in: Story, Side stories, Quests, Recruitment quests
Someone Else's Shift
Approved Quest · facts checked 2 November 2026
Someone Else's Shift is the side story of Pip. Pip has become the default answer to problems that nobody else knows how to organise. The story does not teach Pip to "let go". It changes the home so that one duty can be handed off for real.
Steps#
| Step | Title | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| PIP0 | The east bend has a keeper | Prologue | Somebody was already doing the work before the Ranger arrived. |
| PIP1 | Two places and a single pair of branches | Act I, I5 | Two duties, one Pip. Distance and time are real. |
| PIP2 | The missed handoff that wasn't | Act II | A traveller asks Pip for help. Pip cannot leave until someone covers the watch. |
| PIP3 | When Mote wants the road | III6 | Pip sees that a shift can be negotiated. Optional. |
| PIP4 | A quiet interval counts | Act IV | Pip tries a brief absence, if a substitute really covers. |
| PIP5 | The relay post isn't Pip | IV4 | The Relay post is built. It covers the keeper watch only. |
| PIP6 | Someone else takes the shift | After PIP5 | Pip is truly absent while the watch holds. Completes the story. |
| PIP7 | The invitation is not the achievement | After PIP6 | Optional field invitation. |
| PIP8 | A keeper where the work is | Optional | First field outing, only if Pip joined. |
| PIP9 | Someone else was there (coda) | Optional | Presents the Imprint already earned. |
| PIP10 | The post that is still useful | After Act V | Ambient. |
“Can you look at the far turn?” “Not until someone's here.”
Recruitment#
Step PIP7 is Pip's recruitment step, pip:PIP7. It needs PIP6, scene IV4 and a working relay post. On an outing, Pip really leaves home; the post covers only its one duty. If Pip is the first recruit, the Coordinator unlocks at that moment. See Recruitment.
Reward#
PIP6 unlocks the Imprint Quiet Handoff once. The dossier describes a shorter delay for a responder from a paid Call. It never creates a free helper or a copy of Pip.
Development#
- Design: dossier Part VI. The user approved Pip's placement and the relay post on 31 October.
- Completion rule: buying the post alone never completes the story. A real absence with the watch covered is required (
absence-with-coverage). - Room: Claude A's
keeper-yardlayout (PIP8) was approved on 31 October. - In the alpha The Placeholder alpha's code records the evidence for PIP0 and PIP1, and builds the relay post for 30 Supply once IV4 is reached. IV4 is not reachable in the alpha. This wiki has read the code, not played it.
See also#
Sources#
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_COMPANIONS_NARRATIVE_AND_SYSTEMS_DOSSIER_v0.5.md (working copy, not in Git)
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_THE_LONG_WAKE_v0.5_CHANGE_HANDOFF.md (working copy, not in Git)
b89f778c2:src/main-game/game/vendor/services/sidequests/catalog.jsb89f778c2:src/main-game/game/home.js
What links here (25)
- Act I: The Long Wake
- Act II: The Boundary Is Not a Wall
- Act III: What Stays After the Signal
- Act IV: The Interval
- Act V: The Break
- An Errand That Was Already Underway
- An Hour Without a Request
- Arborwake: The Long Wake
- Ensemble scenes
- Epilogue: The Next Ordinary Day
- Evening Pair
- Imprints
- Pip
- Prologue: The Last Regular Evening
- Quiet Handoff
- Recruitment
- Relay post
- The Border of an Agreement
- The Five Stretches
- The Names at the Edge
- The Part Between
- The Stretch Between Neighbours
- The Uninteresting Ones
- Who Takes the New Road?
- Withdrawn story directions