You choose the north door of the Entrance Hall. It leads to an empty grid space at Rank 2, Column 3. This is where the next room will go.

Before drawing any tiles, roll the white die (Rank 4 uses the white die — Ranks 1–3 are never locked and skip this roll entirely). Check the result.

Unlocked result: proceed to draw tiles. No key needed.

Locked result: place a padlock token on the door. Now — before seeing any tiles — decide:

• Spend 1 Key to remove the padlock and proceed
• Use the Lock Pick card (roll d6: 1–2 it picks the lock) or the Silver Key (opens every locked door on the board)
• Turn back — no tiles drawn, the padlock stays, action ends

You rolled unlocked. No padlock needed. On to the tiles.

Reach into the Active Bag and draw 3 tiles blind. Lay them out face up — left to right as Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3. The front of each tile shows its name, its colour, its doors and its gem cost; the full rule is on the back — flip a tile over to read it before you choose.

Slot 1's gem cost is always waived — you can always draft the first tile for free, whatever it costs.

You see: Slot 1 costs 0 gems. Slot 2 costs 1 gem. Slot 3 costs 2 gems. You have 0 gems. Slot 1 gem cost is always waived — draft it for free or use a redraw.

Turn each tile over to read its rule, then turn it back. Now you know what you've drawn.

You have: Nook (Slot 1), Greenhouse (Slot 2 — costs 1 gem), Study (Slot 3 — costs 2 gems). With 0 gems you can only take the Nook. But wait — do you want to redraw?

If you hold an Ivory Die, you can spend it to put all 3 current tiles back in the Active Bag and draw 3 fresh ones. You can do this as many times as you have dice.

You don't have any Ivory Dice. You take the Nook — it's free, L-shaped with 2 doors, and has a guaranteed key inside. Not bad for Rank 2. Return the Greenhouse and Study to the Active Bag.

Place the Nook at Rank 2, Column 3 on the board. Some rooms do something the moment they're drafted — check the tile. The Nook has no draft effect. (The Locker Room, for example, would put a Key on every Hallway already on the board at this moment. A bedroom would get its trunk; a green room its dirt tokens.)

On your next turn, take the Move action. Declare your destination: the Nook. Count the rooms along your path — just 1 room. Deduct 1 Step. Place your room marker on the Nook tile. You now have 49 steps.

Entry effects fire immediately on arrival:

• Nook — guaranteed key: take 1 Key from the supply. No card draw, no roll — just take it.
• The Nook's roll: roll a d6. On 4, 5 or 6, draw 1 Special Items card. You rolled a 3 — nothing extra this time.
• Trunks: the Nook has no trunk. Move on.

The transit rule: you only collect things in your destination room. If you pass through other rooms on the way, those are transit rooms — nothing triggers there. If you want to collect in a room along the way, declare it as your destination first, then move again on your next turn.

You're in the Nook. It has 2 doors — you can draft forward from either exit, or move back to the Entrance Hall and expand from a different direction. That choice is the game in miniature.

Every room you add does something different. Here's what to expect as the manor grows:

• Blue rooms are the backbone — reliable resources, useful abilities, routing options. Most of the deck is blue.
• Purple rooms (Bedrooms) are the trunk rooms: every bedroom gets a locked trunk when placed (1 Key or the Sledgehammer opens it). Every Bedroom you enter rolls a d6 — 4, 5 or 6 draws a Resource Items card. The plain Bedroom also gives +2 steps every time you walk in.
• Orange rooms (Hallways) are connectors with multiple doors. Hallway, Corridor, East and West Wing Hall each give you 1 Key on entry; the Foyer, Great Hall, Passageway and Secret Passage don't. The Foyer unlocks every Hallway door for the rest of the day the moment it hits the board.
• Green rooms are the dig rooms. The tile back says how many dirt tokens to put on it when placed. Come back with a Shovel to dig — no step cost, each token draws a Dig Results card. Green rooms also roll the same d6 as bedrooms on entry. No trunks.
• Yellow rooms (Shops) sell things for coins. What's for sale is on the cards in that shop's envelope. Bring money.
• Red rooms cost 0 gems and hurt you — the tile says how. A Shelter token placed with the tile cancels it. Sometimes worth it for the routing. Sometimes not.

You don't need to memorize this. The Item Spawn & Trunk Reference card beside the board tells you exactly what to do in each room. When in doubt, look there first.