Wendy hates neutrality (and yet defeated Umôrdhoth!)

Usually i refrain from publishing my own decks, as they are seldom an inspiration for other players, because i have a strange addiction to jank. So i picked Wendy, because most people would agree that she's the weakest solo character of all investigators. To make things worse, i played Night of the Zealot with her - without using any neutral cards! Yes, you heard me right, no Flashlights and none of these powerful skill test boosters! I hope to demonstrate that she is powerful with her events, even if i do not find her Amulet in time. I am no lunatic, so i will stay at standard difficulty. Now that have WON the campaign, i can tell you that i needed 7 retrys/extra lives, all for the last scenario. First and second went well, in the third i initially hoped to win by gaining clues - and wasted 4 trys until i realized the impossibilty of my mission. 2 more trys until my deck was tuned for the Devourer... have fun reading of Wendy's adventure!

Spoilers ahead!

First scenario - The Gathering

Wendy has always been frightened of clocks, since they reminded her of her time in the orphanage, where the staff put a tight schedule on all residents: Getting up at the crack of dawn, personal hygiene, attending morning prayer, breakfast, work, short break, work, lunch, running stupid errant jobs, WORK, break, evening prayer, bedtime. She should have fled there on the very first day of imprisonment! Right now, she left all that behind. She found her way into a deserted flat and grabbed a newspaper from a tray which keeps her occupied for once. She loves yellow press, but gets interrupted by some really eerie sounds - or is it chanting? - and when she looks up from her tabloid, she can't believe what has happened to this room. Wendy is not that kind of character who thinks things through before acting, she just leaps out of the sofa and searches the room twice. Of course, the exit is at the least likely spot. She stands at the trap door for a felt eternity and mentally prepares for the evils lurking below. All the while a haze enshrouds the study and an ice ghoul would have digged up into the cellar - if Wendy knew about such a location. When she finally moves, she does so with unprecedented speed: she dodges through the former study door and moves on to the attic. There she finds a clue, thanks to an article about steam saunas she has just read. She feels it is the right time to take that old batter out of the moving box and, with a sigh, puts down the tabloid. A further search reveals that barrel she could use in the cellar. But, alas, there is a monstrosity with fangs hiding behind it! Terrified, Wendy swings her bat against it in mid-air - and kills it with the first swing! Completely shocked from her own success, she drops the baseball bat and flees the attic. The other door leads into the cellar. No enemies, but also no ice pickles there, that's no good! Her hands shake and freeze with piercing cold while she is gathering snow to put it into the barrel. One try in vain, another .... she wouldn't stand another failure, so she relys on her luck for which she is rumored for. Behind a corner she notices a barrel which is normally used to wash laundry. And it is filled with icey water! Whooah! Too bad no one can see how quickly she found all items she needs. She feels that time is sparse - her guts tells her to keep acting! When the first rat creeps out of a hole in the floor, she does not think with her brain but with her feet and hurries back to the corridor where the fiery barrier blocks her path. A few seconds later the barrier is gone - only to be replaced by an intimidating ghoul boss in robes and a rat swarm in his trail. Piqued by her emerging panic, she somehow backstabs the priest, evades him and finishes him off with a rather unpleasant move she must have read in a really dirty penny dreadful. The way is open to finally leave the house and to polish off this weirdo cultist woman who is responsible for Wendy being trapped in that madhouse!

