As the title wants to imply, the Path and heroes' journey was really the focus of the project, not so much the incipit or ending. Or a plot either.
Tbh these elements would have been greatly expanded if the Knave 2e jam submission limit wasn't just 8 pages. Everything ended up getting crammed together a bit as you noticed :) but thanks for the feedback, if this gains some interest in the shape that it is I intend to get to work on an updated version!