# CLAUDE.md -- Book 2: "The Created Monster"

> **STATUS: IN PROGRESS.** Book 2 is in active development. Outline and chapter work underway.

This file contains Book 2-specific instructions. The series-level CLAUDE.md at the project root governs voice, world, characters, formatting, and continuity rules.

---

## Chapter Development Workflow

Each chapter follows the `/chapter-workflow` skill pipeline:

1. **Seed** -- Author fills `chXX-input.md` (copied from `chapter-input-template.md`)
2. **Scene Breakdown** -- Claude proposes scene plan, author approves
3. **Draft** -- Full chapter drafted into `chXX-draft.md`
4. **Review** -- Author edits, then Claude reviews clarity/grammar/flow
5. **Continuity Update** -- Update world/character files with new canon

---

## Premise

Phelan Varrant is settling into life with Mere on Chandler's Row when a pattern of victims -- drained of life force, aged, weakened -- starts appearing across Drenwick. The trail leads to Kaeran "Kae" Thrainn, a street kid with congenital chronic pain who's been weaponized through addiction to a Mallory focusing crystal -- the same pre-Compact artifact Leon sold to a traveling vendor in Book 1, which eventually reached Cass through grey-market channels. Behind Kae is Cassius Rykhard, now operating from Thorngate as a remote puppeteer, escalating from bureaucratic obstacle to active antagonist.

**POV:** Pure Phelan first-person throughout (no POV breaks). Kae starts as a mystery, becomes a person mid-book. Tragic backstory earned through investigation, not given upfront.

## Opening Situation

- Phelan and Mere living together on Chandler's Row (moved in at end of Book 1)
- Financially stable-ish (~140 silvers from Floundry fee minus expenses, 15 silvers guild salary)
- Training daily with Leon -- fire combat improving (twelve seconds integrated, expanding)
- House plans at revision 10 (east-facing kitchen)
- The quiet after the Floundry case -- new status quo before disruption
- Cassius Rykhard reassigned to Thorngate after Book 1, but not defanged

---

## Characters

### Kaeran "Kae" Thrainn -- The Antagonist

**Vital Statistics:**
- **Full Name:** Kaeran "Kae" Thrainn
- **Known As:** Kae (to those who fear or pity him)
- **Age:** Late 20s / Early 30s
- **Role:** Main antagonist -- tragic figure, the full-book case. Not a monster; a weapon someone else built.

**Summary:** Street kid with congenital chronic pain, weaponized through addiction to the Mallory focusing crystal. Cass killed his surrogate mother (Elara), removed his only pain relief, then gave him the crystal -- instant dependency. Charismatic but increasingly paranoid. Street contacts protect him out of empathy, complicating investigation. Vulnerable to fire (ties to Phelan's combat arc). Saved, not killed -- crystal broken via credential harvest, Mere's herbal treatment (~80% pain relief), guild custody under Ledger as intelligence asset.

**Narrative function:** Starts as a mystery, becomes a person mid-book. Tragic backstory earned through investigation, not given upfront. Mirror to Phelan's isolation -- what happens when no one helps. The Ch 14 double reveal (Cass killed Elara AND she was a guild informant) is the gut punch that makes Kae a victim in the reader's eyes.

**Full profile:** See `characters/kaeran-thrainn.md` (includes Elara as connected character)

### Right Reverend Carson -- The Unwitting Enabler

**Vital Statistics:**
- **Full Name:** Carson Johnsby
- **Known As:** "The Right Reverend Carson"
- **Age:** Late 30s to mid 40s
- **Role:** Street-level contact in the warrens. Builder/fabricator who runs a chapel-workshop. Founder (and sole clergy) of the Church of the Ahole. Unknowing enabler -- gave Kae philosophical advice that Kae twisted into permission to hurt people.

**Physical Description:**
- **Build:** Large -- 6'3", around 280 lbs. Not fat, just big.
- **Hands:** Gorilla-sized. Over-tightens everything. Requires three times the expected leverage or two people to undo his work.
- **Overall impression:** Could bend iron bars and probably has. Warm, not intimidating despite size.

**Personality:**
- Laid-back philosopher -- zero urgency, says outrageous things like commenting on the weather
- "I got a buddy" for every problem. Collects people naturally -- the anti-Phelan.
- Extremely intelligent but refuses to change methods. "It's always worked."
- Anti-authority -- hates guilds and government. Ordained for the tax benefits.
- The crazy uncle who never grew up. Everything is fun.
- Advice quality ~60% good. The other 40% isn't malicious, just philosophically incomplete.

**The Builder:** Everything Carson makes is wildly overbuilt -- indestructible, crazy heavy. You might need a crane to lift it, but it will never break.

**The Church of the Ahole:** Deity blesses those who "do unto others before they do unto you." Followers do whatever makes them feel good. Not bad people -- just self-interested. Services are Godsday fish fries with beer, wine, and family games. "So said the Right Reverend Carson!" is the ritual catchphrase, always delivered laughing. The "church" is basically Carson and a few friends who enjoy the philosophy. Barely a religion, definitely a good time.

**Narrative function:** Encountered during Ch 5-7 investigation. Carson likes Kae, feels sorry for him, doesn't know he's hurting people. Kae came to him with hypothetical dilemmas; Carson's "do what's best for you" advice was heard as permission. Carson unknowingly holds puzzle pieces about Kae's psychology. When he learns the truth: quiet guilt, "I didn't know." Seeds for Book 3 through his network and relationship with Phelan.

**Full profile:** See `characters/carson-johnsby.md`

---

### Cassius Rykhard -- The Puppeteer

**Escalation from Book 1:** In Book 1, Cass was a bureaucratic obstacle (bribe attempt, regulatory pressure, reassigned to Thorngate after Floundry case). In Book 2, he's an active puppeteer weaponizing a desperate addict.

**Operating Model:**
- Remote handler from Thorngate, operating through intermediaries
- Kae is his off-books weapon -- finds desperate kid with pain and magical talent, creates crystal dependency, points him at targets
- **The deliberate cruelty:** Removed the safety net (had Elara killed), then offered the trap (gave Kae the crystal). Systematic, not impulsive.
- **The agents:** The two well-dressed Compact-looking men seen in the warrens (Ch05-07) are **Cass's people** — they know who they work for. Their mission is to find Kae and get him back on task (Kae has gone off-mission, draining random people instead of Cass's targets). Phelan misreads them as standard Compact damage control because he doesn't have the Cass connection yet.
- **The pivot:** Kae goes off-mission (addiction spiraling, draining unauthorized victims). Cass dispatches agents to recover Kae, but they fail to locate him. Cass learns about the chaos and decides to weaponize it rather than rein Kae in — feeds Kae target info instead of trying to reassert control.
- **Mid-book escalation:** Feeds Kae information about Floundry case witnesses -- people who could testify about Compact corruption. Redirects the chaos at Phelan's network.
- **Targeting Devod:** Eventually points Kae at Devod Fields, knowing this will draw Phelan and Mere into a personal conflict.

**Series-level role:** Book 2 establishes Cass as the series-level antagonist. No longer just a corrupt bureaucrat -- a man who manufactures weapons from broken people.

