Avi_dreader said:

:-D

You know... it's never... really... OVER ::cackling evilly::

Julia said:

Oh, have you read the epilogue already even though I told you not to and didn't send it to you or post it? ;')

Avi_dreader said:

Nope, clearly I haven't. But thanx for spoiling me the end of the story :SGRUNT::

Julia said:

I haven't spoiled anything :'P (I don't know what a sgrunt is, smile grunt?) don't worry.  Go, go read!  Why are you still here?  You should be reading :')

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:: I've spent the evening working with Illustrator in order to create the graphics for the September invitations :-) Maybe later

SCENARIO 24 - THE LAST STAND

Innsmouth, Kingsport and Dunwich boards in play

Investigators: Rex, Ursula, Rita, Jenny, Mary, Norman, Michael, Gloria

After a very long ride into the deepest madness of the Mythos, I finally reached the last battle field, the place where Earth and Sky molded into one shapeless void, where all the armies of the Ancient Ones had gathered for the final assault to our reality. I was tempted by playing six investigators again, but then I decided to go with eight, needing some dull meat to feed the sharks. First thing to consider: the two Abyss gates. Ursula was carrying over both Press Passes. I decided to have her starting at Y'ha-nthlei. So fifth clue taken from the board, transformed into another two thx to the Press Passes before Mythos zero (I guess this is correct, but if you wanted the Abyss gate arriving before the normal Mythos Zero, she could have started anywhere else, grab the clues and then swap places with one of the monsters in Y'ha-nthlei via Mi-go brain case).

The first, vital decision was taken. I started dealing the random possessions. Not many great items, but one: an Elder Sign. And four good skills: Ursula got Grapple, Mary Informant, Jenny Credit Rating and Gloria Performer (the chance of having a permanent Voice of Ra was very promising; but sadly I never got a chance to use it). As for the Madnesses (I rolled a nefarious series of "ones" while checking for the Arbiter):

- Rex: Depression (he was Cursed, and with this Scenario waiting for him, how he couldn't be a little depressed?)
- Ursula: Paranoia + Xenophobia (yey!)
- Rita: Anxiety + Addiction
- Jenny: Amnesia (she was the shopper! A lucky draw!)
- Mary: Despodent + Hallucinations (that's a nefarious combo: San damage +1, and with three San dmg -> devouring); Corruption: Endless greed
- Norman: Compulsive
- Michael: Delusional + Paranoia
- Gloria: Schizofrenia; Corruption: Creeping Doom

One of the most important goals to achieve in order to beat the final Scenario was closing as soon as possible both Abyss gates. So that's the plan: Mary was supposed to return to Y-ha-nthlei with the ES gained via Carcosan Page, and Ursula to the South Church (with the greatest hope of gathering at least another clue along the way). In the meantime, Jenny should have shopped at the CS for some clue generating items to help Ursula in case of need. A very, very, very difficult start. But I decided not to focus all my forces on these two gates, but also trying to win following another path in case something went wrong.

Mythos Zero: Esoteric order of Dagon (Dreamlands): Protoshoggoth & Gnoph Keh
Rex went for a beer at Hibb's, and got clues 4 & 5; Ursula put her standee up in the first area of the Abyss, and so did Mary; Rita went to the Village commons street, Dunwich clues were too inviting for her; Jenny went shopping; Gloria went to the Graveyard and Norm, after recovering one of the Press Passes from Ursula via Carcosan page, gathered three clues at the Unnamable (one from the board, plus one because of the Press pass, plus one because of the Magnifying glass he had). Gloria used her Handcamera to offer Norman the 7th clue. Ursula had a great OW encounter, and obtained an extra clue token. Which was doubled, thx to the other Press Pass. Oh, and Michael killed a Deep one, who moved from the South church (maybe it's the wrong church to exit for a deep one ::laughter::)

