vanity-delve/paper/the-vault-of-the-gilded-court.md

THE VAULT OF THE GILDED COURT

They were buried smiling. They are still smiling.

VANITY · Barrow · Depth 2 · 4 heroes · six areas · ~3 hours v2 — 2026-08-04. Absorbs playtest-01 fixes 1–8. Playtests: 1 of 2.

DELVE build-order step 1. §11 says what it is measuring.

v2 changelog: Queen's Grit 10→6, added Skeletons cut, silvered blade added to A5 · flattery gate 2 heroes→1, now repeatable per area with a visible signal · Banes now bank from flattery, mirrors and relic use, with a running tab header · both Observation clues automatic on entry · Ghoul defence 3→2 · A4 cut to one Ghoul · A3 gang breaks after one round · new §2b PC numbers. Area count deliberately held at 6 so pass 2 measures the fixes, not a shorter delve.

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1. Design intent

1. The monsters can be handled by feeding their vanity — and it costs you, in Banes.
2. Procedural approach, authored climax. Areas 1–5 are DELVE's shape; Area 6 is the seam.
3. One motif, escalating: being looked at.
4. The tab should read six during the finale. v1 failed this outright — Banes are now banked by actions, not by hoping for Stumbles.
5. Deliberately not a fight-through. Two planned fights in six areas, both avoidable.

Content warnings: live burial, self-mutilation (implied, off-screen), body horror.

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2. Master rules block (stand-in GM crash course)

• Rolls: pool of d6. 5–6 = Success. Most tasks need 1; hard ones 2+.
• Damage: a hit is 1 Grit, +1 per extra Success spent. Spells deal 0 base — a mage's damage comes only from extras, so spells are for effects, not attrition.
• Stumble: failing with 2+ 1s banks a Bane. At six → the Reckoning (2d6, §21b), tab wipes. Do not rely on this for pressure — see the tab header.
• Push: reroll non-Successes, +1 Bane.
• Vanity: spend 1 for +1 die, cap 6. Gaining it is a reward; the bill is a Bane.
• The Draw: initiative is 1d6, rerolled every round.

2b. The heroes at a glance

A stand-in GM needs these; v1 omitted them and could not be run.

Hero	Attack pool	Defence	Grit	Signature
Bram the Warrior	4 (brawn 3 + fight)	3	9	Holds a doorway; Cleave with a two-hander
Pinch the Rogue	5 (flair 4 + finesse)	3	6	Best attacker in the party; Called Shot
Sister Wren	3 (brawn 2 + mace)	3	7	Blessed mace — harms incorporeal; Turn Undead
Yrsa the Mage	4 (wits 4)	2	3	Spells: effects over damage. Fragile — 3 Grit

The tab. Track Banes per hero in the header of every area. If the party enters Area 6 on fewer than 4 total, the Queen opens by offering a Vice — see A6.

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3. The skeleton (GM truth)

The prize. Dorian's ever-young portrait — the Queen's likeness, painted while she lived.

The bottom problem. The Gilded Queen, a Wraith who cannot see herself. She interred her court alive so someone would always tell her what she looks like.

The factions. The Silent Host (Skeletons, Ghouls) — court ritual on a loop; courtesy, not violence. The Quill Gang — four living grave-robbers, three days in, out of oil and nerve, led by Pell Quill.

The motif. Being looked at. The recurring danger. Attention.

Timeline. 300 years ago the Queen dies and takes her court with her. 40 years ago the barrow is sealed. Three days ago the Quill Gang breaks in and wakes the Host. Tonight the party arrives — the barrow is already stirred, which is why the clock starts warm.

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4. Timing

	Area	Planned	Checkpoint
1	The Mourners' Steps	15	Everyone has rolled once
2	The Antechamber of Bows	30	First Bane banked, or first flattery
3	The Hall of Little Mirrors	30	Gang resolved (one round max if hostile)
4	The Weeping Gallery	20	—
5	The Wardrobe of the Court	25	The A5 choice is made
6	The Gilded Audience	40	—

≈2h40. If late at the A5 checkpoint, cut Area 4 — it carries no prize, only motif.

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5. The clock — Wandering the Dark

Every 3 Turns, or on attention, roll 1d6. On a 1 — something comes; roll Reaction for mood. v1 note: this fired zero times in four rolls. If it has not fired by Area 4, roll it on a 1–2 thereafter.

Telegraph one Turn ahead:

(read aloud or paraphrase) Somewhere below, cloth moves on stone. Something has adjusted its posture, the way a person does when they are about to be looked at.

Attention triggers: the Court Door, being reflected twice in A3, a raised voice, striking a Skeleton that had not moved.

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6. The areas

Cue (players) · Truth (GM) · then decision, temptation, failure case. Mechanics inline.

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AREA 1 — The Mourners' Steps

Approach · no encounter · Banes: —

(read aloud or paraphrase) Forty steps down, and every one has a mourner carved beside it — the hands, the folded cloth, the bowed shoulders, beautifully made. Where each face should be there is a smooth blank oval, polished brighter than the rest.

