The ground sunk a little, then fell through; the gaping maws of the void split open and

swallowed the entire front rank of soldiers. Before the survivors had time to regroup, they were
engulfed by a deafening explosion. The ensuing cloud of dust and debris shrouded everything
from view.
The evening sun painted the battlefield in a golden hue. Far across it, the Dancing Lady
regarded the chaos intently atop a small hill. She had rallied the fragmented factions of the
Taelian fields and united them against the onslaught of the royal army. They would stand firm
against the mad Prince and see his wild ambitions shattered against their steely resolve. Taelia
had fallen from its former glory, now little more than a blight upon the lands it claimed to rule.
Though it yet drew breath, she was determined to extinguish the last fires of its withering life.
Taelia would be no more. These lands are ours, and we shall roam them free. That was the call
with which she gathered her allies. She would see to it that her words rang true.
A small glimmer in the distance caught her eye. It was from within the billowing wall of
dust. She narrowed her gaze. For the span of a few heartbeats, there was a suffocating stillness
in the air. Nothing but silence. Then, just as she was about to look away, a colossal stallion
burst through the dust in a leap, sunlight dancing off the intricate armor of its rider.
Prince Charming drew his sword and pointed it forward. Behind him, a column of riders
followed closely, the thundering hooves of their steeds drumming out a vigorous rhythm against
the beaten soil. After riding long and far, his campaign was nearing its end. Soon, he would cut
down the perpetrators of this rebellion and restore order to his lands. Taelia was on the verge of
ruin following a decade of rule by the Queen. Its people could endure no more lunacy. He had
ousted the Queen and taken the throne. He had cleansed the crown city of its festering
corruption. All that remained was to reclaim the Taelian fields. This land needed a new kingdom.
And that new kingdom needed a new leader. He would give them both.
However, both Prince Charming and The Dancing Lady knew that they could not win the
war alone. They would need... help.

The captain of the knights ordered his retinue forward. They charged down the sloped
terrain toward the main battlefield. Out of the corner of his eye, the captain saw something glitter
in the woods off to his side. Instinct caused him to pull on his reins. Three or four riders of his
guard rode past him. For a brief moment, nothing happened. Then, a deafening explosion
swallowed the riders who were ahead. The captain shielded his eyes as a painful gale of debris
and smoke swept past him. Just as he looked back toward the carnage, a figure leapt out of the
cloud of smoke, soaring far overhead. His gaze followed it until it landed a few feet behind him
in a crouch, a shadow against the setting sun. A second shadow trailed it from the sky, seconds
feeling like hours as it slowly descended across his view. It grew larger and larger——too large
to be normal—until he realized it was mere inches in front of his eyes. He focused his gaze on
it. It was a bomb. Time sped back up as it landed on the ground with a loud clink, bouncing a
little. The ensuing explosion threw the captain off his steed and sent him tumbling down the hill.
Dirt-covered and dazed, the captain just barely managed to look up and see the shadowy figure
dashing toward him. The first detail to emerge as it drew close were locks of brilliant
gold-colored hair trailing it in the breeze. Behind it, a small platoon of armed soldiers followed in
a run.
 Goldie grinned. The surprise attack had worked perfectly. The first explosion had
consumed the majority of the captain’s guards and the second left the stragglers—captain
included—sprawled on the ground in a daze. Without his guards, he was easy picking for
Goldie's strike force. Raising one gloved hand, Goldie snapped—a signal of a successful
ambush—and sprinted ahead down the slope. As she neared the captain, she drew the
intimidatingly large and weighty pocket wrench from her waist belt, spun it easily in her right
hand, and settled on a reverse grip—her preferred grip for punching through thick armor. The
sounds of war surrounded her on all sides as soldiers were locked in intense battle. The sounds
faded as she focused. The clanging of metal on metal dimmed to dull thrums while the roars of
fighting were but hushed murmurs in the distance. Her breath came more and more quickly as
the shaken captain became the sole object in her view. Ten paces. Eight paces. Her heartbeat
matched her steps. Beat. Seven paces. Beat. Six paces. Beat. Five paces. The next beat did
not come.
Somewhere in the thick dust behind the Lady, Goldie saw a flash and her heart stopped
for a split second. Reacting on pure instinct, she raised her wrench to protect her head. As soon
as the wrench reached eye level, she felt a tremendous shock in her right hand that propagated
through her arm into her body, not only stopping her momentum cold but further pushing her
back a few steps. A sword bounced straight up a foot in front of her face, narrowly deflected by
the wrench. Before she could catch her breath, there was a second flash. Goldie ducked. A half
second later, something split the air above her head. Her ears popped. A sword fell to the
ground in two severed pieces.

