Okay, here's the "Profane Relics Seized" Rumor that came with Miskatonic:

Card Information
Mythos Type: Rumor

Gate Opens: Devil's Hopyard or Historical Society

Clue Appears At:

Monster Movement SlashStarTriangle
Hexagon

Mythos Ability: Ongoing Effect: Place 1 Clue token on this card at the end of every Mythos Phase (beginning the turn after it entered play).

Pass: If an investigator with either a Silver Twilight Lodge Membership or a "One of the Thousand" Cult Membership (from the The Black Goat of the Woods expansion) discards 3 Clue tokens while at the South Church, return this card to the box. Each investigator then gains 1 Unique Item.

Fail: If there are 6 Clue tokens on this card, return it to the box, draw 2 Unique Items per investigator and return them to the box.

Activity At: South Church

Now, when this came up, my playgroup interpreted it as meaning draw 2 Unique Items from the Unique Item deck per Investigator and return them to the box. That interpretation, however, makes absolutely no sense; it's hardly a penalty at all! So when the card says draw 2 Unique Items per Investigator and return them to the box, I think it must mean draw 2 Unique Items at random from each Investigator's stock of items and return those to the box! So each Investigator will end up losing two Unique Items if this Rumor fails.

Agreement, disagreement, confirmation one way or another by FFG?

In AH, the word "draw" invariably means to take the cards from the respective decks. You are right, this isn't a very harsh penalty, but the cards that you draw are returned to the box. This means you have no chance of obtaining the cards you've just pulled from the deck for the rest of the game. Heaven forbid you are forced to reduce the number of Elder Signs in the deck.

Some Rumors you just don't care if they Fail, their Fail clauses are so meaningless. On a side note, sadly it isn't the investigators drawing cards, so by my reading failing this Rumor doesn't help Y'Golonac in any way (with his drawing Tomes ability).

Dam said:

Oh wow, you've stumbled upon an interesting situation. The cards have to be drawn by someone . Does the first player draw the card, triggering Y'Golonac? Or are they not being "drawn" in any fashion?