The Shadows

Background

Shadows are the remnants of a human people who, eons ago, were locked away in a magical dungeon after a lost epic battle and who have recently broken free again. They exist only as half-insane, wafting blobs of darkness who are intent on revenge – and are occasionally wondering where all the mammoths have gone.

The Shadows’ goal is to take revenge by subjugating the entire world and covering it in darkness. They don’t do things by half, you see. First, however, they have set their sights on Leonera, to warm up, so to speak. And initially it looked as though they would achieve their goals.

Hiring

Challenge level

A Shadows crew can hire the following number of characters from the different ranks:

1 Leader
0-1 Specialist for each deckhand character
0-1 Mercenary*. A mercenary takes up a specialist’s place.
*The Shadows crew may only hire mercenaries who expressly fight for them. Other mercenaries may not be hired – even if they fight for all teams according to the rules!

History

The Brotherhood always suspected that there was something primally evil in the hidden corners of the world. And then, half by accident, half in panicked ignorance, a door was opened in a subterranean temple. A door which could not be closed again. The ancient dungeon, guarded for millennia by a secret order, broke open and spewed forth a flood of vile darkness into the world.

At first, the shadows overran everything in their path. Humans and goblins waited in a few heavily fortified areas of Longfall, awaiting the end every night. But then legends about the national hero Pelagio turned out to be true, a boy with a sword appeared, and a savior revealed her knowledge of ancient runes. The victory over the Shadows is not complete, but their dreams of world domination appear to have been curtailed for now.

Appearance

Shadows are darkness turned Gestalt. They have mostly forgotten that they were human once and must laboriously acquire shape and form again. Accordingly, many humans and goblins now have a shadowy twin, which makes infiltration a major threat. Some Shadows were less clever about their choice of template, however, choosing animals or even streetlights as their new shape.

When choosing a shape, many Shadows discovered the mechanical superiority of tentacles over arms and legs. And why stop at two? Everything is better in bulk, right?

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Equipment

Shadows don’t need weapons, Shadows are weapons. They can shape limbs into close-combat weapons and can shoot bits of themselves to hit enemies at range. Of course, shadows also use their opponents’ primal fear of the dark as a weapon and quite a few of them have developed corresponding abilities.

Shadows tend to prefer to fight up close – as you would when some of you can walk through walls to take the enemy unawares.

Characteristics

Shadows can draw on a common pool of Shadow force with which their characters can activate additional special rules and/or bonuses. Moreover, Shadows can be hard to put down for good. If a Shadow is taken out of action, they turn into a Wisp to drift seemingly helplessly across the battlefield. If such Wisps drift into each other, they merge into a Shadow character which the enemy thought they’d eliminated.

Successful shadow kings and queens have to use their shadow power wisely and resurrect characters with tactical skill in order to wear down their opponents psychologically.

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The crew recommends

Florian

The list is geared towards getting to the desired target quickly (regardless of whether it’s a scenario item or an important character) and to put pressure on your opponent early on. In the hope that this will cause them to make mistakes.

Crew equipment
Potent Wisps
Fog portal

Leader
Whisperer

Deckhands
2x Wisps
2x Reavers

Specialists
Scarecrow
La Catrina + Shadow portal
Asopressa
Wraith

500 doubloons