The Four Paths

“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, And if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

– Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche

Here is a riddle. A fool stands between four kings. The fool bears a long and jagged sword. The kings are unarmed.

The King of Wands speaks first. He is a wicked and powerful sorcerer.

“If you slay these others, I will cast a spell that will bind the heart of the most beautiful woman in the world to you. She will be your bride, and by my arts, you will bear many children.”

The King of Cups speaks next. He is a pious man.

“I am advanced in the initiations of Mythrys and speak with the true voice of the Monad. Slay these others, and I will teach you deep wisdom.”

The King of Pentacles then speaks. He is a subtle man and very rich.

“Feh. Pah! Bleh. I have enough gold to buy a woman and the Cult’s favor. Enough of this prattle. Run these other beggars through and you shall have as much gold as you can spend in your lifetime.”

Last speaks the King of Swords—dullest and strongest of the four.

“How is this still being contested? Thou hast a sword. Use it! If thou use it in my name, I shall make thee a knight. All these aforementioned shall be thy reward.”

What does the fool do?

The initial forays into the Underworld were grisly affairs. It was plaster miners who discovered the passage into the first level. They curiously chiseled their way into the antechambers. Like tomb robbers, they discovered gilded treasures and heaps of ancient coins piled therein. And then they discovered the grue. There were no survivors. Before the First Crusade was finally mobilized, the death toll rose terribly as the lure of the Underworld proved irresistible to the very brave and the very foolish. As more of the Underworld began to be revealed, more creatures slithered out of half-remembered legends into reality. Strange beasts and malevolent entities crawled up out of the opened chambers and into the terrorized City. The Cult, at first overwhelmed with the practical considerations and theological questions the Underworld posed, united the proud and ancient houses of mankind with fiery speeches. Under the Cult’s leadership, the First Crusade hunted the monsters that had escaped into the City and encamped themselves on the threshold of the Underworld, warding the lands of men from further attacks. It was only during the Second Crusade that it was discovered that those who die in the Underworld do not stay dead...

Common motifs:

would-be knight, deposed king, charming pirate, retired gladiator, fanatic vampire hunter, barbarian warrior poet

Aegis

If you are carrying an intact shield and would suffer an effect from a physical source (an attack, a trap, etc.), you may elect to Notch your shield instead of taking the effect.

Doom Eye

When wielding a missile weapon during a Challenge, you may spend a Sword card on your turn to perform a perfect shot. This Attack automatically hits, regardless of the target’s Initiative.

Heavy Metal Machine

During Challenges, if you are wearing iron or steel armor, you may use a miscellaneous action (discarding any card) to add your Swords to your Initiative as an interrupt against a single action. You may only use this talent once per round.

Monster Hunter

When you master or train this talent, choose both a hated foe and a specialization of that enemy.

• You gain a motif called “[Foe] Hunter.” You can use this motif to bid lore about these creatures or to gain favor in tests of fate related to them, as normal.

• You make Attacks with favor against foes of your specialization.

Choose a foe and a specialization from the following list—you can change your foe as a City Action if some new type of creature really gives you reason to be pissed off.

Beast Hunter

You specialize in hunting, tracking, and trapping beasts of all shapes and sizes. What qualifies as a “beast”? Well, if it’s in a medieval bestiary, it’s probably a beast. Beasts are native to the realm of Flesh—they feast, fight, flee, and fuck.

Specializations: Any specific species (e.g., bats, centipedes, chimeras, cockatrices, dinosaurs, tigers)

Elemental Hunter

Your focus is dealing with supernatural embodiments of nature.

Specializations: Any specific creature (e.g., undine, salamander, siren, dryad, tree giants)

Man Hunter

You specialize in the most dangerous game. The term “man” is a bit of a misnomer. This category covers all kith, kin, and genders.

Specializations: Any specific kith: fay, humans, underfolk, orcs

Spirit Hunter

Your focus is on alien intelligences from the far realms. You can deal with incorporeal spirits, manifested spirits, and possessing spirits.

