Deep Madness
Deep Madness Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Overview
- Components
- Setup
- Playing the Game
- Devour Phase
- Spawn Phase
- Activation Phase
- Refresh Phase
- Investigator Activation in Detail
- Monster Activation in Detail
- Winning the Game
- Additional Rules
- Important Concepts
- Games with 4 or 5 Investigators
- More Prepared Team Variant
- Epic Monster Variant
- Devoured Effects
- Credits
- Storybook
- Chapter 1: Crawling Asphyxia
- Chapter 2: Last Shuttle to Hell
- Chapter 3: Bathophobia
- Chapter 4: Through the Looking Glass
- Chapter 5: Madness Within
- Chapter 6: Lost in the Mist
- Chapter 7: The Horror Beneath
- Chapter 8: The Substance of Terror
Game Overview
Deep Madness is a sci-fi horror board game that thrusts 1-6 players into the foreboding, atmospheric corridors of the Kadath deep-sea mining facility. Players cooperate as a team of investigators, braving the unknown and a mounting sense of dread to unravel the mysteries of the station and the inexplicable forces that are haunting it. What transpired to make the station's communications go silent? What were the miners doing at the bottom of the sea to cause this breakdown? And why are the corporate executives so keenly interested in whatever it was the station's crew discovered? The answers the investigators seek are waiting for them on the ocean floor. But if the team should uncover the truth, it could well drive them to the very brink of madness… or beyond.
As you play Deep Madness, you and your fellow investigators will struggle to overcome grueling crises and encounter nightmarish aberrations that are controlled by the game itself. Prior to play, you will select one chapter from the continuing story of Kadath Station–each of which has special rules and goals all its own. With each chapter you complete you will take one step closer to the truth, but you will also find yourself one step closer to the festering world of madness. Which leaves one looming unanswered question: Will you ever be able to escape?
Components
- 30 Room Tiles (5 large and 25 small)
- 6 Rules Reference Cards
- 15 Monster Cards (8 normal, 3 epic, 3 chapter-specific, and 1 Mind Eater)
- 6 Investigator Cards
- 19 Scenario Cards
- 30 Room Cards
- 50 Search Cards
- 38 Spawn Cards
- 40 Madness Cards
- 8 Activation Cards (6 investigator and 2 empty)
- 40 Consciousness Cards
- 12 Locked Hatch Standees and 13 Plastic Stands and 7 Plastic Connectors
- 8 Hatch Markers
- 6 Drowning Dials
- 20 Devouring Track Blocks and 18 Devouring Track Markers
- 8 Wall Markers
- 12 Slowed/Weakened Tokens
- 7 Support Tokens
- 18 Objective Markers (6 types, 3 of each)
- 13 Identity Markers
- 1 William Marker
- 3 Roman Asimov Markers
- 1 Activation Marker
- 1 Devour Marker
- 32 Flooded Markers
- 12 Bathophobia Tokens
- 15 Broken Lock Markers
- 24 Success Tokens
- 42 Wound Tokens
- 48 Spawn Markers/Devoured Effect Markers
- 36 Sanity/Madness Tokens
- 12 Energy Tokens
- 9 Six-sided Dice and 1 Twelve-sided Die
- 6 Investigator Figures and 6 Colored Bases: Samuel Smith, Roman Asimov, Randi Carter, Jared Drake, Felicia Armitage, Arthur Weyland
- 60 Monster Figures and 45 Black Bases: Bathophobia, Madness Within, Substance (colored bases); Putrid x3, Twisted x3, Husk x5, Delirium x5, Blind x5, Mind Eater x12, Ravenous x8, Hysteria x8, Agony x8 (black bases)
Setup
1. Choose a Chapter to Play
Choose a chapter from the storybook included in this rulebook. Players may select any chapter they wish, but we recommend playing them in order so that you fully experience the unfolding story.
After choosing a chapter to play, follow the setup instructions for that chapter that are presented in the storybook. Generally, these instructions will include the following steps:
A. Set Up the Game Board
Assemble the game board with the necessary room tiles and other elements according to the respective diagram for the chosen chapter. You will also place random devoured effect markers on the board during this step. Don't forget to shuffle them first with the spawn marker side facing up.
B. Prepare the Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Each room tile has a corresponding room card. To prepare the room deck, locate the room cards listed in the storybook for the chosen chapter and shuffle them to form the deck with each card facing down. To prepare the devoured deck, find the listed room cards and shuffle them to form the deck with each card facing up.
Each room card shows a Room Number and a Room Illustration. The room deck is face down; the devoured deck is face up.
Double-sided Room Tiles. Each room tile has two sides. These opposing sides represent the two possible states of a single room: the normal state and the devoured state. A devoured room tile will have one spawn marker and one or more devoured effect marker(s) placed on it. (See "Devour Phase" on Page 10 for more information.) The two states of the room tile are indicated by differently colored graphics, as shown: Normal State and Devoured State.
Objective Markers and Identity Markers. There are six types of objective markers. The fronts of the objective markers show handprint graphics in varying colors, while the backs all feature an identical graphic.
There are also six types of identity markers. The fronts of the identity markers depict six different numbers in a variety of colors, while the backs are grey versions of the numbers displayed on the front.
The objective markers and identity markers feature different names depending on which chapter is being played. These names are printed in the storybook and on the scenario cards.
C. Set Up the Devouring Track
Assemble the track with the devouring track blocks and markers according to the storybook. The devouring track is displayed in the storybook; assemble the devouring track with the matching blocks and markers.
Devouring Track Blocks and Markers. Each track block has two sides, and each side is numbered "2," "3," or "4" on the top-left corner of the block. This number is used during the spawn phase of the game. (See "Spawn Phase" on Page 11 for more information.)
There are four types of devouring track markers. One of them has a devour icon printed on it, while the other three have hazard icons printed on them.
D. Follow Any Additional Setup Steps in the Storybook
These would include scenario cards, chapter-specific monsters, and special markers and tokens.
2. Choose Investigators
Each player chooses his/her investigator(s) based on the number of players:
- 1 player: 4 investigators.
- 2 players: 3 investigators each.
- 3 players: 2 investigators each.
- 4-6 players: 1 investigator each.
Players take the corresponding investigator cards, activation cards, and one drowning dial for each investigator he/she chooses. The dial starts at "6" unless otherwise stated. Following this, each investigator takes his/her starting search card (where applicable) according to what is written on the bottom-right corner of the investigator card.
Place the matching investigator figures on the "Start" space of the game board, which is shown in the chapter diagram. Attach the colored bases under the figures to make them easier to identify.
Note: If the investigator Roman Asimov is chosen, don't forget to take all three of his markers during this step.
Shuffle the activation cards and place them face up in a row beside the game board to form the investigator's part of the activation track. If there are fewer than six investigators in the game, please see "Games with 4 or 5 Investigators" on Page 26 for more information.
3. Choose Monsters
Take out the monster cards that are identical on both sides (i.e., the chapter-specific monster cards and special monster cards) and the epic monster cards (assuming the epic monster variant is not being used—If you wish to use this alternate rule, see "Epic Monster Variant" on Page 27 for more information), and put them aside.
A monster with this special horror icon is an epic monster.
Shuffle the remaining normal monster cards (all of which have the same image on the back) and draw six of them. Place these six cards face up in a row underneath the investigator activation track, lining up each monster card below an activation card to form the completed activation track. If the storybook states otherwise, follow the instructions in the storybook.
Follow the "Setup" instructions on the monster cards (for example, the monster Husk), if there are any.
Note: The monster under an investigator's activation card is known as that investigator's linked monster.
4. Prepare the Spawn Deck and Monster Reserve
Each monster card has several corresponding spawn cards (usually four). Shuffle all the spawn cards corresponding to the six drawn monster cards into the spawn deck.
Place all the matching monster figures in an area beside the game board to form the monster reserve.
Before placing a monster figure on the game board, players may attach a black base to the figure to record its wounds or special status. When a monster takes wounds, insert the wound token with the appropriate value into the hook on the base.
5. Prepare Decks and Tokens
Before shuffling the search cards into the search deck, remove the six cards that contain the word "Syringe" in their titles. These are only used in the More Prepared Team variant. (See "More Prepared Team Variant" on Page 26 for more information.)
Shuffle the madness cards and the consciousness cards into the madness deck and the consciousness deck. Separate different tokens, markers, and dice, and then place them in piles within reach of all players.
Place the activation marker on the first card of the activation track. (Note: Usually the first card to be activated will be an activation card; however, if the monster Husk is used in the game, the first card to be activated will be the Mind Eater card.) Place the devour marker on the first space of the devouring track.
Read the special rules and the winning/losing conditions for the chosen chapter.
The game is now ready to begin.
Setup Diagram Key
- Game Board
- Wall Marker
- Spawn Marker
- Objective Marker
- Devouring Track
- Investigator Card
- Starting Search Card
- Drowning Dial
- Activation Track
- Investigator Figures
- Room Deck
- Devoured Deck
- Spawn/Devoured Effect Markers
- Spawn Deck
- Monster Figure Reserve
- Search Deck
- Madness Deck
- Consciousness Deck
- Wound Tokens
- Sanity/Madness Tokens
- Slowed/Weakened Tokens
- Success Tokens
- Flooded Markers
- Locked Hatch Standees
- Broken Lock Markers
- Six-sided Dice
- Twelve-sided Die
- Activation Marker
- Devour Marker
Playing the Game
The game is played over a series of game rounds. Each round consists of four phases. These are resolved in the following order:
- Devour Phase: The devour marker progresses, room tiles are devoured, and hazard effects are resolved.
- Spawn Phase: Monsters are spawned in devoured rooms.
- Activation Phase: Investigators and monsters are alternately activated.
- Refresh Phase: The activation order for investigators is changed, and some maintenance tasks are performed.
Players continue resolving game rounds until the winning or losing conditions for the game are met.
Devour Phase
During the devour phase, move the devour marker one space forward along the track.
If the devour marker ends on a space with a hazard icon, resolve the corresponding hazard effect printed in the storybook.
If the devour marker ends on a space with a devour icon, it means a room is about to be devoured. Resolve the steps below in the following order:
- Reveal the top card of the room deck and place it face up on the top of the devoured deck. This card indicates that the corresponding room tile should now be flipped over to its devoured side. If this room tile has already been flipped over to its devoured side due to other game effects, ignore the steps listed below. Nothing else happens.
- Take the figures and markers off the room tile temporarily, then flip the room tile over to the devoured side and place everything back to where it was previously.
- Players choose a space of this room tile in which to place a spawn marker. This is where the monsters will be spawned from. The space that contains a spawn marker is called a spawn space.
- Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker (the other side of the spawn marker) in each of the spaces of the room, except for the one that already contains the spawn marker. (The unique effect for each kind of devoured effect marker is listed on Page 27 of this guide as well as on the rules reference card.)
Room Tile Devoured Example
- Reveal the top card of the room deck and place it face up on top of the devoured deck.
- Room 18 has not been devoured yet, so flip its room tile to the devoured side.
- Players choose the left space to place the spawn marker. Monsters will be spawned from this space thereafter.
- Since this room only has two spaces, players randomly reveal one devoured effect marker and place it in the other space of this room.
The States of Hatches
A hatch has three different states: open, closed, and locked. A hatch is open by default.
If the spaces on both sides of a hatch have different flooded conditions (flooded or non-flooded, see "Taking Actions in Flooded Spaces" on Page 20 for more information), the hatch is automatically closed due to its airlock function. Figures can move through closed hatches freely. Closed hatches block line of sight. (See "Line of Sight" on Page 16 for more information.)
If a hatch is locked by an investigator, it will block line of sight and hinder the monsters' movement. (See "Lock/Unlock/Reset a Hatch Action" on page 19 for more information.)
Room Tile Breakdown
- Room: A room tile represents a full room.
- Room Number.
- Space: Divisions of a room, separated by space lines, walls, and/or hatches.
- Walls.
- Space Line.
- Hatch: An exit in the wall through which investigators and monsters can freely move. Hatches are open by default. There are also hatches in the middle of some rooms. These are represented by yellow lines.
Spawn Phase
During the spawn phase, monsters will be spawned in devoured rooms by resolving spawn cards. The position of the devour marker on the devouring track determines how many spawn cards need to be resolved. The spawn cards are resolved one after another.
A spawn card shows a Monster Name and Spawn Icons and Values.
When resolving a spawn card, follow the steps listed below in order:
- Reveal the top card of the spawn deck. The name on this card determines which type of monster will be spawned. The number of the spawn icons indicates how many rooms will spawn monsters, and the value on each spawn icon indicates how many monsters will be spawned in the corresponding room. Resolve these spawn icons one after another from left to right.
- When resolving a spawn icon, look at the top card of the devoured deck. The corresponding room tile is about to spawn monsters. Take the listed number of monster figures from the monster reserve and place them in the spawn space of the room.
- After the room corresponding to the top card of the devoured deck has spawned monsters, place the top card at the bottom of the devoured deck.
- After all the spawn icons have been resolved, discard the revealed spawn card into the discard pile.