Lord Wolf straightened his posture and craned his neck, causing a few joints to crack
lightly. He regarded his right claw. He frowned. Where he expected to see red blood, he saw
instead a few strands of gold hair. Where did that come from? He was sure he saw a knight
from behind the curtain of dust. He turned around and saw a crouched figure where he
expected a body. He missed, then. That was surprising. As the figure stood up, their gazes
locked, blue eyes meeting gray. A… girl? Deep within the swirling azure of her gaze, Lord Wolf
saw something unbefitting someone her age. It was not a concrete image, but rather, a vague
feeling. A worn gear amongst silver rings, if he had to describe it. The girl interested Lord Wolf.
Perhaps she could provide some answers for those questions he had long held. Before he could
probe further, the girl leapt back and assumed a defensive stance. The soldiers behind her were
closing in. He sighed. Chores, unfortunately, had to come before play.
Lord Wolf closed his eyes. Twenty two sounds. Eleven pairs. A disorderly mess of
rhythms stomped out by feet not trained to step in unison. Without sight, Lord Wolf's ears took
charge, and his ears told him this would not take long. He bent his knees, waitng for the
foosteps to approach. When they sounded sufficiently close, he kicked the ground, shot
upwards in a great leap, landed behind two soldiers, and spun. Two blades parted with their
hilts.
Screams of terror filled the air as a cyclone of claws ripped through the soldiers' ranks,
broken metal falling as a rain of fragments in its wake. A minute had barely passed before Lord
Wolf was amongst a circle of fallen foes. He turned toward the last standing figure. Her golden
hair swayed calmly in the wind. Her eyes held defiance. Lord Wolf prepared to pounce. Before
he leapt, his ears twitched. There was a faint whistling sound. Immediately, Lord Wolf shifted his
weight and jumped backwards. The space in which he stood a second ago was now occupied
by a wooden arrow planted deep into the ground.

An errant strand of hair was blown free by the wind, blocking Red's vision. She brushed
it back over her ear again. That was the fifth time today. She'd really have to do something
about it later. After dinner, probably. She sighed. Her stomach was already growling and it was
still hours before she could eat. Maybe, though... Maybe she could just have a snack. She'd
been working hard the whole day. She probably deserved it. Convinced by her own logic, Red
nodded to herself and dug through the picnic basket hanging at the side of the massive hawk
she was riding. She pulled out a sandwich and promptly took a big bite. As she chewed, she
scanned the battlefield from her vantage point hundreds of feet in the air. Bodies littered the
brown soil, flowing rivers of red a stark juxtaposition against the meandering blue of rivers and
swaying green of trees. Screams filled the air—the kind that is heard when death is but a sword
swing away—causing Red to pull her hood down further. She still heard them. The sandwich
she was chewing on grew increasingly stale, its flavor bleeding away like the lives of those
below her. This. Wasn’t. Right. Things shouldn’t be like this. And she had to fix it. The easy
smile that came so naturally to her disappeared, replaced by a mask of cold determination. She
reached into her quiver, only to find it empty. Huh. Where did that last arrow go? Red shrugged.
She must have miscounted. She would have to do this another way. Her left hand started to
glow.

The captain got up, his head still spinning from the explosion that threw him from his
horse. A screech in the air caused him to look up. A bright glowing dot was in the sky. It was like
a second sun, though not blinding to look at. Before he could reclaim enough of his wits to
wonder what it was, the dot split into countless balls of fire that rained down. Within seconds,
white-hot flames raged through troop formations, burning friend and foe alike. A nauseating
stench of charred flesh permeated the battlefield. The captain stumbled to the edge of the
woods, leaning on a tree for support. His mission was a failure. His platoon was gone. He had to
get away. Staying here would only see his scorched corpse feasted on by vultures. It would be
desertion, but that was preferable to dying in this forsaken place.
“This war be damned! I will not die like a dog here! The Prince… the Lady… they can kill
each other to their hearts’ content!” shouted the captain to no one in particular. Hearing his
words given sound made him more confident. This war was a mistake. Joining the army was a
mistake. This was all just a mistake. He would run away, go home, and start over again. All was
not lost. He took a step into the woods.
A fist the size of a man’s head exploded from the foliage to his side and slammed into
his face, sending him flying backwards.
“We’ve got laws against desertion, soldier. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Get yourself
back to camp before I change my mind.”
 Kumazo stepped out into the open, a smokereed in his mouth sizzling in the evening
breeze. The iron shackles at his waist jangled. The three Royal Inquisitor brands on his arms
were just barely visible in the dying light of an ending day.

