Fix the situation opener; guard the grammar in tests

A cold read caught the subtraction pass emitting broken English:
'Nobody — but the bells are moving is a summons is being rung...'. The opener
template assumed occupant was a noun phrase and doing was a participle; ten
situations broke that, and one occupant carried its own clause.

Root cause fixed in the data, not the template. The template also drops its
hardcoded copula for an em-dash appositive, which removes subject-verb
agreement as a failure mode entirely — 'The bells is ringing' cannot recur.

Three invariants now guard it: occupants carry no verb, actions are participle
phrases, and no rendered opener contains a stray copula. The first version of
that last test was wrong rather than the output — it counted em-dashes and
flagged 191 false positives on cue fragments that legitimately contain one.
The audit regex also had a false negative, since 'something' ends in -ing.

Tests 25 -> 28.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

core/content/barrow.json

@@ -422,8 +422,8 @@
           "offer": "agree, and it will show you what it is not allowed to look at"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody visible",
-          "doing": "something is turning to follow you, one mirror at a time",
+          "occupant": "something unseen",
+          "doing": "turning to follow you, one mirror at a time",
           "onArrival": "the movement stops when you look directly at it",
           "because": "it may only move unobserved",
           "offer": "stare it down — hold your gaze and it cannot advance"
@@ -611,8 +611,8 @@
           "offer": "give a name — any name — and it will read you the entry beside it"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "something is calling a name in the next room, patiently",
+          "occupant": "something in the next room",
+          "doing": "calling a name, patiently",
           "onArrival": "it starts calling yours instead",
           "because": "it learned your names when you were announced",
           "offer": "answer once and it will lead you somewhere; answer twice and it will not stop"
@@ -639,8 +639,8 @@
           "offer": "take the plate and the household obeys you — and expects you to stay"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "a name is being written on the wall, letter by letter, as you watch",
+          "occupant": "the wall itself",
+          "doing": "taking down a name, letter by letter, as you watch",
           "onArrival": "the letters stop",
           "because": "the barrow is recording who came in",
           "offer": "finish the name yourself with something false and it is accepted"
@@ -814,8 +814,8 @@
           "offer": "answer as the listener would, and learn what it has been reporting"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody — but the bells are moving",
-          "doing": "a summons is being rung, room by room, coming closer",
+          "occupant": "the bells",
+          "doing": "ringing a summons room by room, coming closer",
           "onArrival": "the bell in this room begins",
           "because": "something has called for service and the house is obliging",
           "offer": "answer the bell yourself before whatever is meant to arrives"
@@ -1000,8 +1000,8 @@
           "offer": "take the task from it, and it will finally rest — and tell you something first"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "a room is undoing your presence — footprints filling, dust returning",
+          "occupant": "the room",
+          "doing": "undoing your presence, footprints filling behind you, dust returning",
           "onArrival": "it works faster",
           "because": "nothing here is permitted to change, including evidence of you",
           "offer": "leave something deliberately and see whether it is allowed to remain"
@@ -1203,8 +1203,8 @@
           "offer": "decide for them and take the other"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "a case is being restocked — items arriving in it, one at a time",
+          "occupant": "a display case",
+          "doing": "restocking itself, items arriving one at a time",
           "onArrival": "a space clears, sized for something you carry",
           "because": "the collection is still being completed",
           "offer": "contribute, and the barrow counts you a benefactor"
@@ -1406,8 +1406,8 @@
           "offer": "play along and they will guide you; correct them and they stop speaking"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "a second set of footsteps is keeping pace with yours",
+          "occupant": "a second set of footsteps",
+          "doing": "keeping pace with yours, close",
           "onArrival": "they stop when you stop, close",
           "because": "something attached itself in an earlier room",
           "offer": "acknowledge it and it becomes useful; ignore it and it becomes insistent"
@@ -1592,8 +1592,8 @@
           "offer": "help them word it and they will hand over what they took"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "the room is repeating a confession, quietly, on a loop",
+          "occupant": "the room",
+          "doing": "repeating a confession, quietly, on a loop",
           "onArrival": "it changes to your voice",
           "because": "it keeps the last honest thing said in it",
           "offer": "say something true and worse, and it will let you take the old one away"
@@ -1789,7 +1789,7 @@
         },
         {
           "occupant": "two of the Host",
-          "doing": "each refusing to go through a door second",
+          "doing": "refusing, each of them, to go through a door second",
           "onArrival": "they both look at you to break it",
           "because": "neither may be seen to yield",
           "offer": "rule between them and the loser attaches to you as a lesser"
@@ -1802,8 +1802,8 @@
           "offer": "take a plate and go first anywhere — the Host will hate you for it"
         },
         {
-          "occupant": "nobody",
-          "doing": "a procession is passing through, unhurried, and you are in its way",
+          "occupant": "a procession",
+          "doing": "passing through, unhurried, with you in its way",
           "onArrival": "it does not stop or go round",
           "because": "it has right of way and has had for three centuries",
           "offer": "stand aside and be counted courteous; join it and be counted one of them"

