02 — The Warden's Desk

The Five Debtors of the Road

Every hero on the Overpath is owed something — or owes it. The full class guide: boons, keywords, and the stories the game tells in ten lines or fewer.

The Last Toll — 'He guarded the bridge. The bridge left.'

The knight. 30 HP, 10 stamina. His Whetstone boon gives attack cards +1 damage, and his keyword, Bulwark, means block that stops a strike hits the attacker back for what it ate. Ser Bramwell kept the toll bridge for thirty years — then the road cracked open and the bridge walked into the dark with the rest of it. Somewhere down the Overpath there is a bridge that owes him thirty years. He means to collect.

The Moth — 'She borrowed fire. The interest is due.'

The Moth is the glass cannon: 26 HP, healing restores +2 thanks to Ember Salve, and her Cinder keyword stacks sparks that some cards spend for +2 damage apiece — Cash the Embers deals 4 plus 2 per Cinder and spends them all. Wren borrowed a handful of fire through a Gate; now the fire is spending her back, a little of her sleeve, a little of her skin, interest on a loan she cannot read.

The Strayborn — 'The wolf is not hers. She is the wolf's.'

The ranger fights as a pair: her Dire Wolf bites for 2 every three turns (Raw Meat makes it +1), and her Mark keyword sends the wolf at marked prey at once while arrows hit it harder — Pinning Shot deals 6, +4 against the marked. Raised by the pack after the night the road cracked open, she walks the Overpath because the wolves lost six of their own to the Gates, and wolves keep ledgers too. Just simpler ones.

The Gravekeeper — 'He buries things. Some come back grateful.'

The tank-healer hybrid: 32 HP plus Oak Skin's +8 max HP immediately, and Rot and Bloom feeds him back every point his poison eats. Old Loam dug graves along the road for forty years and was polite to every one of them. When things started climbing out without paying their respects, he took it personally. The moss pays his wages.

The Ox — 'His mum said seal the gates. So.'

34 HP, Second Wind gives +1 stamina on every rest, and Fury adds +3 to his attacks below half health — pain is just encouragement. Hodge's cards hurt him on purpose: Both Hands deals 18 and takes 4. His mum handed him the club from over the fireplace and said seal the gates, love, and be back for supper. They do not know what is behind him. It is his mum.