Play@YSDC

My plan in Turn 1 is for Jim to Aquire Assets--Revolver or Fishing Net would be useful--and move to Arkham, and then have an encounter in Arkham to gain a Spell? The 1st mystery requires 2 Clues per monster, so Jim could travel to London (Turn 2) and spawn a Clue?

I'll post the Warlock's image later. 1 Horror, -1 Combat, 1 Damage, 1 Toughness

Turn 1 Action Phase
T1 Gain Asset, Infl. 3 (1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=2), and move to Arkham.

He sits, with his back against ol' Marty's headstone, playing a mournful tune upon his trumpet. He stops and cocks his head to one side: "What's that ya saying? 'Sommit in the woods is stirring, and scarin' you folks?' " The conversation with Marty continues for hours, by the time he stops talking the musician is thoroughly alarmed.

Jim Culver walks into a pawn broker in downtown San Antonio. He browses the wares, and ends up peering into a glass cabinet behind the counter, inside it is a revolver.

"We don't sell firearms to coloureds," says the shopkeeper nervously.

Later that day he scrambles aboard a freight train which is travelling north to Arkham, Jim knows a Mrs. Beecher there who sells "magic." He has the feeling that he'll need all the help he can get.

Turn 1 Action Phase
Lily Chen kowtows low to the Grand Master Hu. The old man looks sixty, but he is reputedly much older than that. His long white beard tapers down to a point at his waist. "I have come, Grand Master," she says.

Grand Master Hu bows in return, slightly and stiffly. "You are my finest student, Miss Chen. Your discipline and your martial arts skills are unequaled. I believe you are ready."

"Ready for what, Grand Master?"

"The world is in peril. Forces beyond our knowledge are at work. The fabric between worlds is weakening, and terrible things are coming through from Outside. If it is not stopped, the world will drown in a sea of blood. The cancer that is Shub-Niggurath will overwhelm us all - unless you can stop it."

"But Grand Master, surely my skills pale in comparison to yours. Why can you not do this?"

"I am a very old man, too old to travel - and much travel will be required before this is done. Besides, I have other engagements."

"Other engagements?"

"I must prepare for a mah-jongg tournament," the Grand Master says with a straight face. Lily knows that he has an odd sense of humor, and that he is probably kidding. Probably.

"What must I do, Grand Master?"

"Hunt down and destroy the spawn of Shug-Niggurath. You will find both the spawn of the goat, humans tranmogrified into monstrous forms, as well as the Dark Young, which resemble ambulatory trees. There are a thousand of them, it is said."

"And I must destroy them all?"

"Not all, not by yourself. There are others throughout the world doing the same work. You must destroy enough to weaken Shub-Niggurath. Then it will be forced to reveal its hand. But you must be swift. Even now rifts open between the worlds. Right here in Shanghai, the warlock Li Xiao has opened up a gateway to another world, down by the docks. I can feel its power, and I think you can too. He must be slain, and the gate closed, lest monstrous things come through into our world, into our city."

"I will do my best, Grand Master."

"When you are done here, there is another source of power I have detected in the South Atlantic. It may be worth investigating. Good luck, Miss Chen. All mankind is counting on you."

Lily bows again, then leaves the Grand Master's mansion. First she goes downtown to the marketplace to shop for supplies, but the prices are too high for her to afford. Shrugging, she heads for the docks. She books passage on a ship that leaves Shanghai tomorrow before beginning her search for the portal.

OOC,Action 1: Acquire Assets failed (no successes). Action 2: Prepare for Travel (Ship Ticket gained).

Turn 1 Encounter Phase

T1 decode a note, Lore 3 (1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=2)--that's 6d6 I've rolled so far without getting a 5 or 6.


Jim Culver knocks at Mrs. Beecher's door, again. Still no answer. He decides to wander around Arkham and soon finds himself outside Miskatonic University library. He strolls in and up to the information desk. "I'm looking for a book on hidden knowledge, unusual stuff?" he asks a matronly receptionist.

She lowers her half-moon spectacles and allows them to dangle from the cord round her neck. She surveys Jim, and then says: "Take a seat over there, sir,"--indicating a desk--"and I'll see what we've got in the restricted section."

He pores over an esoteric tome, in it he finds a passage, with handwritten notes scrawled in the margin, about courage, your own and others; the passage is printed in non-rhyming, staccato verse. Jim clicks off his green shaded reading lamp, and carefully tears out the page from the tome. He hears a cough and guiltily shoots a glance at the receptionist--she is swaying, naked, all of the unattractive parts of her body dimpled and wobbling.

"Sir,"--a voice as if from far away--"sir, I also found this," says the receptionist, fully clothed, holding out a book to Jim.

Turn 1 Encounter Phase
Lily Chen makes her way through the alleys near the docks, following her instincts. She can feel the power of the otherworldly portal from here, and the hairs on the back of her neck start to stand on end. She is drawn to one warehouse in particular. It doesn't look any different from the other buildings surrounding it, but she knows there is something terrible within - something she must confront.

She tries a small door on the side of the building but finds it locked, A swift kick remedies that, and she slips inside. She proceeds down a narrow corridor and around a corner, where she comes face to face with a man in a long robe with a conical straw hat the obscures his face. "You are trespassing," he says in a gravelly voice.

"That makes two of us, Li Xiao," she replies.

"So you know who I am. Then you must die." He extends his hands, the fingertips of which crackle with blue lightning.

Lily is taken aback, but she is confident that the amulet she wears around her neck can protect her. "Oh, so you're one of those. This should be fun." She runs up the wall as the warlock gestures and sends twin bolts of electricity through the spot where she had been standing. Then she does a backflip and lands behind him, but he whirls around with great speed and shoots more lightning right at her! She cannot get out of the way, and one of the bolts zaps her in the shoulder. Realizing that she is outmatched, she darts through a door into the interior of the warehouse, where the sensation was drawing her.

OOC,Will test passed (barely, only thanks to the Protective Amulet). Fight test failed, even after using a reroll from the Lucky Rabbit's Foot. :cry: 1 damage taken. I hope my Other World Encounter goes better.

I hope my Other World Encounter goes better.

No encounter if a monster is on your space.


Clue spawned at Istanbul.

Jim can easily reach space 8 and has a Clue, he'll divert there in Turn 2 and solve the Rumor? And he'll try again for an Asset?

Oh, and who is to be the Lead Investigator?

Turn 2 Action Phase
Lily Chen runs through the warehouse, unable to search for the portal while Li Xiao pursues her. "Flee, little girl!" he cackles. "Flee from the power of Li Xiao!" Another bolt of lightning sizzles past her.

Finally, Lily finds an exit from the warehouse and dashes out into the relative safety of the streets and alleys of Shanghai. She makes her way back to Grand Master Hu's mansion and comes before him, hanging her head in shame. "I have failed, Grand Master," she says, prostrating herself on the floor. "My Kung Fu is weak."

"You insult my teaching abilities," said Grand Master Hu.

"No, Grand Master, I did not mean...It was my own fault. I could not get close enough to him. He shoots lightning from his fingertips!"

"Ah. One of those."

"Yes. I am worthless."

The Grand Master kneels in front of Lily and lifts up her chin. "No, my prize pupil, you are of tremendous worth, and you shall prove it. Meditate, refresh yourself, and try again. You have not failed until you are dead."

Lily lifts up her head. "Yes, Grand Master. I shall do as you say."

"Once you have succeeded - and you shall - you should take the train to Istanbul. I have sensed a disturbance there that bears investigating."

Lily retires to a meditation chamber, where she goes into a healing trance. Her injuries mend rapidly, but she is still shaken from her experience. Then she goes to the train station and purchases a ticket, but she is not yet ready to leave Shanghai. She has unfinished business.

OOC,Action 1: Component Action - Heal 1 Health, lose 1 Sanity. Action 2: Prepare for Travel: Acquire Train Ticket.

Turn 2 Action Phase
Action 1: T2 Acquire Assets Influ. 3 (1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=6) + gain a Debt Condition to acquire Intelligence Report and therefore 2 Clues. (Whiskey added to the reserve.)

Action 2: Move from Arkham to space 8.

Jim Culver spots an empty bench where he can pause and think, it is situated on the wharfside of Arkham docks. A seagull walks, very cautiously, towards him, and pecks at a discarded bag of chips which lie upon the cobblestones beside his feet. His attention is caught by a white line chalked on the ground, and his gaze follows it to a brick wall where it connects with three lines and an arrow, the arrow points at a wide crack in the side of a warehouse into which sailcloth has been stuffed. Returning to the bench with the sailcloth, he unwraps it and discovers a sheaf of documents.

During pagan rites, Shub-Niggurath absorbs worthy cultists into her amorphous body and transforms then into gof'nn hupadgh Shun-Niggurath, the goat spawn. From the wildest corners of the earth, her primal brood, the dark young, emerge to overwhelm humanity.

He stares at the waves, mulling over the words and those hints which he had heard from the dead back in San Antonio. Eventually he succumbs to a kind of stupor, and falls asleep. He dreams of the life of an insane wizard thousands of years ago in Atlantis. He also dreams that the same wizard is still alive today on an uncharted island.

"Any good?" says an old salt who looks like Captain Ahab.

"Eh?" says Jim.

"That trumpet of yers, can you carry a tune, boy?" Jim simply stares at the old salt, waiting for him to continue or go away. "Name's Burdock, Captain Burdock of the S.S. Monterey. We're steaming down to the Bermudas, and need a willing hand. What d'ya say?"

Jim Culver stands to address Captain Burdock and affects a subservient tone of voice, "I'm a mighty fine trumpet player and a hard worker, boss."

Burdock grins. "You're hired!"

Turn 2 Encounter Phase
Lily Chen makes her way back to the warehouse at night, dressed all in black. Instead of using an obvious entrance, she scales the wall and climb up onto the roof. There she finds a ventilation grille, which she opens, and wriggles her slender body inside. Stealth will succeed where brute force failed last time, she thinks. She crawls through the shafts, following her instincts and sounds, until she comes to an interior grating. Peeking through, she sees a darkened room lit only by five candles at the points of a pentagram in the middle of the floor. Li Xiao sits cross-legged in the center of it, chanting under his breath. I will not be afraid, she thinks as she quietly removes the grating, places it beside the opening, and slides into the room. The warlock does not hear her. She slips behind him and raises her arm, bringing it down in a swift chopping motion on the back of his neck. He falls without a sound.

OOC,Will test passed. Fight test passed. Warlock defeated. Last time I hadn't noticed that he has Strength - 1, but I had missed then anyway. This time I took it into account. Now I can try my Other World Encounter.

Back to the monster cup Mr. Warlock

Turn 2 Encounter Phase
The body of Li Xiao knocks over one of the candles as it topples, and a wind starts to pick up impossibly in the middle of the room. "Oops!" says Lily. She tries to leave, but she bumps into an invisible barrier. The wind grows fiercer, and soon Lily is being whirled around. The candles are all blown out, and she is plunged into darkness.

