Chance Encounters Season 1: Episode 4
The Essex County Express
I boarded the Essex County Express from the train station in Northside. Although I still could not quite piece together what was happening, I felt sure that it all tied back to Dunwich. Back, no doubt, to the horrendous creatures Armitage had faced before. For the moment, all of that lay ahead – I was travelling alone, as I did not trust the mettle of any of Arkham’s criminal elements to accompany me, and the first order of the day was catching up on some long-overdue sleep whilst the train carried me onwards.
Sadly, my sleep was not to last long…
There was a sudden clamour from somewhere behind me. The train had come to a halt, and a large hole appeared to have opened up in the sky. Normally, I suspect that this sort of thing would have been cause to drive me quite mad, but the last few days had given me a rather unique perspective on unexpected phenomena, to the point where this no longer felt particularly strange.
It was clear that the train needed to be re-started, and equally clear that this could only be done from the Engine Car. That said, I could hardly consider myself an expert in locomotive manipulation, so I resolved to move carefully and thematically through the train rather than rushing. I checked my bag, ensuring that my Medical Texts and my Pathfinder’s Manual were both easily to hand, then began my exploration of the cabin.
My first realisation – and, indeed, it would have been hard to miss – was that I was not the only one engaged in searching this train. A dirty and, quite frankly, rather smelly man accompanied by a dog was also picking through the things scattered on the floor. Suddenly, the dog shot through the open door, disappearing into the next carriage, leaving me glad that this particular train had been equipped with the new, enclosed vestibules.
“Hold up, Duke!” the hobo shouted, disappearing through the door after him.
I started to follow them, but found myself suddenly frozen in fear as I tried to step between the carriages. I knew, logically, that it was perfectly safe to step between the carriages, but could not make my legs obey my mind. I thought again, of the instructions on rapid movement in the Pathfinder manual, and was able to move once more, although I felt foolish at having tarried for so long. Fortunately, I was able to use my powers of Deduction to clear the car quickly, and move on to the next one before the fear had another chance to return.
I immediately began to question the wisdom of my decision as I reached the next car. This was clearly the dining car, meals left half-eaten in the panic. In the centre however, there stood a woman wearing long dark robes, a silver dagger held in her right hand, and profane words spilling forward from her lips. Before I could move towards her, the drifter was alongside me, and had lunged at the woman. For a moment, it looked like she had avoid his attack but by pure luck, the carriage jerked suddenly, knocking her off balance, and sending her tumbling backwards. Her head cracked hard against the corner of a table, and she was still. I had to look away from the gruesome sight, but I felt like the pressure in the Carriage dropped discernibly as she coughed out her last breath.
“Don’t mind Duke, miss” the man said “he’s a good boy – only goes for the bad ‘uns.” He didn’t pause long enough for me to respond, moving over to where a train waiter was frozen against the wall, starting in horror at the corpse. The man slipped him a filthy-looking dollar-bill, and started to help himself to a discarded plate of food.
“the-the-body” the waiter finally stammered. The man looked round, the colour suddenly draining from his face as he looked: although she could only have been dead seconds, there was little more than a few fragments of rotting remains left lying in the robes. For my part, I steeled myself against the sight in front of me, but felt assailed by something more distant, a terror from beyond. The spell I had most recently been recalling, an incantation to flee from foes, was suddenly absent from my mind.
The man had moved on to the next table, and was making a vague showing of searching for clues as he gnawed on a chicken bone. Curiously, he once again deposited a filthy dollar bill on the table as he ate.
“Is this really the time to be eating, Mr…?” I realised I did not know the man’s name, and my sentence petered out, limply.
“Folks call me Ashcan, miss” he replied with a smile and, before I could reply, he was gone, chasing after his dog into the next carriage. It was hard to make out the words, but I was sure I heard him shout “Run for your life” as he disappeared.
Of course, I did no such thing, but I did cast my mind once more to the Pathfinder manual, working out how to move there as quickly and efficiently as possible. I had stumbled as I entered the previous carriage, and there was now a significant amount of blood pouring from a gash above my knee, but I did not let it distract me from making a thorough search of the carriage, instead using a trick I recalled from my medical texts to staunch the bleeding.
It seemed like we were almost done searching the carriage, when I heard a sudden cacophony of sounds. From the front of the train, a man burst into the carriage, and started shouting: “Pete. I might have known I’d find you here! Time to answer some questions!” Ashcan – presumably, ‘Pete’ looked dumbfounded, gesturing out of the window at the strange hole that had been ripped in the sky, but the man was apparently too stubborn to pay any attention. Before I could plead on his before, I heard the sound of a fellow-passenger screaming in terror from the carriage we had just left and, further off, strange chanting coming from the back of the train.