Truth. The faces were struck off at the Queen's order so hers would be the only face here.

The clue is automatic. Anyone who looks sees the chisel marks are inside the barrow — someone did this from below. [VANITY: Observation — 1 success] buys extra: the marks are three centuries old, and made by many different hands.

The decision — three ways in.

Route	Cost	Effect
Servants' Stair	narrow, slow — 1 Turn	Arrive unnoticed
Court Door	grand, announced	Host Aware from A2; roll the clock immediately
The Crack	[VANITY: Brawn — 2 successes]	Failure banks a Bane, lands you noisily (as Court Door)

Failure case. No choice = the Court Door. Say "you take the big doors, then" aloud.

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AREA 2 — The Antechamber of Bows

Encounter: skirmish · the flattery route opens · Banes: +1 per flatterer

(read aloud or paraphrase) Nine courtiers stand bent at the waist in a bow, holding it. Their silks have rotted to cobweb; the gold thread has not. They are bowing to the middle of an empty room.

Truth. They bow to where the Queen stood. Three will move; six are just dead.

Consequence. Three Skeletons — atk 3, def 2, Grit 1, Nerve 5, fearless, half harm from arrows. Heat: skirmish. They animate if struck, jostled, or robbed.

The other route — bow back. [VANITY: Flair — 2 successes] as a genuine court greeting. One hero suffices. On success the Host resumes its bow and the party are guests: Skeletons will not open hostilities first.

Flattery is repeatable. Any hero may bow in any later area to be received. Each time: +1 Vanity now, +1 Bane on the tab. Shine now, bill later.

The signal. From the first successful bow, the Host addresses flatterers by invented titles — "my lord of the wet cloak". Players must be able to see the route is open and repeatable; in v1 they could not, and it killed them.

Temptation — the Gilded Mask.

• Cue: gold leaf over lime-wood, mouth fixed in a small smile.
• Benefit: automatic success on any bow-back, anywhere.
• Accept: free. Use: +1 Bane each time it saves you.
• Standing: while worn you cannot be recognised by name — allies' aid rolls that need to know you take −1 die.

Failure case. Fighting through without bowing is legitimate and harder — but A6 now always offers a way in (see the Vice), so it is no longer a death sentence.

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AREA 3 — The Hall of Little Mirrors

Faction contact · optional encounter · Banes: +1 per mirror-noticing

(read aloud or paraphrase) The walls are set with hundreds of hand-mirrors, no two the same, all angled inward. In the middle of them four living people sit back-to-back around a dead lantern, and every one of them is looking at you in a hundred pieces at once.

Truth. The Quill Gang. One man lost to the Wardrobe. They sat here to watch every approach, not realising the mirrors are how the Host watches them.

The clue is automatic. The mirrors are angled inward, at the room, not outward at the doors. [VANITY: Observation — 1 success] buys extra: some are angled at each other, endlessly.

Consequence. Roll Reaction (2d6) for Pell Quill.

• Hostile: 4 Bandits (atk 3, def 3, Grit 2, Nerve 2). They fight one round, then break — three days past brave. Do not run this as a full fight; it costs 15 minutes the schedule does not have.
• Wary / Neutral: they trade. They know the Wardrobe's door is the trap, and how.
• Friendly: they'll guide for a share.

The mirror rule. Anything reflected twice is noticed — roll the clock, and the hero who lingered, posed or studied their reflection takes +1 Bane. Say the Bane out loud; this is the tab's main engine outside flattery.

The decision. Ally, rob, or abandon. Drawing on the gang takes +1 Bane — the Host does not care for guests who behave badly in the house.

Failure case. Gang dead or gone → A5's trap fires unwarned. Visibly the party's doing.

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AREA 4 — The Weeping Gallery

Encounter: fight · no reward · Banes: —

(read aloud or paraphrase) A long gallery of portraits, floor to ceiling, all of the same woman. In every one the eyes have been scratched out — not slashed, worked at, patiently, by fingernails.

Truth. The court did this, two centuries in, unable to bear being looked at. Then they ate each other.

Consequence. One Ghoul — atk 4, def 2 (gorged, slow), Grit 4, Nerve 5. On a hit, a free Called Shot to freeze the victim for a round. It is slow: a fighter can dictate range. Heat: fight. It attacks anyone in court dress or wearing the Gilded Mask first.

Temptation — none. This area gives nothing. That is its job.

Failure case. Cuttable. If cut, move a scratched portrait into A5 so the motif completes.

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AREA 5 — The Wardrobe of the Court

No encounter · the hoard · the choice that sets the finale · Banes: +1 per relic use

(read aloud or paraphrase) Every dress the court ever wore, on three hundred hangers, in a room with no dust in it at all. At the far end, facing away from the door, one covered frame the height of a person.

Truth. Uncovering the portrait wakes the Queen — it is the only place she can be seen.

Consequence. Hoard: chest tier. The door is the trap, not the frame: it closes on whatever reaches past the threshold [VANITY: Brawn or Flair — 2 successes; failure = Maimed]. Forewarned parties simply wedge it.