---

## Crystal Chain of Custody — Canonical Timeline

Per `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-03-17-crystal-timeline-leon-backstory-revision-design.md`:

| Step | When (relative to Book 2 Day 1) | Event |
|------|------|-------|
| 1 | ~6+ months before | Leon recovers Mallory crystal from Vethani Crypts. Sells to traveling vendor Harren for 1,200 silvers (well below value). Reason: father injured in bandit raid, healer bills + operational debt. |
| 2 | ~6 to ~3 months before | Crystal enters grey market through Harren's network. Specialized, expensive, legally dangerous — takes time to find a buyer. |
| 3 | ~2-3 months before | Cass hears about the crystal through broker networks. His magical theory expertise tells him it can channel stolen life force. **Opportunistic, not premeditated** — saw the pieces on the board, couldn't resist assembling them. Broker inquiries ripple back = Book 1 epilogue "people asking." |
| 4 | ~1.5 months before | Cass purchases crystal through an intermediary via broker Galden. |
| 5 | Shortly after purchase | Cass has Elara killed. Dual purpose: (a) eliminate Compact security threat (she was Ledger's guild informant), (b) remove Kae's only other pain relief (~50% from Elara's healing), guaranteeing crystal dependency. |
| 6 | Days after Elara's death | Cass gives Kae the crystal. Instant, total dependency. First complete pain relief in Kae's life. |
| 7 | ~weeks before Book 2 | Kae begins draining. Early victims survive but are weakened/aged. Pattern starts. Ledger's network detects it. Compact detects it and deliberately doesn't act. |

**Key detail:** No one — not Cass, not Kae, not Harren — knew about the crystal's addictive flaw (diminishing returns + amplified withdrawal from sustained overuse).

---

## The Crystal Mechanic

The Mallory focusing crystal (pre-Compact artifact, sold by Leon for 1,200 silvers to Harren ~6 months before Book 2, eventually purchased by Cass through broker Galden) channels stolen life force through Kae. It focuses his leach magic similar to a quick-acting reverse curse -- steals and modifies life energy and supplies it into Kae.

**The "high":**
- Chronic pain completely disappears
- Feels immortal -- increased strength, immune to disease, superhuman resilience
- Think vampire after feeding: powerful, painless, invincible

**The dependency:**
- **Diminishing returns** -- each drain gives less relief, mainly due to a flaw in the crystal from overuse
- **Amplified withdrawal** -- since he's immune to pain when "high," he cannot handle ANY pain when it wears off. Baseline chronic pain feels unbearable after the contrast
- **Escalating need** -- must drain more life force each time to achieve the same effect

**Escalating lethality of victims:**
- **Early victims:** Survive but are left weakened, aged prematurely, traumatized. Creates ambiguity about whether this is "just" assault.
- **Mid-book victims:** Critically injured. Some die from complications.
- **Late-book victims:** Draining becomes lethal. By the time Kae targets Devod, it could be fatal.
- The escalation mirrors the addiction itself -- Kae starts taking more than he means to.

**The addictive flaw is unknown:** No one — not Cass, not Kae, not the traveling vendor who sold it — knew about the crystal's addictive properties. Cass thought the crystal was a clean solution for total pain elimination. The diminishing returns and amplified withdrawal were an unintended consequence of a design flaw in the crystal's architecture, only revealed through sustained overuse.

**Vulnerability:** Kae is weak against fire, which ties directly to Phelan's combat magic arc.

**Resolution:**
- Phelan uses Flaw Sight to understand the crystal's dependency mechanism and breaks its hold
- Mere develops an herbal treatment managing Kae's pain at ~80% reduction (no miracle cure)
- Kae survives but is left dealing with permanent low-level pain -- saved but broken
- Phelan's rationale: mercy disguised as efficiency ("no emotional point, killing is just a waste of effort")

---

## Chapter Breakdown

### Phase 1 -- The Investigation (Chapters 1-9)

**Chapters 1-9:** Drafted or Final See `world/story-summary-book2.md` for detailed chapter summaries.

### Phase 2 -- The Stakes Turn Personal (Chapters 10-15)

**Chapters 10-14:** Drafted or Final. See `world/story-summary-book2.md` for detailed chapter summaries. Ch11 design spec: `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-03-24-ch11-thresholds-redesign.md`.

**Moved to Ch 16:** The Reversal beat (Mere misreads Phelan) and the three-way collaboration on the Thresholds exploit (Mere: pattern, Phelan: flaw, Devod: exploit) both move to Ch 16 where the tactical planning happens.

**Chapter 15: The Wolf**
Quiet character chapter between Kae's backstory reveal and the planning phase. Devod is recovering — conscious but fragile. **Brennan Toor arrives.** Old Pathfinder comrade, calls Devod "Wolf." Mere lets him in without surprise — she's known about Devod's Pathfinder past since childhood (pre-ultimatum). Brennan tells the defining story: three failed ideas, fourth saved the unit. The "ten ideas, nine bad, one genius" pattern isn't scattered thinking — it's how the Wolf solved problems under fire. Phelan recalibrates everything he thought he knew about Devod. The delivery-driver cold-read from Book 1 was wrong — the combat skills, the terrain navigation, the problem-solving methodology were Pathfinder training, not instinct. Mere's non-reaction is the punctuation: Phelan is the last one catching up. Seeds old-timer network for Book 3.

### Phase 3 -- The Impossible Solution (Chapters 16-20)

**Chapter 16: Planning the Impossible**
Phelan's team assembles a plan to save Kae rather than kill him. Mere's herbalism expertise (and her research from Devod's bedside in Ch 13) suggests an alternative pain management approach -- not a cure, but a bridge. Phelan's Flaw Sight analysis of the crystal (informed by his First Contact observations in Ch 9) reveals the dependency mechanism can be broken -- the flaw from overuse is the key, but exploiting it requires getting close. Devod contributes from recovery ("ten ideas, one genius" -- the one good idea helps crack the approach). The plan has three parts: reach Kae through his protectors, contain him long enough to work the exploit, and have Mere's treatment ready as a bridge. **Note:** The specific exploit method (credential harvest) crystallizes only after Ch 18's drain — see Beat 2 in spec doc. This chapter establishes the tactical framework; the "how" comes from the involuntary Flaw Sight flash during combat. **Moved from Ch 11:** The Reversal beat (Mere misreads Phelan's processing silence) and the three-way Thresholds collaboration (Mere: pattern, Phelan: flaw, Devod: exploit) both live in this chapter alongside the Kae planning. The Thresholds subplot gets its tactical resolution here — practical, not emotional (that was Ch 11).

**Chapter 17: The Approach**
Executing the first part of the plan -- navigating Kae's underworld protectors. These people shield Kae out of empathy, not malice, so Phelan can't just fight through them. He has to convince them that saving Kae is the goal, not killing him. This tests Phelan's social skills (weak) and requires help from the team. Ledger and the guild intelligence network provide the approach vector. The chapter ends with Phelan's team in position -- Kae located, protectors neutralized or convinced, but the confrontation itself hasn't started. Building tension before the set piece.

