Akachi (Wings), Rex (Pizza), Silas (Zebra), and Skids (Me) vs Yibb-Tstll. Arkham and Kingsport, with Black Goat Mythos and all Investigator cards.
A lot of things happened during set-up. I don’t think Pizza noticed that Rex started Cursed, because Pizza hates being Cursed, having been Cursed in our last three consecutive games. After he drew his random possessions, I had to remind him to check his fixed possessions, and his face just dropped.
Wings is still not comfortable with random draws, and we’re trying not to scare her off, but I just couldn’t let her be Mandy for the third time. So I gave her every other female in the game to pick from. Three guesses who she chose. Right…Patrice. The good news here is that her primary interest is the team: “When you guys screw everything up, I’ll be there to pull your fat out of the fire.” The bad news is that she has immediately grasped Patrice’s power.
But then we randomly pulled out Yibb-Tstll, cutting us all off at 5 Clues max. This severely drains Patrice’s Clue reserve, to the point that Wings didn’t want to play her anymore. (That felt a bit ominous: I didn’t want us hounding her for Clues she would be reluctant to give away.) And hey, any time someone wants to put Patrice back in the box is okay with me. She chose Akachi instead. I know, I know…we have to break her out of this…but the men are all desk jockeys in municipal work, and the woman is a high-up supervisor in a correctional facility. We have calculators; she has a GUN. 
Then we realized that it is virtually impossible for Rex to pass his Personal Story with Yibb in play (he needs 10 Clues). We were playing Kingsport, so if Rex could get Changed, find Granny Orne, acquire the Mythos Lore skill, and dig up BOTH Research Materials…no problem. (Guardian Nodens could have helped too, I suppose.)
House Rule: we rolled to see if the Arkham River was flooded; it was. Rivertown and Merchant District Streets were Aquatic. (Silas was happy.)
Akachi got a Red Sign of Shudde M’ell and a Masquerade of Night (which she eventually used on a 3-Sanity nightgaunt), but no weapon. Skids got both Axes and a Derringer, so I traded one Axe to her. Silas got a Magnum and the Powder of Ibn Ghazi (and Food), and Rex got a Cursed Sphere (ha ha!), an Athame, the Mists of Releh, and a Map of the Mind. (Pizza was very excited about that last one; just below his loathing for being Cursed is his aversion to being Lost in Time and Space.)
Wings took Akachi to try out her Red Sign against a Formless Spawn. She successfully cast the Spell, but then wanted to use the +3 on her Axe: “I already cast that Spell! Now I can use that hand for the Axe!” Adorable! Even without the extra die, the one-toughness Formless Spawn was jelly. She had a couple of Encounters that needed Clues, but we wanted her to finish her story quickly (3 Gate Trophies)—if nothing else, she could be the one to Bless Rex—so she just jumped to Celaeno through the Black Cave with the intention of closing it. Lucky girl then found enough Clues (for Akachi) to seal upon exit, ejecting the feared Star Vampire back to the Cup. (Pretty rare to remove Star Creatures from a Gate Closure.)
Skids took his Axe and Derringer to a Dimensional Shambler, and found a dead Leng Spider in the Graveyard on his way to passing his story. Since he had to GET five Clues (not just HAVE five Clues), he had to find ways of using Clues (**** you, Yibb), often before using his ability to reroll 1s. Skids is also very slow, so it took me some time to get north to the Asylum to recover my thin Sanity from my various Encounters.
Rex didn’t get Blessed at the Bank, so he went for the Independence Square Clue, and actually rolled one die for a 6 to find Sarah Danforth! She brought him the Spirit Vessel, which would eventually become his salvation. But then…The Stars are Right Rumor hit, and Sarah was the only Ally in play. Thus began a grand debate over what “discarding an Ally” meant when defeating this rumor:
“I just found her, and now I have to go sacrifice her!”
“You’re not KILLING her! What, you’re going to HELP the Cultists finish their Stars-Be-Right Ritual? No, this is like Jack Bauer; every time he saves the world, he ends up alone.”
