In our last episode, Roland ran away from the Organist for three days using a magical pendant, collected every clue from the map except one, and ended up finding Nigel Engram’s house. Inside Nigel’s house, we found a map telling us where the opening of the path to Carcosa is, and since we are Roland, Pirate King of All Relics, we LOVE weird creepy maps! So of course we’re going to follow it into this scary tunnel. What else would we do? Let’s see if we can get out of here.

—

Setup

The Man In The Pallid Mask is set aside during this scenario, which is fantastic as it reduces the number of weaknesses in my deck from 5 to 4. Wow, that’s 20% fewer weaknesses!

We begin at The Gate to Hell because of our success in A Phantom of Truth. This is advantageous for us because it’s going to be really easy to pick up these clues with its 1 shroud. We put a Catacombs location above and below.

We opened a secret passageway thanks to our interview with Ishimaru Haruko, which means I can reveal one location now for free. When I play Pallid Mask I generally like to move the map downwards, so I will reveal the location below. That location is Crypt of the Sepulchral Lamp. There is already a location above, so I put one location to the right. Crypt is 2 shroud but investigated with Will, so my commits are less useful against it.

—

Stick to the Plan

I’m sticking to my plan for Stick to the Plant. See what I did there?

-On the Hunt

-Practice Makes Perfect

-Prepared for the Worst

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

—

Opening Hand

For our opening hand, we draw

–Take the Initiative

-Guts

-.45 Automatic

-Perception2 (like Enchanted Blade before, from here on out, all references to Perception are to Perception level 2)

-Glory

A lot of skill cards! I don’t think I really need all these right now though. I’d like to keep Take the Initiative and Guts, because I’m sure I can use them on either Mythos treacheries or, in the case of Crypt of the Sepuchral Lamp next door, to investigate. I don’t want to keep Perception, because I don’t think I need these icons this badly, and I’d actually prefer pulling it via Practice Makes Perfect than drawing it normally (since that will likely give me a bonus use of the card). I’m not sold on Glory in my opening hand. I’d rather just have something else. Glory is more of a combo card for this deck, and I don’t have my combo pieces. So I am mulliganing Perception and Glory.

After the mulligan, I have the following.

–Take the Initiative

-Guts

-.45 Automatic

-Dr. Elli Horowitz

-Practice Makes Perfect

I’m happy with these two replacements. I urgently need my Enchanted Blade, because I am expecting to fight Poltergeists and I have a mental trauma that needs healing. Dr. Elli gives me a shot at finding that. Practice Makes Perfect in my hand is a little bit lackluster since I have one on Stick to the Plan, but still, this can help me pull the Perceptions out of my deck when I need them.

So with that all done, let’s get started.

—

Round 1

ROLAND:

Damage – 1/9; Horror – 1/5; 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, Guts, Practice Makes Perfect, Take the Iniative

Action 1: First, I will play Dr. Elli! This is a nice change of pace for me, since I haven’t been able to play her that much this campaign. I searched the top 9 cards of my deck and found a lot of really great options, but I came here for Enchanted Blade and that’s what I’m going to pull. No Astounding Revelation, sadly.

Action 2: With a weapon taken care of, I’m going to for these clues, which should be pretty easy to claim. I test 3v1, and I draw a -2! First investigation of the game is a success!

Action 3: I’m going to do it again. We investigate 3v1, and we draw an Elder Sign! Roland’s Elder Sign isn’t hugely useful, but it does mean we pass.

Enemy phase: No enemies.

Upkeep: I draw Hallowed Mirror and gain 1 resource. I know I’ve been prioritizing Disc over Mirror, but I’m quite happy to have Hallowed Mirror in hand. This is because I have 2 trauma already and lots of access to damage with Enchanted Blade in play and .45 Automatic in my hand still.

—

Round 2

ROLAND:

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

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

Hand (5): .45 Automatic, Guts, Hallowed Mirror, Practice Makes Perfect, Take the Initiative

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

Encounter card: Grasping Hands. Honestly… I am okay committing nothing to this and just failing. I want to keep all the cards in my hand. I don’t think this is very critical to pass. I have Hallowed Mirror still. I’ll just test and see how it goes. 2v3, and I draw a Cultist (-2). That’s 3 damage on Roland, but I think we’re okay. We’ll just use Soothing Melody pretty soon.

