The Circle Undone Blind Run #1: The Witching Hour

The Witching Hour

As always I’m playing my blind run with Jenny’s typical pay-to-win deck. The last time I went all-in with Delve Too Deeps and Charon’s Obol, but this time I’m playing it safe. I’m taking just one Delve. Playing Valentino in the prologues made me consider Well Connected as an alternative to Arcane Studies. In the first scenario Jenny doesn’t get to use Streetwise and sometimes finds herself with large reserve of unused resources. Moreover, Well Connected covers all skills, not just Intellect and Willpower, and is in-class for Jenny. It’s an unproven card, so I’ll add some off-color clue-getters in case The Witching Hour involves some difficult investigation checks.

Jenny decides to reject her fate and adds to the chaos bag. She begins the scenario at Tainted Well.

Pre-Mulligan Hand: Delve Too Deep, Perception, Hard Knocks, "Watch this!", Emergency Cache

Opening Hand: Perception, Hard Knocks, Well Connected, Machete, Overpower

#1

• PLAY Machete
  • Jenny didn’t expect to be here, but she still carried that on her? Let’s instead say that it’s not a machete, but a rusty cleaver someone left near the well.
• PLAY Hard Knocks
• INVESTIGATE (commit Perception, , draw Leo De Luca, 1 clue from Tainted Well)
  • Our first token pulled was an Elder Sign. Not just that, but it seems Jenny had already found some tracks that might belong to her friend. It fits with the theme of the scenario. All in all, an excellent opening round and good omen for the rest of the campaign.
• Upkeep: draw .41 Derringer, 2 resources total.

#2

• Mythos: 1/8 doom, Dissonant Voices
  • Jenny’s hearing voices and her head hurts. She’ll have to walk it off.
• MOVE to Witch-Haunted Woods (Child's Tree House)
  • This location is hilarious! Let’s see if we can find out who or what is hiding in the tree house.
• INVESTIGATE (-4)
• INVESTIGATE (0, 1 clue from Child's Tree House)
• Upkeep: draw Working a Hunch, 4 resources total, discard Dissonant Voices.
• advance Lost in the Woods to Witch Hauntings (move to Old House, , exhaust Goat Spawn)

#3

• Mythos: 2/8 doom, Diabolic Voices (-2, discard Overpower & Working a Hunch)
  • Voice intensifies! I had nothing I could commit to the test. Thankfully, Leo wasn’t discarded. Now, the issue is that fighting an enemy with retaliate is much safer with boosted Combat and that costs resources. Then again, the goat is exhausted, so there’s no need to pay immediately.
• INVESTIGATE (-4)
• INVESTIGATE ()
• MOVE to Witch-Haunted Woods (Cairn Stones)
• Enemy: Goat Spawn readies
• Upkeep: draw "I'm outta here!", 6 resources total.
  • Do I need “I'm outta here!” in this scenario? There is no resign option so far, but the theme is about escaping from the woods so I’ll try to hold onto the card.

#4

• Mythos: 3/8 doom, Rotting Remains (-2, 2 horror)
  • It’s another Willpower test.
• PLAY Leo De Luca
• DRAW Delve Too Deep
• DRAW Hard Knocks
• INVESTIGATE (, 1 clue from Cairn Stones)
  • In the end this investigation wasn’t a good idea. Granted, I pulled an Elder Sign, but this test wasn’t crucial so going for it at plus zero was wasteful. In retrospect, I simply got impatient.
• Enemy: Goat Spawn hunts and attacks (1 damage to Leo De Luca)
• Upkeep: draw Emergency Cache, 2 resources total.

#5

• Mythos: 4/8 doom, Centuries of Secrets (-2, discard 4 encounter cards)
  • One more Willpower test and this one was potentially fatal to Leo! Mercifully, no curses were discarded. I did see three Coven Initiates. It even sort of makes sense for them to bunch up.
• FIGHT with Machete (commit Hard Knocks & .41 Derringer, -1, 2 damage to Goat Spawn)
• FIGHT with Machete (+1 , +1, defeat Goat Spawn, 1 horror to Leo De Luca)
  • OK. I’ve got two more actions, I think I can afford to advance.
• advance Witch Hauntings to Paths into Twilight
• PLAY Emergency Cache
• PLAY Well Connected
• Upkeep: draw Working a Hunch, 4 resources total.

