Rhan-Tegoth vs. William, Lily, Tommy, and Trish.
It took a few minutes to explain Trish—“Find your Speed.” “What?...ohhhhh. Oh, that’s WEIRD.”—but once he got it, he loved her! Rookie was back (his second game) and figured out Lily while I was still working with Trish. By the third turn, Rookie was working Lily like a seasoned pro (he already had his hearts and brains in three distinct piles: Current, Maximum, and Potential), letting Horror Checks slide in order to score those huge shaolin Combat Checks, and then healing her Sanity with the sliders. (Not sure I can call him Rookie anymore.)
William (starting with a Shoggoth, Dark Young, and Warlock) and Trish passed their Personal Stories on the first turn, so that was it for the easy stories. Tommy used some Holy Water on a Hound of Tindalos (first blood...remember this) after he found a dead Star Spawn in the Graveyard. That kind of reputation gets around, and the Rookie Cop was promoted to Deputy by Turn 3. Lily had gone to Innsmouth to clean up the streets and lay down a few Fed Clues.
Then everything started going wrong. Lily went to go seal Devil Reef, while Tommy intended to be there to extract her. But then Mythos cards put out Innsmouth surges and big monsters were crawling its streets, and next thing we knew: Tommy was unconscious next to the wreckage of the Patrol Wagon; after sealing the Devil Reef, Lily was lost in time and space after being mobbed in Y’ha-nthlei; William lost his Blessing and all his Clues trying to collect Ruby Standish and Mountain Murphy unsuccessfully; and Trish was cursed and unable to close the Gate in the Woods. Suddenly, gates were everywhere in Arkham, monsters were at the limit, and the Terror Track leapt to 3.
The good news is no Cultists came to feed Rhan. The bad news is that meant all the monsters in the streets were rough. Proto-Shoggoths, Wraiths, Gugs, the Mummy, the Servitor, the Dagon and Tcho Tcho Priests. Trish got in the habit of chanting, “No Cultists!” when anyone drew from the Cup. Then came his turn to draw a monster for a Gate:
“Ha ha! Not a Cultist!”
“What is it?”
“Child of the Goat.”
“Read the back.”
“Child of the Goat is treated...” And his face just DROPPED. Sooooo funny!
William couldn’t get ANY successes now. For ANYTHING. It was driving me crazy, so when William was cornered by a Yithian and a Goat Spawn, and I could only use my Golden Sword of Y’ha-talla for one of them...I just switched dice. Out with the gray, in with the red. And William was able to kill the Goat Spawn with his bare hands, and save the sword for the Yithian. And things started to turn around.
Trish used her Woods Gate Trophy to Bless her Curse away, then scored Alchemical Process and a Crystal of the Elder Thing in the same turn. $9 free of charge. Clues started falling on her. She found Erica Carlyle. She found a Greater Banishment, and eventually used it to wipe away a particularly Dreamlands monster surge (Gug, Leng Spider, Moon Beast...buh-bye).
Tommy made it back from a surprise gate-n-monster encounter, but without the Clues to seal, and Rhan was at Doom 9. “Time to be a hero.” Lily met him at his gate where he gave her his service revolver, brass knuckles, and life savings ($10). He then tackled the Servitor with Sneak 0 and failed his Evade Check.
“TELL THEM WHAT’S COMING!!! AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!”
After the slaughter was over, a small figure detached from the shadows, and stood over the brave bloody mess that was once Tommy. “I will,” Wendy whispered. “I promise.”
Wendy started with her Elder Sign, 8 Clues, and, since Lily found a Return-to-Arkham Encounter the same turn Tommy was devoured, a passed Personal Story, and two ways to stop the Terror Track from rising...Which proved to be unnecessary when Happy Days are Here Again froze the Terror Track completely. In a couple turns, Wendy was out, and four Seals were on the board, with Trish, Wendy, and William all sitting on enough Clues to Seal. After such a haunted middlegame, it looked like we might be able to stage a comeback.
Well, Rhan-Tegoth would have none of THAT. Lily was sucked out to R’lyeh on the same turn Trish AND Wendy were delayed offworld. William couldn’t get offworld because ANOTHER Proto-Shoggoth knocked him unconscious. “The Stars are Right” came out, and all our Allies were with Trish. Our only hope was to outrun the Rumor and a seventh gate.
Nope. Rhan wasn’t screwin’ around anymore. He’d had enough of our meddling, and he wanted to eat NOW. Silver Twilight Lodge popped for too many open gates that same turn.
Lily found her calling, and her Personal Story removed that Cultist-that-isn’t-a-Cultist Child of the Goat, so no bonus there, you blood-sucking disease. Still, it was a HARD fight. We didn’t have any magical weapons besides the sword and an Enchant Weapon Spell (ooooo...not so useless a Spell now, is it?). Trish also had for +2 to Combat. So Lily was our heavy hitter with the Golden Sword and her Martial Arts, Trish behind her with Erica Carlyle and the Enchant Weapon/Deputy’s Revolver (Awww...it’s like Tommy made it to the Final Battle). William had one vial of Holy Water (AWWW...Tommy's starting Unique Item!), and poor Wendy was just told to “Get back!”
Of course, when Rhan attacked Lily first, she rolled ZERO successes:
“Am I devoured?”
>sigh< “Yeah…dammit. We’re so dead now.”
“What about my Food?”
“FOOD!!! YES!!!”
Trish cocked her enchanted revolver and looked for an opening, while William could only hold Wendy, both useless. “Just close your eyes,” Trish said grimly. “We haven’t much time left…”
“Yes…we…do,” a voice rasped behind them.
They all turned to see an ashen, bedraggled Lily limping toward them, still holding the mystical sword.
“Lily!” Trish squealed. “We thought you were dead!”
“…Not yet…” Lily choked out. “…I had…a sandwich…”
The thing about Rhan is that even as he pounds you down in the early rounds, once the Investigators run out of Stamina, Rhan’s got nothing left to boost him, and you can slowly start to get the upper hand, so long as you can manage at least 1 success on Rhan’s attack. More or less, we each took turns blocking Rhan for the others, while Lily would heal enough to take one for the team, and then repeat while Rhan moved to the others. Lily kept her slashing up (8 dice), while the Enchanted Deputy’s Revolver was passed from Trish to William to Wendy as the Sanity available to cast “Enchant Weapon” dried up for each. William was able to block Rhan twice at 1 Stamina before going down, while Wendy couldn’t shoot worth a **** and died with the revolver. In the last round, Lily healed her Stamina to take the heat off Trish, then suddenly traded the sword to Trish and went after Rhan bare-handed.
“But you’re the Chosen One!”
“And I’m choosing YOU! YAAAAH!!!”
Trish got five successes on that roll, and Rhan was defeated. Final Score was 13…pitiful but ALIVE.
I think this is the first time I’ve seen ALL Personal Stories passed. Certainly the first time we completed Lily’s and Tommy’s rather “final” stories together. Rhan presented a solid threat even without bloating up with Cultists, and Rookie not only got a “game of insanity and death” that was sorely lacking from his first Nyarlathotep game, but he managed to get awarded First Citizen with Lily. 
