You awaken in a dark, rough-walled holding cell somewhere in Tamriel. You’ve been imprisoned for some charge or another, protesting your innocence in vain all the while, but it seems you’re stuck here for the time being. As you resign yourself to some time cooling your heels behind bars, however, a weathered-looking Redguard approaches your cell, clutching a key in his hand. You sit up and take notice.

“You there,” he says in a coarse whisper. “Listen. My name is Bodean. I represent a guild of like-minded individuals called the Outer Watch. We are small, preferring to remain behind the scenes, but we work for the betterment of communities all around Tamriel. We help people advocate for themselves, assist places that need it, expose political corruption, and more.”

You look at him blankly. You’re in a jail cell, after all, and you’ve never seen him before in your life.

“Right,” he says, remembering himself. “I’m here because the Watch believes you have... potential. Too much to be locked away here for gods know how long, subject to the whims of corrupt jailers.”

Now you’re really paying attention.

“I will let you out of here,” he continues, flashing his key. “What you do after is up to you. The Watch needs good help these days, as one of our number, a Wood Elf named Deslandra, has gone rogue. She’s decided that the Watch was thinking too small – that, for justice to truly come to Tamriel, the only solution is to get rid of magic completely. She believes this will be the great leveler, keeping the magically powerful from preying on the weak, but how much would be lost in the process? We need help to stop her, as her resources are considerable, but we won’t force anything on you. This is,” he chuckles, “an unconditional release.”

His key turns in the lock, and he’s gone. You consider his words, but before you decide how to make your way in Tamriel, you must first escape.

Players can choose to start the game in classic Elder Scrolls tradition, with their adventurers fighting to escape imprisonment. This encounter introduces players to the battle rules and acts as the final step of adventurer creation. The achievements of the adventurers in this battle then determine their available class options. For a more structured approach to learning the rules through this encounter, you can follow an extended example of this battle in the separate Tutorial Guide.

As you play this battle, reference the following sections as needed:

• Adventurer mats, stats, skills, cooldown track, and active slots.

• Battle rules.

• Caches and lockpicking.

Battle Setup

This Jailbreak Introduction encounter is a type of battle called a clash, which is played out on a battle map made up of the 2 tile shapes shown in the diagram below. To set up the battle, do the following:

1. Follow the Setup Procedure steps with the following exceptions:

► Do not fill the level 1/5 enemy draw bag; instead, place only these 5 level 1 enemies in it: High Elf Bandit, Argonian Bandit, Skeever Pup, Skeleton and Spriggan.

► Do not set the party’s Day Dial; day 1 does not start until after this battle!

► Set the party’s XP Dial to 1 instead of 2.

2. Place the clash tile in the play area and connect the smaller entrance tile as shown. Then, place the cache chip in the hex shown on the diagram.

3. Draw and deploy 1 enemy chip from the level 1/5 enemy bag for each adventurer in the game. For reference, this is equivalent to calculating an enemy pool based on a party XP of 1. Deploy each enemy with its level 1 (black border) side faceup in the next numbered hex as shown in the diagram, starting with Hex 1. Each enemy is deployed with an amount of HP chips stacked under it equal to its Health stat.

4. Deploy each adventurer to a hex on the smaller entrance tile. Start by choosing an adventurer to take the first player token and deploy their chip. Then, proceed to deploy each other adventurer in clockwise order around the table. Each adventurer sets their battle form when deployed.

5. Set the Round Counter die to 1; the battle is ready to start!

Playing the Battle

The Jailbreak Introduction encounter has a unique battle objective: The adventurers must either defeat all enemies on the map or all undefeated adventurers must escape. An adventurer may escape at the start of their turn if they occupy 1 of the green hexes at the far end of the clash tile. Remove that adventurer from the map; their turn ends and they take no further turns in the battle.

The battle ends at the end of a round if all enemies are defeated, all adventurers are defeated, or all undefeated adventurers have escaped.

After the battle ends, check that you have recorded each adventurer’s achievements (see below). Then, move on to End of Battle Cleanup and Class Rewards as described below!

Achievements Checklist

As you play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, note which adventurer completes each of the following achievements. Each adventurer can complete multiple achievements, but it is also possible for an adventurer to complete no achievements:

○ Defeat High Elf Bandit

○ Defeat Argonian Bandit

○ Defeat Skeever Pup

○ Defeat Skeleton

○ Defeat Spriggan

○ Succeed at Cache Lockpick

○ Escape First

○ Take the First Turn

○ Take the Last Turn

○ First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 2+

○ First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 1

Note: You may check off achievements on the list above, writing adventurers’ names next to their achievements, or you may print and fill in the PDF at chiptheorygames.com/support.

End of Battle Cleanup

After the battle ends, follow the end of battle cleanup steps, but place all of the level 1/5 enemy chips into their enemy bag (instead of only the 5 you used for this battle). Also, place all of the level 10/20 enemy chips into their enemy bag.

Remember to remove and exhaust any remaining skill dice from your active slots and to recover any drained skill dice. However, leave skill, status, light fatigue, or overfatigue dice in your cooldown track. Keep any tenacity and items that you gained during the battle, unless you decide not to base your class choice on your achievements (see below).

After you have completed this step, you are ready to choose your class rewards!

Class Rewards

After a battle, adventurers normally complete the Reward Phase to gain XP from their encounter and spend it. Instead of XP, this battle rewards each adventurer with their choice of several classes based on the achievements they completed. Refer to the rewards list below. It is recommended that players do not look at this list until after the battle.

After considering the classes that are earned based on their achievements, each adventurer then chooses 1 of those classes, takes that class’s sheet, and places it next to their adventurer mat.

Note that some of these classes are only available in the Valenwood (VW) expansion.

An adventurer with fewer than 2 classes to choose from must wait until each other adventurer has chosen a class. Then, that adventurer sets aside any class sheet based on their own achievement and shuffles all of the other sheets—not just those left from the other adventurers’ achievements. That adventurer draws a number of sheets until they have 2 (including any they may have earned based on their achievement) and then chooses 1 to use in this game. If there are multiple adventurers with fewer than 2 class options, they may determine the order in which to shuffle and choose.

If all adventurers were defeated, shuffle all of the class sheets. Then, each adventurer draws 2 and chooses 1.

○ Defeat High Elf Bandit: Arcanist (VW); Sorcerer

○ Defeat Argonian Bandit: Acrobat; Scout

○ Defeat Skeever Pup: Nightblade; Warden

○ Defeat Skeleton: Necromancer; Spellsword

○ Defeat Spriggan: Pilgrim; Templar

○ Succeed at Cache Lockpick: Burglar (VW); Rogue

○ Escape First: Bard; Ranger (VW)

○ Take the First Turn: Dragonknight

○ Take the Last Turn: Healer

○ First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 2+: Archer

○ First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 1: Knight

Choosing a Non-Achievement Class

If an adventurer does not want any of the classes earned based on their achievements, they can choose from the classes remaining after each other adventurer has chosen. They must also lose any tenacity and discard any items they gained during the battle in order to do so.

Completing Setup

After completing the battle and choosing classes, each player has created their adventurer! Proceed to finish setup, following the instructions below.

Set Progress Dials

You can now set your progress dials as normal for setup:

• Leave the party’s Day Dial unset.

• Set the party’s XP Dial to its 2 position (but leave each adventurer’s saved XP tracker set to 0).

Adventurers Rest

You escape, whether by fighting your way free, fleeing, or lying still until the jailers leave your seemingly fallen body. Afterward, you make your way to the bustling center of town to ply your trade in Tamriel. You accept a guild’s offer of work in return for supplies and a place to briefly recover.

When you awake, the first day of your new quest dawns, and you venture forth.

Adventurers typically rest after each encounter. During rest, each adventurer heals some HP and removes 1 die of their choice from their cooldown track.

However, after the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, this temporary refuge with the party’s new guild acts like an inn action, which can be taken during town encounters. Thus, each adventurer now heals to their maximum HP and clears all dice from their cooldown track!

The Jailbreak Introduction encounter is now finished!

Choose a Starting Quest

Return to Setup Procedure and resume at step 7, “Set up a guild quest.” Then, read on to begin your session’s quest as described in Game Phases.