“Or surrounded by bodies!”
We performed the Cost-Benefit Analysis for him, and +1 Focus (on a 2-Focus Investigator) did not outweigh 2 new Common Items and an awesome Exhibit that she wouldn’t take away when she was discarded. Pizza flipped Sarah over (because he couldn’t look her in the eyes anymore), and defeated the Rumor. He held her out for me to put her card in the box, so I barked, “Discard! DIS-CARD! Bottom of the deck, fool!” (Pizza manages the small decks.) Then he felt better, because Sarah was still alive, just not talking to him anymore.
Skids drew a Military Motorcycle from the Rumor, and I saw a plan! If Rex gave me his Spirit Vessel, my Shambler and Spider would be enough to Bless him, and with my new bike, I could get there in no time. Except…well, Skids was at Hibb’s and Rex was at Vera’s, and even with passing his story, Skids still needed to visit the Asylum. So it was one turn to get to Rex and then to the Asylum. Then the Church was as far away as possible (6 spaces) so Skids STILL couldn’t get there in one turn. (I never did get Rex back his Spirit Vessel…) In the middle of all that, another Rumor hit—Endlessly Breeding—and we were mostly broke, except for me ($8), so I hoped to get Rex uncursed and then find $2 somewhere.
During all this, Silas was our Kingsport Sentinel, since he could get there fast (for free!). He spent his first turns shopping for an Elder Sign and trying to get a Newspaper Retainer, but when a Mi-Go and the Werewolf started prowling Kingsport, he left for free Mi-Go goodies. He killed the Mi-Go for the Warding of the Yellow Sign, which was placed at the Unvisited Isle. Ultimately, the Ward prevented nothing, since nothing happened at the Unvisited Isle the entire game…wait…oh, that’s CREEPY. That same turn, the Cops raided Kingsport, and the elusive Werewolf disappeared. (Good thing, because Yibb was gonna make it exceptionally hard to find.) Maybe that Ward is better than I ever imagined… 
Silas swam back to trade his Elder Sign to Akachi to prevent her from having to slow down her Story Quest to dig up more Clues to seal R’lyeh at Independence Square. While at the Warded Unvisited Isle, Silas found John Legrasse. (Creepy, I tells ya!) Then he swam back to Neil’s to sell his unused .357 for the cash we needed to stop the Rumor. After Blessing Rex, Skids motored back to the Docks to meet a wet Silas, killing the Rumor and removing every monster from the city except for a lonely Mi-Go in the Sky (who never came down).
Silas took the rest of our money to go shopping for something magical, while Skids motored off to the now-empty Woods to get offworld. Since Silas had left Kingsport alone to go shopping, and Endlessly Breeding had been piling on the Rift Tokens (two monster movement boxes per turn), a Rift cracked at the Graveyard…
Rex was lost in Unknown Kadath (surprise opening at the Witch House), and lost most of his Clues trying to evade a Dark Young. Check that: trying to cast Mists of Releh, since a Spell Check to evade only required ONE success (**** you, Yibb!). Without enough Clues, Rex still risked closing the Gate anyway, for the trophy and maybe a better OW ride than Kadath next time. Akachi emerged from R’lyeh during the same turn a little lighter (had to lose her Axe and Implant Suggestion) and sealed Independence Square. Having finally achieved her story, Akachi dropped Clues all over town. She got Deputized and used the Patrol Wagon to follow Silas back to Kingsport to close that Rift.
Skids emerged from the Woods into half a monster surge: a Colour from Outer Space and a Zombie. A Solar Eclipse had cut off any Spell use, so getting saved by a Red Sign was out. So I stared Yibb right in the eye(s) and raised my Sneak as high as I could. With my bike and the monsters’ weak Awareness, I had two Evade checks of six dice each…and I still needed Skids ability TWICE to get out safely. With a Speed of 1, I could only get to the Streets, but my trusty beloved motorcycle got me far away.