Introduction 
The kingdom of Taelia has been torn apart by war! As the Dancing Lady strives to preserve the
newly-gained sovereignty of factions and clans across the Taelian Fields, Prince Charming
seeks to reunite the land under a new ruler and a new name. Embody storied characters and
join the fateful conflict for the future of Taelia! By your hand shall the final chapter of the Taelian
Chronicles be written!

After you pick your favorite character, find an ally and face off against a team of two foes!

Swear allegiance to the Commander of your choice—either Prince Charming or The Dancing
Lady—and use your unique set of talents and skills to lead your side to victory!

Expand your Influence by employing Criers and Heralds to spread the word of your cause!

Use your Influence to Recruit factions in the Field and command them directly. Each faction has
powerful abilities that will surely aid you in battle!

Trainers, Instructors, and Masters will be crucial in unleashing the true potential of your own
skills!

Remember that as long as the enemy Commander draws breath, enemy Characters will revive.
Slay the enemy Commander to ensure your foes stay down!

Once both enemy Characters and the enemy Commander have fallen, victory is yours!
Set-Up 

Arrange the players into two teams of two players each. Those players sit diagonally across
from each other, such that going around the table, the team of the players alternate. Each player
should then pick a character and take its corresponding character sheet and Unique cards. For
your first game, you should use characters with two or fewer stars of difficulty. For a more
competitive environment, please see the “Advanced Rules” section for a more involved
character selection method.

Example: Albert, Beatrice, Charlotte, and Daniel are starting a game. They decide to form the
teams Albert and Charlotte, and Beatrice and Daniel. They thus sit in the order Albert, then
 ​ ed,​ G
Beatrice, then Charlotte, then Daniel. They choose the characters R ​ oldie​, L
​ ord Wolf​, and
Marquise de Carabas​ respectively.

Note that the order Albert, then Daniel, then Charlotte, then Beatrice was also possible.

Each character starts with a deck of ten cards, as listed on his or her Character Board. For the
majority of characters, this will be 7 ​Criers​, 2 ​Instructors​, and 1 of that character’s Basic Attack
cards, but it may be different for some characters. Shuffle those cards together; this will form
your starting deck.

Place your character’s remaining Basic Attack cards next to your Character Board. The rest of
your Unique Skill cards form your Latent Skill Pool.

Set each character’s Hit Points [HP] to his or her maximum value by placing the appropriate
number of [HP] markers on each Character Board. Set each Commander to 30 [HP] by placing a
colored token on the 30 space on the Commander’s [HP] track. Set each Commander to 3
Armor [Armor] in the same way using the Commander Armor track. Place a Fairy Godmother’s
Grace token on each of the indicated spaces.

Shuffle the Troop Deck and place it face-down next to the Game Board. Deal four Troop cards
face-up into each team’s Field. Remove the four characters chosen by the players from the
Neutral Character Deck, then shuffle and remove four more cards from it at random. Place the
rest of the deck face-down next to the Persuasion pile, then deal two Neutral Character cards
face-up into the Neutral Character slots. Place the ​Heralds​, ​Martyrs​, ​Dismissers​, and ​Masters
face-up in their respective slots in the Field, next to the printed ​Trainer​ space. Make sure that
the ​Dismissers​ marked with a 3 are at the ​top​ of that pile, with the ones marked with a 4 below
them.

Each player then draws five cards from his or her starting deck. The player who has most
recently read a fairy tale starts the game!

Gameplay 
Each turn is split into four phases. They are, in order, the Beginning of Turn phase, the Action
phase, the Recruitment phase, and the End of Turn phase.

Beginning of Turn Phase 

First, status effects you applied during your last turn expire and become inactive. For your first
few turns, it is unlikely that any player will have applied any status effects, so this will not affect
gameplay. See the “Status Effects” section for details.

Next, certain effects will automatically take place as indicated with the text, “At the beginning of
[player]’s turn.”

Example: ​Harry ‘n Terry​’​s​ Special Ability has an optional effect at the Beginning of Turn. His
player decides during the Beginning of Turn phase whether or not to activate the effect.

