On our last adventure, Roland raided the Historical Society and made quick work out of the Hidden Library. We managed to avoid drawing our weaknesses, which helped make the scenario quite simple for us. Up next is Unspeakable Oath. I’m a little worried about this one, since it’s heralded as one of the most difficult solo scenarios. Well, let’s see if Roland can escape the asylum or if this is the last episode of my series!

—–

Stick to the Plan

Exactly as the previous time, attached to Stick to the Plan, we have the following:

-On the Hunt

-Practice Makes Perfect

-Prepared for the Worst

We also immediately resolve 1 Astounding Revelation, and gain 2 additional resources.

—–

Courage Asset

We have a Courage asset in play from interviewing Constance Dumaine. Hopefully, it’s not my level 3 Enchanted Blade!

—–

Opening Hand

For our opening hand, we draw

–On The Hunt

-Practice Makes Perfect

-Astounding Revelation

-Crack the Case

-Vicious Blow

Oh god. This opening hand is horrible. Two cards that I already have on Stick to the Plan, a Research card, a card I have not played one time this campaign, and Vicious Blow in the opening of a scenario with 2 enemies in the encounter deck to begin with. Yeah, I’m just going to mulligan every one of these cards, no question.

After we mulligan every card, we have the following

–Perception

-Enchanted Blade0

-Glory

-Perception

-Disc of Itzamna

Well, it’s an improvement, but not spectacularly. I’m happy about the Perceptions. Disc also kills the Roach Swarms and most Lunatics immediately. The only one it doesn’t kill immediately is the Maniac. Overall, I’m decently happy with this.

—–

Round 1

ROLAND:

Damage – 0/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 7; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (5): Disc of Itzamna, Enchanted Blade0, Glory, Perception, Perception

Action 1: I am starting in the Western Patient Wing so I can be closer to the Mess Hall and Yard, which are much easier investigates for me. The ability on the west wing says if I defeat a Lunatic enemy, I draw one card. That could be nice for me. Anyway, my first order is going to be working on getting my 3 clues, so I’ll move to the Mess Hall.

Action 2: I investigate the Mess Hall, committing Perception. This is a 5v2. Since there is now an additional -3 in the bag, I’ll want to aim to be 2 up as much as I can. We draw a Cultist (0). The test is successful, so we discover a clue and draw a card. The card we draw is Clasp of Black Onyx. Honestly, not the worst time to draw it. We can’t choose to discard this card off of Mess Hall because it’s a weakness. Instead what I will do is discard Glory, because I think I will have enough access to my deck without having to play it..

Action 3: I play Clasp of Black Onyx. Glad that’s over with, especially since I have items I want to be playing.

Enemy phase: No enemies.

Upkeep: I draw The Man In the Pallid Mask (eye roll) and gain 1 resource. I’m going to drop him in the Infirmary, since I don’t want to mess up the Garden resign condition. That’s 2 of the 4 weaknesses in our deck out.

—–

Round 2

ROLAND:

Damage – 0/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 7; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (3): Disc of Itzamna, Enchanted Blade0, Perception

Mythos: 1 doom added, 1 out of 2 doom.

Encounter card: Gift of Madness (Pity). This will make it so I can’t attack Lunatic enemies; however, if I hit them with Disc, this doesn’t matter, because Disc triggers are not attacks. So, I’m not going to rush to clear this from my hand. I’m certain I will have to later on though.

Action 1: I investigate the Mess Hall committing my second copy of Perception. Again, we are 5v3. I draw a Cultist (0) for the second time. So, we gain a clue and draw a card. The card is Roland’s .38 Special! Now I have to discard a card from my hand. I’m going to discard my level 0 Enchanted Blade at this point. I have my upgraded Enchanted Blade in here somewhere (assuming it’s not my Courage asset), and I think my signature gun is a better weapon generally.

Action 2 & 3: I hop on over to the Yard, since the Kitchen is locked. This will be an easy location to clear, in time.

Enemy phase: No enemies.

Upkeep: We draw .45 Automatic and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 3

ROLAND:

Damage – 0/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 8; Clues – 2

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (4): .45 Automatic, Disc of Itzamna, Roland’s .38 Special, Gift of Madness (Pity)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 2 out of 2 doom. Agenda advances. The Lunatic enemies are now in the encounter deck. One monster is under the Act deck.

