The Dream-Eaters Blind Run #4B: Weaver of the Cosmos

The physical release got delayed due to the pandemic, but the scenario can still be found on TTS. It’s going to be rough regardless of the medium. It get the impression that Campaign B is a bit harder than Campaign A and Tommy doesn’t perform as well as Jenny in solo games. On the other hand the preview article suggests that there’ll be an enormous boss fight in this scenario and Tommy is a competent fighter. Provided he has Becky in hand. I’ve built him to be overly dependent on his signature and I didn’t get enough XPs to mitigate that reliance. I’m torn between two approaches. I could either dedicate more time for setup or attempt to rush through the scenario as I did the last time in Point of No Return. If Atlach-Nacha is the conventional high-combat bag of HPs then I cannot afford to rush. But is it? There’s definitely going to be some fiddliness involved. How much? Unknown… OK, I need to begin or else Atlach-Nacha is going to weave its web without Tommy even being there.

Note that the newest cards won’t be linked because card images aren’t yet uploaded.

Weaver of the Cosmos

Pre-Mulligan Hand: "Look what I found!", Fine Clothes, Guiding Spirit, Something Worth Fighting For, Scene of the Crime

Opening Hand: Guiding Spirit, Randolph Carter, Prepared for the Worst, .45 Thompson, Take the Initiative

Tommy begins the scenario at Vast Web with 1 Physical Trauma.

#1

• PLAY Guiding Spirit
  • That's a bit of an inconvenient hand. I want to the Spirit and Randolph in play, but I must save resources for the non-Becky gun. At the moment the skull tokens are zeros, so I think I can afford to take a risk and investigate.
• INVESTIGATE (0, 1 clue from Vast Web)
• INVESTIGATE (, 1 clue from Vast Web)
  • Good omen.
• Upkeep: draw "Look what I found!", 5 resources total.

#2

• Mythos: 1/9 doom, Spider of Leng
• EVADE (commit Take the Initiative & Randolph Carter, -3, exhaust Spider of Leng)
  • Hold him off Randolph! It's a such waste to lose an ally with an Intellect bonus, but there's no way I could do four damage to the monster. BTW, why is Spider of Leng a monster while Swarm of Spiders are creatures?
• MOVE ↓ to The Great Web (Web-Stairs, 1 doom)
  • Nope, shroud 5 is too high. Tommy ignores it and continues forward.
• MOVE ↓ to The Great Web (Vast Web)
• Enemy: × Spider of Leng (Swarm of Spiders at topmost Vast Web)
• Upkeep: draw Fine Clothes, 6 resources total.

#3

• Mythos: 3/9 doom, Swarm of Spiders
  • The game rightfully punishes me for refusing to arm my investigator. In-character let’s imagine that these spiders crawled under Tommy's uniform and it's impossible to shot them.
• FIGHT (0, defeat one swarm card)
• FIGHT (-2, defeat one swarm card)
• FIGHT (, defeat Swarm of Spiders)
• Enemy: × Spider of Leng (extra swarm card)
  • To be clear, that's the spider left behind at the topmost location. Hopefully there'll be no need for Tommy to return there.
• Upkeep: draw Plucky, 7 resources total.

#4

• Mythos: 4/9 doom, Obscuring Fog
  • Not so bad, especially since I've got a trick in hand.
• INVESTIGATE (0, "Look what I found!", 2 clues from Vast Web)
• MOVE ↓ to The Great Web (Cosmic Web, , discard Prepared for the Worst, Fine Clothes & Plucky)
  • Seriously! At least I got to keep the gun. If the Agenda wants me to keep the doom here, I’ll do just the opposite. I'll hold off advancing as well.
• DRAW Cherished Keepsake
• Enemy: × Spider of Leng (extra swarm card)
• Upkeep: draw Ever Vigilant, 6 resources total.

#5

• Mythos:5/9 doom, Will of the Spider-Mother (, cannot attack or investigate)
• PLAY .45 Thompson
• advance act 1A→2A
  • Both of them were impostors? That's not what I've expected. Remember Ichtaca and Alejandro? That's the same sort of twist, but executed better.
• DRAW Lucky!
• DRAW Lucky!
• Upkeep: draw Take Heart, 1 resource total.