Action Phase 
After the Beginning of Turn phase, the Action phase begins. During this phase you will be
playing your Action cards, which is a collective term for Skill cards and Troop cards. You may
initially play any Action card in your hand, but after that you will have to link your cards together.
Effectively linking your cards is at the core of the game and can greatly increase the potency of
your deck, so we dedicate the following subsection entirely to the concept.

Linking 
Each Action card has one or more colors, and one or more link colors. These are indicated by
colored icons on the left-hand side of the card, on the top and bottom respectively. With the
exception of the first one you play in a turn, you may not play an Action if the Action you
played before it does not link into it. This concept is best explained by an example.
Example: Albert has the cards ​Rallying Speech,​ F​ oresight​, and ​Thundering Slam​ in his
hand at the beginning of his Action phase. For his first Action this turn, he may play any of
those cards. He chooses to play ​Rallying Speech​ as his first card. This is a Green card that
has links to Blue, Red and Yellow. Note that it does not link into Purple, so he cannot play the
Purple card T​ hundering Slam​ afterwards. However, he may play ​Foresight​ after, because it
 is Blue. Then, since one of ​Foresight’​ s link colors is Purple, he may play T
​ hundering Slam
after that.

Note that he could have played these cards in several different orders, such as first
Thundering Slam,​ followed by ​Foresight,​ followed by ​Rallying Speech.​

Certain effects may allow you to play an Action card when you wouldn’t normally have been
able to do so. Doing so allows you to ignore the linking rule for that card. However, Actions
after that one must still link as normal.

Example: Beatrice is playing ​Goldie,​ who has the Character Trait J ​ ust Right.​ This allows her
to play a Troop card regardless of link colors by revealing a card that has a recruitment cost
of 1 more than it, and a card that has a recruitment cost of 1 less than it. In this way, she may
play the 4-cost Blue card ​Painful Slander​ by revealing a card costing 3 (such as a ​Pocket
Wrench)​ and a card costing 5 (such as a P ​ ebble Toss)​ from her hand, even if her most
recently played Action does not link to Blue. If she wishes to play another Action afterwards, it
​ ainful Slander​.
must link from P

When you play an Action card, it goes into your played area, ​not ​your discard pile. Resolve the
effects in its rules text in the order written. If you can’t resolve all the effects of an Action card,
resolve as much as you can.

If an effect would cause you to manipulate your deck in a way that requires more cards than
are currently in it, resolve as much of it as you can with your current deck, then shuffle your
discard pile into a new deck and finish resolving the effect.

Example: Albert plays ​Foresight,​ which allows him to look at the top four cards of his deck.
His deck only has one card in it when ​Foresight​ is played, so that will be one of the cards he
looks at. He then shuffles his discard pile into a new deck, and takes the remaining three
cards he is to look at from that deck as part of ​Foresight’​ s effect.

The word “enemy” refers to your opponents and their Commander, while the word “opponent”
does not include their Commander. The word “player” refers to you, your ally, and your
opponents.

Instead of playing an Action card for its usual effects, you may instead use it to persuade Neutral
Characters to join the fight. See the section “Neutral Characters” for details.

Action cards are also the primary way to deal damage to your opponents and their Commander.
Damage 
Many Action cards, as well as some other effects, do damage, either physical [physical] or
magic [magic]. Damage dealt to a character or Commander reduces its [HP] by that much.
Some sources of damage deal a set amount of damage while others do a variable amount of
damage. Others still are Attacks, which deal [physical] damage equal to the attacker’s [ATK]
stat.

Example: T ​ hundering Slam​ states that it does 2 [physical] damage to an opponent. If this
hits a player, that character’s [HP] will be reduced by 2. In contrast, ​Guiding Shot​ causes an
attack on a target. If this hits a character or Commander, its [HP] will be reduced by an
amount equal to the attacker’s [ATK] stat.

There are many ways to increase or decrease the amount of damage dealt by an effect. One
common example is each Commander’s [Armor], which reduces [physical] damage the
Commander would take by 1 per point of [Armor]. To calculate the total amount of damage,
add to the original damage all increases, then subtract all decreases. If the total damage
would be zero or less, no damage is dealt.
Example: Beatrice plays ​Pipebomb,​ choosing to deal the 3 [physical] damage to the
opposing team’s Commander, which currently has 1 [Armor]. ​Pipebomb​ does 3 - 1 = 2
damage.

