diff --git a/backend/app/routers/adventures/actions.py b/backend/app/routers/adventures/actions.py
index d14f3f2..7c46ce1 100644
--- a/backend/app/routers/adventures/actions.py
+++ b/backend/app/routers/adventures/actions.py
@@ -8,11 +8,12 @@ coordinate through `nodes.delete_turn`.
 from fastapi import Depends, HTTPException
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
-from ... import models, schemas, tree
+from ... import attempts, models, schemas, tree
 from ...database import get_db
 
+from . import turns
 from .deps import CurrentUser, current_adventure, router
-from .nodes import delete_turn
+from .nodes import db_tip, delete_turn
 from .paging import ACTION_PAGE, action_window, annotate_takes
 
 
@@ -72,15 +73,33 @@ def delete_action(
     action = db.get(models.Action, action_id)
     if action is None or action.adventure_id != adventure_id:
         raise HTTPException(404, "Action not found")
-    # This works like undo. The turn is deleted with all of its attempts, and
-    # whatever it produced is withdrawn. Nothing else is needed, because the
-    # marks are depths, and a depth does not move when an action before it is
-    # deleted.
-    delete_turn(db, adventure, action)
-    db.flush()
-    db.expire(adventure, ["actions"])
-    # Deleting the newest action moves the tip. Deleting an action in the
-    # middle leaves a gap in the depths, which is intended. See
-    # `_backfill_tree`.
-    tree.refresh_head(db, adventure)
-    db.commit()
+    # The lock is held for the same reason undo holds it: this endpoint puts
+    # the shared state back, and a turn that is still generating is about to
+    # write it.
+    turns.acquire_turn_lock(adventure_id)
+    try:
+        # This works like undo. The turn is deleted with all of its attempts,
+        # and whatever it produced is withdrawn. The marks are depths, and a
+        # depth does not move when an action before it is deleted.
+        delete_turn(db, adventure, action)
+        db.flush()
+        db.expire(adventure, ["actions"])
+        # Deleting the newest action moves the tip. Deleting an action in the
+        # middle leaves a gap in the depths, which is intended. See
+        # `_backfill_tree`.
+        tree.refresh_head(db, adventure)
+        # The script state and the world state belong to the adventure, not to
+        # the node, so deleting the node does not take back what it did to
+        # them. Put them back to what the story now ends with, which is the
+        # same restore a branch switch does.
+        #
+        # The world state carries the cooldown clock in `_meta.last_changed`,
+        # and that clock is a depth. Leaving it set marked the deleted turn's
+        # changes as having happened at the depth the next turn is played at,
+        # so the referee refused them as changed too recently — on a turn the
+        # story no longer contains. Deleting a middle action restores the tip's
+        # own outcome, which is the state the adventure is already in.
+        attempts.restore_state(adventure, db_tip(db, adventure))
+        db.commit()
+    finally:
+        turns._active_turns.discard(adventure_id)
diff --git a/backend/app/worldstate/parse.py b/backend/app/worldstate/parse.py
index 775427e..6c91e75 100644
--- a/backend/app/worldstate/parse.py
+++ b/backend/app/worldstate/parse.py
@@ -23,8 +23,9 @@ EMIT_RULE = (
     "while a large change — or reaching a stat's minimum or maximum — is reserved for a "
     "genuinely pivotal, defining moment (a passing remark shifts a relationship a little; a "
     "lasting act of loyalty or betrayal shifts it a lot). Do not move a value across most of "
-    'its range in a single ordinary turn. Use the paths exactly as shown in the world state: '
-    '"player.<stat>", '
+    'its range in a single ordinary turn. Every stat is listed by its exact path in the '
+    'stat guide and again beside its live value — copy a path from there rather than '
+    'building one out of a name. The shapes are "player.<stat>", '
     '"world.<stat>", "npc.<id>.<stat>" (use the id in parentheses, e.g. npc.gwen.trust, '
     'not the display name); "flags.<name>": true or false to toggle an on/off state; and '
     '"milestones.<id>": true when an objective is completed. Some stats marked (free text) in '
diff --git a/backend/app/worldstate/render.py b/backend/app/worldstate/render.py
index 5fe8fc6..421a5bc 100644
--- a/backend/app/worldstate/render.py
+++ b/backend/app/worldstate/render.py
@@ -83,20 +83,31 @@ def render_state_section(world_state: dict, stat_schema: dict,
 
 
 def _describe_stat(name: str, d: dict) -> str | None:
-    """Returns one reference line for a stat.