Resolve a Spawn Icon Example
- A Hysteria spawn card with two spawn icons is revealed. The two spawn icons mean that two devoured rooms are about to spawn Hysteria. According to the values on the spawn icons, the first room will spawn two Hysteria and the second room will spawn one Hysteria.
- The first two Hysteria will be spawned in the room corresponding to the top card of the devoured deck, which is Room 18.
- Take two Hysteria figures from the monster reserve and place them in the spawn space of Room 18.
- Place the top card of the devoured deck at the bottom of the deck to reveal the next card. The second room that will spawn one Hysteria is Room 6.
If there are not enough monster figures of the specified type to spawn when resolving a spawn icon, first, spawn as many as possible; then, spawn a number of monsters of other types of the players' choice until they have equaled or exceeded the total horror of the monsters that can't be spawned.
Monster's horror is displayed on the top-left corner of the monster card.
Note: Monsters with a horror of "0" do not need to be substituted. Furthermore, these monsters cannot be used as substitutions.
When the spawn deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new spawn deck.
Activation Phase
During the activation phase, the activation marker stops on each activation card and monster card along the following path from the first investigator to the last monster. Investigators and monsters are activated alternately.
When the activation marker stops on an investigator's activation card, the corresponding investigator is activated.
During his/her activation, the investigator may perform three actions. The available actions are as follows:
- Move
- Search
- Attack
- Trade
- Rest
- Lock/Unlock/Reset Hatch
- Component Actions
These actions can be performed in any order and multiple times. Note: The one exception to this is the search action, which can only be performed once per round.
At the end of each investigator's activation, his/her drowning condition must be checked. (See "Checking the Drowning Condition" on Page 20 for more information.)
When the activation marker stops on a monster card, each figure of this type of monster will be activated once. Players decide the order in which they would like to activate the monsters.
During a monster's activation, it performs actions strictly as listed in the action pool from left to right on the monster card. Unless otherwise stated, actions in the action pool cannot be ignored, and the order of the actions cannot be changed.
Refresh Phase
During the refresh phase, players perform the following steps in order:
- Resolve all "at the end of the round" effects. Players determine the order of these effects.
- Flip all investigators' face-down search cards back to face up.
- Change the order of the investigator activation track as shown below, moving the first activation card in the track to the rear and cycling every other card forward one space. The monster activation track remains unaltered.
Investigator Activation in Detail
Each investigator may perform three actions during his/her activation. At the end of the activation, his/her drowning condition must be checked.
Move Action
An investigator may perform a move action to move his/her figure into an adjacent space. Spaces are considered adjacent if they are separated by either a space line or a hatch (even a locked hatch). If spaces are separated by a wall, they are not adjacent.
Note: If a hatch is connected to the wall of another room tile, the spaces on both sides are considered to be separated by a wall and, as such, they are not adjacent.
Figures cannot move through walls (unless otherwise stated), and cannot move off the game board for any reason.
Investigators can move through closed hatches and locked hatches. A hatch is locked if there is a locked hatch standee placed in its location. The locked hatch becomes unlocked after the investigator has moved through it. When this happens, simply remove the locked hatch standee from the board. An investigator may later choose to lock this hatch again using an action. (See "Lock/Unlock/Reset a Hatch Action" on Page 19 for more information.)
Escape and Trap
An investigator's escape is displayed on the bottom-left corner of his/her investigator card. An investigator's escape may be increased or reduced by several effects, such as devoured effects and search card effects.
A monster's trap is displayed on the bottom-left corner of the monster card. A monster's trap may also be increased or reduced by several effects, such as a monster's ability and madness card effects.
Note: An investigator cannot move out of his/her current space if the total trap of the monsters in the same space equals or exceeds his/her escape. However, investigators may still perform move actions in such a circumstance to, for example, discard a slowed token. (See "Status Effects" on Page 24 for more information.)
Move Action Example
- Figures can move through a space line freely.
- Figures can move through a hatch freely. Hatches are open by default. However, if a hatch is connected to the wall of another room tile, figures cannot move through it.
- Investigators can move directly through a locked hatch. The locked hatch will remain unlocked thereafter. (See "Monsters Moving Through a Locked Hatch" on Page 19 for more information.)
- Figures cannot move through walls unless otherwise stated.
Investigator Card Breakdown
- Name.
- Role.
- Maximum Health: After the investigator takes wounds that equal or exceed his/her maximum health, the investigator is killed.
- Resistance: When an investigator is dealt damage, his/her resistance will first reduce the damage before he/she takes wounds. The resistance value is determined by rolling two six-sided dice, and is equal to the number of success results. (See "Dice Result" on Page 25 for more information.)
- Maximum Sanity: An investigator may exhaust his/her sanity to trigger abilities and/or special effects. Most often he/she may reroll the six-sided die he/she just rolled by exhausting sanity.
- Escape: If the sum of the trap of the monsters in the same space equals or exceeds the investigator's escape, the investigator cannot move out of his/her current space. (See "Move Action" on Page 14 for more information.)
- Starting Search Card: An investigator may begin the game with a starting search card if one is designated here. Take the listed card during Step 2 of the game setup.
- Special Abilities: Each Investigator has his/her own unique abilities. Some of them are passive and do not require the use of an action to take effect. However, some abilities will only take effect when the investigator performs a specific action. These abilities are preceded by the words "Move," "Search," or "Attack" in bold.
Search Action
To perform a search action, draw the top card of the search deck and place it beside the investigator card. Remember, each investigator can only perform one search action per game round. If the search deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new search deck.
Each investigator can only have four search cards at a time. This is called the search card limit. An investigator's search card limit may be increased or reduced due to several game effects. Whenever an investigator has more search cards than his/her search card limit, he/she must discard the excess cards.
An investigator may discard any number of his/her search cards at any time.
Search Cards Breakdown
There are four types of search cards.
- Name.
- Melee Weapon: Melee weapons can attack all the monsters in the same space at the same time.
- Ranged Weapon: Ranged weapons can only attack a single monster at a time within its range.
- Equipment: Equipment cards provide various effects for investigators to use.
- Ability: Ability cards offer very useful effects that usually require the investigator to flip or discard the card when it is used.
- Dice Rating: This rating determines how many six-sided dice the investigator can roll when attacking with this card.
- Accuracy: This determines which die-roll results are counted as hit results.
- Damage: This determines the damage of each hit result.
- Range: This determines how far this weapon can attack.
- Special Effect: Describes any special effect a search card might offer an investigator. Effects preceded by the word "Attack" in bold can only be used during an attack action.
Attack Action
An investigator may perform an attack action to attack the monster(s) in the same space (for melee weapons) or within range (for ranged weapons) by following the steps listed below:
1. Select Weapon
Select one of the investigator's weapon cards with which to attack. If a melee weapon is selected, each monster in the same space is targeted. If a ranged weapon card is selected, the investigator can only choose one monster within the weapon's range as the target.
Line of Sight and Range
Line of Sight: If a figure can move to a space along a straight line without turning a corner, moving through a locked hatch, or changing its flooded condition (see "Taking Action in Flooded Spaces" on Page 20 for more information), this space and all the elements in it are considered to be in this figure's line of sight.
Flooded spaces block line of sight from non-flooded spaces, and non-flooded spaces block line of sight from flooded spaces (closed hatches block line of sight). Locked hatches block line of sight.
Range: Range is the distance at which a weapon or a monster can successfully reach a target that is already within the investigator's or the monster's line of sight.
The space that a figure currently occupies is always in its line of sight and has a range of 0.
Line of Sight Example 1
A. The investigator can move to Space A without changing direction, and these two rooms are both non-flooded. Furthermore, there is no locked hatch in between them, so Space A is in his line of sight. It is three spaces away from him along the line of sight, so Space A is at a range of 3.
B. Space B is not in the investigator's line of sight because he must turn a corner to move into it.
C. Space C is not in the investigator's line of sight because there is a locked hatch blocking his line of sight.
D. Space D is not in the investigator's line of sight because it has a different flooded condition.
E. Space E is not in the investigator's line of sight. Although it has the same flooded condition as the investigator's current space, the line of sight has already been blocked by Space D.
Line of Sight Example 2
A. Space A is in the investigator's line of sight and has a range of 1.
B. Space B is in the investigator's line of sight and has a range of 1.
C. Space C is in the investigator's line of sight because he can move into that space along a straight line through Space A without turning a corner. It has a range of 2.
D. Space D is not in the investigator's line of sight because he must turn a corner to move into it. If the investigator moves into Space A, Space D is still not in his line of sight for the same reason.
2. Calculate Damage
Roll a certain number of six-sided dice according to the dice rating of the selected weapon. Each die result that equals or exceeds the accuracy is counted as a hit result, which deals an amount of damage equal to the damage of the weapon. Add all the hit damage together to get the total attacking damage dealt by this attack action.
Calculate Damage Example
- The investigator chooses the Hydrogen Torch as his attacking weapon. It's a melee weapon.
- He rolls three six-sided dice according to the weapon's dice rating, and he rolls one [4] and two [5]s.
- According to the weapon's accuracy and damage, he gets two hits, and each hit deals 2 damage.
- This weapon's special effect deals 1 additional damage, so this attack action deals 5 damage in total (2+2+1).
3. Distribute Damage and Determine Wounds
Distribute the attack damage among the target monster(s) freely. The damage dealt to the monster is reduced by its resistance first, and then the monster takes a number of wounds equal to the remaining damage it has sustained. Insert the wound token with the appropriate value into the hook of the base.
When the number of wounds equals or exceeds the monster's maximum health, it is killed. If this happens, place the monster figure back into the monster reserve.
Distribute Damage and Determine Wounds Example
- The investigator distributes 3 damage to Monster A and 2 damage to Monster B.
- The damage dealt to each monster is reduced by 1 according to their resistance.
- Monster A takes 2 wounds, which is enough to kill it. Return the monster figure to the reserve.
- Monster B takes 1 wound. It receives a wound token, which is inserted into the hook on its base.
Damage and Wounds
If a figure is dealt damage, the damage is first reduced by the figure's resistance. The figure then takes a number of wounds equal to the remaining damage it has sustained.
If a figure takes wounds, it directly acquires a wound token (or a number of wound tokens) equivalent to the total number of wounds it has sustained. If a figure heals a wound or wounds, it either discards those healed wound tokens or swaps its original token for a new one that reflects the reduced number of wounds. The new token is inserted into the hook on the base of the figure.
4. Fight Against Madness
After a monster is killed during an attack action, flip a number of the investigator's sanity tokens equal to the monster's horror over to their madness side. Once the investigator has accumulated a number of madness tokens that equals or exceeds his/her madness limit (which is almost always 3, though some game effects may change it on rare occasions), he/she must discard exactly the same number of madness tokens equal to his/her madness limit and resolve a madness card after the attack action is fully resolved.
For each point of horror for which there is no sanity token to flip, the investigator resolves a consciousness card as a reward after the attack action. (See Page 23 and 24 for more information.)
Fight Against Madness Example
The investigator flips one of his sanity tokens to the madness side according to the monster's horror. If he doesn't have any sanity tokens, he will instead resolve one consciousness card after the attack action is fully resolved.
Trade Action
An investigator may perform a trade action to trade any number of search cards with another investigator in the same space. If an investigator has more search cards than his/her search card limit after a trade action, he/she must discard the excess cards.
Rest Action
An investigator may perform a rest action to discard all of his/her sanity tokens from his/her investigator card.
Note: An investigator doesn't need to exhaust oxygen to perform a rest action in flooded spaces. (See "Taking Action in Flooded Spaces" on Page 20 for more information.)
Lock/Unlock/Reset a Hatch Action
An investigator may perform an action to lock, unlock or reset the hatch between his/her current space and an adjacent space.
To lock a hatch, simply place a locked hatch standee on the hatch graphic or the yellow line graphic between the two spaces.
To unlock a hatch, just remove the locked hatch standee from the board. Remember, an investigator doesn't need to unlock the hatch first to move through it. He/she can move directly through the locked hatch, and the hatch will remain unlocked thereafter.
When a hatch's lock is destroyed, the locked hatch standee will be replaced by a broken lock marker. It cannot be locked again unless the investigator performs an action to reset the hatch first. To reset the hatch, simply remove the broken lock marker from the board.
Monsters Moving Through Locked Hatches
When a monster is about to move through a locked hatch, the nearest investigator behind the hatch may roll exactly two six-sided dice. If the number of success results (see Page 25) equals or exceeds the monster's horror, the monster stays in its current space and all of its remaining move actions are ignored during this activation. Otherwise, the hatch's lock is destroyed and replaced by a broken lock marker and the monster moves through the hatch normally.
Component Actions
An investigator may perform the special actions printed on components in his/her possession (such as the investigator card or search cards), as well as on the game-specific components available to all investigators (such as scenario cards, the current chapter's entry in the storybook, etc.) These actions are preceded by the words "Action" or "Investigate" in bold.
Investigate Action
The investigate action is another type of action that each investigator may perform. An investigate action will only appear as a component action in the storybook and on the scenario cards.