Specializations: Spirits from one of the far realms (i.e., Wastes, Weald, Weird, Welkin)

Undead Hunter

You have experience pacifying the unquiet dead.

Specializations: A specific undead type (e.g., skeleton, zombie, wraith)

Witch Hunter

If the answer to the question “what is that thing?” is “a wizard did it,” you can deal with it.

Specializations: Any specific type of magical manifestation (e.g., beastmen, golems, oozes)

GM’s note

It’s possible that the Monster Hunter categories can overlap. For example, a giant beetle might be a specialty for both a beast hunter and a witch hunter. That’s fine. There’s no reason to get into taxonomical minutiae.

Reaver

When you Attack during Challenges, you may also move one zone (Set the scene) as you charge towards your foe.

Two-handed Focus

If you are wielding a melee weapon with both hands during a Challenge, you may Attack as a minor action with either a Pentacles or a Swords card.

War Stories

As a Camp Action, tell your guild the story of some of your past adventures. Maybe this was an adventure you've played out in-character, or maybe one in your backstory. You—and everyone who listens and role-plays with you a little— gets to choose one of the following benefits:

• They may charge an uncharged Bond.

• They gain an extra point of Resolve; this can bring their Resolve up to 5.

A reminder

During adventurer creation, you will prioritize your attributes—Swords, Pentacles, Cups, or Wands—from 1-4. Whichever attribute is rated 4, the highest rating possible, becomes your path.

Your path determines the initial talents that you have access to. You will begin the game with one of your path’s talents mastered and the rest of your path’s talents in training. More information on learning, training, and mastering talents can be found in chapter 2.

Treasure was, and remains, a powerful motivator for Underworld expeditions. The spires of the Castle of Crossed Destinies were literally covered in gold plating until explorers stripped them and hauled the plates back to the surface. The Underworld denizens possess strange coinage as well: round pieces of gold stamped with the faces of three beautiful women and a pentacle star on the reverse. Who these ancient sovereigns were is a matter of great scholarly debate and fanciful public speculation. By the same token, treasure is the primary motivator for the City’s current system of adventuring guilds. The fifty percent guild tax on recovered loot is a heavy burden for adventurers and is much bemoaned. The tax collectors posted at each known exit from the Underworld are a particularly hated lot, but the City has grown rich from this system. Of course, these heavy taxes have created a sprawling industry of smuggling, bribery, and fencing. In pursuit of both relic hunting and black marketeering, “thief” has become a particularly common profession.

Common motifs:

arrogant duelist, feral scavenger, morbid jester, bounty hunter, traitorous spy, urchin pickpocket, penitent assassin

Acrobat

You no longer need to test fate to climb sheer surfaces or walk across narrow ledges or tightropes. You climb and scamper along difficult or vertical terrain as easily as walking. During Challenges, you may move this way as a miscellaneous action, as easily as walking to a new zone.

Additionally, if you are prepared, you may treat a fall as if it were 20’ shorter (Falling). If you are not prepared for a fall, you may spend a Resolve to treat it as if it were 20’ shorter.

Ambusher

In the first round of a Challenge, whenever you would deal damage, you deal 2 Wounds instead of 1.

Spend a Resolve to resist being ambushed. You raise a hue and cry to warn your guild of the threat beforehand.

Con Artist

If you spend a few minutes observing a person in conversation or talking to them, you may bid lore to ask the GM to reveal either one of their likes or their dislikes (your choice); see Social Encounters & Disposition for more on Disposition and see Creating interesting characters for more about likes and dislikes.

Fight Dirty

During Challenges, you may Roughhouse as a minor action with either a Pentacles or Swords card. Additionally, you gain several new Roughhouse options:

• Exhaust
• Notch
• Silence

Quick!

During Challenges, if you are wearing light or no armor, you may treat Pentacles actions as interrupts.

Sneak

At any point, you may declare that you go sneaking. This allows you to go dramatically off-stage.

