Or is it Derpowere?

 Lantern Year 8 - Lion Knight level 1

So... Tremuli, Tredge, Goliheen and Egibon tried to act in the impro play set up by Lion Knight. My first showdown ever with this guy, and by gods, did it go horribly.

Right from the start things went wrong, when the heaviest armored guy became the Fool, and Tremuli was the villain. That wasn't too bad, but she did have the second linked Rawhide Headband. At least automatic priority target token on Goliheen gave a little leeway for the first turn.

While survivors did manage to land hits, the wound rolls were horrible. The amount of 1's was discouraging, but even more discouraging were the results that were missing by one. 

In fact, only two wounds were caused by actual damage rolls. All the remaining wounds were caused by collision with Amber Poleaxe.

... which meant a grand total of four wounds done to the Lion Knight.

If I had luck somewhere. they were the severe injury rolls. The amount of straight 10's there was unreal. But even that wasn't enough, when Lion Knight landed consistently three hits with a single attack with a damage of three because of Crowd Pleaser - and all hit locations on Tremuli (the villain) were either hands or body. 

This showdown really, really requires the option to surge.

Intermission didn't come a moment too soon.

Tregde and Goliheen lost their weapon proficiencies, Egibon their re-roll.

...

But that's two more endeavors, at least.

8: Goliheen visits the strange caravan to trade a scrap sword with Silent Barterer. He got scammed with Broken Lantern and Monster Hide.
9: Leiha shares some experience with Timbifor.

Whom to hunt, next? I don't actually know. I'm almost tempted to go for Phoenix, although the time shenanigans worry a little. But you know what? 

Lantern Year 8 hunt & showdown - Phoenix level 1

Timbifor and Neliprinso tear their muscles in antler-gouged terrain (74) before Wind Tunnel pushes all survivors back to starting space. 

... and Leiha leads the party to a Mudslide (55), and survivors lose Monster Grease and Bug Trap, as well as receive concerning amounts of damage.

And Rahlovia disturbs a nest of Madflies (52). And I'm having Deja Vu... I distinctly remember that in some settlement I also rolled Madflies and three out of four survivors got Frenzy. 

Swatting the flies in frenzy, survivors stumble upon a Scribe's book. Insane as they were, Rahlovia and Neliprinso wrote their names. Timbifor had to instruct Neliprinso with his re-roll so that settlement wouldn't lose even more gear.

... buuuut they did. Fortunately Unmaking took only one set of Stone Noses, but still this hunt was absolute disaster.

Phoenix better go down real quick. 

Random terrain was Debris and Survivor corpse.

Phoenix opened with Gouge and Feast. It targeted Leiha, as she was the only survivor able to use survival actions. However, she had zero insanity, so Age tokens were an issue, and now she had two of them. I was sure this showdown was essentially the end of the settlement.

However, Rahlovia poked two criticals on the beast with natural 10's, one of them being the bird's liver. Excellent example how situations can change rapidly in Kingdom Death.

I wrote that sentence in middle of showdown. How ironic it seems now... Even with auto-knockdown from Materialize and no Displacement, rolls were excruciating. Wounding on 2+ seemed to guaranteed at least one one. At least the AI cards were not the worst, but because of the frenzies it was a desperate race against time.

A race the survivors ultimately lost.

Survivors did get Phoenix down to one AI card remaining, and it was Bored. And that meant every other turn there was a chance to kill it with one attack. 

Timbifor, the lousiest and most useless of all the survivors, was the only one surviving, and he had the Bone Darts and the Catgut Bow. 

He took the Bored attack thing at least five times, trying to snipe the beast with a single, frenzied attack.

But, it seemed Kingdom Death really wanted to teach me a lesson this time. 

Last survivor of the showdown died, because Phoenix was so bored.

Lantern Year 9: Nickname

Nickname for all returning survivors, yaaaay!

Eedge received a point of courage from Gorm Climate.

Two survivors ceased to exist, and two died of natural causes. Population 10+ and Cooking gave a total of six endeavors. Not that I got to use those just yet, because all blotted out survivors were wiped out, so showdown became instant.

