chapters 1-4 complete

world/timeline-book2.md

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+# Book 2 Timeline — The Hollow Man
+
+**Purpose:** Track elapsed time between chapters to prevent continuity errors. Update this file whenever a chapter is drafted or revised.
+
+**Season:** Late winter. ~3 months after Book 1 epilogue (deep winter).
+
+**Bell System:** Bells count 1–12. Bell number ≈ hour of day. Context (morning/afternoon/evening) determines AM/PM equivalent.
+
+---
+
+## Timeline Summary
+
+| Day | Chapter | Day of Week | Key Events |
+|-----|---------|-------------|------------|
+| 1 | Ch01 | **Godsday** | Budget scene (morning). Training with Leon (fourth bell, ~4 PM). Devod visits (~6:15 PM). Guild runner delivers Ledger's note (just past eighth bell, ~8 PM). |
+| 2 | Ch02 | **Day 2** (Monday equiv.) | Training with Leon at sixth bell (ring accuracy, not sparring). Ledger briefing at eighth bell — draining case assigned. Carter's shop after — supply chain problem, gear comment. |
+| 3 | Ch03 | **Day 3** (Tuesday equiv.) | No training (case priority — first skip since training started). Mere's folder analysis (cognitive-first sequence). Three victim site visits: arcane district (student Vellen Thrace), warrens (dockworker Ren Dorren), residue-only site (cobbler near canal). Maren's brokerage visit (stonewalled). Canal district inquiries. Pattern crystallisation: one source, one instrument, escalating, pre-Compact. Decision: needs Leon for pre-Compact identification. |
+| 4 | Ch04 | **Day 4** (Wednesday equiv.) | Leon identifies crystal as Mallory (his Vethani recovery). Reveals father's injury drove cheap sale. Visit Harren's Collected Antiquities — crystal buyer traced to intermediary via broker Galden. Leon buys Telessi sleeve (40 silvers). Ledger brings "Kae" name + dead woman intel (worn folder, personal investment). Two new victim reports (one critical). Leon tasked with Galden (2-day timeline) + Carter alternative suppliers. Phelan misreads Mere's advice at home. |
+
+---
+
+## Ch01: The Quiet — Detailed Timeline
+
+| Time | Bell | Event |
+|------|------|-------|
+| Morning | — | Mere presents budget. Phelan redoes it (two hours). Same number. |
+| ~4:00 PM | Fourth bell | Training begins. Courtyard behind chandler's shop. Leon arrives slightly late. |
+| ~5:00 PM | Fifth bell | Light fading. Training ends. "Already dark by fifth bell" (winter). Leon departs. |
+| ~5:15 PM | — | Phelan arrives home. |
+| ~6:15 PM | Sixth bell | Devod arrives ("roughly an hour after I got back"). Pilings discussion, apples. |
+| ~6:45 PM | — | Devod departs (stayed ~20 minutes after initial discussion). |
+| ~7:00–8:00 PM | Seventh–eighth bell | Evening quiet. House plans, budget review, Mere reading. |
+| ~8:00 PM | Just past eighth bell | Guild knock. Runner delivers Ledger's sealed note. |
+
+**Tomorrow (Day 2):**
+- Sixth bell: Training with Leon (regular weekday time)
+- Eighth bell: Meeting with Ledger at the guild hall
+
+---
+
+## Ch02: The First Victim — Detailed Timeline
+
+| Time | Bell | Event |
+|------|------|-------|
+| ~6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Training with Leon. Ring accuracy work (not sparring — Phelan doesn't want to get dirty before guild meeting). Thirteen seconds achieved (ugly but held, 2/4 attempts). Leon's collar/leash joke about the guild. ~1 hour session. |
+| ~7:00 AM | Seventh bell | Training ends. Leon departs. Phelan cleans up, heads to guild hall. |
+| ~8:00 AM | Eighth bell | Ledger briefing at guild hall. Third door on the right (deeper into building than previous debriefs). Case assignment: draining pattern — 7 confirmed victims, 12 investigation sites, escalating frequency. Pre-Compact arcane signature. Compact aware and not acting. Guild-priority, guild-funded. Phelan assigned specifically (arcane analysis + Leon's pre-Compact knowledge). |
+| ~9:00+ AM | After briefing | Carter's shop (Carterson's Supplies). Shelves noticeably thin — focusing crystals, inscription minerals, refined reagents all low. Carter explains: 3 suppliers went quiet over 6 weeks, coordinated, specific to him. Already investigated for weeks. "This is your kind of problem." Carter comments on Phelan's lack of protective gear (wool coat for fire combat training = professional negligence). Sees Barrows neck scar, reveals brother Tomael's death at the third door. First on-page disclosure. Phelan buys 2 vials ward-resistance compound + containment sleeve. |