By this time, the rearmost carriage of the train had start to lift from the track, being pulled inexorably towards the hole in the sky, and it seemed that whoever was chanting would soon be gone too. However, my conscience would not let me abandon the screaming passenger, and I headed back the way I had just come and taking a few moments to calm the old man, persuading him to follow me up the train. The bandage around my leg was coming lose, and I had to flick open the medical texts to check the best knot for re-applying them.
I returned to the passenger car just in time to see the Detective sent flying out of the window by Ashcan’s dog… what he called the creature? Prince? My shock at seeing an officer of the law so unceremoniously removed was only slightly less that it was to see the detective not falling down towards the tracks, but upwards towards the tear in the sky!
Once again, Ashcan was on the move immediately, charging relentlessly towards the engine. The sudden horrific sounds coming from just beyond the walls suggested that he had found something truly hideous in there, and I could hear the sound of something grappling him as the dog tried to force it back.
The sight which greeted me on entering the carriage was not a pleasant one – Ashcan was crumpled in a heap on the floor, muttering to himself. Whatever had happened him, it had clearly effected the dog, who was similarly cowed, lying meekly at this master’s feet. I also felt a strange sensation near my leg, and as I peered down at my bag, I saw that my Pathfinder Manual had mysteriously disappeared, into the beyond. On top of that, it sounded like a new monster was emerging from the next carriage along.
Ashcan seemed to lie still for a strangely long time, then rose unsteadily to his feet. “Come on Duke,” he said, “no time to be dwelling on Nightmares, there’s work to do.” As suddenly as he had dropped, the dog was up again, leaping at the Horror that was reaching in through the carriage windows, driving it away.
I quickly appraised the man’s condition with a cursory glance at the medical texts then, deciding that he was in no imminent danger, set off again, moving into the next carriage. There was a large monstrosity occupying much of the space and I found it too distracting to be able to search the carriage properly.
The creature seemed sluggish, slow to rise, but as it loomed towards us, I felt my head spin, strange visions clouding my eyes and a dark, ominous voice uttering “The First Twelve were false…” I stumbled, hearing the sound of a further monstrosity in the next card up the train, whilst a humming of arcane energy towards the rear suggested that some kind of barrier had erected itself between my carriage and that of Ashcan.
Fortunately, neither the man nor his dog seemed deterred, and they came crashing through the barrier, looking only slightly harmed by the process.
“Snap out of it, miss!” he told me sternly placing a firm, but not unkind, hand on my shoulder, and shaking me out of the trance. I knew he was right, and it was a simple case of Mind Over Matter to dart out of the way of the Monstrosity, and continue searching the carriage for anything that would prove useful as we made our way towards the locomotive car.
The train lurched suddenly, the steam from the funnel somehow formed into claw-like shapes, pulling at the train which rocked dangerously on the broken rails. I steeled myself mentally, and shook off any despairing thoughts, finding what I believed was the final piece of information I needed to get into the locomotive car. Ashcan was now dealing with the Monstrosity, although he seemed more focused on evading its attacks than on actually hurting it. The dissonant voices that suddenly seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere were a painful distraction but neither this, nor the way the train rocked once more on its broken rails seemed to deter him as he deftly side-stepped the creature once more, then leapt into the engine car.
I followed after him, and was swiftly able to begin puzzling out how to re-start the train, making swift progress thanks to a spot of simple deduction. Another of the monstrosities had arrayed itself against Pete, and I thought he was surely done for as it rained a pair of thrashing tentacles down on him. Somehow, as if by the Devil’s own luck, he avoided the worst of the blows, and came to his feet, still in one piece.
I felt a strange Terror, something from beyond this mortal world clutch at me, but it seemed to fail in its attempt to impact me, striking at skills which were no longer of use to me. Ashcan however, seemed to be Frozen in Fear, as if only just realising how close he had come to being crushed by the beast. Fortunately I had puzzled out enough of this place that I now had a plan, and was able to trick the beast into lunging past me, and plunging its tentacles into the furnace. The pain was enough to send this monstrosity crashing to the floor, and as the flames gripped its tentacles, it seemed to provide the final spark of hear the engine needed. A final check to understand the controls, and I was able to release the lever, starting the train back into motion.
Resolution 1
- 3 Victory Points: (Engine Car, Parlor Car, Emergent Monstrosity)
There’s a fair amount in Ashcan’s backstory about trains, so he seemed like an obvious choice for this scenario. Deck-wise, it was another one where I let theme drive the deck design, rather consciously at the expense of efficiency. Both Peter Sylvestre and Madame Labranche offer a lot of benefits for Survivors, and I’ve generally struggled to justify including On Your Own. For our rail-riding hobo though, it seemed a bit unlikely to have the captain of the football team showing up to help out (even in flashback).
Instead, I went for a Dark Horse build that still had a chance to run some of those pricier events. The desperate skill cards are always a decent shout for Duke, and worked well with the requirements on the passenger carriages to discard cards.
The card-discard mechanic was a difficult one to handle thematically – what exactly is it that you’re doing as you enter these places?
