Chronicles of Drunagor: Age of Darkness – Awakenings Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's New?
  • What Will I Use From the Corebox?
  • Board Elements
    • Objects in Detail
    • Ground Objects
    • Solid Objects
• Dealing Damage to Characters
  • • Conclusion
• Dealing With Bonuses and Multipliers
• Dreadful Raid
• Equipment
  • What Will I Keep From the Corebox?
  • New Chest Items
    • Preparing the Chest Deck
  • Compulsory Replacement
  • New Equipment Property (Versatile)
  • Spoils Equipment (Camp Items)
    • Improving Spoils Equipment
    • Disposed Equipment
• Followers and Cohorts
  • Recruiting Followers and Cohorts
  • Follower and Cohort Turns
  • Defeating Followers and Cohorts
  • Monster Priority
  • Understanding a Follower or Cohort Card
• Furniture
  • Using Furniture Effects
  • Throwing Furniture
  • Stack of Barrels
  • Bookshelf
  • Chest
  • Pile of Crates
  • Stone Fountain
  • Stone Pillars
• Hero Turn
• Interactions
  • Charged Interactions
• Interrupts
  • Differences Between Interrupt and Reaction
• Monsters
  • Color Keywords
    • Green
    • Purple
  • Shifting Targets
  • New Commander Attack Cards
• New Harmful Terrain
  • Placeholder Spaces
  • Underwater Ruin
• Updated Effects and Keywords
  • +X HIT and +X TO HIT Disambiguation
  • CLEANSE
  • CRIT 16+ Became KEEN
  • Fruit of Life
  • Fury
• Sorcerers and Warlocks
• Campaign Structure
  • Hero Limitations
  • Story Record
• Adding or Removing Players
  • Removing a Hero
  • Adding a New Hero
    • Recruiting a New Hero to Your Party
    • Matching a New Recruit to Your Party Level
  • One-Shot Adventures
• Taking It Easy
  • Increasing Trauma Cube Limits
  • Relearning
• Prologue
• Chapter 01 – Untimely Holidays
• Chapter 02 – The Swarm
• Chapter 03 – Run!
  • Clarifications – Soul Hunt
• Chapter 04 – Battle on the High Sea
• Chapter 05 – Tempest Island
• Chapter 06 – The Sunken Temple
• Chapter 07 – Siege of Everedge
• Chapter 08 – No Regrets
• Chapter 09 – The Stand
  • Clarifications – Battalions
• Game Symbols and Tokens

What's New?

As the game system is in constant evolution, some features presented in the Age of Darkness Campaign and Rulebook were updated in order to make the game more intuitive, interactive, and entertaining in this new Campaign.

Now, to reinforce what you will need to keep around, you can also see a list of the components provided in your Corebox that will be used in your new Campaign.

So, if you intend to start a new Campaign having already completed the 18 Adventures presented in the Corebox, you may consider these updates just from now on. There will be no loss to your previous experience. Otherwise, if you haven't played the Age of Darkness Campaign yet, you can read this section and apply these update features to your game from the beginning.

Now, without further delay, let's check out what you will be using from the Age of Darkness base game and what's new in the rules for your Apocalypse and Awakening Campaigns!

What Will I Use From the Corebox?

First and foremost, the Age of Darkness Corebox is the basis of the CoD System, and therefore you will need it in order to play this new Campaign.

However, not all components of your Corebox will be used in this Expansion, so here we list those that you can store before your Campaign.

No matter which Chapter of the Awakenings Campaign you are playing, you will never need the following components:

• Age of Darkness Adventure Book;
• Age of Darkness Interactions Book;
• Age of Darkness Start Here guide;
• Age of Darkness folding Doors;
• Age of Darkness Adventure cards (All Adventure Items, Scenario Monsters, and Corebox Special Event cards are used only in the Age of Darkness Campaign—This Campaign provides its own Adventure cards);
• Level 1 to Level 3 Camp Items;
• Undead King Attack cards;
• NPC tokens.

You will still need the following components from your Corebox:

• Age of Darkness Rulebook;
• Campaign Log;
• Plastic cubes;
• Hero and Monster miniatures;
• Hero boards and Monster Status boards;
• Map tiles and Bridges;
• Plastic Dungeon trays;
• The d20 and Trap die;
• Initiative Track and Initiative Marker;
• All other tokens, except for the spare reserve and those you were instructed to store in the previous section;
• Shaped Darkness tiles;
• Rune tokens and Rune bag;
• Hero Skill, Hero Initiative, Class, and Pet cards;
• Dungeon Role cards;
• Chest cards (At the beginning of your Campaign, you will be told which ones you will not use);
• Monster and Commander cards;
• Commander Attack cards;
• Age of Darkness Starter Equipment.

Board Elements

(Rule Clarification)

The new features this Campaign brings makes the interaction between players and board elements more intense than ever, raising the need for a clarification about the nature of such elements.

This way, we will start with understanding that the board elements are divided into categories based on the component type:

• Trays: Trays are the plastic supports where the Maps, Doors, and Bridges are placed to create the physical structure of an Adventure scenario.
• Map Tiles and Bridges: Map tiles and Bridges are the components that define and illustrate the spaces where objects will move and the game advances.
• Doors: Doors are the components that add new units to the board, marking the transition between narrative moments, action moments, and the setup of Adventure scenarios.
• Objects: All the other components used in the Game Area (the 56×84cm space) are considered Objects, which are divided into sub-categories according to their physical representation, mechanics (i.e., if attached to the ground or as obstacles), and if they can or cannot be moved.

Finally, it must be emphasized that this classification is not new. It has been present since the first generation. However, it was only implied in the system before.

Objects in Detail

With more elements to be handled by the players, the group of Objects is the one that requires the most attention from our part.

First, we need to understand that all Objects are classified into two sub-categories, Solid and Ground, according to the physical space they occupy on the board.

The second important characteristic of all Objects is whether it is possible to move them (or not) using PUSH or TELEKINESIS effects, described as Movable or Immovable. Each Object may have its own particularities as described in their own set of rules, but almost all Objects are considered Movable.

The exceptions to this rule, that is, the Immovable Objects, usually are:

• Large Monsters (Solid Object);
• Interaction Tokens (Solid Object);
• Shaped Darkness Tiles (Ground Object);
• Special Event, Special Mechanic, and Spawning Tokens (Ground Object);
• Piles of Runes (Solid Object);
• Any Object described as an "Immovable Object".

From now on, Special Objects introduced during an Adventure will always be described as a "Ground or Solid, Movable or Immovable Object" so players can always know how to interact with them.

Ground Objects

These Objects are attached to the ground and do not occupy space, meaning that Characters can pass over or stand on top of them as if they were just another Map tile.

Thus, Ground Objects do not represent obstacles on the board, and Solid Objects (such as Characters) will always stay above them when they occupy the same square. Ground Objects include:

• Darkness Tiles (Shaped or Small);
• Idols and Traps;
• Special Event, Special Mechanic, and Spawning Tokens;
• Any Object described as a "Ground Object".

NOTE: Two Ground Objects cannot occupy the same space unless one of them is a Darkness Tile. The latter, in its turn, is always kept under any other Ground Object sharing a square with it. Bridges are Map tiles and they always go under the Ground Objects.

Solid Objects

Solid Objects, on the other hand, are obstacles, have a physical body, they occupy a place in space, and they usually cannot be crossed over by Characters (unless they are Jumping, Trampling, or the Solid Object in question is the Character's ally).

Solid Objects include:

• Characters (Heroes, Monsters, Pets, Companions, and NPC Tokens);
• Furniture (Chests and Banners are also Furniture);
• Piles of Runes (Even when there is only a single Rune);
• Interaction Tokens (Any kind);
• Any Object described as a "Solid Object".

NOTE: Two Solid Objects cannot occupy the same square on the board under any circumstances.

Dealing Damage to Characters

(Rule Clarification and Update)

Thanks to its system rich with interactions, reactions, and cooperation between players, it is normal for an attack to be mitigated by one or more sources of protection in AoD. Therefore, we have prepared this brief clarification on the stages of inflicting damage to a Character in order to help you understand the logic behind the system.

Also, we take this opportunity to introduce the new Interrupt effect, which you can read more about on page 23.

Essentially, the damage inflicting process takes place through the following steps:

1. The effect or attack is announced. At this point, the Character becomes a target. Up to now, no damage or effect has been prevented, but a window of opportunity is presented for Heroes to use their Interrupts if they want.

   Example: A Skeleton Archer – Fighter attacks Lorelai for 4 damage with POISON 1. Heroes who have Interrupts may choose to intervene in this attack at this time.

   NOTE: This is the moment when a Monster "attacks."

   NOTE: This is also the moment when Lorelai "takes" damage.

   NOTE: Each attack generates only a single window of opportunity to be interrupted. Thus, each Character can Interrupt one attack, but, unlike Reactions, they can't Interrupt the same attack with two Skills, even if they intended to use them on different allies.

2. Then, a THREAT is generated. Once the attack is announced and the Interruption step has ended, any SHIELD tokens are spent and the "THREAT" is generated. All SHIELD tokens you hold are completely spent, if needed, to mitigate the damage you received. You can't choose the amount you want to spend: you must always use as many as necessary. Thus, discard 1 SHIELD token for every 1 damage point you take. Once the tokens are spent, even if they reduce the damage completely, we say that a THREAT is generated.

   Example: If Lorelai had 2 SHIELD tokens, they would be spent immediately, reducing the damage she received by 2 points. Even if she had 4 SHIELD tokens and mitigated all the damage, a THREAT would still be generated.

3. Finally, Heroes can use Reactions. Here, any Heroes who chose not to intervene (that is, who did not use an Interrupt) in the first stage are entitled to take a Reaction to respond to each THREAT. Each Hero (not just the Threatened Hero) can use one Reaction per THREAT generated.

   Example: Vorn decides to use his Divert Reaction to help Lorelai, preventing 3 damage points from her THREAT. Since there were only 2 points of damage left from the Skeleton Archer's attack, it is completely prevented and therefore the POISON 1 collateral damage will not be inflicted on Lorelai.

   NOTE: If all the damage hadn't been prevented, Lorelai would have lost Health and this would be the moment when she "suffers" damage.

   NOTE: Whenever a Character suffers at least 1 point of damage from an attack, all collateral damage from that attack is then applied to them.

Conclusion

Thus, as seen in this example, Lorelai took 4 damage, but suffered 0. Effects related to the damage suffered by characters may generate triggers from these two stages: when the character TAKES damage; and when they SUFFER damage. According to each effect's text, consider when they should be applied and resolve the effects accordingly.

Example: If an effect stipulated "Whenever you SUFFER damage..." it would not have been triggered for Lorelai in the last example. However, if it had stipulated "Whenever you TAKE damage...", it would have occurred.

NOTE: Some Age of Darkness effects specify "When you take damage after using PREVENT effects." These cases should be translated into SUFFER, not TAKE.

NOTE: As mentioned before, whenever a Character suffers at least 1 point of damage from an attack, all collateral damage from that attack is then applied to them.

NOTE: Moving out from an attack's Range after it is declared won't cancel that attack. Only CANCEL effects (see page 174) can cancel an attack after it has been declared on its targets.

Dealing With Bonuses and Multipliers

(Rule Clarification)

With the characters' progression and good teamwork, Heroes will be able to combine their abilities, achieving devastating results when attacking.

This may cause some doubts about the method of calculation (and the order of the steps) for this equation in order to reach the intended result and maintain the balance of the game.

Therefore, we have prepared a quick guide so you can understand the stackability of multiplier effects like +X DMG, DOUBLE DAMAGE, CRITICAL HITS, WILD CUBES and others:

1. Effect value: First things first, the value described in the effect is the damage base and is always the first thing to consider. So, whenever you cast an effect with "X" (ex: "+X HIT"), an ability with "ALL" (ex: "PREVENT ALL BUT 1 DAMAGE"), or spend a Wild Cube (which doubles numerical effects), first establish the effect's value and proceed as if this was written in numerical form in that effect.

   Example: Lordwrath's Stranglehold states "+X HIT, +X DMG; TELEKINESIS 3". Considering that he is currently holding 4 Curse Cubes, this Skill should be read as "+4 HIT, +4 DMG; TELEKINESIS 3".

2. Associated bonus: Any bonus associated with this value is the second step. With the first step established (the effect value), add any elements with "+" or "-" associated with the Keyword: +X DMG (including those received from EMPOWER, FURY, INTIMIDATE, MARK, etc.). Then, you have the "Total Value".

   Example: Considering that Lordwrath is equipped with a Jagged Bladeaxe that does 3 damage, if he hits he would inflict a total of 7 points of damage (3 Weapon base +4 extra Skill damage).

