Sneak

Time: Action Target: Self
Test: Hiding Skill
==Effect: Defense, #Sneaky ==

Hiding Score:

[..6] The nearest foe gains a stack of Alert.
[7..9] Gain one Persistent Stack of Evasive.
[10..] Gain two Persistent Stacks of Evasive.
Bonuses:
Distant. If no foes are in True Shooting Distance(16u), you automatically get a High Score on the Sneaking Test.
Unseen. If you have at least half cover from all foes, a Low Score counts as a Mixed Score (Critical Failures are still a Failing Score.)
Penalties:
Close. If a foe is within Spitting Distance(4u), you have a Disadvantage on the Hiding Test.

You will lose all Stacks of Evasive if:

You perform an Ability without a #Sneaky effect tag (e.g. Evade, Sneak Attack, and Sneak Move will not remove Evasive.)

While you are Evasive, you have the following benefits:

Others have a Disadvantage when directly targeting you with Abilities.

While you are Evasive, other creatures gain the following Ability:

Time: Action Target: an Evasive creature
Contest: Analysis vs their Hiding

[Lose] The target loses 1 stack of Evasive.
[Win] The target loses 2 stacks of Evasive.

Basic Ability or Mage Upgrades:

Magical(1).
- Hide no longer has the 'Close' Penalty.
Magical(2). Requires Level 5.
- Sneak no longer has the 'Close' Penalty.

Examples: Sneaking through a goblin camp.

The party is sneaking through a goblin camp with 6 goblins in it. The game is in the Freeplay phase.

The players start with two stacks of Evasive. (The players began outside camp, so they can all use Sneak with the "Distance" Bonus to get an automatic High Score for two stacks of Evasive. Players will often start with two stacks of Evasive.)
Two goblins are on watch and have one stack of Alert, while all others have no stacks of Alert.
All the player use Sneak Move to try to get past 3 of the goblins.
Most players Pass the Test, but #Alice Fails, causing her to lose a stack of Evasive. The nearest goblin to #Alice also gains a stack of Alert. The GM announces that the goblin stops whittling for a moment, then returns to his spear-making.
#Alice takes a moment to Sneak, regaining her lost stack of Evasive. The rest of the players are out of Movement and take no additional actions.
The goblins patrol a bit.
The players go again and take a path past 1 more goblin. The goblin has a stack of Alert from being on guard duty. The players roll Sneak again. This time both #Alice and #Carol Fail, each losing a stack of Evasive. The guard goblin gains a stack of Alert. The goblin with two stacks of Alert says "What's that!?" indicating that the goblin is going to come search for the heroes once they finish their turn. Since that goblin is already at 2 stacks of Alert, the #Carol's Fail causes an Alert to flow over to the next closes goblin. With their movement, #Alice and #Carol go Prone in the tall grass to gain half cover and #Bob jumps behind a bush for the same reason.
Both #Alice and #Carol attempt to Hide 2. #Alice succeeds and regains her Evasive, but #Carol Fails.
#Carol knows that a Search would reveal her position, so she has to either try to Hide 2 again or maybe get a drop on the enemy. #Carol decides to use her Sneak Attack to perform a Ranged Attack.
#Carol gets a Mixed Score on her Sneak Attack Test, which means:
- #Carol loses a stack of Evasive
- #Carol's Ranged Attack deals 1 extra Damage
- The goblin will have a Disadvantage on Saves brought on by #Carol's Ranged Attack, which will work great with #Carol's Poison arrows.
#Carol gets a High Score on her Ranged Attack which means:
- The goblin takes 3 Damage, plus an extra 1 sneak-attack Damage. This gives the goblin two stacks of Alert, but since the goblin is already at 2 stacks, those stacks flow over to its allies in sight range, bringing two more goblins up to one stack of Alert.
- The goblin must make the Save with two Disadvantages, one from the Sneak Attack effect and one from the Ranged Attack High Score. The goblin Fails the Save, gaining two stacks of Bloodied.
The other players decide not to act, hoping they can stay hidden.
The goblins take their turn to act.
The Bloodied goblin approaches #Carol and performs a Search. #Carol wins the contest, but even when winning she'll lose a stack of Evasive.
Since the goblin is Alert and #Carol has no stacks of Evasive, an Encounter is officially triggered, but the goblin will finish its Turn first. The goblin calls out to all its allies to signify this fact.
The goblin dies from the poison's Bloodied stacks.

To show Encounter stealth, the following is a continuation of the above example:

All creatures roll Turn Order to get: #Carol, #Alice, Guard Goblins, #Bob, then all other Goblins.
The goblins will gain two stacks of Surprised (which is the same as both Slowed and Restrained) minus a stack for each stack of Alert that they have.
#Carol attacks a guard goblin with her Ranged Attack.
#Carol then runs behind a bush to Hide 2. With half cover, #Carol has an Advantage. #Carol gets a High Score, regaining 2 stacks of Evasive.
#Carol ends her Turn.
#Alice uses Sneak Attack to cast a Spell Ability.
#Alice gets a Low Score on her Sneak Attack Test, which means #Alice loses a stack of Evasive and gains no extra benefits.
#Alice gets a High Score on her Spell Ability, dealing Damage and triggering Saves as normal.
#Alice uses her second action to Hide 2. She gets a Mixed Score, which is enough to regain her Evasive status.
It's now the turn of the three Alert goblins. All players have two stacks of Evasive.
One goblin runs toward #Bob, hoping to Melee Attack him. #Bob uses Sneak Move as a Free Reaction to try to sneak away. #Bob gets a Mixed Score, and is able to move away with no issues.
The goblin decides to instead perform a Ranged Attack against #Bob, but must roll with two Disadvantages, one from the Concealed Penalty of Ranged Attack and one from #Bob's stacks of Evasive. The goblin misses, dealing no Damage.
The other goblin walks up to #Carol and starts a Melee Attack. The goblin looks hurt. #Carol decides to use Sneak Attack to Melee Attack the goblin first. #Carol gets a Mixed Score on the Sneak Attack Test. #Carol loses a stack of Evasive. #Carol then gets a Mixed Score on her Melee Attack Test. #Carol deals 3 Damage (1 extra from her Sneak Attack effects.) It's not enough to kill the goblin. The goblin gets to continue its Melee Attack. Since #Carol still has a stack of Evasive, the goblin must roll with a Disadvantage. The goblin gets a Low Score, dealing 1 Damage to #Carol.
#Bob takes his turn. #Bob attacks a goblin twice.
The rest of the goblins take their turn, attacking various people.
After a round of combat and killing a few goblins, the heroes decide that the goblin chief is too difficult and that they should sneak away.
The heroes each use the Sneak Ability.
At one point the goblin chief performs a sweeping attack that would hit two of our Evasive heroes, #Alice and #Bob. #Alice gets a Mixed Score on her Hiding Skill Test, meaning she cannot be targeted and remains Evasive. #Bob gets a Mixed Score on his Sneaking Skill Test. #Bob evades the attack but is no longer Evasive.
Because #Bob lost his Evasive status, the players must spend a whole second round trying to remain Evasive. This time they succeed.
Gameplay transitions to a Encounter/paused_phase and a more loose style of Covert Operations.