**Chapter 18: Into the Fire**
The confrontation begins. Phelan engages Kae directly. Fire combat training pays off -- Kae is vulnerable to fire, and Phelan's integrated fire weaving (trained from twelve seconds in the epilogue, expanded through Book 2) keeps Kae contained. The studded jacket absorbs hits that would otherwise take Phelan out of the fight. Phelan gains the upper hand, but Kae desperately drains Phelan's life force through the crystal. Flaw Sight fires **involuntarily** during the drain -- a split-second flood of the crystal's internal architecture (connection log, routing, authentication structure). Raw sensory overload on top of physical agony; he can't process it in combat. **Leon saves him** with 50 simultaneous fire spells (classic Leon brute-force). Kae flees. Phelan survives with data he doesn't yet understand. *(Beat 1 of the credential harvest exploit.)* **The Realization (Beat 2):** Hours later, debriefing with Leon. The noise replays the flash — picks at details, connects fragments. Mid-conversation, Phelan realizes: the flash was **data**, not sensory garbage. The crystal stamps its own signature on every connection record (needs to "remember" pathways for the feedback loop). By being drained, he was *inside* the system — his Flaw Sight saw the architecture from within. He now has: the crystal's private key (its internal signature), the connection log (victim list), and understanding of the authentication structure. The crystal's overuse degradation means its authentication is loose — accepts signatures within a tolerance range. His forgery doesn't need to be perfect. This is the exploit path. *(See spec doc for full design.)*

**Chapter 19: Breaking the Crystal**
Three-part set piece (Beats 3-5 of the credential harvest exploit -- see spec doc). **Tactical roles:** Leon = close cover fire during The Hack. Ledger = outer perimeter security + extraction contingency. Distinct positions, distinct functions. **Ledger's justification:** Phelan requests guild tactical support — guild-priority case with Tier Two asset at extreme risk. Plan requires perimeter security + extraction contingency the core team (Phelan, Leon, Mere) can't provide while executing the exploit. Ledger assigns himself. **The Heist:** Leon tracks Kae's movements; when Kae leaves his hideout, Leon signals Phelan. Phelan infiltrates, bypassing the hideout ward using the crystal's forged signature (the ward trusts the crystal's own authentication). Reaches the crystal physically. **The Hack:** Phelan uses the forged crystal signature to authenticate as a trusted internal process. Two changes: (1) revokes Kae's operator credentials, (2) rewrites operator/target logic so anyone who operates the crystal is classified as a *target* -- the drain mechanism reverses. Sustained, precise work; Phelan is completely vulnerable. Leon provides close cover fire, Mere has herbal treatment prepared. Time pressure (Kae could return). Ledger runs outer perimeter — SEES Phelan's sustained interaction with the crystal's internal architecture. Close enough to understand this isn't standard curse-breaking. **The Reversal:** Kae returns, tries to drain someone. The crystal classifies him as the target. His own life force is pulled through -- he feels exactly what his victims felt. The pain he's been running from slams back, amplified. Mere's treatment is the bridge -- manages ~80% of the pain, preventing the withdrawal from killing Kae. The crystal survives but is now a trap for anyone who tries to use it. Kae collapses. Phelan crashes hard: exhaustion, temporary loss of magical ability, sensory distortion. **The key still turns -- it just opens a different door.**

**Chapter 20: The Cost**
Immediate aftermath of the crystal break. Phelan is in hard crash -- exhausted, magically depleted, migraines. Kae is alive but shattered -- the remaining 20% of his chronic pain is permanent, and he's facing consciousness without the crystal for the first time in years. Mere manages Kae's transition with clinical precision (this is her domain -- herbalism, pain management, practical care). Phelan's rationale when questioned: "no emotional point, killing is just a waste of effort" -- mercy disguised as efficiency while clearly caring. The team processes what just happened. **The connection log** -- every victim's signature stamped alongside the crystal's own -- serves as irrefutable evidence of every person Kae drained. Legal/political weight for the Compact, victims' families. Combined with Kae's testimony, further implicates Cass. The crystal itself survives as a trap: anyone who tries to use it gets drained instead. Future-proofing for Book 3.

### Phase 4 -- Resolution (Chapters 21-22 + Epilogue)

**Chapter 21: Picking Up the Pieces**
The case wraps. **Kae's fate — guild custody under Ledger's management.** Kae becomes an intelligence asset: testimony too valuable to hand to the Compact (they'd bury it) or the city watch (they'd hang him). The crystal's connection log (every victim's signature) combined with Kae's account directly implicates Cass as the handler. Not a prisoner, not free — an asset with a debt and a purpose. Physical location: guild safe house (established Ch 12-13). Mere continues herbal treatment through the guild (ongoing ~80% pain management). Pragmatism as mercy at institutional scale. Seeds Book 3: Kae is a weapon Ledger can point at the Compact when the time is right. Cass is insulated in Thorngate, operating through intermediaries. The Compact faces pressure but doesn't crack. Leon's guilt thread resolves -- not absolved, but he's changed his philosophy. "Don't ask who's buying" becomes something harder. Carter's role acknowledged -- his jacket kept Phelan alive, his network is rebuilt stronger. **Ledger debrief — firsthand witness.** No longer working from reports. "I was there, Phelan. I saw what you did to that crystal. That wasn't curse-breaking." Much harder to deflect than secondhand report language. The file has firsthand testimony. Seeds Book 3 institutional pressure significantly harder than original design. **Charlette/Thresholds resolution:** The Ch 11 exploit pays off — Charlette's control system dismantled using its own logic. The strategy Devod generated (built on Mere's pattern-recognition and Phelan's flaw-identification) bears fruit. Devod's share was never legally transferred. Mere and Devod now co-own Thresholds or have forced Charlette to negotiate. Devod fully recovered. The personal subplots land.

**Chapter 22: The New Quiet**
The new status quo. Phelan and Mere on Chandler's Row, but the quiet is different now -- earned, not assumed. House plans continue (what revision are we on now?). Phelan's ability is closer to being exposed -- the crystal break was witnessed or left arcane evidence that someone with knowledge could trace. The Compact's direct pressure is building toward Book 3. Phelan reflects on Kae as a mirror -- what happens when no one helps, and the uncomfortable fact that someone helped *him* (Mere, Leon, Carter, Devod) whether he asked for it or not. End with forward momentum: the Compact knows more about The Locksmith than before, Cass is not finished, and the quiet won't last.

**Epilogue: The View from Thorngate**
Time skip -- weeks or a month after the case closes. Seeds for Book 3. Cass receives reports about the crystal break -- details that tell him more about Phelan's ability than Phelan would want anyone to know. The Compact's internal politics shift -- Phelan is no longer an annoyance, he's a variable that needs managing. Kae's current state (wherever he ended up). A final detail that signals Book 3's threat: the Compact deciding to look more closely at what Phelan can actually do. Mirrors Book 1's epilogue structure -- the case is over, the consequences are just beginning.

---

## Character Arcs

### Phelan Varrant -- "Two Systems, One House"

**Case arc:** Confronts someone who mirrors his own isolation -- Kae is what happens when no one helps. His "saving Kae is efficient" masks growing empathy he won't name. Fire combat training pays off against the fire-vulnerable Kae. Flaw Sight essential for breaking the crystal.

