Clank!: Catacombs – Underworld Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Haunted Tiles and Ghosts
• Setup
• The Underworld
  • All That Glitters Is Not Gold
  • The Underworld Takes a Toll
  • How Do I Get There?
  • From Trash to Treasure
• Underworld Features
  • The Underworld Guardian
  • Magic Lyre
  • Imp Assistants
  • Artifact Enhancers
  • Fate Rooms
  • Underworld Markets
  • Underworld Prison
  • Other Tile Features
    • Harpies
    • Underground Lakes
    • Towers
• Variants
  • Fixed Dimensions
  • Mercy
• Combining with Lairs and Lost Chambers
• Token Reference Guide
  • Prisoners
  • Major Secrets
  • Minor Secrets
  • Market Items
    • Underworld Market Items

Components

• 7 Underworld Tiles
• Underworld Starting Tile (two-sided)
• 6 Depths Tiles
  • Tiles from this expansion carry a watermark on one corner of the front of the tile, to help you during Setup. You may use these marks to sort and remove the components when you wish to play without this expansion (or to remove them while you play, as they're revealed).
• 50 Dungeon Deck cards
  • The dungeon cards from this expansion can be identified by a watermark in the game text box.
• 22 Fate Deck cards
• 4 Prisoners
• 6 Major Secrets
• 6 Minor Secrets
• 6 Market Items
• Undercoins
  • 20 worth 1; 2 worth 5
  • These are not meant to be limited; if you run out and need more, make any convenient substitution.
• Magic Lyre (16-point artifact)

Haunted Tiles and Ghosts

There are new haunted tiles in this expansion (both Depths and Underworld tiles). These work just like the haunted tiles in CLANK! Catacombs (including with a card like Spectral Rider). However, there are still only five white Ghost cubes in the game. If all five have already been taken from the Bank when you discover a haunted tile, you don't have to add another Ghost. Consider yourself… lucky?

Setup

When playing with CLANK! Catacombs: Underworld, these steps modify and add to the setup of the original game.

1. Prepare your stack of square tiles as follows:

   • First, shuffle the six Depths tiles from Underworld. (Do not add them to your existing tiles yet!) Return three to the game box without looking at them; you will not use them in this game.
   • Next, separately shuffle your existing Depths tiles. Take the top seven without looking at them, then shuffle into those the three Underworld tiles you kept. Place this shuffled stack of 10 tiles on top of the remaining Depths tiles.
   • Finally, when you shuffle the "safe" tiles, place only three (not four) on top of the assembled stack of Depths tiles. (When playing this expansion, you'll explore only three tiles before reaching the Depths.)
   • Shuffle the seven regular Underworld tiles and place them in a face-down stack next to the square tiles.

2. When stocking the Bank:

   • Add the undercoins, and the harpy and ladder tokens.
   • Shuffle the Underworld major secrets, minor secrets, and prisoners with the existing tokens of the same types.
   • Use the Underworld Market Board instead of the one from Catacombs. Place all market items on the board, in two separate rows. The new River Lamp goes on the top row with all previously existing market items. The other five new market items (Underworld market items) go in the bottom row.

3. Place the Underworld starting tile in your playing space, with room separating it from the Catacombs starting tile. You may place either side face up; however, for your first game, it is recommended that you use the "front" side.

   • Place these tokens in the various marked rooms on the tile:
     • The magic lyre (16-point artifact).
     • The three artifact enhancers, stacked with the 2x token on top, along with the Underworld Guardian marker.
     • The three Imp Assistants, stacked with the 4-value token on top.

For your first game, it's recommended that each player take one undercoin from the Bank (making it a little easier to descend to the Underworld).

The Underworld

The Underworld is a separate area of the dungeon. Its tiles aren't directly adjacent to any regular CLANK! Catacombs tile; players must find a special method to descend to the Underworld. The Underworld consists of a maximum of six tiles. One is the Underworld starting tile, which has five edges labeled with the letters A through E. Those letters correspond to five other Underworld tiles which can be discovered during the game and placed directly adjacent to the Underworld starting tile.

