First Nasanovim, Kalnetan, Logar and Nengar take on Manhunter.
Fight was short - only four rounds - but it was furious. Logar and Nengar both threw Founding Stones at the altered human monstrosity, and one of them triggered the trap. The other one gave critical effect, where Manhunter attacked Nengar. Just as planned, or...
Anyway, because Nasanovim had received this penalty of not getting survival for any reason during this settlement phase, settlement put Logar with her into the battle. Because Trailblazer gives survival on arrival. I couldn't fit Stone Noses on her gear grid, so Nasanovim would struggle with just one point. Rawhide set failed to give it back on the first dash.
On a more hilarious note, Nasanovim dealt about four wounds to Manhunter throughout the fight. Nengar dealt one wound in. All the remaining six wounds were whipped into the thick hide of the Manhunter by the whip specialist Kalnetan. Least likely weapon of doing any damage at all. And it did crack me a smile, when killing blow was dealt by Kalnetan on Death Blow location. Kalnetan, the Tough and Crazed Berserker with style!
The showdown did burn up both dried acanthuses, so the second showdown with the Lonely Tree... I don't think I can make it. Settlement develops Monster Tooth Necklace to have slightly better odds against Toughness 10, but, no. Not without Red Fist. Settlement goes in with fresh recruits. Boring as that is. Or maybe exciting, depending how the showdown goes. One survivor will be able to wound the tree on 4+, one on 7+, and the two remaining ones are just going to be extra redshirts trying to deal with the fruits.
And the fight was kind of epic. I honestly believe I could have won it with just fresh survivors like the hero, Rastgar. Who did critical twice with savage Gaxe, along with other wounds. Even Lostus did some damage with Bone Axe. But then, Rastgar had to take just one severe injury, and a "2" it was. Odds were now way too low, but the tree kept "damaging" itself by drawing moods, which gave me false hope.
All in all, four statless survivors brought Lonely Tree down to two AI cards remaining.
If it wasn't for that "2"...
Oh well. Logar now has lost the mothers of his children, and now the children as well. Poor Logar. Maybe settlement develops some clothing from the cannibalized monster hides. Poor, poor Logar.
Year 5 hunt & showdown
It's time to hunt, but it must be the Flower Knight this time. Settlement needs to relieve Cardani of her addiction.
Cardani, Zamarias, Nasanovim and Nengar depart for a hunt.
Zamarias leaps away from hungry ground, that disgorges a rotting corpse of a monster. Starving survivors start to feast on it, and while they are at it Nengar takes a look upwards and sees the Flower Knight standing next to them with its sword drawn.
It was a long dance, and this time it wasn't possible to abuse damage stat of 0 - just about every AI card checked for Bloom. But that did also mean Luck tokens.
Zamarias took a severe head injury and was blinded. Nengar broke the Bone Axe. Showdown would have been a lot more difficult if it hadn't been for two criticals that have all survivors +1 survival. I hadn't though it through when I departed with a survivor who would only gain 1 survival at the start of showdown... she could have died during hunt phase a bit too easily.
But it was a victory, with ten resources in total. Love Juice and two Warbling Blooms ought to help against the tree losses.
Lantern Year 6: Open Maw
What sort of gigantic, subterranean creature is stalking Kalmana Retreat? I mean, hungry ground had just vomited a gigantic monster corpse... and now it seems to be back for more! Well, I'd otherwise be tempted to enter, but the population situation is kind of alarming.
Nasanovim learns Extra Sense but forgets her name... was it something, like, Minovas? All returning survivors also blot out the memory of a savior popping into existence in the middle of the settlement, and exploding into gore.
Minovas also receives entirely new identity, as Hooded Knight recognizes that she's the one who shall vanquish the Watcher, and drops Twilight Sword on her. Damn, now she needs to change her gear guild.
I might regret my next choice in a situation like this, but I did, for the very first time ever, build Vespertine Bow.
Warbling Blooms grow into Worba and Warbo, one of whom eats Lantern Bud to gain some extra endeavors this phase. They then consume Love Juice and receive a healthy baby... bud? named Warbabo. Looks like here's a third lineage inside Kalmana Retreat now.
