Cursed Amanda Sharpe

Amanda Sharpe: Cursed Clue Engine

Primary clue-getter for a two-player Innsmouth Conspiracy run alongside a second curse deck. Fill the bag with , convert every curse into secrets, clues, and a cheap Stygian Eye, and let the card beneath Amanda carry every test.

How Amanda Plays

• Stats: 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 , 7 health, 7 sanity. Flat and low; all the power comes from the card beneath her plus boosts.
• Ability: at the start of each investigation phase, draw 1, discard the old card beneath her, and place a new one from hand. That card commits to every skill test you perform that round and stays put.
• : you may double the icons on the card beneath her.
• Pick the card for the round: Esoteric Method for +4 on everything, Perception for draw, Deduction for clue bursts, Enraptured once the Grimoire is down.
• Investigate math: 2 base, +1 Milan, +1 Gabriel, +1 Magnifying Glass, plus the skill beneath. With Esoteric Method that's 9, enough to shrug off a -2 curse on most shrouds.
• Plan a round ahead. The swap happens at the start of the investigation phase, so hold next round's skill in hand. Practice Makes Perfect is how you set that up.
• Deckbuilding: Seeker and Neutral 0-5, plus [[Practiced]] skills 0-3 from any class. That's how Enraptured gets in.

Card Breakdown

Beneath Amanda: Practiced and Wild Skills

• Esoteric Method: Four on every test. After each test, adds curses equal to the margin, success or failure, so it fills the bag fast. With two curse decks the bag sits at the 10-curse cap; if you're the only curse deck, Promise of Power is the alternative.
• Perception: Three and draw 1 (or 2 at +2) on every successful test that round, not just investigates. The draw engine.
• Deduction: Two and an extra clue per successful investigate, two if you succeed by 2+. The clue-burst round.
• Enraptured: Each successful investigate places up to 3 secrets on assets at your location. Under Amanda with the Grimoire out, 2-3 investigates on a low shroud is 6-9 secrets: one or two encounter cancels per round. You can still successfully investigate a location with no clues left, so a cleared low-shroud location becomes a secret farm.
• Inquiring Mind: Three , but only commits if there's a clue at your location. Beneath Amanda it silently drops out once the location is empty, so use it on clue-heavy rounds.
• Unexpected Courage: Two with no condition. Safe filler beneath Amanda.
• Fey: One and two ; may return to hand after a test that reveals a curse. Beneath Amanda, returning it pulls it out for the rest of the round. Take the return only on your last test of the round: Fey goes back to hand instead of being discarded at the next investigation phase.

Combo: Esoteric Method into Curse Payoffs

Esoteric Method beneath Amanda adds curses after every test. Each curse you then reveal during a skill test fuels three cards at once:

1. Cryptic Grimoire banks a secret.
2. Control Variable discovers a clue.
3. The Stygian Eye gets cheaper for every curse in the bag.

Blasphemous Covenant turns one of those curses per round into +1 while it still counts as a revealed curse, so the payoffs fire anyway.

Curse Payoffs

• Cryptic Grimoire: The build-around. Secrets for every curse you resolve during a skill test; spend 5 to replace an encounter card with a player card. Get it out early and trigger it constantly.
• Blasphemous Covenant: Once per round, a curse revealed by any investigator at your location becomes +1 and goes back in the bag. Mitigation that keeps the bag full. Stand with your partner on key tests.
• Control Variable: Fast, 1 resource, a clue after any curse at your location. Your partner's curses count too.
• The Stygian Eye: Free at 10 curses. +3 to every skill until the end of the round. Use it for a big investigate round or a test you must pass.
• Gaze of Ouraxsh: Reveal 7 tokens, deal 1 plus 1 per or , no attacks of opportunity. With a full curse pool it usually kills small enemies outright. Not a skill test, so no secrets or Covenant.

