diff --git a/src/run/pindle.py b/src/run/pindle.py
index 30a64e0..e73610f 100644
--- a/src/run/pindle.py
+++ b/src/run/pindle.py
@@ -82,9 +82,18 @@ class Pindle:
             # A5_TOWN_START start walked it into the Harrogath wall — and onto the
             # waypoint, whose panel the health manager then read as a chicken.
             retry_loc = self._town_manager.detect_current_act()
-            if retry_loc != Location.A5_TOWN_START:
+            if retry_loc is None:
+                # No town marker in view. That is NOT evidence we left the act — it happens
+                # routinely by the portal in Harrogath's NE corner, where none of the
+                # TOWN_MARKERS render. `loc` was confirmed to be act 5 at the top of this
+                # run and a failed portal click cannot move us between acts, so reuse it.
+                # Treating None as "wrong act" hard-failed 6 runs and burned the 5-strike
+                # circuit breaker, ending an otherwise healthy 31-game session.
+                Logger.debug("Pindle approach: no town marker in view — reusing the act-5 location confirmed at run start")
+                retry_loc = loc
+            elif retry_loc != Location.A5_TOWN_START:
                 Logger.warning(f"Pindle approach: not confirmed in A5 (detected {retry_loc}) — traveling to act 5")
-                retry_loc = self._town_manager.go_to_act(5, retry_loc) if retry_loc else False
+                retry_loc = self._town_manager.go_to_act(5, retry_loc)
             if not retry_loc:
                 self.approach_fail_step = "retry_traverse_to_portal"
                 Logger.error("Pindle approach: could not confirm A5 town position for retry")