Mythos One: Unvisited Isle (Another time): Cultist & Dimensional Shambler; plus: Priest of Dagon & another little monster... in the Village Commons.
2 doomers on the doom track, the DH woke up (maybe things would have gone differently without it... but more on that later) and the Servitor landed on Michael's head (plus a Hunting Horror, arriving from the South Church)
Ursula first player; she lost her Curse, avoided the Beast appeared from nowhere (Fetch the face of someone else, zsk!) and moved to the 2nd area of the Abyss (same stuff for Mary, but she kept her Blessing). Rita was stuck in the Village Commons. She managed to pass the checks and beat the monsters but clearly, she couldn't move any further. Jenny kept shopping, Norman obtained a Flamethrower via Carcosan Page and swapped his place with the Cultist on the Unvisited Isle. He then killed the Dimensional Shambler and entered Another Time. Michael killed the Hunting Horror, failed the Horror check against the Servitor and gained another Madness. Gloria went to the Black Cave, and got an encounter forcing her to draw a corruption: Downward spiral. Great. Rex went to Velma's for an extra clue (+ clue) offered by the previous Mythos (now he got 7, enough for another seal)

Mythos two: Esoteric order of Dagon, monster surge. A Lloigor arrived at the Unvisited Isle, an Elder thing at Y'ha-nthlei (three monsters there, all black bordered, none moving, at least for now). The protoshoggoth entered a vortex in Innsmouth: +1 DOR, +2 Terror, Ma Mathison and Brian Burnham entered play.
Rita went to the Whateley farm, got a clue and was delayed while helping a wounded man near a fence; Jenny kept on shopping, Mary returned to Y'ha-nthlei ready to seal with her ES the double gate Abyss / R'lyeh: two monsters removed from Y'ha-nthlei, and another couple from different parts of the board. Plus, Azathoth's doom track was forced back to one doomer. Norman casted Find Gate & returned to the UI. Second seal obtained; he chose to remove the "plus", in order to clear the Downward Spiral from Gloria. Michael went to the station, searching for Bill Washington, but found a strange, empty train, boarding a monster from an open gate: he removed the Y'thian appeared at the South Church. Ursula returned to the South Church: 7 clues for closing, 2 dice to roll and 2 clues for extra rolls, three successes needed: and she rolled them. Gloria went to the Science Building for two clues, and was Blessed by the encounter. Rex swapped his position with a monster on the Esoteric Order of Dagon and entered the Dreamlands
So, after three Mythos cards I had two seals on the board, both Abyss gates closed, an investigator able to seal in an OW (even if delayed by the Dreamlands encounter) and the Doom track was at one. Dagon seemed not to be such an incredible nightmare, right now, but then a curious thought started pulsing in my mind: what if he never arrived? I had a marvellous gift on the board: an incredibly huge Mi-go, with an Elder sign in his stomach, pounding on Sentinel Hill. I wanted that kill. The guy able to kill it was Michael. And I could take care of his low Sanity thanks to the Golden Trumpet Jenny bought the turn before. A new plan started forming into my mind.
For the three gates closed: Norman got Delirium, and I don't remember the other two Madnesses, sorry, I didn't note them down

Mythos three: The Unnamable (Leng): Dhole + Warlock.
I knew Doomer three should have been painful (free Injuries for everyone), so I wanted desperately to use Norm to finish removing the Corruptions (Mary already got rid of hers, since it was matching the Abyss symbol of the gate she sealed). So I had him evading the Lloigor at the Unvisited Isle and swapping his position with the Warlock at the Unnamable (the Dhole walked into the street during the Mythos phase). Mary evaded the Elder thing at Y'ha-nthlei, went to Devil reef for three clues. Michael had some problems because during Mythos a Hound of Tindalos entered the station; he managed to pass the Horro check, but not the combat check, so he was sent back to the Hospital with some Disfiguring Scars and a Sprained Ankle (thx Arbiter...). Gloria, ardent with devotion, decided to waste some of her clues by kicking the Servitor's bum. Her blessing was an unstoppable plus, and the Servitor was sent back to the cup. Ursula was forced by a witch at the South Church; after killing her, she bought a Blessing for Michael (I wanted that dam(n) ES from the Dunwich Horror! I know I could have blessed Rex, but... who cares? An ES is a -1 doomer, and that was the only hope). Rita, ambushed by the Black Man at Whateley's, smacked him back into the cup for two clues. Rex was blessed by an OW encounter (yey! not so sure on this one: I interpret the failed condition on Rex's card as he is not allow to have a Blessing card, but if he's cursed and then receives a Blessing, he's allowed to discard his Curse card), so back to normal. And Jenny... Jenny... my sweet, lovable, little Jenny who drew an Elder Sign...