Skids eventually ended up back at Hibbs with enough Clues to seal Yuggoth, while Rex had gathered enough Clues for a trip to Leng at the Graveyard. Well, he HAD enough Clues for the Graveyard, but the Deep One guarding it laughed off his Cursed Sphere and Athame. (Seven dice…ZERO successes.) He was in danger of going to Leng with minimal Stamina if he took the hit, he couldn’t win with just the Athame, and he would need two successes to Evade it anyway, so—Rex Murphy’s Law!—he used three Clues to win the fight, and gave up his chance to seal.
Silas had read the Dhol Chants he had bought for Professor Armitage, and found the Terrible Old Man during the last Encounter to close the Rift. Since he was loaded with angry senior citizens and still needed a Gate Trophy, he left Kingsport in the care of Deputy Akachi, and followed Rex to Leng to finish the job…and came face-to-face with Ithaqua.
Ithaqua’s chill left Silas with a useless Wither (just posted this week about the Solar Eclipse affecting Other Worlds…thanks Tibs!), a puny Knife, and one shot with the Powder of Ibn-Ghazi. Zebra rolled his first round…seven successes. Ithaqua’s attack (+1)…all fails:
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The strange powder hurt it, but not enough, and its assault was like getting hit by a shattered mast in a typhoon. But there were too many souls depending on him; there was no sailing around this storm.
Silas whipped out his knife and spat on the ground. “If you think you can best me,” he snarled, “I invite you to try!”
* * * * *
Battered and bloody, Silas limped out of the hole in the air. It was the fight of his life, and that was indeed the truth of it. “If I’m t’go,” he breathed, “Then I go on my own terms, not yours, you monster. And not my family’s!” He slid back into the hole, and was gone. There was a great dark flash, and for the first time in a great while, a peace settled over the Arkham Cemetary.
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Yeah, then the Witch House blew up.
Ithaqua took two more rounds, but Zebra got him. Since Ithaqua provided a free seal, Silas had enough Clues to pass his story the following Upkeep. And boy, did he crumple when Silas took himself out in a noble sacrifice. Makes a great story though, don’t it? Since Skids was due out at Hibb’s, Silas sealed the only other Gate open at the Witch House.
Zebra started Pete with an instantly-failed Story, but it hardly mattered. Skids, holding on by a thread at 1 Sanity, exited and sealed the Gate. (Although, technically, it was the last gate, so the game was already won before I touched my Clues.)
All agree that this was the most “teamworked” game we’ve ever played together. Being stuck at 5 Clues and no hoarding, many decisions were made to “take the hit” instead of using a Clue and let the rest of the team cover for the setback. We lost quite a few items because we wouldn’t use Clues to save them, but I got lucky a couple of times with Skids’ reroll ability. I’m going to try to play up to Wings that even though Mandy could have helped us out quite a bit, we still managed to win fairly decisively without her.
Pizza is not impressed with Rex, but I’m going to chalk that up to the worst first impression possible. I thought Rex against Ghatanothoa was bad, but at least Ghata gives Rex a chance. Not only does Yibb severely cripple his ability and almost completely prevent passing his story—you will need Kingsport or Patrice (ooo…irony), otherwise forget it—but Rex won’t be able to seal a Gate without failing it. Rex’s potential to be a powerhouse may be lost to Pizza’s Curse-ophobia.
Everyone liked Kingsport; this group likes having Encounters. I think Zebra enjoyed not being the Arkham Punching Bag for once…well, until the end, but that pretty much clinched the game.
I know I’ve been down on the Black Goat Expansion, but I’m taking some of that back. Though they add little to the box’s theme, the Black Goat Mythos Cards are general enough that they fit comfortably into ANY Mythos Deck. Many of the Dark Pharaoh or King in Yellow cards refer to the Exhibit or the Play, respectively, but Black Goat Mythos don’t really mention the Cult at all. Its Mythos cards are very fun in groups—some ask the First Player to choose someone for something horrible—and are the only Gate Bursts available that only need Arkham in play to work.