Magic in Warcrow Adventures can help you out of many tough situations, improve your skills, and even revive the members of your company.
But every advantage has its cost and, in the case of magic, it can be a tall one.
From the moment someone starts practicing magic or comes into contact with substances related to magic, part of that magic remains in the person.
Its first signs are darkened spots on the skin, like some sort of soot or grime. This is what we call Stain.
It can appear anywhere in the body: mouth, neck, torso, or hands, as is the case for the sorceress of the Hegemony of Embersig, Nayra Caladren.
This symptom has initially no effect and can be cleansed. That’s partly why many people keep on using the power of magic, forgetting about Stain's advance until their bodies become indelibly marked by the Tinge.
The Tinge is physically manifested on the skin with expanding, dark, oozing spots, which reflects the psychic degeneration that comes with abusing the use of magic.
Samara is in an intermediate state. Their Stain has expanded across their entire body, creating a veiny web of sorts that covers their torso and arms. Meanwhile, the first signs of Tinge prevent their wound from healing, thus becoming a source of dark residual fluid.
But if you want to see the effects the Tinge can have, you need to look no further than the creatures that come out of the Fog. In Weaver’s case, the Tinge is part of them and the modifications they’s done on their own body are threaded with mutations. The oily residue appears to have a life of its own.
Magic in-game
Some characters have access to Dark [Cubo de energía oscura] Energy cubes, whose unrestrained use leads to an accumulation of Stain that can result in acquiring Tinge Cards.
These dark energy cubes represent the inherent risk to practitioners of magic assume when manipulating these natural, yet potentially dangerous energies.
Your character can use them in the same fashion as their golden [Energía] Energy cubes. But for each time you invest a [Cubo de energía oscura] Dark Energy cube in one of the panel’s Activation spaces or in a Skill Card with energy reserve, you’ll receive 1 [Traza] Stain token. Below you can find the types of slots:
- Stain-free spaces. [Cubo de energía oscura] Dark Energy cubes don’t generate [Traza]Stain when invested in this type of space.
- Spaces only available to [Cubo de energía oscura] Dark Energy cubes. In these spaces, you may only invest [Cubo de energía oscura] Dark Energy cubes. In addition, you’ll receive 1 [Traza]Stain.
- Other spaces. In any other space, you’ll receive 1 [Traza]Stain when investing a [Cubo de energía oscura] Dark Energy cube in them.
Characters will automatically gain Stain at certain points in the game. This will allow you to invest more energy cubes or get bonuses. You decide how far you want to go.
Is there still hope?
- Magic items, such as Nayra’s Aestari Brooch.
- Skill Cards that allow you to remove markers in exchange for some action or energy expenditure.
- Consumable objects with that benefit, such as the Protective Perfume.
- With the help of other characters.
Stain tokens that you can’t remove will remain on you when you return to Hawthorn Point at the end of the scenario. There, you’ll once again have the chance to cleanse the remaining [Traza] Stain if people at the Temple of Losna or the most troubled alchemist in Hawthorn Point decide to help you.
But if despite all your efforts to get clean during the Hawthorn Point Phase, your character has reached their Stain limit, it’ll become a Tinge Card.
And this is where the problem really begins. Because there is simply no way to remove a Tinge Card.
Taint Cards grant powerful effects that will always be active or available to you and that will favor gaining more [Traza] Stain.
But, watch out! Should your character receive their third Taint Card, they’ll have to leave the campaign. You won’t be able to play with them again.
Knowing what magic can do to you, will you still dare use it? The choice is yours to make.
