Bark

A bark is a short sentence uttered by a character when certain events occur. Barks can be deactivated in the options menu to reduce the clutter on the game interface.

Appearance
Barks appear in the form of rectangular bubbles pointing to the hero that utters them, which varies in colour depending on the status of the hero. Normally, the barks are displayed on a black rectangle with grey outlines; when a hero is afflicted, the text in the bubble and its outline will change to red, while a hero affected by a virtue will have a light beige colour in its bubble. Notably, since virtues disappear after leaving a quest, their correspondent bubbles can only be witnessed during expeditions.

Outside of expeditions
While at the hamlet, adventurers in the roster will periodically utter a bark that will vary depending on their status and current occupation. Heroes with a low or zero level of stress will urge the player to choose them for future quests, while afflicted or highly stressed heroes will do the opposite, demonstrating insecurity or fear of the horrors of the dungeons.

There also are particular barks occurring when the heroes are currently engaged in activities in the various buildings of the hamlet, as well as when they are initially placed into such activities.

During expeditions
During the exploration of dungeons, heroes will often comment on various things and events such as light levels changing or interactions with items and curios. A bark also occurs when, after camping, the party is surprised during the night, alerting the player of the coming danger.

Barks also typically occur during battles, particularly when a hero slains an enemy or deals a critical strike.

Afflictions and virtues
When afflicted, a hero will periodically bark, lamenting his conditions and lowering the party's morale, causing stress damage to his comrades. Every different combination of afflictions and character class will result in different sentences.

If the hero ends up acquiring a virtue instead of an affliction, his barks will change accordingly. Different virtues have different effects such as stress reduction on the party or the individual hero: such effects, when occurring, will be accompanied by an appropriate bark.