Settlement had zero survivors who had any progress worth mentioning, so defenders were: Leihovia Toothon, Timbon Brees, Egifor Brees and Tregde

Lantern Year 9 Nemesis Showdown: Slenderman level 1

... and what a messed up showdown it was.

First I thought KD:M was giving me some hope, as random terrain was Flower Patches. Obviously the roll was a 1, though, so no luck tokens for me. 

Slenderman was constantly blinking on and off, which was a sort of boon for gathering together. However, whenever survivors managed to score hits, they failed to wound excessively. Slenderman mauled most armor levels off, before wounds started trickling in. First three were actually from Founding Stones. 

However, thanks to the monster's constant on and off, survivors had some time to bandage wounds and use first-aid kit. Early on Slenderman did break one survivor's back, so they couldn't use Amber Poleaxe any more. 

Despite getting absolutely wrecked, survivors somehow managed to grind through the monster's AI deck. When the last card was in, there were still three survivors in play. One of them the broken back one, though. 

And then it began. One by one survivors got too many bleeding tokens as I frantically tried to score those last few wounds. But no, soon enough there was only Leihovia left standing. 

But she did stand. Slenderman started missing as efficiently as survivors had failed their wounding rolls earlier. Whenever Leihovia received a severe injury, that was on a location already on severe injury, and didn't result in a knockdown. She did get the last AI card off the deck! ... but broke the Bone Axe in the process. Settlement is losing equipment faster than it can develop back.

... and then she had to confront the basic actions that had the knockback effect. She wasn't able to dash, had only one survival point and two penalty tokens to Movement. I was sure it was a game over then, but no.

The showdown seemed to drag on and on, and this is the victory the settlement got. Sheesh.

At least there were three Dark Waters and one Iron to be had.

Lantern Year 9 settlement phase, continued.

Three survivors died during showdown, so suddenly there was six more endeavors, although nobody remembered where they came from. I have no idea what I'm to do with this many endeavors at this point. Oh well.

1: Dark Water Research level 2
2: Leihovia studies the Stoic Statue, departing survivors gain +1 survival. 
3: Eemac got a point of Understanding from Stoic Statue.
4: Rofige worshiped the monster's statue, departing survivors gain +10 survival.
5-6: Golimato trains Pidicule to Age 2. He learns how to be Unbreakable.
7-8: Golimato trains Eedgien Nimportan to Age 2. She is the new Strategist.
9-10: Round-Stone Training for Eedgie. She learns Tumble.
10: Round-Stone Training for Pidicule. He gets +3 insanity and Carapace of Will
11-12:  Pidicule does auguries for +1 Understanding, +1 survival

I guess the year then just passes, because there is no hunt?

Lantern Year 10 - Gorm Climate

It took a re-roll from Rofige, but Eedge received +1 Courage.

And then a stumped phase for endeavors. 

1: Eemac gets second point of Understanding from Stoic Statue, triggering Insight. Extra endeavor.
2: Roficien worships the statue, giving +1 survival for departees. 
3: Trepanning for Golimato. Expanded consciousness for Overprotective Wardrobe Expert. He loses Immortal.
4:Shared Experience for Eemac, who gets +1 permanent accuracy from Age.

Lantern Year 10 Hunt & Showdown - White Lion level 1

Yeah, I chickened out. But last three showdowns have been so horrific I needed a breather. 

Pidicule, Eedgie Nimportan and Goliheen and Golimato Bowister go on the hunt.

And it's Madflies again! Now only half of the team frenzied though, and I doubt  the lion will be much of a challenge even if they went fully frenzied. The lion went prowling anyway.

Showdown was as much of a pushover as expected. Only one extra resource from crit locations, though.

Lantern Year 11 - Clinging Mist

Oh... Oh no. It is that result again. I had the option to begin a new settlement again, which would have been by far the best choice. But I want this campaign to end one day, and a "free" level 1 hunt might actually be the boost this settlement needs to rise from it's setbacks.

Clinging Mist Hunt & Showdown: White Lion level 1

This special hunt was an onslaught of success. Half of the team reached their Insights.

... And even the first card the White Lion drew was the Ground Fighting. Oh no. White Lion kept wasting the survivors' time by drawing the trap over and over again, but still the thing went down without much of an effort.

