Serpent's Tongue
Serpent's Tongue Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
WALKTHROUGH TUTORIAL LEVEL 1
Setup
Assemble thy Codex
Designate one player to be the Black Magi, and the other player to be the White Magi. The Black Magi will serve as the trainer and read speaking parts of this walkthrough out loud (all the parts separated by "quotes"). You may want to get a glass of water...
Open the two shrink wrapped card decks. Find and collect all the fluency level 1 spells (see below). Set aside all of the other cards.
Fluency Level
Fluency level is shown by the number of pips on the lower right of the spell. This level represents the degree of sophistication the spell was originally inscribed with. Higher fluency levels are more difficult to cast but are either more powerful or more efficient.
Spheres of Reality
The six Spheres of Reality are Soul, Mind, Quantum, Bio, Forces and Matter (Soul opposite Matter, Mind opposite Bio, Quantum opposite Forces).
- The White Magi should gather a Codex using all of the level 1 Soul & Matter spells.
- The Black Magi should gather a Codex using all of the level 1 Bio & Forces spells.
Filling the Codex
Place all of the suggested spells into the pockets of your Codex image side up. Magi are never allowed to look at the inscription side of spell cards (back side) once play begins.
You can place more than one spell in each Codex pocket, but leave the front pocket empty; this is where you will place your prepared spells. A Magi's Codex can only bind and contain 27 spell inscriptions. A Codex may only contain up to 3 spells with the same name.
Tutorial Spells
You can speed up the spell preparation phase by finding and shifting the tutorial spells to the first few pages of your codex. Place the spells in your Codex in the following order.
White Magi Tutorial Spells:
- Pillar of Earth
- 2 x Acidic Matter
- Air Essence
- Materia Binding of Mal-Kuth
- Karmic Debt
- Purification
- Judgement
Black Magi Tutorial Spells:
- 2 x Fireball
- 2 x Dissolve Tissue
- Cellular Degeneration
- Cellular Augmentation
- Beast Form
- Infernal Shot
Chips, Markers, and Die
Each player sets their energy tracker to 7 Essence for the first stage of the walkthrough. Normally, each Magi begins with 10 Essence.
Gather a collection of Duration, Durability, and Charge chips and place them within easy reach of both players.
Each Magi collects a Focus Gem, or finds a small object to use as a Focus gem, as well as 3 other small objects to use as interrupt stones. If no suitable objects are available, use the interrupt and Focus chips provided. (Note: Interrupt Stones are printed on the backside of Focus chips.)
Also, find page 27 of your Codex, it has your level 1 Serpents Key on it. Either place this in an easy to find location in your Spell Codex or pull it out and place it on the table. This is the Serpent's Key with short words in each of the spaces.
(A letter from the Black Magi, delivered along with the possessions, is flavor fiction and is omitted.)
Round 1
(Story narration omitted: "You see the Tower..." and the Black Magi's speech of the echo and the voice. The closing lines are: "Hear my words, for I am your voice; prepare yourself for you are my echo... Let us begin.")
Continue to read all quoted portions of this Walkthrough aloud.
Resonance Roll
"Each Round always begins with a resonance roll. To make a Resonance roll either of us rolls the 10-sided die and then both of us gain Resonance according to this chart:"
| Die roll | Resonance |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | 1 Resonance |
| 4-6 | 2 Resonance |
| 7-9 | 3 Resonance |
| 10 | 5 Resonance |
"Lets assume you rolled a 7 on this 10 sided die. Both of us set our energy tracker to 3 Resonance. Do so now."
"Determine Initiative - The player with highest amount of Harmony usually goes first, then Resonance, then Will. But at level 1 play we will not use the advanced energies of Harmony or Will so for this walkthrough it will just be determined through Resonance. For the first turn or when all energy is tied, simply roll a die and the player that wins the roll may choose who goes first."
"Let's assume the White Magi won the die roll and chose to go second."
Maintenance Phase
"The 2nd phase, the maintenance phase, is when all duration effects are resolved and counted down. First the Magi with initiative resolves all of the spells in their zones and then play switches to the next clockwise player."
"When resolving zones, players start with the zone farthest away from them, then move in closer. Each player has 3 core zones: the Attack zone, the Defense zone and the Enhancement zone. More will be explained about this later." (Diagram: from the farthest zone to the nearest, each Magi's zones are Attack zone, Defense zone, Enhancement zone.)
"Since this is the first turn, there are no spells to resolve or ongoing costs to pay."
"So, we continue to the 3rd phase: spell preparation."
Spell Preparation
"As Magi, we have attuned ALL of our spells currently in our Codex. But it takes several vital moments of mental concentration to begin to unlock the energies encoded into these inscriptions for casting. This is done simultaneously by all Magi during the spell preparation phase by placing spells in the front pocket of their Codex."
"Magi may prepare up to 3 spells, Magi may only cast prepared spells!"
"Prepared spells placed in the front of the Codex are considered to still be IN the Codex. If they are not cast they can be returned to the rest of the Codex."
"I, the Black Magi will prepare Fireball & Dissolve Tissue."
"The White Magi will prepare Pillar of Earth & Acidic Matter."
"Find these and place them in the front of your Codex. These spells have now been 'prepared' for casting."
Action Phase
"Now the magick begins! We take turns casting our prepared spells and taking other actions."
"Each Player has 2 Full Actions every round."
"Casting a spell requires a Full Action unless the spell card designates that it is a Free Action." (Note: The Action is spent the moment you successfully speak a spell.)
"This is an important point to understand: Magi may prepare up to 3 spells, but will usually only cast 2 since they only have 2 Full Actions. Unless the 3rd spell has the Free Action empowerment, it just provides an alternative option for your casts."
"I will go first because I have initiative. For my first Action I will meditate to gain 2 Resonance."
"Any Magi may spend an Action to Meditate rather than casting a spell to receive 2 Resonance (plus 1 Harmony in advanced games)."
"Now its your turn. Find and pull forth your Pillar of Earth spell. This is a magickal component used to fuel other spells."
"Once you have found it, hold it up with the image side towards you and the back side facing me so that I can read it."
"Open your Codex and find the page with the level 1 Serpent's Key. This is the key that has short words in each space. These words are the Names of the letters in the language of Serpent's Tongue."
"Now, look at the card's Glyph and starting from the circle, find the matching space on the Serpents Key in your Codex. Speak that letter out loud."
Confirm they said the word Par (the "A" is always soft like in Taco) and tell them:
"Now follow the line to the next spaces and speak the sounds in the corresponding spaces on your Serpent's Key."
If they said Par Dal Zo (O is always pronounced hard as in Go) tell them:
"Alum!"
