Thunderstone Quest: What Lies Beneath
Thunderstone Quest: What Lies Beneath Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Unpacking the Box
This box should include the following components. If it does not, please visit our website at https://alderac.com/customer-service for assistance. Please note that this is an expansion to Thunderstone Quest and is not a stand-alone game.
- 1 Quest 6 What Lies Beneath, the full contents of which are featured in the Questbook (see pages 7-8)
- 1 copy of each Monster, Hero, Item, Spell, and Weapon from What Lies Beneath, to be used in Epic Mode
- 1 What Lies Beneath Rulebook/Questbook
Prestige Class Boards
Prestige Class boards are dual-sided: One side for use in Barricades Mode (cooperative play) and one side which may be used (optionally) in competitive games. Rules for Barricades Mode are covered in the Barricades Mode expansion's Rulebook. When playing competitive games, a new 11b setup step for the Thunderstone Quest Rulebook is added to the end of step 11. Starting with the first Champion and proceeding in turn order, each Champion may choose 1 Prestige Class with which to play. Then Champions select their Side Quests and/or Guild Sponsorships as normal.
Prestige Classes are a new board that allows you to train in a specialized class, gaining new powers as you gain Ranks. The training section (top) of each Prestige Class board explains how to gain 1 Rank (Rank arrow) in your Prestige Class or potentially 2 Ranks (two Rank arrows) at once. The Rank numbers are to the right of the XP cost. These Ranks cost XP to gain, as listed on the left-hand side of the board within the Rank to which you are going. You must pay the XP cost of each Rank you gain. If the listed XP cost cannot be paid that turn for the 1 or 2 Ranks you earned, the new Rank(s) are not gained. You do not start with any Ranks in your Prestige Class, and Ranks must be gained in order; they cannot be skipped. When a Rank is gained, it will unlock new powers for your benefit. Sometimes, this may give you a new ability ready to use that turn, such as a SPOILS ability.
Monster Hunter Board (Rank Track)
The top of the board reads:
- Monster Hunter
- Gain 1 Rank: Defeat 1 Monster that deals you a Wound.
- Gain 1 or 2 Ranks: Defeat 1 Monster, but without a Hero.
- (Once per turn, after you complete 1 of the above, pay the XP cost listed below for each of the 1 or 2 new Ranks, or nothing is gained.)
The Rank track, from Rank 1 upward, is printed as follows. Each Rank shows the XP cost to gain it and the effect when it is gained or held:
| Rank | XP cost to gain | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | You may ignore Alert! effects from Monsters. |
| 2 | 1 | DUNGEON: Discard 1 Hero⁺ to heal 1 Wound. |
| 3 | 2 | This Prestige Class is worth 6 VP (when the game ends). |
| 4 | 4 | When you gain this Rank, gain the Legendary Hero Sladrek the Werewolf. |
| 5 | 5 | Your Legendary Heroes have +1 Gold. |
| 6 | 6 | This Prestige Class is instead worth 3 VP per Rank you have. |
| 7 | 8 | When you gain this Rank, gain the Legendary Hero Alpha Prince. |
| 8 | 9 |
Note on the transcription: the Rank 2 Hero icon carries a small superscript "+" that the scan does not render legibly enough to decode with certainty. It is reproduced here as "Hero⁺" as printed. Read the physical board for the exact qualifier.
Heroes
Heroes are an optional addition for Thunderstone Quest, giving you the opportunity to train your Heroes even further, making them even more powerful than ever before.
Even though Heroes are Legendary cards, they function in exactly the same way as other experienced Heroes. When you choose the cards you are going to play with during setup, place the Legendary Heroes at the bottom of their respective Hero stacks, below the level 2 Heroes. Only play with 1 copy of each Legendary Hero. While not in use, store the Legendary Heroes in the box with their respective level 1-3 Heroes.
You can level your Legendary Heroes into Legendary Heroes in exactly the same way as you level other Heroes. This will usually cost 5 XP (the current Hero's printed level +2).
Guardians
The Barricades Mode expansion introduced Guardians, giving the players a cooperative challenge to overcome in order to save the Village and claim victory. The Guardian for the What Lies Beneath Quest is included for use when playing the Barricades Mode expansion. The solo version of Hive Mind is used during solitaire games, and the co-op version is used during regular cooperative games.
Hive Mind
Hive Mind controls all that it sees, and the Champions are no different. It will scramble your decks up, discarding your cards into other Champions' discard piles, making your decks too inefficient for battling. You might even find brainless, inexperienced Adventurers following you around, clogging up your deck. Against a solo opponent, it has a different bag of tricks.