+    """Returns one reference line for a stat, named by the path the AI writes.
+
+    `name` is that path. The guide is the model's only complete list of what
+    exists, so a stat named any other way leaves it to work the path out from
+    the live values, and those cover only what is on screen this turn.
 
     The description and the band ladder are independent, and each is included
     only when present, so a stat may have either, both, or neither.
     """
+    is_text = d.get("type") == "text"
+    # `EMIT_RULE` sends the model here to find out which stats take a whole
+    # value instead of a change, and it names this marker, so the two have to
+    # be written the same way.
+    label = f"{name} (free text)" if is_text else name
     bits: list[str] = []
     desc = d.get("desc")
     if isinstance(desc, str) and desc.strip():
         # Fragments are joined with "; " and end with a single ".", so remove
         # any trailing period the author put on the description.
         bits.append(desc.strip().rstrip("."))
-    if d.get("type") == "text":
-        bits.append("free text")
-        return f"{name} — {'; '.join(bits)}." if bits else None
+    if is_text:
+        # Free text has no range and no bands, so the marker is the whole
+        # entry. It still earns a line without a description, because the
+        # marker is what stops the model sending a delta.
+        return f"{label} — {'; '.join(bits)}." if bits else f"{label}."
     lo, hi = d.get("min"), d.get("max")
     if isinstance(lo, (int, float)) and isinstance(hi, (int, float)):
         bits.append(f"range {lo}–{hi}")
@@ -108,7 +119,7 @@ def _describe_stat(name: str, d: dict) -> str | None:
         )
         if ladder:
             bits.append(f"bands: {ladder}")
-    return f"{name} — {'; '.join(bits)}." if bits else None
+    return f"{label} — {'; '.join(bits)}." if bits else None
 
 
 def render_reference(stat_schema: dict) -> str:
@@ -122,7 +133,7 @@ def render_reference(stat_schema: dict) -> str:
     for section in STAT_SECTIONS:
         for name, d in (stat_schema.get(section) or {}).items():
             if isinstance(d, dict):
-                row = _describe_stat(name, d)
+                row = _describe_stat(f"{section}.{name}", d)
                 if row:
                     lines.append(row)
     for npc_key, ndef in (stat_schema.get("npcs") or {}).items():
@@ -130,18 +141,27 @@ def render_reference(stat_schema: dict) -> str:
             continue
         name = npc_name(ndef, npc_key)
         desc = ndef.get("desc")
-        if isinstance(desc, str) and desc.strip():
-            lines.append(f"NPC {name} ({npc_key}) — {desc.strip().rstrip('.')}.")
+        # The header is written even for an NPC with no description, because it
+        # is the only line that ties a display name to the id the AI has to
+        # address. The live values state it too, but only for the NPCs a scene
+        # has mentioned, so without this an NPC off screen can only be guessed
+        # at — and a guess is refused as a character or a stat that does not
+        # exist.
+        head = f"NPC {name} (npc.{npc_key})"
+        lines.append(
+            f"{head} — {desc.strip().rstrip('.')}."
+            if isinstance(desc, str) and desc.strip() else f"{head}."
+        )
         for sname, sdef in (ndef.get("stats") or {}).items():
             if isinstance(sdef, dict):
-                row = _describe_stat(f"{name} {sname}", sdef)
+                row = _describe_stat(f"npc.{npc_key}.{sname}", sdef)
                 if row:
                     lines.append(row)
     for name, d in (stat_schema.get("flags") or {}).items():
         if isinstance(d, dict):
             desc = d.get("desc")
             if isinstance(desc, str) and desc.strip():
-                lines.append(f"{name} (flag) — {desc.strip().rstrip('.')}.")
+                lines.append(f"flags.{name} — {desc.strip().rstrip('.')}.")
     if not lines:
         return ""
     return "Stat guide (fixed reference):\n" + "\n".join(f"- {ln}" for ln in lines)
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_delete_state.py b/backend/tests/test_delete_state.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..533d121
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_delete_state.py
@@ -0,0 +1,214 @@
+"""Deleting a turn puts the shared state back.
+
+`script_state` and `world_state` belong to the adventure, not to the node
+that changed them. Undo, retry, a take and a branch switch all restore them;
+the delete endpoint did not. Deleting an AI turn removed the text and left
+everything the turn did to the numbers standing.
