chapter 15 finalized

world/magic/exploits-log.md

@@ -76,6 +76,34 @@ Every exploit Phelan uses, logged for continuity tracking.
 - **Melee integration:** Held under pressure. Not smooth — residue forced manual adjustment on second dog. But muscle memory carried when magic stuttered. Fifteen years of dormancy, body remembered anyway.
 - **Assessment:** "Not dormant anymore. Active inventory. Accessible. Functional." Ring changes combat math: 5-6ft unassisted → 12-15ft ring-assisted = three times engagement distance. The Barrows crawler that scarred his neck wouldn't have gotten close.
 
+## Combat Log: Focusing Ring — Second Field Use (Bandits)
+- **Chapter:** Ch15
+- **Environment:** Velken's Drift mine, south passage corridor near moss harvest gallery. Same high ambient magical residue as Ch14. Flaw Sight still offline. Corridor width allows two abreast.
+- **Opponents:** Five hired operatives — professional, issued gear (bulk-purchased blade sheaths, lanterns, practical clothing). Led by experienced coordinator. Crossbowman, two blades, one cudgel (reserve/rearguard). On payroll for moss monitoring (Greenvale Provisions contract).
+- **Performance:**
+  - **Working 1:** Ring-assisted fire at crossbowman, 12ft. Residue pocket amplified (same as Ch14 Working 1). Knocked backward into wall, crossbow discharged into ceiling. First target eliminated to remove ranged threat.
+  - **Working 2:** Defensive screen — flat plane of heated air between blade pair and Devod's position. Cost: 7% for a working that should cost 3% (residue doubles everything). Screen forces angle change, not full stop.
+  - **Working 3:** Fire at leader, 8ft, residue neutral. Half-dodged — drove him sideways into wall. Not down. Finished with physical elbow strike to jaw. Unconscious.
+  - **Working 4:** Fire at charging blade, 5ft close range. Ring straining, vibration starting. Working landed but reserves dropping in chunks. Residue getting denser deeper in corridor.
+  - **Working 5 (Devod assist):** Devod dragged mine cart across corridor as barricade. Flanking blade hit cart, stumbled over wheel assembly. Devod struck wrist with walking stick (sword dropped), shoved cart to pin against wall. Not combat — "obstruction." Loading dock physics.
+  - **Cudgel man:** Did not engage. Assessed outcome, surrendered weapon, cooperated.
+- **Reserve cost:** ~70% → ~25-26% for five workings + screen at double residue rate. Bracelet wellspring then pushed reserves to ~32-34% (see Discovery entry below).
+- **Restraint:** Bound all five with cargo hitches (Carter's quick-tie knots from packing session). Weapons collected. Only exit is flooded passage — not an option with hands tied.
+- **Assessment:** First combat against humans. Ring performance confirmed under sustained use with ring strain. Melee integration (elbow on leader) held. Devod's mine cart improvisation was effective team combat without requiring combat training. Phelan's half-second read of the leader's decision to fight was the tactical advantage.
+
+## Discovery: Bracelet Wellspring — Reservoir Flow Reversal
+- **Chapter:** Ch15
+- **Context:** Post-combat assessment. Reserves should have been ~20% based on expenditure math. Actual: ~32-34%. Bracelet actively warm — same sensation as the Barrows' steady draw (Ch08), but direction reversed.
+- **Mechanism:** The bracelet had been trickle-charging from Phelan's natural recovery since he put it on (the "slow leak" first noticed at 15% in Ch08). The reservoir filled over days. When Phelan's reserves dropped below an unknown threshold during combat, the bracelet reversed the flow — pushing stored energy back into his reserves.
+- **Answers:** Mere's Ch10 question: "What happens when it's full?" — it saves for him. The conditional (*if-then*) notation she identified is the operating logic: *if reserves drop below threshold, then reverse flow*.
+- **Unknown:**
+  - Exact threshold trigger point
+  - Whether the cycle repeats (charge → discharge → charge) or is one-time
+  - Total reservoir capacity
+  - Whether this was the original maker's intent or emergent behavior from old runic architecture developing "its own habits"
+- **Significance:** The bracelet is not just a perception tool — it's an autonomous energy management system. Pre-Compact engineering operating on logic Phelan didn't write and can't fully read. "Patient, autonomous, operating on logic I hadn't written and couldn't have designed."
+- **Flaw Sight used:** No — Flaw Sight offline in mine. Discovery was through physical sensation (warmth direction) and reserve math (numbers didn't add up).
+
 ## Equipment: Focusing Ring (Carter's Custom Build)
 - **Chapter:** Ch13
 - **Builder:** Jonael Carterson ("Carter")