Kōhaku Narukami: The Folklorist Who Put Cthulhu in the Chaos Bag

Role: Flex — clue-getter and fighter
Difficulty: Moderate to high
Playstyle: Blessings, Curses, spellcasting, and decisions that would make a mathematician weep.

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn… Now, somebody pass me the Hymn Book!”

There are two ways to deal with the ancient horrors. The first involves carrying a shotgun, praying it doesn’t jam, and pretending you haven’t noticed the laws of geometry twisting themselves into shapes that would make Euclid resign on the spot. The second is Kōhaku Narukami’s approach: fill the chaos bag with Blessings and Curses, summon arcane powers, and convince the forces of the universe that this is all part of a perfectly reasonable folkloristic experiment.

This deck goes with option two. Because if Lovecraft has taught us anything, it’s that knowledge is dangerous, sanity is overrated, and you should never open an ancient book without checking whether it contains tentacles between its pages.

Kōhaku is a Mystic with a well-rounded stat line (4 Willpower, 4 Intellect, 3 Combat, and Agility that looks suspiciously like a cry for help). He can investigate, dish out punishment with his spells, and contribute his fair share of the campaign’s dirty work. But his real specialty isn’t any one of those things in isolation: it’s manipulating the chaos bag and turning a potentially unpredictable mechanic into the engine that drives his strategy.

And this is where the fun begins. Or the horror. In Arkham, the two are usually synonymous.

The Plan: Bless, Curse, Repeat

Kōhaku’s ability lets him add one Blessing or Curse token to the chaos bag at the beginning of each turn, choosing whichever type has fewer tokens. Alternatively, he can remove two Blessings and two Curses to gain an additional action that turn.

This ability is the heart of the deck. We’re not dealing with an investigator who accidentally adds tokens while trying to do something else: here, tokens are fuel, ammunition, and, when the time comes, a rather peculiar way of paying overtime.

The plan is to generate both types of tokens through cards such as Hymn Book, Keep Faith, Faustian Bargain, and Hand of Fate, making use of their effects to support our spells and, when the bag is sufficiently stocked, turning some of that hard work into extra actions.

The beauty of it is that Kōhaku doesn’t have to choose between light and darkness. He can embrace both, preferably while wearing gloves, and make the most of each.

Blessings provide favorable results, while Curses make tests more difficult. But this deck doesn’t treat Curses as a mere tax we have to endure. Instead, it uses them as a resource to activate and enhance its effects. It’s a questionable philosophy of life, but a surprisingly effective one when the Outer Gods start knocking.

That said, we shouldn’t forget that Blessing and Curse tokens affect everyone’s tests. If our teammates aren’t prepared to live with a particularly turbulent chaos bag, we might want to explain the plan before they discover that their brilliant combat test has just turned into a religious experience.

An Arcane Arsenal for Unconventional Problems

Armageddon and Eye of Chaos: Two Ways to Prove Science Has Failed

The deck’s offensive core rests on Armageddon and Eye of Chaos, two spells that let Kōhaku fight and investigate while taking advantage of the Curse mechanic.

Armageddon is our tool for dealing with enemies. We aren’t carrying a shotgun, but we might not need one if we can get the magic to do its job. The idea is to use the spell as a source of damage and take advantage of its synergy with Curse tokens.

Eye of Chaos plays the complementary role: finding clues without constantly resorting to conventional investigation. Because, frankly, if we’ve come to Arkham to study blasphemous symbols and contemplate spacetime anomalies, doing it with a magnifying glass seems a little underambitious.

Together, these spells define the deck’s flexible nature. Kōhaku can adapt to the scenario’s needs: investigating when the team needs to make progress and fighting when some inhabitant of an impossible dimension decides we’re tonight’s main course.

The key is finding the spells and getting them into play. Once they’re up and running, Kōhaku has tools to solve Arkham’s two classic problems: finding clues and convincing monsters that they picked a very bad night to go for a stroll.

Shroud of Shadows, Spectral Razor, and Sinister Athame: In Case Reality Keeps Getting in the Way

Shroud of Shadows provides a magical way to handle difficult situations through evasion. Not every horror needs to be destroyed; some can simply be left behind while we do something much more productive, like collecting clues before the universe implodes.

Spectral Razor offers another combat tool based on spellcasting and interaction with Curses. It provides an alternative way to deal with enemies and complements the deck’s main offensive package. In this deck, magic isn’t an emergency solution: it’s our standard way of contacting the customer service department of the afterlife.

Meanwhile, Sinister Athame fits the same philosophy of turning our arcane arsenal into something more than a collection of suspicious objects. Its inclusion reinforces the deck’s theme: we’re not here to build a university library, but to practice applied occultism with potentially catastrophic results.

All in all, the deck has several tools for dealing with supernatural threats. First, we establish a solid foundation; then we decide whether today’s agenda involves investigating, fighting, or explaining to the police why the corpse displays geometries incompatible with human anatomy.

Olive McBride: Three Tokens Walk into a Bar…

If one ally deserves special mention, it’s Olive McBride.

Her ability lets us reveal three chaos tokens instead of one and choose two to resolve, ignoring the third. In a deck that constantly interacts with Blessings and Curses, this ability to select outcomes can be extremely valuable.

