The Raven Quill

Assume I attach The Raven Quill to e.g. Archaic Glyphs.

When I identify Archaic Glyphs by placing the third secret onto it, I have to discard it. The Raven Quill is attached and gets discarded with it. What happens with the reaction effect on The Raven Quill at the end of the game?

It says "When you resign or the game ends: Either mark a checkbox on The Raven Quill's upgrade sheet, or reduce the experience cost to upgrade the attached asset before the next scenario by 1.".

For this effect to work, The Raven Quill needs to be in play, am I right?

Same goes with other "unidentified" and "untranslated" assets like:

If it wouldn't be the case that The Raven Quill needs to be in play to have it's effect working once played, you should be able to trigger it twice.

  1. Play named asset
  2. Attach The Raven Quill
  3. Identify / Translate the asset -> Discard Asset + The Raven Quill
  4. Play 2nd Copy of named asset
  5. Attach 2nd copy of The Raven Quill

That should be enough to trigger both instances.

Some might even argue if you could repeat that multiple times with Scavenging and discard recycling e.g. with Minh Thi Phan.

It's strange ... If discarding The Raven Quill and disabling the reaction effect seems kinda dumb. The other way seems dumb too ... Help me.

Since you can only upgrade an unidentified card max twice per campaign (once per copy, unless there a multi-level card I'm not thinking of) seems like this isn't the greatest use of Raven Quill either way. But it definitely doesn't trigger if it's not in okay at the end of the scenario. — Pseudo Nymh · 61
*if it's not in PLAY at the end — Pseudo Nymh · 61
Just to be sure, there are two copies of Raven Quill in the expabsion pack, right? It being unique doesn't mean it is exeptional? I only have one copy in my investigator expansion :( — founchopf · 2
Can you upgrade this card parking boxes with his hability in a investigator Who only have acces to lvl 0 cards? — Ponso · 2
Dirty Fighting

Decent card for Rogues or other Fighters with access to Green (2).

  • Even low Fight, high Agility investigators can take advantage of it using the Ornate Bow (3).
  • Ideally, you'll want to combine this card with a way to get a free evade action, like Stealth (3), Blur (1 or 4), or one of the Rogue events that Investigates or Fight, then auto-evades and returns to hand.
  • Based on the wording, it might even be possible to use it to Fight something at a far away location, provided you can somehow evade the enemy there (ie using Decoy, Pendant of the Queen, etc). I'm not 100% sure if this really works
Daerthalus · 16
The reaction gives you an action that can only be used to attack the evaded enemy. The fight action you do is still a separate action so it’ll check the range on initialion, as always. So you can’t attack a remote target, unless the weapon/ spell allows you to. — Django · 5108
Thanks for clearing that up. So, it does work, but only with a Springfield M1903 (4), a Telescopic Sight (3), or in conjunction with Marksmanship (1). — Daerthalus · 16
Really good in Rita Young (it's a Trick) who already takes advantage of evading. — DrMChristopher · 494
Why would you think that this reaction would not work on a ranged enemy when we have a ruling from survival knife showing otherwise? — legrac · 115
FAQ settles it. — AlderSign · 309
Explosive Ward

I'll compare this to Spectral Razor since they fill many of the same use cases

Pros:

  • Testless damage. Depending on your difficulty this could be very valuable
  • Potentially Costs 1 less if you're targeting low health enemies like Acolytes
  • Synergy with arcane slot increasing effects such as Familiar Spirit
  • Synergy with empty arcane slots, clearing the way for a beefed up Eldritch Initiation

Cons:

  • Anti-synergy with standard arcane slot spells (unless you managed to spend all the charges already)
  • Must be engaged. Razor comes with a free engage to deal with pesky aloof enemies
  • Increasing the damage potential still requires you to pay one more resource per damage. You can easily reach Dynamite Blast cost but for situationally less payoff since you're always targeting just one enemy.
  • Only target non-elite. This a deal breaker.

In my opinion the best reason to run EW over Razor is to lean into that big payoff explosion. This requires you setting up assets to maximize your slot conversion which will be a significant resource and card investment. All of that setup to be able to target basic enemies only is a let down.

