I just pulled the Mythos card "Escape from Arkham Asylum." Two questions:

1. I remember another card like this, where you can place ghosts. Both of these cards state, "Collect up to 3 (monsters)." That makes it sound optional, especially since there's a reward for killing them. Can you forego placing the monsters?

2. I'm trying to place the 3 Maniacs for "Escape..." but I only have two in the monster cup - another one is already at a location, on a gate. I assume I shouldn't move the 3rd from the gate, correct? Also, if there is just two, is there still a reward for killing them, or do I just lose out because a Maniac is already placed elsewhere?

Yup. Sky and Outskirts too. And other boards if you read "in Arkham" as being "Not in an OW".

Alright. Thanks. More rules questions have popped up (I'm currently playing the game), so I'm editing the topic.

If you can't put all three maniacs in the streets, then you can't kill all three. and if you can't kill all three maniacs, you can't get the reward (short of some special ability or encounter that kills outskirts monsters).

Sucks, but the only real lesson is that you should've kept Arkham a little cleaner of monsters.