Roland did not survive The Devourer Below

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The Arkham Woods appeared calm and peaceful... until the Chaos Bag decide to spit out an Elder Thing... then the Cultists that got away appeared... then the entry of the Ancient One. Roland’s demise soon followed... #arkhamhorrorlcg #arkhamhorrorthecardgame

A post shared by Ernest Khoo (@gremlink) on Feb 10, 2019 at 6:11pm PST

The Midnight Masks-1st attempt

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Losing all the hard-earned resources from Paranoia... suffering mental trauma from a Cover Up... running out of time to gather clues and only found 3 Cultists... typical night for Roland the Fed #arkhamhorrorthecardgame #arkhamhorrorlcg

A post shared by Ernest Khoo (@gremlink) on Feb 9, 2019 at 11:30pm PST

First game of Arkham Horror LCG

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Getting the #arkhamhorrorlcg to the table for the first time. The Easy Chaos Bag has been kind to Roland Banks so far in The Gathering. But feeling a sense of dread going into The Midnight Masks #arkhamhorrorthecardgame

A post shared by Ernest Khoo (@gremlink) on Feb 9, 2019 at 1:12am PST

Entering the Necromancer’s Sanctum

The entry of Sonnet into the party has allowed the group to be able to play with some interesting tactical combination. Instead of using straight up attacking techniques, the Soothsinger allows for buffs to the party and some strong melee attacks.

In any case, the party decided to go back to look for someone whom they have neglected for some time - Jekserah the merchant who turned out to be a necromancer. Now that the party know where to find the necromancer, they head straight to Corpsewood, looking for her lair.

Before heading out, the party met up with a ship captain who wanted some help to move some crates. The party decided to ignore the request, knowing that they have more important matters to deal with than dealing with such trivial matters like a common laborer.

On the road to the Necromancer’s Sanctum, the party encountered a band of Inox who wanted to extort some gold from the party. With Brute no longer in the party, there was no way that these Inox could be reasoned with. Weapons were drawn and while the party managed to fight off the threat, they had to deal with wounds of 3 damage going into the scenario.

In the Sanctum, it was a tough battle fighting the living dead army that Jekserah summoned. The first room was still with Sonnet’s Song of Wistful Wounding providing a way to keep the damage consistent on the Cultists and Living Bones that appeared.

Going into the second room, the danger started to pile up. Without having cleared the room, Weaver decided to take a chance to open the room where Jekserah was. Meanwhile, Sonnet took the opportunity to detour into a room with the treasure chest.

In the room where Jekserah was, Living Corpses kept spawning. This was where Cray used Rock Slide and Clear the Way to strategically place obstacles, creating choke points and preventing the mass of the living dead from overrunning the heroes.

Although Jekserah was immune to Stun, the use of the obstacles and Immobilize help to keep her at bay.

While Cray and Weaver were busy dealing with the main enemies, Sonnet sneaked into the room with the treasure chest. She expected to encounter enemies but with the Living Corpses all spawned in the main room, it was a surprise to find that she could pick up the treasure of Skullbane Axe without much trouble.

Although the Skullbane Axe doesn’t seem like something a Soothsinger would use, it seemed like a really handy two-handed weapon that would come in handy for melee fighting that she would need to do at times.


With the obstacles keeping Jekserah and her undead army at bay, it took a while for Cray and Weaver to use range attack to drain her of HP. The final move came from a Flashing Burst which was also the killing blow.

With the Necromancer dead, new locations were made available and the party has to decide where to head to next. But one really wonders the dying words of the Necromancer... that they have no idea what’s coming.

Sonnet’s first outing

With Sonnet the Soothsinger joining the party, the Solo Bunch decided to try out a random scenario to test how she works with the party.

The Wild Crossroads.

The Crushing Alcove.

The Tribal Hallway.

Overall, it seems that the Soothsinger is quite a strong character in providing support to the party, allowing the party to make strong attacks. The downside is the limited number of special attacks. While the Attack Modifier Deck is quite strong, the Soothsinger has to use the standard attack instead to make use of it.

Also, the Soothsinger gets exhausted before the end of the scenario due to the limited number of cards. While there are a number of songs that can buff the party, changing a song will waste turns. Maybe I’ll have to be even more selective in deciding which songs to put in the starting hand. 

Retiring Tinder, welcome Sonnet

The Solo Bunch took some time out by going on a random scenario.

The first room is the Cutthroat Sewer.

