Introduction

When we last left our team, they were involved in a vicious fight to tear the Shade Reaper away from Tzu San Niang. Though Nathaniel was knocked out in the fray, the team was able to wrest control of the Shade Reaper and used it on Tzu San Niang to put her under their control. With that crisis resolved, the team hoped everything would quiet down at least for a little while as they resumed their travels around the world.

Embark

After all that chaos it’s time to take a moment to collect ourselves and move on to our next adventures. By my count, we finished Shades of Suffering with 5 unspent experience, 1 physical trauma on Kōhaku, Minh and Lily, 2 physical trauma on Nathaniel, and 14 time logged. In addition, we have collected 2 Keys — The Eye of Ravens on Kōhaku and the Shade Reaper which I’ve chosen to give to Nathaniel. We could spend our XP now, but I know that we can collect more by exploring the map, so I’m going to do that first.

First, our team will go to Kathmandu to ensure that we continue hitting off as many Asian cities as we can. Kathmandu takes us to 4/7 needed. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I’m going to have the time to pursue Aliki’s scenario. You have to do several things to make it accessible, and I don’t think I’m going to fit it in. In addition, I don’t want to be getting more trauma from picking up Aliki’s whistle here. So, I will refuse the offer. This gives everyone an additional experience and sets me at 3 Tablets and 1 Elder Thing in my chaos bag. We are also at 15 time, so status report Beta has triggered. We add our second Cultist to the bag and Tunguska is now open to us, although we won’t be heading there right away.

Next, we move to Bombay. I’ve been planning to get here since the beginning when we moved to Stockholm out the gate. The cell appreciated the architecture earlier, which means we get 2 more experience. We also mark 1 more time, bringing us to 17 total time.

Spending XP

At this point, we now have 8 unspent experience – 5 from the last scenario and 3 more embarking. That’s a lot of experience points to work with, so it’s time to see what everyone needs to buy! One of the big things I am concerned about right now is survivability. The trauma on everyone is something that I don’t want to get out of hand. The second big thing I am concerned about is card draw. Most of these decks depend on specific cards or card combos to really function well, and there have been a few times where those cards were nowhere to be seen – especially Minh in the last scenario. While this didn’t cause us to fail anything so far, it is something we’d like to improve.

That all being said, these are the changes I decided to go with.

First, let’s look at Kōhaku:

+2 Key of Solomon, -1 Dowsing Rod, -1 Book of Psalms

Neither Dowsing Rod nor Book of Psalms have really made it to the table, so losing one copy of each likely doesn’t hurt me. Having two copies of Key of Solomon though sounds incredible. Of course, it is a unique asset, so I can’t play both. However, this card has great icons, so if I am forced to commit it, it’s still good for that. It’s important to remember that cards can easily become hollows in TSK, and so going for an extra copy of a powerful card is never a bad idea here. If Key of Solomon hits the table, I expect it to be healing or dealing damage regularly. The healing especially will be fantastic with the physical trauma that the whole team took last scenario.

Next, Nathaniel:

+1 Stick to the Plan, +1 “Get over here!” level 2, -1 “Get over here!” level 0

Any time I get a lot of XP, I love picking up Stick to the Plan for Nathaniel. This card has so many benefits. It’s a psuedo-draw 3, which allows you to reach critical cards faster. It also can hold and protect very strong cards — the encounter deck won’t be discarding or hollowing anything here! With my leftover XP, I’ll upgrade one copy of “Get over here!” I’m keeping in mind Kōhaku’s Weeping Yurei as a I do this. The fact that this can help me manage a signature weakness enemy is a strong enough reason to upgrade to this.

Third, Minh:

+1 Ancestral Knowledge, +1 Perception level 2, +1 Perception level 0, +2 Guts level 0, +1 Manual Dexterity level 0

Essentially, I opted to use my 8 XP on Ancestral Knowledge and some cantrips, upgrading one of them right away to level 2. The reason I’m doing this is because these skill cards can easily turn into card draw, allowing Minh to access her critical cards more easily. It also allows Minh’s backup plan of providing skill card support to trigger more easily when the Dark Horse gameplan doesn’t pop off. Ancestral Knowledge also provides a chance for Deduction level 2 to be accessed more easily, and that card has so far proven to be very important to Minh’s success.

Finally, we have Lily!

+2 Emergency Cache level 2, -2 Emergency Cache level 0, +2 Holy Rosary level 2, -2 Holy Rosary level 0, +2 XP for Hunter’s Armor “Protective Runes” upgrade

With such a large pile of XP, Lily is upgrading even more cards than normal. Emergency Cache is definitely a priority as it gives us card draw, something we’ve identified as a big need for all our decks. Holy Rosary is also getting upgraded because we want the chance to put more Bless tokens by passing Will tests on treacheries. I’m not sure how often this will trigger, but if triggers even a few times I’ll be happy. All that is 6 XP, which leaves us with 2 points. I decide to pick up an upgrade for our Hunter’s Armor, and take the Protective Runes. This upgrade allows other investigators to assign their damage or horror to Lily’s Hunter’s Armor. Again, with 5 physical trauma on the team, we’re starting to be concerned about survivability. This upgrade should help Lily’s tankiness benefit more than just her. I was definitely not expecting to get through upgrading so many cards so fast, so I am hoping we don’t run out of Rabbit Hole targets. However, if that happens, I’m sure I’ve saved enough XP that spending a bit extra at some point won’t hurt.

Oh, also — Lily has 15 XP earned, which means she gets an extra Discipline! I’m going to pick up the Agility discipline because it can help me fight and evade more. The evading especially will be useful, as we need to ensure this team has evasion options to manage Nathaniel’s RBW.

Conclusion

Originally, I said I was going to go to Constantinople next. However, looking at the map, Alexandria is actually closer. So I’m going to go to Alexandria first, and then I’ll go to Constantinople after. By that time, Kabul should be open, and stopping there ought to guarantee that I visit enough Asian cities. Constantinople should be scenario #5, so after that, I can start thinking about if I want to go for another scenario like Alexandria or if I want to just wrap things up in Tunguska. But next time I post it’ll be Dogs of War, so I’ll see you all then!