**Domestic arc -- Internal shift:** From *coexisting with Mere* → *building something with her*

The domestic arc is the emotional spine that makes the Kae case land, because Kae is what happens when you never let anyone close enough to misunderstand you.

**Core dynamic (Yin-Yang Misfire):** Mere says exactly what she means. Phelan hears what people *really* mean. When those two systems collide with someone who actually means what she says: Phelan reads subtext that isn't there, Mere doesn't understand why he's reacting to something she didn't say, both arrive at the same conclusion via incompatible methods. Range: hilarious (budget math) to quietly painful (a rift that takes a day to heal).

**Milestone beats:**

| Beat | Chapter | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Budget Math | Ch 1 | Mere's budget method is alien to Phelan. His noise kicks in, he redoes it his way. Hours later, same number. Mere: "I told you." First lesson: *different method, same answer* is the pattern of this relationship. |
| The Misread | Ch 4-5 | Mere says something blunt. Phelan reads hidden criticism that isn't there, adjusts behavior. Mere notices a day later, asks why. Baffled: "I said [exact words]. That's what I meant." Brief desync, recalibration. Phelan files away: *Mere is the one person whose words are the whole message.* |
| The Reclassification | Ch 10 | Ledger formalizes the de facto elevation from the epilogue — Tier Two promotion. Higher pay, Archive access, alias formalized. Phelan's reaction is complicated — the money helps the house, the access helps the case, but the scrutiny is exactly what he's been avoiding. The guild knows more about The Locksmith than Phelan is comfortable with. |
| The Reversal | Ch 16 | For once, Mere misreads *Phelan*. During the three-way tactical collaboration on the Thresholds exploit (moved from Ch 11 to Ch 16 where the planning happens), she interprets his processing silence as agreement with one of Devod's bad ideas. Her bluntness about what she thinks he's thinking is wrong. Brief beat within the collaboration scene. Proves communication isn't one-directional -- they're both learning. |
| The Crack | Ch 13 | After Devod's attack, domestic equilibrium breaks. Mere processes through action (bedside research). Phelan processes through cold efficiency (hunt Kae). Incompatible grief responses. Not a misunderstanding -- a genuine conflict of approach. Unresolved this chapter. |
| The New Math | Ch 20-22 | Domestic life resumes differently. Budget method is now a blend: Mere's structure, Phelan's edge-case paranoia. They've stopped translating each other and started building a shared language. Phelan won't name this. The reader will. |

**Per-chapter temperature:**

| Ch | Phelan's Domestic State |
|---|---|
| 1 | Content but restless. The quiet is good. The quiet is suspicious. House plans, budget math, the comedy of two analytical minds sharing a kitchen. |
| 2-3 | Case pulls focus. Mere gives him space (she understands hyper-focus). Domestic life continues in background -- meals, routines, the small negotiations of shared space. |
| 4-5 | Leon's guilt discovery stirs something. Phelan notices he's *telling Mere about the case* without being asked. This is new. He doesn't examine why. **The Misread.** Brief desync. Recalibration. Phelan learns something he'll keep learning all book: she means what she says. |
| 7-8 | Case intensifying. Ch8: Ledger trust moment (morning), coordinated tail with Leon (afternoon), Cass confirmed (eavesdropping), Carter told (evening). Domestic rhythms become anchoring -- the thing he comes back to. Mere's blunt observations about the case are occasionally brilliant in ways that annoy him. |
| 9 | After first contact with Kae -- fought, drained by the crystal, rescued by Leon. Comes home shaken (won't admit it). Bracelet at half power. Mere takes over bedside care -- clinical, fierce. Phelan falls asleep hearing Mere and Leon discussing what happened at the table. Domestic arc as anchor: this is the home he returns to when the world breaks him. |
| 10 | Tier Two. Mixed feelings — the money and access are welcome, the scrutiny isn't. The alias becoming official makes the anonymity harder to maintain. |
| 11 | **Thresholds.** Phelan present but peripheral as Devod reveals the ultimatum truth and Mere reclassifies both parents. Notices Devod's unexplained composure shift — files as inconsistent data. Witnesses Mere choosing to shelve the personal for the case. |
| 12 | Devod attacked. Domestic equilibrium shattered. |
| 13 | **The Crack.** Incompatible grief responses. Unresolved tension. The house feels different. |
| 14-15 | Working in parallel, not together. The rift isn't hostile -- they're just in different processing modes. Mere at bedside researching. Phelan hunting. They pass each other. |
| 16 | Planning the impossible solution brings them back into alignment. Mere's research + Phelan's Flaw Sight = the plan. Working together heals what talking couldn't. |
| 18-20 | The case execution. Mere's herbal treatment is essential. Phelan trusts her with Kae's survival -- domestic arc paying off. No hesitation. |
| 21-22 | **The New Math.** Earned quiet. House plans continue. The shared language is forming. |

---

### Mere Fields

Moves from supporting role to active participant across three threads. (1) Charlette/Thresholds -- her own chapter (Ch 11) reveals Charlette's ultimatum and the fact Devod never signed away his share. Mere didn't know — this transforms the legal fight into something deeply personal. She and Devod pursue the claim together, rebuilding their relationship through collaboration. Resolution in Ch 21. (2) Devod's draining (Ch 12-13) -- life-threatening; Mere genuinely afraid he'll die. Her emotional detachment cracks under pressure, but she processes through action. Her bedside research on the crystal's effects (Ch 13) directly feeds the herbal treatment that saves Kae (Ch 19). (3) The pain solution -- Mere's Thresholds herbalism expertise provides the ~80% pain management bridge that makes saving Kae possible instead of just merciful.

**Note -- Devod's Pathfinder past:** Mere knew about Devod's Pathfinder service since childhood (pre-ultimatum, ~age 12). It was just a fact about her father. She never mentions it because (a) it wasn't relevant until now, and (b) she doesn't volunteer information unprompted -- established character behavior. During Brennan Toor's visit, her non-reaction is the punctuation: Phelan is the last one catching up.

---

### Devod Fields -- "The Door That Opens"

**Internal shift:** From *grateful to be tolerated* → *believing he belongs here*

**ESTABLISHED CANON -- Pathfinder Backstory:** Devod served ~10 years (~18-28) in the Pathfinders, an elite guild-contracted frontier clearance unit. Earned the nickname "The Wolf" (pack leader, protector). His Book 1 combat skills (Ch19 forearm/collarbone strikes) and terrain navigation (Ch14-15 mine) were Pathfinder training, not delivery-driver instinct -- Phelan's narration was an incorrect cold-read. Full backstory in `characters/devod-fields.md`.

**Brennan Toor Visit (planned scene, recovery arc):** Old Pathfinder comrade visits during Devod's recovery. Calls him "Wolf." Mere lets him in without surprise -- she knew about Devod's Pathfinder past since childhood (pre-ultimatum). Brennan tells the defining story (three failed ideas, fourth saved the unit). Phelan recalibrates everything he thought he knew about Devod. Mere's non-reaction is the punctuation. Seeds old-timer network for Book 3.

Devod spent 12 years watching Mere's life from above a tanner's shop. Book 1 cracked the door open. Book 2 is about him cautiously stepping through it -- and then having it nearly slammed shut by Kae's attack at the exact moment he started to believe it would stay open.