That is followed by the Horrific Cabin.

The last room is the Scaled Armory.

With this Tinder, managed to gather enough gold to purchase the last one-handed item to complete his personal goal to become part of the Merchant Class.

Three spears is unlocked but we will save that for later.

With one Quatryl leaving the adventuring life, another one steps into the picture. Sonnet the Quatryl Soothsinger (Music Note) joins in the fun at Level 3. 

Other than being the singer, she has a personal quest looking for clues on events that leads to the Fall of Man.

Crypt Basement-Seeker of Xorn

With the Rift closed, the Solo Bunch turned their sights back to the Crypt of the Damned, obviously with some persuasion from Weaver. As the Seeker of Xorn, she had to fulfill her destiny.

Before heading back to the Crypt, the party spend a night drinking and gambling away, when a robed woman approached the party. She is asking for help to look for her missing daughter, who may be captured by a group called The Ravens. The party decided to help after their mission, and filed the ‘Shadows Within’ scenario till later.

On the way back to the Crypt, the party got hungry and ate some green berries. Luckily the berries were sweet and edible, and gave the party a Bless advantage for the trip into the Crypt Basement.

In the Crypt Basement, a ghostly apparition who turned out to be a warden of the place. It asked the party to hold off the advancing enemies while it restore the fragments of the staff they found in the Noxious Cellar. So the mission was simple, to survive for 10 rounds while the warden does its thing. 

Essentially, all the heroes had to do was to survive. Cray started off the turn by generating obstacles to block off pathways that may expose them to danger.

Weaver continued to be the power hitter here using her Fire Orbs to decimate 2 Elite Giant Vipers and a Living Bones.

As the adjoining rooms started to open, more and more enemies were revealed. The party decided to stay put and focus on their task, using the pillars and obstacles as cover.

Oozes!!! I hate them... three consecutive rounds of Oozes multiplying lead to an abundance of Oozes in one of the rooms, and eventually all available Oozes were used up.

While the enemies continued to multiply and advanced, the party held their own, together with Weaver’s Burning Avatar summon and Tinder’s latest addition, the Kill Bot. On the sixth round, things are still managable. 

At the 8th round, the final room opened to reveal a Treasure Chest! Hoping that it’ll contain something that aid him in his personal quest, he moved into the room. Weaver and Cray will just have to hold the fort back in the main room.


In the final round, Tinder couldn’t stay in the game with his HP down to zero. But at least he managed to use the last round to unleash his Crank Bow and Toxic Bolt, both gaining him extra HP, and thinning the enemies in the room. Getting to the Treasure Chest also gave the party access to the Storm Blade, an impressive melee weapon. Although the group is now a more ranged-focused party, perhaps it will be useful for another melee character later down the line.

As the Oozes and the rest of the enemies advanced slowly into the main chamber, all Weaver and Cray needed to do was to simply hold on... and they succeeded.

The ethereal warden finished fixing the Staff of Xorn, gave it to Weaver, and then disappeared, leaving with the instruction for them to head to the Palace of Ice in the northern mountains and unseal the tomb of Xorn.

 

Closing the Ruinous Rift

With Cray joining the party, the heroes decided to go ahead to close the Rift with Hail’s help.

Before heading out, the party met a shifty-looking man who challenged them to a game of bone dice. Tempting but the party has better things to do.

On the road to the Ruinous Rift, they found a flock of carrion birds feasting on a body. It’s the body of the brother of the man from Sleeping Lion. The party decided to bury the body and bring the chain around the dead man’s neck back to the brother.

All in all, the party gained 3 Reputation points. With 12 points, a the new Sun class will be unlocked. But first, the Rift...

The party took 2 attempts before successfully closing the Rift. In the first attempt, the party was overwhelmed by the spawning demons. It was quite fiddly to keep track of all the spawning demons but at the last round, the party either were exhausted from running out of cards or losing HP.

The second attempt was much better, with a more measured plan by trying to contain the damage by discarding cards, and blocking the path to Hail.

In the first few rounds, the party was able to kill the two enemies spawning in the rounds. But from the third round onwards when two enemies spawn each round, they could not kill faster than they spawn.

Cray’s Avalanche ability came in useful to create obstacles that blocked the demons’ path, and at times being able to cause some damage with Clear the Way and Heaving Swing.

By round 7, things are looking manageable. Although they still can’t dispatch the enemies, they could protect Hail and keep the demons at bay. From now on, it is all about just holding on.