DIFFICULTY: 4 crown icons.
Transcription gap: the Hive Mind card's ability text (its three abilities and the end-of-turn effect) is printed in a size the scan cannot resolve, so it cannot be transcribed reliably here. Read the card itself for those abilities.
Diseased Wounds
Diseased Wounds are a new type of Wound card. Permanently shuffle these together with the Festering Wounds to form the Wound card deck. Draw from this combined Wound deck when required in all modes of Thunderstone Quest. Put destroyed Wound cards on the bottom of the deck.
Questbook
Quest 6: What Lies Beneath is a Quest for Thunderstone Quest. The Questbook gives the full contents of the Quest (see pages 7-8). The Quest is played through three adventures: Look Out Below, Descent into Darkness and Secrets Unearthed.
Quest 6: What Lies Beneath Quest Card List
Heroes
- 15x Graeme Crawford
- 15x Khomros
- 15x Ophialyn the Tracker
- 15x Runiva Highstone
- 15x Uvina the Delver
- 15x Wiltran Proudmore
Items
- 8x Bracers of Cleansing
- 8x Neverending Rope Spool
- 8x Studded Leather Shirt
- 8x Wand of Illumination
Spells
- 8x Acid Burst
- 8x Ascendance
- 8x Cure Disease
- 8x Haste
Weapons
- 8x Bastard Sword
- 8x Battlepick
- 8x Cleaner's Net
- 8x The Five Points
Monsters, Level I (Drain Dwellers) — 10x Drain Dwellers: 2x Alligator, 2x Black Swine, 2x Mutated Frog, 2x Raccoon Ravager, 2x Sewer Snake. 10x Plague Rats: 10x Plague Rat Swarm.
Monsters, Level II (Ghoulish Scavengers) — 10x Ghoulish Scavengers: 2x Elthrakk, 2x Ghoul Champion, 2x Ghoul Glutton, 2x Ghoul Scrounger, 2x Queen Nerrigogg. 10x Sewer Trogs: 2x Chief Gis'rozal, 2x Trog Berserker, 2x Trog Cleric, 2x Trog Scout, 2x Trog Weaponmaster.
Monsters, Level III (Shapeless Spawns) — 10x Shapeless Spawns: 2x Aberrant Lurker, 2x Glom, 2x Mindless Trog, 2x Spawning Pod, 2x Tentacula. 10x Waste Wyrms: 2x Giant Centipede, 2x Muck Leeches, 2x Purple Worm, 2x Shocking Eel, 2x Spectral Worm.
Guardian
- Hive Mind (difficulty: 4 shields)
Legendaries
- 1x Meteor Shower
- 1x Sladrek the Weretrog
Treasures
- 1x Hendrik the Brainless
- 2x Treasure Cache
- 1x True Vision
- 1x Ward of Healing
Prestige Class
- 1x Monster Hunter
Side Quests
- 1x Avoiding the Plague
- 1x Dominate the Weretrog
- 1x Plague Doctor
- 1x Research the Legend
- 1x Treasure Hunter
Other
- 24x Diseased Wound Cards
- 7x Guardian Guides
- 26x Paper Dividers
- 26x Plastic Dividers
- 24x Randomizers
- 20x Spare Adventurers
Dungeon Rooms
- Junction
- Rat Nest
- Ghoul Nest
- Trog Village
- Arches
- Catacombs
Risen from the Mire (sidebar, page 8): Some of the Adventure Card Lists feature cards from Quest 3: Risen from the Mire and Quest 1: A Mirror in the Dark. If you do not own the expansion, replace the cards with a similar type from another Quest that you own. For example, Regalen from Risen from the Mire could be replaced with another Wizard like Runiva Highstone from this Quest or Scathian from Quest 1: A Mirror in the Dark.
Look Out Below
The Look Out Below chapter opens with a narrative story (page 9). The story is flavour fiction and is not reproduced here.
Adventure Card List: Look Out Below (pages 10-11)
- Heroes: Graeme Crawford; Regalen (found in Quest 3: Risen from the Mire); Uvina the Delver; Wiltran Proudmore
- Items: Bracers of Cleansing; Neverending Rope Spool; Wand of Illumination
- Weapons: Bastard Sword; Battlepick; Cleaner's Net
- Spells: Acid Burst; Haste
- Monsters: Plague Rats; Sewer Trogs; Waste Wyrms
- Guardian: Hive Mind
- Room Tiles: Junction; Rat Nest; Ghoul Nest; Trog Village; Arches; Catacombs
- Lair: Hive Mind's Lair (Co-Op Mode), described below
Descent into Darkness
The Descent into Darkness chapter opens with a narrative story (page 12). The story is flavour fiction and is not reproduced here.
Adventure Card List: Descent into Darkness (pages 13-14)
- Heroes: Baharan (found in Quest 3: Risen from the Mire); Khomros; Ophialyn the Tracker; Runiva Highstone
- Items: Crystal of Scrying (found in Quest 3: Risen from the Mire); Neverending Rope Spool; Studded Leather Shirt
- Spells: Acid Burst; Ascendance; Charm Monster (found in Quest 3: Risen from the Mire)
- Weapons: Boomerang (found in Quest 3: Risen from the Mire); The Five Points
- Monsters: Drain Dwellers; Ghoulish Scavengers; Waste Wyrms
- Guardian: Hive Mind
- Room Tiles: Junction; Rat Nest; Ghoul Nest; Trog Village; Arches; Catacombs
- Lair: Hive Mind's Lair (Co-Op Mode), described below
Secrets Unearthed
The Secrets Unearthed chapter opens with a narrative story (page 15). The story is flavour fiction and is not reproduced here.
Adventure Card List: Secrets Unearthed (pages 16-17)
- Heroes: Khomros; Silverhelm (found in Quest 1: A Mirror in the Dark); Uvina the Delver; Wiltran Proudmore
- Items: Bracers of Cleansing; Studded Leather Shirt
- Monsters: Ensnaring Vines (found in Quest 3: Risen from the Mire); Shapeless Spawns; Spider Terrors (found in Quest 1: A Mirror in the Dark)
- Spells: Acid Burst; Ascendance; Cure Disease
- Weapons: Battlepick; Cleaner's Net; The Five Points
- Guardian: Hive Mind
- Room Tiles: Junction; Rat Nest; Ghoul Nest; Trog Village; Arches; Catacombs
- Lair: Hive Mind's Lair (Co-Op Mode), described below
Hive Mind's Lair (Co-Op Mode)
Hive Mind's Lair is the co-operative-mode lair card shown with each adventure's card list (pages 11, 14 and 17). It carries a Threat Level track with Threat Levels 1, 2 and 3 over spaces 1 to 8. Its three abilities are printed as the PSYCHIC STAR, CONFUSION and AWED DEVOTEE entries, and its footer gives the turn-by-turn rule for advancing the Threat token and flipping the Lair.
Transcription gap: at the scan's resolution the text of the three abilities and the footer rule cannot be read reliably, so they are not reproduced here. Read the printed card for the exact wording.
How Many Levels Have You Cleared?
Page 19 is a tick-off record. Check the box beside each Hive Mind level you have cleared: level IV, level V, level VI and level VII. The page is illustrated with the Hive Mind figure.
Campaign Log
Keep track of your Campaigns over time, recording how many games the Campaign was, the final score, and most importantly, the winner's name.
Page 18 is a blank record form with rows labelled PLAYERS, WIN/LOSS and DATE. The blank rows are not reproduced.
FAQ
Alert! Effects. Alert! effects are expanding in use, being featured on many Village cards. Alert! effects trigger when the card's text normally would not. Uvina the Delver, for example, allows you to buy a Gear token when she is discarded directly from your deck. Some Prestige Classes and cards allow you to ignore Alert! effects. If so, choose with each effect whether or not to ignore that effect.
Is Hive Mind immune to Weapons wielded by Heroes as well? Yes. Weapons usually boost the Hero's Attack value rather than providing their own value.
Does Studded Leather Shirt have a Skill requirement? Yes. Some Items, such as Studded Leather Shirt, have a Skill requirement to wield, taking away the Hero's available Skill for Weapons. Like Weapons, if these Items are not wielded, you cannot use their text or values, though they still produce Gold.
How do you battle multiple Monsters? If you are battling multiple Monsters at once (e.g., Spawning Pod), you must have a high enough Attack value to defeat all Monsters' combined XP. Resolve the effects of all Monsters you battle. You suffer the penalties of all Monsters you are battling and, if you win, gain all of their rewards. If a room boosts the Monsters' values, such as Health, XP, or Wounds, it boosts the values of each Monster in the room.
Does the Black Swine's After Battle ability give you a choice or do you only gain 1 [white icon] if you cannot destroy a Weapon? If you have a Weapon, you may choose to either destroy it or gain 1 [red icon]. If you do not have any Weapons, you must gain 1 [red icon].
Transcription note: the two icons in this FAQ entry are small and the scan does not resolve them more closely. The question's icon is printed white and the answer's icon red, as printed. Read the page for the exact symbols.