Tormented by Nightmares (A Touch of Evil)

Story of Liliana, Lost Soul comes to close, and I finally get to clean up the mess that was A Touch of Evil in the corner.

I didn't play a random villain, since I noticed how fitting Dreamweaver could be for the "storyline". I played the Master Hunter difficulty, so at the start of all Mystery Rounds I rolled the cooperative mystery chart.

I wasn't sure how rules interacted, since there was a "must" to use lowest score in any of the attributes against Dreamweaver, but Liliana had the rule of always using Spirit in combat. Her rule was written so differently from any other so I guessed that Liliana would be able to use Spirit anyway. That was, too, because Combat: 0 (from Devil's Mark from previous game) wouldn't make for a very exciting game. Maybe Liliana is just so disturbed young kid that her seeking of vengeance overrides even her worst nightmares.

This time there wasn't such a coherent story going on, at least not in such a way that was apparent in last game. This time maybe there was no Villain at all, and game was about Liliana succumbing to madness and delusions by trying to stay awake and not confront her nightmares.

She fought heroically against her inner demons - Sandmen and Shadow Beasts. She was Knocked Out a couple of times by these minions, but never without destroying the evil. Same went on with Timber Wolves and whatever was drawn out of corner locations.

First area Liliana visited was Olde Woods, and first card encountered was Waking Dreams. What a fitting card for Dreamweaver. Thanks to that card, however, when Liliana started her second turn, Shadow Track had already dropped to next stage!

Thankfully Shadow Track had a little pause then, though lots of nasty (but not crippling) Remains in Play cards were drawn. Liliana spent much of her time Knocked Out, because Dreamweaver attacks seemed to come out like 80% of the time. After the small pause Shadow Track started dropping at an alarming rate, thanks to Hour is Late card and whatnot. Evil is on the move card was also in play, meaning that whenever Liliana tried to start a showdown, on a roll of 5+ there was no showdown. To me that sounds like Liliana was chasing ghosts that never really existed.

During game Liliana found out why they probably got into a fight with Lady Hanbrook earlier, and why she survived the mortal wound: Lady Hanbrook was, in fact, a werewolf. Because Lady Hanbrook had such abysmal Honor value, Liliana really had to just try and start a showdown, or she'd spent rest of the game Knocked Out thanks to Dreamweaver attack and werewolf attacks from Lady Hanbrook.

Liliana had tons and tons of investigation points. She was probably very convinced that the source of her - and whole village's - anxiety was at barracks. She got there, paid her investigation poins and... Nothing. 'Evil is on the move' kicked in. But... surely there must be some evil villain out there? Something is causing these nightmares and murders and everything... Evil must have left the barracks, but by now it can't be farther than in Crossroads! (A new Lair card)

A dreadful fog had been around for ages, and standing on the Beach Liliana needed at least a 3 to get to crossroads and start a desperate final battle with a foe that never existed in the first place. Roll for movement was 2, and Shadow Track was at 1. And since Hour is Late card was a guaranteed drop in Shadow Track every turn, the game ended.

No-one believed there was any real reason why everyone was feeling so bad. Lastly not even Liliana believed in it any more. Everyone had fallen to depression and indifference. The town of Shadowbrook had turned into modern society.