Finally, Hail managed to complete closing the Rift. Cray ended up exhausted when it ran out of cards, but at least Weaver and Tinder managed to hold on, giving Hail enough time to do her magic.

With the Rift neutralized, the party went back to Gloomhaven to do the usual... leveling up for Tinder, gaining Enhancements for all, and looking at the new Sun class which is now available.

Thoughts: This scenario is the simplest to set up in terms of map tiles. But it’s such a challenging one, to keep track of the demon spawns. And it’s all about positioning and preventing damaging, as well as protecting Hail by keeping the enemies away from her.

Brutus Retirement

When Brutus came from from the Lost Island, Brutus decided to retire from adventuring, since he achieved his Personal Goal of becoming a Battle Legend.

With Brutus’ retirement, the party can now find out more about the history of Gloomhaven and access the Town Records. Having made enough donation to the Sanctuary of the Great Oak, Envelop B was also available for the Solo Bunch.

Brutus’ retirement meant that Music Note is now available. However, the lost of the tough fighter meant that the Solo Bunch needed another tough guy who can deal lots of damage, and also absorb damage. In comes Cray the Savvas Cragheart!


Because it wasn’t good enough to attain mastery of an element, Cray was exiled. To prove that it is not a failure, he decided to venture out on his own to look for Aesthers who can help him using magic in attaining mastery of an element. It believes that going on adventures with the Solo Bunch can help him to augment its powers through Enhancements.

Since the Solo Bunch needs a power fighter, Cray joined up with the party... and going to Hail will be the next logical step. Closing the Rift, and also meeting the Aesther. Cray couldn’t ask for a more perfect start to its mercenary adventuring career. 

Lost Island

In Gloomhaven, a pie-eating contest is going on and with nothing else better to do, the party took part. The opponents are large sailors who seemed like they could win. The party powered through the pain of digging into pie after pie, and the sailors eventually conceded. However, the party felt so sick after that all they could do is lie down. A checkmark is lost, but at least they gained 10 gold each and gained 1 reputation.

The party decided to causally head over to the Lost Island, one of the undiscovered ones in the Misty Sea. Hopefully there are some riches on this one. Approaching the small island, the party saw a derelict ship. After landing on the beach, the party was attacked immediately by Vermlings. Lots of them.

As the Vermlings attacked, 2 Cave Bears advanced from a distance to join in the fight. While dealing with the approaching Bears, Brutus was able to sneak in the use of the Doomed Compass to control the Vermling Shaman into a damage trap. This helped to reduce the Shaman threat on the island. 

After dealing with the enemies on the beach, the party entered the wreck of the ship. What greeted them was more Vermlings, and a horde of treasure that were scattered all around.

Dispatching the Vermling Scouts were not too difficult. Moving deeper into the derelict ship, the party encountered more Vermlings. This time there were 2 Shamans in the mix. 

Tinder’s Disintegration Beam came in handy here. In one attack, it took out an Elite Vermling Scout, a Normal Scout, and an Elite Shaman.

The plan to have a more attacking Tinkerer certainly paid off here. 

Moving into the final area, all the party needed to do was simply to clear out the remaining enemies. Brutus did a Fatal Advance on the Cave Bear, while the rest of the party cleaned up the room without much difficulty, and even looted the treasure chest to open a random scenario.

With the end of the scenario, it seems that Brutus has finally achieved his Personal Quest of being a Battle Legend by earning 15 checkmarks from completed battle goals...

2 attempts at the Noxious Cellar

Weaver told the party that it’s time to head into the Noxious Cellar. She is now ready to proceed along with her Personal Quest.

Before heading into the cellar, the party was approached by a Vermling wanting to unload a piece of metal covered in sludge. The previous time, the party got the Curious Gear artifact. This time, the party was tempted to also buy the thing. But it’ suspicious that good things happen twice in Gloomhaven, so they refused to pay and laughed at the Vermling swindler’s attempt to get some gold out of the party.

The Noxious Cellar is an interesting quest. Getting to the remains of Xorn meant going into a curious shack in the Sinking Market in Gloomhaven. Finding a switch on the ground amongst flat stones placed in a radial pattern, the party activated it and found themselves sinking into the ground. Soon, the party was separated and each of them have to deal with the coming quest on their own.

This scenario is a tough puzzle to crack. The party’s first attempt was a failure. As each character needed to fight on their own, they found themselves defeated by the enemies when trying to clear the rooms on the way to the treasure. 

