Sometimes You Get Lucky; Sometimes You Get Eaten

We returned for more Mansions of Madness this weekend, and right from the get-go we had problems. The setup instructions for this scenario included only one ladder token (the rulebook indicates that ladder tokens appear in pairs, allowing characters to travel from one to another as if moving between adjacent spaces), which we found to be confusing; making matters worse, I misread my own story selections, so when the second ladder token eventually appeared midway through the story, it was in the wrong place. To make the scenario playable, the ladder had to be able to transport characters between three different rooms, so it ended up being more of a portal. Whatever. A weird ladder that leads to multiple locations isn't exactly out of place in the world of H. P. Lovecraft.

The excitement really started to increase once the team realized that an evil cult was sacrificing its own members in a blood ritual to summon horrific eldritch monsters from another world. As the investigators raced to save their old friend Marie -- who had attempted to infiltrate the cult, but was subsequently captured and imprisoned in the crypt of the old monastery -- they had to deal with monsters hunting them through the hallways. Tough-as-nails gangster Michael McGlen (Matthew) took one look at the shoggoth lumbering toward him and decided to challenge it head-on with his Tommy Gun.

Meanwhile, occult writer Gloria Goldberg (Amy) and socialite Jenny Barnes (Nathaniel) managed to rescue Marie from the crypt, and they decided to make a break for the exit. Michael, however, stayed behind to battle the tentacled monstrosity. He riddled that thing with bullets, but the creature broke his arm and inflicted so much horror on him that he was only one Sanity point away from going insane. Realizing he was likely beaten, he at last elected to flee.

As the ladies raced for the exit, with monsters hot on their trail, they encountered the cult leader guarding the only way out of the monastery. Jenny's ax broke as she hacked away at the frenzied foe, but at least he was down to only a single Health point. It was likewise for poor Gloria, who had been mauled by a zombie moments earlier. She raised her pistol to fire at the cult leader, knowing that safety was only a few feet away. All she needed to do was score a hit, and then she could use her move action to escape with Marie -- and the investigators would win!

Alas, it was not to be. When Gloria opened fire, she missed...and her own bullet ricocheted back at her, ending her life. What fate befell Michael and Jenny? We may never know...