Each Hero is unique, and has their own level of difficulty to play. The Huntsman is the least complex of the four heroes, and is the easiest to play. His defensive attribute allows for stamina when fighting against monsters. The Assassin is a step up from the Huntsman in complexity. She may take additional damage and apply that to her attack. It makes her quite deadly, but the player needs to be able to balance the Assassin’s health with her kills. The Soldier is a similar complexity to the Assassin. He is able to add +1 attack with every item he uses. His deck has lower attack cards, but twice the amount of items. Finally the Conjurer. The most complex of the heroes. Her ability is fairly simple: she can look at the top card of her deck when drawing and decide to either discard it or keep it, then continue to draw to her 5 card hand limit. The complex part of the Conjurer lies within her deck. She has no items, but spells instead. Her attacks are also Area Attacks. This means that when she attacks, she will be damaging 2 - 3 monsters at a time. So there is a lot more strategy to playing her than the other heroes.
More About the Heroes
William Chase: Sweet Vengeance
William’s father, Gideon, was a hunter and tracker of much renown; William a mere nine years when Gideon first took him out to learn the family ways. Young William was an eager student who made Gideon proud, certain his legacy would survive…he couldn’t know how prescient that thought really was.
William turned eleven soon after the dark portal opened, a birthday forever seared into his memory, the day a pack of werewolves charged out of the forest and laid waste to his village. He still remembers the cloying sweetness of cake frosting smeared on his upper lip overwhelming the bitter tears as his father forced him into the cellar. Through a small crack between wooden planks, he dared to hope, licked that sweetness from his lips, watching his father fight off not one, not two, but three of the slavering beasts before finally being overwhelmed. William has since lived his life in a state of unquenchable vengeance, hunting werewolves, collecting teeth as trophies, each death sweeter than any frosting a chef could hope to concoct.
The Huntsman’s deck consists of lower attack cards, and there are less of them. Instead, he has more items which plays to his attribute. Whenever the Huntsman uses an item or combines items during an attack, each of those items does one extra damage to the target.
Constance Swift: Golden Opportunities
They say the streets of Selzberg are avenues of golden opportunity. As a young orphan navigating its streets, Constance found her own brand of opportunity. Pickpocketing, and snatch and grab were her stock and trade. Until the day she picked the wrong pocket and was swiftly caught by her mark: A lethal Assassin by the name of Prudence. Living up to her name, Prudence regarded this street urchin with great consideration, and seeing a bit of herself in the young lass, took her under her wing.
Prudence changed the trajectory of Constance’s life, training her in the art of assassination and her own unique code of ethics. The protégé picked up fast and it wasn’t long before the two were equals in the lethal arts. Together they traveled the world taking on more and more dangerous work. Constance is the one who caught wind of the job in Cobblestone Reach. Clear-cut, not much pay, but as honorable a job that had crossed their path in months: A corrupt baron intimidating locals, extorting exorbitant taxes by “disappearing” any who refused to pay.
In short order they stealthily breached the baron’s estate, and with a silent practiced slash Prudence delivers a killing blow… too easy. Relaxing, regarding Constance over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow Constance knows too well accompanies a cocky smile beneath her mask. But then against everything she ever knew about the world Constance choked, froze as the baron rose up, shot up, driving a monstrous clawed hand through Prudence’s back, eviscerating her. The vampire locked eyes with the frozen Constance, licked his fingers clean and vanished in a wispy puff of smoke, leaving Constance the impossible task of processing what just happened, the bloody horror at her feet. It is a flash of gold in the gore, that pulls Constance back to reality. She grabs a ring that slipped off as the monster retracted his hand and runs for dear life, clutching this clue in her fist. Etchings on the ring slowly alert Constance to Forestvale. Turns out these monsters that bled from The Blackness were not restricted to that forsaken place. She makes her way there, on a chain close to her breast she carries that golden ring, that golden opportunity…
After calculating the damage taken from an attack, the assassin can deal additional damage up to the amount of her remaining health. This attribute can be used until death, but she cannot apply more damage than she has health.