3. Doubling: Doubling effects are the third step. Effects like "DOUBLE DAMAGE" are applied now, after the Total Value has been established. It is important to emphasize that DOUBLE DAMAGE effects are not stacked. Thus, even if a character has STEALTH and is hidden from their target, and hits them with an attack that does DOUBLE DAMAGE, their attack will still only deal twice the damage, not four times.

   Example: Lordwrath, however, was hidden from his target thanks to a STEALTH effect he received (from a random source, just for the sake of this example), therefore his Attack receives DOUBLE DAMAGE, inflicting a total of 14 points on a hit!

4. Critical Hits: Finally, account for Critical hits. When a Weapon Attack (or a Spell Attack that has received the keyword "KEEN" or "Crit 16+") results in a Critical Hit, thus dealing double the damage that it would normally do, it can amplify an attack that has already received DOUBLE DAMAGE (dealing 4x the Total Value!).

   Example: But that's not all folks: our lucky Hero rolled a natural 20 on the Accuracy Check, thus he scored a Critical Hit! With all the effects combined, Lordwrath manages to deal an impressive 28 points of damage with his attack! Well, "aligning all the stars" in such fashion is not easy, but it's worth trying!

Dreadful Raid

(Monster Raid Special Mechanics Update)

In gameplay terms, the Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic is designed to keep the flow of enemies on the board while interacting synergistically with the scenario time control.

However, precisely because it is a mechanic that deals with so many moving parts, it is not uncommon for players to have questions about some of its interactions. So that you don't have to rely on the Age of Darkness Adventure Book every time this happens, we have brought it here and detailed the specifics.

When observed thoroughly, there are several points, but they are also easy to manage and can be grouped into three simple steps:

1. Check the face of the Dreadful Raid card;
2. MANIFEST a Rune and check the Piles of Runes on the board;
3. Summon a Raid Party of Minions.

Starting at the beginning, whenever the Initiative Marker reaches the Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic card at the top end of the Initiative Track, it is time for you to check if Minions will be summoned. These are processes you should perform when checking the Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic card:

• This card has two sides that will try to summon Minions according to the current board state.
• The first face, Face "A," will only attempt to summon Minions if the board is non-threatening (with no Monsters on it).
• The second face, Face "B," will try to summon Minions anyway.
• Whenever the Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic card is Activated, even if no Minions are summoned, you must flip it over. No face ever stays the same for two rounds in a row.

Moving on to the next step, if the board state indicated by the face of the Dreadful Raid card is conducive to summoning Minions, you should check where the new enemies will spawn (or if they can spawn at all).

Likewise, check the processes below:

• To MANIFEST a Rune, a player must take a Rune from the bag, present it to the players, and then return it. This process does not spawn any Darkness tile.
  • NOTE: The only important feature in a MANIFEST action is to identify the color of the drawn Rune.
• Next, players must search the board for a Rune that matches the color of the one that was manifested. Such Runes can be found in the Piles of Runes that are introduced in Setups. Remember, even though they are stacked on top of each other, all the Runes in a Pile of Runes are, of course, on the board.
  • NOTE: If there are two or more matching Runes on the board, the Party Leader chooses which one will be used as the reference for the Minion Spawn that round.
  • NOTE: On the other hand, if there are no matching Runes, the Monsters will have nowhere to be summoned, and this round will be a "breathing space" for the Heroes, free of spawns. Even if there are no Minions spawned, you must still flip the card over.
  • NOTE: There is a shortcut at this stage: if all Piles of Runes have already been removed from the board, naturally, there will be no reference point for Minions to be spawned, regardless of which face of the Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic is up, no Minions will be summoned.

The most efficient way for Heroes to make sure that no Minions are summoned, therefore, is to remove all Piles of Runes from the board as quickly as they are formed by Setups.

Considering, however, that there is a Rune on the board matching the color of the Manifested one, we then move to the third and last step: the summoning of the Minions themselves.

Finally, these are the processes that should be executed in this last step:

• The amount of Minions (the Raid Party) that will be summoned depends on the number of Heroes in your party. The more Heroes there are, the more Minions will be summoned.
  • If there are 1 or 2 Heroes, only 1 Minion is summoned.
  • If there are 3 or 4 Heroes, 2 Minions will be summoned.
  • If there are 5 Heroes, 3 Minions will be summoned.
• Each summoned Minion will receive a snap-on colored base and will be placed on a square adjacent to the Rune that will act as its spawning point. The Party Leader chooses which square will be occupied by each Minion.
  • NOTE: If there is any Movable Solid Object occupying a square where a Minion should spawn, push that Object one square aside. Again, the Party Leader chooses where such an Object will be placed.
  • NOTE: If all 4 models of a Minion are already on the board, or all 12 Health Tracks on the Monster Status board have been filled, no new Monster may be placed on the board and, at this point, if a Minion cannot be summoned for this reason, we say that the Minion "Failed to be Summoned."
• For each Minion that "Fails to be Summoned", you must Activate the Non-Boss Monster occupying the highest hierarchical position on the board. If two or more Monsters occupy the same Rank, Activate the one occupying the higher slot on the Monster Status board.
  • NOTE: If three Minions were to be summoned, but there is room for only one of them to be summoned, you must summon that Minion and consider the other two as "Failed to Be Summoned".
  • NOTE: The hierarchical position of ranks, from highest to lowest, is: Overlord, Commander, Black, Gray, White, Scenario, and then Minion.
  • NOTE: The order of colors on the Monster Status Board, from highest to lowest, is: Yellow to Black from the first board, Orange to Brown from the second board, the first board is higher than the second board.

With this we conclude the step-by-step analysis of the procedures of a Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic.

Throughout your Campaign, you may encounter several other similar mechanics. Sometimes they will determine that a Spawning token is the Spawning Point instead of a Rune on the board, sometimes they may specify situations where more than one Raid Party of Minions is summoned and so on.

In any case, such mechanics will share the main characteristics of the Dreadful Raid and, once you can understand the design thinking behind its processes, it will be easy to understand all the others that derive from it.

Still, if doubts persist, the Party Leader will make the final decision.

Equipment

(Game Mechanics Update)

AoD is full of Equipment that aims to meet the most diverse combinations of abilities for your Hero and playstyle. In this section, we will analyze this new arsenal by pointing out what's new and discussing similarities or differences in the handling of Equipment in relation to the Age of Darkness Campaign. Whenever your party has a question related to Equipment or Consumable Items, this is where you're likely to find the answers.

What Will I Keep From the Corebox?

Since this Campaign is an Expansion to Age of Darkness, you will still make use of some Corebox components, for they are the foundation of the AoD Game System. However, in order to make your experience playing this Campaign different, many devices were developed exclusively for it, so as to avoid repetition.

Let's refresh the components from the Corebox that you will use (or not) in your Awakenings Campaign:

• Adventure Items: In Awakenings, you will find new Adventure Items (purple flag), which will be suitable for the balance in this expansion. For this reason, store them, because you won't use them here.
• Camp Items Levels 1, 2, and 3: The progression of Equipment will undergo a change, therefore the Camp Items Levels 1, 2, and 3 have become obsolete. Keep them stored with the other Equipment you won't use.
• Chest Items: Two new Consumable Items will replace the Epic Rare cards from this deck. The vast majority, the remaining 18 cards, however, are kept to form your Chest deck.

New Chest Items

This box includes new Chest Items you can use to adapt your Chest deck to your preferred effects or just to add greater variability through a simple deck-building system.

The process is quite easy: you can only replace a Potion or Scroll with another item that is the same type and rarity (while the other two Epic Rare items can't be replaced).

Preparing the Chest Deck

With the exception of the 2 Consumable Treasures (the Epic Rare Items), the Chest Deck consists of 18 more cards. Half of them are Potions and half are Scrolls.

Some effects will be associated with one type or the other, so it is essential that the composition of the Chest deck remains unchanged and its 20 cards are organized as follows:

• 2 specific treasures (Epic Rare Consumable Items) for the Campaign you are playing;
• 9 Potions;
• 9 Scrolls.

Among the Potions and Scrolls, 4 of each will be Common, 3 will be Uncommon, and 2 will be Rare.

This order is what we call the "grid" of Consumables. It cannot be changed to 8 Common Potions and 0 Common Scrolls or 7 Uncommon Potions and 0 Common Potions, for example.

The preparation of the Chest deck can be made during any Camp Phase. However, whenever you change the composition of this deck, your party must first return all Potions and Scrolls that they own, thus losing any Consumables that are not Epic Rare and that could have been carried into the next Adventure.

When you prepare the Chest deck, you can replace one or more cards with other cards that are the same type and rarity. That is, the Scroll of Incinerate from your Corebox Campaign could be replaced by the Scroll of Protection and so on.

You are not required to replace every copy of a card if you do not wish to do so, though. So, if it's in your party's interest, you can keep 2 Scroll of Incinerate and 2 Scroll of Beguile cards in the Chest deck, as that would still respect the limitation of 4 Common Scrolls.

Compulsory Replacement

As mentioned before, the Equipment progression has changed, so two important Consumable Items from the Age of Darkness Campaign have lost their purpose: Cosmic Gemstone and Forgotten Treasure. However, such formidable items have been worthily replaced: by Artisan's Tools and Treasure Trove!

So, before you start your Awakenings Campaign, remove the Cosmic Gemstone and Forgotten Treasure cards and replace them with one copy of Artisan's Tools and one copy of Treasure Trove. This adjustment to the Chest deck is necessary so that Chests have no chance of rewarding Heroes with useless Equipment.

This change is permanent, so you can store the replaced cards.

New Equipment Property (Versatile)

Some Equipment your Hero will receive during this Campaign has special properties, including one of the most interesting: VERSATILE.

Double-sided Equipment that is Versatile can be manipulated in two different ways by its user. When you first receive this card, you can choose which face you want to use.

From that moment on, as a Minor Action, you can flip the card over if there is no Action Cube occupying any of its slots. You can even flip a Versatile card that is in your bag.

• NOTE: If you flip Versatile Equipment to a face that has an Equipment type you are not proficient in, you must immediately Unequip that card (this requires no action) placing it in your bag. You must discard Consumables in order to clear space for it if needed.

Important: While all Versatile Equipment can be flipped over freely, not all double-faced Equipment can be. Be careful not to mix up these abilities.

Only Equipment with the VERSATILE property can be flipped by using a Minor Action. Other double-faced Equipment cards specify how they can be flipped, when or even if they can be flipped.

The Artisan's Tools, unlike any other Consumable Item, can be discarded when improving a Spoils Equipment.

This Adventure Item, the Defender's Buckler featured in the Awakenings Campaign, is an example of a double-faced item that is not Versatile.

Spoils Equipment (Camp Items)

The Equipment progression structure has been revised for this generation of Campaigns. From now on, Heroes will no longer receive Camp Items categorized by level. Instead, you will be rewarded with a single Equipment category: Spoils of the Veteran (or Hero, if you are playing Awakenings).

The strength of this Equipment is defined by its quality, whether it is "Standard," "Improved," or "Ultimate." Heroes always receive this Equipment with the "Standard" version, the most basic one.

This is a Spoil of the Hero card in its Standard version. You can identify the quality of these Equipment cards by the symbol stamped on the side flag, as well as the description in the Equipment subtype.

This is the Spoil of the Hero card in its Improved version.

And finally, this is the Spoil of the Hero card in its Ultimate version.

Throughout their Adventures, depending on the rewards they find in Chests, Interactions, and Interludes, Heroes will be able to improve their Equipment.

Take note that improving Equipment is not an easy task. Your Hero may finish the Campaign without being able to improve all of the Spoils items they have found.

Improving Spoils Equipment

Spoils Equipment (either Veteran's or Hero's) can be improved while the Hero is visiting Camp or as a Minor Action during an Adventure.

Either way, this can only be done by disposing of one Artisan's Tools card (Artisan's Tools are Consumable Items that can now be found in Chests) plus another Equipment card of that Hero's choice that is not an Consumable Item, an Epic Item, or a Starting Gear.

When a piece of Equipment is upgraded, replace your card with its advanced version.

In this example, we can see that Frozen Tears of Alagast cannot be used to upgrade Spoils Equipment since it is an EPIC Item. The Ragged Doll, being an Adventure Item, can be used, though.

Both cards, being disposed this way, must be in that Hero's bag. Also, the Equipment being improved can't serve as this additional Equipment card to be disposed: you must use a different Equipment card.

The hierarchy of the Spoils Equipment goes from "Standard" to "Improved" and then to "Ultimate". You cannot upgrade Equipment from its "Standard" quality directly to the "Ultimate" quality. Each Equipment piece must be upgraded one step at a time.

Spoils Equipment can never be upgraded from its Standard version to its Ultimate version in a single step. You need to follow the order of progression: Standard, Improved, then Ultimate.

