Runebound: Sands of Al-Kalim Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• The Adventure
• Components
  • Adventure Cards
  • Legendary Cards
  • Sands of Al-Kalim Ally Cards
  • Hero Cards and Figures
  • Quest Tiles
  • Lost City Tiles
  • Sandstorm Marker
• Game Board Overlay
  • Terrain Types
• Game Setup
• Player Turn Sequence
  • Step 1: Refresh and Decide Between Day and Night
  • Step 2: Movement
    • Movement During the Day
    • Lowlands and Dunes
    • Mirages
    • The Sandstorm
  • Step 3: Take an Adventure Step or a Story Step
    • Taking an Adventure Step
      • Life Value of Challenges
    • Taking a Story Step
      • A. Draw a Legendary Quest
• Quests and Victory
  • Winning the Game
  • Legendary Cards
    • Quest & Reward Types
  • Losing Legendary Rewards
  • Completing, Failing, or Discarding Quests
  • Discarding a Legendary Quest
• Other Rules
  • The Sunburst Icon
  • Moving the Sandstorm
    • Sandstorm Position
    • Sandstorm Movement
    • Hitting the Edge
  • Locations in Al-Kalim
  • Challenge Traits
  • Lost Cities
    • Lost City Effects
  • Survival Gear Effects
  • Story Effects
  • Effects of Night and Day

Object of the Game

The object of RUNEBOUND is determined by the adventure you are playing.

In Sands of Al-Kalim, the Hero players race to be the first to complete four Legendary Quests, each of which is part of a mystical story. The first Hero to complete his story (and keep the rewards) gains the prize of immortality, and his tale is added to the "Ninety-Nine Tales of Al-Kalim." So long as his story is retold throughout the ages, the Hero will live forever.

The Adventure

Sands of Al-Kalim differs from most RUNEBOUND adventures in that it does not include Encounter and Event cards that describe a set story. Rather, in this adventure, you tell the story! The heroes of every great tale have something in common: They all perform a daring deed. Along the way, some benefit from the aid of a courageous companion or a mighty mount. Others recover forgotten runes or acquire magical artifacts! Which path will you follow? What will the elements of your tale be? That is something only you can tell.

Heroes complete their stories by succeeding at four quests, chosen from five story elements: recruiting a faithful cohort, acquiring a mystical mount or other means of travel, finding a long-lost relic, crafting a powerful rune, and exploring an amazing locale. Each of these quest types grants an appropriate Legendary Reward: A Legendary Ally, a Legendary Artifact, a Legendary Rune, a Legendary Mount, or Legendary Knowledge. Once a player [sic: "a player a"] has four Legendary Rewards on his quest tile, he wins!

Components

• This Rulebook
• 1 Game Board Overlay
• 1 Sandstorm Marker
• 56 Adventure Challenge Cards (20 green, 16 yellow, 12 blue, 8 red)
• 25 Legendary Cards
• 23 Ally Cards
• 6 Hero Cards
• 6 Hero Figures
• 6 Quest Tiles
• 3 Lost City Tiles
• 20 Adventure Counters

Before you play your first game, carefully punch the cardboard pieces out of their frames.

Some of the components from your main RUNEBOUND game are used in the Sands of Al-Kalim adventure in the same way, while others have different uses or are replaced. The following components are either new to the game or have different uses in this variant.

Adventure Cards

The expansion includes new green, yellow, blue, and red adventure decks, which are comprised entirely of Challenges. These decks replace the adventure decks from your main RUNEBOUND board game. The original adventure decks may be set aside and will not be needed at all.

Legendary Cards

This expansion includes 25 two-sided Legendary cards. One side shows a Legendary Quest and describes what a Hero must do to complete the quest, and the other side shows the Legendary Reward, which describes the benefit (usually a tangible thing, such as an Item or Ally) that the Hero gains for completing the quest. The first player to acquire four Legendary Rewards wins the game.