Mythos four: Unvisited Isle (bounce; +1 DOR, +2 Terror, Sheriff Engle and Hervey Jones entered play)
So, the doom track was still at two doomers. Norman returned from Leng (how great is Professor Norm with his Find Gate; and with an Elder Sign gained via Carcosan Page, he's even greater), and sealed. he removed the squares (I decided to leave the Slash for the last corruption to Rex, since he was no longer Cursed), so no more Gnoph Keh ready to jump into vortices, no more Lloigor on the Unvisited Isle. And the doom track of Azathoth was sent back to 1. He gained an Histeria card thx to the Crevice. Rita was very low with brains. She decided to temp the Dhole chants, and she passed it. The Ally she gained was William Bain. No more brains for her, back to the Asylum with a Necrophobia card, and the doom track was emptied. Mary went back to Y'ha-nthlei and killed the Elder thing. In the meantime, she started loading clues on the Fed raise Innsmouth track. Gloria picked from Ursula a Press pass, and went to the Historical society for a total of two clues. Rex moved to the second area of the Dreamlands, and Ursula, at the Witch House, was forced to lose her only Unique Item. Jenny went to the Asylum to recover some brains as well

Mythos five: Woods (Carcosa): Star Vampire + Deep One Hybrid; Mythos phase offering Mary a Histeria, Michael a Mania and Rita a Delirium card
Norm went out of the hospital, and killed the Deep One Hybrid. Michael finally was able to reach & kill the Dunwich Horror (not a big deal after all; the blessing, the Dynamite, and the Elder Sign coming. Gloria went to Norm, recovered his Press pass, and moved to the French Hill streets (with two Press Passes); Ursula moved from the Witch House, got both Passes and moved to the Black cave, for a three clues harvest (bringing her total to four); Rex returned from the Dreamlands and sealed the Esoteric Order of Dagon; Rita moved to the Church Green Streets to kill a Maniac. Mary moved back to Devil reef, and Jenny started shopping again.
At this moment, the doom track was at one, and I had four seals on the board

Mythos six: Independence square (Yuggoth): Zombie + Nightgaunt; the Star Vampire from the Woods moved on Norman
Michael discarded the Golden Trumpet and moved to the Asylum to recover the missing point of Sanity; Gloria entered the Silver Twilight Lodge and gained her 7th clue token. Rex moved to the Factory district streets and cleaned them from the presence of a Tcho-tcho; Rita moved to Falcon point in order to recover Mary, and was delayed immediately after. Mary moved to MArsh refinery to gain a clue. Norm successfully escaped the Star Vampire, swapped his position with the Zombie at Independence square and gathered via Carcosan Page the Elder Sign from Michael. Ursula went to the Science Building for another +3 clues, reaching the total of seven.
Doom track at 2.

Mythos seven: Woods; monster surge. Outskirts filled and emptied, +2 terror (Joe Osborn & Gladys Pickman); Injuries: for Michael, an Injured Arm (and in the coming Upkeep, the Beast); Rita: Hearing loss; Mary: Cracked ribs
Gloria received the Mi-go brain case via Carcosan Page from Norm, and she used it to swap her position with the Leng Spider at the Woods; she then used Implant Suggestion to have the other monster (a Goat spawn) at the Woods to move in the streets. She then entered Carcosa. The situation in Kingsport had already started to worsen: Rex moved there to have an encounter at the Congregational Hospital (Avi, that's brilliant! All locations in Kingsport are stable, hence Sanity lost every round! Well studied!), followed up by Jenny, who went to meet Gladys at the 7th House on the left. Rita was still at Falcon Point since she was delayed the round before; Ursula needed to recover Sanity, but the Beast was guarding the Asylum: she then entered Velma, triggering the Sanity loss for the stable location rule and got another Madness (Obsessed), but was restored to her max. Mary kept on putting clues on the Fed track, and moved to the Church green neighborhood. Norm returned to Arkham via Find Gate and sealed via Elder Sign Independence square (choosing the Star as dimensional symbol, in order to remove the Star Vampire and the Beast). He then was hit by a double Madness (1 since he closed, the other one since he run out of Sanity points because of the ES, and got Schizophrenia and Necrophobia). But the doom track was forced back at 1. Michael successfully escaped from the Beast and moved to Rivertown.

