Scenario Twenty Two

Abluvion 

“It’s impossible!” shouted Professor Walters. “The Science Building is floating over the town! We need to stop what ever is causing it!”

“Don’t worry old man,” chuckled Norman, “Let’s just say I researched our circumstances a little more than you did on my travels, and I brought back a few alien toys.”

“Well why is it floating now!”

“Because it knows the flood is coming.”

“It just flooded!”

“No… That was just drizzle.”

*** 

“Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!”

“Damn it,” said Jenny, “There’s a whole mob of them”

“I thought we killed them all,” said Ursula.

“Well, clearly not. And they’re in the middle of some sort of ritual. Oh!”

The ground beneath the Cultists rocketed into the air, and a great sea monster’s mouth arose from the pit and snapped them all down as they fell.

“At least they’re gone now. Wait, what’s that noise?”

“It sounds like water.” Jenny’s mouth dropped open in shock as it began exploding out of the earth as if it came from a fire hydrant the size of a skyscraper. The continually erupting geyser smashed down along with huge carapaced creatures that began scuttling through the streets in search of food. And something else emerged from the pit. If she could only get a little closer to describe it…

“Run, run!”

*** 

So much of the town was underwater now… Silas was comfortable with this

though. Water suited him well. As did the city beneath the waves. No. No. And how did that castle emerge from beneath the sea? Why did the names R’lyeh and Sarnath keep whispering in his ears? How were they related? And what were those strange unsatisfied hungers he began to feel in the sides of his throat? The voices kept telling him to return home, insisting that he must become king.

*** 

“Amanda,” murmured Mary from within her soaked habit, “I am cold.”

“So am I, sister.”

“No, I mean in my soul…”

“So am I, sister.”

Custom components can be found here:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/

Add the Kingsport board for the remaining scenarios: however, it is not recommended that you add Kingsport encounters in Arkham or Kingsport mythos cards.
Expanded Investigator Pool: Tommy Muldoon, George Barnaby, Silas Marsh
Ancient One: Bokrug
Herald: Basatan
Required Investigators: Amanda Sharpe, Silas Marsh

Special Rules:

Start of game: All streets and unstable locations, except for The Science Building, are aquatic (even if they are sealed later).  All investigators have their maximum sanity and stamina reduced by one.  Place Shugeron on Unvisited Isle.  A random Cultist is always the a monster to emerge from the first gate.

Cultists are aquatic, endless, gain weapon immunity, and have a combat modifier of -6

Aquatic monsters are treated as spawn monsters (and if defeated in combat, return them to the cup).  If one is placed in the Outskirts, place it on Unvisited Isle instead.

Whenever investigators fail a combat check against a monster (including failed evasion), they must discard a trophy; if they have no trophies, they are devoured, and a random Being of Ib returns to Bokrug if any have been removed.

Shugeron is a stalker that moves twice whenever it moves instead of being an aquatic monster.  It does not count against the monster limit and can not be moved from its location or the board by any means (if something other than its movement would move or remove it, ignore it).  If it is defeated in combat, the investigator doing so may immediately move one space away from it.

Tsunamis: when the doom track reaches four, investigators in aquatic locations and streets must pass luck -3 checks or lose 3 stamina (anyone knocked unconscious by this draws an extra injury (do not restore stamina from it) in addition to normal penalties.  Each time there is a monster surge after this, this happens again.

If Silas, Amanda, or Tommy are devoured, add three doom to the doom track.

If there is an investigator in the Science Building during the Mythos phase, at the end of the phase, all monsters in the sky move to the Science Building. If there were no monsters in the sky to move at the end of the phase, draw a random flying monster from the cup and move it there.  Flying monsters do not count against the monster limit and if they are placed in the outskirts, immediately move them to the sky instead.

The Sinister Plot The Departure causes instant defeat instead of victory.

Scenario Twenty One

Conversions of the Sea 

Lola grinned with the thrill of victory. Blood dripped down her chin as she gorged on Mark’s eyeballs. “Don’t you see? It has a role for me! I’ve been cast in His play! I’m going be a star again! I just need to eat all the crazy people, and I’ll be His favorite!” She cackled insanely until Ursula shot her dead.

