Encounter Cards
54 cards, 9 per tile, fixed reward composition: 2 Common spell, 2 Benediction, 1 gold, 1 Uncommon item, 1 Arcane spell, 1 Rare item, 1 Focus token. Spend a Benediction before the test to bypass the roll entirely for the Benediction Branch outcome.
Ashpeak
Whispers of the Forge-Priest
An old forge-priest, half-mad from the heat, offers to teach you a fragment of his craft — if you can prove you're actually listening. He's outlived three generations of apprentices who weren't patient enough. The pass wind carries his voice thin, and he doesn't repeat himself.
Success: He teaches you well. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: He rambles instead — gain nothing. Take 1 Corruption from the smoke.
Benediction Branch: He warms to you completely. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Cinder Scroll
A scroll lies half-buried in ash, its script still legible where the fire hasn't reached. Whoever dropped it did so in a hurry, and never came back for it. The heat radiating from the ground makes every second spent reading it a small risk.
Success: You recover it intact. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: It crumbles to ash in your hands. Take 1 wound from the falling embers.
Benediction Branch: You shield it perfectly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Ember Shrine's Blessing
The shrine accepts those who understand its old rites. You kneel and try to remember the words, half-recalled from a childhood prayer or a traveler's story. The embers in its bowl brighten faintly, as if listening.
Success: The shrine answers. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: The shrine stays silent. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: The shrine embraces you fully. You become BLESSED.
The Giant's Judgment
The stone giant's closed eyes seem to weigh you. You speak, uncertain if it can even hear, let alone understand. Its breathing — if that's what the low grinding sound is — doesn't change, but something about the air does.
Success: It approves. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: It stirs in irritation. You become CURSED.
Benediction Branch: It approves fully. You become BLESSED.
The Miser's Cache
A dead prospector, and a pouch he never got the chance to spend. He died with his hand still reaching for it, which tells you something about how he lived. You crouch to check the pouch, aware you're not the only thing moving in the ash.
Success: You claim it cleanly. Gain 3 gold.
Failure: Something else wanted it too. Spawn 1 Common monster.
Benediction Branch: You claim it and more besides. Gain 3 gold and 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Forge-Marked Blade
Half-buried in cooling slag, a weapon that still somehow holds its edge. The forge-mark on its hilt belongs to a smith who hasn't worked this pass in years. Getting it free means disturbing slag that hasn't fully cooled.
Success: You free it cleanly. Draw 1 Uncommon item card.
Failure: The slag shifts as you pull. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: It comes free without resistance. Draw 1 Uncommon item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Salamander's Gift
A fire-spirit circles you, testing your will before it will share anything of itself. It has done this before, and most who faced it left with burns instead of answers. You hold your ground and meet its gaze, such as it is.
Success: It yields its secret. Draw 1 Arcane spell card.
Failure: It scorches you for your presumption. Take 2 wounds.
Benediction Branch: It yields completely. Draw 1 Arcane spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Warchief's Vault
A sealed cache, marked with symbols older than the current Doom Tide. Whatever orc warchief hid this clearly expected to return for it. The seal is intact, which either means no one's found it yet, or no one who tried survived to tell anyone.
Success: You solve the seal. Draw 1 Rare item card.
Failure: The seal triggers a ward. Take 2 wounds and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You solve it elegantly. Draw 1 Rare item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Trial of the Pass
The Cinderpass tests everyone who crosses it. You feel it testing you now — the heat, the uneven footing, the way the ash shifts underfoot like it's alive. Others have turned back here. You don't intend to be one of them.
Success: You pass, stronger for it. Gain 1 Focus token.
Failure: The pass takes its toll. Take 1 wound and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You pass with total mastery. Gain 2 Focus tokens (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
Thornwood
The Grove-Singer's Lesson
A spirit made of moss and old birdsong offers to share a fragment of forest-magic, if you'll sit and listen properly. It speaks slowly, in a voice like wind through leaves, and doesn't appreciate being rushed. The grove around you goes very quiet, as if the trees are listening too.