Pass
An investigator may pass on using his/her actions. Any remaining actions are then discarded.
Taking Action in Flooded Spaces
A space with a flooded marker placed on it is a flooded space. Before an investigator can perform an action in a flooded space, he/she must exhaust 1 oxygen by spinning the drowning dial one space counter-clockwise. The values shown on the dial indicate the investigator's current oxygen level (from -6 to 6). If the dial shows a negative value and a certain number of six-sided dice, the investigator must roll that number of dice to determine if he/she is going to take any wounds. The investigator takes 1 wound for each non-success result (see Page 25). If the dial reaches its last degree (which shows the "dead" icon), the investigator is instantly killed.
Exhaust Oxygen Example
- The investigator exhausts 1 oxygen by spinning the drowning dial one space counter-clockwise before performing an action in a flooded space.
- He rolls two dice since the dial shows two six-sided dice. He rolls a success result [6] and a non-success result [4].
- The investigator takes 1 wound since he rolled one non-success result.
Note: An investigator doesn't need to exhaust oxygen to perform a rest action in flooded spaces.
Checking the Drowning Condition
At the end of an investigator's activation, his/her drowning condition must be checked.
If the investigator ends his/her activation in a flooded space, the drowning condition does not change. If he/she is in a non-flooded space, spin the drowning dial to restore the oxygen to the maximum level (which is usually 6).
Note: The drowning condition is only checked at the end of the investigator's activation. Even if the investigator has entered a non-flooded space during his/her activation, he/she still cannot restore oxygen as long as he/she ends his/her activation in a flooded space.
Monster Activation in Detail
When the activation marker stops on a monster card, each of this type of monster will be activated once. Players decide the order of their activations. During a monster's activation, it performs actions strictly in accordance with the action pool from left to right on its monster card. Unless otherwise stated, actions in the action pool cannot be ignored, and the order of the actions cannot be changed.
Monsters can perform three types of actions: move, attack, and special actions.
Move Action
A monster performs a move action to move its figure into an adjacent space toward the nearest reachable investigator. If there is more than one such investigator, players choose which one it moves toward.
If there is a connected path between the monster and an investigator, the investigator is reachable for the monster. Note: Investigators who are behind locked hatches are reachable.
When a monster is about to move through a locked hatch, the nearest investigator behind the hatch may roll exactly two six-sided dice. If the number of success results equals or exceeds the monster's horror, the monster stays in its current space, and all of its remaining move actions are ignored during this activation. Otherwise, the hatch's lock is destroyed and replaced by a broken lock marker. The monster then moves through the hatch normally.
Sometimes, there will be special effects during a monster's move action. These effects are preceded by the word "Move" in bold.
When there is no need for a monster to move out of its current space (for example, if it is in the same space with an investigator), or none of the investigators are reachable (which is rare and only occurs in certain scenarios), the monster still must perform the move action. However, it will simply remain in its current space in these circumstances. If it has a slowed token, that token will be discarded. (See "Status Effects" on Page 24 for more information.)
Attack Action
A monster will always attack the nearest investigator within its range. If there are multiple investigators within the same range, the players choose which one it attacks. Remember, range is the distance at which a weapon or a monster can successfully reach a target that is already within the investigator's or the monster's line of sight.
A monster deals an amount of damage equal to its damage when it attacks. The target investigator must then determine his/her resistance value by rolling two six-sided dice. The damage dealt is reduced by the number of success results (see Page 25), and the investigator takes the remaining damage as an equal number of wounds. When an investigator takes wounds, he/she simply takes a number of wound tokens with the appropriate value and places them on his/her investigator card. When the number of wounds an investigator has taken equals or exceeds his/her maximum health, the investigator is killed.
Sometimes there will be special effects during a monster's attack action. These effects are preceded by the word "Attack" in bold.
If there is no investigator within its range, the monster still must perform the attack action with no effect. If it has a weakened token, that token is now discarded. (See "Status Effects" on Page 24 for more information.)
Special Action
These actions are preceded by the word "Special" in bold. Just follow the text on the monster card to perform these actions.
Devoured Abilities
Usually, monsters have abilities (or part of an ability) that only take effect when they are in devoured rooms. These abilities are preceded by the devour icon.
Monster Card Breakdown
- Name.
- Horror.
- Maximum Health.
- Resistance.
- Damage: The amount of damage that the monster deals during its attack action.
- Range: How far the monster can attack.
- Trap.
- Action Pool.
- Special Abilities.
Monster Blind's Move Action
The monster Blind still moves toward the nearest reachable investigator, and it still moves to an adjacent space during its move action. However, if there are several paths by which the investigator can be reached, and they are all of the same distance, it will move to the adjacent space that is the nearest to any investigator's line of sight. If there is more than one such space, the players decide.
If a Blind has already entered the nearest investigator's line of sight, it simply moves toward that investigator. If none of the investigators are reachable, it remains in its current space as usual.
Winning the Game
Deep Madness is a cooperative game. Players are on the same side and win or lose the game together. Investigators win the game if the winning conditions of the chosen chapter are met.
The game is lost if any of the following occur:
- A losing condition of the chosen chapter is met.
- An investigator is killed.
- The devour marker reaches the last space of the devouring track.
- There is no monster of any kind left in the reserve (excluding any horror "0" monsters) when a monster needs to be spawned.
Additional Rules
This section describes all additional rules that are necessary to play the game.
Sanity, Madness, Madness Cards, and Consciousness Cards
Exhausting Sanity
There are a variety of effects or actions that require the investigator to exhaust sanity to trigger them, including many of the effects printed on the investigator card or search cards. Investigators may also be forced to exhaust sanity due to other effects in the game. To exhaust 1 sanity, place a sanity token on the active investigator's investigator card. To restore 1 sanity, discard a sanity token from the investigator card.
When the number of sanity tokens equals the investigator's maximum sanity, he/she can no longer exhaust sanity for any reason until his/her sanity is restored. If the number of sanity tokens exceeds his/her maximum sanity because his/her maximum sanity is reduced, immediately flip the excess sanity token(s) to the madness side.
IMPORTANT NOTE: An investigator can always exhaust 1 sanity to reroll a six-sided die he/she has just rolled, and he/she can reroll it multiple times as long as he/she still has sanity to exhaust. The only limit to this rule is your maximum available sanity. A twelve-sided die cannot be rerolled, unless otherwise stated.
Madness Token
After an investigator kills a monster during his/her attack action, he/she could receive madness tokens by flipping his/her sanity tokens over in accordance with the monster's horror.
Madness tokens are not counted as sanity tokens, so an investigator can restore sanity by killing monsters at the expense of gaining madness.
Investigators may also gain madness tokens directly due to other effects in the game (such as from the monster Twisted or a madness card). To take 1 madness, place a madness token on the active investigator's investigator card. To heal 1 madness, discard a madness token from the investigator card. (Madness can only be healed by certain effects in the game, such as from a consciousness card.)
Madness Cards
An investigator may be forced to resolve madness cards due to various effects in the game. Usually, this comes as the result of accumulating too many madness tokens. If the number of madness tokens an investigator has is ever equal to or exceeds his/her madness limit (which is always 3 unless specifically stated otherwise by a game effect), he/she must discard exactly the same number of madness tokens equal to his/her madness limit and resolve one madness card after the current action (if there is anything left to accomplish).
To resolve a madness card, just draw the top card of the madness deck and follow the effect text. Each madness card also has flavor text that describes a horrific scene or nasty encounter. If multiple madness cards need to be resolved, resolve them one after another.
If the madness deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new madness deck.
Each madness card and consciousness card shows a Title, Flavor Text, and Effect Text.
Consciousness Cards
If an investigator doesn't have enough sanity tokens to flip after he/she kills a monster during his/her attack action, flip as many as possible and then resolve one consciousness card as a reward for each point of horror that didn't have a corresponding sanity token to flip at the end of the investigator's attack action. Remember, after killing a horror "0" monster, the investigator cannot resolve a consciousness card.
To resolve a consciousness card, draw the top card of the consciousness deck and follow the effect text. Each consciousness card also has flavor text that describes a little bit of the background story for the game. If multiple consciousness cards need to be resolved, resolve them one after another.
Note: If both madness cards and consciousness cards need to be resolved after an investigator's attack action, resolve the madness cards first.
If the consciousness deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new consciousness deck.
Status Effects
Slowed
If a figure is slowed, it takes a slowed token. When this figure later performs a move action, simply discard the slowed token instead of performing the normal action effect.
A figure cannot have more than one slowed token at a time. If it is about to receive a second one, ignore it.
Note: If a figure moves involuntarily for any reason, ignore its slowed token.
Weakened
If a figure is weakened, it takes a weakened token. When this figure later performs an attack action, simply discard the weakened token instead of performing the normal action effect.
A figure cannot have more than one weakened token at a time. If it is about to receive a second one, ignore it.
Paralyzed
If an investigator is paralyzed, tip his/her figure on its side to indicate the paralyzed status. Standing up is the only action he/she can perform as his/her next action. After that, he/she is no longer paralyzed.
If a monster is paralyzed, tip its figure on its side. When it is activated, just stand its figure and its activation ends immediately. After that, it is no longer paralyzed.
If the paralyzed figure is about to be paralyzed a second time, ignore the effect.
Note: If a figure moves involuntarily for any reason, ignore the paralyzed status.
Possessed
Possessed is a special status of the monster Hysteria. If a Hysteria has possessed an investigator, place its monster figure on the investigator's investigator card. This Hysteria is no longer considered to be on the game board.
This Hysteria's trap still impacts the possessed investigator. When it performs its special action, it is treated as being in the same space with the possessed investigator. If the investigator is in a devoured room, the Hysteria's devoured abilities will take effect.
This Hysteria can only be dealt damage during any investigator's attack action as if it was still in the same space with the possessed investigator.
Dice Result
Six-sided Die
Six-sided die results are expressed in the form of "[X]" in game text. [5] and [6] are also success results, which are indicated by the success icon engraved on the dice. Other results are non-success results.
Twelve-sided Die
The twelve-sided die has four types of results: teeth, claw, eye, and tentacles.
If a side of the die shows two results, it means that this side gives both the results at the same time. (For example, a side that is both a teeth result and a claw result.)
Sometimes, a monster's ability requires players to roll the twelve-sided die, and it has special effects that only take effect when a specific result is rolled. These effects are preceded by the result icons.
Important Concepts
May
If the word "may" appears in an effect, investigators can choose whether or not to resolve the effect. Otherwise, if possible, the effect must be resolved.
Cannot
If the word "cannot" appears in an effect, the effect has higher priority than its conflicting effects, unless otherwise stated.
Exactly X
Any number that follows the "exactly" cannot be adjusted or modified for any reason.
Within X Spaces
The distance in this game is measured by spaces. When calculating the distance between two objects, count the number of spaces along the path that connects them. The path can be blocked by walls, but cannot be blocked by locked hatches. If there is no connected path between two objects, there is no concept of distance between them either.
Spawn
If an effect instructs you to spawn a monster, an investigator, a marker, etc. but doesn't specify a spawning location, place the item or creature in the spawn space of the room corresponding to the top card in the devoured deck. Once finished, move the referenced card to the bottom of the devoured deck.
Effects That Cannot Be Fully Resolved
If an effect cannot be fully resolved, resolve as much of it as possible and ignore the rest, unless a special rule or the effect states otherwise.
If an investigator is forced to choose an effect to resolve from several options, he/she must choose the effect that can be resolved if able. For example, if an investigator is slowed and the effect is "to be slowed or weakened," the investigator can only choose to be weakened because he/she cannot be slowed for a second time.
Reduced Value
Values cannot be below zero. If a value is about to be reduced below zero, it is treated as zero.
Games with 4 or 5 Investigators
In games that start with fewer than six investigators, before shuffling the investigator activation cards together during Step 2 of the game setup process, add one or two empty activation cards to bring the total number of cards to six. Once the cards are shuffled, place them face up in a row to form the investigator's part of the activation track as usual.
At the beginning of each activation phase (for games with 4 investigators, shuffle two value "1" and two value "2" support tokens together to form a pile; for games with 5 investigators, shuffle two value "0" and three value "1" support tokens together to form a pile), each investigator draws a random support token from the support token pile. During the activation phase, each investigator may perform X additional actions. X is equal to the number on his/her support token.
During the refresh phase, after changing the order of the investigator activation track, take back all the support tokens from the investigators.
When the activation marker stops on an empty activation card, nothing happens.
More Prepared Team Variant
If players are new to Deep Madness or if a particular scenario is proving too difficult, players are encouraged to use the More Prepared Team variant to reduce the difficulty of the game.
To use this variant, after choosing investigators during Step 2 of the game setup, shuffle the six search cards that feature the word "Syringe" in their titles together before each investigator randomly draws one of them. Then remove the rest of the Syringe cards from the game.
Epic Monster Variant
A monster with the special horror icon is an epic monster.
We recommend that players refrain from using these monsters during their first few games because their inclusion may make the game extremely difficult to beat.