+
+The visible symptom was the cooldown clock. It lives in
+`world_state._meta.last_changed` and it holds a depth. A deleted turn left
+its depth there, and the turn played in its place is played at that same
+depth, so the referee refused the change as one that had happened this very
+turn — on a turn the story no longer contains. Delete the AI reply because
+you did not like the stat change it proposed, press Continue, and the same
+change comes back refused as "changed too recently".
+
+    python -m pytest tests/test_delete_state.py -v
+"""
+import pytest
+from fastapi import Depends
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+from app import auth, limits, models
+from app.database import Base, SessionLocal, engine, get_db
+from app.main import app
+from app.routers import adventures
+from fakes import ScriptedProvider
+
+# `mana` carries a cooldown, so a clock that was not rolled back shows up as
+# a refusal rather than as a number that is merely off.
+SCHEMA = {
+    "player": {
+        "hp": {"min": 0, "max": 100, "initial": 100},
+        "mana": {"min": 0, "max": 50, "initial": 50, "cooldown": 2},
+    }
+}
+
+# Ten gold a turn. A total that only ever climbs makes a missing rollback
+# obvious: it is off by exactly one turn's worth.
+GOLD_SCRIPT = """
+const modifier = (text) => {
+  state.gold = (state.gold || 0) + 10;
+  return { text };
+};
+modifier(text);
+"""
+
+DRAIN = 'Drained.\n```state\n{"player.mana": -10}\n```'
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def client(monkeypatch):
+    Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)
+    setup = SessionLocal()
+    user = models.User(is_guest=False, email="delstate@example.com")
+    setup.add(user)
+    setup.flush()
+    setup.add(models.Settings(user_id=user.id, api_key="enc:dummy", model="test-model"))
+    scenario = models.Scenario(user_id=user.id, title="S", stat_schema=SCHEMA)
+    setup.add(scenario)
+    setup.flush()
+    adv = models.Adventure(
+        user_id=user.id, title="Tower", scenario_id=scenario.id,
+        script_state={}, world_state={"player": {"hp": 100, "mana": 50}},
+    )
+    setup.add(adv)
+    setup.flush()
+    setup.add(models.Action(adventure_id=adv.id, type="start", text="You begin."))
+    setup.add(models.AdventureScript(
+        adventure_id=adv.id, position=0, enabled=True, name="Gold", output_js=GOLD_SCRIPT,
+    ))
+    setup.commit()
+    adv_id, user_id = adv.id, user.id
+    setup.close()
+
+    ScriptedProvider.replies = [DRAIN]
+    ScriptedProvider.calls = 0
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adventures.turns, "OpenAICompatibleProvider", ScriptedProvider)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth, "resolve_provider_config", lambda s: auth.ProviderConfig(
+        "http://fake", "k", "test-model", False))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(limits, "rate_limit", lambda *a, **k: None)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(limits, "check_row_cap", lambda *a, **k: None)
+
+    def _current_user(db=Depends(get_db)):
+        return db.get(models.User, user_id)
+
+    app.dependency_overrides[auth.get_current_user] = _current_user
+    c = TestClient(app)
+    c.adv_id = adv_id
+    try:
+        yield c
+    finally:
+        app.dependency_overrides.clear()
+        adventures.turns._active_turns.clear()
+        Base.metadata.drop_all(bind=engine)
+
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------ helpers
+
+def _play(client, text="look around"):
+    r = client.post(f"/api/adventures/{client.adv_id}/actions",
+                    json={"type": "do", "text": text})
+    assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+
+
+def _continue(client):
+    r = client.post(f"/api/adventures/{client.adv_id}/actions",
+                    json={"type": "continue", "text": ""})
+    assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+
+
+def _delete(client, action_id):
+    return client.delete(f"/api/adventures/{client.adv_id}/actions/{action_id}")
+
+
+def _state(adv_id):
+    db = SessionLocal()
+    try:
+        adv = db.get(models.Adventure, adv_id)
+        return adv.script_state, adv.world_state
+    finally:
+        db.close()
+
+
+def _ai_rows(adv_id):
+    db = SessionLocal()
+    try:
+        return (
+            db.query(models.Action)
+            .filter(models.Action.adventure_id == adv_id, models.Action.type == "ai")
+            .order_by(models.Action.depth, models.Action.id)
+            .all()
+        )
+    finally:
+        db.close()
+
+
+def _last_changes(adv_id):
+    db = SessionLocal()
+    try:
+        adv = db.get(models.Adventure, adv_id)
+        return adv.actions[-1].world_changes
+    finally:
+        db.close()
+
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------- the reported bug
+
+def test_deleting_the_ai_turn_rewinds_the_world_state(client):
+    _play(client)
+    assert _state(client.adv_id)[1]["player"]["mana"] == 40
+
+    _delete(client, _ai_rows(client.adv_id)[-1].id)
+
+    _, world = _state(client.adv_id)
+    assert world["player"]["mana"] == 50, "the drain went with the turn"
+    assert not (world.get("_meta") or {}).get("last_changed"), "and so did its clock"
+
+
+def test_the_next_turn_is_not_refused_for_a_deleted_turn_s_cooldown(client):
+    """The bug as a player meets it: delete the reply, press Continue, and
+    the change it proposes is refused as one that already happened."""
