Spill Bitterness into the Earth

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• When Volcano Looming High uses Explosive Eruption vs Tsardom of Russia Level 2+, can they Push 1 Explorer from the origin land (when it does damage by destroying Presence) then destroy that Explorer using the thresholds of the innate that deal damage to nearby lands? Does that Push the Explorer again?
  No, and no. Actions can't destroy Invaders that were saved from destruction earlier in that same action, so the runaway Explorer is safe. And all the damage is part of a single action, so you only Push them (and generate Fear) once.

  The damage from destroying your Presence is part of the same action because the Special Rule says "When you destroy your Presence..." – it modifies how other actions work while they're happening.
  Tags: Destroy, Saved From Destruction, Action Modifiers, Damage, 25 more...

Aspects

• Can the Intensify Aspect add multiple token types with Hazards Spread Across the Island?
  No. Hazards Spread Across the Island can only add more of the chosen token you are adding, even if other tokens could have been chosen instead.

  Similarly, if a Power allows adding multiple token types in combinations you choose (e.g., Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone), Intensify can only add extras of token types that are already being added. And if you could add tokens in multiple places (e.g., Spill Bitterness into the Earth), you can only add extra tokens where you already added tokens of that type.
  Tags: Spirit tokens, Action Modifiers, Hazards Spread Across the Island, Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone, 5 more...

Effect Rules

• If a Power both adds Badlands and deals Damage, does the Damage benefit from the new Badlands?
  It depends on whether the Damage is dealt before or after adding Badlands. If the Badlands Token arrives first, it increases the subsequent Damage; if the Damage happens first, the Badlands Token arrives too late to matter.

  Some examples:

  • Badlands arrive too late: "Desiccating Winds," "Dire Metamorphosis," "Unquenchable Flames" threshold, "Scarred and Stony Land," "Bombard with Boulders and Stinging Seeds" main effect, "Walls of Rock and Thorn" threshold, "Melt Earth Into Quicksand," "Spill Bitterness Into the Earth" main effect, *Surging Lahar."
  • Badlands present for Damage: "Bombard with Boulders and Stinging Seeds" threshold, "Settle Into Hunting-Grounds" threshold, "Forests of Living Obsidian," "The Wounded Wild Turns on Its Assailants," "Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone" main effect and threshold, "Spill Bitterness Into the Earth" threshold, "Transform to a Murderous Darkness."
    Tags: Badlands, Damage, Ordering, Desiccating Winds, 14 more...

Elements and Elemental Thresholds

• When you hit the threshold of a Major Power, is the effect in addition to the base effect?
  Yes, unless the card says "instead", threshold effects are in addition to the base effect [p. 17].
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Elements, The Jungle Hungers, Tsunami, Vigor of the Breaking Dawn, 27 more...

General Play

• If you deal damage in multiple lands with a single instruction, does the damage happen simultaneously? Against Russia level 2+, if one of those lands is Isolated, can you attempt to Push an Isolated Explorer and thus destroy it?
  Damage instructions are simultaneous in all the lands where they apply. Russia's "Sense for Impending Disaster" effect requires you to Push an Explorer if you can (and generate 1 Fear); you cannot pick an Isolated Explorer as the one to Push if you have another choice.

  This applies to any effect that deals damage in multiple lands at once.
  Tags: Damage, Action Modifiers, Bloodwrack Plague, Fire and Flood, 12 more...
• When using a Power, can you ignore parts of its effect that you don't want to use (e.g., not adding Blight), or use a weaker version of them (e.g., Pushing only 1 Town with a "Push 2 Towns" instruction)?
  No, if you're using a Power at all, you must use all of it, and you must resolve the effects at the amount printed.

  That being said, players still have a lot of discretion for using Powers in ways were some of the effects won't happen or won't happen at full strength:

  • Spirits can target a land where some effects or possibly all of them won't do anything. (e.g., a Power with a "Push 1 Town." instruction doesn't need to target a land with Towns.)
  • If an effect is explicitly optional, it can be ignored. (e.g., "You may instead Remove 1 Blight." doesn't need to remove Blight even if there is Blight in target land.)
  • If given a choice for how many pieces to affect (e.g., "up to 3"), 0 pieces is a valid number unless a minimum amount is specified. (e.g., "Push up to 2 Dahan." can Push 0 or 1 Dahan even if 2 Dahan are present.)
  • If an effect checks how many Elements you have – usually as part of an Elemental Threshold requirement – you may choose to apply fewer Elements so long as you're consistent for the entire Power. (e.g., if you choose to use 8 Fire for a "1 Damage per Fire" effect, you also meet and must use an "If you have 7 Fire" threshold. But you could alternatively use only 6 of those Fire for the Power in order to deal 6 Damage and ignore the 7 Fire threshold.)
  • If a threshold requirement includes an Energy cost, you may choose not to pay it in order to skip that threshold. (e.g., "If you have 3 Fire and pay 2 Energy" does not require you to pay 2 Energy even if you have 2 Energy to spend and are using 3 Fire for the rest of the Power.)
    Tags: Elements, Resolving Powers, Firestorm (Heart of the Wildfire), Heart of the Wildfire, 72 more...

Range and Targeting

• Is a land adjacent to itself? Is it within Range 1 of itself? Can it be the nearest land to itself that meets a particular condition? Does Isolate change that?
  No, yes, yes, and no. In particular:

  • A land is never adjacent to itself, not even in particularly unusual cases.
  • A land is always at exactly Range 0 of itself, and therefore "within Range 1," "within Range 2," etc.
  • If a land meets a particular condition (e.g., "with Dahan"), it's its own "nearest land" meeting that condition.
  • Isolating a land doesn't change any of these answers, since none require checking which other lands are adjacent.

  For some practical examples:

  • It's impossible to Push a piece from a land to itself or Gather a piece from a land to itself, since those move to/from adjacent lands.
  • The threshold of "The Land Thrashes in Furious Pain" (Major Power) can't Repeat that Power on the original target land, since that land is not adjacent to itself.
  • The first threshold of "Explosive Eruption" (Volcano Looming High's left Innate Power) can deal damage in the target land (the land where the Power destroyed Presence). Also, the third and fourth thresholds of both deal damage in the target land.
  • During the Dahan Insurrection Scenario, if a City is destroyed in a land with Dahan, then "Military Response" adds a Town in that same land because there is no nearer land with Dahan.
  • "Exports Fuel Inward Growth" (The Kingdom of Scotland Level 6) adds Towns to a land with Towns/Cities even if there are no adjacent Towns/Cities (either "naturally" or due to Isolate).
    Tags: Isolate, Push, Gather, Range, 27 more...
• Does a Power stop resolving if you can no longer meet the Range/Target requirements in the middle of using it? (e.g., because it moves Presence out of the origin land)
  No. Range and target requirements are only checked as part of targeting the Power, before resolving any of its text effects.
  Tags: Range, Targeting, Timing, Ordering, 24 more...