Thursday, December 1, 2011

Scenario Seventeen



Indomitable or Doomed?

            Harvey Walters began to speak, “All our efforts have been in vain, still the creature oozes through the cracks in reality towards all worlds.  We defend some of the worlds, but the true menace comes closer and closer, and we do not even know its name.  It is quite possible that this task serves no purpose.  That our struggles and investigations will end in failure.  I think that any who choose to quit should be allowed to do so…  Gloria?”

            “I feel the same…  But I will not quit until the end.  If we are destined to fail, at least we will die fighting.”

            “Norman?”

            “It hasn’t been proven that we have no chance, not at all, and unless you can verify this ridiculous theory with some facts instead of speculation, I’ll stick around.  This old man is no coward either.”

            “Jenny?”

            “My sister is dead…  So horribly dead…  So many times…  Still, sometimes I see her alive…  And Joe is gone as well, except in memory…  I’ll fight for them.”

            “Ursula?  Are you going to finally prove that you’re a woman and back out?”

            “Did you really need to ask me this moronic question, you condescending dinosaur?”

            “Mary?”

            Mary was silent before responding, “God will bring us success in the end.  The demons of Hell can not prevail against him, no matter how horrid they seem.”

            “Michael?”

            “Are you saying I’m more chicken than the girls?”

            “Errr, no.”  Wisely, Harvey Walters ran out of the room.

            “Hello!  I’m still here!” Shouted Amanda.

***

The Arbiter’s lip curled.  They are like insects in a cage, fluttering against the glass, and they gasp to reach a candle on the other side…  Sickening creatures and their love of life.  Soon they shall be taught the value of oblivion.  But fools are too foolish to quit.  So few of them are capable of even realizing even an inkling of the true nature of the cosmos.  And that absurd nun, a fool among fools, still faithful to her silly dreams and hope.  Fate would crush her though.  It would crush them all.  Their doom was written in the stars.  The end draws near.  The Great Old Ones come.

***

Leo failed to protect the one he was so certain would save them all.  Patrice was so powerful.  So confident.  And one day she woke up and found her violin smashed.  The thing that hunted them…  It pulled her off the side of the ship soon after.  They heard her screaming throughout the night.  And then again and again in their nightmares.

            Ursula told him that he must forget, that in the worlds to come he would see worse, again and again.  But he could not forget, he would not forget.  No matter the pain of memory, he must keep it sharp, so that he could keep himself sharp and protect the others from such hideous fates.  The nun would not forget either.  She understood duty even if she called it faith.

***

Agnes hid in the darkness of the diner.  This little thing hunting her wasn’t nearly as bad. The thing that killed her before...  It sought her again.  This time, this thing, a mere minion, but enough to destroy her.  She remembered the beast itself, with its endless rows of teeth.    

No!  It saw her!  The creature rushed forward, tongue and teeth hanging from its once human face, and with desperate strength from the mists of her forgotten memories, Agnes opened a portal, pulling it through a gate to the other side of Arkham.  That noise?  Pain?  No…  Laughter…

I have been tricked to rip the gateways further… And now it comes. Now it will come in full… But we shall not be doomed today. Agnes slammed her smock to the floor, and her fist began to burn with a controlled flame. No, we shall not be doomed today, soon the hunter shall become the prey. 

Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/?start=all

Expanded Investigator Pool: Leo Anderson, Agnes Baker
Ancient One: Nka'ji Ara
Heralds: The Arbiter of Reality
Required Investigators: Agnes Baker


Special Rules:

Start of Game: the first monster to emerge from a gate is randomly selected Cultist.


Cultists are spawn stalkers (despite being in the monster cup).  If one would go to the Outskirts, place it at Silver Twilight Lodge instead.  If one enters a vortex, it has its regular effects then is moved to The Silver Twilight Lodge.  They are physically and magically immune, have a +0 combat rating, are immune to handcuffs and can only be returned to the cup by successful combat.   Investigators who fail a combat check against them are devoured.

When the Doom track reaches four and eight, place two Cultists on Agnes Baker's location each time, unless she is in an Other World or Lost in Time and Space (in which case she is devoured).  If she is in jail, place them on the next space she is in when she leaves jail.

When Agnes defeats a Cultist, it goes to The Silver Twilight Lodge instead of the cup.  For all investigators other than Agnes, Cultists are Nightmarish 3, have 2 toughness, and force an investigator who returns one to the cup to draw one madness immediately (without restoring sanity).


If an investigator is devoured add two more doom tokens to the doom track. If Agnes is devoured,  raise the doom track by an additional 1 and the terror track by 5.