“Damn… What a waste…” said Michael. “But I always knew her nut was cracked. Even before the play. I’m glad she didn’t bump me off too. I thought we’d won… But It’s like we never get to really win. Sometimes I wish…”

“Don’t wish and don’t worry Michael,” said Ursula, “I know just the woman who will help us save the world.”

“You must, Ursula,” whispered Mary. “Events are out of control. This is all out of control. Something must be done… But I fear… I fear…”

“There’s nothing to worry about. I have this under control. We’ll win this war in the end. It is my belief that the alien life forms that we have battled fear us more than we fear them. Wait until you meet my librarian, you’ll see why, and she’ll teach you the true meaning of God’s wrath!”

*** 

They entered the library. “Daisy?” said Ursula, “We discussed this. We need you now, things are getting worse, and I have reason to believe that the end is near. But you have studied for so long, and I… Daisy?” Daisy had fallen asleep in her tome, her face was buried between the pages. “Daisy, wake up!” Ursula shook her shoulder then spun her around and saw that all the flesh of the front of her skull had been chewed off, but no blood was on the Necronomicon’s yellowing pages. Clipped to those pages was a note in Daisy’s meticulous handwriting. Ursula nervously rubbed the sides of her throat as she read.

*** 

When the Suns are dead and rotten,

And their dreams have been forgotten, 

The heralds of the true God drum, 

Destruction their instruments’ thrum, 

Azathoths’ daughters and sons. 

And the last Moon wears a darkened sneer 

Knowing that the end is near. 

The Unbirthing comes.

*** 

“So you want me to help?” George snarled. “I’m so glad you came to ask me at last. That’s right, don’t think I’m an idiot! I’ve paid to have you followed, and I already know a bit about what’s going on. And now that you’ve got no one left, you want my help, or my money? I don’t think you’re worth one cent! But sure, I’ll help. Just to show you that just because I’m old doesn’t mean I’m worthless. And don’t think I’m giving you this money for free, you’re going to pay back every cent in the end, with interest!”

“Don’t worry,” said Jenny, “I’ll pay back every penny, you fat headed idiot.”

“Maybe your father’s money will.”

“You really have become a bitter old bastard, you son of a—”

***

Tommy waded through the water flooding the street, pushing through the winds and sheets of water that blew into his face. First those crazies killing all those people in the asylum, and now a flood in the middle of summer. I wonder if those rumors I heard about the nun building an army are true? Oh, now what the hell is that? Another one of those yellow eyed fish freaks… Squid? Octopus? Whatever. It’s some kind of seafood that’s better off on a plate. Better give Becky some more target practice. I wonder if those Innsmouth stories I heard are true… What kind of moron has sex with a fish monster? I can’t believe I have some relatives up there…

*** 

First the sea was lifted into the sky, and now the sky was falling… At least he could put his ship to good use. Leo had told him to come to Arkham if time passed and he stopped sending him news… And Silas had, but… It all seemed wrong, and right. And the dreams were growing more vivid and more beautiful. But they were still things of horror. Sometimes he could hardly bear to wake from them, and sometimes he could hardly bear to fall asleep, but he was starting to forget which should be the case… And the dreams were so strong here… So beautiful, but so wrong… He needed to go home… But was his home here, or the castle rising beneath the sea? 

Custom components can be found here:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/?start=all

Add the Kingsport board for the remaining scenarios: however, it is not recommended that you add Kingsport encounters in Arkham or Kingsport mythos cards.

Expanded Investigator Pool: Tommy Muldoon, George Barnaby, Silas Marsh
Ancient One: Cthulhu

Herald: The Galaxy of R'lyeh

Required Investigators: Tommy Muldoon, George Barnaby, Silas Marsh

Special Rules:

Start of game: A Deep One is placed on every Street in Kingsport.  The first R’lyeh Stack must be Hound of Tindalos, Colour Out of Space, Cthonian, Lloigor. Instead of normal Stack movement, this Stack moves on a black arrow every turn and after it moves, all monsters in the stack have their special movements activated (the Hound’s activates last), and they move together with the Hound. If the entire Stack is not defeated in a Movement Phase, return defeated monsters back to where they were. When this first Stack initially leaves R’lyeh, immediately form a random Stack on R’lyeh.

