1. Arrival · 10 minutes

Place: Archive lobby

Read aloud

A jar containing a tiny ladder trembles on the lobby desk. Noel says it is a promise to help paint a ceiling.

Run this scene

The archive’s rule, not broken promises alone, causes the overload. Pause the service as a fallback. Begin with the concrete request in the premise. Ask each character why they care and give them one ordinary useful item. Read both public observations without requiring a roll. Explain that the marked routes are safe to investigate, and offer a choice of the records or the visible trail. Let the group appoint a map reader; do not use hidden travel rolls to block the first lead.

Choices

• Visit Card desk
• Follow the trail to Delivery steps

If the group gets stuck

If conversation or a test fails, give the public card anyway. A clear sign points to Promise vault. A missing method can be found again at Renewal shelf; no character skill is required.

People in this scene

Noel: Recover a promise without making it binding forever Offers directions and ordinary transport for news of the outcome. Voice: Patient, concrete sentences; ask one practical question.

Evidence to give

Timeline record: Every overflowing shelf is stamped PERMANENT; no owner has a renewal card.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: The archive’s rule, not broken promises alone, causes the overload.

Fallback instruction: Closing new intake stops the shelves growing while old deposits stay safe.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Pause the service as a fallback.

Continue: Records and tools or An independent trail

2. Records and tools · 15 minutes

Place: Card desk

Read aloud

Imi lays out cards marked KEEP, CHANGE and RELEASE. The old catalogue has only one box: PERMANENT.

Run this scene

Consent-based revision clears deposits. The archivist is in the vault. Put the method card and destination note on the table. Ask what the two objects suggest, then answer direct practical questions from their wording. The maker can trade tools for help carrying or recording them, but refusal never removes these public documents. The trail remains another route. A check, if your rules use one, changes the time or tidiness of the work rather than whether this evidence exists.

Choices

• Proceed to Promise vault
• Compare evidence at Delivery steps

If the group gets stuck

If conversation or a test fails, give the public card anyway. A clear sign points to Promise vault. A missing method can be found again at Renewal shelf; no character skill is required.

People in this scene

Imi: Create a record for a promise that can change Lends supplies if a character helps carry or catalogue them. Public instructions remain available. Voice: Quick, exact words; point at tools while speaking.

Evidence to give

Method diagram: A willing owner may mark KEEP, CHANGE or RELEASE and sign a renewal card.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Consent-based revision clears deposits.

Destination note: Rhea’s duty card places her in the promise vault.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: The archivist is in the vault.

Continue: An independent trail or The immediate problem

3. An independent trail · 15 minutes

Place: Delivery steps

Read aloud

Gus’s delivery basket is full of keys, pebbles and folded paper stars. Nobody has signed the old receipts.

Run this scene

A physical trail reaches her. A witness supplies the destination. Describe the physical trail before asking for a decision. The witness tells what they actually observed and admits what they did not see. If the group refuses conversation, the physical route supplies the destination. Let a character compare the timeline and another trace the map. For a divided group, take one short turn per side, then reunite at the meeting; do not add another travel encounter.

Choices

• Proceed to Promise vault
• Compare evidence at Card desk

If the group gets stuck

If conversation or a test fails, give the public card anyway. A clear sign points to Promise vault. A missing method can be found again at Renewal shelf; no character skill is required.

People in this scene

Gus: Deliver overdue tokens to willing owners Guides the party if they share a plan. If refused, points to the visible trail. Voice: Cautious, distinguish observation from assumption.

Evidence to give

Physical trail: A trail of garden leaves falls from the model toward the vault.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: A physical trail reaches her.

Witness statement: Gus saw Rhea carry her garden model into the vault.
Give it: Ask any direct question, or read the witness’s signed statement if conversation is refused.
GM inference: A witness supplies the destination.

Continue: Records and tools or The immediate problem

4. The immediate problem · 20 minutes

Place: Promise vault

Read aloud

Rhea stands among shelves of objects that lean toward the door. She holds a small model of a shared garden.

Run this scene

Archivist Rhea classified unresolved promises as permanent deposits. That prevents owners from revising them, so the objects accumulate. A consent-based renewal card releases a deposit; sealing new intake stops the overload but leaves old promises unresolved. State the immediate stakes and offer both listed approaches. Before resolving action, ask who observes, who acts and who helps. Make any cost visible before a player accepts it. Avoid demanding a special ability or spell. When a plan fails, use the slower listed route and mark its time cost; people remain recoverable. Once the goal is safe, mark the immediate goal safe and continue. A refusal by the keeper cannot hide the marked safety instructions.

Choices

• Invite present owners to choose cards; move absent owners’ tokens to a dated waiting shelf.
• Close intake and schedule private renewal appointments.

If the group gets stuck

Close intake and schedule private renewal appointments. Explain a five-minute delay before they accept it; mark the immediate goal safe when the people or resource are secured.

People in this scene

Rhea: Ask her sister to revise a promise she cannot fulfil Explains both solutions when the party agrees to protect the immediate goal; the marked instructions are available regardless. Voice: Calm under pressure; admit the decision and its cost.

Evidence to give

Safety marks: No one may sign for another owner. A missing owner’s token goes to WAITING, not RELEASE.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Resolve the archive without overriding absent people.