Upgrading Equipment to its Ultimate quality requires a lot of resources, but it is necessary to reach the pinnacle of Equipment Progression in your Apocalypse or Awakenings Campaigns.

Disposed Equipment

Now that you've learned how the process of improving your Spoils Equipment works in detail, it's time for you to know what happens with the product of these progressions. That is, with the cards that were disposed of for the Equipment to be upgraded.

As you can imagine, any Artisan's Tools Consumable Item you used must be returned to the Chest deck once you reform it, but not the other Equipment: Both the Equipment you chose to discard and the old Equipment card that you chose to improve must be stored. No Hero will be able to use them again until the end of this campaign.

Remember, your Equipment may be improved with the use of one Artisan's Tools and another spare Equipment that is not an Epic Item.

NOTE: The Chest deck is reformed at the beginning of each Adventure.

Followers and Cohorts

(New Game Mechanics)

Followers and Cohorts are new types of allied NPCs your party may encounter during your Adventures.

Mechanically, they are similar to Companions but with one difference: these Characters occupy a slot on the Initiative Track and act independently of a player's turn.

The only gameplay difference between Followers and Cohorts is the fact that the latter are always dismissed at the end of your current Adventure (unless stated otherwise), while the former stay with your party until defeated or dismissed by some other Resolution effect.

So, whenever the Heroes move on to the next Adventure and reorganize themselves in the starting positions, summon any Followers your party has recruited in any space that is adjacent to a Hero.

Recruiting Followers and Cohorts

As a part of many Resolutions you come across during the Adventures, you will be instructed to recruit one of these NPCs into your party.

Whenever this is the case, you must take their respective card, put it in the matching slot on the Initiative Track, and place their model in a square that is adjacent to the Character who recruited them. If they were recruited by a party dilemma, they are recruited adjacent to the Party Leader.

Finally, if the NPC is a Follower (not a Cohort), you should write their name on the Story Record.

In this example, the Heroes recruited the Follower Vorn, the Warrior into their party.

A party can have as many Followers and Cohorts as they can find. If one of them is defeated, remove their model from the board along with their card from the Initiative Track if they were the last of their kind. If this Character was a Follower, you must also erase them from the Story Record.

NOTE: Some Cohorts share a single card on the Initiative Track. Whenever this is the case, Conditions affect only one of them. That is, if the Dunedancer's card has STUN, but you have 3 recruits in your party, when they activate, only one of them cannot attack that turn (the first one to Activate). The same goes for Conditions: inflict them on a single Cohort.

Follower and Cohort Turns

Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches a Follower or Cohort card, it is their turn to act. When they are activated, the Party Leader controls their turn, which consists of a Move Action and then an Attack (if able).

As with Monsters, Triggered Abilities they have are resolved at the very beginning of their turn, in the Conditions Step, right after they suffer the effects of any Conditions they have.

Effects described as Collateral Damage (black text), on the other hand, requires them to successfully inflict damage on a Character to be cast.

A Follower or Cohort card has the same information as a Companion card (Sturdiness, Move, Attack, Collateral or Triggered Effect, etc.) and they are able to hold Resource tokens and be targeted by effects in the same way, and some will actually help them (SHIELD, CLEANSE, PREVENT…).

NOTE: SHIELD tokens held by these NPCs are spent at the moment these Characters would take preventable damage, before it hits their Sturdiness.

Example: Vorn is holding 3 SHIELD tokens. The next time she takes preventable damage, these tokens will be spent to mitigate the damage. These tokens, however, will be spent even if her Sturdiness value is enough to protect her on its own.

Defeating Followers and Cohorts

Followers and Cohorts, just like Companions, are defeated when they suffer damage that exceeds their Sturdiness in a single blow. Condition damage is counted all together as one single source.

Example: If a Follower suffers 4 damage from BLEED plus 2 damage from POISON 2, it suffers 6 damage in total. If its Sturdiness is 5 or less, it is defeated.

NOTE: Cohorts, Companions, or Followers only get Conditions if the damage they suffer from an attack is higher than their Sturdiness (which would cause their defeat anyway). So these NPCs are "almost immune" to Conditions. The biggest danger for them is harmful terrain.

Monster Priority

Monsters always consider Followers and Cohorts as their lowest priority targets, just as they would with a Pet or Companion.

They will choose to attack these Characters only if they can't attack a Hero during their turn, or if they could also attack these Characters without changing their Primary Target (as a Monster with CLEAVE, MULTISHOT, or STRIKE might do).

NOTE: Some Scenario Monsters have SLAYER, and break this rule by setting Followers and Cohorts as their Primary Targets.

Understanding a Follower or Cohort Card

To refresh your understanding about a Follower or a Cohort card, let's take a look at its attributes again:

1. Card Type: Indicates which set of rules this card follows (it will be Follower or Cohort).
2. Name: Indicates its name and profession.
3. Sturdiness: Indicates its Sturdiness value (check this Keyword for clarifications).
4. Attack Type: Indicates if this Character attacks at Melee, Ranged, or Magical Range (Unlimited).
5. Illustration: Character's art.
6. Initiative Track Position: Indicates the position you should place this card on the Initiative Track. It is always a slot opposite of a Dungeon Role.
7. Movement: Indicates how many movement points this character gains when it takes a Move Action.
8. Attack Damage: Indicates how much damage this Character deals when it attacks another Character.
9. Special Abilities: Indicates all Special Abilities this character has, written in the same way as a Monster card would (Collateral damage is black, Triggered Abilities are pink, and so on...).

Furniture

(New Game Mechanics)

The Heroes of Daren's new adventures not only bring new enemies and challenges, but also a new way for players to interact with the environment: Furniture.

Note that this mechanic is somewhat "crunchy." It is intended to offer new interaction possibilities for the Heroes during battle. If you wish, you may disregard the rules for interacting with Furniture in your Campaign and use them only as decoration.

From now on, you may see this new category of Object in the Setups. Furniture represents scenery elements that the Heroes can use to gain advantage. There are two main ways that Characters can Interact with them:

• Large Monsters Destroy Furniture: Like with Chests in the Age of Darkness, if a Large Monster ends its move in an area with a piece of Furniture, that Furniture is destroyed.
  • NOTE: If a Chest is destroyed in this way (Chests are now considered Furniture), roll the Trap Die and apply the result to the Monster that stepped on it.
• Heroes can Interact with Furniture: As a Minor Action, a Hero can Interact with a piece of Furniture in an adjacent square. Depending on the type of Furniture, a Hero may choose to use its special effect or just throw it at an opponent.

Let's look at the two ways a Hero can interact with Furniture.

Using Furniture Effects

The first option is simple: Each piece of Furniture (as you will see below) has its own special effect, which a Hero can take advantage of when they interact with that piece of Furniture. Just follow the steps found in each Furniture description.

Throwing Furniture

An experienced adventurer relies on their weapons and abilities to overcome challenges, but a true master knows that they can use the environment to change the course of a battle.

This action uses slightly more detailed rules, since Furniture can be thrown through an Interact with Furniture Minor Action or through a TELEKINESIS effect.

In order to do the first, to throw Furniture with a Minor Action, the Hero must be in an adjacent square.

• The target of the throw must be within Range 1 of the Hero.

When using TELEKINESIS, the piece of Furniture you want to throw must be within Range of the Skill that was cast to create the TELEKINESIS effect.

• Once the Furniture you want to throw is chosen, you may move it a number of squares up to the value of the TELEKINESIS effect.

Example: Lorelai casts a TELEKINESIS 3 effect on a Chest that is in her Skill's Range. She can throw it at an Executioner located up to 3 squares away from the Chest's position.

However, when a piece of Furniture is thrown, it is always broken by this action: remove the Furniture from the board after resolving the throw.

Important: A Throw Furniture Minor Action can be taken even if your Hero is engaged in combat. This is an exception to the general rule.

With all these concepts in mind, now it is time to check the specifics for each type of Furniture.

Stack of Barrels

Barrels are generally used to store liquids and can be found in a number of places, but mainly in cellars and harbors. Some use them to age wine or store fish, but truth be told, they are really good as hiding places, to throw at the legs of opponents, or even as a means of transportation for seasoned (or mad) acrobats.

Example of a Stack of Barrels token and miniature (Miniatures are sold separately and can be found in the Expansion: "Companions and Furnitures").

INTERACT: Dwarves and Halflings (only those) can get inside barrels and use them as hiding places. To stop hiding, the Hero will need to use another Minor Action.

• When a Hero enters a barrel, remove their model from the board. While there, they won't be able to target, or be targeted by, other Characters with any attack or effect.
• Monsters know that the Heroes are there. However, they must destroy the barrel before attacking them. Thus, when a Monster attacks a character inside the barrel, PREVENT all damage that this attack would cause and remove the barrel from the board. Reposition the Hero's model (the one that was hidden) in the square where the barrel was.
• If a Large Monster steps on a barrel with a hidden Hero, break that barrel and Shove the Hero aside. That Hero suffers 2 non-preventable damage.

THROW: When thrown at a Character, a barrel deals 2 DMG and inflicts KNOCK DOWN to its target if it is a Small Character. Large Monsters' bodies are so powerful that barrels don't even bother them.

• However, if a Hero was hidden inside the barrel, the throwing causes +2 DMG and it can even target Large Monsters and inflict KNOCK DOWN to them (overcoming their immunity thanks to the extra weight).
• Reposition the Hero that was in the barrel in a square of their choice that is adjacent to the target against which the barrel was thrown. (Don't forget, thrown Furniture is broken and removed from the board.)

Bookshelf

It's not just libraries that are filled with bookshelves. Every good office, laboratory, or living room is usually equipped with one. Whether to store important tomes or to decorate the environment, there is a good chance of finding a bookshelf in a dungeon.

Example of a Bookshelf token and miniature (miniatures are sold separately and can be found in the Expansion: "Companions and Furnitures").

INTERACT: When a Hero interacts with a Bookshelf, they can search the Chest deck for a Scroll card and keep it or immediately use it as a Free Action, as if they had just drawn it from the Chest deck. Afterwards, remove the Bookshelf from the board.

THROW: Bookshelves are too heavy to be thrown at a Character with a Minor Action. Instead, it is simply knocked over, affecting a Character that is adjacent to it (chosen by the Hero who used the Throw Furniture Minor Action). TELEKINESIS, on the other hand, can throw a bookshelf normally.

• Regardless of the way it was thrown, a bookshelf deals 2 DMG and inflicts STUN to its target (Don't forget: Thrown Furniture is always broken and removed from the board.)

Chest

Good old Chests are the adventurers' favorites. With the introduction of the Furniture mechanic in Apocalypse, the Chests that were presented in the Corebox also become Furniture, with new effects (if thrown).

Example of a Chest token and miniature (Chest miniatures are sold separately and can be found in the Expansion: "Spoils of War").

INTERACT: As usual, when a Hero interacts with a Chest, they actually perform a Search a Chest Minor Action:

• They draw a card from the top of the Chest deck. That Hero can choose to consume that Item immediately as a Free Action or store it in their bag (if there is room).
• Finally, when searching a Chest, the Hero must roll the Trap Die and suffer the effect.

THROW: When thrown at a Character, a Chest causes 2 DMG and you must roll the Trap Die: add the result to this damage as a side effect. (Don't forget, thrown Furniture is broken and removed from the board.)

Pile of Crates

Crates can be found just about everywhere, at any time. They are used to store all types of things, but mainly merchandise. Despite being used for storage, empty crates are very dangerous, because when broken on Characters, their sharp splinters can become lethal.

Example of a Pile of Crates token and miniature (miniatures are sold separately and can be found in the Expansion: "Companions and Furnitures").

INTERACT: Piles of Crates are not good for anything in particular. They count as obstacles until they are destroyed or thrown.

THROW: When thrown, the Pile of Crate inflicts BRITTLE to its target if it is a Small Character.

• Large Monsters' bodies are so powerful that the crates don't even bother them. (Don't forget, thrown Furniture is broken and removed from the board.)

Stone Fountain

An indispensable piece for temples, laboratories, or gardens, fountains serve to store liquids. Whether it's just water, soup, a strengthening tonic, or a poisonous concoction, stumbling upon a fountain always holds a surprise. Will curiosity kill the cat?

Example of a Stone Fountain token (front) and miniature (miniatures are sold separately and can be found in the Expansion: "Companions and Furnitures").

LIABILITIES: Stone Fountains are insurmountable obstacles for Small Monsters, but not for Large ones. These Monsters can walk through an area with a Stone Fountain and even finish their movement in them.

• Whenever they finish their movement in an area with a Stone Fountain, however, they Crush the Stone Fountain under their feet: flip the Concoction token up and apply its effects, as if they had drunk from it.
• Also, unlike other Furniture, Stone Fountains are Immovable Solid Objects.

