Until I read a posted comment about how few of the top contributors to the Arkham statistics had contributed a game in the past six months, I had no idea how long it had been for me since I had played Arkham! Today I decided to rectify that oversight.
With four Investigators we used all of the big box expansions and none of the small box ones. We drew Cthuga for our Ancient One and the first card was the two Doom token Research Ship one which placed two Clues at all aquatic locations. A decidedly mixed start, but I had my favorite Investigator of all time, Silas Marsh (with Mythos Lore!), and I welcomed the chance to immediately grab three Clues off of Devil Reef.
The first two gates which opened both led to Ry'leh and I remember being relieved that we didn't have Amanda Sharpe. Our team consisted of Leo Anderson, Silas Marsh, Darell Simmons, and Lily Chen, which I think you'll agree is a pretty good group.
Still, we weren't making much headway, not with both Ry'leh gates out, a lack of weapons, and the Southside Strangler striking. Barely had we dealt with the murderous maniac when the Nightmare Pool Rumor appeared! Never once have I failed this Rumor and still won the game; fortunately we were in a position to pass it first turn and did so, accepting the great Stamina loss.
An Arkham encounter had left Lilly Lost in Time and Space, but she took advantage of that to appear at the Marsh Refinery gate, killing both a Deep One Hyrbid and the fearsome Tcho-Tcho Priest. As she progressed through Another Time, a gate of opened at Yhe'Nthlei and disgored a Rat Thing. Silas swam out to Devil Reef to seal it, having to throw away his Telescope to keep from being Delayed by his encounter there.
Then we drew one of the most terrible cards in Miskatonic Horror, the one which places a monster at each acquatic location on every board. Lily's way out of Innsmouth was suddenly blocked, while Silas had a Wraith appear on him and the Rat Thing attack him, with a Warlock now guarding the Yha'Nthei gate. Next turn's card, however, was the Manhunt in Arkham, eliminating every monster on a location! Silas threw himself into a gate, as did Darrell and Leo. Leo had nine Clue tokens, an Elder Sign, a Calvary Saber and the Golden Sword, so he went for our Ry'leh gate at Indepenced Square. The first card was the one about Ry'leh sinking back down again and passing a Speed -2 check or being reduced to 0 Stamina. The next card was the one which forces you to fight Cthulhu.
Leo gave it his best shot, but Chthulhu Devoured him with three Doom tokens left. So my teammate drew Leo's replacement . . . and it was Amanda Sharpe. With both gates to Ry'leh still open. Amanda immediately failed her Personal Story and succumbed to the Innsmouth Look. Given that this had been triggered by Cthulhu himself Devouring Leo, I couldn't help appreciating the thematic value of this sequence of events.
I told my partner that I thought the game had missed us
.
Willim Yorrick was the next replacement. Fortunately Silas and Darell were able to seal their gates, bringing us up to three seals. Cthuga had had a Fire Vampire up in the sky for a few turns now, however, and along with a Nightgaunt it began to make trouble by swooping down on William. Darrell ran to the rescue, threw his Bind Monster, Crystal of the Elder Thing, Enchanted Jewelry, Golden Trumpet and Silver Key to William, Holy Waterer-ed the Night Gaunt and got burned by the Fire Vampire. William escaped with the Silver Key and went to get his last "clue" token by killing a Witch. Since he had no weapons, he was forced to use the Bind Monster, Crystal and his Skill which allows him to always get one success on a Spell check to take her down.
Silas was driven insane when he tried to kill the Crawling One at Yha'Nthlei before it could pass through the gate. It subsequently did so and put our Deep One Rising Track up to five! Lily got out of her gate and sealed it, but she'd put a Dunwich Horror token on the track to get an ally, a monster had passed through the vortice, and now the Star Vampire added the final token needed to bring out the Dunwich Horror!
Two Kingsport rifts were on the verge of opening, but another Mythos card had added a further two monsters to Kingsport and I didn't think we had a chance of fighting our way through in time. Worse, Silas needed another two Clue tokens to pass his Personal Story, and was having no luck finding them. Then William got Cursed in Celeano and Darrell had to hit the Church to get him Blessed.
Darrell was actually our Lore Master of the game, using his Lore Skill to read two copies of the Eltdown Shards.
A Chtonian had proven a dud twice, narrowly allowing Silas to survive. The March scion, after killing Amanda the Deep One, went to the Train Station to ride the rails to Dunwich, but his encounter left him in Kingsport, staring an Elder Thing in the eye when his Sanity was three and his Stamina was one! Then Cthuga's chief servant, the Fire Vampire, swooped down on him!
This was it, then. William would be out this turn and hopefully seal his gate. I needed one more Clue token to finish Silas's personal story-and the first card of the game had left two Clue tokens on the South Shore Street. In order to get to them, I would have to not only sneak past the Elder Thing and Fire Vampire, but past the Shoggoth and Deep One guarding the Clues! Still, with no other option in sight I went for it, comforted by the knowledge that at least if I made South Short, SIlas would get his aqcuatic +2.
Silas made all four rolls, and William sealed his gate! With Cthuga at eleven Doom tokens and the Deep One Rising Track at five, the game was won as long as we didn't get a gate opening on a sealed location or a double Doom token . . .
Neither one happened! The Cthonian rumbled and sent Silas to the Hospital, but he had three Clues and was able to lose only one (he already had an Injury and Madness card, and I didn't want to risk him being Devoured). He sacrificed himself in defiance of his heiritage and the game was ours!
Later I turned over the next card and saw it was the Siren Call. It would have put the twelth Doom token on the map and given the Dunwich Horror a fifty-fifty chance of adding the last. Even if the Dunwich Horror hadn't come through, if the Investigator who had to draw the two Innsmouth Look cards had become a Deep One that, too, would have awakened Cthuga. Six moths since I've played, and victory or defeat still comes down to the Mythos card you draw on the very last turn. That's why this is one of the best games ever created.