Book Three · The Walkthrough · 4

The Greenwood

Link 4 · the King’s Chase, the band and the tithe barn

Et ianuae clausae sunt.

NewcomerStreamerSpoiler-light; deeper secrets sealedskeleton · the Greenwood is built and dressed; the whistle and the Master as a required boss are new

4 standing

At a glance

Where: the King’s road, the deep wood, the camp in the branches, the Chase lodge and the tithe barn
Earns: the band’s help (any path); the deserter’s whistle
Rule taught: the crows’ one enemy can be sent home
Boss: the Master of the Chase
Cinematics: arrival, the tithe road; departure, the tally burns TBD: both new
Calm: the camp in the branches
Length: 25 to 35 minutes

Why you are here

With the Wheel fallen, the Prince’s paper (what the villages owe) rides up the King’s road with the tithe carts. The verderers’ post on the Tower’s village road east into the Chase stands empty now: they have ridden off to guard the carts the band robs.

WICK

The sun. It does not burn here. I stand in it like a man who has been let out.

The first mark under the trees.gw_mark_trees

CLIP W4-01phase B: to capture

Cinematic 7, the tithe road (new): gold light through tall trees, a tax cart creaking up the King’s road, an arrow pinning its banner; empty as it passes the camera. Wick’s line. About 15 s.

The route

The ambush at the bend. A felled oak stops a tithe wain; arrows from the trees; Hollin calls to the guard to walk away. What you do decides how the band first sees you: fight the guard, fight the band, watch, or feed. Feeding on an outlaw ends the band’s arc for good.
The deep wood. The Cathedral Clearing, where nothing happens and the god says nothing: the one place in the game for that.
The test on the log. Gentle Cobb on a fallen trunk over a stream: cross the log and put him in the water. Off the log is running water. Three clean blows and he goes in, laughing.
The test at the butts. Ash and Yew shoot blunt arrows while you cross the clearing: a dodging lesson. Going round behind them counts.
The camp in the branches. Pass a test and the band shows you the hollow oak. Read their three signs in the bark and climb up uninvited: that counts as a test too. The hall, the fire basket, Wystan’s altar, the archers’ perch.
The hire. Hollin’s ask: the tithe barn by the Chase lodge. Get in before the band and open the yard gate from inside: over the palisade as the bat or the crows, or through the lodge on foot.
The yard: the Master of the Chase. See the boss below.
The bays. The band empties them. Choose one bay to burn: the Wheel’s tally sticks, the Tower’s iron, the grain, and the rest. Each choice has its own consequence somewhere else.
The Master’s fate. If he yields, Hollin asks you: let them hang him on the verderers’ oak, drain him, or let him go.

SHOT W4-02phase B: to capture

The ambush at the bend: the felled oak across the King’s road, the wain stopped, the pavise men behind their boards, an archer in the canopy. Map gw_road.

SHOT W4-03phase B: to capture

The log over the stream: Cobb at the far end with his quarterstaff across his body, Wick stepping on. Map gw_heart.

SHOT W4-04phase B: to capture

The camp in the branches, the hall’s long tables and the band at home. Map gw_camp.

SCREEN 4-1The deep woodThe best forest in the game, and the only sunlit place. A screen from the build of October 2026.In-game, the Greenwood (v29), play field

COBB

Cross the log, and put me in the water. That is the oldest test there is.

gw_cobb_test

The boss: the Master of the Chase

Panel. Never walk into the set spear. Go round it, or wait and strike while he lifts it. His crossbow bolt crosses the whole yard; his reload turns his back. When he whistles, a beaters’ line walks the yard pushing you toward him: it has gaps.

CLIP W4-05phase B: to capture

The set spear taught: the Master planting the boar-spear (the red arc), Wick circling round it, striking as he lifts. About 8 s.

After the Greenwood

CLIP W4-06phase B: to capture

Cinematic 8, the tally burns (new): night at the tithe barn, the tally bay going up, the paper rising as sparks over the trees toward the city. Hollin’s line. About 15 s.

The deserter’s whistle is yours, on any path. Once per map it calls off the hounds, so the flock can fly where hounds patrol TBD: made general for the guided road. The band will also put you on the venison cart into the King’s buttery (Link 6), and Cobb will hold the Duchess’s tide gate in her rite (Link 5).

Calm: the camp. Brother Wystan, the archers’ songs, and Hollin’s runaway ward Dilly or Hollin herself pointing down the mere path toward the Duchess’s lake TBD: the pointer’s line.

Backtrack

The Tower’s gallows way and corpse chute. With the whistle, the hounds there are called off: back into the Tower by the way you could not take before, to the Hangman’s yard and the levy roll (useful to the council if you spare).
The maze’s crow pass. The garden watch’s hounds can be sent home.

Secrets

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

The hanged poacher on the verderers’ oak is Ash and Yew’s father. A board under him reads the King’s law.
Sorrel, a marsh girl, said aloud what the coach takes. Talk to her.
Wystan copied saints’ lives for the Bishop. Some of them had the dates still blank.
Taper, a counterfeit outlaw who robs on the Prince’s commission, is somewhere on the roads. The band despises him.

Sealed · Mid-gameThe god in the woodBreak the seal to read

The god allows the band because it never leads Wick. It asks.

THE ONE BELOW

She asks. She does not lead you. I allow it.

chorus_gw_hire

If the band hangs the Master, the god raises their father from the oak, and you see what Ash and Yew do.

Stream notes

TIPFor streamers

The Greenwood is the game’s breath of air: sunlight, jokes, people who like Wick. Slow down here.
The log test is a crowd-pleaser, and a lesson in running water.
Which bay you burn is a good poll for chat.