Woo!
I was playing by myself tonight, so I cleared the houserules I normally use with others and went straight into game play. Investigators were Joe, Amanda, Bob, and Kate. For the Ancient One, I managed to pick Hastur. I was reasonably excited as I've never encountered Hastur before.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Bob and amada's special ability comes into play AFTER game starts. That's how i played it this time, so if it's wrong let me know. So no one in the group managed to draw a Weapon for their Common Items. On Unique items, Amanda drew Holy Water. Not great, but livable. On Bob's first Unique item draw, he gets Holy Water. Then on his second…more Holy Water. Kate draws a Sword of Glory, which softens the blow a bit.
For Skills, Joe pulls Bravery, which is a nice bonus for Joe. Amanda pulls Speed and Sneak. Kate pulls Speed, which would be nice if she was going anywhere. Bob pulls Expert Occultist and I feel like I've been punched in the face.
First Gate opens at the Historical Society. Joe goes clue hunting. Kate heads to Independence Square to hopefully block a gate opening. Bob goes shopping for a better weapon. I pull Food, Food, a Ancient Tome, and a revolver. It's not great, but it's something.Amanada takes out a bank loan so I can get another skill for her.
Mythos Phase, there is a monster surge on the Historical Society. Really, game? Really? Monsters pop up on the Miskatonic Streets, and I'm at the monster limit. On the next turn, Amanda tries to sneak to the Admin Building, and is accosted by monsters. She fails multiple evade checks, and winds up at the Hosptial. Bob makes an attemptt to clear the area of monsters, and fails enough Combat checks to be hospitalized. Two investigators knocked out on turn 2. Joe decides to just forage for more clue tokens.
Kate stays at Independence Square multiple turns in ancipation of a Gate. She's kicked out by the police once, but then convinces them to let her stay after crazy stories of monsters and Other Worlds. The cops are so spooked that one goes vigilante to clear out the Downtown Streets. When he finds nothing there however, he comes back angry and throws her out again, ignoring her pleas.
Everyone is pinned down by monsters when the Feds decide to Raid Arkham, thus giving some much needed breathing room. The investigator's meet up in the French Hill district, and so much needed trading goes on. Kate gives Bob the Sword of Glory, and gives Amanda Mists of Releh. Bob gives Joe the revolver. Bob and Kate give Amanda enough money thjat she can pay off her student loans, which is certainly better than most people. Everyone scatters.
Gates are popping up left and right, and gate limit is almost reached. Kate flies back to Independence Square. Amanda has acquired a hefty mass of Clue tokens by this point, so I send her gate-diving - only to realize too late she only has one Stamina remaining! Joe heads to another Dimension, and Bob heads to the Abyss. Kate has almost enough Clue tokens to eal, so I send her to the Woods to block a potential gate opening and retrieve the clues. Naturally, a gate opens on Independce Square the turn she leaves.
Joe manages to to close the Gate at the Historical Society. Bob is forced out of the Abyss and into the Black Cave, where he is sucked into a gate to R'lyeh. He miraculously survives R'lyeh, but has no way to close the thing after existing - his Fight is at near minimum, and he has no clue tokens, so closing is at best a multi-turn affair that I decline to engage in. Amanda successfully closes the Dreamlands only to have a gate open and be sucked into Yuggoth. She closes Yuggoth, and immediately has a gate open and gets sucked through the Abyss. Hastur really really wanted the Unnameable.
Joe and Bob head to other Gates, but it's too late. With gates open at Independce Square, tthe Black Cave, the Unnameable, the Science Building, Hibb's Roadhouse, and the Witch House, a gate opens at Uninvited Isle and summons Hastur at a Terror Track of 3. Not undoable, but I was unfortunately low on offensive capabilities.
Joe had the best damage potential in the party, but had terrible Luck, and went insane in short order. Bob managed to hang around for a fairly long time, and did good damage with his Sword of Glory, but didn't come into the fight with much sanity thanks to his Other World trips, and was eliminated. Kate had managed to pick up a Shotgun, and an Enchant Weapon, and actually managed a good amoutn of damage before losing. Poor Amanda had picked up no weapons or offensive spells during the entire game, but because she had Duke, she managed to plink away at Hastur with one sad die for a few more rounds before succumbing. Final Battle, Investigators lost.
tl:dr: First game against hastur, and it went unspeakably bad.