+    _play(client)
+    _delete(client, _ai_rows(client.adv_id)[-1].id)
+
+    _continue(client)
+
+    assert _state(client.adv_id)[1]["player"]["mana"] == 40, "the drain lands"
+    assert [c for c in _last_changes(client.adv_id) if c["kind"] == "rejected"] == []
+
+
+def test_deleting_the_ai_turn_rewinds_the_script_state(client):
+    """The same restore, on the other half of the shared state. Without it a
+    replayed turn stacks its script run on top of the deleted one's."""
+    _play(client)
+    assert _state(client.adv_id)[0] == {"gold": 10}
+
+    _delete(client, _ai_rows(client.adv_id)[-1].id)
+    assert _state(client.adv_id)[0] == {}
+
+    _continue(client)
+    assert _state(client.adv_id)[0] == {"gold": 10}, "one turn of gold, not two"
+
+
+# ------------------------------------------------- deleting further back
+
+def test_deleting_a_turn_the_story_moved_past_leaves_the_tip_alone(client):
+    """A restore reads the tip's own outcome, not the deleted node's
+    neighbour, so removing a turn from the middle of the story does not roll
+    the numbers back to that point. The text goes; the state stays."""
+    _play(client)
+    _play(client, "press on")
+    before = _state(client.adv_id)
+    assert before[0] == {"gold": 20}
+
+    first_ai = _ai_rows(client.adv_id)[0]
+    assert _delete(client, first_ai.id).status_code == 204
+
+    assert _state(client.adv_id) == before
+
+
+def test_delete_is_blocked_while_a_turn_is_generating(client):
+    """The endpoint writes the shared state now, so it takes the same lock
+    undo takes rather than racing the turn that is about to write it."""
+    _play(client)
+    action_id = _ai_rows(client.adv_id)[-1].id
+
+    adventures.turns.acquire_turn_lock(client.adv_id)  # a turn is "generating"
+    try:
+        assert _delete(client, action_id).status_code == 409
+        # The refused delete must not have released someone else's lock.
+        assert client.adv_id in adventures.turns._active_turns
+    finally:
+        adventures.turns._active_turns.discard(client.adv_id)
+    assert len(_ai_rows(client.adv_id)) == 1, "and the turn is still there"
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_worldstate.py b/backend/tests/test_worldstate.py
index d347821..a9528b4 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_worldstate.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_worldstate.py
@@ -209,10 +209,48 @@ def test_reference_includes_desc_and_bands_independently():
     assert "very weak" in guide and "range 0–100" in guide
     # A counter like day has no desc or bands, so it contributes nothing
     # here. Flags do show their desc.
-    assert "has_key (flag) — Holds the key." in guide
+    assert "flags.has_key — Holds the key." in guide
     # NPCs contribute their own description and per-NPC stat lines.
-    assert "NPC Gwen (gwen) — A loyal ranger." in guide
-    assert "Gwen trust" in guide and "The Drake ferocity" in guide
+    assert "NPC Gwen (npc.gwen) — A loyal ranger." in guide
+    assert "npc.gwen.trust" in guide and "npc.drake.ferocity" in guide
+
+
+def test_reference_names_every_stat_by_its_path():
+    """The guide is the model's only complete list of what exists, so it has
+    to name each stat the way a state block must name it. Naming a stat after
+    its owner's display name ("Trainer Milo active_status") left the model to
+    build the path itself, and the paths it built were refused as stats and
+    characters that do not exist."""
