Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Mirror Lake (A 113), Titans' Steps (M 115)
Tasks: "find who tried to repair the Menhir at the First Farmhold.
- find where the hermits went.
- reach the Tomb of the Order with the Excalibur's scabbard."
Active Menhirs: Whitening (107), 4 days left.,
Guardians: none!

Vote results posted:

1. Gawain's Quest: We are going to accept the task to bring Excalibur's Scabbard to the Tombs of the Order.
   
2. Rest of the Day: We are going to send Ailei to the Mirror Lake and Maggot to the Titans' Steps to get a free or "free" Exploration for both.
   
3. Next Location to Explore: the Mirror Lake (C), then Tangleroot if we have time since the Derelict Fleet is probably too far away today.

Exploration: Mirror Lake (113) posted:

- Ailei spends 1 (current:2).
Intro:

The art for several locations is cropped very poorly in the Exploration Journal; here's what the full art for this location is like:

There's also additional art in the Exploration Journal for every Location - sketches and annotations. I'll post the relevant ones in the mini-updates recaps from now on. For now, let's try to have a chat with the Lady of the Lake?
Verse 1:

Bollocks.

Exploration: Mirror Lake (113) posted:

- Ailei spends 1 (current:6).
Intro:

This time, let's swim to the center of the lake. Has to be invigorating!
Verse 2:

...or not. At least, we've found a weird bone-island and a soggy scroll!

Spooky. We immediately use the OP Location action again to undo the extra Energy and Terror cost for this. "Hunting" probably means a Green Encounter and Ailei is not going to be able to take any Level 2s, so let's regroup with Maggot in Tangleroot instead.

Exploration: Tangleroot (114) posted:

- Ailei spends 1 (current:5).
Intro:

Let's see if there is someone to talk to at the lodge.
Verse 5:

We do have 1 Caution. Weird.
Verse 9:

Ah nice, it's the "Avalon ChainMagicsaw Massacre" type of lodge. Well, we can't defeat them, but we may be able to talk them down.

Verse 318 (BoS):

Ah, so it was more of a Mad Max situation instead. Ailei gains 1 Exp (current: 3). Let's have a look at the gorge now.
- Ailei spends 1 (current:4).
Verse 2:

We don't have that Status, so we have to go to the secret Verse.
Verse 435(BoS):

A damsel in distress? This sounds like a job for the Uncanny Druidman!
- Maggot spends 1 (current:2) and tags-in!
Verse 410 (BoS):

This is not great. The Wyrdbear is scary enough for a Level 2 Encounter, and we have a time limit, albeit a generous one.

The time limit means that Ailei has to go soon.
- We play Careful Attack, so we can take at least 1 combat Round before fleeing, if necessary. We gain 2 and get some defenses up.
- We end up only losing 1 in the exchange.
- We draw Defend. The Dial ticks down to 4.

It's Maggot's turn.
- We play War Magic and gain 1 and 2
- We use the Clansword to discard Hold Guard and gain 2 more
- The Wyrdbear retaliates, we block 1 damage with our Improvised Armor. We lose 1 and 1 .
- We draw Charge at the end of the Round. The Dial ticks down to 3.

It's Ailei's turn.
- We resolve War Magic's effect and gain 2 .
- We play Reposition and leave combat, preventing the Opportunity Attack. This makes the bear skip its attack, which has 2 nice implications: we avoid the Attack from the bear, preventing damage and marker loss; and, since the bear has skipped the Attack phase, we avoid the Dial ticking down.

- Maggot plays Charge and the wyrdbear is down for the count.

We also gain 1 Food each (current A:5, M:4)
Verse 342 (BoS):

We'll vote on that! In the meantime, let's spend our last Energy for the day. After resolving this, Ailei Explores once more.
- Ailei spends 1 (current:3).
Verse 2:

Let's go down the main road this time.
Verse 3:

We have 1 Caution and we have the Status, so we only fail with a roll of 1. As customary in these circumstances, we roll a 6
Verse 6:

Nope.
Verse 12:

Well that was a waste of time.