Nengar and Cardani have twins from Minovas's Matchmaker. Such swings. Now population went from eight to thirteen in just one step.
Minovas sculpts a hideous statue of a tall man with tentacle-like appendages. The statue is magical, and able to teach Extra Sense to anyone who gazes too long at it. Which is exactly what Cardani did, after one failure. Then settlement attempt storytelling, and departing survivors are gaining +3 insanity. I wanted understanding, though.
Anyway, set-up is pretty good for a Gorm hunt.
Lantern year 6 hunt & showdown
Nengar, Cardani, Kalnetan and Warbabo depart for a hunt.
Scouring the mating fields, Cardani finds gorm brains, while everyone else either injures their foot or takes brain event damage. But this wasn't enough, oh no. The fumes of the mating fields caused head-splitting pain for everyone involved, and everyone received disorders except for Cardani who got a bleeding token instead. Otherwise not too bad, but Nengar received Vestiphobia and tore off his leather cuirass. It's not like it is Kalmani Retreat's most valuable chest armor, because... it was.
Warbabo, the child of two warbling bloomers may have lead survivors to a trap! Because showdown starts with Lonely Tree on board. Maybe I'll get my successful showdown with the tree after all.
Showdown was easy even if trap was drawn two or three times. If survivors start to be this good, maybe it is time for them to move to greater prey.
However... As often goes, remarkably easy showdown is compensated by terrible settlement phase.
Lantern Year 7: Skull Eater
Nengar has become an annoying troublemaker. First he tears off his armor, and then starts eating peoples skulls with Marrow Hunger. Considering he already has Berserker fighting art, it appears Nengar is descending to his primal urges way too deep. And yet the setbacks don't stop here. Murder is coming next year, and Gorm Climate took off all the resources in storage. Which were 2x bone, 2x hide.
Zamarias watches a Phoenix pass by, and takes one downward floating feather as a keepsake, which makes him a crazed hoarder, but also a matchmaker.
Settlement innovates Hovel, and then Zamarias prays and prays at the Organ Grinder for intimacy to happen. And it does! But only one new survivor brings population to tormenting number of fourteen.
Settlement develops Knuckle Shield and Gorment Sleeves, and there we go again. Hunting Gorm. People of Kalmani Retreat are careless and free, lantern hoard shining brightly and non-violent little birds tweet merrily beneath the unnatural, constant stormy weather. Little do the honest folk know about all the horrors Lantern Year 8 is bringing. They have Dung Beetle Knight, Sunstalker, Bone Witch and Murder all lined up.
Lantern Year 7 hunt & showdown
Nengar, Warbabo, Kalovim and Cardani marks one of the first, if not the first hunt that have no people from earlier settlement around. Also, represtented are both the original residents of Kalmani Retreat - Cardani. Those born from people of earlier settlement - Kalovim. The strange person who appeared from flower-people - Warbabo, and first generation of descendants from original population - Nengar. Can this be other than a disaster?
A big game hunter who has just taken down one of the Gorms whispers some secrets about the upcoming fight. Which is: it's an overkill. A few retches threatened survivors, which made Cardani act a little cowardly in the late showdown - she had received some bile on her head. But it's quickly over. The most ominous thing was Lonely Tree - again. With shuffling the terrain deck and rolling d20 for the card I'll draw, that's definitely one dangerous stalker tree.
Warbabo triggered her first Age milestone, and became one of the most important and influential survivor in the whole settlement. She drew Infinite Lives. A once-per-lifetime reroll in Protect they Young? Yes please!
Lantern Year 8: Lights in the sky
Beautiful lights in the sky! Some hope is in the air! Nope, it's murder. But first Cardani gets overly excited about seeing Dung Beetle Knight in the distance. This makes her easily manipulated by the Bone Witch, who is supposedly Surastus, who burnt herself unrecognizable with Lantern Oven's lights. She makes Cardani a Bone Whisperer, and what do Bone Whisperers eat? Marrow! So, Cardani murders Nengar in secrecy. No one saw, or chose not to see, when she snapped Nengar's neck with bare hands.
Gorm Climate wrecks the settlement storage again, but this time the insight about Round Stone Training protects the settlement. I need that Gorm Brain!