+    guide = w.render_reference(SCHEMA)
+    assert "player.hp" in guide
+    assert "player.outfit" in guide
+    # The old wording, which read as prose rather than as an address.
+    assert "Gwen trust" not in guide
+    assert "The Drake ferocity" not in guide
+
+
+def test_reference_names_an_npc_that_has_no_description():
+    """The live values name an NPC only while a scene mentions them, so the
+    guide is the only place an off-screen NPC's id is stated. The Drake has no
+    `desc`, and used to reach the model as "The Drake ferocity" alone."""
+    guide = w.render_reference(SCHEMA)
+    assert "NPC The Drake (npc.drake)." in guide
+
+
+def test_reference_marks_free_text_stats_the_way_the_emit_rule_names_them():
+    """`EMIT_RULE` tells the model that a stat "marked (free text) in the stat
+    guide" takes a whole value rather than a delta, so the guide has to carry
+    that marker literally."""
+    assert "(free text)" in w.EMIT_RULE
+    guide = w.render_reference(SCHEMA)
+    assert "player.outfit (free text) — What the player is wearing." in guide
+
+
+def test_reference_lists_a_free_text_stat_with_no_description():
+    """The marker alone is the entry. Dropping the line would leave the model
+    sending a number for a stat that holds a string."""
+    schema = {"player": {"holding": {"type": "text", "initial": ""}}}
+    assert "player.holding (free text)." in w.render_reference(schema)
 
 
 def test_unknown_paths_rejected_not_fatal():
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/Play/reports.jsx b/frontend/src/pages/Play/reports.jsx
index e569d59..8c04a98 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/Play/reports.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/Play/reports.jsx
@@ -53,9 +53,10 @@ function StateChangeChips({ changes }) {
         // neither an update nor a refusal, and "+0" read as the former.
         const blocked = c.clamped && d === 0
         const dir = blocked ? 'refused' : typeof d === 'number' ? (d > 0 ? 'up' : d < 0 ? 'down' : 'flat') : 'flat'
+        const signed = !blocked && typeof d === 'number'
         const txt = blocked
           ? 'no change — at its limit'
-          : typeof d === 'number' ? (d > 0 ? `+${d}` : `${d}`) : `→ ${c.value}`
+          : signed ? (d > 0 ? `+${d}` : `${d}`) : `→ ${c.value}`
         const title = blocked
           ? c.fix || 'The story asked to change this and it is already at the limit the scenario allows.'
           : c.clamped
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ function StateChangeChips({ changes }) {
             : undefined
         return (
           <span key={i} className={`chg chg-stat chg-${dir}`} title={title}>
-            {nice(c.label)} <span className="chg-val">{txt}</span>
+            {nice(c.label)} <span className={signed ? 'chg-val chg-num' : 'chg-val'}>{txt}</span>
             {c.clamped && !blocked ? <span className="chg-limited"> (limited)</span> : null}
           </span>
         )
diff --git a/frontend/src/styles/schema-editor.css b/frontend/src/styles/schema-editor.css
index dacc093..c32779a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/styles/schema-editor.css
+++ b/frontend/src/styles/schema-editor.css
@@ -208,13 +208,19 @@
   font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
   /* A chip must never be wider than the column it sits in: an NPC stat like
      "bandit leader aggression +10" overruns a phone, and the chip row is
-     inside the story text, which has nothing to scroll. The label may break
-     mid-word as a last resort; the value is glued to it by its own nowrap so
-     the sign and number never end up on separate lines. */
+     inside the story text, which has nothing to scroll. Text may break
+     mid-word as a last resort, which is what keeps a chip's minimum width
+     small enough for the flex row to shrink it. */
   max-width: 100%;
   overflow-wrap: anywhere;
 }
-.chg-val { white-space: nowrap; }
+.chg-val { overflow-wrap: anywhere; }
+/* Only a signed number is held on one line, so the sign never ends up on a
+   line of its own. The other values a chip can carry are phrases — a refusal
+   reason, "no change — at its limit", or the whole new value of a free-text
+   stat — and holding those together set the chip's minimum width to the width
+   of the phrase, which is what pushed a chip out of the message on a phone. */
+.chg-num { white-space: nowrap; }
 .chg-up { color: var(--player, #4caf82); border-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--player, #4caf82) 40%, var(--border)); }
 .chg-down { color: var(--danger, #e5484d); border-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--danger, #e5484d) 40%, var(--border)); }
 .chg-flag { color: var(--accent-bright); }