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 . Energy is set to full (7)
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 and loses1 . Energy is set to full (6)
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 2.
- Maggot current Exp is 5.
Dream:
Maggot spins a Dial: gets a Grail! No Nightmares tonight.

Vote Options posted:

1. Cosuil - are we going to:
   
   1. Convincer her to abandon her quest.
      
   2. Teach her some wilderness survival skills.
   
   
2. Menhir in Titans' Steps: most votes in the past have been to explore more before rekindling it. But tomorrow's event means a 1 Magic discount, so should we:
   
   1. Rekindle it tomorrow, saving 1 Magic.
      
   2. Finish Exploring Tangleroot, then explore the Derelict Fleet instead. We will face a Purple Encounter with the Full Moon buff in the First Farmhold.
      
   3. Other - specify what.
   
   
3. Potential Level up we are, potentially, 1 Exp away on both characters from a level up. If we gain enough Exp resolving the encounter, should we (vote one option per character):
   
   1. Gain 1 Practicality on Ailei.
      
   2. Gain 1 Spirituality on Ailei.
      
   3. Other for Ailei.
      
   4. Gain 1 Aggression on Maggot - and get an Aggression Skill (which one)
      
   5. Gain 1 Spirituality on Maggot - and get a Spirituality Skill (which one)
      
   6. Gain 1 Practicality on Maggot.
      
   7. Other for Maggot.

E:Here's the skill list

That Italian Guy posted:

Omobono posted:

Where was the skills list again?

Kobal2 posted:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2385090/tainted-grail-skill-guide
Might as well link it at the bottom of posts ?

Omobono posted:

1) B - recurring side character to help every now and then
2) B - explore explore explore. I'd tell someone jot down the Lady's request but those seem to be obvious endgame quests.
3) A and D - I've been proposing to bump Ailiei's practicality from the start, and Maggot should be our dedicated facewrecker. Where was the skills list again?

E2: Now or never for Maggot

malkav11 posted:

I especially dislike the ones that have you toss a dial - they're super risky and not worth the risk, and in the physical game the dials are actually weighted such that we literally 100% of the time got a skull when we were tossing them. We switched to a 1-3/4-6 dieroll instead.

Kobal2 posted:

Votes :
1) Convincing her to Just Give Up might land us the Necronomicon or it might not, training her seems like it'll let us meet her again down the road. A metagaming B (besides, I get a kick out of Ailei telling that poor woman "man you suck at fighting, here let me show you how it's done" and immediately injuring herself with the dear bear)
2) A and C. C being : hunt here first, maybe the purple critter will net us XP or Magic ; and in either case we'll get some food. Maggot has just enough energy to tag along on a fight here then move to Giant's Steps, whereupon he can be the Magic battery while Ailei does all the parts of the ritual that invole moving about and not being a lazy sack of poo poo.
3) Practicality 2 on Ailei ; Aggression 2 (and Now or Never) on Maggot

malkav11 posted:

I would also generally vote for doing a bit of deck advancement with XP after these skill-ups. I think the skill guide writer is maybe a bit overemphasizing the amount that doing so helps over encounter-related skills, but there are some bad cards in the starting deck that we should replace with good ones before we get *too* skill-happy. I especially dislike the ones that have you toss a dial - they're super risky and not worth the risk, and in the physical game the dials are actually weighted such that we literally 100% of the time got a skull when we were tossing them. We switched to a 1-3/4-6 dieroll instead.

Stickman posted:

Risky attack isn't too bad once you get some decent chains in the deck because the positive result (2 cubes) happens instantly but the negative result (+2 damage) is only a problem if you don't chain off it. Its bigger problem is that it's also a pain in the rear end to chain off in the early game because both the aggression and practicality keys have double-skill requirements...

Vote Results posted:

1. Cosuil: We are almost certainly going to teach her some survival skills. We will spend 1 and gain the Status "Cosuil 1". No other effect atm.
   
2. Menhir in Titans' Steps: At the moment there is a small lead for rekindling the Menhir straight away (after some light hunting in Tangleroot), but everything could change since the difference between the two options is just 1 vote!
   