If they were unsuccessful tell them "Kotukh!" (Ko-Took, Miscast) and have them retry the cast.
"As you can see, you are naturally skilled in vocalizing all of the subtle nuances required to activate a spell. A normal mute would not know how to fuse their voice with their Will like you have just done. This knowledge has been grafted onto your very Soul through countless lifetimes. I see it is coming back quickly for you."
"Fortunately, these are just your initiate level spells and they only require speaking a few letters of the casting word to activate the inscription's energies. These single letters unlock the massive energies inscribed into your incantations. Initiate inscriptions are not as powerful, and often take more energy to cast, but they are simpler than Adept or Magi level spells."
Pronouncing Spells
"Initiate Magi do not need to perfectly pronounce everything correctly when beginning their journey into Magick. But, you do need to learn how vowels are pronounced. These sounds are the most significant of the great language and will form the base of your successful practice."
"Vowels are pronounced very similar to the modern language of Spanish."
- A: like a in father, taco, ibekana - never as in mate
- E: like e in bet
- I: like i in machine, Akiko, macaroni - never as in mite
- O: like o in hotel, taco, piano - not as in hot
- U: like u in haiku, tiramisu - not as in mutt
"Practice with me for a moment, speak the sounds of the five vowels."
"A, E, I, O, U"
"During your journey from Initiate to Master, remember to be lenient while judging other newly awoken Magi's pronunciation of Sehimu Thinara."
"Back to your cast."
Spell Roles and Placing Spells
"Pillar of Earth has been successfully 'spoken'. Now we must place it in the correct zone. Pillar of Earth is a Component spell, which is one of the 4 primary spell roles. Component spells do not often accomplish much by themselves but rather are reagents and ingredients to other more powerful spells like I said. Components are always placed in the Defense zone, turned sideways so opponents can read the type of component it is on its Component bar."
Spell roles: Attack, Defense, Component, Enhancement. (Note: There are other spell roles you will learn later.)
"Place, then pay!"
"Now that you have the Pillar of Earth in front of you in your Defense zone, turned sideways, you must activate it. Before it becomes active, however, you must pay for any costs or requirements associated with the card."
"This card generates POSITIVE Resonance, indicated by the positive number in the blue Resonance holder here."
"If this had been a red, negative number instead, then you would have to pay this amount upon activation. If you were unable to pay this amount, then the spell would not activate and it would be discarded (placed in the caster's discard pile)."
"So, you earn 1 Resonance, which you gain now."
"Well done! The turn now shifts to me, the Black Magi."
"I have enough Resonance to cast Fireball on you. I will speak the words of my spell. Judge my pronunciation by looking at the back of the Fireball spell. If I succeed, say "Alum!" If I fail, say, Kotukh!"
Attempt to Cast Fireball on the White Magi now. If you fail, KOTUKH! its okay, just try again.
"If I fail at casting a spell I would normally lose 1 Harmony and everyone else would gain 1 Resonance, but this is the walkthrough and we will take it easy with such things for now."
"I place the Fireball in YOUR attack zone."
Pay All Costs & Requirements to Activate.
"Fireball has a red -5 in its Resonance holder, so I must pay 5 resonance to activate it."
Set your Resonance back to 0 on the tracker.
"Once it activates it immediately 'impacts' or 'hits'. You have no Defenses that will block this Forces spell so it impacts on you directly. A spell's impact effect and other descriptors are listed out in what is called its 'Aspects List.'"
"Fireball says it deals 2 Heat Dmg, so you must move your Essence spinner down by 2 on your tracker. Because Fireball does not have any Duration, it is now discarded."
"Now let's see an example of a more complex spell. Attack me with your Acidic Matter spell. Pull it forth and cast it now."
Once the White Magi successfully speaks the spell (give them multiple tries to do this), announce:
"Alum! Now place it in MY attack zone pointed towards me."
"Now you must pay everything it requires to activate it. Acidic Matter has a -3 Resonance cost, so you must pay this now in order to activate the spell."
The Requires Field
"Acidic Matter has another requirement in addition to the Resonance cost. This will always be outlined in red in the requirements field. The requirements field is always the line of text that follows a symbol on a card. It will describe other energies, cards or conditions required to cast the spell."
(Note: You may want to keep an eye on the requirements field of your opponents' spells. It can be easy to miss or skip some vital requirements. If they have forgotten a requirement accidentally, casual or friendly games would allow them to try a different prepared spell at no penalty, but this will not be the case in tournaments.)
"Acidic Matter requires: "Discard Matter Component." The caster must choose a Component from the sphere of Matter that he or she controls and discard it. "Control" means the caster must have either originally cast the Component, or have taken it over from another Magi somehow during combat."
"Discard your Pillar of Earth spell. Now that all Requirements have been met, Acidic Matter activates. Acidic Matter immediately impacts upon me. Since I have no defenses your spell impacts upon me directly and causes 1 Essence Dmg. (Unless otherwise specified all Dmg is Essence.) So I now move my Essence wheel down by 1."
"Acidic Matter has a second difference from Fireball: it has a Duration."
"Duration is identified in the Aspects list as well as with an Empowerment Icon along the left side of the card shown here as the hourglass icon."
"When a spell has duration place that many Duration chips on top of it. These will be removed once per round during its maintenance phase. Attack spells like this will impact each time you remove a Duration chip."
"Thus, Acidic Matter will continue to damage me for TWO more maintenance phases. Play now shifts back to me."
"We have no more Actions left, and we have not prepared any Free Actions, so that is the end of Round 1."
Round Complete
"Congratulations! You have successfully concluded your first round of Serpents Tongue. You now know more than half of everything you need to play on your own."
"Serpents Tongue, like the study of Magick itself, is a deep game. But, after a single playthrough all of these details should become much more intuitive and natural."
Round Summary:
- The White Magi has 5 Essence and 1 Resonance.
- The Black Magi has 6 Essence and 0 Resonance.
Round 2
Initiative Phase
"For round 2, lets assume you rolled a 4, so each of us gains 2 Resonance. So, now you have 3 Resonance and I have just 2."
"Since you have more Resonance you gain initiative. Thus you perform your Maintenance phase first."
"As a reminder, each Round always begins with a Resonance roll and then identifying initiative. To make a Resonance roll either player rolls the 10-sided die and then all players collect Resonance chips according to this chart:"
| Die roll | Resonance |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | 1 Resonance |
| 4-6 | 2 Resonance |
| 7-9 | 3 Resonance |
| 10 | 5 Resonance |
"Determine initiative - The player with highest amount of Harmony usually goes first, then Resonance, Will then Essence, but for level 1 play we will just go by Resonance and Essence."
