I just completed a game with some odd events throughout.

The AO was Glaaki, so I knew I had to keep the terror level down. However, I started with Patrice, who also started with For the Greater Good, King in Yellow, and Old Journal. Someone else started with Naacal Key. Well depending on which gates enter play, I would consider completing FtGG for the first time since Patrice would be swimming in clues.

The first gate was R'lyeh. Good! Soon after came Yuggoth and Dreamlands (as well as a couple other non-relevant gates). Once the other three were out, I opened an Abyss gate and got the ball rolling. Unfortunately, Glaaki was gaining a ton of doom tokens as there had been few monster surges and elder sign blocks, and one double-doom card.

Wilson Richards started with the Milk of Shub-Niggurath. Since almost every gate opened with a Dark Young on it, I sent him to Kingsport to lure the monsters into an area where they would not be terror-level trouble or impede Patrice. Soon after I passed his personal story and picked up a Director's Diary. That's FOUR terror level increases I could cancel, and there hadn't been any so far. That's effectively 14 rounds of final combat with Glaaki in case it got to it (there was nothing else threatening the terror level at the time). Not to mention, I had an Enchanted Blade, Enchanted Knife, Yithian Rifle, and Brazier of Souls, so in the somewhat likely case that Glaaki awoke, I wouldn't have too much trouble.

Eventually a monster entered a vortex and the Disturbing the Dead rumor increased the terror level twice. Both points got canceled on Wilson's story. 12 rounds of final combat still is not bad.

The doom track was at 10 out of 12 when Patrice was working on step 2 of the mission. Worse, she got some Other World encounter that forced her to discard all her items except for those for which she spent one clue. At the time she had all the firepower, but needed the clues to pass FtGG. I did my best to conserve the absolutely necessary items for final combat, while still holding onto clues to pass the mission. Jim Culver had gotten the Visions card, which would allow Patrice to crunch her spells for clue tokens, so I planned around that.

While Patrice was busy on her mission I had everyone and their mother stop by the Church to bless as many people as possible (only 3 of the 6 heros). Regina (custom investigator) was struggling hard to constantly evade a single Gug in Kingsport in order to keep one step ahead of the rift tracks. At least she found Professor Morgan, who could bolster attacks against Glaaki by up to +3 depending on what weapons she had.

On her way to step 3 of the mission, the previously inactive Innsmouth decided to open a gate, adding the final doom token to the track and Glaaki began to emerge from his slumber under the lake. I had really, really wanted to pass the mission, but knew I was well prepared to kick the ass of my all-time nemesis Ancient One.

After many minutes of planning, I traded items to such an effect that we were prepared for certain Epic Battle cards, and also prepared to keep our precious items in case certain Servants came out. All three characters held their blessings, and we managed to rip 3 doom tokens off in the first round! Wilson's personal story prevented the terror level from increasing for the last time, but it was still at 0. With the Director's Diary still unused, we still had 11 rounds to go!

The very next round, something dreadful happened. Worse than dreadful. I drew the Epic Battle card that threatened to devour each investigator who did not get any success on their combat check this round.

Having blown most of our clues in the previous round to take advantage of the Blessings we might not have later, Regina was the first to fail. Professor Morgan was eaten by Glaaki, increasing the terror level by 1 (canceled by the Director's Diary). Since an investigator (Regina) was devoured, the terror level increased by 2. The terror level went up 2 notches, triggering our first Servants of Glaaki. They didn't take much of value from us, but it was still a real blow.

Immediately after, Wilson botched his roll and was devoured, raising the terror level by 2 more. Again, not much of value was lost (only two clue tokens and four useless skills), but the terror level had managed to go from -1 to 4. By the way, since the terror level had gotten to 4, Jim failed his personal story: if he got devoured by going insane or unconscious, the terror level would go up an additional point. Great.

Finally, Glaaki attacked, putting his 5th Servant into play. Yes, that means that Glaaki managed to put out ALL FIVE SERVANTS in just one round!

It was looking grim. Luckily, Regina wasn't our best attacker, and Wilson only had the Yithian Rifle. In our next round, the Sinister Plot said that the first player could forego attacking to roll a die, reducing the terror level by 1 or 3 depending on if the die was a success or failure. The first player was blessed, which was good, but it was Gloria, who had the Brazier of Souls, a passed Personal Story (+1 Fight), and the Inner Beast (+2 Combat). She was chucking 9 blessed dice per attack; there was no way I was going to forfeit her. Seemingly in protest, she only dealt 2 successes that round and lost her blessing the next.

It was down to the wire, as the terror level was very high. We needed a little luck. I flipped the Epic Battle card...

TAINT OF EVIL. Everyone is effectively cursed. Everybody blew their rolls and fell short of wiping out Glaaki by 5 successes.

I'd like to blame stupid Wilson Richards for failing his 5-die attack; we likely would have won if he hadn't literally shot himself in the foot. I'm bummed that I gave up the almost granted victory by seals (we had 5 down and many people with 5 clues near the end) to try and pass the mission, only to lose horribly in a final combat where the victory that was practically handed to me. However, final combats that are this neck-and-neck produce by far the best feeling of excitement in the game of Arkham Horror, regardless of their outcome.