Still in development — details may change
Draft, not final. A pilot quest script, for the user to approve the format. See Quests: The First Two Hours for the rest.
GiverNone — self-directed, from the marker the keeper's glass set in OPEN 2
WhereA side canyon off the gorge, below the rim, on the way to the bandit fort. New to the plan as of 11 October; no map coordinates given yet.
PrerequisitesOPEN 2 complete
LengthAbout 10 minutes
Steps
| # | Objective (journal) | Completion trigger | Enemies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Find the stolen goods. | Player reaches the side canyon. | None |
| 2 | Deal with the bandits. | Both cutthroats defeated (or one flees — see below). | 2 cutthroats (the Redcloaks) |
| 3 | (no journal line) | If one runs, he makes for the fort; its gate stays shut. Oram's voice: "Not yet." | None |
| 4 | Search the cart. | Kade's own bow and 20 arrows recovered. | None |
| 5 | Cut it down. | First bow shot severs the rope on the crate hanging against the canyon wall. | None |
| 6 | Check the tally. | Bandit tally read; seeds the Fire/Wind "lookouts on the mesas" and Water "Tollmen at the ford" threads. | None |
The ways through
Mostly linear, teaching the sword, lock-on and dodge in a real but small fight. A cutthroat below a third health may break and run rather than fight to the end — that's a roster behaviour, not a quest branch, and it's allowed to happen here exactly as it would anywhere else.
Dialogue
No named NPCs present. One short Kade line on finding the bow:
Kade (quiet) — "...That's mine."
Minor barks (Redcloak cutthroats, not scripted lines — flavour only):
- On sighting Kade: a shout to the other cutthroat, no specific line required.
- Below a third health, before fleeing: a wordless break and run, per the roster rule.
Rewards
- Bow, 20 arrows
- Caravan goods (wood and hide)
- 75 XP (`game-design-doc.md`, OPEN 3 reward line)
- Kill XP: TBD — the doc gives only an aggregate illustrative figure (about 27 XP from all six OPEN 1–4 enemies combined), not a per-enemy value for the two cutthroats here.
Notes for the build
- Side canyon set dressing: a handcart loaded with crates, two Redcloak cutthroats guarding it.
- One crate hung against the canyon wall by a rope, cuttable only by a bow shot (the bow's first "hits a point" teaching moment).
- Loose, pickable-up arrows after any shot, per the finite-arrows rule.
- A readable bandit tally prop — the exact wording of "the lookouts on the mesas" and "the Tollmen at the ford" should be legible if the player stops to read it.
- Sightline or implied path toward the bandit fort, gate closed, so "not yet" reads as a real locked door.