Second scenario - The Midnight Masks

Wendy closes her ears against Leeta's pleas. She feels sick, her head is spinning and scenes of the escape from the house suddenly return to her like shooting stars on a blank night sky. Unwilling to succumb to the shock, she remins herself of her own capability - she is unbeatable as long as she works on her own! Grabbing her lucky charm with both of her hands steadies her mood - but only one second after they go stone-cold: her look got hold of a Hunting Shadow with a long knife lurking behind the corner of an adjacent house. Her instinct screams at her to run, but her knees are mellow like pudding and she loses some of her sanity. Out of instinct she takes long, deep breaths and grabs a resource nearby. When her heartbeat comes back to normal she investigates her surroundings twice, but does not succeed in obtaining any clues. As a small compensation, she receives some insight from her rabbit's foot. Perhaps, if the thought had come to her one second earlier, she would have noticed the shadow above her. But, as it goes, she is lifted into the air by a horrible winged nightmare and transported to the docks against her will. This flight gnaws at her health and Wendy loses it. She cowers in fetal position and cries uncontrollable, she has never been so horrified since her mother was taken away from her! Her mother's spirit protects her still, though, no one arrives to press home an advantage on this lonesome wench. Over minutes, the seizures ebb away and Wendy returns to her investigation. She finds her first clue, moves to the Southside and investigates again. No success, but she confidently rubs her rabbit's foot - but - NO! It was not what she expected to be! - Back at the orphanage, someone has told her about some buddy called Murphy and his law. She felt that she was deep in the cesspit. - Thoughts of a clock ticking with the volume of steel hammers hitting an anvil fill her mind and hurt her, again, for an eternity. Meanwhile, an Acolyte emerges at St. Mary's. Hard to believe that Wendy recovers from this streak of bad luck, but she is of tough stock! She even manages to gather a valuable clue... only to lose it instantly again. She has lost so much time and feels like she has achieved nothing so far! Being a hothead, she sprints to the hospital, draws her Switchblade and silently jabs down the Acolyte. With her last breath she asks the doctors to patch her up. Safety is just an illusion, her nemesis has found her! A misshapen human-dragon-mosquito enters her sick room and prepares for the attack! Wendy barely manages to wind out of it's grip and slashes at the nightgaunt's back. Another prick cracks the carcass and Wendy is free again! But there remains that feeling of urgency. Her instinct yells at her to protect herself, and Wendy obeys: in a secret compartment under the sole of her shoe she always carries an object that is more valuable than her own life, perhaps more valuable than a hundred lives to some people. When she takes out her mother's amulet, she feels a wave of magical energy running through her body. Whatever comes, may come now! Her actions could not have been timed any better! Following the nightgaunt she just killed stands a man in the doorframe. A lean man with a golden goat mask and two extraordinary blades in both of his hands. He is a reaper, Wendy knows at first sight. Casually, he strolls towards her small frame. He does not underestimate her skills, but he is not likely to give her a long fight either. A Crypt Chill clutches Wendy's heart and she drops the Switchblade! Gaze fixed on her, the man closes in for the kill... Not anticipating supernatural powers, he is completely taken by surprise when Wendy plays another Switchblade and repeats the same moves on him with the same perfect timing she had when killing his predecessor. He takes the blow and, despite him being heavily wounded, pursuits weasel Wendy with admirable resilience. But skill is no match against luck, and so he is being outdistanced and stabbed to death. Wendy celebrates her first big hit! Fate has it that at the same moment a door becomes locked somewhere in the distance. Wendy could not care less, she does not notice her luck working for her when she investigates the corpses and finds her second clue in the sick room! With it, she is able to identify a member of this cult. Her name is Victoria Devereux and her whereabouts is probably not too far from here. Wendy moves into her direction and lands in the Miskatonic University while an Acolyte spawns at the Northside. Without gauging her chances, Wendy starts an investigation attempt at the university - failure. Curiously, she tries another attempt - and jubilates as a fellow investigator, Rex Murphy, shares his knowlegde about the cult with her. She gains four clues at once! Relieved, she gathers a resource and joyously leans back. Sadly, she got her hopes up too soon, a well-known shadow takes hold of her and carries Wendy back to the docks. Wishy-washy about pursuing Ms. Devereux or discovering the whereabouts of two other cultists, Wendy decides to give up her clues for knowledge. She finds out about a "Wolf-Man" and a gravedigger who belong to the cult. Sensing danger, she asks her brave friend Peter to accompany her to the graveyard. On the way to the site a Crypt Chill sweeps over the couple, but no harm is done. Entering the gravedigger's creepy hut takes a toll on Pete, he shudders in horror. Wendy has no eyes for her friend, she has to pull all her wits together to convince this stubborn hermit. When she cracks an unholy joke, the ice breaks and the deal is sealed! No time to lose, Pete and Wendy run through the docks, where an Obscuring Fog sets in. Onwards, to the Northside via Miskatonic University. Ms. Devereux and the Acolyte interrupt their colloquy and both turn towards Wendy on approach. Wendy intuitively shows her riches to Ms. Victoria Devereux and the greedy bitch is quickly convinced to leave the cult's cause. Curtly before the curtain drops and the church bells ring twelve, the Acolyte gets a lonely punch on Wendy and another Acolyte spawns in the Easttown. With more than a pinch of luck Wendy survived, again, and even managed to interrogate three cultists! Babonga!

