# Spellbound Relics 1.9 — Wild Paths

Eleven scenes across both trails now have warned obstacles. The first introduction and optional duet stay peaceful. Existing encounters, runes, alternative spell solutions, story prerequisites, bookmark indices and saved vocabulary retain their identities.

| Scene | Villain | Terrain | Story goal |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Garden crossing | — | Swamp | Abby crosses the bridge |
| Garden gift | Goblin | — | The flower glows or Mei carries it |
| River voice | — | Quicksand | Water flows with a chosen manner |
| Mirror bank | Witch | — | The flower answers through “it” |
| Story Gate | — | Tar | The garden gate opens |
| Wood landing | Witch | Swamp | The carried lantern lights |
| Rootway | Goblin | Quicksand | The root path opens |
| Companion crossing | Crocodile | Swamp | Both friends cross |
| Silverstream bend | Moss-and-stone monster | Tar | Water follows the channel under the bridge |
| Lantern nest | Giant bat | Swamp | The flower wakes and its soft echo answers |
| Lantern haven | Witch | Tar | The traveling team opens the haven |

## What makes progression more demanding

The challenge now follows the actual scene goal. A valid spell can change the world without solving the obstacle. The warning remains and explains the remaining goal. For example, carrying the lantern is a successful first action, but the witch’s landing stays blocked until the carried lantern shines. Sending Mei across is valid, but the crocodile crossing stays active until Abby also reaches the far bank. All original equivalent solutions remain available.

A cast with an arrangement error can cause a temporary setback. Simply choosing or editing stones never triggers one. Meaning and prerequisite failures retain ordinary feedback without taking stones. Warnings are written, optionally spoken and untimed.

Six setback styles use the same reversible controls:

- Goblins can snatch a pouch; Abby retrieves it.
- Witch magic binds placed stones in violet threads; Luma unties the spell.
- Quicksand draws placed stones into its center; Abby lowers a vine.
- Swamp mist obscures the stones; Luma lights the way back.
- Tar holds stones fast; Mei loosens the sticky spell.
- Crocodiles sweep a pouch among the reeds; Abby retrieves it from the bank.

Only placed runes are temporarily out of reach. There is no permanent rune loss, health loss, injury, countdown or automatic reset. Every recovery restores the editable spell. Animated recoveries can be skipped; reduced motion returns stones immediately. Quiet trail disables both villains and hazards and safely releases any current setback. Practice pouches and completed scenes remain peaceful. Existing finished journeys are not reset automatically; use the existing new-journey option to replay.

## Artwork and source

Six initial transparent raster assets were created with the built-in image-generation tool, using the existing goblin as a style reference. Alpha bounds were cropped, images were sized for the game, and transparency was preserved during WebP encoding. No new villain art was substituted with CSS or vector placeholders. CSS supplies transient magic, mist and movement effects around the artwork. Terrain sprites use native world coordinates below the actors, so pools cannot cover companion bodies.

Assets in `assets/encounters-v19/`: `witch.webp`, `monster.webp`, `crocodile.webp`, `quicksand.webp`, `swamp.webp`, `tar.webp`. Full prompts and filenames are retained in [generation-prompts.json](assets/encounters-v19/generation-prompts.json).

`challenge-data.js` owns scene goals, artwork references, warnings, companion assignments and recovery text. `encounter-model.js` adds explicit scene-resolution handling. The pilot supplies the original mission’s goal result rather than comparing spells to a fixed answer string. The story engine is unchanged.

## Validation

The Wild Paths tests exercise all eleven scene configurations, all six setback styles, all three companions, terrain and villain assets, partial-success behavior, full story progression and atomic failure. Existing encounter, vocabulary, character, expansion, panorama, pilot, world and original-guide suites also run.

Desktop browser checks cover environmental and villain encounters, goal-dependent clearance, recovery, quiet mode and both journey endings. Physical phone and Safari checks remain pending. Device speech depends on available voices. This feature changes the pilot condition and should be identified separately in any learning analysis; it does not establish learning or engagement gains.

## Villain art revision

Following user review, the witch, monster, crocodile, goblin and giant bat were edited with the built-in image tool to remove the friendly expressions. Narrowed eyes, scowls, pointed teeth or claws, stronger silhouettes and darker tones distinguish them from the companions. All full bodies and transparent edges are retained. Current villain files end in `-menacing.webp` in `assets/encounters-v19/`; initial friendly versions are preserved as unused art. Complete edit prompts and asset filenames are in [villain-revision-prompts.json](assets/encounters-v19/villain-revision-prompts.json). Mechanics and recoveries are unchanged.


## Moving sprites · 1.10

Five villain and three terrain four-frame cycles now play in encounters. Warning cycles run at a measured pace; setbacks and rescues use quicker action cycles. Clearing an encounter or enabling calm/system reduced motion selects a static frame. Animation uses native looping transparent WebP with no extra JavaScript animation timer. The original art remains a load-error fallback. All frames share crop, scale and transparent padding within each cycle.

[Preview all moving sprites](sprite-gallery.html). Separate numbered frames, still poses, animated cycles, timing metadata and full built-in image generation prompts are in `assets/encounters-v20/`. Gameplay rules and recovery are unchanged.


## Sprite UX QA · 1.10.1

See [the critical UX diagnostic](SPRITE_UX_QA_v1101.md) for observed issues, fixes, test evidence and limits. Current clean monster, crocodile and goblin cycles are selected from `assets/encounters-v21/`; other cycles remain in `encounters-v20/`. The inline Calm motion control shares the saved accessibility setting. Menus, title screens, hidden tabs and quiet trails select still bitmaps. Sprite placement is anchored to the panorama and measured text panels.


## Staged Trails · 1.11

[Movement and progression notes](STAGED_TRAILS_v111.md). Villains now enter and patrol; the actual companions perform recoveries; cleared hazards become part of departure travel. Existing artwork is unchanged.