Board State Reminder: 7 health, 6 sanity, 1 resource, 1 clue

In Play: .45 Thompson (5 ammo), Guiding Spirit

In Hand: Cherished Keepsake, Ever Vigilant, 2× Lucky!, Take Heart

#6

• Mythos: spin ⟳ once, 5/9 doom, Grey Weaver
  • That would've been an excellent opportunity to snipe one of the legs, but doing so would provoke an attack of opportunity from the Grey Weaver and that would mean Guiding Spirit wouldn't survive. I want to keep it in play until the end of the scenario.
• FIGHT with .45 Thompson (4 ammo left, , Lucky!, 2 damage to Grey Weaver)
• FIGHT with .45 Thompson (3 ammo left, -2 , 2 damage to Grey Weaver)
• FIGHT with .45 Thompson (2 ammo left, )
  • The gun is jammed! Tommy needs several seconds to fix the problem. Tommy doesn't see the spirit's mouth agape and doesn't hear its scream. Bah. Intellect 3 is significantly worse than Intellect 4.
• Enemy: Legs of Atlach-Nacha attack (1 horror to Guiding Spirit, 1 damage), Grey Weaver attacks (exile Guiding Spirit, 1 damage)
• Upkeep: draw Guiding Spirit, 1 resource total.
  • OK... So it turns out that the spirit didn't scream in terror because it made good use of being incorporeal and hid somewhere. Perhaps even inside the Grey Weaver?

#7

• Mythos: no spin, 6/9 doom, Obscuring Fog
• FIGHT (commit Take Heart, 0, defeat Grey Weaver)
  • That's the beauty of Take Heart. Either result is fine.
• The Weaver of Cosmos (defeat Legs of Atlach-Nacha)
  • One out of four! Not to mention, no chaos tokens were involved and that makes leg-pulling significantly less dangerous than it could be.
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Web-Woven Island)
• Upkeep: draw Prepared for the Worst, 2 resources total.

#8

• Mythos: spin ⟳ twice, 7/9 doom, Caught in a Web
  • Finally, an encounter card specific to this scenario. It lowers agility and prevents moving more than once. It’ll be important later when Tommy has to chase the last remaining leg. Right now I’ve got some breathing room.
• Caught in a Web (, discard Caught in a Web)
• DRAW Take the Initiative
• PLAY Ever Vigilant (Guiding Spirit & Cherished Keepsake)
• Upkeep: draw Ever Vigilant, 3 resources total.

#9

• Mythos: no spin, 8/9 doom, Crypt Chill (commit Take the Initiative, )
  • Two Elder Signs in a row. Feels a bit wasteful, because these tests aren’t terribly important.
• INVESTIGATE (, 1 clue from Web-Woven Island)
• DRAW Something Worth Fighting For
• Upkeep: draw Take Heart, 4 resources total.

#10

• Mythos: no spin, 9/9 doom, advance agenda 1A→2A, Ancient Evils (1 doom)
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Web-Stairs, 1 doom)
  • Doom thresholds are so high in this scenario. Even with doom not clearing from locations I think Tommy has ample time.
• The Weaver of the Cosmos (defeat Legs of Atlach-Nacha)
• INVESTIGATE (commit Take Heart, 0, draw 2× Sharp Vision, 2 resources)
  • Excellent draw. Spending clues is much more efficient than shooting the legs with guns.
• Upkeep: draw A Test of Will, 7 resources total.

Board State Reminder: 5 health, 6 sanity, 7 resources, 0 clues

In Play: .45 Thompson (2 ammo), Guiding Spirit, Cherished Keepsake

In Hand: Lucky!, Prepared for the Worst, Take the Initiative, Ever Vigilant, Something Worth Fighting For, 2× Sharp Vision, A Test of Will

#11

• Mythos: spin ⟳ four times, 2/11 doom, Obscuring Fog
  • Ahh... That’s inconvenient. We’ll investigate somewhere else. Note that in our situation quadruple spin means no spin. It’s as if Atlach-Nacha was afraid to come near our rookie investigator.
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Web-Woven Island)
• INVESTIGATE (commit Prepared for the Worst, , 1 clue from Web-Woven Island)
  • There’s no real need to commit Prepared for the Worst to such a low-shroud investigation. I’m only doing that because wasting two actions on a minus four pull would feel bad.
• Upkeep: draw A Test of Will, 8 resources total.

#12

• Mythos: no spin, 3/11 doom, Caught in a Web
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Prison of Cocoons, commit Take the Initiative, +1)
• The Weaver of the Cosmos (defeat Legs of Atlach-Nacha)
  • Yep. Tommy was close enough to reach the leg despite being all webbed up.
• INVESTIGATE (commit Sharp Vision, 0, 1 clue from Prison of Cacoons)
• Upkeep: draw .45 Thompson, 9 resources total.

