Darrell Simmons Scarlet Key Cluever

Darrell Simmons: Test at Zero Cluever

Darrell is the main clue-gatherer in a two-player Scarlet Keys campaign. Kymani Jones handles enemies. Darrell's job is to push investigation difficulty down to zero, then cash in for extra clues and recursion.

How Darrell Plays

2, 5, 2, 3. 6 health, 8 sanity. Survivor 0-5, Seeker 0-2, Neutral 0-5.

• Evidence is your currency. Spend 1 evidence from any asset you control to get -2 difficulty on a skill test at your location, once per test. Any asset counts, so evidence on Hawk-Eye Folding Camera and Empirical Hypothesis works as well as evidence on the Kodak.
• It isn't limited to your own tests. The ability works on any skill test at your location. Use it on Kymani's fight or evade when you share a location, or on a treachery test that would hurt more than a clue would help.
• : +1 and place 1 evidence on an asset. A free refill.
• 5 plus shroud reduction means huge margins. That turns on everything that needs "succeed by 2 or more" or "difficulty is 0".
• 2 is the weak point. Spend evidence on nasty willpower treacheries when the cost of failing is high.

Card Breakdown

Signatures

• Darrell's Kodak: Starts in play, takes no slot. Tag each enemy or treachery as it enters, then discover clues at its location to pull that evidence onto the Kodak. Evidence in threat areas counts as "not at any location", so it can be collected from anywhere. Ask Kymani to evade or hold an enemy, not kill it, until you've investigated where it is. If it leaves play first, its evidence goes with it.
• Ruined Film: Remove 4 evidence or take 1 horror for each one you're short. Keep a reserve of 2 to 3 evidence across your assets rather than spending everything. With 8 sanity, a partial hit is survivable. Short Supply gives you about a one-in-three chance of milling it before it can trigger.

Shroud Reduction

• Old Keyring: -2 shroud investigate. This is the main way you reach zero. Two keys per copy, so expect to recur it.
• Matchbox: -1 shroud for the whole turn, during any investigator's turn, and it takes no slot. Stack it on a Keyring investigate, or light it on Kymani's turn when Kymani needs to investigate.
• Lantern: -1 shroud investigate, a backup to the Keyring. The discard-for-1-damage ability finishes off a wounded enemy when Kymani isn't nearby.
• Winging It: -1 shroud investigate. Played from the discard pile, it discovers an extra clue and shuffles back into your deck. Short Supply often mills it on turn one.

Combo: Test at Zero

Your typical turn at a shroud 4 location:

1. Investigate with Old Keyring: 4 - 2 = 2.
2. Spend 1 evidence with Darrell's ability: difficulty 0.
3. Play Shed a Light before revealing a token. Automatic success, +1 clue here, +1 clue at any location.
4. Commit Deduction for another clue.

That's 4 clues for one action. Matchbox or Lantern covers shroud 5 or above, and covers it when you'd rather keep your evidence. Even without Shed a Light, testing at 0 with 5 passes by 2 or more almost every time, and that's what Scavenging needs.

• Shed a Light: The payoff. Only play it when difficulty is already 0. The clue at "any location" can go to Kymani's location or a far-off location.
• Deduction: +1 clue on any successful investigate. At difficulty 0, its icon is irrelevant; the clue is the point.

Evidence

• Hawk-Eye Folding Camera: +1 evidence each time you take the last clue at a location (once per location). At 1/2/3 evidence it gives +1 , +1 , +1 sanity. The and sanity cover Darrell's two weaknesses: low willpower and Ruined Film. Spend Kodak evidence first and let the camera build up.
• Empirical Hypothesis: Pick a criteria each round. "Succeed by 3 or more" is basically free when testing at 0. "Fail by 2 or more" is for rounds you know you'll be taking a bad treachery or test. Spend evidence to draw, or keep it to lower difficulty.

Economy & Draw

• Schoffner's Catalogue: 5 resources' worth of discount on Items, and nearly everything you play is an Item. Works for any investigator at your location, so it can pay for Kymani's Items too.
• Working a Hunch: A fast clue that doesn't use a test. Placeholder until Fine Tuning.
• Perception: Thins the deck and replaces itself. First slot to go when skills get upgraded.

