YMMV / Nights In Lonesome Arkham

• Awesome Ego: Lucifer is proud as all hell, and views Great Old Ones as completely beneath him. However, he can really back it up.
• Catharsis Factor: Nyarlathotep's final defeat. Throughout the story, Nyarly rebounds just as much as he loses his cool and no loss ever truly sets back his scheme, merely delays it or annoys him. When Hardestadt, through plain old trickery, manages to outwit Nyarlathotep and leave him prey to Azathoth itself, Nyarlathotep's truly epic Villainous Breakdown as he's unmade is enormously satisfying. The catharsis gets even sweeter when you remember that Nyarly was basically a Karma Houdini in his source material, but in this story, he gets his ass handed, this time for GOOD!
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Funny Moments:
  • Just before the climax, Hardestadt calls out Azmodan for one-upping him at dramatic banter.
    Nyarlathotep: Will you walk to where hope dies, Daemon? Oh, I think you will. None of you will yield now, will you? As expected. But who are you to oppose me now?
    Azmodan: Us? We're just the ones who make sure stories have happy endings.
    Hardestadt: Okay. Hang on. Do-over.
    Azmodan: Hm? What was that?
    Hardestadt: That was really, really good. I should have been the one to say it. I'm his arch-nemesis here.
    Azmodan: First come, first served, brother. Just say something like, "and we're here to end yours in tragedy" or something.
    Hardestadt: Well, I can't say that now!
  • Hardestadt wakes up several days after the final confrontation with Nyarlathotep, and has this question to ask.
    Hardestadt: Where are we?
    Azmodan: In the home of one mightier than I, who would not take no for answer here, my mother.
    Nephera: Daemon! It's been so long, how are you, have you been eating right, has earth been cruel to you? I missed you ever so much, it's been so long, and now I hear you've been involved in such horrible events?!
    Hardestadt: I am... sorry to have made you worry. Forgive me for making you worry. It is an honor to see you again, Milady Nephera. (receives a Death Glare) I mean... great to see you, mother!
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Erin and Hardestadt's relationship in this story (and their catchphrase motif of "aishiteru"), with even the centuries-old Hardestadt loving Erin as he's never loved anyone before. Their very last moment in the hospital, when Erin, despite all odds, survives the touch of Yog-Sothoth, especially stands out.
  • Erin's glee over the cats of Ulthar is adorable. It helps many of the cats themselves seem to like being scratched just the same as any other despite being able to talk.
  • Emma and Dani's relationship as well after the hell they endured before at Jacobs' hands. The two are a mutually loving, supportive couple every bit as devoted to one another as Hardestadt and Erin. And at the end? Emma happily proposes to Dani who accepts with no hesitation.
  • Azmodan tells about how his true love, Karai, has been under a sleeping spell for centuries, and that Az has been searching for a way to undo the spell ever since. Even with no end in sight he refuses to give up on her. After hearing his story, Emma responds by giving him a hug.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Azmodan and the others manage to nigh-effortlessly beat Ithaqua, a Great Old One capable of destroying the world through blizzards, and slam it back into its can.
  • Erin's crowning moment is in the Dreamlands in Kadath itself, where Erin calmly and fearlessly confuses Nyarlathotep and his Deal with the Devil by calling back to the story of Omelas, before promptly telling Nyarlathotep to go fuck himself. When Nyarlathotep threatens to torture her for eons and visit her again to see if it was worth it to her?
    Erin: You know what? I bet I'll just tell you to go fuck yourself again.
  • Aleviel showcasing her power by effortlessly curb-stomping Nyarlathotep, and later on her aspect — or perhaps just her memory — taunting him one last time before he's consumed.
  • Karai holding off Nyarlathotep to buy Erin time, tricking him with an illusion, then sneaking back to save Erin from him in the nick of time.
  • Emma finally getting some payback against the psychotic rapist and torturer, Rich Jacobs, despite being stronger than ever thanks to Nyarlathotep. It begins with a knife to the groin, followed by Emma wounding him over and over, punctuating each blow with the name of one of the girls he tortured, and she ends the fight by feeding him to Cthulhu.
    Emma: What you did to me, Rich? It doesn't make you strong. It never made you strong. Getting over it made me strong. And you're so much smaller than I remember.
  • Hardestadt's final battle against Nyarlathotep; a pitched showdown atop Carcosa with both throwing incredible amounts of power at one another. Hardestadt finally manages to hold his own against the ancient Outer God and even attempts a Heroic Sacrifice to throw them both into Azathoth's realm. Then shows Nyarlathotep the ring rendering him undetectable to Azathoth, making certain Nyarlathotep knows damn well what's coming, ending with a brutal Pre-Mortem One-Liner
    Nyarlathotep: “I will not be denied! I will not end here! Daemon! I am not to end here! I am the CRAWLING CHAOS!”
    Hardestadt: So go ahead. Crawl.
• Moral Event Horizon: Nyarlathotep treats crossing this like a game of hopscotch with the ruination of entire worlds to his name. Even so, Aleviel still says that if he would want a place in the world she intended to create, Nyarlathotep was free to have it, giving even the Crawling Chaos some hope for a better life — and when Aleviel falls, Nyarlathotep permanently dashes any hope he has of becoming better by vowing to annihilate all creation to spite Aleviel for disillusioning him.
• Nightmare Fuel: Out of all of the myriad atrocities Nyarlathotep has committed, the most haunting are his "trophies:" entire towns of people encased in glass orbs, frozen in perfect still pictures of how they were in life before Nyarlathotep took them, aware of everything and unable to do a single thing about it

  Help me, help me, help me, the lips formed the words over and over again.

  Help me, help me, help me, his mouth formed it over and over, reaching out seeking and pleading.

• Tear Jerker:
  • The flashback to Aleviel's "death," and her last word to Hardestadt before she sacrifices her life for his: "survive."
  • Iron Woobie Hardestadt, having gone through so much pain and shrugged off the sadistic, continuous torment of an Outer God without ever truly losing his composure all throughout the story, finally breaks down into tears in the arms of Erin's parents when she's made comatose by Yog-Sothoth.