SETTING AT THE END OF THE ROUND: There is a LUNAR ECLIPSE (Night). Meghan's investigator is on the FAR SIDE OF THE MOON, an Exotic/Outside/Space Location. She has the MERCHANT OF ILL REPUTE (1 value) in play as an Ally, carrying a BATTLE AXE (+3 value). Brian's investigator is at ILARNEK, a Water/Forested/Outside Location. He has THE KING OF ILEK-VAD (3 value) and HARAGRIM (3 value) in play as Allies. Meghan has low Sanity, and thus makes all decisions first.
COMMIT MONSTERS: Meghan has three Limited edition DHOLEs (3 value each), and one Dreamlands DHOLE (value 4). She must commit them to battle Brian. Poor Brian just has three BEINGS OF IB (1 value each) and a single TCHO-TCHO PEOPLE (value 1). He must commit them to battle Meghan.
COMMIT ALLIES: Meghan is feeling confident, but decides to block with the MERCHANT anyways, just in case Brian has bypassers. Unfortunately for her, this makes all of the BEINGS OF IB better. They'll now be 2 value each when revealed. Brian blocks with just HARAGRIM, because the King's special effect is too useful to lose.
USE SPELLS/ARTIFACTS: Neither Brian nor Meghan has any Spells or Artifacts to use.
COSMIC BATTLE: Brian and Meghan reveal their Monsters. Meghan has a total of 13(!) points of Monsters, while Brian has 7. On Meghan's side, two Limited Edition DHOLEs die and the third one absorbs one point of damage, while all of Brian's Monsters are lost. Meanwhile, 6 points of Meghan's Sanity damage get through.
ALLIES DEFEND: The two remaining DHOLEs, one of which is damaged, burst through to Brian's Allies. HARAGARIM puts up a fierce fight, but is lost. 3 points of damage get through to Brian.
LOSE SANITY: Brian marks off 3 Sanity.
RESOLVE ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: None of the Monsters had additional effects to resolve.
BURY THE LOST: All four of the DHOLEs, the BEINGS OF IB, the TCHO-TCHO PEOPLE, and HARAGRIM are now Buried. The MERCHANT OF ILL REPUTE returns to Meghan's side, a little sheepishly, since his presence didn't help, and seemed to enrage Brian's BEINGS OF IB.
SETTING AT THE END OF THE ROUND: There are no Day or Night Events out. Thus it is Day. Brian is at the NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE, an Inside/Water Location. He has BASIL ELTON (2 value) and ETIENE-LAURENT DE MARIGNY (1 value) in play as Allies. They each have a MSGS .32 REVOLVER (+2 value). Meghan is at THE CAUSEWAY AND FATHER NEPTUNE. This Location causes any Monsters directed against her which get better in Water Locations to be buried when revealed. She also has RANDOLPH CARTER (2 value) in play as an Ally, and he's carrying the CRYSTAL SWORD (+2 value). Meghan has the SILVER KEY, an Artifact, in play. Brian has low Sanity, and thus makes all decisions first.
COMMIT MONSTERS: Brian has four Monsters in his Threat, a MINION OF KARAKAL (3 value), a NIGHTMARE (a Threat Event), and two Limited Edition ELDER THINGS (2 value each + 2 because Meghan is at Water). He very reluctantly points them all at Meghan, knowing that his ELDER THINGS will be Buried. Meghan has no cards in her threat, and figures she's in pretty bad shape.
COMMIT ALLIES: Since he knows that most of his Threat is going to disappear, and that Meghan has an Ally with an Enchanted Weapon, Brian blocks with both of his Allies. Meghan decides he's up to something, and uses RANDOLPH CARTER'S Enchanted Weapon to add him to the Threat.
USE SPELLS/ARTIFACTS: Brian has one chance to destroy THE CAUSEWAY: the VORTEX OF FAR JOURNEYING Spell in his BOOK OF THE BLACK STONE. He pays two Sanity, casts it and forces Meghan to flip the top card of her Story Deck. It's a YAK, which is neither a Location or a Monster, and thus it's Discarded. Hopefully Meghan didn't need that card for an Adventure.
Meghan is still worried about Brian's threat, and so pays 1 Sanity and casts EMBODY CHARNAL ODOR OF XURA, which Controls a Lesser Servitor Monster. Brian has two ELDER THINGS (Lesser Independents), one MINION OF KARAKAL (Greater Servitor) and one NIGHTMARE (no subtype), but no Lesser Servitors. Meghan's Sanity was wasted.
Afterward, Meghan and Brian each get another opportunity to cast Spells and use Artifacts, but neither takes advantage of it.