Encounter: Create a renewal process that respects owners who are absent.

A delay leaves less time for the final repair or decision. Explain costs before resolving an action.

Approach A: Invite present owners to choose cards; move absent owners’ tokens to a dated waiting shelf.
Approach B: Close intake and schedule private renewal appointments.

4 players: Two pairs take observation and action tasks. Resolve them in two short alternating turns.

Mark the immediate goal safe after either safe approach; a setback costs time, not access to the next scene.

Continue: The final choice

5. The final choice · 20 minutes

Place: Renewal shelf

Read aloud

The renewal shelf is empty except for three card slots. It seems built for a choice the archive stopped offering.

Run this scene

Consent-based revision clears deposits. Resolve the archive without overriding absent people. Reveal the method and fallback together. Ask the group which tradeoff it accepts and give every character a small contribution. Mark the complete method for the first choice or the fallback method for the second. A risky improvisation should inherit one of these outcomes after its cost is explained, rather than create a third unprepared lock. Keep the immediate goal safe. Return by the known marked route; no new location needs to be invented.

Choices

• Let Rhea request a revised garden promise and adopt renewal cards for the archive.
• Pause intake and preserve the model until her sister can reply.

If the group gets stuck

Pause intake and preserve the model until her sister can reply. Mark the fallback method, keep the immediate goal safe and read the cost ending. Do not repeat a failed test.

People in this scene

Imi: Create a record for a promise that can change Lends supplies if a character helps carry or catalogue them. Public instructions remain available. Voice: Quick, exact words; point at tools while speaking.

Rhea: Ask her sister to revise a promise she cannot fulfil Explains both solutions when the party agrees to protect the immediate goal; the marked instructions are available regardless. Voice: Calm under pressure; admit the decision and its cost.

Evidence to give

Method diagram: A willing owner may mark KEEP, CHANGE or RELEASE and sign a renewal card.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Consent-based revision clears deposits.

Fallback instruction: Closing new intake stops the shelves growing while old deposits stay safe.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Pause the service as a fallback.

Encounter: Give Rhea a choice about her own promise.

The complete method preserves the planned service; the fallback preserves the immediate goal at a visible cost.

Approach A: Let Rhea request a revised garden promise and adopt renewal cards for the archive.
Approach B: Pause intake and preserve the model until her sister can reply.

4 players: Work in two pairs, one following the method and the other preparing a fallback or record.

Mark the complete method for the first approach or the fallback method for the second. Both allow return and an ending.

Continue: Home and aftermath

6. Home and aftermath · 15 minutes

Place: Archive lobby

Read aloud

A ladder dissolves into a warm draft. Its owner keeps the decision, rather than an object that makes the decision for them.

Run this scene

Choose a complete resolution or a resolution with a cost, then ask the group what happens next. Read the ending matching the selected outcome. Invite each character to add one ordinary detail to the aftermath, then ask the keeper for a concrete next action. Record who accepted the cost and which clues went unused. Spend the last few minutes on one enjoyable moment and one thing to change next time. Characters need not solve every optional inference to earn a resolved ending.

Choices

• Describe who follows up tomorrow
• Ask who helped whom and what it cost

If the group gets stuck

If no method was chosen, first confirm the immediate goal is safe, use the final fallback method and then read the cost ending. Record the unresolved work and give every character an epilogue.

People in this scene

Noel: Recover a promise without making it binding forever Offers directions and ordinary transport for news of the outcome. Voice: Patient, concrete sentences; ask one practical question.

Rhea: Ask her sister to revise a promise she cannot fulfil Explains both solutions when the party agrees to protect the immediate goal; the marked instructions are available regardless. Voice: Calm under pressure; admit the decision and its cost.

Evidence to give

No new evidence required.

Continue: Read an ending and close the session.

Endings

Complete resolution

The shelf clears one decision at a time. Rhea writes a smaller garden plan and sends it as a request, with room for an answer.

First secure the immediate goal at Promise vault. Choose this ending only after final method A is used at Renewal shelf.

Resolution with a cost

New intake closes. The tokens rest safely behind glass while invitations go out for patient, individual conversations.

First secure the immediate goal at Promise vault. Choose this ending only after final method B is used at Renewal shelf.

• Let Rhea request a revised garden promise and adopt renewal cards for the archive remains for a later visit.

Clue reasoning

The archive’s rule, not broken promises alone, causes the overload.
Timeline record

Proceed to Promise vault
Destination note OR Physical trail OR Witness statement

Resolve the archive without overriding absent people.
Safety marks · the marked safety instructions supply a fallback.

Give Rhea a choice about her own promise.
Method diagram OR Fallback instruction

Handout answers

h-order: The archive’s rule, not broken promises alone, causes the overload.

h-fallback: Pause the service as a fallback.

h-method: Consent-based revision clears deposits.

h-note: The archivist is in the vault.

h-trail: A physical trail reaches her.

h-witness: A witness supplies the destination.

h-safe: Resolve the archive without overriding absent people.

After the session

Record the ending, one memorable choice, and any unresolved work. Ask what was enjoyable and what needs to change. The time plan is a starting point; adapt it to your group.