Encounter card: Roach Swarm. This is not a problem, since I can easily kill this to get a clue. I mean, it has a paltry 1 fight. The question is do I want to take an attack of opportunity to put out a weapon to hit this? Or would I rather just swing at it twice normally?

Action 1: I’m going to opt to not take an AoO to put out a weapon here. It’s not that I’m afraid of a 1 damage hit, it’s that I actually don’t think it really saves me much time right now. If a Lunatic spawns, which is the main reason I would want a weapon, I couldn’t attack it anyway because of Gift of Madness (Pity). What I will do is use my Practice Makes Perfect and pray I hit a Vicious Blow. If I hit something else, like a Take the Initiative, I’ll still take it, and probably make use of it anyway. So let’s go… I search the top 9 cards and I did it! I find a Vicious Blow! I did not find an Astounding Revelation but that’s okay. I also saw my Enchanted Blade3, so now I know that it’s not the Courage asset. That’s good news. This test is now 5v1, and I draw a -1! The Roaches are dead in one action, and I pick up this clue with my ability. The Vicious Blow returns to my hand.

I now have 3 clues so it’s time to advance the act. This is a little bit stressful for me, because I really want to get these keys, but all of these tests are tricky for me. I’m going to commit both of my guns to the Agility test. I’m going to commit my signature weapon and my Vicious Blow to the combat test and just pray it works out. That makes it 7v4. I draw a… -4! I had a feeling this would happen. I’m not going to try the other tests because I don’t think I’m going to pass any of them, so I go straight to stealing the keys by force while quietly cursing.

Action 2: I take a damage to incite a fight in the Yard.

Action 3: I pay 3 to put out Disc of Itzamna. This is my best damage option right now.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Dr. Elli Horowitz (yay!) and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 4

ROLAND:

Damage – 1/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 5; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (2): On the Hunt, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (3): .45 Automatic, Dr. Elli Horowitz, Gift of Madness (Pity)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 1 out of 7 doom.

Encounter card: Mad Patient. That has to spawn in the nearest asylum halls, which means that Disc doesn’t touch it unfortunately.

Action 1: I’m going to get rid of Gift of Madness (Pity), so I can attack this Mad Patient. There are now 2 monsters under the encounter deck.

Action 2: The next issue is whether I should play Dr. Elli or .45 Automatic. I don’t have that much money. The main reason to play Dr. Elli is to find the Enchanted Blade3, but I don’t think there are a lot of other good targets for her right now. There’s a really, really good chance she just finds nothing. I think I’ll just do the sure thing of playing my .45 Automatic.

Action 3: I’m going to gain a resource so that I can have enough resources to play either Dr. Elli or Enchanted Blade3 on my next turn.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Take the Initiative and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 5

ROLAND:

Damage – 1/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 3; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (2): Dr. Elli Horowitz, Take the Initiative

Mythos: 1 doom added. 2 out of 7 doom.

Encounter card: Whispers in Your Head (Dismay). I cannot commit skill cards to tests. That’s annoying, but since I have so few cards anyway, it’s not going to be something I worry too much about right this second.

Action 1: I move to the west wing. The Mad Patient engages me.

Action 2: I fight the Mad Patient with my .45 Automatic. This is a 5v2 test. I take a horror, which will go on my Courage. I draw a… -3! Phew, glad I got this weapon out. The Mad Patient is defeated, and I get to draw a card because of the ability on this location. The card I draw is another .45 Automatic.

Action 3: I move to the east wing, which does have a clue on it (nice!). However, it also has a forced ability that when I end my turn here, I take a horror and gain 2 resources. I’m not thrilled about taking horror, but I have no choice. That’s also going to go on my Courage, so the Courage is gone now. I discard it to reveal it’s my other Disc of Itzamna. Interesting. That makes me glad I didn’t play Dr. Elli, since she would have had, I believe, only 2 targets that work at the time.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Internal Injury and gain 1 resource. Yikes, just drawing all my weaknesses now. Only Cover Up is left.

—–

Round 6

ROLAND:

Damage – 1/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 6; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (4): .45 Automatic, Dr. Elli Horowitz, Take the Initiative, Whispers in Your Head (Dismay)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 3 out of 7 doom.

Encounter card: Dance of the Yellow King. There are no Lunatic enemies, so this gains surge. I now draw Maniac. It does a damage to me and I do a damage to it. I’m also going to discard my Disc to deal 2 more damage to it.