core/render.mjs

@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export function renderMarkdown(d) {
     // "integration" — image, situation, pressure and choice reading as one, not as components.
     const opening = [
       a.cueFragments.map(c => cap(c)).join('. ') + '.',
-      S ? `${cap(S.occupant)} is ${S.doing} — when you walk in, ${S.onArrival}.` : '',
+      S ? `${cap(S.occupant)} — ${S.doing}. When you walk in, ${S.onArrival}.` : '',
       a.clue.automatic ? `None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.` : '',
     ].filter(Boolean).join(' ');
     L.push(`> ${opening}`);

core/test.mjs

@@ -148,5 +148,31 @@ for (let i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
 }
 t('subtraction removed blocks, not information', lost.length === 0, lost.slice(0,4).join(', ') || 'all fields still rendered');
 
+// the opening sentence is built as "<occupant> is <doing> — when you walk in, <onArrival>".
+// If occupant carries a verb, or doing is a full clause, that renders as garbage. A live read
+// caught exactly that: "Nobody — but the bells are moving is a summons is being rung...".
+let badOcc = 0, badDoing = 0;
+for (const m of Object.values(pack.motifs)) {
+  for (const sit of m.situations ?? []) {
+    if (/\b(is|are|but)\b|—/.test(sit.occupant)) badOcc++;
+    if (!/^\w+ing\b/.test(sit.doing) || /^(some|no|any|every)thing\b/.test(sit.doing)) badDoing++;
+  }
+}
+t('situation occupants are noun phrases', badOcc === 0, `${badOcc} carry a verb`);
+t('situation actions are participle phrases', badDoing === 0, `${badDoing} are full clauses`);
+
+// the rendered opener must read as English: no stray copula, no doubled dash
+let badOpener = 0;
+for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
+  const md = renderMarkdown(generateDelve({ pack, seed: `open-${i}`, areas: 6 }));
+  for (const line of md.split('\n').filter(l => l.startsWith('> '))) {
+    // The real bug was a hardcoded copula colliding with plural occupants:
+    // "The bells is ringing a summons...". Em-dashes inside cue fragments are legitimate,
+    // so counting those flagged 191 false positives — the test was wrong, not the output.
+    if (/\b(is|are) \w+ing\b/.test(line)) badOpener++;
+  }
+}
+t('openers read as English', badOpener === 0, `${badOpener} malformed`);
+
 console.log(`\n${pass} passed, ${fail} failed`);
 process.exit(fail ? 1 : 0);

samples/gilded-court-404.md

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ On success it goes first, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 1 — The Threshold Stones
 *approach · institution*
 
