So finally back to the streets of Arkham for me. Last game in late August, when I finished my third rotation of the IH GOOs. Kept AH on hold until I got around to sleeving the small cards, which I finally did in December.

Investigator draw doesn't promise much, two of my Least Wanteds show up: Amanda Sharpe and Vincent Lee. Additionally, I'm pretty m-e-h on Norman Withers. One bonus is that Zoey Samaras finally gets action, in the 25th IH game (random investigators, so she hasn't shown up before).

GOO draw looks actually promising, Ghatanothoa. Maybe I can get Vinny and Amanda devoured quickly and get good investigators. Herald roll brings up the Black Goat of the Woods. Oh yeah, now we're cooking !

First Mythos, gate opens at Devil's Reef. Oh, I see how this is going down. A hexagon appears and disappears into the vortex right off bat.

Weapons at the start of the game: Knife for Zoey (fixed), Axe for Norman, Dread Curse of Azathoth for Amanda, nothing for Vincent. On the plus side, Vincent starts with Old Journal, so possibly could get rid of him turn 1, King in Yellow for Zoey. Main reason I was optimistic: 2x Find Gate (fixed for Norman and he drew another for random), Summon Shantak and +1 Speed on Vincent. Closing gates win certainly possible with 2 Find Gate, just throw people into gates and try to get ahead of the gate-curve. If a surge or no gate Mythos or two hits, win should be close. And for the early part, things go nicely, though Vincent doesn't die after reading the Journal, nor does Amanda after reading KiY. And Vincent even shops an Elder Sign!

But this is Arkham, things don't come without a price. In this game, two things happen that cost me.

First, "Solar Eclipse" hits and sticks around for 7 turns. Normally, I'm CCL (couldn't care less) on that one, so no Spells can be cast, big whoop. In this game however, that leaves two investigators without weapons and utterly nerfs Find Gate and Shantak Spells. Grr. Even worse, Solar Eclipse actually replaced "Planetary Alignment" (Spells cost 0 Sanity).

Second was a gate burst at Devil's Reef pretty soon after Norman had sealed it (killing a Warlock guarding the gate and drawing blank for Ghatanothoa) and had left IH via an encounter at Devil's Reef. Money was an issue, nobody had it. No gate burst there, even with Solar Eclipse, I'm confident I win (finished with 4 seals on the board).

One very positive note about this game was Zoey Samaras. Sealed a gate at Wizard's Hill and then took on the Terrible Experiment. Blessed, Holy (2x Cross) Deputy Zoey wielding Revolver + Gladius of Carcosa (found by Norman in an OW encounter) make for a very unbalanced match-up, unbalanced for TTE. Poor resistance were wiped clean, Zoey cleared house and passes her PS. Oh, the only reason I dusted off Deputy was that Zoey had picked up Addiction after the Colour Out of Space sucked Sanity from everyone and only one with any money was Amanda, but she had Greed Corruption.

In the end, Ghatanothoa woke up from the DOR track. It was up to 3, then a monster surge saw 3 more move into the vortices. Boom! Terror ended up at 9 (6x Vortex, Intermission, 1 from encounter at Newspaper). Two monster surges in the game (12 Mythos cards), bit more than normal, guess it was the BGotW's influence. No shot in the final combat, as Amanda failed Dread Curse roll twice, so basically had 1 investigator with dice for the first two rounds.

Oh man, oh man, oh man, OH MAN! What an Epic today! Game #99 lived up to the number.

Quachil Uttaus + Mother Hydra, 3 Mythos in, I'm thinking "oh well, at least today's game was a short one". Why? DOR Track was at 5 ! If I had drawn a Black/Orange/Red monster instead of that Hunting Horror, game over in under 15 minutes.

Then, Innsmouth quieted down and I was getting Clues. Starting team of Marie Lambeau, Michael McGlen, Sister Mary and Dexter Drake all got replaced during the game (wrote those down in order of First Player). First Marie, who discarded the first two Dust Decks on first two draws, barely surviving to use her doom token removing ability (twice, dropping QU down to 0 doomers). Whoever mentioned that "spread the cards and draw" crap is SO full of it . Shuffle and stack works so much better, at least in avoiding the above. Dexter started with a nutty arsenal of 2x Shrivelling and Wither. First Dexter hits Hibbs and draws Erica Carlyle slumming in there, next turn Michael McGlen pops over and draws the same encounter, so now both have a Retainer (yes, I did shuffle the deck, but guess I cut from the "wrong" spot). Except money is utterly useless, since Dexter manages 1 shopping at Curiositie Shoppe, before Mythos #4 raises Terror to 6 and boots him out.

