Chaos Highlander Wendy Returns to the Devourer Below (Solo)

My attempt to win Return to the Night of the Zealot with three Ultimatums active (Finality, Chaos, and Highlander) reaches its conclusion here. Well, its "real" conclusion, that is. I'd previously published a play session where Wendy Adams won using the Ornate Bow liberally to shoot down a veritable cavalcade of enemies... but I'd seriously misunderstood/misplayed Wendy's Amulet, as was (helpfully and importantly!) pointed out to me after the fact; and with the rules gotten so wrong I decided the only fair thing was to replay the scenario from scratch.

I'm coming in with three unique cultists interrogated... but one of the remaining ones is the hunter Narôgath. I'm probably going to have a very bad time unless I can pull some of my higher-level cards. Well, let's get to it!

SESSION REPORT

SCENARIO III - RETURN TO THE DEVOURER BELOW

• Opening Hand: Perception, Lucky!, Baseball Bat, Opportunist, Reckless Assault
• Kept: Baseball Bat
• Replacements: Survival Instinct, Leo De Luca, Gravedigger's Shovel, Wendy's Amulet
• Starting Location: Main Path

No Ornate Bow (nor Lita Chantler) this time, but at least I have Leo De Luca for extra actions; plus one of my "Act 2a Main Path" solutions (Survival Instinct) in hand. The trick is going to be not losing it to a discard effect along the way (or maybe pulling it back with Resourceful should that happen).

R1 (0D, 1H, 5$, 0C): 2/4 doom

• Encounter: None
• Play Leo De Luca [-5$]
• Move to Arkham Woods - Old House
• Investigate, 4 vs. 2 ( is 0): pass [+1C]
• Move to Main Path
• Draw Abandoned and Alone [2H, +1$]

I'd much rather get this weakness out of the way now, especially with Wendy's Amulet (that I know how to play correctly now!) in hand.

R2 (0D, 3H, 1$, 1C): 3/4 doom

• Encounter: Chill from Below, 4 vs. 3 (-1): pass
• Move to Arkham Woods - Unhallowed Ground, 4 vs. 4 (+1): pass
• Draw Emergency Cache
• Play Emergency Cache [+3$]
• Play Gravedigger's Shovel [-2$]
• Draw Opportunist [+1$]

I paused to draw because I didn't yet have a good tool for either picking up a 4-shroud clue or dealing with the Agenda 1b monster spawn at the Main Path. Emergency Cache means I could handle the clue using Gravedigger's Shovel and still have cash left over for Baseball Bat afterwards.

R3 (0D, 3H, 3$, 1C): 4/4 doom

• Agenda advances to 1b: encounters reshuffle, Young Deep One spawns at Main Path with +1 doom, advances to 2a [enemies have +1 fight/evade] (That's a rough one. I was hoping for a Grave-Eater.)
• Encounter: Dreams of R'lyeh threatens (Double-whammy of "Agents" cards! A Baseball Bat isn't going to cut it. I need to stop and draw for a solution to the Young Deep One before it moves in on me.)
• Draw Elusive (No...)
• Draw Backstab (...Yes! This will do it. Best to draw a couple of extra cards for potentially helpful icons, and since I'm sitting here anyway, try to dispel Dreams of R'lyeh before it sinks me to other treacheries.)
• Draw "Look what I found!"
• Test Dreams of R'lyeh, commit Opportunist: 4 vs. 3 ( is 0): pass [discarded] (I was ready to discard and re-test if this went south, but thankfully didn't have to)
• Young Deep One moves to Arkham Woods - Unhallowed Ground, engages and attacks [1H, 1D/1H on Leo De Luca]
• Draw Waylay [+1$] (A backup option!)

R4 (0D, 4H, 4$, 1C): 1/5 doom [+1 on Young Deep One]

• Encounter: Disciple of the Devourer spawns at Arkham Woods with +1 doom [drop 1C on Arkham Woods] (Gah. These guys cause SO much tempo loss.)
• Play Backstab [-3$]: Fight Young Deep One, commit Elusive, 5 vs. 4 ( is -1): pass [+3D, defeated] (Whew! That's a load off, for sure. Time to stabilize.)
• Discard Gravedigger's Shovel [+1C]
• Move to Main Path
• Draw Fight or Flight (Yes!)
• Draw Perception [+1$]

Fight or Flight is one of my end-of-the-game solutions for finishing off Act 3a, so it's quite a timely draw now. The plan here is to move into where the Disciple of the Devourer is, evade it, net both clues there with "Look what I found!", and move on out. I don't plan to kill it; I don't mind its doom advancing Agenda 2 so long as I can get the clues, given how dangerous Agenda 2a makes all the enemies. Unless, of course, it's the zero-clue Quiet Glade.

R5 (0D, 4H, 2$, 1C): 2/5 doom [+1 on Disciple of the Devourer]

• Encounter: Chill from Below, 4 vs. 3 (-1): pass
• Move to Arkham Woods - Quiet Glade [Disciple of the Devourer engages] (Arrrrrgh, I hate you, Quiet Glade!)
• Evade Disciple of the Devourer, 4 vs. 2 (-4, discard Baseball Bat to re-test, -1): pass [evaded]
• Investigate, 3 vs. 1 (-2): pass [+1C]
• Move to Main Path
• Disciple of the Devourer readies
• Draw Lantern [+1$]

Well, guess I need to go to the fourth Arkham Woods location anyway.

