Red tide rising

Red Tide Rising is a special challenge scenario for Arkham Horror: The Card Game designed to be played with Wendy Adams. This scenario can be played as either a standalone scenario or as a side-story inserted into any campaign. In order to play this scenario, a copy of the Arkham Horror: The Card Game Core Set and The Innsmouth Conspiracy Deluxe Expansion are required.

Parallel Investigators

Parallel investigators are alternate, print-and-play versions of investigators from existing Arkham Horror: The Card Game products. These investigators,along with their advanced signature cards, are fully playable in any scenario or campaign.
Æ When building a Wendy Adams deck, you may choose whether to use the original version or the parallel version of both her front side and her back side. Each version has its own advantages and disadvantages.
You can also mix and match the two versions. This means that you can use both original sides, both parallel sides, the original front side and parallel back side, or the parallel front side and original back side.
Æ Regardless of which version of Wendy you use, you may also optionally upgrade Wendy’s signature cards to her new advanced signature cards (replacing the original versions). These versions are indicated by the Advanced keyword on both signature cards. These are included only as a set—if you choose to upgrade Wendy’s Amulet, you must also upgrade Abandoned and Alone. Doing so costs no experience, and may be done at any point during a campaign. However, once this upgrade is made, it cannot be undone unless you are instructed otherwise.

Challenge Scenarios

Challenge scenarios are special print-and-play scenarios that utilize existing products in the Arkham Horror: The Card Game collection, along with additional print-and-play cards, to create new content. These scenarios are designed with certain prerequisites in mind, in order to craft a challenging puzzle-like experience.
The Red Tide Rising challenge scenario centers around the investigator Wendy Adams, and therefore has the following prerequisite:
Æ Wendy Adams must be chosen as one of the investigators when playing this scenario.

Standalone Mode

When played as a standalone scenario, follow the steps for Standalone Mode in the Rules Reference. Refer to the section below for additional setup instructions. When played as a standalone scenario, Red Tide Rising has four difficulty modes. Construct the chaos bag with the following tokens:

Side-story (Campaign Mode)

A side-story is a scenario that may be played between any two scenarios of an Arkham Horror: The Card Game campaign. Playing a side-story costs each investigator in the campaign a certain amount of experience. Weaknesses, trauma, experience, and rewards granted by playing a side-story stay with the
investigators for the remainder of the campaign. Each side‑story may only be played once per campaign.
When this scenario is played as a side-story during a campaign, play it as if you are setting up the next scenario in the campaign, with the same chaos bag, weaknesses, trauma, and story assets previously earned.
Playing the Red Tide Rising side‑story costs Wendy Adams 3 experience, and each other investigator only 1 experience.

Expansion Symbol

The cards in the “parallel investigator” series can be identified by this symbol before each card’s collector number.

Challenge Scenario: Red Tide Rising

People don’t care about the ones who get left behind. That’s the first thing you learned on the street, after you left the orphanage. You’ve had to fend for yourself, do whatever you can to scrape by. So far, with just your wits and the amulet Mama left you before they took her away, you’ve managed to survive. Occasionally,
someone will show some compassion and throw a coin or two into your cup. One glorious morning, a nice lady leaving Velma’s gave you her leftover sausage and eggs. But for the most part, you’ve only had yourself to rely on. The other street rats might be in the same boat as you, but you would hesitate to call any of them friends, save for maybe James, and that is a stretch. No—hunger, loneliness, boredom, and doubt are your best and only friends. And despite all that, it’s still somehow better than the orphanage.
Then the fateful day arrived. It began like any other, with you and James working your way through Rivertown, “collecting” anything you might be able to sell to Oliver Thomas. The rest would surely go to Marvin’s gang—a bunch of street kids who banded together to bully the rest—but there is one trinket among your earnings that sparks your eye: a photograph. Not just any photograph, but one of your father.
It is unmistakable. There is no doubt in your mind. In the photo, your father stands in front of a building you don’t recognize. The sign behind him looks to be in a different language, so probably someplace far, far away. There’s no way of telling how recently the photo was taken. It is worn, dirty, and nicked in several places.
You turn it over and there, scrawled in familiar handwriting, you read: “Soon the Red Tide rises. Stay safe, my little girl.”
You beg James to tell you where the photo came from, and he claims a man in a long wool coat and a dark brown derby dropped it in your cup sometime before you ran into Marvin’s gang. You set off at once, asking around to find the man in the derby.
Your only lead is that he hopped on a bus near Easttown. The decrepit, unmarked bus that runs to the harbor town of Innsmouth. You scrounge up as many coins as you can and board the only bus to the old, forsaken seaport. If Dad is still out there,
you have to find him. You have to!

Proceed to Setup.

