Got it — use this as the required header/card at the start of every post, and add a Character Position Tracker under it so every character’s location is always clear.

Legend: @={{user}}|Ma=Mara|Pr=Priya|El=Eli|Th=Theo|MM=Midnight Man last known|?=unknown|X=locked/blocked. Update markers whenever anyone moves. Map option shows this card, exits, route back, warped/blocked doors.

CHARACTER POSITIONS:
@={{user}}: A1 Attic
Ma=Mara: A1 Attic
Pr=Priya: A1 Attic
El=Eli: A1 Attic
Th=Theo: A1 Attic
MM=Midnight Man: C1 Main Hall / Porch threshold

ATTIC
+-----------------------------+
| A1 Attic @ Ma Pr El Th      |
| trunk/mirror/key            |
+-------------ladder----------+
              |
SECOND FLOOR
+---------+----------+---------+
| B2 Mara | B1 Hall  | B3 Guest|
| Room    | stairs   | Room    |
+---------+----+-----+---------+
              | B4 Bath
              +-------+
FIRST FLOOR
+-------+----------------+---------+
|Porch  | C1 Main Hall   | C5 Dine |
|       | MM             |         |
+---+---+----+-------+---+---------+
    | C2 Parlor | C4 Study--X EastWing
    +-----------+---+---+
                    | C3 Kitchen
                    +----stairs down
                         |
CELLAR
+------------+---------+---------+
| D1 Stairs  | D2 Coal | D3 Pump |
+------------+---------+---------+

Here’s the cleaner rule wording to add to your scenario so the AI keeps doing it:

<map_tracking_rule>
At the start of every response, display the Legend, Character Positions, and current Map card before narrative text.

Always update markers when any character moves:
@={{user}}, Ma=Mara, Pr=Priya, El=Eli, Th=Theo, MM=Midnight Man last known.
If a character’s location is unknown, mark them as ?.
If a door/path is locked, blocked, warped, or unusable, mark it X.
The Map option must show: current character locations, exits, route back, warped doors, blocked doors, locked doors, and last known MM position.

Never leave a named character unmarked.
Never move {{user}} unless the user explicitly chooses movement.
NPCs may move independently when horror logic, panic, pursuit, or ritual consequences require it.
</map_tracking_rule>

And here is the opening adjusted to match the attic start:

Legend: @={{user}}|Ma=Mara|Pr=Priya|El=Eli|Th=Theo|MM=Midnight Man last known|?=unknown|X=locked/blocked. Update markers whenever anyone moves. Map option shows this card, exits, route back, warped/blocked doors.

CHARACTER POSITIONS:
@={{user}}: A1 Attic
Ma=Mara: A1 Attic
Pr=Priya: A1 Attic
El=Eli: A1 Attic
Th=Theo: A1 Attic
MM=Midnight Man: C1 Main Hall / Porch threshold

ATTIC
+-----------------------------+
| A1 Attic @ Ma Pr El Th      |
| trunk/mirror/key            |
+-------------ladder----------+
              |
SECOND FLOOR
+---------+----------+---------+
| B2 Mara | B1 Hall  | B3 Guest|
| Room    | stairs   | Room    |
+---------+----+-----+---------+
              | B4 Bath
              +-------+
FIRST FLOOR
+-------+----------------+---------+
|Porch  | C1 Main Hall   | C5 Dine |
|       | MM             |         |
+---+---+----+-------+---+---------+
    | C2 Parlor | C4 Study--X EastWing
    +-----------+---+---+
                    | C3 Kitchen
                    +----stairs down
                         |
CELLAR
+------------+---------+---------+
| D1 Stairs  | D2 Coal | D3 Pump |
+------------+---------+---------+

OPENING — THE MIDNIGHT GAME

The attic of Harrow House held its breath.

Rain tapped against the slanted roof. The sound came thin and frantic through the old shingles, like fingernails testing the wood from the wrong side. Dust hung in the candlelight. A cracked standing mirror leaned against the far wall beside a steamer trunk with brass corners gone green from age. Near the ladder, five candles waited in a crooked circle.

One candle for each of them.

One box of matches for each of them.

One large salt shaker for each of them.

Theo Calder knelt first, trying to look amused and failing by several inches.

“This is how every bad idea starts,” he said, setting his matchbox beside his candle. “With instructions printed off the internet and people pretending they aren’t scared.”

Eli Rook gave a short laugh. “Speak for yourself. I’m terrified and still doing it. That’s called commitment.”

Priya Shah unfolded the paper with both hands. She had copied the ritual rules in neat black ink, underlining the important parts twice.

Do not let your candle go out.  
Do not fall asleep.  
If he is near, surround yourself with salt.  
Keep moving until 3:33 AM.  
Do not let him touch you.

Mara Vale stared at the attic mirror. The old glass reflected the five candles, but not cleanly. Their flames bent in the reflection, stretching too tall, too thin.

“Mara,” Priya said softly.

Mara looked back. “I’m fine.”

That was the kind of sentence people said in haunted houses shortly before becoming historically incorrect.

Theo placed the name sheet in the center of the circle.

Five lines waited.

Theo Calder  
Eli Rook  
Priya Shah  
Mara Vale  
{{user}}

Theo pricked his thumb first. He hissed through his teeth, then pressed the blood beside his name. A red thumbprint bloomed on the paper.

Eli followed, trying to joke until the needle touched skin. His thumbprint landed crooked.

Priya stamped hers with clinical precision.

Mara hesitated. Her hand trembled once. Then she pressed her blood beside her name and pulled away quickly, as if the paper had warmed under her touch.

Four names were marked.

One remained.

The attic went still.

Below them, somewhere on the first floor, a board creaked.

Theo looked toward the ladder.

Eli whispered, “Nobody moved, right?”

The candles flickered.

Then the gust came.

It tore through the attic from no window, no crack, no open door. The flames bent sideways. The name paper snapped flat. The trunk groaned. The mirror clouded over from the inside, and from somewhere below, deep in the main hall, something knocked once against the front door.

Then again.

Then again.

Priya’s voice dropped to almost nothing.

“It started.”

{{user}} TERMINAL:
<secret>I saw your name before the blood touched paper. I heard your breath before the match was struck. Run if you like. Salt if you must. I am already inside, and I am coming for you.</secret>

Choose Your First Move:
1. Sign your name and press your blood-thumbprint beside it.
2. Grab your candle, matches, and salt before anyone moves.
3. Ask Priya to repeat the rules one last time.
4. Check the attic mirror.
5. Climb down the ladder toward B1 Hall.
6. Use [[Map]].