A line of pale light appears in one direction, and Lily heads towards it. This time nothing stops her. She discovers that the light is coming from underneath a door, which she pushes open. To her shock, she sees that she is no longer in the warehouse, but in some ancient, decaying castle. A window looks out over a vast lake, and somehow there are two suns in the sky! She is almost overcome with panic, but she feels better after squeezing her lucky rabbit's foot. She turns around to run back through the door, but it is no longer there, replaced with a blank wall. Lily takes a deep breath and starts to meditate, recalling her training. She speaks an incantation that Grand Master Hu had taught her once, which he had told her could open and close mystic gateways. The wall gradually fades to reveal the pentagram room in the warehouse, complete with the dead warlock. The exit is framed in shimmering light. She rushes through, then speaks the incantation backwards. The shimmering portal dissolves, replaced by the warehouse wall. In her heart she knows that the presence of evil has been cleansed from this place. It is her first victory, but she knows that there is a difficult road ahead.

OOC,Hoody hoo! Gate closed! :D

Excellent work, Miss Chen.

ooc,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4699514/]T2 Rumor, Obs. 2 (1d6=6, 1d6=3)[/url] + spend 1 Clue to solve the Rumor.

Willis, the cabin boy, moves his checker piece on to Jim’s side of the board and pumps his fist in the air. “I got ya, Mr. Culver!”

“Sure have, young man,” says Jim, and claps the boy’s arm. The S.S. Monterey tilts as the ship slides into a deep trough in the stormy Caribbean Sea. The nets, which contain foodstuffs,—tins and suchlike—knock against a bulkhead, also, Harper stumbles into the galley—Jim has the unpleasant feeling that Harper has been watching them for some time.

Harper lifts Willis’ shirttail. “You ‘championed’ the cabin boy yet, Jimmy? Or made friends with the chink cook?”

“Screw you, Harper,” hisses Jim, and thumps at the hand; Willis, his eyes rolling in terror of his tormentor, has not tried to free himself from Harper’s grip, or moved at all even. There is a brief struggle between Jim and Harper. In the aftermath of the fight Harper’s forearm is locked in a half-nelson round Jim’s neck, sweat glistens on the arm’s skin beneath its coarse hairs; both men gasp with exhausted, stertorous breath.

“You leave Mr. Culver be!” cries Willis.

“I’m gonna break his fuckin’ fingers. Messin’ with my meat, who the hell d’ya think you are? Don’t ya know your place, ni——”

“HARPER!” shouts Captain Burdock, “Harper, get the hell outta here, or I’ll have you tied to the mainmast and get Culver to lash you with the cat’. Would you like that, Harper?”

“No, Cap’n,” he says, and flees the galley, as does Willis.

“You alright, Culver?” asks Burdock.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he answers, rubbing his neck. Jim looks more lively and says: “Thank you, boss.”

“I can’t show any favour to you over a white fella,” says Burdock harshly, “even if he be scum like Harper, but I need you, Culver, and so long as you work hard aboard the S.S Monterey you’re one of my crew, and no-one messes with my men.” Jim nods. “Now,” continues Burdock, “we’ve sighted land and it ain’t supposed to be there,—not according to the charts anyway—so let’s get up top and see what’s what.”

Turn 2 Mythos Phase

Omen advances (blue constellation

Turn 3 Action Phase
Lily returns to Grand Master Fu's mansion and greets him again, this time with a huge smile on our face.

"Well done, my student," he tells her. "I knew my faith in you was not misplaced. I could feel the potal being sealed. I have taught you well."

"You have, Grand Master," says Lily, "though I was more lucky than anything. If not for my rabbit's foot, I would likely have failed."

"You put entirely too much stock in that trinket, and you sell yourself short. It did not do the rabbit much good, and it had four of them."

"I leave for Istanbul on the morrow."

Grand Master Fu nods. "After you are done there, you may find something else of interest in the South Indian Ocean. But do not get overconfident, nor should you rest easy. When one door closes, another opens. The barrier between worlds has weakened in San Francisco, and something horrible and powerful has come through. It must be destroyed, but you are not ready to face it yet. I wish you success in your travels, Lily."

"Thank you, Grand Master."
Lily arrives in Istanbul after a long journey by rail through India and the Middle East. She has never left China before, and the foreign city fascinates her. Upon arrival, she hires a ship in advance in anticipation of the next leg of her journey.

OOC,[b]Lily[/b] remains Lead Investigator Action 1: Travel (Shanghai->17->Istanbul [Train Ticket]) Action 2: Prepare for Travel (Acquire Ship Ticket) The Shoggoth is the key to solving that first mystery, and we're better off beating it sooner rather than later. We should use the Agency Quarantine on San Francisco rather than fighting it directly, as the mystery says that the active investigator can spend two Clues when a non-Epic monster is defeated, regardless of how it is done. It does four damage, exactly enough to kill the Shoggoth, which has four Toughness, exactly enough to solve the mystery. Encounters in Tokyo might allow it to be defeated as well, but that's far from a certainty, and they might not do enough damage. I still need two Clues before I can try to get the Agency Quarantine. I'll go for the one in Istambul this turn, and next turn I can head to 18 if there isn't something closer. That would put me in Sydney on Turn 5 at the earliest. You could actually try to get the Agency Quarantine in Buenos Aires this turn, but then you'd have two Debt conditions, and the next Mythos card will almost certainly have a Reckoning. Or if you pay your Debt off there this turn, you could try to Acquire Assets next turn, then quickly pay off the new Debt if you get one.

You are dead right about the Mystery, Agency Quarantine and Shoggoth. One thing, Jim cannot have 2 of the same Condition, so I will continue as planned, and then Acquire Assets Turn 4.

Edit re. Lily's T3 Action: You can gain a Ship Ticket only if the city is connected to a Ship path.



Turn 3 Action Phase
Move to Buenos Aires + T2 discard Debt, Influ. 3 (1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=5)

The S.S. Monterey steams into Buenos Aires, it is a fine, windless day, a trail of black smoke stretches from their ship's funnel to the horizon behind them in the Mid-Atlantic.

"You steppin' ashore, Mr. Culver?" asks Willis, with a tremulous voice.

"I've got to see some people about a debt. I won't be too long," he adds reassuringly. Jim can see that the cabin boy is in a nervous state. "Look, Willis, I've gotta go, it's important. I've spoken with Ho Sien and you can stay with him in the galley while I'm gone, he understands . . . and has a cleaver, just the thing to remove Harper's guts." Jim smiles and eventually Willis does too.

Turn 3 Action Phase
Lily finds that no ships are bound through the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean, so she instead visits the marketplace. She passes through a large open air bazaar filled with wondrous sights and smells. She goes inside a pawn shop, identifiable by the image of three balls known the world over, and peruses the wares. An old revolver in a display case attracts her attention.

"That was carried by an Ottoman officer during the Great War," says the shopkeeper, a man named Kemal, noticing her interest. Fortuitously, they both speak English. "He had been forced to pawn it when he fell upon hard times. But what use would that be for a lady such as yourself? I have a collection of fine jewelry that would suit you much better."

"I am but a helpelss woman, traveling on my own," says Lily with a straight face. "I need it for protection."

The two of them have a good haggle over the price, soon coming to an agreement on a figure with which she can live. It comes with a holster and a box of bullets. "A pleasure doing business with you, Miss."

"Likewise." Lily loads the revolver and puts it in the holster, which she attaches to her belt, as she leaves the store.

OOC,Action 2 Replacement: Acquire Assets (Revolver acquired). I saw the Encounter in the Image Bank before the spoiler button was posted, but I was going to Acquire Assets as my replacement Action anyway. I'd been wanting to do that the whole game.

Turn 3 Encounter Phase
No sooner has Lily emerged from the pawnshop than she is met with a horrifying sight! Even her rabbit's foot is no comfort. A policeman lies bleeding to death in the alley beside the store. Crouching over him is a woman with goat-like features, gnawing on his flesh. Before she can react or even draw her revolver, the goat woman rushes her, clawing at her and slamming her into the wall as she rushes past. By the time Lily recovers, the creature is gone.

OOC,Blast! :cry: That could not have gone any worse.

Re. "Spawn a Goat Spawn monster," is it still around in Istanbul? I found in the Reference Guide that [only?] monsters who Ambush during an Encounter are discarded, defeated or not.

.45 Automatic added to the reserve.

Yes, the more I think on it, the Goat Spawn still haunts Istanbul.


Turn 3 Encounter Phase

T3 learn about Yig, Lore 3 (1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=1)


On return to the docks and his ship, Jim strolls along Barrio Norte avenue and admires the palatial buildings. An old woman tugs on his jacket's sleeve.

"El músico negro. Vamos, vamos!" she says. Her eyes implore Jim to do as he is bid. Chance meetings can lead to significant events . . . so he goes along with the old woman.

In the cellar a party is in full swing, the rhythm of the music and dancers, and the Fernet beer, with its distinct, licorice flavour, combine to create a hypnotic atmosphere. The old woman scribbles upon a newspaper and hands it to a flapper who sports a fashionable, bobbed haircut and wears a satin dress. The flapper reads the scribbles and then whirls round and round like a dervish, her eyes sparkle, and then flame, she laughs exultantly as she spins faster and faster.

Jim picks up the newspaper from where the flapper had let it fall, beneath the scribbles he sees a disturbing photograph of a snake-like gargantua. . . .

Wow, that's an awesome Spell! If we ever meet, you should cast it on me.

Done!

Jim will do exactly as you have said in Turn 4.


Omen advance (blue constellation [left]).
Cultist spawned on Space 10.

T3 Reckoning: Hallucination Condition (1d6=5, 1d6=2, 1d6=1)
Gate spawned at Rome (red sun) + Cultist.

Omen advance, counterclockwise (red sun), Doom advance by 1.

What is Lily's plan? Mmmmm, maybe rest in Istanbul and ?, and then kill the Goat Spawn and have a Clue Encounter; or maybe move to Rome and ?, and then kill the Cultist and have a Gate Encounter. And who is the Lead Investigator?--I cannot see that it matters at the moment. . . .

Edit: re. my suggestion, an Inv. cannot rest in a space with a monster.

Turn 4 Action Phase
Lily Chen resolves to leave Istanbul, realizing that she's not ready to face what's here. She also is starting to feel the disturbances caused by the rifts, and she can sense that there is one in Rome. She takes a relaxing ride on the Orient Express. At least nothing horrible could ever happen on the Orient Express! she thinks. She gets off in Venice and transfers to a different train heading to Rome, where she makes arrangements for further travel.

OOC,[b]Lily[/b] remains Lead Investigator Action 1: Travel (Istanbul -> Rome) Action 2: Prepare for Travel (Acquire Ship Ticket) I'm not going to stick around and try to fight the Goat Spawn again in my current condition. If I beat the Cultist, then I'll be able to Rest in Rome on Turn 5 before heading back to Istanbul. That Cultist has to go before it turns into something worse, and I need to try to do something about the Gate.

Turn 4 Action Phase
A change of plan for Jim, he will cast Feed the Mind Spell to improve his Influence, and then Acquire Assets.
T4 Feed the Mind, Lore 3 -1 (1d6=2, 1d6=1)--shit. Card flipped, 0-2: "Your mind is filled with gibberish, repeating endlessly. Discard this card unless you lose 2 Sanity." Cast Instill Bravery, T4 Instill Bravery, Lore 3 (1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=2)--ho hum. Card flipped, 0 : "Your malformed magic etc. If you did not roll any 4's, discard this card." Best laid plans and all that, 2 Sanity lost. T4 Acquire Assets, Influ. 3 (1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=6)--only 1 success so Jim chooses the Whiskey. (Asset replaced by Tear Gas.)