Action 1: I move to Crypt of the Sepuchral Lamp.

Action 2: I play my Hallowed Mirror. This puts a Soothing Melody in my hand.

Action 3: I’m going to do a low chance investigate here, 3v2. I pass on over half the bag, so I think it should be ok. I draw a Cutlist again, so that fails.

Enemy phase: No enemies.

Upkeep: We draw Astounding Revelation and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 3

ROLAND:

Damage – 4/9; Horror – 1/5; Resources – 4; Clues –2

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

Hand (6): .45 Automatic, Astounding Revelation, Guts, Practice Makes Perfect, Soothing Melody, Take the Initiative

Mythos: 1 doom added. 2 out of 6 doom.

Encounter card: The Shadow Behind You. Okay, I have an idea to make this fairly harmless.

Action 1: I play my .45 Automatic for all my remaining resources.

Action 2: I move to the next unrevealed Catacombs. It’s Stone Archways, which means I can walk into the next Catacombs that I added to the right for free.

Action 3: I gain 1 resource.

I didn’t look behind me, which means, oh no, I must discard all my resources! I say goodbye to my 1 resource. If you’re wondering why I need to stop to gain 1 resource, it’s because when presented with a choice involving a must, the choice you pick needs to be able to change the game state. So if I had no resources left, I would have been forced to discard my entire hand. This maneuver allows me to get value out of my resources and lose as little as possible.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Soothing Melody and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 4

ROLAND:

Damage – 4/9; Horror – 1/5; Resources – 1; Clues – 1

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

Hand (6): Astounding Revelation, Guts, Practice Makes Perfect, Soothing Melody, Soothing Melody, Take the Initiative

Mythos: 3 doom added. 3 out of 6 doom.

Encounter card: I’m going to be annoyed if I draw an enemy on this location with no clues on it. But let’s see. I draw The Pit Below. Ok, well, this is a free Mythos draw, because I wasn’t going to continue to stand here anyway! We’re on our way then.

Action 1: I move next door and reveal Candlelit Tunnels. At least this place has clues. I can’t put anything to the left, so I put one location to the right. I’m not really capable of doing normal investigations on this place, especially with Skulls now being -3, so I’m not going to worry about that right now.

Action 2: While everything is calm and quiet, I’ll play a Soothing Melody to heal 2 damage. I don’t need to heal the horror because I have Enchanted Blade for that. That draws me a card.  The card I draw is Guts.

Action 3: I’m going to keep moving. I move to the next Catacombs and it is Bone-Filled Cavern. This place says while investigating I have one fewer hand slot, but that does not effect me right now, because Elli is holding my Enchanted Blade for me. I put 2 more locations out, one below and one to the right. As a note, there are now 6 locations left in the Catacombs deck. I also now have no clues, so I’ve got to start getting some clues soon.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Disc of Itzamna and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 5

ROLAND:

Damage – 2/9; Horror – 1/5; Resources – 2; Clues – 0

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

Hand (7): Astounding Revelation, Disc of Itzamna, Guts, Guts, Practice Makes Perfect, Soothing Melody, Take the Initiative

Mythos: 1 doom added. 4 out of 6 doom.

Encounter card: Since I now need clues and it’s going increasingly difficult for me to investigate from being so far away, I’m going to play On the Hunt off Stick to the Plan and try to fish for a small enemy to kill. My search is a success and I drag up a little Ghoul Minion that should be easy fodder for me.

Action 1: I fight the Ghoul Minion with my Enchanted Blade, 6v2. I draw a Cultist, which means I pass. However, the attack will deal 1 less damage. I won’t waste any charges, and just say I do damage at all.

Action 2: I try again with my attack. 6v2. This time, I draw a Skull, which is a -4. I pass and charge my Enchanted Blade. I defeat the enemy, heal a horror, draw a card, and discover a clue. The card I draw is Roland’s .38 Special.

