The above spell card essentially allows you to use Lore instead of Sneak to make an Evade check (pretty useful, actually, since you can then crank your speed up as high as you like). My question is, when exactly do you use it? Specifically are you able to make a normal Evade check using Sneak, fail, and then cast this spell to turn the check into a success, or do you have to decide to use it prior to making the normal Evade check in the first place?

You may cast this spell whenever you would ordinarily make an Evade check (mostly sneaking/fleeing monsters). If you fail the spell, you can then attempt to make a regular Evade check.

Mists of Releh is great—so is Markings of Isis (same thing for Horror checks).

Thanks a lot.

My follow-up question then is:

am I missing something, or is Wrack (from Dunwich) much worse than Mists of Releh in virtually every way (I suppose against a -3 or -4 awareness monster its easier to cast, but then it costs sanity, forces you to make a horror check first, and is harder to cast against -1 or higher awareness monsters)?

It's true that Wrack is a kinda of last-ditch spell, but since most of the time you don't get to pick and choose your spell(s), you gotta do with what you get. While Wrack does suck, it can be good esp. in the OW, if you draw a monster appears encounter and a particulary nasty monster to go with it. Might save you from LiTaS. For a low-Speed, low-Sneak people (is Harvey 3/1 or 3/0 at "best" in Speed/Sneak?) could be useful.

Unless I'm mistaken, Wrack does not care about the monster's awareness modifier when cast, and can be used to end combat against monsters with ambush .

Wrack, on the other hand, can't help you initiate combat with an elusive monster, while Mists can.

Tibs said:

I recently started a game with both these spells with the Entertainer (extra hand for the win). I also started with Ancient Language (Tap to pass a failed spell check). It was amazing.

Kevin ever got around to clarifying Markings of Isis, whether it actually uses a hand? For Marie it's no biggie, but for most others it can be a hinderance.