Mythos eight: Graveyard (Leng): Dark Young + Cultist; the Cultist moved on Michael
Rex went at Neil's for a -1 San offering him a Narcolepsy card and a full restore of brains; Rita went also there to remove a rift progress marker from the track; Jenny and Mary were forced in the streets, while Michael miracoulously survived the Cultist. Gloria received the Find Gate from Norm, successfully used it and returned to the Woods. Ursula went to Independence Square, failed the Evade check against the Nightgaunt and was thrown through the Graveyard gate. Norm started walking from the Asylum, grabbed the Ruby of R'lyeh from Michael and sprinted towards Gloria.

Mithos nine: Unnamable (blocked); +1 DOR, +2 Terror (Jonas Rigg & Miriam Beecher)
Norm obtained the Find Gate from Gloria and sent it to Ursula via Carcosan Page; she casted it successfully and returned to Arkham. With seven clues, and an easy gate in front of her. Checkmate

Victory by sealing gates in 10 Mythos while poor Azathoth's doom track was stuck at 2

Some comments on the last Scenario... despite the large victory, it wasn't easy at all. I finished with the following (first number between brackets is the number of Madnesses, the second one, Injuries):

Rex (4, 0)
Ursula (4, 0)
Rita (6, 1)
Jenny (2, 0)
Mary (4, 1)
Norman (5, 1)
Michael (4, 2)
Gloria (2, 0)

Having a large party is very useful to dilute Madnesses and lowering the odds of being devoured by gaining duplicates; nonetheless, having characters with 4 or 5 Madnesses was horribly difficult to handle. Plus, dealing some other Madnesses would have meant instant devouring for sure.

Besides, even if I was good at keeping the doom track under control, it was absolutely impossible to control the terror track; another '+1' terror would have meant board snowed under with monster and technically game over (10 blights in play, Kingsport about to explode, and no way to move in Arkham without using the Mi-go brain case since the too many monsters) (and if I had only one charcter devoured... ::shudder::).

The game was very tense, and very, very slow. I played something like eight hours in order to resolve 10 Mythos (this enforcing the idea of what a pain it was)

So technically, I wanted to stress that despite the 2 doomers on the doom track, it was a narrow victory (not large at all).

Julia said:

10 Blights and a monster flooded town isn't game over, it's just game much more difficult (but you could punch paths through the monsters with coordinated team movement).  Ideally, I wanted all the effects to trigger and for you to win anyway ;') maybe in the hard mode. I see that you used Rita properly ;'D

So you got up to terror eight?  Yikes ;'D
 

For the hard mode (and non) I'll clarify later that Rex is not blessable.  If some sort of effect that isn't being blessed removes his curse happens, that's okay, but it's intended that if you want to use him, you have to play him cursed.  Not a big deal though.  :') Now the real question is, ban elder signs from the hard mode, or is raising seal cost to eight, close cost to 10, and making seal number equal 7 enough?  While also reducing all the doom trigger points in half (rounded up).  Things in the rift will also be in play.  (I think I'll keep the Elder Signs in, the game loses a significant strategic component without them).  The Dunwich Horror will definitely need to be modified though.  No search for defeating it I think.  (It's just too easy to kill in an eight investigator game, it wasn't really my intention to give a free early game seal with it).

Oh...  I didn't intend for there to be monsters at Y'ha Nethlei or South church at the start of the game.  I'll have to clarify that later.

Did I understand this correctly?  You had The Beast appear on Ursula while she was in an Other World?  If that was the case, it was supposed to go to someone else.  Anyway, moving on.

I wish you got to play through more of the game effects.  I guess the important question is, despite all the slowness and tension, did you have fun?  And :') shall you hazard this again in the hard mode :'D for bragging rights if nothing else? ;'D

Avi_dreader said:

INTERVIEW WITH JULIA, RECENT WINNER OF THE ADVANCED PLAYERS LEAGUE

Q: How do you feel, after beating the last, terrible Scenario?
A: Thanks for the question, I sincerelly hoped somebody asked about me (and not about how things next time will go). Kinda good. I guess. After ten hours of Arkham, I started believing the shadows in my study were whispering for real

Q: Did you have any comments on your brilliant victory?
A:  As soon as I finished the League and instead of having friends to share the victory with, I received a couple of sterile lines "originally Elder Signs were banned". I honestly don't give a damn of the original Elder Signs ban. First of all, it wouldn't have changed nothing: I could have had Norman exiting via Gate Box to Y'han-thlei on Turn 3, sealing the gate instead of Mary. Sure, this would have meant the doom track to reach what? FIVE during the whole game (but I told my many fans I'd have won with a doom track at 5). In this case, Dagon would have poked in and removed what? 5 clues from the board? Somebody said Rex should have been perma cursed. Again, do you really think it'd have changed something? ::laughter:: He sealed only one gate in the whole game, and it was a Dreamlands gate: +1, this means 5 dice to roll in order to score 1 success (and I did send him there for a specific reason, I didn't want to waste trophies for Blessing him, others needed a bigger boost). Do you really believe it would have been impossible to seal even if Cursed?

