Worlds within the world
Not everything in Vashrath is open field. The portal did not swallow only loose monsters and exiles — it swallowed whole places. Complexes, forests and ruins were torn from their worlds and cast into the Forgotten Realms with their guards, servants and inhabitants, and over the centuries each became a closed, hostile domain of its own. Such are the Labyrinth of Cnossos, built to imprison a single creature and banished with all its guard, and the hut of Baba Yaga, deep in the cursed woods.
Incursions are your descents into these sealed dominions. Where an expedition is a swift strike, an incursion is a campaign: you lead a full party across a dangerous map, through waves of enemies, toward a master that has ruled its domain for centuries. It is the deepest challenge the realm offers — and it rewards accordingly.
Incursions unlock at level 10, when the Countess herself brings you the news.
Companions: you do not descend alone
No one survives a sealed dominion alone. Before your first incursion you visit the Contracts hall and hire companions — mercenaries who fight at your side. Each companion has their own attributes and their own strengths; review them and sign the contracts that suit the party you want to lead.
Inside the incursion, your companions are full members of the party: they carry equipment, drink potions, take wounds and deal blows, just as you do. A well-assembled and well-kept party is the difference between a triumphant return and a long stay in the hospital.
A separate kit
Here is what surprises most newcomers: incursion equipment is its own kit, separate from your main sheet. What your hero wears in the city stays in the city. For the incursion, you choose deliberately what to bring — every weapon, every piece of armor, every potion in the bag.
This is a feature, not a burden. It means your incursion loadout can be built for the campaign ahead without touching your day-to-day gear, and it makes the Equipment step of preparation genuinely strategic: in an incursion, every item counts.
Preparing the descent
- Choose the incursion. Each dominion has its own waves of enemies and its own rewards.
- Assemble the party. Pick which of your hired companions descend with you.
- Equip everyone. Arm each member from your incursion kit — drag items into their slots exactly as you do on your own sheet.
- Pack the bag. Potions and support items travel in the party bag. In a pinch, using a potion on a wounded member mid-campaign can save the whole descent.
- Set out.
Inside the dominion
Life in an incursion revolves around two views:
- The Map — the dominion laid out as a web of nodes. Each node is a point on the journey: some bring combat, others events and treasure. Choose your route to advance; the paths you pick shape the campaign.
- The Party — your fighters, their health, their gear. Between fights, select a member to manage them: adjust their equipment, their part in the battle plan, and spend supplies where they are needed most.
Wave after wave, the enemies grow harder, until the domain's master itself stands before you. Bosses of the sealed dominions are the fiercest fights in Vashrath — arrive with a healthy party or do not arrive at all.
Banked spoils
Everything you win inside an incursion — loot from fallen enemies, treasure from the map — is stowed in your expedition case as you go, banked for the journey home. Finish the incursion in triumph and you claim everything the case holds. Fall before the end and the campaign is lost, but not everything with it: a portion of your banked spoils still comes home with you.
In other words: descending is never a total gamble. Every wave you clear is value already earned.
Advice for the first descent
- Bring more potions than you think you need. The dominion does not sell refills.
- Spread the wounds. Rotate who takes the hard fights; a party with one half-dead member and three fresh ones outlives a party of four battered ones.
- Mind the route. Not every node must be fought. Sometimes the longer path is the one your party survives.
- Retreat is a strategy. Coming home with a half-full case beats leaving a full one in the dark.
For the fundamentals that apply everywhere — turns, health, buffs — see Combat Basics. For open-field hunting, see the Expeditions Guide.