Maintenance Phase
"As a reminder, this is the phase where all Duration effects are resolved and counted down. First, the Magi with initiative resolves all of the spells in their zones and then play switches to the other player."
"Spells always impact in order of zone, beginning with the Attack zone, then moving to the next zone closest."
"You have no active spells in your zones, so you have nothing to resolve in your maintenance phase. Now, I perform my maintenance."
"In this case, I begin my maintenance phase by resolving your Acidic Matter. It applies its core effect on me, a 1 Dmg Matter Attack, which impacts on me directly causing me to lose 1 Essence. I then remove a Duration Chip from it. This spell has been resolved. I move on to my Defense zone, then Enhancement zone, which contain nothing."
"The Aspects list describes everything the card does by default. Thus "Dmg 1" by default causes 1 Essence Dmg each time the spell impacts. Sometimes the rules Section will elaborate or modify these default effects."
"If Acidic Matter had required an on-going cost to sustain it, it would have to be paid BEFORE Acidic Matter would impact."
Spell Preparation
"We can move on to spell preparation."
"For demonstration purposes, this round you should prepare the Matter Spells: Air Essence and Materia Binding of Mal-kuth."
"I will prepare both of my Dissolve Tissue spells."
"We need to find these spells and place them in the front pocket of our Codex."
Action Phase
"You have initiative, so first cast Air Essence." (Allow them time to cast.)
"Alum! The correct pronunciation of Air Essence is Vad Par Zo which rhymes with God Far Row. This is a Component spell so its placed sideways in your Defense zone, then activated. Then you gain 1 Resonance."
"For my turn, I will cast my first Dissolve Tissue spell. If I am correct say 'Alum.'"
Attempt this cast now.
"This is an Attack spell so its placed in your Attack zone and I must pay 1 Resonance to activate it. Then, it immediately impacts causing you to lose 1 Essence. It has no Duration so its immediately discarded."
"It's time for you to do something about my relentless assault..."
"You should now pull forth your Materia Binding of Mal-kuth and cast it. - Alum!"
"This spell is a Defense spell, so it should be placed sideways in your Defense zone with the Shield bar facing outwards so I can read which spheres this Shield blocks."
"This spell requires you to pay 2 Resonance, and to discard a Gas component. Do so now. This Shield now activates and you place 3 Durability chips on it."
"Spells with Durability stay active forever, as long as they have Durability. Shields attempt to block any spell 'sourced' from the spheres specified. In this case, this is a physical shield which blocks Bio, Matter and Forces spells. Each time it blocks an effect, remove ONE Durability chip."
"I will now cast my remaining Dissolve Tissue spell, if I pronounce it correctly you say Alum."
Cast it now.
"Saying Alum or Kotukh immediately is important so the Magi knows whether their spell was successful or not."
"This spell goes to your Attack zone as usual and I pay 1 Resonance to activate it as usual. But this time, instead of impacting directly on you, your shield will block this effect because it's a Bio spell."
"Rather than doing any damage to you, it simply removes 1 Durability from your Materia Binding of Mal-kuth."
"Since Dissolve Tissue has no Duration it's immediately discarded after impacting."
"As soon as your Shield spell no longer has Durability, it too will be immediately discarded."
"This was my last Action so Round 2 Ends!"
The White Magi has 4 Essence and 2 Resonance. The Black Magi has 5 Essence and 0 Resonance.
"Even if Dissolve Tissue did 5 points of damage, it would still only remove 1 Durability chip. Durability counts down by the effect blocked, not the damage."
"Why? Well, dmg spells are designed to damage flesh, thus regardless of how devastating it would have been to YOU, it's only able to remove a single Durability from your Magickal Shield."
"There exist several empowerments that affect Shields differently like Subtle, Pierce and Shatter. These will be explained later."
Round 3
Initiative Phase
"Once again, we begin each round by one of us making a Resonance roll. Let's assume you rolled a 0 this time, so we both gain 5 Resonance. Yes! Feel the power!"
"You have 7 Resonance now and I have 5, so you go first."
"You have nothing to resolve in your maintenance phase, so we switch over to me."
"Once again, I must suffer your ongoing Acidic Matter. It impacts directly on me since I have no Shields and I lose 1 Essence. The last Duration chip is removed at the time of impact, so this spell is now discarded because it no longer has any Duration. We are now tied at 4 Essence each."
In order for a spell to remain in play it must have some sort of empowerment like Durability or Duration. If you see a spell without a chip on it, check to make sure it's supposed to be in play.
Spell Preparation & Re-attunement
"At any time from your maintenance phase through the spell preparation phase, players may re-attune spells from their discard pile back into their Codex!"
"You may only re-attune one spell per round and you must pay 1 + the fluency level of the spell in Resonance to do so."
"The primary exception to this is the Bonded empowerment. You may re-attune as many Bonded spells as you like without it counting towards your 1 spell re-attunement limit and you only have to pay a maximum of 1 Resonance for each Bonded spell." (Margin: Magi may re-attune 1 spell each Maintenance phase, and unlimited Bonded spells.)
"I need some more Dissolve Tissue spells so I will now pay 1 Resonance to re-attune one to my Codex, it only costs 1 Resonance because Dissolve Tissue is Bonded."
Pay 1 Resonance and take a Dissolve Tissue and place it back into your Codex.
"You on the other hand are going to need some more Matter Components, so you may re-attune both your Air Essence and Pillar of Earth spells because they both have the Bonded empowerment. You must pay 1 Resonance each for these."
Have the White Magi pay 2 Resonance and place both of their Matter components back into their Codex.
"You may re-attune any time between YOUR maintenance phase and the end of the spell preparation phase."
"Let's move on to the spell preparation phase. You should prepare Karmic Debt and Pillar of Earth."
"I will prepare Cellular Degeneration and my re-attuned Dissolve Tissue."
Action Phase - Curse Spells
"Once again, you have initiative. Pull forth your Karmic Debt spell and cast it on me - Alum!"
"Place this spell in my Attack zone then pay 3 Resonance to Activate it. I have no Defenses so it successfully impacts directly on me."
"When a Curse spell successfully impacts directly on its target, it becomes an active Curse and it is placed sideways next to the target's Enhancement zone."
"Curse spells that are moved behind the bearer's Defense Zone are no longer affected by Defenses. They cause ongoing passive or active effects."
"Karmic Debt has a Persistent Curse Duration so place the Persistent Duration marker on it. Curse Duration is different from regular duration: it only activates if the spell successfully impacts on a target (i.e. it's not blocked or avoided somehow). Each time I cast a spell on you, I will have to place a charge on Karmic Debt."