Example: Charlotte is playing ​Lord Wolf​. Her character has three F ​ erocity​ and the status
Strengthened,​ and uses the Action card ​Gentleman’s Blades​ to attack Daniel. Because this
is an attack, we calculate damage based on ​Lord Wolf’s​ [ATK] stat. His base value is 1, with
a bonus of 1 from his Special Ability ​Wolf in Chic Clothing​, and another bonus of 1 from
Strengthened.​ That means that if this attack hits, it will do 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 damage.

There is an important distinction between [physical] and [magic] damage. [Magic] damage is
difficult to mitigate, but [physical] damage can be mitigated relatively easily. The most
common ways in which [physical] damage can be mitigated are Commander [Armor] and
Martyrs​. A ​Martyr​ allows you to prevent all of a single instance of [physical] damage that
would be dealt to either yourself or your ally by returning it to Field.

Example: Charlotte makes the attack from the previous example, which would cause
[physical] damage to Daniel. Beatrice, who is allied with Daniel, has a ​Martyr​ in her hand,
and wants to prevent the damage that the attack would do. She returns the M ​ artyr​ to the
Field, so the attack does no damage.

[Magic] damage cannot be mitigated in either of these ways. If an effect can prevent [magic]
damage, it will specifically state that it can.
 Example: Beatrice plays ​Pipebomb,​ choosing to deal the 1 [magic] damage to the opposing
team’s Commander, which has 1 [Armor]. Unlike [physical] damage, [magic] damage is not
reduced by [Armor], so this does 1 damage.

Many sources of damage also have “on-hit” effects, which occur if at least 1 damage is dealt.
Preventing the damage also prevents on-hit effects from taking place. There are a few
sources of damage with “on-miss” effects, which take place if the damage was prevented or
reduced to 0.

When a character reaches 0 [HP], that character dies. This is usually not a permanent
condition. See the section “Character Death” for details.

When a Commander reaches 25 [HP] or 2 [Armor], certain effects will automatically take
place. See the sections “Commander Damage and Death” and “Ending the Game” for details.

Certain other effects may be activated during this phase, indicated by the phrase “During your
Action phase [...].” You may activate these effects at any point in the phase, except during the
resolution of another effect. Support cards with the Incident subtype are implied to have this text,
and are played with the same timing.

Finally, you may choose to discard any 3 cards from your hand during the Action phase to
refresh your team’s Field. To do so, dismiss all the cards in your team’s Field and replace them
with cards from the Troop deck. As with the effects mentioned in the previous paragraph, you
may do this at any point in the phase, except during the resolution of another effect.

Recruitment Phase 
After your Action phase, proceed to the Recruitment phase. First, you may play any or all of the
Recruiter cards in your hand. You then have the Influence [Influence] they generated (plus any
you generated during your Action phase) to spend this turn. This [Influence] can be spent to
recruit cards in the Field.

Support cards in the Field cost you the amount of [Influence] printed in their cost box. Troop
cards in your Field also cost you the printed amount, while cards in your opponents’ Field cost 1
more [Influence] than the printed amount. You may recruit any number of cards per turn, as long
as their total cost does not exceed the amount of [Influence] you have to spend. Unspent
[Influence] goes away at the end of your turn, so you cannot use [Influence] you generated
during previous turns. When you recruit a card, put it directly into your discard pile.

Whenever a team’s Field does not contain 4 Troop cards (such as when one is recruited),
replace the missing cards immediately from the Troop Deck.

Example:​ D​ aniel plays two ​Criers​ (2 * 1 [Influence]), two ​Heralds​ (2 * 2 [Influence]), and a
Martyr​ (1 * 1 [Influence]) during his Recruitment phase. He also played a ​Rallying Speech
during his Action phase earlier in the turn, which generated 1 [Influence]. This grants him a total
of 8 [Influence] for the turn. He uses this to recruit a ​Martyr,​ which costs 2, leaving him 6
[Influence]. He uses this to recruit the 5-cost card S​ ummoning Magic​ from Albert and
Charlotte’s Field, which costs him all 6 of his remaining [Influence] instead because it’s in his
opponent’s Field. The empty Field slot left after purchasing it is then refilled from the Troop deck.

A very important Support card you can use during the Recruitment phase is the ​Instructor​ card,
which allows you to learn a Skill.

Learning Skills: When you learn a Skill, choose one of the cards in your unlearned Skill pile
and put it in your discard pile. Most characters start the game with 2 ​Instructors​ in your deck
with which to learn Skills. The other ways to learn Skills are through the Support card ​Master​,
the Skilled Veteran bonus, and the ​Little Match Lady​ Neutral Character effect.