If investigators in Arkham fail a horror check, treat it as though they simultaneously failed the combat check, and they are delayed.

Intermission: Abandonment and Apotheosis

Intermission: Abandonment and Apotheosis

“So you see, Mandy, you can be one with me.  One forever when I become one with It.  Defeat is inevitable.  You know that.  Not like the rest of the chittering fools you associate with.  Kill them!  Kill them!  Then you may join with us and survive!”
           
***

            They were…  All dead…  And she was bleeding deep.  From where the Skinless One’s knife had stabbed.  Oh Mandy…  Oh Mandy…  How could you do its work…  Mary wept, hopelessly overwhelmed as Amanda, Ursula, and Harvey attempted to push more things in front of the door.

            Mandy shrieked and stabbed through the wood.  The mask of sanity gone.  Her mind devoured and replaced by Nyarlathotep.

            “It won’t hold!” screamed Ursula, “Use the key Mary, or she will kill us all!”

            “I can’t!  I can’t!” Mary sobbed.  “It won’t work.  We’re all going to die here!  God has abandoned us!”

            A deep disembodied voice spoke from the center of the room.  “I have not abandoned you.  I simply desire a little piece.  A little piece for a little peace.  You destroyed so many of my bodies, I required more flesh to weave them again.  But I am satisfied with your gifts to me.  I need no more death.  No more than I have already given you.  I am satisfied with your blood.  All I require now is a little piece.  Just some flesh.  And I will leave you to your futile struggle.”

            “F-flesh?”  whimpered Mary.

            “Yesss.  It needn’t be much.  Just a toe or a finger.  I too wish to live.  I too wish to escape.  And I must have some of the Key to do so.  Feed me of your flesh, and we both may live.  For a while.  Well, woman of God?  I too am a God, serve me of thy body.”

            Mary trembled uncontrollably, “D-do it…” she whispered from her strangled throat.  She stretched out her pinky and howled as Ursula hacked it off.  In excruciating pain, she regained control of herself.  In a firmer tone, she spoke to the voice, “It is done.  Now take it and leave us.”

            Tentacles began swirling down from the ceiling, a vast mouth opened up in one of them, Mary placed the pinky in her hand and lifted it up towards it, a great bloody tongue snaked down and grasped the finger, pulling it into the maw of Nyarlathotep.

            “Thank you for the gift.  Now it is time for me to wish you children goodbye.  I hope your deaths are pleasant ones.  I however, shall become one with It and endure.”

            Mandy began to laugh, then hacked through her own head so her face and half her skull slid off.  Her corpse thumped on the floor.  The Maskless shrieked in triumph.  And then again in horror.

            Mary and the three survivors left the world immediately.

            “No! No!”   The Maskless wailed, “You gave it to me at last!  I have her face now!  Don’t leave me!”  But Nyarlathotep was gone as well.

***

            “Don’t worry Mary,” said Ursula, “I’ll find more.  There are always more who are willing to fight.  I have contacts all over the world.   Besides, a few of the others still exist.  We’ll stop this thing.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way!”

***

            “My will.  My way.  And what an awful cliché.  Regardless, the story goes superbly.  Despite its actors insisting on improvising and altering my manuscript of flesh, we finally near the end.  The coming doom shall make a worthy conclusion to the tale of existence, but there shall be no encore.”

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Scenario Sixteen



Divine Ambition 

The Black Man’s death scream stretched to the sky as a hideous shrieking creature emerged from its mouth. The screaming swirled around them. They ran as it tore them apart. They fled to a new Arkham and replaced the dead from that world, but the Wailing Writhers had followed them. Then the town descended into chaos. Even the asylum was no longer safe as one of the creatures hunted its halls, and it allowed none to leave, or so they’d heard. It came and went. It waited for them… Were they the hunters or the hunted? The skinless one still stalked them, and it seemed like all the gates were guarded. The masks were backed by an army of monstrosities. This world was a trap!

*** 

The stupid squirming things and their disgusting willfulness… She would pin them to the walls and lick them while her lover peeled off their faces. Her tongue would linger over their sweet blood. She would wear them all, but one above all else, the one that would win His love forever. That beautiful red haired bitch would cover her face, and she would smile like she once did. All would be well again… The stars were soon right. If they could triumph here, they would reign forever as Gods of the night… He would lift her to divinity with Him, reward her millennia of devotion, make her one with Him at last… All His power was pressed out now, and none shall stand against the great Nyarlathotep!



