More than Meets the Eye

He had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other.
  —H. P. Lovecraft, "The Silver Key"

The Dream-Eaters, the fifth deluxe expansion to ignite a new campaign of Arkham Horror: The Card Game, draws players into the Dreamlands. This realm of beauty, mystery, and danger has long brushed benignly against the waking world, but when some malevolent force threatens to bring the two realms together, neither will be the same and both may be destroyed in the process. You cannot allow that to happen.

With two worlds to protect, your team becomes divided for the first time in the Arkham Horror LCG. Each splinter has a mission that will hopefully save the world they are in and lead to a reunion with their companions. But until then, each investigator must discover a greater inner strength and learn to rely on themselves and their few remaining companions more than ever before.

Today, we are pleased to offer you a closer look at Tommy Muldoon and Patrice Hathaway, the final two investigators who will be joining the fight in The Dream-Eaters deluxe expansion for Arkham Horror: The Card Game—now available for pre-order at your local retailer or online through our website with free shipping within the continental United States!

The Rookie Cop

Most members of the Muldoon family are part of the Boston police force in some way or another. Not long ago, the youngest Muldoon brother, Tommy, got his badge. Armed with an eye for detail, fierce courage, and his trusty rifle, Becky, Tommy is dedicated to law enforcement. But when he was loaned out to the Sheriff’s Department in the supposedly sleepy town of Arkham, Massachusetts, he found that he was not prepared for the bizarre crimes that kept cropping up. Even so, whether the crime scene is a smoky speakeasy or a bloodstained altar, he will not rest until he can bring the culprit to justice.

Tommy Muldoon (The Dream-Eaters, 1) is a guardian in every sense of the word. Never one to run from a fight, the cop sports a combat score of four and an agility of two. But even as tempting as it may be to put all of his focus on the immediate fight before him, Tommy never loses sight of the bigger picture. His elder sign ability allows him to move up to two damage or horror between assets he controls and himself, determining and weighing their worth and potentially pairing this with his investigator ability to gain resources from a defeated asset’s horror and damage. This gives Tommy the rare ability to free himself of damage or horror that he has taken early on in the game without relying on cards like Emergency Aid (The Miskatonic Museum,105) or Thermos (The Depths of Yoth, 274) that can fill precious deck space. Knowing that he can heal himself at any point as long as he has an asset in play with continual resources to play and replay damage and horror soaking items, Tommy can potentially take on more damage than any other investigator in the game. 

Of all the many assets at Tommy’s disposal, his most precious is Becky (The Dream-Eaters, 6). Becky is a custom Marlin Model 1894 that Tommy Muldoon has taken meticulous care of ever since he first got her, and the Weapon continues to be his most prized possession. For the low cost of just two resources, this Firearm gives Tommy +2 combat and deals +1 damage when he uses it during a fight. While it only has 2 ammo initially, Tommy may reload the gun with any resources gained from his reaction ability, keeping it in play for as long as possible to help protect his fellow investigators from the terrors of the Mythos.

While police work runs in Tommy’s blood, he must take care not to become overconfident and make a Rookie Mistake (The Dream-Eaters, 7) which will cost him every asset he controls that has either damage or horror on it. When this Blunder appears, every such ally will be killed, every piece of protection will be lost, and Tommy will be left alone with nothing but his guilt and whatever challenge is still before him. Even if—by some stroke of luck—no assets are discarded by this effect, there is no escape from this weakness as it is then shuffled back into Tommy’s deck, just waiting for the rookie to slip up again. Still, Tommy has a city to protect and a family legacy to uphold. Any mistake he makes is one he can learn from, and any enemy can be sure that the rookie cop won’t be fooled twice.

The Violinist

All her life, Patrice Hathaway has lived for music. The soaring sonatas, the graceful arias, and the booming marches have always been her closest companions. But sometimes when she plays her violin, she can sense some alien intelligence at the edge of her awareness—something that watches her performance. Something that hungers. Something that waits. The presence has been growing over the last month until it has become impossible to ignore, and her increasing nervousness is starting to spoil her ability to play. That’s not something she can tolerate. After her last concert at the Ward Theatre in Arkham, she finally decided to take action.

Patrice Hathaway (The Dream-Eaters, 5) is a performer. She is not a researcher into the arcane or a trained agent ready to face down monsters with a pistol in each hand. She is a survivor and, true to her class, she is prepared to make the most of what she has and adapt to changing situations on the fly. At the start of each game, Patrice’s maximum hand size is five and only five. But during each Upkeep Phase, instead of drawing 1 card, Patrice discards all non-weakness cards and draws until she has a full hand of 5 cards. She will never be at a loss for options, but anything that she does not use during her turn will be sent to the discard pile. 

Just as Tommy is never without Becky, Patrice is never far from her faithful instrument. Patrice's Violin (The Dream-Eaters, 16) allows her to use a fast action and lose a card from her hand to have an investigator at her location either gain one resource or draw a card. While this may be a helpful boost for any ally, Patrice may use this ability on herself to simply rid herself of a card that is not necessary in the present moment in exchange for the chance to find something more valuable to her investigation. A true professional in her field, Patrice is a master of improvisation. 

The Watcher from Another Dimension (The Dream-Eaters, 17) that haunts Patrice’s mind has the ability to destroy her with its shocking ability to deal three damage with each attack, but how can she tell anyone about an extradimensional monster that cannot possibly be real? Surely, they would think her mad. As such, whenever Patrice draws her signature weakness, she must secretly add it to her hand and tell no one of the danger she is in. Once the creature is added to her hand, she may either fight or evade it as if it were at her location, committing cards or using weapons as she deems fit, and then discard it if she succeeds. But if she fails, the Watcher from Another Dimension enters our world and spawns engaged with her. 

If Patrice is alone, it may be safer to just disregard the strange being and continue with her investigation, but she can only ignore the problem for so long. When Patrice’s deck runs out of cards, if this enemy is still in the violinist’s hand, it attacks and takes out nearly half her health in a single blow. Her elder sign ability may help avoid this fate by allowing her to shuffle all but 1 card from her discard pile into her deck, but this leaves her at the mercy of the chaos bag. Rather, it may be wise for Patrice to pick up cards like Scavenging (Core Set, 73), Resourceful (The Path to Carcosa, 39), or True Survivor (Black Stars Rise, 273) that allow her to return cards from her discard pile. Not only do these buy the violinist time, they will also help to prepare for her greatest fight and ultimately give her more control over what is in her hand at any given moment. Whatever this creature may be, Patrice will not surrender the music she loves more than anything in the world. If it wishes to take this from her, it had best prepare for a fight.

Saviors of Worlds

Are you ready to descend the seventy steps of lighter slumber and enter a world beyond anything your waking mind could possibly imagine? Prepare your mind, adapt to your surroundings, and embark on a new adventure to dazzle your wildest dreams!

Pre-order your copy of The Dream-Eaters (AHC37) at your local retailer today or online through our website here!