#13

• Mythos: spin ⟳ thrice, 4/11 doom, Ancient Evils ( A Test of Will)
  • Nope!
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Cosmic Web, 0)
• The Weaver of the Cosmos (defeat Legs of Atlach-Nacha)
• advance act 2A→3A (Atlach-Nacha at Web-Stairs)
  • I see. So that’s the reason the doom thresholds are so high. Things can escalate really quickly with the spider queen dropping doom on each location. I’ll need to deal with these webs.
• Caught in a Web (-2, Lucky!)
• Upkeep: draw Rookie Mistake, 8 resources total.

#14

• Mythos: move ⟳ once, 6/11 doom, Caught in a Web
  • Again?
• Keen Eye
• Caught in a Web (-3)
• Caught in a Web (-4)
• Caught in a Web ()
  • Well… Yeah… Tommy can definitely see the web, but ripping it apart is suddenly beyond him. I suppose that does make sense since spiders supposedly can control the tensile strength of individual strands to some degree.
• Upkeep: draw Guard Dog, 7 resources total.

#15

• Mythos: no move, 7/11 doom, Crypt Chill (-4, discard Cherished Keepsake)
• INVESTIGATE (commit Sharp Vision (+1, 1 clue from Cosmic Web)
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Web-Stairs, 1 doom)
• PLAY Guard Dog
• Upkeep: draw Becky, 5 resources total.
  • Which reminds me that I'm doing a very poor job managing my soaks in this scenario.

    ---

Board State Reminder: 5 health, 6 sanity, 5 resources, 1 clue

In Play: .45 Thompson (2 ammo), Guiding Spirit

In Hand: Ever Vigilant, Something Worth Fighting For, A Test of Will, .45 Thompson, Becky

#16

• Mythos: no move, 9/11 doom, Caught in a Web
  • Talk about escalation! Then again, the final boss isn't particularly lively so I still have the time to properly position Tommy for the final confrontation.
• Keen Eye
• Caught in a Web (-2, discard Caught in a Web)
• Caught in a Web (-0, discard Caught in a Web)
• MOVE ⟲ to The Great Web (Tangled Web, 1 doom)
• Upkeep: draw Scene of the Crime, 2 resources total.

#17

• Mythos: move ⟳ once, 12/11 doom, advance agenda 2A→3A, Sickening Webs ( A Test of Will)
  • Oh no you don't! It's time to finish the job.
• MOVE ⟲ to Cosmic Web (-2, 1 doom)
• The Scheme's Demise (Atlach-Nacha attacks, 1 horror, defeat Guard Dog, 1 damage to Atlach-Nacha, defeat Atlach-Nacha)
  • Testless!
• R1.

Another cycle is now behind us and I can confidently say that this one is better than the last one. Dreamlands isn't my favourite setting, but flavorful scenarios won me over. Both final scenarios were impressive in terms of mechanics enhancing the narrative. Will The Dream-Eaters be as good on replays? Yes, in the sense that the campaigns are both modular and bite-sized. No, in the sense that it seems relatively easy to chart an optimal route through the campaign and thus deemphasize reactivity. As for Tommy... Well, it seems the rookie cop won't return home soon. R5 says he's in Sarkomand. I've got no idea what that name means, but it sounds to me like an excellent opportunity for a fan-made scenario.

Campaign Log:

Waking Nightmare: Dr. Maheswaran stayed with the patients. Dr. Maheswaran is alive. Randolph escaped the hospital with Tommy. The black cat has a hunch. 4 XP (Waiting Room, Records Office, Stairwell)

A Thousand Shapes of Horror: Randolph survived the descent. The black cat is searching for the truth. 7 XP (Burial Ground, Parlor, Library, Bedroom, Attic, Unmarked Tomb), 1 Physical Trauma.

Point of No Return: The black cat knows the truth. 4 XP (Vaults of Zin, Plain of the Ghouls, Crag of the Ghouls, Vale of Pnath), Steps of the Bridge: 1.

Weaver of the Cosmos: The bridge was destroyed. Tommy is still in the Dreamlands. 10 XP (Atlach-Nacha, 4× Legs of Atlach-Nacha, 5 extra XP), 2 Physical Trauma.

Epilogue 8