As this didn’t work, the second attempt saw the party trying out a different strategy.

With each on their own, the heroes will attempt to break out of the rubble-filled room, and move as quickly as possible towards their goal.

Tinder and Brutus used jump and also losing some high movement cards to get into the adjacent room. Weaver managed to clear a small gap, the room, turned invisible and then summoned the Burning Avatar to aid in dealing with the enemies.

After that, it was a sprint to the goals. Brutus was the first to reach his goal, being able to utilize the Boots of Striding to enhance his movement.

Tinder found the going tough. He didn’t have that much movement, and the Ooze had poison effects. Although he summoned the Battle Bot, he was down to really low HP. It was only when the combination strike with the Battle Bot finishing off the Elite Vermling Scout and Tinder doing the same to the Elite Ooze that gave him hope of completing the quest.

That leaves Weaver. The Burning Avatar took the hit from one of the Spitting Drakes. Weaver herself was also poisoned, but she just had to press on.

Eventually she reached her goal, but she was exhausted in the process. But that was okay as all three heroes reached their goal.

So, the jump and sprint strategy worked. The Living Corpses in the starting area moved slowly so after leaving them behind, they were less of a threat. For the remaining enemies, it’s not to kill them, but rather to dash pass them and stopping them from dealing too much damage. Brutus was down to 1HP and Tinder was down to 7HP (but only because he healed himself at the final round.

Oh, the donation to the Sanctuary of the Great Oak helped, but barely. The Blessing card didn’t appear in Weaver’s attack until at the very end. Well, at least it appeared.

With all of them reaching their goal and picking up pieces of a gruesome staff, they returned to their quarters, and found out the next step of this quest... a return to a secret room in one of the Crypts they previously explored.

Forgotten Crypt

After doing 2 Random Dungeons, the party felt ready to proceed along with the Campaign. With the Rift still opened, they decided to ask. For Hail’s help to do something about it.

Before approaching Hail, the party saw a Valrath struggle with a large, intricate vase. He loses balance and the vase topples... until Brutus ran forward to grab it and preventing a shattering tragedy.

In this scenario, Hail decided to come along for the ride because to close the Rift, she needs to get an elemental censer from someone called the Stonebreaker. To get the censer, they need to travel to the Forgotten Crypt.

On the way to the destination, they found themselves cutting through a dense underbrush, but it seems the forest floor is on fire, with animals of all sorts running away. Following the animals’ cue is probably a good idea and the party ran out of the forest, and need to discard 2 cards each from exhaustion. This will have implications in the coming quest, surely.  

Entering the Crypt, the party needed to escort and protect Hail (represented by a 10-sided die) until she reaches the altar to grab the censer she needed. 

As usual for Crypts, Cultists were there first...

 

Clearing the first room was easy. The second room with some Living Spirits and more Living Bones was also not too tough.

It’s entering the third room that things got rather hairy. More Cultists appeared from previous rooms, and the Elite Cultist in the new room summoned more Living Bones. In order to let Hail move towards her destination, the party had to carve out a path for her to move through.

Hail manage to slip through the third room to open the fourth room, while another Living Spirit spawned behind them.

With his newly acquired Auto Turret, Tinder was able to lay down some covering fire, allowing the party to slip out of this room. No time to linger and clear the room, they had to move forward.

Brutus moved ahead into the fourth room to clear out the Living Corpses blocking the way forward. Here was a good opportunity for him to use his Push attack and also the Doomed Compass, pushing the enemies into the Damage trap, and also clearing the way forward.

When Weaver opened the final chamber, they party was confronted by more Living Corpses, Cultists, and what made it worse was that the Cultists summoned even more Living Bones.

At this point, the enemies in the last room were moving forward and blocking the path for Hail to reach the altar. Enemies were all around the party... plenty of Living Bones and Cultists were quickly advancing on them. 

All the party could do was focusing on killing the enemies straight ahead, in order for Hail to get through. Everything seemed lost until Weaver could jump over to the back of the chamber and attack from there.

It was a brutally tough mission, and probably made worse by losing 2 cards at the start of the scenario. Hail eventually slipped through, getting to the altar, but Weaver and Brutus ran out of Ability Cards and had to leave the game. Although Weaver was still in play, she was down to 2HP. Luckily, this was enough for Hail to reach the altar.

The step towards the Rift is now open... but dare the party proceed down that path?