Trish Scarperer

On discovering a clue at a location with an enemy, Trish Scarborough's reaction triggered ability allows her to either discover one additional clue at that location, or automatically evade that enemy.

Wonderful!

But wait: how can Trish discover a clue whilst engaged with an enemy without triggering an attack of opportunity? There are (at least) two options:

1) acquire the clue without performing an action, thereby triggering either the clue or evasion reaction, or

2) evade an enemy at the location before acquiring the clue and subsequently acquiring a second clue if available, or evading a second enemy should one be present.

This is the problem that Trish poses, and this 19XP deck seeks to address.

TRIGGERING THE CLUE ACQUISITION REACTION

Lola Santiago will routinely scoop up free triggered-clues for resources equivalent to the shroud value of your location whilst looking effortlessly efficient in that impossibly crisp white blousson of hers. And if that slight the curl of the lip leads you to ponder whether Lola believes she knows more than you, well, she does. Be glad she's around, and move on.

Lockpicks sees Trish investigating at a glorious 10 if Lola is in play, or a healthy 8 otherwise, with the attack of opportunity being cancelled by Obfuscation or Narrow Escape. Being able to pull this trick off six times (eight times with Narrow Escape) is a boon, so be sure to play through both copies of Obfuscation if you can.

Working a Hunch is fast, and will grab you a testless clue for two resources.

TRIGGERING THE EVASION REACTION

Disc of Itzamna is an effective, if expensive, way of automatically evading a second non-Elite enemy with a high evasion value that spawns at your location during the mythos phase. Once you have it down, save the Disc until you really need it, and bear in mind you may also want to discard it to dispatch 4 health enemies in a pinch. Now you can get on with investigating and subsequently acquiring a second clue, or evading a second enemy at your location.

COMBOS AND TACTICS

Trish likes to dance around enemies rather than dispatch them, but when they have served their purpose and necessity demands the .25 Automatic (2)'s reaction triggers a +2 and +1 damage attack. However, bear in mind that Trish's is only 2 to begin with, so if she does find herself in a position where combat is required, hobbling the enemy's combat value with Anatomical Diagrams or dropping a clue to trigger Quick Study's +3 bonus can be a boon. Bear in mind that this is only a solution for 2 health enemies unless you have Disc of Itzamna down to discard for another 2 damage. Note also that the need to re-acquire the clue may stymie the action-compression benefit if there isn't another enemy at the location for you to ping your reaction off of during the next turn. That said, Deduction is in the deck to help you pick up three clues at once if you need to when combined with Trish's reaction.

Anatomical Diagrams offers reliable dodging options for evasion as well as the combat boost described above.

Bearing in mind how often Trish will be evading enemies, Pickpocketing (2) has the potential to be a helpful draw or economy boost, although because many of her evasions will be testless, you'll only be enjoying doing both from time to time.

Trish likes to run to enemies as well as scarpering away from them when she has done what she needs to do, so you may find yourself playing Shortcut or Nimble in unexpected ways.

OK! It's time to lace up whatever comfortable-yet-silent footwear spies are favouring these days, and hop to it.