Mansions of Madness

No-Keeper "Threat Deck" Variant

by kittenhoarder

*****
Story 2: The Inner Sanctum
 Scenario Sheet for Story 2:
The Inner Sanctum
Special Rules: Throughout this scenario, whenever Cultists move, they
move directly toward the center space of the Chapel instead of the nearest
investigator. If there is an investigator in the Chapel, Cultists will move
toward that investigator instead. Cultists will still attack if they end their
movement in a space with an investigator. All other monsters behave
normally.

Setup: Make sure to follow the setup instructions carefully and in order.

Set up the mansion according to the instructions in the Investigator Guide

for "Story 2: The Inner Sanctum." Each player chooses an investigator and
claims trait cards and starting items. This scenario is recommended for 4
investigators; each player may control multiple investigators without much
trouble. The difficulty will increase when playing with fewer than 4.
Follow all other instructions in the Investigator Guide, then choose a
player to read The Story So Far... aloud to the group.

Claim story choice marker 1C and Clue 1C for this story. Next, claim all
cards listed in the Keeper Guide for Story 2 (you may claim random clue
cards for each number except Clue 1). Exchange the Keeper Action cards
with the Threat Cards for this scenario, which should be shuffled into a
facedown pile. Exchange Startling Evidence with your choice of either
Sledgehammer or Nameless Cults.

Ignore any instructions in the Keeper Guide for seeding the mansion,
instead following the instructions listed below. When you are done, finish
setting up the game as normal.

1) Set aside all Nothing of Interest cards in their own faceup pile.
2) In a separate faceup pile, set aside De Vermis Mysteriis, Sedative,
Cult Robes, Brass Key, Magic Phrase, Password, and all Clue Cards.
After separating out the Lock and Obstacle cards, shuffle all
remaining Exploration cards into a facedown pile.
3) Randomly determine whether Clue 4 is in the Basement Landing or
the Secret Passage. If you chose Secret Passage, claim story choice
 marker 5A. Otherwise, claim story choice marker 5B. Seed Brass
Key, Clue 4, and Puzzlebox in the selected room. Seed a random
exploration card and Lockbox in the other room.
4) Shuffle Locked Cabinet with Short Circuit and seed them randomly
in the Bathroom and the Study. Shuffle together Magical Lock and
Dreadful Passage, seeding them randomly in the Basement Storage
and Chasm. Shuffle together Barred Entry and Runelocked Door,
seeding them randomly in the Ceremony Room and the Crypt.
5) Shuffle 3 Nothing of Interest cards into the remaining facedown
exploration cards, then seed random exploration cards in each room
that does not yet have any cards in it. You should have 1 random
facedown exploration card remaining. Return all remaining Nothing
of Interest cards to the box.

When choosing a paragraph to read aloud from the Keeper Guide, replace
the number 4A with 5A and 4B with 5B. Refer to your claimed story
choice marker.

Clue Cards: During play, whenever you discover a Clue Card during
Exploration, ignore all text printed on the card. Refer to this list instead.

Clue 4: Reveal the Obstacle cards in the Bathroom and Study. If the
Locked Cabinet is in the Study, claim story choice marker 4A. Otherwise,
claim story choice marker 4B. Read the appropriate passage aloud:

(4A) Inside the box, you find a simple brass key and a tightly folded piece
of paper. You squint in the dim light of the room to read the note: "They
still have not let me near the inner sanctum, but I WILL make it inside.
Some research will lead you to the trail I laid. – Marie"

(4B) The box is filled with hundreds of white maggots. Startled, you drop it
on the hard dirt floor. To your surprise, a small brass key spills out of the
bugs. The clock strikes 11 and the ancient plumbing begins to rattle. The
witching hour draws near.

Clue 3: Reveal the Lock cards in the Basement Storage and Chasm. If the
Magical Lock is in the Basement Storage, claim story choice marker 3A.
Otherwise, claim story choice marker 3B. Read the approprate passage
aloud:

(3A) Inside the cabinet lies nothing but cobwebs and a weathered leather
tome entitled Packrat's Handbook. You flip through the book to find every
page blank except for one handwritten passage on the last page.

(3B) You notice the skeletal remains of a man in full cult garb chained up
in the corner. He clutches a small scroll in his cold dead hand. The note
contains a short poem entitled "Bridge over Darkness."

Clue 2: Place a ladder marker in your space. Reveal the Lock cards in the
Ceremony Room and Crypt. If the Barred Entry is in the Ceremony Room,
claim story choice marker 2A. Otherwise, claim story choice marker 2B.
Read the approprate passage aloud:

(2A) The room at first appears empty. Then you remember Marie's favorite
hiding space and find a note taped behind the door hinge. "So much blood
spills in the inner sanctum! Tell the guard running the ceremony: 'non
omnis moriar.' Proceed with caution, my friend. – Marie"

(2B) A hooded figure sits in the corner of the room. His raspy voice
beckons to you: "Do not fear me. Marie sent me to assist. You are so close
to stopping them, but you must move quickly to where the dead live. This
password should get you past the guards."

Clue 1: Make sure that you are holding Clue 1C. Read the card aloud and
reveal the Objective.

Lock and Obstacle Cards: During play, if you reveal the following
Lock or Obstacle Cards for any reason, follow these steps immediately.
Lock and Obstacle Cards can either be revealed as a result of discovering a
Clue Card or attempting to move into (for Locks) or Explore (for
Obstacles) that room.

Barred Entry: Bury Clue 1C in this room.

Dreadful Passage: Bury the Sedative in this room.

Locked Cabinet: Bury the Magic Phrase and Clue 3 in this room.

Magical Lock: Bury the Password and Clue 2 in this room.

