Aww.
I was going to play Kingdom Death fully painted with no exceptions.
After painting the Butcher for one hour and a half, I decided "screw this, it's painted enough" and started to set up the showdown board.
That much for principles.
However, this time I'm attempting to go for extra detail-y write up of this dreaded Nemesis encounter.
Random terrain was Tall Grass, which gave me quite a bit of hope. I got fairly good evasion on a couple of my survivors.
Survivor details:
- Solon, with Catgut Bow, Bone Blade and Cloth. Survival is 2, insanity 0. Unconscious Fighter art (takes 7 bleed tokens to kill him.)
Reasoning for equipment: I was afraid to give Bone Blade for anyone who will be dedicated for melee, because I suspect Butcher has Super Dense locations that would just break the blade.
- Anuth, with Bone Dagger, Monster Grease, White Lion Cloak, Cloth, Rawhide Gloves. Survival 2, insanity 4 and understanding enough to Analyze, +1 permanent strength.
Reasoning: Bone Dagger will not break even with Super Dense locations. Hopefully strength token and ability to Pounce for extra strength will offset low power a little. If it does not, at least Analyze is bound to give a little bonus.
- Amnother, with King Spear, Monster Grease, full Rawhide Armor, survival 3, insanity 0 and +1 permanent evasion.
Reasoning: +3 evasion will, I hope, make Butcher miss most of his attacks especially if I can lure him to attack Amnother inside Tall Grass. I have high hopes for her.
- Bowynn with Bone Darts, Cloth and Cat Eye Circlet. Survival 3 and permanent +1 evasion. Insanity 0.
Reasoning: He's a Cat Eye bot.
Let the showdown begin!
Turn 1 Amnother takes a peek at AI cards, which were in perfect order already. Cards were Backhand and Hack City. Backhand would just trigger Menace, and I made sure Amnother would be closest threat - and inside Tall Grass. Oh boy, looks like Legendary Lungs.
Then I realised Amnother has no insanity to protect her from Menace. Rolled 8, got 5 insanity and Quixotic disorder. How's that a disorder? I can see only benefits in this disorder... I don't complain, though. Hack City went just as planned. Better, in fact, because Butcher rolled only one hit. Amnother dodged it, but got back to three survival from the Legendary Lungs story event.
Now, turn 2.
Bowynn looks hit locations, that offer Trap, a Super Dense location and Furious Scrag. I put them back in reverse order, and then Bowyn uses Surge to lob a dart at Butcher. Miss.
Catgut Bow shoots twice, hits once to Furious Scrag. First wound to the Butcher. He surges for extra shot, but makes it aimed shot. It's a hit, but doesn't wound. The rest survivors do "whatever" because they don't want to trigger trap. Amnother uses Rawhide Headband, and next will be Bite and Wild Carve. Otherwise I feel safe, but enough Wild Carves might ruin Amnother's day.
It didn't take Wild Carves, though.
First, one Bite attack hit, despite Butcher scoring hits only with 9+.
Amnother dodged and re-gained that survival from Rawhead set. Next attacks from Wild Carve both hit, with 9 and 10. She dodges both, but regains none of those via Rawhead set bonus. Wild Carve extra damages hands and tosses out a Bleed token.
Turn 3:
Starts with a check at hit locations. Furious Gauntlet, Furious Crown, and Cleaver. Doesn't matter all that much, when out of seven rolls altogether only one scored hit, but did not wound. That was a second lunacy token for Amnother. Why not.
Next we get Lantern Frenzy, and target becomes - who else - other than Amnother. Then, Butcher breaks her lantern, giving her -3 accuracy tokens. This expedition is doomed. Most likely, at least.
Turn 4:
Amnother scores a wound against Butcher. What a champ, even with a broken lantern. Other survivors pretty much just position themselves.
Then Butcher hacks, kicks and roars. This results in Amnother finally having no survivality. I was lucky with roar, as only Bowynn fell down, got two Insanity and Delicious disorder.
Turn 5.
I've only scored two wounds to Butcher. While situation is not terrible, this cannot continue like this. Amnother has priority token, which is nice thanks to her evasion, but I doubt she'll survive for long. And she's the only one who has a decent weapon. Meh.
... so much for the details, then. Things started going really badly, which in turn lead me to "fast-forward" -mode to see if things would get any better on the next attack roll/activation/et cetera. They never did.
Long story short: Butcher won. Kind of, at least.
