Ursula, Wendy, Jenny, and Wilson—amusingly, all four Board Expansions represented—vs. Ghatanothoa, who is just the biggest gosh-darn HOOT of an Ancient One. It feels like “Deal or No Deal” for your LIFE. Just AH and IH in big cards, almost everything in little cards and monsters.

Pre-game Gate was Yuggoth at Devil’s Reef, just to make sure I was aware that this…is…Innsmouth! Even better, the Mummy showed up just long enough for a beautiful triple-gainer into the vortex, and then the headline matched the ante. Before game began…2 Deep One Rising tokens.

Ursula’s Story: Ursula’s a city gal, looking for Clues and Monsters. She started with a .357 and an Elephant Gun, but almost NO cash. Lucky for her, she decided to start in the Bank, and traded her Elephant Gun for a Flamethrower with a young girl, who really has no business owning EITHER! Ursula grabbed a Clue at Hibb’s and then cheated…er, outplayed the poker locals out of some decent ammo money (+$5). She went to barbecue a Deep One Hybrid that had stumbled from the Witch House, and then bumped into that crazily-armed girl again. The Witch House had ALSO opened to Yuggoth, which hatched a **** crazy scheme: Ursula seals one, Wendy seals the other, and Jenny forgets her sister and seals the third, allowing Wendy to find her Dad without losing her Elder Sign!

Yeah…like that’ll happen…

As we speak, Ursula has failed her Gate Check three times, but has fried a Proto-Shoggoth in a surge while waiting. But that’s nothing compared to the trouble I put Wendy in.

Wendy’s story: After trading heavy weapons in front of a BANK, Wendy hit a couple of Clue-granting Encounters, and then met with Ursula to execute this nutty plan. Well, Wendy lost a couple of Clues fighting off something that could have tossed her into time and space, and was now 1 Clue short of a regular seal. Plans changed, and now I was thinking it was actually a VIABLE OPTION to exit Wendy in Devil’s Reef, walk down to Y’ha-Nthlei to grab THAT Clue, and then jump back into Yuggoth! Yeah, yeah, I know.

Well, it got worse. I hit the Gate Limit without a single surge, and I needed to close SOMETHING because Ursula can’t freakin’ FOCUS!!! So Wendy closed Yuggoth behind her, and is now trapped in the worst place the game can provide until someone can extract her, or (and I can’t believe I’m actually HOPING for this) a Gate pops underwater and she can blip out of there.

Jenny’s Story: Jenny summone her Inner Beast, and with HER .357 Magnum (who’s shuffling these cards anyway???), she caught the bus to Innsmouth to get free Clues, since everyone else was eating up the ones in north Arkham. She grabbed two in the Esoteric Order (but avoided the deadly Ghataface), and then got the two at the Marsh Refinery, one by encounter. (Aside: I absolutely LOVE the way some of the Innsmouth Encounters are written kinda friendly…except the text is assuming you’re ON THE OTHER SIDE: “You feel warm and at home. DRAW AN INNSMOUTH LOOK CARD!!!) Then a Gate popped at the Esoteric Order, activating the third leg of my wacky plan! Except the monster was a Ghost, and Jenny had a stupid Mission and a Tome. So…down a couple Sanity now (not so great with Inner Beast on), Jenny bailed out of the plan, and caught a boat at Falcon Point to the Unvisited Isle, hoping to score the last hint to her sister with an Encounter there. She did, and we all basked in the sister hug.

Wilson’s story: Wilson’s Personal Story meshes rather well with his quaint ability, and it didn’t hurt at all that he met Jenny at the Train Station. His story touched her heart, and she passed him $5. Before the game got too hopping, he hoped to get some more steady cash from the Newspaper: done (Retainer). Since everyone else seemed to have a better handle on the Gates, Wilson just knocked around in northern single-clue locations, getting $1 fixing a fence instead of risking his neck. Within two turns, he passed his personal story, and gained a way to stall the failure of the Stories of both Ursula and Jenny. Since it was time for him to join the team and maybe close a Gate himself, he went to the Black Cave for the latest double-Clue pickup.

AND HE WAS NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN.

Rita’s Story: Rita showed up with a Formless Spawn right outside the Police Station (burbled there from Independence Square. Rita had Money, Clues, a Crowbar, and an Elephant Gun (who’s shuffling these cards anyway???), but nothing to help against a slippery pile of goo. So she screamed once, waded in, and punched it with all of her might: 5, 5, 6. ****…go, Rita. But it made her think that it might be nice to have something with a bit more power against the immaterial. So she went to the Curiositie Shoppe, where she bumped into Jenny now celebrating with her sister like rich girls do: by shopping! Pooling their money, Rita got a Ritual Blade and Jenny got the Golden Sword of Y’ha-Talla. Then a Mythos card related a ritual in the Factory District, where some schmuck in a robe was terrorizing people with a Shoggoth…which was EXACTLY the two trophies Rita needed. She took Jenny’s Sword and set out to prove to those stupid cops that this crap was real. (It was too clear an opportunity to waste on an errant Mythos Movement, so I set her sliders and gambled her whole wad on a single-die Horror Check.)

First Rita charged up to the robed punk, beaned him over the head with the crowbar, and shoved the blade in his gut. Facing the horrible massive lump, she rolled her single die…6. (Still…Nightmarish.) Barely hanging on to her sanity, she vaulted over to it, quickly jabbed the sword in and out of its mass once. Then, cocking the .357, she shoved her whole arm inside the hole left by the sword, and squeezed the trigger. There was a muted wet thump, followed by a flood of black ichor shooting right up her arm and all over her body. The thing twisted like a salted snail and falumphed over, unmoving.

Rita pulled off the jerk’s robe and tried wiping herself off. She had better luck wiping her gun clean. Catching its sizable steel barrel in the moonlight, she smirked, “They’re gonna sell a LOT of these…”

Sorry, that’s as far as I got before I had to do boring real life stuff. I hope to finish tomorrow.

I'm telling you, it's Intergalactic Russian Roulette, not Deal or No Deal :') you don't get eaten when you fail at Deal or No Deal. ::Sigh:: isn't Ghatanotha awesome?

I was thinking about choosing from a dwindling pile of briefcases, hoping your heart doesn't break each time.

Ghatanothoa is SO awesome. I can't think of any other Ancient One that clenches your insides so much when he is felt. Yes, Hastur makes Seals a pain...but that pain is always there. Cthulhu decreases your Maxes...but that pain is always there. Ghata just smiles and waits for you, barely felt on the board, like Azathoth...until you get that Encounter that FORCES you to take more than 1 Clue. And then your stomach drops into that feeling just before you rip off a Band-Aid...hoping it won't hurt...and you get that feeling...EVERY...SINGLE...TIME.

This seems to be the new trend in Innsmouth: from many, draw 1 and maybe DIE. The Innsmouth Look Deck, the Innsmouth Jail Cell, Quachil Uttaus...let the guts wrench.

jgt7771 said:

I know! It's so high tension there! I rename it angstown :')

Didn't I tell you Ghatanothoa (GHA! for short) is the best? :')

Wellll... I think I'm going to play my last game of Innsmouth board only, then I'm adding in Dunwich :'D hee hee hee...

Yorrick, Minh, and Patrice vs. Zhar. WIsh me luck :') or death, whichever you're more comfortable with.