You may also choose to spend [Influence] to recruit your Basic Attack cards (or ​Conflagrations
in the case of ​Little Match Lady​) for their printed costs. Remember that these cards are not part
of the Field.

End of Turn Phase 

After the Recruitment phase, it is the beginning of the end - the End of Turn phase, that is! First,
discard your hand and put the all cards in your played area into your discard pile. Then, refill
your hand by drawing 5 cards from your deck. If your deck does not have enough cards for this,
draw as many as you can, then shuffle your discard pile into a new deck and draw the
remainder.
Once you are done refilling your hand, the turn of the player to your left begins.

Status Effects 
Certain cards apply status effects to characters or Commanders. These effects can be
beneficial or detrimental. Status effects generally persist until the next Beginning of Turn phase
of the player who applied them, at which point they expire. However, some effects can be
removed before that time. A character with a status effect cannot have another copy of that
status effect, nor will attempting to add another copy of that effect extend its duration.

Example: Albert plays the Action card ​Roar of Strength,​ which applies to him and his ally
​ trengthened​, increasing their [ATK] by 1 each as long as it is
Charlotte the status effect S
active. On Charlotte’s next turn, she still has this effect, so her attacks do more damage. She
plays her own copy of R ​ oar of Strength​ ​to enable her Actions cards to link, but because both
her and Albert have S​ trengthened ​already, they do not have another copy applied to them. At
Albert’s next Beginning of Turn, both of their ​Strengtheneds​ expire.

Example: Beatrice uses a P ​ ebble Toss ​to attack Albert, which hits for damage. This gives him
the status effect ​Distracted​. She ends her turn with the status still applied to him, and it
 ​ istracted​ before it causes Albert to
becomes Charlotte’s turn. Charlotte wants to get rid of D
take more damage, so during her Action phase she chooses to allow Beatrice to draw 2 cards to
remove the status from Albert.

Neutral Characters 

At all points in the game, there will be two Neutral Character cards from the Neutral Characters
deck face-up, available for Persuasion. At any time you could normally play an Action card, you
may instead choose to contribute the card itself to persuading a Neutral Character. To do so,
place the Action card in the Persuasion pile, next to the Neutral Character deck. Contributing a
card in this way is ​not ​the same as playing it. That means effects that allow you to play Actions
in nonstandard ways do not allow you to contribute cards (for example, ​Red’s​ Special Ability
Favorite Color​ or ​Goldie’s​ Special Ability ​Just Right​), nor does contributing a card count
towards effects that specifically check for playing cards (for example, ​Red’s​ ​Arrow Shower​).

While a card is contributed, it is out of your deck; leave it in the Persuasion pile until the next
time the requirements for persuading a Neutral Character have been fulfilled. Even though the
effects of the Action do not take place when you contribute it, your next Action this turn must still
link from the contributed card.

When the Persuasion pile contains at least one card of each of four different colors, a Neutral
Character will be persuaded to help the team of the player who contributed the final card. That
player can choose to resolve either (1) the Persuasion Ability of one of the face-up Neutral
Character cards, or (2) the Persuasion Ability of the Fairy Godmother.

(1) If a Neutral Character card is chosen, the Persuasion Ability is resolved immediately.
Then that Neutral Character card is removed from the game, and replaced with the next
card in the deck (if available).
(2) If the Fairy Godmother is chosen, reduce your dead ally’s respawn timer by 1. See the
subsection “Character Death” for details. Note that Fairy Godmother can only be chosen
if your ally is dead, and his or her respawn timer is greater than 0.

Finally, return all cards in the Persuasion pile to the discard piles of the players who contributed
them.