Success: You learn it. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: Your mind wanders. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You learn it perfectly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Ranger's Field Notes
A journal left in a hollow tree — half of it useful notes, half of it something stranger. The handwriting grows tighter and more erratic toward the back pages. Whoever wrote this was documenting something they didn't fully understand, right up until they stopped writing.
Success: You decipher the useful half. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: The stranger half deciphers you instead. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You understand it completely. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Grove's Old Watchers
The bark-faces in the ancient trees study you the way they study everything — patiently, and for a very long time. They've watched armies pass through and outlasted every one of them. Whatever judgment they're forming about you, it isn't finished yet.
Success: They approve of your patience. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: They reject you. You become CURSED.
Benediction Branch: They approve completely. You become BLESSED.
The Departed Ranger
A cairn of stones, and a faded ranger's badge. Something about it asks to be remembered properly, though nothing here tells you the ranger's name. You add a stone of your own before you leave, out of instinct more than obligation.
Success: You honour it well. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: You disturb it carelessly. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You honour it perfectly. You become BLESSED.
The Monster Toll-Box
A crude lockbox the monsters use to store their toll money. Unattended, for now — the monster who usually guards it is nowhere in sight. You can hear voices somewhere nearby, but they don't sound close.
Success: You crack it open. Gain 3 gold.
Failure: The monsters return early. Spawn 1 Common monster.
Benediction Branch: You crack it in silence. Gain 3 gold and 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Ranger's Hidden Kit
A supply cache, cleverly hidden and clearly meant to be found only by someone who knew to look. Whoever placed it trusted the forest to keep its secrets. You almost walked past it twice before noticing the marker.
Success: You find it. Draw 1 Uncommon item card.
Failure: You trigger a warning snare. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You find it at once. Draw 1 Uncommon item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Elder Root
A root system older than the forest itself pulses faintly with something that isn't quite magic and isn't quite alive. It has been here since before the Doom Tide, since before the goblins, since before the rangers who first mapped this place. Touching it feels like touching something that's been waiting.
Success: It shares its knowledge. Draw 1 Arcane spell card.
Failure: It recoils and strikes at you. Take 2 wounds.
Benediction Branch: It shares everything. Draw 1 Arcane spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Sunken Reliquary
An elven case, warded and half-swallowed by root growth, holding something clearly worth the effort. The wards are old but not weak — whoever set them meant this to last centuries. It has.
Success: You disarm the wards. Draw 1 Rare item card.
Failure: The wards discharge. Take 2 wounds and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You disarm them with ease. Draw 1 Rare item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Warg-Runner's Path
A grueling stretch of terrain the local wargs use to test their pack. You decide to test yourself the same way. The ground here remembers a hundred running feet, and none of them were human.
Success: You master the path. Gain 1 Focus token.
Failure: The path masters you. Take 1 wound and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You master it effortlessly. Gain 2 Focus tokens (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
Sunken Mere
The Temple Acolyte's Ghost
A drowned acolyte's spirit lingers near the temple steps, still willing to teach if you're willing to listen to the dead. She died before finishing her training, and some part of her is still trying to finish it. The water around her doesn't quite ripple the way water should.
Success: She teaches you. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: She mistakes you for a threat. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: She teaches you gladly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Waterlogged Grimoire
A spellbook, swollen with water but not yet ruined, if you're careful. Its owner didn't survive whatever happened here, but the book did — mostly. Every page you turn risks being the one that finally falls apart.
Success: You salvage it. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: The pages disintegrate. Take 1 wound from the temple's collapsing floor.
Benediction Branch: You salvage it perfectly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The River Spirit's Test
The spirit of the Mere studies you the way water studies a stone — patiently wearing down your intentions to see what's beneath. It has judged travelers this way for longer than the temple has been drowned. You get the sense it already knows the answer; it just wants to see if you do.
Success: It's satisfied. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: It's displeased. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: It's fully satisfied. You become BLESSED.