3. Potential Level up: whenever we gain 1 Exp, we'll get 1 point of Practicality on Ailei and 1 Point of Aggression on Maggot (possibly gaining the Skill "Now or Never").
   

That Italian Guy posted:

Just a heads up everyone: I'll have a couple of super busy days today and tomorrow at work, so unfortunately we'll have to wait a couple of days for the next update Transmissions will resume normally on Wednesday!

Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Tangleroot (114)
Tasks: "find who tried to repair the Menhir at the First Farmhold.
- find where the hermits went.
- reach the Tomb of the Order with the Excalibur's scabbard."
Active Menhirs: Whitening (107), 3 days left.,
Guardians: None.

Vote Results posted:

1. Cosuil: We are going to teach her some survival skills. Maggot will spend 1 (recovering up to 5) and we gain the Status "Cosuil 1". No other effect atm.
   
2. Menhir in Titans' Steps: we are going to rekindle the Menhir straight away (after some light hunting in Tangleroot) to take advantage of the Full Moon.
   
3. Potential Level up: whenever we gain 1 Exp, we'll get 1 point of Practicality on Ailei and 1 Point of Aggression on Maggot (gaining the Skill "Now or Never").
   

Combat - Dobhar-Chu posted:

Also known as "That loving Lizard". Ambush means that the first character in combat will have to discard down to 1 card in hand. Defensive means that the first Combat card of the activation adds 1 less ; finally, Feint means that all the damage inflicted by this monster with attacks cannot be prevented.

- We start with Ailei and we immediately discard Outsmart and Gather Thoughts due to Ambush.
- We play Surprise Attack, but our gain is prevented by Defensive.
- The lizard attacks us and we suffer 1 damage. At the end of the Round, we draw Careful Attack.

- It's Maggot's turn. We activate Surprise Attack's delayed effect and we draw Charge.
- We immediately play Charge and gain 3 , reduced to 2 by Defensive.
- We play Defensive Posture and discard Risky Attack to activate the Clansword. We gain 2 more .
- The lizard attacks us. We prevent the lost of , but we suffer 1 damage on Maggot.

- Back to Ailei. She would lose 1 HP if we play Careful Attack, dropping our Energy by 1 in the process (since you can never have more Energy than Health). To avoid that, we Escape from Combat. We end up losing 1 Energy anyway due to the Opportunity Attack, but at least we save 1 HP. What's more, the Lizard doesn't attack, so our pile is intact.

- Back to Maggot. We play Careful Attack and, even with the Defensive buff, we have enough to kill That loving Lizard.

Rekindling a Menhir - Titans' Steps posted:

- Ailei spends 4 (current:2).
- Maggot spends 3 Magic thanks to the Full Moon event effect (current:1).

Menhir Rekindled! New Location revealed: Plagued Borough (138).

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 . Energy is set to full (7)
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 and loses1 . Well Rested! Energy is set to full+1 (7)
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 3.
- Maggot current Exp is 5.
Dream:
- No dreams in this Location!

Vote Options posted:

• Exploration! Not much else to vote on today What should our next destination be? (Vote just one if you want our party to stick together, or 2 if you want to split up)
  
  1. Derelict Fleet (119): whoever goes that way, will have to resolve a Purple Encounter in the First Farmhold first.
     
  2. Plagued Borough (138): there is a mandatory Diplomacy Encounter on this location.
     
  3. Whatever is North (136): this will also reveal more of the map, if any is present.
     
  4. Whatever is South-East (140): whoever goes that way, will have to resolve a Purple Encounter in the First Farmhold first.
     
  5. Other: please specify what.

A quick reminder on how map exploration works: we will not reveal anything unless there is a "Travel Arrow" between locations - for example, we can't reveal what's above Titans' Steps, if there is something there, cause there is no travel arrow in between. So travelling to the Plagued Borough won't reveal location 140, for example.

malkav11 posted:

The Tangleroot encounters for hunting would be purple encounters today - look at the text of Full Moon. So, not the Dobhar-Chiu.

