Distress

Peace of mind is eas­i­ly tempt­ed away. 

When you sense some­thing graph­ic, awful, or hope­less, you may opt to gain 1 dis­tress. This is not stress; it does not con­tribute to malus or death. Each dis­tress pro­vides 5 XP imme­di­ate­ly. You can have 6 dis­tress at most. Dis­tress is reduced by a night’s rest.

Some­times, dis­tress is unavoid­able. Gain 1 dis­tress when:

  • You’re sur­prised
  • An ally dies
  • You or an ally suf­fer dis­mem­ber­ment
  • You dis­mem­ber or man­gle a corpse
  • You encounter a grue (if you’re human)
  • You encounter cer­tain mon­sters (ser­pents, etc.)

If you gain dis­tress while in per­il, roll 1d6. If you roll your cur­rent dis­tress or below, suc­cumb to ter­ror. Roll on the ter­ror chart. What­ev­er it says you do, you must do.

Terror

1 Deser­tion. Flee for 1 turn, sprint­ing. If you can’t: +2 dis­tress. You can gain the issue flighty.
2 Aban­don­ment. Throw what­ev­er you’re hold­ing at the threat (with an edge) and use your next action to flee.
3 The chill. Wracked by shiv­ers. You are stag­gered and can’t heal Chilly stress for 24 hours.
4 The fear. +1 dis­tress. You can buy the issue A cer­tain fear. What­ev­er trig­gered your cur­rent ter­ror is the sub­ject of your new fear
5 Tun­nel vision. You can­not retreat or with­draw from per­il until you’ve destroyed the threat. If you fall uncon­scious or are stag­gered, this ends.
6 Reel­ing. Stag­gered. Move 2 m back for free.
7 Syn­cope. Suc­ceed Immu­ni­ty or fall uncon­scious.
8 Dere­lic­tion. Retreat behind your allies using your next 2 actions. You’ll shove them, if need­ed. If you can’t, +2 dis­tress.
9 Lock­up. Your next two actions are lost.
10 A moment of clar­i­ty. -1 dis­tress. Resist sur­prise (if you were sur­prised) or gain a Faith point (if you’re Avethan.)
11 A crack in the glass. Gain the liable issue imme­di­ate­ly or suf­fer +1 dis­tress and become stag­gered .
12 A roar­ing in the ears. Stag­gered. Suc­ceed For­ti­tude or gain 1 Weary stress.
13 A turn­ing point. Either buy the virtue numb imme­di­ate­ly or col­lapse and cow­er (prone + stag­gered) for two actions.
14 Crush­ing doom. Gain the issue unfor­tu­nate imme­di­ate­ly or gain 3 dis­tress.
15 Help­less­ness. You must use your next 2 actions to grap­ple a near­by ally, or, fail­ing that, dive for a hid­ing place.
16 Unre­al­i­ty. Ignore pain until the end of per­il. +2 dis­tress. The reap­pear­ance of your pain after per­il can kill you.
17 The heat. Gain an edge on all attacks on your next turn. Suc­ceed For­ti­tude or gain 1 Weary stress.
18 One shot. Gain an edge on your next attack. If you miss, +1 dis­tress.
19 Ruina­tion. Gain an edge on all attacks until the end of per­il. Melee attacks against you gain an edge. You must attack at least once per turn. If you can’t attack, +2 dis­tress.
20 The rage. Spend your next two turns attack­ing ran­dom tar­gets (the Book­keep­er will ran­dom­ize them.) You must attack at least once per turn, even if you have to throw your weapons. Make each attack with an edge.

Results from the ter­ror chart can poten­tial­ly cause you addi­tion­al dis­tress. You do gain XP from this. Don’t make addi­tion­al ter­ror rolls for dis­tress gained from the ter­ror chart.

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