"You will be able to use those Karmic Charges to cause me damage, build Shields and cause other effects."
"I dislike that Karmic Debt on me but for now I will ignore it. I will cast my own curse on you: Cellular Degeneration."
"I place it in your attack zone and pay the 3 Resonance to activate it."
"Normally your Shield would block a Bio attack, but this curse has the Subtle empowerment."
"Standard Shields cannot block Subtle effects, so this Curse cuts through your Shield like it isn't even there, but causes no Durability loss."
"This means it impacts directly upon you and becomes an active Curse."
"Just to reiterate, once a Curse successfully impacts it is moved next to the bearer's Enhancement zone and Duration chips are put on it equal to its Curse Duration amount: in this case 3. Never place Curse Duration chips on a spell unless it successfully got past the target's Defense zone."
"Because I cast an offensive spell (any spell placed into an opponent's zone is considered offensive), I must place a charge on the Karmic Debt spell. Keep an eye on this: it's easy to forget!"
"Now you should cast your Pillar of Earth Spell."
"Alum!"
"Place it in your Defense zone and collect 1 Resonance."
"I cast Dissolve Tissue."
"Alum!"
"It is placed in your Attack zone where I pay 1 Resonance to activate it. Normally your Materia Binding of Mal-kuth would block this effect, but my Cellular Degeneration curse upgrades the Dissolve Tissue to Subtle, so once again my attack cuts through your Shield. You take an Essence Dmg, but I must place another charge on the Karmic Debt for casting an offensive spell."
The White Magi has 3 Essence and 3 Resonance. The Black Magi has 4 Essence and 0 Resonance.
Round 4
Initiative Phase
"Let's assume we rolled 5 so we each collect 2 Resonance. Putting you at 5 Resonance and me at 2."
"You gain initiative again, as usual. Matter Magi often have the advantage with Resonance, since many of their spells require components rather than pure energy."
Maintenance Phase
"Beginning with your Attack zone, resolve all of your zones in order. There is nothing in your Attack zone, and your Defenses are either Persistent or Durability based, so nothing to resolve or countdown there."
"Your Curse zone always impacts before your Enhancement zone, so resolve my Cellular Degeneration now, by removing a Duration chip."
"For my maintenance phase I have nothing to resolve, since your Karmic Debt has a Persistent Duration and only provides a passive effect. Much like the Degeneration spell, it does not have an effect that impacts each turn."
Spell Preparation
"The White Magi should prepare Purification and Air Essence."
"And rather than re-attuning another Dissolve Tissue, I will prepare Cellular Augmentation and Beast Form."
"Remember Spell Preparation just means to choose our spells and place them in the front pocket of your Codex. You do not get to study the back of the spell cards at any time during a game. Spell Mastery occurs outside of battle..."
Action Phase - Abjurations & Enhances
"Cast your Air Essence spell. - Alum!"
"I cast Cellular Augmentation. - Alum!"
"This is placed in my Enhancement zone. Enhance spells grant you bonuses, infuse you with energies, give you new abilities and empower your other spells. Cellular Augmentation is primarily used as a base for more powerful Bio Enhance spells. I activate and place the right amount of Duration chips on this spell."
"Magi only have FOUR Enhancement slots. During the maintenance phase, if you have more than 4 slots filled you will have to discard down to four Enhance spells at the start of your maintenance phase. This is the only zone with a limited number of slots."
"Cast your Purification spell. - Alum!"
"This spell is an Abjuration, which only targets OTHER spells rather than Magi."
"Unlike Transmutes, Abjurations do not form a permanent bond with a spell card; they usually just perform a one-time effect and are discarded. In this case, Purification will Dispel my Bio curse. When you successfully Dispel a card it is immediately discarded."
"Pay the costs and requirements. (3 Resonance and discard one of your Matter Components.) Purification activates and Dispels Cellular Degeneration, they are then both discarded."
"I'm glad I did not waste Resonance re-attuning my Bio attacks: without that Bio Curse, they would just hit up against your shield."
To Cast & Sustain
"For my second action I will meditate to gain 2 Resonance. You are out of Actions so you must pass. I, however, will cast Beast Form which has the Free Action Empowerment. This means I do not need a Full Action to cast it."
"This costs 4 Resonance and has a new type of requirement: Active Cell Enhancement on Bearer to cast and sustain."
"This means that in order to cast Beast Form, whoever will be the bearer of it needs to also have an active Enhance spell with the Cellular descriptor. In this case, I am using Cellular Augmentation, since it is a Cellular Enhance spell. You can identify sub-types and other descriptors of cards in the Aspects list. They precede all the other Aspects of the card."
"'To sustain' means that if at any time I do not have an active Cellular Enhance spell, Beast Form is immediately discarded. So if you were to dispel my Cellular Enhance spell, I would also have to discard Beast Form."
"I place Beast Form in my Enhancement Zone, and pay 4 Resonance to Activate it, then place Duration chips on it."
"We have now both used all of our Full Actions. Beast Form gives me a Free Action attack. I may take as many Free Actions as I have access to."
"You may take Free Actions before, between or after your Full Actions. When you take a Free Action however, play continues to rotate clockwise, you cannot take a Full Action then immediately a Free Action. Your allies and opponents go next. So, each turn rotation you may take one Full Action or one Free Action. Sometimes you may get lucky - your allies and opponents will be out of actions, so you get to take yours back-to-back."
"I will now use Beast Form's Free Action attack to cause you 1 Dmg. Beast Form deals 1 Physical dmg. Physical is a generic form of damage that can be blocked by any shield that blocks any of the Physical spheres: Bio, Matter, & Forces."
"Materia binding blocks all the Physical spheres, so it definitely blocks Beast Form's attack. Your Shield loses 1 durability."
"This attack is not an offensive spell because no spell was placed into your field, so it does not trigger Karmic Debt's effect."
The White Magi has 3 Essence and 3 Resonance. The Black Magi has 4 Essence and 0 Resonance.
"We are both at about half Essence but the match is drawing to a close now that we are both set up to do quite a bit of damage."
Round 5
Initiative Phase
"Bad luck for you, we roll another 10. That makes it more difficult to leverage your Resonance advantage. We each gain 5 Resonance."
Maintenance Phase
"You conduct your maintenance phase first; you have no impending Attacks or Duration based effects."
"I check my Attack zone, then my Defense zone then my Curses, then my Enhancement slots. This order is important to remember because it settles timing conflicts."
"I remove a Duration chip from Cellular Augmentation and Beast Form once I hit my Enhancement zone."
Spell Preparation
"You should prepare Acidic Matter and Judgement."
