Roland (Pizza), Vincent (Zebra), Tommy (Wings), and Monterey (Me) against Shudde M’ell. Innsmouth Board and Kingsport Other Worlds in play.
I did something new with the Gate Deck: it turns out that a combination of the Black Goat and King in Yellow Gate Decks becomes a complete 1-for-1 substitution for the base game Gate Deck. Just add in “The Stars Are Right”, and there’s a perfectly serviceable base Gate Deck that hasn’t seen a lot of viewing in my games.
Wings did NOT appreciate that Tommy’s Personal Story’s Pass Conditions required him to be devoured. So much so that our usually gung-ho Princess of Monster Trophies had a few moments of “hesitation”. I can hear you grognards out there groaning (and believe me, you’ll get louder as this goes on), but I think it perfectly illustrates that something is lost once you know exactly how a Personal Story is going to work out, when it stops being a “story” and starts being a strategy. Of course, that didn’t stop me from teasing her all night to go jump into the void. Oh, did she GLARE at me. Fun!
With Becky the Rifle and an Ancient Spear, Tommy went off in search of monsters to become Deputy. In short order, he had a Wraith, a Rat-Thing and a Nightgaunt, which quickly became a gun, a car, and a paycheck.
Monterey started with TWO Elder Signs. (His third pick was an Enchanted Knife; what would YOU have done?) Been a LONG time since that happened. I’m sure Dam and Chaos Theory had something to do with it. Monty traded one to Roland, and went to go seal the Historical Society.
Roland passed his story in no time (sooo easy), then ran into Barnabas Marsh in a Graveyard Encounter. There was too much threat of being zeroed in Stamina—Roland had no weapons—so he chose to use his Clues to sneak away (his starting ally Eric Colt and Military Motorcycle allowed him to maintain a decent Sneak). By the third botched Clue roll, it was obvious that his plan had failed. He finally passed on his last Clue, grumbling, but since it was Roland, he planned to use Monty’s other Elder Sign while automatically refilling his Clue stash. (Pizza likes Roland.)
Vincent had the best opening ever: he went to the Historical Society, where they were discarding a “Taxidermist’s Trick” (free monster trophy from the Cup). He drew…Wizard Whateley. “Uh…there’s a stuffed old guy in the closet here; anyone want it?” Vincent shopped a bit, scoring another Elder Sign, and passed his story, but never got anything offensive enough to be a fighter (remember that), so Zebra kept him as a utility player, keeping the other three supplied and healthy.
Shudde M’ell destroyed Velma’s Diner. Although Pizza complained—“I like to eat there!”—it really wasn’t that big a loss. But this particular monster surge put a Moon Beast and a Nightgaunt in the Silver Twilight Lodge, and a Cthonian and the Spectral Hunter in the Historical Society. Even better, there was a Ghoul in the French Hill Streets, and Funnel Clouds was in play. Poor Wings. She wouldn’t fight the Ghoul because the twisters would eat her. She wouldn’t use the Patrol Wagon to get past it, because she wouldn’t fight the Moon Beast for the same reason. So she chose to take on the Cthonian and the Spectral Hunter. (Shush, all of you!) It went BADLY. 
The Cthonian beaned her twice (only one success in both Combat Checks, all Clues resulted in failure), but you should have seen the dark glee she had while accepting her new Concussion (Tommy’s lousy Focus now an abysmal ZERO): “No, I like all my stuff! Gimme the Injury!”
This didn’t help Monty at all, who got a free ride out of Leng, right into the same Cthonian/Hunter combo with no free turn to use his Elder Sign. Vincent could have Call Friended me, so there was an easy out, but I wanted that Seal! Monty took down the Spectral Hunter with the help of his Fisticuffs, but—wouldn’t you know it—the Funnel Clouds had given way to Sunny and Clear. The ONE TIME I need an Environment to give me an extra die for a Sneak Check, but instead it takes another one away! Even with the Cthonian’s helpful unawareness, it’s hard to run from a giant worm in broad daylight. I got away with a Sprained Ankle—I compensated by taking Tommy’s Map—and no Seal. Vincent ended up using Call Friend anyway, since it would get Monty to the (easier) Unvisited Isle Gate a turn faster.