Later, if you are not present in a scene and it’s at least somewhat plausible that you could have snuck there, spend a Resolve to arrive on the scene dramatically. If a Challenge has yet to begin, this arrival counts as an ambush (Ambushes and surprise). If combat has already begun, nobody is surprised because everybody is on edge—simply join the flow of combat per usual.

If you go sneaking and all tension evaporates, you may rejoin the scene by slinking out of the shadows. This does not cost a Resolve.

This talent also gives you a new Camp Action: Infiltrate. When you Infiltrate, you investigate a specific location that you know of in your current dungeon level. Thereafter, you may bid lore to ask the GM a specific yes or no question about something you’d know having infiltrated that location, e.g., “Is this door trapped?”, “Is this room guarded?”, “Is the wizard’s bedroom on this level?”, “Do the bandits have bows?”, “Were the orcs green-skinned?”

Up My Sleeve

You may declare that you have had a common, one-slot item with you the whole time. Twice per Crawl (one for each sleeve), spend a Resolve and declare that you had a [blank] up your sleeve. This can include a lockpick, a dagger, a handkerchief, an empty vial, a length of wire, or anything else that the GM generally finds viable.

Sneak responsibly

Be aware of whether or not other adventurers actually want you present in a scene. A heroic rescue out of a prison cell can be much more welcome than you intruding on a personal scene. A player having a solo scene has the right to veto your use of this skill.

When the Underworld opened, so many went on the quest for the Grail of Mythrys that a massive support system, both secular and religious, was assembled. Inns and public houses for the housing of pilgrims, coin changers for foreigners, shops of supply and purveyance, smithies for armament, chapels and shrines for the devout, charlatans and peddlers selling false maps and rumors, scribes and lawyers for drafting of charters and wills, apothecaries for the healing of those returned unsuccessful —all these sprang up almost overnight. The sign of the Cup has become synonymous for these tradesmen, as well as having a holy connotation, and is still used today to advertise needful service.

Common motifs:

grisly apothecary, adventurous cartographer, jolly cleric, daring archaeologist, jaded barber surgeon, young insect tamer

Alchemy

This talent gives you a new Camp Action: Brew Alchemy. When you Brew Alchemy, you use an alchemy kit to turn any number of reagents you have into alchemical substances. Reagents are harvested from the bodies of Underworld monsters. Alchemical substances are kept in hermetic bottles and divided into three categories: potions, oils, and bombs. See Appendix B for more information on alchemy.

Beast Master

This talent allows you to train and issue commands to your animal companions. As a Camp Action, you may teach one animal companion one command. Normal trained animals may learn up to three commands. It is possible to retrain an animal with a new command, replacing one of their previously mastered commands.

Pick from this list of commands (or new ones that the GM approves):

• Sic ‘Em
• Hunt
• Get Help
• Do a Trick
• Heel
• Guard
• Fetch
• Stay
• Track

If you have mastered this talent, one animal you own is considered your familiar. Familiars can learn five different commands. Furthermore, if your familiar would take a Wound that would kill them, you may spend a Resolve to declare that they’re only at Death’s Door and not actually dead.

More information about animal companions can be found in War pigs.

Bookworm

You have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of everything you have read. Once you have used the Read a Book Camp Action (Camp Actions), you may thereafter bid lore to ask a question about the subject of that text. Keep a list of books that you’ve read. These are treated like motifs for the purpose of bidding lore, but don’t aid you in tests of fate.

Chirurgeon

You may provide healing to your companions. You can expend a poultice to Heal someone (Effects). This effect cannot be used to clear the Stressed condition.

Additionally, this talent gives you a new Camp Action: Chirurgery. When you use Chirurgery on a non-Stressed guild-mate using the Rest and Recover Camp Action, you may Heal all of their Wounds.

Loremaster

You are a student of ancient languages and lore. This talent confers three advantages:

• You have knowledge of many languages and tongues. You are assumed to be passingly fluent in any spoken language that you might encounter.