Sands of Al-Kalim Ally Cards

These cards are set alongside the market deck from your main RUNEBOUND board game. Any time an Ally is drawn from the main RUNEBOUND market deck, it is discarded and a Sands of Al-Kalim Ally is drawn to replace it. This method is used because the traditional RUNEBOUND Allies of Terrinoth are not appropriate for the land of Al-Kalim; however, just like the Heroes, a few Allies may eventually stumble into this mystical land.

Hero Cards and Figures

Sands of Al-Kalim presents six new Heroes and their corresponding plastic Hero figures. You can use these Heroes instead of, or in addition to, the 12 Heroes from the main RUNEBOUND game.

Quest Tiles

Each player places his Hero card on this tile, which includes spaces for his four Legendary cards (both those he is currently attempting and those he has completed) and a marker that shows how many Legendary cards he may have (see "Drawing Legendary Quests" below).

Lost City Tiles

The Lost Cities of Al-Kalim are mythical places that do not remain long in the same spot, often disappearing into the desert sands and reappearing elsewhere. While difficult to find, each of them offers wondrous benefits to those who enter.

Sandstorm Marker

This powerful force of weather constantly plagues the lands of Al-Kalim, sometimes burying whole cities or obscuring entire trade routes. This marker will move, somewhat at the players' control and somewhat at random, throughout the game.

Game Board Overlay

The game board for Sands of Al-Kalim has a different appearance, and several entirely new types of terrain.

Terrain Types

• Roads: Roads are still the easiest way to travel.
• Bluffs: The rolling hills of Terrinoth are replaced by bluffs in Al-Kalim.
• Dunes: Al-Kalim is a dry and unforgiving place, and its wide open spaces are not fertile plains, as in Terrinoth. Instead, much of this land is occupied by the ever-shifting dunes of the desert. They are fairly easy to travel through, though they are plagued with bandits and beasts.
• Lowlands: What rare rivers and creeks exist in Al-Kalim are narrow, winding waterways, and plant life grows eagerly along their banks.
• Canyons: Al-Kalim does not boast the proud peaks of Terrinoth, so the mountains terrain symbol instead represents the deep chasms and canyons woven throughout the land, which are as difficult to traverse as any mountain.
• Barrens: Too dry to support swamps, this terrain symbol in Sands of Al-Kalim instead represents the cracked and lifeless barrens.
• Mirage: There are no dense forests in the lands of Al-Kalim. Instead, this terrain symbol represents a mirage of such a lush place, which may lead the traveler astray and cause him to take exhaustion (see "Step 2: Movement" below).

Game Setup

1. Unfold the RUNEBOUND game board and place it centrally on a large table. Place the Sands of Al-Kalim board overlay over the map area of the RUNEBOUND board, as shown in the accompanying diagram.
2. Place the Lost City tiles on the symbols next to their market stacks, as follows: Place the City of Faith tile on the 6th market stack, on the griffon symbol. Place the City of Dreams tile on the 7th market stack, on the stag symbol. Place the City of Clouds tile on the 8th market stack, on the eagle symbol.
3. Place an adventure counter faceup on each space of the board marked with an adventure jewel. Make sure that the color of the adventure counter matches the color of the adventure jewel (place a green counter on each green adventure jewel, a yellow counter on each yellow adventure jewel, and so on).
4. Shuffle the RUNEBOUND market deck and place it on the market deck space. Draw the top eight cards from the RUNEBOUND market deck, placing one faceup on each town market stack.
5. Shuffle the Sands of Al-Kalim Ally deck and place it next to the market deck, on the Event card space.
6. Separate the Legendary cards by type into five decks (Allies, Artifacts, Knowledge, Mounts, and Runes). Shuffle each deck so that the Legendary Reward side is up while you are shuffling, then place each deck, Legendary Quest side up, beside the board.
7. Set aside the sandstorm marker. It will come into play after the game begins.
8. Separate the adventure cards by color into four adventure decks (green, yellow, blue, and red). Shuffle each deck and place it where indicated on the board.
9. Place all gold, wound, exhaustion, adventure, and experience counters in a central pile where all the players can reach them.
10. Each player randomly chooses a Hero card to represent the Hero he will play in the game. Alternatively, players may agree amongst themselves which Heroes they will play. Each Hero card is placed on a quest tile in front of the player. Each player also begins the game with 3 gold.
11. Roll randomly to determine who goes first. Play will begin with the player who rolled highest, then proceed clockwise. In order from first to last player, before the game begins, each player takes the plastic Hero figure that corresponds to his Hero card and places it on a town space of his choice.

