Arkham Horror The Card Game Campaign Characters / Characters

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The cast of Non Player Characters in Arkham Horror: LCG, whether they be allies, enemies or anything else. This page also features Player Characters avaiable in only specific campaigns.

Night of the Zealot characters

Lita Chantler

Mysterious sorceress trying to stop the cult of Umôrdhoth and its activities in Arkham. She will join the investigators if certain choices are taken in the story, as an Ally card.

All There in the Manual: It's unclear if it is canon or not in the Card game, as the various Arkham Files games take place in their own Alternate Continuity, but the 3rd edition of Arkham Horror has a scenario called "The Feast of Umôrdhoth", which is a retelling of Night of The Zealot, that explains why Lita is fighting against the Ghouls and their master in the first place: it's because their cult killed her husband, the butcher Saul Chantler.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: Lita's ability, beside amplifying the Combat skill of the investigator who controls her and any other investigator in her location, is to make successful attacks landed against "monster" enemies deal an additional damage. Works wonders against Ghouls and Nightgaunts, not so much against cultists and their master.
Dirty Coward: In spite of her zealotry against the Ghouls and her attempts to foil the plans of the Cult of Umôrdhoth, Lita's choices taken during the story of the core campaign give the impression of a woman desperately trying to avoid personal responsabilties and the consequences of her actions, as detailed in Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist. If the investigators lose the final scenario Lita will just flee Arkham to avoid sharing their fate, dooming the town to be consumed by Umôrdhoth's vengeance.
Hunter of Monsters: Lita is on a quest to purge Arkham of evil, particularly the ghouls. It manifests as her actual abilities, as she boosts Combat stat of every investigator in same location, and lets them deal extra damage against Monster enemies (which, in this campaign, means any non-human enemies you would meet).
Mr. Exposition: After resolution of the first scenario, Lita explains what exactly going on with the ghouls and the cult. Later events reveals that her version is rather self-biased.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: She betrayed the cult and destroyed the ghoul's larder, which appears noble. Every action she takes in the campaign, however, is about trying to dodge her personal consequences no matter what — sealing your home with you in it to stop the ghoul pack, roping you into unmasking the cult, and stopping the ritual, all of which is targeting her specifically. If you utterly fail, she flees Arkham and the risen Umôrdhoth will just begin hunting random locals, "searching" for her, and never end its hunger.
Optional Party Member: Lita normally joins the players as the story Ally after the first scenario... unless investigators win it, and refuse to burn down the house to contain the ghouls.
Purposely Overpowered: Lita is a zero cost asset that can take a fair share amount of punishment with her 3 health and sanity, improve the accuracy of attacks of all investigators in her location and has an universionally useful ability that helps investigators making short work of (most) enemies. She is incredibly strong, but no matter what, the cost to add her to one's deck isn't light. You must either lose the first scenario, potentially suffering trauma and having the Ghoul Priest still on your tail, burn down your house and cause a mental trauma to the lead investigator if you win instead or have all investigators killed by running out of time early on, as Lita will join the second group of investigators in the next scenario, which will start on the backfoot otherwise.
Supporting Protagonist: Ultimately, the core campaign's narrative is centered around Lita's exploits to stop the Cult of Umôrdhoth. The title of the core box (Night of the Zealot) refers to her as well, making it a Protagonist Title. But she won't be able to stop the Ghouls and the Cultists on her own, as the Investigators will need to do most of the heavy lifting, and whether she succeeds or not in her mission will depend on them.
Unreliable Expositor: The investigators discover that Lita Chantler herself is the reason the Umôrdhoth cult is active, having destroyed the ghouls' food source and antagonised their god, something she neglected to mention to the players.

Cult of Umôrdhoth

Followers of Umôrdhoth, and your main foes for most of the campaign.

Ax-Crazy: Wolf-Man Drew is a highly aggressive cannibal. Notably, he's the only member of the Cult of Umôrdhoth who can't be captured peacefully.
Forced into Evil: Some of the cultists of Umôrdhoth are not exactly willing in their service. Ruth Turner, a mortician, had her family targeted, forcing her to provide corpses for the ghouls. Others let their occult studies get too deep until the cult would not let them leave.
I'm a Humanitarian: Rumours says that Wolf-Man Drew was locked up in Arkham Asylum for cannibalism. It's not hard to believe, given his bestial look and high aggressiveness.
Malevolent Masked Men: In the actual gameplay, it's only featured on few cards, and on the Masked Hunter enemy, but cultists are wearing signature masks made of animal skulls.
Vampiric Draining: Wolf-Man Drew heals 1 damage each time he attacks. Presumably, from consuming flesh.

Umôrdhoth

The deity which the local cult worships, and trying to summon.

Ascended Extra: Umôrdhoth originally appeared in Eldritch Horror as an one-shot Eldritch Abomination, one of game's many elite enemies unaligned to any Ancient One. This time, the cult of its followers is the main focus of campaign.
Eldritch Abomination: Umôrdhoth resembles a formless turquoise hurricane of tentacles.
Final Boss: If the cult finishes their ritual, Umôrdhoth would be the last foe you have to defeat before you win, and the most dangerous. Fortunately, it's possible to win before it happens.
Glass Cannon: As befits a boss from tutorial campaign, Umôrdhoth barely scales up its health at high player count. But it still has the same 3/3 damage/horror value as most other bosses, and, as it readies itself at the end of every player's turn, means that even if one of the players somehow exhausted it, next players may still get their face blown off by a tentacle.
Herd-Hitting Attack: Downplayed, Umôrdhoth is Massive, so anyone who is at its location when the enemy phase begins is in a world of hurt.
Lightning Bruiser: On top of being extremely durable and hard to damage (as befits a Final Boss), Umôrdhoth has extremely high evade value (6, higher than any investigator's basic Agility), which makes it extremely hard to exhaust through evading. If you somehow do so anyway, it readies once your turn ends, so the other players wouldn't benefit from your efforts.
Skippable Boss: Stopping the summoning ritual would end the scenario (and campaign) before Umôrdhoth gets summoned, sparing you a very hard boss battle. Actually letting it get summoned and beat it anyway earns extra experience, however (but also costs extra traumas).
Took a Level in Badass: Return to the Night of Zealot expansion amplified Umôrdhoth's power even further, by introducing the "Vault of Earthly Demise" card that gives it extra Health, Fight and Evade stats, scaling effect with how early it gets summoned (the less of their task investigators managed to fulfil, the worse penalty would be), potentially making it all but invulnerable if investigators screws up particularly badly, as it takes away the only weak point it has (low health) while amplifying the other stats to the point where investigators can't catch up even if the chaos tokens wouldn't stand in their way (which they would).

The Dunwich Legacy characters

Henry Armitage

Miskatonic University head librarian, and the one who defeated the Dunwich Horror several months ago.

Badass in Distress: If either of the first two campaign scenarios gets failed, Armitage (a hero who originally stopped Eldritch Horror years ago) would be abducted with intent to sacrifice him. It's possible to fail to save him.
Big Good: He's the driving force behind the investigators' efforts to stop Seth Bishop and his cult, and the one whose possible death impacts the team's efforts the most.
Killed Off for Real: Can be potentially sacrificed in Blood On The Altar if the Investigators take too long to complete the scenario.
Magic Librarian: Head librarian of Miskatonic University is also the team's main expert regarding Yog-Sothoth and his spawns, and the one who comes with a formula to use against them.
Money Multiplier: Armitage doesn't offer any stat increase like his associates, and has only 2 Health and Sanity, but his true value is allowing to discard cards you just drawn to gain 3 resources by exhausting him, granting a big economic advantage (although he costs 2 resources to play upfront, which is cheaper than all other Dunwich story allies' cost of 3, so it may take some rounds to make a profit).
Obvious Rule Patch: Armitage's ability allows you to discard just-drawn card and gain 3 resources instead. Later errata specified that it only applies to the player's own deck (not encounter deck), and doesn't work on weaknesses; without these rules, it was outright broken.
Optional Party Member: He joins the investigators as a story Ally if they don't fail either of the first scenarios, or (re)joins if he was abducted at any point, and subsequently rescued.

Warren Rice and Francis Morgan

Armitage' colleagues who helped him to defeat Dunwich Horror several months ago, and now are targeted by the cultists of Yog-Sothoth, who seek to punish those who dare to challenge their god.

Badass in Distress: No matter what you do, at least one of the original heroes who stopped the Eldritch Horror would be abducted by the cult and require saving. It's entirely possible to fail at that, resulting in him dying.
Big Guy: Francis Morgan, as an Ally, he provides boost to Combat, and has really high Health (4), which, in combination with his post-battle ability (draw a card after defeating an enemy), makes him good assistant for the team's designated fighter. The only downside is that he has only single point of Sanity. His portrait further hints at his role, showing him wielding a shotgun.
The Gambling Addict: Somewhere between events of Dunwich Horror and The Dunwich Legacy, Francis Morgan became a gambler; when you go looking for him on Armitage's request, you have to find him in the illegal casino.
Killed Off for Real: Either or both of them can end up being fed to Silas Bishop if you take too long to find them in Blood On The Altar.
Optional Party Member: One of them may join the investigators as soon as they rescue them when going on Armitage's request; whoever you didn't pick, would be delivered to Dunwich to be used as sacrifice; stopping the ritual lets you recruit whoever you didn't rescue before, or who were captured on the train.
The Smart Guy: Warren Rice, as an Ally, works the best as assistant for the team's designated searcher, given that he boosts Intellect and allows to draw a card once you find all clues in your location. He has high Sanity too for an ally (3), but low Health (2).

Naomi O'Bannion

The daughter of Danny O'Bannion, and fiancé of Peter Clover, the owner of La Bella Luna. She will side with the investigators if they rescue her boyfriend when the casino gets attacked.

Awesome, but Impractical: Naomi is a very good Ally, but she might not be worth the effort to unlock her given you only get her at the start of Where Doom Awaits, the scenario before the last one, meaning you only will enjoy the benefits she brings two times at most, if you even draw her. And that's without mentioning her crippling resource cost of 5, far higher than any other story Ally of Dunwich. By the time you can gain her your deck might already be finalised, meaning you won't even need her if you managed to make it this far.
11th-Hour Ranger: She joins the investigators as an Ally in the Return version of the campaign, but only at the second-to-last scenario.
Enemy Mine: O'Bannions are hostile to investigators by default, but Naomi can decide to assist them if they save Peter Clover (her fiance) from the casino which is about to be overrun by monsters: she now knows who's her enemy, and they may as well join forces.
Genius Bruiser: As an Ally asset, she improves both the Intellect and Combat of the owner, has 3 Health and Sanity and has the powerful ability of cancelling a token completely for the duration of a test by exhausting her, no matter how many times it is drawn. Her subtitle is even "Ruthless Tactician".
Late Character Syndrome: She joins the Investigators one scenario later than when all the other surviving story Allies will. It's not unlikely most Investigators won't have the deck space or slot necessary to make the most of her.
Optional Party Member: She only joins the Investigators if they rescue Peter Clover, which can only be done by visiting the club as the second location at the start of the campaign (otherwise, he wouldn't be there).
Promoted to Playable: She can be recruited as a story Ally in Return to the Dunwich Legacy.

Zebulon Whateley and Earl Sawyer

Villagers of Dunwich, who are willing to assist the investigators — even if it makes themselves a target for the cult.

Distressed Dude: As soon as you arrive to Dunwich, they both gets kidnapped and have to be rescued before they join the team proper. It's possible to fail, resulting in them being killed.
I Owe You My Life: Earl, if he gets rescued, states that he owes investigators his life, and he would help them to repay that debt.
Killed Off for Real: Both can potentially perish in Blood On The Altar if not rescued in time.
Lightning Bruiser: As an Ally, Earl Sawyer boosts Agility, and allows to draw a card on successful evasion, which encourages to give him to the player who mainly handles enemies by evading them (which temporarily neutralises them), primely Rogues. However, he's not frail, having 3 Health and 2 Sanity, allowing him to serve as a safety cushion of sort if something goes wrong and your Fragile Speedster investigator gets attacked.
Smarter Than You Look: It's noted that while Earl looks like typical inbred peasant (like most of Dunwich denizens), he's neither dumb nor corrupt.
Squishy Wizard: Zebulon as an Ally raises your Willpower by one, which ,while useful to everyone to resist treacheries (as it is the stat most commonly tested by them), it is especially appreciated by Mystics who use that stat to cast spells succesfully. He also has a very high sanity of 4, which help Investigator with low sanity, usually Guardians and Rogues, survive longer. But he has only 1 health point, so any treachery that causes health damage to assets will obliterate him.
Optional Party Member: Both of them are always amongst possible sacrifices; saving them leads to them joining as story Allies.
Support Party Member: Zebulon Whateley, as an Ally, boosts Willpower and allows to draw extra cards after succeeding on a Willpower test from treachery card. Unlike other three story Allies (besides Armitage), his ability is more universal (as anyone can benefit from it), but also doesn't help in any particular task, as it's entirely related to random draws during Mythos phase.
This Is Unforgivable!: Zebulon, if he gets rescued, shows utter disgust towards the wile sorcery used to create Silas Bishop (basically, second Dunwich Horror), and says that whoever did this should be stopped at any cost, in which he would assist as much as he can.
White Sheep: Zebulon is a part of Whateley family, but he's neither insane nor corrupt, and is willing to help to stop the evil forces operating in Dunwich.

Seth Bishop

Sorcerer running the new cult of Yog-Sothoth, trying to finish what Whateley started.

Big Bad: Seth Bishop is the villain behind all events of campaign. He either went nuts from the strain of what he witnessed, or was a potential novice of Old Whateley all along. His research corrupted him. Now he's running the cult, kidnapping the original story's characters to make sure they can't stop this new ritual. The new Brood are his successful attempts to replicate the Dunwich Horror, using a journal recovered from the Whateley farm. But everything of this was done in service to Yog-Sothoth, and the last part of his plan involves summon him on Earth — which still remains a risk even after Seth himself gets disposed of.
Blood Magic: If the Investigators managed to destroy the Necronomicon or acquire it but didn't use it to heal Silas Bishop, Seth will find himself unable to complete his ritual without the book, resorting to perform a blood sacrifice on himself to do so. He will start the fight with the Investigators already damaged by doing so.
Body Horror: In the Return to Dunwich Legacy, Seth can potentially be turned into a Thrall, with all the horrfying changes that come with it.
Came Back Wrong: In the Return version, if Armitage and his friends were sacrificed and the ritual was completed, Seth will come back for one last fight in the final scenario. Not as a Sorcerer of Dunwich, but as a Thrall of Yog-Sothoth. Needless to say, he is far more dangerous than when he was a human.
Climax Boss: Seth's fight marks the end of the second-to-last scenario, and his defeat leads to the investigators facing his master next to save the world.
Cutscene Boss: If the Investigators decide to keep the Necronomicon with them and use it to heal Silas Bishop they will gain a pendant, showing it to Seth at the ritual site will cause him to lose his footing and fall into the portal he opened.
Disc-One Final Boss: While Seth Bishop is the leader of new cult and main force behind the whole story, even when he's dealt with, one last task remains — sealing away the portal he just opened, before Yog-Sothoth reaches our world through it.
Evil Sorcerer: Seth is the half-insane sorcerer worshipping Yog-Sothoth and trying to summon him on Earth, through dark rituals and bloody sacrifices. There are hints that he wasn't always like this, and his insanity, as well as his evil, are directly caused by what he found on Whately farm.
Go Mad from the Revelation: There are hints that Seth went insane after finding Whateley farm and learning of Yog-Sothoth, becoming his worshipper himself.
Lightning Bruiser: Downplayed, Seth has some of the highest Fight and Evade values in the game (both are 5), making it hard to attack or evade him, and outright risky to do the former given he has the Retaliate keyword, but his offensive campabilities are nothing to write home about (he deals 1 damage and horror with each attack) and his health is quite low for an Elite enemy.
My God, What Have I Done?: Implied to be what his reaction was to the Investigators showing him his brother medalion, temporally snapping him out of his insanity before falling into the portal.