He roared the cat-gut bow user dead, at which point I decided that fight was unwinnable any more. Amnother sacrificed herself, meaning that I just lost most of my gear as well... again... two survivors with the most progress.
I know I should have painted Butcher before this. This is the price for my haughtiness.
So, let's see:
Settlement event was Triathlon of Death. Uh. Okay. A good spot for olympics I suppose. With Butcher having killed almost 30% of population. But hey. Let's compete, then.
Nominated survivors:
Faehrus, Bowynn, Unkhno and Eldyne.
Race Contest:
Eldyne 8
Faehrus 6
Unkhno 3
Bowynn 1
Comments: Most useless survivor got +1 movement, how nice. Courage for a jawless spokesperson, meh. Rawhide boots are truly welcome after recent encounter with Butcher.
Debate contest:
Eldyne: 6
Unkhno 5
Faehrus 3
Bowynn 1
Comments:
Now I got two survivors skipping next hunt when I got only a population of 5.
Fight Contest:
Bowynn 10
Faehrus 8
Eldyne 2
Unkhno 1
Comments: Nice. Bowynn wasn't banished. However, he isn't experienced enough to gain any weapon proficiency levels, either. Eldyne got Mighty Strike. Now, if she only wasn't Aichmophobic...
I think I have six endeavors thanks to Graves. First I make skull helm out of the skull I gained from Triathlon.
Then I start endeavoring! I need a kid, or, two kids, or - a whole dozens of kids to save my colony. Faehrus - the only survivor from the original four - starts some auguries. First one is 8. Praise the Watcher.
Faehrus and Eldyne get intimate, and thanks to Protect the Young principle, a savior is born!
Though I might have been more happy with two kids, which it would have been if I didn't have Hovel innovation.
I choose Dream of Beast.
But we need more meat.
Faehrus takes a second augury, this time rolling 9, followed by 8.
Suddenly my survivor camp is "back in the game" so to say. But has four first years been an emotional rollercoaster? Yes. So much so, that I might do fifth year...
I decide to hunt a Screaming Antelope for a first time ever.
First hunt even card is Devoured Grounds - but I choose not to use it's ability, because I want to see what the actual d100 hunt table is all about.
Rolled 50 - there was an empty skeleton whispering for help. Anuth has only one insanity point now.
Second space was 20, dry lands. All but Anuth loses one survival point.
Last space before showdown is Stampede, and Anuth rolls 8.
I'm quite confused. Truly seems like the gambler giveth and gambler taketh. Mostly taketh.
Random terrains are tall grass again and a dead monster. Dead monster was a bliss for making me go first. Making me go first with my automatically hitting strength 3 bow. Amazing. Ranged weapons make three wounds to the antelope before it even has a chance to act.
Survivors also find cyclops fly and small feathers from phoenix deck. I would have been overjoyed, but turned out Antelope was infested with parasites. Cat Eye user took a flight and gained 5 insanity points. Savior suffered memory loss. Not that bad, since she doesn't yet have any weapon proficiency.
My joy for such a great beginning was premature. Soon enough Chow Down was drawn, and the antelope fed itself (and healed itself) back to full. I decided to let it have a full merry-go-round over all the acanthus plants so that my future work would not be robbed away all that easily.
...
The battle that ensued was terrible. It lasted for an eternity.
I thought it would be an easy cake, considering my savior, but no. The antelope killed Unkhno the One Handed.
The antelope was continuously knocking everyone down, and especially Lone Rampage was main damage dealer. Luckily I had two ranged weapons - because Lone Rampage was - indeed - the last AI card I had in deck. All that wailing. All that whiffing. It was disturbing how badly I rolled for wounds. Also the parasites gave a total of -2 strength tokens, which didn't exactly help in dealing with Toughness 9 target.
I will definitely prepare my survivors a little better for next Antelope fight. Ranged weapons seem to be a must have.
But, anyway, I did receive quite a few resources.
2x Monster Hide
Monster Organ
Broken Lantern
Small Feathers
Cyclops Fly
2x Pelt
2x Shank Bone
Bladder
Muscly Gums
Large Flat Tooth.
Savior received Last Man Standing fighting art. Anuth, on the other hand, received Sneak Attack. Just wow. Now for some accuracy somewhere, and monsters start dying in droves.
And just as I'm gleeful from a hunt well done, settlement event is Plague.
I nominate Eldyne, Bowynn, Browno and, sigh, Anuth. Who just received Sneak attack.
All of them died.