Runelocked Door: Bury De Vermis Mysteriis in this room.

Short Circuit: Bury the final random exploration card in this room.
Final Objective: If the Objective is revealed for any reason, remove the
Threat Cards "The Mansion Strikes!", "The Mansion Holds its Breath" and
"Taking its Toll" from the game, then read the following passage aloud:

The cultists moan and chant as they gather in the chapel for their dark
ritual. You realise too late that you have been lured into a trap, and the
cultists intend to make you a part of their cult—either as an initiate or as
fodder for the vile creatures that fill this dank monastery. The revelation
drives you to the brink of insanity. You must get Marie out of this place.
With the hypnotic chanting ringing in your ears, you head for the chapel.

The investigators can only win if all surviving investigators are gathered in
the start space and the investigator carrying Clue 1C escapes from the
Chapel. Clue 1C is considered an equipment card and can be dropped and
traded. The investigators lose if all investigators are killed or the final
Event card is drawn.

At the beginning of each Keeper Turn after the objective is revealed, if

there are 4 or more Cultists in the Chapel, kill all Cultists in the Chapel
and spawn a named Cthonian ("the Cthonian") in the Chapel's center
space. The investigators cannot escape from the Chapel while the
Chthonian is in play. After the Cthonian is killed, remove all Cthonian
figures from the game.

At the end of each Threat Step after the objective is revealed, each
investigator, beginning with the investigator with fewest remaining sanity,
must test X, where X is double the number of cultists in the room
containing the most cultists. Add the investigator's remaining sanity to the
result of the roll. On a pass, that investigator is killed and replaced by a
Cultist, and each other investigator in the same room takes 1 horror.

Epilogue: At the end of the game, if the investigators won, read the
following aloud:

You escape with Marie's unconscious form over your shoulder.

Unfortunately, she never awakens from her coma. The horrors she
witnessed within the Inner Sanctum must have been too much for even her
brilliant mind to endure.
If the investigators lost, read the following instead:

The chanting grows louder. Your free will fades away as you put on a robe.
You have failed—failed Marie and, most likely, failed the world. You may
have disrupted the ritual this month...but there is always the next.

(Clue Card flavor text from Fantasy Flight Games. Objective flavor text by
BGG user RedMonkeyBoy, slightly altered by me. Epilogue and threat
card text is my own creation.)
 Threat Cards for Story 2:
The Inner Sanctum
The Mansion Holds its Breath The Mansion Strikes! Taking its Toll
The silence was not comforting. I It was this moment that I was to pay After a while, the blood and bruises all
couldn't help feeling that it spelled my for all my sins. start getting to you...
doom.
IF "The Mansion Holds its Breath" IF " there are any investigators who
Nothing happens this turn, is in the discard pile... have taken 1 or more damage and do
except you feel a vague sense of Place a threat token on the Threat not have an injury card...
OR there are any investigators who
unease.... Deck. Next Keeper Turn, discard
have 5 or fewer remaining health and
the threat token and draw and do not have a serious injury card...
resolve 2 Threat Cards. Each investigator takes an injury or
serious injury card according to his
OTHERWISE... damage level, if he does not have one
Search the Threat Deck for "The already.
Mansion Holds its Breath and
discard it. Shuffle this card back OTHERWISE...
Each investigator draws a facedown
into the Threat Deck.
Mythos card, resolving it at the start of
his nex t turn.

Maddening Noises Unholy Congregation Quickening Steps

The sounds in that place—scratching,
banging, whispers in an unknown tongue—
were enough to drive anyone quite mad.
IF " there are any investigators who
have 5 or fewer remaining sanity...
OR there are any investigators who
have 0 remaining sanity...
Each investigator takes an insanity or
severe insanity card according to his
sanity level, if he does not already have
one.
OTHERWISE...
Each investigator takes 1 horror, plus
an additional horror for each monster
in his room. If you share a room with
another investigator, just take 1 horror.
Ever more robed figures poured from
the darkened halls, seemingly oblivious
to my presence.
Spawn 1 Cultist per investigator at
the single altar closest to an
investigator. If you run out of
cultist figures, spawn the
remaining Cultists as Zombies.
The sounds of chanting and shuffling
feet were becoming unbearable.
IF " there are 4 or more cultist
figures in play...
Each Cultist in the Chapel heals 1
damage, then each other Cultist
moves 1 space toward the Chapel.
OTHERWISE...
Spawn 1 Cultist per investigator at
the single altar closest to an
investigator. If you run out of
cultist figures, kill existing
Cultists, beginning with the ones
who have taken the most damage.

Dark Mass Release the Hounds Beastly Violence

Their dark ritual came to a head.
IF " there are 3 or more cultist
figures in the Chapel...
Kill any 3 Cultists in the Chapel,
then spawn a Shoggoth in the
Chapel's center space. Fully heal
any remaining Cultists in the
Chapel.
It was as though space and time were Their savagery was, in a word,
being ravaged in their wake. inhuman.
IF " there are 2 or more cultist IF there are any Beast or Eldritch
figures occupying the same room... monsters in play...
Kill any 2 Cultists that share the Each non-Cultist monster moves 1
same room, replacing them with a space toward the nearest
Hound of Tindalos. Repeat if there investigator and attacks, if
are 3 or more investigators in play. possible..

OTHERWISE... OTHERWISE... OTHERWISE...

Move all Cultists in play directly to
the Chapel. If no Cultists in play,
each investigator in the Chapel or a
room containing an altar takes 2
horror.
Each monster in play heals 1
damage and moves 1 space. If no
monsters in play, discard this
Threat Card and draw again.
Each investigator who shares a
room with a Cultist takes 1
damage and 1 horror. If no Cultists
in play, discard this Threat Card
and draw again.