2. Sentences are short; silence does most of the work.
3. Never explain the supernatural.
4. Never address the player as a player.
5. No metafiction.
6. No named villains.
7. Violence usually worsens outcomes.
8. Many frightening things should prove harmless.
---
# Core Themes
- mistaken identity
- unresolved grief
- memory behaving incorrectly
- repetition
- domestic spaces becoming ritual spaces
- familiar objects recurring in altered forms
- the house remembering itself imperfectly
---
# Opening Scene
```txt
[ The Gate ]
You arrive at the address, but you do not remember what has happened.
There is no sign, no number on the gate. The fence is overgrown
with grape vines. The road behind you is gone.
The air is cool and still around you, but a quiet rustling and a
damp breeze seem to emanate from beneath the house.
You are carrying: a folded letter, a matchbook, and a broken cigarette.
>
```
---
# Existing House Rooms
|id|title|summary|
|---|---|---|
|`outside-gate`|[ The Gate ]|The road behind you is gone.|
|`foyer`|[ Foyer ]|A foyer that doesn't feel welcoming. Beneath the dust is another scent: sweet at first, then medicinal, like crushed almond pits. A hallway runs impossibly far to the north.|
|`hallway`|[ Hallway ]|A hallway longer than the house should allow.|
|`parlor`|[ Parlor ]|Chairs arranged for absent company.|
|`study`|[ Study ]|Books left open at impossible pages.|
|`stair-up`|[ Upper Stair ]|A stair arriving at the wrong landing.|
|`bedroom`|[ Bedroom ]|Prepared for another sleeper.|
|`nursery`|[ Nursery ]|Toys arranged tonight.|
|`kitchen`|[ Kitchen ]|Something recently warm.|
|`back-door`|[ Back Door ]|Opens onto the grounds.|
|`garden`|[ Garden ]|Overgrown and listening.|
|`well`|[ The Well ]|Dry deeper than it should be.|
|`well-shaft`|[ Well Shaft ]|Descending below the water line.|
|`tunnel`|[ Tunnel ]|A tunnel aware of your presence.|
|`chamber`|[ Antechamber ]|Locked threshold before the vault.|
|`vault`|[ Vault ]|Holds what was buried at Halfstreet.|
|`chapel`|[ Chapel ]|Deconsecrated and occupied.|
|`attic`|[ Attic ]|Reached by a staircase that was not there before.|
|`cistern`|[ Cistern ]|Beneath the kitchen.|
---
## Structural Revision
The house should begin behaving differently after several story flags are set. Certain rooms subtly alter on revisit, some exits change, and a secondary loop through the house opens. The player should slowly realize the house is less a physical location than an accumulation of grief, repetition, and mistaken memory.
Themes reinforced by the new rooms:
- mistaken identity
- repetition
- domestic memory
- grief fossilized into architecture
- things mistaken for people
- familiar objects recurring in different forms
- the sense that the player may have belonged here once
|`ossuary`|[ Ossuary ]|The bones have been arranged with more care than devotion.|s: tunnel, e: flooded-passage|burial-ring|bone-keeper|—|
|`flooded-passage`|[ Flooded Passage ]|Black water moves softly across the stone floor.|w: ossuary, n: root-chamber|toy-boat|reflection|—|
|`root-chamber`|[ Root Chamber ]|Roots have entered through the ceiling and never stopped growing.|s: flooded-passage, e: burial-gallery|—|root-movement|—|
|`burial-gallery`|[ Burial Gallery ]|Portraits line the walls, though none survive intact.|w: root-chamber, e: vault|family-register|portrait-woman|—|
---
## Altered / Conditional Rooms
These rooms appear only after certain flags are set.
|`wrong-hallway`|[ Hallway ]|The hallway is longer now.|impossible-changing exits|—|distant-steps|—|
|`returned-nursery`|[ Nursery ]|The toys no longer appear arranged.|w: bedroom|—|—|yes|
|`rain-room`|[ Rain Room ]|Rain falls steadily inside the room and nowhere else.|unknown|rusted-key|rainwater-basin|—|
---
# Core House Rooms Revisions
|id|revised summary|
|---|---|
|`foyer`|A foyer that doesn't feel welcoming. Beneath the dust is another scent: sweet at first, then medicinal, like crushed almond pits. A hallway runs impossibly far to the north.|
|`candlestick`|candlestick, candle holder|Provides temporary light without using the lamp.|`lit: false`|
|`pruning-shears`|shears, pruning shears|Cuts through overgrowth in the conservatory and garden.|—|
|`silver-lighter`|lighter, silver lighter|Can light the broken cigarette or lamp.|—|
|`music-box-key`|tiny key, music box key|Unlocks the music box in the nursery.|—|
|`damp-sheet`|sheet, damp sheet|Used to obscure reflections in flooded areas.|—|
|`burial-ring`|ring, burial ring|Matches the crest found in the family register.|—|
|`toy-boat`|toy boat, wooden boat|Floats briefly against the current.|—|
|`family-register`|register, ledger|Reveals names, dates, and repeated burials tied to Halfstreet.|—|
|`rusted-key`|rusted key|Opens an optional locked room near the gate.|—|
---
# Non-Key Items
Non-key items are objects the player meaningfully interacts with but cannot permanently carry.
These objects should feel physically inconvenient, emotionally difficult, fragile, attached to the house itself, or impossible to remove.
|id|description|interaction|
|---|---|---|
|`grandfather-clock`|A stopped clock in the parlor whose pendulum occasionally resumes on its own.|Setting the correct time alters hallway geometry temporarily.|
|`music-box`|A nursery music box bolted to the shelf.|Unlocking and winding it reveals hidden sounds elsewhere in the house.|
|`dinner-place-setting`|A single untouched plate in the dining room.|Sitting before it triggers memory prose and a hidden passage.|
|`veil`|A funeral veil draped over a portrait in the burial gallery.|Lifting it reveals the player's resemblance to the family.|
|`rainwater-basin`|A basin collecting rain inside the rain room.|Looking into it reveals altered room descriptions.|
|`covered-cage`|A cloth-covered birdcage in the smoking room.|Removing the cloth changes ambient sounds throughout the house.|
|`altar-stone`|A cracked altar slab in the chapel.|Pouring the silver vial here weakens the basilisk without violence.|
|`childs-drawing`|A crayon drawing pinned to the nursery wall.|Reveals the existence of the wrong hallway before it appears.|
|`portrait-frame`|A shattered portrait frame underground.|Rotating it exposes hidden writing beneath the backing.|
|`well-rope-wheel`|The old iron wheel beside the well.|Turning it changes what is heard below the house.|
---
# Revised Encounter Notes
## The Child Beneath the Well
If the player attempts to descend the well for the first time:
> Something moves below before you do.
>
> A child emerges from the tunnel beneath the well, barefoot and breathless, one hand against the stone wall as it climbs past you. It does not stop. A draft of cold air follows after it.
>
> Then it is gone upward toward the garden.
If carrying the toy dog:
> The child pauses at the garden gate.
>
> “You found Woof.”
>
> Or perhaps: “Wolf.”
>
> The child takes the toy carefully and disappears into the overgrowth.
