A bunch of Dudes!
The Shan Queen (Priest)
She is in fact an Insect from Shaggai (also known as Shans). Part-immaterial, she has the power to invest human brains and read, even control, their thoughts.
Her ability requires timing, and usually isn’t effective in the early part of the game, but when you do pull it off, it’s a doozy. Basically, every enemy that has at least one Magic resource has to give one to you. So for example, your maximum “take” would be in a 5 player game, if every other player had a magic. More often one or more players is void of this important resource, and you have to be satisfied with a partial looting.
This also has the side effect that alert enemies will see that too many players are accumulating Magic. Fearing the Shan Queen’s theft, they may spend their Magic prematurely on tasks, instead of getting their full value. This is cool too though. Enjoy this tiny horror when you get her. She’s a barrel of laughs.
The Hobo (investigator)
The hobo was probably just looking for a warm place to sleep, and blundered into your underground complex, perhaps you have a doorway in the sewer system. Or maybe he wandered into the same abandoned factory that you are using for your rituals.
The Hobo may seem weak, because you roll 1 less die for his attack. After all, he’s pretty poorly equipped as investigators go. (There’s a minimum of 1 die for the attack, though).
However, he attacks in reverse, because he comes from an unexpected direction. This means your closets and dimensional gates, normally kept at the end of your sanctum, suddenly are in the forefront. What’s worse, your nice traps and false walls, all carefully arranged to blast and terrify raiders, are nearly useless. The hobo has one redeeming feature however – he doesn’t understand the purpose of the shattered elder signs, which look like trash to him. So they are safe from his attack. Still, spellbooks, magic, blood, etc. are all still vulnerable.
Hound of Tindalos (monster)
The Hound of Tindalos is a creation of Frank Belknap Long, one of my favorite writers. I will say in passing that Amazon Kindle has several collections of Long’s writings available pretty cheap. So if you’re curious about him, you can check those out. My favorite stories of his are “The Hounds of Tindalos”, “The Space Eaters”, “The Man With a Thousand Legs”, and “The Horror From the Hills”. But he has lots of others. Look him up. You’ll be glad you did.
The Hound of Tindalos changes the nature of the whole attack. When raid dice are rolled, the master of the Hound has to make an immediate decision. Is he going to use the Hound, or not. If he doesn’t, there is no further effect (but you can’t change your mind). If he does, then the raid skips the first room for everyone but you. Usually this is good, because people put strong defenses as their first room, and now those are useless. But occasionally it will help someone.
Please note that if their “first room” is an Abditory it still counts, so they got no extra punishment from the Hound. I guess it couldn’t find that secret spot.
Incidentally, I first encountered the word “Abditory” in the Rex Stout mystery “Instead of Evidence”. In it, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are investigating a murder at a novelty design house. Inside the factory, there are lots of little hiding places, which the designers term “abditories”. Nero Wolfe hates the name, and refuses to let Goodwin use it. But I liked the word, and so here it is again.
Servitor of the Outer Gods (monster)
The Servitor is a little awkward to apply, but it is still clearly the best monster in the game. “Why?” You cry. “It’s only a measly 2 defense!”
Because when you take the Servitor, you then choose an enemy’s monster and take it for your own. Then you give HIM the Servitor in exchange. This actually means that the Servitor’s “measly” 2 defense is actually an asset to you – because it means your opponent lost something useful (typically 4-6 points) and got 2.
Plus there are a lot of monsters which have side effects worth using. For instance, the excellent Maniac, with his 2 treasure per turn. That rules – it means you can afford 1 extra Ritual every turn. (I assume, from the art, that the Maniac is handing you his income from his birthday party gigs as a clown.)
Now there are sometimes amusing issues with the Servitor. One game I remember the Servitor was one of the first three monsters we turned up. What a problem! The first player to take a monster of course didn’t want the Servitor, because he couldn’t use its ability. But he was concerned that the SECOND player to take a monster would steal whatever he chose. This meant that no one took a monster for an unconscionably long time. Finally I ended the Mexican standoff by both going to the Silver Twilight Lodge AND the Spectral Horror ritual in the same turn. In this manner, I had two monsters in my lairs by the turn’s end. So when next turn Link went to the Silver Twilight lodge and got the Servitor, stealing one of mine, I still had one left. Plus now I had the Servitor which, after all, isn’t completely worthless.