Pete vs. The Silent Conspiracy (Solo, Achievements)

This latest attempt at Return to the Night of the Zealot achievements is to try an "Ashcan" Pete deck focused around Desperate skills, St. Hubert's Key, Dark Horse, and Yaotl. Time now for Return to The Midnight Masks, where I'll either achieve or fail at my goal: leveraging action compression and (hopefully) desperation-boosted skill testing to interrogate all six unique cultists. Let's go!

SESSION REPORT

SCENARIO II - RETURN TO THE MIDNIGHT MASKS

• Opening Hand: Madame Labranche, Fire Axe, Newspaper, St. Hubert's Key, Stunning Blow
• Kept: All
• Replacements: None
• Starting Location: Your House (Duke in play)

I'll absolutely take that assets-rich start. Having Stunning Blow is comforting as a one-card solution for Ruth Turner, should she show up.

R1 (0D, 0H, 5$, 0C): 0/6 doom

• Encounter: None
• Play St. Hubert's Key [-4$]
• Investigate, 3 vs. 2 (+1): pass [+1C]
• Use Duke: Move to Rivertown and Investigate, 5 vs. 4 (+1): pass [+1C]
• Draw Say Your Prayers [+1$]

I know from experience that tempo is vital, which means taking some risks to investigate at only +1 instead of waiting around for further setup. Even though I had the shroud 4 version of Rivertown, fortunately this gamble paid off.

R2 (0D, 0H, 2$, 2C): 1/6 doom

• Encounter: Obscuring Fog attaches to Rivertown
• Use Act 1a [-2C]: Herman Collins spawns in Graveyard
• Play Madame Labranche [-2$]
• Use Madame Labranche [+1$]
• Play Fire Axe [-1$]
• Draw Fine Clothes [+1$]

I also know from experience that you really need to spawn unique cultists as quickly as possible and deal with them when the situation warrants. Here, now that I've got a few key assets in play - in particular Madame Labranche who can help me bounce back from having no cards in hand - I think it's worth pitching four cards to parley our first arrival. Especially so I can clear the Graveyard while I'm already next to it.

R3 (0D, 0H, 1$, 0C): 2/6 doom

• Encounter: Mask of Umôrdhoth attaches to Herman Collins with +1 doom
• Use Duke: Move to Graveyard, 5 vs. 3 (+1): pass, and Investigate, 5 vs. 1 (-3): pass [+1C], Herman Collins engages
• Parley Herman Collins [discard Fine Clothes, Stunning Blow, Newspaper, Say Your Prayers]: placed in display [+1 Victory], Mask of Umôrdhoth discarded
• Use Madame Labranche: Draw Double or Nothing
• Investigate, 3 vs. 1 (-1): pass [+1C, +1 Victory]
• Draw Dark Horse [+1$]

Getting lucky so far with the encounter deck essentially whiffing twice. That's about to change, though.

R4 (0D, 0H, 2$, 2C): 3/6 doom

• Encounter: False Lead, 3 vs. 4 (-3): fail by 4 [drop 2C on Graveyard, -1 Victory]
• Use Duke: Investigate, 5 vs. 1 (0): pass [+1C]
• Investigate, 3 vs. 1 ( is 0): pass [+1C, +1 Victory]
• Use Act 1a [-2C]: Peter Warren spawns at Miskatonic University
• Draw Yaotl [+1$]

Cost me two actions but at least the clues were simple enough to retrieve. I thought about using Double or Nothing to get them back in one turn, but I'd rather save it for a 3+ health enemy when the situation is right.

R5 (0D, 0H, 3$, 0C): 4/6 doom

• Encounter: Obscuring Fog attaches to Graveyard
• Move to Rivertown
• Play Dark Horse [-3$]
• Use Duke: Move to Easttown and Investigate, 6 vs. 4 (0): pass [+1C]
• Use Madame Labranche [+1$]
• Draw Overpower [+1$]

I don't like parleying Peter Warren because it's a wash (or worse) tempo-wise - just as easy if not easier to defeat him in two hits (at least one of them 2+ damage) as it is to spend one action and two clues. That said, I do want to loop around through Easttown-Downtown-Northside first, for clues and possible location effects. (I was hoping in particular that Easttown would let me play Yaotl at a discount, but sadly it's the wrong version.)

R6 (0D, 0H, 2$, 1C): 5/6 doom

• Encounter: Hunting Shadow [1D on Duke, 1D on Madame Labranche]
• Take a resource [+1$]
• Play Yaotl [-3$]
• Use Duke: Investigate, 6 vs. 4 ( is +2) [ready Duke]: pass [+1C, +1 Victory]
• Use Madame Labranche [+1$]
• Draw Vicious Blow [+1$]

Pausing to get set up for the Agenda 1b arrival. I took money notwithstanding Dark Horse so I can spend it via the Fire Axe. And wow, that's a timely Vicious Blow arrival, because...

R7 (0D, 0H, 2$, 2C): 6/6 doom

• Agenda advances to 1b: The Masked Hunter spawns and engages
• Encounter: Mask of Umôrdhoth attaches to Peter Warren with +1 doom
• Use Fire Axe: Fight The Masked Hunter [-2$], use Madame Labranche [+1$], [-1$], commit Double or Nothing, Vicious Blow, Overpower, 12 vs. 8 ( is -2) [+1 doom on The Masked Hunter]: pass [+6D, defeated, +2 Victory], draw Reckless Assault (...boom! One hit, one kill! The confluence of events here was an enormous piece of luck.)
• Use Act 1a [-2C]: Jeremiah Pierce spawns at Your House
• Use Duke: Move to Downtown and Investigate, 6 vs. 3 (0): pass [+1C]
• Draw Stunning Blow [+0$]

R8 (0D, 0H, 0$, 1C): 1/8 doom [+1 on Peter Warren]

• Encounter: On Wings of Darkness, 4 vs. 4 ( is -1): fail [1D/1H on Yaotl, move to Rivertown]
• Move to Your House, Jeremiah Pierce engages
• Parley Jeremiah Pierce: placed in display [+1 Victory], 6 vs. 4 (-2): pass
• Use Madame Labranche [+1$]
• Move to Rivertown
• Draw Fine Clothes [+1$]

As the game decided to boot me back to Rivertown, I decided to capitalize on that by dealing with Jeremiah Pierce while there. Always scary to take that test that could hit you with extra doom, but, with St. Hubert's Key and Dark Horse, Pete was well-prepared for it.