-> A stair too grand for the door it serves. The queue disturbed — three of the dead pushed aside. One of the Host is reading out an order of precedence to an empty hall — when you walk in, it pauses and asks where you fall in it. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A stair too grand for the door it serves. The queue disturbed — three of the dead pushed aside. One of the Host — reading out an order of precedence to an empty hall. When you walk in, it pauses and asks where you fall in it. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The list must be read in full before anyone may proceed. This is how the place was ordered, and it still is.
 **They can:** name your own place in the order and it will be honoured, exactly. `[Poise 2: stand aside and let it go ahead of you]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ On success it goes first, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 2 — The Lesser Vault
 *complication · ritual*
 
-> Banners in sequence, each house a place further back. A seat at the head of the hall dragged back, as if to sit in. Two of the Host is each refusing to go through a door second — when you walk in, they both look at you to break it. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Banners in sequence, each house a place further back. A seat at the head of the hall dragged back, as if to sit in. Two of the Host — refusing, each of them, to go through a door second. When you walk in, they both look at you to break it. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** Neither may be seen to yield. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** rule between them and the loser attaches to you as a lesser. `[Poise 2: stand aside and let it go ahead of you]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ On success it goes first, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 3 — The Waiting Room
 *complication · ritual*
 
-> A herald's script with the order still marked. Someone has walked the corridor the wrong way, scuffing one side. One of the Host with a herald's staff is announcing arrivals to an empty stair — when you walk in, it announces you, inventing a rank. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A herald's script with the order still marked. Someone has walked the corridor the wrong way, scuffing one side. One of the Host with a herald's staff — announcing arrivals to an empty stair. When you walk in, it announces you, inventing a rank. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The post requires arrivals and there have been none. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** accept the invented rank and the barrow will treat you as it. `[Poise 2: stand aside and let it go ahead of you]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ On success it goes first, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 4 — The Records Room
 *turn · demand · fight · cache*
 
-> A door only one person may pass at a time, and only first. A numbered flagstone lifted and not replaced. A living robber is prising number-plates off the flagstones — when you walk in, they freeze, then offer you one. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A door only one person may pass at a time, and only first. A numbered flagstone lifted and not replaced. A living robber — prising number-plates off the flagstones. When you walk in, they freeze, then offer you one. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** They worked out the order is what keeps the doors shut. Here the want is explicit — the place asks something of whoever enters.
 **They can:** take a plate and go first anywhere — the Host will hate you for it. `[Poise 2: stand aside and let it go ahead of you]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ On success it goes first, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 5 — The Sunken Nave
 *descent · wound · pocket*
 
-> A procession that doubled back on itself. Banners pulled down and stacked without regard for order. Nobody is a procession is passing through, unhurried, and you are in its way — when you walk in, it does not stop or go round. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A procession that doubled back on itself. Banners pulled down and stacked without regard for order. A procession — passing through, unhurried, with you in its way. When you walk in, it does not stop or go round. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** It has right of way and has had for three centuries. This is the damage the want did to those who had to satisfy it.
 **They can:** stand aside and be counted courteous; join it and be counted one of them. `[Poise 2: stand aside and let it go ahead of you]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ On success it goes first, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 6 — The Last Door
 *threshold · anchor · battle · chest*
 
-> A seat at the head of everything, occupied. A rank-plate prised off and dropped, still shiny where it sat. A queue of the Host is waiting to pass a door, in strict order, not moving — when you walk in, the queue opens a gap at exactly your rank. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A seat at the head of everything, occupied. A rank-plate prised off and dropped, still shiny where it sat. A queue of the Host — waiting to pass a door, in strict order, not moving. When you walk in, the queue opens a gap at exactly your rank. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The first in line is waiting for someone who never arrived. The thing the whole barrow is arranged around is close.
 **They can:** take the gap and go with them; take the front and they will remember it. `[Poise 2: stand aside and let it go ahead of you]` also works here, as everywhere.

samples/live-table-01.md

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ On success it was obeyed, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 1 — The Weeping Stair
 *approach · institution*
 
