OVERWORLD GUIDE

**Note: full explanations of all aspects of adventuring are available in the ‘Codex’ in-game, accessed from the Main Menu tabs on the right-hand side of the Tome.**

**Overworld Exploration Basics**

Your party begins each journey in the Overworld, at the starting location for whichever quest you have embarked upon. The map is built on a hexagonal grid, with each grid space costing a small amount of Fatigue to move to. Points of Interest appear with hovering blue question marks above them, and your Main Quest direction is marked by the golden arrow.

On the left-hand side of the tome are your Hero portraits, showing the health of your party and how much health they will gain at the start of every Combat Encounter (the green modifier below their portrait).

On the top of the tome, you can see (from left to right):

-         The day counter

-         Your Quest Journal

-         Indicator bars for Fatigue and Morale

-         A marker for the kind of Location you are currently in

-         How much Food, Herbs and Obsidian you have

On the right-hand side, across the tome, is a small minimap that displays a simplified breakdown of the Overworld grid. Using this map can show you what is outside your immediate field of vision.

**Food, Herbs and Obsidian**

These three items are essential resources on your journeys across Ashe, but each serves a different purpose.

Food is consumed every time you choose to rest your party, and can also be used to individually heal Heroes if resting to restore health is not an option (or at any point if you choose to do so).

Herbs are used to heal grievous Injuries that your Heroes may sustain when falling in Combat Encounters, removing one Injury and its relevant Injury card per Herb used.

Obsidian is the widely accepted currency on Ashe post-Cataclysm, useful for trading goods in settlements and paying off bandits or other hostile individuals to avoid combat. Not everything can be purchased with Obsidian, but it’s always a good idea to keep some handy to replenish your Food stores as you travel, if nothing else.

**Fatigue and Morale**

Fatigue and Morale are your most important resources in the Overworld, as they keep you moving and keep you alive.

Fatigue is replenished by resting, which always uses one Food per session of rest and varies in effectiveness based on what location you choose to rest in; the more sheltered your location, the more effective the rest will be. Resting also recovers a varying amount of health for your party if resting in a sheltered location, based again on the level of shelter offered. Keep in mind you can make camp and rest at ANY TIME by clicking on the Fatigue bar, but resting outside of a sheltered location will have minimal restorative effects on your party.

Morale is boosted by moving towards your main objective, which can be the Lore Quest, Challenge Quest or Boss Objective. Maintaining high Morale also has benefits in Combat Encounters and when resting; it increases the number of redraws available for your Heroes per battle and the overall Armour they have, as well as the chance to find Epic loot and the amount of Health recovered by resting.

**Inventory**

Your Inventory contains all the equipment and crafting/upgrade materials your party has gathered on their journey, either through trade or looting. You can apply equipment to particular Heroes and remove any items to equip on other Heroes or sell, and when resting you can also upgrade an item or hone it to remove unwanted cards from your Heroes’ decks.

When viewing each Hero, you will notice two numbers that are distinctly importantly for Combat Encounters: Armour and Weapon Quality. Armour gives each Hero bonus hit points at the start of each battle, with each Armour point adding 1 additional hit point. Weapon Quality is derived from the overall quality of value of the items that Hero has equipped, and increases the number of Redraws available to them each battle (see the Battle Guide for more details).

Food, Herbs and Obsidian do not appear in your Inventory directly, but are tracked in their own windows across the adventuring menus.

**Text-based Encounters**

The opening text of any run shows you an example of how text-based encounters operate: information will be displayed on the left page and your options for response will be on the right. Be sure to read through everything presented to you if you aren’t sure what to choose, as well as hovering over any information in blue to read their encyclopaedia entry; each option can have drastically different outcomes for your party’s survival. Sometimes there is no option but to fight, but often you will have the chance to avoid conflict through clever negotiation or, at times, difficult sacrifice.

**Points of Interest**

As you travel across the landscape of Ashe, there will be numerous landmarks that offer opportunities for advancing your party’s goals. These points of interest are marked with blue question marks hovering above them on the Overworld map, and when your party travels to them a text-based encounter begins. Through conversation, engaging with whoever you find and helping them with their problems, you can earn rewards or the right to barter for their goods. Be careful, though, for if you anger or offend those you come across you can easily start a fight.

**Followers**

There will be times on your journeys across Ashe when you end up meeting another person or creature. Either accidentally or through your choices, your actions might make them want to join your quest; maybe you helped them overcome an obstacle, saved them from a vicious mob or simply offer a means of safe travel across Ashe to reach their own goal. Whatever the reason, these followers will grant boons to your party, assisting in everything from crafting and upgrading equipment to the ease with which you travel across the wasteland.

There are many followers to find, each with a unique boon to offer. As they are discovered and documented, their details will appear below.

**Roaming Enemies**

As well as stationary landmarks and survivor’s settlements scattered across Ashe, there are many roaming creatures and groups that you may come across. Any creature out in the wasteland will be desperately looking for food to scavenge or hunt, so they should be avoided unless you are looking for a fight. Roaming people may at first be more disarming, but anyone out in the dangerous area between settlements has their own motives in mind – not unlike your own party. In any case, if you stray too close to such an enemy they may decide to target you – but evade them for long enough or mingle with a local settlement to pass the time and you may be able to shake their interest.

**Terrain**

There are a few distinct types of terrain that you may need to travel across on your quests, as well as impassable obstacles that can make your journeys take longer than necessary. Not all of these terrains will have a drastic effect on your party, but it is nonetheless wise to pay close attention to where you step as you endeavour to reach your goals.

Terrain types:

-         Grasslands

-         Sulphur Plains

-         Forests

-         Caverns