Yog-Sothoth

The Outer God whom Seth Bishop is trying to summon into our world.

Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Defeating Yog-Sothoth will drive him away from our reality and win the campaign, but also cause all investigators and their allies to perish.
Blob Monster: Yog-Sothoth is depicted as pink formless mass with eyes and tentacles.
Final Boss: Yog-Sothoth is the final boss of the campaign, albeit it's entirely possible to win without fighting him.
Greater-Scope Villain: Yog-Sothoth is the deity which Seth Bishop is worshipping and trying to summon, but doesn't directly intervene, with only his minions being seen (summoned by Bishop and his allies). He does finally show up late in the last scenario, but only to punish the intruders (as the scenario is set in his domain), and doesn't do anything to advance Seth's plan (as the process goes autonomously by this point).
Glass Cannon: Yog-Sothoth has less health than Ancient Ones from campaigns released after The Dunwich Legacy (and only slightly above than Umôrdhoth before him), but compensates for it with massive amount of horror it deals with each attack, albeit it does only 1 point of damage. To make this attack less lethal (so he wouldn't end your party in few turns), he's unable to make attacks of opportunity, and some of this horror can be soaked by discarding cards from your deck, but this method by itself can seriously weaken investigators, and still drives them insane if they run out of cards. He has Retaliate, so he will counterattack anyone who fails to strike him and he is also Massive, so he will attack all Investigators in his area and has no evade value, making him impossible to exhaust and prevent him from attacking at all. On top of it, once in few turns, he attacks everyone, whether they're at same location or not.
Herd-Hitting Attack: Not only does Yog-Sothoth attacks every Investigator in his location every turn, being Massive (on top of actively chasing Investigators down if there is no one in his current location, being a Hunter), but every 2 Doom he will attack every Investigator in play, regardless of his or theirs current locations, quickly devastating you if you cannot resign in time or defeat him shortly after he spawns.
The Juggernaut: It is literally impossible to stall Yog-Sothoth: he has no evade value, is immune to being exhausted at all and will always advance towards the Investigators and annhilate them if they are in range (on top of being able to strike them from afar every 2 rounds with an extra attack). While it is possible to escape or even defeat him, neither of which is an easy task, managing to do the latter will come at the cost of the Investigators' lives.
No-Sell: It's impossible to evade Yog-Sothoth, and thus, exhaust him.
Skippable Boss: While defeating Yog-Sothoth is the Instant-Win Condition, actual task involves stopping the rift expanding, and (optionally) escape with your life. Yog-Sothoth is also unable to take Attacks of Opportunity or follow you when you move by entering your Threat Area as it is Massive, encouraging you to to leg it while you still can. If you are particular lucky (and quick) you can also finish the scenario before he spawns, as he only does so on the final Agenda.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In Return it is possible for Yog-Sothoth to meet Seth in the final scenario if he got turned into a Thrall: how does his god reward him for his service? By devouring him to heal 6 health.

The Path to Carcosa characters

Nigel Engram

Director who staged both the latest and the previous King in Yellow plays in Arkham.

Ambiguously Evil: It never gets clear whether he was the willing servant of Hastur, like Dianne, or was tricked into saying the Oath himself. Depending on your actins during campaign, he either disappears completely, leaving only a single note, or hangs himself.
Ambiguous Situation: Did he hang himself because he realised what kind of horror he unleashed? Or Hastur got rid of him now when he served his purpose? Or both? Additionally, it's unclear when he died; state of his corpse indicates him dying several weeks ago and rotting away, but he also turns into this state only after hanging himself, while Hastur is known for his reality-corrupting abilities.
Dead All Along: If you actually find Nigel during "A Phantom of Truth", he hangs himself... and then you see that his corpse is so rotten as if he died weeks ago, implying that he wasn't alive to begin with, reverting to his "natural" state now when Hastur doesn't need him.
Driven to Suicide: By the time you find him (if you find him), he decides to hang himself, for one reason or another.
The Heavy: He's the one who staged the ill-fated play, but isn't involved in subsequent plot, excluding Phantom of Truth, which involves looking for him (in vain).

The Man in the Pallid Mask / The Stranger

Mysterious person in the Pallid Mask, who originally shows up when it all begins, and whom investigators have to chase in attempt to get some answers... or just ignore him.

Ambiguously Human: As with many of Hastur's minions, it's not possible to tell for sure that he's even human beneath that mask; especially since depending on the path you're following, his nature changes as well.
Contractual Boss Immunity: Notably to be the only weakness enemy to have the Elite trait, making him immune to most card effects and forcing you to deal with him either by fighting him directly or investigating his location.
Graceful Loser: Maybe? He bows to the Investigators during the Doubt ending after helping them back to their feet, before leaving the theatre.
Schrödinger's Gun: Just before Hastur shows up in the final scenario, you have to track down the Stranger and (try to) get some answers. The result would vary depending on what path you're following. You're consumed by doubts? It would be revealed that he never existed in the first place, you've imagined him. You're convinced that all of this is real and some evil force is behind this? He would remove the mask, revealing that it was Hastur beneath it. Neither? He would just vanish, leaving only the mask, the event so crushing that you would get -2 Sanity for the rest of scenario.
Stone Wall: The Man in the Pallid Mask is not a dangerous enemy, as he only deals 1 horror per attack, but he has high fight and evade (making it hard to actually hit), 3 health (which means most successful attacks won't one-shot him) and spawns at the furthest location from all Investigators and is Aloof (so it is time consuming to just get in a position to attack him at all). You still do want to defeat him however, as many treacheries in the campaign become more dangerous if he is present in play, and the amount of time you have to finish the final scenario is increased the more times you took care of him.
One-Hit Kill: If you manage to Investigate his location successfully, he will get instantly discarded. It is easier said than done however, as if you try to Investigate specifically to get rid of him, your location shroud value is raised by 2 points.
The Quiet One: He's nearly always silent, adding to his overall mysteriousness. He does speak briefly during dream sequence in "A Phantom of Truth", and in "Dim Carcosa".

Dianne Divine

Mysterious guest of the party, who clearly has more involvement in the events than appears at first.

Ambiguously Human: It never gets clear whether Dianne is a human corrupted by Hastur, or manifestation of his power assuming human form. In the core game, she never turns monster, even when everyone else does (but she does turn in Return to the Path to Carcosa, further adding confusion), and the final scenario all but flat-out states that the Beast of Aldebaran you keep encountering across the campaign was actually her all along, which may either be her true form, or the form she was transformed into by Hastur.
Discard and Draw: In Return to the Path to Carcosa, when Dianne mutates, she ditches her default ability to stop investigators from finding clues, in favour of gaining proper combat abilities, and becoming able to actively pursuit whoever tries to parley with other guests.
The Dragon: There are several hints at that she's acting like Hastur's right-hand woman during the story:
- She's the only person on the party with "Cultist" trait instead of "Lunatic", meaning that she's serving Hastur voluntarily. Her arrival to the party is what triggers things going to hell, with people starting mutating.
- During the campaign, you can encounter the Beast of Aldebaran twice, both times she's trying to stop investigators from thwarting Hastur's plans (firstly when they come to rescue Daniel, then when they try to enter Carcosa). Then it shows up for the third time in the final scenario, coming to Hastur's aid... where it gets revealed that it was Dianne all along.
Mini-Boss: Throughout the campaign investigators, frequently deal with the Beast of Aldebaran, huge and dangerous monster. It appears for the last time during Dim Carcosa, where it turns out that it was mutated Dianne Divine (if "Dianne" was even human to begin with) all along.
Obvious Rule Patch: Her Return to the Path to Carcosa version specifically excludes cards without clues on them from the list of of guests she moves towards, to prevent the situations where she sticks around the guests already fully cleared of clues and interviewed.
Power Nullifier: During The Last King, Dianne spawns once the first agenda advances, and hinders progression by making investigators at her location unable to find or obtain clues by any means, even through their cards and abilities. In original version, you may just defeat her like any other enemy (she's considered Elite, but has low stats and can't fight back), but in Return to the Path to Carcosa, she was made into a story asset (same as with other party guests), rendering her invulnerable... at least until she mutates into monstrosity.
Recurring Boss: If Dianne is indeed the Beast of Aldebaran, then she can potentially be fought 3 times: in The Unspeakable Oath, Black Stars Rise and Dim Carcossa, returning again even if defeated before. In Return to the Path to Carcosa, the Investigators may have to face her when she turns in the scenario she is introduced, The Last King, on top of her normal appearances.
Skippable Boss: Neither in human form, nor as the Beast of Aldebaran, it's ever required to actually fight her, albeit you are rewarded Victory if you defeat her. On top of that, you sometimes may not even meet her at all: in the Return version of The Last King, she mutates in the same random order as any guest, in The Unspeakable Oath, the Beast is one of the plenty random monsters you can encounter, and in the Black Stars Rise, the Beast only spawns if you advance the wrong agenda. The only time the Beast is guranteed to spawn and you will be required to deal with her is during Dim Carcosa, once you lower Hastur's health by enough, where she will guard the secret to defeat Hastur in his palace.

Stage Crew

People involved in staging the latest cursed play , now all gathered together for a party. All of them quickly reveals that they've succumbed to Hastur's corruption, and the party is a trap to spread it further.

Alas, Poor Villain: At the end of the day, the Stage Crew are just normal people twisted in a parody of themselves by Hastur to serve him. If you set the party on fire the Investigators will have nightmares about it later on and suffer a Mental Trauma for the guilt of having mercy killed them
Armored But Frail: Ishimaru Haruko has only 4 health (lowest amongst the guests), but to actually damage her, you have to either pass very hard Combat test, or use indirect means to damage her... which triggers another nasty effect.
Counter-Attack:
- Having "Retaliate" keyword, Sebastian Moreau hits back each time you try, but fail to damage him — which is very painful, given his offensive stats.
- In her monster form, Ishimaru Haruko makes you draw encounter card whenever you damage her in any way other than direct attack — which, given her massive combat rating, is often the only way you can damage her at all.
Early-Bird Boss: The Party Guests themselves can be fairly dangerous, but a well-prepared group of Investigators can coordinate to exploit their weak points and defeat them easily when faced one by one. The problem is that they are introduced as early as the second scenario of the campaign and can potentially attack you all toghether if you take too long, easily overwhelming you.
Glass Cannon: Sebastien Moreua has strongest attack amongst party guests, but has worst defensive capabilities: he has relatively low combat rating (so he's easy to damage), average health (so he wouldn't be too hard to kill), and his ability is entirely offensive.
Healing Factor: In his monster form, Jordan Perry quickly regenerates health each turn (and he is already toughest of the party goers), making it significantly harder to put him down.
Mini-Boss: People behind The King in Yellow play were corrupted by Hastur, and now lead his cultists on their missions. Any scenario past the second (excluding final one) has exactly one of them showing up in the middle of scenario (assuming you didn't kill them on the party) to cause you problem. They are nowhere near Hastur's level of power, but can cause problems nonetheless:
- Sebastien Moreau always hits his targets, and hits hard; you can't cancel his attacks. Fortunately, he's relatively vulnerable.
- Constance Dumaine is slowest, but also hardest to actually damage, especially if you exhaust her first.
- Jordan Perry is extremely durable, and, to add insult into injury, heals damage every round; but he's very weak offensively.
- Ishimaru Haruko is most fragile (if you manage to actually land a hit) — but also the one you would really want to just avoid (only to notice that it's not an easy task, either) — all because whenever she takes damage, she forces you to draw encounter cards.
- Ashleigh Clarke prevents investigators from drawing cards during upkeep just by being in the same location. And being a "hunter", she would always follow you unless you kill her.
Mighty Glacier: In her monster form, Constance Dumaine has second-highest health amongst party guests, and above-average combat stat. She has only 1 agility, but if you take advantage of it and try to evade her to exhaust her, she would nearly double her combat rating, making it nearly impossible to actually injury her with normal fight actions.
No-Sell: Sebastien Moreau's attacks can't be cancelled.
Power Nullifier: Ashleigh Clarke disables normal card drawing during upkeep for every investigator in her location.
Quirky Miniboss Squad: In The Last King scenario, investigators infiltrate a party and meet the people behind recent events. At first, they look (somewhat) normal. Then they start mutating, one by one, and become hostile. Each one of them, unless killed here (with exception of Dianne Divine, who can't be killed), would appear as an (optional) Mini-Boss in subsequent scenarios. Each one of them has unique abilities which make them pain the ass to face. And then, in the very last scenario, it turns out that another recurring monster, Beast from Aldebaran, was no one else by Dianne herself — when she attacks you for the last time on Hastur orders.
Stone Wall: Jordan Perry has nearly boss-grade durability, but has unimpressive 1/1 damage/horror value.
Skippable Boss: You can avoid fighting all of the V.I.P.s if you are fast enough, as their spawning is tied to the agenda, so if you progress the act deck quickly or resign early, you will not give them a chance to show up. There are exceptions however: in the Conviction route Jordan Perry NEEDS to spawn for you to advance in A Phantom of Truth, as your progress is tied to Agenda deck instead of the Act deck in that scenario, so the Investigators must Hold the Line and survive long enough in Paris to win. Ishimaru Haruko will also spawn the moment you advance the first Act in the The Pallid Mask, meaning it will be required to deal with her to finish the scenario as well.
Tragic Monster: All the V.I.P.s were normal people that got tricked by Hastur into being possesed and corrupted by him, turning them into hideous mockery of themselves and acting as little more than his attack dogs. Talking with them during The Last King show them to be fairly nice (if snobbish or histrionic) to the Investigators before they turn into monsters.
Wolf Pack Boss: You can potentially fight all 5 of them in The Last King, this is averted later on as they come at you one by one in different scenarios.

Daniel Chesterfield

Stagehand who was involved in the first play in Arkham years ago, but went insane.