COSMIC BATTLE: Brian still has low Sanity, and thus he reveals his Monsters first. The ELDER THINGS are supposed to be Buried, so end up Discarded instead. Brian just has three points of damage left (from his MINION), and a NIGHTMARE Card. Meghan reveals RANDOLPH CARTER with CRYSTAL SWORD, totalling 4 value. The MINION is lost, while RANDOLPH takes 3 points of damage.
ALLIES DEFEND: The badly wounded RANDOLPH CARTER rushes at ELTON and DE MARIGNY. For the first time, RANDOLPH is actually opposing a Defending Ally. If either DE MARIGNY or ELTON were Corrupt, the CRYSTAL SWORD would cause a random one of them to be flipped. However, they are not. RANDOLPH CARTER inflicts one point of damage, which Brian decides to apply to ELTON. ELTON is lost.
LOSE SANITY: No Sanity is lost by either player.
RESOLVE ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: Only one Monster has special effects, the MINION OF KARAKAL. Usually, these would not be applied, because the MINION did not survive the Cosmic Battle. However, NIGHTMARE overrides this, and allows the MINION to affect Meghan as if it had survived. This means that the MINION will randomly Bury one of Meghan's Artifacts. She has two: the CRYSTAL SWORD that CARTER is carrying and THE SILVER KEY. Brian randomly selects among the cards, and unfortunately comes up with the CRYSTAL SWORD. Unfortunate, because it was mere seconds from being Buried anyways, in the Bury the Lost phase. It is instead Buried now.
BURY THE LOST: The MINION, NIGHTMARE, CARTER, ELTON, and Elton's .32 are Buried.
SETTING AT THE END OF THE ROUND: It is the LUNAR ECLIPSE (Night). POLARIS is in play, making all Monsters Invisible. Both Austin and Meghan are at the TEMPLE OF THE ELDER ONES (Forested/Inside). Although the Priests are calling for peace, it doesn't seem to be doing much good. Austin has the CAT CHIEFTAIN (1 value) in play as an Ally, and he's riding a WAR HORSE (+1 value). Meghan has the ZOOG CHIEFTAIN (1 value) in play as an Ally, and he's carrying a BATTLE AXE (+3 value). There's defintely some bad blood here. Austin has low Sanity, and thus makes all decisions first.
COMMIT MONSTERS: Austin has the GHOST-BEING OF IB (1 value* Corrupt Cultist) in his Threat, along with three LESSER SHANTAKS (2 value each). He must point them all at Meghan. Meghan has a LENG SPIDER (4 value) in her threat. She must direct it toward Austin.
* The LUNAR ECLIPSE makes Living Dead Allies +1, but the GHOST-BEING OF IB is currently a Monster, and thus does not receive this benefit.
COMMIT ALLIES: Austin declares that the CAT CHIEFTAIN will Defend, and Meghan declares that the ZOOG CHIEFTAIN will Defend. Because both investigators are at the same Location, these Allies will actually be forced to Assault during the ALLIES DEFEND phase.
CAST SPELL/USE ARTIFACTS: Austin declines to use any artifacts.
Meghan decides to cast her MSGS DUST OF SULEIMAN Spell, which can Control a Lesser Independent. Usually, all Cultists in a Threat are Lesser Indendents, but the GHOST-BEING OF IB is a rare exception, because he's specifically marked as being of the Living Dead subtype. There are no Lesser Independents in Austin's Threat. As a result, Meghan's spell fails, and the 1 Sanity cost is wasted.
Austin and Meghan each get another opportunity to cast Spells or use Artifacts, which they decline.
COSMIC BATTLE: Austin still has low Sanity, thus he reveals his Monsters first. They're that GHOST-BEING OF IB (1 value) and the three LESSER SHANTAKS (2 value each). Meghan then reveals her LENG SPIDER (4 value). It randomly eats a Lesser Monster, either a Lesser Independent or a Lesser Servitor. The SHANTAKS are all Lesser Independents, while the GHOST-BEING OF IB is a Living Dead. Thus, one of the LESSER SHANTAKS is Buried. Austin's forces still overpower Meghan's by 1 point. The LENG SPIDER is lost. Austin decides to apply his 4 points of damage to the LESSER SHANTAKS, leaving the GHOST-BEING OF IB unwounded.
ALLIES DEFEND: Since both Meghan and Austin are in the same Location, all of their Defending Allies now join the attack (though not the Threat). Austin is now Attacking with a GHOST-BEING OF IB (1 value) and is Assaulting with a WAR HORSE riding CAT CHIEFTAIN (2 value). Meghan is now Assaulting with a BATTLE AXE wielding ZOOG CHIEFTAIN (4 value).
Due to POLARIS, all of the Monsters are Invisible. As a result, the GHOST-BEING OF IB slips, ghost-like, right by the Assaulting ZOOG CHIEFTAIN. Meanwhile, the ZOOG CHIEFTAIN and the CAT CHIEFTAIN fight it out. Alas, the tattered old tomcat is lost, while the ZOOG CHIEFTAIN bursts through with 2 points left.
