Last modified May 15, 2026 by Jarjar
WARNING: Spoiler
A report of a two-player session of the first scenario from the base game box (1st edition – 2016) of the game Arkham Horror, the card game. To help you get into the dark and oppressive atmosphere of this game, this scenario is intended as an excellent introduction to the universe and its main mechanics.
Over the past week, reports of physical altercations between residents, triggered by simple misunderstandings, have increased sharply. In addition, several townspeople have mysteriously disappeared. Their bodies were recently found in the woods, mutilated and partially eaten.
Detective Roland Banks (my friend Jeff) and I, Professor Harvey Walters, are meeting at my house. While we're talking in the study, strange sounds come from the living room. As one of us rushes over to investigate, the door to the room vanishes.
Having gathered enough clues, we finally cross the threshold of the study. We discover with horror that the floor of the house has literally given way to reveal a supernatural abyss, while the walls of my century-old home seem to have witnessed a ritual beyond comprehension.
From this abyss emerged the Ghoul-Priest. After a fierce battle, the anguish intensifies instead of subsiding. The Ghoul-Priest's corpse still lies at our feet, evaporating in a stench of sulfur and carrion, but his defeat is no victory.
Not far from the Ghoul Priest stood a woman, Lita Chantler; beneath her guise of a fugitive escaped from an asylum, she was in reality a monster hunter who had been tracking the Sect of the Undaunted for some time. Following the trail of mysterious disappearances and horrors plaguing Arkham, her investigation led her straight to my home. She had realized, long before we did, that my house had become the epicenter of ghoul activity.
According to her findings, a sect of cultists protects these creatures, which lurk in a network of tunnels buried beneath the city. For Lita, my home is no longer just a building; it's the epicenter of an infestation. The living room, in particular, now serves as a portal between our world and the abyss. Believing the wood and stone to be irrevocably "tainted," she maintains that burning it down is the only way to seal this entrance and destroy the monsters that dwell within. However, we strongly opposed this drastic solution.
We had until midnight that night to scour the city and flush out as many members of this dark sect as possible.
Unfortunately, the outcome is grim. Our mission was to neutralize six of these fanatics, either by recruiting them to our cause or eliminating them permanently. We exhausted ourselves hunting them down in the darkest corners of the city, but the results were meager: only one could be neutralized, while the other five still lurk in the shadows, unseen.
Despite our exhaustion, we finally discovered their place of worship. Against all odds, the five who had eluded us stood to block our path. Roland then had to resort to drastic measures: the crash of dynamite shattered the occult silence, offering me a slim chance to slip inside and interrupt Umordhoth's summoning.
But the ritual was already too far advanced. What emerged from the darkness was not of this world, and our weapons were mere toys against such an abomination. The creature slithered into the alleyways, carrying with it an unbearable stench of death.
So tonight, my friends, hunker down! Don't leave the light and scrutinize the blind spots of your garden… because an unspeakable creature is now crawling in the shadows of your neighborhood!