*** 

The pieces are set, now the game’s to be played… It’s been such a delight to dance with these hairless bags of limbs and meat and make them dance to my songs. The burning worlds seem most beautiful before being snuffed out. Let them be mine for a while though. And I shall dance laughing to their silly screams before It comes…

How I love to see them fail. Oh, their struggles and pain are as beautiful as a butterfly aflame. What a pity that not even I, a God, can make it last forever. My playthings will be lost… I see that now. But the game shall be played nevertheless. Time should be passed in pleasure before oblivion. Still, could I but possess a fragment of the Key, perhaps I could alter my destiny… If I play the game well, I shall endure beyond Its coming.

Nyarlathotep’s countless faces, stretched across the infinity of universes, all smiled, for he had won an eternity of games.



Custom components can be found here: 
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/ 


Ancient One: Nyarlathotep
Heralds: Faceless One and The Maskless
Required Investigators: Mandy Thompson

Special Rules:

Start of Game: Place God of the Bloody Tongue on The Asylum.

It can not move or be moved, has +2 toughness and -1 awareness (its copies do not). If it is defeated and returns to the board later, immediately place it back on The Asylum; draw a different monster to place where it would have gone.

Activate Fetch Me My Faces on a roll of 1-2.

Begin placing non-Mask monsters in Arkham after all the Masks have been placed. Ignore the clause on The Faceless One that states “and the number of masks on that board is less than the monster limit.”

Mandy Thompson’s reroll ability can only be used for evade checks. Each time using it, she rolls a die and on a failure lowers her maximum sanity by 1.

Cultists in Arkham can not be collected as trophies, do not count against the monster limit, and go to The Silver Twilight Lodge instead of the Outskirts. If an investigator is retired or devoured, draw and place a Cultist in The Silver Twilight lodge.

A copy of Wailing Wither is on every gate. They can only be removed by combat.  If an investigator defeats one in combat, it reappears in the next investigator’s movement phase. If an investigator is devoured by any Wailing Wither, raise the terror level by 2.

Elder Signs can not be used.
NOTE:Treat the Elder Sign Fragments as copies of Parchment of the Elder Sign.  http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Parchment_of_the_Elder_Sign

Join Me causes the first player to be devoured and all other investigators to discard two clues instead of its usual effect.




Saturday, November 5, 2011

Scenario Fifteen


 Hieroglyphic Harbinger


“That was really strange, wasn’t it Amanda?”

“Yes…  It was.”

Minh smiled, “Still, I think I was of some help, don’t you?”

“Sure.”

“I just can’t stand how everyone seems to ignore me though, except Lily sometimes.”


“That happens to me.  They’re all so damn patronizing, the men and the women, the men especially!  They think I can’t do anything, but I can fight!  I’ve seen things…  If I were a man—“



“Ursula’s not.”

“Ursula’s Ursula.  And then there’s that Mary, she sure is nuts!  Too bad she’s the leader of the rest of us nuts…  I just don’t understand why I’m being ignored by everyone.   On the other hand, it makes sense that the others would want to ignore a yellow person such as yourself.”

“Uh, excuse me?”

“Well, it’s only natural.  I’m one of them though, I don’t understand why they don’t appreciate me.  Oh, it’s nothing personal between you and me, I guess you’re alright for an Oriental type, but as a whole, there are good scientific reasons why White people shouldn’t associate with your kind of people.  You should spend more time with Lily.”

Minh rushed out of the room, slamming the door.

“No, wait, I didn’t mean it like that!  Damn it.  I’d say good riddance, but she was the only one who wanted to talk to me…”

***

“I believe that that creature was the cause of the biblical plague of Darkness!”

“Professor Walters, your leaps in logic are absurd!  There’s simply no evidence for any of your baseless speculations!”

“Absurd ,Ursula?  Do you archeologists only traffic in the glaringly obvious these days?  The great darkness of Egypt!  What else might have caused it if not this strange creature?”

“Volcanic ash!  Weather phenomena!  Anything!  Who knows?  For all we know it was a pure fairy tale, and here you are, insisting that the first plausible answer to pop into that mummified skull of yours must be the right one.”

“Of course it’s the right one you infantile little fool!”

“I’m fed up with your idiocy, you arrogant old dotard!  You know nothing of Egyptology or basic rules of logic!”

“Excuse me,” said Mary, “I’ve been listening to your conversation for some time now, and it occurred to me that there’s a far more obvious explanation for the origin of the story.”

“Which is what, pray tell,” said Ursula with weary sarcasm.

“God did it, as it says in the Bible.”

