fractions rework

storylines/murder-mystery.md

@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 ## Timeline of Events
 
 ### Before the Session
-- **Weeks ago:** Xarrul, summoned and bound by the Order of Mending, is sent to kill Sevra. The House of Scales intercepts the fiend during transit, breaks the binding (not knowing how to rebind it), and the fiend goes free.
+- **Three weeks ago:** The Order sends bound Xarrul into the House of Scales to steal the Severance Nail. The archive's automatic Final Closure cuts the Order's command binding. Xarrul catches itself in the Border Ethereal instead of being dismissed. The House mistakes the intrusion for a failed assassination and believes the fiend banished; the Order's instruments still show its binding energy and most cultists believe it remains controlled but unreachable.
 - **Weeks ago:** Xarrul, now unbound, finds this thin point on the cult's map — a fault already worked thin by the summoners who once denned here — and anchors to it. In the hidden deepest chamber it begins prying open the old, sealed tear from the Ethereal side, night after night, siphoning the summoners' leftover sigils to do it.
+- **Weeks ago, below the Inn:** Xarrul begins speaking through the stone to the caged Guest. The Guest recognizes the Order's missing asset from its infiltration work. It tells Xarrul which keeper is cautious and which will break the emergency lockstone in grief; Xarrul recognizes the old summoners' stone and supplies the occult half of the plan. In return, they negotiate the body-for-house exchange that can become [the Vacancy](the-reckoning.md#scenario-g-the-vacancy-the-guests-gambit).
 - **Days ago:** Orenn's surveillance turns up a district-wide wrongness he reads as an *underworld* problem — deaths that don't add up, the Order stirring. Uneasy, he buys holy water and ward supplies as insurance and writes the contingency letter he tucks in Mags's apron. He never once suspects the sealed rift under his own floor; that case is closed.
 - **Tonight, before the party arrives:** Tension between the factions is at a breaking point. Kael has evidence that the Merchant Quarter kill — a guild contract — was done by someone else with ritual marks. He's ready to confront the cultists.
 
@@ -13,16 +14,16 @@
 #### Act 1 — The Table (calm)
 - The PCs, strangers to each other and to Orenn, share the only free table. Orenn works them personally — business or pleasure, the house rules, the carrot of "references in high places."
 - Faction tension is palpable but contained: Kael glaring at the cultists, Thera still as a chapel, the cultists half-arguing over texts.
-- Bren mutters in his corner, Vetch fidgets near the stairs, Tallow watches from his booth.
+- Bren mutters in his corner while Vetch fidgets near the cellar stairs.
 - Orenn steps down to storage for supplies. His absence is what lets the next beat run unchecked.
 
 #### Act 2 — The Spark
 
 *The trigger.* When the table talk dwindles, Kael can't hold it any longer and confronts Haddon about the Merchant Quarter (Kupecká čtvrť) kill. Play it cold, then let a cultist's laugh be the match:
 
-> **Kael** *(vstane, ještě klidně, ale hlas jako brus):* „Kupecká čtvrť. Před třemi dny. Šlechtic s vyříznutým srdcem — a vaše čmáranice na podlaze. Ten kontrakt byl náš. Zaplacený. Zpečetěný. Tak kdo ho dodělal místo nás — a nechal po sobě takovej svinčík?"
+> **Kael** *(vstane, ještě klidně, ale hlas jako brus):* „Kupecká čtvrť. Před třemi dny. Šlechtic s vyříznutým srdcem — a vaše čmáranice na podlaze. Náš kontrakt. Další uzavření, který jste vykradli. Jednou srdce, podruhý relikvie, potřetí vzpomínky. A pak se něco ve vašich poutech protáhne až do našeho archivu a složí tři naše lidi. Tak kdo vám prodává naše jména?"
 >
-> **Haddon** *(nezvedne oči od knihy):* „Pletete si mě s někým, příteli. My jsme učenci, ne řezníci." *(pak tišeji, znuděně)* „A jestli někdo napodobuje vaši... pečlivost, stěžujte si doma. Ne každá krysa ve vašich řadách nosí náš odznak."
+> **Haddon** *(nezvedne oči od knihy):* „Pletete si mě s někým, příteli. My jsme učenci, ne řezníci." *(pak tišeji, znuděně)* „A jestli někdo prodává, co váš slavný dům nedokáže uhlídat, stěžujte si doma. Ne každá krysa ve vašich řadách nosí náš odznak."
 >
 > **Kael** *(o krok blíž):* „Ještě jednou řekni 'řady', učenče."
 >
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@
 >
 > *(Read-aloud)* „Kael neodpoví. Popadne okraj stolu a převrhne ho i s Renntem pozadu na zem. Sklenice tříští o trám. A v tu chvíli se celá místnost — plná lidí, kteří na tenhle výbuch čekali — dá do pohybu."
 
