Yes, I know the title is a cheesy pun. Just be glad I didn't go with my other choice, "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!".
I should have known I was in trouble when I got a dream team starting out: Mandy Thompson, Marie Lambeau, Leo Anderson and the much complained about Daisy Walker (incidentally, Marie's Personal Story, if completed, carries with it great benefits). One could reasonably argue that it would take a lot of work to lose with a team like this. I acknowledge, but I submit Arkham with all four boards is a true challenge even for the best team.
Then there was my AO: Cthuga. This was the first time I faced one of the Innsmouth AO's, and difficultywise I was not disappointed. Its power really slows you down, and I was most fortunate to have Leo, since his leadership let me move at least one of my people four spaces a turn without damage.
The first gate opened at Y'ha-Nthlei, which was a bit of a nasty blow, as was the cruel accompanying environment. Mandy was sent to close it immediately, while Marie and Daisy set about passing their Personal Stories. Leo started the first leg of the Newspaper Assignment, only to be reduced to 1 Sanity and 1 Stamina by a particularly nasty Asylum encounter.
The next environment was Noden's Favor, but it naturally it left before anyone could come out to seal. With a little help from Daisy Marie passed her Personal Story, and in the process had an encounter in the Magic Shoppe that gave her an additional six Clues! Daisy was on the verge of passing her own Personal Story, when a gate unexpectedly opened under her. Fortunately she did have five Clues and the gate was to Celeano, inarguably the most beneficial Other World. In her first encounter there she drew one of the Celeano-specific Innsmouth Gate cards, and with help from Mandy's ability, got an additional five Clues! In addition, this completed her Personal Story, giving her the King in Yellow!
It sounds like things are going pretty good, doesn't it? And they were; the game was busy lulling me into a false sense of secuirty. To avoid the Lloigor at the Witch House and Color at the Graveyard I had Marie jump into the Yuggoth gate at Independence Square, which turned out to be a fateful decision indeed.
Mandy came out and sealed her gate, then zoomed back up to Devil's Reef so she wouldn't have to have an encounter at Y'ha-Nthlei. Daisy came out, sealed her gate, than read the Livre D'iron to get Summon Shantak and escape the Spectral Hunter which was on her space. With five Clues left she went straight into another Gate. Leo had tried to seal as well, but even with Mandy's power his two Derringers hadn't been able to fend off the vampire he met. Now he headed to Innsmouth to rescue Mandy from Devil's Reef, and a Rift opened at the Witch House. Meanwhile, in Yuggoth, Marie drew the Yellow Yuggoth-specific Innsmouth Gate card. This was where I really lost my breath in admiration. It was an unbelievably neat, FANTASTICALLY nasty card. The Mi-Go implanted special spores in Marie. To paraphrase a James Bond film, the spores would eventually kill her, but she'd grow stronger and stronger until the day she died. Complicating the situation even further was the fact that Marie had the Fetch Stick, Dread Curse of Azathoth, and two Shrivellings!
Leo paid to get Mandy off Devil Reef, leaving them both at Falcon Point. I was hoping to rescue Mandy, and then send her to the Lighthouse to prevent a second Rift from opening During the following Mythos phase, a gate opened at Devil Reef, a Moon Beast emerged and then he swam stright to Falcon Point! At the same time a shipwreck released a Ghost and Shoggoth into Innsmouth Shore, the street space connecting to Falcon Point! The illusion was that the Innsmouth authorities, seeing our heroes were in one of the few places martial law couldn't reach, were intelligently plotting against our heroes. Oh, and the second Rift opened as well, at Devil Reef.
Leo took Mandy's shotgun to blow away the Moon Beast, and she used two of the four dollars they had between them to sail to Unvisited Isle. Daisy sealed her second gate, leaving me with four seals. Marie jumped into another gate and one opened under Mandy at Unvisited Isle, who only had one Clue.
Leo used his two dollars to sail to the River Docks. Daisy used her Shantak to fly away from a Hound of Tindalos, pick up a Clue, and get four more by reading her King in Yellow. Marie's uber-witch blood had bought me some time. If I could just get two more gates sealed . . .
In the last space of her Other World Marie met the Priest of Dagon. You remember my listing her mighty magical arsenal above, right? For those who don't have Innsmouth, let me explain that the Priest of Dagon (and there is only one of him in the cup) is Magically Immune.
So Marie was lost in Time and Space, and Mandy emerged from her gate unable to seal it. Daisy was in the last space of the City of the Great Race when she was forced to switch places with another Investigator. So much for Daisy sealing her gate!
I was hoping Leo could get the Clues to seal, but the Shoggoth had made it through a vortex, the Rift had jumped into a vortex and the net result was that the Deep One Rising track was rising fast. Marie appeared in Innsmouth, grabbing two Clue at the Esoteric Order and evading the Innsmouth authorities. Leo got in position to go down, while Mandy placed two Clues on the track and went out into the next neighborhood's street. Leo also came down and evaded the police. Then I drew the next Mythos card, afraid that the spores would kill Marie before she could complete her task. Fortunately they did not and she and Leo were able to call in the Feds and empty the Deep One track when it was at five.
Marie then went to Leo and gave him all of her things. Right afterward she was grabbed by the Innsmouth cops. I figured it didn't matter, since there was no cure for the spores Leo took a bus out of Innsmouth while he still could, and I got to draw my first Innsmouth jail cell card. They forced some foul-tasting fluid down Marie's throat and one of them said, "There, that ought to do it". She was immediately moved to Sawbone Alley and I drew three Innsmouth Look cards. Turns out I was wrong, there was a cure for the Mi-Go's spores: activating Marie's Deep One genes.
Needless to say, poor Skids O'Toole came into the game at a really bad time. He wasn't around long before the failure of Mandy's Personal Story meant that the number of gates awakened the Ancient One.
For those unfamiliar with Cthuga, it is a thirteen Doom token, -5, Physically Resistant AO. It's attack is to throw a die: the Investigators lose that amount of Stamina, Sanity, or Clues, or any combination thereof. Oh, and whatever weapon you use against Cthuga must be discarded at the end of the round. Needless to say Cthuga didn't even need to resort to a Sinister Plot to destroy me.
Innsmouth with all of the town expansions is definitely "master-level" Arkham, but it's also a tremendous amount of fun. I would no more play without Innsmouth now than I would play without Dunwich. Though I must admit, I am toying with the idea of removing the house rule against taking Injury or Madness cards when an Investigator is reduced to 0 Stamina or Sanity. That was enacted because I thought it made the game too easy, but now I'm starting to reconsider.
Two more points: we've encountered four of the Other World specific Innsmouth gate cards now. Two have been good, one has been very good and of course the Yuggoth one from this game was simply amazing. I'm eagerly awaiting seeing more of those; they add considerably to the Other World experience.
Finally, I've had five games with Innsmouth now, and in three of those games one of my Investigators has succumbed to the Innsmouth Look! No, I'm not complaining; I think it's an extremely thematic and enjoyable disaster. For those with Innsmouth, remember the X-File motto when it comes to your Investigators: "Trust no one!".