The Inn with Two Dawns

Run at most two mornings and never replay discovered dialogue word for word. Each morning has four beats (three in the short route). Inspecting the cup, hearing Mara, checking the coach, arranging privacy and inviting the reader each use one. At one remaining beat the coach door closes and the reader cannot be newly invited. The first morning teaches persistent facts; reset returns everyone to the porch, replenishes breakfast and closes temporary permissions, while the knowledge flags and revealed cards remain. On morning two, request privacy at the nook before inviting the reader in the stable yard; finish at the east window. Reading means the intended reader privately chooses to open the letter, not players extracting its contents. Players may instead unhook the charm after learning its latch. If they spend both mornings exploring, the exhausted charm produces a definite partial ending, never a third round.

Truth and opening

Mara used a farewell charm to delay her brother’s departure by one breakfast. Its remaining charge can rewind once. Scratched marks and remembered discoveries persist; hay, cups, people’s positions, permissions and the sealed letter return to their dawn state. A willing reading releases the charm. Unhooking it preserves the sealed farewell, and exhaustion stops it automatically after the second morning.

120-minute route

Investigate breakfast, letter and coach 35m → Record retained facts and reset once 20m → Make a private choice or unhook the charm 45m

Players earn all three observations. Reset after the first morning’s three discovery actions; the fourth beat makes one optional stop possible in morning two, but the one-beat door closure still applies.

People

Wes: wants Keep a record across dawns Offers The scratched cup and a blank record. Boundary: Will not ask anyone to surrender their memories.

Ina: wants Leave with a willing passenger Offers A private minute before the door closes. Boundary: Will not compel the reader or hold a third morning.

Mara: wants Face her brother’s departure Offers The letter, a quiet window and permission to remove the charm. Boundary: No public reading of a private farewell.

Cole: wants Leave freely without making the farewell a public performance Offers A willing private reading if the quiet window is arranged in time. Boundary: Nobody opens or recites the letter on his behalf.

Events and costs

Beats before the coach shuts at most 1: Ina closes the coach door. A reader already invited may finish; a new invitation must wait for another morning.

Beats before the coach shuts is 0: The breakfast light goes white. Reset once if a morning remains, or accept the charm’s final exhaustion.

Closures

A different cloud: Reader beside the window is true and Private reading agreed this morning is true

A letter for another day: Letter and latch located is true

The third dawn is ordinary: Available

Recovery

A missed invitation window can be retried only in the one remaining morning. When no rewind remains, unhook the known latch with the letter sealed, or accept the exhausted charm. Never require reading against the reader’s will.