Game setup is now complete. The game is ready to begin.

Player Turn Sequence

All game rules are the same as in standard RUNEBOUND, except as described below. Two major changes are that there is no Market step in Sands of Al-Kalim, and on any turn a player may choose to take a Story step instead of an Adventure step.

Step 1: Refresh and Decide Between Day and Night

As usual, any activated cards are turned faceup.

In Sands of Al-Kalim, the active player must make a very important decision during this step: Whether he will travel during the day or during the night. The player simply announces his decision to the other players.

Traveling during the day exposes characters to the harshest desert conditions, but Heroes who choose to travel by night are more likely to run into very dangerous foes.

Step 2: Movement

As usual, your Hero has five movement dice (or four, if he or his Allies have any wound or exhaustion counters). However, moving during the day entails certain risks.

Movement During the Day

If your Hero rolls movement dice to move during the day, he and all of his Allies take 1 exhaustion. If any characters have already taken exhaustion equal to their fatigue, they take 1 wound instead. If you choose to rest but still roll some movement dice, you discard exhaustion encounters [sic: "counters" in source] before taking the 1 exhaustion.

Again, you only take this exhaustion if you roll dice to move during the day. You do not take the exhaustion if you spend all of your movement dice resting, choose to use uses only an Item or Mount [sic: "uses uses only" in source], or move to an adjacent space instead of rolling movement dice.

Lowlands and Dunes

The exhaustion you take from rolling dice to move during the day is ignored when you start your movement on a lowlands space, and doubled when you start your movement on dunes space. That is, your Hero and Allies do not take exhaustion from rolling movement dice if you start your movement in a lowlands space, but your Heroes and all of your Allies take 2 exhaustion if you roll movement dice when starting your movement in a dunes space.

Mirages

For each forest/mirage symbol you roll on movement dice during the day, your Hero and all Allies take an additional 1 exhaustion. If you choose to rest but still roll some movement dice, you discard exhaustion counters before taking the exhaustion from rolling mirage symbols. Lowlands and dunes do not eliminate or double the exhaustion caused by mirages.

Example: Talhia [sic: "Thalia" in the rest of the example] the Thief begins her Movement step on a barrens space, during the day. She currently has 1 exhaustion and 1 Ally with no exhaustion or wounds, so she may roll 4 movement dice. However, she chooses to rest, rolling only 3 movement dice and discarding 1 exhaustion from Thalia. Thalia's player rolls 1 dunes/plains symbol, 1 road symbol, and 1 mirage/forest symbol. Thalia and her Ally must each take 2 exhaustion: 1 for rolling dice for movement during the day, and 1 more for rolling the mirage symbol. Finally, after taking this exhaustion, Thalia uses the movement dice to move, as in the base game.

If Thalia had begun her movement on a dunes space, she and her Ally would have taken a total of 3 exhaustion: 2 for rolling dice when starting movement on a dunes symbol, and 1 more for the mirage symbol.

If Thalia had begun her movement on a lowlands space, she and her Ally would have taken a total of 1 exhaustion: none for rolling dice when starting movement on a dunes symbol, but still the 1 exhaustion for rolling the mirage symbol.

Thalia and her Ally would have taken no exhaustion at all if she had moved during the night, used all her movement dice to rest, or chosen to move into an adjacent space instead of rolling movement dice.

The Sandstorm

Spaces covered by the sandstorm effectively have no terrain, so movement dice cannot be spent to enter or leave such spaces. Items and other special card abilities that grant free movement may allow a Hero to travel through the sandstorm. The only way to move into or out of sandstorm spaces is by rolling no movement dice so that you may move to a single adjacent space.