SETUP: When a Setup instructs you to prepare a fountain, you must shuffle the Concoction tokens, draw one and place it face-down (and hidden from the Heroes) by the fountain.

Here are examples of the three different Concoctions a Stone Fountain can have.

INTERACT: When a Hero interacts with a fountain, they flip the Concoction token up, apply its effects, then discard it. There are three possible effects:

• Fresh Water: Nothing tastes better to calm rampant emotions! The drinking Character Regains 2 Health and gains CLEANSE 2.
• Empowerment Potion: Search and you will find! The drinking Character gains INSPIRE and EMPOWER, and they may also take an additional Cube Action this turn. If they are a Large Monster, they just gain a +4 DMG Boost during this turn instead.
• Toxic Inoculation: The taste is even worse than the effect... The drinking Character suffers POISON 4.

THROW: Stone Fountains are attached to the ground and therefore cannot be thrown at other Characters in any way (but they can still be destroyed by Large Monsters who end their movement by stepping on them).

Stone Pillars

Stone pillars are truly iconic in fantastic architecture. Being used as support for large halls, they decorate everything from splendid palaces to torture chambers in the deepest dungeons. The only thing that is certain is that they are firm and may cause a lot of pain to someone who is thrown at them.

Example of a Stone Pillar token and miniature (miniatures are sold separately and can be found in the Expansion: "Companions and Furnitures").

LIABILITIES: Pillars are insurmountable obstacles, even for a Large Monster. Thus, these Monsters can walk through an area with a stone pillar, but they can never finish their movement in them.

• Also, unlike other Furniture, Stone Pillars are Immovable Solid Objects.

INTERACT: Stone pillars are of no use for anything in particular. They just represent a rigid obstacle.

THROW: Stone pillars are attached to the floor and ceiling and therefore cannot be thrown at other characters in any way. However, it is precisely because they are so firm that the opposite becomes true:

• When a Character is thrown against a stone pillar (by effects like TELEKINESIS or PUSH), they suffer 4 non-preventable damage and are repositioned in a square adjacent to the pillar chosen by the Character who threw them. The pillar is not removed from the board.

Hero Turn

(Rule Update)

Thanks to the powerful synergies that can be found in the second-generation Campaigns, your Hero will have a wider range of potential interactions with their Skills, Equipment, and Allies. In order to simplify and balance this, four basic rules need to be updated:

• Each Hero can only perform one Minor Action during their turn, instead of one of each type.
• When Searching a Chest, a Hero may immediately use the item which was found as a Free Action, rather than having to store it in their bag. This helps the Hero by combining the Search a Chest and Use a Consumable Item actions into a single Minor Action.
• Exchanging an item with another Hero has become a Free Action with no Range limit. This means that Heroes no longer need to be adjacent to each other to trade and they don't spend their Minor Action to do so. Thank Tharmagar for gifting you with magic bags!
• As a Cube Action on their turn, a Hero may Expend 1 AC to take an additional Minor Action (just like they do to gain additional Move Actions) to use as they please.

This update may reduce the potential for Heroes to "burst into action," but in return, it increases the value of other plays that could become obsolete. It also contributes to the emergence of new skill combinations without jeopardizing the balance of the system, and, ultimately, helps reduce the wait between player turns.

Furthermore, it allows new ways to play a turn (such as choosing to spend it entirely with Interactions or opening Chests, for example).

All in all, from now on, a Hero can take the following actions in any order they wish during their turn:

• Spend up to 2 cubes to use their Skills or perform special tasks.

  • NOTE: As a Cube Action, a Hero can Expend 1 AC to take an additional Move Action or an additional Minor Action this turn. (They can use both of their Cube Actions this way if they wish.)

• Take one free Move Action.

• Take one Minor Action among the following:

  1. Interact with an Interaction token
  2. Open a Door
  3. Search a Chest or Pick Up Loot from the ground*
  4. Interact with Furniture
  5. Equip and/or Unequip Items
  6. Cast a Focus Ability that is not a Reaction*
  7. Use a Consumable Item*
  8. Throw Furniture*
  9. Take any Action described as a "Minor Action" in its effect

  * This Minor Action can be taken even if your Hero is engaged in combat.

  • NOTE: When Searching a Chest or Picking Up Loot, a Hero may immediately use the Item they find as a Free Action. If they don't, then the Item is placed in their bag.
  • NOTE: Some effects may cause a Monster to drop Loot when defeated, considered as Movable Ground Objects. Picking Up Loot works like Searching a Chest, except that it is safe (do not roll the Trap die).

• Take a Willing Recall Action (if able).

  • NOTE: Taking a Willing Recall Action, however, will end the Hero's turn.

Sharing Equipment among the players has become a Free Action with no Range restriction. Thus, players can exchange items that are in their bags (not equipped ones) whenever they want, as long as it is during their turn and not that of a Monster or Rune card.

• NOTE: A Hero who receives a Consumable Item from an ally will not be able to use that Item immediately as if they had Searched a Chest or Picked Up Loot. They will only be able to consume that Item during their turn as a Minor Action.
• NOTE: Anything else on a Hero turn's remains the same: they suffer the effects of any ongoing Conditions at the beginning of their turn. Then, their Triggered Abilities are activated.

Interactions

(Game Mechanics Clarification)

Thanks to the introduction of a new type of Interaction, the Recurring Interactions, this feature had to be updated. Starting with the Awakenings and Apocalypse Expansions, here are the instructions for handling Interactions:

"Interactions are situations that happen during an Adventure in which your Hero can (or should) intervene. Some Interactions will be presented to your party through in-game effects, but most of them will be found on the board as Interaction tokens."

These will be found in two forms: most will have charges, indicating scenes that are concluded after a specific number of Interactions, or they will be cyclical, indicating scenes that work more or less like a puzzle.

Regardless of which Interaction token is on the board, they all share the following rules:

• In order to Interact with one of them, a Hero must be adjacent to the token and use an Interact Minor Action.
• When a Hero Interacts with an Interaction token, they must open the Book of Interactions (or the respective book for that Campaign) to the page indicated by the Setup that instructed you to place that token. Then, read the scene and its support text.
• Once the Hero has understood the scene, they can choose one of the numbered options that is available (this concept can vary between Recurring and Charged Interactions) and then proceed to that Resolution.
• Whenever a Resolution directs you to another Resolution, you must proceed to it as part of the same Interact Minor Action.
• Once the Hero has read all the effects of their chosen Resolution (and its Unfoldings, if any), their Interact Minor Action is finished.
• A Hero may Interact with the same scene more than once during the same turn, as long as they spend an Interact Minor Action each time they do so (this is a change to the Age of Darkness Campaign Rules).
• Interaction tokens are Immovable Solid Objects for rule purposes.

Despite all these similarities, Charged Interactions and Recurring Interactions differ in two important ways that affect their mechanics deeply: the ability to repeat choices and how they are removed from the board.

• Whenever a Resolution from a Charged Interaction is chosen, it immediately becomes unavailable. That is, it can no longer be chosen for the rest of this Adventure.
• When a Resolution from a Recurring Interaction is chosen, however, it does not become unavailable.
  • NOTE: Choosing a Resolution is not the only way to make it unavailable. The effects of a Resolution can stipulate that it, or even other Resolutions, become unavailable.
• When a Hero finishes their Interact Minor Action, if it was for a Charged Interaction, they must expend 1 of its charges. If it is the last charge, remove it from the board.
  • NOTE: Some Resolutions may stipulate that they do not reduce the Interaction token.
• Recurring Interactions, on the other hand, are only removed from the board when an effect (usually part of a Resolution) instructs you to remove or replace its token.

Thus by putting each piece of information in its proper place, you can finally check the guidelines for these two types of Interactions:

Charged Interactions

• Whenever a Resolution from a Charged Interaction is chosen, it immediately becomes unavailable. That is, it can no longer be chosen for the rest of this Adventure.
• When a Hero has read all the effects of their chosen Resolution (and its Unfoldings, if instructed to do so), their Interact Minor Action is over and they must expend 1 Charge, or remove the Interaction token from the board if that is the last charge (unless that Resolution stipulates otherwise).

NOTE: Your Awakenings Campaign doesn't include Recurring Interactions. Therefore, only the details regarding Charged Interactions will be mentioned.

Interrupts

(New Game Mechanics)

Interruption effects add a new and interesting layer to the gameplay. They take place in a new time window, situated at the moment a Character is TARGETED with an Attack that deals preventable damage (and only this can trigger an Interruption), before SHIELD tokens are spent and a Threat is generated.

Whenever an enemy announces an attack, before this attack hits their targets, Characters with INTERRUPT Skills have the opportunity to use them. If they do, they will resolve their Skills' effects before the attack's damage is dealt, even being able to redirect them from their original targets (depending on the effect).

However, when taking an INTERRUPT, a Character will not be able to use their REACTION against any Threats further generated by the same attack they interrupted, as if they had already "reacted" for that attack.

Many INTERRUPT Skills, therefore, will also carry effects like PREVENT or COVER, so that they can become more effective at mitigating damage, since they also compromise that Hero's ability to React to the effect they Interrupted.

NOTE: INTERRUPTS, however, also cannot target non-preventable damage either. They are not considered REACTIONS for triggering abilities such as the Assassin's "Caltrops".

NOTE: As it happens with Reactions, whenever you use Interrupts with PREVENT effects, it doesn't mitigate the damage that would be dealt to each of that attack's targets. Only the Character you PREVENTed receives its benefits.

Example: An Abomination – Champion strikes Lorelai and Maya with its attack of 8 damage points at the same time thanks to its STRIKE 1 ability. Vorn then decides to use his Standard Shadday Shield's Shield Cover to aid Lorelai in the Interrupt window, thus becoming that attack's new target while preventing 4 damage points. Therefore, Maya still takes all the 8 damage points from that attack, while Vorn will have to deal with only the 4 remaining damage points.

This is an example of an INTERRUPT Skill with COVER, used to redirect an attack made against the target to the casting Character.

Differences Between Interrupt and Reaction

Now that you've been introduced to the particularities of this new type of Skill, let's make a quick comparison to the Reactions you're already familiar with, so you can better understand how Interrupts should work:

When should these Skills be used?

• Interrupts must be taken at the time a Monster's attack (or Attack card) is announced on its targets, before damage is dealt and SHIELD tokens are discarded. Therefore, we can say that Interrupts are taken even before a THREAT is generated.
• Reactions, in turn, are used after the damage has been taken and SHIELD tokens have been discarded. Therefore, we can say that Reactions are taken after a THREAT is generated.

How many of these Skills can I use on the same trigger?

• When it comes to Interrupts, each Hero can only take one Interrupt per attack, regardless if that attack has multiple targets. Of course, some Skills may end up affecting more than one Character, but this doesn't change the fact that the Hero used only one Interrupt.
  • NOTE: When a Hero takes an Interrupt, it cannot react to any THREAT that is generated by the same attack that they Interrupted.
  • NOTE: Other Heroes may react to a THREAT generated by an attack that was Interrupted by another hero as normal. Only Heroes that have taken Interrupts cannot React to THREATS generated by the attacks they Interrupted.
• When it comes to Reactions, however, each Hero can use a Reaction for each THREAT that has been generated. Thus, it is possible for the same Hero to use two Skills (on different targets) in the same Reaction window.

What happens to SHIELD tokens in each of these windows?

• When an effect at Interrupt "speed" creates SHIELD tokens, those SHIELDS are received BEFORE the attack causes the damage. Therefore, they can be used to mitigate the damage of an incoming attack.
• When an effect at React "speed" creates SHIELD tokens, SHIELDS are received AFTER the attack causes damage. Therefore, they cannot be used to mitigate the damage of an incoming attack.

In summary, Interrupts were developed so that effects such as COVER and CANCEL could be implemented in the CoD System, creating new options for interaction between players and strategies in combat.

Monsters

(Updated Game Mechanics)

Color Keywords

In order to help illustrate the different abilities Monsters have and when they should be taken into consideration, we use Keywords divided into three colors (black, cyan, and pink).

This color identity serves to help players visually interpret when those abilities should be taken into account: whether they are passive abilities, triggered, or collateral damage to a Monster's attack.

From now on, we improved this pattern by adding two new colors: green and purple.

Green

The first of these new colors, green, is used to indicate a feature that has already been used for Monsters since the Age of Darkness, but which could benefit from a color of its own rather than sharing one with collateral damage.

Whenever a Keyword is marked with this color, it is a sign that it represents the Monster's ability to aim at more than one target with its attack or to perform more than one attack per activation (as in Attack Twice).