• You can translate ancient scripts and runes. Translating a short ancient runic passage that you encounter while delving takes a watch or two. Translating a longer text (such as a book) requires a City Action.

• When you bid lore, you may spend a Resolve instead of spending a lore bid.

Any time during a Challenge, you may yell advice to another adventurer and hand the player a card from your hand. The card’s suit must match the action you counsel them to take. The other player may play that card as long as they use it to take your advice. In all other ways, it is treated as a normal Challenge card (Draw Challenge cards).

If you spend a Resolve when you use this talent, the other player may play this card as an interrupt. Otherwise, the standard one-card-per-turn rule remains in effect (Take turns).

You may use this talent once per round.

This talent gives you a new Camp Action: Perform the High Chant. When you Perform the High Chant, speak at least two stanzas of epic poetry for the table. If you do so, you may select a number of cards from the minor arcana discard pile equal to your Cups. These are called inspiration cards. Distribute the cards to other players—you may keep one for yourself. No player can ever have more than one inspiration card. Inspiration cards may be spent as actions during a Challenge. Alternatively, you may spend your inspiration card instead of drawing from the deck when you test fate or push fate. Inspiration cards last until used or until the end of the session, whichever comes first.

The relationship between the City and magic has been long fraught with bloodshed and sorrow. During the Age of the First Empire, sorcery was used as an act of worship towards the Crow-Headed Queen——one of the earliest deified empresses. During the Age of the Republic, sorcery was seen as being fundamentally tied to both monarchists and elves, and it was made illegal. Still, several cabals flourished in secret. The Age of the Republic was marked by the increasing fanaticism of witch hunters as they attempted to root out these hidden sorcerers. A blanket ban on sorcery proved impossible with the advent of the Age of Dungeon. Too many trials and foes in the Underworld were essentially mystical in nature. The practice of sorcery became a necessary evil, and the Cult began to draw up the appropriate pardons and indulgences. Today, those who practice sorcery in the City must be licensed and registered with the crown. Official sorcerers are granted rods of office by the Tower Gnostic and allowed to join guilds in the exploration of the Underworld. Unofficial sorcery is punishable by fines, but is largely unregulated as long as it is not performed in the City itself. Still, the Witch Finder General remains an influential figure within City politics, and his templars have a much grimmer view of unregulated sorcery.

Common motifs:

court mage, insane astrologer, artisanal wand maker, conniving charlatan, morbid wizard, doomsday cultist

Counter-spell

You can counter the effects of sorcery with an effort of will. There are two applications for this talent:

• You can stop enemy sorcerers from casting spells in battle. During Challenges, if you can perceive a sorcerer casting a spell, you may spend a Resolve to Speak Incantations as an interrupt.

• If your Speak Incantations value is greater than the enemy sorcerer’s total value, their spell fizzles out.

• If your Speak Incantations value is equal to or less than the enemy’s total value, the spell fizzles out but you must draw on the maleficence table as the magic goes awry.

• You can negate a spell already in play. You may spend a Resolve to immediately end the ongoing effects of a spell.

Dwimmercraft

Suffused with the arcane arts, you can perform small (but meaningful) expressions of magic. You may perform the following minor effects:

• You may levitate an object in your zone that weighs about 10 lbs. and that fits comfortably in one hand. You have no fine motor control over this effect, but can bring things to you, lift them up, or push them away.

• You may conjure a showy, harmless, and obviously magical illusion—a shower of sparks, a colorful rainbow stretched between your hands, a flickering image of your first love.

• You conjure a simple illusion of something that you can hold in one hand. Anybody that tries to interact with this object will realize it’s an illusion, but the sight of it is fairly convincing.

Additionally, by spending a Resolve, you can focus your second sight for a watch. Second sight allows you to see invisible and Shrouded things. You can perceive the true form of any illusion. You can automatically tell when things are magical or under enchantment. You can also tell if somebody else is a sorcerer.

Using this talent during a Challenge counts as a miscellaneous action.