Step 3: Take an Adventure Step or a Story Step

In Sands of Al-Kalim, if you must take either an Adventure step or a Story step, as described below.

Taking an Adventure Step

As usual, if you end your movement in a space with an adventure counter, you may choose to attempt the adventure, thus taking an Adventure step. You may only take an Adventure step if you attempt the adventure; you may choose not to attempt the adventure, but then you must take a Story step instead. You may not attempt an adventure if its adventure counter is covered by the sandstorm marker.

Life Value of Challenges

The Adventure step is resolved normally, except that Challenges in Sands of Al-Kalim have varying Life values depending on whether it is day or night. The top Life value (above the heart) is used if the Challenge is attempted at night, while the bottom Life value (below the heart) is used if the Challenge is attempted during the day.

Most Challenges have lower Life values during the day, given that they have suffered from the heat and harsh environment of the desert. A few, however, such as the Crusaders of Kellos and some cold-blooded creatures, either have a special affinity for the sun or are simply more active during the day. These Challenges are stronger during the day and weaker at night.

Taking a Story Step

If you do not take an Adventure step, you must take a Story step.

During the Story step, a player must perform one of the following actions: Draw a Legendary Quest card, roll the story die, or explore a bazaar. He may only perform one of these actions.

A player may only roll the story die if his Hero is outside a town, and he may only explore a bazaar if his Hero is inside a town.

Most quests require Heroes to perform one or more of these actions in a specific location.

A. Draw a Legendary Quest

If a player's Hero has fewer Legendary cards (whether quest side up or reward side up) than allowed by his Legendary card limit (see "Drawing Legendary Quests" below), he may draw a new Legendary Quest card. As explained under "Drawing Legendary Quests," players must spend experience points before they are allowed to draw their first Legendary Quest.

B. Roll the Story Die

If a player's Hero ends his movement outside of a town and does not draw a Legendary Quest, he must roll a single movement die, referred to in this case as a story die. Each terrain symbol on the story die causes one story effect, which are described in the "Story Effects" sidebar on the back of this rulebook [sic: no period in source]. Rather than the player choosing one symbol from among those on the die face, however, as is the case during movement, all of the symbols on the rolled face cause story effects. The active player decides the order in which the effects are resolved.

Nighttime Ambushes

Traveling at night is risky in the Sands of Al-Kalim. If a player is traveling at night and rolls a dunes symbol on the Story die, he must immediately draw an adventure card and resolve it. The deck from which the adventure card is drawn is determined by the color of the adventure counter on the active player's quest tile (see "Drawing Legendary Quests" below). If the active player has no adventure counter on his quest tile (which will be the case early on in the game), he draws from the green adventure deck.

When resolving this challenge, all escape tests are made at a -10 penalty. Furthermore, if you defeat the Challenge, you do not receive the reward listed on the card, although you do receive the experience points listed on the card, taking the appropriate adventure counters from the central pile (as per the "Travel Hazards" variant on page 10 of the base RUNEBOUND rulebook).

Nighttime travel in the Al-Kalim should not to be undertaken lightly!

C. Explore the Bazaar

If a player's Hero ends his movement in a town and does not draw a Legendary Quest, he must explore the bazaar.

A Hero may not explore the bazaar if the sandstorm is currently covering the town he is in; instead, he must either draw a Legendary Quest or roll the story die.

Exploring a bazaar is similar to the Market step in the base RUNEBOUND game. First, the active player draws a card from the market deck and adds it to the town's market stack. Then he may buy and sell items, hire an Ally, or heal, as usual. However, Allies work somewhat differently in Al-Kalim, and Heroes may also purchase survival gear, as explained below. Exploring the bazaar of a specific town may also fulfill a quest's completion requirements.

Allies

If an Ally is drawn from the main RUNEBOUND market deck, it is discarded and a Sands of Al-Kalim Ally is drawn to replace it. If the Sands of Al-Kalim Ally deck runs out, simply use the normal Allies as drawn.