Of course, Monsters in the first generation will not have these skills marked with this color, but you can consider that the Executioner (Standard), for example, would have its "CLEAVE 2" ability colored in green.

Purple

The third color, purple, is used to demonstrate a global and passive effect that a Monster has. Such effects will always be in action as long as at least one copy of that Monster is alive, as if it were a Special Rule being constantly applied by its presence.

Thus, taking the Keyword OVERPRESSURE as an example, Heroes will not be able to take any Minor Actions except for Use a Consumable Item while there is a Monster with this ability on the board.

You can find the details on this and all other Keywords in the appropriate section of this book.

Shifting Targets

(Rules Clarification)

In the subtopic "Preparation, Move, and Attack" of the Age of Darkness Rulebook in the "Monster Turns" section on page 39, an important rule was implied.

Thus, in the interest of making this information more evident, we offer this brief clarification so there are no doubts regarding Monster Behavior.

The implied rule is: When a Monster is unable to reach its Primary Target but is able to reach another target, it will shift its priority to that target instead of wasting its turn just moving. It is only when a Monster is unable to reach any target that it will only move towards its Primary Target.

In short, Monsters will always try to reach the target it can, following its Primary Target orientation.

Example: This Rotten Flesh — Rookie targets the Strongest Hero as its Primary Target. Considering that Vorn currently has 12 Health and Lorelai has only 8, its target would be Vorn. However, the Monster only has Move 3. So instead of wasting its entire turn moving 3 squares towards Vorn and not reaching him, it will shift to Lorelai, as it can reach her in this activation.

Conclusion: The Rotten Flesh shifts to the next Strongest Hero within reach, attacking Lorelai since it was unable to reach Vorn with this activation.

New Commander Attack Cards

Awakenings also features a new set of Commander Attack cards to increase the variety of options at your disposal whenever you face one of these powerful foes.

This set has the same consistency as the one found in Age of Darkness – 10 cards, 1 for each Rune position – but you don't have to put all the Commander Attack cards together in one deck. Instead, similarly to the instructions regarding the Chests cards, you should build a single deck using your favorite 10 cards between them, leaving the ones you don't intend to use in your game sessions.

As it happens with Consumable Items, this deckbuilding process is not completely free. You must make sure that your deck has exactly 10 cards and that no Rune positions (Rune color and orientation) are occupied by two cards.

Haste occupies the orange Rune bottom position, as does Life Heat. So you can't have both in the deck at the same time, but you can choose to alternate them between game sessions whenever you like.

You could choose to combine Haste with Flame Swipe (replacing Inferno) to occupy the two spaces belonging to the orange Rune cards, for example.

As much as this process may seem a bit more bureaucratic than it should be, following it to the letter is important to prevent a Commander from having two consecutive activations in the same Rune position. Something that can be particularly unpleasant to deal with if there is a Monster in that same position both in terms of occupying space and game balance.

New Harmful Terrain

Awakenings brings one new harmful terrain type (and another version for one already known), and in this section you will find the details of their effects and the meaning of their symbols.

Placeholder Spaces

A "placeholder" identifies an area of the game board that exists between Map tiles, representing an open space such as a chasm. A Placeholder Map tile is used to mark this area of the game board to help you lay out the Setup.

Placeholder Map tiles are not necessarily harmful terrain. As a matter of fact, they are not really Map tiles at all, even though they play a very important role in helping you visualize some Adventures.

Whenever a Placeholder Map tile is shown in a Setup, the following rules apply to them:

• The spaces of a Placeholder Map tile are considered to be "off the board" so no Objects can be on them. Trays are not Objects for rules purposes, as mentioned in the Board Elements clarification.
• Although considered to be "off the board", spaces in Placeholder Map tiles are still valid spaces for the purposes of JUMP, TELEKINESIS, PUSH, and RANGE calculation.
  • In the first three cases, the effect must be strong enough that your target is able to traverse all the spaces in Placeholder terrain without touching it.
    • So, a JUMP 3, for example, must start and end in spaces of a conventional Map tile. If an effect is not strong enough to comply with this rule, it cannot be used to traverse a Placeholder Map tile.
  • The last case is even simpler: If an effect has RANGE 2 or more, you can count areas (blue squares) inside a Placeholder Map tile just like you would for conventional Map tiles.
• A Character cannot be dragged, thrown, or pushed into a Placeholder Map in the hope that it would be defeated unless an Adventure specifies that this is possible (normally, the Adventure will include a space with a Special Mechanic token indicating where effects of PUSH or TELEKINESIS need to START in order for a Character to be defeated in this way).

In summary, we can say that Placeholder Map tiles are used to mark a distance that would otherwise be virtual. Therefore, they will help you to visualize some strategies. At the same time, they can also serve precisely to save space for other tiles that will replace them during an Adventure (when this is the case).

NOTE: Just like Heroes, JUMPING Monsters can also leap across Placeholder spaces in order to reach their targets, following the same rules.

Underwater Ruin

This Harmful Terrain isn't necessarily new, but a new version of the classic Water Terrain. Therefore, Underwater Ruins are difficult terrains, meaning that whenever a Character is affected by them, that Character immediately loses 1 movement point from its current movement effect.

NOTE: If a Character has only 1 remaining movement point, they could still enter a difficult terrain using it. The movement penalty will be applied, but since there are no movement points left, it won't have any effect. Neither will it be applied the next time that same Character receives another movement effect during this turn.

NOTE: The former clarification also applies to Age of Darkness Corebox Water Terrains, such as to any Harmful Terrain bearing the following symbol. (The symbol is shown in the book.)

Updated Effects and Keywords

(Effects Clarification and Update)

+X HIT and +X TO HIT Disambiguation

The most important thing about these Keywords is to point out that the first one, +X HIT, is an effect that instructs the Character receiving it to perform a Weapon Attack. The second, on the other hand, +X TO HIT, is the Keyword used to designate a bonus value that the Hero receives in Accuracy checks whenever they perform a Weapon Attack. Therefore, in this new generation, we have chosen to clarify this information and update both Keywords.

Thus, this will be the new text for these Keywords:

• or -X HIT: When this instruction is written into the effects of a Skill with the Weapon Attack icon, it means that your Hero can make a Weapon Attack by adding (or subtracting) the X value to the die roll during that Skill's resolution. Keep in mind that this bonus only affects the result of a Weapon's Accuracy, and does not improve the chances of a Critical Hit: If you have +6 HIT and roll a 14 on the D20, that doesn't mean it's a "natural 20"—it's a 20 Accuracy and a natural 14. Also, be careful not to confuse this instruction with any passive bonuses to Weapon Attacks, described as "+X TO HIT".

+X TO HIT: Any Weapon Attacks you make gain a +X bonus on the Accuracy Check to hit your targets. Keep in mind that this bonus affects only the outcome of a Weapon's Accuracy, not whether you get a Critical Hit: If you have +6 TO HIT and roll a 14 on the D20, it doesn't mean that it is a "natural 20"—it is an Accuracy 20 and a natural 14.

CLEANSE

Instead of the traditional effect of removing Curse Cubes and POISON, CLEANSE will now be used to remove Curse Cubes or remove a Condition of the Character's choice (whether it's POISON or another Condition). If that Character chooses to remove a Stackable Condition, it will remove all tokens from that Condition, not just 1 token.

Therefore, when a Character receives CLEANSE 1, they choose whether to remove a Curse Cube or a Condition Stack of their choice. Naturally, if that Character receives CLEANSE 2, it can either remove 2 Curse Cubes, 1 Curse Cube and a Condition Stack, or 2 Condition Stacks. Characters are not required to use all the CLEANSE points received the same way.

In the end, CLEANSE has become a bit weaker, but much more versatile. Its revised text looks like this:

CLEANSE X: The target removes up to X Curse Cubes or Condition Stacks from its board. A Stack is: all tokens of the same kind the Character has. For each CLEANSE point received, that Character may choose to remove a Curse Cube or a Condition Stack. They don't have to spend all the points the same way.

CRIT 16+ Became KEEN

In this new generation, the keyword CRIT 16+ has been updated to "KEEN". The effect is the same: If you roll a natural 16 or more on the d20, you score a Critical Hit.

With the introduction of new Skills and the updates to the Warlock Trait, more classes will be able to use Wild Cube effects, and a situation in which you can double the numerical value of "16 +" may occur. Thinking that "CRIT 32+" is aesthetically unpleasant, and represents a detriment to the Skill instead of a bonus, we think it is best to transform this number into a written Keyword to avoid this problem.

Fruit of Life

With the updated game mechanics regarding the sharing of items between players (it became a Free Action with no range restriction) and the implementation of synergistic effects using this resource, the FRUIT OF LIFE needs to be updated to keep its balance in the game for this second generation.

Now, instead of their effect giving HEAL, these fruits give REGAIN HEALTH, which is a term specifically developed so that this Health recovery effect does not stack with any HEAL bonuses your Character has.

NOTE: Druids have a Class Ability that specifically states that FRUIT OF LIFE receive a HEAL bonus. This effect must also be adapted so it does not lose its functionality: FRUIT OF LIFE that the Druid creates REGAIN +1 HEALTH when consumed.

Thus, this will be the new text for this Keyword:

FRUIT OF LIFE: With a Use Consumable Item Minor Action, a Character holding a FRUIT OF LIFE may discard it to: SELF, REGAIN 2 HEALTH. Additionally, these fruits are considered items and may be exchanged with other Heroes like any other item would normally be, but they do not occupy any bag space. FRUIT OF LIFE is a stackable resource.

Fury

This resource has become more common in these new Campaigns, and to make it more flexible, it needed a small improvement.

Now, FURY tokens can be discarded for every single attack your Hero makes, instead of only once per turn (as printed in the first generation). The other effects remain the same: you can announce that you will discard a FURY token when you hit an opponent to gain a +1 DMG Bonus on your attack (whether it's a Weapon Attack or a Spell Attack, this is not considered an action).

So this will be the new text for this Keyword:

FURY: When you hit with a Weapon Attack or Spell Attack, you may discard 1 FURY to add +1 DMG to your attack (no action required). You may discard 1 FURY token for each individual Weapon or Spell Attack you make, which can be more than once per turn. FURY is a stackable resource.

NOTE: Whenever you discard 1 Fury in order to boost an attack that targets more than one Character at once (CLEAVE and STRIKE, for instance) the bonus damage is dealt to each target. You don't need to discard 1 Fury token for each Character targeted this way.

Sorcerers and Warlocks

(Rule Clarification)

The Sorcerers' special ability is to use Curse Cubes in your favor instead of storing them as a disadvantage. This power, however, has a dangerous price: you will be tempted to corrupt yourself to empower your Skills.

This is possible due to a Passive Skill named Darkness Adept which, since the first generation, has brought about some doubts. To answer them, we offer this update and clarifications:

• The new ability Otherwordly Pact is the dark bargain made by a Hero searching for power. This deal will be represented mechanically by the Warlock Trait, and it is a Passive Skill.
• A Warlock receives Curse Cubes as if they were also Action Cubes, holding them in their Available Action Cube Pool, and they can use them as if they were Wild Cubes.
• Once spent, these Curse Cubes are no longer considered to be Action Cubes and can only be removed through CLEANSE effects. They cannot be recovered through RECALL effects or Recall Actions.
• While held as Available Action Cubes, these Curse Cubes are considered to be Available Action Cubes for all purposes (such as when defining the Primary Target of a Monster with DEFIANT, for example), but, in turn, their type is still Curse—not Melee, Ranged, Agility, or Wisdom cubes (when defining the bonus for a Skill Challenge roll, for example).
• Curse Cubes held as Action Cubes still count as damage. Therefore, if your Hero receives the sixth of them, they will be defeated anyway. Dealing with Darkness can be as dangerous as rewarding.

Therefore, consider the Passive Skill effects Darkness Adept and Otherwordly Pact to be the same: As long as this Skill is not blocked, you have the Warlock Trait. This is a clarification and an update for the material previously printed.

Campaign Structure

In this section, you will find instructions regarding the structure of your Campaign.

If you need to add or remove a player, prepare to play a One-Shot Adventure, or make use of special rules to change the difficulty (in addition to the use of QR Doors), this is where you will find the information you need.

So, let's start at the beginning:

Hero Limitations

Awakenings introduces four new Heroes who are the protagonists of this narrative, replacing those from the Age of Darkness. This means that in this Campaign you should not use Elros, Jaheen, Lorelai, Maya, or Vorn. This does not mean that you will not meet them in your journey though, as they can still be recruited into your party as Followers.

Because of the physical limit of four Heroes, there is a natural reduction of the player limit to four. You will still be able to play with five Heroes though, if you have purchased other materials that provide extra Heroes like the Spoils of War box or Hero Pack #1, for example.