To use the epic monsters, simply shuffle their monster cards together with the normal monster cards during Step 3 of the game setup process. However, there can be no more than one epic monster in any game session; as such, if a second one is drawn, ignore it, and draw a new monster card.
An epic monster figure doesn't have a regular black base, so place wound tokens on its monster card when it takes wounds.
Devoured Effects
These effects are also listed on the rules reference cards.
- You gain escape -1 while you are in this space.
- You gain resistance -1 while you are in this space.
- If you end your activation in this space, deal 1 damage to you.
- If you end your activation in this space, you exhaust 1 sanity.
- If you end your activation in this space, you take 1 madness.
- If you end your activation in this space, you are Slowed.
- If you end your activation in this space, you are Weakened.
- If you end your activation in this space, you discard 1 of your search cards.
- If you end your activation in this space, spawn a monster with a horror of at least 1 in your space.
Credits
Game Designer: Roger Ho
Chapter Design: Chauncey and Cherry Li
Deep Madness Story Team: Roger Ho, Cherry Li, Byron Leavitt, and Yichuan Wang
Writing and Editing: Byron Leavitt
Proofreading: Vappingo online editing and proofreading services
Graphic Design: Jia Dify, Weifeng, and Chris Dounghman
Cover Art: Chang Yuan
Interior Art: Chang Yuan, Joseph Diaz and Guillem H. Pongiluppi from GhostSolid Studio, Stefan Kopiński, Pedro Sena, DRock Art Studio, and Night Watch Art Studio
Sculptor: Gael Goumon, Long C, and Roberto Chaudon
Production Management: Cherry Li
Playtesting: Kai Li, Byron Leavitt, Madelaine Dumas, Andrew Izquierdo, Craig Milne, Xiang Gao, David Fang, Dora Zhou, Chao Ban, Xiaoyu Du, Yang Gao, Xu Zhang, and Cheng Feng
© 2019 Diemension Games, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission. Deep Madness and Diemension Games are trademarks of Diemension Games, Inc. Actual components may vary from those shown. Made in China. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A TOY. NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY PERSONS 13 YEARS OF AGE OR YOUNGER.
Storybook
The storybook contains the eight chapters of Deep Madness. Choose one chapter to play and follow its setup instructions and special rules.
Chapter 1: Crawling Asphyxia
Someone touches your shoulder, and you groan as your eyes crack open. Dr. Felicia Armitage stands above you, her expression severe as she wraps bandage and gauze around your head. "You'll survive," she says curtly.
Pulling yourself up, you realize you aren't in the submersible any longer. You seem to be just outside an airlock, in fact. And you're alive.
"Are you okay?" Randi asks, placing her hand on your arm.
"Doc says I'll make it," you reply with a lopsided smile.
"We need to get moving," Jared Drake says.
"Agreed," Samuel replies. "Gather your things, everyone. It's time we figured out what's been going on here."
Having salvaged what they could from the mutilated remains of the Enlightened Day, the team slowly advances into the facility. The place is eerily silent. Occasional whirs or clicks issue from various systems or machines, but there is no beat of life; no sign that men and women still call this place home. However, there are plenty of hints that they used to; everywhere you look are indications of struggle and abandonment.
"I suppose we can rule out structural failure," Arthur Weyland says. Then you all see the blood.
It is painted up one wall and down another as if the corridor is a master's canvas. Everyone stares at the macabre scene, mesmerized. And as you do, you feel the dread that's been slowly creeping into your mind blossom into a terror that clamps down on your heart and gnaws at your soul.
Drake approaches the blood and scratches at it. "It's been dry for quite a while," he says. "This party's over."
Dr. Roman Asimov clears his throat. "I hate to disrupt everyone from this engrossing display," he says, "but has anyone else noticed that the air seems to be thinning?"
Arthur turns to a console that is positioned along one wall of the corridor and powers it on. He cycles through to environmental settings. "He's right," Arthur says. "Oxygen levels are dropping. Rapidly."
Samuel takes a deep breath. "All right, people. Going back's not an option, so let's figure out what happened here and find a way to fix the oxygen bleed before we all suffocate. All in favor?"
Closing your eyes, you nod. "Let's do it." It's probably just the tension getting to you, but you can't help but wonder why you see the image of a green swirling sphere pulsing behind your eyelids.
Chapter Overview
You and your fellow investigators are trapped in an oxygen-starved section of the Kadath facility. You have two objectives: Try to discover what happened to the station, and find a way to restore the oxygen before your whole team suffocates. There is one room that contains a console where you can reroute the oxygen and save your lives, but you can only find it after collecting all the necessary clues – and some of those are in extremely hazardous locations. What happened to the people in this place? And what was that banging, scratching sound down the corridor? You're about to find out.
Game Board
Assemble the game board as shown (rooms 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 28), using wall markers, flooded markers, spawn markers, clue tokens and the objective marker.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 4, 10, 17, 21, 22, 28.
Devoured deck: 1, 2, 8, 12, 15, 20.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- Each investigator exhausts 1 oxygen. Then the maximum oxygen level is reduced to 5.
- Each investigator exhausts 2 oxygen. Then the maximum oxygen level is reduced to 3.
- Each investigator exhausts 3 oxygen. Then the maximum oxygen level is reduced to 0. Until the end of the game, an investigator must exhaust 1 oxygen before performing an action (except for the Rest action) in any space instead of just in flooded spaces.
Special Rules
Investigate Actions. Investigators in the same space with a Clue Token gain: "Investigate: Acquire the Clue Token if there is a success token on it. (Hard mode: Acquire the Clue Token if there are three success tokens on it.) Otherwise, roll 1 die and, if it is a success result, place a success token on the Clue Token." Note: An investigator can only have one Clue Token.
Investigators in the same space with the Objective Marker gain: "Investigate: Place your Clue Token on the Objective Marker."
Winning
All three Clue Tokens have been placed on the Objective Marker.
"Go, go, go!" Drake cries, skidding into the room as the floor behind him erupts with pulsing, writhing tentacles and horrid, viscous life. He slams the hatch control and collapses against the wall as the slab of metal seals off the corridor behind him.
"What the hell were those things?" Dr. Armitage asks, panting.
"You don't honestly… expect an answer… do you?" Dr. Asimov replies.
"We're almost… out of time," Samuel says, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Do we have everything?"
"Here," Randi says, unloading the data cards and other miscellanea you've all recovered. Arthur takes them from her and turns to the data center's hub terminal. First, he enters the environmental controls.
"I've found the oxygen leak," he says. "It was caused by the crash of the Enlightened Day. I think… I can isolate the area."
"Do it!" Samuel orders. You can hear everyone wheezing, even above the methodical pounding of blood in your ears. Arthur taps several controls. For a minute that stretches into hours, nothing seems to happen. Then, as the room begins to swim, you hear—and feel—the welcome hiss of oxygen.
"Ah, finally!" Dr. Armitage gasps. Several people laugh in nervous agreement.
"They found something," Arthur says. "The miners. It looks like they dug something up that was… they keep saying things like 'historic' and 'the most important discovery ever unearthed.' And then the reports start to describe strange things taking place throughout the facility… Paranormal activity…"
"We noticed," Drake says.
"There's something else," Arthur says. He taps a button, and a man's face appears.
"Hello," the man says. "I am Dr. William West. If you're watching this, I assume you have been sent to ascertain the state of affairs on Kadath. I have been studying the phenomena that have now overtaken this facility since their inception. I know how to stop what's happening, but I require your help to do so. They are coming for me. For us. Time is very short. Attached you will find directions to my laboratory. I implore you, come with all haste. Before it's too late."
"I've got his directions here," Arthur announces. "There's a shuttle that'll take us a good chunk of the way to his office, but it's almost a whole region away. What say you, Captain?"
"I don't think we've got much choice," Samuel says. "Let's go find that shuttle."
Chapter 2: Last Shuttle to Hell
The hatch opens with a guttural groan as you hold your breath, your haphazard weapon trained on the shadowy space unveiling itself before you. There's nothing out there. At least, nothing you can see.
"I think I heard movement behind us," Dr. Armitage murmurs, glancing nervously back down the flickering corridor.
"Then let's not give them a chance to catch up," Samuel says, stepping through the hatch. Drake joins him, scanning the corners for signs of life.
"Seems clear," Drake says. The whole team advances into the room, and Arthur cycles the hatch behind you.
There's no doubt that this is the shuttle terminal. Sallow light flickers down from the emergency fixtures overhead, casting inconstant shadows that grow and recede between the rows of empty chairs crowding the room. The opposing wall is slightly rounded and lined with sealed hatches. Above the hatches, the words "Dunwich Station" are bolted to the metal.
Randi advances toward one of the commuter hatches and shines her flashlight through the door's porthole. "There's no shuttle here, guys," she says. Spotting a booth nearby, she strides over to it and climbs inside. Thirty seconds later the room growls to life. Additional lights flicker on, washing the bay in palsied but welcome splashes of illumination as screens snap and stutter with images of facility maps and company propaganda.
"Attention, passengers," a woman's voice chirps from speakers spaced around the room. "All shuttles are cu-currently experiencing technical difficulties. Expect departure times to be significantly de-de-de-layed. We apologize for any inconve-venience this may cause."
"Oh, that certainly sounds promising," Dr. Asimov says. "So where exactly is our shuttle, Ms. Carter?"
"Um…" Randi trails off. Arthur shoves his way into the booth beside her.
"It's coming," he says. "But it's coming very, very slowly."
"Why?" Samuel asks. "What's the malfunction?"
Arthur's fingers dance over the screens. "The shuttle looks like it's propelled by several accelerator units inside its tube, and those accelerators are all currently offline. It's running entirely on its own power right now, and that seems to be pretty laughable."
"Can we fix it?" you ask.
Arthur's fingers glide over the displays again, and then he curses. "Yeah, we can. The malfunctioning accelerator units are set up in several rooms underlying this one. We need to reboot them using an override control code, which I will get us… now. Here it is."
"What's the catch?" Drake asks.
"The accelerators initially shut down because their rooms are flooded," Arthur replies.
"Holy hell," Dr. Asimov says.
"What else, Arthur?" Samuel asks.
"Once we get the accelerators online, we're going to have to leg it back here, because the shuttle is not going to wait for us. If we miss it, we're screwed. I doubt those units will survive a second trip."
"Why can't we just wait for it?" Dr. Armitage says. "It might be slow, but I for one don't relish the idea of drowning in freezing cold salt water."
Something screeches from the hall you just exited. Another something groans.
"We're all going," Samuel says. "Before our company arrives. Let's move."
Claws squeal down the far side of the metal hatch.
"I said move!" Samuel hisses.
Chapter Overview
The only way out of here is on that shuttle, but at this rate there's not a chance it'll reach you and your team before those horrors that are squirming down the corridor behind you. There are accelerators deeper in the facility that need to be restarted to get the shuttle back up to speed. When your team has activated each one enough times to accumulate the necessary energy the shuttle will pick up speed and arrive at a shuttle terminal. However, the order the accelerators are activated in will also determine which direction the shuttle will come from – and, consequently, where you will have to catch it before it's gone. You've only got one shot at this. Will you make it before the shuttle leaves, taking your last chance of survival with it?
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 21, 23, 29), using code tokens, hatch markers, flooded markers, spawn markers, entrance markers, terminal markers and energy token stacks.
Energy Token Stack: Stack the three Energy Tokens of the same color with value "1" at the bottom and value "3" on the top.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Place Room Tile 30 beside the game board. It will be added to the game board during the game.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 3, 5, 10, 12, 16, 23, 29.
Devoured deck: 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 21.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- If the total energy level in Room 30 is less than 3, place a value "-1" Energy Token in Room 30.
- If the total energy level in Room 30 is less than 8, place a value "-1" Energy Token in Room 30.
- If the total energy level in Room 30 is less than 11, place a value "-1" Energy Token in Room 30.
Special Rules
Investigate Actions. Investigators in the same space with a Code Token gain: "Investigate: Acquire the Code Token." Note: An investigator can only have one Code Token at a time.
Investigate: Give your Code Token to another investigator in your space, or take a Code Token from another investigator in your space.
At the end of each game round, place a Code Token in the "Start" space unless there is one there already.
The spaces that contain the same colored Entrance Markers are treated as adjacent spaces without line of sight.
Investigators in the same space with an Energy Token Stack gain: "Investigate: Discard your Code Token to acquire the top Energy Token of the stack and immediately place it in Room 30."
When the total energy level in Room 30 reaches 12 or more, add up the energy levels for each of the three differently colored types of Energy Tokens. The shuttle arrives at the terminal that has the highest energy level of the same color. If there's a tie, players choose which Terminal it arrives at. Add Room 30 to the game board with its hatch connected to the space that contains the applicable Terminal Marker.
Winning
Three or more investigators are in Room 30.
You swim frantically through the frigid water, your lungs threatening to burst in your chest. The things, the horrors, are right behind you. You know it, even without looking back. You sense them coming, coming –
The water glows green around you. Looking back, you see it, pulsing in the depths. The sphere calls to you, beckoning you to join it beneath its swirling surface. All you have to do is answer it.
