Hey! Sorry for spamming the board with questions, but I haven't found an answer to this particular question:

Mark's ability says that he can't be delayed. This would mean, that if a gate opens on him during the mythos phase, he is not delayed, therefore he can immediately move to the second area of the other world in the next movement phase. Am I playing right? Obviously, if he gets sucked through in the Arkham encounter phase, he still has to spend two turns there.

Also: There is an other world encounter card, with the wounded beast, which allows you to wait until the creature dies, and get out without the fight, at the price of being delayed. Am I correct in assuming, that in this situation, he can get out without fighting AND being delayed? He chooses the option to wait, but the delay can't apply, so nothing happens.

Thanks

There's no spam, but willingness to improve. Each and every question done with this intent, is truly welcome

As for your questions:

1. Gates opening on Mike won't be delaying him. Hence, if the gate opens during the Mythos, he'll have to face (on average) only 1 OW encounter. If he gets sucked through during Encounters, he has to face 2 encounters instead of 3

2. It's not written "cannot be delayed UNLESS he chooses so", it's "cannot be delayed", period. Mind posting the exact wording of the encounter so that it's easier to answer?

It's this encounter.

The encounter gives you a choice, and if you choose it, you are delayed and get the trophy. In my opinion, Mark can choose that option: you make the choice and then deal with the consequences. One consequence is nullified.

Hmm, I'm torn. It's like you were asked to pay a price to gain a benefit, and you trick the deal. Thematically also it's kinda weird: the fact that Mark cannot be delayed doesn't imply the beast dies faster.

For me, it's the classic example of "old FFG poor wording": if Mark had his ability worded as "unless you choose to be delayed" then it would be a 100% yes. This way... I'm more for a "no"

Well, I played it like this: Choosing to gain the trophy, but cannot be delayed. Thematically, it's weird, but following the rules word by word, it seems to be allowed. Another option would be, that he simply can't choose that option, as it would cause him to be delayed, which he can't. It definitely seems to be a controversial encounter.

Yep, your second option is what I meant: if you cannot pay the cost, you cannot gain the benefit. It'd be like "spend 3 dollars to trigger this effect", but you cannot spend the money because another game effect forbids you to do so. The money is not spent, hence the effect is not triggered