Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine

high Nature Incarnate
Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine spirit panel

Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine

Growth (Pick One)

1
Reclaim All Reclaim All + Gain Power Card Gain Power Card + Move Breath Incarnation Move Breath Incarnation + Darkness: Escape All Darkness: Escape All
2
Gain Power Card Gain Power Card + Add Presence at Range 3 3 Range Add Presence at Range 3 + Darkness: Escape 2 Darkness: Escape 2
3
Add Presence at Range 1 1 Range Add Presence at Range 1 + Add/Move Breath Incarnation Add/Move Breath Incarnation + Darkness: Escape 1 Darkness: Escape 1 + Gain Energy equal to Card Plays Gain Energy equal to Card Plays

Presence

Energy
1 Energy
1
2 Energy
2
moon element
moon
3 Energy
3
Empower Incarna
Empower
4 Energy + animal 4
4 +animal
5 Energy + air 5
5 +air
Cards
2 Card Plays
2
Move Presence 1
Move Pres 1
3 Card Plays
3
moon element
moon
Reclaim One
Reclaim
4 Card Plays + air
4 +air

Special Rules

TERROR STALKS THE LAND
You have an Incarna (Breath of Darkness Incarna). Empower Breath of Darkness Incarna after uncovering Empower. You may Abduct 1 Explorer/Town at empowered Breath of Darkness Incarna each Fast speed phase.

To Abduct a piece, Move it to The Endless Dark (Endless Dark). When pieces Escape, Move them to non-Ocean lands with your Presence/Breath of Darkness Incarna; if they have no legal land to move to, you lose.

When your Powers would directly damage or directly destroy the only Invader in a land, instead Abduct it. (Check if it is alone at the start of the damage/destroy instruction. Endless Dark is not a land.)

SHADOW-TOUCHED REALM
Your land-targeting Powers can target Endless Dark as if it were a land, ignoring Range. (Endless Dark is Inland and has no terrain.)

Rules for The Endless Dark

Innate Powers

fast LEAVE A TRAIL OF DEATHLY SILENCE
Speed fast | Target Yourself
2 moon
1 Damage at Breath of Darkness Incarna. You may Push Breath of Darkness Incarna.
3 moon 1 air
1 Damage at Breath of Darkness Incarna. You may Push Breath of Darkness Incarna.
4 moon 2 air
1 Damage at Breath of Darkness Incarna. You may Push Breath of Darkness Incarna.
5 moon 2 air
Move Breath of Darkness Incarna to Endless Dark. It Brings 1 Invader (from its land).
slow LOST IN THE ENDLESS DARK
Speed slow | Target endlessdark
2 moon 1 air
1 Fear per Invader (max. 4). Downgrade up to 1 Invader. (Downgrading Removes Explorer.)
4 moon 3 air
1 Fear per Invader (max. 4). Downgrade any number of Invaders.
3 moon
Add 1 Beast.

Setup

Put 2 Presence and your Incarna (Breath of Darkness Incarna), Unempowered (Unempowered Incarna), on your starting board: 1 Presence and Breath of Darkness Incarna in the lowest-numbered Jungle and 1 in the highest-numbered Jungle. Set The Endless Dark (Endless Dark) tile next to the island with 1 Explorer on it.

You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards and 0 Energy.

Play Style

Abducts lone Invaders to gain Fear and keep them off the board for a time; its mobile Incarna is particularly useful for this. Reclaiming permits the Invaders to escape its void en masse, so can be quite painful.

Has trouble with built-up lands, and may need to scatter Invaders or take a Major Power to deal with them.

Power Summary

2
offense
4
control
5
fear
1
defense
2
utility

Unique Power Cards

Strategy

Lore

From the Spirit Panel

In the open spaces of Spirit Island, the night sky, when clear, blazes with light from the moon and stars - but not all of this light reaches the earth. From time to time an ever-shifting shadow writhes across the land, bringing a darkness deeper than found under any jungle canopy. It seeks out those who are isolated and alone, and swallows compatriots and communities alike into its lightless void. Some return, others do not.

Many Dahan suspect this may be another form of Shadows Flicker Like Flame - its whispery voice crackles like fire, among other signs - but keep cautiously clear of it, as it has made no requests of them.

=

Design Lore=

Fear of the dark - and of being alone in the dark - is something really primal. On Spirit Island, it’s also really sensible: not just because there are things in the dark that might hurt you, but because the dark itself might swallow you, never to return. It is not a mere absence of light, but an actual thing unto itself.

Or, perhaps, multiple things, but here we’re discussing just one: Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine.

Breath of Darkness is an Incarna Spirit, its tangled locus a fearsome creature of living shadow that is not exactly physical, but not exactly intangible - it can rend and tear, but also slip through tiny openings, suddenly unfurl itself to a vaster shape, or evaporate away altogether. This may be because it is not entirely here - there is a realm of shadows that may exist inside of it, or on the other side of it, or which it partially exists in, or to which it is connected?… even the Dahan aren’t sure, and have little desire to try and find out. What they do know is that some of those trapped by darkness return - eventually - while others never do.