Go Mad from the Revelation: What he witnessed while working on the King in Yellow play, hit his sanity so much, he was admitted to the Arkham Asylum, where it deteriorated further due to extremely bad treatment (and later, Hastur's corruption).
He Knows Too Much: Even if he makes it out of the Asylum alive and not possessed, he would die, seemingly chocked to death, after he starts spilling information on Hastur and his plans. If he does get possessed, he still manages to deliver the warning, only to die immediately afterwards.
Heroic Willpower: Daniel managed to resist Hastur's corruption back in the days, which is likely how he ended up in Asylum; if he gets possessed and isn't defeated by the investigators, he would still manage to deliver the message to the investigators, just before perishing, likely to silence him (like in other ending for "The Unspeakable Oath").
Mind Screw: Obtaining the Clasp of Black Onyx in Echoes of the Past will allow Daniel to join forces with you, but failing to get it will lead him to get possessed and turn into a monster, but his enemy card will include a parley action that allow you to show him the Onyx Clasp to instantly defeat him... But this outcome is literally 'impossible to obtain because he can only get possesed if you do not have the relic with you! This is meant to represent the degenerating mental facolties and confusion the Investigators are experience because of Hastur's influence.
Plotline Death: Poor Daniel, no matter the choices the Investigators take, he won't survive past The Unspekable Oath. If you do not get the Clasp of Black Onyx in the previous scenario he either gets possesed and killed fighting the investigators or if they run away from him, dies fleeing from the Asylum to inform them of what he knows. If you do get the Clasp he teams up with the investigators as an ally, but can potentially perish during the escape; and in the best outcome where the Investigators manage to escape with him, he gets strangled to death by Hastur's servants while they are hiding.
Sole Survivor: Out of the crew behind original play, all the others either died in some freak accidents, offed themselves, or just disappeared altogether; Daniel instead was admitted to the Arkham Asylum. He doesn't survive his rescue from there, however.

Hastur

Hastur is the Ancient One behind events of the story, who's trying to escape his imprisonment in Carcosa and conquer Earth, turning it into his new domain.

Big Bad: All of this, from the ill-fated play in Arkham, to the dark ritual in Paris, is a part of Hastur's plan to escape from his prison, by merging Carcosa and our world.
Brown Note Being: All three forms of Hastur cause massive amount of horror to whomever they're targeting, quickly draining their sanity. And when they run out of sanity (which by itself doesn't eliminate them), he starts slowly draining their health as well.
Final Boss: Regardless of your playstyle, your last task would be to face and defeat Hastur. Your doubt/conviction ratio determines which of three versions you would fight, with Hastur having different stats and abilities.
Glass Cannon: "The Tattered King" version of Hastur has lower health than "Lord of Carcosa", and lacks defensive capabilities which "The King in Yellow" has, but deals double amount of horror with each attack compared to either of them. He's also easier to exhaust, as he has only 2 Evade.
Herd-Hitting Attack: "The King in Yellow" version of Hastur targets every investigator with each attack. Downplayed with the "Lord of Carcosa" version: he is massive so he only attacks every Investigator in his location.
No-Sell: There are three versions of final battle with Hastur; if "The King in Yellow" version is used (requires being on "doubt" path), Hastur can't be damaged by investigators' attacks or the player cards, only being vulnerable to special effects of scenario cards. You can still attack him for the purpose of attack-triggered effects, and evade to exhaust him.
Puzzle Boss: "The King in Yellow" version of Hastur can't be damaged by normal means; part of the challenge is to find a way to defeat him indirectly.
Time-Limit Boss: Mission-wide time limit keeps ticking even while you're fighting Hastur, as his plan of merging Earth and Carcosa continues on background; failing to defeat him in time means that it all was for nothing.

The Forgotten Age characters

Alejandro Vela

Historian who launched the expedition in hope to find the lost city of Eztli.

Death of Personality: Unless you support Alejandro throughout the entire campaign (at the cost of bonding with Ichtaca), rescuing him from Yithian custody wouldn't be enough: Yithian would take over, and he would lose his memories permanently, later showing up again as the one leading the Brotherhood forces.
Evil All Along: Played With. Alejandro is helpful at first, but in truth has his own agenda, due to actually being Yithian agent all along; Yithian takes him over permanently halfway into campaign, and used him to get the Relic, so they can reshape the history and bring back Pnakotus, at the cost of dooming humanity. It's possible to save him and release him from Yithian mind control, after which the real Alejandro joins the team for good, but if you ever pick Ichtaca over him, or choose to forge your own path (which is a requirement for the Golden Ending), the Yithian would take over permanently.
Optional Party Member: Alejandro can join the team as a story Ally, temporarily or permanently, at several points, each time requiring certain actions from the players:
- During first scenario, attacking Ichtaka earn Alejandro's approval, leading to him joining the investigators; it also counts towards criteria of his permanent recruitment.
- During "Threads of Fate", Alejandro gets abducted; if rescued, he (re)joins the investigators, albeit he would leave once it's over if you previously chose to forge your own path.
- Once "The City of Archives" ends, Alejandro would either leave the team permanently, or, if all conditions were fulfilled, would stay with the players till the end of campaign.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The entire expedition starts due to his obsession with finding Aztec city-state Eztli. If not for that, no plot would've happened. Later it gets revealed that this obsession was inspired by Yithian possessing his body: Yithians have their own reason to look for Eztli.

Ichtaka

Leader of the Eztli warriors protecting the temple.

Aloof Ally: She's not very talkative, and prefers to act rather than explain anything. She warms up to the investigators if they earn her trust over the campaign.
Evil All Along: Just before the final scenario (if not counting the epilogue), Ichtaca reveals that all this time, she was following instructions from Yig, the Father of Serpents, who wished to obtain the Relic of Ages and restore Valusia at the cost of dooming humanity; she's learned of her own Valusian heritage, and that's why she was so cold with the investigators. However, if investigators bonded with her over the course of campaign, she would reject this heritage, and side with humanity over Yig, but this path is mutually-exclusive with either saving Alejandro, or with achieving the Golden Ending.
Mr. Exposition: Quite a lot of exposition about the Relic and its importance comes from her. Justified, as she's a part of the group tasked with protecting the temple from outsiders.
Snake People: She's actually of Valusian descent, of which she learned at certain point, secretly siding with Yig. If you didn't convince her to turn on Yig, she does actually turn into snake-like creature and run away (potentially with the Relic of Ages).
Optional Party Member: While Ichtaka always sticks with the team story-wise, she wouldn't actually go on the missions unless you did certain choices during the course of campaign. On top of that, just before penultimate scenario, she would backstab you (leaving the team permanently, both as a character and a story Ally), unless you've fulfilled special requirements to earn her loyalty.
Token Minority: If she joins the team, she represents Aztec people.

Body of Yithian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ahlcg_yithian2.png

And then the morbid temptation to look down at myself became greater and greater, till one night I could not resist it. At first my downward glance revealed nothing whatsoever. A moment later I perceived that this was because my head lay at the end of a flexible neck of enormous length. Retracting this neck and gazing down very sharply, I saw the scale, rugose, iridescent bulk of a vast cone ten feet tall and ten feet wide at the base. That was when I waked half of Arkham with my screaming as I plunged madly up from the abyss of sleep.
- H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out of Time

Temporal alien body to which the investigator got their memory transferred for the duration of the The City of Archives scenario.

"Freaky Friday" Flip: Investigators temporarily get placed in Yithian bodies instead of their own for the duration of scenario, and lose most of their memories. Depending on the scenarios's outcome, they may restore their original bodies, get stuck in alien bodies for duration of campaign, or lose their memories entirely.
Gameplay and Story Integration: Due to being trapped outside of their time and even their body, investigators can't use their signature abilities; they also can't use any unique assets with "Item" trait, including their signature ones. If they have any "Ally" cards, they are considered to have Yithian bodies (with the corresponding trait), too, but this one is just for flavour.
Master of None: Has average Health and Sanity (7 at both), and 2 in all skills (which is below average). Its Elder Sign gives decent stat bonus and allows to draw 1 card, but it's not very useful outside of the (normally only) scenario where you play as Yithian, and its ability (double the amount of symbols on the card committed to a test) is essentially here to compensate for Yithian's own weaknesses.
Starfish Aliens: Like all Yithians, these beings have an absolutely weird shape by human lights, not even vaguely resembling anything Earth-born. If the investigators fail to restore their original bodies, they may be trapped in these bodies until the end of campaign, barring them from using their own signature abilities.
Walking Spoiler: Its mere presence is a spoiler for the The City of Archives scenario.

Yig

The deity worshipped by long-gone Valusians, and by the snake people protecting the temple in the ruins of Eztli. Now, when the Relic is disturbed, he wants for it to end up in the hands of his followers, so they would reshape the history and bring Valusia back — at the cost of dooming humanity.

Big Bad: He's the deity Valusians worship, and actively assists them, with much of the dangers you face across campaign being related to him in one way or another. On the path to the best ending, he would be the last obstacle on your path to save the world, gathering all his forces to stop you and claim the victory for Valusians.
King Mook: Yig, the snake-like Ancient One, boosts other Serpents at his location, giving them Retaliate and Alert keywords (so any failed attack/evasion attempts would provoke counterattacks).
No-Sell: While there's another ready Serpent enemy at his location, Yig is immune to any damage.
Snake People: Yig is the snake-like Great Old One, with both the actual snakes, and Valusians being made in his image.
Time-Limit Boss: In Turn Back Time, the boss fight with Yig must be completed before the final agenda advances (and Yig receives reinforcements), otherwise it would all be for nothing.
True Final Boss: Yig, if you successfully go back in time, is the final boss of the Epilogue scenario (which is only played if you made the right decisions across campaign, and made it to the end).

The Circle Undone characters

Gavriella Mizrah

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ahlcg_gavriella.jpg

A former member of the Haganah, Gavriella Mizrah now works private security for wealthy homeowners. Josef Meiger — a man who takes confidentiality quite seriously — has retained Gavriella to make sure there are no problems during tonight's event. But even she is not prepared for what is to come.

Josef Meiger's private security. Starts with fixed set of cards (most are Guardian-class).

Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: Starts with a fixed set of cards (most are Guardian-class), which she can't replace once discarded. Most likely it was done to speed up your demise, since the prologue only ends with all investigators being defeated.
Badass Israeli: Former member of Haganah.
Big Guy: Played With.
- She is closest the prologue team has to a Guardian. She has the best Health and Combat stats in the team (comparable to Guardians), but pays for it with the absolute worst Sanity in the game, in a scenario which provides a lot of horror-based dangers.
- She may find clues by being attacked by a monster (whether she gets damaged or not), which adds additional benefits to acting like the team's "tank".
Canine Companion: Always starts with a "Guard Dog" Ally in play.
Crippling Overspecialisation: All Prologue investigators have 4-3-2-1 stat distribution, making them good at one specific thing, but worse at the others, with one stat acting as their definitive weak point. Gavriella concentrates on fighting enemies head-on, but pays for it with having only 2 Intellect and 1 Agility, meaning she would not be a good clue-gatherer, and she certainly won't be able to avoid enemies.
Glass Cannon: Just as she's tough in Health, she's weak in Sanity, being the only investigator to have it below 5.
Heal Thyself: Her Elder Sign allows her to heal 1 damage and 1 horror.
Optional Party Member: Alongside other three abductees, she can potentially be saved, leading to her joining in as a story Ally.

Jerome Davids

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ahlcg_jerome.jpg

Jerome is Josef Meiger's personal assistant and secretary. He is a close friend of Josef's and is also an upstanding member of the Silver Twilight Lodge. He helps keep the Meiger estate's vast finances in order and manages Josef's time, which has become increasingly precious of late.

Josef Meiger's personal assistant. Starts with fixed set of cards (most are Seeker-class).

Action Survivor: He is Josef Meiger's personal assistant, and good at investigating, but lacks any combat skills.
Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: Starts with a fixed set of cards (most are Seeker-class), which he can't replace once discarded. Most likely it was done to speed up your demise, since the prologue only ends with all investigators being defeated.
Crippling Overspecialisation: All Prologue investigators have 4-3-2-1 stat distribution, making them good at one specific thing, but worse at the others, with one stat acting as their definitive weak point. Jerome is the best clue-gatherer, but he has the worst Combat (he's not a fighter), and just slightly better Willpower (meaning he would be hit hard by treacheries as well).
Fragile Speedster: Has the second-highest Agility in the team—which is his only chance of survival if he ever gets caught, since he has abysmal Health and Combat stats, and no Weapons to defend himself with.
Non-Action Guy: Jerome has the lowest Health in game, period (being the only investigator to have it below 5). In combination with his poor stats (other than Intellect) and lack of Weapon options, he must avoid combat like fire.
Optional Party Member: Alongside other three abductees, he can potentially be saved, leading to him joining in as a story Ally.
The Smart Guy: He's closest the prologue team has to a Seeker. He also has the best Intellect of the four, and can instantly find a clue via his Elder Sign effect.

Penny White

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ahlcg_penny.jpg

Penny White is the Meiger estate's head housekeeper. She has been working in the Meiger estate for several years. Though she has only spoken with Josef a few times, his overly fastidious nature has kept her quite busy. Tonight, she is tasked with keeping the manor spotless, the food hot, and the hooch flowing.

Josef Meiger's housekeeper. Starts with fixed set of cards (most are Survivor-class)

Action Survivor: She's closest the prologue team has to a Survivor. She also lacks any special skills or training, being just a humble maid.
Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: Starts with a fixed set of cards (most are Survivor-class), which she can't replace once discarded. Most likely it was done to speed up your demise, since the prologue only ends with all investigators being defeated.
Crippling Overspecialisation: All Prologue investigators have 4-3-2-1 stat distribution, making them good at one specific thing, but worse at the others, with one stat acting as their definitive weak point. Penny has the best Willpower, making her the most resistant to treacheries, but has the worst Intellect stat, meaning that investigating normally is usually not the best choice.
Extra Turn: If she draws the Elder Sign when dealing with a Treachery's "Revelation" effect, she gains an additional action... for her next turn.
Jack of All Trades: Penny has no set "role" in the team, but can provide at least some help with any task, making her similar to a Survivor:
- She has the second-best Health and Combat stats after Gavriella. She also starts with two Knifes (one active and one in reserve), which, while weak, are the only Weapons at the team's disposal with no need for ammo (which her teammates can't re-obtain once it runs out).
- Penny has the lowest Intellect, but may use the "Flashlight" to slightly compensate for it, and automatically finds clues every time she passes any skill check.
Luck-Based Search Technique: With her Intellect stat, she's unlikely to find any clues while investigating, but she discovers them for free whenever she succeeds at any skill check, regardless of type.
Optional Party Member: Alongside other three abductees, she can potentially be saved, leading to her joining in as a story Ally.

Valentino Rivas

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ahlcg_valentino.jpg

"Tino" is a wealthy philanthropist and one of tonight's most esteemed guests. The recipient of a fortuitous windfall, Valentino lives a life of luxury and recreation. Despite his wealth, he remains connected to his community, and he takes great joy in giving large sums of money to good causes.

Josef Meiger's guest of honour and a well-known philanthropist. Starts with fixed set of cards (most are Rogue-class).

Action Survivor: He lacks any special skills or training, and relies on his natural savviness and sneakiness to survive.
Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: Starts with a fixed set of cards (most are Rogue-class), which he can't replace once discarded. Most likely it was done to speed up your demise, since the prologue only ends with all investigators being defeated.
Crimefighting with Cash: Starts with twice the normal amount of resources (especially noticeable since everyone else has less than normal at the start), and can spend them during skill checks to reduce their difficulty. He gets even more resources with his Elder Sign effect.
Crippling Overspecialisation: All Prologue investigators have 4-3-2-1 stat distribution, making them good at one specific thing, but worse at the others, with one stat acting as their definitive weak point. Valentino comes with good Agility and just slightly worse Intellect stats, but will be completely obliterated by Willpower-testing treacheries.
Fragile Speedster: Valentino pays for his high Agility with low Health and low Combat. It's just not in his best interests to fight enemies directly.
Optional Party Member: Alongside other three abductees, he can potentially be saved, leading to him joining in as a story Ally.
The Sneaky Guy: The closest the prologue team has to a Rogue. He has the highest Agility (4) and second highest Intellect (3), making him a better fit for investigating than fighting.