The Whispering Dead
Voices under the water, more sad than threatening. They want to be heard before they want anything else. Whatever happened to them, it happened quietly, and no one came looking.
Success: You listen well. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: The voices grow hostile. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You listen perfectly. You become BLESSED.
The Sunken Purse
A merchant's purse, lost to the Mere long before the Doom Tide, still glinting faintly in the mud. Whatever the merchant was selling, it clearly didn't include good luck. You wade closer, watching the water for anything that moves on its own.
Success: You retrieve it. Gain 3 gold.
Failure: The mud isn't done with you yet. You become CURSED.
Benediction Branch: You retrieve it cleanly. Gain 3 gold and 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Reed-Wrapped Bundle
Something deliberately hidden among the pale reeds, wrapped tight against the wet. Whoever left it meant to come back — and clearly never did. The reeds have grown up around it since, as if trying to keep the secret a little longer.
Success: You unwrap it safely. Draw 1 Uncommon item card.
Failure: It slips into deeper water. Take 1 wound retrieving it.
Benediction Branch: You retrieve it with ease. Draw 1 Uncommon item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Drowned Choir
A chorus of the dead sings something that sounds almost like a spell, if you can bear to listen long enough. The song doesn't have words exactly, but it has intention. Every verse feels like it's asking something of you.
Success: You learn the song. Draw 1 Arcane spell card.
Failure: The song claims a piece of you. Take 2 wounds.
Benediction Branch: You learn it completely. Draw 1 Arcane spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Temple Treasury
The Drowned Temple's inner vault, sealed by dwarven-elven cooperation long before either people remembered the other fondly. It has survived flooding, collapse, and at least one attempted looting that ended badly for the looters. The mechanism is dwarven-made, which means it was built to actually work.
Success: You open it. Draw 1 Rare item card.
Failure: The vault floods. Take 2 wounds and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You open it effortlessly. Draw 1 Rare item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Crossing's Trial
The Mud-Choked Crossing has claimed better fighters than you. You wade in anyway. The mud pulls at your legs like it's trying to make a point.
Success: You cross with purpose. Gain 1 Focus token.
Failure: The mud claims something of yours too. Take 1 wound and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You cross without effort. Gain 2 Focus tokens (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
Ironhold
The Archivist's Ghost
A dwarven ghost still tends the Archives out of habit. She'll share what she knows, if you show proper respect. She's been alone here since before the Orcs took the fortress, and she remembers exactly how long that's been.
Success: She teaches you. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: You offend her somehow. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: She teaches you gladly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Runic Primer
A training text for young dwarven mages, still mostly intact after all these years. The runes inside are meant to be studied slowly, not rushed. Someone left this open to the same page for a very long time.
Success: You study it. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: A rune misfires. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You master it fully. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Throne's Old Oaths
The dust on the throne holds the shape of oaths sworn long ago. You try to understand what they meant, tracing the outline with more care than you expected to. Whatever king sat here last, he never got to see those oaths kept.
Success: You understand. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: The Orcs notice you lingering. Spawn 1 Common monster.
Benediction Branch: You understand fully. You become BLESSED.
The Dwarven Ghost's Gratitude
She's grateful for company, even yours. Grateful enough to share something valuable, if you earn it. It's clear she hasn't had a real conversation in longer than you'd like to think about.
Success: She rewards you. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: She grows suspicious. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: She rewards you generously. You become BLESSED.
The Vault Antechamber
Not the Sealed Vault itself, but its antechamber — still holding coin the Orcs never bothered counting. They clearly didn't think it worth guarding closely. That might be a mistake you can use.
Success: You grab it and go. Gain 3 gold.
Failure: The Orcs come to investigate. Spawn 1 Common monster.
Benediction Branch: You grab it unseen. Gain 3 gold and 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Forge-Master's Toolkit
A dwarven smith's tools, abandoned but still serviceable, tucked into a forge alcove. Whoever left them clearly meant to return before the Orcs came. The forge itself is cold, but the tools are still sharp.
Success: You recover it. Draw 1 Uncommon item card.