When you need to move onto an undiscovered Underworld tile, reveal the next one from the top of the face-down stack in the Bank and place it where you are moving to. You do not choose an orientation; it must be placed with the shorter flat edge touching the Underworld starting tile. Because of their different shapes (and magic beyond mortal comprehension), the six Underworld tiles can never be rotated by any means.

The Underworld is far away and dangerous. If you are knocked out there, you score 0 points. The Underworld is not the Depths. (It's even deeper!) Cards that do things in the Depths (such as the fate card Death, or The Warden from CLANK! Catacombs) do not work in the Underworld.

Marble Guardian: When you defeat this monster from CLANK! Catacombs, if you are in the Underworld, you place a new Underworld tile in an available space next to your current tile.

All That Glitters Is Not Gold

The Underworld has its own currency, the undercoin. In all ways, it works just like a regular gold coin: you can spend it to buy market items, each one is worth 1 point at the end of the game, and so on. When spending gold, you may spend undercoins instead, or a mix of both.

When you play Underworld Dealer, you may either gain 1 undercoin or spend 3 gold to acquire a Secret Tome. If you choose the Secret Tome, you may spend undercoins as some or all of the cost, because they have the same value as gold.

There are rooms where you can earn undercoins, just like previously existing rooms that reward you with gold. When you enter such a room, take the amount shown from the Bank (but only once for each room during each turn).

The Underworld Takes a Toll

Beyond their gold value, undercoins are used to pay some mildly unpleasant "tolls" you'll face while in the Underworld. Whenever you start your turn in the Underworld, you must immediately pay a toll of 1 undercoin to the Bank. If you cannot pay this toll, you must make +2 Clank! instead. (You cannot choose to make the Clank! if you have an undercoin to pay the toll.) The servants of the Underworld do not take kindly to freeloaders, so if you want to visit the Underworld, you may first want to get your hands on an undercoin or two.

In addition, some tunnels in the Underworld are marked with toll booths. To move through such a tunnel, you must pay 1 undercoin to the Bank. (You may not make Clank! instead.) As with other icons on tunnels, when you use a teleport to move through a toll booth icon, you ignore it.

How Do I Get There?

The main way to reach the Underworld is by using a ladder on one of the new Depths tiles. If you are in a ladder room, you may spend one Boot to descend into the Underworld. Each ladder is labeled with a letter, A through E. When you use one of them, you arrive in the ladder room of the corresponding Underworld tile. If that Underworld tile hasn't been placed yet, then you discover a tile to place there. If something allows you to teleport to an adjacent room, you may teleport down the ladder instead.

You may spend one Boot (or a teleport) to return from a ladder room in the Underworld to the corresponding room in the Depths—but only if the ladder room with the matching letter actually exists there! During setup, you exclude some of the CLANK! Catacombs: Underworld Depths tiles (thus excluding some letters from the game). Even the Depths tiles you have included may not have been discovered yet.

To help you identify paths out of the Underworld, use the ladder tokens from the Bank to mark the Underworld ladder rooms that have a connection in the Depths.

Example: The yellow player, Brooke, has been moving through the Underworld for a while and is now in ladder room B. There is no ladder room B in the Depths, so she can't use that ladder. She must move to a different Underworld tile with a ladder room that has a corresponding room in the Depths. The red player, Eddie, is in the Depths in ladder room A. He may spend a Boot to move to ladder room A in the Underworld (and from that room, could spend one Boot to move back).

An underworld chute has no letter. When you descend one, you may enter any ladder room on an Underworld tile (even one that hasn't been discovered yet, if you choose). However, an underworld chute is a one-way trip: down! You can't use an underworld chute to ascend from the Underworld to the Depths, not even by teleporting.

Example: The green player, Corbin, finds this tile in the Depths. He could spend a Boot to descend, arriving on any of the five ladder rooms that can exist in the Underworld. Three Underworld tiles have not yet been discovered, so if Corbin chooses ladder room C, D, or E, he would reveal a new tile. If he chooses to move to ladder room B, he'll arrive in the same room as Brooke (above), and like her will not be able to move directly back to the Depths. If he chooses to move to ladder room A, he could leave the Underworld by moving to the Depths tile that Eddie began on.