Settlement innovates Drums and upgrades Gormchymist with Albedo. Then the experimenters brew up a Power Potion with a roll of 10,9,9. While I wanted Wisdom Potion, I'm now really tempted to try some bigger foes... but alas, I got no gorment suit. Level 1 Gorm, here we come before the encounter with Slenderking.
Love Juice becomes Warbnechton, another flower-born survivor. But that only brings settlement back to fourteen.
Last endeavor is spent on augury, which makes Cardani a tinker, and +1 endeavor from insight. This endeavor is spent on augury also, and makes Kalnetan a tinker, too. Some luck there, but still no society principle.
Departing survivors are gaining -2 survival and +5 insanity from the outcome of murder.
Lantern Year 8 hunt & showdown
Hunt phase is short. First card is Itchy Palms, and finally the party has a 3+ understanding survivor. Space before showdown is Encore, which has survivors encounter a "playful" phoenix. It only results in Minovas getting slightly electrocuted.
Then, out of 31 terrain cards, showdown got Bug Patch. Cardani has Vermin Obsession. Not a problem, though, unless - well, of course pick target for Maw-Arm Toss is random threat. And the random threat goes exactly to Cardani. This is one of these occasions where random number generator works in its mysterious ways.
Luckily both attack rolls are a miss.
Cardani tries to relieve herself of her obsession by scouring through the bug patch, but finds nothing. And can't surge another attempt, because she is Doomed.
Kalnetan manages to land one hit out of six 6+ attempts. At least its the first blood. Gorm is provoked.
Minovas axes Gorm without trouble, and Kalovim dashes to help with the bug patch. And what a terrible bug patch it was. First, Kalovim takes three brain damage from staring bugs. Next, he finds a Hissing Cockroach, which he must eat. Zero survival. Well, at least he wasn't Cardani.
Cardani fails to score any hits with six tries, but at least both Kalnetan and Minovas trickle some damage in. Provoked Gorm gets furious, drawing both Posturing Piss and Thunder Foot, plus a regular attack card against Kalnetan. Who dodges.
Cardani slaps Gorm's thunder foot with an injury, and then survivors are all where I want them - gaining weapon proficiency.
Just as hunters are about to clap this thing done, Lure Paroxysm kicks in. Not a single showdown with Gorm during these sessions at least has gone by without the trap. Often there have been multiple traps. Just like in this showdown. Third card after shuffling the deck is Paroxysm again. Fortunately survivors are in good health, but still.
However, from now on it'll be level 2 monsters. Gorm was such a piece of cake and the hunters received enough Stout Hides to build the long coveted gorm chest armor.
Lantern Year 9: Skull Eater
So... the Bone Whisperer becomes the Skull Eater. Coincidence? I think not! Cardani is dead. For a while, at least, before flowers start to bloom. I did remember I have one re-roll available, but I really don't want Murder on the timeline, and since Skull Eater was killing the one who would come back... alright, I suppose.
But really. The story of Cardani is a twisted one. First, she teaches settlement about cannibalism by eating another survivor alive. Then Bone Witch anoints her as the Bone Whisperer, who has to kill Nengar. And then... then she's found eating people's skulls and killed. There is a strong theme going on for her. Binge-eating cannibal.
Matchmaker and Love Juice give settlement Zamili (who marks the first time the bloodlines in this settlement mix - Zamarias and Lonili, the daughter or Logar and Cardani, have a kid) and Flowerista, another member of the flower-people. Yes, this means finally a society principle!
Settlement develops the gorment suit and hunter whip, plus finally the Wisdom Potion, albeit this took both once-in-a-lifetime reroll and the sacrifice of healing potion.
Six endeavors.
Kalmana Retreat
Population 17
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
Lantern year 6: Sculpture
Lantern Year 7: Hovel
Lantern Year 8:
Lantern Year 9: Family
Sculpture: Extra Sense
Gear:
3x cloth
2x stone nose
3x monster grease
2x bone blade
1x luck charm
1x gaxe
1x Knuckle Shield
1x Wisdom potion
1x Power Potion
1x monster tooth necklace
Full rawhide armor
1x Rawhide Boots
1x Rawhide Whip
1x hunter whip
1x bandages
Vespertine Bow
Skull Helm
Full gorment suit
Leather Shield
Sleeping Virus Flower (On Cardani)
Twilight Sword (on Minovas)
Reverberating Lantern
Flower Knight Badge
Storage:
1x skull
1x Lonely Fruit
1x leather
Survivors of note:
(survivors without sheet: 2)
Zamarias, last remaining from the original original four starting survivors from Deluge.