Ursula and Harvey glared furiously then began shouting.

***

“Duke…  Duke!  I need a…  No wait…  I need a drink, not a Duke…  And I’ve got just the thing. This whole world is Hell.  But I’ve got just the liquid to quench that fire.”  Hiccupping, Pete drained another hipflask dry and went to look for more liquid sanity to fill it with.
           
***

Darrell grimaced.  How the Hell did he get mixed up in this?  Conspiracies, cults, monstrous Gods?  He didn’t even really believe that Nun’s stories about the other things she’d fought.  It’s not like she even sketched a picture of them, and those stories were so far fetched.  It’s not like a gullible thing like her is even a credible witness.

Still…  There’s that black thing he’d seen striding the streets, ten feet tall, an obsidian creature with eyes of fire.  Asking questions, he’d heard from some of the survivors.  Watching and laughing as people unable to answer burned to ash. An Ancient Egyptian King!  A Sneering Human Sphinx!  Ozymandias Returned Rampages Through Arkham!

Darrell grinned.  The writers were loving it.  The best thing about this mess is it makes for some great headlines.  It might be the end of the world soon, but newspapers were selling like hotcakes.  And once he could get a great photo of what’s going on, he’d be world famous.  As long as the world lasted anyway.


Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/


Ancient One: Nyarlathotep
Heralds: The Black Man
Required Investigators: Amanda Sharpe, Monterey Jack, Sister Mary


Special Rules:


Start of game: Place no clues on the board.   Professor Rice can not be one of the 11 Allies.  Only use madnesses and injuries from Dunwich Horror

Investigators with a Doom Token may draw three madness cards at any time— if this does not cause devouring, remove all their Doom Tokens.  Investigators with madnesses can not retire.

Monsters in the French Hill Neighborhood move like stalkers.  The Black Man is never removed from Arkham (this includes to the outskirts) and can not be moved by Milk of Shub Niggurath, Migo Brain Case, Lure Monster, or Call the Beast.  If he devours an investigator without a doom token, raise the terror level by two.

A clue appears each upkeep on The Witch House.  Gaining clue tokens at The Witch House, except from The Black Man, does not cause an investigator to gain a doom token.

If Nyarlathotep awakens, his combat modifier is raised to –9, he loses his magical resistance, investigators can not use clues to add to their fight checks against him, and Join Me instead causes the first player to be devoured and all other investigators to discard two clues. 

Note: There are 20 doom tokens.  



Friday, September 2, 2011

Scenario Fourteen

The Endless Shadow 

Mandy killed the chaos, again and again, but it was always a mask. Nothing real was ever underneath, and it laughed at her vain attempts. She wandered the city, seeking it, but the people she saw there were also hollow. Their faces melted together, bodies tearing apart and rejoining as they breathed, sometimes joining together as two people made a singular abomination, burbling skin, wheezing, hissing, sluggishly swirling, decaying teeth emerging from eyes emerging from nostrils, mouths vomiting fountains of blood, ears rotting on bodies covered with swelling sores of pus covered with swelling sores of pus covered with swelling sores of... Boiling out like bubbles bubbling on bubbles from their bodies, liquefying in cancerous growth and decay. The great buildings, towers of iron, twisted above, crushing their inhabitants, their windows ran red, death shrieks filled the swirling metal that melted and danced in the streets. Melted and danced. The molten city rained down on its inhabitants who screamed as they melted and danced. Melted and danced!

“Iä! Iä!” Mandy shrieked and woke.

Luke stared at her. “The Crawling Chaos is whispering to you. I heard it and came. It seeks to break us before the time of its power comes. We must not let it. Lily and I will help teach you how to defend your dreams. If this continues, one day you will wake up insane or its slave. Perhaps both.”

“You need to teach the others too.”

“Assuredly. It desires you first, for it knows you are the greatest threat, but attacks on the others are sure to follow...”

“Shall you teach us in the morning, or now?”

“Now. Soon. Perhaps both. Regardless, you must stay awake now, it is already past noon.”

“But it’s pitch black outside!”

“Yes, I’m afraid so… Have you also heard the creature giggling and fluttering its wings? Wings? It wears so many faces it is hard to see it well… Some of its faces have wings and can fly away from their bodies. We shall meet again soon, but now I must return to my dreams.. Here or there. It does not matter.”