-> Servants' bones arranged as though mid-errand. Someone has been talking here, and stopped when you arrived. Three of the Host in servants' dress is carrying out an errand that has no destination left — when you walk in, they stop, and wait to be told what to do. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Servants' bones arranged as though mid-errand. Someone has been talking here, and stopped when you arrived. Three of the Host in servants' dress — carrying out an errand that has no destination left. When you walk in, they stop, and wait to be told what to do. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The order was never rescinded and nobody outranks it. This is how the place was ordered, and it still is.
 **They can:** tell them where to go, and they go. `[Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ On success it was obeyed, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 2 — The Lesser Vault
 *complication · ritual · fight · cache*
 
-> Orders scratched into the floor, the last one unfinished. A door braced shut from within by furniture. A living grave-robber is repeating a phrase over and over, trying to get the intonation right — when you walk in, they go quiet and put their back to the wall. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Orders scratched into the floor, the last one unfinished. A door braced shut from within by furniture. A living grave-robber — repeating a phrase over and over, trying to get the intonation right. When you walk in, they go quiet and put their back to the wall. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** They heard the password and cannot say it correctly. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** trade something for the phrase, badly remembered. `[Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ On success it was obeyed, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 3 — The Crossing
 *turn · demand*
 
-> A hall where your own voice arrives before you speak. An order half-scratched out and rewritten by a different hand. Nobody — but the bells are moving is a summons is being rung, room by room, coming closer — when you walk in, the bell in this room begins. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A hall where your own voice arrives before you speak. An order half-scratched out and rewritten by a different hand. The bells — ringing a summons room by room, coming closer. When you walk in, the bell in this room begins. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** Something has called for service and the house is obliging. Here the want is explicit — the place asks something of whoever enters.
 **They can:** answer the bell yourself before whatever is meant to arrives. `[Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ On success it was obeyed, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 4 — The Servants' Deep
 *descent · wound · pocket*
 
-> An instruction repeated until the stone gave out. Boot-prints that stop mid-corridor and do not resume. A single figure at a speaking-tube is reporting, at length, to a listener who died first — when you walk in, it pauses mid-sentence and asks whether you are the reply. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> An instruction repeated until the stone gave out. Boot-prints that stop mid-corridor and do not resume. A single figure at a speaking-tube — reporting, at length, to a listener who died first. When you walk in, it pauses mid-sentence and asks whether you are the reply. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** It has never once been answered. This is the damage the want did to those who had to satisfy it.
 **They can:** answer as the listener would, and learn what it has been reporting. `[Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ On success it was obeyed, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 5 — The Last Door
 *threshold · anchor · battle · chest*
 
-> A key that fits nothing here. Wax jammed into a speaking-tube, still soft. One of the Host, kneeling is waiting for an instruction that was promised and never came — when you walk in, it addresses the first of you to speak as its superior. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A key that fits nothing here. Wax jammed into a speaking-tube, still soft. One of the Host, kneeling — waiting for an instruction that was promised and never came. When you walk in, it addresses the first of you to speak as its superior. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** It was told to await further orders and did. The thing the whole barrow is arranged around is close.
 **They can:** give it the instruction and it will carry it out to the letter, wherever that leads. `[Poise 2: do one small thing it asks, without arguing]` also works here, as everywhere.

samples/pale-tally-737.md

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ On success it hears that nothing has aged, and The Silent Host will not open hos
 ### AREA 1 — The Outer Cut
 *approach · institution*
 
-> Lamps trimmed and filled, all of them. A seal broken and the contents already spoiled. Two of the Host is repairing something that is not damaged — when you walk in, they set the work down and wait for inspection. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Lamps trimmed and filled, all of them. A seal broken and the contents already spoiled. Two of the Host — repairing something that is not damaged. When you walk in, they set the work down and wait for inspection. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The standing order was to maintain, and there is nothing left to maintain. This is how the place was ordered, and it still is.
 **They can:** find them a genuine fault and they will fix a door you cannot. `[Flair 2: tell it that it has not changed]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ On success it hears that nothing has aged, and The Silent Host will not open hos
 ### AREA 2 — The Lesser Vault
 *complication · ritual · fight · cache*
 