+| Late morning | — | Phelan walks home. Noise processing both problems (draining case + Carter's supply chain). Plans to read folder tonight, start victim sites tomorrow. |
+
+**Tomorrow (Day 3):**
+- Begin victim site investigations
+
+---
+
+## Ch03: Scene of the Crime — Detailed Timeline
+
+| Time | Bell | Event |
+|------|------|-------|
+| Pre-dawn | Before sixth bell | Phelan at kitchen table with case folder, notes from overnight reading. Mapped all 12 sites. Third cup of coffee. |
+| ~6:00 AM | Sixth bell | Mere enters with her copy of the folder. Cognitive-first sequence observation. Phelan skips training — first time since daily sessions started. Heads to arcane district. |
+| Mid-morning | ~Seventh bell | Arcane district site visit. Student boarding house (Vellen Thrace, third-year inscription apprentice). Landlord lets him in. Flaw Sight engagement: pre-Compact signature, unfamiliar architecture, extraction pathway pointing northeast. ~20 minutes on site. |
+| Late morning | ~Ninth–tenth bell | Warrens site visit. Brewer's Alley, dockworker Ren Dorren's home. Wife (Mrs. Dorren), son Tam (~3-4 years old). Same signature, heavier traces — escalation confirmed. Ren aged from 31 to looking 50. |
+| Early afternoon | — | East road: Maren's mineral brokerage. Maren Harwick stonewalls — "I can't help you." Institutional pressure, not criminal fear. Canal district inquiries — ambient rumours of coordinated supply adjustments. |
+| Mid-afternoon | — | Third site — residue-only, cobbler's workshop near canal district boundary. Faint, incomplete signature — attempted draining at edge of range, or residue drift. Pattern crystallisation: one source, one tool, escalating. |
+| Late afternoon | — | Walk home. Decision: needs Leon for pre-Compact identification. Tomorrow. |
+
+**Tomorrow (Day 4):**
+- Leon conversation about pre-Compact signatures (not training — the case conversation)
+
+---
+
+## Ch04: The Crystal Trail — Detailed Timeline
+
+| Time | Bell | Event |
+|------|------|-------|
+| Morning | — | Phelan meets Leon at courtyard behind chandler's shop. No training — case conversation. Describes pre-Compact signatures. Leon identifies Mallory focusing crystal. Reveals his Vethani crystal is the one. Father's injury revealed. Operational pivot — plan to visit Harren. |
+| Mid-morning | — | Harren's Collected Antiquities, east side of arcane district. Leon browses fire augmentation tools (Telessi projection sleeve). Phelan asks about crystal sale. Harren resists, Leon applies pressure. Harren reveals: sold to intermediary via broker Galden. Intermediary described (forgettable, practitioner's questions). Provenance inquiries noted. Galden named (canal district, Warehouse Row). Leon buys Telessi sleeve (40 silvers). |
+| Late morning / early afternoon | — | Phelan and Leon part at edge of arcane district. Leon heads to canal district (Galden + Carter supplier contacts). Phelan heads to guild hall. |
+| Afternoon | — | Ledger's office. New red pins on map (northeast). Worn folder — "Kae" name, dead woman intel. Phelan cold-reads personal investment. Victim escalation: two new reports, one critical (woman in merchants' quarter). Ledger: "Find Kae." |
+| Late afternoon | — | Walk home. Noise-leash used. |
+| Evening | — | Chandler's Row. Phelan tells Mere about crystal unprompted (new behavior). Mere's tactical advice about Leon. The Misread — Phelan hears criticism that isn't there, adjusts behavior. |
+
+**Tomorrow (Day 5):**
+- Leon pursuing Galden (Day 1 of 2-day timeline)
+- Phelan: street investigation toward Kae — two vectors converging (Ledger's intel + arcane trail)
+
+---
+
+## Standing Schedule (established)
+
+| Time | Event | Notes |
+|------|-------|-------|
+| Sixth bell (daily) | Training with Leon | Courtyard behind chandler's shop. Godsday exception: fourth bell. |
+| Seventh bell | Thresholds opens | Not on Godsday. |
+
+---
+
+## Continuity Notes
+
+- Book 1 epilogue: deep winter. Book 2 Ch01: late winter, 3 months later.
+- "Three months of them now" — Godsday mornings at Chandler's Row (line 3).
+- Ch02 training: ring accuracy work (targeting at range with focusing ring), not sparring. Thirteen-second ceiling achieved (ugly, 50% success rate). Ch01 ceiling was 12.5 seconds.
+- Ch02 guild hall: Phelan goes deeper into the building (third door on right) for the first time. Previous debriefs were second door on left (interview room).