An Action may not be contributed if each of its colors is already being provided by another card.
For example, this means if there is already a Blue card in the Persuasion pile, a player cannot
choose to contribute another Blue card. However, certain Action cards have more than one
color. Those cards can contribute any of their colors towards persuading a Neutral Character,
though they still contribute only one of those colors at a time. The color contributed by a
multicolored card is not set, and can change depending on what colors have yet to be
contributed, taking into account the colors of the other contributed cards.
Example: S ​ cheherazade​ and ​Svansson a ​ re face-up as available Neutral Characters. Albert
would like to persuade ​Scheherazade,​ as he is at low hit points and would like to use her effect
to heal himself. He has a ​Lunch Among the Clouds ​(Blue/Yellow) and a G ​ uiding Shot​ (Red)
in hand, and chains them to put both in the Persuasion pile. This means that the pile can either
be treated as if it had a Blue and a Red card, or a Yellow and a Red card. He ends his turn with
both cards in the pile, hoping that his ally Charlotte is able to contribute the remaining two cards
on her turn. However, Beatrice has the next turn, and contributes a R ​ allying Speech​ (Green)
and a ​Roar of Strength​ (Yellow). Thus the pile now contains a Blue, a Red, a Green, and a
Yellow card, so Beatrice has managed to persuade a Neutral Character to help her team. She
chooses S ​ vansson.​ She puts a Cloaked in Shadow into her discard pile, then removes
Svansson​ from the game. ​Lunch Among the Clouds​ and ​Guiding Shot​ are put in Albert’s
discard pile, and ​Rallying Speech​ and R ​ oar of Strength​ in Beatrice’s. Beatrice then continues
her turn as normal.

Character Death 
When a character is reduced to 0 [HP], that character dies. When this happens, resolve the
following steps in order.
0. That player has an opportunity to use his or her team’s ​Fairy Godmother’s Grace​, if
available. If he or she does, the death does not occur. Do not perform the remaining steps in
this list. See the subsection “Fairy Godmother’s Grace” for details.
1. That player shuffles all cards in his or her hand, discard pile, deck, and played area into
his or her deck. Cards set aside by effects such as ​Prudent Planning​ are also shuffled in,
but ​not​ cards in the Persuasion pile. All active status effects that character become inactive.
2. If the character was killed by an opponent’s source of damage, that opponent may loot
the dead character. If the lethal damage was dealt by the dead character’s ally, or by him- or
herself, no looting occurs.

Looting: To loot a dead character, reveal the top 5 cards of his or her deck. Then choose
one non-Unique card revealed this way and put it into your discard pile. Unless they are all
Unique, you must choose one. Shuffle the remaining cards back into the dead character’s
deck.

3. Reduce the [Armor] of the dead character’s Commander by 1. If this causes the
Commander to reach 1 [Armor], that Commander’s team takes their Last Stand. See the
section “Commander Damage and Death” for details.
4. Set the dead character’s respawn timer to 2.

Effects on dead characters: A dead character does not have a hand or discard pile, cannot
have status effects applied to him or her, and cannot be the target of attacks or other effects.
However, status effects applied to other characters by the dead character before death expire
at the normal time, when that character would take a turn. On rare occasions, a card may be
put into a dead character’s deck or discard pile. In that case, shuffle that card into that
character’s deck.

A dead character skips his or her next two turns before respawning. When it would be the start
of a dead character’s turn, if his or her respawn timer is 0, the character respawns ​unless his or
her team’s Commander has been slain​ (see the section “Commander Damage and Death” for
details). When a character respawns, that character sets his or her [HP] to its maximum value,
refills his or her hand, and begins once again to take turns as normal.
When it would be the start of a dead character’s turn, if his or her respawn timer is ​not ​0, reduce
his or her respawn timer by 1 and skip his or her turn.

Fairy Godmother’s Grace 

Each team begins the game with a ​Fairy Godmother’s Grace​ token. If a character would die,
he or she can choose to use this token to prevent that death. Instead of going through the
standard procedure for character death, set that character to 12 [HP] and remove the used
token from the game. Note that damage was still dealt, so any on-hit effects still apply.

Commander Damage and Death 

When a Commander is first reduced to 25 [HP], each character on the ​opposing t​ eam becomes
a Skilled Veteran and may learn a Skill.

As noted in the previous section, characters do not respawn when their Commander has been
slain. In other words, characters will continue to respawn as long as their Commander survives.

When a Commander is reduced to 1 [Armor] (or in rare cases dies while still having 2 or more
[Armor]) that Commander’s team gets to choose a Last Stand bonus, which remains active for
the rest of the game. Indicate the chosen bonus by placing a Last Stand token on the
corresponding spot.

[the pictures for last stands were decided to the changed to just a sword and just a card picture
thing, so they’re relatively square images]
[sword]: Both characters on the team have +1 [ATK]
[stack of cards]: Both characters on the team refill their hands to 6 cards instead of 5

Ending the Game 

The game ends when both characters on a team are dead, and their Commander has been slain
to prevent them from respawning. The surviving team wins!

Timing conflicts: If multiple such effects would occur, the current player decides the order in
which they take effect. He or she can choose the order of remaining effects based on the
result of previous effects, but all effects that are not optional (indicated by the word “may”)
must take place at some point.