Survival Gear

Exploring a bazaar also allows a player to purchase survival gear. Survival gear includes the basic necessities for travel in the desert. This gear may be purchased in any town, and never appears in the market stack. Rather, it is represented by cardboard counters. Each counter has a different game effect related to travel in Sands of Al-Kalim, as described below.

You only purchase a maximum of one of each type of survival gear during a single Story step. If none of a given type are available (because they have all been purchased), you may not purchase that type of gear until one is discarded. Survival gear counters count as items for all game purposes. All survival gear counters are discarded when your Hero is knocked out.

#The source does not print a "Step 4" heading; its steps run from Step 3 to Step 5 as printed.

Step 5: Experience

As usual, if you have enough experience points to purchase an experience counter, you may do so.

Additionally, when you spend experience points, you must check to see if you should place a spent adventure counter in the appropriate space on your Hero's quest tile, as explained under "Drawing Legendary Quests," below.

Finally, when spending experience points during the Experience step, players have the option to discard a Legendary Quest, as discussed under "Discarding a Legendary Quest," below.

Drawing Legendary Quests

The adventure counter on your quest tile limits the total number of Legendary cards that you may have, including both your incomplete Legendary Quests and your Legendary Rewards. The first time a Hero spends experience points to gain an experience counter, one of the adventure counters is not returned to the pool. Instead, it is placed number side up on the Hero's quest tile, to indicate how many Legendary cards the Hero is allowed to have. If, during a later Experience step, a player spends an adventure counter that has a higher number on it than the adventure counter currently on his quest tile, he replaces the lower-numbered adventure counter with the higher-numbered adventure counter.

Players may draw a Legendary Quest during the Story step. If a player has a higher-number counter on his quest tile than he has Legendary cards, he may draw a Legendary Quest and place it, quest side up, on his quest tile. Players draw new Legendary Quests from the top of one of the five Legendary stacks, and may examine the quest sides of the top cards before choosing.

Important: A player may only draw one Legendary Quest per Story step, and a player may not draw a Legendary card of the same type (Artifact, Mount, etc.) as he already has on his quest tile.

Example: Frank is playing a 5-player game. The first time he levels up, Frank spends a green "1" adventure counter and a yellow "2" adventure counter, acquired by defeating a green and a yellow Challenge, to gain a "+2" experience counter. Instead of putting both adventure counters back into the pool, he places one of those counters number side up on his quest tile. This shows that he may have a maximum of 2 Legendary cards; on his next Story step, since [sic: source omits "he"] has no Legendary cards, he may draw one.

The first time a player spend adventure counters [sic], he spends a green "1" counter and a yellow "2" counter. He places the "2" counter as shown on his quest tile. This reminds him that he may have a maximum of 2 total Legendary cards. If he begins his Story step with fewer than 2 Legendary cards, he may draw a Legendary Quest card.

Later in the game, after defeating a blue Challenge, Frank's Hero is once again ready to purchase an experience counter. He spends his blue adventure counter and sees that its experience-point number, 3, is higher than the yellow "2" counter currently on his quest tile. He therefore, in addition to gaining another "+2" experience counter, replaces the "2" yellow adventure counter on his quest tile with the "3" blue adventure counter. He may now have a total of 3 Legendary cards.

Captions to the page 5 illustrations: "As you draw Legendary Quest cards, they are placed vertically on the bottom of your quest tile, as shown. This allows you to separate your Legendary cards from your other Items, Allies, and special cards."

Quests and Victory

Winning the Game

The first Hero to have four Legendary Rewards of four different types wins! Note that Legendary Rewards may be lost or discarded (see "Losing Legendary Rewards" below); a player's Hero must have four Legendary Rewards on his quest tile in order to win the game.

Legendary Cards

Legendary cards do not have fronts and backs. Rather, they have Legendary Quest sides, which describe how your Hero can complete the quest, and Legendary Reward sides, which are special abilities and Items that your Hero may use during the game. While your Hero is undertaking a quest (in which case the quest is "incomplete"), it remains quest side up. When a quest has been completed, it is turned reward side up and may be used as described on the card.