In the hoard, always: the Cantor's silvered blade. Plain, old, faintly warm. It harms the incorporeal. Put it in front of the party's mundane fighter — without it, A6 has no room for them.

Temptation — Dorian's ever-young portrait.

• Cue: a young woman in gold, painted so well she seems about to speak.
• Benefit: you do not age; once per session refuse a condition — the portrait takes it, visibly. Accept: free. Use: +1 Bane.
• Standing: the Queen always knows where it is.

The decision.

Choice	Consequence
Uncover and take it	The Queen wakes here, on her ground. A6 comes to you.
Leave it covered	You reach A6 on your terms, with nothing she wants.

Failure case. Taking it and running = the finale in the Mourners' Steps. The blank faces make a better room for it anyway.

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AREA 6 — The Gilded Audience

⟨ AUTHORED SLOT — this is the seam ⟩

Areas 1–5 are what DELVE generates. This is what it hands over. A worked example; swap freely.

(read aloud or paraphrase) The throne room is full of a court that has stopped pretending. On the throne, in a gown that still holds its shape, sits a woman-shaped absence — a gap in the air wearing gold. She turns towards you and there is nothing in the collar to turn.

The Gilded Queen — Wraith, Grit 6, atk 5 (chill touch, ignores armour, drains 1 max Grit), def 3, Nerve 5, Resolve (Nemesis). Incorporeal.

Say this before initiative, always: she is not solid; steel passes through her. Blessed, silvered or magical weapons harm her — Wren's mace, the Cantor's blade from A5, Yrsa's spells. In v1 the table discovered this by failing, and it was fatal. Never let that happen.

She opens by asking: "How do I look?"

Party's route	The audience
Anyone bowed, even once	She listens. She trades the portrait for a true description — someone must look at her and say what is actually there. [VANITY: Nerve — 2 successes] or take Rattled.
Nobody bowed, tab under 4	She offers a Vice — "Be beautiful for me and I will be generous": +1 Vanity, +1 Bane, and the conversation opens. Refusing is allowed, and starts the fight.
Carrying the portrait	She wants it more than you. Offering it ends everything — she looks at herself and comes apart. You leave with all but the prize.
Fighting	Grit 6, no reinforcements. Winnable by two engaged heroes in ~4 rounds.

The Reckoning. If the tab reads six mid-audience, stop and roll it. A delve about vanity billing you in front of the Queen of Vanity is the best ending this has; do not soften it.

Failure case. Fleeing with the portrait: they win and are haunted. She follows, and any later session may open with the question again.

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7. NPC roster

Who	Essence	Numbers
The Gilded Queen	Cannot see herself; will pay anything to be described	Wraith · Grit 6 · atk 5 · def 3 · incorporeal
Pell Quill	Wants out alive, will sell anyone to manage it	Bandit · Grit 2 · Nerve 2
Quill Gang ×3	Three days past brave — break after one round	Bandit · Grit 2 · Nerve 2
The Silent Host	A guest is not an intruder	Skeleton · atk 3 · def 2 · Grit 1
The One That Ate	Could not bear being looked at	Ghoul · atk 4 · def 2 · Grit 4 · slow

8. Temptation index

Item	Where	Accept	Use	Standing
Gilded Mask	A2	free	+1 Bane per save	cannot be recognised by name
Cantor's silvered blade	A5	free	—	harms the incorporeal
Chest hoard	A5	free	—	—
Dorian's portrait	A5	free	+1 Bane per refusal	the Queen always knows where it is

9. Bane sources (the tab's engine)

Flattery +1 each · mirror-noticing in A3 +1 · drawing on the gang +1 · Gilded Mask use +1 · portrait use +1 · Push +1 · Stumbles when they happen. Target: 4–6 by Area 6.

10. What DELVE would have generated

Layer	Tool	Hand
Prize, bottom problem, factions, motif, foreshadow chain	✓
Area count, order, heat, hoard tier	✓
Maps (5 × forgeStage barrow)	✓
Encounter composition, mood	✓ (recorded, not reproducible)
Read-aloud cue text		✓
The flattery mechanic		✓
Area 6		✓

DELVE cannot write the cue paragraphs, and they are most of what makes this playable. v1 must ship theme-pack cue fragments, not generated prose.

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11. What the runs are testing

#	Question	Pass 1 result
1	Do 6 areas fit ~3 hours?	No — 2h55 with the finale unresolved
2	Are 2 planned fights enough?	Untested — a Hostile reaction made it 3
3	Is acceptanceCost: null tempting?	Unanswered — mask taken without discussion
4	Does flattery/Bane produce decisions?	Partly — one hero bowed, gate then killed them
5	Does the Reckoning land in the finale?	No — 1 Bane in ~40 rolls
6	Is the authored seam visible to players?	Not reached
7	Is four-faces-per-field too heavy?	Yes — Cue + Truth only; answered, closed

Pass 2 is contrarian: Court Door, nobody bows, ally the gang, take the portrait.

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VANITY development notes — part of DELVE.