R6 (0D, 4H, 3$, 2C): 3/5 doom [+1 on Disciple of the Devourer]

• Encounter: Disciple of the Devourer spawns at Arkham Woods with +1 doom [drop 1C on Arkham Woods] (Arrrrrgh here we go again!)
• Move to Arkham Woods - Corpse-Ridden Clearing [Disciple of the Devourer engages]
• Evade Disciple of the Devourer, 4 vs. 2 ( is 0): pass [evaded]
• Investigate, 3 vs. 3 ( is 0): pass [+1C] (And of course when I plan to play "Look what I found!" for two clues, I pass the test for only one. Well, at least I have some icons in hand to commit to passing the second Investigate action.)
• Investigate, commit Perception and Lantern, 6 vs. 3 ( is -3): pass [+1C], draw Will to Survive (Yes!!)
• Disciple of the Devourer readies and engages
• Draw Rise to the Occasion [+1$]

I have the clues I need now, and I have three key tools to get past the Main Path cultist horde and to finish off Act 3: Will to Survive, Fight or Flight, and Survival Instinct. What could wreck me? Amnesia of course, with the Agenda 2b flip; probably Paranoia too. However, with Rise to the Occasion, I actually have a prayer at passing that 6 test. After a long think, I decide to further commit Wendy's Amulet, to double-down on passing the test, as I don't think I'm going to have time or resources to play both it and the events I plan to use to finish things.

R7 (0D, 4H, 4$, 3C): 4/5 doom [+2 on Disciples of the Devourer]

• Agenda advances to 2b, commit Rise to the Occasion and Wendy's Amulet, 9 vs. 6 (-4, discard Waylay to re-test, 0): pass
• Encounter: Frozen in Fear [threatens] (Hmm. This delays things for a turn.)
• Evade Disciple of the Devourer, 4 vs. 1 (-1): pass [evaded]
• Move to Main Path
• Draw Cherished Keepsake
• Test Frozen in Fear, commit Cherished Keepsake, 5 vs. 3 (-2): pass [discarded]
• Advance Act to 1b [-3C]: Ritual Site enters play; Narôgath, "Wolf-Man" Drew, and Alma Hill spawn at Main Path and engage; advance to 2a (I did this during the window in the upkeep phase, so that if a third Disciple of the Devourer spawns at the beginning of the next round, I won't lose one of my hard-earned clues.)
• Draw Resourceful [+1$]

R8 (0D, 4H, 5$, 0C): 1/5 doom

• Encounter: Disciple of the Devourer spawns at Arkham Woods - Unhallowed Ground with +1 doom (Hah, called it!)
• Play Will to Survive [-4$]
• Evade "Wolf-Man" Drew, commit Survival Instinct, 6 vs. 2: pass ["Wolf-Man" Drew, Narôgath, and Alma Hill evaded; move to Ritual Site]
• Advance Act to 2b: encounters reshuffle, Acolyte of Umôrdhoth spawns and engages, advances to 3a
• Evade Acolyte of Umôrdhoth, 4 vs. 2: pass [evaded]
• Investigate, 3 vs. 3: pass [+1C]
• Investigate, 3 vs. 3: pass [+1C]
• Acolyte of Umôrdhoth readies and engages
• Narôgath, "Wolf-Man" Drew, and Alma Hill ready
• Draw Sneak Attack [+1$]
• Add 2C to Ritual Site

Will to Survive got me past the cultist horde, the Ritual Site enemy, and got me the two clues I need. Now Fight or Flight will hopefully let me get them onto the Act. With that third Disciple of the Devourer I only have two turns to accomplish this. Here we go!

R9 (0D, 4H, 2$, 2C): 2/5 doom [+1 on Disciple of the Devourer]

• Encounter: Ancient Evils [+1 doom] (Make that I only have this ONE turn to accomplish this!)
• Play Fight or Flight [-1$]
• Evade Acolyte of Umôrdhoth, 8 vs. 2 (-4): pass [evaded]
• Use Act 3a [-1C]: 8 vs. 3 (-2): pass [+1C on Act 3a] (Almost there...)
• Use Act 3a [-1C]: 8 vs. 3 (-2): pass [+1C on Act 3a] (...success!!)
• Advance Act to 3b: Resolution 1

Resolution 1

• The ritual to summon Umôrdhoth was broken
• +2 mental trauma
• 5 experience [0 Victory + 5 bonus]
• Wendy Adams wins!
• ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Line in the Sand

Whew! A second nail-biter, and hopefully this time I didn't make any egregious rule errors! Amazing how differently a scenario can play out; this time I never saw the Ornate Bow or Lita Chantler, but instead got full use out of Leo De Luca and was able to leverage all of Wendy's cool Survivor tricks for the finish.

Now, the final challenge: winning the campaign on Expert difficulty. A daunting task to be sure given how I'm used to playing on Standard - not even Hard. But I hear Agnes Baker may be up to the challenge. We'll see... next time!

Thanks all for reading - hope you enjoyed this tale of adventure as much as I enjoyed playing and writing it!

• Voltgloss