Elder Sign: Omens of the Deep

“The Thing cannot be described – there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order. A mountain walked or stumbled. […] The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of innocent sailors had done by accident.”
– H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

The ship had arrived in the harbor on schedule, and, despite your concerns about this voyage, you are finally, decisively, making your way to the dock. You possess a healthy fear of the dangers that await, but you feel that there is much more at stake than Doctor Mason Phillips lets on. Amid your ponderings, you soon come upon The Ultima Thule rising sharply from the calm waters at the dockside. You can’t help but think of the huge steel wall floating in the water before you as a massive, petulant testament to humanity’s fragility. An enormous metal conveyance to take a small team into uncharted waters to combat an ancient and terrible threat that is barely understood. You fight the urge to turn back and remind yourself that every ounce of courage and cunning will be needed to stop whatever awaits for you in the watery depths of the uncharted waters of the specific. After all, there will be nowhere left to run if the crew of The Ultima Thule fails.

Embark on a journey to seal away an ancient evil that stirs in the remotest regions of the Pacific Ocean in Elder Sign: Omens of the Deep, an expansion for the cooperative dice game Elder Sign. This expansion features eight new investigators, three new Ancient Ones, and a slew of new cards to help you navigate the tumultuous sea.

Deep Waters Hide Dark Perils

Based on the popular The Call of Cthulhu adventure for the Elder Sign: Omens app, your team of adventurers will board The Ultima Thule and have to rely on their wits, will, and the strange hum of an amulet said to have come from the lost city of R’lyeh.

After embarking on this mission, The Ultima Thule will be the team’s only safe haven, and the investigators will need to defend it from the constant onslaught of the Deep One Legion. You’ll only be able to bring your party to the shores of the ancient city in one piece by advancing the Dark Waters track or by completing Special Adventure cards. Using these paths to arrive at the gates of R’lyeh will give your investigators the added advantage of The Ultima Thuleas a sanctuary to recover from the horrors encased within the walls of the mildewed metropolis.

Your team must follow the amulet’s pulse with all due haste! If you linger too long and cannot beat back the slippery denizens of the Deep One Legion, The Ultima Thule will be overridden, and your beleaguered team will arrive in the muck and mire of R’lyeh with nothing but the wreckage of your once-proud ship. Check out our previews for more on the dangers of the Deep One Legion and navigating the Dark Waters Track.

The Amulet Awakens and R’lyeh Rises

Whether you arrive under your ship’s own power or your party is driven ashore, the amulet’s slow and steady pulse builds to a nauseating and insistent rhythm upon landing at R’lyeh. The artifact’s power will truly wake as it comes home to the unearthly forces in which it was forged. Once the city of R’lyeh has truly risen from the depths of the Pacific, the second phase of the game begins, and the Dark Waters Track is replaced with the Amulet of R’lyeh. As the amulet calls out for its missing pieces, a surge of arcane power will sap some of the investigator’s resources, locking the yellow, red, and one green die out of play.

Only by recovering and reassembling the missing pieces of the amulet will the investigators be able to regain the use of these vital items. The adventures that await in the second stage are more challenging, and the investigators will need all they help that they can get in order acquire the powerful Elder Signs that will allow them to seal away whatever horrors now threaten the world of man. Read more about the challenges that await within R’lyeh in our preview of the second stage of Elder Sign: Omens of the Deep.

The amulet’s call beckons, and new threats stir deep within the Pacific Ocean. Find your way to the shores of R’lyeh and stop the ancient evil housed within the city from invading and devouring this world in Elder Sign: Omens of the Deep, available now at your local retailer!