The clock displays the time remaining as 3:31:07.

I know this because the clock is currently sitting in my peripheral vision, ticking off its countdown with the same indifferent precision of all timers, counting down the moments with no regard to whether or not I wanted this timer or needed this timer. In the back end of the game, somewhere, a quest marker is currently set to 2/3 complete, and under it is another objective that reads Escort Daren to Lyra’s meeting point, Broken Crown Inn. Below it is the following message, in slightly smaller print:

Do not delay. Vorn is already moving.

Yes, yes, I know, I think to myself.

Vorn is moving.

Daren is holding two bolts of fabric up, showing his options for his guild dinner tomorrow to Lyra – dark blue or deep green. According to the wiki, the guild dinner is taking place in four days, and according to Daren’s own description in the wiki, he has quietly taken the pressure and stress upon himself and kept it inside without saying anything else because that’s the kind of person Daren is, and apparently Vorn knew about this and exploited that fact later in the game.

I’m standing to the left of this scenario, observing Lyra’s careful consideration of Daren’s fabric samples, the light amber falling into one eye, and I am thinking about the fact that the wiki entry devoted only two sentences to Lyra’s personality and then six paragraphs to her corruption arc, which speaks volumes about what this game was really about.

"Go with the green," she decides. "The blue one looks formal, but the green one looks like you picked it out yourself. Guild dinners appreciate confidence."

"Well, alright then." He looks at it. "That is a good point."

"I am the one selling you fabric. You know I have put some time into figuring this out."

"Yeah, you have," he laughs. It is an open laugh, and his relationship meter with me ticks up 1 point, now at 848 points, compared to Lyra’s 612. She likes him. This is the part that the wiki summary glosses over. This is the part that makes me clench up whenever I try to keep my mind detached from this experience. She is not gone yet. Her corruption score is at 91/100 and yet here she is, still smiling when he tells jokes, still offering him advice about fabrics at a guild event she refuses to join him at.

The game wanted her to be likeable. I know this much. It’s deliberate design — the betrayal hurts more because it takes place on someone we’ve been conditioned to cheer for. And even knowing all of this, it makes no difference.

---

> ⚠️ **QUEST LOG UPDATE**

> **The Slow Unraveling – Act 3**

> **Flag Status:** 2/3 Completed

> **Objectives Left:** Escort Daren to Broken Crown Inn (meeting place for Lyra)

> **Time Remaining:** 3:28:44

> **Warning:** Vorn’s proximity to target is increasing, potentially extending delay window.

---

The quest log starts warning me.

I ignore the quest log and stare at the street.

Vorn is not present, and that only makes it worse because when Vorn is present I know where he is. The moment Vorn goes into the crowd, however, he could be anywhere, whether he is two blocks away or just around the corner of an alleyway, and I would not know until he gets close enough to set a flag.

"You should consider eating before going to the Undercroft," Lyra suggests, looking towards Daren. "Broken Crown has a really good lamb stew today, not at night, but lunch time."

My body locks up.

In the game, it’s a setup. Lyra references the Broken Crown Inn. Daren nods in agreement. They move off together, and NPC Kai, who is following the script, encourages them to head to the Broken Crown to avoid the afternoon rush. It’s three lines of dialogue and then they move, and Flag 3 is triggered on entering the inn.

I’ve read Act 3 enough times to know it cold.

I look at Daren, who nods to the suggestion of lamb stew with the face of someone who missed breakfast. His mood indicator reads Warm / Relaxed. He has no clue that the Broken Crown was where Vorn set up their meeting place. He has no clue his girlfriend casually mentioning an inn being where she had her mind wasn’t casual.

The worst part is, I don’t think even she realizes it. That is what 91/100 corruption with 14 Vorn interactions looks like from the inside.

It looks like a woman who just had an excellent idea for lunch.

Daren turns to me. "You eaten?"

The option is sitting right there. Say no. Suggest heading over before the rush.

I look at Lyra. She’s folding the green fabric bolt with practiced efficiency, completely normal, completely herself.

"Could probably use something to eat," I reply.