"I will prepare Infernal Shot & Fireball, hoping to take you out this round."
Action Phase
"You have initiative so begin by casting Acidic Matter on me."
"ALUM!"
Give them time to Cast, Place, Pay, and Activate. Remind them to place 2 Duration chips if they forget.
"I lose 1 Essence, tying me with you."
"On MY turn I will cast Infernal Shot to remove your shield's last Durability, even though it requires me to pay an Essence."
Cast Infernal Shot now. Then pay 1 Essence to activate.
"This is blocked by your Shield which loses its last Durability chip, so it is immediately discarded. This will open you up for my Beast Form and Fireball."
"Unfortunately, because I am beholden to the writer of this walkthrough, I forgot about Karmic Debt for a moment. I must take another Karmic charge because of the offensive spell I cast. I am now in the danger zone because I have 3 Karmic charges and only 2 Essence."
"You, White Magi should cast Judgement. Cast it now. But do not make a mistake! For now the battle could be determined by this one spell, and I will not play by tutorial limitations any longer. If you miscast it, it will be returned to your Codex, you will lose your Action, and I will destroy you."
"ALUM!"
"Place it in my Attack zone, and pay its Resonance cost to Activate it."
"It impacts directly upon me doing Dmg equal to each Karmic charge I bear. The Karmic charges are discarded, leaving the Karmic Debt spell active. But it does not matter because I lose my last 2 Essence, and my mortal frame is shattered."
"Congratulations! Walkthrough 1 is complete!"
(Closing story narration about the Prime Consortiums omitted.)
What happens next?
"If this had been a real battle, then the dweomers in my Codex would have gathered my soul and collected it in the nearest sacred site to be reincarnated by my Cabal. That is the power of this age, the sacred sites have begun radiating with power not seen since before Babel. Despite this advantage, I would lose Avak'shar, which is a Sehimu Thinara word that means Honor or Authority. My soul would become more strained & tattered and my Cabal would have to expend resources and energy to reincarnate me to this timeline."
Walkthrough II
"When you are ready we will begin the next phase of your training in which you will learn about:"
- "RESPONSE Empowerment: These incantations do not need to be prepared and can be cast while another spell is still being cast."
- "FOCUS Duration: A persistent Duration that requires your Focus gem to sustain the spell."
- "Specializations: Natural predilections and focused masteries of Magi. They endow the Magi with an inherent ability and allow them to spend Resonance to gain permanent buffs & bonuses."
WALKTHROUGH TUTORIAL LEVEL 2
(Opening story narration about descending to the foundations of the tower and the Sentient Shadow is omitted. The master says: "Today you and I are going to confront this thing together, and destroy it if we can. Prepare yourself.")
Setup
Find the codex page: Encounter - Sentient Shadow. Place it in a casting stand with the image side facing towards the two of you.
Re-Attune Spells
Return all discarded spells from the previous match to your codex. This time be sure to include all of the level 1 Soul and Matter spells (white Magi), and all of the Forces and Bio spells (black Magi) in your codices. (You may need all of these to defeat the Shadow.)
Reset Energies
Set your Energies to their correct starting positions:
- Essence 10
- Resonance 0
- Harmony 0
- Each Magi collects 3 green Will tokens.
- Each Magi collects one Focus Gem or Token and places it in front of them.
Collect Specializations
The White Magi should find and collect the Specialization Void Speaker and the Black Magi should take the Chant of Forms. Place these Specializations in front of you.
Void Speaker
- Initiate: Soul spells cost -1 Resonance to re-attune. Soul Responses generate +1 Resonance.
- Tree A
- (Cost 5) Void Magick: Once per round, cast a Dispel as a Free Action.
- (Cost 8) Void Mastery: Soul Dispels that discard spells instead banish them.
- Tree B
- (Cost 4) Field of Harmony: Karmic Binding of Protection generates 1 Harmony every maintenance phase, and +1 Harmony each time it blocks an effect.
- (Cost 8) Harmonious Sacrifice: Twice per round as a Free Action, pay 3 Harmony to deal 1 Subtle Soul Dmg to an opponent.
The Chant of Forms
- Initiate: Forces Shape-Shifts gain Free Action.
- Tree A
- (Cost 4) The Tuned Body: Forces Shape-Shifts generate +2 Resonance every maintenance phase.
- (Cost 7) The Chant: You may have 2 active Forces Shape-Shifts.
- Tree B
- (Cost 4) The Impermanent Body: Forces Shape-Shifts generate +3 Resonance when cast and gain +1 Duration.
- (Cost 10) The Primal: Forces Shape-Shifts add an additional +1 Dmg.
(Costs are the numbers shown in the orb beside each ability; the icons in the printed text are rendered here as words: the blue icon is Resonance, the green-yellow icon is Harmony.)
Setup Encounter Card
Now prepare the Encounter card. Begin by identifying its starting Energies. The Shadow begins with 10 Essence and 0 Resonance. It does not have Harmony.
To track an Encounter's energy you can use any tokens you wish, or pull the Energy Tracker page out of your codex, lay it on the table and place a blue chip on zero to represent its Resonance and a Red Chip on 10 to represent its Essence.
The Encounter card used (Lesser Sentient Shadow) shows:
- Top left: 1 (+1); top right: 2 (+1).
- Essence 10 (+2). Targeting: Lowest Harmony.
- Response Ability (1 Resonance): Evade all Dmg Attacks. Encounter attempts to Evade all Dmg Attacks targeting it as a Free Action Response. After the Evade activates, the Encounter must draw a red chip to be successful. Immediately return the chip to the bag.
- Draw Bag: 4 red, 2 yellow. Bag Reset: 3 red and 1 yellow chips drawn.
- Yellow actions, in priority order:
- (Requires 3 Resonance) Soul or Mind Curse on Encounter: Roll on Ability Chart A.
- (Requires 2 Resonance) Focused Opponent: Roll on Ability Chart B.
- Dark Lash: Area, Subtle, 1 Harmony Dmg.
- Red actions, in priority order:
- (4 Resonance) Purge the Light: Area, Subtle, 5 Harmony Dmg, Spell.
- (2 Resonance) Spectral Claw: 3 Harmony Dmg.
- (0 Resonance) Draw Darkness: Gain 2 Resonance.
- Encounter <5 Essence: Attacks gain Pierce 2.
- Ability Chart A:
- 1-3: Dispel All Curses on Encounter as a Free Action.
- 4-6: Dispel most recent Curse on Encounter.
- 7-9: Failed Dispel, Encounter +1 Resonance.
- 0: Critical Failure, Encounter -2 Resonance.
