Julia said:

Yes, I realized there's a weak spot in it too, it'll get plugged in the hard mode ;'D

Julia said:

Again, I'd say that since it wasn't specified, you choose the timing.  Since it won't be generally relevant, I don't want to specify.

:')  I liked your suggestion for the Tsunami.  Will add it in a minute.

Avi_dreader said:

::purring:: Julia's happy ::flap::

Ok for the timing thing. Sorry, I didn't want to bother you on this point, I just thought it could have been fair explaining why I had such a question :-)

Time to post the report of Scenario 23

SCENARIO 23 - TRUTH OR DARE?

Innsmouth, Kingsport and Dunwich boards in play

Investigators: Rex, Rita, Ursula, Mary, Norman, Bob

A tricky Scenario. Hastur demands tons of clues for scoring a sealing victory, and the lovable idea of "fight the AO each dam(n) Mythos", even if cool and cozy, could become less fluffy with too many doomers on the doom track. So I decided to go with the clue generators. A cursed Rex shouldn't be too a big problem, and Bob... oh, Bob, I love you so much. He's a steamroller.

First gate: Unvisited Isle, and a flappy Cultist emerging. I started collecting clues. Press pass + double clue at the Witch house for Ursula, who started with five clues at Hibb's. First potential seal scored. Norm went to the Science building, met a strange professor giving him a Unique Item and tossing him back to the street. Elder sign, second potential seal. Bob clue-cameraed another clue (1+1!), giving the bonus clue to Rex, and bum, magic, that one clue became two. Almost third potential seal achieved.

And I had the Carcosan Page, the Mi-go brain case (who cares of the flying cultist patrolling the streets when you're allowed to move the investigator via Brain case, and make the Brain case arrive to the ones in need via Carcosan Page? ::devil::). Plus, a couple of little extra things: a Sword of Glory (who cares about it? Well, it was an excellent boost for Hastur solo fights) and a little toy called Gate Box.

The only threat I had to face was at the beginning of the game: the first Player was Rex, and had to face Hastur while Cursed. Better at the beginning than later on, during the game. And I was right: he blew the King in Yellow in a puff of smoke. Then, for the whole game, I had more investigators able to seal than gates opened. One of those was a moving gate leading to Another Dimension: I decided to leave it open, and free to wonder across the board, offering a free pass to *any* OW thanks to the Gate Box. It offered Bob the chance to seal Devil Reef, and offered Norm the chance to return to Dunwich (just under a Dhole. Ups. Fortunately, Norm is known in the whole world as the best Dhole-evader ever). Plans in motion hit, and I used it as a shelter for other rumors (none arrived, anyway), with the idea of Rex returning to Innsmouth (thx, Gate Box!) teamed up by Mary and then Bob to wipe the DOR track as soon as things started becoming a (phantom) menace (rofl).

I kept the terror level at two (a +1 terror was cancelled by the Director's Diary Norm drew in an encounter) and the two Blights in play from the beginning (nurse Sharon and Abigail Forman) had no impact on the game.

10 Mythos, 6 gates sealed (and enough clues and an elder sign for at least another two), Hastur stopped at 9 doomers.

Some notes: the Scenario was very enjoyable. I really liked interacting with Hastur before the final battle (never in my life I had drawn a dual colour card, so it was something new), and the constant threat for Sanity was a good pressure, something able to make me play at my best :-) So, thanks :-) And Last Straw... ah... pure pleasure... especially when you have all your investigators with three Sanity left (it happened once... what a risk... pure adrenaline)

So, here we go. It's time to face the Apocalyse. I'm here, ready, and not scared at all. C'me on, Avi. Hit.

Julia said:

You will be.  You will be.  

This is the one that keeps me up at night in a padded jacket banging my head against the walls and screaming after all ;'D

P.S. I think you meant to say he "blew away" the king yellow, not just blew ;'D There is a significant and amusing difference there.

Shall I post the end?  The end at last? :'D  This will probably take me an hour or two just to organize the notes for this into something coherent (they're, um...  considerably lengthier than anything else).

Avi_dreader said:

::facepalm::

Yeah, blew away. Sorry.

Post it. I'm shivering in anticipation. I wanna know so badly. After all, it's a two year league, and when I started, I never thought to be able to reach the end.

Post it. I'm ready, and fully equipped (still have to decide exactly what to carry over. But I'll in the next hour)

Post it.

Post it.

(I raised a ten year younger sister, I can go on the whole night)

Post it.

Julia said:

Heh...  Sorry...  Was going to post it tonight, but email drama interrupted me...  It's saved in draft form, so I should be able to finish it off at work tomorrow.  It is quite monstrous.  A few teasers...  It has two Ancient Ones, *starts* with 5 heralds (a 6th will appear).  Requires 7 clues to seal, and the game can only be won by sealing 7 gates.  Each of the original 5 heralds will be somewhat amplified in their effects.  The game will start off with all personal stories failed, two green corruptions, and a madness for everyone.  That is just the beginning :'D There are trigger effects at doom track four, doom track six, and terror track ten (and, um, I'll be mildly surprised, though not really, if you don't hit terror track ten, in the hard mode, it will be much more difficult to avoid the terror track rising).  But first let's see how well you cope with the "easy" version of Hell in Arkham ;'D  My notes for this scenario are 2/3rds of a page, over twice the length of the second most complex scenario? ;'D Anticipate doom!  The skies will rain blood and madness!

I'm actually quite excited to see how you handle this, or don't handle this, now that you've reached the end.  I'll post the epilogue (probably tomorrow night, my time) so you can read it as soon as you finish the final scenario :'P BUT DON'T READ IT UNTIL YOU FINISH THE FINAL SCENARIO.  Seriously :') (Notice I said until, not unless).