The stubborn detective as Pete’s weakness was every bit as thematic as you’d expect him to be – one card that never fails to disappoint in its thematic nonsensensicality. Having a stand-alone investigator does allow you to cheese a few things – Pete can be the one to jump into the engine carriage without worrying about trauma (he pulled an Elder Sign, so was fine anyway). I thought about sending Daisy first, but given that there was an emergent monstrosity waiting for them, I decided he was too much of a gentleman to send our intrepid librarian off into danger by herself.
I upgraded the second Strange Solution after this scenario. I was already starting to regret the decision to take these – they’re a massive XP soak, and it’s rare that Daisy is going to be needing to fight that much. However, I can pretty-much guarantee drawing the Unidentified version at the crucial moment if I haven’t taken the second, so I felt like I needed to double-down.
Pete Washburne, better known as “Ashcan,” is a drifter. A loner, a hobo, a man who keeps moving, with only one constant companion – Duke his dog.
The 
The back of Pete’s investigator card talks about his nightmares, and how they drive him to seek out the people he has seen, to save them from the horrors that he has witnessed. This is fairly consistent with other stories, but it only gets limited development in the LCG, mostly in the title of his signature weakness.
In Mansions of Madness, Pete is reduced to “starts with Duke.” In this case, Duke being a unique “item” (allies aren’t really a thing in Mansions). Duke’s power definitely isn’t a flashy one, and I’d largely overlooked it in the past, but actually it has the power to be fairly useful, giving you an extra trade action at the start of your turn, a trade that can be conducted with someone in an adjacent space. In a recent game, where I’d made a point of playing Pete in preparation for this article, Duke was actually the difference between Pete winning and losing the scenario, as he went insane whilst fighting the end boss, and now had a sudden need for evidence, currently in the possession of the person in the next space.
Stat-wise, Mansions Ashcan is a fairly solid all-rounder, with 4s in Strength, Agility, Observation and Will. His Lore isn’t great (not much time for studying whilst you’re riding the rails) and, as you might expect for someone who is essentially a tramp, his influence is very low.
Ashcan’s stats in Eldritch Horror are much what you might expect: a very low 1 for influence, and steady 3s for everything else. His Health and Sanity are fairly balanced, with a 7/5 split in favour of health.
Another aspect of Pete’s character that is often referred to in backstory, but isn’t always that prominent in gameplay, is his habit of riding the rails, never staying long in one place. Eldritch specifically gives him additional movement power along railway lines, making him one of the game’s more mobile characters, so long as he takes that train. This is further reinforced by his Personal Mission, introduced by the recent Masks of Nyarlathotep expansion, which forces him to resolve encounters in a set of locations scattered randomly around the world – doing this brings rewards, but leaving the voices unanswered will only fuel his nightmares.
Eldritch Horror’s take on Duke isn’t the most thematic, but it is highly useful, allowing a re-roll once per round. Given that most investigators spend many actions over the course of a game taking Focus tokens to allow them to do just that, a repeatable re-roll is always well-worth having. As if that weren’t enough, Duke also allows Pete to recover sanity more quickly, making that horror limit of 5 remarkably solid. Sadly, as an ally, Duke is vulnerable to a lot of Mythos cards, and there’s a strong chance that Pete will eventually find himself with no dog for company.
Although Arkham Horror is the original Arkham Files game, it’s also the one I’ve played least, so I don’t necessarily feel all-that-qualified to offer opinions on it. In this first iteration of Ashcan, his ‘scrapper’ nature was to the fore, allowing him to draw cards from the bottom of the deck instead of the top. Given that cards leaving an investigator’s possession go the bottom of their respective decks, rather than into a discard pile, this allows him to draw items with a good level of foreknowledge, as well as being able to recycle a powerful card.
Duke is also present in Arkham Horror, where he gives Pete +1 Maximum Sanity or, he can be discarded to immediately restore Pete’s sanity to full (although “full” will now be the printed total, as you no longer have the boos).
Ashcan Pete has yet to receive his own novella, but we do still have some information about him from FFG’s tie-in fiction. He first appeared in Ghouls of the Miskatonic, a work that is now (I believe) officially pre-canonical, but definitely still worth a read (and available fairly cheaply on Kindle).
Moving to the more recent/official era, Ashcan also got his own short story in the Investigators of Arkham Horror book released in early 2017. Unlike many of the stories, it focused not so much on the investigator himself, as an unknown character who happened to meet with him. Pete starts sharing his life story and, with no mention of the War, describes how he came from the Arkham area originally, but was driven to travel the world by his nightmares, finding that if he could help people, the dreams would fall silent for a while.
Overall, I think Ashcan feels like a fairly consistently represented character across the different game-lines. He’s generally solid, rather than flashy, and the only game in which I’d say he really stands out is Arkham Horror the card game. For anyone who is wanting to try him in the LCG, you could do a lot worse than start with “
fistfulofmeeples 