Liam Marshall: Driven
Long before the Dark Portal ever opened Liam Marshall was a broken and haunted man. The humble farmer, loving husband and doting father of four had long since been stripped away, replaced with the decorated soldier, or mad killer, depending on what side was asking. No other soldier in the king’s army relished the unabashed violence or tore through enemy lines with as much unrelentless, singular abandon. That’s what the everyday, ordinary evils of war had driven him to. He had been forced to watch his family decimated by a battalion of enemy combatants seeking quarters in recently conquered lands. He still hears his own frightened voice, “Just do as they say, dear. Don’t argue with them, son. If we just obey them they’ll leave us in peace my darlings…” a weak and mewling ghost, Liam-before, the quietest among the chorus of unrelenting voices that afforded him no rest. Liam-before could never hope to understand the blood-lust and god-like sense of invincibility that battle, and surviving it, sends coursing through the hearts of men. But the unrelenting harpy voices of his family in his head taught him. And goaded him and compelled him, to enlist, to exact retribution, to revel in the blood of vanquished enemies. And Liam excelled in the king’s army; it was, in fact, through the discipline that the army demanded that he was ever able to keep all those maddening, accusing voices in his head at bay.
It was just as he began to see this new path as a career soldier as something he could call a life, just as he cautiously made new friends, just as he was able to sleep through the night, that the portal opened.
The battle at Grassy Hill was a campaign designed to take the enemy under the cover of night. A risky proposition, but Liam felt more confident than usual as he would be entering the battle with his closest new friend, Archie, at his side. His brother in arms had proven himself in countless skirmishes, as single-minded and resourceful as Liam himself. Muskets fired, cannon balls hurled, and battle cries roared. Liam and Archie’s unit rushed the enemy line. As they charged, something strange began to happen. Under the bursts of short powerful wind gusts soldiers, from both sides of the field, seemingly began to vanish. Liam’s hair blew back and he snapped his head over to Archie in the deafening whoosh of wings to see giant claws plunge into Archie’s shoulders. He was gone in an instant. The hair on his neck stood up and he turned in time to see a gargoyle swooping down towards him. Liam didn’t even have time to pull the trigger, but his bayonet found its mark and the monster screeched in agony, flying off into the distance. New voices joined the chorus in his head that day. Chiding him, harassing him, goading him, driving him on.
The Soldier has less food in his deck than the other heroes as his defense attribute allows for him to absorb much more damage. He receives one less damage when attacking a monster.
Edith Beall: In Control
On that same moonless night, at the precise moment that first pin-prick of darkness split the night deep in the forest, so too was there an unseen flash of light as Edith Beall was conceived in in a humble bedroom some miles away on the outskirts of Forestvale. Or so intone the auguries at the Order of Virtue. Edith, the only daughter of local stable hands, was only two-years-old when she seemed to mystically cure an Anthrax outbreak that should have wiped out the entire stable. News of the little girl and her miracle spread. By the time priests from the Order of Virtue had contacted the small family the stories of her powers were by turns marvelous - using telekinesis to save a boy from a well- and terrifying - incinerating a field of undead invaders in an explosive blink, along with all innocent bystanders in her wide swath of destruction. The priests were no strangers to magic, but never had they seen such power manifest. With years of painstaking study and training in supernatural arts, their highest level mages could never hope to harness the kind of power this tiny child came to as naturally as breathing. It is little wonder that her parents, however torn, gladly allowed the priests to take Edith, so that she might learn to harness and control these natural abilities.
The supernatural became her religion and her entire life. For years all the knowledge of the order, the history of the arcane arts, research into the origins of the monsters that had come to the land, was ingrained into her. The rigorous training was brutal. Above all lessons, control. She had to learn to control her power. Exhausting, migraine inducing control. And the key to control? Obedience. Mind-numbing and draining, and so crucial to bottle the power that surged within her, and control it. Obedience and control her grinding mantra for the sake of all mankind.
The toll was steep. Edith longed to see her family, to live a normal life; being thrust into the position of savior was just too much for her. The more she learned, the more pressure thrust upon her shoulders, the more disillusioned she became with the Order of Virtue and their demands. Eventually she learned to cope only by cutting herself off from all emotion. Until her 17th birthday, the day she reached marrying age, she reconnected to her rage that day. As her destiny was fully explained, to take the mantle of the world’s savior mother, to marry the high priest, to bear off spring that would create the most powerful order of mages the world had ever known, that would keep it safe for generations.
She learned her lessons of control well, the fact that the Order’s monastery is still standing is proof of that, though the high priest himself might disagree if he yet breathed. Seeing his smoking remains no one else attempted to stop Edith from walking out the front door. Now she seeks only what benefits her, and the lucrative bounties in Forest Vale are no exception.
Whenever the Conjurer draws from her draw deck, she my look at the first card and decide if she would like to discard it and redraw or keep it and finish drawing to her 5-card hand limit.