Failure: The forge fire flares. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You recover it cleanly. Draw 1 Uncommon item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Warchief's Grimoire
Stolen dwarven magic, twisted by orcish hands but not beyond recognition, if you're willing to touch it. The orcs never understood what they took — only that it was powerful. It still remembers what it was before they had it.
Success: You reclaim its true form. Draw 1 Arcane spell card.
Failure: It resists reclamation violently. Take 2 wounds.
Benediction Branch: You reclaim it fully. Draw 1 Arcane spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Sealed Vault
Ironhold's last true treasury, locked by a mechanism no orc has managed to crack. Generations of dwarven locksmiths built this to outlast anyone who didn't belong here. You're fairly sure that includes you, but you try anyway.
Success: You crack it. Draw 1 Rare item card.
Failure: The lock fights back. Take 2 wounds and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You crack it elegantly. Draw 1 Rare item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Courtyard Gauntlet
The Outer Courtyard was once a training ground. Old habits, it turns out, still apply. The stones underfoot are worn smooth in a pattern that only makes sense once you start moving through it.
Success: You complete the gauntlet. Gain 1 Focus token.
Failure: The gauntlet gets the better of you. Take 1 wound and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You complete it flawlessly. Gain 2 Focus tokens (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
Veilmoor
The Seer's Apprentice
A ghostly apprentice, still teaching lessons meant for a student who died centuries ago. You'll do. She doesn't seem to notice — or care — that you're not who she was expecting.
Success: You learn well. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: You misunderstand the lesson. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You learn perfectly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Standing Stone's Memory
One of the Seer's Circle stones holds a memory instead of a prophecy, if you know how to ask. The other stones stay silent around it, as if giving it room to speak. Whatever it remembers, it's been waiting a long time to tell someone.
Success: You draw it out. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: The memory turns violent. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You draw it out cleanly. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Witch-Queen's Regard
Her echo studies you the way she once studied everyone — for weakness, and for use. She ruled these highlands through fear long before the fog claimed them, and her judgment hasn't softened with death. You feel measured, and found either wanting or worth watching.
Success: She finds you worthy. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: She finds you wanting. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: She finds you exceptional. You become BLESSED.
The Wandering Seer's Blessing
The Seer offers her blessing freely to anyone patient enough to ask properly. She's given this same blessing more times than she can count, and it costs her nothing she isn't glad to give. The fog around her parts slightly as she speaks.
Success: She blesses you. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: She's distracted by a vision. Take 1 wound stumbling in the fog.
Benediction Branch: She blesses you fully. You become BLESSED.
The Cairn-Buried Coin
A wanderer's last coin purse, buried with them at the cairn. Whoever buried it clearly meant it as a gift for the road ahead, not for you. You disturb it anyway, telling yourself the wanderer wouldn't mind.
Success: You disturb the grave carefully. Gain 3 gold.
Failure: Something in the fog notices. You become CURSED.
Benediction Branch: You disturb it respectfully. Gain 3 gold and 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Fog-Wrapped Pack
A traveler's pack, lost to the fog long enough that no one is coming to claim it. The straps have rotted, but whatever's inside seems to have survived better than the leather. Finding it in this fog is more luck than skill.
Success: You find it. Draw 1 Uncommon item card.
Failure: The fog disorients you. Take 1 wound stumbling into a sinkhole.
Benediction Branch: You find it instantly. Draw 1 Uncommon item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Prophecy Unfinished
A vision the Seer never got to finish delivering, still hanging in the fog, waiting for someone to complete it. Fragments of it brush past you like half-heard whispers. Completing it means letting it finish inside your own mind, which is not entirely comfortable.
Success: You complete it. Draw 1 Arcane spell card.
Failure: The vision overwhelms you. Take 2 wounds.
Benediction Branch: You complete it perfectly. Draw 1 Arcane spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Witch-Queen's Grave Goods
Buried alongside her, and warded the way only a witch-queen could ward something. She trusted nothing to chance, not even in death. The wards have held for longer than most kingdoms last.