Sorcery

Those who walk the Path of Wands are sorcerers. Casting spells and the practice of sorcery is described in detail in Appendix A: Sorcery.

Gramarye

You have learned how to draw on the energies of the far realms. Using this talent, you can release a blast of magical energy up to one zone away through an archwood wand, doing damage as a weapon. During Challenges, Attacks with your wand count as Wands actions.

Additionally, you gain a new Camp Action: Make a Pact. When you Make a Pact, choose to observe one or more pacts from the facing page.

Magic of the Wastes

You may cast spells of the Wastes. The Wastes are a grim place of death and decay. Spells of this realm deal with matters of undeath, spread fear, or cause harm.

Magic of the Weald

You may cast spells of the Weald. The Weald is a verdant and wild place. Spells of this realm affect the elements, command beasts, and reshape the natural world.

Magic of the Weird

You may cast spells of the Weird. The Weird is a place of dream, untouched by sanity. Spells of this realm affect one’s mind and emotions, conjure illusions, and bend reality.

Magic of the Welkin

You may cast spells of the Welkin. The Welkin is a bright and holy place. Spells of this realm deal with angels, provide healing and protection, and invoke an awful wonder.

When you use the Make a Pact Camp Action, charge one spell component of your choice for each pact made. This charge may be spent in lieu of spending a Resolve to cast the spell, though additional Resolve must still be spent to grant the spell increased power.

Each component may be charged only once. Your pact lasts until broken or until the spell is cast. Components remain charged until the spell is cast or until you break the pact. If you break the pact, draw on the maleficence table.

Devour the living

You may only eat creatures that are yet living when they pass your lips: maggots, shrimp, mice, infants. If you did not bring these creatures (which are hard to carry and keep), you can test fate with Cups as a Camp Action to see if you can find any in the Underworld. If you fail, you are treated as starving (Break bread). If you succeed, you find enough vermin to keep yourself fed comfortably.

Forego armor

You may not wear armor or helm or wield a shield of any kind, regardless of its construction.

Forego skins

You may not wear the skins or furs of a beast, or anything derived from them (such as leather). You may wear woven garments of linen or cotton.

Forego weapons

You may not touch, handle, manipulate, or wield weapons of any kind—not even a rolling pin used as a club. Any weapons you own must be bound in cloth and lashed to your pack. Wands, curiously, do not count as weapons.

Forego wood

You may not wield, touch, or carry anything made of felled wood. You may not carry a torch, shield, or club. You cannot enjoy the benefits of a fire if that wood was bought with gold in the City (for that wood was certainly felled)—instead, you must sit outside of the fire’s light and heat. Wands, since they’re made of willing archwood, do not count towards this prohibition.

Gluttony

You must eat more than your share. You must eat double your normal portion (two rations instead of one) whenever you consume rations or this pact is broken.

Hide your face

You must hide your face behind a mask at all times. Sorcerers might choose masks of porcelain, cloth, wood, bone, or more exotic materials. Wearing a mask incurs disfavor on all social tests, and the GM will accommodate your social encounters accordingly.

Self-mortification

You must purchase and wear a hair shirt under your normal clothing. This causes you to be Stressed. If you take off the hair shirt and clear Stressed, you violate this pact.

Self-mutilation

When you make this pact, you cut runes into yourself. This causes you to take a Wound. If you ever heal this Wound, you violate this pact.

Silence

If you must speak, you must speak in a whisper. People must be very close to you and it must be very quiet to hear your words. If you speak in a loud voice, you violate this pact.

Verity

You must not tell a knowing lie. If you do so, even in jest, this pact is broken.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t…

Sometimes, pacts might put you in situations where you have to break one pact to keep another. This has its roots in mythology. Consider how Cú Chulainn couldn’t refuse food from a stranger, nor could he eat dog meat. When a stranger offers him dog meat, he’s on the hook one way or another. We recommend not shying away from these conflicts. If the fiction in your game demands that two pacts contradict each other, fine. It’s ultimately not that painful. Let it play out and see what happens.