-*(The laugh is real, but if you want to preserve the "was the brawl engineered?" clue, Xarrul layers a whisper only Kael hears under it — Voice Thief, a fabricated confession. See [red herrings](#red-herrings-deliberate).)*
+*(The laugh is real, but if you want to preserve the "was the brawl engineered?" clue, Xarrul layers a true, corrosive whisper only Kael hears under it: „Haddon vybral toho šlechtice. Zeptej se ho.” See [red herrings](#red-herrings-deliberate).)*
 
 - **The brawl lasts 3–5 rounds. Non-lethal — the rules hold.** Fists, bottles, furniture, and shove/gust/thunderclap *throws* that fling PCs around (use them to pull the party in and to position them for the reveal). NPCs keep their lethal kits holstered; save the assassins' real danger for the finale. If a PC would drop, they're knocked out at 1 HP, not killed. (See the [Brawl Toolkit](#the-brawl-toolkit).)
 - **The blackout.** A few rounds in, pressed in the scrum, **Rennt casts Thunderwave** — a legitimate knockback move that also snuffs every candle at once. The room goes black. It looks damning for the cult (they blacked out the room the instant Orenn died) — and they're innocent of the murder. Perfect misdirection.
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@
 - **Mags brings order.** She storms from the kitchen, cleaver up, and quiets the room with her voice. She relights the candles with a ward-focus — and behind her is Orenn's body. What follows — the forced heal, the forced **Revivify** with the diamond from her own necklace (both failing), the shattered ward-crystal that seals the tavern until midnight, and the ultimatum — is scripted in **[Mags — Act 2: The Reveal](../npc/mags.md#act-2--the-reveal-dm)**.
 - Both factions immediately blame each other. Mags, for show, blames the strangers (see her two-layer accusation in the same section).
 
-> **DM — the murder is the plan, not the start of the mystery.** Xarrul didn't kill Orenn for spite or to frame anyone (those are bonuses). It killed him to make **Mags seal the house.** A killing in the Nether Inn is what triggers the lockdown, and the lockstone she shatters is the closed cross-planar vessel Xarrul needs to finish crossing (see [the ward-crystal's true nature](../location/tavern-overview.md#the-enchanted-door)). It chose *Orenn* — the calm one — so that the *grieving* one would be left holding the stone and would use it on protocol. The whole "who killed the barkeep" question is the fiend's smokescreen: the answer (a fiend) comes cheap and early, and the real question is what it's *doing* with the sealed house.
+> **DM — the murder is the plan, not the start of the mystery.** Xarrul didn't kill Orenn for spite or to frame anyone (those are bonuses). It killed him to make **Mags seal the house.** A killing in the Nether Inn is what triggers the lockdown, and the lockstone she shatters is the closed cross-planar vessel Xarrul needs to finish crossing (see [the ward-crystal's true nature](../location/tavern-overview.md#the-enchanted-door)). The Guest identified *Orenn* as the calm one so that the *grieving* keeper would be left holding the stone and would use it on protocol; Xarrul verified the judgment, chose, and struck. The whole "who killed the barkeep" question is the fiend's smokescreen: the answer (a fiend) comes cheap and early. The deeper answers are what it is doing with the sealed house—and who downstairs helped it choose.
 
 #### The Brawl Toolkit
 
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ Don't restat the room. Hand any NPC these non-lethal moves and narrate fast. All
   - **A cultist / Essek — *gust of wind* effect:** no damage, just throws people, papers, and flame.
   - **A blade — disarming shove or a flung tankard:** reposition, don't wound.
 
+As Essek's gust scatters the cultist table, Haddon's restricted research folio opens. During Rennt's blackout, Xarrul steals its two loose extracts from the Ethereal side. See [Haddon's Missing Research Folio](order-of-mending.md#haddons-missing-research-folio). Afterward, Haddon repeatedly searches the debris while pretending to organize his ordinary notes.
+
 Roll initiative only if your table wants dice; otherwise run it as a narrated montage with a decision point or two, and cut it off with the Thunderwave.
 