(The Dahan have few troubles with Breath of Darkness these days. Perhaps this is because the Dahan are correct in their beliefs about certain patterns the Spirit is thought to dislike, allowing travelers caught out alone a much better chance of avoiding an encounter with it. Perhaps it is because the Dahan are correct in other beliefs about the nature of the island, and have resided there long enough to be better-anchored against being pulled into another realm against their will. Perhaps it is simply because Breath of Darkness has some agenda of its own, or because some other Spirit is intervening in one fashion or another, or because it is actually an alternate form of Shadows Flicker Like Flame. Regardless, most Dahan remain cautious - though if it started speaking to them, they’d hear what it had to say; part of their deep wariness is that it doesn’t communicate with them much.)

High Synergy Cards

Type
Elements
Sort

Bats Scout for Raids by Darkness
Bats Scout for Raids by Darkness
slow 1 Minor moonairanimal
Provides: Moon, Air
Delusions of Danger
Delusions of Danger
fast 1 Minor sunmoonair
Provides: Moon, Air
Dire Metamorphosis
Dire Metamorphosis
slow 1 Minor moonairearthanimal
Provides: Moon, Air
Disorienting Landscape
Disorienting Landscape
fast 1 Minor moonairplant
Provides: Moon, Air
Entrancing Apparitions
Entrancing Apparitions
fast 1 Minor moonairwater
Provides: Moon, Air
Haunted by Primal Memories
Haunted by Primal Memories
fast 1 Minor moonairearth
Provides: Moon, Air
Here There Be Monsters
Here There Be Monsters
slow 0 Minor moonairanimal
Provides: Moon, Air
Land of Haunts and Embers
Land of Haunts and Embers
fast 0 Minor moonfireair
Provides: Moon, Air
Lure of the Unknown
Lure of the Unknown
fast 0 Minor moonfireairplant
Provides: Moon, Air
Portents of Disaster
Portents of Disaster
fast 0 Minor sunmoonair
Provides: Moon, Air
Terror Turns to Madness
Terror Turns to Madness
slow 0 Minor moonairwater
Provides: Moon, Air
Twilight Fog Brings Madness
Twilight Fog Brings Madness
slow 0 Minor sunmoonairwater
Provides: Moon, Air
Veil the Night's Hunt
Veil the Night's Hunt
fast 1 Minor moonairanimal
Provides: Moon, Air
Animated Wrackroot
Animated Wrackroot
slow 0 Minor moonfireplant
Provides: Moon
Call of the Dahan Ways
Call of the Dahan Ways
slow 1 Minor moonwateranimal
Provides: Moon
Cycles of Time and Tide
Cycles of Time and Tide
fast 1 Minor sunmoonwater
Provides: Moon
Dark and Tangled Woods
Dark and Tangled Woods
fast 1 Minor moonearthplant
Provides: Moon
Domesticated Animals Go Berserk
Domesticated Animals Go Berserk
fast 1 Minor moonfireanimal
Provides: Moon
Favor of the Sun and Star-lit Dark
Favor of the Sun and Star-lit Dark
fast 1 Minor sunmoonplant
Provides: Moon
Gift of Power
Gift of Power
slow 0 Minor moonwaterearthplant
Provides: Moon
Gift of Twinned Days
Gift of Twinned Days
fast 1 Minor sunmoon
Provides: Moon
Guardian Serpents
Guardian Serpents
fast 1 Minor sunmoonearthanimal
Provides: Moon
Infested Aquifers
Infested Aquifers
slow 1 Minor moonwaterearthanimal
Provides: Moon
Inflame the Fires of Life
Inflame the Fires of Life
slow 1 Minor moonfireplantanimal
Provides: Moon
Prowling Panthers
Prowling Panthers
slow 1 Minor moonfireanimal
Provides: Moon
Pull Beneath the Hungry Earth
Pull Beneath the Hungry Earth
slow 1 Minor moonwaterearth
Provides: Moon
Quicken the Earth's Struggles
Quicken the Earth's Struggles
fast 1 Minor moonfireearthanimal
Provides: Moon
Razor-Sharp Undergrowth
Razor-Sharp Undergrowth
fast 1 Minor moonplant
Provides: Moon
Sleep and Never Waken
Sleep and Never Waken
fast 3 Major moonairearthanimal
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (100%)
Vanish Softly Away, Forgotten by All
Vanish Softly Away, Forgotten by All
slow 3 Major moonair
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (100%)
Weave Together the Fabric of Place
Weave Together the Fabric of Place
fast 4 Major sunmoonairwaterearth
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (100%)
Transform to a Murderous Darkness
Transform to a Murderous Darkness
slow 6 Major moonfireairwaterplant
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (93%)
Savage Transformation
Savage Transformation
slow 2 Major moonanimal
Provides: Moon Threshold reachable (100%)
Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone
Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone
slow 4 Major moonanimal
Provides: Moon Threshold reachable (100%)
Bargain of Coursing Paths
Bargain of Coursing Paths
fast 2 Major moonairwaterearth
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (79%)
Twisted Flowers Murmur Ultimatums
Twisted Flowers Murmur Ultimatums
slow 5 Major sunmoonairearthplant
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (75%)
Grant Hatred a Ravenous Form
Grant Hatred a Ravenous Form
slow 4 Major moonfire
Provides: Moon Threshold reachable (92%)
Death Falls Gently from Open Blossoms
Death Falls Gently from Open Blossoms
slow 4 Major moonairplant
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (67%)
Solidify Echoes of Majesty Past
Solidify Echoes of Majesty Past
fast 4 Major sunmoonairearth
Provides: Moon, Air Threshold reachable (67%)
Tigers Hunting
Tigers Hunting
fast 2 Major sunmoonanimal
Provides: Moon Threshold reachable (86%)