Jenny Barnes and the "Curse" of the Dragon's Gold

Captain Squally's Thematic Deck Series: Christmas Edition 2021

Jenny Barnes and the "Curse" of the Dragon's Gold

As a little girl, Jenny would often find her father in the family vault, transfixed by the glittering jewels and gold contained therein; sitting, staring, sometimes for hours at a time.

“Father, I passed some hungry children on the way to school today.” She told him one day. “Their clothes were dirty, ill-fitting rags. Their faces were sunken and sickly. With this money… we could help them!”

“No, no, Jenny,” her father would tell her with a smile. “This money is not for spending. This money sings to me! Shhhhhh. Listen. Can you hear the dangerous words it whispers? It will tell you secrets, if you listen. You must never spend a single coin from this horde. It is ours!”

Now a young woman, her father long passed from this world, Jenny is the one up late at night, alone in the vault as the candles burn low, staring at the wealth contained within, watching the failing light play in the facets of gems and along the ridges of bright coins. She listens to it whisper ancient knowledge and irresistible promises of a power that could be hers.

Welcome, Investigators, to Captain Squally’s Thematic Deck Series. If you’ve made it here then you are likely in search of a deck with a little something more. A deck with a story. A deck dripping with theme.

The days are getting shorter, the weather cold and icy. Christmas is just around the corner and it’s the perfect time to revisit the story of the young socialite and her horde of cursed dragon’s gold, to see what moral lessons we can glean from this tale of greed… wait a minute… she got everything she ever wanted? Ah, well then… this is awkward, but we’ll persevere nonetheless. And remember, kids: the only good deck is a thematic deck!

Deck Tech

The idea for this deck came from the simple realization that Jenny could splash a couple of beneficial Curse generating cards from other classes: Deep Knowledge and Promise of Power. These cards bestow extraordinary benefit to the player at the cost of placing dangerous Curse tokens in the bag.

What tools are at our disposal to counter these precarious Curse tokens? We can leverage Jenny’s incredible wealth through Well Connected to boost our tests to a threshold where we no longer care about drawing Curses. We will horde our pile of gold like the mythological dragons of old, and in so doing, borrow their strength. Greed, like the vile creatures of the night, brings us the Favor of the Moon and alleviates our fear of Curses. Mysterious relics found among the horde of wealth might even bestow us benefits from these dread Curses. Finally, any socialite worth her mustard must be draped in the latest fashions and accessories. Afterall, the only real Curse is being born penniless and dull.

Card Deep Dive

The cards in this deck fall into the following categories:

1) Curse Cards - Cards that give us advantage at the cost of placing Curse tokens into the Chaos Bag, or interact with drawn Curse tokens in some beneficial way.

2) Horde Cards - Cards that reward us for sitting on our massive pile of wealth

3) Resource Cards - Cards that help us generate said pile of wealth

4) "Succeed By" Cards - Since we will be testing at high skill levels through Well Connected and Money Talks, we often succeed by 2, so we include cards that let us leverage powerful effects for doing so.

Now, let's examine some of these critical cards and the role they play in the deck

.41 Derringer - Our primary weapon, with a nice reward for over succeeding. Upgrading to level 2, we can even start winning extra actions

Eye of the Djinn - Boosts our skill value, and if a Curse is drawn we get another action

The Black Fan - Passive rewards for hording our wealth

"Lucky" Penny - If math works in the world of Arkham the way it works in our own world, this card could turn half the Curses we draw into Blessings instead.

Lucky Cigarette Case - Succeed by a lot, search through a lot of cards, find the one you need.

Bandolier - Hold more hand items! Look great while doing so! With this out, we can hold a .41 Derringer, Eye of the Djinn and The Black Fan all at once.

Gregory Gry - Dragons know this one simple rule: sometimes it's okay to spend money if it will make us even more money.

Favor of the Moon - Seal away Curse tokens when we don't want to draw them, or squirrel them away to draw them when we want, and make money for doing so!

Well Connected - A cornerstone of the deck. Boosts our skill value for sitting on a huge pile of gold. Allows us to test at high values and alleviates our fear of Curses. Enables us to succeed tests by 2 or more to trigger many other cards in the deck.

Deep Knowledge - One of our splash cards. Listen to the Dragon's Gold whisper ancient secrets of yore, draw many cards.

Faustian Bargain - Deals with the Devil brought our family this wealth. At what cost?

Money Talks - Even if we don't spend our money, people still see our enviable wealth and it unlocks many doors. This card can be used to help pass any type of test.

Riastrad - Is this the ancient strength promised by the Dragons? Use this card to melt your enemies, we'll deal with the consequences later!

"Watch this!" - All eyes are on us. People cannot look away from the rich and fabulous.

Momentum - Succeed by a lot and our next test becomes even easier!

Promise of Power - The Dragon's Gold promises many things, if you listen

Quick Thinking - To protect our pile of wealth, we must think quicker than others. Succeed by two to gain another action and stay ahead of those that would see us penniless!

Another Day, Another Dollar - Add to the horde!

Charon's Obol - Dragons know: more is better.

False Covenant - Our family's covenant with the Dragons brought us this wealth, many generations ago. Or did we steal it?

Relic Hunter - Our pursuit of wealth is tireless. It is our defining characteristic.

It was Christmas Eve, and the lobby of the Excelsior Hotel was buzzing with busy bellhops.

Although many patrons had come to town for the annual Christmas festival and were waiting their turn to check-in, all the staffs' attention was on one woman. She was tall, stately and slender. Beautiful and dressed impeccably, she commanded the room. A purse slung from her shoulder was bursting at the seams and as she watched the swarm of hotel staff scurry about the lobby, burdened with her numerous chests, trunks and wardrobes, she stood at the center of it with a smile on her face, casually flipping a large, glittering coin into the air and catching it in one fluid motion.

The lead bellhop slinked up to her nervously, wringing his hands.

"As you see, madam, we will have your things to your room in short order. So many things, I might add. The staff of the Excelsior is at your beck and call, madam, should you need anything more."

The woman didn't respond. Instead, she remained in place, smile frozen on her face, flipping that beautiful coin. The bellhop eyed it hungrily.

When she still made no move he coughed gently, and held out a white gloved hand.

The woman's smile widened to a parody of itself and something dark flashed across that woman's eyes. She snatched the coin out of the air one final time and stuffed it deep into the pocket of her coat.

"You'll have nothing from me tonight besides my thanks, young man."