Anette Mason

Witch running the Coven; distant descendant of infamous Keziah Mason.

The Atoner: If Anette gets possessed by Keziah and survives events of In the Clutches of Chaos, she would offer her help in saving the world, to atone for unwillingly causing all of this; unlike Sanford, she actually recognises that this is her fault. You can accept it, or try to arrest her.
Big Bad Ensemble: Anette is leading the Coven, one of the two forces involved in the latest conflict endangering Arkham.
Big Bad Wannabe: Anette Mason never was equal partner in her alliance with Spectral Watcher, and once she completes her task, she instantly gets possessed, and unless investigators interferes, leads her people to their doom.
Heel–Face Turn: If she prevails over Sanford during the struggle on the Unvisited Island, Anette gets possessed by Keziah's spirit who then starts summoning Azathoth. If stopped in time (before she and the rest of Coven perish), Anette would realise that she was used as a pawn and brought the world on the verge of oblivion, and offer her help with stopping the apocalypse. She seems to sincerely regret her actions.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Unlike Carl Sanford, Anette Mason fights for her people, who was hunted and killed during Salem "trials", and she has no personal hatred for investigators, her main target is Silver Twilight Lodge (which she targets with zero regards for collateral damage); she's even willing to spare them if they meddle into her affairs, this once. But,unknowingly to her, her mysterious ally, Keziah Mason, serves Azathoth and intends to bring The End of the World as We Know It. She actually recognises her mistakes if she survives, and offers her help with fixing at least some of them; her close supporter, Erynn, was also unimpressed by results of her plan and calls her out on it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: It's she and her Coven who're responsible for the Spectral Watcher and the massacre it commenced in the Silver Twilight Estate. But all of this was to ensure her people's survival. She sincerely regrets her actions if she prevails over the Lodge, only to cause an apocalypse when her spectral "friend" turns on her.
Anette Mason: I only wanted us all to have some semblance of the strength she possessed. I had no desire to use it in the same way she did. But the spirit took control, and I could not resist. I’m sorry, sisters. I failed us all. I was not strong enough.

Erynn

Anette Mason's second in-command in the Coven.

The Dragon: She's Anette's most trusted underling. Earning her trust is one of the requirements for Coven-aligned ending.
Heel–Face Turn:
- If Anette prevails over the Lodge, only to get possessed by Keziah, Erynn is shown amongst those who didn't follow her into damnation. She also assists in purging Keziah's spirit from Anette, and and then calls Anette out on her actions.
- In Return to the Circle Undone, it's possible to make Erynn join your team, if some specific conditions are fulfilled. She would stay by your side regardless of which side you take later.
Minor Major Character: She only shows up few times to say something to Anette at some scenarios' resolutions, but doesn't do anything in the game proper, despite being Anette Mason's right-hand woman. Return to the Circle Undone rectifies it a bit, by adding an extra storyline centred around recruiting her.
Only Sane Woman: She's the first to realise Spectral Watcher's true nature, and (in vain) tries to warn Anette. She then leaves, while the rest of Coven follows their "messiah" to their doom.
Token Good Teammate: Erynn is the only known witch who, instead of blindly following Anette, tries to learn more about their new "ally". She actually joins the investigators if they convince her that they can be trusted, and goes against Anette when she gets possessed by Keziah, while the rest of Coven gleefully participates in the madness. She also assists in putting down Keziah, regardless of whether she trusts the investigators or not.
Optional Party Member: In Return to the Circle Undone, she may be recruited as a story Ally if series of specific conditions gets fulfilled across multiple scenarios.
The Unfought: You never fight Erynn, regardless of whom you side with.

Carl Sanford

Sorcerer in charge of the Silver Twilight Lodge.

Big Bad Ensemble: Sanford is leading the Silver Twilight Lodge, one of the two forces involved in the latest conflict endangering Arkham.
Big Bad Wannabe: Carl Sanford wants to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence, no matter the cost, but even if he comes victorious out of his conflict with Coven, his plan goes horribly, horribly wrong, and if investigators fails to stop him in time, he only gets himself and the rest of the Lodge killed.
Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed; if he prevails over Coven and then brings the world on the edge of apocalypse over his stupidity, Sanford would offer his help with stopping the end of the world, but it's pretty clear that it's simple pragmatism: if he world dies, he would die with it, and he would rather avoid it.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to Anette, Carl Sanford is not as noble as he tries to pose himself, since the only thing he cares about is to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence. And indeed, when he obtains powers of Spectral Watcher for himself, he drops all "helping humanity" demagogy, and starts gloating about his new found power. Investigators wouldn't even receive a choice to side with him unless they were fiercely loyal to him in all previous scenarios.
Unreliable Expositor: Both Anette Mason and Carl Sanford claims that they are Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to use their power for good of humanity, while another one is the main cause of all those troubles. However, while Anette did summon Spectral Watcher, at least she was just as unaware about its true intentions or true nature as everyone else, while Sanford probably just lies to cover his real motifs — Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Even if taking Sanford's motives to help humanity as sincere, he is still willing to risk his people just to prove his theory that Spectral Watcher gets attracted to large crowds of people. This potentially may end with his trusted underling, Josef Meiger, being killed, but Sanford considers it to be "price of the progress".
Carl Sanford: I regret that we must meet under such... unfortunate circumstances. Human progress requires sacrifice. It is lamentable when that sacrifice is in blood, but the price in lamentation does not outweigh the yield of our labor.

Josef Meiger

Sanford's second in-command in the Lodge.

The Dragon: He's Sanford's most trusted underling. Ensuring his survival is one of the requirements for the Lodge-aligned ending; conversely, you have to fight him at some point if you side with Coven in the final conflict, unless he died in his first appearance.
Minor Major Character: Being Sanford's right-hand man, you'd expect him to play crucial role in the story. He does own the estate where story begins, and his survival (or not) determines whether you'd make it into Lodge (and its inner circle), but Meiger himself only shows up two times, one of them as a mini-boss (if he wasn't killed in his first appearance). Even if he does die, it barely alters the story outside of cutting off one of the optional branches.

The Spectral Watcher / Keziah Mason

The ghostly creature summoned by the witches to attack the Silver Twilight Lodge. Later it gets revealed that the Watcher is actually the ghost of the witch Keziah Mason, who once signed the Black Book of Azathoth, initiating similar events many years ago.

Deal with the Devil: In backstory, she signed the Black Book of Azathoth, which is the source of her massive powers, as well as why she keeps trying to summon Azathoth.
The Heavy: She's basically the main force driving the plot forward. It's her attack on the Silver Twilight Manor which motivates investigators to join the story, and investigation of Keziah's past which motivates them to check the Witch House (and later the other witches from that time period). Finally, the central conflict of "Union and Disillusion" is all about Spectral Watcher: Lodge wants to bind it, so it would pose no more harm, and Coven wants to severe its tether to the mortal realm and set it free; and if Coven prevails there, it's Keziah who would open the final breach, bringing Azathoth close to awakening.
Recurring Boss: Spectral Watcher shows up in several scenarios, attacking the investigators. She can be temporarily stopped, but not defeated; she would soon recover and continue pursuit. She only gets dealt with for good in the 6th scenario (out of 8).
Predecessor Villain: Many of campaign's events can be traced back to Keziah.
- Whole point of The Secret Name is to uncover as much information about Keziah Mason as possible, and learn whether she's related to Anette Mason and her Coven.
- In The Wages of Sin, investigators go to Hangman's Hill — the place of Witch Trials' executions — in hope to find ghosts of other old witches and learn something about Keziah from them.

Azathoth

The Outer God whom Keziah worships, and whose powers Sanford hoped to exploit. Now, thanks to the foolish struggle between Coven and the Lodge, Azathoth is about to wake up — which would end our world forever.

Final Boss: Azathoth is the final danger the investigators would face to save the world, albeit they can't fight him directly.
Greater-Scope Villain: While Azathoth is the ultimate threat to humanity, Azathoth himself is asleep (in fact, if he ever gets awakened, it would cause The End of the World as We Know It); his sleep gets disturbed by either Anette Mason, or Carl Sanford, who both unwillingly interacted with him. Final task is not to fight him (he is invincible), but to ensure that he would continue sleeping.
Puzzle Boss: In Before the Black Throne, you can't defeat Azathoth; he simply lacks any stats besides damage whatsoever. Instead, you must find how to pacify him.
Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: In Before the Black Throne, like in any game he appears in, if at any moment Azathoth awakens, it's instant game over.

The Dream Eaters characters

Virgil Gray

The writer whose work about journey in the Dreamland, Tales from Nevermore, caught attention of a new team of investigators who decided to try and clarify his story personally.

Based on a True Story: Virgil's "Tales from Nevermore" are allegedly based on his personal experiences. Of course, no one believes this. When things he described starts happening to other people for real, attracts the interest of the investigators, kickstarting the plot.
Sacrificial Lamb: His death by Nyarlathothep's hands marks the point when things goes truly serious.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: His quest to reach Kadath and find the Gods reveals that the mountain is long-abandoned, while Virgil himself gets unceremoniously killed by Nyarlathothep.

The Black Cat

Mysterious black cat from the Dream Land that is trying to assist the investigators stuck there on their journey.

Aloof Ally: The Black Cat is on your side, but acts rather cold towards the investigators, and never sticks around for long. It only ever shows any empathy towards investigators in some of the endings when playing in combined mode.
Ambiguously Evil: When playing in combined campaign mode, near beginning of campaign, the Black Cat offers its help, and asks what it can tell to the other group (it wouldn't make this offer in standalone mode). The way how game describes Black Cat makes it unclear whether it's a good idea to trust it, and helpfully provides an opportunity to refuse aid... which provides no rewards whatsoever.
Ambiguous Gender: The Black Cat's gender never gets stated anywhere in campaign (which only calls the Black Cat "it", like an actual animal, despite it being sapient).
Cats Are Mean: The Black Cat acts in a rather enigmatic way, making it unclear if it really can be trusted, and shows little empathy towards misfortune for anyone but itself. It's also tend to be rather mean in its comments, particularly when told to assist one of the groups (over another), as it deliberately tells about one of the groups being in danger in the most mean and worry-inducing way possible. The game helpfully provides the opportunity to refuse its aid right from the start, though you don't get any benefit from it.
Dark Is Not Evil: The Black Cat is a jerk, but it is ultimately on the Investigators' side and truly helpful to them if they accept its aid.
Never My Fault: In any endings which leads to apocalypse, the Black Cat would shift the blame on others rather than admit that it just did the bad job at aiding the investigators. Even when it drops the hints at exactly why it is its fault.
Red Herring: When playing in combined campaign mode, near beginning of campaign, the Black Cat offers its help, and asks what it can tell to the other group (it wouldn't make this offer in standalone mode). The way how game describes Black Cat makes it unclear whether it's a good idea to trust it, and helpfully provides an opportunity to refuse aid... which provides no rewards whatsoever, and only cuts off some of the mechanics along with the Golden Ending. If you sided with the zoogs over the cats, you would receive a warning about all cats being the liars (especially Black Cat) even before then, which also doesn't affect anything in the campaign. What's more, the Black Cat is available as Neutral "Ally" card, making it even more clear on whose side it truly is.
This Is My Human: He refers to Virgil as his pet during the path to the Golden Ending.

Randolph Carter

Both teams, early in the campaign, runs into man named Randolph Carter, an experienced dreamer, who offers them his help on their adventure.

Foreshadowing: If you play the two campaigns combined instead of separately, the whole fact he is active in both the Dreamland and the waking world is your first hint something is not quite right...
Me's a Crowd: When playing in combined campaign mode, players soon notice (unless each campaign is played by separate group of people who keep interactions "in-character", which the campaign guide actually recommends for the best experience) that both campaigns have separate, self-aware versions of Randolph Carter. It's not a coincidence; both of them are actually Nyarlathotep in disguise, though his exact reason to stick around differs between campaigns.
The Mole: Regardless of which half of campaign you're playing, it would be revealed that "Randolph" isn't actually himself, and isn't on your side:
- In the Where the Gods Dwell, it turns out that "Randolph Carter" is actually Nyarlathotep in disguise, who tricked the investigators to visit Kadath, where they could easily be brainwashed for Nyarlathotep's plans.
- In Weaver of the Cosmos, it turns out that "Randolph Carter" is actually Nyarlathotep in disguise, who only helped investigators just enough for them to reach Atlach-Nacha's domain, after which he almost immediately turns on them, and tries to cut out their only way to escape, ensuring they wouldn't interfere with his plans for Dreamlands. It wouldn't happen if he gets neutralised by The Unnameable beforehand, however.

Nyarlathothep

Nyarlathothep tries to exploit the stream of newcomers visiting the Dreamland to capture their minds and bodies, so he can get unrestricted access to the Earth.

All Your Powers Combined: In Where the Gods Dwell, Nyarlathotep's true form combines keywords, health and damage/horror of all his other forms, and uses best combat and agility stats amongst its forms.
Big Bad: Nyarlathothep serves as the main antagonist of the "Dream Quest" mini-campaign, and forms a part of Big Bad Ensemble when playing in combined campaign mode. His goal is to trap the dreamers in the Dreamlands, so he can enslave them and exploit for his own invasion to the waking world.
The Heavy: Nyarlathotep is only one part of the Big Bad Ensemble, but it's due to his actions the whole plot started in the first place, when he (simultaneously), under disguise, sent both teams on their missions; while the first team was walking into his trap all along, he was allied with the second team right until they reached their goal, after which he decided to backstab them.
Hidden Agenda Villain: It becomes obvious almost immediately that Nyarlathothep is involved in the whole Forced Sleep plot, but not what this plot is supposed to achieve. Unless the investigators are on the path to Golden Ending, they learn nothing about his true goals even after defeating him.
Time-Limit Boss: Even on the path to Golden Ending, you don't receive any extra time, meaning that once you finish your original task, you're now forced to fight Nyarlathothep's true form with whatever time you have remaining, with running out of time still ending entire campaign in failure.
True Final Boss: In Where the Gods Dwell, investigators face Nyarlathotep. While defeating him usually ends the scenario, if certain requirements were met (in both campaigns), right after, they face the true shape of Nyarlathotep, formed from all previously defeated Nyarlathoteps' forms. On the bright side, he is no longer "hidden", making him vulnerable to conventional attacks. It forces them to fight a very challenging opponent without adding any more time (and failing here would still fail the entire campaign), but if they succeed, they don't merely escape with their lives, but banish him for real.

Atlach-Nacha

The entity from the void between worlds, that is trying to construct the bridge that would connect the Dreamlands and waking world, dooming both.