Appendix A — Card Types and Subtypes 

Unique​:
Cards with this type belong to a specific character. They will not be in the game unless that
character is game. They may not be looted.
Action​:
Cards that are played during the Action phase which must follow linking rules. In particular,
the following types of Actions exist.
Troop​: These cards form the Troop deck, and can be recruited from the Field by any
player with enough Influence.
Skill​: A character’s personal special abilities. They start the game in that character’s
unlearned Skill pile. All Skills are also Unique.
Tome​: A special type of Action belonging to the character ​Scheherazade. They function
similarly to Skills, except they are not in the Latent Skill Pool.
Cards with these types are Action cards, even though that is not printed on the cards
themselves.
Certain Action cards have the subtype ​Attack​ or ​Basic Attack​. Cards with one of those
subtypes will generally be able to cause an Attack. All Basic Attacks are also Unique Skills.
Support​:
These cards do not follow linking rules. There are two subtypes of Support cards, which
specify when they can be played.
Incident​: These cards can be played at any point in your Action phase, except during the
resolution of another effect.
Recruiter​: These cards can be played during the Recruitment phase to produce
Influence.
Some Support cards do not have these subtypes, in which case they will specify when they
can be used in their rules text. Furthermore, some Support cards may have rules text that
allows them to be used at times other than those specified by their subtypes. As such, read
them all carefully to see how each works.
Aura​:
These cards exist in a character’s unlearned Skill pile, but are not themselves Skills. When
they are learned, they are placed next to that character’s Character Board instead of being
put into his or her discard pile. Their effects are then active for the rest of the game, even
while the owning character is dead. All Auras are also Unique.
Status​:
These mini-cards are applied to a character or Commander by various effects, and are
active until they expire or are removed. See the section “Status Effects” for details.
Appendix B — Keywords and Symbols 
Learn​: When you learn a Skill, choose one of the cards in your unlearned Skill pile and put it
into your discard pile.
Recruit​: When you recruit a card from the Field, put that card into your discard pile. You do this
by spending [Influence] during the Recruitment phase.
Dismiss​: The act of putting a card into the Dismissed zone. Cards put into that zone are
removed from the game, except that dismissed Troop cards will form a new Troop deck if the
current one becomes empty.
Attack​: As a verb, this means “Deal [physical] damage equal to your character’s [ATK].” Also
used as a subtype on cards that cause attacks.
Apply​: The act of giving a status effect to a character or Commander.
Remove​: The act of ending the duration of an applied status effect. This occurs automatically
when an effect expires (see below), but can also happen prematurely through certain effects.
Expire​: If a status effect is not removed by the next Beginning of Turn of the player who applied
it, it expires and is removed.
Damage​: Damage dealt to a character or Commander causes its [HP] to reduced by that much.
On-hit​: This is printed on many sources of damage as “On-hit: ​Effect.​ ” The effect after the colon
takes place if at least one damage is dealt by the source.
On-miss​: The opposite of On-hit. The effect after the colon takes place if the damage is
prevented or reduced to zero or less.
Last Stand​: When a team’s Commander’s [Armor] is reduced to 1 for the first time, that team
chooses a Last Stand bonus of either +1 [ATK] for the rest of the game, or refiling their hands by
1 more card for the rest of the game.
Field​: The area where cards that are recruitable by any player are placed.
:​ The remaining hit points of a character or Commander. When this reaches zero, that
character or Commander dies.

: Attacks performed by a character do [physical] damage equal to his or her [ATK].

​: A type of damage. Dealt by most damaging effects and by attacks.

​: A type of damage that is difficult to reduce or prevent.

​: Reduces [physical] damage dealt to the Commander by one per point of [Armor].

: This is printed on objects that interact with your Latent Skill Pool. It has no special rules
meaning by itself, and serves only as a reminder.

: +N [Cards] is shorthand for “Draw N cards.”

​: Represents Influence, which is generally used for recruiting cards from the Field.
FAQs 
General 
What do when you are instructed to draw, reveal, or look at cards in your deck when you don’t
have enough deck?
Explain reshuffling

What’s the order of resolution of death effects?

Loot, armor tick, armor bonus

Card-specific 
Brutal Mauling + Passive to absorb damage. does not work, not 
valid target. 
Allhid numbing fury + reckless recruits 
Wolf Big Teeth + Grace 
two pronged attack + 0 dmg. will attack again. example: two 
prong attack while firghtened. strip frightened. next instance 
will do full dmg.