Stacks on R’lyeh ignore Silas Marsh. After the first turn, while in Arkham, Silas must spend his first two movement moving towards the nearest R’lyeh gate, these two movement automatically evade monsters.

Each Upkeep, the first player’s maximum sanity is reduced by 1.

Investigators who defeat an aquatic monster immediately draw two Innsmouth Look cards.  Aquatic monsters are treated like Spawn monsters (except they can be in the cup and return there if defeated), if one goes to the Outskirts, place it on Unvisited Isle instead.

When the doom track reaches 8, randomly draw one of Cthulhu’s Sinister Plot cards. If it is Unnatural Growth, the first player must fight Cthulhu as if in an encounter on a dual colored other world card (if victorious, search the unique item deck for an Elder Sign instead of sealing a gate). If it is not, Cthulhu’s listed attack takes place (this can not be prevented).

Cthulhu’s combat modifier is –8.

Clarification: Stacks can not be moved by any effects other than their own movement.  Monsters in stacks are not removed by the closing of gates.  Handcuffs can not be used against Cultists.

Scenario Twenty

Echoes of Apocalypse 

“I don’t know…” Mary said. “I don’t know if I am controlling it or if it is controlling me. I thought that the Key was our instrument, given to us by God, but, it is something… A power beyond my imagining. And…”

“It’s our strongest weapon,” shouted Harvey. “It’s our only chance! We would have been dead a hundred times over without it!”

“And perhaps better off dead,” said Norman. “In the heart of existence something lurks deep, corroding a way through space and time. That something that drove Jacqueline to despair. I saw just a fragment of the greater darkness. Just a fragment fills every moment of my waking with terror… And the thing within Mary? Has it occurred to you that this thing could be using us as a tool to trap or kill its rivals? It may just be using us to serve some mysterious purpose, and if it is as powerful as you think it is, when it is done with us, what horror will it wreak on all creation? Has it occurred to anyone else that this creature might just be using Mary as a host to feed through?”

“Yes, but if that were the case, it would make no sense that it should try to escape,” said Gloria. “Wait. Quiet, something’s wrong.”

*** 

Fire, flood, famine, war. Petty distractions compared to the coming horrors. Let them savor the taste of apocalypse. The Arbiter sneered as the next harbinger began to awaken. The ants still crawl toward their doom. He was privileged to work the will of the mightiest of Gods against the disgusting creatures.

He smashed his pen through his pages, helping Hastur’s madness enter his enemies’ brains.

*** 

Mark’s hands still dripped with blood. No, no they didn’t. He hadn’t killed so many in the war… But he had to… They tried to stop him. And the flamethrower stopped working… So he had to… Had he really punched through that girl’s skull? How could he have known that she was already dead? And why did he keep doing it? It’s not his fault the thing in the sky was in their heads. Like Sophie’s. She vanished into thin air. He hadn’t burnt her. He hadn’t. He still heard the screaming in his head. And it wouldn’t stop. And the burning people. Screaming. Screaming like Sophie. And the raining bodies exploding wet on the streets around him like shells in the trenches. The stench of decaying human meat invaded his nostrils.

No! No! Stop! He had to focus on doing what had to be done. He had to finish what he was doing so he could finish what he was doing. They hadn’t beaten it. Just drove it away. And what they faced now was even worse. This world… It’s like the war came to Arkham. The town’s mostly ash and mud now. Ashy half eaten corpses littering the streets and trapped in the rubble.

Was this the war still? Was that Sophie’s ghost he saw? Burning in the sky? He… Saw red. No… Yellow. Yellow like a smashed brain. No! No! No! Get out of my head!

Custom components can be found here: 

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/ 

Expanded Investigator Pool: Lola Hayes, Mark Harrigan
Ancient One: Glath En’qun
Heralds: The Arbiter of Reality and The King in Yellow
Required Investigators: Lola Hayes, Mark Harrigan

Special Rules:

Start of Game: Lola and Mark begin with one madness card. The terror level begins at 2. The first mythos draw is Disturbing the Dead. It comes into play despite being a rumor.

When the terror level reaches 3 and 6, search for 2 rumors instead of one. After the terror level is at six, search for another rumor for each level the terror level is raised afterwards.