You reach the surface of the water, smacking into it with a thud. Your eyes growing wide, you realize that the surface has solidified. You're trapped down here.
"Whoa now," Samuel says, steadying you. "Stay with us. This is not the time for daydreaming."
"I saw it," you say. "It was –"
"Of course you did!" Dr. Armitage snaps. "They're right behind us!"
Glancing back, you see them: a seething mass of teeth and claws.
"Move!" Drake says, opening the hatchway into the shuttle terminal. Swiveling around, he fires into the tumbling, squirming horde of horrors. You stumble into the room. The commuter hatches are still closed. The shuttle's not here.
"Where is it?" Dr. Asimov roars. "Why isn't it here?"
"We couldn't have missed it," Arthur murmurs. "I calculated this, and it should –"
A smooth sound of deceleration hums into the room, and then the doors swish open. You push yourself to run faster, toward those beckoning hatchways. Drake slams the corridor's hatch control behind you, but something snakes under the metal before it can close all the way.
The last of your team piles into the shuttle as the terminal fills with abominations. The doors slide shut, and the shuttle glides off down its tube, leaving the dark terrors behind.
"Whew," Samuel says, slumping against the side of the shuttle. "Thank God."
Dr. Asimov chuckles. "You chose an interesting time to invoke a deity," he says.
Randi crouches down beside you, ignoring the others. "You saw it, didn't you?" she whispers.
"Saw what?" you ask.
"The sphere."
"Yeah," you reply. "I did see a sphere. You saw it, too?"
She nods. "Yeah, I did. I just don't know what it means. But I can't shake this really bad feeling I have: It's kind of like we're on the last shuttle to hell, and we don't even realize it."
Looking out the shuttle's porthole, you see the seabed swaying softly in the current. "I hate to say it," you say, "but I think you may be right."
Chapter 3: Bathophobia
"Are you sure this is the place?" Samuel says, looking around the laboratory.
"Absolutely, this is it," Arthur replies. "I checked it, and rechecked it. We're here."
"Then, not to put too fine a point on it," Dr. Asimov says, "but where's the bloody fool we were supposed to meet here? Where's this Dr. West? Did he get caught up playing parlor games? Did something more urgent than escaping this hellhole alive come up?"
"Well I don't know, Doc," Arthur says. "You're the scientist. Why don't you deduce what's happened here for us?"
"That's enough!" Samuel snaps. "We're all on edge, but that's no reason to be at each other's throats!"
Sighing, Dr. Armitage pushes herself off a wall. "Men," she growls. Skulking across to a bank of consoles, she taps into the system. "Hmm," she says. "Dr. West was conducting an experiment here. Something about attempting a 'consciousness fusion'… Wait. It appears the test is still ongoing. Let me see what else I can find out –"
"Dr. Armitage!" Drake yells. "Stop!"
His warning is useless. Klaxons wail as two giant metal doors trundle open at the back of the room. Beyond that is a glassed-in observation area and airlock. And beyond that –
Even after all that you have now seen, the being rising before you is utterly impossible. It bulges and bubbles, a multitude of mouths forming across its body that push out from its mass on tube-like stalks. Its circular rows of teeth churn as its lance-like tongues prod the air. And then it shrieks. The observation glass shatters as the thing's scream pierces it like a javelin.
Instinctively, you and most of the others dive behind equipment or consoles or whatever else happens to be available, missing a majority of the sonic blast. Dr. Armitage does not. The sound wave rockets her backward into a console, and her own scream is eclipsed by the beast's. Her eyes roll back in her head, blood leaking from her ears and nostrils. Her body begins to vibrate in time to the waves of violent force. And then –
Just as suddenly as it began, the horrific sound stops. Ducking low, Samuel and Drake dodge between objects until they reach Dr. Armitage. Samuel drops down beside her while Drake pokes his head up and scans the console for a control to close the doors.
"Dr. Armitage!" Samuel whispers. "Felicia! Can you hear me?"
Her eyes flutter as Drake finds the control and the blast doors begin cycling shut. "Falling…" she murmurs. "It's so deep, there's no bottom, Samuel, help –"
The monstrosity squeals again as the doors close. The thick metal panels bulge from the sound, but still they clang shut.
"What is that thing?" Randi asks as everyone clusters around Dr. Armitage and her console.
"A byproduct of this experiment, apparently," Dr. Asimov says, looking at the screen. He laughs. "The system wishes to inform us that this experiment has become unstable. What a shocking development. It asks us to 'please take steps to terminate the operation as soon as possible.'"
"How do we kill it?" Drake asks.
"It appears it is tied psychically to several test subjects. We need to find those subjects, and sever its link with them. Then it will, in theory, disperse."
"Wait," Arthur says. "Are you trying to tell us that… abomination is somehow conjured by the fancies of a few measly test subjects? That's – that's impossible! It's right there! It's living! It's breathing!"
"Believe what you like, sir, but this is how the computer says we destroy it," Dr. Asimov counters.
The wailing sounds rise again, muffled by the metal doors. The thick slabs are beginning to vibrate alarmingly.
"Felicia?" Samuel says. "Can you move?"
Dr. Armitage rises to her feet with a groan, her whole body quaking. "Never better. Let's go."
Chapter Overview
The Bathophobia is loose, and it's coming for you. If you want to survive to see tomorrow, you'll have to scramble to stop it. There are test subjects scattered throughout this area of the facility who seem to be causing this horrific manifestation through their linked consciousnesses. Find these test subjects and use Bathophobia to short-circuit their connection to the system. Just don't let Bathophobia catch you, because even being near it can cause you serious harm—and one of its direct attacks will plunge you into the eternal, bottomless abyss yawning within its being, where you will drift lost and unmoored forever. Work quickly, and think fast!
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 1, 2, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29), using wall markers, hatch markers, test subjects, flooded markers, spawn markers and link markers.
Note: There is not a flooded marker in the spawn space of Room 1.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28.
Devoured deck: 1, 2, 9, 12, 13, 17, 29.
Special Setup
When choosing monsters during Step 3 of setup, epic monsters cannot be used. After choosing monsters, place the chapter-specific Bathophobia monster card (identical on both sides) at the end of the activation track. Do not shuffle the Bathophobia spawn cards into the spawn deck.
Place the Bathophobia monster figure in the spawn space of Room 2.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- If there are three Test Subjects on the board, immediately activate Bathophobia once.
- If there are two or more Test Subjects on the board, immediately activate Bathophobia once.
- Immediately activate Bathophobia once.
Special Rules
Investigate Actions. Investigators in the same space with a Test Subject gain: "Investigate: Move the Link Marker of the same color to an adjacent space." Note: Link Markers are not affected by locked hatches.
When an investigator is in the same space with a Test Subject and the Link Marker of the same color is in the same space with Bathophobia, the investigator gains: "Investigate: Remove the Test Subject and its Link Marker from the game. Then all locked hatches on the board are destroyed." Note: If there is a path without any locked hatches between Bathophobia and any investigator, this action cannot be performed.
Bathophobia is activated after the last monster in the activation track. Bathophobia cannot take wounds and cannot be killed.
Note: The investigators behind locked hatches are reachable during a monster's move action. Locked hatches cannot prevent investigators from being affected by the special action of Bathophobia.
Winning
All three Test Subjects have been removed from the game.
It undulates into the room like a massive, viscous caterpillar, its multitude of mouths gaping as it mewls for fresh minds to fill up its boundless depths.
Dr. Asimov and Dr. Armitage stand over the last test subject as he lies prone on the exam table, tubes and wires trailing from his neck and skull.
"Pull it out!" Randi screams. "Pull it out now!"
Uncoupling the probes and turning off the fail-safes, they disengage the test subject from the experiment.
The horror stops. And then it begins to collapse, folding in on itself. You dive for cover as it emits a metal-churning howl, shredding hatches and bending walls as it bellows in pain. The world around you crumples, twists, until –
The beast is gone.
Your teammates laugh as they climb slowly to their feet, their bodies shaking. "We did it," Arthur says. "We pulled it off. We killed that thing!"
The mood is light, almost jovial, until Samuel speaks up. "Who could have done this?" he murmurs, his gaze trained on the test subject. "How could an experiment like this even be allowed to occur, let alone get this far out of control? Were there no safeguards? Was there no ethical concern for human life?" He slams his hand down on the metal examination table. "What were they doing down here?"
"Do you think this experiment is what caused these horrors?" you ask. "Could this have undone the whole facility?"
"I still can't believe we could be taking this idea of fusing minds together seriously," Arthur says. "Surely there's a better explanation for what we've seen."
"Never underestimate the human imagination," Dr. Asimov says. "Or humanity's thirst for power."
A beep sounds from the test subject's monitors. Then another. And another. It's a heartbeat.
Dr. Armitage turns her attention to the screen next to the test subject. "He's – he's alive!" she exclaims. Then she taps deeper into the system. She gasps. "You will not believe this," she says. "Our test subject here is named Dr. William West."
Chapter 4: Through the Looking Glass
Dr. William West takes a slow sip from the glass of water, exhaling a relieved sigh. "I am much indebted," he says before taking another sip. "It feels like I've been trapped in that nightmare for years."
"What happened to you, Dr. West?" Randi asks. "What happened to this place?"
"What facts have you gathered so far?" William asks.
"Not much," you concede. "Just fragments we've stumbled across along the way."
"We've certainly concluded that this place has gone to hell in a handbasket," Arthur says.
William chuckles. "Indeed," he says. "And that is the short of it. However, I will strive to shed some further light on the matter. You have stumbled into the middle of an experiment conducted by the loftiest authorities of the Leng Corporation – both in this facility and beyond. They seek to fuse consciousnesses together, to harness the power of mind, and to slip the bonds of time, death and decay. Lofty goals, no doubt, but their means were woefully misguided. They wouldn't listen when I told them they were going too far. And now…"
"How do we stop them?" Dr. Armitage asks.
"You must take me to the station authorities," William says. "I have seen their experiment's folly firsthand. It is truly unsustainable. I will force them to listen to reason, and to terminate this farce."
"Doctor, I'm not sure you're aware of the full extent of the damage done here," Samuel says. "We didn't seek you out because we had options. Frankly, you're the first person we've spoken to in Kadath. Whatever experiment they were doing, it's done. And it wiped out almost all human life in this facility."
"No," William whispers, his eyes widening. "No! How could they be so stupid? Those imbeciles – I warned them! I – I –" Squeezing his eyes shut, he takes a deep breath. "Very well. We will have to take matters into our own hands. I am so sorry, but I fear I must beg for your assistance one more time. I would do everything myself, but I am so weak from their experimentation that I don't think I can."
"What do you propose, Doctor?" Dr. Asimov asks.
William pauses, deep in thought. "These experiments have created a field around Kadath, somewhat like a bubble encapsulating the facility. The field has thinned the space-time and dimensional barriers here, feeding off the human minds present to essentially crack our reality. Unfortunately, with the current state of things, I don't know if there's any way to undo this damage—unless we are willing to fight fire with fire. I think there's a chance I can stop the spread of this madness. In fact, it is possible, at least theoretically, that we can use the field to effectively rewind this process—and perhaps even restore people's lives."
"Wait," Randi says. "You're not—are you saying you could travel back in time?"
"Well, yes, in a sense," William says. "With time's arrow essentially broken in this place already, who's to say we couldn't even reverse it? At the least, perhaps we can halt the field's advance."
"And what would we have to do to achieve this?" Samuel asks.
William clears his throat. "I would need you to step inside the consciousness fusion system they used to create these tests, joining your minds with mine as we work to undo this disaster."
Dr. Armitage snorts. "I'm sorry, you want us to plug into those machines?" she says. "I don't think so. Not a chance."
"Oh no, that won't be necessary," William replies. "I will reconnect briefly, and use my connection to alter the field. In essence, I will create a door for you to step through. And then, once you are through that door into the conscious realm, we will work together to alter the events that caused this mess. We will save everyone."
"If I may discuss this briefly with my team?" Samuel says, motioning for the others to join him. When they are just out of William's earshot, he whispers, "What do you think?"
"He's completely insane," Dr. Armitage says.
"I don't trust him as far as I can throw him," Dr. Asimov says. "I think he's lying through his teeth."
"But what choice do we have?" Randi says. "We have to do something. What if we really can help all those people?"
"I don't trust him either," Drake says. "But it's our only lead."
Samuel sighs, closing his eyes briefly. "Let's put it to a vote. We won't go without majority approval."
Drake raises his hand. So does Randi. Samuel looks at you. Grimacing, you realize there are no good options. Tentatively, you raise your hand as well.
"Okay," Samuel says. "Let's do it."
Chapter Overview
Dr. William West has plugged himself back into the consciousness fusion system in an attempt to undo the damage inflicted on Kadath's inhabitants. Interact with William to locate gateways into the consciousness field as they materialize throughout the facility, and then take the keys that William will imprint on your minds to these gateways. Once the gateways are unlocked, you will enter interdimensional spaces containing shards of Kadath's past that could be pivotal in reversing the consciousness fusion experiments. Follow William's instructions to help him reverse the horrors of Kadath, and protect him from the vicious, unyielding attacks of madness.