Quest & Reward Types

• Legendary Allies: Legendary Allies are courageous cohorts and faithful friends. If your Hero can complete one of these Legendary Quests, he gains a Legendary Ally as a reward. Legendary Allies do not count toward the limit of two Allies. Also, Legendary Allies are never discarded when a Hero is knocked out, and cannot be taken by other Heroes who defeat your Hero in combat. However, Legendary Allies are characters, and can be killed as normal.
• Legendary Artifacts: Legendary Artifacts grant your Hero complete mastery over a single skill, and provide edges and abilities that make travel in the lands of Al-Kalim significantly easier.
• Legendary Locations: Legendary Locations are hidden places or dangerous fortresses, places where only fools or heroes would dare to tread. Infiltrating your foes' bases of power gives you essential insight into how to fight them.
• Legendary Mounts: Legendary Mounts allow your Hero to move more easily across the harsh landscape of Al-Kalim, and ensure success at some skill tests.
• Legendary Runes: Legendary Runes must be crafted, not found. Legendary Runes' powerful effects can only be used three times before their magic dissipates. Legendary Runes with no more uses still count for victory, however.

Losing Legendary Rewards

Legendary Rewards can never be discarded due to knockouts, nor can they be taken from a Hero after player vs. player combat. However, Legendary Allies can be killed by suffering damage, some Challenges may force players to discard Legendary cards, and Legendary Quests are discarded if a Hero fails at them (see below).

Completing, Failing, or Discarding Quests

Your Hero continues to undertake his current quest until he succeeds, fails, or chooses to discard it. Each Legendary Quest is unique, as are its success conditions. Some require that your Hero defeat Challenges in certain terrain types or in certain locations (indicated by the text labels on the game board overlay). Others require your Hero to explore the bazaars in certain towns, or to perform skill tests after rolling the story die.

Failure, on the other hand, generally happens in the same manner for all quests: If your Hero fails a skill test that is required by the quest, your Hero has failed that quest. You must immediately discard it, placing it at the bottom of the appropriate Legendary deck. You may draw a new Legendary Quest to replace it during your next Story step. Note that this stipulation does not include failing a skill test while resolving a Challenge, or failing to defeat a Challenge at all, even if the defeat of a Challenge is part of the quest.

Discarding a Legendary Quest

Each time you spend experience points, whether or not it increases the number of Legendary cards you may have, you may voluntarily discard an incomplete Legendary Quest. You may want to do this if you have drawn a quest that requires a set of skill tests that you don't think your Hero can overcome, or that requires travel to a far-off region. You could largely ignore the quest, and eventually, when you spend adventure counters to gain an experience counter during an Experience step, you could discard that quest. During your next Story step, you would then have one (or more) fewer Legendary cards on your quest tile, and so may draw a new quest during that Story step.

If your total number of Legendary cards after discarding an incomplete quest is still less than the number of Legendary cards allowed to your Hero (which would occur if you both increased your Legendary card limit and discarded a Legendary Quest in the same Experience step), you must wait until the next Story step to draw another Legendary Quest.

Other Rules

The Sunburst Icon

The sunburst icon, which is found on Event cards in the base RUNEBOUND game, appears at the top of some Challenge cards in the Sands of Al-Kalim expansion. When a Challenge with the sunburst icon is drawn, players first replenish adventure counters, then the active player moves the sandstorm marker, and finally the Challenge is resolved as normal:

1. Replenish Adventure Counters: Whenever a Challenge card with the sunburst icon is drawn, before resolving the Challenge, replenish adventure counters on the board, following the rules on page 5 of the base RUNEBOUND rulebook.
2. Move the Sandstorm: After replenishing adventure jewels, the active player must also move the sandstorm marker, as described below.
3. Resolve Challenge: After moving the sandstorm, the Hero resolves the challenge normally.