JIM finds a quiet corner of the cellar where there is another man, who is either asleep or unconscious, slumped upon a chair. He reads aloud the scribbles upon the newspaper he had picked up:

"Detenga todos los relojes, corte el teléfono,
Evitar que el perro ladre con un hueso jugoso,
Silence los pianos y con redobles en sordina
Llevar a cabo el ataúd, dejar que los dolientes."

He repeats the words over and over, seemingly endlessly . . . and then with a start Jim realises he had been dreaming, although, now awake, he feels confused and the words still echo in his mind; he holds his head with his hands and blows through his teeth. He remembers the page he tore from the esoteric book in Miskatonic University library. Pulling the folded paper from his pocket he reads aloud the verse, but, once again, slips into a dream: a stone corridor in which a woman holds up a cross to keep at bay a tentacled demon, but he has mangled the magic words and nothing happens. Jim Culver takes a pull at a Whisky bottle, which is stood beside the sleeping man's leg, and emits a gasp of alcoholic relief.

Casting, or trying to , Feed the Mind Spell counts as my first Action.

Turn 4 Encounter Phase
Lily's instincts lead her into the catacombs beneath Rome. Carrying a flashlight, she trudges through seemingly endless stygian caves, drawn in a particular direction. Finally, she comes across a door that fills an archway. The door is not ancient at all, but seems to have been constructed in the last century or so. It appears to have been locked, but a swift kick sends it flying open! Beyond it lies a small room with bizarre carvings on the walls. A man in a black priest's outfit turns, startled, as she makes her entrance, dropping the candle he carries, which is promptly snuffed out.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" demands Lily.

"Why, I'm Father Giueseppe, of the Jesuit Order," he says, collecting himself. "I might ask you the same question, young lady."

"I asked you two questions, and you answered only one. I am here to battle evil. I can feel it in this room."

"Ah, yes, so am I. Perhaps we can...work together. These carvings are the key to some sort of portal, but I cannot decipher them. Look here." He indicates a line of arcane symbols engraved in the wall opposite him.

Lily studies them, but they mean nothing to her. "They look like gibberish to me." A sixth sense causes her to glance behind her, just in time to see the priest lunging at her, clutching a wicked-looking obsidian dagger. She nimbly whirls aside, striking him from behind and sending him crashing into the wall. Father Giuseppe - if that is his real name - collapses in a heap with a horrified expression on his face. The hilt of the dagger juts out from his abdomen, where it appears he has accidentally stabbed himself when he collided with the wall. He mutters some sort of chant under his breath as his lifeblood spills onto the floor, which seems to eagerly soak it up. A whirling black vortex appears on the rear wall of the chamber, growing wider. Somehow Lily knows that the priest's death, combined with his chant, has opened a portal to another world. An irresistable force pulls her into it!

Lily finds herself in a vast alien library, bookshelves stretching up into mist above so thick that she cannot see the ceiling. Again she lets her instincts be her guide, and they lead her to a book with yellowing pages bound in black leather. She opens it up and looks through it, but it is incomprehensible. She cannot figure out the ritual it describes that would seal the gate. She feels only despair. Strange forms fly in and out of the wall, forms that she realizes are not real. In a state of panic, she races down a spiral staircase, somehow keeping her footing. It seems to go on forever. Without being sure how she got there, she once again finds herself in the small room in the catacombs with the dead priest.

OOC,Whoops! I hadn't realized that Feed Your Mind was an Action. Where was that combat roll when I needed it earlier? Cultist is killed. Hallucinations Condition gained. The Gate is still open. :cry:

I've been logged out of Invisible Castle and am unable to re-register.

Turn 4 Will test after watching The King in Yellow [dice]3d6[/dice]

Edit: I re-read Carnage-lee's post and see that I need to request the dice roller to be active, PM sent.

[dice]0[/dice]

Turn 4 Encounter Phase


JIM pauses outside the Cervantes Theatre. A matinee performance of The King in Yellow in English is about to commence, he does not need to be back aboard ship for several hours--"The cabin boy will be alright, won't he?"--so Jim steps inside.

The plush seats are worn and dirty, and empty of anyone; Jim plonks himself down on the back row. The curtains part, all goes dark, and then the footlights illuminate a figure.

"I am Lou Cifre, your narrator," he announces, and proceeds to describe an ancient city inhabited by intelligent, pink insect-like beings. . . . During the play a scholar, surrounded by thick tomes, is surprised by a monstrous automaton. As the scholar is devoured by the mantis, its mandibles tearing and pointed legs pricking, he shouts in ecstasy:

"Carl, oh Carl, the burning of a thousand kisses!"

Advance the Omen: (blue constellation [left hand]).
Resolve Reckoning Effects: Goat Spawn spawned Space 10 and Cultist discarded; Ghost spawned Space 2; Hallucinations Condition: Lily and Jim test Will.

Turn 4 Mythos Phase
As Lily makes her way back through the catacombs, she catches a glimpse of the impossible horrors she had seen in the other world.

OOC,Yep, I'm still rolling horribly.

Jim Culver, Turn 4 Mythos: Hallucinations Condition: Reckoning: Will 3 [dice]0[/dice]

Lily's Hallucination card flipped: --she is rapidly going insane!
Turn 4 Mythos continued.
Spawn Gate: Tokyo (blue constellation) + Cthonian -> Heart of Africa.

Event: Active Expedition moved to Antarctica.

Turn 5? Jim to Acquire Assets and Ship Ticket, encounter in Buenos Aires? Lily could go insane by fighting a Goat Spawn, it may be a good idea to start over and your new Investigator to encounter the loony Miss Chen?

It's funny that the earthquake struck in the Heart of Africa and the Monster that spawned (which appeared there) happened to be a Chthonian. It's amazing how fitting that was!

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

I'm sure that Lily will succeed in the end. You can be the Active Investigator, it occurred to me, however, that it could be risky if there is a nasty Mythos card. . . .

Turn 5 Action Phase
Lily Chen suddenly feels something crawling on her skin. Shining the torch on her arm, she sees to her horror that it is crawling with disgusting insects! She can feel them on her legs, on her face. She screams in terror, and they crawl into her mouth! In a panic, she flees through the catacombs, eventually emerging into the light of day. She brushes furiously at her flesh, only to see that the bugs are gone - and in fact had never been there.

Lily returns to her hotel room and enters a meditative trance, slowing her breathing. When at last she feels better, she goes to the port of Ostia and boards a ship bound for the southern Indian Ocean to follow up on what she had felt coming from that direction.

OOC,I'll have to take my chances. [b]Lily[/b] remains Lead Investigator Action 1: Rest (Gain 1 Stamina, 1 Sanity) Action 2: Travel (Rome->10->15 [Ship Ticket]->18 [Ship Ticket])

Jim Culver, Turn 5 Action Phase. Acquire Assets: Influence 3 [dice]0[/dice]

Hooray! Debt Condition + 2 successes: Agency Quarantine acquired, Shoggoth defeated in San Francisco, 2 Clues spent to place Monster upon the Mystery.

Lantern added to the Reserve--this is a fab item for its price.

Change of plan, Jim will try and discard the Debt Condition, Influence 3 [dice]0[/dice]

Turn 5 Action Phase

In the Cervantes Theatre Jim has to stand from his plush seat to allow a group of bowler-hatted fellows to pass, but, most uncomfortably for Jim, they sit down beside him, lounging nonchalantly; this despite there being row upon row of empty seats.

"My name is Agent McAdams," says square shoulders, introducing himself.

"Jim Culver."

"Sir," continues McAdams earnestly, "there is so little time, I'll 'cut to the chase.' We have a twin-engined, fully fueled aeroplane waiting at Jorge Newbery Airport, ready to take me and my men anywhere . . . just give us the word."

Jim closes his eyes, he can hear the swish of a mop as a stage hand clears up the sticky remains of the scholar who was devoured during the performance of The King in Yellow. "San Francisco," he says, "go to San Francisco and destroy the slug-beast."

"Consider it done, sir."

Turn 5 Encounter Phase
As the steamer chugged through the South Indian Ocean en route to Sydney, Australia, Lily stood on deck at the rail, all of her senses tingling. One of the other passengers stands nearby: a short, furtive man who had told her he wanted to speak to her on deck alone. Naturally suspicious, she approaches him without alerting him to her presence and notices a skull-shaped ring on his hand. She recognizes the symbol as that of the Order of the Death's Head, a secret society that she knows to resort to assassination. So they are involved in this, she thinks, and most likely following me. Forewarned, she avoids the man for the rest of the voyage.

OOC,Clue gained! :D Nicely done solving the first Mystery! It's about time we caught a break.

Jim Culver Turn 5 Encounter Phase. ". . . hissing voices in the dark." Obs. (-1) [dice]0[/dice]

Turn 5 Encounter Phase


The subway car stops and Jim alights to the curb; it pulls away. He turns round, wondering which way back to the docks and his ship. Water trickles into a drain on the roadside, the falling water hisses as if it is splashing upon a subterranean stove. He focuses upon the sound and can discern whispers, he pulls out a pencil stub, licks its point, and scribbles the phrases upon the back of an envelope.

Turn 5 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: green comet. Doom advances 1 down to 11.
Monster Surge: Wraith spawned San Francisco, effect: Lead Investigator gains a Cursed Condition.

Spawn Clues: Antarctica.

Hunting the Thousand: Mystery solved.

Let's have Jim as the Lead Investigator Turn 6. No matter if you haven't time to post. Suggestions: Jim could deal with the Wraith, he has Shrivelling and a bonus in Combat and Lantern (soon), while Lily picks up a Clue and makes her way to London? or how about we team up in Buenos Aires, but first Jim picks up a Clue Space 12, together we'd have 2 Clues, and then we destroy the Wraith before moving on to London?

The Mystery card says only one Investigator can fight the Goat Spawn and spend the two Clues.

In EH you can trade Clues.

I desire the Lantern, so my plan Turn 6 is Acquire Assets and gain a Ship Ticket, and have another encounter in Buenos Aires. Turn 7 move to San Francisco and cast Poison Mist, destroy the Wraith and encounter the Gate. I suggest that Lily ought to go for the Clue at Istanbul Turn 7, so in Turn 6 go to Cape Town and gain a Train Ticket.

Jim Culver Turn 6 Action Phase: cast Conjuration Spell 3 +1 [dice]0[/dice]

acquired from the reserve, replaced by .18 Derringer and Syndicate Agent.

Conjuration Spell card flipped, 2+: Matter bends to your will and reshapes itself as you desire. No additional effect.

2nd Action: gain a Ship Ticket.



Jim speaks aloud the phrase he had just scribbled upon the envelope, there is a flash but no thunder like a gun has been fired next to his ear and he cannot hear anything except a low, musical "ping" sound. Blue lightning runs in tangles along the tram cables above the street, and then strikes the ground at his feet so that his boots glow and spark. The Ritual ends; Jim's hearing returns; there are screams and the sound of fleeing footsteps as panic overwhelms the pedestrians, "Jesucristo, huir!" Bewildered, he looks around the, now, empty street. Scattered on the sidewalk are newspapers, an umbrella, a still smoking pipe, a ladies shoe, and a lantern and flask-like canister.

Cape Town has no rail connection, so I can't get a Train Ticket there.

