Darrell sat at his desk, reading notes on upcoming investigation he was about to embark on. Apparently there was some trouble in innsmouth, and a federal agent wanted his assistance. Knowing this, Darrell asked someone he knew from the bureau.
Roland replied saying he didn't know much, but was interested in helping him and that he would be coming to his office to talk about the details. An hour later, they was a knock on his door, and he called out for Roland to come in, and so Roland strides in, his coat collar popped as usual, carrying a bag.
"Hey." Darrell greets. "It's good to see you." He pointed to the letter he was examining. " I'm sure you read the letter I sent you?"
Roland nodded. "Yes, interesting business, but before we get into that, I've brought someone along who was interested and wants to help out."
"Oh, who's that? " Darrell asked.
"I think it be better if I introduced you." Roland replies immediately.
Darrell wasn't to sure about that, but nodded. Roland looked at Darrell for a moment, as if he didn't know how to proceed. Then he turned and called out. "Suzi, come on over."
Suzi? Must be a dame. Darrell thought. But in the next moment as Suzi stepped into his office, he froze in complete shock. 'Suzi' wasn't a dame, or a guy, or even a person. Suzi was green, face green, hands green, hair green. She (if you can call it a she) wore garments, and a leather coat, and hat with a wide brim that cover most of her head.
"Suzi." Roland pointed, "This is Darrell Simmons. He's a photographer. He is the point man here." To Darrells surprise, Suzi spoke perfect english. "It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Simmons." Suzi greeted, with a smile. Roland then looked at Darrell. "Darrell, this is Suzi. Now, I know you have questions..."
"Your goddamn right I have question." Darrell said. Staring at Suzi. The shock had gone, but what replaced it was confusion and some fear. "What is this thing? You said it wants to help? We can't be seen with a green person?!"
"That won't be a problem." Suzi replied at once. Then to Darrell's shock, Suzi green translucent skin morphed and molded, until she had a white skin, brown hair, and emerald green eyes. "I can keep this form, at least for a little bit."
"Pretty cool eh?" Roland smiles.
"NO!" Darrell shouts "WHAT IS IT, ROLAND?!"
Roland heaved a sigh. "It's a long story."
"Start talking or make it shorter." Darrell demanded at once.
Roland digs into his bag, and grabs a file and hands it to Darrell. "It be better if you read this. This is confidential. So I expect hush lips."
Darrell opened the file, and began scanning the documents. It spoke about this " Anomaly" and how it was "devouring" the countryside. A third party was despatched to help get it under control, and with Roland's connections, he actually had gotten the names.
" Dexter was there?" Darrell said,More to himself. "And Winifred? I spoke to her a few days ago." He then stared directly at Roland. "Why was Carson Sinclair also there? "
"That's not important." Roland said pointedly. "Keep reading."
After a few minutes of reading, Darrell gave Roland back the documents, glaring at him.
"So, let's see if I have this right. There was this subject... 8... whatever, and it was devouring the country. And with the help of those band of misfits. They were able to stop it. But there was a piece of this Anomaly that these scientists studied and watch grow. And now that piece of the Anomaly, the same piece that tried to devour a country, is standing in MY office?!"
"Well, when you put it like that..."
"ROLAND! THIS IS INSANE! THIS THING MAY BE DANGEROUS! HOW CAN WE TRUST IT."
Roland stare, simply lost for words, then Suzi spoke, reverting back to her translucent green.
"If I may, Mr. Simmons. I understand your concerns. I read the report myself, and you have every right to be weary. I am an extension of Subject 8l-08, and I too feel the need to 'devour'." She began.
"But I have learned much from you humans. And I've learned about how you live, and it's much more interesting then simply devouring you, as subject 8I-08 would. The one thing I lack, is normal human emotions. And while that may be because of what I am. I'm desperately trying to fix that. I want to help and learn more about you humans, and go on many adventures. So... I humbly request permission to join your investigation into Innsmouth." She finished with a smile.
Darrell stared at Suzi, lost for a reply. He glances at Roland, who simply nods.
"I must be out my damn mind." Darrell states. Then looking at Suzi, he extends his hand for her to shake, and she does, her hand feeling warm to the touch. " It's nice to meet you Suzi, welcome to the team."
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Okay. Let's actually talk about Suzi.
She's got 1111, and a 6 health 6 sanity. She's probably 1 of the most flexible investigators, and has a high ceiling.