The Conjurer is probably the most unique of the heroes. Her attack cards are also unique. She does an area attack, which means she can attack up to three monsters at once depending on what monster is her Main Target. The large bubble in the middle of the attack card is considered the “Main Attack”. These multiple attack bubbles must be counted when attacking, so if there are active monsters on the left and right of her Main Target, then those monsters would receive damage as well. The Conjurer also only follows the attributes of the targeted monster, and ignores the attributes of adjacent monsters (this does not include the Villain-always follow a Villains attribute if it is damaged). Any Item bonuses will ONLY apply to the main attack bubble.
She also has three named attack cards with key words on them along with symbols featured below. The symbols allow her to apply a monster’s weakness with that attack on all bubbles.
The combo king, Chet’s deck holds no attack cards. Instead his deck is full of food and spices. Their combos really packing a punch!
Pulling mana from nature itself every turn Grimwell gains one mana token. He may collect up to three of these tokens and use each as either Health, Attack, or Defense. He does however take one additional damage when attacked.
Combining Items with these named attacks:
• When combining one item with these attack cards you may use the “keyword” on the attack card to apply the items “Combined” effect.
• If you are combining two items, then ignore the “keyword” on the attack card. The symbol must still be applied to all bubbles, but the combined items do not gain additional effects from the attack cards “keyword”.
Spells
The Conjurer does not have any items in her deck, but instead has spells that she may use. She may not use two spells at once unless otherwise instructed. Although, Spells may be used in conjunction with items, and item combos. Like items, Spells are discarded after use and do not stay in the play area.
Control: This allows you to rotate the attack bubbles, not swap them. Rotating bubbles will change what is considered your main attack. For example, if you rotate the attack bubbles clockwise, what was the left attack bubble is now your main attack.
Recall: This allows you to draw and play a card from your discard pile. This is the only exception to playing two spells in one turn, as you could “Recall” a spell and then use it. You may not, however, “Recall” an item or attack card and then use another spell.
Focus: This allows you to combine one of your adjacent attack bubbles to your main attack bubble.
Chet Burns: Cooking Up Vengeance
Long before the monsters came, Chet Burns had made a name for himself throughout the colony. His tavern, "The Hearty Spoon," was where weary travelers found comfort and locals gathered to share stories. A towering figure with hands strong from decades of cooking, Chet's signature dishes were infused with spices from far-off lands, each meal prepared with almost mystical precision.
When the portal opened in the forest, Chet's tavern became a sanctuary. While others panicked, he calmly fed the frightened, his hearty stews restoring not just bodies but spirits. But sanctuary became battlefield when a Mutated Zombie crashed through his tavern doors during the harvest festival, killing three patrons before Chet drove it back with nothing but his cleaver and cast-iron pan.
The attack changed something in Chet. He began experimenting, infusing his foods with properties that enhanced his formidable strength. His specially prepared meals became his secret weapon—consuming them during hunts grants him bursts of power, speed, and resilience. His treasured spices now create concoctions that amplify his abilities to superhuman levels.
Chet doesn't hunt for bounty or glory. He hunts because his tavern was meant to be a place of safety, and he'll face any horror to ensure his community has somewhere to break bread without fear. With each monster slain, he collects new ingredients to perfect his empowering recipes.
"Monsters may have magic and claws," Chet often says while preparing for a hunt, "but they've never faced a man who's found power in a perfectly seasoned meal."
Mal The Magnificent: Rewriting Reality's Rules
No one knows who Mal the Magnificent truly is. Despite standing in plain sight, their face remains perpetually shrouded in impossible shadows that defy natural light. Lanterns, torches, even the midday sun—all fail to illuminate the darkness that clings to their features. Some claim to have seen a woman's hands manipulating the cards of fate; others swear they glimpsed a man's eyes briefly shining through the darkness. The truth is as elusive as Mal themselves—and that's precisely how they prefer it.
Before the portal opened, Mal traveled between settlements, performing illusions that bordered on the impossible. Critics called it mere sleight of hand, but those who looked closer sensed something more—a manipulation of perception beyond trickery. When monsters emerged from the forest, most performers fled. Mal stepped closer.
The night a Vengeful Spirit attacked the governor's mansion, guests fled in terror as the spectral entity passed through walls and weapons alike, its touch bringing unbearable cold and despair. As hope faded, a figure in flowing robes stepped forward, challenging the wraith. Witnesses describe how Mal somehow "rewrote" the creature's nature, forcing it into corporeality when it wished to remain spectral, making it vulnerable when it sought to be untouchable.