Jenny’s Board State: 8 health, 5 sanity, 4 resources, 0 clues

In Play: Leo De Luca (1 damage & 1 horror), Machete, Hard Knocks, Well Connected

In Hand: "I'm outta here!", Delve Too Deep, Working a Hunch

#6

• Mythos: 5/8 doom, Centuries of Secrets (, discard 5 encounter cards)
  • Wow! Leo is being solidly badmouthed by the encounter deck, but somehow I avoided curses. It seems that Willpower tests are going to be ubiquitous in the Circle Undone.
• RESOURCE
  • Typically I’d have Jenny return to where the tree house was, but Priestess of the Coven is on top of the discard pile and that lady is scary.
• INVESTIGATE ( Well Connected, +1, 1 clue from Cairn Stones, lose 1 resource)
• MOVE to Witch-Haunted Woods (Hermit's House)
• RESOURCE
• draw Well Connected, 7 resources total.

#7

• Mythos: 6/8 doom, Evil Past
  • More Willpower tests. This one isn’t immediate. All things considered Jenny remains remarkably sane. Running out of the encounter deck seems to an overall theme in this campaign, but I’m not sure that’ll happen too often in solo games.
• PLAY Delve Too Deep (Ancient Evils, 1 doom)
• Working a Hunch (1 clue from Hermit's House, discard "I'm outta here!")
  • Who’s this hermit guy? Jenny must think highly of his advice if she abandoned all thoughts of escape. Perhaps he turned out to be an outstanding conversationalist despite his reclusive way of life?
• RESOURCE
• INVESTIGATE ( Well Connected, commit Well Connected, +1, 1 clue from Hermit's House)
  • Splendid! Jenny’s a tad reluctant to leave the hermit’s company, so I’ll put off advancing the act until next turn.
• RESOURCE
• Upkeep: draw Lone Wolf, 8 resources total.

#8

• Mythos: 8/8 doom, TEMPERANCE • XIV advances to The Night Howls (Priestess of the Coven), Ancient Evils (1 doom)
  • OK, I’ll hold over some more. I haven’t yet seen the location mentioned in the Agenda, so I expect it to be under Act 2, possibly with more witches. For the moment Jenny’s dueling with the Priestess. She sizes up her opponent and sees that the woman is awfully confident. She’s either empowered by magic or has some nasty trick up her sleeve. Of course, we’ve got Hard Knocks in play and lots of resources to spend for Jenny to match the witch.
• FIGHT with Machete (+3 , Well Connected, -2, 2 damage to Priestess of the Coven)
• FIGHT with Machete (+4 , -1, defeat Priestess of the Coven)
• PLAY Lone Wolf
• MOVE to Child's Tree House
  • The Priestess run off in that direction!
• Upkeep: draw Elusive, 2 resources total.
  • Oh, it seems we won’t need to fight her after all. We can have Jenny lure her out of the tree house and then use Elusive.

#9

• Mythos: 2/12 doom, Wracked
  • This encounter is quite deceptive, isn’t it? It’s tempting to leave it in play because the effect is so mild, but at the same time it matters during mythos phase and even when it doesn't it encourages conservative play.
• Lone Wolf
• INVESTIGATE ()
• INVESTIGATE (0, 1 clue from Child's Tree House, Priestess of the Coven)
• Elusive to Hermit's House
• RESOURCE
• RESOURCE
• Upkeep: draw Elusive, 5 resources total.

#10

• Mythos: 3/12 doom, Diabolic Voices (-4, discard all encounter cards, ◊ Evil Past, 2 horror, 0, discard Evil Past)
  • Still no curses discarded!
• Lone Wolf
• advance Paths into Twilight to A Circle Unbroken
  • As expected.
• MOVE to Witches' Circle
• FIGHT with Machete (+1 , Well Connected, commit Jenny's Twin .45s, , 2 damage to Anette Mason)
• FIGHT with Machete (+3 , , defeat Anette Mason)
• R1.

My first impressions are that The Witching Hour is easier than either The Untamed Wilds or Curtain Call. Actually, I haven't enjoyed it as much as those scenarios or Disappearance at the Twilight Estate. Maybe it's because it relies on the investigators being separated, but with just one investigator there is no one to be separated from. It also might be due to the abruptness of the whole situation. Why exactly are we in those witch-haunted woods? Shouldn't Jenny be investigating Valentino's disappearance instead? Not to mention, the scenario was broken on release and I was forced to scrap my actual blind run midway due to there being too few clues to advance on the map. But, aside from the that small hiccup, the mechanics in this campaign are solid and I look forward to the next scenario.

Campaign Log:

Disappearance at the Twilight Estate: Valentino disappeared into the mist. 4 pieces of evidence were left behind.

The Witching Hour: Jenny has rejected her fate. The witches’ spell was broken. Mementos: Mesmerizing Flute & Ritual Components. 8 XP (Anette Mason, Cairn Stones, Child's Tree House, Tainted Well, Hermit's House, Delve Too Deep, 1 bonus XP).