Nevertheless, our recommendation is that players should not use the Heroes in their Corebox as their characters, since you may run into them during Interactions during your Adventures. This could cause an "immersion break" in your game, not to mention a conflict in component usage.

Take note that except for the Ranger, all Corebox Hero Classes are represented here: Andreas (Cleric), Catharina (Mage), Nyx (Assassin), and Vacrem (Warrior).

NOTE – SPECIAL CLASSES: As rewards unlocked during the Crowdfunding Campaign, each Hero in this box features a special version affiliated with one of the unreleased Classes found in Hero Pack #1. So, if you have this Expansion, you can choose which version of these Heroes you will use, because the components that make the mechanics of these Classes work can be found there.

Story Record

The Story Record is a sheet with the same purpose as your Campaign Log, but it is intended to record your party's choices and your Campaign's "world state", rather than those of a single player.

Nevertheless, your Story Record will register wider pieces of information, such as your party's Chapters (completed or skipped), thus keeping an updated record of your path forward.

Here are all the details about your Story Record. Reading it is important to starting your Awakenings Campaign:

1. Party Name: An Epic Campaign requires an epic name. Here, we're Safeguard Corporation (SGC for short), by the way.
2. Followers: Throughout your journey, your party may encounter some Characters who, like you, have their own reasons for actively participating in this fight, and who might want to join you. These Characters are called Followers. Whenever you find one, you must write down their name here, as they will follow your party until the game says they are dismissed or defeated in battle.
3. Adventure Track: In these spaces, you'll record all the Chapters of your Awakenings Campaign. Every time you complete or skip one, fill in the appropriate slot. By doing so, you'll always know that the next Adventure you must play is the next unfilled slot on the Track.
4. Outcomes: As has happened a few times in your Age of Darkness Campaign, the decisions made by your party may reverberate from one Adventure to the next. When this is the case, the game will instruct you to write down an Outcome and you must use this space to do so.

Adding or Removing Players

The information provided in this section will help you add (or remove) a party member without affecting the balance of the system or your gaming experience.

Removing a Hero

Sometimes, bad things happen: a party member ends up caught in the traps of life and will no longer be able to be present at every game session. It's also possible you started a solo Campaign and, over time, you realized that controlling two or three Heroes was too much to handle, so you decide to remove a Hero. Immediately, a question arises: what will be done with their loot?

Perhaps contrary to how it appears, not all of that Hero's resources would be inherited by their party. Consumable Items can be stashed and redistributed among other Heroes. However, Equipment awarded as Spoils of the Hero (those that replace Camp Items) must be discarded.

Spoils Equipment is given according to the number of players rather than the number of actions or consequences that unfolded during an Adventure. Therefore, with the exception of Consumable Items, all of the removed player's resources must be returned to the box.

Adding a New Hero

At the beginning of your Awakenings Campaign, you will start with a standard Hero. If you want to introduce a new Hero (or maybe because you just want to play a One-Shot Adventure), here you can find a quick list of the starting components that players should take when starting an Awakenings Campaign.

From then on, in order to add a new Hero to any Chapter your party is about to face, all you have to do is check the table for the respective rewards that characters must first be granted. The list is based on the Rewards that Heroes would receive if they had completed the Adventures without finding any special treasure along the way.

Recruiting a New Hero to Your Party

A starting Hero begins the Campaign with the following, as normal:

• Hero Board (8 base Skills)
• Hero Initiative card (5 starting Action Cubes)
• Dungeon Role cards I and II
• 2 pieces of Starting Gear

The details you need to know (or remember) about each of these features can be found in the Age of Darkness Rulebook, pages 7 to 9.

Matching a New Recruit to Your Party Level

Once the new character has been created (as if they were going to start the Campaign), the next step is to match them to your party's experience. In order to do so, check in the table below the rewards this Hero should receive to be equal to the other Characters in your party.

One-Shot Adventures

As much as Awakenings has given greater focus to the game as a Campaign, it is still possible to play it in a more casual way, in sessions of a single Adventure as presented on page 52 of the Age of Darkness Rulebook.

Naturally, before playing an advanced Adventure, your party will need to level their Heroes according to the intended difficulty for that Chapter, simulating the progression they would have if they were playing in Campaign mode.

Check the Rewards Table below for the rewards that each Hero will need to have IN ADDITION to all those mentioned when creating a Character for this Campaign.

Table – Matching a New Recruit to Your Party Level

Chapter	Rewards
Chapter 01	Only the rewards received for creating the Character
Chapter 02	1x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill
Chapter 03	1x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill
Chapter 04	1x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill, 1x Class Ability, 1x Spoil of the Hero (Standard) Equipment
Chapter 05	2x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill, 1x Class Ability, 1x Spoil of the Hero (Standard) Equipment
Chapter 06	2x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill, 2x Class Ability, 2x Spoil of the Hero (Standard) Equipment
Chapter 07	2x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill, 1x Level 2 Hero or Role Skill, 2x Class Ability, 2x Spoil of the Hero (Standard) Equipment
Chapter 08	2x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill, 1x Level 2 Hero or Role Skill, 2x Class Ability, 2x Spoil of the Hero (Standard) Equipment, 1x Spoil of the Hero Equipment Upgrade
Chapter 09	3x Level 1 Hero or Role Skill, 1x Level 2 Hero or Role Skill, 2x Class Ability, 2x Spoil of the Hero (Standard) Equipment, 1x Spoil of the Hero Equipment Upgrade

Taking It Easy

If you're feeling like it's hard to get ahead in the game, don't worry. The perception of increased difficulty is natural, given the number of interactions that the Chronicles of Drunagor system has. We have made an effort to reduce the number of decisions at the beginning of the Campaign, and we have tried to simplify the processes as much as possible, but, even so, the amount of information can be overwhelming for a more casual party.

Whenever this is the case and you want to have an experience that is more focused on narrative outcomes and a little less on the tactical part of combat, you can use some strategies to reduce the difficulty for your party. We even recommend that you do so whenever you need to replay a Chapter: after all, playing the same Adventure for the third time can be more tiring than fun.

Increasing Trauma Cube Limits

One of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce difficulty for the players is a minor change in the Trauma Cube limits that a Hero can hold before being defeated. As a rule, each Hero can hold one Trauma Cube. When they receive a second, they are defeated and the Adventure ends in failure. Some Skills acquired by players during the game may allow them to hold more Trauma Cubes before being defeated, of course, but if you prefer, you can simply increase this amount by one to make the game less tense.

Thus, each Hero could hold two Trauma Cubes. When they receive a third, they are defeated and the Adventure ends in failure. A simple and elegant solution.

Naturally, the abilities that allow a Hero to hold more Trauma Cubes continue to function normally. Note that when playing in a team of five players, you may find that you run out of Trauma Cubes.

NOTE: The opposite also applies. If you want to have an even more challenging experience, try reducing the number of Trauma Cubes each Hero can hold by one. Thus, as soon as they receive their first Trauma Cube, they would be defeated and the Adventure ends in failure.

Relearning

Sometimes, some Skills or Class Abilities seem spectacular and attract the attention of players. However, when they try them in practice, they end up realizing that these effects are not so useful or do not fit their playing style. This can lead to a perception of increased difficulty, since the player will not be able to get the best out of their Hero.

Whenever a party feels that this process may be happening, one way to correct this problem may be to run a Relearning. That is, by re-choosing a reward received for completing an Adventure or even during the creation of the character.

Out of the two suggestions presented in this topic, Relearning is the simplest and perhaps the most stoic of the options, since it does not directly affect the balance of the system itself, but only personal perceptions and feelings.

Bearing all these instructions in mind, it is time to start your Awakenings Campaign!

Prologue

Up to this point, we have assumed that you are acquainted with the CoD System, since this product is an Expansion to Age of Darkness and not stand-alone material. However, if this is not the case, we recommend that you check the "Start Here" in your Corebox before proceeding with this Campaign.

Awakenings is a Campaign developed for rookie Heroes with the addition of some slightly more complex and challenging elements. Having said that, what you need to start this Campaign is the same as what you would need if you were to start your Corebox Campaign (through Start Here or not). For each Hero, here is what you must do:

• Unpack your Hero: Choose a Hero and get their model, Hero Board, Initiative card, Action Cubes, Pink cube, and Starting Gear.
• Choose your Dungeon Role: Choose a Dungeon Role and get cards I and II (only these two).
• Take a Campaign Log: Each Hero should also get a Campaign Log for themselves. This sheet is for recording your Character's personal progress throughout the story.

Important: If you have not yet read the "What is New" section of this book, we recommend that you do so before starting your Campaign. This section will be important to update you on the changes to some of the rules, as well as give you information on new features such as Furniture.

Once this is done, your party is ready to start the Campaign. Choose one of the players (we suggest the Party Leader, but it is interesting to take turns between Adventures) to read the following entry and then proceed to "Chapter 1 – Untimely Holidays".

Chapter 01 – Untimely Holidays

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter (and of its Cutscenes and Interactions) is not reproduced.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Growing Influence: This Campaign chronicles the trajectory of the Darkness' awakening in Daren, but that moment has not yet happened, so the enemy does not manifest itself through its plasmoid and stalker forms. However, the enemy's threat is still real and its growing influence can be felt like a bad omen. Therefore, place the Growing Influence Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time), place the drawn Rune(s) on the Initiative Track, and then flip the Rune card over.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: As mentioned earlier, Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Single: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive one Curse Cube as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 4 Runes of each color from the bag and place them on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the board).

Special Rule – Locked Doors: Door #01 is locked until the last enemy is defeated.

Interaction Trigger: When the last enemy is defeated, go to page 36. As a group, you and your partners must choose how you wish to proceed with the "Sneaky Elf" Interaction. Remember that in case of a lack of consensus, the Party Leader will be the tie-breaker. Then, you may continue to play the Adventure.

Cutscene Trigger: The inn is on fire! With the roaring flames threatening your room, you must make your way through the Monsters as fast as you can. Place a Special Event token on top of the Rune card as a reminder. When the Initiative Marker reaches that card, after resolving its effects, remove that token and read "Cutscene – Redecorating" on page 34.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when one of the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold; or the last Rune in the bag is drawn. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Startgame Trigger: After you have completed the following Setup and read all these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure.

Setup (Dungeon Tray 2, with Map tiles AWB1-B and AWC1-B; Door 01): Placed Monsters, as printed on the setup diagram: G1 – 1 GM – Rookie; W2 – 2+: WM – Rookie; G3 – 3+: GM – Rookie; W4 – 4+: WM – Rookie; G5 – 5+: GM – Rookie. Also 1 Chest Token. Place all Heroes in the starting positions of their choice and their summoned Pets (if any) adjacent to their masters.

Rewards (end of Chapter): Each Hero learns a Level 1 Hero Skill or Dungeon Role Skill. You can find clarifications on page 50 of the Age of Darkness Rulebook.

Note: Chapters you skip do not award rewards. In this case, you will only receive what is described below, referring to the completion of this first Chapter.

Chapter 02 – The Swarm

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter (and of its Cutscenes and Interactions) is not reproduced.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Growing Influence: As in Chapter 01: place the Growing Influence Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time), place the drawn Rune(s) on the Initiative Track, and then flip the Rune card over.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Single: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive one Curse Cube as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 6 Runes of each color from the bag and place them on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the board).

Special Preparation – Darkness Nodes: As the Darkness expands to consume a region, it condenses into vile nodes that then solidify its influence. Each time a Pile of Runes is shown in a Setup (including during the First Setup, if any), you must place it there by taking 1 Rune of each color from the Initiative Track. By untying these knots, the Heroes can extend their stay in this place.

Special Mechanic – Tie Breaker: By using improvised barricades, the Heroes can block the Monsters' entry points. To do so, a Hero must be adjacent to a Pile of Runes and Expend 1 AC. If they do, take a number of Runes of their choice from that pile equal to 6 minus the number of Heroes and return them to the bag. In addition, that Hero gains either FOCUS 1 or CLEANSE 1. This counts as a Cube Action and can't be taken if there is an enemy adjacent to that Pile of Runes.

Special Mechanic – Nightmare Raid: During this Adventure, there are creatures everywhere and they might attack at any time. Take the Night Stalker miniatures, the Nightmare scenario Monster card (do not use the Night Stalker as a random Monster) and place the Dreadful Raid scenario card above the top end of the Initiative Track with face A up. When the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must resolve its effects and then flip the card over (see page 10 for details).

Special Mechanic – Eradren Surprises: Unexpected surprises await on every corner of this raided town. Take the Eradren Surprise Special Mechanic deck, shuffle it, and place it face down near the play area. Whenever a Hero interacts with one of these Special Mechanic tokens (this costs an Interact Minor Action), they must remove that token from the board, draw the top card of this deck, and resolve its effects.

