Night of the Zealot (Part III: The Devourer Below)

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We are into the final scenario of the starter set; The Devourer Below. I suspect there will be some kind of devouring taking place under the ground, but I don’t want to spoil too much.

I don’t think I did very well last time, and I still have that mental trauma taking 20% of my sanity on start-up, so my confidence is not high going into round one.

This time my starting hand is:

Easy mode scenario looks like this:

This time we are playing with the peril token, so even more chance for terrible times to occur. At least there are monsters in this scenario, so Lita Chantler will be more useful with her +1 damage to monsters. This time drawing the Cultist token means we put doom on the nearest enemy, rather than the nearest cultist enemy. I guess that makes it easier to make our way to the enemy, unlike in the previous scenario, but I assume the enemy itself will be more difficult to defeat, especially if we are going to be facing actual Deep Ones and their associates.

Act and Agenda cards for part three:

It is looking like a very short doom track for this first agenda, so no doubt I will be advancing it within the first few turns. I must remember to kill any Acolyte cards that are drawn, otherwise I’ll be losing even faster than I would otherwise.

The Campaign Guide says that I need to check how many cultists got away in the previous scenario. Well, as I was pretty terrible at that, almost all of them did:

That means I need to add two doom onto the agenda before I’ve even begun. Oh well, let’s just see how we get on.

ROUND ONE: 0/3 Clues | 2/4 Doom | 5 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Skipped

Investigator Phase

I thought it would be good to get an ally out to soak up some damage, as I am not too sure tomes are Roland’s thing. I know they aren’t mine, as I’ve not used them before.

Enemy Phase

No enemies.

Upkeep Phase

ROUND TWO: 0/3 Clues | 2/4 Doom | 2 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

The agenda and act cards now look like this:

With one doom already on the agenda 2a card.

Investigator Phase

Enemy Phase

No enemies at my location.

Upkeep Phase

ROUND THREE: 1/3 Clues | 1/5 Doom | 4 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Investigator Phase

Enemy Phase

Upkeep Phase

ROUND FOUR: 1/3 Clues | 3/5 Doom | 4 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Investigator Phase

Only had two actions because of Frozen in Fear

Enemy Phase

No enemies.

Upkeep Phase

  • Gain: +1 Resources
  • Draw: Knife

Passed the 3 willpower skill test and discarded Frozen in Fear

ROUND FIVE: 1/3 Clues | 3/5 Doom | 1 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Investigator Phase

Enemy Phase

No enemies.

Upkeep Phase

ROUND SIX: 1/3 Clues | 3/5 Doom | 2 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Investigator Phase

  • Move: Old House
  • Investigate: Success (+1 Clue); removed from Cover Up 2 remaining
  • Investigate: Success (+1 Clue); removed from Cover Up 1 remaining6

Enemy Phase

Nothing.

Upkeep Phase

ROUND SEVEN: 1/3 Clues | 4/5 Doom | 3 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

  • +1 Doom
  • Advance the Agenda

    Test six willpower. Fail. Gain random madness Hypochondria 7

  • Oops, I forgot to draw from the encounter deck.

Here’s the new agenda:

Investigator Phase

The new act card looks like this:

Enemy Phase

Nothing.

Upkeep Phase

ROUND EIGHT: 0/- Clues | 0/5 Doom | 4 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Investigator Phase

Enemy Phase

Nothing.

Upkeep Phase

ROUND NINE: 0/- Clues | 1/5 Doom | 3 Resources | 0/9 Damage | 1/5 Horror

Mythos Phase

Investigator Phase

Enemy Phase

Roland Defeated 💀

Well, that’s it then. Roland’s low horror value and the mental trauma suffered from the end of scenario one have finally caught up with him.

As per the campaign guide, the following happens:

  • Arkham succumbed to Umordhoth’s terrible vengeance
  • Roland is killed
  • I lose 😊

Thoughts on The Night of the Zealot Part III: The Devourer Below

It is far too difficult for an introductory campaign. The fact that every single missed cultist from the previous scenario comes back and hangs around the same location is crazy. If you don’t do a great job of part two then you are almost certainly going to get crushed by part three, especially as a solo investigator.

I do not recommend playing this with just one investigator. For any future playthroughs I am definitely using at least two.

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  1. I can’t actually see what the location card looks like before choosing to move there. They all have the same back: Arkham Woods . ↩︎

  2. I didn’t read the card properly and thought it was basically First Aid but it actually only heals damage (if it isn’t adding damage, of course). I would have done something different if I was paying closer attention. ↩︎

  3. Well, that was fast. The agenda advances on the second round. ↩︎

  4. I threw this old man into the jaws of the ghoul as nature intended. ↩︎

  5. Ha, as if this scenario wasn’t already impossible, it’s now comically so. I can’t even gain clues to advance the Act deck without first paying off this cover-up card. I think this is where this campaign was finally over. ↩︎

  6. I think I am interpreting the Cover Up card correctly. There is only one clue at the Old House location, and I am attempting to investigate it. I am successful and therefore would have gained the clue. However due to Cover Up I have to instead take a clue off of the Cover Up card. This means that the clue stays at the Old House and I can investigate again, and take a further clue off of Cover Up until all clues are exhausted. The downside to this is that I have wasted an entire turn faffing about covering stuff up. ↩︎

  7. Wow, another card to slow me down and threaten me with horror. Choosing Roland Banks for this campaign was a really bad idea. ↩︎

  8. Another mistake. I am making a lot of them in the scenario. I am pretty sure I have only discovered two clues so far, but I just spent three to advance the act. Dumbass. ↩︎

  9. In hindsight I think this was a bad move. I should have soaked up some damage and horror first, and then discarded the Beat Cop when I was attacking an enemy for that +1 damage, and then played Lita Chantler to regain the +1 strength. ↩︎

  10. It was here that I decided I couldn’t win. There were so many cultists left over from the previous round, and all hanging around at the Main Path and blocking my way to the Ritual Site that I couldn’t deal with them. I suppose I could have continued to draw cards and hope to find a Dynamite Blast but I assumed the agenda would have advanced too fast anyway. ↩︎

  11. Anyway, I started blasting. ↩︎

  12. I forgot about Hypochondria being in effect. I should have discarded it 🙄 ↩︎

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