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 21, 23, 24, 25), using flooded markers, spawn markers, key markers, the William marker and random memory tokens.
Random Memory Tokens: Take out six differently colored objective markers. Shuffle them together and randomly place one face down in each marked space.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 24.
Devoured deck: 2, 12, 13, 17, 21, 23, 25.
Special Setup
After choosing monsters during Step 3 of setup, place the "Dr. William West" scenario card at the end of the activation track and place six differently colored Key Markers on it. Then shuffle the remaining six scenario cards for this chapter to form a face-down deck.
For games with 5 investigators: After setup, choose one investigator to randomly receive a Key Marker from William's card. Flip the Memory Token face up in the corresponding Key Marker's room. Then the chosen investigator draws a scenario card from the deck. If the symbol on the card is identical to the revealed Memory Token, the investigator draws a new scenario card and shuffles the first one back into the deck.
For games with 4 investigators: Choose two investigators. Each of them follows the same steps as described for games with 5 investigators.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- Until the next hazard, at the beginning of each activation phase, roll 1 twelve-sided die. On a claw result, place a madness token on William's card.
- Until the next hazard, at the beginning of each activation phase, roll 1 twelve-sided die. On a claw or eye result, place a madness token on William's card.
- Until the end of the game, at the beginning of each activation phase, roll 1 twelve-sided die. On a claw, eye or tentacles result, place a madness token on William's card.
Special Rules
Investigate Actions. Investigators in the same space with William gain: "Investigate: Let William perform a Move action as an investigator, ignoring monsters' trap."
Investigators in the same space with William gain: "Investigate: Acquire the Key Marker that is identical to the one in your current room (not space) from William's card." Note: The investigator and William don't need to be in the same space with the Key Marker.
Investigate: Move your figure from anywhere on the board directly into the space behind the Key Marker that is identical to yours.
Investigators in the same space with a face-down Memory Token gain: "Investigate: Flip the Memory Token face up and draw a scenario card. If the symbol printed on the card is identical to the Memory Token in your space, draw a new scenario card and shuffle the first one back into the deck, if possible."
William is activated after the last monster in the activation track. Monsters do not treat William as an investigator.
The Key Markers on the board block line of sight. Monsters can move through them freely. However, only an investigator with an identical Key Marker may move or be transported into the room behind one. An investigator without the identical Key Marker cannot enter the room behind a Key Marker for any reason.
For games with 6 investigators, each investigator can only have one Key Marker at a time. For games with 4 or 5 investigators, an investigator may discard his/her Key Marker and then receive a new one later in the game.
Note: At the beginning of each activation phase, don't forget to resolve the corresponding Hazard effect.
Winning
All six Memory Tokens have been placed on their corresponding scenario cards. Each investigator must also have at least one scenario card.
Losing
There are three or more madness tokens on William's card.
You plunge back into the real world. Or do you? It's so difficult to be sure. The rest of the team has collapsed on the floor around you, and Dr. William West towers above you all. He is smiling. In fact, he is positively glowing.
"I cannot thank you all enough," William says. "I don't think you can truly appreciate what you have done. You have not just helped to save Kadath Station: You have helped to save the entire world."
"What… Have you… Done?" Samuel manages to say. Looking past him, you see the walls shimmer. A tentacle presses up through the flooring, snaking around the edge of the room.
"Your sacrifice will be memorialized when I ascend above the waves," William says. "I can finally feel it. I am free!" William shimmers with the room. Then he begins to vanish, layer by layer. It is as if he is being peeled like an onion: his skin folds back and disappears, then his muscles, organs, veins, and arteries follow suit. Lastly, his skeleton, brain, and nervous system dissolve, and William is gone.
"I told… You… We shouldn't… Trust him," Dr. Asimov says. And then each of you screams in perfect unison.
It is as though the world is imploding and exploding around you simultaneously. It twists and distorts and folds in on itself, at each moment unveiling a new horror to shatter your senses. You feel each of your teammates' minds weave into your own, clenching around you as yours does the same to theirs. Then you look up, and you see it once more. The iridescent sphere swirls above you as the top of the room melts away. It pulses with a sickening glow as patterns pass over its surface like clouds in the sky. You realize detachedly that the sphere is crouching in a room that is at an exact 90-degree angle to your location—in fact, your ceiling is its wall.
Inside the sphere's churning depths, something new is taking shape. It pushes and prods at the sphere's surface, eager to be born. As the talons of one of its hands finally pierce through, you begin to weep. Without even checking, you know that they are tears of blood.
Chapter 5: Madness Within
Randi flicks on her flashlight and shines it around the room. The beam is almost instantly devoured by the blackness, with just enough of it escaping to illuminate your faces. The rest of the world has been consumed by the stygian night.
"It's so dark," she whispers, pressing closer to you.
"I've always been kind of afraid of the dark," you manage to reply, your eyes darting around you. The darkness bulges and slithers around you, sliding over itself as it slowly closes in like a noose. "You never know what could be in it. You never know what could happen to you if it overtakes you."
"It's growing so close," Randi whimpers, pressing against you. "What if it eats us?"
Samuel charges through you and Randi, and suddenly you find yourself standing in a submersible that could swallow the one you came down in whole without even a pause. Klaxons blare as water laps at your legs.
"Rodriguez!" Samuel cries. "Farris! Where are you? Where is anyone?"
"You let us die, Captain Smith," replies a chorus of voices. "You left us down here to drown. You abandoned us."
"No!" Samuel cries. "It's not true! I tried everything I could! I…"
Felicia runs through you. The house is burning. You hear screams all around you as flesh cooks.
"Mommy!" Felicia cries. "Daddy! Save me!"
Arthur backs through you, clutching his head. You are now surrounded by hundreds of monstrous, looming hands, each one pointing a finger accusingly at you.
"You're a failure, Weyland," the hands taunt. "You're a cheat and a fraud. You're dirty, Weyland. You cut your way to the top, and now we're going to bury you at the bottom."
"Leave me alone," Arthur mutters. "You don't know me! What? You're trying to tell me that you're so much cleaner than I am? Just LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Jared races through you, firing his pistol as he screams. A skittering wall of enormous, unbearable spiders is bearing down upon you. Each horrid beast has the face of a child or teenager, and each one has a pair of chelicerae groping for you from between their stretched, slavering lips. You notice in horror that every bullet makes them bigger.
Dr. Asimov backs through you, and everything disappears once more. Again, you are surrounded by inky black, but this time it's different. There's nothing squirming in the dark. There's no floor beneath you. There is only void.
"It is just as I feared," he whispers. "At the base of reality, there truly is nothing."
"No," Samuel says. "You're wrong. Look."
You see swirling, electric mists emerging out of the emptiness, like the churning surface of the sphere you saw previously. And then you see those shapes gathering together, coalescing into something that fills your heart with cold terror. Its snake-like lower body whips and writhes as two heads push up out of its vaguely human torso.
"This isn't real," Randi says. "It can't be. At least not yet."
"It looks pretty freaking real to me!" Arthur yells back.
"Listen to me!" Randi snaps. "We've been living in our greatest fears and worst memories, and the whole time we've been feeding that! We have to fight this thing! And I think the only way we can do that is to help each other!"
"That's the stupidest…" Arthur begins, but Dr. Asimov cuts him off.
"I think young Ms. Carter may be right," he says. "In the least, does anyone else have any better ideas?"
A variety of arms sprout out of the torso, most linked together by leathery swaths of skin. You realize it's growing a cowl. Or maybe wings. The nothingness begins to swirl around it, like a whirlpool.
"What do we do?" you ask.
"Close your eyes, everyone," Randi says. "Reject this reality. Push back to our world."
"And then what?" Dr. Armitage asks.
"We'll fight our inner demons together," Randi says.
Chapter Overview
You have clawed your way out of your nightmares, only to find that your inner demons have crawled out with you. To make matters even worse, there is something else pursuing you: the Madness Within. Now your team must kill the horrors that are plaguing each of you. Your personal inner demon is the monster directly below you in the Activation track: this monster is referred to as your "linked monster." When enough of them are killed, you'll be free. However, there's a catch: You can't save yourself from your own linked monster. Work together to slay your fellow investigators' inner demons, or you will all fall. What's more, only those investigators whose linked monsters have been conquered can engage the Madness Within. Now, look your demons in the face and fight!
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 1, 2, 3, 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29), using wall markers, flooded markers and spawn markers.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 1, 3, 17, 18, 24, 25, 27.
Devoured deck: 2, 26, 28, 29.
Special Setup
After choosing investigators during Step 2 of setup, each investigator chooses and places his/her matching figure in a different "Start" space.
When choosing monsters during Step 3 of setup, epic monsters cannot be used. After choosing monsters, place the chapter-specific Madness Within monster card at the end of the activation track. Do not shuffle the Madness Within spawn cards into the spawn deck.
Place the Madness Within monster figure in the marked space.
After setup, each investigator receives a pair of identical Identity Markers. Place one of them face up on his/her activation card, and give the other one face down to the next investigator in the activation track. The last investigator gives his/her Identity Marker to the first investigator in the activation track.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- Each investigator rolls 1 twelve-sided die. On a claw result, discard a success token from the face-down Identity Marker held by the investigator.
- Each investigator rolls 1 twelve-sided die. On a claw or eye result, discard a success token from the face-down Identity Marker held by the investigator.
- Each investigator rolls 1 twelve-sided die. On a claw, eye or tentacles result, discard a success token from the face-down Identity Marker held by the investigator.
Special Rules
Investigate Actions. The monster under an investigator's activation card is known as that investigator's linked monster. After an investigator kills another investigator's linked monster, if he/she holds that investigator's face-down Identity Marker, place X success tokens on it. X is equal to the killed monster's horror. If there are four or more success tokens on an Identity Marker, the investigator holding it may perform an Investigate action to flip the marker face up.
Investigators holding a face-up Identity Marker gain: "Investigate: Exchange Identity Markers with another investigator holding a face-up Identity Marker in your space."
Madness Within is activated after the last monster in the activation track.
Only an investigator holding his/her own face-up Identity Marker is able to attack Madness Within. Madness Within cannot take more than 1 wound during an attack action.
Winning
All investigators are holding their own face-up Identity Markers, and Madness Within has been killed.
The mad swirling maelstrom begins to crack as the throbbing, slithering horror within it bellows from both its mouths.
"It's getting close again," you say. "How much more do we have to do?"
"We're almost there," Randi says. "I can feel it."
You all take hands to form a circle and close your eyes.
The whirlpool of pure madness is drawing closer to you. You can feel the charge against your skin, the roiling in your guts. It whispers to you. Commands you to come to it. Screams inside your skull. You know that, if you looked at the approaching horror, you would see your face staring back at you, your skull hollowed out like a jack-o'-lantern.
The hideous aberration wails from both its mouths, and then it shatters. You open your eyes to look, just in time to see reality shatter with it. "NO!" you cry. It doesn't make any difference. You have all been through too much, and you're all too bone-weary to hold on. Your grip is wrenched free of your teammates, and you watch, helpless, as each one of your friends spirals away into the collecting mist. Shards of reality obscure your vision and, when they have finally passed by, you find that you are utterly alone.
"Hello?" you call, regaining your feet. There is no reply. A thick, almost gelatinous mist hangs in the air, curling around you as you take a tentative step into its depths. "Randi? Samuel? Felicia? Anyone?"
Then you see it. Or, rather, sense it. The same sphere that has plagued you, tantalized you, shimmers in your mind's eye. The mist seems to coalesce into its structure, an iridescent swirling mass of blues and reds and yellows and purples and greens. It calls to you. Beckons to you. With nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to, you turn to it.
Chapter 6: Lost in the Mist
The mist is all around you. There is no backward or forward, left or right. The only reason there is up and down is because there is still a floor under your feet.
"Samuel!" you cry. "Randi! Can anyone hear me?"
Tentatively, you step forward. The mist shifts and folds around you like a living thing, drawing in close enough to completely obscure your vision, but not close enough to do anything other than brush your skin. Shards of reality occasionally twirl or slide through the air around you, offering you glimpses of the facility before being absorbed once more into the mist.
You reach for one of these shards, but it slips away before you can grasp it. You stagger after the shard and the mist parts slightly before you, opening a wedge of clarity. It's almost as if the mist wants you to move in that direction. Like it's leading you that way.
"Arthur!" you call. "Felicia! Roman! Anyone!"
"They aren't here right now," a voice whispers. "But I am."
"Huh?" you gasp, whirling around. "Who's there? Where are you?"
"You are there. You are everywhere."
"Who are you?" you ask.
"I am you," the voice says. "And I am outside you. I am your conscious mind. I am this facility. I am microcosms. I am universes."
"What do you want from me?"
"You are stronger than most. So are your companions. We will be one. You will enter my depths."
Another sliver of reality floats past you. In it you can see Drake, his pistol raised as he slowly advances through the mist. "Jared!" you cry, darting your hand out toward the shard. Your fingers touch it, and instantly blood wells along your fingertips.
"Gah!" you cry, jerking your hand back.
