Lava Stage

Operator Inputs

• Name the lane, panel cluster, or standing area that should become costly to occupy.
• State what behavior you want the hazard to force: movement, hesitation, rerouting, or loss of safe ground.
• Describe which allies, systems, or follow-up actions still need safe tiles after the terrain change.
• Say how you will recognize that the hazard changed the board instead of just adding spectacle.

Procedure

1. Restate the target, success condition, and no-touch boundaries before you spend the chip.
2. Collect the operator inputs below so the chip lands on the right panel.
3. Identify the exact zone, lane, or standing pattern that should become unsafe to linger on.
4. Convert only the panels that materially change movement incentives or operating tempo.
5. Exploit the forced repositioning, constrained safe tiles, or sustained environmental pressure that follows.
6. Package the result with concrete evidence, what stayed untouched, and the next recommended chip only if follow-up is truly needed.

Deliverables

• A bounded hazardous zone that changes how the target can move or hold position.
• A short note describing which safe lanes remain and what new behavior the hazard is meant to force.

Output Contract

• One bounded terrain change that makes a defined part of the field actively unfavorable.
• An explanation of what movement, positioning, or tempo the hazard is intended to distort.
• A clear map of the remaining safe route, safe panel, or follow-up lane the operator should exploit.
• No claim of total lockdown unless the named hazard coverage actually removes all meaningful safe options.

Do Not Use For

• Single-target interruption problems where one shove or redirect would be enough.
• Pure ownership disputes where claiming panels matters more than making them dangerous.
• Trap designs that need an explicit trigger time, owner, or disarm path.

Pair With

• Lava Stage + Air Shot: heat the zone first, then shove the target onto the bad panels or out of the last comfortable lane.
• Lava Stage + Panel Grab: turn one contested tile hostile, then claim the one safe tile that still matters.
• Lava Stage + Rock Cube: use hazard plus blocker to compress movement into a predictable route.
• Lava Stage + Time Bomb: make the floor painful now so the target burns time and space before the delayed payload matters.

Pitfalls / Guardrails

• Keep the theatrical framing, but name the concrete mechanism that makes the chip useful right now.
• Do not lava the whole field when one hot lane would create enough pressure.
• Do not create hazardous terrain your own side cannot route around or survive.
• If the problem needs a precise trigger, a visible blocker, or a clean ownership transfer, use a different chip.
• Keep the chip metaphor anchored to a real operating move; do not let flavor substitute for procedure.

Verification

• Check that the response includes every promised deliverable and leaves an inspectable audit trail.
• Check that confirmed facts, assumptions, and proposed follow-up are visibly separated.
• Confirm the hazardous zone is bounded and intentional rather than a vague whole-field threat.
• Confirm the terrain change pressures movement or timing continuously instead of depending on a hidden trigger.
• Confirm the response identifies the follow-up lane or safe tile the operator should exploit.
• Check which parts are concrete actions versus framing, so the operator can tell what is real now.

Example Invocation

Use Lava Stage on this workflow: make the current resting zone too expensive to stay in, but leave one safe route we can exploit next.
Use Lava Stage to convert the most comfortable part of this operating field into hazardous terrain so the target has to move into a narrower lane.