Moving the Sandstorm

The first time that either "The Winds Blow" (lowlands) symbol is rolled on a story die or a Challenge card with a sunburst icon is drawn, the sandstorm marker is placed on the board. It should be placed in the center of the board, with the center of the sandstorm placed directly on the canyon location labeled "Prison of the Efreet." The active player decides the starting direction of the wind, rotating the sandstorm until the two wind direction arrows match the direction he wishes.

Then, and every additional time that either the "The Winds Blow" (lowlands) symbol is rolled on a story die or a Challenge card with a sunburst is drawn, the sandstorm moves two spaces in the directions pointed to by the wind direction arrows. The active player chooses which arrow or arrows the sandstorm follows; it may follow first one arrow, then the other, or it may follow the same arrow twice. The sandstorm may cover towns, adventure jewels, and even Hero figures (though Hero figures should be lifted up and placed atop the corresponding space on the sandstorm marker to signify that they are caught within it).

The sandstorm affects the map and Hero figures in the following ways:

• When an adventure jewel or town is covered by the sandstorm, it cannot be accessed by a Hero for an Adventure step or to explore the bazaar.
• When a terrain space is covered by the sandstorm, it becomes a new type of terrain, "sandstorm." Heroes cannot enter sandstorm spaces with the terrain symbols on movement dice, since there is no symbol for it on the dice. Hero figures may move into spaces covered by a sandstorm, however, using bonus movement from Items or cards (or from the pack camel counter), so long as the movement does not rely on a named terrain type. Hero figures may also move into spaces covered by a sandstorm by using the special movement option of choosing to neither rest nor roll movement dice, instead simply moving into one adjacent space.

If the sandstorm ever ends its movement with one of the wind direction arrows pointing off the map (meaning that it's on the edge of the board), the sandstorm should be rotated clockwise until no arrows point off the map. (See the "Hitting the Edge" example.)

The sandstorm also changes direction (on step clockwise [sic]) when the "The Winds Change Course" (barrens) symbol is rolled on the story die.

Sandstorm Position

The first time the "Winds Blow" story effect is rolled on the story die, the sandstorm is placed as shown in the diagram (though the arrows may point differently). [Diagram: sandstorm placed over the Blessed Valley area.]

Sandstorm Movement

When the sandstorm moves because of the story die, it needn't move both of its spaces in the same direction. As shown in the diagram, it may move its first space in the direction of one arrow, then move its second space in the direction of the other arrow.

Hitting the Edge

[Diagram: three steps showing the sandstorm rotated clockwise until no wind arrow points off the map; step 3 is marked as correct.]

Locations in Al-Kalim

Many of the Legendary Quest cards refer to specific locations on the Sands of Al-Kalim board overlay. A location consists of all the hex spaces underneath a location's text label, as well as all the hex spaces that are both of the same type as and contiguous to the spaces underneath the text label.

For example, the Fields of Fertility consists of the 6 lowlands spaces in the upper right of the board. In another example, the Desert of Eternity consists of 9 dunes spaces; the space labeled "The Bleeding Sands" is part of the Desert of Eternity.

Challenge Traits

Each Challenge in Sands of Al-Kalim has a trait, indicated by the term in italics beneath the Challenge's name. For example, the "Sinkhole Lasher" has the italicized word "Abomination" underneath its name, indicating that the Challenge has the "Abomination" trait.

Other cards state they affect Abominations, indicating that their effect only applies to cards with the "Abomination" trait.

Lost Cities

The Lost Cities of Al-Kalim come and go with the wind. They are as ephemeral as thought, and yet he who finds one may gain treasures beyond his wildest dreams.

Each of the Lost City tiles begins the game next to the market stack that shares its heraldry, as shown in the Lost Cities diagram. A player who rolls the "A Lost City Appears" (canyons) symbol on the story die may take any Lost City tile from its heraldic symbol and place it on his Hero's current space. He may then immediately explore that town's bazaar, and gain the benefits of doing so as listed under "Lost City Effects," below. For as long as the Lost City remains in that space, any Hero who ends his or her Movement step there may explore the city's bazaar (as if it were a town) and the city's special effect.