Action 3: Now, I do want to get more clues, but I’m a little sketched out about how high this skull is getting to be. This map is mostly a straight line leading away from the starting location, which sucks. However, I do have a thought here. If I use the Practice Makes Perfect in my hand, find and commit Perception and add in my Astounding Revelation, that will give me a test of 7v3 on this location. The plan is a little bit questionable, but I think I’m going to go for it. I investigate at 3v3, and now play the Practice Makes Perfect from my hand. And while I didn’t find any Astounding Revelations, I did get my Perception! So I commit it plus my Astounding Revelation to make this a 7v3, all according to plan. I draw a… Cultist! That means I succeeded by 2, drawing me 2 cards from Perception. And what’s more is Perception will get added back into my hand! The cards I draw are Vicious Blow and Astounding Revelation. This means I only trigger one of the 3 Astounding Revelations this game. A little disappointing, but we’ll live.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw Glory and gain 1 resource. I now have 10 cards in hand. I will discard Astounding Revelation and Disc of Itzamna (because there’s a second one in my deck, and Hallowed Mirror is in the slot right now.)

—

Round 6

ROLAND:

Damage – 2/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 1; Clues – 2

Stick to the Plan (2): Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (8): Glory, Guts, Guts, Perception, Roland’s .38 Special, Soothing Melody, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 5 out of 6 doom.

Encounter card: Once again, I am hoping for not an enemy as we do not have clues here to pick up. We draw Corpse Dweller, however there are no Humanoids in play, which means this bad boy gets surge. Next, we draw Obscuring Fog. Wow, I am so lucky! There are no clues here anyway.

Action 1: It’s time to get moving around the map. I’m going to start going down, because I think that’s my best chance of finding locations that will move towards the left, hopefully reducing the value of the Skulls. I move down and I reveal Labyrinth of Bones. Well, that’s no good for me. Locations get added below and to the right. I expect this Skull is just going to be -5 for a long time. As this happens, we are now putting locations from the bottom 5 cards of the deck. The Catacombs to my right is from the bottom 5.

Action 2: I move to the unrevealed location the right and end up in Narrow Shaft. This sucks bad. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to reliably move out of here. I need to be able to pass an Agility 3 test. I might be able to use my Take the Initiative at the top of next round at least to give it a try.

Action 3: I need to start using the cards in my hand, or else I’m going to discard more. So I’m going to just try investigating this place. It only has a shroud of 2, so it’s not too bad. I commit my Perception, making this a 6v2. I draw an Autofail. Well, I guess something worse could have happened.

Enemy phase: Nothing happens.

Upkeep: I draw .45 Automatic (which has an Agility icon!) and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 7

ROLAND:

Damage – 2/9; Horror – 0/5; Resources – 2; Clues – 1

Stick to the Plan (2): Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst 

Hand (8): .45 Automatic, Glory, Guts, Guts, Roland’s .38 Special, Soothing Melody, Take the Initiative, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 6 out of 6 doom. Agenda advances. Specter of Death spawns at the starting location. I’m honestly not that scared of Specter of Death. As I can almost certainly just kill it.

Encounter card: Spirit’s Torment. Well, if I can leave this location at all, I will be amazed honestly.

Action 1: I attempt to move to the unrevealed Catacombs. I am going to use my Practice Makes Perfect to find my second copy of Take the Initiative. I did not find it, which is very unfortunate. I commit the copy from hand, .45 Automatic, and Roland’s .38 Special to this test. This is now an 8v3 to get out of here. I draw an Elder Sign. Wow, that’s really great news! I take a horror due to Spirit’s Torment, spend my last clue, and reveal Candlelit Tunnels (location #2 of the final 5). This puts a location to the right of me (location #3 of the final 5). There are now only 2 locations left in the deck.

Action 2: I need to get some clues, but I’m not feeling great about my chances of passing. I’ll draw one card for now. It’s my second copy of Enchanted Blade.

Action 3: I draw another card and it’s Disc of Itzamna.

Enemy phase: Specter of Death moves to the Crypt of the Sepulchral Lamp.

