No rest for the wicked

While the adventurers rest, the Underworld continues to go about its sinister business. The GM should draw on the Meatgrinder table for the dungeon the adventurers are camping in (p. 91). Random events like rainstorms and rising fog will add flavor to the Camp Phase, but probably won’t impose any special rules. If a random encounter is pulled, the Camp Phase is interrupted by a Challenge.

It is assumed that adventurers are taking turns guarding the camp while they rest. If a random encounter occurs, the GM should randomly determine who’s on watch. An easy way to do this is to look at the top card of the minor arcana discard pile: the suit displayed corresponds to the path of the adventurer on guard. If there are multiple adventurers of the same path, odd cards target the player to the GM’s left, even cards target the player to the GM’s right.

The adventurer on guard tests Cups.

• If successful, the alarm is raised before the random encounter finds the encampment. The guild has a brief period of time to prepare.

• If the test of fate is a failure, the guild is surprised.

• A guild caught asleep is very vulnerable—nobody is wearing armor or actively wielding weapons.

• See page 110 for the rules about surprise.

If one of the players has performed the Patrol action, the GM draws twice on the Meatgrinder table and chooses a non-encounter result if possible. A Challenge only occurs if both cards reveal a random encounter—the GM chooses which one to use.

Once the Challenge is resolved, the Camp Phase continues on to step 4.

Starving (sidebar)

In general terms, a person can endure about three weeks of starvation before dying. Let us assume that “dying from starvation” is a fringe case in His Majesty the Worm . It’s much more likely that adventurers will run low on rations during the Crawl and need to endure a few days of empty bellies.

If this is your second Camp Phase without consuming rations, you begin to starve. If you are starving, skip steps 4 and 5 of the Camp Phase. You cannot burn charged Bonds or regain lore bids while starving.