Action 1: I am going to chance fighting this while 1 up. I pass on all the Skulls and Cultists, so I feel pretty okay about my chances. I hope to pass this by at least action 2, so that I am not ending my turn here. I’d like to be able to save my gun ammo. So, I fight 4v3 and I draw a -1! That’s perfect. The Maniac is defeated and I discover the clue on this location.

Action 2: I move down to the Basement Hall. I know Internal Injury is going to hit me at least once, but I can’t clear it right now.

Action 3: I spend a clue to move to a random Patient Confinement. It’s Familiar Cell, where I test Will against the amount of horror on me. Right now, it’s 0, so this will be an easy task to complete. I take a damage from Internal Injury.

Enemy phase: No enemies.

Upkeep: I draw Crack the Case and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 7

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 7; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (5): .45 Automatic, Dr. Elli Horowitz, Crack the Case, Take the Initiative, Whispers in Your Head (Dismay)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 4 out of 7 doom.

Encounter card: The Yellow Sign. Well, this is pretty awful. I really wish I used On the Hunt right now. If I was able to play Take the Initiative, I probably could pass this, but I can’t. I don’t have a Madness to be drawn, but the 2 horror will hurt me badly. I think I’m going to have to commit Dr. Elli. That makes the test 4v4. Anything above 0, or a Cultist, and I will pass. I draw a -1. I fail. Another painful fail for me. I take 2 horror and search my deck for a Madness. There isn’t one, but since I searched my deck I do get to trigger an Astounding Revelation, which is pretty funny.

Action 1&2: I get rid of Internal Injury.

Action 3: I think I’m going to just try this Will test anyway. My odds of passing it are not amazing, but I feel like clearing this location’s task is my best hope of continuing to make progress. 3v2, and I draw a +1!! Oh my god, I passed! That’s one more task complete.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Vicious Blow (which I can’t use) and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 8

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 2/5; Resources – 10; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (3): On the Hunt, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (5): .45 Automatic, Crack the Case, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow Whispers in Your Head (Dismay)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 5 out of 7 doom.

Encounter card: Descent into Madness. I still have less than 3 horror, so this does nothing to me. Regardless, it surges and I get the second copy of Descent into Madness, so same deal. It surges and I get Corrosion. This doesn’t bother me too much. I’ll simply discard the .45 Automatic from my hand. We’re all good.

Action 1: I want to pick up this clue on my location, so I’m going to commit Crack the Case. This is now an investigate of 4v2. I draw a Skull (-1), so I pass! Time to keep moving.

Action 2: I move back to the Basement Hall.

Action 3: I spend my clue to move into another Patient Confinement. This is the Occupied Cell, with the combat test on it. This should be doable for me. The shroud is also 5, but if I could kill an enemy in here, I can just pick up this clue freely.

Enemy phase:  Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Astounding Revelation and gain 1 resource. My hand is super useless to me right now as it’s skill cards I can’t commit to anything and this dead Astounding Revelation.

—–

Round 9

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 2/5; Resources – 11; Clues – 0

Stick to the Plan (2): On the Hunt, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (4): Astounding Revelation, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow, Whispers in Your Head (Dismay)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 6 out of 7 doom.

Encounter card: I’m going to play On the Hunt. I draw a Mad Patient. Fighting this is going to drop my sanity even lower, but I am hoping everything is going to work out for me. I just need my Enchanted Blade3, or my Hallowed Mirror. Should be doable… right?

Action 1: I fight the Mad Patient, 5v2 with my .45 Automatic. I draw a 0, so it’s defeated and I discover the clue here. I also take one more horror. If this were Pokemon, this would be the time that beeping noise starts going off, because I am feeling very low on sanity.

Action 2: Now, I have a few choices to make. I can’t afford to take any more horror. And this is The Unspeakable Oath, so it’s very possible horror just gets dumped on me in Mythos. Take the Initiative is protecting me from Will tests, but I can’t use it because of Dismay. However, clearing Dismay takes the rest of my turn. I could attempt to draw cards and see if I get something else that helps me. I think what I’ll do is clear Dismay now, so I can hopefully use Take the Initiative in the Mythos Phase.

Action 3: I cleared Whispers in Your Head (Dismay).

Enemy phase: No enemies.

Upkeep phase: I draw Guts and gain 1 resource. Okay, this is the exact situation I had in mind when I cleared Dismay. If I still had Dismay in my hand, this Guts would have been useless to me. Hopefully, I draw soak or healing soon.

