Zamarias had a serious flashback from lantern year six, and raised the alarm - The looming threat of Slenderking was just about to bloom. The result turned Nemesis Encounter into Special Showdown, so I guess I just go on a hunt right after this? Insane. But insanity is good in this game.
Kalnetan, Minovas, Murlu and Ougrano rise to defend the settlement of Kalmana Retreat. Kalnetan and Minovas are long established heroes, but Murlu and Ougrano are outsiders that came with society principle.
First three turns of the game the Slenderking just... isn't. It performs amnesia, and then performs amnesia again, and then finally Lost I Memory brings it on board... at the center, doing nothing. Ensnares weren't successful just yet.
However, fourth hit location card was no other than the trap. Four points of damage per hit got me scared for the well being of two prominent figures that Slenderking seemed to be targeting - rather than the two outsiders I had brought as expendables. Maybe it is the legacy of Kalmana Deluge. Slenderking is only attempting to make things right by correcting something that shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Afterwards, the luck takes a turn for the survivors. Or more perhaps not for the survivors but for the Vespertine Bow. Without it I would've been in far worse situation. The bow wrecked Slenderking until it drew Deep Paralysis, which prevented survival actions for the better part of the time.
Kalnetan critically wounded the Pale Forearms and gained permanent evasion for the hefty price tag of five survival. Then right after he was imprisoned in dark water pot.
But by then showdown was nearing end. Lost In Memory was the last card left in AI deck, so I was a hair's breadth away from total party kill. Luckily Minovas had Blotted Out, so she wasn't teleported to corner and was able to axe off that card, and the Slenderking on the subsequent turn.
Lantern Year 10 - Gorm Climate
Harsh climate pours down twice, if it was legal thing to do. And oh boy... the amount of story event this year has.
First, Cardani comes back in the settlement after flower infection transforms an unnamed survivors' brains to match those stored inside the Sleeping Virus Flower.
Then Necrotoxic Mistletoe kicks in, and Warba and Warbo are instantly shriveled to goofy looking husks. An unnamed survivor and Zamili also perishes all the while being questioned over their life choices by health-conscious, yet apathetic, Logar.
But wait, there's more! Hooded Knight comes and slays Minovas who was one point away from gaining weapon mastery!! Ewarbabola even wasted her re-roll to save Minovas, but this didn't help.
Well, at least the mound of survivor corpses gave enough resources to innovate Clan of Death on the year of Massacre.
Drumming insane melodies gave Ewarbabola a "c" and a new lifetime. Now she's known as Ewarbabolac.
Augury gives an Intimacy on the first attempt, and Kalnetan and newly born-again Cardani form the first family of Kalmana Deluge, the Masvar family. They receive a son, Cardetan, who is quickly briefed on how to use bow and how to fight. Next it's going to be a family hunt!
But before that, it seems, there is this Manhunter thing, again right after a hard nemesis.
So... Kalnetan, Cardani, Cardetan and Murlu attempt to shoo this new old threat.
And a honorable mention to Murlu. She just... stood there! In the middle of the entire board, with arms wide open, taking bullet after bullet from the Manhunter. Her rippling abs and iron thighs took a total of four severe injuries, all with results of 9+. Kalnetan received a Prey disorder from a hit location reaction and burned out his survival on turn, what... two?
Most survivors had some insanity from earlier fight with Slenderking, but the loud noises are scary. Gun action caused a few flee's and new perspectives, so nothing to worry about.
It was an easy showdown, though it didn't feel easy. Maybe because survival was burning so fast - Cardetan had two, Kalnetan zero, Murlu three and Cardani five when showdown ended. However, once more all thanks go to Cardetan and Vespertine Bow that dealt about 70% of the wounds, and even the killing blow.
Lantern Year 10 hunt & showdown - Screaming Antelope level 1
I would have gone for level 2 had Minovas lived, and since Cardani is one point away from Fist & Tooth Mastery, I chickened out. I need that mastery. Or at least the survivors of Kalmana Retreat.
Kalnetan, Cardani, Cardetan and Logar hunt for the Antelope.
Logar gives a free step towards the Antelope with Trailblazer, and he goes forward to scout with his health-conscious, apathetic tracking skills. When he doesn't come back, other survivors start to wonder and take his general direction. They come to a statue of Logar, with a confused-looking survivor right next to it. Thus ended the story of Logar, and Stapura's arc started.