- Ability Chart B:
- 1-3: Area, Subtle, Disrupt. If a Magi loses Focus this way they lose 2 Harmony.
- 4-6: Area, Disrupt, Free Action.
Encounter Card Anatomy
Parts of the card: 1. Resistances; 2. Resonance Roll; 3. Actions; 4. Starting Energies; 5. Targeting; 6. Persistent & Special Effects; 7. Draw Bag; 8. Priority Actions; 9. Static Actions; 10. Spell & Ability Charts. (Card Title at the top.)
- Resistances. This top area defines what Resistances if any the Encounter has.
- Resonance Roll. This is the extra amount of Resonance the Encounter gains from Resonance rolls. The small additional number (just like all the small numbers offset from a primary stat) represents the extra amount gained for each additional player beyond one.
- Actions. The amount of Actions of the Encounter.
- Starting Energies. Each Encounter has its own starting Energies. Like Allies, Encounters that do not start with an Energy cannot receive Dmg to that Energy (and for other means counts as 0). Utilize an Energy tracker page from your Codex and some chips to track the Encounter's Essence, Resonance, and Harmony. All of the smaller additional numbers represent the extra amount for each additional player engaging with the Encounter.
- Targeting. Each Encounter will identify its default targeting choice. This is often the Magi or Ally with the lowest Essence or Harmony. If there is no clear target, determine the targeting randomly using the 10 sided die.
- Persistent & Special Effects. This area outlines persistent special abilities or conditions of the Encounter.
- Draw Bag. The number and type of chips, to be placed in the draw bag. Additionally this area outlines any changes to the draw bag over time and when it 'resets'. Each time the Encounter has an action, a chip will be drawn from the bag to determine which action it takes. By default any chips drawn are set aside until the bag resets. Once the amount and type of chips drawn match the reset instructions, all chips are returned to the bag.
- Priority Actions. Action lists with more than one of a single color are determined in order of priority, starting from the top action. These will usually have a pre-requisite required before they can be selected, either a cost, or the presence of a particular condition. If the cost is not available or the condition not present then selection moves to the next lower action.
- Static Actions. Actions with only one possible variant. When a chip is drawn the corresponding action is taken.
- Spell & Ability Charts. Some actions will reference other charts. These utilize a 10-sided die.
Round 1
Encounter Cards
Encounter cards have a set of rules that govern their behavior. They operate much like a Magi; they have their own zones, have their own maintenance phase and Actions, and some even collect Resonance from Resonance rolls. The differences are Encounters do not need to prepare their spells ahead of time, and they must pay for their spells and abilities the moment they are declared, as opposed to Magi who pay for them upon activation.
It is good to familiarize yourself with the basic mechanics of an Encounter before you begin.
The key points to begin with are its Draw Bag, Targeting Rules, its Source Spheres and any Response abilities.
Assemble the Draw Bag
Place 4 red tokens and 2 yellow tokens into your bag of shadows, cup or other holder. When it's the Shadow's turn, you will draw one of these chips. Chips are left out of the bag until you fulfill the bag reset conditions. In this case, once you have 3 Red and 1 Yellow out of the bag, you return all of the chips back to the bag.
Targeting
The Harmony symbol: Harmony is another universal energy used by Magi. This targeting rule means that when the Shadow is doing a non Area Attack, it will target the Magi with the lowest Harmony. If its opponents are tied in Harmony then it will target randomly using the 10 sided die.
Source Spheres
An Encounter's spells and abilities are considered (by default) to be sourced from the sphere's listed here. For example, this means the Sentient Shadow's spells and abilities are by default considered Soul.
Response Ability
The Response abilities are always active and ready to engage according to their conditions. The Sentient Shadow will shift away from any Attacks targeting it that have a Dmg aspect. This means each time the Shadow is targeted by an effect, we must check to see if it has Dmg in its Aspects list. If it does then the Shadow will pay 1 Resonance to try to Evade the effect. After it has paid, it draws a chip from the bag to determine if its Evade was successful. Only chips drawn to determine which action the Encounter takes are left out. There are many other times a quick check will be performed to check the success of an ability, chips drawn for these quick checks are always immediately returned to the bag.
Let us begin!
Initiative Phase
As always we begin with a Resonance roll. Let us assume we rolled an 8, this equates to 3 Resonance for all of us. The Shadow you will see gains 1 additional Resonance from these rolls (this is the number in the upper left corner of the Encounter). The Shadow thus gains 3 Resonance from the roll and an additional 1 Resonance from its inherent magickal qualities.
The numbers in the parenthesis next to a stat is the bonus the Encounter gains for each additional Magi you have in the battle. Thus when you are ready to take on the Shadow at its full strength: adjust its Essence, Resonance Roll bonus, and its number of Actions accordingly. For the walkthrough, however, just challenge the encounter in 'easy mode.'
Move the blue chip you are using to mark the Encounter's Resonance to 4.
We all have 0 Harmony so we determine initiative by the being with the highest Resonance, which is the Shadow.
There are no active cards in play, so the maintenance phase is brief.
Spell Preparation
You do not need to prepare your spells when facing an encounter, and neither does the encounter. Spell preparation is just for PvP.
Action Phase
The Shadow prepares to lash out at us! It despises all that walks in the harmony of the weave, and attempts to unravel their personal realities into oblivion. We must be careful, while it is not an intelligent creature in the traditional sense, it is cunning and powerful.
Whenever it is an Encounter's turn we must identify its action. This always begins by drawing a chip from the draw bag and then matching the color to its action charts. Beginning at the top of the corresponding chart (the top action), we check the action's requirements or conditions. If they are not met, we check the next action.
Let's assume you drew a red chip, so we consult the top red action. This action requires the Sentient Shadow to be able to spend 4 Resonance, otherwise we would check the next red action. It does have 4 Resonance, so it casts the spell Purge the Light. We know this is a spell since it has the spell descriptor.
Reduce the Shadow's Resonance to 0.
Response Phase
You are now in Purge the Light's response phase. Every effect, whether it's a spell, or an ability granted by an Artifact, Specialization, or other source, has a response phase before it activates in the action phase or before it impacts during the maintenance phase. This is a time period when others may cast spells or activate abilities that have the Response Empowerment.
We will have you cast one now. First, declare you are casting a Response by saying the word 'Fasul' (Fah-Sool). This means to cut, or interrupt. Collect an interrupt stone and place it in front of you. You must do this each time you take a full Action out of turn.
Search through your level 1 Soul spells and find Universum Negation. This spell has the Response empowerment which means it does not need to be prepared in PvP matches and can be cast 'out of turn'. Pull it out and cast it. Have your partner verify Alum or Kotukh. If you are going solo, check the back of the spell yourself.