—–

Round 10

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 3/5; Resources – 11; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (1): Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (7): Astounding Revelation, Guts, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 7 out of 7 doom. Agenda advances. A monster is shuffled into the encounter deck.

Encounter card: Mad Patient. For once, I’m glad an enemy isn’t spawning right on me. This will spawn in the east wing.

Action 1: Okay, so I feel a little bit safer now. Let’s try the combat test here. 4v2, and we draw a -1. Awesome, that’s 3 tasks completed!

Action 2: I move in to the Basement Hall.

Action 3: I’ll play my Prepared for the Worst off of my Stick to the Plan, in hopes of finding Enchanted Blade3. Let’s see how it goes… it fails completely and I get nothing at all! Well, it was certainly worth a try at least. There were only 11 cards left, and it searched 9 of them.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Enchanted Blade3 (LMAO!!!) and gain 1 resource. The shuffle from Prepared for the Worst whiffing put Enchanted Blade back on top. Okay, well, I think I ought to be set now for handling horror. Hopefully nothing terrible happens in the near future.

—–

Round 11

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 3/5; Resources – 11; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (0): Empty

Hand (5): Astounding Revelation, Enchanted Blade(3), Guts, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added.1 out of 8 doom.

Encounter card: Roach Swarm. Because of where I am, this Roach Swarm is a 4 fight, which means I don’t know if I want to just hit it with my .45 Automatic alone.

Action 1: I’m going to commit my Take the Initiative because I really want to pass this. That makes this test an 8v4. I draw a 0! The Roach Swarm is dead and I pick up the clue.

Action 2: I play Enchanted Blade3.

Action 3: I move to the next Patient Confinement and it’s the right one! Hooray! I get Daniel Chesterfield, which gives me 3 horror soak. Everything’s so much better now. The encounter deck and the monsters under the act deck get shuffled together.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Dr. Elli Horowitz and gain 1 resource. I can’t play Elli without removing Daniel, but it’s whatever. I don’t need Elli out right now anyway. I expect to be hitting Cover Up very, very soon here as well.

—–

Round 12

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 3/5; Resources – 10; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (0): Empty 

Hand (4): Astounding Revelation, Dr. Elli Horowitz, Guts, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added, 2 out of 8 doom.

Encounter card: Asylum Gorger. While this enemy looks really scary, I don’t think it’s going to be much of a problem, since it can’t make attacks of opportunity or attack the same round it moved. So I’m probably just going to run circles around it.

Action 1: I want to do the final task in the last Patient Confinement cell, so I move to the Basement Hall.

Action 2: I move to the last Patient Confinement cell, waving goodbye to the Asylum Gorger as I run past it.

Action 3: I commit Astounding Revelation to the test here to make it 4v2. I draw a -2! Hooray, that’s 4 tasks done. Now all I have to do is leave!

Enemy phase: Asylum Gorger moves to me and does not hit me.

Upkeep: I draw Hallowed Mirror and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 13

ROLAND:

Damage – 3/9; Horror – 3/5; Resources – 11; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (0): Empty 

Hand (4): Dr. Elli Horowitz, Guts, Hallowed Mirror, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 3 out of 8 doom.

Encounter card: Whispers In Your Head (Dismay). Look at that, our old friend decided to pay us another visit. Thankfully, we’re at a point where this doesn’t matter much to us anymore.

Action 1: Alright, time to run out of here. I move to the Basement Hall, again waving goodbye to the slow as heck Asylum Gorger.

Action 2: I move to the east wing. The Mad Patient engages me.

Action 3: I’m going to do something a little bit wacky and move one more time to the west wing. This triggers an attack of opportunity on me, but if I sit on the east wing, I am forced to take a horror, which is much worse for me at this time than the 2 damage this maneuver will do to me in total.

Enemy phase: Asylum Gorger moves to the Basement Hall. Mad Patient attacks me again for 1 damage.

Upkeep: I draw On the Hunt and gain 1 resource.

—–

Round 13

ROLAND:

Damage – 5/9; Horror – 3/5; Resources – 13; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (0): Empty 

Hand (6): Dr. Elli Horowitz, Guts, Hallowed Mirror, On the Hunt, Vicious Blow, Whispers In Your Head (Dismay)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 4 out of 8 doom.

Encounter card: The Yellow Sign. Okay. Deep breaths here. I can survive failing this, but I’d rather try to pass. So I am going to commit Dr. Elli and the Hallowed Mirror to this test (which I can do, because they are not skills). That makes this test 5v4. I draw a Skull (-1)! I pass!

