I tried the Nyarlathotep herald (finally) and had a very strong win (however, I think some of that was luck) I randomly drew, Kate, Darrell, and Marie. Darrell was useful the entire game, as he always is. The ancient one was Ithaqua who is much easier than I remembered (I haven't played him for such a long time, for some reason I thought he subtracted a movement from all the players). I did the random fight on the first turn and fought the Skinless One, the Bloated Woman, and the Black Man (Yeah, I got lucky). All of the fights turned out to be profitable if only by a clue token with one, one or two with another, and three with Marie (I got kindof lucky with my rolls). I was lucky not to draw the Beast or the God (although I actually did draw his card in another world randomly— he knocked out marie, gave her Memory Loss). ::Shrug:: in addition to that luck, I drew a visions card with Darrell (very helpful). And the luckiest part, I think, was blocking three gate openings with Kate that game, One at the graveyard (which would have actually been a gate burst), one at the unvisited island, and one at the witch house. Later In the game I drew an arcane insight, but by that time it was already basically over. I also drew a find gate with my starting equipment (which was well balanced) and was able to get Professor Rice that game. I also got lucky with rift cards and all the rifts were opening in the same two slots (with one exception— but I closed it). I beat Ithaqua with his doom track at six and the terror level at two (only because cards were drawn that raised the terror level). Still, this isn't nearly as skillful as it sounds, because after all, there should've been a minimum of two more doom tokens (had I not been lucky with Kate). Oh, I also drew the General Store encounter that lets you search the deck for items by name for other players if they pay you. I bought Kate and Marie Motorcycles, Kate also got a Zoog, and Marie Speed. So, they were both moving at seven as opposed to Darrell's five ;') how ironic. Anyways, it was pretty easy, although it was a little tense at times (until I drew the Arcane Insight) —I was worried that terror would hit three and wipe out my characters. I think I got too lucky :') I'd like to try it again. It was exciting.

Question: does the fighting take place during the first full turn on the game (during your movement phase?) or is it in the early pre-game mythos phase (allowing you to move on your first turn).