Book Three · The Walkthrough · 2

The Tower

Link 2 · home ground, the orphanage, and the first house

Et ianuae clausae sunt.

NewcomerStreamerSpoiler-light; deeper secrets sealedskeleton · the Tower is built; its two cinematics and the two-body rule are new for the guided road

6 standing

The Tower’s approachIn-game, clean pixels, under the book's CRT

At a glance

Where: the gutter, the orphanage, the Tower’s garrison village and keep
Earns: kill only: the armed dead. After the Earl: the scythe
Rule taught: two-body mechanisms, held by a second body TBD: new for the guided road
Boss: the Earl Marshal (cannot be spared); lieutenants: the Lord Marshal, the Hangman
Cinematics: arrival, the muster; departure, the walk down TBD: both new
Calm: the haven, and the priest’s first visit
Length: about 20 minutes for the gutter and orphanage, 15 to 25 for the Tower

Before the Tower: home ground

Wick re-forms in the chandlery yard. The gutter is the game’s hub; on the guided road only one of its roads is open at first, and the rest are shut by people who tell you why.

The chandlery. The vats where he was named, and the candle-mould on the bench (Interact to look close).
The high street. The watch call him Marchmont. A mark looks up the hill.
The square. The church door and its calendar (stand to read it). The empty scaffold, a carpenter at work. The empty pillory. The council house, shut. The rose window.
The river steps. The washerwomen. One looks at him too long.
The tavern bench. Snuff, the hunter, hails him. Sit with him.
The cellar (optional). The gang master: beat him and he yields; take him as a witness, with his bill of sale.
The orphanage. East of the square by the river, the lamp that never goes out. The priest at the gate. The schoolroom, the refectory and its wall, the chapel and its candle rack, the dormitory and his old bed, the study.
The bell tower. The view over the hill and the six seats.
The north-east road. The only road open. It leads to the Tower.

AMBRY

The old Earl keeps the top of his tower. North-east road. He asks his visitors to finish things.

Ambry’s hint for this stage.gb-gardens.js

SCREEN 2-1The gutter quarterThe watch in the square, three roads out, and the bat or the crows to choose.Press shot, live capture of the v83 build, CRT off, the play field only

SHOT W2-01phase B: to capture

The gutter’s square from the church door, the calendar on the wall to the left, the empty scaffold and the pillory in the square. Map: the gutter, first visit.

SHOT W2-02phase B: to capture

Snuff at the tavern bench pouring two cups, Wick standing by him, his first line on screen. Play field only: his face never in the HUD window.

SCREEN 2-2Father at the doorThe orphanage door: Father Fulcran waits on the step and Wick has one word to say.Press shot, live capture of the v83 build, CRT off, the play field only

SHOT W2-03phase B: to capture

The orphanage refectory’s wall of offerings, eight frames on the north wall, Wick looking up at the highest. Map: the orphanage.

SHOT W2-04phase B: to capture

The gutter’s north-east road mouth, the way to the Tower lit by the gold pointer, the other roads shut. Guided-road build only.

UNDECIDEDWhich roads are shut, and by whom

On the guided road the gutter’s other ways are held by people: the counting-house door pasted with circus playbills, the wardmote’s bailiffs on the east road, the bridge-keeper with the drawspan up, the guild’s cordon on the north-west road. Their exact lines are being written TBD.

The Tower

The kalendar’s first feast is the Soldier’s: the levy marches the village’s sons up seven hairpin turns to a beacon.

CLIP W2-05phase B: to capture

Cinematic 3, the muster (new): the flock over the garrison roofs at night, a column of torches climbing seven hairpin turns, the beacon going out as the last torch reaches it, Wick’s line. About 16 s.