Big Bad: Atlach-Nacha is the main antagonist of "The Web of Dreams" mini-campaign, and part of Big Bad Ensemble in combined campaign mode. Atlach-Nacha is trying to construct the bridge that would connect the Dreamlands and waking world, which would spell doom on them both; the plan is already in motion, and already shows results, with realities merging and otherworldly monsters sneaking into our world.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Total health pool of Atlach-Nacha's body and four scales up with the number of players, up to whopping 64 at four players. She can barely fight back, but you're, as always, on a strict time limit.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Both Atlach-Nacha herself and her legs keep moving, requiring you constantly being on the move to keep attacking.
Sequential Boss: Unlike most bosses in the game, there are two stages of battle: you have to destroy the legs before you can target the body. Both keep moving out of range, requiring you pursuing them.
Stone Wall: Neither Atlach-Nacha herself, nor her legs do a lot of damage/horror (1/1 each; that's less than some generic enemies), but the total health pool of Atlach-Nacha's body and all four of her legs ranges from 16 at 1 player, to 64 at four (as each part scales its health pool separately).
Time-Limit Boss: Entire final mission of campaign B is about reaching Atlach-Nacha, and stopping her. Scenario gives you deceptively generous amount of time, but actually throws tons of doom-generating effects, as well as time-wasters, while the boss itself is constantly moving.

The Innsmouth Conspiracy characters

Agent Thomas Dawson

American intelligence officer sent on the mission to Innsmouth with a mission. It's he who originally recruited investigators.

Asshole Victim: Shortly after flashback to his death, we get a flashback revealing that the true mission in Innsmouth was always about the money, not justice, and that he's ready to terminate investigators if they wouldn't do as ordered. It's hard to feel sorry for him after that, and flashback is outright called "Stingy betrayal".
Evil All Along: Flashback to his death reveals that he and Elina were always on the mission to retrieve the treasures, not investigation; and once the truth gets revealed, he decides to just force investigators into assisting him at gun point.
Thomas Dawson: I don’t think you understand. You are an asset of the agency and under my authority. You will do as I command.
Optional Party Member: He joins the investigators during flashback scenarios as a story Ally, but only if the players see specific flashback about decision to stick together.
Posthumous Character: Thomas Dawson is already dead by the start of campaign (him being dead is amongst the first things the investigators remembers), and only appears in flashback scenarios. The last of them, The Lair of Dagon, shows how exactly he was killed.

Agent Elina Harper

Thomas Dawson's partner. American intelligence officer sent on the mission to Innsmouth with a mission.

Badass in Distress: Second scenario is entirely dedicated to rescuing her from captivity; if the mission is successful, she would join investigators on their mission, proving herself a very useful ally (both in-story and as actual story Ally). If she wasn't, she somehow manages to escape on her own and even assist the investigators, despite suffering serious injuries.
Evil All Along: Subverted. Flashback reveals that she was always after treasures, not investigation, but, unlike her colleague Dawson, she does let investigators make the choice of whether they agree to help her with original mission, or not, with no attempts to force them into aiding her. It's also indicated that, unlike Dawson, she feels regret that it came to this.
Ineffectual Loner: Whenever she goes by alone, it ends badly for her. The original mission ended in her capture, requiring another mission to take her out; if she escapes on her own, she ends up injured, barely making it out; and if she fails to convince the investigators to join her on the mission to retrieve the treasures, she perishes in the depths, never making it back.
Optional Party Member: She can join investigators as a story Ally during present-time scenarios, but only if successfully rescued during second scenario; otherwise, she would work by alone.

Oceiros Marsh

Keeper of the old lighthouse, and high-ranking member of the Order.

Big Bad: Oceiros Marsh isn't the final threat investigators would face, but he's the most active, leading the Order's forces against the investigators. He's directly behind Agent Dawson's death, and investigators' capture and amnesia.
Disc-One Final Boss: He gets dealt with in sixth scenario, which is chronologically a penultimate one. You still have to stop the cult and potentially fight its deities after that.
Gathering Steam: While Oceiros' starting offensive capabilities are lacking, the treachery "Worth His Salt" boost his movement range during the enemy phase and raises his attacking power by 1 damage and horror per card (up to a deadly maximum of 3/3), although thankfully he immediately discards all copies of the treachery the moment he strikes, losing his buff. Still, if you cannot cancel or negate his attack, your best bet is defeating him before he gets a chance to smack you.
Skippable Boss: It's possible to finish "A Light in the Fog" scenario without beating him, albeit it's better not to, as he seriously interferes with the escape.
Stone Wall: He deals only 1 point of damage/horror by default (albeit one of the treacheries can boost both up to 3 for one attack), but is rather tough at 6 Health and 4 Fight, making it hard to actually damage him — which makes attacking him all the more risky due to him immediately counterattacking anyone who misses their attack.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Oceiros completely disappears from the story after A Light in the Fog and The Lair of Dagon, leaving ambiguous if he survives the ensuing cataclysm or not, especially if the Investigators escape the lighthouse without defeating him.

Father Dagon and Mother Hydra

The deities the Order worships, and progenitors of the Deep Ones.

Dual Boss: In Into the Maelstrom, both of them will eventually awake and hunt down the Investigators.
Final Boss: One of the acts for the last scenario has fighting them as a victory condition; to get a better ending, however, you must also fulfil your original mission — disrupt the ritual.
Hopeless Boss Fight: Played With; when you face them in Into the Maelstrom you can't actually defeat them, but damaging them hard enough is a a victory condition for one of the act cards.
Monster Progenitor: They're progenitors of the Deep Ones.
Skippable Boss:
- In "The Lair of Dagon", Dagon may actually wake up if you disturb him by messing around in his lair. It's possible to defeat him and get an experience reward, albeit it wouldn't actually help completing your mission objective. If awoken, he would stay awoken even in subsequent scenario (same as if you failed the scenario).
- In Into the Maelstrom you only have to fight them if you aim to destroy Y'ha-nthlei.

To the Edge of the Earth characters

Dr. Amy Kensler

"All of this is so fascinating! Do you not agree?"

Expedition biologist.

Can't Spit It Out: Amy Kensler was never able to propose to Mala Sinha, which always caused her huge stress (even her Memory boss in Fatal Mirage is related to this). If both survives to the end, she would finally gather enough courage to invite her on a date, only for Mala to say "yes" immediately and reveal that she has waited for her to finally make a first step.
Mala Sinha: Amy, you are highly astute, incredibly well read, and a true prodigy in your field. But when it comes to this, you are somewhat of a dimwit.
Amy Kensler: Yes. Yes, I suppose I am.
The Smart Guy:
- Dr. Amy Kensler is the team's biologist, who, assuming she lives through the campaign and finishes her research, unlocks the Golden Ending, where she manages to actually re-imprison the Nameless Madness.
- She significantly helps investigators on their missions, giving massive boosts to their Intellect stat, and letting to discard unwanted cards from encounter or investigator's deck. "Kensler’s Log" asset that can be retrieved if she dies, has the similar effect, but rather than discarding Tekeli-li cards, it helps you find extra clues.
Straight Gay: She harbors a crush on Dr. Mala, as revealed in the epilogue if both of them make it to the end of the expedition, and doesn't exhibits any Butch Lesbian or Lipstick Lesbian traits during the story.
Survivor Guilt: If Mala Sinha dies in the crash, she would blame herself for that, as in the large part, she's the one who made this expedition happen. She would also try to shift the blame on herself if Danforth blames himself for Dyer's death, or Dyer for Danforth's.

Roald Ellsworth

"I have been all over the world. Please, just trust me."

Expedition pathfinder.

Ambiguously Gay: It's highly implied that Ellsworth and Claypool are closer than just friends (and Kensler's comment on Claypool being "an... associate of Ellsworth's" semi-confirms this), but they never tells so directly, you have to pay attention to what they say, and read between the lines. Initially, they are rather cold to each other, but slowly warms up if they live for long enough. If they survive to the epilogue, they would plan to take a long vacation on the some remote (but preferably, this time marked on the map) place, for just two of them.
Anti-Debuff: His ability as companion lets to ignore effects of location-attached treacheries, albeit he has limited amount of supplies for that.
Bold Explorer: Both Claypool and Ellsworth are explorers, who are here to assist the scientists in their research mission. Specifically, Claypool assists in preparing for the journey, so the team would face a lot more troubles if he dies, while Ellsworth scouts the way ahead and easies the advancement. Also, both of them have some expeditions going bad as their worst memories still haunting them. Their final temptation would be related to that as well.
Crazy-Prepared: If Ellsworth dies, when checking his belongings, the investigators would comment on him being equipped as if he tried to prepare for an apocalypse.
Expert Consultant: Ellsworth, an experienced researcher, not only helps with scouting the way ahead (allowing for easier start), but also with dangerous locations and treacheries which targets them, which often may be very nasty.
Gameplay and Story Integration: He's pathfinder. Talking to him between scenarios lets you start the next one with some advantage that helps to speed up its start.
Sprint Shoes: If he dies, you can retrieve "Ellsworth's Boots" asset, which is essentially a downgraded (but not class-specific) version of "Hiking Boots" (they even share the art): once you clean your location of clues, can go to connected one to start working there (or discard it to move at any revealed location).

James "Cookie" Fredericks

"No I ain't leavin' my damn gun back at camp!"

When expedition runs into something trying to kill them, Cookie is the one to shoot at it.

The Big Guy: Played With. Cookie is the team's dedicated fighter, with the investigator-grade health, and ability to provide the investigator whom he follows with massive boost to Combat stat. The reason for this is that he's the World War One veteran. However, he has only a single point of Sanity, meaning that the first horror would be his last; even his Resolute version gains increase to Health, not Sanity. This may potentially drop him straight into Glass Cannon territory, depending on the encounter deck composition of specific scenarios.
Easy Exp: Merely keeping Cookie alive and talking to him between scenarios provides one of the investigators with a free experience point.
Fluffy the Terrible: A shell-shocked WW1 veteran nicknamed "Cookie"
Gameplay and Story Integration:
- He's the only competent fighter amongst Partners. His abilities during scenarios helps with fighting, and he leaves behind his revolver if dies.
- If he's the one attacked by the monster at the mountains during "To the Forbidden Peaks" scenario, he dies fighting rather than just becoming an easy prey, so the monster suffers 2 damage.
- At the start of City of the Elder Things, the way forward would collapse. If Cookie is still alive, he may use the Dynamite to blow it up. But if either Cookie is dead (no one else knows how to use it in just the right way), or the Dynamite wasn't recovered (or was lost), the investigators would be forced to search for another way and suffer from cold (and "earn" additional frost token).
Good Is Not Nice: Cookie is by far the most aggressive and ill-tempered of the expeditions members, but he is completely dedicated to the safety of his companions. If he survives the initial crash, his outburst at the start is clearly him reeling badly from the death of an expedition member, accusing others of prioritising the research over the lives of the explorers depending on who died.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being grumpy and sometimes outright rude, Cookie cares about his teammates, and they know it, which would be shown if he lives for long enough. If he perishes in the crash, the survivors would acknowledge it right away:
Claypool: He was a good man.
Ellsworth: Despite his many attempts to fool us otherwise.
Revolvers Are Just Better: If Cookie dies, you may retrieve "Cookie's Custom .32", a revolver with enormous firepower: it lets you fight with 5 basic Combat (or gives +2 Combat if you already have 5), and deals extra damage, which makes it very reliable sidearm (especially for investigators who're normally unable to obtain Firearms, or can't use them efficiently).
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Cookie is a World War I veteran, and his worst memory is the memory of one faithful battle against the Germans on the Ottoman front, where he was forced to take command after the actual commander died... with his unit suffering massive casualties.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Cookie says "damn" quite a lot, even in the quote on his card. He goes straight into cluster D-bomb territory if Ellsworth dies in the crash.
Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed. He's often rude and loud (going into conflicts with people), questionably sane Shell-Shocked Veteran (it's telling that he has a single point of Sanity), to the point that his card's subtitle is "Questionable choice", but he's still heroic and cares about his teammates (and they care about him), despite sometimes coming into conflict with them.
You Are in Command Now: Cookie's worst memory (exploited by the Nameless Madness) is about one battle during the First World War, when he fought on the Ottoman front. He was a sergeant then, but was forced to take command of the remaining forces when lieutenant has died before reaching them. While he survived, his forces were decimated, including the young soldier who delivered the message. And the worst part, he can't even answer whether they've died for something meaningful, or it was all in vain.

Takada Hiroko

"Nobody knows these machines better than I do."

Expedition engineer and pilot. She's the one who designed the plane which crushed at the beginning (which may cause conflict with Cookie).

Affectionate Nickname: Cookie, when in good mood, calls her "Roko"; if both live till the end, they become close friends.
Crazy-Prepared: Takada's main contribution to the team, aside from one point halfway into campaign, is to supply the team with huge amount of resources, which is explained by her keeping the eye on Expedition's supplies (as self-proclaimed quartermaster). As "resources" are universal, well, resources, it's safe to assume that she keeps around everything the team may need and distributes it as needed. If she dies, the investigators would take her personal stash rather than anything else. If she dies, her stash may be taken as her "memento".
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Takada Hiroko provides some help before To the Forbidden Peaks by just singing... which is enough to keep the team spirit from collapsing entirely. Without her around, you would get either additional frost token, or a mental trauma to all investigators, and it's not always clear which is worse.
Missing Dad: Takada Hiroko had lost her father, a pilot, when she was still a child. He went on the mission, but never made it back.
Money Multiplier:
- If talked to between scenarios, she gives any one investigator +3 starting resources.
- If she dies, you can retrieve "Takada's Cache" event, that gives +3 resources and lets you draw 1 card, without spending actions or provoking attacks, but only works once per scenario.
Tragic Keepsake: Every story card you obtain from deceased Partners serves as the last memory of them, but Takada's bag is her personal keepsake as well: it reminds her of lost father.
Wrench Wench: Takada Hiroko was included in the team as an airplane mechanic. Since the airplane is now gone, she plays the role of the team's "quartermaster", as she puts it.

Avery Claypool

"Weather is turning foul again. I would tell you to turn back, but I gather you would refuse - right?"

Expedition Antarctic expert.

Ambiguously Gay: It's highly implied that Ellsworth and Claypool are closer than just friends (and Kensler's comment on Claypool being "an... associate of Ellsworth's" semi-confirms this), but they never tells so directly, you have to pay attention to what they say, and read between the lines. Initially, they are rather cold to each other, but slowly warms up if they live for long enough. If they survive to the epilogue, they would plan to take a long vacation on the some remote (but preferably, this time marked on the map) place, for just two of them.
Bold Explorer: Both Claypool and Ellsworth are explorers, who are here to assist the scientists in their research mission. Specifically, Claypool assists in preparing for the journey, so the team would face a lot more troubles if he dies, while Ellsworth scouts the way ahead and easies the advancement. Also, both of them have some expeditions going bad as their worst memories still haunting them. Their final temptation would be related to that as well.
Expert Consultant: Claypool's main role in the team is to help with preparations before continuing the adventure. Without his advices, the team would suffer from the harsh conditions of Antarctica, which would result in gaining more and more frost tokens out of nowhere, or even traumas. And during scenarios, he significantly diminishes the threat from frost tokens.
Gameplay and Story Integration: He's the team Antarctic expert; without his expertise, the team would had harder time going on:
- Early in the campaign, Claypool guides the team, helping them find the route that is both safest and fastest; without them, they have to either take it slowly (earning extra frost token), or take the risk and suffer physical trauma.
- All his abilities are related to managing frost tokens, either removing them altogether when you talk to him (as he helps you prepare), or ignoring them when you draw them during scenarios. If he dies, the card you get as replacement has similar effects.
- Without Claypool, you lose the only reliable way to remove frost tokens, and suddenly, they becomes way more dangerous, as they just keep stockpiling; turns out, it's way harder to travel through harsh environment without expert guide.
Luck Manipulation Mechanic: His abilities are all about managing frost tokens (new type of tokens used during this campaign):
- During scenarios, he lets to replace frost tokens with the other chaos tokens, avoiding nasty effects associated with them.
- Between scenarios, he may permanently remove 1 frost token from the pool.
- If he dies, you can retrieve "Claypool's Furs" asset, that lets you ignore frost token and draw a replacement, but gets slowly damaged as you do so.
Sole Survivor: Avery Claypool was the only one who survived from his expedition; the others were killed by some artifact they uncovered. Claypool still doesn't know what the purpose it served, only that it was some sort of a lightning rod.