The Underworld starting tile features a special return portal. This works like the regular portals of CLANK! Catacombs except for one key difference: it is a one-way portal. You may only use it to leave the Underworld, exiting to any other portal. You cannot enter the Underworld using this portal.

From Trash to Treasure

Some cards in this expansion provide you with something "when you trash this." You can't just trash these cards whenever you choose; you must find some other means to do so.

Example: Brooke enters an underground lake room (described on page 9). She chooses to trash Escape Plan from her discard pile. She gains two Boots, and doesn't have to stop in Crystal Caves for the rest of her turn.

Underworld Features

The Underworld Guardian

The powerful Kerberos—or Kerbie, for short—vigilantly stands guard in the darkness, protecting important items while hungering for his next meal.

When you enter the room with the Underworld Guardian, you must immediately fight him (using 3 swords) or take 2 damage. When you defeat him, you receive two benefits. First, you take the 2x artifact enhancer from the room. Second, you take the Underworld Guardian as a trophy, placing him in your personal supply; there he counts as a "bonus artifact." (Increase the rage when you take him, but he does not count against your artifact limit.)

Because the Underworld Guardian appears in every game using CLANK! Catacombs: Underworld, a card is included to place in the reserve as a reference for the above rules.

You do not take additional damage if you remain in the room with the Underworld Guardian, but you may choose to fight him on the same turn or a later one (even if you did not fight him when you first entered). Remember that you can't voluntarily take damage if you have no cubes in your supply, or if doing so would completely fill your Health Meter. In these situations, you can't enter the Guardian's room.

Magic Lyre

This special 16-point artifact can be found in the Underworld. The chains in the room secure the Lyre so that it can only be removed by a player in its room.

Lairs and Lost Chambers has several cards (such as Artifact Detector) with ARRIVE text that returns an artifact to the artifact stack. These can never affect the Magic Lyre. The same expansion includes Lost Chambers that allow a player to take an artifact from elsewhere in the dungeon. They can't be used on the Magic Lyre.

Imp Assistants

Deep in the Underworld is the Forbidden Library, a fabled place where ancient and peculiar knowledge is kept. Even more peculiar are the keepers, the Imp Assistants.

When you first enter the room with the Imp Assistants, you must take the top one from the stack. Each player may have only one Imp Assistant.

Once you have an Imp Assistant, for the rest of the game, each time you acquire a Secret Tome, you must immediately remove two cards of your choice from the Dungeon Row. (Place them in the Dungeon discard pile; you are not "trashing" them). This effect also applies whenever you acquire any card that says it "counts as a Secret Tome."

At the end of the game, you score points for the Imp Assistant: the number shown for each Secret Tome you have.

Example: At the end of the game, Brooke has the Imp Assistant pictured above, as well as two Secret Tomes, the Book of the Dead major secret, and the Tome of Intellect. She scores 16 points for the Imp Assistant.

Artifact Enhancers

The player who defeats the Underworld Guardian takes the 2x artifact enhancer. Later, up to two other players may enter the room, each taking one of the other artifact enhancers. (No player may have more than one.)

At the end of the game, an artifact enhancer is a multiplier on the value of the best artifact you have (rounding up if necessary).

Example: Brooke defeats the Underworld Guardian and takes the 2x artifact enhancer. Later, Corbin enters the room and takes one of the 1.5x artifact enhancers. At the end of the game, Brooke's best artifact is worth 16 points, which her artifact enhancer increases to 32. Corbin's best artifact is worth 15 points, which his enhancer increases to 23 points.

When using artifact value to break a tie score, it is possible (though unlikely) that artifact enhancers could cause two players to have an artifact of the same value. In this case, the artifact with the higher unmodified value wins the tie.

Fate Rooms

Fate rooms are marked with the same symbol found on the backs of the fate cards. The first time you enter any fate room, draw three cards from the fate deck. Choose one to keep, then return the other two to the bottom of the fate deck.

