After a somewhat exciting and interesting last week and especially exhausting Zombicide-weekend I needed a slight distraction … Elder Sign. I soloed it a minute ago, and I tried something "new" … "New" for me. I played with three different characters …

" The Good ": Mr. Diamond
" The Bad ": Mr. McGlen
" The Beauty ": Ms. Barnes

And while searching the museum for good fencing items (the Bad), for some high society glamor (the Beauty), and for finally catching the Bad (the Good) the Investigators had to get along with …

… Yog Sothoth .

So, what am I supposed to say? It was amazing … But see for yourself!

The game started with the horror "Keep friends close … when memories fade".

#1 Ms. Barnes went right into the "Gala in the Great Hall", where she dealt with her long-time ***** from the neighborhood; and when she unmasked the ugliness of that person, she collected the Dread Curse of Azathoth along with the first Elder Sign. Realizing that that woman was connected to some evil deeds, Ms. Barnes informed Mr. Diamond to check the clues about a "Secret Gathering".

#2 And so he did care about that. And he got there just in time. Although he could not prevent the "Secret Gathering" from opening a gate to "Yuggoth" and summoning a Byakhee, he was able to stop the gathering before worse things could happen. And while he did this, he recognized a shape …

#3 McGlen, who realized that he would not stand a chance against Mr. Diamond at the moment, jumped through the gate - not knowing, what would happen to him. And there he was - right in the middle of "Yuggoth". And while he marched the countrysides, fought some battles with sinister creatures and riddled his way through crazy mind-blowing traps, he was finally able to flee the place by returning to the museum. And here he realized that in the real world only a few hours had passed.

#4 In the meantime Ms. Barnes thought a lot about her neighbor and wondered a lot about how successful Mr. Diamond would be. And while she studied the personal papers of the *****, she made a "Terrible Discovery". But before loosing her mind, she added one to one and solved the issues at hand.

Horror: But at a terrible cost, because she lost the magic of her spell, when she listened to a voice in her head: "Be prepared … for living nightmares!"

#5 After having successfully disturbed the gathering, Mr. Diamond chased some of the cultists. But he got lost in the labyrinthine corridors of the museum, when he finally entered the "Loading Dock". Here he found a pistol and moved on.

#6 Mr. McGlen, still suffering from the brain-twisting experiences in "Yuggoth", entered a new section of the museum, when suddenly all "Lights went out". With the help of a lantern and the strange book "The Necronomicon" (he found it in "Yuggoth") he made his way through this part of the museum. But he was so excited about what he read in the book that he collided with a statue, wounded himself and lost the book in the darkness, as his lantern faded.

#7 Luckily Mr. Barnes stumbled into this section of the museum as well. She followed her inner voice that tried to make some sense of what she learned from her strange neighbor. And her inner voice was right! The lights went on again, and she helped Mr. McGlen recover from his accident.

#8 Mr. Diamond was tired. All the action in this museum, the gathering, the chase, and walking around … He realized much sleep he lacked since he tried to find Mr. McGlen. And he struggled a lot. "Don't fall asleep", he mumbled ever and ever again, in order to get passed the specific moment, when tiredness would be no issue anymore.

Horror : As time went by a Ghoul and a Cultist joined the party. "A Heavy Burden … Amid Stillness" struck at Mr. Diamond while he fought his will to get asleep. But he remained stable and awake.

#9 Mr. McGlen, who was not too eager to make Ms. Barnes recognize him as the person he was, took his chances and slipped away. Accidentally he stumbled into the "Hall of the Dead", where he had to fight a Ghoul. But he had no trouble with dealing with the dead - wouldn't be the first time for him actually.

#10 Too late Ms. Barnes realized she was on her own again. She entered a section of the museum with very special exhibits. And everywhere there were signs: "Please Do Not Touch The Exhibits". And so she did not; although everything was so tempting to touch, to collect and simply to take away, she resisted the urge to get more and more beautiful items. In the end she passed this and did not surrender to the beauties of this collection.

#11 "Something has broken free …" Mr. Diamond whispered when he found strange markings on a broken wall. He searched the place thoroughly and dealt with the situation like a real professional - well actually like THE professional he was.

#12 It was Mr. McGlen then, who - after he had solved the small encounter in the hall - met lady Witch with her "Tempest in the Teapot". Getting more and more used to strange things happening since his travel through "Yuggoth" he made one thing clear: "Lady, don't mess with me and my gunsszzZZ!!!" *blamblamblam" And down she went …

Horror : "The Stars Align … Amid Stillness", as a maniac happened to appear in the museum.

#13 Ms. Barnes went for "The Key to Beyond" - knowing that this was the thing her neighbor was after after all … But she was so caught up with her personal agenda about her neighbor that she completely lost her mind and went insane like crazy … [devoured due to loss of sanity based on poor choices while rolling the dice; sorry, silly me!]

#14 Mr. Diamond searched the museum again for Mr. McGlen. After a while he found a "Peculiar Specimen", and he told himself: "That's no good!" And *baaam* down it went with the help of his .45. Too late he realized that someone watched him doing so. And he just saw a cultist slipping away and fleeing down a dark corridor.

#15 Finally Mr. McGlen sat down. So much strange things have happened that he lost control of his eyes. "Horrible Visions" swarmed his mind, and he tried to get along with it. Wit his .38 he shot at them. And then …
… utter silence. Things started to look well again …

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Bottomline:

This was awesome. Except for one single move luck was on my side. Ms. Barnes got devoured because I made a bad call; she wouldn't have died, if I had chosen differently on one particular die roll. Also she was the one who collected most of the Elder Signs.
In just 15 turns I was able to stop Yog Sothoth from awakening. This game session was a very lucky one, due to this easy and fast game.

I like Elder Sign!

All the best!
Mad

tl;rd
(well a bit post-editing …)