The Five Stretches is the long optional arc of Wick in the Quiet District. An old road is unreliable. Each successful Quiet Tracts outing can restore one stretch. Five stretches open a permanent ridge shortcut.
Not part of the stress story#
The road problem began long before the strange signals. The plan states that psychological stress did not cause it. It is a positive counterweight to the worsening places, not a hidden next stage. See Myelin, demyelination and repair.
Steps#
| Step | Repair | Change in the world |
|---|---|---|
| W0 | The old road | Meet Wick. The lower road and the closed ridge are visible. |
| W1 | The first banked stretch | One lane conducts and can be walked. |
| W2 | The invitation at two stretches | A second segment returns. Wick may get a home invitation. This is not recruitment. |
| W3 | The third stretch changes travel | The repaired lane is faster on the map. |
| W4 | A repaired section still has neighbours | A new problem appears beside a restored stretch. Progress is not reversed. |
| W5 | Over the ridge | The ridge shortcut opens. Completes the story. |
Rules#
- The Ranger clears material and protects the work, but cannot lay myelin. An oligodendrocyte-lineage cell does the wrapping.
- At most one stretch is banked per returned outing. Retrying the same room gives no double credit.
- Losing a protected tract segment fails the room. Earlier repairs stay.
- The main story and finale can be finished with zero stretches.
Reward#
W5 unlocks the Imprint Full Length. The dossier describes faster tract-support preparation during an outing. It does not create myelin.
Development#
- Design: plan v0.5 §22 and dossier Part VII-C.
- The one-stretch-per-return rule lives in Claude B's services (
repairStretch). The side-plot handoff notes that it was not pinned intomainat first. - The plan's precursor escort was dropped after the user said, on 1 November, "Oligos don't walk, they only extend". See Oligodendrocyte precursor cell.
- The user approved the Quiet Tracts repair art on 2 November. The lead's report lists Quiet repair scenery and the shortcut geometry as unfinished in the alpha.
See also#
Sources#
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_THE_LONG_WAKE_COMPLETE_GAME_PLAN_v0.5.md (working copy, not in Git)
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_COMPANIONS_NARRATIVE_AND_SYSTEMS_DOSSIER_v0.5.md (working copy, not in Git)
b89f778c2:src/main-game/game/vendor/services/sidequests/catalog.js1ded4c01c:docs/integrated-design-v2/STRESS_STORY.md
What links here (28)
- 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
- Full Length
- Imprints
- Myelin, demyelination and repair
- Oligodendrocyte
- Oligodendrocyte precursor cell
- Prologue: The Last Regular Evening
- Quiet District
- Someone Else's Shift
- The Border of an Agreement
- The Names at the Edge
- The Part Between
- The Stretch Between Neighbours
- The Uninteresting Ones
- Who Takes the New Road?
- Wick
- Withdrawn story directions
- Wrapping Depot