Agnes, Expert Homeowner: Ghouls vs. Aspirin (Achievements)

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Agnes Deckbuilding Guide (Expert) 727 596 26 3.0
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Voltgloss · 339

And now, the final achievement on my journey to fully complete Return to the Night of the Zealot: Arkham Expertise. A straightforward enough task: win the campaign on Expert difficulty. But "straightforward" doesn't mean "simple." For this, I'm relying on Agnes Baker and adapting the Expert difficulty deckbuilding guide at https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/4321/agnes-deckbuilding-guide-expert-3.0. I've made a few tweaks:

  • I want Flashlights, so I'm using two Fire Axes as hand weapons instead of Baseball Bats. I've also cut both copies of Fight or Flight to make room for the Flashlights.

  • From my experience running Akachi Onyele, I don't expect to have much leeway to play Delve Too Deep. As an alternative experience-booster, I'm cutting them and instead taking two copies of Arcane Research. To mitigate the starting trauma, I'm replacing the Delves with two copies of Thermos. Healing tends to be action-inefficient, but when it can heal two horror in one action (thanks to trauma from the Research), I'm willing to run it.

  • I want to lean doubly-hard into Agnes's convert-horror-into-damage ability, and I also want more resources given the Thermoses' high cost, so I'm going to take both Forbidden Knowledge as well as Painkillers. I pondered a while what to cut to make room and eventually settled on removing both copies of Unexpected Courage.

Can Agnes achieve the first task of getting out of her own house alive? Let's find out!

SESSION REPORT - EXPERT DIFFICULTY

SCENARIO I - RETURN TO THE GATHERING

A weapon, resources, and healing. The one thing I don't have is an investigative tool. Think I'm going to heavily lean on the extra draw available in the Study until I've covered that need as well.

R1 (0D, 2H, 5$, 0C): 0/3 doom

Well, there's something to be said for getting past one of your Weakness cards early. I also have enough and icons in hand now to reasonably tackle the Study clue.

R2 (0D, 2H, 1$, 0C): 1/3 doom

With both Rite of Seeking and Flashlight, I should be OK for investigating. I'll start with the Flashlight and save the Rite in case I encounter a two-clue location.

R3 (0D, 2H, 1$, 1C): 2/3 doom

R4 (0D, 2H, 2$, 1C): 1/7 doom

I freely committed the Thermos as I already had two in hand, and didn't expect to play more than one. Having -4 as the "sweet spot," given Expert difficulty, requires some real commitment!

R5 (0D, 2H, 1$, 2C): 2/7 doom

R6 (0D, 2H, 1$, 2C): 3/7 doom

Finally ready to get to Act 2, but it's taken Agnes quite a bit longer than most other investigators. So far the run is reminding me of William Yorick's more than any other. Hopefully I'll be able to make up for lost time shortly.

R7 (0D, 2H, 2$, 3C): 4/7 doom

I was hoping for the "original" version of the Cellar. Dealing with the Ghoul Pits will take longer. Quite a bit longer, as things are going to turn out.

R8 (0D, 2H, 1$, 0C): 5/7 doom

I purposely triggered an attack of opportunity from the Icy Ghoul to finish it off without using two Shrivelling charges. I'm beginning to feel keenly the fact that my other copy of the spell got discarded. (In retrospect, this may not have been the best play, given where things develop from here damage- and horror-wise.)

R9 (2D, 3H, 2$, 1C): 6/7 doom

The idea is to move back into the Corpse-Hungry Ghoul, Shrivel it to death, and then head up to the Attic. The encounter deck, however, is going to have other plans.

R10 (2D, 4H, 4$, 2C): 7/7 doom

All of a sudden, I'm down to 1 damage and 1 horror away from defeat, and with an empty Shrivelling spell. I still have Fire Axe. Is that last gasp enough to succeed?

R11 (5D, 7H, 3$, 2C): 1/10 doom

That was an incredibly near thing. When I realized I was going to need to pass a combat test from only 1 above, or lose Peter Sylvestre to the Rats, I was just about ready to write off this whole endeavor. Yet somehow, the Chaos Bag deemed me worthy of another try. Now, can I stabilize my incredibly precarious situation?

R12 (5D, 7H, 1$, 2C): 2/10 doom

I don't want to draw into my weakness, and I need resources to get Thermos online to pull myself back from the brink. So time to play slow.

R13 (4D, 7H, 3$, 2C): 3/10 doom

I don't have the means to kill this thing until I've gotten some soup in me from the Thermos. At least I have a reasonable chance to evade it until I've accomplished that.

R14 (4D, 5H, 1$, 2C): 4/10 doom

Finally, I'm back from the brink, both in terms of damage and horror. Time to counter-attack.

R15 (3D, 3H, 2$, 2C): 5/10 doom

...now is it time to counter-attack?

R16 (3D, 5H, 1$, 2C): 6/10 doom

Whew! Finally! I can get out of the Cellar! Now I just have three turns left! But... so long as I get 1 clue in the Attic, and manage to spend them by the end of my last turn, I can still get out of my house by the Agenda running out, for the low low cost of 1 physical trauma. At this point, I really don't have any other options.

R17 (3D, 5H, 1$, 2C): 7/10 doom

R18 (3D, 5H, 2$, 4C): 8/10 doom

R19 (3D, 5H, 2$, 1C): 11/10 doom

  • Agenda advances to 3b: defeated, +1 physical trauma

Task failed successfully!

No resolution

  • Agnes's house is still standing
  • The Ghoul Priest is still alive
  • Lita Chantler joins Agnes
  • 6 experience (4 Victory + 2 bonus)
  • Total trauma: 1 physical, 2 mental

Man, that was quite the harrowing experience. The Expert difficulty chaos bag wasted no time in smacking me upside the head for tests that would have been "all but tentacles" on Standard. At least Agnes got out alive (if bruised), and with a few experience points under her belt.

The next step is a side adventure to the Louisiana swamps, mainly to let Arcane Research earn me a couple of additional spell-upgrade points. I had a fairly simple time of it there with Akachi. Let's see if Agnes can replicate that, dealing with an Expert chaos bag. Onwards!

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