Omobono posted:

Just to double check, That loving Lizard is probably the worst lvl 2 green encounter, yes?

Votes so far posted:

1. Our next destination: So far, option B - Plagued Borough (138) is ahead of the competition, with Derelict Fleet (A) and Mystery Location 140 (D) trailing 2 votes behind.
   
2. I'm colorblind for Encounters: the leading option is to remove 2 Food, add 1 Magic over replacing the next Green Encounter with a Purple one.

Excalibur Scabbard posted:

For some reason, the first GIS match for "Excalibur's scabbard" is something out of Sonic the Edgehog's wiki

Everyone knows about King Arthur's magical sword, Soulcalibur Glamdring Excalibur; not everyone is aware that its scabbard was said to held even more powerful magics. In fact, when Arthur explains that he is more fond of the sword, Merlin rebukes him:

quote:

"Ye are the more unwise," said Merlin, "for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword. While ye have the scabbard upon you, ye shall never lose any blood, be ye ever so sorely wounded. Therefore always keep the scabbard with you."

According to several version of the Arthurian saga, Excalibur's scabbard could (your experience may vary):
- make its bearer impervious to any wound.
- prevent any wound from bleeding.
- save its bearer from mortal wounds.
Such is the importance of the scabbard that it is central in Le Morte d'Arthur. In this story, the king's half-sister Morgause/Morgan Le Fay is trying to kill Arthur; her first plot involves stealing Excalibur, giving the sword to her lover - the knight Accolon - and using a spell to compel him to duel and slay Arthur (now armed with a fake Excalibur). Accolon dies, failing to kill the king, since he is protected by the power of the scabbard. Only when Morgause steals the scabbard and throws it into a lake she is able to seal Arthur's fate when he goes on to face Mordred.

Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Titans' Steps (115)
Tasks: "find who tried to repair the Menhir at the First Farmhold.
- find where the hermits went.
- reach the Tomb of the Order with the Excalibur's scabbard."
Active Menhirs: Whitening (107) 2 days left, Titans' Steps (115) 6 days left.
Guardians: None!

Vote results posted:

1. Our next destination: We're going to the Plagued Borough (138)!
   
2. I'm colorblind for Encounters: we are removing 2 Food and adding 1 Magic to fix the mixup with the Encounters.

Travel posted:

- We are Travelling to Location 138, Plagued Borough. Ailei spends 0 Energy thanks to the Good Weather Event (current: 7).
New Locations revealed:
- 136, Broch Cruach.

Diplomacy - Press Gang posted:

We are going to have to outtalk a bunch of slavers, it seems. Actually...we will not be able to do that, since we lack Spirituality and we will, at best, be able on average to gain 2 , with a good possibility of only getting 1 (and losing 2). We will have to try to Escape from them using Caution, even if the negative effect will cost us Energy. We have to win fast.

Our starting hand is ok, but not great. Connecting
- We play Stall for Time and do exctly that.
- We ignore the enemy retaliation and remove Stall for Time from the sequence.
- We draw Desperate Measures.

- We play Desperate Measures and, since the tracker was on the Gray square, we gain 2 .
- The slavers retaliate and we lose 1 and 1 .
- We draw Misdirection.

- We play Sweet Lies and gain 1 , then Misdirection and we gain 2 more. We have won!

It costed us 1 (current A:6), but we have gained 1 Exp(current A:4), 1 Rep (current A:6) and 1 Wealth (current A:3). Ailei has now enough Exp to advance her Practicality to 2!