Success: You bypass the wards. Draw 1 Rare item card.
Failure: The wards ignite. Take 2 wounds and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You bypass them with ease. Draw 1 Rare item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Sinkhole Crossing
The Sinkhole Flats test balance and nerve in equal measure. You steady yourself and go. The fog makes it impossible to see more than a few steps ahead, which means every step is a small act of faith.
Success: You cross with confidence. Gain 1 Focus token.
Failure: The ground betrays you. Take 1 wound and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You cross without a misstep. Gain 2 Focus tokens (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Ashen Court
The Necromancer's Forgotten Notes
Even here, in Malachar's shadow, a fragment of ordinary teaching survives — if you can bear to focus past the dread. The notes are mundane, almost defiantly so, as if their writer refused to let the Undying King's presence change what they were doing. You find that stubbornness easier to hold onto than you expected.
Success: You learn despite the dread. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: The dread wins. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You learn with total clarity. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Coliseum's Last Champion
A dead champion's technique, scratched into the coliseum wall by someone who knew they wouldn't survive to teach it properly. The letters are shaky near the end, carved by a hand that was clearly failing. Whatever killed them, they finished the lesson first.
Success: You decipher it. Draw 1 Common spell card.
Failure: The wall collapses. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You decipher it completely. Draw 1 Common spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Gate's Mourners
Spirits of the fallen gather at the Gate of Mourning, still grieving for a world that ended around them. They don't seem to notice you at first, too lost in a grief that's outlasted their own memories. When they do notice, it's with something closer to recognition than hostility.
Success: You honour their grief. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: Their grief becomes yours. Take 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You honour it fully. You become BLESSED.
The Palace's Last Loyalists
A handful of spirits still serve the Shattered Palace out of habit, not knowing there's no one left to serve. They go through motions that stopped meaning anything long ago. Telling them the truth feels less like a kindness and more like an ending.
Success: You free them from duty. Gain 1 Benediction token.
Failure: They resist the truth violently. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You free them completely. You become BLESSED.
Malachar's Discarded Hoard
Even the Undying King discards things. This pile of coin simply wasn't worth his notice. That should be reassuring — it isn't, quite. Nothing in this place ever quite is.
Success: You take it quickly. Gain 3 gold.
Failure: Something of his notices you instead. You become CURSED.
Benediction Branch: You take it unnoticed. Gain 3 gold and 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Study's Locked Drawer
The Necromancer's Study still holds secrets in its furniture, if you're quick enough to take them. Dust has settled over everything except this one drawer, which someone — or something — still checks. You don't have long before whatever that is returns.
Success: You pick the lock. Draw 1 Uncommon item card.
Failure: The lock is warded. Take 1 wound.
Benediction Branch: You pick it instantly. Draw 1 Uncommon item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Undying King's Discarded Thought
A fragment of Malachar's own power, shed and forgotten. Touching it is dangerous. Learning from it is worse — but this close to the source, you may not get another chance.
Success: You survive the lesson. Draw 1 Arcane spell card.
Failure: The lesson nearly claims you. Take 3 wounds.
Benediction Branch: You master it completely. Draw 1 Arcane spell card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Throne's Final Gift
Something Malachar's throne still holds, sealed with the last of the old kingdom's true magic. It has waited here since before the Undying King took the throne for his own. Whatever it is, it was hidden from him too.
Success: You claim it. Draw 1 Rare item card.
Failure: The throne's ward strikes back. Take 2 wounds and 2 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You claim it effortlessly. Draw 1 Rare item card and gain 1 Focus token (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).
The Coliseum's Final Trial
The Broken Coliseum's last trial was never meant to have a survivor. You intend to be the exception. The stands are empty, but the silence somehow makes it feel like something is still watching.
Success: You endure it. Gain 1 Focus token.
Failure: It very nearly ends you. Take 2 wounds and 1 Corruption.
Benediction Branch: You dominate it completely. Gain 2 Focus tokens (even if this exceeds your Focus limit).