You may have only one fate card per game (though the Gauntlets of Destiny market item allows you to have one more).

Each fate card is unique, with the potential to affect your score and other possible benefits. You may look at your own fate card at any time; otherwise, unless it specifies a time to reveal it, keep it hidden until the end of the game.

Example: Temperance and the Fool are examples of fate cards you keep hidden until the end of the game, when you total your score. Temperance is worth 4 points. The Fool is worth 10 points if you have two Stumble cards in your deck (or 0, if you don't). Judgement specifies that you should reveal it immediately when you take it. The dragon then attacks. Later, at the end of the game, it is worth 5 points.

Underworld Markets

The five new Underworld market items in this expansion can be bought only while you're in a market room in the Underworld. These are the only items available in an Underworld market room; you cannot buy a regular market item there.

Cards that allow you to acquire market items in alternative ways (such as Golden Flute and Ogre Merchant, from CLANK! Catacombs) depend on your current location. While you're in the Underworld, they allow you to take only Underworld market items; when you're not, they allow you to take only regular market items.

Underworld Prison

On the front side of the Underworld starting tile, one room holds a Prisoner (placed during Setup). The first player to enter this room frees this prisoner immediately, without needing to spend a Lockpick.

Other Tile Features

Some new features in CLANK! Catacombs: Underworld aren't only found in the Underworld.

Harpies

Harpies are dangerous birdlike spirits that infest the Underworld, though some have started migrating to the Catacombs!

When you discover a new tile with a harpy room, take a harpy token from the Bank and place it in that room.

When you enter a room with a harpy token, you must immediately fight it (using 2 swords) or take 1 damage. When you defeat a harpy token, you receive two benefits. First, take it as a trophy, placing it in your personal supply. Second, take one undercoin from the Bank for each harpy trophy you have (including the one you just defeated).

You do not take additional damage if you remain in a room with a harpy token, but you may choose to fight it on the same turn or a later one (even if you did not fight the harpy when you first entered). Remember that you can't voluntarily take damage if you have no cubes in your supply, or if doing so would completely fill your Health Meter. In these situations, you can't enter a harpy token's room.

One card, the Harpy Matriarch, also counts as a harpy trophy. Though it gives you exactly two undercoins when you defeat it (no matter how many other harpy trophies you have), it is counted as a harpy by harpy tokens you defeat in the future. It is also worth points at the end of the game, as described on the card.

Underground Lakes

When you enter an underground lake room, you may immediately trash a card in your play area or discard pile. As with other rewards you receive from entering a room, you may do this only once each turn per underground lake room.

Towers

When you start your turn in a tower room, you get a Boot.

Variants

You may choose to use either or both of these variant rules for your game.

Fixed Dimensions

Because of the extra space the Underworld takes, you might consider this variant if you have limited table space.

At the start of the game, players agree to limit the layout of square tiles in the dungeon—to a grid that's "5 by 5," or "6 by 6." During the game, no player can place a square tile in a position that would exceed the limit.

Example: In a 5 by 5 game, Brooke is leaving the lower left room on her tile. She cannot go south because the dungeon is already 5 tiles tall, so she heads west. The new tile she discovers has a tunnel on two corners that would continue Brooke's movement to the south. She can't place the tile in a way that would cause this, so she must place it in a different orientation instead—entering either the market or the wayshrine. (If she had 9 damage and no swords available to defeat the tunnel monster before the wayshrine, she would have to choose the market room. In an extreme case with a different tile—where the fixed dimensions restrict orientation, and all legal orientations lead to "lethal damage"—a player must accept that outcome.)

Mercy

You may play this variant with or without CLANK! Catacombs: Underworld, though it is strongly recommended when you are using the Fixed Dimensions variant above.

During your turn, you may invoke Mercy if you find yourself trapped: if there's no room adjacent to yours, and no way to place a new tile to escape. In this situation, you may rotate your current tile to any orientation so that you are no longer stuck.

Example: Corbin ended his last turn on a Wayshrine. Then a Grave Robber arrived on the Dungeon Row, rotating his tile 180 degrees. The 5 by 5 limit of his game means it's impossible to move east from the Wayshrine, so Corbin is trapped. He invokes Mercy on his next turn, rotating his tile so he has a path to leave.