**Critical design choice:** The gradual reconnection with Mere MUST land before the attack (Ch 12). If the reader hasn't watched this relationship cautiously rebuild through Ch 1-11, the attack is just plot mechanics.

**Milestone beats:**

| Beat | Chapter | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Awkward Orbit | Ch 1-4 | Devod is *around* -- showing up with ideas, helping where he can, treating every interaction with Mere like borrowed time. Over-explains, over-contributes, tries too hard. Mere finds it exhausting but doesn't push him away. |
| The Breakthrough | Ch 11 | Thresholds chapter. Two-phase shift: emotional anchor (brings papers, stays calm while Mere reads) → truth-teller (reveals the ultimatum with composure that doesn't match the delivery-driver model). Devod stops performing gratitude, starts being *honest*. Mere reclassifies him — model inverted, he didn't leave, he was forced out. The moment is quiet but enormous. Mere says "we" about the Thresholds fight. **Operator phase (three-way collaboration) moves to Ch 16.** |
| The Door Slams | Ch 12 | Kae drains Devod at the exact moment the relationship was becoming real. Destruction of something fragile that was just starting to work. |
| The Idea From the Bed | Ch 16 | Contributes his "one genius idea" from recovery. The real beat: he doesn't perform or over-explain. Just says it quietly. Like someone who believes he'll be heard. Mere doesn't praise -- she just *uses* the idea, which is her version of trust. |

**Per-chapter temperature:**

| Ch | Devod's Emotional State |
|---|---|
| 1 | Present but peripheral. Helping with house plans (has opinions about foundations). Grateful energy. |
| 2-3 | Hovering. Drops by Chandler's Row with food, ideas, excuses to visit. Mere tolerates it. |
| 4 | Starting to relax slightly. A shared laugh over something practical. Still tentative. |
| 5-7 | More natural. Offers case ideas (mostly bad, one useful). Mere stops bristling at his presence. |
| 8-9 | Comfortable enough to disagree with Mere about something small. She respects it. Quiet milestone. |
| 10 | Settled into routine. Present but unremarked -- the normalcy that makes Ch 12 devastating. |
| 11 | **Breakthrough.** Two-phase shift: anchor → truth-teller. Reveals the ultimatum with composure that doesn't match the delivery-driver model. Mere reclassifies both parents — Charlette as closed account, Devod as model-inverted. Says "we" about the Thresholds fight. Stops performing, starts belonging. |
| 12 | **Attacked.** Everything that was building gets shattered in one moment. |
| 13 | Unconscious/recovering. His absence is the loudest thing in the chapter. Mere at bedside. Leon at bedside -- the intersection moment. |
| 14 | Off-page recovery. His absence weighs on Mere and Phelan differently. |
| 15 | **The Wolf.** Brennan Toor visits during recovery. Devod's Pathfinder past revealed to Phelan. Mere's non-reaction is the punctuation. |
| 16 | Lucid enough to contribute. The quiet idea. Changed demeanor -- less scattered, more grounded. |
| 21-22 | Recovery continuing. Relationship with Mere is different now -- tested, not just tentative. Neither names it. |

---

### Leon D'Nardis -- "The Freelancer's Leash"

**Internal shift:** From *independence as identity* → *accepting that freedom has a price tag he's been ignoring*

Two engines pulling opposite directions. The guilt thread (crystal sale enabled Kae's weapon) yanks him *toward* the team -- he owes this. His freelance identity (no guild, no commitments, always one foot out the door) pulls him *away*. Book 2: Leon discovers "no strings attached" was always an illusion -- he just wasn't looking at the strings.

**Father backstory context:** Leon's father (minor nobility, D'Nardis family, governs between cities) was injured in a bandit raid on his carriage. Survived but required expensive healing. Leon traveled to see him — they care for each other under the black-sheep tension. The financial pressure (healer bills + operational debt from the Vethani Crypts job) is why he sold the crystal fast and cheap to a traveling vendor rather than negotiating full value. This surfaces in Ch 4 as a clipped answer when Phelan asks why he sold so fast, and echoes in Ch 13 when Leon sees Devod — another father hurt, this time by the weapon Leon's sale enabled.

**Milestone beats:**

| Beat | Chapter | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Recognition | Ch 4 | Leon identifies the crystal. Realizes what he sold and what it became. Doesn't break down -- gets quiet, then operational. "Let me help trace the buyer." Guilt manifests as hyper-competence. **Father mention:** When Phelan asks why he sold so fast — "My father got hurt. Healers aren't cheap." Noise fills in D'Nardis family context. **Traveling vendor scene:** Leon was already planning to visit the vendor (still in Drenwick) to browse for a fire augmentation tool. Double duty: character beat (Leon shopping, jealous of Phelan's ring) + investigation beat (vendor remembers the crystal buyer, describes intermediary). The irony of Leon browsing for new toys while his last sale is killing people. |
| Stay or Bolt | Ch 10 | Case shifts to "Cass targeting Phelan's network." Leon has a window to walk away. Stays -- frames it transactionally ("I know the crystal's signature better than anyone, you need me"). Phelan sees through this. Neither acknowledges it. |
| The Bedside | Ch 13 | **Intersection moment with Devod's arc.** Leon sees the man drained by the crystal *he sold*. Guilt stops being abstract, becomes concrete. **Father parallel:** Leon sees Devod — another father hurt — and connects it to his own father's injury from the bandit raid. His father was hurt by bandits; Devod was hurt by the weapon Leon's sale enabled. The parallel strikes without anyone stating it. Operational mask slips for one moment. Covers it fast. Phelan notices, says nothing. Devod doesn't know Leon is the link. Leon does. |
| Cover Fire | Ch 19 | During crystal break, Leon provides cover while Phelan is vulnerable. First time he's put himself at physical risk for someone else's plan. Not freelancing -- *serving*. He'd hate that word. Does it anyway. |
| The New Philosophy | Ch 21 | "Don't ask who's buying" becomes something harder. Quiet conversation with Phelan, maybe while drinking. Doesn't swear off grey-market work. Doesn't join the guild. But starts *asking*. One question per sale. Who's buying. Small, permanent, costly to his business model. |

**Per-chapter temperature:**

| Ch | Leon's Emotional State |
|---|---|
| 1 | Comfortable. Training with Phelan. Easy rhythm of a transactional friendship that's secretly becoming real. |
| 4 | **Recognition.** Quiet shock, then operational pivot. Guilt buried under competence. Deepens as crystal connection solidifies. Throws himself into tracing the buyer. |
| 5-7 | Increasingly invested. Tells himself it's professional -- cleaning up his own mess. |
| 8 | Coordinated tail with Phelan via soundstones. Hears Cass confirm the crystal chain. The anger is easier than the guilt. Stays in the field after the split -- keeps tracking operatives. Finds Kae's location. |
| 9 | Calls Phelan with Kae's location. Guards the front during break-in. Rescues Phelan from crystal drain with wall-of-fire brute force. Guilt sharpens -- the crystal that attacked his friend passed through his hands. Guards Phelan during recovery. Mask slips briefly at Chandler's Row. |
| 10 | **Stay or bolt.** Chooses to stay. Rationalizes it. Phelan lets him. |
| 12 | Devod attacked. Leon goes cold. Combat-ready. Guilt is a weapon now -- channeled into "fix this." |
| 13 | **Bedside.** Mask slips. Recovers. Changed underneath. |
| 16 | All business. Planning the approach. Volunteers for the dangerous position without being asked. |
| 18-19 | **Cover fire.** Serving someone else's plan. Hates it. Does it perfectly. |
| 21 | **New philosophy.** The quiet conversation. One question per sale. Small change, real cost. |