Doh!--imagine a Homeresque exclamation. Carry on to Sydney and improve Lily's Strength. I don't want to gain a Debt Condition so I'll pass on the .45 Automatic; hopefully, when Jim fights the Wraith he'll succeed--there is a good chance: Shriveling + Combat of 2d6--which I can reroll . . . .

Turn 6 Action Phase
Lily Chen disembarks when the ship arrives in Sydney harbor, the majestic Opera House drawing her attention. She wastes no time in checking into a hotel and again entering a trance to calm and heal herself.

OOC,Action 1: Travel (18->Sydney) Action 2: Rest (Gain 1 Stamina, 1 Sanity) Actually, you can't get a Bank Loan anyway, since that only applies to an Acquire Assets action, and you used Conjuration. Not only that, but Conjuration only allows you to gain one Item or Trinket, not two, of value equal to or less than the test result, which was 2. This means you can't get both the Lantern and the Tear Gas. However, you could get the .45 automatic instead. I recommend that. Poison Mist plus Shriveling should be enough to take down the Wraith, as long as you succeed at those Lore rolls.

Actually, you can't get a Bank Loan anyway, since that only applies to an Acquire Assets action, and you used Conjuration. Not only that, but Conjuration only allows you to gain one Item or Trinket, not two, of value equal to or less than the test result, which was 2. This means you can't get both the Lantern and the Tear Gas. However, you could get the .45 automatic instead. I recommend that.

Everything you said is correct; Tear Gas put back in Reserve and Syndicate Agent returned to the deck. I am sticking with the Lantern though.

ooc,Oooo, I wanted a Spell, I'm due for Blessing of Isis, which would of helped us out. And your card is a toughie, ho hum!

Turn 6 Encounter Phase: Buenos Aires

The lad coming towards Jim suffers from a nervous tic; one half of his face has dropped but the other twitches, his eyebrow trying to hide in his untidy fringe. "Mister," he says in heavily accented English, "I am a student at the university, it has a copy of the," he looks behind himself, back down the street, and all around, "Necromonicon."

"I've heard of it," answers Jim, wondering what it is about him that attracts oddballs.

"If you share what you know, I will, in exchange, share what I have learned."

Jim doubts the student's story. "I'm sorry, Pedro, but I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Turn 6 Encounter Phase
Lily sets off into the bush outside the city to do some exploring. Suddenly, she catches sight of a fire ahead. She instinctively turns and runs, but there is fire behind her now too. She tries to flee another way, but she is inexplicably slowed and weakened, and the flames seem to be everywhere. Drawing on all of her reserves, including some she didn't know she had, and clutching her lucky rabbit's foot, she finds a way to get to safety!

OOC,Woohoo! 8-) Strength improves twice!

Rolling a 5 and then 6, lucky and excellent result!

Turn 6 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: blue constellation

Jim should definitely stay Lead Investigator.

Ooops, that was our plan, for Jim to destroy the Wraith--juggling several housekeeping jobs for the game means I forget simple stuff. How about if Lily kills the Elder Thing, (Jim'll cast Instill Bravery if needed), and has an expedition encounter; Turn 8 move to Buenos Aries; Turn 9 move to Arkham and team up with Jim, who'll have a Clue, he can trade it to Lily; Turn 10 she can move to London and solve the Mystery?

Jim Culver, Turn 7 Action Phase

Action 1: Move from Buenos Aires to San Francisco (spending his Ship Ticket).
Action 2: Cast Shriveling, Lore 3 + Blessed [dice]0[/dice]

Jim has had an eventful stay in Buenos Aires, and now, before the gangplank of the S.S. Monterey, he hangs his head with exhaustion. He jumps when a hand rests upon his shoulder; it is the local priest.

"Have faith my child," he tells Jim. "Your good works have not gone unseen. Your brave acts are making a difference." Behind the priest is a nun who is holding a shepherdess's crook, she lowers it to above Jim's head like he is to be knighted, and then says a benediction. With a spring in his step Jim boards the ship.

He seeks out Willis, the cabin boy. "You okay?" Jim asks, when he finds him in the galley.

"Yes, Mr. Culver," says Willis happily, looking up from a mess of fishing net he is untangling.

~

The S.S. Monterey steams up the Pacific coast of South America, calls in at Panama, and then continues to San Francisco. As the ship puffs past Alcatraz Island Captain Burdock, in the wheelhouse, shouts down to Jim: "There's gonna be a bridge built here, right across the bay!"

"Hard to believe, sir," replies Jim, gazing overboard at the shoreline.

Shortly afterwards the S.S. Monterey berths in dock. A thick fog envelopes the ship and within moments Jim is drenched, so he goes hunting for a sou'wester. He climbs the ladder up to the wheelhouse. "Hey, Captain---" Jim's question is cut short, Burdock is lying on the deck jerking spasmodically, and atop him is a grotesque harridan plunging away as if she is making love; it is the most revolting spectacle Jim has ever witnessed. Her balding head turns to Jim and she snarls, revealing rancid gums and red, wet teeth. "Be gone," wards Jim, and proceeds to chant words that ol' Marty taught him back home in San Antonio. The Wraith is blasted by the magic spell, thrown against the bulkhead, one of its arms shrivels and curls like a burning twig. It is not destroyed however, and attempts to rise. . . .

OOC:   Two wounds dealt to the Wraith's Health, its Toughness reduced to 1.

Shrivelling card flipped, 0-1: The ritual echoes in your head until it becomes gibberish. Discard this card unless you lose 2 Sanity. Card kept but Whisky discarded.

Turn 7 Action Phase
Lily Chen books passage on a ship bound for South America and departs from Sydney Harbor.

OOC,Action 1: Prepare for Travel (Ship Ticket acquired) Action 2: Travel (Sydney->Antarctica->12[Ship Ticket]) I'd better not take a chance on Antarctica, just in case you don't defeat the Wraith this turn. The Elder Thing could drive me completely loopy if Instill Bravery fails, and even if it doesn't, I still might fail to kill it even without the curse. Nothing is guarding the Clue in Space 12. If I get it, I can then make Buenos Aires on Turn 8 and get a Ship Ticket, then get another on Turn 9 and go right to London. I think speed is of the essence here. That Doom track is ticking down, and there are only 16 Mythos cards in the deck. Best to complete the second Mystery and reveal the third as soon as possible.

Nothing is guarding the Clue in Space 12

Good idea.

Jim Culver, Turn 7 Encounter Phase: San Francisco
Combat the Wraith --toughness is 1.

Will Test: Will 3 -1(Wraith) +1(ability) + Blessed [dice]0[/dice]

Strength Test: Strength 2 -1(Wraith) +1(ability) + Blessed +1(Lantern) [dice]1[/dice]

Wraith's Horror is 2, Jim loses 1 Sanity--do I cast Instill Bravery? Um--er--um . . . Lore 3 + Blessed [dice]0[/dice]

The Wraith is defeated. Lily Chen may discard her Cursed Condition.

Instill Bravey card flipped, 1+: Your incantation inspires courage in the face of madness, but at the cost of your own blood. Lose 1 Health.


The Dreamlands, protect fugitive: Strength Test 2 -2 [dice]0[/dice]

Jim is Blessed so he passes the Test. Gate closed. He also becomes Delayed to improve Lore.

Turn 7 Encounter Phase

. . . he takes a pull at the Whiskey bottle, and then smashes it upon the ship's wheel. Jim Culver, the broken glass held out before him, advances on the Wraith, "You're gonna pay for what you done to the Cap'n!" The monster is truly hideous to behold; as he stumbles towards the repulsive thing he whispers an incantation to Instill Bravery, it works and Jim feels inspired with courage, but, at the same time blood trickles from his ear, staining his collar. Jabbing and tearing with the broken glass at the Wraith he succeeds in ripping apart its filthy rags, before gouging at the putrid flesh beneath until it ceases squirming. Jim rushes over to the prone Captain Burdock. Burdock's lips move but Jim cannot make out the words; one of the Captain's eyelids open, a fog upon the eye swirls, its colour yellow and green.

~

A suspicious-looking thug in a dark robe offers to help Jim stand up. "You are in Dylath-Leen, my friend." A stupefied Jim Culver surveys the lake and orange beach. The thug continues: "I am a fugitive being hunted by the prince's agents. Will you protect me?"

Assailants appear and begin wrestling with the thug. Jim grabs hold of the leg of one, repeatedly pummeling at its thigh until it squawks and flees, the other assailant runs away too, together, arms round each other's shoulders, they limp away . Jim is invited aboard a galley, the grateful thug tells him that he will be returned to the waking world. "I know of many forgotten truths," he says, offering to instruct Jim, and because Jim is fascinated by magic he agrees to listen for a while.

Turn 7 Encounter Phase
Lily stands at the rail as the ship passes through the South Atlantic when one of the crewmen spots a derelict ship run aground on an island. The captain puts ashore to look for survivors, and Lily joins in the search. No survivors are found, but she does locate an old journal hidden in the other ship's captain's cabin that describes a creature that had been kept in the cargo hold that bore a startling resemblance to the goat-woman she had encountered in Istanbul. A cage in the cargo hold had its bars bent aside, and Lily was easily able to deduce what had happened. The goat creature they had been transporting had broken loose and eaten everyone. No bones were found, so they most likely had been consigned to the sea. Shivering, Lily returns to her own ship.

OOC,I'd completely forgotten to put the Cursed Condition on my character sheet in the first place, so I didn't even need to remove it. Observation roll [2 - 1 [Research Encounter] = 1 die], Turn 7. [dice]0[/dice] Yes! :D 2 Clues gained!

Turn 7 Mythos Phase

Spawn Clues: Space 4.
Place Rumor Token: Space 11.
Place Eldritch Tokens: 8 on the Mythos card.

A nasty Rumor, but luckily there are not too many Gates so we have several turns before the Eldritch tokens run out. How about meeting up with Jim somewhere and trading him a Clue, and he'll solve the Rumor and Lily the Mystery? Also, if Lily has an encounter in Buenos Aires, she may get a Blessing of Isis Spell which Jim could cast on her?

And, who'll be the Lead Investigator?

Turn 8 Action Phase
Lily Chen arrives in Buenos Aires and begins making inquiries. She hears rumors of an island of cannibals somewhere in the South Atlantic, north of where she had found the derelict ship. Feeling that this is connected to the weakening of the barriers between worlds, she books passage on a ship to take a closer look.

