The Killer: Inkanyamba

The Location: Sacred Groves

Inspirations: There’s no direct movie references, but I can say that the final girls’ names are based on George Romero and Jordan Peele. Barbara is also the name of a character in 28 Days Later. I guess the scenario is covered with a lot of, “tourists go to sacred grounds, rile up spirits and die” movies.

Final Girls: Barbara Romero & Adelaide Jordan

Both the location and scenario introduce the same mechanic with Wrath escalating on cards. Each uses one of the tiny trackers and will grow over time, then trigger separately to that, causing all manner of terrible effects. I appreciated only having one thing to learn when using both of these together and it continued to feel like a linear escalation of complexity from Happy Trails to Creech Manor to this. There’s a new action, “Atonement” which lowers one of the tracks if you’re successful. Unfortunately Inkanyamba’s Killer Wrath naturally increases if it gets too low, to make sure you don’t get too complacent.

The Sacred Groves are a map combined between the groves themselves and the encroachment of tourism into them. In addition to exits and locations, there are also sacred locations which you’ll want to avoid when possible as that’s where you may face Divine Wrath. Of course, the tourists keep wandering where they don’t belong and that means you’ll be dipping in and out of them.

Inkanyamba is an agile and brutal killer, who races around the map slaughtering people, especially when his Killer Wrath goes off, making things much worse for things like Threat Level. Even with the wrath mechanic, Inkanyamba actually feels pretty straightforward. He just acts a lot.

I’ve only played this scenario twice, the first time ended pretty brutally. This time, hopefully things would be different.

I played Adelaide Jordan, a jack of all trades who generally never stood out and had to take a job at the tourist attraction on the edge of the sacred groves, watching overprivileged families poke and prod at the holy site. They took parts of it as souvenirs and her manager planned to encroach further. Little did she know, a man had given up his identity, his very soul to be a spirit of vengeance for the grove. Anyone, guilty or innocent, would die at his hand.

As ever, Adelaide spent her first turn mostly focusing, with mixed success. She ended up at the lost and found, grabbed a couple of tourists and holed up there, ready to search for useful items. The wrath of Inkanyamba grew and his punishment lowered Adelaide’s time for the next round. Then for good measure Inkanyamba gutted a worker at the tourist centre. A mega-tourist arrived, loud and obtrusive, a permanent target for as long as he was on the board.

Adelaide had to adapt her plans to the lack of time, running to the exit with the couple she’d found and starting out towards the mega-tourist. Inkamyamba murdered the remaining welcome centre’s worker by smashing him into some rocks. The Killer Wrath was unleashed, causing Inkanyamba to chase down a child who’s strayed into the sacred burial ground. This awakened his Dark Power, a volatile temper which made him even more horrifying.

Adelaide focused for a moment, sprinted towards the uberfan and his PA, saving them and trying to atone in his place. It failed. On an upside, she found a whip. Inkanyamba spotted a tourist who’d peeled off from the tour guide and kicked them down a hill into the stones by a spring. He followed it up by murdering a tour guide and a hiker.

Unaware of how dire things had become, Adelaide was still trying to atone and restore some of the sacred spaces. She sprinted through the holy groves, taking some hapless tourists with her as she reached the exit, unlocking her ultimate form. She took an action costing six, taking a critical blow card. Almost sensing some optimism, the game struck back with Wrath of Death, a Terror card which gave a ludicrous increase to the Killer Wrath.

Adelaide sprinted towards Inkanyamba for a fight but paused, why not stock up? The grove’s Divine Wrath was unleashed, but Adelaide had atoned enough to reduce it down to it’s lowest level. Adelaide walked calmly to the lost and found, where Inkanyamba was. She uttered a prayer, lowering the Killer Wrath as she went. Then she landed a critical blow to Inkanyamba, pushing him back using the whip after dealing damage.

Inkanyamba recovered and charged at Adelaide, who retaliated with another blow from her whip, prepared for his return. Her own turn after that was poor, with a weak attack failing, losing Adelaide some health and ending the turn. Bugger! She still had Guard from a previous turn and managed to reduce the incoming damage. I drew a Fickle Temper card which shockingly actually reduced the Wrath! Oh my god, some actual good luck! And then Adelaide took some more damage. Things were looking pretty rough for both of them.

There wasn’t long left, with one Terror Card left in the deck. Adelaide had spent all her money on another Critical Clow, leaving her completely exposed if she didn’t finish Inkanyamba. The dice came up with two stars. Enough damage to knock down the last health. I flipped over the token and it was blank! I’ve not really looked at the odds of this, but the last couple of games I’ve played have been lucky ones.

Inkanyamba was a brutal opponent, chewing his way through victims faster than I could save them. Luckily I just about got Adelaide’s ultimate form working and it was mainly a one-off ability compared to a lot of the others.

I hadn’t remembered how fun this scenario was, partially because of the lack of specific horror story it’s homaging. Now I want to see how it pairs up with other killers and locations. Terror from Above could be good fun for a story of nature taking its vengeance out in a different form. Inkanyamba might be entertaining in the cabin in the woods location, or the cornfield from series four.

The Final Girl Mystery Box

SPOILERS FOR THE MYSTERY BOXES

Like the Final Girl ‘Secret Envelopes’, these are thoroughly spoiled parts of the Final Girl experience now. When it first came out, the Mystery Box was a little purchasable extra which Van Ryder assured was not actual game content. You wouldn’t be missing anything essential if you didn’t back it. 

There was a cute box which the mystery gift arrived in, and inside…

The Necronomicon! A proper Evil Dead-looking Necronomicon! It’s big, chunky and feels quite toyetic. Inside are two dice; one with the symbols of each killer, one with the symbols of each location (and a wild card, as there are only five locations in Series One). 

My friend Steve did a marvellous job of painting the Final Girl miniatures, and put his skill into this tome, too. It definitely feels like it gains something from a paint job, compared to the later mystery gifts which are alright even when unpainted. If I get all the way to Series Two and Three, you’ll get to see what they’re like.