R9 (0D, 0H, 2$, 1C): 2/8 doom [+1 on Peter Warren]

• Encounter: Hunting Nightgaunt spawns and engages
• Use Duke: Fight Hunting Nightgaunt, use Yaotl, 6 vs. 3 (-2): pass [+2D] (there's still Overpower on top of the discard from the The Masked Hunter fight, which came in handy here)
• Use Fire Axe: Fight Hunting Nightgaunt [-2$], 6 vs. 3 (-1): pass [+2D, defeated]
• Use "Ashcan" Pete: Ready Duke [discard Fine Clothes]
• Use Duke: Move to Miskatonic University and Investigate, 6 vs. 3 (-1): pass [+1C], Peter Warren engages
• Use Madame Labranche [+1$]
• Peter Warren attacks [1D]
• Draw Desperate Search [+1$]

Tempo loss dealing with the Hunting Nightgaunt means I need to eat some damage from Peter Warren so I can set up to defeat him in three hits (as he's boosted by the Mask of Umôrdhoth). Still better I think to beat him through damage than by losing hard-earned clues.

R10 (1D, 0H, 2$, 2C): 3/8 doom [+1 on Peter Warren]

• Encounter: Hunting Shadow [2D]
• Use Fire Axe: Fight Peter Warren [-1$], 4 vs. 2 (-1): pass [+1D]
• Use Fire Axe: Fight Peter Warren [-1$], 5 vs. 2 (-1): pass [+2D]
• Use Duke: Fight Peter Warren, 5 vs. 2 (-2): pass [+2D, defeated, +1 Victory], Mask of Umôrdhoth discarded
• Use Madame Labranche [+1$]
• Draw Dark Horse [+1$]

R11 (3D, 0H, 2$, 2C): 4/8 doom

• Encounter: Locked Door attaches to Miskatonic University
• Use Act 1a [-2C]: Victoria Devereux spawns at Northside
• Use Miskatonic University [1H on Duke, 1H on Madame Labranche]: [+1C]
• Use Duke: Move to Northside and Investigate, commit Desperate Search, 9 vs. 3 ( is -3): pass [+1C], Victoria Devereux engages
• Victoria Devereux attacks [1D]
• Draw Hypochondria [+1$]

Only one more clue and two more cultists to go, but one bad encounter deck pull could still end things prematurely!

R12 (4D, 0H, 3$, 2C): 5/8 doom

• Encounter: Corpse-Taker spawns at Graveyard and gets +1 doom
• Use Duke: Fight Victoria Devereux, commit Reckless Assault, 8 vs. 3 ( is -3): pass [+2D]
• Use Fire Axe: Fight Victoria Devereux [-1$], use Yaotl, 8 vs. 3 ( is -2) [+1 doom on Victoria Devereux]: pass [+1D, defeated, +1 Victory] (being able to get multiple uses out of a single Reckless Assault, via Yaotl, just feels great)
• Use Act 1a [-2C]: "Wolf-Man" Drew spawns in Downtown
• Corpse-Taker moves to Rivertown
• Draw Yaotl [+1$]

The Corpse-Taker means I essentially will lose a full turn, which means my next turn is my last... but! I have just enough actions to bring down the last unique cultist, barring !

R13 (4D, 0H, 3$, 0C): 6/8 doom [+1 on Corpse-Taker]

• Encounter: Locked Door attaches to Northside
• Corpse-Taker gets +1 doom
• Move to Downtown, "Wolf-Man" Drew engages
• Use Fire Axe: Fight "Wolf-Man" Drew [-3$], 9 vs. 4 (-2): pass [+2D]
• Use Duke: Fight "Wolf-Man" Drew, use Yaotl, 9 vs. 4 (0): pass [+2D, defeated, +1 Victory] (Success!!)
• Act advances to 1b: Resolution 1

Resolution 1

• Cultists Pete Interrogated: Herman Collins, The Masked Hunter, Jeremiah Pierce, Peter Warren, Victoria Devereux, "Wolf-Man" Drew
• Cultists Who Got Away: None
• 9 experience (9 Victory)
• ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Conspiracy of Silence

Heck yes! "Ashcan" Pete does the job! Now, I undeniably had some good strokes of luck here. The stars aligned for a one-hit-kill on The Masked Hunter, for example. And the encounter deck essentially whiffed (or, at most, did damage without costing me actions) on 7 out of 12 pulls. On Wings of Darkness arguably helped by bringing me close to Jeremiah Pierce for a mid-game parley. The only encounters that unarguably slowed me down were False Lead (lost 2 actions picking clues back up), Hunting Nightgaunt (took 2 actions to defeat), the second Mask of Umôrdhoth (adding 1 extra action to defeating Peter Warren), and that last Corpse-Taker (eating up what would have been my final turn of 3 actions). I was also able to streamline movement - in particular, I never had to set foot in Southside or St. Mary's Hospital at all - and achieved 6 successful compressed move-and-investigates via Duke. Every little boost matters for this achievement!

Next up: will "Ashcan" Pete leverage this success into victory against Umôrdhoth? We'll find out soon enough!