---

### Carter (Jonael Carterson)

**Family:** Wife — Jenet Carterson. Son — Logen Carterson.

Personal subplot -- Compact retaliates against him via supply chain cutoff (economic pressure, not physical danger). Carter investigates on his own first, comes to Phelan as a peer when he hits a wall (Ch 2-3). **Compact leverage:** Blackmail / past violations. Supplier 1 has a minor real violation — Phelan determines it's cheaper for them to fix the violation and save their business than to keep bowing to Compact pressure. Supplier 2 faces fabricated blackmail — the supplier believes people will trust the Compact over them; Phelan exposes the fabrication (specific method TBD during drafting). Resolution is a team effort: Phelan traces Compact intermediaries and neutralizes their leverage (Ch 4-7), Leon vouches for Carter with grey-market contacts, Carter evaluates and rebuilds with higher standards. Comes out with a stronger, Compact-resistant network. Learns Cass is behind the cutoff (Ch 8), entering the Compact conflict as a conscious participant. The studded jacket (ore studs, ~20% absorption, hem/cuffs/collar) is delivered in Ch 12 after Devod's draining -- Carter sees where the case is heading and acts. He'd been designing it since receiving the ore in Book 1; the restored supply chain made it possible. Seeds Book 3: Carter is a known target with Compact-resistant infrastructure.

---

### Cassius Rykhard

Elevated from bureaucratic obstacle to active puppeteer. Manufactured Kae as a weapon, killed Elara, now weaponizing chaos. Book 2 establishes him as the series-level antagonist.

---

### Ledger — "The Watchmaker's File"

**Internal shift:** From *observing an asset* → *protecting an investment he won't admit is personal*

Ledger ended Book 1 playing a longer game — "the guild has noticed," Greenvale evidence filed, higher-tier cases delivered. In Book 2, the draining case forces him from observer to handler. He assigns Phelan, tracks progress, delivers the Tier Two promotion, and provides intelligence — all while his file on Phelan's true capabilities grows thicker with every debrief. The tension: Ledger is increasingly invested in Phelan's success while simultaneously building the case that could expose him.

**Milestone beats (9 beats):**

| Beat | Chapter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Assignment | Ch 2 | Modified | No longer a client case. Ledger's intelligence network (Pathfinder-built) detected the draining pattern AND the Compact's deliberate non-investigation. Brings this to Phelan as a guild operation. The warrens family is a data point he investigated, not a walk-in. In-person delivery signals institutional priority. |
| The Reluctant Share | Ch 4 | **NEW** | Brings Kae's name and intel about a dead woman connected to him (Elara). Does NOT reveal she was a guild informant — protecting guild intelligence infrastructure. Frames it as related intelligence, not personal loss. Phelan cold-reads that Ledger is holding back. Files it. The audience learns Elara is dead here; the Ch 14 double reveal adds WHO killed her, WHY, and Ledger's personal stake. |
| The Intelligence | Ch 5 | Unchanged | Provides Kae's street name. Asks too-precise questions about Phelan's investigative methods. Phelan deflects; Ledger files it. |
| The Escalation | Ch 7 | Unchanged | Victim dies. Ledger visits to discuss guild exposure. "This is a murder case. The guild's name is attached to the outcome." |
| The Financial Thread | Ch 8 | **NEW** | Financial results confirm Cass. Triggers Ledger to reveal Elara was a guild informant ("she went dark"). Institutional framing, personal weight visible. Major trust moment. Does NOT reveal full truth (murder details, personal guilt) -- reserved for Ch14 double reveal. |
| The Reclassification | Ch 10 | Unchanged | Tier Two promotion. Higher retainer, Archive access, intelligence priority, alias formalized. Double-edged: resources + tighter leash. Ledger's version of "we believe in you" is a pay raise and a tighter leash. |
| Crisis Response | Ch 12-13 | **NEW** | Ledger arrives at the Devod scene — justified by guild protocol: Tier Two operative's family member attacked = automatic guild response. Guild network picks up the attack independently (Pathfinder seed). Reaction subtly off — too controlled, too specific in damage assessment. Knows "Devod Fields" maps to more than "Mere's delivery-driver father" (Pathfinder reputation knowledge). Provides guild resources: safe house access, medical contacts. Reads Phelan-Mere tension. **Drafting note:** Brief and functional — single line or beat for Devod-name reaction, not competing with Mere/Leon emotional beats. |
| The Hunt | Ch 14 | **NEW** | Provides Compact records access for tracing Elara's paper trail. Present in person, helping Phelan interpret institutional records (Pathfinder training included Compact liaison work). **Double reveal:** Elara was a guild informant Ledger personally brought in and was trying to protect. His presence during the reveal lets him witness Phelan's emotional reaction — more data for the file — but Phelan is now watching Ledger too, and sees the weight. The Cass-Elara connection is institutional AND personal. Ledger lost someone, not just an asset. |
| The Resources | Ch 17 | Unchanged | Tier Two access (Archives, intelligence priority) for planning the approach to Kae. Provides approach vector — tactical support, not just information. Committed. |
| Crystal Break Witness | Ch 19 | **NEW** | Phelan requests guild tactical support — guild-priority case with Tier Two asset at extreme risk. Plan requires perimeter security + extraction contingency the core team can't provide while executing the exploit. Ledger assigns himself. Runs outer perimeter (distinct from Leon's close cover fire). SEES Phelan's sustained interaction with the crystal's internal architecture. Close enough to understand this isn't standard curse-breaking. |
| The Debrief | Ch 21 | Modified | No longer working from reports — firsthand witness. "I was there, Phelan. I saw what you did to that crystal. That wasn't curse-breaking." Much harder to deflect. The file has firsthand testimony. Manages Kae's guild custody (intelligence asset, safe house). Seeds Book 3 institutional pressure significantly harder than secondhand reports. |

