Kalmana Retreat

A completely new settlement with four survivors from earlier settlement.

Lantern Year 1: Population 12

So, first year hunt with my wonderfully proficient survivors. Well, actually I only took two of them, since Qyillus had to spend some time pondering the meaning of existence, and I figured it might be good idea to get experience on some fresh survivors, too.

And what an absurd hunt phase it was. A frenzied tree punched Mesul and left a special showdown four years from now, and then Cleaner Birds took a dive inside of Cardani. Flesh Monolith was casually passed by while playing word games for Something to Pass Time. And then... Unnatural Hunger. It is one new event of mine that gets archived once it is encountered once. You nominate one survivor, who gets eaten by the rest of the hunt party. This rewards each who stayed behind with a permanent attribute of their choice, some insanity and survival and a removal of a disorder or permanent injury. Idea with this event is to severely hamper the showdown, but still give something highly coveted: permanent attributes, especially those hard-to-get Luck, Evasion or Movement.

This early in campaign the card didn't affect didn't ruin my carefully curated survivors. Mesul, having been beaten by a tree, was obvious choice to become a meal. His flesh was already tenderized.

First hunt was certainly colorful, but I'm reserving judgement about the homebrew thingy for a while. I mean, if they bring this level of random they need to be tuned down, but on the other hand even with the original 100 you can have some crazy hunt phases now and then. On to showdown!

Which opened with Posturing Piss from Gorm. Free Ammonia innovation if survivors manage to win. Survivors spend a good while knocked down during this fight, but they did have enough insanity to endure multiple Lure Paroxysms. And a chance bonus was Gorm illuminating quite a few times during showdown.

But damage trickled in to both parties, and soon enough Gorm had continuously picked targets other than the tank. Eyes rolling here.

Kalnetan was disemboweled, and he and Cardani took heavy damage. Had it not been for Nasanovim and her mighty Gaxe, I don't... Oh. Now that I think of it, only Cardani did two wounds to Gorm, and Nasanovim dealt all the remaining nine. Anyway. Victory.

Lantern Year 2: Slender Blight

Event unleashes a fever amongst departing survivors, which is a relief even if it has them lose some survival - insanity is now its worth in gold. (No, I have no idea about the market value of insanity. Maybe it correlates with bitcoin?)

Choice of Death Principle is obvious. Cardani, having already eaten the Mesul, ate what was left as snacks, and gained +1 speed. She now has +2 luck, +1 speed. Love Juice turns into a new survivor, so I got both principles in the same year. Settlement develops Gorment Boots and uses Gormchymy to make a healing potion. Boo. Need that Wisdom Potion.

Settlement innovates Inner Lantern, which triggers a homicidal Hooded Knight. Population fell to 10, which is again that much further away from my goal of Collective Toil + Protect the Young + Cannibalize. Oh well. Two Monster Hides. Off to Gorm hunt.

Year 2 hunt + showdown

Second year hunters: Zamarias, Qyillus, Logar and Linenne. They lost their additional insanity right at the gates of their settlement to a mourning bull. Kalmana Retreat's near vicinity sure looks like a Gorm infested place! But otherwise this hunt went far more "as expected", although I was bothered by the amount of brain damage the survivors received.

And the Showdown was not short on brain damage, either. Strobe and three traps made me lucky that only Linenne perished to mortal fear.

It was one angry Gorm, and instead of optimistic confidence I soon found out I was doing everything I can to have at least Qyillus survive.

Maximum amount of attacks caused a random severe injury on all three survivors, as they were sll adjacent to Gorm when it reared up, and there was no-one to encourage them up. Added Megalophobia made my White Lion replacement Gorm look like a terrible idea. Well, at least there's the Antelope, and Flower Knight soon enough...

But in the end, survivors made off victorious with only one Bone Blade broken. Looked like Strobe was going to be the last card in AI deck, but then Qyillus scored a critical wound with Savage Gaxe.

Lantern Year 3: Triathlon of Death
Nominated survivors were Qyillus the founder of language and the double first speaker, Kalnetan and Nasanovim who taught the settlement to survive by eating the dead and who have Doomed progeny, and... Logar. Well, he was the first father settlement had.

Race Contest went clearly to Logar, with Nasanovim and Qyillus following. Kalnetan was the slowest of them all.
Debate Contest was no surprise when Qyillus won everyone with a lantern ten. First speaker and all. Kalnetan and Nasanovim followed, all of whom had been survivors from Deluge version of Kalmana. Logar's debate was laughed off.
Fight Contest had Nasanovim victorious, which is a bummer since she placed third in debating, and is now too angry to hunt for weapon proficiency level 3 before Butcher. Kalnetan and Logar placed in the middle, and Qyillus lost one of her arms.

Gorm Climate gives a point of courage for Surastus.

Deluge separatists, Kalnetan and Nasanovim, have twins Kalovim and Nasalne from Love Juice. Because of Nasanovim, they are both Doomed.

Not to be outpopulated by strangers, Logar and Surastus have Lostus. Population is back to sighable twelve.