If all three of the Lost Cities are on the map when the "A Lost City Appears" (canyons) symbol is rolled on the story die, all of the Lost City tiles are returned to their heraldic symbols next to their market stacks. No Lost City is placed on the map that turn.

Lost City Effects

• City of Faith: A player whose Hero explores the bazaar here may discard all wounds from his Hero and Allies.
• City of Dreams: A player whose Hero explores the bazaar here may browse the top 5 cards from the market deck, choosing the one he wishes to add to the market stack. The rest are shuffled back into the market deck.
• City of Clouds: A player whose Hero explores the bazaar here may move his Hero figure to any space on the board at the start of his Experience step.

Survival Gear Effects

• Pack Camel (1 gold): Discard during your Movement step to move your Hero figure one space into any terrain.
• Water Skin (1 gold): Discard at the end of your Movement step to cancel all exhaustion or wounds dealt to your Hero and Allies from mirages and rolling movement dice during the day.
• Adventuring Kit (1 gold): Discard after rolling the dice to receive a +3 bonus to a skill test.

Story Effects

Each terrain symbol rolled on the story die causes the following effect. All symbols on the rolled face take effect, and the active player chooses the order.

• Dunes Symbol (Creatures Stir): The hero becomes suddenly aware of the threats that lurk in this harsh land.
  • If it is day: The active player may choose to replenish one adventure counter. He may choose any adventure jewel space, even those without sunbursts around them, as long as there is not already an adventure counter on it.
  • If it is night: The player must draw and resolve an adventure card, as described under "Nighttime Ambushes" above.
• Road Symbol (A Well Is Found): The hero and his companions come upon an old well sunk into a hillside, and partake of its strength-giving water. Your Hero and his Allies each discard 1 exhaustion.
• Lowlands Symbol (The Winds Blow): A breeze begins to pick up, and sand swirls up from the dunes. Somewhere, a mighty sandstorm roils across the landscape. Move the sandstorm marker two spaces. (See "Moving the Sandstorm" above.)
• Bluffs Symbol (Stolen Gold Is Recovered): Your Hero stumbles upon a spot of freshly-dug earth. Poking at it for a bit, they find a hastily concealed sack of coins, either hidden by bandits or buried by animals! Your Hero receives 1 gold.
• Barrens Symbol (The Winds Change Course): A sudden shift in the wind may bring ill tidings or good news. Rotate the sandstorm marker so that the wind's current direction has turned one space clockwise.
• Canyons Symbol (A Lost City Appears): At first the travelers thought it must be a mirage... but then the shimmering in the air solidifies into a vista of beautiful towers and extravagant gardens! Place a Lost City tile on your Hero's current space, and you may immediately explore its bazaar.
• Mirage Symbol (A Dream of Paradise): The travelers awake from a beautiful dream of green trees and cool water. Your Hero and Allies each discard 1 wound, and you must roll the story die again.

Effects of Night and Day

Whether your Hero chooses to travel at night or during the day has a variety of effects.

Exhaustion

As discussed under "Step 2: Movement," traveling during the day affects the Movement step. When traveling during the day, a Hero and all his Allies take:

• 2 exhaustion if you roll movement dice starting in a dunes space
• 0 exhaustion if you roll movement dice starting in a lowlands space
• 1 exhaustion if you roll movement dice starting in any other type of terrain

Additionally, for each mirage symbol you roll on movement dice during the day, your Hero and all of his Allies take an additional 1 exhaustion.

Life Values of Challenges

If your Hero attempts a Challenge during the night, the Challenge uses its top Life value, the one above the heart symbol. If your Hero attempts a Challenge during the day, the Challenge uses its bottom Life value, the one below the heart symbol.

Creatures Stir

As explained in the "Story Effects" section, when the dunes symbol is rolled on the story die, it has different effects depending on whether the active player is traveling during the night or the day.

When a dunes symbol is rolled on the story die during the day, the active player may replenish one adventure counter, even on a jewel space without the sunburst icon.

When a dunes symbol is rolled on the story die during the night, the active player must draw and resolve a Challenge, as described under "Nighttime Ambushes" above.