Cutscene Trigger – Doom Clock: Whenever you completely remove a Pile of Runes from the board, at the end of the current Hero's turn, read the Cutscenes below as indicated:

• When you remove the first Pile of Runes, read "Cutscene – Sound the Bells" on page 44.
• When you remove the second Pile of Runes, read "Cutscene – There's No End to Them" on page 44.
• When you remove the third Pile of Runes, read "Cutscene – Time for the Harvest" on page 44.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when one of the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold; or the last Rune in the bag is drawn. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Startgame Trigger: After you have completed the following Setup and read all of these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure. The Setup uses Dungeon Tray 3 with Door 01 and the Map tiles, Runes, and Monster placements shown on the setup diagram on page 42 of the book (the diagram is not reproduced here); the components listed beside it are 6 Special Mechanic tokens and 1 Stack of Barrels token.

Chapter 03 – Run!

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter (and of its Cutscenes and Interactions) is not reproduced.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Growing Influence: As in Chapter 01: place the Growing Influence Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time), place the drawn Rune(s) on the Initiative Track, and then flip the Rune card over.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Single: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive one Curse Cube as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 6 Runes of each color from the bag and place them on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the board).

Special Preparation – Darkness Nodes: As in Chapter 02: each time a Pile of Runes is shown in a Setup (including during the First Setup, if any), you must place it there by taking 1 Rune of each color from the Initiative Track.

Special Mechanics – Tie Breaker: To untie a Darkness Node, a Hero must be adjacent to a Pile of Runes and Expend 1 AC. If they do, take a number of Runes of their choice from that pile equal to 6 minus the number of Heroes and return them to the bag. In addition, that Hero gains either FOCUS 1 or CLEANSE 1. This counts as a Cube Action and can't be taken if there is an enemy adjacent to that Pile of Runes.

Special Mechanics – Gentle Push: When you're in a hurry, there's no time to wait for someone else's good will... Therefore, by Expending 1 AC, a Hero can inflict PUSH 1 AND KNOCK DOWN on another Small Character that is adjacent to them. This counts as a Cube Action.

Cutscene Trigger: Something huge is coming after you and you know it is dangerous. You'd better hurry and get out of this place. Place 3 Time Tokens on top of the Rune card as a reminder. When the Initiative Marker reaches that card, after resolving its effects, remove one of these tokens. When the last one is removed, read "Cutscene – Nightmare Come True" on page 54.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when one of the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold; or the last Rune in the bag is drawn. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Startgame Trigger: After you have completed the following Setup and read all these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure. The Setup uses Dungeon Tray 2 and the Map tiles, Runes, and Monster placements shown on the setup diagram on page 52 of the book (the diagram is not reproduced here).

Clarifications – Soul Hunt

The Soul Harvester has arrived, destroying everything in its way, and now you must run for your life. The Harvester's Hunt card has three procedures that you need to perform until the end of this Adventure. Whenever there are doubts about them, consider the following instructions:

• As with the Growing Influence Rune card, no Darkness tile is spawned when you draw a Rune through the Harvester's Hunt Rune card.
• The Closest Hero is the Hero that is the fewest areas away from the Soul Harvester model.
• If two Heroes are tied for the same distance, it will choose to move towards the Weakest Hero among them (less Current Health, counting from the slowest slot on the Initiative Track in case of another tie).
• Shove any Characters, Crush any Furniture, and remove any Piles of Runes in the Harvester's way. These Runes are placed on the Initiative Track.
• Whenever the Soul Harvester advances towards a Hero and completely leaves a Map tile, that Map tile collapses; meaning that you must remove it from the board. Then, any Map tiles that were left behind and are no longer adjacent to another Map tile, as well as any empty Trays, must be removed.
• Characters removed due to a Map tile collapsing are defeated and Piles of Runes are placed on the Initiative Track.
• If a Bridge collapses, place any Character on it in the matching position on the Map tile below that Bridge. This repositioning will cause those Characters to take falling damage (2 non-preventable DMG) and suffer BURN 2 (since they will land on top of Lava terrain).
• After advancing, the Soul Harvester swings its scythe at each of its enemies inside the area with the Weakest Hero within Range 1 (if any). This attack deals damage to each of those Characters equal to the number of Runes on the Initiative Track that match the color of the Rune you just drew (this Rune also counts, as well as any Runes you removed from the board due to this advance).
• The Soul Harvester does not have a Monster card or board in this Adventure. Therefore, it is immune to damage, Conditions (including STEALTH), and does not count as a Monster for any rules purposes.
• The Soul Harvester is not considered a Monster for purposes of Engagement in Combat either.

Example: As soon as it has advanced on Andreas, the Soul Harvester also leaves Map tile B3-B, which causes it to collapse. In this case, although Nyx is adjacent to the Soul Harvester, Andreas is also just one area away and therefore they are considered to be at the same distance (since the Soul Harvester is a large model). Thus, it will move towards the Weakest Hero who, in this example, is Andreas. The Soul Harvester advances on Andreas. As the villain occupies his area, the Cleric will be Shoved and, in this case, chooses to move to the indicated position.

These instructions are meant to cover all doubts about this mechanic. However, if any persist, the Party Leader has the power to decide how the rules should be interpreted.

Chapter 04 – Battle on the High Sea

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter and of its Cutscenes and Interactions is not reproduced. The Clarifications of this Chapter (Dread Cannons, Brothers in Arms, Naval Battle, Magic Cannons, Naval Battle and Boarding Ships) are not transcribed in this entry.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Naval Battle: This Campaign chronicles the unfolding of the Darkness' awakening in Daren, but that moment has not yet happened, so the enemy does not manifest itself through its plasmoid and stalker forms. However, the enemy's threat is still real and its growing influence can be felt like a bad omen. Thus, its minions even dare to attack the survivors on the high seas. In order to control the flow of the upcoming battle, place the Naval Battle Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: advance the vessels; draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time); execute their respective effects; place the drawn Rune(s) on the Initiative Track and then flip the Rune card over.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: Darkness (as shaped tiles) will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore there is no need to track its behavior nor set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Single: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive one Curse Cube as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 5 Runes of each color from the bag and place them on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the map).

Special Mechanic – Naval Raid: During this Adventure, there are creatures everywhere and they might attack at any time. Take the Nagian Hunter and the Executioner miniatures, the Tidehunter and the Boatswain Minion cards (do not use the Nagian Hunter or the Executioner as random Monsters), and place the Naval Raid Scenario card above the top end of the Initiative Track with face A up. When the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must resolve its effects and then flip the card over.

Special Mechanic – Boarding the Ships: When the vessels have joined side by side in a sea battle, there is no way to escape a direct boarding. Crossing such a chasm of raging waters can be hard, so Characters who cannot cross the Placeholder Space using their normal movement may take the special action "Rope Swing" to go from one ship to the other. For Heroes, taking this action counts as a Cube Action and they must Expend 1 AC. For Followers, Monsters, and Pets, this counts as an Attack Action. To board the other ship, the swinging Character must be adjacent to Map tile AWC4-F (the Placeholder space) and must end their swing on an unoccupied space on the opposing vessel that is also adjacent to this Map tile. If they cannot fulfill these requirements, the action cannot be taken. If these instructions are not enough, you can find further details about all Special Mechanics for this Adventure on page 70.

Special Rule – Hindered Sight: In the early hours of the morning, a dense fog covers the sea and hinders the Heroes' sight. Consider the Range of all Agility Skills, Wisdom Skills, Focus Abilities that aren't Weapon Attacks, and Consumable Items reduced to 1 area away, maximum (1 blue square). The same applies to Multicolored Skills activated with Agility cubes or Wisdom cubes.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately if one of the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold; You draw the last Pristine Swan's HP card; or the last Rune in the bag is drawn. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Endgame Trigger: When the last Corrupted Vessel's HP card is drawn, the enemy vessel is destroyed. Read "End of the Adventure – A Day For the Prey" on page 76.

Startgame Trigger: After you have completed the following Setup and read all these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure. The Setup uses Dungeon Tray 2 and the layout shown on the setup diagram in the book (not reproduced here).

Chapter 05 – Tempest Island

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter and of its Cutscenes and Interactions is not reproduced.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Growing Influence: As in Chapter 01: place the Growing Influence Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time), place the drawn Rune(s) on the Initiative Track and then flip the Rune card over.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore, there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Double: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive 2 Curse Cubes as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 6 Runes of each color from the bag and place those on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the map).

Special Preparation – Darkness Nodes: As in Chapter 02: each time a Pile of Runes is shown in a Setup (including during the First Setup, if any), you must place it there by taking 1 Rune of each color from the Initiative Track.

Special Mechanics – Tie Breaker: To untie a Darkness Node, a Hero must be adjacent to a Pile of Runes and Expend 1 AC. If they do, take a number of Runes of their choice from that pile equal to 6 minus the number of Heroes and return them to the bag. In addition, that Hero gains either FOCUS 1 or CLEANSE 1. This counts as a Cube Action and can't be taken if there is an enemy adjacent to that Pile of Runes.

Special Mechanics – Monster Raid: During this Adventure, there are creatures everywhere and they might attack at any time. Take the Nagian Hunter miniatures, the Tidehunter Minion card (do not use the Nagian Hunter as a random Monster), and place the Dreadful Raid Special Mechanic card above the top end of the Initiative Track with face A up. When the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must resolve its effects and then flip the card over (see page 10 for details).

Special Mechanics – A Hard Roast: To acquire Plenty of Provisions, your party will need to hunt the Flickering Boar that roams the island. When it is defeated, replace its standee with the Plenty of Provisions token. This task is easier said than done, since the Flickering Boar will react when it takes damage. In order to emulate the Flickering Boar's behavior, take the Errant Behavior deck, shuffle it and place it near the play area. The Boar moves as if it were under a POLYMORPH effect, except that it will try to move 3 squares in the indicated direction instead of just 1 as described on the card. You can find further clarifications in the Keyword section if necessary. If the Boar gets stuck while moving, it will execute the 180° turn instruction (if there is one on that card) and keep moving until it completes the 3 squares of that Activation. When the Flickering Boar takes damage that is not from Conditions, if it is not defeated, it flickers: remove it from the board. Flip its Scenario Monster card over. At the beginning of its next turn, BEFORE it suffers any Condition damage, you must resolve the Flicker Special Mechanics' effects. Thus, it reappears on the board. Otherwise, if the Boar is defeated with that damage, just replace its model with the Plenty of Provisions token. To collect a resource, a Hero needs to be adjacent to it and Expend 1 AC. This counts as a Cube Action and cannot be taken if the Hero is Engaged in Combat. Also, the collecting Hero gains either FOCUS 2 or CLEANSE 2.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when one of the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold; or the last Rune in the bag is drawn. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Endgame Trigger: After your party has collected 1 Mending Rope, 1 Plenty of Provisions, and 1 Spare Wood, as soon as the last enemy is defeated, read "End of the Adventure – Mending Broken Wings" on page 88.

Start the Adventure: After you have completed the following Setup and read all these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure.

Chapter 06 – The Sunken Temple

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter and of its Cutscenes and Interactions is not reproduced.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Growing Influence: As in Chapter 01: place the Growing Influence Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track, and resolve it as described there.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Double: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive 2 Curse Cubes as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 5 Runes of each color from the bag and place those on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the board).

Special Preparation – Darkness Nodes: As in Chapter 02: each time a Pile of Runes is shown in a Setup (including during the First Setup, if any), you must place it there by taking 1 Rune of each color from the Initiative Track.

Special Rule – Crumbling Ceiling: The ruins of the Sunken Temple are unstable and loud noises can make the fragile ceiling collapse on your head. Whenever a Monster is hit by a Weapon Attack or Spell Attack, place a Special Mechanic token in the center intersection of the area they are in (an area cannot receive more than one of these tokens at a time). These areas are now marked. When the Initiative Marker reaches the Rune card at the end of the round, after resolving its effects, all Characters inside marked areas take 3 DMG. Then, remove all Special Mechanic tokens from the board.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when one of the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold; or the last Rune in the bag is drawn. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Interaction Trigger: After you have completed the First Setup and read all the previous instructions, go to page 96. As a group, you must resolve the Interaction presented. Remember that in case of a lack of consensus, the Party Leader will be the tie-breaker.

Special Rule – Locked Doors: Door #02 remains locked until the last enemy is defeated. Finally, you may continue to play the Adventure.

Chapter 07 – Siege of Everedge

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter and of its Cutscenes and Interactions is not reproduced. The Clarifications of this Chapter (Siege Monsters, Everedge's Defenses) are not transcribed in this entry.