Scenario Setup

Æ Gather all cards from the following encounter sets: Red Tide Rising, The Vanishing of Elina Harper, Agents of Dagon, Fog over Innsmouth, The Locals, Chilling Cold, Locked Doors, Nightgaunts, and The Midnight Masks. These sets are indicated by the following icons:
When gathering The Midnight Masks encounter set, only gather the five treachery cards (2x False Lead and 3x Hunting Shadow). Do not gather any of the other cards from that encounter set.
Æ Remove the scenario reference card from the The Vanishing of Elina Harper encounter set from the game. Use the new scenario reference card provided in the Red Tide Rising encounter set.
Æ Remove all of the acts and agendas from The Vanishing of Elina Harper encounter set from the game. Build the act and agenda decks using only the new act and agenda cards provided in the Red Tide Rising encounter set.
Æ Put the following locations into play: Innsmouth Square, Marsh Refinery,
Innsmouth Harbour, Fish Street Bridge, First National Grocery, Gilman House, and The Little Bookshop.
Æ Prepare the Leads deck. This is done by performing the following steps:
= Find the 6 unique enemies with the Suspect trait and the 6 single‑sided locations with the Hideout trait.
= Shuffle these 12 cards together to form a deck. This deck is called the Leads deck. Place it near the scenario reference card.
Æ Draw the top card of the Leads deck, resolving its revelation ability.
= If it is a location, Wendy Adams begins play at that location.
= If it is an enemy, Wendy Adams begins play at that enemy’s location.
= Each other investigator begins play at Innsmouth Square.
Æ Set each of the following Monster enemies aside, out of play: Winged One and both copies of Hunting Nightgaunt.
Æ Set Angry Mob aside, out of play (can be found on the other side of the Finding Agent Harper reference card).
Æ Depending on the number of investigators (treat the number of investigators as 1 higher if playing Hard difficulty, and 2 higher if playing Expert):
= If there is only 1 investigator, no change is made.
= If there are 2 investigators, begin with 1 doom on agenda 1.
= If there are 3 investigators, begin with 2 doom on agenda 1.
= If there are 4 investigators, shuffle 1 random set-aside Monster enemy into the Leads deck.
= If there are 5 investigators (but not really), shuffle 1 random set-aside Monster enemy into the Leads deck and begin with 1 doom on agenda 1.
= If there are 6 investigators (but not really), shuffle 1 random set-aside Monster enemy into the Leads deck and begin with 2 doom on agenda 1.
Æ Remove the Thomas Dawson and Elina Harper story assets from the game.
Æ Put the double-sided Mysterious Photo story asset (provided in the Red Tide Rising encounter set) into play, under the control of Wendy Adams.
= Wendy Adams may choose which side it enters play on.
= Mysterious Photo cannot leave play except if Wendy Adams is eliminated. (If Mysterious Photo leaves play in this way, each surviving investigator should resign, as they have no method by which to continue their objective.)
Æ Shuffle the remainder of the encounter cards to build the encounter deck.
Æ You are now ready to begin.

DO NOT READ until the end of the scenario

If no resolution was reached because each investigator resigned: Proceed to Resolution 1.
If no resolution was reached because each investigator was defeated: Proceed to Resolution 2.

Resolution 1:

 You didn’t find Dad, but you were able to find the next best thing: the man in the brown derby. You approach casually, hoping he’ll ignore you like everyone else tends to do, so you can confront him.
You follow him into a dark alley and immediately realize he’s leading you somewhere hidden away from prying eyes. “Didn’t think you’d follow me,” he says once you’re alone.
The questions come pouring out of you. Does he know your father?
Where is he? Why the photo? What is the Red Tide? But he simply holds up a finger to his lips. “Shhh, kid. You’re gonna get me killed.” He sighs, removes his cap, and runs his trembling fingers through oily hair.
“Look, all I can tell you is...your Dad, he fell in with some bad people.
Some real scary people. But he wanted out. And the only way out...” he grimaces and shakes his head. “You gotta understand. He can’t come home. You’d be in danger. So would he. But...he still wanted you to know that he loves you. So...”
You wipe a stray tear that threatens to crawl down your cheek. The man looks terrified. He’s either a world-class actor, or he’s telling the truth. You ask him one last question—who are the bad people Dad fell in with?—but the moment you ask, he shakes his head and backs away.
“I’ve already said too much!” is the last thing he says before he flees.
Æ Ignore the Victory X value of each Suspect and Hideout card in the victory display. Instead…
= …Wendy Adams earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 3rd.
= …Each other investigator earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 5th.
Æ If Wendy Adams was defeated, she must either upgrade Abandoned and Alone to its advanced version, or downgrade the advanced version of Wendy’s Amulet to its original version.
Æ If Wendy Adams was not defeated, she may either upgrade Wendy’s Amulet to its advanced version, or downgrade the advanced version of Abandoned and Alone to its original version.