Dr. Mala Sinha

"Want to survive the trip? Good. Then don't get on my bad side."

Expedition medic.

The Medic: Dr Mala Sinha is the official team medic, who not only may heal the investigators and their Allies, but the other Partners as well, including curing physical traumas during the interludes, which is normally impossible. She also keeps the team safe; without her, by the time of City of the Elder Things, investigators would start suffering from frostbites. If she dies, the asset you would retrieve is "Sinha's Medical Kit", which works similarly to Guardian-class "First Aid", but is less awkward to use, as it doesn't cost you actions, can heal Allies and stays in play once emptied, so it can be restocked.
Gameplay and Story Integration: She's the team medic, which manifests in various effects surrounding her, both in life and in death:
- Not only she actually heals the people (serving as one of the very few sources of healing physical traumas), she also keeps the people safe from catching frostbites; if she dies early in the campaign, by the time investigators reaches the City of Elder Things, everyone would obtain the "Frostbite" weakness, that makes every frost token revealed either cause you damage or fail the test automatically, though it can be healed as if it was damage (temporarily).
- By the time investigators makes it to the end of their journey, if she doesn't make it there, the lack of medic looking over them results in everyone being severely exhausted, resulting in physical traumas — which you can't treat anymore.
Safety in Indifference: After losing her first patient, Dr Sinha realised that no matter how hard she tries, there would be more, so the only solution is to not form attachments to them. This is the reason why she keeps cold to the investigators as well. This gets revealed if she deals with her Memory in Fatal Mirage.
Straight Gay: Accepts Dr. Amy's invitation for a date if they both survive the campaign.

Eliyah Ashevak

"Anyu's got the scent. Haven't you, girl?"

Expedition dog handler.

Canine Companion: Eliyah Ashevak is always accompanied by his faithful dog Anyu. If her owner dies, Anyu may follow the investigators instead, giving them various abilities. There's also a special achievements if you put in play at least five dogs at once, including Anyu.
Gameplay and Story Integration: He's a team's dog handler. Early in the campaign, if Eliyah is alive and Wooden Sledge was retrieved, the players can make the dogs pull the sledge, easily transfer the supplies to the next destination; otherwise, the journey would take longer, as those supplies would be carried on people's backs, resulting in permanent extra frost token.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Eliyah Ashevak provides no help outside of scenarios (where he boosts investigators' Agility) besides just talking to investigators, but that talking helps to cure mental traumas (something which is normally impossible), and can heal horror from the other Partners; he's just that great at comforting people.
Mountain Man: Eliyah Ashevak is the experienced hunter from Alaska, and acts as the team's dog handler.
The Sneaky Guy: Eliyah Ashevak provides the investigator whom he follows with massive boost to their Agility, as well as lets to escape into connected location, so the enemy wouldn't just catch up again on next turn. Being a former hunter, he certainly knows how to sneak up on things, or avoid being spotted.
Sole Survivor: Eliyah Ashevak (along with his Canine Companion Anyu) are the only ones who made it back from one hunt in Alaska which went bad. The others were killed by some monsters, and Eliyah now understands that those were real, despite all the claims to contrary.
Survivor Guilt: If Eliyah Ashevak makes it to the epilogue, but everyone else perishes, he comments on himself being cursed, and says that he should've been dead. When told that perhaps he lives to keep Anyu safe, he replies that it's the other way around: it's she who saved him back then, and keeps saving him now.
Eliyah Ashevak: It happened again, Anyu. Everyone is gone. Everyone but us. Why? Why is it always us?

Professor William Dyer

"Doubt of the real facts, as I must reveal them, is inevitable."

Veteran of the first expedition. Geologist.

Anti-Debuff:
- During interludes between scenarios, he lets one investigator to remove up to five Tekeli-li cards from their decks for free.
- If he dies, you can retrieve "Collected Works of Poe" Tome, that lets you get rid of up to 6 Tekeli-li cards from your or other investigator's deck during the play.
Expert Consultant: Dyer and Danforth are the people who know the most about the Elder Things and Shoggoths, due to already surviving encountering them. The most common assistance they provide is to remove Tekeli-li cards from investigators' decks (which are mainly associated with local horrors), with Dyer clearing their decks between scenarios, which are mainly associated with the local horrors.
Gameplay and Story Integration: As the person most experienced with this place, he helps to keep the madness at bay, not only helping getting rid of Tekeli-li cards, but also managing mental traumas (something normally impossible). If he dies early in the campaign, with no one to warn them about the dangers of the City of Elder Things, investigators would affected by it, resulting in everyone obtaining "Possessed" weakness, that makes every frost token cause horror, unless you're willing to fail the test automatically; it can be cured as if it was a point of horror, but it works only temporarily.
It's All My Fault: Professor William Dyer still blames himself for the fate of the previous expedition. In Fatal Mirage, he may face that memory's manifestation and overcome the sense of guilt. Regardless of whether he faces his fears or not, if he lives till The Heart of Madness, he would change his mind about the previous expedition and wonder whether he and Danforth have fled too soon and missed a chance to understand what's this thing and how to stop it.
The Medic: He can heal investigators or their Allies (most importantly, the other Partners) from horror.
Money Multiplier: "Dyer's Sketches" event, that you can get if Dyer dies, lets you draw 3 cards at almost any moment, without alerting any enemy.
The Smart Guy:
- Professor Dyer and his student Danforth are amongst the scientists in the team, and helps the team mainly through their expertise. Dyer helps investigators to get rid of Tekili-li cards between scenarios, as any unused ones stays in their deck.
- If he lives up to the start of The Heart of Darkness, Danforth would explain the nature of the City of the Elder Things, and its lower levels. Without him, the investigators would be only able to speculate about its true nature, and the horrible implications would drive them to mental trauma.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Dyer, a returning character from original novel, may perish in the crush or during subsequent misadventures. There's a special scene if both he and Danforth do survive till the end, however.
Survivor Guilt: If Danforth dies in the crash, Dyer would blame himself for taking him along in the first place.

Danforth

Veteran of the first expedition.

Expert Consultant: Dyer and Danforth are the people who know the most about the Elder Things and Shoggoths, due to already surviving encountering them. The most common assistance they provide is to remove Tekeli-li cards from investigators' decks (which are mainly associated with local horrors), with Danforth removing such cards mid-scenario.
Gameplay and Story Integration:
- His past experience with this place gives him knowledge how to best prepare to it, thus, his abilities are dedicated to better prepare (drawing extra cards) and Tekeli-li management. If he gets attacked by the Miazma at the City of the Elder Things, he's the only one to say anything meaningful after seeing the vision, giving investigators some clues before he falls into endless coma.
- If Danforth makes it to the depths of City of the Elder Things, he shares his knowledge of its history; otherwise, investigators would try to make blind guess, but their imagination wold go wild and scare themselves, resulting in mental traumas for everyone.
The Smart Guy: Professor Dyer and his student Danforth are amongst the scientists in the team, and helps the team mainly through their expertise. Before scenario starts, Danforth gives investigators extra cards in opening hand (ensuring them being better prepared), while during scenarios, he lets investigators draw the extra cards after resolving Tekeli-li cards (making it easier to recover from them).
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Danforth, a returning character from original novel, may perish in the crush or during subsequent misadventures. There's a special scene if both he and Dyer do survive till the end, however.
Survivor Guilt: If Dyer dies in the crash, Danforth would try to say that he "should've", failing to pronounce the last part; Kensler would say that there's more of her fault, as she disregarded Dyer's concerns, but it's Cookie would shake him out of it, by pointing that they all would follow him unless they find any shelter by night.

The Nameless Madness

The entity trapped deep under city of the Elder Things.

Big Bad: The Nameless Madness is the Eldritch Abomination in the heart of Elder Things' old city, deep below the surface, which is the source of miasma and the force which tries to brainwash the intruders — or, failing that, kill — and escape its prison. It's even implied (and presumed in-universe) that it wants for expedition to discover it, and everything, starting from the crash, was orchestrated for that end. However, the true nature of the being wouldn't be revealed until the end, and even that would only happen if the team's biologist, Dr Kensler, lives up to that point and finish her research.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Its speciality: with its illusions and miasmas he can corrupt and influence human beings to do its bidings, or even put them into a permanent coma. He already has turned another expedition group against the Investigators in some scenarios and after the first scenario he can brainwash some of the troupe members of the Investigators' expedition, or potentially all of them if the shelter value of the location choosen is particularly poor. Thankfully it is possible to snap them back to normal, but if the Investigators defeat one by resorting to violence, that expedition member is gone.
Eldritch Abomination: The Nameless Madness is the enormous shoggoth-like entity with mind-control powers and unknown, but certainly malevolent goals.
Final Boss: The Nameless Madness is the last obstacle you have to overcome to achieve victory, albeit you can't target it directly, have to find another way.
Increasingly Lethal Enemy: The Nameless Madness consists of fifteen parts, each deals one point of damage and horror. While they can't be destroyed, its parts can be exhausted. It doesn't enter the play in full force, and rather grows gradually.
- During the first stage of scenario, only one part enters play. But as the scenario goes on, more and more of them enters play, slowly covering the arena and making it hard to avoid.
- During the Escape Sequence, only several parts of the Nameless Madness enters play at once, but they gain "Hunter" keyword, meaning that this time they would actively pursuit the investigators and would be able to quickly accumulate the damage and horror. As the time goes on, the rest slowly joins in, eventually making it able to quickly wipe out the investigators.
Lotus-Eater Machine: If you lose the final scenario, the resolution states it traps the Investigators and the other expedition members in a state where they can no longer tell reality from its illusions.
Karma Houdini: Granted, it is nothing new for an Eldritch Abomination to be this, but all the other previous Big Bads in Arkham Horror LCG get foiled by the Investigators in the previous campaigns' best ending (or stop the cultists trying to summon their master instead). That is not the case in here: in the normal ending, the Investigators manage to demolish the city of the Elder Things, supposedly trapping the abomination under it, but there is the strong implication that it may manage to escape one day. In the bad ending, where the city still stands, it is but outright stated it will. And in the best one? Amy Kensler is forced to make a Deal with the Devil with it, which lead her to become its vessel, ruining her life and at best buying humanity some years worth of a lifetime. In either case, its menace it is not so much stopped, as it is postponed.
Puzzle Boss: The Nameless Madness can't be damaged, only slowed down. The actual objective is to collapse its lair, and run.

The Scarlet Keys characters

Li Flint

Inspector from International Criminal Police Commission, who initially got investigators involved in their quest. Allegiance: Neutral initially, gets forcibly recruited by the Foundation early on.

Killed Offscreen: If, after visiting him in Shanghai, you let him work by alone (note that you wouldn't get a choice if you trusted Taylor), you would only have 10 "Time" to return for him after he sends his report about finding Tzu San Niang; once 11 "Time" passes, you wouldn't find him alive anymore.
Optional Party Member: He gets sent with a mission to Shanghai, separately from investigators, to track down whereabouts of Tzu San Niang. You may cancel that assignment (losing only chance to track down Tzu San Niang), but get him join you as a story Ally, or make him finish his mission first (either by himself, which takes longer, or with your help, which takes less, but drains some of your own "Time"); however, leaving him alone and then taking too long to return leads to his death.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: He's one of rare people who's able to remember things "hollowed" by the Outsiders; which is why he contacted the investigators: he wants to join forces.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Flint makes it pretty clear that he's not fond of Taylor and Foundation. If you trusted Taylor, it actually makes him unwilling to work with you.

The Red-Gloved Man

One of the leaders of Red Coterie (as much as this term can be applied to the group of equals), and the first of its members the investigators encounter, when he goes after The Eye of Ravens key. Allegiance: Coterie; potential ally.

Big Bad: Subverted; when you just start the campaign, it's believed that he's the one running the Red Coterie, making him main antagonist by default. When you talk to Ece, you learn that Coterie is a group of equals, meaning that there's no "leader". And on the path to Golden Ending, you learn that you were dealing with an impostor; the real Red-Gloved Man was hollowed by the Outsiders (the true enemy in this story), and only you can bring him back, after which he would actually side with you.
Big Good: Once the true Red-Gloved Man gets discovered, he's crucial to purge the Coterie of infiltrators.
Gameplay and Story Integration: The Red-Gloved Man is an important story character (specifically, antagonistic character), so players are explicitly forbidden from using his Ally card they can normally include in their decks.
Mythology Gag: He was originally introduced as a Neutral-class Ally all the way back into first expansion, with "He Was Never There" subtitle. Years later, he reappeared as a story character in another expansion... with "He Was Always There" subtitle.
Optional Party Member: Once you find him in the Outsiders' homeworld, he briefly joins you until you evacuate with him. If you succeed, he returns in final scenario.
The Spook: You'd gain absolutely no intel on the Red-Gloved Man. Until you actually meet him in person, and he talks pretty much normally, it's ambiguous whether he's even human or not... which is why the Outsiders so easily infiltrated by impersonating him: no one noticed the difference, except for just as weird Aliki.
The only detail I could remember was his gloves; red, red as blood.

Commissioner Qiana Taylor

A high-ranking member of the Foundation, and investigators' superior during their mission. Allegiance: Foundation.

Big Good: She's your direct superior during this campaign, with everyone else reporting to her.
Mr. Exposition: She briefs the players on the whole Foundation/Coterie conflict.

Amaranth

Mysterious woman who's causing massacre in Marrakesh. Real name Eryn Cochwyn. Allegiance: Coterie.