Three ways in

The garrison village. Open its crypt: the checkpoint for the whole Tower. Watch the muster.
Choose a way. Route A, the switchback: up the seven turns, through the barbican, into the bailey, where the Lord Marshal drills his line. Route B, the gallows way: past the gibbet field, where the Hangman works, to the postern; or down the corpse chute into the dungeon. Route C, the east cliff: the breach and the wall walk, by the crows over the palisade, or by unbuilding the breach (much later).
Break the grip. The lieutenant on your route stands at his post; the other is off it and optional. The Marshal’s drummer keeps the line: stop the drum and the line is only men. Leaving a lieutenant alive changes what comes after.
The keep. The hall, then the war room and the chambers on the second floor. The Earl’s last evening plays as a still.
The armoury. The halberd is a find here, before the Earl TBD: its exact spot.
The crown. The stair comes up inside the triangle: Wick arrives standing where the rite wants him. The storm breaks.

SNUFF

The drummer keeps the line. Stop the drum and the line is only men.

Snuff’s tip, if he walks with you.hn_m3_tower

SHOT W2-06phase B: to capture

The seven hairpin turns of the switchback from below, the levy line in formation on the turns. Map: the Tower’s approach, Route A.

SHOT W2-07phase B: to capture

The gibbet field on the gallows way, the Hangman at his work. Map: the Tower’s approach, Route B.

The new rule: two bodies

UNDECIDEDDesigned for the guided road

A windlass, a weighted plate or a two-man bar needs a second body to hold it while Wick goes through: one of his raised dead, a freed levy man, or a thrall held by Bend Will. The Tower teaches it; the court’s vaults use it on the way back. Not yet built TBD.

The boss: the Earl Marshal

The full panel is in The Bosses. In short:

The vigil. His heir and his sworn man come first. He watches.
Phase 1, the circle. The iron turns your blows and your beam from outside. Bait his cut across the iron, then step through the gap during its recovery. Outside the circle, lightning hunts you; inside, nothing falls.
Phase 2, the open. He cuts twice, then breathes. Wait out the second cut; strike in the breath.
He cannot be spared. Hold the blow, or try to walk away and watch Wick refuse you.

The Earl's circle — SCREEN 2-4The Earl’s circleThe ring is the rite, and two of his household stand inside it.Press shot, live capture of the v83 build, CRT off, the play field only

CLIP W2-08phase B: to capture

The first asking and the held blow: the Earl kneeling in his circle, “Finish it as one soldier to another.” on screen, the blow gathering and falling, the thanks. About 20 s. If possible, a second take showing Wick’s override when the spare is tried.

CLIP W2-09phase B: to capture

Cinematic 4, the walk down (new): dawn-grey on the seven turns, the levy walking home, the Earl carried on a door with gilt on his brow. About 15 s.

WICK

One soldier to another? I was never yours to spend.

head_tower_blow

After the Tower

The scythe is his: the crowd weapon. Try the tangle on the next group.
The candle at his grave goes out; the rose window changes; the beacon is dark from the north-east road.
The haven. Rest. The priest comes down the visitors’ stair for the first time with the charity’s accounts.
The first aftermath: the Earl’s canonisation in his village.

SHOT W2-10phase B: to capture

The haven’s visitors’ stair with Father Fulcran in his chair by it, Wick before him, after the first house. Play field only.

Backtrack: the court’s vaults

With a second body to hold it (your armed dead, or a bent thrall), one of the graveyard court’s iron vault gates becomes a windlass portcullis. Below it, Andrevel’s own crypt: a relic, and the lead for Ambry’s first hunt, the Hedge-King TBD: the crypt is a new small room.

SHOT W2-11phase B: to capture

The windlass portcullis in the court’s vaults held up by a raised dead man while Wick passes under. New room: capture once built.

Secrets

Sealed · After the first houseIn the TowerBreak the seal to read

The heir believes the vigil is holy. Listen to his prayer before the fight.
The witnesses. The first lightning flash shows robed figures at the parapets, smiling. Look for them in every flash.
The shrine in the village: after the canonisation, look under the paint. The freed villagers chisel off the arms and bare a carving underneath.
The thanks. The Earl’s last words end in three words of the church’s Latin. You will hear them again.

Stream notes

TIPFor streamers

The gutter walk is the best place to show the world’s rules: the candles, the window, the pillory.
The first asking is the moment. Read it aloud before you hold the button.
The priest’s first visit is quiet and important. Let it breathe.