Showdown? Showdown was a sad one. I feel guilty not hunting greater prey. Apparently Kalnetan felt so too, and blocked the fight from his memory by replacing Berserker with Blotted Out. Cardani gained her mastery, and received Trailblazer.
Lantern Year 11: Clinging Mist
So... Beating the little Antelope with over-sized weapons wasn't enough. I have to do it again. Alright... I could start anew with four pretty darn amazing survivors and gain fist & tooth mastery from lantern year 1... could probably start doing level 1 sunstalkers & phoenixes right away. But I do have Ewarbabolac in settlement with her re-rolls in Protect the Young, so she's probably too great of an asset to have a "fresh" start.
So... first event is 76, Dream the Way. I think it fits unreasonably well into the situation at hand - survivors actually dreamed the last hunt in vivid detail, so much so that the dream came real. However, it was only a dream.
Then survivors hear a forbidden word, and they try to cope with their new knowledge by making a shadow puppet play out of it. When the survivors have finished their play, they hear clapping - and none of them are clapping. It's the Lorekeeper, who had caught the play in her attention. Even she heard the forbidden word, albeit through a proxy. As a reward she whispered ancient truths into the ears of Stapura, which horrified him to the core.
Showdown was ready to start.
Nightmare Tree yields lonely ant and broken lantern, and Cardani gets to play with vermins like never before. She has vermin obsession, and spent a total of four turns searching through the bug patch. That's three 2's in a row. But what's to be expected with obsessions like that?
Although this Screaming Antelope was a tough one - no matter how survivors attacked it, it somehow nimbly managed to dodge. On the other hand, it did no real damage either.
But odds were stacked so much in the survivors' favor that the poor monster stood no chance other than to shed resources. Stapura critically wounded the location that gave him permanent movement, so
Which amounted to 26 resources. Sure, it was actually two hunts, but still that's a staggering amount.
With collective toil and two tinkers Kalmana Retreat has seven endeavors. Let's try that lantern year 11 again.
Lantern Year 11 - Year of the Birth
Regal Visit would rob the resources from the settlement and give -1 population. It's almost abusive to challenge The Hand, so that's what happens. I've been showered with extra fights for so much that I'm starting to worry about the longevity of the main survivors! I mean... Kalnetan already has 11 hunt xp. He's going to burn out soon.
First of all, Cardani and Kalnetan attempt to have a kid from Love Juice. And since the settlement now has Hovel, the result becomes a Savior. All it took was to join together the bloodlines. Welcome Danalne of Dormenatus.
Settlement also innovates Shrine, builds Weapon Crafter, cures leather and does intimacy with Augury. The newborn Alneani Masvar is immediately taught Extra Sense. Settlement develops entire full set of Leather Armor, as well as Whistling Mace.
Lantern Year 11 Special Showdown, Hunt and Showdown
The Hand is greeted by Alneani, Cardani, Ewarbabolac and Danalne
The special showdown with the hand was uneventful, except for his "Take your best shot" followed by soft chuckle procedure. Also, the finishing move of Line Up was a nice touch. However, the only threat during the fight was a single brain trauma Danalne had to take.
That being said... Then Cardani rolls "1" for the applause. This was the exact reason I wanted Ewarbabolac in the showdown. Her re-roll fixed Cardani to a healthy statline of Accuracy +4, Strength +6, Evasion +1, Luck +2, Speed +1.
However... that didn't help Alneani, who also rolled a "1" and died instantly from the healing pain. Danalni also received the most benevolent applause of The Hand and now sports +3 permanent evasion.
Ewarbabolac gained enough hunt XP to gain Age milestone, which renamed her to Newarbabolac.
The Hand hands a gift to the victorious survivors - this is the mangled corpse of Flowerista.
Shrine ritual fails, so that's +5 insanity for departing survivors now, combined with Dark Water Research.
Hunt Cardetan, Kalnetan, Cardani and Murlu hunt for a Phoenix. Murlu proves to be exceptionally clumsy and set fire on her cloth by accident. And a massive shadow looms ahead already, the bird-brained Phoenix decided to take a leap closer.
While I was very confident for this fight, I got worried when the Phoenix was older than it should have been and on top of the food chain. Any accidental severe injury would now kill survivors on 1-5. And I had almost all of my eggs in the same hunter basket.
