aetherbound-guild/docs/goals/PHASE9_0R5_FIRST_SESSION_ARC_GOAL.md

Phase 9.0R5 First-Session Arc Goal

Owner Decision And Role

On 2026-08-13 the Owner asked for a larger playable delivery beginning at the real game entry instead of another isolated continuation page.

• Role: development task.
• Repository: aetherbound_guild only.
• Baseline: clean/upstream P9.0R4 preview closure 6ae33971451912b3cc87c8ffe3b8831fa67c967c.
• Preserved P9.0R4 product source: e895c42e83950acf141470629f4a8c4a3fde67e2.
• Active contract: docs/runtime/PHASE9_0R5_FIRST_SESSION_ARC_CONTRACT.md.
• Active ledger: docs/reviews/PHASE9_GODOT_VERTICAL_SLICE_LEDGER.md.

Player Hypothesis

A fresh player can start from Title, form a squad, understand the first result, make a tactical adaptation, then make a different resource/roster decision and finish a third battle without coaching.

The complete preview loop is:

Title -> Yard -> battle 1 -> diagnosis/+20 Coin -> loan choice -> battle 2 -> Guild return -> keep equipment or recruit -> battle 3 -> session result

Owned Slice

1. Preserve the full P9.0R4 path from the real Title without fixture shortcuts.
2. Replace the P9.0R4 terminal with one visible return to the Guild Yard.
3. Present current Coin, the two-person squad, the learned threat and exactly two stable, unselected responses:
   • pay 12 Coin to retain the selected EQ-002 or EQ-061 for the next encounter, leaving 8 Coin and Company 2;
   • pay 14 Coin to recruit the missing rear Profession, return the loaned item, leave 6 Coin and Company 3.
4. The missing rear is deterministic: Farstring recruits Kindhand; Kindhand recruits Farstring. It is a run-local tutorial Recruit using the accepted Profession identity and art, not a new named protagonist or Market offer.
5. Run one third automatic encounter in which the retained item or added rear visibly acts, changes HP/event order/time, and produces a causal session result.
6. Keep Home and confirmed Restart available. Restart clears all three battles, Coin, loan, Guild choice and added Recruit.

Fixed Third Encounter

The third encounter is a bounded 130 HP Riftblade captain presentation using existing assets. It is not a new catalog identity or authoritative combat.

Guild choice	Company	Coin	First pressure	Distinct contribution
retain EQ-002	2	8	front 100 -> 90	item resists push; safer but slower
retain EQ-061	2	8	front acts 130 -> 102, then front 100 -> 70	item keeps initiative; faster but riskier
recruit missing rear	3	6	front 100 -> 70	Farstring deals one rear hit and Kindhand heals +12

All paths defeat the captain. Final front HP is state-dependent: retained EQ-002 yields 90 with Farstring or 100 with Kindhand; retained EQ-061 yields 70 with Farstring or 82 with Kindhand; the three-person route yields 82. Declared encounter time is 7.60, 6.60, or 7.00 seconds.

Preview-First Cadence

The Owner receives another fast H5 direction preview before formal candidate work. The preview gate runs:

• focused three-cycle state/transaction tests;
• one complete real parsed-ScreenTouch route beginning at Title;
• preserved P9.0R4/P9.0R3 regressions;
• normal-render 844x390 states for Guild unselected/selected, third-battle pressure, three-person action and final result;
• strict diagnostics and remote Title launch.

Full matrices, both locales/text scales, all branch recordings, immutable inventory and final candidate publication remain postponed until Owner accepts the expanded session direction.

Frozen

• P9.0R3/P9.0R4 first two battles, values, roles and accepted presentation.
• Existing character, enemy, background, VFX and animation source assets.
• Formal Market boards, generated offers, permanent equipment inventory, Party order, risk selection, casualty/recovery and save/persistence.
• Chapter/content expansion, authoritative combat, paid generation, audio expansion, device packaging, TestFlight, stores and release.

Acceptance

• A fresh Title start reaches the final session result using only visible game actions and no fixture-only jump.
• The Guild choice has no preselection, can be revised before departure and deducts Coin exactly once at commit.
• Retain and recruit routes leave exact Coin 8/6, Company 2/3, and mutually exclusive retained-item/added-Recruit state.
• The added rear actor is visible in the line, changes body poses and produces one exact committed heal or ranged hit.
• The final result explains the player's Guild decision before showing Coin, Company, HP and time, and offers replay/home without opening frozen systems.
• The H5 is explicitly a fast direction preview, not a formal candidate.

Legal Terminals

Aetherbound Guild P9.0R5 full first-session H5 preview ready

or

Aetherbound Guild P9.0R5 redesign required: <earliest failed player boundary>