-> A meal laid out, still warm, for people long past eating. One preserved thing removed, leaving a clean shape in the dust. One of the Host is trimming a lamp that has never gone out — when you walk in, it will not stop, and speaks without looking up. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A meal laid out, still warm, for people long past eating. One preserved thing removed, leaving a clean shape in the dust. One of the Host — trimming a lamp that has never gone out. When you walk in, it will not stop, and speaks without looking up. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The task is what has kept it from ending. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** take the task from it, and it will finally rest — and tell you something first. `[Flair 2: tell it that it has not changed]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ On success it hears that nothing has aged, and The Silent Host will not open hos
 ### AREA 3 — The Attendants' Row
 *complication · ritual · fight · cache*
 
-> A clock wound by somebody, recently. A fire built recently, of furniture that was three centuries old. Something young is waiting, exactly as instructed, and has been — when you walk in, it asks whether it is allowed to stop now. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A clock wound by somebody, recently. A fire built recently, of furniture that was three centuries old. Something young — waiting, exactly as instructed, and has been. When you walk in, it asks whether it is allowed to stop now. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** Nobody ever came back to release it. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** release it, and it gives you what it was guarding. `[Flair 2: tell it that it has not changed]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ On success it hears that nothing has aged, and The Silent Host will not open hos
 ### AREA 4 — The Turning Hall
 *turn · demand · pocket*
 
-> A room that resets itself if you look away. A clock stopped by hand — the pendulum caught and tied. A living robber, badly hurt is refusing to bleed, and frightened by it — when you walk in, they grab you and ask what is wrong with them. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A room that resets itself if you look away. A clock stopped by hand — the pendulum caught and tied. A living robber, badly hurt — refusing to bleed, and frightened by it. When you walk in, they grab you and ask what is wrong with them. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The barrow has begun keeping them too. Here the want is explicit — the place asks something of whoever enters.
 **They can:** carry them out and the wound resumes; leave them and they stay perfect. `[Flair 2: tell it that it has not changed]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ On success it hears that nothing has aged, and The Silent Host will not open hos
 ### AREA 5 — The Sunken Nave
 *descent · wound*
 
-> Something kept so well it has forgotten how to end. Rot, in exactly one place, spreading. Nobody is a room is undoing your presence — footprints filling, dust returning — when you walk in, it works faster. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Something kept so well it has forgotten how to end. Rot, in exactly one place, spreading. The room — undoing your presence, footprints filling behind you, dust returning. When you walk in, it works faster. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** Nothing here is permitted to change, including evidence of you. This is the damage the want did to those who had to satisfy it.
 **They can:** leave something deliberately and see whether it is allowed to remain. `[Flair 2: tell it that it has not changed]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ On success it hears that nothing has aged, and The Silent Host will not open hos
 ### AREA 6 — The Antechamber Royal
 *threshold · anchor · battle · chest*
 
-> A casket sized for something smaller than a body. Something here has been eaten, which should not be possible. Two of the Host is setting a table for a meal that is always about to happen — when you walk in, they lay two more places. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A casket sized for something smaller than a body. Something here has been eaten, which should not be possible. Two of the Host — setting a table for a meal that is always about to happen. When you walk in, they lay two more places. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The household was told to expect guests, and does. The thing the whole barrow is arranged around is close.
 **They can:** sit and eat — full restoration, and the barrow adds you to its inventory. `[Flair 2: tell it that it has not changed]` also works here, as everywhere.

samples/salt-vigil-201.md

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ On success it is not alone, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 1 — The Weeping Stair
 *approach · institution*
 
