The Circle Undone Epilogue

Epilogue

Check Campaign Log. In order, read each of the following entries only if the investigators won the campaign and the related campaign log entry is true.

Read the following only if the investigators arrested Anette.

“Gone? What do you mean she’s gone?!” Sheriff Engle demands.
“See for yourself,” the officer replies. He guides the sheriff through a long hallway flanked by holding cells. “She was guarded at all hours, trust me. One moment she was there, the next…” He stops in front of Anette’s cell, and watches as Sheriff Engle’s jaw drops. Smeared along the walls of the cell is a sticky red substance, painted in a delicate pattern. The woman is nowhere to be seen.

Read the following only if the investigators assumed control of the Silver Twilight Lodge.

You nod to the knight as he places the file you had requested onto your hardwood desk. Finding all of Carl Sanford’s records hadn’t been easy, but now all of the secrets of the Order were within your grasp. “What is the next step?” he asks, eager to serve. You inform him that there is to be a meeting in the sanctum this very night. “Very well. I will summon our most loyal members.” You dismiss him and turn to look out the window of your new office. The city of Arkham is as grim and moody as ever…but at least now you can protect it from the forces that lay beyond the Earth.

Read the following only if the investigators survived the watcher’s embrace.

Anna regards you calmly as you enter. As always, her prescience is disconcerting, but by now you have gotten used to it. “I’ve been expecting you for some time,” she admits. “I suppose you have questions for me. Very well. Ask away. Though I imagine that by now you must know the answer.” She neither offers you a seat nor a drink. You begin to describe your situation, though the truth of your condition is plain to see for somebody with her gifts (and few else). You had hoped for another explanation— any explanation at all—but it was only a desperate clinging to hope, without justification. Anna gives you a pitying grimace and shakes her head. “Surely by now you must understand. You have completed your task. Your business here has concluded.
Now is the time for you to rest and be at peace.” 
Peace? No, you cannot be at peace! There is still so much left for you to do…!
Cross out “the investigators survived the watcher’s embrace” in your Campaign Log.

Read the following only if the investigators signed the Black Book of Azathoth.

In your dream, a tall man approaches. His grin is full of malice.
“It is time to pay your due,” he announces. “You got what you wanted. Now it is my turn.”

DO NOT READ unless “You are Being Hunted”

No matter what you do, the creature’s assault on your mind never ceases. Its gaze haunts you everywhere you look. It controls your every thought—your hopes, your bonds, your fears, your ambitions. A reminder of your futile existence. Each night, you toss and turn, unable to wrench free from this sensation of worthlessness.
Your thoughts turn to a grim, uncertain future. A future without life. A future without you. It is the one ordeal every mortal must endure, and yet the one experience no mortal could possibly describe. Ghosts?
Realms beyond our mortal coil? Nothing but a last resort for a mind desperate to cling to life.
When the creature next invades, you have come to a new conclusion. An icy draft surrounds you as the thing coalesces before you. Your throat constricts and tears well in your eyes, but you stand tall. You are unafraid.
The creature gazes at you curiously, and the piping of infernal flutes fades into silence. It extends its clawed hand, and you shake it. You will never truly be free from its grasp, but perhaps you and the creature can work in agreement. Perhaps you can tame your fear. It doesn’t matter if the world has no point. It’s yours, damnit, and nothing will stop you from altering it to your liking.

Design Notes

Well, that got dark. Sorry about that.
For each campaign of Arkham Horror: The Card Game, we tend to be inspired by different styles of horror. For The Circle Undone, we took inspiration from two styles in particular: “Gothic horror”and “existential horror.” After several campaigns traveling to remote destinations, we wanted to return to Arkham— a city filled with dark, bloody secrets—and really expand upon its history. For this reason, we took inspiration from ghost stories and tales of gothic horror, both of which often deal with the past as a primary motivator.
Rumors of witchcraft and black magic feature prominently in Arkham’s past, so it was natural to include a coven of witches as one of the campaign’s primary antagonists. However, this is a tricky subject. The witches of Lovecraft’s writings were ostensibly the witches of Salem’s witch trials fully realized: women who had made a pact with the Devil. Real‑world Wiccans and pagans would rather not be associated with this image of a “witch,” which isn’t even remotely representative of real witchcraft. But this is a setting inspired by Lovecraft’s mythos, so we still wanted to include witchcraft in our vision of Arkham. To that end, we made it a point to keep Lovecraft’s version, but only as superstition. With the exception of Keziah Mason, our witches are simply sorceresses; no more. They are mostly women as a way of setting them apart from the Silver Twilight Lodge, a fraternal organization with a patriarch at its head. The two groups are different in many ways, but one might also say they are two sides of the same coin.
Since these two factions were our primary antagonists, we decided to use an ancient one without motives or desires of any kind. As soon as Azathoth became the focal point of our story, the tone turned to existential horror, asking questions such as: Why are we here? What is the point of anything? After all, we’re all going to die someday. This turned out to be a natural complement to what was originally a ghost story, and fit exceptionally well with Azathoth as a final “boss.” After all, how does one fight against inevitability itself?
We hope you have all enjoyed playing The Circle Undone as much as we enjoyed making it. I promise the next campaign won’t be quite as depressing. In fact, I wager it’ll be the campaign of your dreams…

– Matthew Newman