+- Ch02 training: Charged whip demonstrated — 6-second charge, thick whip-arc at 15–18ft. Leon notes improvement from last week. Ring's charge tolerance has increased over 3 months of daily practice.
+- Ch02 Carter: 3 suppliers (Maren — mineral broker east road; Halwick — specialty district inscription-grade; Donnick's Refined Compounds — Compact-certified). All went quiet over 6 weeks. Carter has 6-8 weeks of reserve before critical shortage. Revealed brother Tomael's death to Phelan (third door, second floor, Greymarch Barrows — gear failed).
+- Ch02 Ledger: 7 confirmed victims, 12 investigation sites, pattern over 6 weeks (first 3 in 4 weeks, last 4 in 2 weeks — escalating). Compact compliance officer filed report, was reassigned to Thorngate records management.
+- Ch03: First skip of daily training with Leon — case takes priority. Noted as break in established routine.
+- Ch03: Mere's analytical contribution — cognitive confusion precedes fatigue in 5/7 cases (sequence, not cluster). Different analytical method, same data set.
+- Ch03: Victim names established — Vellen Thrace (student, arcane district), Ren Dorren (dockworker, warrens, wife Mrs. Dorren, three children: eldest out, Tam ~3-4, toddler ~18 months). Ren is 31, looks 50.
+- Ch03: Phelan introduces himself as "the Locksmith" to Mrs. Dorren — first time using the professional name with a civilian. Ledger had told Mrs. Dorren someone would stop by.
+- Ch03: Mere planned the investigation route (drawn on paper, three numbered stops + Maren's brokerage). Filed Carter's supply problem from one mention the night before.
+- Ch03: Noise-leash — Phelan deliberately disengages from analytical spiral at third site. Skill taught himself since Floundry crash. Three months of practice. The noise resists but the leash holds.
+- Ch03: Maren's full name established — Maren Harwick. Stonewalled Phelan ("I can't help you"). Institutional pressure, not criminal.
+- Ch03: Outbound extraction pathway points northeast from both arcane district and warrens sites. Same vector.
+- Ch03: Residue-only site (cobbler near canal) shows incomplete signature — edge of instrument's effective range.
+- Ch03: Pattern confirmed — one operator, one instrument, escalating output. Instrument's signature, not operator's (no personal magical fingerprint). Pre-Compact architecture is the instrument's construction, not the user's method.
+- Next chapter: Leon conversation about pre-Compact signatures (Day 4).
+- Ch04: No training again (second consecutive skip — case took over the session). Meeting was case conversation, not the usual sparring/accuracy work.
+- Ch04: Leon identifies crystal as Mallory focusing crystal from signatures alone (irregular node spacing = biological routing, deeper anchoring = life-force baseline hooks, northeast vector = outbound extraction channel).
+- Ch04: Leon reveals father's injury — "My father got attacked between towns. Healers aren't cheap." First time Phelan learns the reason for the cheap sale. Phelan had noticed the low price (1,200 for a Mallory original) but hadn't pressed — "Leon's business was Leon's business."
+- Ch04: Crystal sold ~6 months before Book 2 (Leon to Harren). Consistent with design spec timeline.
+- Ch04: Harren's Collected Antiquities — east side of arcane district. Three ward layers (military sequence). Harren: mid-fifties, barrel-shaped, appraisal eyes. Sold crystal within a month to intermediary via broker Galden.
+- Ch04: Galden — broker, canal district, Warehouse Row, third building from junction. Leon pursuing (2-day timeline given).
+- Ch04: Leon bought Telessi projection sleeve from Harren — 40 silvers, third era, +8-10ft fire range. Jealous of Phelan's ring.
+- Ch04: Ledger brings "Kae" (street name) and dead woman intel. Folder predates draining case — worn edges, weeks/months of handling. Personal investment visible to Phelan's cold-read. Does NOT reveal Elara was guild informant.
+- Ch04: Two new victim reports — one critical (woman, merchants' quarter, healer gives even chances). Escalation from surviving to critical confirmed.
+- Ch04: Phelan volunteers case info to Mere unprompted — new behavior, not examined.
+- Ch04: The Misread — Mere says "Tell him to be strategic. 'Careful' isn't in his vocabulary." Phelan reads criticism of himself for letting Leon run unsupervised. Adjusts behavior. Mere didn't mean it. Recalibration in Ch05.
+- Ch04: Noise-leash used on walk home. Resistance familiar. Consistent with Ch03 leash growth.
+- Ch04: Ledger's map has new red pins clustered in the northeast — consistent with extraction pathway vector from Ch03.
+- Next chapter: Leon pursues Galden + Carter contacts (Day 1 of 2). Phelan street investigation — two vectors (Ledger's intel + arcane trail) converge on Kae (Ch05).