So you're probably here because of a certain violinist.

Maybe because of the achievement tipping you off the designers are aware of this, or maybe because you got alerted to Patrice when you saw this encounter card. I certainly hope you're not here because this ruined your blind Patrice Hemlock Vale playthrough.

For a majority of investigators, Captivating Gleam is a mythos card that is meant to hang over you the threat of losing all your cards. After all there are many, many effects the mythos utilizes to make you discard cards in Hemlock Vale. Especially in that final scenario. Me, I think it's a well-designed treachery. They have to give you an alternative negative effect on the other cards anyways in case you are out of cards, so you can often intentionally avert Captivating Gleam- at some detriment.

But Patrice Hathaway has a problem. Her investigator ability, a little mechanically out there but pretty tame as investigators go, has a very unfavourable interaction with this treachery. Once drawn, you have exactly one investigation phase to solve Captivating Gleam, before discarding all your cards in upkeep and suffering 5 horror. To add insult, you have to go through another mythos phase right after.

We're mythos busters here though, so let's brainstorm how a non-blind playthrough investigator can challenge Captivating Gleam with Patrice.

My first thought was Patrice's usual soak go to: Idol of Xanatos. But the problem with this asset is that Captivating Gleam hits you in the precise window where you don't have cards to discard. This also goes true for cards like Perseverance and Devil's Luck, where you won't have them in hand to play; though those cards aren't great on Patrice besides. On that note, Alter Fate, a card that would work on other investigators, doesn't for Patrice as you have to draw the card on the precise investigation phase where it would be relevant.

Brute forcing horror soak is a straightforward solution then. Agnes' Boyfriend is a classic, though a bit high cost for someone you're probably getting killed taking 3 horror. Mr Pawterson could also help, though I think his more fickle advanced version would be a better choice- considering you're about to take a 5 horror one shot. If you're old fashioned like me, with a limited collection Elder Sign Amulet can make a comeback here too. Since Hemlock Vale is crawling with XP though, I'd still go with Cherished Keepsake+ and accept exiling it each time.

More proactively, you can use Patrice's mystic cardpool to defuse this horror bomb. Parallel Fates+ sticks out in particular as a good aversion method: for lower player counts Scrying and Scrying+ can avert disaster too. At the very least, if you are playing with 4 and you only have access to Scrying, just consider sneakily sitting to the left of the lead investigator. If you're playing with 2, consider just being lead investigator to maximize the turns you get off Scrying.

Back to damage cancellation assets, St. Hubert's Key sticks out as an okay blocker for this, as does Talisman of Protection. Slight bias to St. Hubert's Key though- +1 head is just nice on Patrice. Unfortunately, these two only really heal 2 horror.

Which finally brings me to the cancellation asset that can fix your problems: Nine of Rods. Pay the 6 xp, find this card, play it, and you can say no to Captivating Gleam when you draw it. I'd say this is your best bet. I don't know anyone who owns any of the "Return to" boxes though, but Nine of Rods probably deserves a proxy if you're challenging Patrice on Hemlock Vale.

My suggestion? Run 3 of Parallel Fates, Mr Pawterson, St. Hubert's Key and Nine of Rods. I know it's a lot of deckspace, but these are good assets to have for the heavy amount of horror you'll be taking outside of captivating gleam anyways. Parallel Fates and Nine of Tods ideally should be your method of avoiding the treachery itself, and your teddy bear and St. Hubert's key are there for when those fail you (usually meaning you didn't draw them ahead of time).

Can Captivating Gleam completely derail your game playing as Patrice Hathaway? In a blind playthrough, absolutely. But with a little prep, I suspect it's manageable.

She notices a gleam in the distance. Small, inconsequential, the curiosity of the strange light draws her in. To others, it's just an intriguing annoyance- but to Patrice, she can see more. She can see the colour outside of what humans can, for she can see the waves of sound, she can see glimpses of something even further.

Her mind a violin, that ebbs and flows as time passes, tethering her to reality- stuck in this captivation of this gleam, overwhelming in it's reflections as the pulsating grows and grows and grows until the tension tears the mind and... snaps! Psychic strings plucking apart, a horrifying form all too visible and filling the void in her mind to become one and more!

What can you do but scream?!

This card is perfect with Chuck Fergus. Skids can take both and lean to an heavy event deck.

Chuck makes Task Force very powerfull, either free, "fast" (no AOO but still costing you an action as an additionnal cost) or giving you +1 to activate an ability on an asset.

With alternate Father Mateo you can basically auto success on any test that is only +2 higher than your relevant stat and just reseal the same bless token on yourself every turn. I run it with Ornate bow so i can just auto one shot most enemies. Also works well with skills that need you to succeed on a check to work.