So, I got two survivors in my camp right now. But hey... 9 endeavors! Time to start breeding!
But first Hands of Heat screws me up. First I roll 7, so I get Lantern Oven and Red Fist, but will also have to roll on the branding. I lose half of my resources. Half of my resources that I just rejoiced. To make matters worse, I roll 10+, making Faehrus blind from one eye. But hey, at least +1 luck.
I throw away: 2x Broken lantern, 2x monster hide, cyclops fly, monster organ and bladder. What a great feast.
Before I start intimacies, I construct items so that low rolls from auguries wouldn't eat away my resources.
I make Monster Tooth Necklace, Rawhide Vest, Headband and Pants, Bone Darts and extra Monster Grease
Next Faehrus starts using auguries.
First one gives +1 survival.
Second is a 9, which gives intimacy with 8 & 2 as my choices. That's +1 population.
Third augury gives an intimacy again, and one more savior. I'm not entirely happy with this, since saviors cannot use all gear and look like they will wear out fast. Need even more auguries...
Fourth is 6, fifth is 4, sixth is 2. I lose the last resource and Faehrus gets +1 understanding, triggering Insight. I get +1 endeavor. Damn.
Seventh augury is one more intimacy and gives +1 population.
Now I'm at 5 population, which just feels far too insecure. Even more auguries: eight one is 5, ninth is 4 and last one is intimacy thanks to having +1 for auguries from all this understanding.
So now I'm at population of 6, with two saviors and a broken heart. I still have one endeavor left, but I won't use it.
Wow, what a two-year mixture of hope at the brink of extinction.
Next vI decide to hunt for one white lion. I really wanted to hunt for a level 2 one, but my equipment just doesn't allow it just yet - even with power of Red Fist and two saviors. I really really really need an easy kill to gear up and advance my settlement a little.
Year 6 hunt phase:
Lion in Heat, didn't turn out to be a problem.
Sea of Golden Grass. I decide to move Lion back one space. Next hunt space rolls 56, dead monster. Luckily I do indeed have Faehrus who has 3+ understanding, so I will be able to ambush the Lion.
Next space is 41, Nightmare, but Faehrus has 3+ courage, too. Then we ambush the beast.
First of all White Lion shoos everyone away from Tall Grass by grabbing Wilt and Dream of Beast. Then it turns around and sizes up on Faehrus, who rolls Lunacy and becomes a vestiphobe.
Otherwise the showdown was child's play. Lion losing accuracy and toughness early in play made easy fight to feel like cheating. Should have picked that Lion level 2 instead. Oh well.
I got 2x White Fur, 2x Great Cat Bones
Debris gave one extra normal resource, which were:
2x Broken Lantern
Monster Hide
Skull
Monster Organ
Successful hunt triggered quite a few Age -events:
Age for Dream of Beast: +1 permanent strength
Age for Lucern: +1 permanent strength.
Age for Faehrus: fighting art. Orator of Death. Funny in it's own way, when he doesn't have a jaw. But I suppose gurgling like that will give insanity for other survivors anyway.
Settlement Event is Skull Eater. I nominate Wilt, but roll 9. I spend two endeavors to give her Binde Eating instead.
Since Faehrus is a returning survivor, I still have three endeavors left. Armored Strangers give Guidepost and three random resources. (Monster Organ, Love Juice, Monster Hide)
Guidepost becomes my fifth innovation, triggering Hooded Knight. I roll 3. Was expecting 2, which would have killed people. Could this really become my first lantern year where no survivors die? At all?
Anyway, I innovate once. Got two endeavors left. I get Settlement Watch.
I make Lucky Charm, Bone Axe, Bandages and Rawhide Vest and Headband.
Lucern took Burning Ambition and Wilt had Combo Master fighting arts from Settlement Watch.
It's a terrible, masochistic game with continuous high's and low's. Great fun, laced with anguish and bitterness.
After six years my achievements/development stand as:
Detailed inventory:
Innovations and Principles:
Principle: Graves
Principle: Protect the Young
Hovel
Inner Lantern
Language
Lantern Oven
Guidepost
Settlement Watch
Resources:
2x Broken Lantern
Great Cat Bones
Items:
4x Cloth
Bone Blade
Bone Dagger
Bone Helm
Bone Axe
2x Bone Darts
Bandages
Cat Eye Circlet
Catgut Bow
Rawhide Gloves
Rawhide Boots
Rawhide pants,
2x headband
2x Rawhide vest.
2x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
White Lion Coat
Population: 6
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