Played Arkham again today (quite a good period under this point of view. Finally). Leo, Mandy, Vincent, William and George faced Glaaki, with the help of Nodens. Dunwich Horrot, Kingsport Horror, Lurker at the Threshold and Miskatonic Horror in play. A party that was kinda weak: even though Mandy is awesome and William has an option to bypass the Clue Servant via monster tokens, George and Vincent are... someone you don't want to tag along with at the same time. Anyhoo, to trick Glaaki it's enough controlling the Terror Track, so that you need:
a) to be sure no monsters ever will reach vortices in Dunwich
b) the number of monsters in play is kept well under the limit
c) not to pull Mythos triggering Terror
This said, the first Mythos served today was "Old Debts Come Due": raise the Terror Level by 1. Et voilà, the first Servant arrived. Spell Servant, luckily. All our spells were nuked, and fortunately it was Vincent (2 starting spells) the guy who had Bless. William was instantly blessed to pass his PS, and everyone went clue hunting.
Hit it fast, hit it hard boys: two investigators in OW areas by the end of turn 2, and 3 by the end of turn 3. Two immediate seals (Mandy - Woods and William - Black Cave), one more to come (Independence Square - Leo), with blessed William winning a boxing match with a Star Spawn and Leo, Exploration Leader AND Martial Artist, ravaging other tough guys like he were just eating popcorns.
Then a rumor was pulled. Which one? Disturbing the Dead, clearly. The only rumor with an ongoing effect to trigger terror. And what happened to poor George headed to Kingsport (since you know, in a four Mythos time we had one rift popping open...)? He met an Ally at the Train Station, failed the Will check and had it returned to the box, triggering another Servant (Skill Servant, this time. OUCH).
Mandy and George went to Kingsport, talking to Basil and Gladys and trying to close that darmn thing. In the meantime, Vincent, who gained a Healing Stone after one round of shopping at the Curiosity Shoppe, was forced (a Hound of Tindalos problem, they say. Poor dog, it was smashed against a corner by Vincent who revealed to be a magnificent monster wacker. At least, until he had to discard Grapple) to have an encounter there. "Do you understand of this aegyptian mess?" asked the shopkeeper. "Indeed sir", said Vincent passing Lore. He was awarded by a free choice of Common Items, that clearly resulted in the Director's Diary being purchased. In the meantime, William dived into the moving Unvisited Isle gate, searching for the second trophy to pass the rumor.
Witch House opened, and surged, and surged, stockpiling Colors out of Space and Dark Youngsters and some other pesky 3-toughness monsters, misteriously intentioned to lure there in stead of adventuring in the streets of Arkham.
Mythos phase triggered terror (rolled 2 for Disturbing the Dead), but Director's Diary saved our game. Next turn the rumor was passed, granting some life-saver spells to the party: William got the Sigil of Hermes Trismegistus, and Mandy got Plumb the Void. Vincent had Astral Traveller (am I the only nostalgic gal here that when reads "Traveller" thinks about "Traveller 2300"?). Good. Next Mythos phase: Mistrust (seriously, what's wrong with the game tonight?).
Vincent cleared another monster and prepared the road for Leo who jumped into the double Carcosa / Another Time at the Witch House. George followed, since there was another Another Time gate at the Unnamable. The following round Vincent astral travelled to the double Abyss / R'lyeh gate in Dunwich. William moved to the Church to invest all the remaining monster trophies to start blessing the OWers, leaving Mistrust running (I couldn't sacrifice all the items I had and the strategy for two turns to pass the rumor, so that the only option was winning before failing it).
Leo returned to the Unnamable and easily sealed that one. Blessed (by William) Vincent returned to the double gate in Dunwich. One blessed die to roll, fail. One free clue to roll an extra die, fail (holy crap, Vincent, it was your game! Did you hear me?). Mandy to reroll both: one success, gate sealed (ok, now we're on the same tune, good boy). George returned to the Witch House, with three dice to roll thanks to the Sigil being successfully cast by William. Zero successes. One clue to add a +1: a 4 became a 5 and the game was won.
Victory by closing gates in 12 Mythos, doom track at 8, terror track at 1. Phew
You know, Glaaki was never really much of a problem in my games, but this time... *shivers*