***

Monterey Jack found no satisfaction. His face had frozen in an snarling rage. The Lodge had used his father. Used him and killed him. And they took pride in their work. They might as well have stuffed his head and mounted in on their damnable trophy wall. He had shattered their bones and spilled their blood. But he wanted more. He wanted them all dead. Saving the world could come second to vengeance. Pausing to reflect on the insane adventure he had found himself in, he speculated if his father’s artifacts would be the same on this world, or different.

And then he smiled through his hate. A cold satisfaction danced in his eyes. An infinity of worlds could mean infinite vengeance, but it was something. Something to replace the emptiness that had filled his life when the trail went cold. Something to fill his heart with joy when the cultists were all dead. There would be more, more to break, and burn, and kill! It was hot again, and this thing— this thing hinted at in the shadows of his research— it was no mere myth. Nyarlathotep was a living God that he might— must— somehow destroy. He was the one. The really responsible one. All the others. The manipulators. The murderers. They were just puppets. Shadows of their master. But he’d have revenge no matter how many times he’d have to die for it. They all would pay for taking away his father’s life… And in so many worlds… How many horrible deaths? Oh God…

Where was that stinky bum? He was only good for three things, fighting, rooting through garbage, and drinking. His booze was awful, but booze is booze, and Jack wanted to get stinking drunk. There’d be time for the rest later.

Jack looked forward to torching the Lodge again. He’d giggle at their screams. But not yet. Not before they were ready to leave again. And then he’d do it again. And again. And again. Where was that damn bum?


Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/


Ancient One: Nyarlathotep
Heralds: The Bloated Woman, Haunter of the Dark
Required Investigators: Luke Robinson, Lily Chen


Special Rules:

The environment The Blackest Night never leaves play— if another environment is drawn, discard it after all its non-environmental effects.

The Bloated Woman is a fast stalker with magical and physical resistance.

A cursed investigator who defeats Haunter of the Dark may draw an exhibit item by passing a lore +0 check.

If an endless monster would go to the outskirts, put it in The South Church instead. They are not counted against the monster limit.

Barred investigators can still enter Arkham Asylum and Saint Mary's Hospital.

When final battle begins all investigators are cursed. Join Me causes the first player to be devoured and all other investigators to discard two clues instead of its normal effect. If Nyarlathotep is defeated, the first player rolls a die, on a failure, the ancient one is Azathoth, on a success, all investigators discard down to one clue and the second Ancient One is Nyarlathotep again (do not curse all investigators again or reshuffle the Epic Battle deck).



Clarifications: Haunter of the Dark and The Bloated Woman can only be removed from the board by combat checks.  If the placement of clues causes clues to be removed, The Bloated Woman returns to play.


NOTE: if you are using Revised Curse of the Dark Pharoah, make or use copies of the Barred from Neighborhood cards.


http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Barred_from_Neighborhood



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Scenario Thirteen

 A Shadow Unmasked

            “Kneel to your Queen, witch!  Kneel!  Kneel!  Kneel!”  The voice in Marie’s head whispered, screeched, and chanted louder and louder.  On maimed legs, the spider’s body wildly staggered about, crushing its children’s corpses underfoot.  It spun about, spitting webs and acid, but its struggles grew weaker.  Marie’s friends continued to shoot, stab, and blast it with sorcery.  Inside her head Hecate’s voice screeched, “Submit to your master!  You must pay your dues for your magic!  Surrender to me!”  Marie fell to her knees and felt her soul being pressed out of her body.  Hecate sought a new form to possess.

            Mary saw the struggle and heard the words of the Witch God in her mind as well.  She stretched forth her hand, and power shot forth from her, pushing Hecate back within the dying shell of Atlach Nacha.

            “Ungrateful wretch!  Nothing can contain my glory!  I shall break your strength and take what is rightfully mine!”

            Marie, quickly slashed her knife across her throat.  “Thanks grande-mére…”

            “Traitor, traitor!  No escape through painless death!”  Hecate leaped over and swallowed her in one gulp.  “You fools shall all taste your graves in me!  I shall torment you there long after your flesh has been digested, as long as the cosmos lasts in me!”  Hecate began skittering around in renewed fury.

            Skids O’Toole met her maddened charge.  His axe hacked off her front two legs.  Hecate slid down in a spray of ichor and grasped him in her mandibles.  He screamed as her acid melted through his skin and liquefied his bones.  His screams were abruptly silenced as she slurped his melting body down down.  The witch’s face pressed itself out of the spider’s mouth, struggling to separate herself from the dying God with renewed strength.  Hecate's slimy shoulders slipped out of Atlach’s mouth.  She screamed as she continued pulling her way out of the great spider’s fatal convulsions.