OOC,Action 1: Travel (12->Buenos Aires) Action 2: Prepare for Travel (Ship Ticket acquired) We don't have as much time as you might think. Two of the next three Mythos cards will be yellow, which will have both a Gate opening and Reckoning effects. Then four of the last six Mythos cards will be yellow. We can't afford to wait on this, and I'm best equipped to handle the Rumor. It's right next to Buenos Aires, and I have an extra Clue. We both have Observation 2, but I have the Lucky Rabbit's Foot that can give me a reroll. It will delay my arrival in London until Turn 11 at the earliest, but it can't be helped. I'll be the Lead Investigator. This turn I made it to Buenos Aires and picked up a Ship Ticket. Next turn I can get another and go to space 11. If I succeed there, I can then get to Rome on Turn 10 to deal with the Gate again and London on Turn 11 to solve the Mystery. In the meantime, I think you should collect the Clues in America, starting with the one in Space 5. If you get a Rail Ticket, you can go directly from space 4 to Arkham after you pick up that Clue. You could meet me in London on Turn 11. You can even reach London on Turn 10 with 2 Clues yourself if you get a Ship Ticket before leaving San Francisco this turn and a Rail Ticket in Space 5 (which seems to be Chicago) next turn before going to Space 4. Then you could get to London directly on Turn 10 and still have an extra action. You'd be hard pressed to beat a Goat Spawn yourself without a boost, however. That .45 automatic would sure help, and you might get it if you use Conjuration on Turn 10. EDIT: I'd forgotten that you have the Lantern, which gives you an extra die. In that case, maybe I should go on to London in Turn 9 as planned and wrap up the Mystery, and you can handle the Rumor. If you get a Ship Ticket and travel to 5, you can get the one Clue you need this turn. If you get it, on Turn 9 you can go to either San Francisco or Arkham and pick up another Ship Ticket, which will get you to Space 11 on Turn 10 and still leave you an extra Action (which you could use on this turn or the next instead and pick up the second Ship Ticket on Turn 10 as your first Action; this might be better, as your Blessing isn't guaranteed to stick around and will help with Conjuration). If you can't make it for some reason, I could still get to Space 11 on Turn 11 as long as nothing slows me down.

Jim Culver, Turn 8 Action Phase
He is Delayed so skips this phase. --but he can still solve the Rumor in time; if we meet up in Panama Turn 9 and Lily trades him a Clue, he can got to Space 11 Turn 10? Re. Lily's encounter: in Buenos Aires she is likely to gain a duplicate of Jim's Spell, so do you want a General Encounter instead?

Turn 8 Encounter Phase
Before she leaves Buenos Aires, Lily pays a visit to the University to do some research. A former librarian tells her that he has a collection of parchments and scrolls and allows her to look through it. However, they only serve to confuse her further. One terrible set of runes is particularly disturbing.

OOC,Lore roll [2 - 1 [Buenos Aires Encounter] = 1 die], Turn 8. [dice]0[/dice] Reroll Lore roll using Lucky Rabbit's Foot, Turn 8. [dice]1[/dice] I didn't have any Spells, so nothing is lost.

Turn 8 Encounter Phase



Jim pushes past the gaunt man calling himself "Surama" who offers to teach him the secrets of Atlantis. He has no wish to gain another condition by choice, especially not a Dark Pact. "Go home!" shouts Jim.

Turn 8 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: red sun; Doom advances 1 down to 9.
Monster Surge: Deep One -> Rome.

Spawn Clues: Space 1.
Effect: Lily tests Influence. . . .

Turn 8 Mythos Phase
The professor tells Lily of some contacts he has who can assist her with further research. She follows his cryptic directions, but she does not have enough money to pay for the information she seeks. She will have to rely on her instincts instead.

OOC,Ah, nuts! If only you'd been Lead Investigator. Do you want that for next turn, or should I keep it? I still think I should go to London first. Either one of us can still make Space 11 with a Clue on Turn 11. I can also go to Rome on Turn 10 and try to take care of the Deep One and the Gate.

When I read the Mythos card I thought "Yes!" until I realised Jim wasn't the Lead Investigator.

Your idea for Turn 11 is doable, as long as Jim succeeds at a Clue Encounter. . . . We can both solve the Mystery and Rumor Turn 10, here's how: Turn 9 Lily stays as Lead Investigator, moves to Panama and gains a Ship Ticket (her second one); Jim moves to Panama and does a Trade, Lily gives him a Clue and Ship Ticket. Turn 10 Jim is the Lead Investigator, casts Feed the Mind on Lily and moves to Space 11; Lily gains a Ship Ticket and moves to London (spending 2 Ship Tickets) . . . ?

Turn 9 Action Phase

Jim gains a Ship Ticket and moves to Anchorage.

Turn 9 Action Phase
The professor apologizes that he could not help Lily more, but he gives her the name of a colleague in London who knows more than he does. She thanks him and hurries to the harbor to leave on the next ship there. She does not have to wait long. Ships carrying food from Argentina leave for the British Isles frequently.

OOC,Action 1: Prepare for Travel (Ship Ticket acquired) Action 2: Travel (Buenos Aires->8->Arkham [Ship Ticket]->London [Ship Ticket])

Turn 9 Encounter Phase

". . . identify what was taken": Observation 2 +1(Lantern) + Blessed [dice]0[/dice]

JIM arrives in Anchorage. Despite the cold weather and stench of fish which urge him to walk away from the quayside, he props himself against a seaweed encrusted wall with his palms pressed against his eyes, trying to block out the horror of the Wraith in San Francisco.

Sobbing, moaning--it comes from a gaggle of women. "He is with God now, rest assured." "But why was he taken from me? And Johnny was so young?" "We can't answer that for you, poor dear. Come, there is hot tea at the Sailor's Rest."

Jim follows them to a café; inside he sits beside a rusted pot belly stove, clasping a steaming mug of coffee. He cannot help but eavesdrop as the unfortunate women are gathered, their heads bowed, round the next table. Apparently a son has been murdered, he was a guard at the museum where there was a midnight break-in, several others were killed as well, and items stolen. The items: a native crucible for forging arrow heads and a tooled, flint totem for striking sparks. Jim spills his drink, hot coffee splashes upon his pants, he recognizes the descriptions as the legendary Furnace of Yeb and Torch of Nug.

~

Go, Lily!

Turn 9 Encounter Phase

Once in London, Lily heads to King's College to look up Professor Cavill, a pleasant old man who welcomes her warmly. "What do you know of legends of people that turn into goat-like creatures?" she asks.

"Well, there are tales of satyrs and the like, of course," said the professor. "Pan and such. There are also stories more local to Britain. In the Severn Valley, there is a village called Goatswood. There have been sightings of such creatures there, but never any proof."

"Then perhaps I shall find some. Thank you, Professor, you've been a great help." With that, she leaves for Paddington Station, where she takes a train out to Goatswood.

She arrives in the evening, and she ventures out into the woods named for the goats she seeks, drawn by her intuition. Before long, she catches sight of fire ahead through a gap in the trees. She creeps up to the edge of the treeline and watches unseen. In the clearing beyond, the full moon shines over a circle of standing stones. A large group of shadowy figures in black hooded robes carrying torches surround it, chanting in an unknown tongue. One of them stands in the center of the circle, holding up a large glass lens that catches the moonlight. The chanting reaches a crescendo, and suddenly the robed figure begins to ripple and grow. Horns tear through the hood, and hooves emerge from beneath the robe's skirt. The newly transformed creature sniffs the air and puts the lens into a pocket. Then it charges straight for Lily's hiding place!

Though startled, Lily is not too shocked to react. She calmly draws her revolver and shoots the beast stone dead! Then she snatches up the lens and runs back the way she came before the others can pursue her.

OOC,Goat Spawn defeated. 2 Clues spent to place an Eldritch token on the Mystery. 8-)

The newly transformed creature sniffs the air

Goat-face must have caught the scent of Chow Mein.

Turn 9 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: blue constellation [left hand]; Doom advances 1 down to 8.
Reckoning Effects: Cultist -> Space 20; discard Eldritch tokens (1 down to 7); Jim's Hallucinations Condition, Test Will 3 + Blessed, and Jim's Blessed Condition, roll 1d6 [dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]
Spawn Gates: Buenos Aires (blue constellation) and spawn monster: Wraith-- I mixed the monster cup real good--Spawn Effect: Jim discards his Blessed Condition.
Text Effect: Jim loses 1 Sanity.

Mystery solved. Final Mystery:

I agree, have Lily do as you think best. I do like the idea of her going for a Clue and Tunguska, however.

Jim Culver, Turn 10 Action Phase

He gains a Train Ticket and moves to Space 4.

Turn 10 Action Phase
Lily returns to the London docks and boards a ship bound for Rome. I never did seal that portal in the catacombs, she thinks. I'd better finish the job.

OOC,Action 1: Prepare for Travel (Ship Ticket acquired) Action 2: Travel (London->Rome) I'll think about going for Istanbul and then Tunguska. It'll depend on what happens between now and next turn. There's no rail connection in Anchorage, so you can't get a Train Ticket. Hopefully you can solve the final Mystery without ever leaving Space 4 anyway. You should probably choose Rest or Acquire Assets instead.

I was regretting my choice of action. Why do I need a Train Ticket, anyway? Jim rests, gaining 1 Health, 1 Sanity and rolls 1d6 to discard Hallucination Condition [dice]0[/dice]

Turn 10 Encounter Phase

". . .songs and traditions seem to have occult significance." Lore 4 -1 +1[Lantern] [dice]0[/dice]

Ambush by Goat Spawn, Combat: Will 3 +1[ability] [dice]0[/dice] and Strength 2 -2 +1[ability] [dice]1[/dice]

Jim doesn't gain a Clue and loses 1 Health.

THE village is really just a clearing in the pine trees. The virgin forest, surrounding the cabins, runs a thousand miles to the Arctic, Jim shivers when he considers the trackless wilderness all around him.

An Eskimo-looking trapper hails him when he arrives in camp, he calls himself “Anyu,” and invites Jim inside for a welcome broth.Soon he is sipping at a bowl while sitting on a colourful rug, and holding a confused, patois conversation with Anyu’s woman. The broth contains reindeer meat and lichen he discovers, but it is hot, which is all that matters.

That evening there is a party of sorts, attended by the whole tribe of trappers. There is a roaring bonfire and much feasting and drinking--a fiery alcohol in a flask-like animal skin. Jim toasts his toes before the blaze and listens to their songs; he wonders what occult significance they have?

The sun never sets in the summer months of the far north and it is hard to sleep in daylight, but Jim is exhausted after his trek to the village and gladly beds down on a nest of furs. . . . Someone slips in beside him. He can feel warm, firm flesh, and then a smooth hand runs up his chest to his neck. Jim opens his lids and beholds a lovely woman. He cannot believe his good fortune—“Is this beauty the offspring of a passing voyageur and an Eskimo?”--and pulls her nakedness towards him. Her grip tightens round his neck,--he is choking--and something like a sharp, huge nail scrapes down his shin—a hoof—which causes him excruciating pain, he realises that he is going to die. In his frantic struggle to free himself from her grasp he tries to poke his thumb into her eye socket, however his groping hand takes hold of a horn and instead he yanks her head back savagely. The Goat Spawn escapes from him and gallops away into the forest, bleating as she does so.

Turn 10 Encounter Phase

Lily retraces her route through the catacombs, only to find that the area around the chamber she had found the last time she was here is flooded. It gets deeper and deeper, and by the time she reaches the room, the murky water is up to her chest. She wades inside and takes another look around, but she is startled by a sound coming from behind her. A hideous creature has risen up from beneath the surface, blocking the door. It is vaguely humanoid in shape, but with a head that looks more like a fish. It opens its mouth, revealing rows of sharp, pointy teeth. She manages to keep her wits about her, but she is in the creature's element. "Pretty..." it burbles, seizing her and dragging her underwater! She cannot breathe, and the thing locks its lips around hers. She clutches her lucky rabbit's foot in vain and passes out...