Upkeep: I draw Dr. Elli Horowitz and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 8

ROLAND:

Damage – 2/9; Horror – 1/5; Resources – 2; Clues – 0

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

Hand (8): Disc of Itzamna, Dr. Elli Horowitz, Enchanted Blade, Glory, Guts, Guts, Soothing Melody, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 1 out of 12 doom.

Encounter card: Poltergeist. Thank god, it’s an enemy I can kill!

Action 1: I fight the Poltergeist, 6v3. I draw a Skull, so that’s a big fail.

Action 2: I do it again, 6v3. I draw a -2, so that’s a big success! I empower my blade, killing the poltergeist. I heal a horror, draw a card, and discover a clue. The card I draw is Cover Up, which I’m not going to think about for now.

Action 3: I move to the next location with my clue in tow. It’s Well of Souls, so not the place I was looking for. I do get to add the last two locations, so I add them above and below. Well of Souls says if I end my turn here I must take one direct horror or discard 2 cards at random. I’m fine taking a horror, since I can just heal it with my blade.

Enemy phase:  Specter of Death moves to Stone Archways.

Upkeep: I draw Vicious Blow and gain 1 resource. I have to discard something, so I will discard my other copy of Dr. Elli.

—

Round 9

ROLAND:

Damage – 2/9; Horror – 1/5; Resources – 3; Clues – 0

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

Hand (8): Disc of Itzamna, Enchanted Blade, Glory, Guts, Guts, Soothing Melody, Vicious Blow, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 2 out of 12 doom.

Encounter card: Catacombs Docent. Annoyingly, this doesn’t spawn on me, so I can’t attack it for a clue.

Action 1: I definitely can’t continue to sit here, so I have to move back to Candlelit Tunnels for now.

Action 2: I will attempt to investigate this place to see if I can get a clue. I commit Glory and Soothing Melody to make this test a 6v3. I draw a -3! Another clue for me! (I’m totally ignoring Cover Up until I figure out what’s actually going on in this scenario.)

Action 3: I really want at least one more clue. I’m going to move back into Narrow Shaft. I know that Spirit’s Torment is still on it, which means I’ll get punished for that a little bit, but my chances of getting this clue successfully are way better than Well of Souls.

I test my Frozen in Fear again, 3v3, and I autofail.

Enemy phase: Specter of Death moves to Candlelit Tunnels and is now 3 spaces away.

Upkeep phase: I draw Ambush and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 10

ROLAND:

Damage – 2/9; Horror – 1/5; Resources – 4; Clues – 1

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

Hand (7): Ambush, Disc of Itzamna, Enchanted Blade, Guts, Guts, Vicious Blow, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added. 3 out of 12 doom.

Encounter card: Corpse Dweller.  That replaces the Catacombs Docent. So, I still can’t kill it for a clue. But I will be able to when it reaches Well of Souls. However, it likely hits me in the process.

Action 1: What I want right now is a miracle investigate. So I’m just going to try this and hope I can pass a 3v2. First attempt, and I draw a…. 0! Awesome. So now I have two clues.

Action 2: I move once to Candlelit Tunnels next to me. I’ll put a horror on to Dr. Elli as I leave.

Action 3: I think I want to start playing some of these cards. So, I’ll put my Disc into play at least and clear my Hallowed Mirror.

Enemy phase: Specter moves to Bone-Filled Cavern. Corpse Dweller moves to Well of Souls.

Upkeep: I draw my first Segment of Onyx and gain 1 resource.

—

Round 11

ROLAND:

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

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

Hand (7): Ambush, Enchanted Blade, Guts, Guts, Segment of Onyx, Vicious Blow, Vicious Blow

Mythos: 1 doom added.4 out of 12 doom.

Encounter card: The Shadow Behind You, I have so few resources that I don’t mind largely ignoring this.

Action 1: First, I will my put my Segment of Onyx into play at fast speed. This means when The Shadow Behind You goes, I will lose only one resource instead of two. Then for my actual action I will move to the Corpse Dweller.

