Explicitly secret.

Another question about the Hexer. We discussed him here before .

If I as a Hexer run up to a group of monsters and use Plague Cloud can I, between the moment that extra monsters become hexed and the moment the attack happens, exhaust Viral Hex (which says "Exhaust during your turn")?

(And so get bonus tokens from more monsters)

And seeing as the FAQ states:

Q: When the Hexer uses “Plague Cloud,” are the monsters hexed by the card’s effect then also targeted by the card’s attack?
A: Yes.

Do these newly hexed monsters also become target of the attack?

In short:

a) No, you can't use Viral Hex

b) You can use it, but the monsters don't become part of the attack, even though they are now also Hexed.

c) Yes you can use Viral Hex and yes they also become targets of the attack

A. "During your turn" does not include interrupting a [non-move] action.You can't interrupt plague cloud with viral hex.

You could certainly do viral hex before doing plague cloud.

Yeah ok, but that wouldn't have the same effect obviously

After Plague Cloud there could, for example be 4 more monsters hexed, which would mean 4 extra tokens.

I guess I was hoping that because it was not an action or anything, and that Plague Cloud has 2 parts it would somehow be allowed.

Like Weapon Mastery can be used by the Berserker during another action, or something

SoN: Rat-Thing King quest, encounter 2

a) Can Ixzhod receive conditions? If so, can he remove conditions that require and action, like Bleed?

b) Can Ixzhod be healed by the bard's songs? Does curse doll work on him? (My guess is no?)

c) Can Astarra the conjurer break this whole quest by the second turn by teleporting to a mirror image placed on the other side of the the portcullis, picking up the Shadow Plotter, then teleporting back and moving off the exit? (I think so, but doing this would make the OL, who has lost both previous quests and is already pissed at Astarra (me), quit this campaign for good)

I'll have to reread the quest guide to answer the first two, but the answer to the last question is "yes." I played this quest against Tinashi- she was able to teleport one way, but not the other.

Even without a teleporting menace, "The Rat-Thing King" is a very difficult quest for the OL to win. However, I will leave you with two points of overlordly encouragement:

1) Don't worry about the shadow plotter. You have the opportunity to steal it back during act 2.

2) Don't give up. Nerekhall really shines during act 2 (some of my favorite descent quests are act 2 nerekhall) and it tilts a bit more in favor of the overlord. I've been satisified with the outcome of each of my 3 full nerekhall campaigns (twice as OL, once as a hero).

2) Don't give up. Nerekhall really shines during act 2 (some of my favorite descent quests are act 2 nerekhall) and it tilts a bit more in favor of the overlord. I've been satisified with the outcome of each of my 3 full nerekhall campaigns (twice as OL, once as a hero).

I can second this. Nerekhall is a somewhat... misleading campaign. Even if the heroes kick your butt in most of the quests, this means they have the 'privilege' of doing "The Black Realm" finale.

The Black Realm is an incredibly difficult quest for the heroes, even if they are very well geared and prepared. With good play and a dash of luck you may be able to steal even a snowballing campaign out from under them.

Also, just to be absolutely sure, if Arvel Worldwalker has 1 unspent XP, then returns a 1XP skill with her heroic feat, she is not allowed to choose a 2xp skill now right?

She can only buy an extra 1XP card before the quest, then switch those out during the quest to get a 2XP card.

Or can she do her heroic feat during her final turn, return the 1xp card and choose to receive the amount of 'zero' cards in return, thus having 2xp during the shopping phase? (I guess +1 from the quest which would make it kind of silly, but well)

Actually, the text doesn't say anything about getting XP points back, just swapping cards. So I would say that Arvel can only get another 1XP card if she returns a 1XP independent of the XP she has left and that you cannot return skill cards to the box to get XP back.

This leads to a strange question: if Arvel returns a 3XP card to the box and chooses to get only a 2 XP card in return, is 1 XP lost for her? Or does that mean that she HAS to take skill cards with a total of 3 XP. I think the second option is true.

Yeah, reading it again it does say equal amount of xp, so cant choose to take 0 skills, or return a 3xp for 2xp and lose one. Never mind!

Remember the new Arvel can " return up to 2 class cards ". And anyway, she has always been able to gain any number of cards , so she can trade a 3xp card for 2xp + 1xp, if they are available to buy.