OOC,1 Health lost. Oof, rotten luck for both of us! If only you had still been Blessed. I guess you'll need to stay there and try again for the Clue next turn. I probably will go to Istanbul after all. I can always go after the Rumor from there if I have to one turn later, but the Doom Track is probably a larger concern. We're getting close to the point where there are too many monsters and it'll jump by 2 per turn (in addition to what happens when the Omen advances). I can't kill them fast enough, as at least two monsters are going to pop up per turn, and I can kill at most one. This turn, I didn't even manage that, so I can't try to Encounter the Gate. At least the Goat Spawn you fought was an Ambush, so it doesn't stay on the board.

Turn 10 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: blue constellation [left hand]; Doom advances 2 down to 6.
Reckoning Effects: Cultist: spawns into Dark Young, Deep One: Lily loses 1 Sanity; Cultist -> London (9th Monster on the game board); discard Eldritch tokens (2 down to 5); Jim's Hallucinations Condition, Test Will 3 [dice]0[/dice]
Spawn Gates: Arkham (red sun) and Gnoph-Keh--Spawn Effect: -> Himalayas.

Text Effect: Jim gains Lodge Researcher Ally.


Phew! it's gonna be close. I reckon we need 3 Turns to win, if Lily can solve the Rumor within the next 2 Turns . . . whatever, Jim must get a Clue Turn 11 and solve the Mystery Turn 12? Also, Lily should be the Lead Investigator in case there is a nasty Mythos card?--Hmmm, I just saw that she's on 2 Sanity (after the Effect of the Deep One), should Jim cast Instill Bravery?

Turn 11 Action Phase
Lily Chen awakens in a soft bed, aching all over. Crisp white linen sheets cover her up to her neck, and sunlight streams in through an open window. The room has plain white wallpaper and an antiseptic smell, one that immediately identifies it as belonging to a hospital. A young, dark-haired woman with olive skin in a nurse's uniform sits in a chair watching Lily, and she stands up and speaks excitedly in Italian when she sees Lily's eyes open. When she realizes that Lily doesn't understand, she goes to the door and calls out into the hall. A minute later, a bald fiftyish man wearing glasses in a doctor's white coat enters. He tries various languages, eventually settling on English when Lily perks up upon hearing it.

"I am Doctor Enzo Donatelli," he says. "What is your name, Miss?"

"Lily," she croaks, her throat dry. "Lily Chen."

The doctor speaks in Italian to the nurse, who heads out into the hall. "Miss Chen, do you remember what happened to you?"

"I...not entirely. I was attacked..."

"Yes, I'm afraid you were assaulted. You were found by a maintenance worker floating in a flooded tunnel in the catacombs." The nurse returns carrying a cup of water, which she hands to Lily, who takes it in weak shaking hands. "Sip slowly, please."

Lily takes a few experimental sips, a growing sense of unease pressing on her. "How badly injured am I?"

"Some cuts and bruises, some teeth and claw marks. I think animals must have been chewing on you while you lay unconscious. Your wounds are healing well. Do you know who did this to you?"

Lily shudders, shaking her head no. "He...he was a monster."

The doctor lowered his eyes. "Yes, any man who would do this to you would have to be a monster."

"Do what to me? What aren't you saying?"

"There is no easy way to tell you this, Miss Chen. You have been...violated."

Lily spits out the water, wracked by horror and revulsion. "NO!" she screams. "No, that's not possible!" She begins to sob helplessly. The thought of what that creature had done to her and the knowledge that it is still out there weigh heavily on her soul. The nurse reaches out and pats her hand, mumbling soothingly in Italian.

"I'm so sorry."

Lily turns her head away and cries into her pillow. She is supposed to be a highly skilled fighter, yet she had been powerless to protect herself and her confidence is badly shaken.
As soon as Lily is discharged from the hospital, she goes to the port and books passage on a ship heading down the coast of Africa to the South Atlantic. She just wants to get as far away as she can from where it happened, and she also needs to look into the reports of cannibalism.

OOC,Action 1: Prepare for Travel (Ship Ticket acquired) Action 2: Travel (Rome->10->15 [Ship Ticket]->11 [Ship Ticket]) I had already been thinking that I should go take care of the Rumor right away. That will end the game immediately if I fail to do so in time, but Shub-Niggurath awakening is not the end of the game. I might even be able to fight her if I can start rolling worth anything. The way I'm rolling, I'd better not waste any time. The soonest we can possibly win is the end of next turn, but that won't kick in until after the Mythos phase. There are currently only 9 monsters on the board, but two more (at least) are likely to appear at the end of this turn. That means the Doom Track will plummet. Unless we get insanely lucky with green Mythos cards coming early again, Shub will wake up at the end of next turn, though you still need to solve the third Mystery as fast as possible. You can still Rest and cast Conjuration while staying on your space. You might want to get that .45 automatic if you get enough successes. You should only cast Instill Bravery if there's no risk of losing it. Otherwise, you should save it for when one of us loses 2 or more Sanity, or our final point.

"There is no easy way to tell you this, Miss Chen.

If she is with child, and Jim and Lily survive, Jim would be honoured to be its godfather. Lily may need his help through the difficult adolescent years. . . .

Turn 11 Action Phase

He rests, recovering one Health and Sanity; and casts Conjuration Spell, Lore 4 +1 [dice]0[/dice]

Card flipped, 1: "A payment of blood is required to complete the ritual. Lose 1 Health."

AFTER the noise and violence is over, one of he trappers peers out from his shuttered windows. Amazed to see Jim alive, he opens the window and calls out: "Is it over? Are we safe?" Jim waves to let him know that everything is fine.

~

Another trekker arrives in camp, a college boy who announces himself as Julius, a Lodge Researcher.

A ravaged Jim Culver limps from his cabin and shakes Julius' hand. "I could've done with your help a few hours ago," he says ruefully. "And a gun--" Jim holds up a hand, thinking. He hops back to his cabin where he rummages through his kit until he finds the notes he is looking for.

Julius peers at the notes over Jim's shoulder, "It looks like the writing is archaic Spanish."

"Shhhh! be quiet, Mr. Lodge Researcher," he says, concentrating on the notes as he carefully mutters the syllables. There is a thunk upon the pine needles. Jim crouches and picks up a small pistol, he also touches his earlobe, it is wet with blood, he has been bleeding again.

Turn 11 Encounter Phase

The boat Lily chartered in Cape Town is able to locate an island, and she goes ashore and begins to explore, following her instincts. In the center of the island is a clearing where many people are gathered around a bonfire. They have Asian features, but they aren't quite Chinese. Still, Lily believes she can infiltrate and pass among them. She walks into the crowd as if she belongs there, but they recognize her for a stranger and quickly surround her. She frowns at her useless rabbit's foot.

"Get away from me!" she cries. "You're going to eat me, aren't you?"

"We'll cook you first," says one of the cannibals. "We're not savages, you know."

"I haven't eaten Chinese in a long time," says another.

"You don't want to eat me," says Lily. "You'll just be hungry again an hour later." She fights her way out from the midst of the islanders and flees for the safety of the jungle.

OOC,Well, that didn't go so well. I still can't roll anything good. I should have one more chance next turn, so it's good that I came out here right away. [b]Lily[/b] being pregnant with a Deep One Hybrid is a twist I was saving for the end, if she survives.

Turn 11 Encounter Phase, Space 4 (Wilderness).


". . . send the abomination back where it belongs." Lore 4 -1 +1[Lantern] [dice]0[/dice]

I'm really regretting the loss of my Blessed Condition. Back Injury Condition gained.

JULIUS is pretty clued up on the whole business: disaster for mankind, end of the world, etc., so he and Jim venture into the woods on the trail of the Goat Spawn. Half a mile from camp they come to a glade with a brook trickling through it, on its bank are the eviscerated remnants of several people. Julius claps his hand over his mouth and convulses, but spew still escapes between his fingers.

"Keep away from me," says Jim. He turns over a flap of flesh with his boot, which reveals a rib bone, "Ugh, disgusting."

"When d'ya think it happened?" says Julius, wiping his fingers on a fern.

"Recently," replies Jim laconically, feeling rather apprehensive. There is a splash in the brook behind him. He turns and beholds a naked woman with red smeared over her face, she is slurping on white sausages--entrails. Julius spews again at sight of the abomination, Jim wracks his memory for a Spell to send it back where it belongs. The Goat Spawn charges Jim, he panics, it butts him in the chest, throwing Jim against a rock wall.

Turn 11 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: green comet.
Reckoning Effects: Dark Young: [dice]0[/dice]

Cultist -> Space 14--11th Monster on game board, advance Doom by 2 (down to 4); discard Eldritch tokens (2 down to 3); Jim's Hallucinations Condition, Test Will 3 + Back Injury Condition, Test Strength 2 [dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]

Spawn Gates: Sydney (red sun) and Spawn Monster: Maniac.
Text Effect: Jim recovers 2 Sanity.

I just hope I can solve this Rumor before it's too late.

The fate of our planet rests in Lily's hands--no pressure.

Turn 12 Action Phase
Lily finds a cave in the jungle to hide inside and enters a meditative trance. She feels much more confident and determined when she comes around.

OOC,[b]Lily[/b] regains 2 Sanity during the Mythos phase. Action 1: Rest Action 2: Spend 1 Health. Restore 1 Sanity.

Turn 12 Action Phase

Rest, and discard Hallucinations & Back Injury on a 5 or 6 [dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]
Conjuration Spell, Lore 4 +1 [dice]2[/dice]
.45 Automatic gained, Arcane Scholar to Reserve.

Turn 12 Encounter Phase
WIth fresh determination, Lily sneaks back to the island village as darkness sets in. She swipes a hooded robe hanging from a clothesline and puts it on to disguise herself, then joins a gathering around the bonfire dressed similarly. One of them has on a gaudily decorated robe that marks him as the chief. Fortunately, the villagers speak a dialect of Chinese, though Lily can tell they are somehow ethnically different. A Westerner might not be able to tell the difference, but she could. Then again, they had been able to determine that she was not one of them last time. This time they have no idea "Our rituals have successfully weakened the barriers between worlds!" proclaimed the chief. So that's why this has been happening, she thinks. "Tonight we shall shatter them once and for all! Chaugnar Faugn shall stride the world and assume his rightful place!" He raises an odd, misshapen object in both hands high over his head. "With this magic dingus, we shall open the door for him to arrive! Behold! Is this not the biggest dingus you have ever seen?"

"Dingus!" chants the mob. "Dingus! Dingus!"

Lily pushes her way forward. "May I touch the dingus?" she asks.

The chief brings it down in front of him and holds it forward. "Yes, but be careful with it. It is very fragile, and the only one of its kind. If anything were to happen to it, all of our plans will be ruined."

"Oh, really?" Lily reaches out for the dingus and lays her hand on it, then snaps it in half. "Oops!"

The chief gets down in his knees and sobs. "No! My dingus! Not on the very brink of success!" He looks at the assembled crowd through a curtain of tears. "Oh, yeah. Kill her."

Lily battles her way out of the village and returns to the boat, where she casts off, leaving the angry mob behind. "If we still had the boat that brought us here, we could have chased her," said one of them. "Why did we burn it in the bonfire?"

"Well, the world was supposed to end tonight," said another. "We weren't supposed to need it any more."

"Well, that's clearly not going to happen now. Let's go eat the chief."

"Okay."

OOC,Clue spent to solve the Rumor! :D

Clue spent to solve the Rumor!

