a **genuine moral fork** with real mechanical outcomes. The
 
 | Choice | What happens |
 |---|---|
-| **Free it, trust it** | It keeps its word *as far as it goes*. It'll trade everything it knows about the cult (a real leg-up on the Reckoning), and may even fight the rift creatures beside the party — it wants that tear closed as much as anyone. Then, at the first unwatched moment, it takes a face and **vanishes** into the city. It doesn't betray the party; it simply leaves, wearing someone. A loose end, walking. |
-| **Free it, then try to bind/control it** | It agrees, smiles, complies — and works the whole time to slip the deal. If it gets a day (suppressant fades) or an opening, it turns: full stat block, Ambusher, and if it can it takes **a PC's face** first to sow chaos before escaping. A memorable, dangerous fight or chase (it may flee as a rat through the [infestation](../location/deep-cellar.md#the-long-cut-central-corridor) — a horrible callback). |
-| **Leave it caged** | It's furious behind the smile. As the party leaves it calls after them — soft, reasonable, devastating — *"The door swings shut the same way for everyone down here. Remember that, when it's your turn."* If the party later **burns the cellar** (the fifth rule) without freeing it, it dies in the fire. Make them hear about it. |
-| **Kill it** | Easy, if it's dosed and caged. It doesn't fight — it looks almost relieved. *"There. That's the kindest thing anyone's done for me in eleven years. I hope someone's that kind to you."* Its info dies with it. If Mags learns the party murdered a caged prisoner, it colors how she sees them — not with horror (she's done worse) but with recognition, which is its own kind of judgment. |
+| **Free it and follow its plan** | It supplies real cult intelligence and engineers [the Vacancy](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#scenario-g-the-vacancy-the-guests-gambit), the easiest opportunity to destroy Xarrul. The party discovers only at the transfer that killing the exposed fiend will pour part of its nature into the Guest. |
+| **Destroy Xarrul during the Vacancy** | The Guest reclaims its body with Ethereal Jaunt, Voice Thief and Shadow Cloak. It thanks the party, takes the black key and claims the Inn. Mags refuses. The easy boss fight produces a dangerous succession crisis. |
+| **Allow the exchange** | Xarrul takes the changeling body. The Guest becomes the spectral Host bound through the Inn's wards. Its first act as proprietor is to protect Xarrul's paid passage; Mags immediately moves to kill Orenn's murderer. |
+| **Try to bind or control it** | The Guest treats the attempt as proof that rescuers and jailers differ only in vocabulary. It may trigger the Vacancy early, expose the party's private goals, or bargain with Xarrul against them. If ordinary escape becomes possible, it takes a useful face and disappears only as a last resort; the Inn remains the prize. |
+| **Leave it caged** | It continues its compact with Xarrul. If the transfer can be attempted through the failing wards, it becomes violent and imperfect; otherwise the fifth rule's fire kills it. As the party leaves: *„Dveře se tu zavírají před každým stejně. Vzpomeňte si na to, až budete na řadě.”* |
+| **Kill it** | Xarrul loses its prepared vessel and abducts a replacement during the Reckoning. The Guest's intelligence dies with it. Mags recognizes the choice without condemning it: the party solved a dangerous prisoner exactly as she and Orenn once would have. |
+
+### If the Guest Takes Xarrul's Imprint
+
+Keep the Guest's normal stat block and add **Ethereal Jaunt**, **Shadow Cloak** and **Voice Thief** from [Xarrul](xarrul.md). It does not inherit Brand of Spite, Waking Dream or Xarrul's full durability; those belonged to the fiend's will, not merely its planar shape. It remembers fragments of Xarrul's centuries and knows how to work the Inn's old wards. This is enough to make recaging it nearly impossible and to make a fight with Mags dangerous without turning the Guest into a second full boss immediately.
 
 ---
 
 ## Hooks Into the Rest of the Session
 
-- **Murder mystery / cult:** the Guest's infiltration intel corroborates the Order of Mending subplot and can un-stick a party that hasn't cracked the cult. It's the exploration track's bridge back to the main mystery.
-- **Character secrets:** at least one Personal Goal in [character-secrets](../handouts/character-secrets.md) points a PC at the Guest specifically (a face from their past, a contact to free, or a mark to silence). If a PC secretly knows the Guest, the cell scene detonates.
-- **Mags:** she knows exactly what's down there and expects the players never to find it. If they free or kill the Guest, raise it with her — her reaction (defensive, then bleakly honest) is some of the best late-game character work available. *"He was a tool. A person-shaped tool. Orenn always said we'd let him go eventually. We never did. That's the whole of it. That's who we are."*
-- **The rift:** the Guest is an early-warning system for the [Old Work](../location/deep-cellar.md#the-old-work) — its fear telegraphs the danger before the party stumbles into it.
+- **Murder mystery / cult:** the Guest's infiltration intel corroborates the Order of Mending and can un-stick a party that hasn't cracked the cult. It did not strike Orenn, but it chose which keeper Xarrul should remove; its locked-cell alibi is the module's purest half-truth.
+- **Character secrets:** the Agent wants it rescued, the Executioner wants it dead, and the Mourner needs its testimony. During the Vacancy both projected spirits—and the empty body—become separate targets, bringing those goals directly into the finale.
+- **Mags:** she knows exactly what's down there and expects the players never to find it. The Guest's claim to the Inn forces her cruelty out of the cellar and into the ending: she must surrender the house, defend it, or face the cage she maintained.
+- **Xarrul:** honest fiend and consummate liar enter a bargain both understand. Xarrul underestimates not the Guest's treachery, but its ability to recruit other hands.
+- **The rift:** the Guest's apparently useful warning points toward the anti-fiend tools needed to attack Xarrul's projected spirit. It is preparing the party for its own gambit.