The Power of IllusionPreview an Upcoming Lieutenant Pack for Descent Second Edition
Players familiar with the Labyrinth of Ruin expansion for Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition will certainly remember Ariad, the evil sorceress who opposes the heroes’ efforts and enslaves their allies with cruel magic. Now, with the upcoming Descent Lieutenant Pack, you can use Ariad’s wiles and powerful illusions throughout a campaign to execute the heroes’ demise.
Like other Lieutenant Packs, the Ariad Lieutenant Pack includes a detailed plastic figure, replacing the lieutenant token from Labyrinth of Ruin. In addition to this sculpted figure, you will find a personalized ten-card Plot deck and threat tokens to that fuel its Plot cards. (For the full Lieutenant Pack rules, visit the support page.)
Smoke, Shadow, and Mist
Ariad’s Plot deck – Dark Illusions – offers a host of magical tricks and traps for undermining the heroes and destroying their plans with illusions and mirages. Since the majority of Ariad’s Plot cards grow more powerful when targeting monsters with the Cursed trait, monsters like flesh moulders, goblin witchers, and arachyura become more useful than ever. Even monsters that don’t share the Cursed trait can receive the full benefit of Ariad’s spells via Tainted Blood, which grants the Cursed trait to a monster group for an encounter.
Some of Ariad’s Plot cards can be used to deceive the heroes and lead them astray. By triggering Mirage, the overlord can move a monster three spaces after a hero’s attack fails to cause damage. If the heroes are pushing to close to their objective, however, Enthrall offers another method of ensnaring the heroes. When you use Enthrall, all heroes within line of sight of a chosen monster must test their Willpower. Any heroes that fail are moved two spaces, giving you the opportunity to push the heroes farther away from their goals.
Other Plot cards in Ariad’s deck deny heroes’ ranged attacks, forcing them to get close if they want to damage your monsters. Phantasm forces a hero to roll extra range to successfully complete an attack against one of your master monsters with the Cursed trait. Alternatively, by exhausting Darkness Falls, you can limit line of sight to two spaces until the start of your next turn – but your Cursed monsters, lieutenants, and agents go unaffected by this restriction!
All of these abilities require threat tokens to activate, but Ariad has Plot cards to gain additional threat. Intricate Schemes allows you to give up choosing the next quest in a campaign in exchange for three threat, and The Ritual Continues allows you to use your master monsters’ actions to gain more threat.
Dark and Terrible Magic
Ariad herself can make an appearance as an agent as well. The Summon - Ariad Plot card allows you to summon Ariad as a combatant into any campaign except the Labyrinth of Ruin campaign. As you spread Ariad’s magic into the rest of Terrinoth, heroes everywhere will learn to fear her name.
Even without taking Ariad’s Plot deck into account, her skill as a warrior and sorceress means that she’s certainly equipped to battle a party of heroes with her powerful Ranged attacks. Ariad’s special abilities as an agent add even more power to her attacks. Contempt grants an additional damage whenever she attacks a hero with a Condition card. Although Ariad herself cannot inflict any conditions, Cursed monsters like the goblin witchers or the arachyura can inflict conditions and still benefit from Ariad’s Plot cards!
As an action, Ariad can use Despair, allowing her to pick away at the stamina of every hero within three spaces, denying their power to move freely and activate abilities. Ariad can also use an action to trigger Cursed Assault. This powerful attack targets every hero in Ariad’s line of sight, and as long as you roll sufficient range for the furthest target, the attack hits every hero in line of sight. With Ariad’s Cursed Assault softening the heroes for your other monsters, you can quickly pull a party of heroes to pieces.
Enter the Labyrinth
The lieutenants from the Labyrinth of Ruin expansion are ready to expand their power from the ruins of Sudanya into the entire realm of Terrinoth. Will you crush the heroes beneath the weight of your deception and magic? Pre-order your Descent Lieutenant Packs today!
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Source:
The Power of Illusion