An utterly brutal guy that will make the first 2 scenarios of TFA hell. The cowards out there would recommend not making them angry so these guys are safe to dispatch. Counterpoint; every snake you put in the victory display is one enemy permanently removed from the encounter deck and play areas; you want snakes in the vengeance display so your cluevers can do their job uninterrupted. Instead of making life more difficult for everyone else and forcing them to flee from critters in the jungle and making them heed silly ancient warnings just to make your job as guardian easier, instead bring a set of 2 Handcuffs and bury one deep or something.

These humans with a weird skin disease can hiss from their cuffs all they want about you trampling over their allegedly ancient and powerful culture. To take their warnings seriously is the height of paranoia and folly. If they're so powerful why can they be cuffed and taken to the station just as easily as every other raving lunatic stalking the streets of arkham? It's all hogwash, and surely nothing bad will ever happen to you if you simply ignore it.

Sadly, the problem with this card is that you can't pitch it for +1 on a skill test when you first start a campaign. So, if you draw it immediately after your mulligan it's not mega doo doo. Without that it's in a very awkward spot which will likely make this unplayable for vast majority of characters/campaigns (although there are some that you should really take it see SPOILERS below).

For example, if it had just a single wild icon it would become actually useable at lvl 0 as pitching it for a +1 skill test early on would have made it seen some play in some decks especially mill decks like Minh or Patrice both of which are action starved and like pitching wild icon cards. Then when the survivor gets some early exp they can do things like pitch it on the Hunting Jacket for a resource and save it for the final agenda.

SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

First column is scenario number, second is number of rounds you would have to wait if you drew it in your opening hand this counts all agendas before the "final" agenda, and third is the number of rounds you could play it before the game ends. Lower first number and higher second number = good scenario for End of the Road.

Some asterisks:

• There are some agendas that are "infinite" or dependent on what the investigators/act does in which case I use the base doom or make an estimate based on my experiences with the scenario.
• There is a question of what is a “final agenda” because it gets weird with things especially with recent campaigns like Edge of the Earth/Scarlet Keys/Hemlock with act/agendas that replace the agenda deck. Generally they don’t impact things too much on the overall assessment and you can argue at your table if you count it or not until an official ruling is added here. Honestly End of the Road needs as much help as it can get so for the below numbers I counted in favor of it being able to trigger since the current agenda is the “final” agenda in the agenda deck at the time of play.

The Gathering ( 1 / 5 )

Really only decent in Midnight Masks if you want to give it a newbie to have fun with.

The Dunwich Legacy ( 0 / 5 )

LOL

The Path to Carcosa ( 1 / 5 )

You got some hits like 2nd and 6th scenario, but a lot of doo doo in between.

The Forgotten Age ( 1 / 5 )

Only a 1 because its decent in the first 2 scenarios. But, it really fails to deliver after them so if you add it remember to remove it after the first 2 scenarios. However, the first 2 scenarios are very much get ahead stay ahead and potentially holding onto End of the Road for 6 rounds is a bit of a pain.

The Circle Undone ( 2 / 5 )

Really the only bummers are 3rd and final. First campaign with a 100% uptime scenario on the 7th scenario so if you have adaptable good to slot it in then.

The Dream-Eaters Part A ( 5 / 5 )

Its only a 5 because of the 1st scenario and accelerated exp, grab it for the first scenario then immediately dump it with your double digit exp.

The Dream-Eaters Part B ( 1 / 5 )

Its just not good enough in the early scenarios to get to the payoff in the third scenario.

The Innsmouth Conspiracy ( 0 / 5 )

Yeah... unless you're a masochist its terrible somehow worse on avg. here than Dunwich.

The Edge of the Earth ( 3 / 5 )

This is funny the worse you do in the opening scenario(s) the better End of the Road becomes. Since End of the Road will more often be a dead card in your hand in the opening scenario it itself helps contributes with getting a worser outcome for your group so it can shine further down. It's also good in the endgame if you count replacing agendas.

The Scarlet Keys ( 1 / 5 )

Release expansion and not a good showing the first scenario has a long time before the final agenda, and since some players will not hit the 100% scenarios based on where they go it can be a full campaign with End of the Road in the gutter.

The Feast of Hemlock Vale ( 4 / 5 )

Seems like End of the Road should have been released with Hemlock as Preludes really carry it. An additional action, card, and resource can be the difference on a succesful Resident objective and/or preparing for the day scenario. Most of the scenarios have low early doom agendas and high final agenda doom. Just make sure to ditch it before the final scenario otherwise you'll regret it.

TLDR: When is it good to include?

Base Deck:

• The Dream-Eaters Part A ditch it after the first scenario since you start with the final agenda.
• Feast of Hemlock Vale ditch it before the final scenario.

Adaptable:

• Circle Undone has the first 100% playability in the 7th scenario in which the scenario begins in the final agenda.
• Edge of the Earth has some 100% scenarios especially if you crash out in the opening scenario(s).
• Scarlet Keys has two 100% scenarios: Sanguine Shadows, Dogs of War.