Combining with Lairs and Lost Chambers

You may combine this expansion with CLANK! Catacombs: Lairs and Lost Chambers. Treat the Underworld Guardian marker and reference card together as a single trophy. The harpies (both the tokens, and the Harpy Matriarch) are also trophies. All of these are used like other trophies in Lairs and Lost Chambers.

Each fate room is a lost chamber (as marked by their golden walls), and thus is affected by cards like Silver Arch and Swap Meet. The Underworld Guardian's room, however, is not a lair. (Antimagic properties there prevent the Silver Arch from taking you there.)

Token Reference Guide

Prisoners

• Faithful: Immediately take 1 undercoin from the Bank. Also worth 1 point at the end of the game.
• Haunted Myrmidon: Immediately take a Ghost cube from the Bank and place it in the Clank! area. Each turn that you're in the Underworld at any point (including the turn on which you free this prisoner), you gain 1 Sword. Also worth 1 point at the end of the game.
• Soul Elixir: Immediately advance the Dragon marker one space along the Rage Track. You may use this token one time while in the Underworld to heal 2 damage. It is not a Prisoner for any purpose. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)

Major Secrets

• Book of the Dead: Keep this token until the end of the game. At that time, it is worth 5 points, and also becomes a Secret Tome (it counts when scoring an Imp Assistant).
• Greater Potion of Hope: Use during your turn to heal 1 damage (or 2, if you're in the Underworld) and gain 1 Boot. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
• Undercoin Cache: This token counts as 4 undercoins. You may keep it until the end of the game or spend it normally (getting change from the Bank as needed).

Minor Secrets

• Darkiron Ingot: You may use this token one time while buying an Underworld market item to pay 3 less Gold. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.) If you don't use it, it is worth 2 points at the end of the game.
• Potion of Hope: Use during your turn to gain 1 sword. If you're in the Underworld, you also gain 1 Boot. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
• Underworld Chute: You may use this token one time while you're in a room that isn't in the Underworld. (Keep until you use it, then place it in the room where you used it.) It becomes an underworld chute that any player may use to descend to (but not return from) the Underworld. If you don't use it, it is worth 1 point at the end of the game.

Market Items

No regular market item can be bought from a market room in the Underworld.

• River Lamp: When you buy this, immediately take three undercoins from the Bank. (Also worth 5 points at the end of the game.)

Underworld Market Items

These can only be bought from a market room in the Underworld.

• Blood Amulet: This item is the same as the Blood Amulet in CLANK! Catacombs (though it can only be bought in the Underworld). You must have at least 5 damage to buy it. When you buy it, immediately heal 2 damage. (Also worth 7 points at the end of the game.)

• Boots of the Wind: Each turn (including the turn in which you buy this item), you gain 1 Boot. (Also worth 1 point at the end of the game.)

• Gauntlets of Destiny: When you buy this, immediately draw three cards from the fate deck. Choose one to keep, then return the other two to the bottom of the fate deck. Your fate card limit is increased to two. (Also worth 6 points at the end of the game.)

• Jester's Cap: At the end of the game, this is worth 7 points for each Stumble card you have. It also counts as a crown.

  Example: Corbin has the Jester's Cap. He scores 6 points for The Empress fate card at the end of the game, because the Cap counts as a crown.

• River Boat: For the rest of the game, every time you trash a card, stack it under this item. When counting your score at the end of the game, count those cards as if they were part of your deck (for their own points and any other effects). In addition, River Boat is worth 8 points, plus an additional point for every card in its stack.

  Example: After buying the River Boat, Eddie begins stacking each card he trashes under it. By the end of the game, he has a Secret Tome and two Stumbles there. The River Boat is worth 11 points (8, plus 3 for the cards under it). Then those cards are treated as though they're still part of his deck. The Secret Tome is itself worth 7 points, and his Imp Assistant gives him another 4 points for it. Lastly, he has the Fool fate card, which gives him 10 points for having two Stumbles.