But Cardetan did amazing job with his bow. He rolled more critical hits than regular wounds, and in the end was the survivor to kill Phoenix.
But we're not there yet. First the Phoenix gives survivors a pitying sigh. It was a difficult choice, but I decided to lose three survival and gain courage for all survivors.
Then after pitying sigh the Phoenix would have pulled people inside of it to be reborn, but there was no-one in the blind spot.
And then there were no cards in its AI deck. The bird lasted for four rounds, which has me wondering are the level 2's or their equivalents actually too easy for the hunters? Probably, if they can score the kill early enough. Even now only Murlu had survival above one when showdown ended. Alright, that was because of my choice to all but ignore pitying sigh.
Lantern Year 12 - Open Maw
I really wanted to choose Romantic as the conviction, but that has to be some other settlement. Kalmana Retreat already has Bone Witch on the timeline this year, and Clan of Death just isn't enough alone for Protect the Young. Barbaric it is, and Stapura who has heard the Forbidden Word and encountered the Lorekeeper is nominated as the Thundercaller.
Bone Witch scars Kalnetan's eyes for good. He receives -4 accuracy, +4 strength. And the result isn't even a permanent injury, so he can't get rid of those penalties. I suspect this was the last we will hear of Kalnetan.
Newarbabolac continues to grow her name with a t, as her rolls were needed to not lose all resources.
Settlement innovates Song of the Brave to finally get rid of Gorm Climate and cures some leather for Pickaxe.
All the remaining endeavors were spent on trying to trigger Intimacy, but it was not to be. However, Cardani remembered the White Secret and officially became my first Ageless survivor - as far as I remember - ever. I guess she starts practicing Axe now, since looks like she won't have any offspring for at least one year.
The hunt is going to be Gorm level 2. But that shall be some time in the future.
Kalmana Retreat
Population 13
Settlement Locations:
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Bone Smith
Gormchymist
Gormery
Leather Worker
Weaponsmith
Plumery
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
Lantern Year 10: Dark Water Research, Clan of Death, Whip Mastery, Unarmed Mastery
Lantern Year 11: Shrine
Lantern Year 12: Song of the Brave
Sculpture: Extra Sense
Gear:
2x 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
1x whistling mace
Vespertine Bow
Skull Helm
Full Gorment suit
Full Leather suit
Leather Shield
Reverberating Lantern
Flower Knight Badge
Bone Sickle
Bone Pickaxe
4x dried acanthus
Storage:
1x fresh acanthus
Steak
Bladder
Muscly Gums
Spiral Horn
Phoenix eye
Hollow Wing Bones
Wishbone
Small Feathers
Shimmering Halo
Muculent Droppings
3x monster organ
1x Broken Lantern
1x leather
Nightmare tick
1x Lonely Fruit
1x dark water
Survivors of note:
* Survivors from previous settlement *
Zamarias, last remaining from the original original four starting survivors from Deluge.
- Entitled material hoarding (Hoarder) Prima Donna with Spiral Ganglia.
- 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.
- From his hazed memory, he remembered the dire warning from lantern year 6 on lantern year 9: Slenderking is about to arrive. He remembered the horror and gained Spiral Ganglia.
- Sword specialist with three points in proficiency.
*
Kalnetan Masvar, 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.
- Was imprisoned in a pod of dark water between the planes of existence.
- Has two children with Nasanovim.
- Has children with Cardani.
- Apparently can't feel secure being alone, and right after Minovas died, formed a family of Masvar with new and improved Cardani.
- Has heard the forbidden word.
- Took part in shadow puppet play.
- Took part in dreaming the hunt for Screaming Antelope in vivid detail.
- Has hunted Gorm twice in previous settlement, and Screaming Antelope and Phoenix 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. LY 5.
- Encountered another Manhunter on LY 10.
- Dealt critical wound to Slenderman, gaining permanent evasion.
- His eyesight was scarred beyond repair by Bone Witch Surastus.
- -3 permanent accuracy , +8 permanent strength, +2 permanent evasion,
- Courage 7 (stalwart), Understanding 7 (tinker)
- Whip specialist with six points in proficiency.
*
Kalovim and Nasalne, doomed children of Nasanovim and Kalnetan.