            Mary walked over and lifted Skids’ fallen axe.  “Let’s see if you’ll survive this time.”  She split Hecate’s skull in two, then kicked her emerging body back into the spider’s gullet.  The mouth closed and the death spasms stopped.  The Spider God disintegrated into nothingness along with those trapped within it.
           
***

            The webs covering the town disappeared.  Rumors spoke of a shadowy figure harvesting them.  But no one could see his face, or understand how he could have been in so many places at once.  No one even knew if it was, in fact, one person, though the descriptions were the same, or, perhaps most importantly, why the webs were gathered. 

            After the battle, Joe, Roland, and Tony pooled their information about the strangeness underlying recent events in Arkham.  Their evidence suggested answers that horrified them.  A cult had come from overseas and infiltrated the town at its highest levels.  The takeover was far more thorough then they imagined possible.  They rushed to warn Charlie of the true nature of the threat.

            Settling down in Charlie’s office after they had bolted and barricaded the doors, they told him of the sinister name that appeared again and again, shrieked, muttered, carved in blood on the faces of his worshipers and their sacrifices, Nyarlathotep.  Charlie’s expression was one of severe concern.  Then he smiled.  Charlie’s hands had stabbed through Joe's face and abdomen before he could lift his gun.  Roland and Tony fired at him again and again, ripping the skin off his face, ripping the mask from his face, but it was too late; the Skinless One was too fast, there was no where to run.

            The Skinless One licked the bloody corpses, savoring their flavor and scents before flaying them.  Their souls would be trapped in the web forever. There would be no threat of their return.  Perhaps they would be the ones The Maskless desired.  By the time the nun realized they were gone, it would be too late, they would be stitched into the fabric of Nyarlathotep’s infinite forms and banished from all worlds.  The thread was theirs.  Soon all else.  The last great weaving would begin.

***

            It came for the others, slashing through Finn’s arm, but retreating when Michael's bullets peppered its raw flesh as he desperately let off round after round from his tommy gun.  Several of the bullets slammed into Finn as well. It retreated back into the shadows, too fast for them to follow.  Mary, Amanda, and Jenny stared after it in bewilderment, it was gone before they could even draw their weapons.  They sought to find their missing friends, but they were no where to be found, not even in other Arkhams.

            “That’s it, I quit, this is too dangerous!”

            “Finn, no, you mustn’t,” said Mary, “this is too important!  We have bandaged your wounds, you will heal in time.  You must help us fight through to the end.”

            “That thing was hiding behind your friend’s face!  Look at me, Sister, I’m cut, I’m bleeding!  I could have died! And for who? A bunch of suckers who don’t even give a damn about what’s going on!  And what happened to all the others?  They’re dead!  They’re really dead this time!  Or worse!  This isn’t a game, and if it was, it’d be time for me to cash out my chips now.  Yeah.  I take it back.  This is a game for fools and suckers!  I’m gone.  Find some other suckers for your crusade.”

What would they do, Mary wondered.  There are too few of us left.  But we must do something.  Surely someone still lives who can help.


***

Finn limped into the night, free of that damn bossy nun.  He was sick of being told what to do.  Sick of sticking his neck into other people’s business. And for what?  For who?  Nobody.  If the monsters ate some worlds, big deal.  They fought them off this one.  And here’s the world he’d stay on.

He shrieked.

Then silence.  Beneath its falsely frowning face, now splattered with blood, the Skinless One grinned again, beneath its masks, it always grinned when it worked.  It had hoped to get at least one more trophy, to return with one more face, before moving on.  And now it had achieved its desire.

***

            Time passed.  Arkham festered and rotted in world after world.  Then at last came a vision.  Mary saw a ship sailing in from Egypt, weird, white, and wondrous, and she knew they would not have to face the threat alone.


Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/

Ancient One: Nyarlathotep
Herald: The Crawling Chaos
Required Investigators: Monterey Jack

Special Rules:

Check http://arkhamleague.blogspot.com/2010/03/arkham-horror-fan-creation-league.html for scenarios 13-16. 

Monterey Jack begins the game with a Silver Twilight Membership.  Only investigators with Silver Twilight Membership may seal gates.

The Mask Pool is not random.  It is Shadowy Figure, The Skinless One, The Black Man, The Beast, and Shugeron.  Never return them to the box, return them to the Mask Pool.  Do not place Masks from the box in the Mask Pool.

The Black Man is a fast stalker.  If all Masks are in play, returning him to the Mask Pool immediately awakens Nyarlathotep.

During final combat, if a sinister plot is drawn, it can not be prevented and investigators immediately lose.