Body Surf: It's known for sure that "Amaranth" is some ancient being that frequently changes bodies, taking over different peoples each time; her latest victim is Eryn Cochwyn, former Mistkatonic University student. Learning that info lets Eryn restore her true identity, after which she immediately leaves the Coterie for good.
Demonic Possession: In the Golden Ending for her scenario, turns out that "Amaranth" isn't her true personality, and that she's possessed by some other being's mind; she breaks free once she hears her true name, and rejects both "Amaranth" persona and Coterie altogether.
Amaranth/Eryn': I dreamt I was a great and terrible queen, and that I ruled over a kingdom of silent subjects. Never again. Never again.
Green Thumb: As Amaranth, she uses her key, The Last Blossom, to spread plant growths all over Marrakesh (those growths don't look even remotely healthy, and get compared to the veins of dying body), while killing plants grown by the humans, causing famine.
Life/Death Juxtaposition: She has a mix of abilities, both to give life, and take it away, which she uses in tandem to horrific effect.
Love Makes You Evil: It's unknown how evil she was before, but the massacre in Marrakesh is solely motivated by her desire to bring back Razin Farhi.
Amaranth: Many say they would do anything for love. But I actually mean it.
Necromancer: Amongst the minions she sends after you are undead of varying state of decay that she rises from their graves. Her ultimate goal in Marrakesh is also to resurrect Razin Farhi.
One-Hit Kill: If Amaranth damages any asset, she defeats it immediately, regardless of how much damage was assigned.
Person of Mass Destruction: Amaranth possesses The Last Blossom artifact that gives her power to destroy entire cities and thousands of people — and she's crazy enough to do just that to achieve her goal.
Raising the Steaks: Amongst Amaranth's minions is a zombie lion, Khalid. It stays by her side even if defeated during "Dead Heat" scenario, albeit you wouldn't fight it again.
Amaranth: They say cats have nine lives, but my sweet Khalid is already on his tenth.
Touch of Death: She can sucks out lifeforce from a living being (plant, animal or human) by just touching them. She can do that in reverse, too, reanimating something with the force she just sucked.

Latif

Investigators' contact in Marrakesh. Allegiance: Foundation.

Mr. Exposition: He briefs you on what's going on in Marrakesh when you arrive.
Lampshade Hanging: He points how Foundation redacting out all useful info directly hurts their missions, as their agents just don't know what they're dealing with, and comes underprepared.
Sacrificial Lamb: He's one of the first characters who can perish as result of your decisions, showing what's on stakes.

Razin Farhi

Ancient philosopher and mathematician. Co-founder of Coterie. Allegiance: Coterie.

Posthumous Character: He's long dead by the start of the story; if you stop Amaranth from resurrecting him, he stays dead.
Skippable Boss: Preventing him from being resurrected means that he would stay dead forever.
Uncertain Doom: If you let him get resurrected and then survive events in Morocco, he would show up at Congress to vote against you. However, he doesn't show up again after that, regardless of outcome of the trial, even when the other hostile Coterie members can return and attack you (Amaranth included). Given that in any outcome where the true Red-Gloved Man doesn't get rescued, the Coterie suffers through massacre, he may or may not be amongst victims.
The Undead: If you don't sabotage the ritual, he gets brought back as a sapient zombie. You can still put him down for good after that.
Worthy Opponent: Inverted, he dismisses investigators as worthless.
Razin Farhi: I have not crossed vast oceans of time only to be defeated by the likes of you!

La Chica Roja

An elusive art thief operating in Buenos Aires. Allegiance: Coterie; potential ally.

Arch-Enemy: She really despise Sanguine Watcher and disrupting his plans is her true goal in Buenos Aires, not the stealing. To the point you can join forces against him.
Casting a Shadow: Amongst the possible reasons why she's so elusive, the Foundation presumes that she's somehow capable of manipulating the shadows.
Expy: La Chica Roja is based on Carmen Sandiego, including her outfit.
Gratuitous Spanish: She frequently inserts untranslated Spanish words into her speech.
Mr. Exposition: When you meet her in person, she reveals the information about presence of Sanguine Watcher and tells what exactly he's doing here. There's no dossier on him available, so she's the sole source of information you have.
Optional Party Member: She actually joins your as a story Ally if you choose to cooperate with her, albeit only temporarily. She does so again in the final scenario, again, if you previously earned her trust.
Phantom Thief: La Chica Roja is an infamous thief who never, ever gets caught. You can side with the police to help capture her, or try to learn her motives instead.
Super-Speed: Amongst the possible reasons why she's so elusive, the Foundation presumes "hyperphysical speed".
Teleportation: Amongst the possible reasons why she's so elusive, the Foundation presumes "ethereal projection".
Token Good Teammate: La Chica Roja states that she despises her more malevolent colleagues (particularly, Sanguine Watcher), and tries to stop them from hurting innocent people. She's willing to cooperate (unless antagonised), and is one of the few people who never vote to execute you (abstaining instead).
We Win, Because You Didn't: She doesn't care about the Key; she merely wants to prevent it from ending up in Sanguine Watcher's hands. If you help her kick out the Watcher, she's fine with you taking the Key.
La Chica Roja: This is what you’re really after, isn’t it? Here. My main goal was only making sure that ojete en una nube de pedos didn’t get his hands on it. I trust it in your hands.”

Matias Bolívar

The police officer in charge of hunting La Chica Roja, and Foundation contact in Buenos Aires. Allegiance: Neutral, temporal ally of Foundation.

Graceful Loser: Though at first he's very emotional about La Chica Roja, if she leaves because she fails to gather every piece of the Key, he just calmly accepts the upcoming punishment from his boss, as he's glad to at least have her off his shoulders. He's way less calm if she leaves triumphant (because you've failed).
It's Personal: Not only his higher-ups are displeased with lack of results and are ready to ruin his career if he wouldn't make any progress, but her constantly evading him and mocking him for that became catching her up a matter of honour.
Police Are Useless: He was hunting La Chica Roja for quite some time before you showed up, without any success (not that normal cops stand any chance against her anyway); out of all contacts you get in scenarios, he's the most useless, providing no help at all even if you try to cooperate; you're actually more well-informed than him. And if you try to negotiate with La Chica Roja, he inevitably assumes that you two are in league, and turns on you.

The Sanguine Watcher.

Another Red Coterie member operating in Buenos Aires; unlike La Chica Roja, he's acting on selfish motives. Allegiance: Coterie.

Bald of Evil: Sanguine Watcher is an extremely creepy guy with completely bald head, which further amplifies his sinister look.
Blind Without 'Em: Literally; he has no eyes (it's possible that they're amongst organs he's removed for the purpose of his magic), but regains his sight when he puts on his red spectacles.
Eye Scream: Sanguine Watcher has empty eye sockets underneath his red spectacles. This only further amplifies his overall creepiness.
Mad Scientist: According to La Chica Roja, Sanguine Watcher is doing something truly nasty with people of Buenos Aires, including dark magic and human experiments.
Sanguine Watcher: I have a hypothesis. Would you care to let me test it with you?
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Sanguine Watcher is kept alive by some very nasty dark magic.
Skippable Boss: Once you get La Chica Roja on your side, you can retreat without fighting the Sanguine Watcher at all. You would skip on experience and miss the Key, but wouldn't have to deal with the Sanguine Watcher later on.
Soul Jar: According to La Chica Roja, he removes his internal organs and keeps them alive via magic; that makes it impossible to kill him by normal means, unless you discover those organs. You actually get to track one of those organs to force him into submitting.
Time Abyss: According to La Chica Roja, he's "ancient"; given that he's keeping himself alive via dark magic, and we know for sure that the Coterie as organisation is very old, it may be not a figure of speech.

Tuwile Masai

Prominent member of the Red Coterie, a scientist studying the Keys. Allegiance: Coterie, potential ally.

Anti-Villain: He would vote to execute investigators by default, stating them knowing too much to left alive as a reason, but he's not beyond reason, and would be more forgiving if he sees that they share his views and put preventing the chaos and destruction above own lust for power that the Keys provide.
Evil Is Not a Toy: Tuwile Masai grew to believe that the Keys eventually corrupts and enslaves their wielder. He's willing to entrust investigators with his Key, but only if they show that they share his views and put fighting the evil above own greed for power. You would be given two chances to earn his trust: at Kenya (if you earned trust of at least three other members), and at Bermuda islands (where he would trust unless you wronged any two other members).
Only Sane Man: He's one of the very few who fully understands that Keys are dangerous things to have and can corrupt their wielder if given enough time, and only one who openly states that.
The Unfought: Even if you turn him hostile, you never get to fight him; in fact, he has no in-game appearances at all, only showing up in interludes and final scenario's intro.

Ece Şahin

Prominent Coterie member, operating in Constantinople as a normal art museum curator. Notably, she contacted the Foundation herself. Allegiance: Coterie, but willing to cooperate with Foundation.

Actual Pacifist: Ece is vehemently against violence. She would never vote for your execution; even if you betray her trust, she would at most abstain from voting.
Ece: If we purport to be a morally righteous organization, we cannot destroy each and every thing that stands in our way. Progress requires understanding and cooperation. And I abhor violence. We should be working with these individuals, not against them.
Mr. Exposition: She shares info on how Coterie actually operates; particularly, we learn that there's no formal hierarchy or supreme leaders.
Optional Party Member:
- She actually joins your quest if you agree to help her. You may say that sincerely, or lie in order to get both the Key and her support, but that would backfire later.
- Unless you betrayed her, she joins you in the final scenario as a story Ally.
Token Good Teammate: Ece is the only unambiguously good member of the Coterie, who's ready to cooperate with you and put her life at risk. If you deceive her, she would take it as betrayal, but wouldn't vote to execute you even then. She's also the one who saves you if the Coterie votes to kill the investigators, but then gets massacred by the infiltrator who disguised itself as Red-Gloved Man.

Agents Archibald Hudson and Valeriya "Lera" Antonova

Agents of the Foundation, who're working under Taylor. Allegiance: Foundation.

Mr. Exposition: Through them, you can learn crucial info on Amaranth and Desi, respectively.
Small Role, Big Impact: You briefly visit their base of operation to get some assistance from the Foundation, and permanently part ways. But they're the only source of intel that lets you save Amaranth, and gives you means to tell apart true Desi and his impostor.

Agent Ari Quinn

Foundation's field researcher. Allegiance: Foundation.

Cunning Linguist: She's fluent in several dead languages, as part of her studies.
Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Making her join you permanently requires throwing away Aliki's whistle, which would alienate Aliki herself.
Optional Party Member: She actually joins the investigators as a story Ally (and thus stays with them for the rest of campaign), if you complete all the tasks to make it to portal to Outsiders' homeworld, and then choose to throw away the whistle, which destroys the only evidence of cooperation with Coterie and thus gives her chance to preserver career.
Shout-Out: Her flavour text references The X-Files.
The truth is out here.
The Smart Guy: Her expertise as the ancient cultures specialist as well as linguist actually comes in handy during the search for the Keys, but only if you open up to her. In particular, she's necessary to even find portal to Outsiders' homeworld on Bermuda islands.

Desiderio "Desi" Delgado Álvarez

Former gangster, who got recruited into Red Coterie for his skills with dealing with problems. Allegiance: Coterie; potential ally.

Anti-Villain: Desi doesn't care much about investigators, and would vote to kill them at Congress by default, just to save some time. But he can be grateful for his life being saved, and is one of the three Coterie members who can be convinced that Coterie must be purged of scum, which makes him join investigators (other two are La Chica Roja and Ece).
Even Evil Has Standards: He votes to kill you by default, but if you previously saved him, he does repay his debt. Additionally, he's one of the three Coterie members who can be convinced to turn on others to cleanse the organisation of evil.
The Gunslinger: It's noted in his dossier that he's so skilled with guns, it's suspected that it's due to him being empowered by a Key; it's not: he doesn't keep the Key with himself at the time (storing it in San-Francisco), and the Key in question has nothing to do with gunfire (if anything, it's a melee weapon).
It's Personal: The Outsiders started killing his crew. Now, he wants to deal with them, ''personally'.
Optional Party Member: If you correctly identify the impostor and terminate it, Desi would back you up at Congress and would join forces as a story Ally once situation goes violent.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In backstory, he got recruited into Coterie after his brother (a criminal himself) got killed, and Desi somehow obtained a Key and used it to deal with all who's wronged him; impressed by his skills, the Red Coterie offered him a membership, rather than terminate him. He's still continuing this criminals extermination campaign, clearly not seeing his job as being done.
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: He prefers when people call him "Desi" rather than his full name.
Desi: First off, you can just call me Desi. Everyone else does. I’m not a big fan of formalities.
Token Evil Teammate: There are three specific Coterie members whom you can convince that Coterie has long betrayed its own ideals, and it's time to purge it of evil. It's Ece (resident pacifist), La Chica Roja (who was previously fighting against Sanguine Watcher to make him quit his crimes in Buenos Aires)... and Desi, a gangster who remembers how he once purged the streets of even worse villains from amongst the criminals, and decides that it's time to repeat the process.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: Desi is barely interested in the Keys. He doesn't use his own when you first meet him, having it stored, and easily gives it up when asked without even bargaining. If he steals your Key, you don't even need to steal it back: he just bets in card game, and loses. This mentality is a part of his overall apathy that he shows at every point; he only galvanises when he sees a cause to fight for, like avenging his people, or cleansing the Coterie of scum.

Thorne

Androgynously-looking person with penchant for deals. Allegiance: Coterie; potential ally.

Anti-Villain: Thorne, like most Coterie members, isn't the best person in the world, but at least they always offer a fair deal, and fulfil their end of a bargain. If you work together and succeed, Thorne would even vouch for you at the Congress.
Even Evil Has Standards: If you never met Thorne before, they would abstain from voting: they never dealt with you before, and can't condemn someone they don't know (though they can't vouch for you either). And if you fulfilled your end of a bargain, they actually vote in your favour, as they see your being trustworthy (and useful).
Older Than They Look: Dossier suggests that Thorne is very, very old, despite appearing younger. If you read the "redacted" text, you learn that they were born in 1761, making them 163 years-old.
Optional Party Member: They actually joins your as a story Ally if you choose to cooperate with them, albeit only temporarily. If you successfully finish the mission together, they would back you up at Congress, both during the trial and during the final struggle.

Beast in Cowl of Crimson

The bloodthirsty monstrosity operating in Alexandria. Allegiance: Coterie (nominally).

Ambiguously Human: It's unclear whether the Beast is a human (the Foundation presumes that it's possibly of extraterrestrial origin); it's called a "creature" several times and consistently addressed as "it", its card image gives it creepy appearance with obstructed face, and it's mentioned to have an Alien Blood; dossier also mentions wolf-like claws and fur. It doesn't sleep, it "hibernates". It's also batshit insane, and lacks any human name. Dossier lists theory that mutations may be caused by a Key, which the Beast uses to purposely trigger specific mutations.
Ax-Crazy: The Beast only cares about spilling blood and murdering people. It would always vote to kill you, stating things like "blood must flow" as the "reason", unless you kick its ass to the point that it fails to show up at Congress.
Psycho Party Member: The Coterie has several truly villainous members, but the Beast stands out as the bloodthirsty psychopath who's perfectly fine with attacking and killing its own teammates. The Claret Knight states that he was against inducing the Beast into the organisation in the first place, but others didn't side with him.
Team Killer: It's rabid enough to attack Claret Knight, despite them being supposed to be on same side.

The Claret Knight

A prominent member of the Coterie, who's established a base in Alexandria for the prime purpose of protecting the Key stored there. Allegiance: Foundation; potential ally.