Settlement innovates Paint, and Cardani listens to wonderful tales about the old settlement, learning Combo Master in the process. Inspired, she also builds Leather Worker.

I'm stressed out by the Gorm and its ability to do brain damage, so that armor set has to wait. Next year Kalmana Retreat hunts the Screaming Antelope.

Lantern Year 3 hunt and showdown.

Departing survivors are Cardani and Kalnetan, the literal eaters of the first survivor, Qyillus the First Speaker and Voice of Reason, and... Nengar. Well, he is the firstborn.

Dead Antelope and Teething give a lot of resources already, and ample criticals gave them even more. Two fresh acanthuses and extra vermin was found, too. A critical damage by whip gave the antelope -1 toughness token. All this combined, the showdown still wasn't run-through easy. Qyillus ran out of her survival very early, and only Qyillus and Kalnetan had any insanity.

Of course the survivors managed to pull the trap while there were three of them adjacent to the Antelope. No-one died, but Kalnetan's and Cardani's characters were enriched with Hyper-Sensitivity and Binge Eating.

Later, when antelope was no longer a threat and was wandering aimlessly on the board, Kalnetan uncovered someone from beneath the Silk Nest. Population 13! ... well. Let's get back to settlement.

Lantern Year 4: SEASON OF THE SPIDERLING

So, another settlement wasted at the dawn of their being. But the thing still needed to be ascertained by rolling dice. Hoping for a miracle, I put Qyillus in the front of the line - she had a chance to win the whole thing, regardless what others would roll. Nope. Dead. And she was so promising, storywise... now Zamarias is the last surviving member of the original original four.

Kalnetan goes next, and he scores a victory, but he thinks the person he found from silk nest was the one who brought these spiderlings in the first place. And he killed him.

Next Nengar, the last insane survivor of the settlement. He scores a victory too, but fells the settlement population back to 9 again.

And then, miracle did happen but not the way I had hoped for. Cardani scores a victory too, and here we are. -3 population from one event. Gorm Climate robbed three resources Kalmana had, so grand victory with a staggering amount of resources feels that less great now.

The happenings around Kalmana are very evocative however, so settlement innovates Storytelling. Love Juice has a new kid bringing population to 10. Kalnetan succeeds in Augury to see that Kalmana still needs more population, and Suragar receives a sibling, Rastgar.

A few survivors listen to shared experience and trigger their first Age milestone. Settlement developed two dried acanthuses, leather shield and leather cuirass. Kalmana Retreat is a bit low on meaningful weapons, but I think Butcher should be doable with what I've got. Don't know how it goes with Manhunter and Lonely Tree that are coming up right after, but, oh well.

Lantern year 4 showdown - Butcher.

Kalnetan, Zamarias, Nengar and Nasanovim confront the first real menace towards their settlement. I had great faith in Nasanovim, who had impressive evasion and a shield, plus Kalnetan who had some evasion, hyper-sensitivity and rawhide set.

Regarding survival, my faith was not ill-based. But when it came to actually wounding toughness 9 monster, I quickly found out that in the long run Butcher is going to win if I fail most of my attack rolls. This makes me anxious about the upcoming Lonely Tree fight. Looks like population 7 to me.

Anyway, even playing solo the fight took two long hours. I realized how "easy" it is to manipulate Butcher into attacking the survivor you want - at least with the AI cards that I had around. With careful positioning and odd damage here and there, survivors won, with no casualties or permanent injuries. But it was close. Last few rounds I expected bad hit locations to account for a dead survivor, but no. Nengar healed bleed tokens every single round, apart from the first.

After the long battle, Butcher just vanished in a flash of light.

Lantern Year 5: Phantom
And just to mock me for innovating Storytelling, Phantom comes around and wrecks returning survivors' insanity. The very same phantom also will remove one armor point from survivors that depart.

Hands of Heat also screw Kalmana Refuge over. Nope, did not get Red Fist this time around. Showdown with Lonely Tree looks just about impossible now. But for the first time ever, there is Bone Witch on the timeline now.

Cardani hears the old crone's tale, so she's out from these special showdowns.

Nasanovim uses her matchmaker to spawn twins to the settlement, so at least we're twelve heads strong.

I think it is only thematic that settlement innovates Bloodletting, considering the amount of removed bleeding tokens from Butcher fight.

Nasanovim tries to use Bloodletting to either gain insanity or remove disorders. But she gets +1 understanding instead, and inability to receive survival. Next attempt at least gives +3 insanity to trigger her Quixotic, but, ech.

I suppose Manhunter shall be the first encounter, but that's going to happen in the far future.

Now for some statistics!

