Thanks everybody for showing up and asking questions!
Here is the “non-linear” version of the story:
The Pathfinder
(non-linear pass #2)
Valves run in the mint underworks. Thalia Crow manages the timing and opens wheels. Silas Pennant, dressed as a king’s officer, directs guards away from the crucial corridors. The plan is active: pull the palace aquifer through the mint, float the gold into the canals, and move it out on paths only Corin Vale can create. Corin confronts Paladin Elowen Rhys near the crucibles. He has seen her tight jaw, heard a clipped oath, and spotted Silas’s hawk sigil nearby. He reads these as proof that she has been guiding the king’s cruelty to justify her ledger. He is ready to act.
Elowen and Corin first cross paths at a temple portico. She settles a grain dispute quickly. As she passes him, her gauntlet brushes his sleeve. He notes the contact and her expression. He assumes she dismissed him.
Soldiers burn grain wagons in the square. Smoke fills the streets. People crowd against the mint wall. Corin places his hand on the stone and opens the hidden Mint‑Crypt stairs. This spends Anchor 1. He moves families into the underground and out of the smoke. Elowen and Silas witness him opening the way. The city begins to talk about it.
In the catacombs below the mint, the thieves discuss five different heist plans. Thalia sketches options on slate. Pike Lark and Nim Aster suggest routes and timing. Silas, wearing the king’s hawk, “drops” a palace inspection schedule. The crew settles on a plan: infiltrate under the audit, use Corin’s paths, and make it look like the king caused his own loss.
In the present, Corin finds a folded parchment near a guard station: formal arrest orders with the hawk seal. He keeps it. He believes the orders target Elowen’s movements and confirm his suspicion.
In a narrow passage, Corin and Elowen try to define their working relationship. They propose roles—judge and key, guide and guardian—but they misread each other’s tone and posture. Silas appears in hallways at bad moments. They leave with the wrong idea about each other.
At a tavern table, Elowen lays out prophecy tables and an empty ledger. She states that if the hoard stays sealed there will be famine, and if it is released by decree there will be riots. She says the only option that saves the most people is a controlled theft now. The thieves accept her timeline.
Thalia begins opening the primary valves. Silas redirects a patrol at the last minute. Crucibles start filling. The flood plan is in motion.
“Make it look like him,” Thalia says during planning, pointing to a chalk diagram that routes the aquifer to the crucibles and then to the canals. This becomes the working blueprint.
Elowen touches the inside of her breastplate. Names are engraved there. She does this quietly. Corin does not see it.
A palace audit starts unexpectedly. Inspectors and guards enter the mint. Silas allows the audit schedule to land where the crew can use it, forcing the team to commit to disguises immediately. Corin puts on a royal surveyor’s chain. Elowen registers as a temple auditor. Silas escorts them as if he serves the crown. Their roles grant access, and they keep performing them.
Corin collects anchors to hold routes: a river rhyme, the smell of forge smoke on his coat, and notches carved into his staff. At the canal lock, he uses the rhyme to open a door and move the crew past a checkpoint. This spends Anchor 2. He writes cues on his palms and claims they are old notes.
In the present, the same rhyme is visible on his hand. It is smudged. The valves are loud. He looks unsure but keeps moving.
The crew’s performance becomes part of the plan. The surveyor’s chain gets them into restricted stairwells. The auditor’s mantle gains access to ledgers and storerooms. Silas’s presence lowers suspicion. They practice their signatures and lines.
At night, by lantern, Elowen teaches oath forms. Corin teaches step patterns that make the stone respond. They agree on a tap signal system. Silas corrects their grips or counts when needed. His help works, but his timing makes them uneasy. They begin to rely on him and doubt him at the same time.
In the present, Corin hears a familiar tap and reads it as a covert order from Elowen. He adds this to his suspicion.
Elowen tracks city conditions: arrests increase, grain deliveries decrease, and temple burials rise. She shows the charts and argues for moving faster. The crew accepts the pace.
Corin compiles what he thinks are proofs: Silas’s paperwork, Elowen refusing to slow the flood, a half-heard line about settling accounts. He concludes Elowen has been directing events for her own reasons.
The line he heard earlier was a promise to carry the city’s debt, not a threat.
Gold begins to rise in the crucibles and move toward the canal gates. The plan is working. The king’s position will weaken as the hoard moves out of the mint.
Corin reaches a junction near the Saffron Bridge market. He uses the river rhyme again and finds a stair. This spends Anchor 3. The crew celebrates. Later that night he cannot find the route again. He hides that loss.
A test flush collapses a side tunnel. Dust fills the air. A bystander dies. The city goes under curfew. From this point, the story proceeds in order to the end.
