Mystery

Mysteries are a type of Card. They are the primary objective of the game; the investigators win the game by solving Mysteries in order to quell the Ancient One's rising. For most Ancient Ones, investigators must solve 3 Mysteries before the Ancient One awakens in order to win. If the Ancient One awakens, the investigators will normally have to solve a Final Mystery which is significantly harder in order to win the game.

Some Mysteries are specific to one space on the board, in which case a  Mystery token is used to indicate that the active Mystery is on a particular space.

"Active Mystery" refers to the faceup Mystery card in play that has not yet been solved.

Mysteries always resolve at the end of the Mythos phase, after which a new Mystery is drawn, or investigators win the game. Drawing a new Mystery happens even if no additional Mysteries are required or that the Ancient One has awakened.

## Mystery Types

There are many different kinds of Mysteries, but each of them fits roughly into one of the following categories:

### Research Encounter

*Main article: Research Encounter*
Each Ancient One will usually have a Mystery wherein the investigators need to solve Research Encounters in order to place  Clues on the Mystery to solve it. These Research Encounters are specific to each Ancient One. When investigators have solved a sufficient amount of Research Encounters and placed the Clues gained from these encounters onto the Mystery card, the Mystery is solved at the end of the Mythos phase. This number is usually equal to the number of investigators (), or half that number. Any fractions are rounded up.

### Defeat Epic Monster

*Main article: Epic Monsters*
Another common type of Mystery is one wherein investigators need to slay a spawned Epic Monster. The toughness of these Monsters generally scales with the . These "Mystery Monsters" also often have special requirements in order to damage them, such as the Hydra which requires the active investigator to possess the Sword of Y'ha Talla in order to damage it. These Monsters are generally very powerful and usually require the efforts of multiple investigators to take down.

### Special Encounter

*Main article: Special Encounter*
Ancient Ones may also have a set of Special Encounter cards; some Mysteries require the investigators to encounter and successfully resolve a certain number of these cards in order to be solved. Special Encounters are generally more difficult than their Research Encounter counterparts, but have a wider variety of tests so that not only  specialists will be the best to handle them.

### Item Requirement

Some Mysteries require the investigators to acquire a specific item (usually an Artifact). For example,  Yig's Mystery, "Crown of the Serpent", requires the investigators to retrieve the Serpent Crown Artifact, perform a  test, spend Clues, and then discard Ally Assets in order to solve the Mystery. In order to make these Mysteries fair, the Mystery often allows investigators to acquire the specific item they need if they would acquire an item from the specific item's category (i.e. if you would gain an Artifact, you may choose to gain the Serpent Crown instead).

### Eldritch Tokens

Mysteries may sometimes spawn a number of  Eldritch tokens on the board. As encounters, investigators are usually required to perform various tasks successfully in order to place the Eldritch tokens on the Mystery card. Similar to the Research Encounter Mystery type, these Mysteries will often require a number of Eldritch tokens equal to or half the .

This type of encounter is the most varied and requires to spend at least  1 Clue. Some will also require the discarding of items, while others may have the investigator ambushed by Monsters. Typically, if the encounter is resolved successfully, the Eldritch token is discarded from the board. As with Research Encounters, any item that advances the mystery should not remove an Eldritch token from the board, but should use an unused token to mark the Mystery card.

### Final Mysteries

*Main article: Final Mystery*
When an Ancient One awakens, with the exception of  Azathoth, investigators will need to solve a Final Mystery in addition to the regular Mysteries in order to win the game. These Final Mysteries will often involve either directly confronting the Ancient One as a Monster, or successfully resolving a certain number of Special Encounter cards. Unlike other Mysteries, the Final Mysteries are not normal cards; they are printed on the back of the Ancient One sheets in their top right corner.

## Advancing the Mystery

Other than performing the task listed on the card, there are other ways to complete the Mystery. Some Assets like the Treasure Map, Tasks like Seek the Truth, or stages on an Adventure can "advance" the Mystery, making it easier to complete. How specifically the Mystery advances depends on the Mystery type. If there are multiple ways to advance a Mystery, for example the Hunting the Thousand Mystery, the active investigator chooses which one he wants to do.

* If the active Mystery requires one or more tokens to be placed on the card, place one token of that type on the card (e.g.  Eldritch tokens). Do not remove any token from the board.  Clues, Gates, and Monsters placed on the active Mystery in this way are drawn from the Clue pool, Gate stack, and Monster cup, respectively.
	+ If the investigator chooses to put a Gate token on the Mystery, take the **topmost** Gate token from the Gate stack.
	+ If the investigator chooses to put a Monster token on the Mystery, take a **random** Monster token from the Monster cup.
* If the active Mystery requires spending one or more  Clues, place one Clue from the Clue pool on the card. Any investigator may spend Clues placed on the active Mystery when resolving an effect of that card.
* If the active Mystery requires an Epic Monster to be defeated, place  2 Health on the card. The Epic Monster's toughness is reduced by one for each Health on the active Mystery. However, if the active Mystery requires more than one Epic Monster to be defeated such as The Burrowers Beneath, place only one Health on the card. The toughness of each Epic Monster spawned by the Mystery is reduced by one for each Health on the card.

If the active Mystery instructed you to set aside Adventure cards, treat the current Adventure as the active Mystery for purposes of advancing the active Mystery.

Some extremely rare cards like the Promise of Power can completely solve a Mystery. If this happens, simply turn over the next Mystery at the end of the Mythos Phase. Remove the Epic Monster or any unused Eldritch Tokens when you do so.

The Final Mystery is not a Mystery card nor is it considered the active Mystery. As such, effects that advance or solve the active Mystery do not affect the Final Mystery.

## Solving and Discarding Mysteries

When the active Mystery is solved or removed from play, discard all tokens on it or placed by it. Then draw a new Mystery, placing it on top of any solved Mysteries.

If a solved Mystery is shuffled into the deck or returned to the game box, that Mystery no longer counts as a solved Mystery.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Reference Guide p. 8.
2. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Syzygy on  *BoardGameGeek*.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Official answer from Nikki Valens for Hunting the Thousand on  *BoardGameGeek*.
4. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Advancing Mysteries with Gate on  *BoardGameGeek*.
5. ↑ FAQ p. 6.