**Per-chapter temperature:**

| Ch | Ledger's State |
|---|---|
| 2 | Professional, institutional. Pattern + Compact gap = guild operation. In-person delivery signals this matters. |
| 4 | **The Reluctant Share.** Brings Kae's name and dead woman intel. Controlled, incomplete — protecting guild intelligence infrastructure. Something personal underneath the institutional framing. Phelan notices. |
| 5 | Curious. Probing questions about methods. Not casual. |
| 7-8 | Pressured. Guild reputation on the line. Ch8 morning: **The Financial Thread** -- delivers Cass confirmation AND reveals Elara was a guild informant (institutional framing, "she went dark," full truth reserved for Ch14). Major trust moment. Edge softens -- this is the most he's shared. |
| 10 | Decisive. Promotion is backing + investment. |
| 12-13 | **Field mode.** Controlled but something's off. Assessing the scene like someone who knows what draining does to a body. Provides resources. Reads the team's fracture. Brief, functional, not competing with emotional beats. |
| 14 | **Engaged — personally.** In the field, working Compact records alongside Phelan. Professional collaboration — but every insight Phelan offers gets filed. The double reveal hits: Elara was his informant, someone he brought in and was trying to protect. Cass killed a guild asset AND someone Ledger felt responsible for. Phelan watches Ledger during the reveal and sees weight, not just institutional concern. |
| 17 | Committed. Providing real tactical resources. The observer has become a participant. |
| 19 | **Operational.** Running outer perimeter during crystal break. Witnessing something he can't explain through standard frameworks. The mask holds, but the data is overwhelming. |
| 21 | Calculating with firsthand knowledge. Respect and wariness sharpened by what he saw. Much harder for Phelan to deflect. Book 3 seeds are concrete, not speculative. |

**Ledger Pathfinder Backstory:**

Ledger served in the Pathfinders — **different unit than Devod, different era or region.** He knows *of* "the Wolf" by reputation but they never served together. Devod doesn't know Ledger personally. Full details in `characters/ledger.md`.

**What the Pathfinder past explains:**
- The intelligence network is old Pathfinder comrades repurposed into an information web
- Combat readiness (throwing knives, threat assessment) is Pathfinder training, not surprising bureaucrat capability
- Phelan's "most dangerous person in the room" read was accurate — the bureaucrat mask IS the disguise
- The Carter link (anonymous client management in Book 1) fits Pathfinder asset-running tradecraft
- Knowledge of Compact filing systems comes from Pathfinder-Compact liaison work

**Reveal strategy:** Slow burn. Book 2 plants seeds only — no character says "Pathfinder" about Ledger. Full reveal reserved for Book 3. Seeds: (1) network reach in Ch 2, (2) field assessment precision in Ch 12-13, (3) Compact record navigation in Ch 14, (4) tactical perimeter in Ch 19, (5) debriefing protocols in Ch 21. Phelan notices pieces but doesn't connect them.

**Kae Guild Custody (Post-Resolution):**

Guild custody under Ledger's management. Kae becomes an intelligence asset:
- Testimony too valuable to hand to the Compact (they'd bury it) or the city watch (they'd hang him)
- Crystal connection log (every victim's signature) = irrefutable evidence; combined with Kae's account, directly implicates Cass
- Mere continues herbal treatment through the guild (ongoing ~80% pain management)
- Not a prisoner, not free — an asset with a debt and a purpose
- **Physical location:** Guild safe house (established as available through Ch 12-13 crisis response beat)
- Mirrors Phelan's "saving him is efficient" logic at institutional scale. Pragmatism as mercy.
- Seeds Book 3: Kae is a weapon Ledger can point at the Compact when the time is right.

---

### Arc Intersection Map

| Chapter | Devod | Leon | Phelan (domestic) | Carter | Ledger | Carson |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peripheral, grateful | Comfortable, training | Budget math comedy | — | — | — |
| 2 | — | — | — | Brings supply problem | **Case assignment** | — |
| 4 | Relaxing slightly | **Crystal recognition**, guilt deepening, father mention, vendor scene | Telling Mere about case | Investigation begins; Leon contacts continue | **The Reluctant Share** — brings Kae's name, withholds Elara's informant status | — |
| 5 | Natural | Guilt deepening | **The Misread** | Leverage identified | **Intelligence + probing questions** | — |
| 6 | Natural, case ideas | Guilt deepening | — | Carson resolves Supplier 2 rumors | — | **Introduction** — chapel-workshop, Church of the Ahole, anti-Phelan moment; resolves Supplier 2 via network |
| 7 | More natural, case ideas | Invested | — | **Suppliers freed**; rebuilds with higher standards | — | **Puzzle piece** — Kae's dilemmas, "do what's best for you" advice |
| 8 | — | **The Tail** — coordinated surveillance via soundstones, hears Cass confirm chain, stays in field to track Kae | Ledger trust moment (morning), case intensifying | **Learns Cass is behind it** — Phelan drops the bomb | **Financial Thread + Elara reveal** (informant status, "she went dark") — major trust moment | — |
| 9 | — | **First Contact** — finds Kae, guards front, rescues Phelan from crystal drain, guilt sharpens | Crystal drain aftermath, Mere's bedside care, domestic arc as anchor | — | — | — |
| 10 | — | **Stay or bolt** | Tier Two — mixed feelings | — | **Tier Two promotion** | — |
| 11 | **Breakthrough** (truth-teller) | — | **Thresholds** — peripheral, observes ultimatum reveal + Mere's reclassification | — | — | — |
| 12 | **Attacked** | Goes cold | Equilibrium shattered | **Jacket delivery** (payoff from Ch 2-3 setup) | **Crisis response** — field assessment, guild resources, reads team fracture. Subtly off reaction to Devod's name. | — |
| 13 | Absent (recovering) | **Bedside intersection** | **The Crack** | — | (continued) Safe house + medical contacts established | — |
| 14 | Off-page recovery | — | Working in parallel | — | **The Hunt** — Compact records access, field collaboration, witnesses Elara reveal and Phelan's reaction | — |
| 15 | **Recovering — Brennan Toor visits** | — | Recalibrates Devod | — | — | — |
| 16 | **Quiet idea** | Volunteers for danger | Realignment through work | — | — | — |
| 17 | — | — | — | — | **Resources + approach vector** | **"I got a buddy"** — network helps navigate Kae's protectors |
| 19 | — | **Cover fire** (close) | Trusts Mere completely | — | **Crystal break witness** — outer perimeter/extraction, sees Phelan's sustained crystal interaction firsthand | — |
| 21 | Testing new relationship | **New philosophy** | **The New Math** | Acknowledged, network rebuilt | **Debrief — firsthand witness**, Kae guild custody | — (learns truth off-page through back channels) |

---

## Themes

- Addiction as weaponized vulnerability -- someone else's pain becomes someone else's tool
- The consequences of ethical shortcuts (Leon's "don't ask who's buying" philosophy)
- Empathy vs. pragmatism -- Phelan saving Kae because it's "efficient" while clearly caring
- What happens when no one helps (Kae as a mirror of Phelan's isolation taken further)
- Building trust vs. manufactured dependency