Clarification: The Masks are Spawn monsters.



Saturday, April 16, 2011

Scenario Twelve

Web of Fate

            The monstrosity had corrupted Sadie’s body then malformed her minions in his monstrous image.  His infestation possessed the town, but they had driven it back by destroying its host.  How Sadie had gained access to the collection of exotic and obscene pornography that led to her possession remained a mystery save for one clue, the report of the masked stranger.

            Y’golonac had howled his rage as they pursued his bleeding body, endlessly shooting and stabbing it. One of his enormous hands toppled a wall of bookshelves, scattering the priceless volumes on the floor.  The books all opened and his massive bulk began tearing apart and being sucked into them.  His mouths sneered and snarled before they were gone entirely into the books, “I will not have this world, but she will.  Your struggles and deaths are in all vain.  And if not her, another.  You shall find no escape.  No victory.”

            Mary involuntarily shook at the memory of his words and the nightmare memory of his touch.  The Apocalypse again seemed at hand.  Another vortex had opened in the Heavens.  A dark blot that turned the sky around it blood red, through it could be seen another galaxy, strange stars, suns, moons, and one great planet that somehow hovered but a few hundred feet above the Earth.  With the amorphousness of a dream, the planet seemed to shift its shape and nature every moment. 

A speck fell from the planet, growing larger and larger, until it could be seen, a giant spider, hovering over the Earth, laughing with the voice of Hecate.   It sprayed its eggs like asteroids into the street.  They smashed through buildings, walls, trees, and anyone unfortunate to be beneath them.  Sticky steel strong strands fell down from the sky, Leng Spiders diving from them to the ground. They began to spread their webs through the city and springing and pouncing made its inhabitants their prey. 

***

            “You!”

            “Greetings Gloria.”  The tall gaunt man momentarily looked up from his desk, but continued writing. “Why are you so distant from your friends?  They might have found your assistance timely.  Certainly more timely than this intrusion on my work.”

            “Why are you doing this?  I know who you are!  You’re not a bad man!”

            “In an infinity of universes, is it unreasonable to think I might be in one of them?  And be realistic, as a modern woman, you ought to be educated enough to be beyond these superstitions of good and evil.  Besides, someone ought to write the last story.  Someone blessed with the vision of the Gods.  It is not for eternal glory, but certainly the activity has intrinsic aesthetic worth.  You should understand.  You have some vision yourself.”

            “You’re helping them!  You’re helping them!  And you’ll gain nothing from it.”

            “Nothing is to be gained, or lost.  Perhaps if you viewed human affairs with the proper perspective you’d find that the sooner the farce of existence ends, the better.  Your anthropocentric parochialism is really just egocentricity in the face of the inconceivable grandeur and magnitude of time and space.  True, I myself am an instrument, though this too is a fact of no significance.”

            “No!  Stop!  Stop!”

            “I will stop when it is time to stop.  You will stop when it is time to stop.  But the proper time has not yet commenced.  There is still some story to tell. You do not yet appreciate my work, work I really must attend to.  Perhaps your visions shall lead you to me again, and we can converse once more before the end.  Don’t attempt to reach for your firearm.  With the stroke of my pen, you shall leave and remember nothing of this little discussion.  More of a monologue actually.”


Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/

Ancient One: Atlach-Nacha
Herald: The Arbiter of Reality
Required Investigators: Sister Mary, Marie Lambeau

Start of Game: All investigators start with a random green corruption card.  Place a Leng Spider on the streets of Easttown, Miskatonic University, and two at Northside.  Upton Pickman can not be drawn as one of the 11 allies, but Professor Armitage must always be, place him on the bottom of the ally deck after it's shuffled.

Special Rules:
If Marie draws grapple, draw another skill and place it on the bottom of the deck.

Leng Spiders are not counted toward the monster limit and can not be taken as trophies or returned to the cup by any means other than combat.  If a Leng spider appears in the Outskirts, it goes to the investigator in Arkham with the lowest sneak (first player’s choice) instead.  If no one is in Arkham, it goes to The Woods.

Investigators moving into locations or streets adjacent to Leng spiders must fight or evade a Leng Spider copy (copies can not get extra toughness).

An investigator knocked unconscious or driven insane by a 4 toughness Leng Spider must draw a Red Corruption or be devoured.

Overwhelming and Nightmarish trigger The Arbiter of Reality’s Failed Combat Check or Failed Horror Check respectively (even if the damage is prevented).