Mal hunts not for coin but for knowledge. Each monster carries secrets from beyond our world—patterns of magic and vulnerability that Mal collects like others gather trinkets. Through rituals involving cards, mirrors, and incantations, Mal can temporarily invert a monster's nature—making the strong weak, the armored exposed, the resistant vulnerable.
"Reality," Mal often whispers to monsters before their demise, "is merely what we collectively agree upon. And I," the final words always accompanied by a decisive gesture, "no longer agree with yours."
The mystery of Mal's identity serves a purpose beyond privacy—in becoming no one, they can become anyone, adapting to whatever the hunt requires. And perhaps, as some whisper, there is another reason for the secrecy: Mal may have walked through the portal once themselves, returning changed in ways even they don't fully understand.
Master of deception and manipulation Mal can change any one monster symbol in play per turn. This includes on items, Monsters, and Opportunities.
Grimwell: Nature's Wrath Embodied
Grimwell wasn't born with his name—the townsfolk gave it to him, a reference to the somber man who lived in a moss-covered cottage at the forest's edge. Few remembered the cheerful young botanist who had once eagerly shared his knowledge of healing herbs. That was before his wife and daughter fell ill with a fever his remedies couldn't cure, before he retreated into the ancient woods seeking deeper knowledge.
For years, Grimwell communed with the natural world, forming bonds with plants and animals. He discovered hidden wellsprings of power—ley lines that criss-crossed beneath the soil, connecting all living things. By tapping into this energy—what he called mana—Grimwell could accelerate growth, strengthen old trees, and heal wounded forest creatures. He began to hope again.
Then the portal ripped open reality, and the natural order he'd devoted his life to preserving was violated. The corruption spread through his beloved forest like poison, tainting the ley lines themselves. Grimwell felt each desecration as physical pain.
His first confrontation came during a blood moon, when a massive Werewolf slaughtered a family that had strayed too far from the colony. Arriving too late to save them, Grimwell faced the beast alone. Witnesses described how the slight man seemed to grow, bark forming across his skin, roots anchoring him to the earth as he channeled pure mana through his staff. The werewolf's howls of pain echoed through the night.
Now Grimwell hunts methodically, tending to his forest between expeditions. With each day, he grows more adept at channeling mana, using it to strengthen his body for combat, heal wounds, and occasionally unleash devastating natural fury. Every monster he destroys allows more of the forest to heal from the otherworldly taint.
"The balance must be restored," he often mutters while mixing potions from his herb pouch. "And if I must become as formidable as these invaders to achieve it, then so be it."
Jennifer Song: Lethal Harmonies
Jennifer Song was not born for adventure—she was born for applause. The daughter of a famous composer, her voice could move audiences to tears by age twelve. When she arrived at the colony to perform for the governor's birthday celebration, she expected adoration, not horror. The portal opened the night of her debut performance, and while others fled in terror, Jennifer found herself transfixed by the otherworldly sounds from the tear in reality—haunting melodies and rhythms no human instrument could produce.
In the chaos that followed, Jennifer discovered something extraordinary: her music affected the monsters. When she played certain melodies, they hesitated; when she sang specific notes, they recoiled. Her first true test came when a Mummy—its bandages stained with ancient symbols that glowed with unholy light—emerged from the portal during a full moon, draining the life from three colonists with a mere touch.
As the creature advanced on fleeing families, Jennifer began to sing. Not a song of this world, but one inspired by those strange sounds from the portal. The Mummy froze, its desiccated head tilted as if confused, and in that moment, the colonists escaped. Jennifer did not. Instead, she changed her song, experimenting with tones until she found ones that caused the creature visible pain. By the time the town militia arrived, she stood alone among scattered bandages, her throat raw but her eyes alight with deadly purpose.
Now Jennifer crafts three songs of power that have become her signature in battle. Her "Song of Vitality" weaves energizing melodies that mend wounds and restore strength to allies. The hypnotic lullaby of her "Song of Tranquility" lulls monsters into drowsiness and eventually sleep, rendering even the most ferocious beasts temporarily docile. And when the hunt demands aggression, her "Song of Brutality" pounds with primal rhythms that enhance the striking power of all who hear it.
Beyond these battle songs, Jennifer has mastered adapting to changing circumstances, discarding opportunities that don't serve the moment and finding new paths to victory. Her instruments project sound with devastating force when needed, and her repertoire grows with each new creature she encounters.
Along with her mastery of music, Jennifer is able to discard unwanted Opportunities and pick up new ones.