 ---
@@ -97,7 +100,7 @@ The clues are designed to point at both factions while the truth (the fiend) hid
 | Fiendish damage signature | Orenn's body | Arcana 15 | The cultists deal with fiends and dark magic |
 | Binding circle page | Kicked under table, post-brawl | Arcana 14 | A cultist book about binding fiends — were they summoning something? |
 | Planar diagram on cultist table | Cultist table | Investigation 12 | They're mapping planar weaknesses — including the tavern |
-| Lethe-marrow sale | Tallow (for a price) | — | Tallow sold them binding components recently |
+| Summoning inventory | Haddon's ciphered journal | Intelligence 18 | The Order acquired the components for a fiend-binding ritual |
 | Cultist pin in private room | Under bench, private room | Perception 13 | Cultists have been using the tavern for secret meetings |
 
 ### Clues Pointing at the Assassins
@@ -107,7 +110,7 @@ The clues are designed to point at both factions while the truth (the fiend) hid
 | Assassin code violation | Conversation with Kael | — | If the guild is willing to brawl in neutral ground, are they willing to kill? |
 | Dace's helpfulness | Social observation | Insight 16 | Dace is too eager to help — steering investigation toward cultists |
 | Contract dispute motive | Both factions | — | The guild has a financial motive — Orenn's neutral ground protects the cultists too |
-| Mole evidence | Kael, Tallow | — | Someone in the guild is selling kills — how deep does the corruption go? |
+| Mole evidence | Kael, Haddon's journal | — | Someone in the guild is selling kills — how deep does the corruption go? |
 
 ### Clues Pointing at the Truth (The Fiend)
 | Clue | Location | DC | What It Reveals |
@@ -120,6 +123,7 @@ The clues are designed to point at both factions while the truth (the fiend) hid
 | Partial manifestation scratches | Private room table | Investigation 14 + Arcana 16 | Someone mapped the wards to *break* them |
 | Orenn's preparations | Storage compartment, bedroom | Investigation 15+ | Orenn feared something not-human was moving — and hedged |
 | Orenn's letter | Mags's apron | — | "If something happens to me in the bar, it came from between." |
+| Conversation stain | Guest's cell, seen Ethereally | Arcana or Insight 15 | Xarrul repeatedly visited the prisoner to speak, not attack; the Guest knows more about the murder than its locked-cell alibi suggests |
 
 ---
 
@@ -136,7 +140,7 @@ Players will likely:
 ### Mid Phase (30–60 minutes)
 As players dig deeper:
 - Bren becomes agitated if questioned about the murder → partial truths emerge
-- Tallow offers information for a price → connects the dots between factions
+- Haddon's journal and the private room connect Dace to the Order through physical evidence
 - The cellar and back rooms reveal Orenn's preparations → fiendish angle opens up
 - Vetch mentions the Ethereal Plane → alternative explanation emerges
 
@@ -157,7 +161,7 @@ If players pursue the fiend angle:
 
 These are Xarrul's work — the fiend actively planted or encouraged these:
 
-1. **Xarrul engineered the brawl.** Kael's confrontation with Haddon was real and his anger genuine — but the *laugh* that tipped him over (Rennt's) was amplified in his ears by Xarrul (Voice Thief), which layered a fabricated cultist "confession" under it that only Kael heard. Understanding this requires asking Kael *exactly* what set him off ("One of them laughed and said the noble squealed. Clear as day." — Rennt laughed, but never said that). The brawl gave Xarrul its cover.
+1. **Xarrul engineered the brawl.** Kael's confrontation with Haddon was real and his anger genuine — but the *laugh* that tipped him over (Rennt's) was amplified in his ears by Xarrul (Voice Thief), which layered a statement only Kael heard beneath it: „Haddon vybral toho šlechtice. Zeptej se ho.” This is true—Haddon selected the victim—but phrased to detonate Kael's existing suspicion. Rennt laughed but never spoke those words. The brawl gave Xarrul its cover without requiring Xarrul to make a false claim.
 
 2. **A cultist component pouch** was left near the bar (Xarrul moved it from the table during the chaos). It contains ritual chalk and dried blood. DC 17 Investigation to realize the pouch was placed deliberately — the blood is old and doesn't match the murder.
 
@@ -186,3 +190,6 @@ No one is conclusively blamed. The lockdown ends at dawn. Everyone leaves with s
 
 ### Path E: Negotiated Peace
 Players reveal enough truth to make both factions realize they've been played by a third party (the fiend). Temporary alliance. Joint confrontation. This is the hardest to achieve and the most satisfying — it requires players to have engaged with both faction subplots deeply enough to broker trust between groups that hate each other.
+
+### Path F: The Vacancy
+Players free the Guest and accept its offer to expose Xarrul during the body transfer. For three rounds the killer, its accomplice and the empty vessel are separate targets. Destroying Xarrul avenges Orenn but pours its power into the Guest who helped choose him; allowing the exchange frees the murderer in changeling flesh and makes the Guest the spectral owner of the Inn. In either branch Mags starts the next confrontation. Solving the murder decides who deserves punishment, not who gets to walk away clean. See [The Vacancy](the-reckoning.md#scenario-g-the-vacancy-the-guests-gambit).