Well done, Lily, that was a close call. Now, if Jim can gain a Clue. . . .



Turn 12 Encounter Phase, Space 4 (Wilderness)


". . . evade all of their traps." Observation 2 +1[Lantern] [dice]0[/dice]

"LET'S take a look." Jim's torso is tilted forward and he feels his shirt rolled up. Julius whistles, and then says: "Your spine has been grazed,--it's all red raw--and there's bruises developing--pretty yellow and purple blotches."

"Thanks for the description," gasps Jim testily. "Make a fire, Julius, while I rest; among my stuff you'll find a billy can, and here,"--he produces a handful of tea leaves from his jacket pocket--"brew these--nice 'n' strong, mind." Julius busies himself preparing a hot drink; Jim tries muttering the archaic Spanish syllables again and is delighted when a .45 Automatic drops, with a thunk, upon the pine needles.

~

"Ahh bisto!" says Jim after he sips the scolding tea. "So what happened to the She-devil?"

"I have no idea," answers Julius; "I was too busy being sick." They both continue drinking. Far away, but coming nearer, a choral humming is audible--it has a sad, sweet and an unearthly note to it. "Oh, no," whispers Julius; Jim's enamel mug wilts in his grip and the tea spills on the forest floor.

"Run," says Jim, "Run!" They splash along the brook in hope that it will cover their tracks. A willow overhangs the brook, they hide beneath its leaves in deep shadow. They peek out, back to their fire with its billy can--still steaming--suspended above the flames. Five minutes wait and then the Goat Spawn trots into view, she is followed by others, all naked like Jim's erstwhile bed-friend but old and fat, male and female, their skin filthily dirty. The Goat Spawn snuffles at the ground where Jim and Julius were sat and dips her finger inside the billy can, she yelps. The creatures all bray at once, and then move away, humming their queer notes beneath the trees.

Turn 12 Mythos Phase

Advance the Omen: blue constellation

After Lily's boat returns to Cape Town, she hears horrifying stories of many strange beasts seen in the jungles to the north. She hurries off in that direction, fearing that she's too late, but determined to go down swinging.

OOC,Oh, nutbunnies! :cry: I take it that London is a green comet Gate? If it's not, all I have to do is move the Omen just before that one to buy myself the one turn I need to make it to the Heart of Africa and start squishing monsters. I had been planning to Acquire Assets in Cape Town this coming turn and pick up the Syndicate Agent (with a Bank Loan) as well as the Tear Gas or Fishing Net if I rolled well on Influence. That would have given me 10 base Strength in a fight, not even counting rerolls. Of course, I still could have missed with every roll again, but the odds of that go down the more dice I get to throw. If only we'd been a little luckier, we'd have had a chance. Losing that Blessing really messed us up. If you'd succeeded at getting the Clue and retreating Doom by 1, we'd have had another turn before she woke up. Or if I'd succeeded one turn earlier in solving the Rumor, I could have been in Cape Town already.

London Gate is a blue constellation. I had thought the San Francisco Gate and its green comet was still on the game board, but Jim closed that one. However . . . take a look at the Text Effect of the next Mythos card.

Yes, it's a Gate at Istanbul with a green comet. Lily should have her "blaze of glory." Turn 13 Jim ". . .determine the ritual's purpose." Observation 2 +1[Lantern] [dice]0[/dice]
and Lily has an encounter in Cape Town:

Turn 13 Action Phase
Lily returns to Cape Town one evening, but when she arrives there is panic in the air. Boys are selling newspapers with garish headlines mentioning a large number of beasts sighted in central Africa, slaughtering many people. She buys a paper and reads, her heart sinking with every word. The horde is moving south, judging by the trail of destruction it is leaving. No witnesses have gotten close enough to the beasts to give a good description and lived, but she is sure what it means. I'm too late! she thinks. The stars are right, and Shub-Niggurath has risen! My only hope is to slay her before she can overwhelm the world. But I need more time! She looks up at the stars in the heavens imploringly, and to her surprise they move backwards a little. Could it be? Do I have a chance after all?

Wasting no time, Lily purchases a fishing net from a fisherman at the harbor, then goes to a nearby dive bar where she has heard elements of the criminal underworld are known to gather. She strides in as if she owns the place and has every right to be there. "Take me to your boss," she tells the two mooks who block her path. Perhaps seeing the determination in her eyes, they do so without hesitation. They show her to a back room through a beaded curtain, where a dark-haired woman in a very expensive dress sits at a private table.

The woman motions for Lily to sit. "I'm Jacqueline Bauer," she says. "What is your business here?"

"I'm Lily Chen. No doubt you've heard of the beasts rampaging to the north that are on their way here."

"It's all anyone talks about now. What about them?"

"I mean to stop them."

Jacqueline laughs. "All by yourself?"

"No. I'd like your assistance."

"And how do you propose to stop an army of beasts? Whole villages have been wiped out! Thousands are dead!"

"By slaying their queen."

"And why should I stick my neck out?"

"They'll be here within days, and this city will be destroyed. And it won't stop there. The whole world will be overrun unless they're stopped now!"

"You sound like one of the superstitious natives. They're constantly going on about how this is the end of the world."

"They're right - unless we take immediate action. You're not afraid, are you?"

"No more than you. I'll tell you what. I'll come with you on your little safari, in return for a favor to be named later. One day, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps years from now, I will ask something of you. It could be anything. Whatever it is, you will do it. It may never happen, but if it does, you will comply without hesitation. Are we agreed?"

Lily is desperate, and she needs all the help she can get. "Done."

"Good. I'll gather the needed supplies and a vehicle for the expedition tonight. We'll meet in the morning."

OOC,Woohoo! We're not doomed yet! 8-) You never took your Actions for Turn 13, so we'll say I'm the Lead Investigator this turn, but I think you should be for Turn 14. You can cast a Spell, such as Conjuration (there will be new stuff in the Reserve now) or Feed Your Mind. You can also Rest to recover from whatever the Spell does to you and try to get rid of your Conditions, or you could cast two Spells. Once you've done that, I'll post my Encounter Phase, and then yours will take effect using the roll you've already made. Then the Mythos Phase can be processed and Turn 14 can begin. I think I have a real chance. You might be able to help out, as I may very well need Instill Bravery. Also, you could move back to Alaska on Turn 14 and then go to Tokyo. Having Encounters there could help defeat monsters in the Heart of Africa. It's a shame the Agency Quarantine was already used, but we really needed it for the Shoggoth. I don't know how tough [b]Shub[/b] is, but I can face her first. If I beat her in the first round, we win immediately. Otherwise, I should at least be able to soften her up. When the next Reckoning hits, the Ancient One's Reckoning effect kicks off first, and I'll get another round before any of the bad stuff happens. I'm also confident that I can probably kill both Goat Spawn, and if I take a Dark Pact, I can also eliminate either the Chthonian or the Dark Young, whichever is worse, and then fight the other one and have a chance of beating it or at least weakening it. Action 1: Travel (11->15) Action 2: Acquire Assets. Influence roll (2): [dice]0[/dice] Awesome! :shock: I'm taking a Bank Loan for an extra 2 successes, then gaining the Syndicate Agent and the Fishing Net (unless the Arcane Scholar is better;the Reserve was never updated, nor was the Game Board thread in general). Debt Condition gained.

I don't know how tough Shub is, but I can face her first

You need to encounter each non-epic Monster first.

I have no intention of updating the other topics,--too much work--but here are the new reserve items: Personal Assistant, Vatican Missionary and Dynamite (and I'll leave Tear Gas in there as well).

Jim'll head for Tokyo next Turn; he placed an Eldritch token on the Mystery this Turn.

I'll post Jim's Action Phase shortly. The Dark Young is as tough as Shub.

[img]http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic2073840.png[/img]

Turn 13 Action Phase

THE tentacles grope towards the battered and prone Jim Culver, his head lolls upon the forest floor as he awaits his awful fate.

“Jim, Jim, get up! It’s me—Julius!” Jim is unable to respond, his good eye flickers and the saliva, which has collected in a reservoir between his jaw and cheek, dribbles out and pools beneath his face. Julius puts Jim’s arm around his shoulders and drags him away from the bonfire and the consuming orgy of the Cultists.

Ten minutes later Jim has recovered enough to prop his sore back against a fallen pine trunk, Julius, his rescuer, is crouched opposite to him, orange light from the bonfire defining his features; the yelps and grunts of the beasts at play is plainly audible,—the Cultists are only a hundred feet away from them—but Jim and Julius are hidden in the tangled, dark forest.

“You was killt, Julius,” whispers Jim; “that she-devil was feasting on your neck.”

“Well, I’m here aren’t I? And I’ve saved your sorry ass!”

“True, that’s true. Thank you.” Jim and Julius clasp each other’s forearm, but that is as far as their heartfelt emotion is visible in the dark.

Julius says in a strained voice: “After—after she attacked me—when I regained consciousness I mean—I found my neck and chest covered in congealed blood and pus, it was a bad awakening I can tell you.”

Jim grips Julius’ forearm a little tighter. “A cloud with sharp teeth and tentacles,” he begins, telling his own awful story, “was just about to attack me when you turned up in the nick of time. Believe me, it was as real as this pine cone falling to earth,” and Jim drops the pine cone he is holding.

“Despite this apparent hell,”—Julius waves his arm about vaguely—“they don’t exist.”

“You mean my deadly cloud?”

“Both are illusions; neither is true. The teeth and tentacles—I can’t explain it, no doubt there was some hallucinogen in those tea leaves of yours; but Gravity—Einstein’s Relativity proves that Newton was wrong. Your pine cone didn’t drop, the Earth, which is falling through space, hit it—the illusion happens because we feel that we are at rest. A mass doesn’t have a ‘Force’ which pulls a smaller mass towards itself, but it does bend spacetime—the fabric of space—around itself, so our planet simply follows a curved path through spacetime round the sun. Spheres alter reality or what we perceive as reality, and the Universe is filled with trillions of ‘em. A good example is this: if you and I stand on the Equator a mile apart and we set off for the North Pole on a path which is parallel to one another, we will come together.”

“Why, then, is Newton and Force taught in schools?” puzzles Jim, forgetting the horror for a brief moment as Julius intends.

“It is because,” answers Julius, “Newton’s equations are correct for our planet and they are simple to understand, whereas Einstein’s equations are too complex for a child to grasp.”

Jim rifles through his jacket pocket and produces the sheet titled “Feed the Mind.” Before he begins muttering the script he had learned he says: “And this, can you also explain this to me?” as his eyes begin to glow.

[img]http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... 53d2a1.jpg[/img]
Cast Feed the Mind, Lore 4 -1 [dice]0[/dice]
0-2: ". . . . Discard this card unless you lose 2 Sanity." Rest, regain 1 Sanity, and discard Hallucinations & Back Injury on a 5 or 6 [dice]1[/dice] [dice]2[/dice]

Turn 13 Encounter Phase

Jim spent 2 Clues to place an Eldritch token on the Mystery.
[img]http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... 241e0c.jpg[/img]

Turn 13 Encounter Phase
As Lily leaves the bar and walks through the narrow streets, she gets the sensation that she is being followed. Looking back, she sees shadowy forms approaching her, so she quickens her pace...only to run into a pair of brutes. Two more approach from behind her, the same ones she had brushed past. "You shouldn't be wandering around at night all by yourself, little lady," said one of them. "You're liable to get hurt."