Purifying the Town cannot be passed if drawn.

Scenario Nineteen

Reign of Madness

“Glurp…” Leo puked blood.

“I am sorry Leo,” said Agnes, “but you are a small sacrifice to make to seal this thing back inside the nun.” Her dagger dripped red as she stabbed his chest again and again. “As a leader you should understand the value of your sacrifice.”

Leo screamed, his fingers dug into his deepest wound, then his  body slowly pulled apart before exploding in a cloud of blood that formed a glowing mesh spinning around Yog-Sothoth. The God then twisted, shrunk, and shrieked. Innumerable baleful eyes turned to Agnes, and its entire body split open like a giant mouth. An enormous tongue bristling with teeth shot forth from its cavernous depth, impaled her head before she could scream, and grappled her body into its gaping maw. Then It vanished.

Convulsion wracked, Mary flopped around on the ground, her mouth foaming, infinity swarming around her. Yog-Sothoth was inside her again.  The witch as well.  And the world shifted.

***

Insane laughter and screaming in the clouds. Blood and bodies raining from the sky. Splattering in the street. When the raining corpses crushed pedestrians too foolish to stay indoors twice as many body parts would spray out, shattering through walls and windows. Sometimes the shrapnel of exploding flesh would even kill people barricaded indoors. Severed hands, legs, and fingers shooting forth and piercing screaming people’s torsos and faces was a gruesome sight.

And then there were the madmen garbed in yellow, screaming at the skies, praying, and laughing at the spectacle of terror around them. Echoing the thing they heard there, the thing that swooped down to consume them. They had seen the King in Yellow. They were… Its fans? “Hastur! Hastur! Hastur!” They cheered.

Lola remembered having that kind of fame. She had had that kind of fame? Hadn’t she?

“Move, idiot!” Mark heaved her into a wall then readied his flamethrower as a maniacally grinning man zoomed his automobile towards them.  The car split through the sea of flames.  The blast’s heat burnt out the tires. Luckily the car veered away from them. The driver’s remains oozed down across the house his car slammed into. Mark grasped his head. Did he use the flamethrower or the cocktail? He couldn’t remember. “No one calls me an idiot! I am Lola Hayes! I’m the one who told you about what’s really going on! I’m the one who saw it! The man in yellow told me in a dream, but I told him to go to hell! And you can go to hell too, you idiot! Who the hell are you, you damn nobody with your stupid heroics? You could have killed me! Let’s just find that damn nun. She’s the one everyone’s supposed to kill.”

Custom components can be found here:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/?start=all

Expanded Investigator Pool: Mark Harrigan, Lola Hayes
Ancient One: Hastur
Heralds:  Creature in the Cloud
Required Investigators: Mark Harrigan, Lola Hayes 

Special Rules

Start of Game: Mark and Lola begin with one madness card, and the terror level begins at one (this does not trigger Heavenly Theater).  

Cultists are nightmarish 2. 

All yellow bordered monsters are nightmarish 3, are not counted against the monster limit, and if one appears in the outskirts, it is placed on the gate with the fewest monsters, first player's choice if a tie, then all investigators lose one sanity.

Whenever an investigator goes insane, raise the terror level by one.


No effects other than Mythos cards may move Servitor of the Outer Gods and Blue Watcher of the Pyramid can not be used against it.

Scenario Eighteen

The Dark Revelation

The witch fire burnt through her, blasting Nka'ji Ara.  The subterranean temple which housed the ancient horror lay in ruins.  Its sacrificial altars smashed.  Its feeders destroyed.  Agnes grinned in exultation.  She had defeated it.  Her flame dug tunnels beneath its withered flesh.  Its blood boiled, its brains burst, death sprayed from its flesh.  It shrieked in pain.  But…  Still, it laughed!  No!  It can not be!  The inside of creature’s mouth gaped impossibly.  It…  The creature’s death itself a gate!

