Town — Switchback Hollow

Between walks, the hero comes home to a small trail town shown as a fixed portrait diorama, read near-to-far: arrive through the trail gate, cross the fountain square, and climb the switchback to the dungeon gate set in the old wall.

The Switchback Hollow town diorama: trail gate at the bottom, fountain square in the middle, tavern and quest board to the left, outfitter to the right, and the dungeon gate in the old wall at the top. — Switchback Hollow — the whole town is visible at once; nothing scrolls.

Places

Place	What it does
Trail gate	The way home to combat — always one tap away (“Trail” plate in the bottom bar).
Hearth Tavern	The hero roster: choose between recruited heroes (free, reversible).
Quest board	Preview of future step-powered quests — rewards not decided yet; marked as such in-game.
Outfitter	Preview, buy and equip cosmetic outfits with play-earned gold.
Dungeon gate	“Enter the Trial” — the entrance to the Active Trial.

Town rules

Moving in town uses no steps. The avatar walks on-screen distance only; no town function can mint attacks, gold or quest progress.
Imported steps keep resolving on the trail while you are in town; the HUD line reports “+N steps → N attacks on the trail”.
Tapping a building walks the avatar there; arriving opens the lit “open” state and an arrival card with Enter.
Nothing scrolls — the whole town, its labels and the persistent HUD (steps, gold, opponent HP, area, save state) fit one screen, with TalkBack-labelled destination plates.
The scene survives rotation and process death; reduced-motion players get still frames with arrival marked by the lit buildings.

Under construction

Quest board rules, town interior art, NPCs and possible future buildings (blacksmith-style crafting, gear) are designed but not decided — see the roadmap. Any crafting added later will be instant and walk-fed: no idle timers, ever.