I feel like I just had the luckiest game I have ever played. We've never tried 8 character's before, but since the ruling on elder signs being available to take out doom tokens, I wanted to give it a try.
I think I got one of the best starts ever. Sister Mary decide to make the best out of her being blessed, so she jumped into the only open gate (the woods). The encounter was the one were the gate is closing and you end up either back in Arkham or lost in time and space, but either way the gate is closed. She made the check, and ended up back in Arkham. 1 turn, 1 gate closed.
Next gate... the woods, Mary gets pulled right back in. 2 turns later she closes it. And... another gate in the woods.
This time Harvey chasers her into the gate and uses Find Gate to close it, leaving her lost in time and space... but she is Sister Mary, so she just ends up in the church. Then Harvey ends up getting sucked into another gate in the woods. It was getting kind of funny, 4 gates in the woods in something like the first 8 turns, but no monster surges because I was closing them as fast as they were showing up.
The next bit of luck was the rumors. The first one was the one where you have to sacrifics clues. Well, early on we all met at the general store, and everyone gave Amanda Sharpe their old journals to research (need to give the student something to do). She read two of them the next turn and got 6 clues. The next turn the rumor showed up, and she closed it the same turn it showed up. Everyone got a unique item (Amanda got an Elder sign and handed it off to Harvey - who went to the woods after Sister Mary.)
The next rumor was the one where you have to sacrifice and ally. Ashcan Pete decided Duke was getting a little long in the tooth, and freed his spirit the same turn the rumor appeared. Everyone got 2 common items! The common item deck was starting to look empty.
The last rumor was the won where you have to sacrifice 3 spells (4 with 5+ characters). All this time, Dexter Drake has been offering his services as a researcher. If you have a tome, he will translate it. He had 7 spells at that point, so he closed that rumor the same turn it appeared. Suddenly, everyone had 2 clues.
Well, most everyone was just amazed at their luck. It had to be a sign from above. So about half the town felt they needed to give a little thanks at the church.
Even with all of that luck, things were very dicey at the end. Almost everyone was down to their last sanity. The doom track was at 11, 2 gates were open, and 11 had been closed. Over half the team had been demoralized to the point that they could come up with nothing to do but pray for divine intervention. Harvey, couldn't get past a flying polyp, so the only one who could reach a gate was Sister Mary. She ran to the gate and dove in, loaded up with sanity and a find gate that Gloria had loaned her.
The rest of the town watched and prayed that she could close the gate before the Great One could break through. In fact, I think some of them went more than a little crazy with the waiting and praying. Over the last several turns, I think they made offerings to the church more than 23 times. 6 times they thought they were saw a sign from good, but even with the clues they had, they couldn't make sense of the signs.
The turn was ending, and the only person not to act was Jenny. She was uncomfortable in the church, but she was learning that her money wasn't as useful in Arkham as it usually was, and maybe religion was the answer. She waited, and she prepared to run, as she saw the priest coming towards her with a crazed look in his eye. But she remembered that strange stone that Gloria had given her, a Dragon's Eye. She held it before her, and the room spun. Suddenly the church was calm, and she felt the presence of a higher power. Suddenly everything made sense... the clue she had found before could help them... and the town didn't seem quite as close to final doom.
The mythos phase put a new gate in independence square, and the doom track went up again... to 11, since Jenny had managed to remove a doom token.
Sister Mary, blessed, casts find gate... and fails. She uses a clue. And fails. She uses another clue. And fails. She uses another clue, and finally, gets a 5. She reappears ready to close the -2 gate to Yuggoth with no clues left. Everyone else is in shock. The good sister will be their salvation. Dexter Drake goes a little crazy and tries to take out the flying polyp, and ends up in the asylym for the 4th time. And then, the moment of truth. Sister Mary prays and tried to close the gate. She pulls it off (a 6 and a 3).
There is singing and dancing in the church! Final count, 12 gates closed, 2 elder signs burned, and lots and lots of luck.
Side note: I have never been part of a win by closing gates victory, and I was kind of shocked when gates 7 and 8 were closed on the same turn leaving 0 gates open and 8 trophys in hand!