"Ashcan" Pete: A mystical drifter.

Minh's immediate future looked bleak.

Mark was occupied elsewhere probably killing one of those monsters and she had used all she had to try to solve this mystery and help her newfound allies.

And the ghould advanced relentlessly on her, ready to devour her...or worse! She couldn't escape it, and didn't have the strength to fight it.

Not Yet.

The only one standing between her and the ghoul was this drifter and his dog. "Ashcan" Pete was his name. And "Ashcan" Pete was smiling.

-"Duke, bite his leg!" he ordered to the dog who courageously lept at leg of the ghoul and bit hard in it, how unpleasant it could be, even for a dog.

All the while "Ashcan" was uttering words from long lost eras, like a chant, pointing his finger in the ghoul's direction.

And then, it happened in front of Minh's eyes!

The ghoul's head began to dissolve into nothingness and the monster fell on the ground, defeated.

She looked at Ashcan increduly.

"How did you do that?" was the only thing that reached her lips.

"Tricks of the road, miss! Duke, leave this, it's dead! I met this woman once, the daughter of a Cheyenne medecine man, Funny story!".

Hi everybody! This short text is one of the multiple illustrations of how I see this "Ashcan" Pete deck working.

The first thing I want to say is I often see people refering to Duke as the real investigator. That's not the case in my deck. I want "Ashcan" to be able to fight and investigate reliably and not having to rely on Duke for everything.

"Ashcan" Pete has a good and a correct which make him rather resistant to the treachery deck. I wanted to use this good so I went with a mystic splash.

So what do we have in this deck and how does it work?

This deck revolves around his key assets and the synergy between them.

Duke is always here so you can always count on him to fight or go and fetch some clue because of his great scent, but you need to have secondary reliable options to fight and investigate.

-Ways to fight: 4 of them. Shrivelling is here because you're a mystical hobo and a good one, and with Dark Horse, you will be even greater. Fire Axe is your default weapon in your Dark Horse build and the ways you have to fuel the axe.

-ways to investigate: 4 of them too. the classical Flashlight is a must for a generalist with poor , and Sixth Sense will outright transform you into a really talented cluever!

The rest is a classical Dark Horse build with Madame Labranche to give you resources to fuel the Fire Axe, I add Forbidden Knowledge to fuel the axe and it interacts well with Peter Sylvestre.

Drawing Thinis your economy engine even while on Dark Horse. Exemple: You draw a shrivelling and you really want to play it , you make an investigate check with your moderate , raise the difficulty with Drawing Thin and win 2 resources that will help you pay for your spell!

Or when you're confident enough in your stats, and you should be, you can raise the difficulty on low difficulty actions for more rewards!

Peter Sylvestre is an important ally, of course he helps your average become better, but that's his horror healing that is the greatest pat as it combos with Forbidden Knowledge and the drawback of Shrivelling.

-Live and Learn and Lucky! are here for these moments failure is not accepted.

-For the skills, I went with Resourceful because recursion is good and you have potential great targets.

Take Heart is here for once again for the resource and card gain, coupled with Drawing Thin it's monstruous! You can use it in more altruist way too if you want. When there's no monster and Zoey is bored, ask her to investigate and commit Take Heart to this poor investigate attempt. Zoey will thank you for the draws and resources.

Unexpected Courage is just perfect for those moments you have to pass!

Now the upgrade path:

Some choices are both obvious and mandatory. Your first 3 XP go to Charisma to have both Peter and Madame Labranche onboard.

Then Peter Sylvestre because he soaks more and boosts your , your spellcasting stat.

Then I would go for another permanent and resource sink, Scrapper, it will help duke bite, your axe hit, help you evade and resist treacheries. You can upgrade Lucky! when you have spare time, I have a great affection for Alter Fate because it is said Ashcan Pete wants to help and it's a great way to help.

Then if I have a dedicated cluever on the team, I would go with Ornate Bow, a 3 damage weapon is great to have and between all his boosters he will hit hard and be able to evade after or let Duke finish the enemy. It's really thematic with my "Ashcan Pete" with the cheyennes.

If you want to finish the job, you can go with a second Charisma and find a place for Aquinnah, a great tank /damage dealer that combos well with Peter Sylvestre!

If at this moment you still have XP, you greedy one, you can go for a Bulletproof Vest or an Elder Sign Amulet depending on your needs.

And maybe A Chance Encounter for those afraid to lose Duke!

So, after this long explaination of this thematic deck, what are your thoughts?

Do you like it? What would you change? Have you got other ideas for upgrades? Thank you for reading through my long story and if you like it, let's talk!