Population 12

Settlement Locations:
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Bone Smith
Gormchymist
Gormery
Leather Worker

Innovations:
Lantern year 0: Language,
Lantern year 1: Symposium + Nigredo,
Lantern Year 2: Ammonia + Inner Lantern,
Lantern year 3: Paint
Lantern year 4: Storytelling
Lantern year 5: Lantern Oven + Bloodletting

Gear:
4x cloth
2x founding stone
2x stone nose
3x monster grease
2x bone blade
1x bone axe
1x luck charm
1x gaxe
1x healing potion
Full rawhide armor
1x Rawhide Boots
1x Rawhide Whip
1x bandages
Skull Helm
Gorment helm + boots
Leather Cuirass
Leather Shield
2x dried acanthus
Sleeping Virus Flower (On Cardani)

Storage:
1x large flat tooth
1x monster hide
1x broken lantern

Survivors of note:


Zamarias, last remaining from the original original four starting survivors from Deluge.
- Entitled Prima Donna with Megalophobia
- Dealt the killing blow to Gorm in last settlement, and has hunted Gorm and is a Butcher survivor of Kalmana Retreat
- +1 permanent accuracy from Age.

*

Kalnetan, mourning parent of a child lost in time and space. One of the original four of Retreat.
- You don't want to anger him. He's Crazed Berserker with Hyper-Sensitivity.
- Shared the feast of Mesul during Unnatural Hunger, triggering Cannibalize.
- Fought spiderlings during Season of the Spiderling, but slayed an unnamed survivor whom he had just saved from beneath a silk nest.
- Placed second in debate contest and fight contest, and was last in race contest during Triathlon of Death.
- Has two children with Nananovim.
- Has hunted Gorm twice in previous settlement, and Screaming Antelope in the current one.
- Dealt the killing blow to Butcher
- +2 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion, 3 courage (stalwart) and 1 understanding.

*

Nasanovim, mourning parent of a child lost in time and space. One of the original four of Retreat.
- Encountered an elderly bee that doomed her and her future children.
- Believes she has a higher purpose, though, and has Quixotic disorder.
- Shared the feast of Mesul during Unnatural Hunger, triggering Cannibalize.
- Won the fight contest, and placed second during race contest and third during debate contest in Triathlon of Death.
- Has two children with Nananovim.
- Has hunted Gorm thrice and is a LY 4 Butcher survivor.
- +1 permanent strength and +2 evasion, courage 5 (matchmaker) and understanding 1.
- Doomed: You may always choose Path of Doomed during Overwhelming Darkness. If you do, gain +1 on your roll. When you are one of the parents during Intimacy, the children will inherit this ability.

*

Kalovim and Nasalne, doomed children of Nasanovim and Kalnetan.

*

All of the above have unbroken lineage from the previous settlement, Kalmana Deluge. Below are original people of Kalmana Retreat.

Logar, the twice widowed apathetic and megalophobic trailblazer.
- Is the first father of the settlement, and has four children - Nengar, Rastgar, Lostus and Suragar with two different mothers, one of whom is dead and another has been banished from the settlement. No wonder he's apathetic.
- Won the race contest, but placed third during fight contest and lost the debate contest during Triathlon of Death. Especially debate result seems thematic - he was the only participant from Kalmana Retreat, others were from the first settlement.
- +1 permanent movement, +1 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion.
- Hunted Gorm on lantern year 2.

*

Cardani, the binge-eating, flower addicted combo-master.
- Braved the Storm in the very first lantern year, but was blinded as a result.
- Was "blessed" by the Cleaner Birds during hunt for Gorm. Then she encountered Flesh Monolith, and during Unnatural Hunger she was one of the survivors who ate Mesul. Then, back in the settlement, she took what was left of Mesul and showed everyone how beneficial it is to eat corpses, and not disgusting at all.
- Fought off spiderlings during their invasion.
- Is training to become unarmed master. One-eyed cannibal with excessive craving for food, martial zen combo-master.
- Hunted Gorm on lantern year 1 and Screaming Antelope on lantern year 3.
- +1 and -1 permanent accuracy, +1 permanent strength, +2 permanent luck, +2 and -1 permanent speed. Courage 2.

*

Nengar, ruthless berserker and the firstborn of the settlement.
- First departed on a hunt on lantern year 3 against Screaming Antelope. He is also a Butcher survivor.
- Fought off the spiderlings, but got frenzied in the process and killed an unnamed survivor.
- +1 permanent strength, +1 permanent speed.

Dead or missing survivors of note:

Qyillus, one of the original four from both Deluge and Retreat
Cause of death: Valiantly defended the settlement from spiderlings during Season of the Spiderling, failing in that but perhaps her example encouraged the remaining survivors to try extra hard and achieve victory?
- Has taught the secrets of language twice to different settlements an spoke some reason to the settlement during Endless Screams.
- Considering the above, no surprise she won debate contest during Triathlon of Death, and was third during race contest and lost fight contest. After all, she wasn't that much of a fighter anyway if we read into her Enfeebled disorder.
- Has hunted Gorm, and slain one Gorm and one Screaming Antelope.
- Enfeebled and Megalophobic disorder
- +1 permanent accuracy, +1 permanent strength. 3 courage (matchmaker), 3 understanding (tinker).

*

Surastus, a banished survivor who tinkered with lanterns and got disfigured. Before departing, suppose she was the "old crone" that offered Sleeping Virus Flower for Cardani. She's coming back on year 8 as Bone Witch.