Combo: Enraptured + Cryptic Grimoire

Once the Grimoire is out, put Enraptured beneath Amanda, park on a low shroud location, and investigate 2-3 times. The location doesn't need clues; an empty one works just as well. Every success is 3 secrets on the Grimoire, on top of any curses you reveal. Two rounds of this banks enough to skip several encounter draws, which matters a lot in Innsmouth.

Economy and Draw

• Dr. Milan Christopher: +1 and a resource per successful investigate. Your main economy. Second copy is a backup.
• Gabriel Carillo: +1 ; at the start of your turn, add a curse to draw a card. A curse and a card every turn.
• Magnifying Glass: Cheap fast +1 to investigate. Lower priority once the Grimoire is out; both fit in your two hands.
• Practice Makes Perfect: Digs 9 cards for a Practiced skill and returns it to hand on a success. The way to choose next round's card beneath Amanda.

Movement

• Shortcut: Action compression for both investigators. Drop it on a hub location.

Permanents

• Studious: Two copies for a 7-card opening hand. More shots at a good first skill beneath Amanda.
• Charisma: Second ally slot so Milan and Gabriel both stay out.
• Spiritual Healing: Removes one trauma. Offsets In the Thick of It.
• In the Thick of It: 3 XP for 2 trauma at deck creation. Funds Blasphemous Covenant early so the first Innsmouth scenario goes well.

Campaign Rewards

• Teachings of the Order: Each effect once per campaign. The enemy defeat is the everyday use; the curse wipe resets your whole engine, so save it for a moment where a single test decides everything.
• Headdress of Y'ha-nthlei: +1 skill value at flooded locations for investigating, fighting, and evading.
• Awakened Mantle: Fast move between connected flooded locations.

Signatures and Weaknesses

• Obscure Studies: Fast when you start a test: swap it in beneath Amanda (3 ) and pull the old card back to hand. Use it when the round's needs change, or to rescue a critical test.
• Whispers from the Deep: Forced beneath Amanda from hand, so it costs you one round at -1 on every test, then it's discarded. Spend that round on draws, resources, and plays, or cover it with Stygian Eye. Obscure Studies can swap it out for a key test, but it returns to hand and goes beneath next round.
• Accursed Follower: Aloof, spawns far away, and adds a curse every enemy phase. In this deck it's nearly an asset. Leave it unless it's in the way, then Gaze it.

Mulligan

• Hunt: a strong skill for beneath Amanda (Esoteric Method, Perception), Milan, Gabriel, Magnifying Glass. Practice Makes Perfect counts as a skill tutor.
• Keep: Cryptic Grimoire if you already have an investigate setup.
• Ship: The Stygian Eye (too expensive before the bag fills), Control Variable, Gaze unless the scenario opens with enemies.

Upgrade Path

• Cryptic Grimoire: the build-around, so translate it first. The Untranslated copies add a curse per ; once the bag holds 10 curses, discard one to record "you have translated the grimoire" (5 curses become bless). That unlocks the Researched upgrade at 4 XP per copy. Take Text of the Elder Guardian for the encounter cancel, then lean on Enraptured to fill it.
• Gabriel: the second copy is a backup for the unique first. It replaces Control Variable because Gabriel adds the curses and draws the cards that Control Variable was cashing in.
• Miskatonic Archaeology Funding: Milan moves into a Miskatonic-only slot, so Milan and both ally slots never compete. Charisma's slot stays free for Gabriel.
• Spiritual Healing: clears one of the two traumas from In the Thick of It.
• Stirring Up Trouble: 2 clues for 0 resources, paid in curses equal to shroud. The curses are a cost, so play it while the curse pool still has tokens to add.
• Occult Reliquary: an extra hand for a [[Blessed]] or [[Cursed]] asset, so a second Cryptic Grimoire can sit alongside the Magnifying Glass.
• Shortcut: low priority movement compression for the second half of the campaign.

Side Deck

Upgrade targets only: Gabriel Carillo, Miskatonic Archaeology Funding, Stirring Up Trouble, Occult Reliquary, and a second Shortcut.