Can someone explain to me why cryptograpgic cipher doesn't provoke aoo's?

It is a lightning bolt. So no activate cost. But the investigate is bold. That means investigate action.

Lightning bold is not the same as fast. If it would be fast. investigate. Ok then, but It's not.

Actually, a really insane weapon for fighter survivors who desperately needed another back-up 1-handed weapon alongside Meat Cleaver.

Keep in mind that this weapon like its brothers Nautical Charts and Anchor Chain only require you to discard a card when you succeed the test. That damage being conditional actually helps a lot with Hand Hook as it allows you to still keep cards in your hand if you fail and reduce the damage you deal to your allies just to 1 if you miss while they're engaged with an enemy.

Furthermore, discarding things is actually often really good for Survivors especially with things like Profane Idol and Improvised Weapon. Pretty much everyone you can think of who wants more survivor weapons appreciates it even if it exhausts which is not ideal for a weapon. I've ran this card in a couple of decks and it never disappointed even with it limiting me to one effective attack. Again, it's not a dedicated weapon as its best used as a back-up weapon or if you can combo off the discard.

Rita Young - Often is looking for 2 damage to combo with her 1 damage from evading and likes having a back-up for Meat Cleaver even if she has Peter Sylvestre in play.

Silas Marsh - Same deal as Rita in that he wants an off-hand weapon for safety while he gets his Sea Change Harpoon back into play. Plus, Silas often draws a lot so the discard is not as impactful.

Wilson Richards - It's a lvl-0 one-handed weapon-tool!

Stella Clark - Good card to pair with her .18 Derringer until she can get Chainsaws.

William Yorick - Since the discard happens before Yorick defeats the enemy if the card you discard is an asset you can then play it from his discard, especially nice for something like Profane Idol.

George Barnaby - Obviously works with his ability and although he only has 3 fight, he often will be committing cards to help pass the test so he can reliably handle an enemy here and there unlike many seekers.

Am I unlucky? Or am I playing it incorrectly?

Fairly newer player here. So, it could be the latter. However, by scenario 3, I now (would have had, because I house-ruled a reroll mid campaign out of insane frustration, fight me) ((foreshadowing)) have the possibility of the bells being in my deck.

Situation:

Game 1: draw Doomed first upkeep phase. No biggie. It's all good. I imagined how this might go as I'm running the infamous Ursula Fast and Curious deck. Draw draw draw. I foresaw this being a problem with the deck upon creation, but thought, "ehhhhhh it'll be fiiiiine"

Game 2: first upkeep phase, draw Accursed Fate. Okay. Not exactly how I imagined this. But hey, "we're still good" (mythical beasts, I got you).

Game 2 (3 turns later): draw Accursed Fate. Wait. What? Oh, yeah. Remember that shuffle happened because of Eureka!? Oh yeah. I 'member. I didn't have Milan in my opener after mulling 10 cards for the second game now. But we had Eureka! We thought "we're still good," but in reality, we weren't because we shuffled Accursed Fate conveniently to the top like the Champions of God we are.

Game 2 (right after it ended): me making whining noises and being very frustrated with silly cards, then remembering, "I'm the boss in my house" (kind of). "Consider yourself rerolled ya stupid bells" windmill slams a new basic weakness on the table.

1/10 Will probably* not play it again.

*I mean, mechanically, it did exactly what it was supposed to do (assuming I played it correctly with the shuffle), giving me the fear of my impending doom. I just didn't realize I was supposed to die by game 3.

I have a few questions about this card:

1) When an investigator like Sefina, Diana, or Barnaby becomes Amanda, which card is committed to each test? Are the cards beneath Sefina considered separate from Amanda’s?

2) If Sefina becomes someone like Diana, do effects that reference "cards beneath Sefina" (e.g., from The Painted World) still apply?

3) When Sefina becomes Diana, do Diana’s effects that add cards beneath her apply on top of those already under Sefina? Does the +1 Willpower bonus apply to all cards beneath?

4) When transforming into Ashcan Pete or Preston Fairmont, what happens to their signature cards? Does Duke enter play upon the change? Does Family Inheritance come into play?

This becomes really good with Kate Winthrop if you plan to do actions on an empty location. Having always a +4 bonus on any test if you got 2 magnifying glass is really awesome. A must in my opinion.