Exploration: Plagued Burough (138) posted:

- Maggot spends 1 (current:6).
Intro:

The place seems...safe enough, for a Plagued Burough. Before calling Ailei in, though, let's see what's inside.
Verse 4:

We don't have any of those Statuses, so we are free to choose. I'll try to give the thread as much info as possible, so our expenditure will change based on who we're willing to talk to/aid. If we decide to approach the rebels:
Verses 2 > 6:


If instead we choose to walk to the military blockade:
Verses 5 > 3:


We can talk with both groups if we want to, but we will only be able to side with one of them. We will vote on who to help! NOTE: this will cost us a total of 4 . For the time being, let's send Ailei knocking at some doors.
- Ailei spends 1 (current:5).
Verse 1:

We are Ailei!
Verse 9:

Looks like our Mentor may still be alive? Most of her party may be dead, though?!? We may discover more details in Tangleroot (114), if we want to. We already had Part 8 of this Status, so we don't get any Exp; but we mark down Part 2 and 7!

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 . Energy is set to X (based on the next vote).
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 and loses1 . Energy is set to X (based on the next vote).
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 4. She's going to spend it and gain 1 Practicality (current: 2)
- Maggot current Exp is 5.
Dream:
- No Dreams in this Location!

Vote Options posted:

1. Blood and Revolution: do we side with (A) the Rebels or with (B) the Knights?
   
2. Plunder the Borough: these civil war shenanigans may prove exactly what we need to grab whatever is not nailed down while everyone is distracted. Do we (A) plunder it or (B) not?
   
3. Next Destination: we have several alternatives. Vote 1 if you want to stick together, or 2 if you want to split up.
   
   1. Broch Cruach (136): this will also reveal location 135.
      
   2. Tangleroot (114): we have a new Task here.
      
   3. Derelict Fleet (119): we may be able to explore this and move up North with the Scroll, if needed. This will also reveal location 140. We will have to face a Purple Encounter on the way.
      
   4. ??? (140): we may be able to explore this and move up North with the Scroll, if needed. This will also reveal location 140. We will have to face a Purple Encounter on the way.
      
   5. Other: please specify what.

NOTE: for the purpose of these choices and to streamline things a bit, Ailei has Practicality 2 already. If there is any non-bankable leftover I'll spend it moving towards our next destination and/or conjuring up some Magic with Maggot, unless the thread decides otherwise.

habituallyred posted:

1B Lets not go 50/50
2B
3B

Nick Buntline posted:

I think you've got Verse 9 backwards there - it gave us at least one new part, so we should get an XP from it? I think we would have had to already had all 3 for us not to get one.

Votes so far posted:

1. Blood and Revolution: we are most likely siding with the Knights (B).
   
2. Plunder the Borough: we are probably not plundering the borough (A).
   
3. Next Destination: going back to Tangleroot (B) is winning by 1 vote over visiting ??? (140) (D)

Vote results and Errata posted:

1. Blood and Revolution: we are siding with the Knights (B).
   - We are going to spend 1 each to create 1 Magic on Maggot (current A:2, M:2).
   - We are going to spend 2 each to help the knights. We are also spending 1 Magic on Maggot (current: 1).
   - Both characters are now at 2 and rest to Full (A:7, M:6)
   - ERRATA: we should have received 1 Exp each when marking down the Fate of the Expedition statuses, since we did not have them all. Maggot has now enough Exp to buy Aggression 3 and the Skill Now or Never. Ailei has 1 Exp.
   
2. Plunder the Borough: we are not plundering the borough (A).
   
3. Next Destination: we are going back to Tangleroot (B)

Previously, in the Plagued Burough... posted:

Verses 4 > 5 > 3:



We're doing a Gift of Magic and Tactical Advice, then Ailei attempts A helping hand and draws a Blue Encounter:

There are a few of these in the deck, so it was meant to happen sooner or later. Having gathered 3 Marks in the Helping the Knights Status, during our next Exploration we have to go to Verse 10.

Maggot gains 1 - and he's going to lose it when resting tonight. We mark down the Peace in the Borough status and replace the Location card with the Quiet Burough (142).

Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Quiet Borough (142)
Tasks:
- find who tried to repair the Menhir at the First Farmhold.
- find where the hermits went.
- reach the Tomb of the Order with the Excalibur's scabbard.
- seacht Tangleroot (114) to learn what happened to the first expedition.
Active Menhirs: Whitening (107), 1 days left., Titans' Steps (115)5 days left.
Guardians: None!

