Pete & Duke: Playing through Night of the Zealot Part 1

Warning: this will contain spoilers for the Night of the Zealot campaign. You have been warned.

The Gathering on Standard difficulty, solo.

This playthrough was inspired by Leo's Doomed Adventure by Magnificate.

Opening Hand: Magnifying Glass, Fire Axe, Emergency Cache, Dark Horse, Unexpected Courage

Start in the Study. Agenda is What's Going On?!, Act is Trapped.

T1

Investigation Phase:

PLAY Magnifying Glass.

INVESTIGATE using Duke (, Success).

• At this point I realise I should play Fire Axe and Dark Horse before continuing.

PLAY Fire Axe.

PLAY Dark Horse.

Enemy Phase: -

Upkeep Phase: Draw Wracked by Nightmares. Do not gain 1 resource (currently at 0 resources).

• Oh boy, we start the fun early. Well, at least I have all the time in the world to deal with it...

T2

Mythos Phase: Place 1 doom on What's Going On?!. Draw Ghoul Minion.

• Yeah, so about having plenty of time...

Investigation Phase:

ATTACK with Fire Axe (, Success but cannot ready anything). Deal 2 damage to the Ghoul Minion, killing it.

Dicard Wracked by Nightmares.

Enemy Phase: -

Upkeep Phase: Draw Leather Coat. Do not gain 1 resource.

T3

Mythos Phase: Place 1 doom on What's Going On?!. Draw Ancient Evils. What's Going On?! advances to Rise of the Ghouls. Choose to randomly discard a card, discard Leather Coat.

• At this point I feel like I've wasted an entire turn doing nothing: my coat is gone, I haven't gained any resources... this is going the wrong way.

Investigation Phase:

INVESTIGATE (, Failure).

INVESTIGATE (-1, Success).

Advance Trapped into The Barrier.

INVESTIGATE using Duke. Move into Attic, take 1 horror. (+1, Success).

Enemy Phase: -

Upkeep Phase: Draw Dig Deep. Do not gain 1 resource.

T4

Mythos Phase: Place 1 doom on Rise of the Ghouls. Draw Obscuring Fog. Attach Obscuring Fog to the Attic.

Investigation Phase:

INVESTIGATE with Duke. (-1, Success). Obscuring Fog goes away.

• Sadly, that was the last clue in the Attic. On the other hand, drawing that from the Encounter deck does mean Pete gets a little respite.

MOVE to Hallway.

DRAW "Look what I found!".

Enemy Phase: -

Upkeep: Draw "Look what I found!". Do not gain 1 resource.

Current Hand: "Look what I found!", "Look what I found!", Emergency Cache, Unexpected Courage, Dig Deep.

T5

Mythos Phase: Place 1 doom on the Agenda (2/7). Draw Dissonant Voices.

Investigation Phase:

INVESTIGATE with Duke. Move into the Cellar, take 1 damage. (, Success).

INVESTIGATE, commit "Look what I found!". (-4, Failure).

INVESTIGATE, commit "Look what I found!". (-1, Success).

• My logic here was that discarding a card to ready Duke is a waste if I can just use the symbols on the "Look what I found!" to succeed. I could've saved an action if I had just readied Duke and investigated and committed, but I had decent odds.

Enemy Phase: -

Upkeep: Draw Flashlight. Do not gain 1 resource. Discard Dissonant Voices.

T6

Mythos Phase: Place 1 doom on the agenda (3/7). Draw Rotting Remains (-3, Failure by 1) . Place 1 horror on Duke.

Investigation Phase:

DRAW Perception.

MOVE to Hallway.

PLAY Emergency Cache.

Enemy Phase: -

Upkeep: Draw Preposterous Sketches. Do not gain 1 resource.

• It should be pointed out that not gaining a resource here is a mistake. I'm fighting the Ghoul Priest next turn, and I need to deal 5 damage. I don't have Vicious Blow, so I need to succeed at three attacks at the minimum. I should've gained the resource, attack with Fire Axe twice, both times spending 2 resources (dealing 1 damage on the first attack, and 2 on the second), then finish the job with Duke. However, because I didn't do the math right, I opted to skip gaining the resource.

Advance The Barrier into What Have You Done?. Put Lita Chantler and the Ghoul Priest into play. The Ghoul Priest engages "Ashcan" Pete.

T7

Mythos Phase: Put 1 doom on the agenda (4/7). Draw Swarm of Rats. The Swarm of Rats engages "Ashcan" Pete.

• Thank you, Encounter deck. If I'd drawn Frozen in Fear I would've been put in a really nasty position, but Swarm of Rats does nothing here. Perfect.

Investigation Phase:

ATTACK the Ghoul Priest with Fire Axe. Pay 3 resources for +6. (-2, Success). Deal 2 damage to the Ghoul Priest.

ATTACK the Ghoul Priest with Duke. Commit Unexpected Courage. (-3, Success). Deal 2 damage to the Ghoul Priest.

Discard Flashlight: ready Duke.

ATTACK the Ghoul Priest with Duke. (0, Success). Deal 2 damage to the Ghoul Priest, killing it.

Act What Have You Done? advances. Choose Resolution >R1.

So, apart from some rather minor misplays, went pretty well. Got every Victory Point I saw, so "Ashcan" Pete has 6xp to work with for The Midnight Masks.