Arkham Chronicles S3E2: Gamble away

In the second episode of this season, Zoey and Jim make it to a totally legal casino trying to find Dr. Francis Morgan. This is part of the Hunters of the Mythos Season 2 community challenge and uses The House Always Wins from Dunwich Legacy.

STORY

As you might recall, our friend Dr Armitage is looking for his two colleagues. The team didn't find Professor Warren Rice at the university, but is pretty confident Dr. Morgan will be at the Clover Club. Rumors are he has gambling debt and is trying to win his way out of it. After greasing a few palms, Zoey and Jim learn the club is in the back room of a restaurant called La Bella Luna.

MECHANIC

The casino theme is very present in this scenario. Rather than having clues on the locations as usual, each location has an action related to gambling to draw clues from the pool. Players are offered a few options throughout the scenario to cheat, which, as you might have guessed, will never come back to bite your rear end. 😉

If the players went to the university first, they have a lower doom threshold to find Dr. Morgan and avoid the inevitable monstrosities that show up in the second part of this scenario.

For the community challenge, I chose the Performer mission mostly because of the theme since I didn't feel confident about either option. This meant Jim was considered an undercover worker of the casino. This allowed him to start inside the casino, but he could not use location actions. To balance things out, one clue was added to each location that only he could investigate. At the end of his turn, a skill check (4) is required, failure meaning his cover was raising questions. An alarm level tracks this idea; if this ever reaches 9, cover is fully blown, and all Criminal enemies go for your throat. Points are awarded based on the final alarm level.

Zoey's option was treating the Criminal enemies as friendly (no engaging, fighting, or damaging), which alters the second part of the scenario; you need to convince them, via a Parley(4) action, to get out of the club rather than fight them. Doable, but it didn't sound fun to me.

PERFORMANCE

Since enemies are Aloof in the first part of the scenario, I didn't use Zoey's trait ability to start with a weapon. As usual, Jim performed for money and got 4 extra resources.

Getting clues in the first part of the scenario was tricky as usual. Jim drew his Rites of Seeking, but it's a bit of an overkill when there is only a single clue at each location. Zoey had to pitch in, using location actions and getting drunk in the process.

In the second part, criminal enemies are no longer Aloof and monsters start spawning. Zoey had a challenging time; she drew a weapon very late. However, Jim found Azure Flame early and could help eliminate foes in the way. With the tighter doom clock, I ran out of time to get all the clues and find Dr. Morgan. That's not for a lack of trying. After Rites ran out of charges, I forcibly discarded it by playing another spell over it, then tried my luck by reshuffling it in my deck via Quantum Flux. Since it is usually better to resign before the doom runs out, that is what I did. At least both characters made it out without trauma.

As for the community challenge, I will admit luck was on my side. I had good token draws a few rounds in a row, which allowed me to complete the scenario with an alarm level of 5. That's 3 points for the challenge! I gathered 3 xp during the scenario, plus 1 bonus in the resolution phase. Time to draft!

Oh, hello there, Vicious Blow! Mano a Mano is an interesting card, but Vicious Blow feels more versatile. I like Girish, but it didn't feel right to spend all my xp on a single card. The other two cards are more fitting in a firearms-based deck, that's not what I am running. Emergency Cache was dropped. After two scenarios, I feel confident it is not needed.

I think the draft wants me to take Mano a Mano. Alright, I will! It will replace Toe to Toe since it serves the same function (do automatic damage), but without negative consequences. The deck is almost mono-color; therefore, Gang Up was not an option. Second Wind is nice, but not a priority at this time. I have a love-hate relationship with backpack, it's one of those cards that are good in theory, but fail to serve me well half the time. Hate won. 😆

Upgrading Read the Signs for no xp seems like a no-brainer! Even more when considering none of the other cards would help find clues, something still an issue for this deck.

Look, Mr. Draft App, I don't want to be a better fighter, capiche? A little bit of tutoring with Parallel Fates can't hurt; it still leaves me with a single point to spend. Delve Too Deep was dropped for it. I'm not hurting for xp and the lack of skill signs doesn't help this deck.

It seems like it's too early to upgrade Rite to level 5. I thought about it but chose a different direction to avoid putting all my eggs in a single basket. An upgraded Robes of Endless Night is a versatile upgrade, and I went for this.

This wraps up the September content for the community challenge. The next two scenarios modifications will be revealed in early October. Until then, stay safe, friends; something is brewing in Dunwich!