Exploration: Tangleroot (114) posted:

- Each party member spends 1 (current A:5, M:4).
Intro:

We don't know what's going to happen, so better be prepared for everything.
Verse 2:

This time we DO have the necessary steps from the Fate of the Expedition status!
Verse 7:

We are hot on the trail and we're not gonna lose it!
Verse 10:

We already have this status, so we start looting!
Verse 443 (BoS):

Well, then. We have found the Grail.

Correction: the Tainted Grail^TM. It is, quoting the Scriptures, bonkers.

Chapter 3A setup posted:

We do have Secret Card 8 (the Tainted Grail), but we don't have the Lady's Task status.

poo poo's getting real! Level 3 Encounters are really dangerous, and also really lucractive - they often pay Exp on top of loot. There's only a handful of them, though.

Like this fella. He's now patrolling Cuanacth Farmhold. As a reminder, if the Location is removed (start of the day after tomorrow), the Wyrm will be gone; but if it tries to move out of boundaries before that, he'll teleport to the highest revealed location (Quiet Borough, at the moment).

We have a new Quest! We also add 4 Random Events to the top of the deck.

Combat - Royal Elk posted:

I'm going to skip the Combat since nothing really happens: even if it's Fast (we can play only 2 cards during our Activation), Maggot makes venison out of the Elk in the first Round thanks to Charge and Final Blow - funny enough, we could have even played the effect from the Clansword, since discarding a card doesn't count as playing it for the Fast effect. From now on, I'm going to skip full Encounter recaps unless something interesting happens, or unless it's a new Encounter.

Diplomacy - Slick Fraudster posted:

We're going to have to Trick the Trickster, since we lack Spirituality. The "Remove a card from the sequence" effect is particularly bad for us, since we have a ton of cards that have a "lose 1 Rep" effect when removed. This is our starting hand:

- We play Masterful Acting and gain 1
- We chain De-escalation and gain 2 more
- The enemy retaliates and we lose 1 and discard De-escalation.
- We draw Empathise.

- At the beginning of the Round, we activate Masterful Acting delayed ability and draw Desperate Measures.
- We play Captivating Song and win the Encounter!

Exploration: Whitening (107) posted:

- Each party member spends 1 (current:3).
Intro:

We have Fael's Legacy, but we don't have the Hidden Treasure status, so we go to 10.
Verse 10:

Verse 263 (BoS):

Fael was Galahad? Galahad is dead? Oh boy. Unsurprisingly, Secret Card 5 is a heavy but very sturdy plate armor. We'll vote on what to do!

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 . Energy is set to full (7).
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 and loses1 . Exhausted! Energy is set to 5.
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 2. She has enough for a Deck Advancement.
- Maggot current Exp is 1.
Dream:
Maggot spins a Dial: gets a Skull! Maggot has a Nightmare

Vote Options posted:

1. Galahad's Armor - do we want to:
   
   1. Leave the decision to the wife.
      
   2. Bring his possession to the elders.
      
   3. Take his stuff for ourselves.
   
   
2. Exploration - a lot of potential destinations!
   
   1. Visit the Lady of the Lake in Mirror Lake (113) to progress our Quest.
      
   2. Go back to the Quiet Borough (142) and see what our actions have caused. We will also be able to access Location 140, but it may have a cost.
      
   3. Visit Location 140 directly. This may or may not open a passage to Location 142 and it may or may not have a cost. Several people itt have indicated that they think a new Menhir will be available here.
      
   4. Other: please specify what.
   
   
3. Grail Carrier: Maggot is probably going to use more Magic (since Diplomacy is more rare than plain combat), but at the same time Magic cannot be traded.
   
   1. Leave the Grail on Maggot.
      
   2. Give the Grail to Ailei.
      
   3. Play hot potato with the priceless relic (swap it around every day if possible).
      
   4. Other: please specify what.
   
   
4. Future level ups: Ailei currently has 1 Deck Advancement available and Maggot will do the same in 1 Exp.
   
   1. Keep saving Exp for Skills.
      
   2. Start spending Exp for deck advancements.