For most investigators Razor will get you more mileage. The only Mystics who I can see potentially taking Ward are those who cant reach useful + scores (so just Marie Lambeau?)

mordequess · 77
I ran this in a daisy deck and it was very nice, just 2 cost, deal 2. gave me more reliability than spectral and got a plan and less cost than occult invocation. — Zerogrim · 295
Sefina w/o Double Double loves it. Even with, actually! — MrGoldbee · 1470
Amina with Ectoplasmic Horror RBW is regretting not having this in her deck. — coldtoes · 28
What also bugs me is the anti-synergy with Uncage the Soul :( — AlderSign · 309
Alchemical Distillation

Whenever kate apears, I'm sure she'll love it.

For 1xp (Mending Distillate) you get an easier to aquire more versatile version of this 4xp (+ researched) card:

(Though, lets be honest we only cared about: Strange Solution.)

Works great with:

Calprinicus · 6019
Shed a Light

I am a bit surprised there isn't more buzz around this card, more action compression for Survivors is huge. Between this and Sharp Vision (not to mention Resourceful to get them back) survivor is almost as speedy as some Seekers. Darrell's ability to take this, Sharp Vision, Deduction or Deduction(2) and Research Notes gives him silly levels of consistent action compression.

The auto succeed is useful for avoiding nasty token effects and the two extra clues is huge. The difficulty 0 requirement means this is only going to be consistent for investigators using Flashlight or Old Keyring, but that is a lot of survivors and fair number of investigators who splash survivor. With the new Old Keyring(3) this nets 3 clues from a 2 shroud location and 1 clue from somewhere else with auto success! If you aren't using those, you might be Darrell and getting to 0 should not be an issue.

Winging It, Lantern, Cryptographic Cipher, Otherworldly Compass, and Arcane Insight can also lower the shroud, but are secondary options since they only reduce shroud by 1 or you are less likely to have access to them.

This is most useful in 2-3 investigator campaigns where locations are more likely to have 2+ clues on them. Even though you may not profit as often from the extra clue from your location, remotely grabbing a clue off a location with a monster/locked door/high shroud is useful often enough for me to add this to solo Survivors as well.

guy · 6
Note that flashlight 3 can be used in addition to other shroud lowering, so for example this also works on shroud 4 with it — Django · 5108
It's a great trick for Darrell, since he has -2 difficulty effect readily available in his permanent camera. I can't see me going for it with any other investigator. — olahren · 3470
Not only in addition to other shroud lowering, Django. You can even use two supplies from Flashlight (3) to reduce shoud 4 to 0. I'm currently running it (and "Exploit Weakness") in Rita. The verdict is still out, as I just got the upgraded Flashlight before the next scenario, we'll be playing. — Susumu · 371
You can't use multiple supplies from Flashlight (3) on the same test. Note that it's a reaction trigger, not a fast trigger, and per the RR entry on Triggered Abilities, "each [reaction] ability may be triggered only once each time the specified condition on the ability is met." So, only one supply from Flashlight (3) each time you begin an applicable skill test. — Thatwasademo · 58
(It's still very useful, and if you have two in play you can fire each once for a total of -4 difficulty) — Thatwasademo · 58
Aye, you are right! You could combo it with a Keyring up to shroud 4. Or you could combo it with a second Flashlight and "Winging It" up to 5. — Susumu · 371
Quick Learner, anyone? — MrGoldbee · 1470
Don't forget about Gumption that can also be paired with this — tactis · 18
Bob, Wendy, and Preston can make this card absolutely disgusting by pairing it with The Skeleton Key. — pyroflare77 · 1
Actually, that interaction doesn't work because only Seekers get to have fun breaking the game. Skeleton Key locks the shroud at 1, which isn't much of a skeleton key then. — pyroflare77 · 1
Skeleton Key works with Flashlight (3) to reduce the difficulty of the investigate to 0. Skeleton Key locks the shroud, not the difficulty. — gByakko · 4