Olive doesn’t eliminate uncertainty, but she lets us manage certain tests more effectively and take advantage of the opportunities that arise when multiple tokens are revealed. It’s a way to tip the scales without signing a contract with an Outer God, although the outcome of the game might suggest otherwise.

She also fits the deck’s identity perfectly: this isn’t simply about adding tokens to the bag, but about building a strategy around them and gaining an advantage when the time comes to reveal them.

The trick is knowing which tokens we want to keep, which ones we should ignore, and when it’s worth using her ability. Even in Arkham, making good decisions remains more important than having a friend with suspicious powers.

Blessings for Everyone, Curses for Whoever Deserves Them

The event package is where the deck develops its true personality.

Keep Faith and Hand of Fate help us work with Blessings, while Faustian Bargain provides resources and Curses in exchange for accepting the consequences of such a deal. The name isn’t exactly reassuring, but at least the game has the courtesy to warn us that we’re making a questionable bargain.

Hymn Book deserves special attention for its dual utility: it can heal horror and add tokens to the bag. It contributes to the deck’s engine while also helping keep the team in fighting shape. In other words, prayer is useful both for manipulating chaos and for preventing our teammates from hearing voices that weren’t in the script.

Faithful Guided rounds out the Blessing-related support package, while Read the Signs provides another way to gather clues through magic. This means Kōhaku doesn’t have to rely exclusively on Eye of Chaos to contribute to the investigation.

The economy is covered as well: Faustian Bargain provides resources, which is important for a deck that may want to play several assets and spells during the opening turns. We can’t afford to have the end of the world arrive while our wallet is empty.

Sanity Is Optional; Survival Isn’t

A deck that plays around with Curses needs tools to protect itself from the consequences of its own experiments.

Ward of Protection and Deny Existence serve an essential defensive role. The former helps cancel harmful encounter effects, while the latter allows us to manage certain negative consequences, particularly those involving horror. They aren’t the flashiest cards in the deck, but they have the virtue of preventing a promising game from turning into a posthumous account of our adventures.

Radiant Smite provides another protective tool that helps the investigator keep doing his job without spending every waking moment trying to survive.

Finally, Holy Rosary helps strengthen Kōhaku’s investigative profile and consistency. It’s a particularly appropriate inclusion because the investigator already has strong base stats and can make good use of any additional help when resolving tests.

The lesson is simple: the best way to defeat a Primordial isn’t necessarily to deal more damage than anyone else. Sometimes it’s enough to stop the team from falling apart before the final act.

How to Pilot This Abomination with a Minimum of Dignity

Early turns: Set up the laboratory.

The priority is to find and play the assets that allow the plan to develop. Armageddon and Eye of Chaos are particularly important for establishing our two main roles, while Holy Rosary and Olive McBride improve consistency and test management.

There’s no need to play our entire hand at once. It’s better to build a functional foundation and keep some resources available to respond to the problems that will inevitably arise.

Mid-game: Feed the bag.

Once our setup is in place, it’s time to generate Blessings and Curses. Hymn Book, Keep Faith, Hand of Fate, and Faustian Bargain all contribute from different angles.

The idea isn’t to fill the bag blindly, but to maintain a flow of tokens that lets us take advantage of our cards and Kōhaku’s ability. Curses can enhance certain lines of play, but they also make the team’s tests more dangerous. We should know what we’re doing before turning every skill test into a séance.

When the bag is ripe: Collect the dividends.

Kōhaku’s ability lets him remove two Blessings and two Curses to gain an additional action. This is one of the deck’s greatest rewards: turning accumulated tokens into tempo.

But timing matters. Spending four tokens to gain an action can be excellent if that action lets us discover several clues, defeat a dangerous enemy, or resolve a crucial objective. It may be less appealing if we still need those tokens to support other synergies or if the extra action won’t significantly change the situation.

The chaos bag is our toolbox, not a piggy bank we need to empty just for the pleasure of hearing the tokens rattle.

Verdict: Cosmic Horror Comes with Bookkeeping

This Kōhaku deck is a flexible investigator build that embraces one of the most interesting mechanics in Arkham Horror: The Card Game—turning Blessings and Curses into resources that can fuel investigation, combat, and additional actions.

Its strength lies in how the pieces interact: the spells cover our main needs, the events keep the chaos bag moving, Olive helps manage token reveals, and the defensive cards let the plan survive the inevitable setbacks.

This is a deck that rewards planning and awareness of the scenario. We need to decide when to generate tokens, when to take advantage of their effects, and when to turn them into extra actions. Played well, Kōhaku can maintain a satisfying pace and contribute in several areas without specializing completely in just one.

Is this the most sensible way to face the Mythos? Absolutely not. Is it more sensible than reading the Necronomicon aloud while a creature from a non-Euclidean dimension watches you from the ceiling? Without a doubt.

Besides, Kōhaku has something the Primordial beings will never understand: a budget, a long-term strategy, and a perfectly organized system for making even Curses work overtime.

So when Cthulhu awakens and asks who’s responsible for this chaos bag fiasco, point at Kōhaku and run. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll have gathered the clues, dealt with the cultists, and perhaps even squeezed in an extra action.

And if everything goes wrong, we can always take comfort in one thought:

Waking an ancient god is terrible. Waking one after stealing four tokens from its chaos bag is just plain rude.