*
Cardetan Masvar, the first survivor whose lineage mingled with that of another lineage. He's the son of Cardani and Kalnetan.
- Took part in dreaming the hunt for Screaming Antelope in vivid detail.
- Has head the forbidden word.
- Took part in shadow puppet play.
- Dealt killing blow to Manhunter on Lantern Year 10.
- Dealt killing blow to Phoenix on lantern year 11.
- +2 permanent accuracy, +3 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion
- 2 courage, 3 understanding (analyze)
- Is training bow with four dots in proficiency.
*
Danalne Masvar of Dormenatus, the first savior of the settlement. Daughter of Cardani and Kalnetan.
- Defended the settlement from The Hand, and received his full blessings.
*Kalmana Retreat original survivors*
All of the above have unbroken lineage from the previous settlement, Kalmana Deluge. Below are original people of Kalmana Retreat.
*
Cardani Masvar, who has Binge-Eating disorder and Vermin Obsession. Let's not think how those two combine.
- Braved the Storm in the very first lantern year, but was blinded as a result. Later on her new body, this eye has healed.
- 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.
- Came back from the dead with her brain recorded by Sleeping Virus Flower, and then reconfigured an unnamed survivor's brain to match hers.
After coming back from the dead, formed Masvar family with Kalnetan.
- 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 and 10(twice then), Flower Knight on year 5, Phoenix on 11.
- Manhunter survivor on LY 10.
- Saw Dung Beetle Knight in the distance, and got obsessed with vermin as a consequence.
- Has heard the forbidden word.
- Took part in shadow puppet play.
- Took part in dreaming the hunt for Screaming Antelope in vivid detail.
- 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.
- After coming back from the dead she has shown far less tendencies to feast on human flesh.
- Defended settlement from The Hand, and her efforts were so valiant that The Hand's thunderous applause nearly killed her - if it wasn't for the intervention of Newarbabolac, she'd have died.
- Remembered the White Secret and got lost the ability to age naturally. Gold Smoke Knight... here we come!
- +5 permanent accuracy, +8 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion, +2 permanent luck, +1 permanent speed.
- Has children with Kalnetan, and is mother of first savior of the settlement.
- Courage 6 (prepared), Understanding 9 (tinker + ageless)
- Unarmed Master.
*
*Lineage of Plants*
Newarbabolact, 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.
- Tried to save Minovas from being beheaded by Hooded Knight on lantern year 10.
- Fought The Hand, and saved Cardani from applause that was so loud it was lethal.
- Saved the settlement from losing all resources on Principle: Conviction.
*
Flowerista, a survivor of Warba's and Worba's progeny.
*Outsiders from the Darkness on lantern year 9*
Ougrano
- Slenderman survivor.
Murlu
- Slenderman survivor.
- Manhunter survivor, who tried to sacrifice herself but instead shrugged off at least four severe injuries when being constantly barraged by the Manhunter.
- Clumsy enough to burn herself with her lantern.
- Has hunted Phoenix.
- +2 permanent strength, 1 courage & understanding
*
Stapura, a quixotic, binge-eating outsider with motion sickness, with whom Logar switched places when Logar touched a statue he encountered during hunt.
- Took part in dreaming the hunt for Screaming Antelope in vivid detail.
- Has hunted Screaming Antelope twice on lantern year 10.
- Has heard the forbidden word, and took part in shadow puppet play, and encountered Lorekeeper as a consequence, whose secrets made Stapura a binge-eater.
- Knows enough secrets and was nominated as the Thundercaller.
- +1 permanent movement, +2 permanent accuracy, +3 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion
- Courage 4 (Matchmaker), Understanding 4 (Explore)
Dead or missing survivors of note:
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).
Warba and Warbo, the progenitors of plant based survivors in Kalmana Deluge.
Nasanovim Minovas, mourning parent of a child lost she can't clearly remember any more. 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. 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.
- Killed the Slenderking on lantern year 9.
- Was slain by Hooded Knight on lantern year 9.
- 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.
*
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.
- Is health-conscious after watching four survivors die from Necrotoxic Mistletoe.
- +1 permanent movement, +1 permanent strength, +1 permanent evasion.
- Hunted Gorm on lantern year 2 and is LY 5 Manhunter survivor.
- Turned into statue on lantern year 10 hunt.
*
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. Scarred Kalnetan's eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment