Act 1 — The Two Zones (layout & encounter flow)

The moment-to-moment design of the first release's two spoke zones and how the five chapters play across them. Written 2026-09-14. Feeds development-plan.md Step 14 (Zone A, Phase 1) and Step 18 (Zone B, Phase 2). Built on the world model in ../plan-version-1/older-plan/future-game-project/world-and-zones.md, the story in act-1-story.md, and the boss in boss-polydegmon.md.

The shape (locked in v1): one town hub (Eleusis) + two spoke zones + one boss = the whole vertical slice. Zones are built in three tiers: tier-1 landmarks handcrafted and fixed; tier-2 connective ground handcrafted skeleton with a shuffled interior (fixed identity & connectivity, randomised terrain/spawns/chests); tier-3 (procedural) is endgame only — not here.

Enemy details (stats, behaviours, elites, minibosses) live in act-1-enemies.md; this doc places them, that one specs them.

Design rules that govern both zones

• Art law (canon): "Nothing is ruined, only unattended. Swept, intact, maintained, empty — never rubble." Shrines are dusted and lit for gods who don't answer; the fields fail (Demeter rationing), they are not wreckage.
• Tone arc: the act darkens as you descend — Zone A opens under a wide grey sky (once-golden fields), Zone B closes in and goes cold at the Ploutonion. Uses the crisis visually (README §3.7 / act-1-story).
• Density scales to party size — bake the multiplier into the spawner now even for single-player, so co-op is a number later (world doc).
• Waypoints = Shrines of Hermes, unlocked on discovery; town portal returns you to Eleusis to restock (the core loop).
• Elite naming (canon): an elite's affixes are "the shape of the story told in that valley" — name them from the local wrong (e.g. "…, that the wells failed").

Level & time budget (Mortal, first playthrough)

Targets the 1–2 hr / level-cap-30 plan (Mortal clear ≈ L15 → one ultimate):

Heroic/Divine replays scale enemy level and loot tier (same layouts), pushing toward the level-30 cap.

Zone A — The Rarian Plain (the failing fields)

The tutorial ground. The first field ever sown, now grey and rationed. Wide, open, mournful — the safest, most legible space in the game, where the player learns move → kill → loot → equip on gentle stakes. Chapter 1 ("The Last Harvest") plays here start to finish.

        [ELEUSIS GATE] ──furrows──►(Threshing Floor ✦shrine)──drowned channel──►
                                                                                  │
   [treeline to Zone B ⟶] ◄──── the far furrows / barrow-line (⚔ miniboss) ◄──(Boundary Herm ⚑waypoint + ♨rest)
        (opens after Ch.1)

Landmarks (tier-1, handcrafted, fixed)

1. The Eleusis Gate — the exit from the hub into the fields; the tutorial threshold.
2. The Threshing Floor (halos) — a circular stone floor; the first real pack fight arena, with the first Shrine of Demeter (regen/grain-find boon) beside it.
3. The Boundary Herm — a crossroads marked by a Herm; the zone's first Waypoint (Shrine of Hermes) and a Hestia rest point (heal/safe moment). Mid-zone anchor.
4. The Treeline — the fixed transition to Zone B; sealed until Ch. 1 completes.

Connective ground (tier-2, skeleton + shuffle)

• The furrows — open farmland: drainage channels, scarecrows, dead grain. Light enemies; the combat sandbox.
• The drowned channel — a flooded irrigation ditch; a tighter path with a chest and a small density spike.
• The far furrows / the barrow-line — where the dead are thickest; leads to the miniboss and the deep field.

Encounter flow & pacing (the onboarding curve)

1. First contact: one or two Keres in the open — teaches target + basic attack
   • the first kill.
2. First loot: a guaranteed early Blessed drop → equip → a stat visibly changes (the Gate-0 lesson, themed).
3. First shrine: Shrine of Demeter at the Threshing Floor, then the first pack (mixed Keres + Skeletal Hoplites — canon's designated "first thing you kill").
4. First waypoint + rest at the Boundary Herm (teaches fast-travel + town portal).
5. First elite/miniboss: the First Furrow — a risen field-hand pack-leader in the barrow-line (elite affixes named for the local wrong). Clearing it = Ch. 1's objective (the fields are safe enough to glean the last grain).

Monsters (from the bestiary)

Keres ⬦ Unprocessed · Skeletal Hoplites ⬦ Unprocessed · Shades/Eidola ⬦ Unprocessed · (trash: crop-vermin). All weak to Divine, so an Oracle feels strong here — and all teach the Umbral/Divine framing gently.

Optional content (the Oracle's "work-order queue")

1–2 bounty-board jobs, canon-flavoured as maintenance, not heroics:

• "A thing in the well" — a small side-den off the drowned channel (a chest reward).
• "A family that cannot bury someone" — an escort/clear near the barrow-line; foreshadows the Ploutonion without explaining it.

Chapter mapping

• Ch. 1 "The Last Harvest" — the whole zone: furrows (tutorial) → Threshing Floor (first pack + shrine) → Boundary Herm (waypoint) → barrow-line (miniboss) → return. On completion, the Treeline opens and Ch. 2 begins.

Zone B — The Sacred Grove & the Ploutonion Approach

The escalation. Demeter's grove, being cut by desperate townsfolk on the Steward's orders; deeper in, the Ploutonion — the gate to the dead — is thinning. Tighter, sacred, emptied, and cold by the end. Tougher enemies, the moral knot, the descent, and the boss. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 play here; Chapter 5 is the boss arena at its end.

   [TREELINE from Zone A] ──►(Cutters' Camp ⚑waypoint)──cut grove (Dryad Blights)──►
                                                                                     │
   (Old Altar of Demeter ✦shrine/♨rest) ◄── deep grove / the thinning (⚔ Threshold Warden)
        │
        └──►(Ploutonion Approach ♨rest + ⚑waypoint) ──► [BOSS ARENA: Mouth of the Ploutonion ⇒ Polydegmon]

Landmarks (tier-1, handcrafted, fixed)

1. The Cutters' Camp — a logging camp at the treeline: felled trunks, the Steward's overseer, arguing townsfolk. Frames Ch. 2's moral knot; holds the Zone-B Waypoint.
2. The Old Altar of Demeter — swept, intact, empty (art law); a Shrine of Demeter
   • Hestia rest. The zone's breather and a lore beat.
3. The Ploutonion Approach — the cave descent begins; cold air, standing dead. A final Hestia rest + Waypoint before the boss (fairness — let players prep and respec via Lethe Water). Where the Steward (Pheidon) is found in Ch. 4.
4. The Mouth of the Ploutonion — the boss arena (full design in boss-polydegmon.md). Built to be revisited in Act 5 — asset and layout reuse baked in.

Connective ground (tier-2, skeleton + shuffle)

• The cut grove — stumps, sap-choked paths, felled canopy letting in grey light. Home of the Dryad Blights.
• The deep grove / the thinning — colder, darker; undead push up from the gate and mix with the Blights; leads to the miniboss.

Encounter flow & pacing (the ramp)

1. The knot: at the Cutters' Camp, the town argues (cut the grove to live vs sacrilege). Myrra is sent in — the quest works whether she guards or stops the cutters. No combat yet; a beat of stakes.
2. New threat: the felling has woken Dryad Blights — "the tree is gone; the binding was not informed" (canon). The human act spawns the monster, the right way. Tougher than Zone A packs; introduces a mechanic (Blights root/entangle).
3. Breather + lore: the Old Altar — shrine, rest, and the first cold note.
4. The thinning: density and difficulty peak in the deep grove; undead + Blights together. Culminates in the Threshold Warden miniboss (a gate-guardian ⬦ Unattended, still doing its job) — the Zone-B climax.
5. The descent + prep: the Ploutonion Approach — find Pheidon (Ch. 4's turn), then a rest/waypoint before the boss (fairness).
6. The boss: Polydegmon at the Mouth (Ch. 5).

Monsters

Dryad Blights ⬦ Unattended (new; entangle) · Skeletal Hoplites / Shades pushing up from the gate (tougher variants) · miniboss: the Threshold Warden ⬦ Unattended · boss: Polydegmon ⬦ Unattended. Umbral damage becomes common near the gate — the first place Umbral resist (the Warding affix) earns its slot.

Chapter mapping

• Ch. 2 "Bread and Timber" — Cutters' Camp + cut grove (Dryad Blights).
• Ch. 3 "The Rite That Failed" — return to Theano in Eleusis (hub interlude), then sent to the Ploutonion via the deep grove.
• Ch. 4 "Who to Blame" — the Ploutonion Approach; Pheidon; the truth (he hoarded, but he is not why the dead rise).
• Ch. 5 "The Intake" — the boss arena.
• Denouement — back at the hub: the dead settle, Theano fails and sends Myrra to Delphi, then dies four days later. Sets up the deferred content.

The hub between the zones — Eleusis (reference)

Full NPC roster is in act-1-story.md. For zone flow, the hub matters as the safe pivot: players town-portal back to sell, stash (Keeper of the Hearth), craft/socket (Forgemaster), take bounties (the Oracle board), and respec (Lethe Water) between and during the two zones. Chiron is present as the mentor throughout; Theano (the Elder) drives the chapters.

Implementation notes (dev-plan Steps 14 & 18)

• Build order: Zone A + the hub + one class = the Phase-1 vertical slice (Step 14, Gate 1). Zone B + the boss + the rest of the chapters = Phase 2 (Step 18, Gate 2). This zone doc is the build target for both.
• Two tilesets carry the whole act: a fields set (Zone A) and a grove/cave set (Zone B). Reuse aggressively (recolour/relight) — and the cave/threshold set returns for Act 5, so author it with that reuse in mind.
• Tier-1 landmarks (Threshing Floor, Boundary Herm, Old Altar, Cutters' Camp, Ploutonion Approach, boss arena) are fixed handcrafted scenes. Tier-2 connective ground (furrows, channel, cut grove, deep grove) is a handcrafted skeleton with a shuffled interior — fixed entrances/exits and identity, randomised terrain, spawns, chests, and side-dens.
• One spawner, parameterized by (zone monster pool, density, party-size multiplier, difficulty tier) — never a bespoke spawner per zone.
• Waypoints are discovery-triggered; the boss-approach rest is mandatory before Polydegmon (hardcore fairness).
• Everything data-driven so Heroic/Divine are parameter sets over the same scenes.

Open questions

• Zone sizes (how many tier-2 "rooms" each) — set after the Phase-1 art survey; each room is authoring time. Lean: Zone A ~3 connective segments, Zone B ~3 + the approach, to hit the time budget.
• Second waypoint placement in Zone B (Cutters' Camp vs Old Altar) — lean: Camp, so the whole grove is fast-travelable early.
• Whether the Threshold Warden miniboss and Polydegmon share a silhouette/asset (cost saving) or read as distinct — lean: related but distinct (Warden = a guardian; Polydegmon = the intake).
• How much of Ch. 2's "guard vs stop the cutters" is reflected in the space (both framings share one layout) — lean: shared layout, dialogue-only difference (single spine is cheaper solo; v1 agrees).