Thursday, March 31, 2011

Scenario Eleven

The Whispering Mouths

Rain pattered down on the library’s windows.  Mary’s face pressed against her palm, her eyes closed, her head throbbing from the task of translating the ancient tome on her desk.  Instead of deciphering the nearly forgotten language, she found herself recalling the desperation of…  How long ago was it?  It seemed like the day before.

The Dark Young skittered, slithered, and swarmed around them, rending and gorging in sprays of blood, bone, and inner organs.  Hecate’s power had grown so immense as had her offspring.  She bred with the Ancient One that had become her puppet vessel.  Her cultists shrieked with wild adulation, the blood of their victims, the blood of each other, smeared on their faces…  They copulated with her orgiastic children even as they, still living, were dismembered and devoured by them.  The memories— writhing in unholy frenzy as the tentacles enveloped and consumed them— haunted her eyes.

Had the Key itself not poured foreign knowledge into her mind, forcing her lips to move against her will, surely they would have all been doomed.  Her spell of banishment broke the link leashing Shub Niggurath to Hecate.  Hers indeed?  Torn asunder, the two demons began to battle between each other… For dominance, for vengeance, for?  Then they vanished, and peace descended on Arkham again.

The turmoil ceased.  Again.  For now.  Mary felt as if she had just been startled out of a nightmare.  Her head lurched up, had she been asleep?  Her memories had the vividness of a dream.  She looked around the room for answers, but all was silent.  Her memories and confusion still tormented her.  She knew it was no dream.  No ending.

A month of quiet had passed.  Then shadow garbed monsters in the shape of men stalked the town.  They were human once, but now…  Something else.  One of Tony’s spies told him that he’d seen someone in a strange mask bringing a book to Sadie’s place.  No one had seen her since, but ever since then, that’s where the monsters came and went.  Was she a prisoner?  Or something worse?

Mary listened to the rain and watched it oozing down the glass.  The tears of God? She nervously fingered her crucifix and tried to calm her suddenly agonized breathing.

 Her breathing?  Not hers alone.  It grew louder and louder.  It came from her book.  It came from all the books.  A lusty and sinister rasping.

“Mary,” it whispered with endless voices, “I am the answer to your prayers.”

It was not God, no more than the voice that spoke to poor deluded Zoey was.  Mary sprang from her seat to run, but she could not flee.

A hard yellow hand had reached out from the book and gripped her wrist with an unyielding grasp.  She struggled to tear herself away, but the book was too heavy from the bloated thing dwelling within it.

She felt the hand…  Licking her.  Gently nibbling, a passionate lover.  Pain!  The tips of rows of teeth pressed deep into her flesh.  Endless rows of stabbing pins.  The pain.  She screamed for help, but no one could hear.  The whispers chuckled at her futile cry.  The Whispers promised pleasures of the flesh, far greater than a non-existent Heaven, they spoke of her as having a wasted cloistered life, devoid of sensuality, devoid of significance, they promised a child for her blighted womb.  They called her a feast for their eyes, though they had none.  They pleaded, cajoled, and tore through her flesh as she denied them again and again.

Why did the Key not save her?  Pull her forth?  Send her elsewhere?  O, send her somewhere safe!  God’s judgment for questioning Him?  Job had wondered at His justice as well!  Yet…

“Oh God!  Oh God!”

“Is that pain or pleasure?  I can not tell,” said the mouth in the hand, tonguing around her meat, to talk in muffled tones, as its nails and teeth bit deep into her yet again.  Mary did not scream again.  Her voice began chanting.  The Key controlled her.  The hand released, the book slammed shut, the library was silent.

Mary fell to her knees in her pooling blood, weeping in pain and prayer.  She collapsed as a librarian entered the room shouting for help.

The next thing Mary knew, she was being carried to the hospital, burning with fevered thoughts.  Was God punishing her for violating His law with her own sorceries?  But…  She was a nun, not a witch, was she not?   A judgmental hypocrite perhaps...  Is this the lesson God wishes to teach?  The darkness of unconsciousness tore her from her speculations.

Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/

Ancient One: Y’golonac
Herald: The Sheldon Gang
Required Investigators: Sister Mary

Special Rules:


Gangster tokens are not drawn for being in stable locations during the first upkeep.


All stable locations except Ye Olde Magick Shoppe and Arkham Asylum are corrupted.  Whenever the terror level rises, draw two mythos cards and corrupt any locations shown on them; The Science Building can never be corrupted, but its special ability comes with the additional cost of two sanity.

Cultists are immune to handcuffs.


Investigators driven insane or knocked unconscious must lose half their clues in addition to normal penalties.