Q: Would you like to add something about you "playing dirty"? With "playing dirty" I mean you don't enjoy the dreadful experience of utmost sufference of a terror track equals to ten and a doom track equals to at least ten as well
A: Actually, I think you cannot say I avoided the fight by "playing dirty" like I did for Scenario 16. Closing victories were banned (fortunately, I could have won by closing with Azzie doom track at zero), so I simply hit the Scenario as hard as possible (in the same way the Scenario would have hit me if I had allowed this). At the moment, I'm receiving feedbacks as "play it again in the hard mode" / "you won't be allowed to use Elder signs" / "Rex will be perma cursed". Bah. I think this is the moment when everyone should be happy for the nightmares destroyed, and my master should be proud of me (in an 8 Scenario time I removed completely my tendency in falling into mental traps). Sadly, I don't feel this.

Q: Are you ready to start it over again and play the League in the hard mode?
A: Honestly, I think I'm done with Arkham for a while. I'll focus on the eons for this League, and to playtest some other custom material, but I won't play any "hard mode" League in the near future. Nor in a distant one, I guess

[First of all, Julia, check your mailbox before reading this].

Julia, it's great that you won.  If you had fun and were challenged with the league, I'm happy.  That's all.  Kind of disappointed that you won't play a harder version of the league.  Sure, it only took me a day to set up, on your request, but, that's life? [This isn't intended to come off as a passive-aggressive comment, I would have liked to have made something else you could like, but if you don't, obviously you shouldn't play it].

I'm aware that a perma-cursed Rex would have had little if any effect on your game :'P your victory was by a large margin.  If anything the double speed doom triggers and only 2 item carry over is likely to have a major effect especially mixed with Elder Sign banning (which also would not have made a big difference in how the game went, but slowing down the doom track by two and requiring you to gather another 14 clues would have added game length, and potential tension and strategic complexity).  I didn't mean to suggest that I thought you failed to beat the scenario as designed.  If anything I feel like I failed in designing it (I should have spent a few more hours thinking things through before posting it).  I hoped to correct certain design flaws in the hard mode, but apparently you won't play it, or maybe you will one day when you're itching for another novel challenge.

Ideally, I wanted all the triggers in the final scenario to hit, and for the player to *still* win, alas, you've become too good at the game now for the original design to work as planned, so, I'm a bit saddened by my design failure and will have to try to patch it for the hard mode ;')

Again, congratulations a fourth time [the other three are in email], and thanks for demonstrating what is possible in Arkham Fu.  All the monsters of Arkham tremble before Julia now ;') feel free to make that your forum sig ;'D

Avi_dreader said:

Avi, I've read your e-mail. And yes, you get it, I'm (was) quite upset. The main point is that possibly something went wrong along the communication challenge. I'm gonna answer this privately and then, if you feel ok with this, I'll post a shorter version on this very thread, visible to everyone.

But anyway, the self-interview was kinda fun ::laughter::

Hi Julia,

You played the 24 scenarios ? Wow, we owe you all our respect... I only played the first and then got distracted by my obsession of getting rid of the gate mechanics.

I do not play arkham so much anymore (... kind of sad...), but who knows what the future will be. Though, I am done (almost) with the Arkham of Madness, the mix between Arkham Horror, Mom and Arkham investigations. We shall see how it goes.

Avi, congratulations for releasing so much arkham work and stories.

best for you two guys.

amikezor said:

Thx Amikezor :-) Yeah, I finished all scenarios of the league ::panting:: It was a great experience :-)

I've read in the MoM forum you're almost done with Arkham of Madness. Seems like it could be a lot of fun :-) Is it seriously time demanding?

Julia said:

To play it ? No, like a MoM or an arkham game (more or less).

To create it ? Yes. Very time consuming. Though, I am happy with the result.

amikezor said:

::laughter:: yeah, I thought so. Ok then, 3 hours more or less for a game ;-)