-> A coat-rack, full. Two cups set out and one of them recently drunk from. One of the Host is holding a door open for someone who is not coming — when you walk in, it looks relieved and gestures you through. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A coat-rack, full. Two cups set out and one of them recently drunk from. One of the Host — holding a door open for someone who is not coming. When you walk in, it looks relieved and gestures you through. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** It was told to wait and hold the door. This is how the place was ordered, and it still is.
 **They can:** walk through and it may finally follow — it will not leave you afterwards. `[Poise 2: sit down and stay a while]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ On success it is not alone, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 2 — The First Hall
 *complication · ritual · pocket*
 
-> Places set every evening for three hundred years. Someone has been counting the dead — tally marks by the entrance. Two of the Host, hand in hand is refusing to be parted to let anyone past — when you walk in, they look at you and do not move. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Places set every evening for three hundred years. Someone has been counting the dead — tally marks by the entrance. Two of the Host, hand in hand — refusing to be parted to let anyone past. When you walk in, they look at you and do not move. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** They were separated once and will not be again. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** find them a way to pass together and they open every door ahead. `[Poise 2: sit down and stay a while]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ On success it is not alone, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 3 — The Waiting Room
 *complication · ritual · fight · cache*
 
-> Chairs drawn up in a circle, all facing one seat. A bedroll, used, and not by anyone buried here. A dozen of the Host is sitting in a circle, facing one empty chair — when you walk in, they shuffle round to make room for you. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> Chairs drawn up in a circle, all facing one seat. A bedroll, used, and not by anyone buried here. A dozen of the Host — sitting in a circle, facing one empty chair. When you walk in, they shuffle round to make room for you. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The gathering may not end while anyone remains. The office is still being performed, for someone who is no longer served by it.
 **They can:** sit, and they will answer anything while you do. `[Poise 2: sit down and stay a while]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ On success it is not alone, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 4 — The Turning Hall
 *turn · demand · fight · cache*
 
-> A doorway with the hinges taken off. A name carved beside another, joining them, badly. Nobody is a second set of footsteps is keeping pace with yours — when you walk in, they stop when you stop, close. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A doorway with the hinges taken off. A name carved beside another, joining them, badly. A second set of footsteps — keeping pace with yours, close. When you walk in, they stop when you stop, close. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** Something attached itself in an earlier room. Here the want is explicit — the place asks something of whoever enters.
 **They can:** acknowledge it and it becomes useful; ignore it and it becomes insistent. `[Poise 2: sit down and stay a while]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ On success it is not alone, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 5 — The Servants' Deep
 *descent · wound*
 
-> A name called so often it wore into the wall. A door tied open with a belt, so it could not close. Three of the Host is laying out a game for four — when you walk in, they look up and count you. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A name called so often it wore into the wall. A door tied open with a belt, so it could not close. Three of the Host — laying out a game for four. When you walk in, they look up and count you. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The fourth left and the game has never finished. This is the damage the want did to those who had to satisfy it.
 **They can:** play a round and they will tell you how the fourth got out. `[Poise 2: sit down and stay a while]` also works here, as everywhere.
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ On success it is not alone, and The Silent Host will not open hostilities first.
 ### AREA 6 — The Quiet Room
 *threshold · anchor · battle · chest*
 
-> A chair kept empty and dusted. A chair dragged out of position and left where it was needed. A living robber, alone is talking steadily to a companion who is not there — when you walk in, they introduce you to the empty air. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
+> A chair kept empty and dusted. A chair dragged out of position and left where it was needed. A living robber, alone — talking steadily to a companion who is not there. When you walk in, they introduce you to the empty air. None of it is accident — it was done this way on purpose.
 
 **GM.** The barrow does not like people leaving, and one of them did. The thing the whole barrow is arranged around is close.
 **They can:** play along and they will guide you; correct them and they stop speaking. `[Poise 2: sit down and stay a while]` also works here, as everywhere.