Hi everyone
My first session report is a solo game against Atlach Nacha. Our brave investigators (Wendy Adams, Jacqueline Fine and Rex Murphy) would now face the most powerful Great Old One of the game, so no Herald was used. I included all components from Kingsport plus the Injury/Madness cards and the Investigators from Dunwich.
"The Silver Twilight Lodge had already a bad reputation in Arkham, much due to its menbers strange rituals and great interest in the old Keziah Mason case. However, no one could predict what Carl Sanford really planed: destroying the dimensional barriers between our world and the Dreamlands, to create a passageway trough wich his master, Atlach Nacha the spider-god, could enter our world; The Lodge´s master arrogantly believed that the monstruous Elder God would let him rule this dimension. Finally, when the stars were right, he sent a group of cultists to an old, unnameable house, in order destroy the bizarre statue there that he believed being some sort of magical seal. Much to his fury, the cultists got more than they were waiting for, as a huge, oozing hole in reality opened not to Leng, but to cold and distant Yuggoth, releasing a grotesque Chtonian that devoured all of them before they could even see it. It was then the nightmare began."
The first three gates opened, respectively in the Unnamable, the Graveyard and Science Building. Rex Murphy sealed an ancient mausoleom in the Graveyard with the arcane spell he learnt (ie:Clues), and the ancient formula Miriam Beecher taught him to return from other worlds, while Jacqueline gathered vital information and Wendy entered Celeano trough a dusty library in the Science Building.
In the three following turns, gates opened in Hibb´s Roadhouse and Woods, the third Mythos card being "Strange Sightings", releasing monsters all over Arkham. After sealing the Science Building, Wendy had gathered vital facts about the Mythhos in Celeano, after reading an accursed tome there, so she went to Hibb´s Roadhouse. Rex had found an Elder Sign, so he went to the Woods, were he fell trough a huge chasm of impossible blackness, leading to the Underworld, confident that he would easily return and seal it. However, his old curse made him fall prey to Nodens servants, who reduced him to 1 sanity and stamina, stopping him from finding the gate back with Miriam´s spell. Jacqueline went to the Historical Society, finding an unnusal spell in an old and dusty book; as she read it, the seal placed by Rex in the Graveyard materialized in front of her eyes. It was much safer here, hidden from the Lodge´s corrupting influence.
In the two following turns, a gate opened at the Witch House and a monster surged ocurred in the Woods. Wendy returned from accursed R´lyeh and sealed the Roadhouse, rising the number of Elder Signs to four; maybe there was hope, after all... Rex Murphy returned to Arkham, bartered and almost insane, and bravely sacrificed himself to seal the Underworld with his Elder Sign; the magical forces unleashed were so powerful that he simply turned to dust and faded away. Sensing something went wrong, Jaqueline went to the Silver Twilight Lodge, ready to confront its leader with the evidence she had found...
"- I want to talk to Sanford! - Jacqueline´s screams could be heard all over the huge black building, but the guards denied her access to the corrupt Inner Sanctum. As they prepared to throw her outside, an inhuman voice roared from the closed brass doors: - Let her in, she can´t cause much trouble... - As Jacqueline entered the darkened hall, an overwelming feeling of dread and despair almost made her ran away, but she controlled herself and exposed her evidence to the evil warlock: she had found the broken statue and she knew of the Dreamlands, and most importantly of Atlach Nacha, and the Lodge´s plan to release it on this world. Sanford remained calm and asked her:
- I can feel your psychic power... Wouldn´t you want to become the most powerful wizard that ever existed? That´s the power the Elder Gods can give us... Now, if you joined me...
- I don´t believe you, i know that Atlach Nacha will destroy the world if it ever enters it, who would want such a thing?!
- Then, you´re an obstacle that ought to be removed! - Sanford raised his hand and conjured a swarm of huge, distorted spiders. Jacqueline hadn´t time to scream before she fell, poisoned by their barbed stings..."