And between the God's rows of endlessly stretching teeth, the desperate warriors saw worlds within worlds within worlds colliding together and smashing apart.  Labyrinths forming and collapsing between them.  Strange and fearsome creatures crawled along the walls of the infinite mazes, but they too shifted between different forms and nothingness.  No stability in anything.  The twirling cosmos they saw in the creature’s mouth was twisted, tangled, and dying.  And an invisible malevolence far greater than the conductor of the chaos they beheld made the bravest among them shiver.  A nameless horror tore through their hearts, but they knew not why.

And Mary’s flesh burned.  Not from fear…  But…  Something else.  Something within her responded to the voices coming from the gateway.  And then she knew.  The thing within her had summoned Nka'ji Ara to free it.  Voices whispered silence in her ears.  She burnt with cold sweat…  Black sweat…  Her clothing dripping with darkness. She began gibbering in an alien language, and the sweat ran from her flesh, flooding from her mouth, thickening to ooze, and choking her in an unending stream of vomit.

Agnes shrieked, “Fools!  Yog-Sothoth was the Key of which you spoke?!  That is Yog-Sothoth imprisoned in the Nun’s own flesh!  Death has summoned Its child, It breaks forth at Its child’s call, and It takes Its child’s formless form!  Flee!  Flee!  Before we are all doomed!”

The black ooze streamed through Mary’s flesh.  Eyes on tendrils began to grow on the tiny stalks that pierced her skin, yanking their way through her flesh.  They stared at her malevolently while wrenching themselves out of her.  The tendrils slithered together into a dark coalescing pulp of liquidly blob.

Then it stopped, and Mary, starved for air, gasped like a dying fish on an icy floor. 

The flood’s hideous bubbling features had semi-solidified into a corner.  It loomed and bulked into a great monstrosity, arms, legs, and tentacles sprouting from all its flesh.  More eyes began opening on it.  They looked upon the investigators.  They looked beyond them through all time and space.  Then they all turned upon Mary, and roaring mouths began ripping through the creature’s skin.  The volume of their rage shook rocks loose from the cavern’s ceiling.

Scrambling through the rubble of their victory, they fled, but It did not follow. 

It stayed behind… No longer could It be restrained.  It flexed and burst through the tiny weak enclosure, what were mere walls of earth and stone to It?  It could see the sky again and hungered.  Limbs and tentacles flailing, It slithered through the streets, smashing Its innumerable arms into the tiny domiciles in which the tiny creatures hid.  It tore away the windows, walls, and roofs when needed, but always dragged out screaming sustenance.  To feed.  To grow. 

It would finish freeing Itself later.  It first sought easier prey.  It hungered for the rest of Its still trapped flesh most of all, but It would consume the weak and sluggish creatures surrounding It first.  Once stronger, It could take back what was Its own.  And It would peel open the encaging body just like the shells of brick, wood, and stone, no barriers compared to the infinities of the cosmos It had torn through.  And the hollow thing of black and white that still hid and housed so much of Its flesh would be sweet to devour.  And It would be whole again, and free.

Custom components can be found here:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/?start=all

Expanded Investigator Pool: Leo Anderson, Agnes Baker
Ancient One: Yog-Sothoth
Heralds: Kerathimel
Required Investigators: Agnes Baker, Sister Mary


Special Rules:

The Dunwich Horror begins the game on The Black Cave. It has +1 toughness, an awareness of -1, and in addition to its special movement, it moves like a fast stalker monster on white every mythos phase. It can never be moved from the board or relocated in any way, except by defeating it in combat (which returns it to The Black Cave). Instead of the usual reward for defeating it, an investigator defeating it clears the Dunwich Horror track, draws from the top five cards of the unique item deck, keeps one, and discards the rest. For each token on the Dunwich Horror track the Dunwich Horror gains an additional +1 toughness. Once per game, defeating it also removes one doom token from the doom track.

Investigators moving through a street adjacent to The Dunwich Horror must roll a die, and on a 1-3 draw a madness, injury, or reduce maximum sanity or stamina by one (though never to zero). Investigators with madness or injuries can not retire.


When the doom track reaches three, place one random monster on each unstable location in Dunwich. Blue bordered and yellow bordered monsters in Dunwich move like black bordered monsters instead.

When the doom track reaches seven, The Dunwich Horror adds a doom token on rolls of 2-6 instead.

If Yog-Sothoth awakens, he has 5 extra doom tokens and physical resistance.

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.”