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The Gathering: Part 3
Things just got a bit more complicated. Let's run through what's going on, step-by-step.
First, we were told to reveal the Parlor, meaning we flipped it to its revealed side. It no longer has the text preventing us from moving there, so we can get inside freely now. It also introduces two new actions that were hinted at earlier.
Resigning is an action that investigators can take when they need to exit the scenario. It's usually not the preferred outcome, as it means the players didn't manage to complete the Act deck, so it often leads to a less desirable resolution. However, if things are going south, and it looks like you might be defeated, running away might be your only option.
Parleying is another special action, which involves an investigator interacting with another character in a way other than combat. It usually involves a skill test, but what kind of test and what it results in is up to the scenario. Here, we're told that if we can successfully Parley with Lita Chantler, we'll gain control of her as an ally.
As for Lita, she's a very important asset in this scenario. Not only does she have a high health and sanity pool, she provides a passive bonus to all investigators when they fight at her location. We definitely want to prioritize picking her up as soon as possible.
But we've been neglecting the elephant in the room.
This is by far the strongest foe we've faced. With 4 Combat and 4 Agility, he's hard to hit and hard to evade, and his Hunter keyword means he'd just chase us down anyway. The Retaliate keyword is new, and it's nasty: if we attempt to fight the Priest while he's ready and engaged, and fail the skill test, he immediately attacks (and hits like a truck!) That's a massive health pool too - 5 health per player means it'll take 10 damage to knock him down.
The Prey keyword is also new, and functions as a tiebreaker. If we were to evade him and run away to different rooms, he'd go after the investigator who best fits his Prey instruction (highest Combat, in this case). Or if he has the choice of which investigator to engage, he'll go after his Prey first. So since he's spawned in the same room as us, he'll immediately engage with Roland, who has 5 Combat to Wendy's 1.
Okay, we're done with that Act card. Let's take a look at Act 3a, the final Act of this scenario:
No more hunting for clues, it's time to kill this thing or die trying. Or bravely run away, I suppose. Either way, the round is finally over, so it's on to the Mythos Phase.
Round 6
We're at 3/7 doom, and draw more encounter cards. Wendy gets Dissonant Voices again, so she won't be playing any assets or events this round (it's fine, we hadn't planned to anyway). Roland gets...
Crypt Chill! This one can be absolutely awful or kind of a nothingburger. It's worth noting that if you fail this test, you can pitch any asset you control, even useless ones - for example, if we still had that empty Flashlight, and failed, we could discard that instead of something useful like our gun. As it stands, we might as well try to succeed, especially since we've recently drawn a useful card to commit.
Guts is a staple card for most investigators, even if they don't use Willpower for their abilities, since so many treachery cards test your Will. Its two matching icons bring Roland up to one ahead, and Wendy will pitch in too, committing another copy of Rabbit's Foot from her hand for its wild icon.
A skull token is drawn, and with one ghoul enemy at our location it's a -1. Roland passes the test, and draws a card from Guts.
We could have Roland try to fight this thing, but let's see if Wendy can go and Parley with Rita Chantler first. Her Combat and damage boosts will give us a much easier time of dealing with this monster.
quote:
> Wendy moves to the Parlor.
> Wendy parleys, committing Perception and Flashlight.
This is an Intellect test, so let's commit a few cards that boost our Intellect. Perception is to Intellect as Guts is to Willpower, giving us a nice stat increase and an extra card if we succeed. (In case you're wondering about Dissonant Voices, it prevents us from playing assets or events, but we're allowed to commit them to tests).
A -1 result puts our final skill value at 5, well ahead of the target of 4. We take control of Rita, and draw a card for succeeding. Now let's get back and help out Roland.
quote:
> Wendy moves to the Hallway.
Right, let's try to kill this ghoul. Between the Machete, the Beat Cop, and Rita, Roland's fighting with a Combat stat of 7 against the Priest's target of 4. If we're lucky, we should be able to finish it off this turn.
quote:
> Roland activates Machete. Fights Ghoul Priest. Chaos token is a skull. Success! Ghoul Priest takes 3 damage.
The Ghoul Priest has the "Monster" trait, so Rita's ability kicks in, giving us an extra point of damage on top of the one from Machete.
quote:
> Roland activates Machete. Fights Ghoul Priest. Chaos token is a +1. Success! Ghoul Priest takes 3 damage.
> Roland activates Machete. Fights Ghoul Priest. Chaos token is a skull. Success! Ghoul Priest takes 3 damage.
Nine damage down, one to go. We could finish it off by fighting again next round, but why wait?
Our ally steps in to deal the final point of damage! Using the Beat Cop's ability is a free ability, so we can fire it off whenever it's needed.
With the Ghoul Priest dead, we've completed the objective on the final Act, so let's flip it over and see what happens.
Choices! Narrative structure! Okay, it's not exactly a world-changing decision, but it's our first example of an opportunity for the players to have a say in how the story unfolds. "R1" and "R2" indicate different resolutions, and depending on what we choose, we'll read a different ending for the scenario.
In this case, we're going with option two. Wendy doesn't care how many ghouls and ghastlies are lurking around, it's her house, dammit! Squatter's rights!
Resolution 2: You refuse to follow the overzealous woman’s order and kick her out of your home for fear that she will set it ablaze without your permission. “Fools! You are making a grave mistake!” she warns. “You do not understand the threat that lurks below…the grave danger we are all in!” Still shaken by the night’s events, you decide to hear the woman out. Perhaps she can shed some light on these bizarre events…but she doesn’t seem to trust you very much.
> In your Campaign Log, record that your house is still standing.
> The lead investigator earns 1 experience, as he or she refuses to let the night’s events destroy his or her life.
> Each investigator earns experience equal to the Victory X value of each card in the victory display (remember to add eligible locations to the victory display). Each investigator earns 2 bonus experience as he or she gains insight into the hidden world of the Mythos.
Here's our Victory Display - between the monsters we fought and the locations we investigated, we've earned 5 experience. The resolution also gives us two bonus XP, plus one for Wendy as the lead investigator.
Here's our Campaign Log:
Investigators
Roland Banks - 7 unspent XP
Wendy Adams - 8 unspent XP
Campaign Notes
your house is still standing
Next up, deckbuilding!