Last scenario - The Devourer Below

Wendy found out about the cult's dark ritual which was going to take place tonight in the Arkham Woods. Like a neverending nightmare, thoughts of utter failure chaperoned her on her walk to the woods. Six times she got killed - eaten by ghouls, torn to pieces by a giant, burned on a stake by cultists - forebodings of obliteration! At the time she arrives at the main junction, she has made up her mind. She has a plan! A mission with the flavor of suicide, but her only chance to save her soul! If she sticks to this plan solely and makes the most out of her newly aquired skills, she will perhaps live long enough to tell her story. Wendy leaves the main path shortly after her arrival and enters any path that leads deeper into the woods. There she makes herself comfortable and starts to meditate. She swerves the Grasping Hands without losing her concentration, focusses on her loneliness and picking up a wooden cudgel from the ground. Meanwhile the dark Agenda advances and a dark voice roams through the main path. An Acolyte appears somewhere else. Wendy distracts herself with gathering resources and equipping her Leather Coat. Ancient Evils let the doom track advance once more. Wendy still seems to have better things on her mind, she still searches for resources. The ritualistic chanting could be heard everywhere now, Wendy commits her willpower to a test of bravery, while a Ghoul Minion digs his way up, right between Wendy's feet! It takes her one blow to crack his skull, but indifferent, she is lost in thoughts again one moment after. Ancient Evils come and go. Wendy meditates even more frantically. For a very short moment, her trance is broken when her gaze meets the ghoul's corpse, she takes one horror. And again, she meditates for a long time. She must know that the ritual is completed - the chanting of Umôrdhoth's name ceases and the temperature decreases uninvitingly. Again, hands from below try to grab her ankles. Wendy knows that, for her plan to work out, she can not take any more damage, so she concentrates on sidestepping. She feels excited, the end is near! She braces herself for the inevitable, the hard years have worked her over. She can hear Umôrdhoth entering the main junction now. Ancient Evils appear and disappear again. Wendy sees the wrathful monster flailing at tree trunks and bending them over, but yet, she stands still like a rock. Only in the very last moment she draws a flare, which calls Peter Sylvestre at her side. Her ally takes the a big part of the horror, so Wendy is mostly hurt physically. At this point, the battle takes a turn. Wendy's rallied irateness discharges in a quick succession of attacks: Backstab, Backstab and a demolishing hit with the cudgel! But all that is still not enough to bring down an Ancient One - Umôrdhoth attacks for a second time, this time killing Peter and crippling Wendy, she is close to her death! Oh no! Wendy shudders as she looks down at her own heavily battered body. Putting inhuman strength into this final battle of will, she accurately stays put - and survives with one hit point left. She boosts her basey attack to the max - and delivers the final blow to the unearthly giant, just seconds before her own world fades into blackness.

10 XP earned: for defeating Umôrdhoth. I guess this Wendy will retire now. 2 mental and 2 physical traumata may be a good deal for saving Arkham, but Wendy is definitely burned out. But she left her mark on this world: it is possible to win without using neutral cards!