Alum!
This is an Abjuration, which means it targets other spells. Purge the Light has the 'spell' descriptor so it is a targetable effect. Note that Universum Negation requires a target manifesting spell. This means the spell has not activated yet. Purge the Light has not activated yet so it is still 'manifesting.'
Now your Universum Negation also has a response phase, in which I or an opponent could also cast response spells, or you could upgrade your spell using a Transmutation or ritual. But neither of us will do that, so you may now pay its costs and activate it.
Normally you would pay 3 Resonance to activate this spell, but because the initiate ability of your Specialization makes all Soul Response spells generate +1 Resonance when cast, it will only cost you 2 Resonance. Pay this now.
Your Abjuration impacts upon the Shadow's spell and Dispels it before it ever has a chance to activate. You have saved us a lot of Harmony Dmg! Your spell has no Duration so, its purpose achieved, it may now be discarded.
Encounter abilities are not actually discarded when Dispelled. They will be useable by the Encounter again and again. But note that Encounters must pay for their abilities before the Response phase; unlike Magi who pay after, while they are activating a spell. See the online tutorials for more information and examples of the Response phase.
Now it is my turn, I will cast Flame Form. This will enhance all the Dmg of my spells with the Heat aspect. If I am successful say Alum!
Cast Flame Form now.
Alum!
This is an Enhance spell so I place it in my Enhancement zone. During its Response phase I am going to show you a new trick.
Willpower
Once per round, you can upgrade your Spec as a Free Action Response. I will do this now to gain Impermanent Body, but instead of paying the 4 Resonance for it (the cost listed in the blue orb beside the ability), I will instead pay 1 Will.
Each Magi begins a match with 3 Willpower, or Will for short. It represents their inner strength and Magickal spark. You can do many things with the right application of Will. In this case, I am going to upgrade my Specialization without paying any Resonance. You can unlock a first tier of a Spec by paying 1 Will and a second tier of a Spec by paying 2 Will. But whether you pay for the upgrade with Resonance or Will, you can still only upgrade your Spec once per round. Also, in order to upgrade a tier 2 ability you must have unlocked the first tier of that tree.
Pay 1 Will and place a chip on your Specialization card to show your new upgrade.
Now I activate Flame Form. My new ability makes my Forces Shape-Shifts generate +3 Resonance which makes this Flame Form 'free.' The term generate only refers to the casting costs or bonuses when the spell activates. It does not continue to generate Resonance each round. I also place 3 Duration chips onto it rather than 2 because of this new ability. The initiate ability on Chant of Forms also makes all Forces Shape-Shifts Free Actions, so I do not have to spend an Action to cast this.
Interrupt Stones
Now it is your turn. But, because you have an interrupt stone you must spend your Action to return it. This is how you mark whether you have already used your turn or not. If your Universum Negation had also had the Free Action empowerment, then you would not have had to collect an interrupt stone. Thank you for saving us this first round!
The turn rotates back to the Sentient Shadow. Draw another chip. Let's assume it is another red. The Shadow has no more Resonance so it does not meet the requirements of the first two actions. So we go to the bottom action which requires 0 Resonance. Draw Darkness, the Shadow gains two Resonance so move its Resonance counter up two.
The turn switches to me.
Cast Flame Eternae. Alum!
I will place this Attack spell in the Shadow's Attack zone. This is a Dmg Attack so it activates the Shadow's Response ability. Lower its Resonance counter by one, and then draw a chip from the bag. Let's assume it is red and the Shadow successfully Evades the Attack.
An Encounter's Response ability can be easily 'overlooked', check it each time a spell is cast to make sure.
I have not paid for or activated my Flame Eternae yet, so at the last minute I could release the energies necessary to finish manifesting the spell and discard it. I would lose the Action and would need to discard Flame Eternae, but I would not have to pay to activate it. Flame Eternae has Duration, however, so even though it dodged this first strike it will have to Evade again and again each maintenance phase that the Flame Eternae is active; so I choose to activate the spell even though the Shadow Evades the first 'hit'. Unfortunately I do not have enough Resonance to activate Flame Eternae. So now I will show you another very important trick using Will.
Energy Exchange
Once per round, as a Free Action Response you can perform an 'energy exchange' with Will. For 1 Will I can immediately summon either 3 Resonance, 2 Harmony or 1 Essence. I choose to Respond to my Flame Eternae (we remain in its Response phase until it is activated) with an energy exchange. I turn in 1 Will and gain 3 Resonance. I now have 6 Resonance and I can afford the Resonance cost. I pay 4 Resonance and activate Flame Eternae.
Focus
Now I have one more thing to teach you regarding this spell. Flame Eternae has a Duration F. This means it must be sustained by Focus. Each Magi by default has one Focus gem that represents an extra amount of concentration. In order to activate Flame Eternae one of us must place our Focus gem on it in order to cast it and 'keep it going'. As long as a Focus gem is on the spell it will stay out indefinitely. Either of us can place our Focus on a spell when it is first cast, or if it is already active then one of us may swap our Focus on a spell as a Free Action. I will place my Focus gem onto the spell to sustain it. If I am ever Disrupted, I must remove my active Focus from the spell it is on and the spell will be immediately discarded.
Your turn. I think you should cast Karmic Debt on the Shadow. Do so now.
Alum!
This spell does not have a Dmg descriptor so the Shadow does not attempt to Evade. Evades do not work against AREA attacks. You do not have enough Resonance to cast this spell either, so as a Free Action Response before the spell activates, perform an Energy Exchange: pay 1 Will to gain 3 Resonance.
Now you can pay for and activate Karmic Debt. (Pay 3 Resonance. This spell does not benefit from your Spec's initiate ability because it does not have the Response empowerment.) The Shadow has no Defenses so it impacts and becomes an active Curse.
Place it adjacent to the Shadow's Enhancement zone turned sideways.
The Shadow is out of Actions, and so are you. I still have an Action because Flame Form was a Free Action. I will meditate to gain 2 Resonance and 1 Harmony.
That is the end of your first PvE Round.
- The Sentient Shadow should have 1 Resonance and 10 Essence.
- The White Magi should have 1 Resonance, 10 Essence.
- The Black Magi should have 4 Resonance, 10 Essence and 1 Harmony.
Round 2
Initiative Phase
We begin each round as usual: with a Resonance Roll.
Let's assume we rolled a 0 that equates to 5 Resonance for all of us. Plus an additional 1 Resonance for the Sentient Shadow. Move its Resonance marker to 7 Resonance.