First, I want to bring up her "ability", and her deck building before we talk DEVOUR.
Her ability is "During each upkeep phase, draw 1 additional card and devour a non-weakness player card in your hand." It's basically a Pseudo Forced Learning. To add on to this, she has a deck size of 50. Which including the 6 signatures and 2 random weaknesses, adds up to 58 cards! Jeeez. But if you are drawing 2 cards everytime, it's like it's 29 cards. This of course means that searching for cards is still rough. But you can pack card draw with her access.
Speaking of access, you can take all neutral cards, all level 0 cards. And theoretically every leveled card in the game (sort of). Of course you have to play around it, and it's not guaranteed. But It can lead into some pretty interesting combination.
Her deck building requirements is that 'Your deck must include at least 7 cards from each class' which is like Lola Hayes. But she has 5 more cards, so it gives Suzi some more room to play more into a class. But what Suzi has that Lola doesn't have, Is Suzi's Restriction. 'No permanents except story and signature permanents.' None of the level 0 permanents, no stick to the plan, no another day, another dollar, no studious, no talent permanent, no charisma, no relic hunter, you get the idea. Funny enough, when I was drawing her 2 random basic weakness for Innsmouth run with Darrell and Roland. 1 of them was Indebted. Which of course is a permanent weakness. And the back clearly states 'no permanents' so I actually had to redraw that, pretty weird. Anyways.
You begin the game with Ravenous (Controlled Hunger) in play. So now we look at that.
"Each time you devour a card, place it facedown beneath Ravenous. You get +1 to each of your skills for each card beneath Ravenous (max +5)."
So you can see that Suzi numbers can get big. You do have to devour cards. But when we talk about her signatures, you may be able to play around this, just becareful with the filp side.
"Each time you devour a card, set it aside, out of play. You get +1 to each of your skills for each card beneath Ravenous (max +5).
Forced - At the end of your turn: Devour a non-story card beneath Ravenous or controlled by an investigator at your location. If there is nothing beneath Ravenous, flip it over."
So, you are now forced to eat cards from underneath Ravenous or from play, which depending on when this happens you may find your self getting rid of cards from play to keep your 6s. 1 aspect I love is that you can eat other players cards. This is funny, especially if they don't want you to eat certain cards. :)
Her elder sign is solid, and you will get the idea why when we talk about her signatures.
"Fast. Play only during your turn.
If Ravenous (Uncontrolled Hunger) is face up, flip it over. Choose and return up to 3 cards you devoured (beneath Ravenous or set-aside) to their owners' hands. For each card returned in this way, heal 1 damage and 1 horror."
This is Suzi bread and butter. She gets 3 of these bennies, and this allows you to manipulate cards you devour. This is where playing into devouring cards can turn into your favor. Especially if you devour a card that has limited uses, you can fine yourself adding this card again so you can use it again. This logic can be applied across other players. It's free, fast and to put extra gravy on, it can heal you 1-3 damage/horror, which is incredibly helpful. It well also forced your Ravenous to flip to the the goodside, which is helpful but with a good signature, there's a bad weakness.
Revelation - If Ravenous (Controlled Hunger) is face up, flip it over. You devour a random aspect of reality. Reveal a random chaos token from the chaos bag and consult Reality Acid reference card to determine what you devoured
So, it is completely random what you devour here. But this scales with more players. For example. 0 from the Reality Acid reference card, says to devour the top card from each investigators deck. This can be 1 card, or 4 cards devoured. Depending the amount of investigators in game. Also a negative, it forces a Ravenous flip to its bad side. So it may be handy to keep a Regurgitation on hand.
So, Suzi is a very interesting character, She offers a large amount of freedom with how you can build her deck, because if you play around correctly, you can ensure a certain amount of class cards is devoured. But a down size is you may have to devour cards you really don't want to devour. Her weakness also may Interfere with other players, and at the worst time, can leave you stranded with poor stats. She also needs to get set up, and she must attempt to balance devour certain cards. She is a very fun investigator.
I read about other people reactions to her, and many called her a spoof character. While I cannot deny that she is goofy. I think they introduced her in a fair way, and in a deck building game, we create not only our decks but our characters story's as well. It is a aspect that some may not play into, but we make our own stories with each character. That's why I wrote the beginning bit. I wanted to place Suzi into the picture and give each investigator a reason why they were hanging around a manifold ally. All in all, I think she is very interesting.
Happy devouring.