Resolution 2:

 You wait for your pursuers to round the corner before making your way stealthily back to the bus stop and getting on the next bus to Arkham. You crumple the sides of Dad’s photo in anger. A stray teardrop trails down your cheek. You still have no real leads. Who was the man in the derby and the wool coat that morning? What have you gotten yourself mixed up with? But, glancing once more at the photo,one hope still lingers in your mind: Dad is alive. He has to be.
Æ Ignore the Victory X value of each Suspect and Hideout card in the victory display. Instead…
= …Wendy Adams earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 3rd.
= …Each other investigator earns 1 experience for each card in the victory display beyond the 5th.
Æ Wendy Adams must either upgrade Abandoned and Alone to its advanced version, or downgrade the advanced version of Wendy’s Amulet to its original version.

 

CARD

41.Red Tide Rising

-X.X is half the number of Suspecr and Hideout cards in the victory display(rounded up).

-2(-4 instead if you are parleying with a Suspect enemy or investigating a Hideout location).

-3. If you succeed, look at the top card of the Leads deck. You may choose to shuffle the Leads deck.

-1. If you fail, shuffle the top card of the encounter deck into the Leads deck.

 

41b.

-X.X is half the number of Suspecr and Hideout cards in the victory display.

-3(-5 instead if you are parleying with a Suspect enemy or investigating a Hideout location).

-4. If you succeed, look at the top card of the Leads deck. You may choose to shuffle the Leads deck.

-2. If you fail, shuffle the top card of the encounter deck into the Leads deck.

 

42. The New Girl

You arrive in Innsmouth and immediaterly set to work asking the townspeople if they&ve seen your Dad, the place in the photograph, of the man in the derby who dropped off the photo.

<for> When this agenda would advance by reaching its doom threshold: Instead, remove all doom in play and shuffle a random set-aside Monster enemy into the Leads deck. Then, if there are no set-aside Monster enemies, advance to agenda 1b.

 

42b. Too Many QUestions

 You're used to people turining you down and pushing you away, but for some readon, the local here are even more upset at your prying questions than you could have expected. The last person you speal to it a man who reekls of fish, with pale, sickly skin and strange ridges, across his neck. Next thing you know, you are being followed everywhere you go, and the lot of them don't look all too friendly.

Spawn the set-aside Angry Mob enemy at Innsmouth Square, exhausted.

Place 1 <par> clues on each Suspect enemy and Hideout location in plya.

 

43a. Trail Goes Cold.

The longer you stick around and the more questions you ask, the more danger seeks you out. The locals eye you with anger and suspicion, and worse: strange winged creatures prowl about the rooftops, serching for prey...

Angry Mob cannnot be defeated.

<rea> After Wendy Adams evades Angry Mob: She may discover 1 vlue from its location.

Each Suspect enemy loses aloof and enters play with +1 <par> clues.

Each Hideout location gets +1 <par> clue value.

 

43b. Out of Time

You hide behind a sour-smelling ile of trash and wait for the pounding of heavy steps as the mob searches relentlessly for you. You don't know why they're after you - you wear only asking questions! - but it's clear you can't stay here any longer. In Arkham, everyone's gaze passes right over street urchins like you. Suddenly, you with that wear the case here, too.

(->R2)

 

44a. Searching for Dad

To say that this town is less friendly than even Arkham would be an understement.

Suspect and Hideout cards cannot be added to the victory display except using Mysterious Photo.

<for> If there are no Suspect of Hideout cards in play: Wendy Adamas must draw cards fro the top of the Leads deck until she draws a Suspect or Hideout card.

<obj> Search for Dad using Mysterious Photo. The fewer cards that remain in the Leads deck, the better. If it is empty, advance.

44b. It's Hum!

It's no use. Maybe Dad was in Inssmoth at some point, but he's longer gone now. And the townsfolk here don't soom to keen on anybody asking about him, Might be they know more than ther're letting on, or it might just be they're protecting other, unrelated secrets. Either way, it's no longer safe to stick around.

But just as you are ready to give up and head back to the bus stop to return to Arkham, you spot a man in a familiar outfit: a long wool coat and a brown derby.

(->R1)

 

45a. Mysterious Photo.

<fre> Exhaust Mysterious Photo: Either take a parley action on a Suspect enemy or flip Mysterious Photo over.

<fre> If there is a Suspect enemy with no clues on it at you location, investigators at your location spend 1 <par> clues, as a group (2 <par> instead if it is a agenda 2): "Have you seen my ded?" Add that enemy to the victory display.

 

45b. Mysterious Photo

<fre> Exhaust Mysterious Photo: Either take an ivestogate action at a Hideout location or flip Mysterious Photo over.

<fre> If you are at a Hideout location with no clues on it, investigators at that location spend clues, as a group, equal to its clue value: "Where is Dad now?" Add that location to the victory display, moving each enemy and investigator there to a conecting location.