Hi everybody,

and sorry, I'm sure this question has already been asked at least ten times, but... yeah, not good enough at searching the forums for the proper answer. Yesterday we played a game with AH, KH, IH and the new Lurker. At a certain point, Silas had an encounter at the Northpoint lighthouse allowing him to have at his side Basil Elton. The encounter stated that "the Northpoint Lighthouse is closed for the rest of the game".
Big issue: a rift opened. On the rift track, there was a token portraying the Northpoint lighthouse. We left the rift open, simply because we were very close to winning the game, and in fact, in a 2 rounds time all gates were closed and the open rift wasn't a problem any longer, but... is it an impression of mine, or it is simply impossible then closing such a rift?

Thanks everybody for answering

Hey Julia,

I would say you wouldn't be able to close that rift cause if I remember the rules, you need to have an encounter at the location shown to remove the rift token.

Innsmouth13 said:

Yeah, that's the point. Isn't it a little... odd?

No, that's the hidden cost of taking Basil Elton as an ally. Note that he's the only Ally (or one of the only ones) where you don't have to make a check or a sacrifice to obtain him. Your cost is that the lighthouse is closed, and you won't be able to investigate or close rifts that depict the lighthouse.

It has something.. don't know.. romantic? realistic? in it. And ok, thank you all for your replies. Anyway, there should be a Mythos card allowing you to turn facedown the token of an active rift. Probably the only solution, then. If you're lucky enough to draw that card when you need it.
Tonight a new game, only with Kingsport & Black Goat of the Woods, following Jgt advices. Sounds nightmarish enough. Not Jgt. The combo ::laughing::

Oh ho! Passive rimshot. Eager to hear if you enjoy it, or if it's really just me.

Julia said:

Actually, I think that the compensation prize for not being able to obtain Foolishness as an ally is that you get to remove two rift progress tokens from the board. I have been playing that this also allows you to turn over two tokens from an open rift, but I'm not sure that's official.

Tibs said:

What about asking this in the FAQ?

@ Jgt: I'll post a small session report after the game, as soon as we're able to play. Probably this evening!

I added that question right after writing my response

Tibs said:

That's great!

For what it's worth, you should basically always have the opportunity to keep the Lighthouse rift from opening once you've got Basil; you just have to police the heck out of the other three locations.

Another way to close the rift is with this encounter: "You plead with William Bain for assistance. If you pass a Will (-1) check, he agrees and works a powerful spell. Remove all rift progress tokens from 1 rift, closing it immediately. If you fail, he refuses explaining that he cannot interfere with the world of man without endangering himself," which is sort of a hassle since it's way out in the Strange High House, but at least the wording does seem to corroborate Tibs' interpretation of the Foolishness encounter.

By the way, does anyone else also ignore those mythos cards with all the dimensional symbols on them for the purpose of rift tracking? Otherwise with each such card, all three rift tracks fill up quickly.

My other reasoning for ignoring them is that they don't show the actual movement pattern depicted on the rift track; they simply group all symbols together.

zealot12 said:

That's what I do. If the movement part of the cards dont look EXCATLY like the rift track no token is added. And if the movement part is already full I dont add any more tokens.

jgt7771 said:

Sorry for the non-sequitor, but thanks for the birthday wishes a few weeks ago. (I can't figure out how to email people directly.) I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread, already in progress.

To add a token to the Rift track, the monster movement symbol combo has to match exactly.