Combo: Mill and Recur

Short Supply dumps your top 10 cards on turn one. That would be a cost for most decks. Here it stocks your discard pile:

• Scavenging: Succeed by 2 or more on an investigate, and you get an Item back. Testing at 0 makes this trigger every turn. Pull back spent Keyrings, a Matchbox, or a milled Catalogue.
• Professor William Webb: Trade a clue for an Item from discard, or take the clue from a connecting location. Your only ally. Use him when Scavenging is exhausted or still in your deck.
• Resourceful: Retrieves any Survivor card. Keyring, Matchbox, Scavenging, Winging It, and Shed a Light are all Survivor. Shed a Light is often the best target.
• Winging It: Milled copies are already set up for the extra clue.

Tools & Slots

• Tool Belt: Your hands fill up fast: Keyring, Lantern, and Hawk-Eye all take a Hand slot. Belted Tools take no slot, but their text is blank while attached. The belt is a once-per-round swap, not storage for passive abilities.
  • Park a spent or backup Keyring or Lantern, and swap it into your hand when the current one runs out.
  • A belted Hawk-Eye loses its stat bonuses and can't gain evidence, but Darrell can still spend the evidence on it. Belt it once it has served its purpose, to free a hand.
  • Plan for timing. A swap is , so do it before the action it's needed for. In a test, the Keyring needs to be in play before you activate it, while Matchbox and Darrell's ability can be used during the test.
  • Two copies are just to find one sooner. The second copy can be committed for its icon.

Mulligan

• Hunt: Old Keyring, Shed a Light, Tool Belt.
• Keep: Matchbox, Schoffner's Catalogue, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Empirical Hypothesis, Scavenging.
• Ship: Perception, Deduction, Resourceful, Lantern if you already have a Keyring, Winging It (you want it in discard anyway).
• Short Supply hasn't triggered at mulligan time, so you don't know what will be milled. Keep enough setup that you aren't relying on the mill.

Upgrade Path

• Fine Tuning comes first because it's cheap and replaces a stand-in. It goes on the Kodak: the Kodak's tagging ability exhausts it, so readying it lets you tag two enemies or treacheries per round. Empirical Hypothesis (a Science asset) is the other target, giving a second evidence trigger per round. A third: Matchbox twice in one turn.

• Old Keyring (3) is the deck's core upgrade. One more key per copy, and +1 clue when the test is at difficulty 0. That stacks with Shed a Light and Deduction.

• Sharp Vision gives +3 on basic investigates and a clue for succeeding by 2. It doesn't help Keyring investigates, since those are an ability, not a basic investigate. Its best use is turns spent investigating without a Keyring.

• Webb (2) recovers an Item and still discovers your clue. The level 0 version costs you the clue. Mostly for getting Keyrings back.

• Ice Pick (1) replaces Lantern. It's , gives +1 skill in fights or investigates, and is a Tool for the belt. It gives up Lantern's shroud reduction, so you'll depend more on Matchbox and evidence to reach 0.

• Gumption gives -2 difficulty on any test type, which means another way to reach 0, or a fix for a willpower treachery. The side deck doesn't say what it replaces. The candidates are a Resourceful or a Winging It, depending on what you use least.

• Deduction (2), Scavenging (2), Ice Pick (3) are low priority. Scavenging (2) can play the Item directly, saving an action.

• Empirical Hypothesis is Customizable. Spend XP on it whenever spare XP comes up between the steps above. The options that best fit this deck:

  • Field Research (1): evidence for entering a location with 3+ shroud.
  • Trial and Error (1): evidence when you take damage or horror.
  • Peer Review (2): Kymani's tests at your location count, and Kymani can use its abilities.
  • Research Grant (2): spend 2 evidence to make the next card you play cost 3 less.
  • Irrefutable Proof (3): spend 3 evidence to discover a clue.

Side Deck

Upgrades only.