Avi_dreader said:

I won't read it, don't worry. Actually, I haven't read anything of the narrative of the last part. I want to read it all at once, just to appreciate  better the story.

Hmmm... not so sure I want to play this. Not because it's too difficult, but because I'm afraid that, if I beat it - and I'll beat it - I won't be able to enjoy Arkham in the same way again (see? I'm still complaining! Not about the game being too difficult, but still ::laughter::)

So, some guesses: two AO: one of the Heralds is Ianus. Another one will be the Crevice of Chaos. A third one will be The Arbiter (after all, he's the protagonist of this very last segment). As for the AOs. I think one of them is someone I played against in the first segment. Maybe Death. The other one is Cthulhu (otherwise you wouldn't have bothered yourself by pushing cthulhuesque images for the last scenarios). Plus you are too enthusiastic about lowering max Stats. Another couple of Heralds. Hmm. Have to hink about it :-)

Two green corruptions at the beginning of the game. It requires to be quick. Let's see what happens :-)

Julia said:

::Laughter:: your guessing would be a lot more accurate if you were reading the story, as you were supposed to :'P ;')  Anyway, I'm going to be out for a few hours, so I might as well be a bit more explicit.  Azathoth, Cthulhu, Janus, Arbiter, Crevice of Chaos, King in Yellow, and Maskless.  Dagon, and maybe Hydra, will also pop in midgame.  The presence of Death is purely symbolic, not actual :') although You could say I used Death as one of many symbols for Azathoth, not vice versa, although you could say vice versa too ;')  Gtg!  I'll have it posted sometime today (will of course give you a notification when it is).

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:. Azathoth was my first second choice (over Death), if you remember what I told you via e-mail in the past months ("the last one will be Azzie + Crevice")

So, yeah, almost all my guessings were accurate

Hm. Dagon could be popped at doom 4, Hydra at doom 6. Much more worried about the former. Clues lost, plus terror increase doubled by the Crevice. At terror ten, something horrible will happen to Mary? Who knows..

Still not scared. But blood will be spilled for sure ::laughter::

And thanks for the notification intent :-)

Julia said:

Yes, I remember that ;') which is why I was surprised you changed your guess from Azathoth to Death, especially considering that the Crevice was named.  Dagon comes out at doom four (although he might come out sooner, unless I decide to change that mechanic), and Mary...  Well ;') The horror falls upon her at doom six :'D

:'D It is almost time.

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:: two reasons behind my (wrong) new guess: I thought you liked the idea of something ending in the way it began, plus Azathoth is not that scary. But I don't remember exactly what Crevice does, apart from doubling the amount the terror increases ::shivering:: Need to start studying this little, lovely creatures.

As a side note (not so sure you remember this, and not so sure you're 100% comfortable with this) remember that I play with the extended decks (Lurker gates & MH stuff in). It'd be nice (hard mode?) having a chance to see more than 10 blights in play. Just to suffer a little more

(actually, I'm seriously considering adding the King in Yellow herald to Scenarios of the hard version. I do love Blights. And no, I'm not masochist. They are really infernally cool)

And... Don't worry. I'll win at 5 doomers :-P (did some math, 7 turns are more than enough to gather the resources I need to beat the game)

And please note. I haven't said "I'll win on the first try". But when I'll beat it, I'll win at 5 doomers.

Julia said:

::Laughter:: I'm looking forward to seeing your epic five doom kill :'D it'll be interesting to see if you calculated correctly or if you overlooked something.  Five doom ;') Yeesh.  I'm kind of consued how you'll win at five doom if it's seven turns into the game?  Won't you more likely be at 7 doom or higher?

Crevice does a constant sanity attack, doubles the terror increases, and adds to the herald number.

In the hard mode, all the doom track terror track triggered effects will be triggered at half (rounded up) their normal level :') and Things in the Rift will be in added, with some modification to speed it up as well (and Mary won't get a perma-blessing).  Also, the madness/injury inducing die rolls will happen every turn (and the Arbiter will always trigger on failed combat and horror checks).  The streets will be flooded, and both gates to the abyss will attack sanity (not just one). :'D Heeee.  Might also start off with certain blights immediately in play :') (probably riots and increase sealing costs by one).

Avi_dreader said:

7 Mythos doesn't necessarily mean 7 doomers ::laghter:: no way, I count on a couple of good draws. Isn't it so unlikely to have at least one or two monster surges (or whatelse, something not opening a new gate) over 7 turns

But anyway, I wrote that before reading you don't allow victories by closing. Hence, yeah, 9 doomers.

Yeah, I noticed the abilities of Crevice, and I cross-checked all the Heralds. It's interesting. But as I told you via e-mail, those 5 heralds are nasty, but still, I'm quite confident I can beat them. The main problem is the special rules section of the Scenario ::laughter::

But I don't care about it being a problem. Honestly, I'm too excited to see *finally* the Mythos attacking Arkham. This is the real Arkham Horror.

Plus: Things in the Rift: I was going to beg you to add it for the hard mode :-) It's the right way to attack Kingsport :-)

Julia said:

Naturally the final battle should have its taste of Hastur, Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu, and Azathoth :')  Classic horror.  I can't believe it's finally done.  I may post the epilogue tomorrow (not in a huge rush since you're not supposed to read that until after you beat the scenario, and you said you wouldn't play until the weekend).

Heh...  I don't mind if you vermiised your way into some wins ;'D but not for the last one, nuh uh.

I'm pessimistically inclined when it comes to gate openings ;') I expect a new gate to open every turn, EVERY turn ;')

Wow...  I still can't believe it's over after two years.