RESOLVE ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: None of the involved Monsters have additional effects to resolve.
LOSE SANITY: The GHOST-BEING costs Meghan 1 point of Sanity. The ZOOG CHIEFTAIN costs Austin 2 points of Sanity.
BURY THE LOST: Everything is now Buried, including the ZOOG CHIEFTAIN and the GHOST-BEING. The Priests are left to clean up the mess.
SETTING AT THE END OF THE ROUND: It is Day. POLARIS is in play, making all Monsters Invisible. Austin is at the CASTLE OF THE GREAT ONES ON KADATH (Exotic/Outside). He has HARAGRIM (3 value) and THE KING OF ILEK-VAD (3 value) in play as Allies. HARAGRIM is wielding a BATTLE AXE (+3 value) and riding a WAR HORSE (+1 value). Meghan is at the THE MARKET-PLACE in Ulthar. She has KRANNON (2 value + 1 because Meghan is in Ulthar) and The WANDERING PEDDLER (2 value + 1 because Meghan is at THE MARKET-PLACE) in play. Brian is at the LABYRINTHS OF THE GNORRI (Underwater/Water/Outside). He also has THE KING OF ILEK-VAD (3 value) as an Ally, as well as KING KURANES (3 value). Austin has 4 Sanity, Meghan has 9 Sanity, and Brian has 4 Sanity. Austin goes first because his Education is higher than Brian's.
COMMIT MONSTERS: Austin has four Monsters in his Threat: two CATS FROM SATURN (value 3 each, bypass combat), and two VOONITH (value 2 each, may hibernate). He also has a plan. He directs the Cats at Meghan. She has no way for her Allies to see Invisible Monsters, and thus will automatically take 6 points of damage after the Cats bypass. He directs the VOONITH at Brian. That should be sufficient to drive Brian's investigator insane, which Austin hopes will leave him with the highest Sanity, making him the winner.
Meghan has three Monsters in her Threat, two MINIONS OF KARAKAL, and a BUOPOTH. She's tempted to try and split them between Austin and Brian, defending herself while weakening Brian, but unfortunately Brian is at the LABYRINTH OF THE GNORRI. When any Greater Monsters (Greater Independents or Servitors) attack someone at the LABYRINTH OF THE GNORRI, they're immediately Buried, and MININIONS are Greater Servitors. Thus, Meghan points all three Monsters at Austin. Austin doesn't realize it, but the BUOPOTH is going to totally destroy his plans. BUOPOTH prevent Monsters opposing them from bypassing.
Unfortunately for Brian, he has no Monsters. He looks nervously at the two Monsters directed at him.
COMMIT ALLIES: Austin has both of his Allies defend against Meghan. Since he thinks the CATS will bypass, he'll need these friends to ward off Meghan's Threat.
Neither Meghan nor Brian bother to block. Since all Monsters are Invisible, there's not much point.
CAST SPELLS/USE ARTIFACTS: Austin committed his Allies because he had a way around the Invisibility problem. He casts the Limited Edition Spell, POWDER OF IBN GHAZI. Monsters attacking him are now visible. Because he is at the CASTLE OF THE GREAT ONES ON KADATH, he does not lose any Sanity when casting this Spell.
Meghan has no useful Spells to cast, while Brian has none at all, so they both pass. Austin also has another option to cast Spells, but he has no more useful ones.
COSMIC BATTLE/ALLIES DEFEND/RESOLVE ADDITIONAL EFFECTS/LOSE SANITY: Brian and Austin are still tied for low Sanity. Austin has high Education, and so goes first. He may choose to resolve his Combats in either order. If he attacks Brian first, and Brian goes insane, Meghan will win, so he correctly decides to attack Meghan first.
Austin reveals first, showing his two CATS FROM SATURN (6 value). Then, Meghan reveals, showing a BUOPOTH (0 value) and two MINIONS OF KARAKAL (6 value). Disaster! The BUOPOTH keeps the CATS from bypassing! As a result, the CATS are lost, as are the BUOPOTH and the MINIONS OF KARAKAL. No Monsters get through to Allies, no additional effects occur, and no Sanity is lost.
Next, Austin must reveal his Threat directed at Brian. He reveals two VOONITH (4 value). They'll drive Austin insane, and since Meghan has high Sanity, she will win. Austin wisely decides to take advantage of the VOONITH special power. As soon as they're revealed, he declares they're hibernating. They return to his Threat for next round. Once again, no Monsters get through to Allies, no additional effects occur, and no Sanity is lost.
BURY THE LOST: The CATS, the BUOPOTH, and the MINIONS are all Buried. The VOONITH remain, starting a new Threat for Austin. Maybe next Round...