Vagabond (Arbiter) turn — Tabletop Companion

Birdsong

Refresh Items

Flip exhausted items on your tracker back to their ready side, up to your Refresh limit. Your Refresh limit is 3, plus 1 for each Coin-class item you have on your tracker.

The Arbiter starts with no Coins, so your base Refresh limit is 3 until you acquire Coin items through crafting or exploration.

Hint Your swords are your most critical items — both as offensive tools and as passive Protector contributors. Make sure they are refreshed every Birdsong so they are undamaged and ready when a faction calls you in to defend.

Slip (optional)

Move yourself into an adjacent clearing without spending or exhausting any items, even if the destination is controlled by a faction that would otherwise require a Sword to enter.

Hint Use Slip to pre-position into a clearing where you expect fighting on other players' turns. Protector fires before the attacker rolls — if you are not already in the battle clearing when the fight starts, you cannot be enlisted.

Daylight

Take Actions

Take as many actions as you like, in any order, as long as you have the required ready items to exhaust. Each action exhausts one or more items:

Move — Exhaust a Boot to move to an adjacent clearing. If the destination is currently Hostile, also exhaust a Sword.
Battle — Exhaust a Sword to initiate combat in your current clearing against a faction present there.
Explore — Exhaust a Torch while in a clearing that contains a Ruin to take the top item from that Ruin.
Aid — Give a card matching the suit of a faction in your clearing to improve your relationship with them and score VP at higher tiers.
Quest — Exhaust the two items listed on an active Quest card while in the matching clearing to complete it and claim the reward.
Repair — Exhaust a Hammer to move one damaged item back to your tracker.
Craft — Exhaust the item symbols matching a card's craft cost to play it for its effect or immediate VP.

Hint Protector adds only your undamaged swords to the defender's maximum hits. If both swords are damaged, you still score the 1 VP for being enlisted, but you contribute nothing to the roll. Keep your swords healthy — Repair or Rest as soon as they take damage.
Hint On your own turn you can go on offense. Factions that just lost warriors defending their clearings are weaker — hitting them with your own Battle action scores you VP for removed buildings or tokens on top of whatever Protector earned you.
Hint Each Aid action advances your Relationship track with the faction you help. A warmer relationship means they are more likely to enlist your Protector ability — and reaching Allied status opens up powerful joint combat options.

Protector (Arbiter's Special Action)

Protector is a passive ability that triggers on other players' turns, not your own. It works as follows:

When any faction is the defender in a battle and you are present in that clearing, the defending faction may choose to enlist you before the dice are rolled. If they do:

You score 1 victory point immediately.
You add all of your currently undamaged swords to the defender's maximum rolled hits for that battle.

The defending faction makes the choice — you cannot force it. You cannot enlist yourself as Protector when you are the one defending, and you cannot be enlisted against yourself.

Protector does not exhaust any items and is not limited per round — it can fire multiple times across different players' turns as long as you are in the clearing each time.

Hint When you are the defender, Protector does nothing. The ability exists entirely to assist other factions. Plan your item load and combat strategy accordingly — when you are attacked, you rely on your own rolled hits, not your swords as a bonus.
Hint Protector fires in the clearing where the battle happens — not adjacent clearings. Being one step away when a fight breaks out means you miss the VP entirely. Use Slip in Birdsong and Moves in Daylight to stay in the likeliest combat zones.
Hint Most factions cap rolled hits at the number of warriors in the clearing, often just two or three. Adding two undamaged swords to that cap can meaningfully change the outcome of a close fight, which makes factions actively want to enlist you — keeping relationships warm pays off here.

Evening

Rest (if in a forest)

If you are currently in a forest, move all your damaged items back to your tracker and flip all exhausted items to their ready side — a full item reset at no cost.

For the Arbiter, forest Rest is especially valuable: damaged swords go back to full immediately, restoring your complete Protector contribution before the next round of fighting begins.

Hint A single damaged sword is half your Protector value gone. If both swords are damaged, you contribute nothing to a defense. Plan a forest Rest immediately after a costly battle rather than waiting — the VP from your next Protector activation will recoup the movement cost quickly.

Score by Coins

Score victory points equal to the number of Coin-class items on your tracker. The Arbiter starts with no Coins, so this step does nothing until you acquire Coin items through crafting or ruin exploration.

Hint Beyond scoring, each Coin item also increases your Refresh limit by 1. Even one Coin lets you refresh 4 items per Birdsong instead of 3 — more refreshed items means more actions, including more sword-powered Battle attacks.

Draw and Discard

Draw 1 card, plus 1 additional card for each Bag-class item on your tracker. Then discard down to a maximum of 5 cards.