Marie (Zebra), Finn (Wings), Patrice (Pizza), and Wendy (Me) vs. Quachil Uttaus.
I’m not sure what the game is trying to teach us. Considering the brutal smackdown Old Dame Shub gave us last game, Quachil almost slept through this one, and took all of Dunwich with him. Tell you this much: Patrice (with a Press Pass, no less) is a Quachil KILLER.
Marie was First Player, and stayed it all game. Zebra flipped back and forth between “Should I just let her get devoured?” and “I’ll just do this one thing, then Marie can go.” Marie stayed removed from any Gate action, focusing on finishing her story, while killing a few street beasts and trying to pass Purifying the Town (all her Personal Story activity loaded her down with Spells of questionable utility, perfect for this awesome Mission). Marie ended up losing the first Dust deck almost immediately, but replenished the second one twice. Once the third deck was in play, there were five seals, so Zebra only drew one card as a lark on the last turn, daring Quachil to make a move.
Patrice had one of the best opening turns ever. Trying to get progress on her story at her starting location (Curiositie Shoppe), she ended up being knocked out with a club and relocated to Wizard’s Hill...where a gate opened up underneath her, sending to Another Dimension...where she was suddenly Lost in Time and Space. Two towns, three planes of existence, one turn: The Arkham Grand Tour. With a head full of steam and vinegar, she came back at Cold Spring Glen and quickly went back to that Other Dimension to give it a piece of her mind. With other Gates fueling her Clue pool while she was offfworld, she exited with enough Clues to seal Wizard’s Hill, and Dunwich stayed quiet for the rest of the game. (One lone vampire was able to get into a vortex; we barely noticed.)
While Patrice was trying to get out of Dunwich, she failed to stop Deputy Dingby from tripping and almost shooting someone with his gun. Upon taking him back to the Station, Deputy Dingle proceeded to almost shoot HER with his gun while cleaning it. Shortly thereafter, Deputy Dingbat accidently locked Marie in jail. Sheriff Engle, why is he still on the payroll??? “You know how fast we go through deputies in this town? We’re lucky Dingby’s too pea-brained to leave!”
Patrice spent the rest of the game doing what she does best. With Finn’s Press Pass, Patrice was able to get two Clues every turn to keep Quachil away from Marie, either finding one during movement, or having one drop on her from the Gate pile. (I can feel so many diehards out there screaming in frustration.)
This left the Gates to be handled by two of the best sneaky speedsters in the Investigator pool. Wendy went to Dunwich to get Wizard’s Hill, but our strategy changed when we decided to let Patrice do it instead, so Wendy mopped up Dunwich Clues and went to the Witch House instead. Finn didn’t get any good weapons in his opening draws, but his Safety Deposit Key yielded a Yithian Rifle. (How do you think he walked that out of the Bank???) Finn went Clue and monster hunting, shopped for a Press Pass, and acquired Mountain Murphy, Anna Kaslow, and Asenath Waite (with a Dhol Chants) in two turns. (“You hear about Finn? That boy has CHARISMA.”) After passing the Pass to Patrice, Finn went to Independence Square for his first Gate and a Cultist (passing his story), scoring our second Seal during the same turn Wendy nailed our third. Having passed her story, Wendy was able to immediately dive into the Unnameable for our fourth seal with her Elder Sign. Between that and Marie’s double Witch Blood, Quachil lost THREE Doom Tokens.
You never want to say, “It’s pretty much over now,” out loud because that’s when the Gate Bursts come out. But the best the game could manage was The Southside Strangler, which Marie handled with Patrice’s Clues. Finn had a “go anywhere” Encounter at the Graveyard, and used it to drop past a Mummy and a Leng Spider in the Merchant District Streets to seal the Gate at the Unvisited Isle. Wendy used a Gate Trophy to get two Movement and two Encounter Clues in one turn and went to seal the Historical Society. On the last turn, I wasn’t sure if Pizza was actually going to let Wendy have Patrice’s last Clue, since the game was about to be over and the sun was still out.
Not saying I’m disappointed, because a win is a win is a win, but Quachil put in a poor showing and the board was THROWING stuff at us. Did the game just give up because we were playing four extremely solid Investigators? One “No One Can Help You Now” or a Colour or two would have at least slowed us down a little; the Flying Polyp made it on the board and left without a gibber (Gate Closure). I can only assume our next game will be against the Spider God with Vincent, George, Dexter, and Amanda. On the bright side, it was a great social game (we all wore geeky T-Shirts), and Wings tossed away her training wheels (Mandy) and drew randomly like a pro.
), his PS pass is discard 5 Clues, while Hank and Jenny's are spend 5 Clues, so not Patrice assistance for Vinny.