"I can take care of myself," said Lily. "If you try anything, you'll find that out."

"You got us all wrong, sweetheart. We don't want anything bad to happen to you. Why, we're here to protect you. For a small fee, of course..."

"How small?"

"A sawbuck will do - for now."

"I don't have that much. But I am a friend of Jacqueline Bauer." She squeezes her rabbit's foot.

"Say no more." The four goons vanished into the night.

OOC,Influence roll (2) for General Encounter. [dice]0[/dice] Reroll of Influence roll for Lucky Rabbit's Foot. [dice]1[/dice] Influence roll passed! Phew!

Turn 13 Mythos Phase


Omen advances: green comet.
Monster Surge: Istanbul Gate (green comet) + Zombie.
Clue appears: Space 14.
Text effect: Istanbul Gate discarded.

Final Mystery solved.

Turn 14 Action Phase

Cast Feed the Mind Lore, 4 -1 [dice]0[/dice]
Lore improved; card flipped--2 Sanity lost.

Travel to Space 1.

(Something has happened to my Turn 13 Action Phase, Jim rolled a 6 and discarded Back Injury Condition.) Jim is heading for Tokyo, and Lily can count on Instill Bravery.

Turn 14 Action Phase
Lily Chen checks into a hotel and gets a good night's sleep. In the morning, she returns to the bar, where Jacqueline is waiting behind the wheel of a pickup truck loaded with supplies. "Good morning," she said, getting into the shotgun seat. "Let's hit the road."

"Roads?" said Jacqueline, lowering a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. "Where we're going, we don't need...roads. This baby has four wheel drive." She pulled out, and they headed north, deep into the jungles of Central Africa.

OOC,Action 1: Rest. 1 Health gained. Action 2: Travel (15->The Heart of Africa)

Turn 14 Encounter Phase, Space 1

". . . fend off the thieves." Strength 2 [dice]0[/dice]--Tear Gas gained, Dynamite to the Reserve.

JIM and Julius sit on the curb outside Fish Heaven, "Anchorage's premier tackle emporium," the store owner graciously hands Jim a flask-like canister as a "Thank you" for stopping a robbery five minutes earlier.

"We've done our good deed for one day," remarks Julius.

"There's something else," says Jim, "that I may be called upon to do. . . ."

"Jim?"

"On our trek out of the wilderness, I had a vision: a woman facing up to numerous monstrosities in the heart of darkness."

"That'll be those tea leaves again," comments Julius wryly.

"Maybe so," he smiles, "but I sense this is the final battle. If she can prevail . . . this nightmare will be over for us. But one of my Incantations, 'Instill Bravery,' can help if the horror becomes too much for her."

Turn 14 Encounter Phase
Jacqueline drives north into the jungle. Eventually she and Lily are able to pick up the monsters' trail of destruction and follow it to a large pack of hideous and horrific creatures. Two of the goat-like things break off from the horde and charge at the truck. Lily recognizes one of them as the one she had encountered in Istanbul eating the dying policeman, and she opens fire. The bullet wounds the goat-woman, but she scratches Lily's shoulder as she lopes past. The other one, this one a male, is close behind her. Lily shoots again, leaving him lying in a pool of blood. But the surviving goat creature had slashed the tires with her claws, and the truck skids to a halt. The two women hop out, and Lily rushes over to the dying creature, lying beneath a huge, grotesque tree. "Where is your mistress?!" she demands.

"You...are too late..." it burbles, coughing up blood. "Shub-Niggurath will devour you, unless you bow down and worship Her."

Suddenly, Jacqueline screams as the tree snatches her up with a branch. Another one swoops for Lily, but she expertly dodges out of the way. "No!" she cries. "How can I kill this thing?"

"You...cannot..." bleats the goat-man. "I can...for a price..."

The ambulatory tree begins to pull Jacqueline towards its gaping maw.

"I'll pay it! Whatever it is, I'll pay it!"

"Done..." The creature expires, and both it and the tree fade into nothing.

Jacqueline falls to the ground, bruised but not hurt too badly. "What did you do?" she asks, recovering her feet.

"I...I don't know," says Lily.

Before the women have time to react, the ground beneath them shakes, sending them both to the ground. A hole spreads out in front of them, dirt cascading into it, as a massive worm-like thing erupts from beneath the ground and looms over them, tentacle-like appendages dripping black ichor dangling from its mouth. Terrified, Lily now begins to shriek as one of the slimy extrusions wraps around her waist. She unloads her revolver into it and kicks madly with all of her strength. Though she wounds it grievously, it still draws her inexorably to its mouth.

This time it is Jacqueline's turn to save Lily. Seizing a Thompson submachine gun from the truck, she empties a drum into the creature's body causing it to convulse and die, releasing Lily. "Thank you!" gasps Lily. "I guess we're even."

"Not quite," says Jacqueline. "You still owe me that favor!"

The horde has turned and now bears down on the two of them. It is led by the most horrendous thing they have ever seen, or likely ever will see. They hastily reload as the mass of flesh and wood and bone bears approaches. "I BRING LIFE!" it oozes. "I BRING DEATH! CHOOSE!"

Lily trembles, her resolve being put to the ultimate test. "Wh-what are you?!"

"I AM SHUB-NIGGURATH! I FILL THE EARTH WITH LIFE! MY LIFE! MY SPAWN! YOU BRING DEATH, YET YOU BEAR LIFE! INSIDE YOU!"

"What?!" Lily looks at her stomach in panic. Tears spill down her face. "No, it can't be!"

"IT IS! I SENSE IT! DEEP ONES ARE NOT MY SPAWN, BUT THEY ARE SO FERTILE! THEY WILL HAVE A PLACE IN MY NEW EARTH! YOU WILL NOT!" It effortlessly crushes her into the ground before she can react. The only thing that saves her life is her fishing net, which she uses to tangle its foot before it can turn her into pulp.

OOC,That Dynamite would have been perfect for this situation! Well, I'll have to do the best with what I've got. Will test (3 + 1 [Protective Amulet] = 4) against Goat Spawn 1 [dice]0[/dice] Fight test (4 + 2 [Skill Improvement] + 2 [Revolver] + 2 [Syndicate Agent] - 2 [Goat Spawn] = 8) against Goat Spawn 1 [dice]1[/dice] Yeah, I should have expected that. Reroll of two failed dice from Fight test [Fishing Net and Syndicate Agent]: [dice]2[/dice] Reroll of one failed die from Fight test [Lucky Rabbit's Foot]: [dice]3[/dice] Goat Spawn 1 takes one damage. [b]Lily[/b] takes one damage. Will test (3 + 1 [Protective Amulet] = 4) against Goat Spawn 2 [dice]4[/dice] Fight test (4 + 2 [Skill Improvement] + 2 [Revolver] + 2 [Syndicate Agent] - 2 [Goat Spawn] = 8) against Goat Spawn 2 [dice]5[/dice] Goat Spawn 2 defeated. Dark Pact gained. Dark Young discarded. Will test (3 + 1 [Protective Amulet] -1 [Chthonian] = 3) against Chthonian [dice]6[/dice] Fight test (4 + 2 [Skill Improvement] + 2 [Revolver] + 2 [Syndicate Agent] - 2 [Chthonian] = 8) against Chthonian [dice]7[/dice] Reroll of two failed dice from Fight test [Fishing Net and Syndicate Agent]: [dice]8[/dice] 2 Sanity lost (Instill Bravery, please!). Chthonian defeated. Will test (3 + 1 [Protective Amulet] -1 [[b]Shub-Niggurath[/b]] = 3) against [b]Shub-Niggurath[/b] [dice]9[/dice] 2 Sanity lost (Instill Bravery again if you can, please!). Fight test (4 + 2 [Skill Improvement] + 2 [Revolver] + 2 [Syndicate Agent] - 3 [[b]Shub-Niggurath[/b]] = 7) against [b]Shub-Niggurath[/b] [dice]10[/dice] And that's a big fat D'oh! :oops: Reroll of two failed dice from Fight test [Fishing Net and Syndicate Agent]: [dice]11[/dice] 4 Health lost (reduced from 5 by FIshing Net).

Epic battle and unlucky, bad rolls.



Turn 14 Encounter Phase (Lily)



Jim will wait until Lily is down to 2 Sanity before he casts the Spell. Instill Bravery Lore 5 +1[Lantern] [dice]0[/dice]
Lily gains 2 Sanity; card flipped, Jim loses 1 Health.

BTW, an Inv. chooses one bonus, +2 from the .38 or +2 from the Agent, although all of the additional effects apply.

Is the Cthonian defeated? The next Mythos card is yellow and the first icon is Advance the Omen--blue constellation equals 3 Doom and that equals 3 monsters, a total of 6 in The Heart of Africa. . . .

Byakhee, Nightgaunt and Cultist.

No, no Spawn Effect on those monsters. We were close to winning but had some spectacular bad luck.

"WHY is the Sun in the east at three in the afternoon?" wonders Jim, replacing Instill Bravery inside his jacket and touching the persistant wetness--blood--which seeps from his ear. Julius, sat beside him on the curb, watches the fiery blob as it grows. Jim looks to the west where our Sun shines behind a drift of cloud, "Unless you can explain it away, Julius, it looks like the Earth is gonna be smashed into by a second star," and in an ironic mutter he adds; "we could do with some of your spacetime curves around our planet."

"Is it all over?" asks Julius.

"Yep, I reckon so."

But the "second star," Shub-Niggurath herself, halts and surveys her new realm, and unleashes hordes of Dark Young who infest the Earth; the gigantic beasts stride across the landscape, annihilating the human race; she perceives the fear and suffering this causes and is pleased.

Lily Chen awakens on a flat hard surface that seems to be gently rocking back and forth. All she feels is pain. She forces her eyes open and sees that she is lying on the deck of a small boat, Jacqueline Bauer kneeling beside her. The boat is at sea, and a shoreline with a burning city is visible to aft in the distance.

"Good, you're awake," says Jacqueline. "I was worried you wouldn't make it for a while there."

"Unh..." moans Lily. "You saved my life..."

"Of course. You can't pay me back if you're dead."

"But...how?"

"I picked you up, put you in the truck, and drove off."

"The tires..."

"It's possible to drive on flat tires, just not very fast. I got us back to Cape Town just ahead of the horde. Everyone was in a panic."

"You had a boat?"

"Well, I do now." She glances back. "I don't know whether the monsters caused the fire or the townspeople started it to try to fight them." She looks forward again. "But we're at sea now. We're safe. They can only go on land."

Just at that moment, a webbed claw reaches up from the depths and latches onto the aft gunwale. Lily gapes in horror as a familiar-looking creature pulls itself aboard. A Deep One, Shub-Niggurath had named it. "Look out!"

Jacqueline turns back again. She reaches for her gun, but the fishman grabs her in a tight, slimy embrace. "Get off!" she cries, struggling to no avail.

Then another one hauls itself up over the side - the same one that had attacked Lily in the catacombs beneath Rome. "You may have that one," it burbles. "This one is mine." It gives Lily a toothy grin. "She carries my child."

"NO!" screams Lily, too weak to fight back. "NOOOOO..."

I had thought Jacqueline was in league with Mythos entities until a Deep One gave her a cuddle . . . so what was the payback she wanted from Lily?