Two investigators devoured in two turns! Jacqueline hadn´t used her Precognition ability even once, and I couldn´t cancel the gate bursts for the rest of the game... Things were looking bleak. Two new investigators were drawn: Rita Young and Daisy Walker. A new gate opened at the Unvisited Isle, to Plateau of Leng, the Spider-God´s lair, releasing a Leng Spider (how thematic!). Wendy went to the Science Building, gathering enough information to seal one more gate. Daisy bought an Elder Sign at an Estate Sale and read Livre d´Ivon, learning how to find the gate back to Arkham while in another time or space. Meanwhile, Rita entered Hibbs Roadhouse and found all about the strange men pursuing her - apparently they came from the Silver Twilight Lodge.
The next gate opened at the Witch House, after Sanford dealt with the Black Man, who in turn helped Keziah Mason to regain her powers. Wendy Adams entered there, ready to seal it, but while in another dimension, she met a strange men:
"As she reached the top of that huge stair that seemed to go up for ever, Wendy saw a man clad in robes and with a golden tiara on his head waiting for her:
- Daddy, are you there? - In her mind, that weird place was the only one where her father could be...
- I´ve got news for you. - the man said - I´m not your father, and you´ll never return home!
Then, Sanford picked Wendy with a huge, deformed claw and threw her from the stair, down to the abyss... She was now lost in time and space."
Daisy travelled to the Unvisited Isle, using the Lamp of Alhazred and some of her arcane knowledge to destroy the Leng Spider lurking there, and entering Plateu of Leng. There, she was found by the High Priest of Leng, he who can´t be named, who asked her for the magical Lamp in return of her freedom. Scared by what he would do with such a powerful artefact, Daisy gave him the Lamp; Stopping Atlach Nacha was her first priority. Rita gathered even more information, this time at the Newspaper; she was finally ready to face her nightmares.
In the following turn, Sanford revealled his position, opening a huge gap in reality in the Inner Sanctum, leading to his masters realm, Unknown Kadath. If no one acted, the ritual would be complete very soon... However, Rita went to the Lodge, ready to hunt down her enemy:
" Hearing steps in the corridor, Rita reloaded her revolver; all the guards laid dead on the floor, she wold now face her nemesis... Carl Sanford opened the door, raising his staff to obliterate any enemy who got nearby; however, Rita was faster and fired all six bullets straight into his foul heart; this time magic couldn´t protect him. As he bled to death, he spoke for the last time:
- Do you really think killing me will stop this!? Atlach Nacha is coming, the end is near...
Rita knew, but for the first time since her problems began, she had hope; maybe the world could still be saved... With confidence, she entered the black, glossy sphere floating in the Sanctum´s hall and went to Unknown Kadath. From atop its peak she could see nothing, forever..."
In the next turn, a monster surge at the Witch House raised the terror level by one, filling Arkham´s streets with monsters, attracted by their human leader´s death scream. Wendy was exhausted from climbing endless stairs that rose to the sky and met in the underground in a impossible loop; she wasn´t getting anywhere at all. Daisy read the formula she had found in Livre d´Ivon and immediatly found herself back in the accursed Unvisited Isle, that she proceeded to seal, crushing to dust the grotesque spider idol she had found. The world´s fate now rested on Rita...
"Lost in the blizzard, Rita hadn´t any choice but to ring the chime on the top of that horrible, assymetrical tower. The climb was hard, but when she finally rang it, the vibrations ressonated all the way trough the Castle of the Great Old Ones... Sudenly, its massive gate swung open, revealing the horror of Atlach Nacha. Even as the grotesque spider and its infernal minions crawled the tower towards Rita, she rang the chime once more and time and space bent around her. She was back to the Lodge, in front of the swirling black portal! She knew what she had to do, and began reciting the magical formula:
- Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb-fi-throdog-Yah!
The black sphere imploded, and Kadath was consumed by it, along with the Spider- God, even as it tried to open a new gate at the damp Black Cave. As Rita abondoned the Lodge´s building, she felt safe for the first time in forever; all was quiet in Arkham, and both Sanford and Atlach Nacha didn´t exist anymore"
"Wendy had almost lost her hope, but when she saw that tiny trapdoor over such a huge stair, she knew it was the only way out. As she opened it, a familiar hand helped her to get out:
- Were have you been kiddo? And why were you in this well?
- You would never believe daddy!"
