Book of TrialsThe Shadow is not a fixed number of enemies. It is a road that keeps sending them.
Every Trial fought against the Shadow uses Reinforcements. At the end of each Turn, starting with Turn 1, once every Character is Tired, roll on the Reinforcements table of the road you are walking — for the Moor, Reinforcements on the Moor.
How an arrival is made
- Each arrival named by the table is one roll on the Shadow force calculation, made as it is at the start of a Trial. A result of No Foe means no figure arrives; Roll twice is resolved in full, however far it runs.
- Arriving figures are placed at the board edge the die’s face points toward when it settles, using the Random Directions rule. Draw the line from the centre of the board along the die’s arrow; where that line meets the edge is where the Shadow appears. You do not choose the spot — the die does.
- Arriving figures take their first Act in the next Turn, in the normal order.
When a Trial has its own
A Trial whose own Event table brings the Shadow onto the board — The Cairn Vigil, The Long Reach, Marked for the Taking — uses that instead. Do not roll on the road’s table as well.
Why the road keeps sending them
A Trial in which the Shadow can be finished has an ending the player can see coming, and a Crossing where nothing remains to cross through is a walk. Reinforcements keep the road dangerous until the Oathband has left it.
Settled 22 Sep 2026 and measured across 10,000 simulated battles an arm: without this rule the Shadow is absent for a whole Turn in 31% of Crossings; with the Moor’s light table, in under 5%. Decision Log: “Shadow reinforcements as a standing solo rule every Shadow Trial inherits.”
Moved to the end of the Turn on 29 Sep 2026, so the arrival lands as a beat between Turns. Measured at parity with the old timing: 66.9% against 66.3% Major Trial wins, 10,000 battles an arm. Decision Log: “Shadow reinforcements arrive at the end of the Turn, not the start.”