When you roll a 0 on a Resonance Roll it is called a Resonance Overload. We get a lot of Resonance but lose Harmony. I go back down to 0 Harmony and you go to negative Harmony. Harmony is the only energy that can go negative. Negative Harmony is called "Discord." To gain Harmony is to lose Discord and vice versa.
I gain initiative this round because the Shadow and I are tied for Harmony, but I have more Resonance.
Maintenance Phase
We begin with my maintenance phase since I have initiative, so I resolve my Attack zone, Defense zone, Enhancement zone. I need to resolve Flame Form in my Enhancement zone by paying 1 Resonance to sustain it and removing a Duration chip. This is noted in the Requirements field of Flame Form. I am down to 8 Resonance.
Next we resolve the cards in the Sentient Shadow's zones, starting with its Attack zone, then Defense zone, Curse zone and finally the Enhancement zone.
Its Attack zone has my Flame Eternae in it, so we must resolve that. Before it impacts I must pay for any sustain costs, in this case 1 Resonance. If I do not pay this then it will be discarded before it impacts. I pay it and we see if the Shadow can Evade it. I go down to 7 Resonance and we reduce the Shadow's Resonance by one, and then draw a chip from the bag to see if it succeeds (then return the chip to the bag since this is just a quick check).
If it's red, then the Shadow Evades my Flame Eternae's ongoing Dmg. If it's yellow, then reduce the Shadow's Essence by two; my Flame Eternae has extra Dmg from my Flame Form Enhancement. Forces is expensive in energy but causes a lot of Dmg.
Then resolve the Shadow's other zones. Karmic Debt is a permanent spell so we do nothing to it.
You also have nothing to resolve.
Action Phase
I go first since I have initiative, and I will now cast Fireball.
Alum!
This is a Dmg spell, so the Shadow is going to try to Evade. Lower its Resonance by one, pull a chip, and return it. Let's assume you pull the last red.
Now I will show you another trick. Fireball has the special option of upgrading it to Area by paying 2 Resonance. Before I activate Fireball, I will declare that I am upgrading it. There are no more Responses, so I now pay 5 Resonance plus 2 Resonance for the upgrade. Even though the Shadow Evaded, it makes no difference because you cannot Evade Area attacks. So, we inflict 3 Dmg on the Shadow. We're winning!
Once you declare an upgrade it must be paid for or the spell will not activate.
Draw a chip for the Sentient Shadow's Action. Let's assume it is another red. There should be three red chips out now. It has enough Resonance to cast Purge the Light, reduce its Resonance counter by 4. We have no responses for this so we each take 5 Harmony Dmg. This is because Purge the Light is an Area spell so it impacts on both of us. It also has the Subtle empowerment so even if we had a Soul Shield, it would cut right through it.
We each take 5 Harmony Dmg. You now have -6 Harmony and I have -5 Harmony. The Sentient Shadow earns one Karmic Debt charge on its Curse (it should now have 2 charges).
On your turn, cast Pillar of Earth so you can begin attacking the Shadow as well with Acidic Matter.
Alum!
Place the component and collect the Resonance.
Now it is my second Action. I am out of Resonance, so I will cast Infernal Shot.
Alum!
The Shadow spends its last Resonance to attempt to Dodge. Pull a chip, if it's successful then I will dismiss Infernal Shot before it activates.
The reason for this is Infernal Shot costs no Energy but it requires me to pay 1 Essence. This would normally be a bad deal, but my Flame Form makes it cause more Dmg than it costs to activate. NOTE: My Flame Form does not allow me to skip paying for this even though it makes me immune to Heat effects because Requirements are costs and pre-requisites to a spell, not its effect.
For the Shadow's second turn, draw again from the bag. Let's assume it drew a yellow chip. This action chart has some more required conditions in addition to the Shadow's Resonance levels. This first condition is met since it bears your Soul Curse: Karmic Debt, but it does not have enough Resonance for this action. The same applies for the next action, since I have my Focus sustaining an active spell. If it DID have enough Resonance it would have rolled on the corresponding Ability Chart with a single 10 sided die. But instead it performs Dark Lash. This causes 1 Harmony Dmg to both of us since it is an Area effect. You are now at -7 Harmony and I am at -6. It gains another Karmic Debt charge.
Discord Events
Harmony represents the weave of reality, it is balance and order, and Resonance represents its glow and power. When we move into Discord we begin to unravel, and Magickal forces begin to tear at our bodies, minds and souls.
The first time a Magi hits -7 or less Harmony they suffer an immediate Discord Event. You must now roll 2 ten-sided dice. If the result is less than your amount of Discord you take an immediate, unblockable 3 Essence Dmg.
Go ahead and roll 2 ten-sided dice. If the result is less than your amount of Discord then lose 3 Essence (i.e. if you rolled a 6 or less since you have 7 Discord). If you still have 7 or more Discord during the initiative phase next round, you will have to roll again. Every player or Encounter that has 7 or more Discord during the Initiative phase (after the Resonance Roll), must roll for a Discord Event.
The initial & immediate roll for a Discord Event only occurs twice in a match, the first time you hit 7 Discord and again at 17 Discord. Otherwise Discord Rolls are made in the Initiative phase.
We must now reset the Sentient Shadow's bag, for the conditions have been met; we have drawn 3 red and 1 yellow. Place the chips back into the bag.
Now it is up to us to finish the Sentient Shadow without the influence of this walkthrough. This guide has forced you to take some actions that were not optimal for demonstration purposes, but you still have a chance of defeating the Shadow since it is not at its full strength. You have an Action left; consider raising your Etheric Shield by sacrificing one of the Karmic Charges the Shadow has built up. But, the choice is yours. And when you're finished, try taking on the Sentient Shadow at its full power!
Advice going forward
If you draw another yellow chip while the Shadow has 3+ Resonance it will roll on Ability Chart A since it currently has a Soul Curse on it (Karmic Debt). The chart will try to dispel the Curse.
If the Shadow has only 2 Resonance then it will attempt to Disrupt my Focus by rolling on Ability Chart B, since I am currently a 'Focused Opponent' because I currently have my Focus gem sustaining a spell.
Re-attunement
You may find that you will want that Universum Negation back into your Codex to avoid the Shadow's heavy spell attacks. Because Universum Negation is not Bonded, it will cost you 2 Resonance to re-attune it (1 + its fluency level). But, if you unlock the first tier of Tree A on your specialization, you will be able to cast it as a Free Action. Remember that you can only re-attune a single non-Bonded spell per round, so choose wisely.
Reference the explanations of the Shadow's ability charts and other terms on the following pages if you have questions. Good luck and welcome to the world of Serpent's Tongue!