Mary has by now gotten to 3 Clues and reaches Esoteric Order of Dagon to put her at 5, then casts Astral Travel to enter the gate at Devil's Reef. Michael and Dexter are also closing on 5 Clues each, latter with the help of his Illuminated Manuscript and Student Newspaper. Of course I would've preferred to start with more than 2 Clues total between 4 investigators, but what can you do. Oddly, I'm drawing Gate Bursts left and right, seems every gate opening comes from a burst, not that I'm complaining. Mary returns and seals D. Reef, but is stuck there for several turns since nobody can be spared to get her out. Marie washes out to the Dust deck and is replaced by Vincent Lee. Oh, great! Michael and Dexter both seal a gate, but Dexter's trip to Yuggoth sees him get the IH Yuggoth-specific Yellow encounter, which will see him devoured after 5 gate openings (and gain benefits until then). Dexter gets back to 5 Clues and hits another gate, looking to seal before his time is up. Being Dexter Drake however, there is no luck for him, gate openings never stop and poof goes Dexter, in the 2nd area of the OW, with 5 Clues. First 11 Mythos cards see 9 different gates opening (along with a Next Act and Strange Sightings). Michael doesn't last long either, removing the first two Dust Decks in another two draws. Dexter is replaced by George Barnaby. Sheesh, most of the lame-squad are either in or have been. Michael hands all his stuff to George and then dies soon after, getting replaced by Trish Stratus, err, Scarborough. All right, Mary and Trish balance the sucky Vincent and George!

Trish also starts with a Press Pass (as did George BTW), but before anything, I decide to tackle the DOR finally (this is around turn 11-12). Mary has gained a few Clues while sitting at Devil's Reef and has planted two on the Green section. After finally lucking out and getting an encounter to get back to the main land, she and Trish hit the two remaining streets and stick around, hoping no 6th DOR is added. No bounce happens, so things look better once more, DOR at 1. Vincent has by now gotten 5+ Clues and hits another gate, sealing it nicely enough. Trish hits Dunwich and collects 4 Clues from Whateley Farm (George traded her his Press Pass as well), along with Earl Sawyer. Following turn she slaps the Warlock with Petrifying Solution and takes another 4 Clues (lucky break, since QU adds Endless and +2 Toughness to them). So Trish is at 8 Clues, Vincent has traded his trophies in for more. George is loaded with money and finally gets to spend it, as Endlessly Breeding Rumor hits, though as a result Vincent fails his PS. No matter, Vincent in a gate, Trish in another, 4 seals in place, 2 more on the way. Doom track is closing in, but still have time.

Then disaster. A huge shock to the system. Trish gets an OW encounter that is discard Tome or lose all your Clues!!! She's also delayed, but 8 Clues down the drain, no check. Still, Vincent seals #5. Trish returns and closes, then spends 2 turns at Devil's Hopyard, spamming her trophies and Press Passes, getting back to seal level. Mary finally loses her Blessing on turn 14, but she buys a Blessing for Vincent and passes her PS, but is on her last legs, Quachil is closing in on her. As she is devoured, she is replaced by Jim Culver, who instantly fails his PS. And there is another twist, gate burst hits at Unvisited Isle, dropping me back to 4 seals. Vincent collects yet more Clues, getting back to 5 and hits the reopened gate at Unvisited Isle. Trish follows a turn later into the gate at Wizard's Hill. George is patrolling IH and DH near the Depots, looking to prevent monsters from reaching the vortices. Doom is at 11 of 12, Terror at 8, DOR back to 3. And Woods hasn't still opened and game reaches 20 Mythos cards. Still, Vincent and Trish have solid trips in the OWs, Trish even passes her PS when an encounter gives her 2 Clues, pushing her to 9 Clues. Another Mythos phase comes and goes, monster surge at Indepence Square. Vincent returns and seals, back to 5 seals. Trish is returning next turn. Mythos gives another surge, this one at Wizard's Hill. Both surges were moving Crescent/+ monsters, if they had moved Hexagons, might've been game over, IH is crawling with them. Trish returns and rolls with her 5 Lore, 0 success. 4 Clues to spend + her Lucky Cigarette Case for 9 dice at the end, final twist of the knife? No! Trish closes and seals. So instead of a loss in under 15 minutes, sealing win in 3 hours. 7 gates sealed, all with Clues.