The Circle Undone Blind Run #4: The Wages of Sin

The Wages of Sin

Jenny was quite tempted to take the Black Book and decipher its secrets for herself, but in the end she decided such an artifact might attract too much attention. Our investigator still doesn’t know just how much resources can the witches muster. Silver Twilight Lodge is more of a known quantity, but Jenny could easily imagine them requesting her to hand the Black Book to them. If so, perhaps Jenny could use that to her advantage? We’ll imagine that Jenny traded the book to the Lodge in exchange for a pair of enchanted swords. As an added bonus these swords are likely less conspicuous than machetes.

Jenny begins the scenario with 1 Mental Trauma.

Pre-Mulligan Hand: Enchanted Blade, "I'm outta here!", Intel Report, Emergency Cache, Hard Knocks

Opening Hand: Enchanted Blade, Intel Report, Emergency Cache, Physical Training, Leo De Luca

#1

• PLAY Emergency Cache
• PLAY Leo De Luca
  • Keeping Emergency Cache during mulligan paid off. Leo is going to assist us from the beginning.
• MOVE to Abandoned Chapel
• INVESTIGATE (-2)
• Upkeep: draw Physical Training, 4 resources total.

#2

• Mythos: 1/8 doom, Centuries of Secrets (-4, discard 5 encounter cards) (1 damage to Leo De Luca, 1 damage)
• PLAY Physical Training
• INVESTIGATE (-2)
• INVESTIGATE (+1, 1 clue from Abandoned Chapel)
• INVESTIGATE ()
  • Well… Jenny’s investigation’s proceeding bit by bit. There aren’t too many clues on the table, so perhaps speed is not essential in this scenario.
• Upkeep: draw Overpower, 4 resources total.

#3

• Mythos: 2/8 doom, Centuries of Secrets (+3 , commit Physical Training, -3, discard 1 encounter card, defeat Leo De Luca, 1 damage)
  • No! Including the resources I’ve wasted to boost the test I'm now 9 resources behind and without an important ally.
• INVESTIGATE (0, 1 clue from Abandoned Chapel)
• MOVE to Haunted Fields
• RESOURCE
• Upkeep: draw Cat Burglar, 4 resources total.

#4

• Mythos: 3/8 doom, Punishment
  • This effect is so flavorful I wonder why it wasn’t added to one of the encounter sets in the deluxe box. Still, at the moment I need to decide between offense and defense. Both setup instructions and the scenario reference card hint heavily that Jenny will face at least four enemies. So… Enchanted Blade has priority.
• PLAY Enchanted Blade
• RESOURCE
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , , 1 clue from Haunted Fields)
  • I'll hold off advancing until next turn.
• Upkeep: draw Cat Burglar, 2 resources total.

#5

• Mythos: 4/8 doom, Coven Initiate (discard 2 encounter cards)
• FIGHT with Enchanted Blade (2 charges left, , defeat Coven Initiate, × Punishment, 1 damage)
• advance In Pursuit of the Dead to In Pursuit of the Living
  • Ahhh… In retrospect I should’ve expected more clues to pop up. After all these zero-clue locations had variable shroud, which would make little sense if we weren’t meant to put clues on them at some point.
• flip Haunted Fields
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , -4, × Haunted Fields (Spectral), Heretic moves from Heretic Graves to Haunted Fields (Spectral))
• FIGHT with Enchanted Blade (1 charge left, commit Overpower, -1, draw Chronophobia, 2 damage to Heretic)
  • No way! Out of the blue Jenny is in serious trouble. She flails at the ghost, trying to keep herself safe.
• × Chronophobia (1 horror)
• Enemy: Heretic attacks (1 damage, 2 horror)
• Upkeep: draw Emergency Cache, 2 resources total.