Action 2: I fight the Corpse Dweller with my Enchanted Blade, committing 1 Vicious Blow. That makes this test 7v3. Hopefully I pass, because this thing has Retaliate. I draw a -1! I won’t empower the blade until it’s dead, so that’s 2 damage.

Action 3: I will fight the Corpse Dweller one more time in the same fashion. Again, I test 7v3, committing Vicious Blow. This time I draw a Skull. I’m punished for my hubris. I definitely could have passed this test if I committed more to it, but I wasn’t thinking. I take 2 more damage and a horror.

I lose all my resources from The Shadow Behind You, and I will discard 2 random cards from ending at Well of Souls. I lose my Enchanted Blade and Ambush.

Enemy phase: I take 2 damage and a horror from Corpse Dweller. Specter of Death moves to Labyrinth of Bones.

Upkeep: I draw Lost Soul and gain 1 resource. I commit my Guts to this test to make it a 5v3, and I draw a Cultist. That means I pass and I draw a card. The card I draw is Clasp of Black Onyx. I have no cards to play anyway, so I’m not stressed about this. With this turn of events, I probably just die honestly this scenario. I think this Corpse Dweller is in a position where it very likely kills me.

—

Round 12

ROLAND:

Damage – 6/9; Horror – 3/5; Resources – 1; Clues – 2

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

Hand (2): Clasp of Black Onyx, Guts

Mythos: 1 doom added, 5 out of 12 doom.

Encounter card: Catacombs Docent. I put that below me again.

Action 1: Okay, so I am very likely going to die to this Corpse Dweller, but we’ll at least try to fight. So I’m going to use my gun now and fight 5v3. I draw a… -3. That’s another 2 damage and another horror on me.

Action 2: We’re going to try it again, 5v3. I draw a 0. Okay, so now that’s 2 damage to Corpse Dweller.

Action 3: Now I will attack with my Enchanted Blade, 6v3. I draw a…Skull. That means I get hit again for 2 damage and 1 horror, which means I’m dead.

—

We get no resolution. I am required to read Act 2 of The King in Yellow. That gives me my sixth weakness and 2 experience. My sixth weakness is Dark Pact. Cover Up also is out, so I get a mental trauma from that.

Okay, so to review, I died after 3 retaliates and 1 regular attack from a Corpse Dweller after drawing 2 -5 Skulls. The number one main reason I died is I made a critical misplay on Round 11 action 3; I should have committed my Ambush to this test but I was not thinking it all through and was moving too fast. If I did, I would have been over by 5, which would have covered the Skull draw. However, the number two reason I died is because this map was hot trash. I tried so many times to see if I could loop the map around in some way to get the Skulls to stop being -5’s, even to get them to be -4’s, but I had no such luck. We also never got our Segments of Onyx, which was very disappointing. If my Pendant was built, then I think I for sure would have won this scenario. Again, to be clear, I think this deck absolutely could have passed this scenario. We just didn’t because we took 4 attacks in 2 rounds from a Corpse Dweller.

However, on the positive side, we did clear 2 victory locations, meaning we got 4 points total. With the one victory point we didn’t spend last time, we have 5 experience points total to spend. Hopefully, these experience points will help us in some way.

—

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

-you found Nigel’s home

-you know the site of the gate

-Chasing the Stranger: 2

-Conviction: 3, Doubt: 0

-Total Experience Earned: 23

-Physical trauma: 2

-Mental trauma: 2

—

Upgrades

Well, after getting hit by so many Retaliates, I think what I want to get is my level 2 .45 Automatics. That leaves me one point. Black Stars Rise is a do or die scenario, so I should probably just spend it. Unfortunately, there is nothing else that I hugely want right now with my last point. I wish I had something that would help me with my trauma healing, but I think buying a Thermos at this point may be a little indulgent. I think what I will do is pick up Ever Vigilant and replace my Prepared for the Worst, since I have had no problems with drawing weapons.

Alright, so fun fact, we get another weakness at the beginning of Black Stars Rise, so tune in next time to see if Roland Banks and his four trauma and SEVEN weaknesses can make it through the penultimate scenario of The Path to Carcosa.