---

The Broken Crown is seven minutes away from the cloth district on foot, fewer still if Daren cuts through the alley behind the chandler’s row. Which he does because, by now, he knows the streets of this city too well to notice anything anymore. He’s walking with effortless confidence, waving to one of the stall vendors that calls him by name, moving past a cart seamlessly.

Lyra’s next to him. They aren’t touching, yet they’re close enough.

I’m walking a little bit behind them while mentally going through everything I know.

Meeting up at the Broken Crown isn’t the scene itself. What actually happens during the wiki’s description of the explicit content takes place in Chapter 7, titled Lyra’s Unraveling, and comes after another flag progression and a time skip. What happens at the Broken Crown in Act 3 is subtle, far more insidious – they find Vorn there, already waiting for them at the bar as if he belonged there. And the game is clever enough to make Daren interpret this encounter innocently.

They exchange words. Daren smiles because Daren always smiles. Vorn has done the perfect balance between threatening and covert, making himself present precisely as Lyra would take note of that and Daren wouldn’t.

Flag 3 finishes on entering the area. Quest reward unlocked.

Then, according to the wiki, a new quest starts.

I try not to think about the mechanics of the second quest. This has been failing miserably.

The inn emerges down the lane: old stone structure, the wooden sign swinging from above the door with the crown painted on it nearly faded into a ghost of itself. The light in the afternoon gives it an almost tranquil appearance.

Daren stands by the door, holding it.

Inside: low ceiling, large wooden bar, four tables, people sitting at all four of them. The smell of woodsmoke and the lamb stew mentioned earlier by Lyra. A bard in one of the corners doing something rather proficient with a lute in terms of technique while completely absent in emotion.

Scan the room.

Vorn sits at the bar’s end, nursing his drink untouched. He wears dark clothes, no guild symbols visible, situated such that the sightline includes the entrance to the room. It takes less than a second for him to notice our presence — the minute shift of his attention — and to return his gaze to his drink like he did.

---

> **VORN** — Independent Contractor *(Unaffiliated)*

> Combat Rank: A-

> Relationship / Lyra: 381/1000

> Active Flags: 4

> Mood: Calculating

> Hidden: [REDACTED]

---

A mere 381 of a thousand. I remember reading that number on the wiki. Seeing it hovering above an actual person in an actual room is somewhat different. He increased her corruption to 91/100 in a span of less than three weeks starting at zero relationship points with her. For reference, Daren has earned 848 in three years.

This is the mechanic referred to as Vorn’s main mechanic on the wiki. He doesn’t need her liking him; he needs something much more sinister and, judging by what I read, he’s quite skilled at procuring that.

Daren notices him after two seconds.

"Vorn." Smooth, friendly. Naturally. "Never thought you hung around here."

"Occasionally." Patient as ever, Vorn looks away from his drink. "Daren."

He turns his attention to Lyra — another second goes by; measured, unreadable expression — and then back to me.

"I don’t believe we’ve met."

---

> ✅ **FLAG 3/3 COMPLETED**

> **The Slow Unraveling — Act 3: COMPLETED**

> **Reward:** [Unlocked...]

>

> ⚠️ **NEW QUEST GENERATED**

> **The Other Side of the Glass — Act 4**

> **Goal:** [Processing...]

>

> 💀 **SYSTEM WARNING**

> **Behavioral limitations of NPCs have been overridden.**

> **Cause:** Deviation from script parameters exceeded.

> **Cheat engine detected.**

> Unlocked: Wiki access — all routes

> Unlocked: Stat growth without restriction

> Unlocked: Cross-faction socializing

>

> *You are no longer bound by the script.*

> *You are not obliged to do anything.*

---

I hold the screen with the message for three seconds before Daren introduces me to Vorn and Vorn meets my gaze and awaits my response.

The timer is no longer present.

For the first time since I regained consciousness on cobblestone streets in this city, there is no timer counting down in the corner of my field of vision.

I have no idea whether that is good or bad.

"Kai," I say. "Passing through town."

Vorn holds my gaze for a moment too long.

"Sure," he replies.

Then smiles, a little, as if he knows something that I do not.

And he probably does.