Jenny’s Board State: 4 health, 3 sanity, 2 resources, 0 clues

In Play: Enchanted Blade (1 charge), Physical Training

In Hand: Intel Report, 2x Cat Burglar, Emergency Cache

Threat: Punishment, Chronophobia

#6

• Mythos: 5/8 doom, Shapes in the Mist, Malevolent Spirit (at Chapel Attic)
  • At least that new specter doesn’t have hunter. Hopefully we can recover before the Agenda advances.
• FIGHT with Enchanted Blade (0 charges left, +2 , -2, defeat Heretic, Unfinished Business ( variant), × Punishment, 1 damage)
  • Ludicrous! I'm downgrading my expectations to zero Heretics banished.
• MOVE to Abandoned Chapel
  • EDIT: As I’m tiding up the log I’ve got no idea why I’ve decided to move instead of discarding Chronophobia. The best explanation I can come up with is that I briefly overlooked not being able to use Intel Report on non-spectral locations and wanted to position Jenny closer to Chapel Crypt.
• PLAY Emergency Cache
• × Chronophobia (1 horror)
• Upkeep: draw Switchblade, 5 resources total, flip Unfinished Business to Heretic.

#7

• Mythos: 6/8 doom, Vengeful Witch
  • It’s getting more and more crowded!
• PLAY Cat Burglar
• Chronophobia
• Enemy: Vengeful Witch hunts to Haunted Fields (Spectral)
• Upkeep: draw "Watch this!", 3 resources total.

#8

• Mythos: 7/8 doom, Bedeviled
  • Cat Burglar just lost his main utility. This is ill-timed, since I expect The Watcher to appear the next round. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that Cat Burglar will be relegated to soaking damage and horror.
• MOVE to Haunted Fields (Spectral)
• EVADE (commit Cat Burglar, Switchblade & "Watch this!", bid 3 resources, , gain 6 resources, exhaust Vengeful Witch)
• PLAY Intel Report (2 clues from Haunted Fields (Spectral))
• Enemy: Vengeful Witch readies
• Upkeep: draw Lockpicks, 4 resources total.
  • Alas, that’s way too late to matter.

#9

• Mythos: 8/8 doom, advance, Burdens of the Past, Shapes in the Mist (× Haunted Fields (Spectral), The Spectral Watcher moves & engages), Realm of Torment
• × Realm of Torment
  • Ah... No. With every location flipped to its spectral side and so many enemies around it's time to bail.
• MOVE (Vengeful Witch & The Spectral Watcher attack, defeat Cat Burglar, 1 damage & 1 horror)
• RESIGN.

Well, this scenario was an all-around failure for Jenny. I think the critical moments were losing Leo and later triggering haunted on Haunted Fields. Those moment were forced on Jenny due to the whims of the chaos bag, but I’ve made several mistakes. At the beginning I’ve had Jenny investigate with just plus one over the shroud. As I should’ve expected it was a waste of time. In addition I neglected Punishment. The entire scenario was about defeating Heretics and I drew more enemies from the encounter deck and despite all that I left Punishment on the table until the end. That being said, despite accomplishing nothing I had great fun with the scenario. I’ve initially compared it to Midnight Masks, but in the end I think it is more similar to Undimensioned and Unseen except better in almost every way. The separate encounter decks don’t matter that much in terms of mechanics, but they’re so flavorful. One small complaint I’ve got is that the scenario resolution counts the number of Heretics differently than the Act card implies it would.

Campaign Log:

Disappearance at the Twilight Estate: Valentino disappeared into the mist. 4 pieces of evidence were left behind.

The Witching Hour: Jenny has rejected her fate. The witches’ spell was broken. Mementos: Mesmerizing Flute & Ritual Components. 8 XP (Anette Mason, Cairn Stones, Child's Tree House, Tainted Well, Hermit's House, Delve Too Deep, 1 bonus XP).

At Death's Doorstep: Jenny is on Valentino’s trail. Jenny escaped the spectral realm. Jenny rescued Joseph. Jenny is a member of the Lodge. 5 XP (Office, Delve Too Deep, 2 bonus XP).

The Secret Name: Jenny told the Lodge about the coven. Mementos: Gilman’s Journal, Keziah’s Formulae & Worn Crucifix. 4 XP (City of Elder Things, Twilight Abyss, 2 bonus XP), 1 Mental Trauma.

The Wages of Sin: 4 heretics were unleashed unto Arkham. Mementos: Wisp of Spectral Mist. 1 XP (Haunted Fields).