Affably Evil: The Claret Knight always stays polite and respectful, no matter how much you anger him. He's amongst the easiest to convince to back you up at the Congress.
Even Evil Has Standards: While still a loyal member of the Coterie, the Knight disdains violence, and wouldn't vote to kill you, unless you chose that you want the Key more than to save the citizens of Alexandria from the Beast; he explicitly states you being untrustworthy as the reason when he votes against you, and it's hard to disagree.
Hypocrite: If you take the Key from the Knight, the Coterie abandons Alexandria, which loses any strategic value for organisation. Sirry accuses the Knight of hypocrisy, as, for all his claims that he's here to protect the citizens of Alexandria, he loses interest to the city once he loses the Key. He ignores the fact that without the Key, danger ceases to be as well, or that Foundation doesn't care about the city either (and immediately reassigns Sirry himself).
Mr. Exposition: He reveals that Coterie is aware of the Outsiders for quite some time, and the Keys are crucial to oppose them.
Noble Demon: The Claret Knight would ask you for help with stopping the Beast, and would vouch for you at the Congress if you agree, as well as share some of the Coterie's secrets. If you never cross ways with him at all, he would still vote to spare you, as he's against pointless violence.
Optional Party Member: The Claret Knight would join you as story Ally after the trial, unless you alienated him.
White Man's Burden: He represents European administration in Alexandria, who's here to keep the order. His actions in the campaign are more or less benevolent, and campaign generally treats him as "good" Coterie member, but this benevolence is tainted by his "noble man who has to guide the lesser people" attitude.
Claret Knight: I do not involve myself in the matters of mice.

Hossam Sirry

Representative of the Foundation in Alexandria. Allegiance: Foundation.

Mr. Exposition: He's the one who've prepared dossier on the Beast.
It's Personal: He's native to Alexandria, so the Knight — representative of the force his organisation is struggling against — is a personal matter for him.
Occupiers Out of Our Country: His hatred for the Claret Knight mostly amounts to him being a foreigner who acts as if he has authority here. He thoroughly approves if you refuse to cooperate with the Knight.
Sirry: They come here from afar and act like their governance, their occupation, is some kind of gift.

Dewi Irawan

Cryptozoologist who's noticed that some species started just... vanishing from existence. Allegiance: Neutral; potential ally.

Optional Party Member: She actually joins the investigators as a story Ally, if you meet her in Rio, and then meet her in New Guinea. Just make sure that the Outsiders wouldn't get her first.
The Smart Guy: Her expertise as the ancient cultures specialist actually comes in handy during the search for the Keys, but only if you open up to her. In particular, she's necessary to even find portal to Outsiders' homeworld on Bermuda islands.

Tzu San Niang

Mysterious woman who's operating in Shanghai, pursuing some nefarious goals there. Allegiance: Coterie.

Compelling Voice: She's able to force the others into doing her bidding through her voice alone.
Emotion Eater: Tzu San Niang torments the souls of the people she kills, preying on their suffering and despair.
Faux Affably Evil: Tzu San Niang always stays polite and aristocratic — despite being one of the most cruel and evil members of the Coterie. One of minor characters outright states that it's her way to mask her evil to make it less noticeable for the others.
Hate Sink: A Sadist, slave driver that torments both those that are alive and dead to gain power and for her amusement; Tzu San Niang is among one of the vilest members of the Coterie, alongside Abarran.
Laser-Guided Karma: If the Investigator manage to defeat Tzu San Niang and decide to use the Shade Reaper on her, she gets Brainwashed into disappearing into the darkest corner of the earth. It does come at the cost of inflicting physical traumas to each member of the team, but that is absolutely what she deserves.

Aliki Zoni Uperetria

Mysterious woman, who appears teen, but may actually be the oldest Coterie member still alive. Allegiance: Coterie; potential ally.

Ambiguously Human: Her abilities makes the Foundation unsure whether she's just using a Key, or she's actually a ghost.
Draw Extra Cards: When she's on your side, she lets any investigator to pick and draw a card of theirs that was "hollowed", giving one of the very few consistent means to regain such cards.
Language Barrier: It's stated — and later confirmed — that Aliki knows several dead languages, but can't understand English. That causes issues with communication.
Manipulating the Opponent's Deck: When hostile, she makes each player "hollow" top card of their deck at the end of enemy phase, unless it's a weakness, setting these cards aside until something makes them return. Or, more likely till the end of scenario.
Mutually Exclusive Party Members: If you blow the whistle, which would make her join you, you wouldn't be able to recruit Quinn (recruiting whom requires throwing the whistle away).
Older Than She Looks: She appears very young, but actually she's so old, she can only speak some dead languages, like Latin.
Omniglot She "speaks" multiple languages... but all of them dead; modern English is not amongst the languages she knows.
Optional Party Member: You can throw away her whistle when asked by Quinn and go into Outsiders' homeworld without her, or just avoid getting it in the first place and skip that scenario altogether. If you did take her on the quest, she joins you as a story Ally, and later (if successfully evacuated) during final scenario.
The Spook: The Foundation has no meaningful data on her, they're just as shocked and confused by her and her abilities as everyone else, down to the point that the dossier seriously considers her possibly being a ghost.
The Quiet One: Aliki almost never speaks, and when she does speak, no one can understand her; at Congress, someone else interprets her gestures as either "yes" or "no" during the voting.
Uncanny Valley Girl: Aliki (seemingly the youngest member of the Coterie) is completely mute, creepily pale, and just emits some eldritch aura, yet retains some supernatural, creepy beauty.

Abarran Arrigorriagakoa

A Coterie member, who's running a mysterious casino in Europe. Allegiance: Coterie.

Counter-Attack: Whenever an Investigator attacks Abarran when he is ready, he forces them to discard the top card of the encounter deck, and if that card is of a Diamond suit, he will strike back. This makes fighting Abarran before exhausting him quite risky, given his high attack power.
Faux Affably Evil: Abarran may be the respected owner of a prestigious casino in Montecarlo, but he also a megalomaniac asshole that is willing to steal the good luck of other people for his own personal gain and satisfy his Greed. Best exemplified by Isamara's warning before the Investigators start their heist:
Isamara: One last thing: do not understimate Abarran. He is a dangerous man, He puts on a face of civility to the world, but underneath that mask there is a barely contained anger that can explode if he feels is prize is threatened. I've seen him lost his temper, and I don't doubt it could drive him to tear a man limb from limb with his bare hands if he felt he had the cause
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: If you never played "Fortune or Folly", Abarran will actually abstain from voting at the end of the campaign... But only because he wishes to interrogate the Investigators or use them as a bargain's chip.
The Unpronounceable: Good luck pronouncing his surname right on first attempt.
Uncertain Doom: In the outcomes of trial where massacre occurs, some Coterie members may return during scenario proper as your enemies... but Abarran is never against them, making it ambiguous whether he survived.
The Unfought: Played With; you can fight him in his own scenario (regardless of whether you play it as part of campaign, or as standalone), but not within campaign itself.
Villain of Another Story: Your conflict with him only happens if you played (optional) side scenario set in his casino. If you didn't play it, you'd only learn about Abarran on Congress, where he would abstain from voting (but do so in a way that clearly indicates that he's not a good guy).

Outsiders

The hostile otherworldly beings who're gradually... stealing parts of our world, sending them to theirs, and infiltrating their own agents instead of humans they abduct.

Big Bad: The true villains of the story aren't the Coterie, but the strange beings, known simply as "Outsiders", who're trying to infiltrate our world and slowly take it over. The last goal is to stop the most powerful of them (at least amongst those on Earth), who managed to infiltrate the Coterie. The Coterie is fighting against them for centuries, while Foundation concentrates on the Coterie, missing the bigger threat.
Final Boss: Regardless of how you play the campaign and how the Congress of Keys goes, your final obstacle before you save the world and win the campaign would be to defeat the particularly powerful Outsider, a Mimetic Nemesis.
Fragile Speedster: What Nemesis lacks in durability, it takes in sneakiness, reusing the decoy mechanic to make you struggle to actually lay a hit on it.
Glass Cannon: Mimetic Nemesis has surprisingly low health (ranging from 6 to 15, depending on the number of players), but hits just as hard as any other boss.
Multiversal Conqueror: The Red-Gloved Man believes that the Outsiders don't just invade our world; they're trying to invade every world.
No-Sell: When Mimetic Nemesis takes any damage, you must reveal one of the special concealed cards; if you reveal a decoy, it takes no damage. All revealed decoys stays revealed until it does take damage, then they resets.
Ret-Gone: When Outsiders erase something or someone, most people just forget that they ever existed, though not all of them do so instantly. The game usually refers to that as "hollowing".

The Feast of Hemlock Vale characters

Mother Rachel

The spiritual leader of the Vale, and leader of the "Star Children" cult. Leah's sister and Simeon's aunt.

The Corrupter: Mother Rachel is good at brainwashing people into staying in the Vale, even at the cost of rejecting their family.
Disc-One Final Boss: The default objective of the third evening's prelude is to defeat Mother Rachel, who's not even human at this point. You don't actually succeed, whether you pass the objective or not, and then Mother Rachel dies very early into final scenario, depriving you of chance to deal with her on your own.
Hidden Agenda Villain: It becomes obvious pretty early that Mother Rachel is untrustworthy, especially if you do the night scenarios and see her cult at work. But her true agenda only gets revealed at the end of campaign.
Hypocrite: If you play "The Longest Night" scenario, you'd learn that while Mother Rachel was supposed to use her own daughter Rebecca as a sacrifice, but she didn't, only tricking the other victims into thinking that she did, to make them more obedient. If accused, she would claim that her daughter was "returned to her", as a reward for her faith, omitting that Rebecca wasn't in actual danger to begin with.
Karma Houdini: Downplayed, she "dies", getting absorbed into the Colour, but she ultimately goes out on her terms, as this is what she wanted from the start and she regarded this fate as a good thing. If the Investigators achive the better endings and manage to save most of the Vale, her ultimate plan of sacrificing her community fails, but given she is no longer around to witness her scheme falling apart, she also avoids any formal punishment for her actions, though she is at least no longer around to be a threat to anyone.
Knight Templar: Mother Rachel is sincere in her beliefs and that sacrificing everyone to the Colour is a good thing; she's willing to force her views on the others if they don't come along willingly. Amongst the people she offers as sacrifices is Rebecca, a little girl and Rachel's own daughter. Even when confronted about it later, Rachel sees nothing wrong in her actions.
Obviously Evil: Mother Rachel looks and acts like stereotypical cult leader from small backwater village, of the type who preaches at day, butches people at nights; like the ones you saw in horror movies countless times. You'd learn that it's exactly what she's doing very soon.

Leah Atwood

Mother Rachel's younger sister. Vale's cook.

Team Chef: She's the Vale cook, seemingly the only one (at least by the moment you arrive). From her own words, there are fifty people by the second evening, and that's before hundreds more would come for the Feast itself. Perhaps, that's why you barely see her outside of the Vale...

Simeon Atwood

Judith's only son (and Mother Rachel's nephew). Resident troublemaker.

The Troublemaker: Simeon is resident prankster, with a thing for explosives. One of the endings involves him requesting you installing fireworks around the Vale (precisely because Mother Rachel said "no"), which later can be used to burn the Vale, in (ultimately futile) attempt to destroy the Colour. Appropriately, his card's subtitle is "dedicate troublemaker".

William Hemlock

Grandson of Captain Wilbur Hemlock, founder of Hemlock Harbour. An inspiring poet.

Last of His Kind: He's the last bearer of Hemlock name, lacking children and with his mother being catatonic. He grieves it, as he feels that letting the island rot further means letting his family down, but not knowing what to do. Helen thinks that he has to go at terms with it, while River simply bullies him, and tries to claim the island for themselves, hoping to profit on it. Ultimately, with investigators' help, he can accept that the island is beyond saving.

River Hawthorne

William's cousin and other potential heir.

Jerkass: River Hawthorne is very haughty, boastful and arrogant person, as well as very open about their dislike for Hemlock and his family's legacy, openly mocking their cousin for still clinging to it, as for River, all that can be done to it is to sell it and get profit. River is also notably hard to increase relationship with, while the others often only need to be talked to.
Rich Jerk: River likes to brag about spinning in the high society, and is here to claim the Vale, so they can profit on selling it to someone willing to turn it into expensive resort. Things didn't go as planned.
Twofer Token Minority: Black and non-binary.

Gideon Mizrah

The old sailor, who once served under William's grandfather, Captain Wilbur Hemlock.

Continuity Nod: He is related to Gavriela: one of the prologue Investigators and story allies from The Circle Undone
Chekhov's Gun: His story seems rather random at first, but once you hear it in whole, you learn the information that can help to save the Vale, even if Rosa Marquez doesn't come up with the same plan herself: the rocks that he and Captain Hemlock had can neutralise the Colour's effects, so the rock that Rosa Marquez retrieved in Silent Heath can be used to save the Vale now.
Scatterbrained Senior: Downplayed; he's not completely senile, but he's prone to "wander off" when telling his stories, quickly missing the thread of the story he's telling, and jumping from one story to another. That's why you have to talk to him repeatedly to learn the whole story of Captain Hemlock, and the "treasure" he'd found.

Judith Park

The "muscle"; mercenary hired to ensure safety of the residents. Her contract is about to expire.

Big Guy: Judith Park is the local "muscle"; her role is to shoot anything that may pose threat to the residents, and she's good at it.
I Call It "Vera": Judith refers to her rifle as "Jomo".
Only Sane Woman: Being new in the Vale, she's still sane enough to realise that wildlife of the island is ugly, hungry and hostile. The others are completely blind to this fact.

Theo Peters

A young man from the fisher village Akwan, who's moved to the Vale after falling under Mother Rachel's influence, which ruined his standing with family. Drives the only local truck.

Family of Choice: Played for Drama; Theo fell under influence of Mother Rachel, and chose to stay in the Vale, calling its residents his "family". Unless you help him to mend relationship with his actual family, Helen and Lizzie, he would reject them permanently. And if you don't improve your relationship with him enough, Mother Rachel would set him against you when you would call her out on her crimes; he would scream about his family when attacking you.
Karmic Shunning: Theo, after his visit to the Vale, fell under corrupting influence of Mother Rachel, and chose to stay there, abandoning his family. His sister Helen isn't on good terms with him, both for that, and because he almost convinced the other sister, Lizzie, to move too, while Helen sees Rachel for who she is. Investigators may help them to reconcile... but it's also possible for the two to ruin their friendship permanently.

Rosa Marquez

Botanic professor from Miskatonic University, who hired you to accompany her on her surveys.

The Smart Girl: In every scenario, there's always a codex entry for Marquez, where she comes up with some plan which greatly helps entire team. She's also the one who voices the plan how to deal with the Colour for good.
Only Sane Woman: Being outsider in the Vale, she's the one who calls the locals on all the crap going on there, and insist on doing what's right.

Bertie Musgrave

Rosa Marquez's student from Miskatonic.

Cast From H Itpoints: Activating his codex entry requires taking 1 damage or 1 horror.
Non-Action Guy: Bertie is perhaps the most frail amongst all characters, having only 2 health and 1 sanity. One of scenarios involves escorting him to safety, as he's completely unable to do so on his own.

Helen Peters

Theo's sister, who didn't approve him moving to the Vale.

Optional Party Member: If you helped Helen to reconcile with her brother Theo, she may be asked to join the survey team.
Situational Damage Attack: Helen Peters, depending on the outcome of "Lost Sister" scenario, can join you as a story Ally. While her active ability (automatically evade non-Elite enemies at the cost of damaging Helen herself) is always the same, her passive bonus depends on the time of the day: she boosts your Combat at Day, and your Agility at Night. Its other ability (draw 1 card after drawing Blight or Power card) remains the same.

Characters / Arkham Horror The Card Game Campaign Characters

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