"They cannot see you," the voice says. "And you cannot touch them. The only way for you to be reunited is in me."
"What are you?" you ask, bandaging your fingers.
"You already know," the voice says. "Now. Come to us. Come join yourself, and find clarity."
You see it then, throbbing once more in your mind. (Did it ever really leave?) The sphere spins ponderously in the air before you, a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of color and power and mind. It calls to you. It beckons you to come.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" you say.
"Choice is irrelevant across multiverses," the voice says. "Every action happens, and every action does not. You join me. You become us, and gain the lucidity of the cosmos. Or you wander endlessly in the mist, lost for eternity. Both will happen: which will be you?"
It is pulling you. Your feet begin to move forward of their own accord before your mind has even grasped your course. The attraction burns like a backdraft in your chest.
"Follow me," the voice says. "Come to us, and all of your questions will be made clear."
"How can I trust you?" you ask.
"Can you not trust yourself?" the voice replies.
You know the answer to that: not a chance. But what other option do you have? Taking a deep breath, you set out to find the sphere.
Chapter Overview
You and your team are lost in the shattered remnants of reality, fumbling in a mist that conceals where you're going and where you've been – as well as who you're with. As you proceed, new rooms will randomly reveal themselves, and old rooms will disappear behind you. Each person is being drawn, compelled, by an image of the strange, swirling sphere that is both burned into their brains and dangling before their eyes, coaxing them onward. You must find the room where the sphere is leading you to escape the mist and to be reunited with your teammates. When an investigator successfully finds the room, a portal will appear in the mist to help the other investigators escape as well.
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 30), using spawn markers.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Note: Room 30 only has one space.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.
Devoured deck: 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 30.
Special Setup
After choosing investigators during Step 2 of setup, each investigator randomly draws a room card from the devoured deck. Place his/her figure in the "Start" space of the corresponding room. Then shuffle the drawn cards back into the devoured deck. For games with 4 or 5 investigators, before shuffling, remove the room card(s) that are not drawn and their corresponding room tile(s) from the game.
After setup, each investigator receives two identical Exit Markers and three identical Trace Markers of the same color. Each investigator draws a room card from the room deck. He/she then receives the corresponding room tile with the devoured side face up, and chooses a space of the room in which to place one of his/her Exit Markers face down. Then shuffle the drawn room cards back into the room deck. The space that contains an investigator's Exit Marker is that investigator's exit from the mist.
Place all the remaining room tiles beside the game board. They will be used to assemble the game board during the game.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- No effect.
- During this round, each new room assembled to the game board is flooded. Place a flooded marker in each space of that room.
- During this round, after a new room is assembled to the game board, discard the top card of the spawn deck, and spawn 1 corresponding monster in the spawn space of that room.
Special Rules
Investigate Actions. Investigators in a space that contains a hatch on the edge of the game board (without a connected room tile) gain: "Investigate: Reveal the top card of the room deck, assemble the corresponding room tile to the board with at least one hatch connected to a hatch in your space and without overlapping with other room tiles. Devour this room and place the revealed room card on top of the devoured deck. Then, move your figure into the adjacent space in the new room (this is not a move action), and place a spare Trace Marker of yours in the new room."
Note: If you don't have a spare Trace Marker, you cannot perform the action above. If the room tile cannot be assembled to the board properly, place the revealed room card at the bottom of the room deck instead, and this action is wasted.
Note: When assembling a room tile to the board, you don't have to connect all the hatches. If a hatch is connected to the wall of another room tile, figures cannot move through it.
Investigate: Take back a Trace Marker of yours from a room tile without any monsters, investigators, or an Exit Marker in it. Then remove the room tile and its corresponding room card from the game. When you remove the room card from the devoured deck, do not disturb the order of the cards.
Investigators in a room that contains another investigator's Trace Marker gain: "Investigate: Replace another investigator's Trace Marker with one of your spare Trace Markers. That investigator takes back the replaced marker." A room tile can only contain one Trace Marker.
Investigators in the same space with their own face-down Exit Markers gain: "Investigate: Flip your Exit Marker face up. Then you may choose a space on the board and place your other Exit Marker in that space face up. These two spaces containing the same colored Exit Markers are treated as adjacent spaces without line of sight." Note: A room tile can only contain one Exit Marker.
Winning
Every investigator's Exit Marker has been flipped face up.
The hatch looms before you, seeming to tower above the shrinking corridor. Your heart hammers in your chest as the metal around you throbs. This is it. You're sure of it. You can feel the sphere burning on the other side of this door. It beats like your own breath, its image pulsing in your brain.
The mist curls away from you as you step up to the hatch, like a curtain parting to unveil the grand spectacle crouching behind it. Sweat soaks your skin, and you attempt to wipe it from your hand before reaching up and touching the hatch control. The hatch slides into the wall, and you step through.
You don't know what you expected, but it wasn't this.
Your fellow investigators step through their own doors into the gargantuan storage bay. You should all be overjoyed to see each other, but the sight before you is so jarring that it leeches the power from your reunion.
There are people in the bay. Maybe as many as a couple hundred. From their clothes and equipment, you can tell that these are the miners, workers, and bureaucrats who populated Kadath. You found them. Or most of them, at the very least. As one, every person in the massive room swivels around to stare at you and your teammates. The empty, hopeless eyes they turn on you chill you to the bone. You might have just made a very big mistake.
Chapter 7: The Horror Beneath
"What… is… this?" Samuel asks as he slowly steps into the room.
"But—this is impossible," Dr. Armitage says.
"They can't be here," Randi says. "Aren't they all dead?"
As your band clusters together, you all stare in shock at the bustling, jostling mass of people packed into the colossal space before you. Lightning snaps and crackles through the air, shaking the room, but still the people stare at you passively—almost expressionlessly. Some people shudder and then multiply, blurred mirror images of that person vibrating out into the air before they all snap back into the original body. The walls and ceiling, seemingly so far away, also shift. Sometimes they are pristine and clean steel, the next moment they are drenched in blood and entrails; later still, they begin shifting between a kaleidoscope of neon colors. The whole places rumbles, the metal squealing.
Drake sweeps his eyes over the room and the people, taking in every detail. "This isn't –"
"Welcome, friends," a voice booms, reverberating throughout the bay. You and your teammates flinch. The rest of the people in the room hardly bat an eye. They just shuffle about their business, conversing with each other in a low mumble as the walls writhe. "My name is Station Commander Terrence Wade. You have arrived just in time. Due to several unforeseen circumstances, we are currently being forced to evacuate Kadath Station. Please remain calm, and stay in this room. There should be enough space in the submersible upon its arrival for each of you to accompany us to the surface. Your help in maintaining an orderly atmosphere will be appreciated. We shall all depart shortly."
Looking each of your comrades in the eye, you register the same apprehension and unease in their faces that you feel. Glancing over your shoulder, you see the hatches through which you entered the room have now disappeared.
"None of this is real," Drake murmurs. "None of them are real. Their movements are off. Look at them. They're puppets on invisible strings."
"Then how the hell do we get out of here?" Dr. Armitage asks.
"Stay together," Samuel says. "Keep your eyes open, and hug the walls. Look for exits. Maybe we can still escape this in one piece."
Your group moves left with as much nonchalance as possible, approaching the walls without actually coming within arm's reach of them. The eyes of those in the crowd shift toward you as you approach. Once you've entered their immediate proximity though, the people largely seem to lose interest, talking in low tones amongst themselves as they cast furtive glances around the bay.
Someone clears his throat to your left. Swiveling toward the sound, you see a man crouched in a duct near the floor, his fingers wrapped through the grating that separates you.
"Shhh, shhh!" he says, putting a finger to his lips. "Don't draw their at-tention."
"Why on earth are you in there?" Arthur asks.
"Oh, your eyes, they're –" the man's emotions choke off his words. "You still have your souls, don't you? It's been so long. I've been trapped here, with them. I couldn't – I – I'd given up hope."
"Who are you?" Randi asks. "What's going on here?"
"My name's Edgar Kayce. I am… err, was, the lead engineer for this place. I built it. Me and my crew. Don't trust them. Any of them. They—they didn't see it, until it was too late. They wouldn't look. But I did. I saw. I watched it take them over one by one. I watched them succumb to the evil. To that… thing they pulled out of the water. Now it owns them. All of them. They're… possessed by it. But you're not. At least, not yet. I can tell. So, you're gonna help me. These people are never leaving Kadath. But I know a way. We can still get out of here, with our minds intact. Go down to the corridor up ahead on your left. When no one's watching you, go through the hatch, and come find me. We're getting out of here. We're gonna see the sun again. And this place be damned."
"Why in the world should we trust you?" Dr. Asimov asks. "As far as we know, you're one of them, too."
Edgar cracks a lopsided, hopeless grin. "What choice do you have? Do you really want to stay here with the hollow-eyed sycophants? Kadath Station's lost. This is your only chance." Then he disengages from the grate, and starts backing down the duct. "I'll get everything ready," he says. "Act like you belong here until you've made it down the corridor. I'm gonna get us out of here, even if it's too late for my people." With that, Edgar scrambles away into the duct's shifting shadows.
You approach the hatch Edgar directed you to, glancing furtively back at the Kadath residents. No one seems to be watching you. You tap the hatch control, and the door whooshes open. Hurrying through, you close the hatch behind you—and a man steps into the corridor not twenty feet ahead. He looks as startled to see you as you are to see him.
"Wha – Who are you?" the man demands. "Where're you going?"
"We could ask you the same thing," Arthur replies.
The man looks you up and down. "I don't recognize you," he says. "Did the corporation send you? Are you a rescue party?"
"We were sent down here to see what had happened to Kadath," Samuel says. "But we can't rescue anyone. We don't have a submersible any longer."
The man curses, his eyes on the ground. When he looks back up, his gaze is hard. Determined. "Okay then. If you were sent to help, then help. I'm Ronald Myers, the Chief Mining Operator for Kadath. We pulled something out of a fissure. A sphere. We brought it back here, and then everything went to hell. We need to get that thing back into the ocean and as far away from all of us as we can, but now Commander Wade has locked down the facility. I've gotten a few of us together, though. We're going to break into the room where the sphere is held and jettison that horror back into the ocean. If you want to get out of here alive, you'll help us."
"What do we have to do, Ronald?" Randi asks.
Ronald pulls up a map on his wrist unit and taps a room on the image it projects. "Meet me here. I have to gather a couple more guys, but then we'll all take that thing down. We're going to end this, once and for all."
Chapter Overview
You seem to have found many of the inhabitants of Kadath, though something seems alarmingly awry with them. However, several of the people still seem to be fighting against the sphere's pull, and are setting plans in motion to escape or attack. Protect these individuals and aid them on their missions. Perhaps you'll discover some of Kadath's buried secrets along the way.
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 24), using wall markers, hatch markers, spawn markers, the Edgar marker, Edgar's Objective, the Miner markers and the Miners' Objective.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 24.
Devoured deck: 1, 2, 4, 7, 16, 18.
Special Setup
After choosing monsters during Step 3 of setup, place the "Edgar Kayce" scenario card to the left of the first activation card in the activation track. Place the "Miners" scenario card at the end of the activation track.
Then place the remaining scenario cards face down beside the game board. They will be revealed during the game.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- No effect.
- If the "Preserving Humanity" scenario card has been revealed, skip the spawn phase. Otherwise, no effect.
Special Rules
Edgar is activated before the first activation card in the activation track. During the refresh phase, if Edgar is in the same space with his Objective Marker, reveal the "Friends and Family" scenario card and follow the instructions.
Miners are activated after the last monster in the activation track. Investigators determine the order of their activations. During the refresh phase, if all three Miners are in the same space with their Objective Marker, reveal the "Heroes of Kadath" scenario card and follow the instructions.
Edgar and the Miners are only treated as investigators during a monster's move action.
Note: Edgar and the Miners can be affected by monsters' trap.
Winning
The winning condition printed on the "Preserving Humanity" scenario card has been met.
Losing
A losing condition printed on a scenario card has been met.
Friends and Family
"Edgar?" Samuel says as the hatch slides into the wall. "Are you in here?"
Edgar is in the room. But something is very wrong. He looks up at you as tears streak his face. "You're too late. Mother and Warren beat you."
"Edgar?" Randi says calmly, quietly. "What do you mean Mother and Warren beat us?"
"No, Mother. No! They're real! You're not!" Edgar yells, squeezing his eyes shut as he presses his fists to his head. "You died! You both died!"
You see it then unfolding behind Edgar, pulling its flesh and sinew from his shadow, his body, and his mind. You stand, frozen in horror, as his mother towers over him, her long, skeletal fingers tenderly stroking his hair. As the abomination continues extracting her essence from the sobbing man she leans forward and embraces him, kissing him with the mass of writhing tentacles that spill from her mouth. Then the second mouth running the length of her stomach opens so wide, and, gently pulling her son backward, she bites Edgar in half. Edgar's legs jerk and flail as his upper torso slides into his mother's belly, his organs ripping and unraveling as his backbone is snapped in two. Then his mother hefts his lower half and swallows the rest of Edgar whole.