- Entitled material hoarding (Hoarder) Prima Donna with Megalophobia. Hysterical in the form of Crazed, and Blotted Out.
- Dealt the killing blow to Gorm in last settlement, and has hunted Gorm and Flower Knight, and is a Butcher survivor of Kalmana Retreat.
- Blinded in one eye.
- Watched a Phoenix pass over the settlement.
- +1 permanent accuracy from Age.
- Sword specialist with three points in proficiency.
*
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 Berserker with Burning Ambition and Hyper-Sensitivity. He is Secretive of his dealings in the settlement.
- 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 Nasanovim.
- Has hunted Gorm twice in previous settlement, and Screaming Antelope in the current one.
- Whipped a level 1 gorm dead.
- Dealt the killing blow to Butcher
- Dealt the killing blow to Manhunter on Deathblow location, with a whip.
- +1 permanent accuracy , +3 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion,
- Courage 5 (stalwart), Understanding 4 (tinker)
- Whip specialist with six points in proficiency.
*
- Encountered an elderly bee that doomed her and her future children.
- Believes she has a higher purpose, though, and has Quixotic disorder. She has become Tenacious and is Blotted Out.
- 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.
- Deranged expression. With a history like hers, I'd have one too.
- Forgot her name from first non-violent visit of Slenderking.
- Made a sculpture of her vague memories about the Slenderking, imbuing it with her Extra Sense.
- Has two children with Kalnetan.
- Has hunted Gorm thrice and is a LY 4 Butcher and LY 5 Manhunter survivor. She killed LY 8 Gorm.
- +1 permanent accuracy, +2 permanent strength and +2 evasion, courage 7 (matchmaker) and understanding 3 (explore).
- Doomed Path: 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. He is also a seasoned hunter without much actual hunt experience.
- 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 and is LY 5 Manhunter survivor.
*
*
*******
Ewarbabola, a plant-based survivor who breathes new lifetimes into her as the seasons pass. This is probably what also gives her Ghostly Beauty. Her name was originally Warbabo, but continues to grow as she gains new lifetimes.
- Is the daughter of Worba and Warbo, two survivors who were raised from a flower seed.
- Hunter Gorm on LY 6, and slayed a Gorm on LY 7.
*
Warba and Warbo, the the progenitors of plant based survivors in Kalmana Deluge.
*
Dead or missing survivors of note:
Cardani, the binge-eating Bone Whisperer who prefers vermin. Dead for now.
- 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 master with Extra Sense.
- Hunted Gorm on lantern year 1, 6, 7 and 8 and Screaming Antelope on lantern year 3, Flower Knight on year 5.
- Saw Dung Beetle Knight in the distance, and got obsessed with vermin as a consequence.
- Surastus the Bone Witch came and fueled Cardani's desire to eat human flesh. Brutally she murdered Nengar, a promising axe-master. Settlement did not approve her skull-eating habits and murdered her before other damage could be done. But this only grows the flowers in her heart. She'll be back.
- +1 and -1 permanent accuracy, +3 permanent strength, +2 permanent luck, +2 and -1 permanent speed.
- Courage 4 (prepared), Understanding 4 (tinker)
- Unarmed specialist with six points in proficiency.
Nengar, blotted out berserker with a Purpose and the firstborn of the settlement. Vestiphobia.
- First departed on a hunt on lantern year 3 against Screaming Antelope. Year 5 against Flower Knight, and years 6+7 against Gorm. He is also a Butcher survivor.
- Fought off the spiderlings, but got frenzied in the process and killed an unnamed survivor.
- Craving for human flesh in the form of Marrow Hunger.
- Murdered by Cardani. Purpose fulfilled, I suppose.
- +3 permanent strength, +1 permanent speed.
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 revisited her settlement, and caused Cardani to murder Nengar.
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