---

## Key Callbacks

| Prior Thread | Book 2 Connection |
|---|---|
| Leon sells Mallory focusing crystal for 1,200 silvers to traveling vendor | The crystal IS the weapon. Leon's careless sale enabled everything. Chain of custody: Leon → traveling vendor (fast, cheap sale due to father's healer bills + operational debt) → grey market → Cass's intermediary |
| Leon's father injured in bandit raid | Healer debt + operational debt drove the fast, cheap crystal sale. Surfaces in Ch 4 (clipped answer), echoes in Ch 13 (Devod parallel) |
| Epilogue broker inquiries about the crystal buyer | Foreshadowed the crystal becoming a problem — the "people asking" were Cass's broker inquiries rippling back through the grey market |
| Cassius Rykhard reassigned to Thorngate | Operating remotely as Kae's handler -- distance gave him deniability |
| Floundry case witnesses / Compact corruption evidence | Cass redirects Kae at witnesses to eliminate testimony |
| Devod Fields' role in the Floundry cure | Targeted because of his connection to the case |
| Phelan's fire combat training (epilogue -- 12 seconds integrated) | Kae is vulnerable to fire. The training arc pays off |
| Mere's herbalism / Thresholds expertise | Provides the herbal pain management solution for Kae |
| Phelan and Mere living together on Chandler's Row | New status quo. Domestic life disrupted by the case |
| Carter supplied mine expedition gear, built focusing ring, coordinated ore sales (Book 1) | Compact traces his involvement -- supply chain cutoff as retaliation |
| Carter received 8 pieces master-grade saturated ore (Ch21) | Used for studded jacket ore studs (~20% absorption) |
| Cass conducting surveillance during Book 1 (Ch13, Ch19) | Identified Carter as part of Phelan's network -- drives the supply cutoff |
| House plans revision 10 / east-facing kitchen | Ongoing subplot continues |
| Charlette / Thresholds shop deed conflict | Advances in Book 2 -- Charlette's guild-adjacent logistics background drives her control methods. Ch 11 reframes the fight through understanding her system architecture. Three-way collaboration (Mere: pattern, Phelan: flaw, Devod: exploit) dismantles Charlette's control using its own logic |

---

## Open Questions

### Resolved

- ~~Devod's condition post-draining~~ → Life-threatening, full recovery. Touch and go for days. Recovers fully by Ch 21.
- ~~Charlette/Thresholds subplot mechanics~~ → Ch 11 "Thresholds" (redesigned 2026-03-24). Four beats: payment anomaly discovery (financial records reveal extortion payments, not legal deed, as primary trigger) → ultimatum truth (Charlette threatened to disappear with Mere) → cold finality (Mere reclassifies both parents, done with Charlette) → shelving (Mere delays Thresholds fight for the case — character growth). Three-way collaboration (Mere: pattern, Phelan: flaw, Devod: exploit) and Reversal beat both moved to Ch 16. Charlette translation beat cut — Mere doesn't need it.
- ~~Elara reveal timing~~ → Ch 14; combined paper trail (Compact records) + street contact testimony (someone paid to look away).
- ~~Specific Compact leverage on Carter's suppliers~~ → Blackmail. Supplier 1: minor real violation (Phelan helps them fix it — cheaper than bowing to Compact). Supplier 2: fabricated blackmail (Phelan exposes the fabrication — method TBD during drafting).
- ~~Carter's family names~~ → Wife: Jenet Carterson. Son: Logen Carterson.
- ~~Supplier 2 fabrication exposure method~~ → Resolved via Carson in Ch 6. Compact pressured Supplier 2 to cut off Carter AND spread fabricated rumors to force compliance. Carson knows the supplier (a fellow craftsman and follower of the Church of the Ahole), squashes the rumors over time through his network credibility. Supplier freed to resume business with Carter if Carter wants.
- ~~Specific exploit mechanics~~ → Resolved. Five-beat credential harvest & authentication swap. See `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-03-16-crystal-exploit-credential-harvest-design.md`

- ~~Case entry details~~ → **RESOLVED.** No longer a victim's family walk-in. Ledger's Pathfinder-built intelligence network detected the draining pattern across Drenwick — multiple incidents no one else connected. Simultaneously noticed the Compact's deliberate non-investigation (they know about it and aren't acting). Two signals, one conclusion: someone with Compact protection is running an unregistered magical weapon. Guild-priority threat. The warrens family whose breadwinner was drained is a data point Ledger investigated, not a client who walked in. Guild takes this as an institutional operation — no client fee, guild-funded. Ledger assigns Phelan because the case requires his specific skillset.
- ~~Kae's post-resolution status~~ → **RESOLVED.** Guild custody under Ledger's management. Kae becomes an intelligence asset: testimony too valuable to hand to the Compact (they'd bury it) or the city watch (they'd hang him). The crystal's connection log (every victim's signature) serves as irrefutable evidence. Combined with Kae's account, directly implicates Cass as the handler. Mere continues herbal treatment through the guild (ongoing ~80% pain management). Not a prisoner, not free — an asset with a debt and a purpose. **Physical location:** Guild safe house (established as available through Ch 12-13 crisis response beat). Pragmatism as mercy at institutional scale. Seeds Book 3: Kae is a weapon Ledger can point at the Compact when the time is right.
- ~~Jacket delivery setup~~ → **RESOLVED.** Carter comments on Phelan's lack of protective gear during his Ch 2-3 visit about the supply chain problem. Specifically calls out that someone doing combat training with a fire mage should have better protection. Carter's craftsman eye reads the gear gap as professional negligence. Seeds the Ch 12 jacket delivery ("If you're going to do something stupid, at least wear something I made") as a punchline to a setup planted 8-9 chapters earlier. Carter had been designing the studded jacket since receiving the ore in Book 1; the comment in Ch 2-3 establishes he was *thinking* about it.
- ~~Crystal buyer chain of custody~~ → **RESOLVED.** Leon sold to traveling vendor (fast, cheap — father's healer bills + operational debt) → vendor marked up on grey market → Cass heard through broker networks (~2-3 months before Book 2), purchased through intermediary (~1.5 months before Book 2) → gave to Kae days after killing Elara. The "people asking" from the Book 1 epilogue were Cass's broker inquiries rippling back through the grey market.
- ~~Leon's motivation for selling cheap~~ → **RESOLVED.** Father injured in bandit raid on his carriage between governed territories. Healer bills + operational debt from Vethani Crypts job. Leon sold fast to a traveling vendor for 1,200 silvers — less than the crystal was worth, but he needed cash now, not later.

### Still Open

- **Leon's grey-market contact names:** Which contacts does Carter keep? — pure drafting detail, resolve during chapter writing. No structural impact.

- **Victim targeting logic — why these specific people?** Kae attacked Vellen Thrace *in his room* (Ch03 established — arcane district boarding house, second floor). That's not a random street encounter — that's a targeted hit requiring knowledge of where the victim lives and sleeps. If early drainings were Cass-directed (before Kae spirals beyond control), what connects these victims? Why would the Compact (via Cass) want a dockworker in the warrens, a shopkeeper's wife near the canal, and an inscription student in the arcane district taken out? Possible subplot: build a hidden thread connecting the victims that explains why they were chosen — something that, once Phelan discovers it, reveals the drainings started as deliberate Compact housekeeping (silencing witnesses, removing inconvenient people, testing the weapon on expendable targets) before Kae's addiction escalated and the targeting became erratic. This would deepen Cass's villainy (he wasn't just enabling — he was *directing*) and create a subplot where Phelan traces the victim connections and discovers the pattern shifted from surgical to chaotic as Kae lost control. The transition from targeted hits to random draining IS the moment Kae went rogue — and that's when the Compact stopped investigating, because their own weapon had gone off-leash and investigating would expose the leash. **Note:** Cass dispatching the two agents (Ch05-07) to recover Kae is evidence the off-mission spiral has reached a critical point — his handler needs to reassert control. The agents' failure to locate Kae is what triggers Cass's pivot from recovery to redirection (feeding Kae target info instead).