The second horror slides out of the ductwork overhead, landing with a wet slap on the metal floor. At first, it only looks like a drowned man. But then it begins to gurgle as it splits in two—right down the middle. It climbs to its feet and starts shambling toward you and your teammates, reaching with clammy, decomposing hands as its body knits together and splits apart at the whim of the bloody red and seaweed-green excretions inside it. When it finally reassembles, viscous black fluid erupts from its mouth with the power of a firehose, dousing the floor in deepening effluvial bile. This must be Warren.
Heroes of Kadath
There is no one in the corridor around you. No one waiting for you. No Ronald.
"Maybe they already went in," Arthur suggests.
"Of course," Dr. Asimov says. "And perhaps they're waiting inside with a lovely steak dinner."
Drake taps the hatch's pad, and the door opens. Inside you see Ronald's men, each one clutching his head as he vibrates into a blur. They all scream. Their shrieks echo out into the corridor.
"NO!" one cries. "We were so close. So close –"
Their bodies begin to split and stretch and warp.
"Ronald," another one manages. "Ronald, no! What did we do?"
Looking down at the floor, you see what he is talking about. Ronald's mutilated body lies sprawled in a pool of his own blood, one arm and half of a leg no longer attached to his body. There are axes scattered across the floor, each one coated in crimson.
The men turn to face you, but they aren't men anymore. Unleashing a spine-jerking squeal, they all advance toward you, vibrating occasionally in and out of existence.
Preserving Humanity
"Attention, investigation unit," a voice booms through the corridor. "This is Commander Wade. It has come to my attention that you did not follow my request and await further instructions. I don't blame you for this, but I also cannot allow you to proceed further. You must understand: Everyone in this station has been infected by what we discovered in that fissure. There are no exceptions to this–including yourselves. No one can leave Kadath. It is our duty to protect the surface world and to preserve the future of humanity. I trust you can understand this. And I hope you can forgive me for what I now have to do."
With that, you hear whirs and clanks all around you, and then an emergency siren begins to blare as red lights start flashing in the corridor.
"Oh, no," Arthur says. "No, no, no, no, no…"
"Attention," a female voice says. "Kadath Station has now entered emergency lockdown. All airlocks and pod-to-pod transportation have been temporarily disabled. Please remain calm."
That's when the squirming, writhing masses of hideous, aberrant horrors erupt out of the floor all around you.
Come and See
The grating is littered with the steaming, twitching corpses of the dead. How did you survive? Did you survive? Maybe you died when the submersible crashed into Kadath. Maybe you did something truly terrible in life, and this is actually Hell.
The com crackles in the ceiling above you. "Come and see what you have wrought," Wade's voice says, his tone defeated and yet dreamlike. "Down the corridor. Last hatch on the left." Then you hear a gunshot.
In trepidation, your harried, bloodied band advances until you reach the end of the corridor. The hatch opens, and you enter. Wade's body lies crumpled on the floor.
That's when you hear the chuckling.
As one you all swivel toward the sound as it is joined by a low, guttural muttering. Mechanically you each step forward, unable to stop yourselves from looking but terrified at what you'll see. There is a man sitting cross-legged on the ground, his back to you as he rocks manically back and forth. "I finally understand," he says. "I finally see! I see it! I see the sphere! It speaks!"
With movements at once stuttering and exaggerated, the man swivels around. How is he doing that without moving his legs? "I'm James Summerisle, the High Priest of the Golden Dawn Church," he says. He is facing you now. His eye sockets each contain a swirling black hole instead of an eyeball, and when he opens his mouth, his throat is the same. "The sphere speaks to me. And it says it wants you."
Chapter 8: The Substance of Terror
James Summerisle stands. As he does so, the churning black holes in his eyes and mouth join a vaster chasm that looms behind him. You look into that malevolent, stygian vortex, and feel the last of your hope drain away. There is nothing good in that grinding, swirling abyss. There is no light, no life. There is only despair and madness.
Tentacles, tendrils and death race across the ceiling, the walls, and the floor. You have seen rooms devoured by the evil in this place many times before, but this is with a speed and voracity that you have never previously witnessed. Vile flora sprout from the consoles, gnashing mouths full of little glistening teeth unfolding from their spongy, fungal masses. Fleshy sacks that look like enormous blisters afflict the walls, pulsing faster and faster before bursting and showering their surroundings in black bile. Clusters of faces spread like rashes in the room's corners, sobbing quietly to themselves as they multiply.
"What in the–behind us!" Arthur exclaims. Glancing back, you see the bodies of men and women coalescing on the floor, forming organs, bones, and muscle out of a milky, toxic ooze that seeps up through the holes in the metal grating. Commander Wade stands back up, swaying on his feet as the gunshot wound in his head seeps midnight red and curdled gray. The white putrescence curls up around his shoes, piercing the skin on his ankles.
Samuel puts his hand on your shoulder, pushing you backward. You follow his lead, slowly backpedaling from the room. The milk men begin twitching on the ground, their newly formed mouths opening as they gasp their first breath. As your team reaches the door, you see them stand up, turning toward you with jerky movements. The living pus begins to withdraw from their faces, and you are shocked to realize you recognize them.
"They're… the Kadath workers," Randi gasps.
"The poor bastards," Dr. Asimov says.
A hand grabs your arm, and you jump with a yelp. Looking back, you see Edgar standing behind you, his two halves haphazardly fusing back together. Looking into his eyes, you realize they are lifeless. Soulless. It sends a chill shivering down your spine.
"It still hurts where my mother bit me in half," Edgar says, his voice deadpan. "She chewed and chewed and chewed…"
"There is nowhere to run," Summerisle says, his voice booming in your ears. "Nowhere to hide. There is only the sphere." As he speaks he begins to float forward, his hands extended to either side. His feet drag across the floor, his toes bumping over the ridges in the grating.
"There are dozens of them down the corridor!" Dr. Armitage exclaims. "How're we going to get around them all?"
Summerisle reaches Wade. Wade emits a guttural moan, and then his body begins to fuse with Summerisle's. His skin grows tacky, almost liquid. As he drops to his knees, Summerisle's legs and waist meld into his head and torso. Summerisle pivots toward another person, absorbing her into his growing mass. Then he absorbs another. And another. With each one he grows in length and girth. He is beginning to look like a snake made of human bodies. Or a centipede.
"We are the substance of the communal sphere made flesh," Summerisle says. "The embodiment of its enlightened conscious realm. We are made perfect in its abyssal depths, brought together and purified in its purging furnace. We are the future of humanity, and the world."
A hand wraps around your ankle. Looking down, you see Ronald lying there staring up at you, the stumps of his missing limbs bleeding white ooze as new ones slowly grow out. "S-stop it," he mutters. "Kill it. Kill us. We're already lost."
Drake aims his pistol. "This one's for you, Ronald," he says. Then he opens fire.
"Run, everyone!" Samuel yells. "Empty everything you've got into that thing! God help us!"
Chapter Overview
The Substance has risen. A writhing amalgamation of Kadath's residents, Substance is actively absorbing each corrupted inhabitant of the facility, growing in strength and ferocity with each new meal. Can you escape the pull of its horrific insanity? Can you destroy it before it consumes you all? And what will happen if you do?
Game Board
Set up the game board as shown (rooms 1, 2, 9, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26, 28), using hatch markers and spawn markers.
Inhabitant Markers: Shuffle six differently colored identity markers. Randomly place one in each spawn space face up.
Shuffle all the devoured effect markers. Randomly reveal and place a devoured effect marker in each space of every devoured room, excluding spaces that already contain a spawn marker.
Room Deck and Devoured Deck
Room deck: 1, 19, 20, 23, 26, 28.
Devoured deck: 2, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24.
Special Setup
After choosing investigators during Step 2 of setup, each investigator chooses and places his/her figure in one of the two "Start" spaces.
When choosing monsters during Step 3 of setup, epic monsters cannot be used. Place the chapter-specific Substance monster card beside the game board. Do not place it in the activation track. Do not shuffle the Substance spawn cards into the spawn deck.
After choosing monsters, shuffle all six scenario cards for this chapter and place them in a row under each monster card in the activation track with their green sides face up. The green sides of the scenario cards are Inhabitant Cards. The red sides of the scenario cards are New Flesh Cards.
Devouring Track
Assemble the devouring track as shown.
Hazard Effects:
- Check each Inhabitant Card from left to right: If there are two or more success tokens on the Inhabitant Card, flip it to the New Flesh side. Place the Substance monster figure in the space that contains the corresponding Inhabitant Marker. Then place the marker on top of any other Inhabitant Markers already on the Substance monster card. If there's no Inhabitant Card with two or more success tokens on it, resolve the steps above on the first Inhabitant Card from the left.
- Resolve the hazard effect above. Each Inhabitant Card is treated as if there are two or more success tokens placed on it.
Special Rules
During the activation phase, each scenario card is activated after the monster card above it. If it is on its Inhabitant side, the corresponding Inhabitant Marker is activated. If it is on its New Flesh side, Substance is activated.
Inhabitant Markers are treated as monsters (maximum health 4). They are not affected by locked hatches (they move through the locked hatches directly), and they cannot be Slowed, Weakened, or Paralyzed. After an Inhabitant is killed, flip its marker face down and place a success token on its corresponding Inhabitant Card. If an Inhabitant Marker is face down at the beginning of its activation, then skip its activation. At the end of the round, flip all the face-down Inhabitant Markers face up.
Note: Investigators cannot attack face-down Inhabitant Markers.
After Substance is killed, remove the top Inhabitant Marker on its monster card and the corresponding New Flesh Card from the game. If there is still at least one Inhabitant Marker on the Substance monster card thereafter, immediately spawn Substance. Otherwise, return the Substance figure to the monster reserve.
Winning
All Inhabitant Markers and New Flesh Cards have been removed from the game.
There is nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to hide. Backing against the wall, you watch the thing slither toward you, its black vortex churning in its wake.
Collapsing to the ground, you watch it come. Others drop down around you, exhausted, bloodied, and hopeless.
"Don't give up!" Samuel cries. "We can stop it!"
"We've killed it so many times," Randi says. "How could once more possibly matter?"
"Well, if we are going to die, then at least I'm going to give that thing one hell of a hangover first," Drake says. Looking over at Samuel, he nods. Samuel nods back.
"Let's do this," Samuel says.
The two men unleash feral shouts and charge the squirming, wriggling horror, their guns blazing. The thing bellows from a multitude of mouths, sucking them both towards its eldritch oblivion.
"Oh, what's once more?" Dr. Asimov asks. "We can't let them have all the fun."
"I guess I did want to leave my mark on the world," Arthur says.
"They always said I would be a brilliant surgeon," Dr. Armitage smirks, revving her scalpel.
Regaining your feet, you all follow Samuel and Drake, fanning out around the thing. Blooms of red, black and white ichor erupt across its surface as you pelt it with everything you have left. The beast lets out a keening wail. And then it flops over on its side, erupting into a pool of white ooze, black fluid, and molten flesh. The portal behind it snaps closed.
"That never happened before," Randi says.
The dark growths that have overtaken the room begin to withdraw. As if being placed into rewind, they retreat from the area, leaving it stark and bright.
"Did we do it?" you ask through gasped breaths. "I think we did it!"
"Wait. What?" Dr. Armitage says.
"Where are…?" Arthur stutters.
"How did we get here?" you ask.
Samuel looks up. "No," he says, with his cross clutched in his fingers. "No!"
"It was… It was all an illusion?" Dr. Asimov asks. "But, it can't be…"
You are back in the large bay where you first saw the Kadath workers. The walls are no longer crawling and shifting. Now the place is sterile and clean, apart from some old, incriminating rust-colored stains spattered across the floors and smeared along the walls. There are no more people in it, either. But in place of Kadath's inhabitants, there is a new occupant in the center of the room.
Your jaw hanging slack, you point to it. "It's here," you gasp. "It was here all along."
Those who weren't facing it swivel around, and their gasps echo your own. The sphere towers before you, hovering one or two feet above the ground as it spins frenetically in midair. Its outer shell is translucent, and a chaotic mass of color and energy rages inside. Looking at it makes you want to scream. Staring at it compels you to touch it.
You watch lightning arc through the sphere as memories drift across its surface like clouds. Galaxies whirl through minds, and stars go supernova in a rush of consciousness. Still, it calls to you. Still, it beckons. Beings as vast as a cosmos and quantum civilizations swirl together and erupt in hails of frenzied particles, drenching infinite moments in tsunamis of manic hues. It is everything. It is you.
"It has been calling me for so long," you mutter. "I'm tired of running."
You take a lurching step toward the sphere. You barely hear your companions shouting to you. They are so far away from you now. Time and space stretch around you like taffy; your surroundings fade into an ethereal haze. There is only it. There is only you.
At long last, you touch the sphere, and it opens before you like a flower. Its secrets swallow you whole.
The sphere contains oceans. Oceans within oceans. With a choked whimper you plummet into those oceans, plunging downward, downward, into the sphere's limitless depths. Lost.
THE END