Action 1: I attack the Mad Patient with my Enchanted Blade3, putting the horror on to Daniel Chesterfield. This test is 6v2. I draw a Skull again, and I pass! I now empower the Enchanted Blade. The Mad Patient is defeated, so I heal 1 horror and draw a card. The card I draw is Crack the Case. I do not activate the ability on west wing, because I don’t want to hit Cover Up.

Action 2: I move to the Yard.

Action 3: I move to the Garden.

Enemy phase: Asylum Gorger moves to the east wing.

Upkeep: Hopefully I don’t draw Cover Up!! I draw… Take the Initiative!! I’m going to make it out of here!

—–

Round 14

ROLAND:

Damage – 5/9; Horror – 2/5; Resources – 14; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (0): Empty 

Hand (6): Crack the Case, Guts, On the Hunt, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow, Whispers In Your Head (Dismay)

Mythos: 1 doom added. 5 out of 8 doom.

Encounter card: Young Psychopath. Ok, all I have to do is kill this enemy and we will be on our way out of here. I’m going to take another horror to make this an easy test for me, putting that horror onto Daniel Chesterfield.

Action 1: I attack the Young Psychopath with the last bullet on my .45 Automatic. (Remember that thing I put out Round 4? Well it is still here with 1 ammo in it 10 rounds later.) I’m going to commit my On the Hunt to this to make it 6v2.  The reason why is because Enchanted Blade 3 will draw me a card. I don’t want it to do that, because it could be Cover Up. Anyway, I draw another Skull! The enemy is dead.

Action 2: I resign! Roland escapes! However, I did end up failing to steal the keys, so I do get attacked as I leave the Asylum, giving me a physical trauma.

Well, the middle of that scenario was extremely stressful with my useless garbage hand. This deck has a lot of skill cards in it so that Whispers In Your Head felt very bad. Still, we were able to escape, which is great news for us. And the 1 physical trauma is certainly better than being driven insane from failing this scenario! I earned very few experience points, but given how stressed I was about doing this scenario solo in the first place… I’ll gladly take whatever I can get!

Anyway, let’s check our updated campaign log.

—–

Campaign log:

-you tried to warn the police

-the Stranger is on to you

-VIPs interviewed: Constance Dumaine, Ishimaru Haruko, Ashleigh Clarke

-VIPs slain: ~*~all of them~*~

-you took the onyx clasp

-the investigators were attacked as they escaped the asylum

-Chasing the Stranger: 2

-Conviction: 3, Doubt: 0

-Total Experience Earned: 9

-Physical trauma: 1

—–

Interlude II: Lost Soul

Daniel survived! Which means, I get another 2 experience, so I have 4 experience!

Next, I will heed the warning. That gives me plus 2 conviction, as well as an additional experience. That brings me to 5 experience.

I don’t talk at all when I play solo, so the whole Hastur thing is a bit wacky. I think I’m going to just avoid typing Hastur then, how about that? My favourite nickname for Hastur is Hamburglar, so from now on, Hastur is the Hamburglar.

So, let’s check our campaign log again.

—–

Campaign log:

-you tried to warn the police

-the Stranger is on to you

-VIPs interviewed: Constance Dumaine, Ishimaru Haruko, Ashleigh Clarke

-VIPs slain: ~*~all of them~*~

-you took the onyx clasp

-the investigators were attacked as they escaped the asylum

-you heeded Daniel’s warning

-Chasing the Stranger: 2

-Conviction: 3, Doubt: 0

-Total Experience Earned: 14

-Physical trauma: 1

—–

Upgrades

That burst of experience during the Interlude gives me enough experience to buy my second copy of Enchanted Blade3 as well as Segment of Onyx! Those are for sure going in. However, I now also 1 more experience point. What could I use it on? I think I’m going to use it on Ambush. Ambush is very similar to the value of Disc without taking up a slot. I can’t run around the map with Ambush, but since I normally want to On The Hunt right away with it anyway, I don’t think this will be a big problem.

I will add 3 Segments of Onyx and 1 Ambush, removing both Crack the Cases, 1 On the Hunt and, 1 Prepared for the Worst (since I have copies of those cards on Stick to the Plan anyway).

With that, we are all done and ready to move on to A Phantom of Truth! Tune in next time to watch Roland run away from a spooky man for three days.