Yarrr! Pirate sounds and words! Yarrr! Dear readers, before we start looking at cards from Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 2: Raiders of the Fever Sea, I want to take a couple of moments to share some thoughts about the comments on my last blog. I'm sort of curmudgeonly for a woman in her twenties, so some of these thoughts may seem a bit harsh, but deep down, I'm actually a marshmallow. If I had more coffee in my system, all my thoughts would be rainbows and kittens, but alas, I'm out of java.
Curmudgeonly Thoughts
- My name isn't Gary, it's Gaby. I commend you for fixing your error and for making a mistake that didn't result in my name being spelled Gabby or Gabbie. That's just the worst. Gary is a much better error. [Editor's note: We all call her Gary now.]
- For those of you that thought Hirgy was not in the spirit of the game...I see that there are words written there but all I can read is "baw baw baw." The Hirgzster is great. Just give him a chance.
- For those of you who figured out that the Goblin Weidling is my favorite card because its name is my last name, congratulations! You've scored a gazillion bonus points, which are redeemable for absolutely nothing!!! But you're smart, so, you've got that going for you.
- A lot of you said really nice things about my blog and now the pressure is on to keep you entertained and happy. YIPES. This is a way scarier than fighting Hirgenzosk, but I'm going to try.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
OSS (Obligatory Shark Section)
Fun fact: That's what bull sharks actually do. They swim around waiting for some unsuspecting pirate to decide it's a nice day for a dip, and then the bull shark just goes BONK with its nose, like some sort of toothy battering ram. And after it goes bonk, then it goes chomp and that's the end of that.
This shark, like all our other sharks, can't be evaded. Of course, you have to make a check to find out if you're a decent and alert swimmer, or you'll get bull sharked.
Bonus fun fact: Bull sharks can live in either salt water or fresh water. You aren't safe anywhere. Then again, neither are bull sharks. That's because Mike forced upon the game a really bad, really awesome pun, and then we turned it into one of the scariest promo cards ever. Witness the Owlbeartross.
That poor little Riptide Grindylow. He's just derping along, minding his business and then for basically no reason, you come along and whack him. Now you've done it. This makes the Owlbeartross pretty cross, since Grindylow is his favorite snack food. It's likely that Mr. Tross will now fly off and shuffle himself into a deck you really don't want to see him in, and also likely that he'll go find another monster to beak-chomp. See, he's a big ball of cuddles.
Things that Actually Matter
We've got some wacky stuff going on in our scenarios. One of them has two different ships bopping around. And if you're lucky, you'll end that scenario with a *ton* of plunder.
You'll also have the opportunity to help out Rickety Hake, our first ever loot ally. He's this totally nice dude with terrible teeth who fixes up ships in his ship chop shop (say that three times fast!). He's a helpful guy to have around.
In The Secret of Mancatcher Cove, there's sort of a lot going on. It seems pretty normal at first, though. You build out your locations like normal. There's a villain, who I call Inky Izzy, and a named henchman and then some generic Buccaneers. It's sort of weird that there's one less location than normal though. That probably won't be part of some horrible surprise.
You're playing along and things are groovy gravy. You've closed some locations, and somehow, luck's going your way. You've encountered Inky Izzy and you're even in a position to banish her if your fights go well. And because I'm feeling reasonably nice as I type this, let's say they do. You summon and encounter the ship Thresher. It's not the nicest ship in the world, but again, your fight goes well, and you defeat it. Huzzah for you! Now it's time to fight Inky Izzy. And yet again, in a display of stunningly good luck, you beat her. You take your 1 Acid damage, but that's OK because you've just won. Right? RIGHT?!
Wrong. Hold on to your eye patches, kids, it's about to get crazy.
Remember that scenario card that I showed you a picture of but just sort of glossed over? Turns out that when Inky Izzy goes away you get to build a new location. It's called Mancatcher Cove. It's not the nicest place in the Shackles, but it is by no means the worst. So, what happens when this place gets built? Oh, that's right. You add a villain to it. The Matron is not your friend.
Turns out that when you eventually get around to fighting her, she summons a Sea Devil. And if you're lucky enough to beat her, then you get to add the villain Krelloort to that location. Krelloort may have a funny name, but he's not a funny guy. He's kind of a jerk. And he summons somebody to fight if there are cards left in the location deck! Like I said, kind of a jerk. The good news is, if you can get past Krelloort, you're done! You've won!
If you can handle at least three villain fights, countless ship fights, and countless henchmen fights, you've definitely earned the loot for this scenario.
I'm going to leave you on a positive note and just let you bask in the awesomeness of that loot. Speaking of loot... Here's some awesome wallpapers for your computers, if any of you crazy cats still use those.
Enjoy your adventures on the seas, mateys, and keep your eyes peeled for bull sharks!!!
Gaby Weidling
Adventure Card Game Developer