Lost+Love

//The former son of the Guild Governor found his life at an end after marrying his beloved Kirai (his father, unable to stand the shame of his own child betrothed to a servant and a whore, chose better to kill his own child than live with the shame of it all). In death he refused to pass on, clinging onto any hope he could that he would one day be reunited with his love. Even in death, these two did not part.// toc
 * Lost Love, Resurrectionists Totem (Kirai)**

=__Overview__= Francis, the "Lost Love", is the totem and companion of Kiraki. He plays a support role to his wife, helping her keep her more powerful spirits alive, and even sacrificing himself so that his beloved may live.

=__Mobility__= Similar to his wife, Francis is quite mobile and can move to be into B2B with Kirai as his (0) action, provided his wife is within 12" of him. As his only (0) action available to him, it is almost inevitable that Francis will always be at his wife's side while he still exists, unless he is needed to be elsewhere (or on the rare chance she has moved further than 17" from him - as his 5" walk and 12" teleport won't reach her). He has no charge, but with a pathetic melee attack, it's more likely he'll keep his space.

=__Offense__= As mentioned above, Francis doesn't have much of a melee attack and sadly has not got much else. His claws are more for show, so he doesn't rely on Bash, but should the need come up, he can at least take a swipe at things. With a Cb of 4, which is average, there is a chance he may hit something if he gave it a swing.

=__Resilience__= Continuing his pathetic streak, Francis is very killable. An average defense of 4, and with only 3 wounds, Francis will often be hit when attacked and not survive the result. He doesn't even have any special abilities to stay alive, save for //(1) Sooth Spirit// that allows him to make a healing flip on himself (or another spirit), but it requires him to still be alive, and with only 3 wounds, that will be lucky at best.

Francis' best bet for survival is to not make himself a target. Use cover and friendly minions to block LoS and charge lanes to him to maintain his survival.

=__Magical Extension__= Francis may cast any of Kirai's (1) action spells. This comes down to three spells: //Chill of Death//, //Evolve Spirit//, and //Summon Ikiryo//. Of these, only //Chill of Death// does no damage to Francis, so it does seem the most tempting of options to choose. Even so, the other two have merit, and it's more common that Francis will not use the spells of Kirai (see below).

=__Tips and Tricks__= Seemingly quite pathetic, it's a wonder why you'd bother taking this ethereal maggot at all. Especially on the grounds that when he 'dies' (which is often) the controller must discard 2 cards from their hand. So why bother? Well there are a few reasons and strategies that can make the worm seem more useful.

Should your crew have a number of non-spirit minions, Francis can fix them up. //(1) Pass Beyond// gives any friendly non-spirit/non-Master model the Spirit characteristic for the rest of the encounter. It may cost the model half of their life, but since they are now a spirit, Francis can cast //(1) Sooth Spirit// to restore the damage.

//Evolve Spirit// used by Francis may seem suicidal, but as it costs only (1) to use. Consider evolving a Seishin into a Gaki or Onryo, then have Francis heal himself with //(1) Sooth Spirit// to return himself back to full health. Francis can easily get to most Seishin with his //(0) Will Never Leave You,// which allows him to move 12" to Kirai's side where all the Senshin will be appearing anyway.

There is also some synergy with Francis and his wife. Anytime Kirai uses //(1) In the Spirit World// she becomes a Spirit for a round, meaning she is targetable by //(1) Sooth Spirit//. Catch up to her with //(0) Will Never Leave You// and fix up whatever damage she may have taken.

Never forget Francis' biggest benefit to Kirai is //For Love,// which lets Francis sacrifice himself to save his wife should Kirai be killed or sacrificed. This will restore her back to 4 wounds and, given Kirai's spells all involve beating herself up, there is a decent chance she will kill herself. Keep Francis around, if only for this.

Francis is also significant and can be used to achieve objectives.

=__Playing Against Lost Love__= Francis is very killable. He's pathetically vulnerable and an easy target, and there are no repercussions from killing him. If you can take the shot, take him out. Its really that simple.

If able, you should always try to remove Francis prior to attacking Kirai. His death means nothing if she's alive, but killing Kirai (even if she kills herself) will only give her a free 4 wounds heal. Remove the medic before he can heal his wife.

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