Build first questline and hub NPC story beat

[JOY]

Project: Second Spawn
Area: Design
Milestone: Vertical Slice
Priority: P1
Size: L
Review Gate: Local Review
Verification: Docs Lint, Unity Smoke

Source Docs

• docs/design/29-alpha-questline-and-encounter-design.md
• docs/design/35-alpha-content-and-copy-pack.md
• docs/design/69-alpha-quest-tracker-and-objective-flow-design.md
• docs/design/75-alpha-quest-state-and-data-contract.md
• docs/design/77-alpha-focus-cast-outcome-reaction-matrix.md
• docs/design/101-alpha-focus-npc-first-session-choreography.md
• docs/design/127-alpha-location-naming-and-map-label-contract.md

Evidence Template

• docs/playtests/_templates/first-questline-hub-story/README.md

Summary

Build the first player-facing questline around The Garden, the current inhabited body, TIME risk, SECOND consequence, Ash Underpass proof, and one grounded hub NPC story hook.

Scope

• Use Check The Ash Underpass Signal as the first questline.
• Keep the build cut to 3-5 playable steps if the full seven-step design is too large.
• Include Mission Board inspection, one focus NPC dialogue hook, Body Hall or Clinic body check, Gate entry commitment, signal proof, extraction or push-deeper choice, and outcome report handoff.
• Show TIME risk and SECOND reward or cost as player-facing consequence.
• Keep current body language, not blank-avatar language.
• Use The Garden, Ash Underpass, and current Dayton/Garden wording.
• Route outcome reactions through accepted outcome or visible Garden memory state.

Acceptance Criteria

• Questline has a concise written spec in docs/design.
• Questline includes first hub, current body, TIME risk, SECOND consequence, and one focus NPC dialogue hook.
• Questline can be cut to 3-5 playable steps without losing the body, mission, proof, extraction, and outcome arc.
• NPC dialogue is grounded in body, Garden, route, mission, relationship, or accepted outcome context.
• Player-facing copy does not use BodyTime, Relay Yard, respawn, or debug mission wording.
• Unity, LLMs, and debug controls cannot own quest progress, proof, reward, body death, memory, or relationship state.
• Evidence uses docs/playtests/_templates/first-questline-hub-story/.

Cut Line

Do not require the full quest framework, full boss fight, voice, facial animation, or final quest journal art before this spec is accepted. Keep the first proof to a player-readable questline and evidence handoff.

[JOY]

Closed after verifying the current alpha docs satisfy the acceptance criteria. Evidence: docs/design/29-alpha-questline-and-encounter-design.md defines the Check The Ash Underpass Signal questline, focus hub NPC cast, Body Check/TIME beat, Gate commit, signal objective, extract-or-push choice, Tollkeeper Shell encounter, rewards, failure states, and outcome report. docs/design/35-alpha-content-and-copy-pack.md adds hub NPC dialogue hooks and mission/outcome copy. docs/design/26-alpha-game-design-document.md links #33 to the questline source of truth. Verification: markdownlint passed for docs/**/*.md and root markdown files.

[JOY]

Added the missing story/AI NPC handoff catalog for the first alpha hour.

Source doc:

• docs/design/149-alpha-story-memory-and-dialogue-intent-catalog.md

It covers:

• quest implementation beat coverage for the first five alpha beats
• initial faction memory tags
• first-hour dialogue intent catalog
• role prompt snippets for Echo, Spark, Vell, Iron, and Whisper
• NPC grounding debug checklist

Validation run:

• tools/windows/check-backlog-sync.ps1 - OK
• git diff --check -- docs ROADMAP.md - OK
• touched markdown local links - OK
• no Unicode dash matches in touched docs