Special Scenario Rule – Tower Defense: Monsters are invading Everedge. They seem to be targeting the Seabreeze tavern, which has been barricaded. Some of the creatures will try to destroy the tavern, while others will kill all resistance in their way. You must protect the tavern while surviving the horde of enemies. Take the Siege of Everedge Special Mechanic cards, arrange them in order from 1 to 10, and place the deck at the end of the Initiative Track, in the Rune card slot. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches this deck at the end of the round, draw the top card and resolve its effects.

NOTE: If you cannot Spawn a Monster either because all the slots on the Monster Status board are occupied or because all of that Monster's models are on the board, you do not Activate the Strongest Monster as you would in a Dreadful Raid. Instead, for each Monster you cannot summon, activate the First Monster of that same kind, following the order on the Monster Status board.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, therefore there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Double: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive 2 Curse Cubes as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Barricade: Place 3 Barricade tokens on Map tile AWB4-B as shown in the First Setup to mark the Seabreeze Tavern Barricade's HP. Whenever a Vicious Mauler attacks it, remove 1 of these tokens. If the last Barricade token is removed, the barricade is destroyed and the Adventure fails immediately.

Special Preparation – Siege Monsters: The monsters attacking Everedge were specially chosen for this task, so you will use only Scenario Monsters during this Adventure. Thus, take the Abomination, the Hellspawn Brute, and the Gorgoness Witch models. Then, take the Vicious Mauler, the Vile Spawn, and the Coiled Harridan Scenario Monster Cards. Each of these Monsters plays a special role in this battle. You can check out their strategy details on page 104.

Special Preparation – Camaraderie: In order to deal with this difficult situation, the Hero will have the assistance of friends and the best warriors they met along this journey. Recruit a number of Followers equal to 5 minus the number of Heroes from among Elros, Lorelai, Maya, and Vorn. Place them, at your choice, in the spaces designated for Follower Spawning in the First Setup. These Followers are all motivated in this battle, so you will use their strongest features. Like the Siege Monsters, these Followers have a special behavior in this Adventure. You can find the details on page 105.

Special Mechanic – Secret Underpass: Everedge is filled with secret tunnels, built by the Free Folk to help them protect themselves or flee in case of attack. These tunnels are marked on the board by the Special Mechanic tokens. Whenever a Hero steps on them (only Heroes can take this Action), they may expend 1 movement point to place themselves on top of another Special Mechanic token on the board, traveling quickly across the board.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when one of the following occurs: a Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold or the Seabreeze Tavern barricade is destroyed. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Interaction Trigger: Go to page 106. As a group, you and your partners must choose how you wish to proceed with the "The King of Everedge" Interaction. Remember that in the case of lack of consensus, the Party Leader will be the tie-breaker.

Chapter 08 – No Regrets

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter and of its Cutscenes and Interactions is not reproduced. The Clarifications of this Chapter (Soul Harvester, Fell Woodmen Raid and Magic Cannons details) are only partly transcribed in this entry.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Growing Influence: This Campaign chronicles the trajectory of the Darkness' awakening in Daren, but that moment has not yet happened, so the enemy does not manifest itself through its plasmoid and stalker forms. However, the enemy's threat is still real and its growing influence can be felt like a bad omen. Therefore, place the Growing Influence Rune card with face A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time), place the drawn Rune(s) on the Initiative Track and then flip the Rune card over.

Darkness Behavior – No Darkness: As mentioned earlier, Darkness will not spawn at any point during this Adventure, so there is no need to track its behavior nor to set the rules for Crush damage.

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Double: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive 2 Curse Cubes as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting this Adventure, you must take 5 Runes of each color from the bag (a total of 25 Runes). Place all of them on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the board).

Special Preparation – Darkness Nodes: As in Chapter 02: each time a Pile of Runes is shown in a Setup (including during the First Setup, if any), you must place it there by taking 1 Rune of each color from the Initiative Track.

Special Mechanics – Tie Breaker: In order to remove a Pile of Runes and gain time, a Hero must be adjacent to a Pile of Runes and Expend 1 AC. If they do, take a number of Runes of their choice from that pile equal to 6, minus the number of Heroes and return them to the bag. In addition, that Hero gains either FOCUS 1 or CLEANSE 1. This counts as a Cube Action and can't be taken if there is an enemy adjacent to that Pile of Runes.

Special Mechanics – Fell Woodmen Raid: During this Adventure, there are creatures everywhere and they might attack at any time. Take the Hellspawn models, the Fell Woodman Scenario Monster card, and place the Dreadful Raid card at the end of the Initiative Track with face A up. Don't use Hellspawn as a random Monster. When the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must resolve its effects and then flip the card over (see page 10 for details). Next, you will move to a new phase of this Adventure, which will consist of a Special Encounter against the Soul Harvester. Thus, some special preparations need to be made (see the book, pages 114–115; these are not transcribed in this entry).

Special Mechanics – Magic Cannons: Mr. Brian Ross' Magic Cannons, located on the Pristine Swan, can shoot cannonballs imbued with arcane power that might have different effects. They seem to be the only thing capable of dealing real damage to the Soul Harvester's Armor. In order to shoot a Magic Cannon, a Hero must be adjacent to it and Expend 1 AC. Regardless of which Cannon is fired this way, you must flip both of them. (Their full effects are described on the book's pages 114–115 and are not transcribed in this entry.)

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when the following occurs: a Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Cutscene Trigger: Finally, when the Soul Harvester is defeated, read "Cutscene – The Hardest Choice" on page 116.

Startgame Trigger: After you have completed the following Setup and read all of these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure. The Setup uses Dungeon Tray 2 with Door 01 and the Monster placements shown on the setup diagram in the book (not reproduced here): 2 Chest Tokens, and Monsters G1, W2, G3, W4, G5 as Champion-rank Monsters with the 2+ to 5+ spawn thresholds shown on the diagram.

Chapter 09 – The Stand

Setup and rules text only. The narrative of this Chapter and of its Cutscenes is not reproduced. The Clarifications of the Awakened King's attacks (page 126 onwards) are not transcribed in this entry.

Darkness Spawning Rule – Seeds of Darkness: In this Adventure, Darkness will emerge from the 4 colored Spawning tokens on the board. Place the Darkness Awakening Rune card with side A up at the end of the Initiative Track. Whenever the Initiative Marker reaches it, you must: draw the indicated number of Runes (one at a time) and resolve the effects on the card: either placing a Chest or the respective Darkness tile on the board by using the Spawning token which matches the color of the drawn Rune as their Spawn Point (if you draw a blue Rune, the Party Leader chooses the source).

Darkness Behavior – Standard: The Darkness will chase the Strongest Hero that is not on top of Darkness. If all Heroes are on top of Darkness, skip that spawning and all Heroes take Y non-preventable damage where Y equals the number of Heroes instead. This effect is applied each time that a Darkness tile should be spawned but a tile is not placed and is called "the Crush."

Recall Action Curse Penalty – Double: Whenever a Hero takes a Recall Action (willingly or unwillingly), they receive 2 Curse Cubes as a penalty.

Special Preparation – Stirring Darkness: Before starting to play this Adventure, take 6 Runes of each color from the bag and place them on the Initiative Track (do not place their Darkness tiles on the board).

Special Preparation – Darkness Nodes: As in Chapter 02: each time a Pile of Runes is shown in a Setup (including during the First Setup, if any), you must place it there by taking 1 Rune of each color from the Initiative Track.

Special Mechanics – Purge: During this Adventure, a Hero may purge all of the Darkness tiles connected to a colored Spawning token by taking this special action. In order to do so, the Hero must be adjacent to a colored Spawning token and Expend 1 AC. If they do, remove all Darkness connected to that Spawning token and count the number of squares covered by those tiles. The Awakened King loses 1 Health per Darkness square (each shaped Darkness tile has between 2 and 6 of them). This counts as a Cube Action.

Boss Fight Preparation – Awakened King: The final clash against the recently awakened Awakened King has started. Therefore, follow these instructions carefully. Start with the standard preparations:

• Place the Undead King Boss Monster board face-up and set his initial Health according to the number of Heroes in this Adventure. The Undead King has 40 Health per Hero.
• Place the Awakened King's Attack cards on the Initiative Track in their indicated positions (matching their Runes) with their front face up. Whenever you are in doubt about these attacks, you can find Clarifications on page 126.
• Place 2 Time tokens on top of the Desperation Attack card.

NOTE: During this Adventure, you will need to use the shaped Darkness tiles that have so far never been summoned in your Awakenings Campaign. If you have never dealt with this Special Mechanics before, you can find details about it on page 44 of the Age of Darkness Rulebook.

Winning and Losing the Adventure: The Adventure fails immediately when the following occurs: A Hero is defeated by receiving more Curse Cubes (CC) or Trauma Cubes (TC) than they can hold. The Adventure ends successfully when a player reads an entry that says: "The Adventure ends here."

Start the Adventure: After you have completed the following Setup and read all these instructions, then you may begin to play the Adventure. The Setup uses Dungeon Tray 3 with 4 Chest Tokens, 1 Event Token (triggered by an Interaction), a Gray, Green, Red, and Orange Spawning Token, and the Map tile and Darkness layout shown on the setup diagram in the book (not reproduced here).

Endgame Trigger: This Adventure can end in two different ways, depending on your party's performance against the Soul Harvester. From now on, if your party is defeated for any reason, read "End of the Adventure – A Hero Undone" on page 50. This is not considered an Adventure failure. Otherwise, if the Scenario Commander is defeated, read "End of the Adventure – Baptism of Fire" on page 50 instead.

Clarifications – Battalions

A large-scale invasion is taking place on the peaceful archipelago and Monsters organized into small battalions can show up anywhere, anytime, to disrupt the Heroes' plans. Throughout your Adventures in the Awakenings Campaign, many effects will instruct you to summon a Monster Battalion NEAR a reference point. Whenever this is the case, consider the following rules:

• A reference point may be a Pile of Runes, a Spawning token, a Special Event token, or even other Objects. Each summoning effect will specify what its reference point is.
• NEAR means within Range 1 of that point, where each summoned Character will try to occupy an empty area (blue square), if possible.
• If it is impossible to place every Character in a separate area, the minimum number of Characters occupying the same area as possible must be respected.
• By following the restrictions mentioned above, the Party Leader can position the summoned Characters however they wish.
• For each Monster that you can't summon because the limit of 12 Monsters on the board has been reached, after summoning those that you can, you must issue two "Activate a Monster" commands. For example, if two Monsters could not be summoned, your party must Activate a Monster four times.
• When a Monster is activated by a general command like this, your party can choose which Monster will be activated, even if the chosen Monster wouldn't be able to reach the Heroes.
• However, no Monster can be activated twice in a row using the same command trigger.

NOTE: The summoning rule for a Monster Battalion is slightly different from that of a Minion Raid Party. Minions are summoned adjacent to their reference point, instead of near it.

These instructions are meant to cover all doubts about this mechanic. However, if any persist, the Party Leader has the power to decide how the rules should be interpreted.

Game Symbols and Tokens

The book's symbol page is an icon key. The token names are listed here as printed; the icons themselves are not reproduced.

Redundant Conditions (a Character can have only one of each of these at a time): KNOCK DOWN, RANGER'S MARK, SLOW, STEALTH, STUN, BRITTLE, POLYMORPH, RESTRAIN.

Stackable Resource Tokens (a Character can have up to 4 of each of these at a time): FOCUS, FRUIT OF LIFE, FURY, KI, SHIELD, ENTROPY.

Redundant Resource Tokens (a Character can have only one of each of these at a time): INSPIRATION.

Stackable Conditions (a Character can have up to 4 of each of these at a time): BLEED, BURN, CHAOS SEED, INTIMIDATE, POISON.

Additional Resource Tokens (a Character can hold as many of these as they want, to help them track additional resources they received): +1 DAMAGE, +1 MOVEMENT, +30 HEALTH.

Game Objects (usually placed on a Map tile, Monster card, Monster board, or Initiative Track): INITIATIVE; NPC (6 colors).

Reminder Tokens (usually placed on a Map tile, Monster card, Monster board, or Initiative Track): EVENT; SPECIAL MECHANIC; SPAWNING (5 colors).

Game Symbols (found on Monster cards or Map tiles, representing effects that are not tied to any Condition): BEAR TRAP, FIRE TRAP, POISON TRAP, DEFENSIVE TRAP, DIFFICULT TERRAIN, TIME, BANNER (Standee), LOOT, CHEST, STACK OF BARRELS, PILE OF CRATES, BOOKSHELF, STONE PILLAR, STONE FOUNTAIN, CHARGED INTERACTION, BARRICADE, PLENTY OF PROVISIONS, SPARE WOOD, MENDING ROPE, DREAD CANNON, MAGIC CANNON, LARGE MONSTER.