All right, suck it up. We got our collective act together, and within 3-4 turns, Roland had sealed the Black Cave, Tommy had sealed the Esoteric Order of Dagon, Monterey had sealed the Unvisited Isle, and Vincent had sealed the Silver Twilight Lodge. (The first three were all Elder Signs.) All slashes and triangles were off the board, and by this time, all Cup representatives from the Dreamlands were about: both Moon Beasts, a Nightgaunt, a Gug, and a Leng Spider. Along with the Cthonian, we virtually cleared both boards.
Except for an Elder Thing right on top of Monty, who turned out to be the thing that killed his father! Once again, Monty gets a free ride back to Arkham, just to land on a thing he isn’t totally prepared for, but this one especially SUCKS. Monty lost the Horror Check, so he was down to 1 Sanity. His story gave him +1 Max Sanity…but NOT an extra Sanity point! (EVERYONE ELSE who gets a Max Boost gets the free point, dammit!
) So using the Elder Sign broke Monty’s fragile little mind. A bittersweet end to a successful Story and Seal.
Roland had enough Clues to Seal again, and went to work on the finally-unguarded Historical Society Gate. But now the titanic tunneler had had enough of us puny monkeys scuttling about on the roof. Tommy and Vincent met at Independence Square with a grand Clue gathering plan. If Tommy passed Old Journal and failed Safety Deposit Key, both given by Vincent, that would be five Clues. So Shudde bushwhacks them both, and fires them off to R’lyeh. Monty and Roland both achieve five Clues on their own, and Roland is able to steal the Marsh Refineries Gate over to him at the Science Building. (In hindsight, it may have been a better idea to steal the Devil Reef Gate, but it was a R’lyeh Gate too, Roland was at 2 Sanity, and it probably was too late anyhow.) Question: when the Gate arrives, is Roland treated as if he was a victim of “a Gate appears” Encounter? (I assume I would use the Lurker rules for mobile gates, but I don’t have those rules yet, do I?)
Well, Shudde would not have any of this. A Monster Surge not only dropped monstrosities on every gate—a Lloigor, a Dark Young, a Formless Spawn, and a…oh, right…a Deep One on the Devil Reef Gate, to sacrifice itself for the Uprising—but it dumped ANOTHER Lloigor and Dark Young in the Innsmouth Streets. The Deep One Rising Track was now at 5, Roland was delayed, Tommy failed the Old Journal and succeeded at the Safety Deposit Key for 0 Clues, and Vincent…well, Vincent was Vincent. (Go #48.) Monty tried vainly to grab the Patrol Wagon and take his Clues up to Innsmouth to call the Feds, but one bounced Gate off the Esoteric Order of Dagon later, and KEERRRUNNCH, the Earth’s crust didst erupt.
Hey, no problem. We only had two surges, so we had 6 rounds. Roland had a Brazier of Souls, Monty had his .38 and the Deputy revolver (with a Blessing and Mountain Murphy), Vincent had the Lamp of Alhazred, and Tommy had Becky. Unfortunately, Shudde apparently had the dice. I have never seen so many 1s, 2s, and 3s in my life.
It came down to a photo finish. After my last Blessed roll, it was up to Pizza and Roland to roll TWO successes: “Why do I have to do it?! I just want it on the record, if y’all had rolled better, I wouldn’t have to do this!” Ah, Arkham logic. Utterly bereft of sanity.
He rolled ONE.
You’d think that would be it, wouldn’t you? As we’re cleaning up, Zebra asks, “Would ‘Summon the Inner Beast’ have helped?”
>grinding record needle scraaaatch<
Ah, Vincent. Forever will you be the Charlie Brown of Arkham Horror.
It was still an awesome game, with an equally awesome loss. Obviously, we ignored Innsmouth too long, and we burned a few too many Clues early on. If we had buckled down (or taken advantage of Tommy) a little earlier, we could have had the win. But when it comes down to ONE ROLL…whew. You can’t plan that kind of heart-pounder. 