Although survivors packed 16+ resources, it was mostly just bones and hides. Only organs came from White Lion deck, none from basic resources.

Regal visit added a Hand showdown for the year. 

Acid Storm gave settlement a scrap, and adds +2 to Art rolls. Gorm Climate added +2 to Home rolls as well. 

1: Settlement innovates Bloodletting
2: Light Forging for Gloom-Coated Arrows
3: Settlement cures 4x Leather
4-5: Face Painting x2
6: Matchmaker from Golimato blessed the settlement with twins, Roficien and Eedge Nimportan received Ofici and Porfie.
7-8: Ofici is trained hastily to start training weapons. Age gives Last Man Standing. 
9: Since Odcien took a bite from the Lonely Fruit, settlement gained an extra endeavor... on top of those that came from burying Eedgien. Ofici tried Round Stone Training, gaining Cross-Arm Block.
10: Ofici left an offering under White Mask and got nothing in return.
11: Augury attempt has Eedge and Roficien at it again, receiving Auge Nimportan.

Settlement develops Gloom-Coated Arrows, Leather Shield, Leather Cuirass, Leather Skirt, Leather Bracers and Monster Tooth Necklace. After facing Lonely Tree, settlement also developed Rawhide Whip, as I want to minimize the amount of crap the hunt phase throws at the survivors.

First in line was the Hand. Although the rewards are great, I didn't want to risk any of the more promising survivors except Leihovia, who is training fist & tooth anyway. 

So, Leihovia Toothon, Talwar, Rofige and Eemac are the ones to dance to Hand's tune.

Special Showdown - Hand level 1

Roficien managed to die to the soft chuckle The Hand let out. Eemac was also hamstrung during the Line Up, but those were the only "casualties". Leihovia received the best applause, and unfortunately the only one who received any boons at all was the Hamstrung Eemac.

Oodge was packed into a gift for the settlement for the refreshing entertainment.

... and also, because it is the last year to fight the level one Lonely Tree, I ought to go for it. 

Special Showdown - Lonely Tree level 1

Pidicule, Eedgien, Golimato and Goliheen attempt to hack down a tree. 

Goliheen took a shot with gloom-coated arrows, and landed two solid wounds in. However, those also dropped two nightmare fruits... which meant the same reflexes would be coming up again. Lonely Tree would get +4 damage to most of its attacks before it was even drawing AI cards.

Early on this led to the demise of axe-wielding Eedgien, who also had the shield and scavenger kit. 

At that point Cat-Eye Circlet became super important, as the plenty basic attack reflexes from the tree would have most likely been fatal - no survivor had enough armor points in any location to survive just one hit!

However, finally the trap came, and resolving it was straightforward enough. It brought a little more time for survivors to tip-toe with their teeth clattering between the fruit bombs. 

All in all it was a fun and stressful showdown. I have always liked Lonely Tree as one of the more characterful showdowns, and this showdown didn't change that.

Five basic resources were very welcome back in settlement, although the two endeavors from Eedgien's death were, eh, okay I guess. Jagged Marrow Fruit, yaaaay.

Lantern Year 11 Hunt & Showdown - Frogdog level 1

That horrible downfall that happened with Phoenix and Slenderman still had me scared to hunt nastier foes, although level 2 Lion probably would have still been quite doable. However, I wanted to try something entirely new - the most recent purchase of Frogdog expansion. Going in blind against a level 1 version.

Team was Leihovia and Eemac, Golimato and Goliheen.

Chance Encounter and a random found corpse stacked survivors with courage and understanding. The frogdog hunt event was Wet Ground, which made half of the team squeamish. 

... and then. New content, yaaay.

At the end of the day it was a level 1 monster that I bashed on year eleven, so there didn't seem to be any real danger for the survivors. However, the whole fart deck thing is actually quite neat. Or, wait... that's not a word I'd use. Rather... flavorful? NO DEFINITELY NOT THAT. 

Every survivor managed to score their weapon training hit, although bow user Goliheen did their best to dodge marking that proficiency slot. 

Lantern Year 12 - Plague

Ah, yeah. The good old plague. I'm excessively happy that Bloodletting was settlement innovation just a year prior. 

Talwar and Oficien were easiest picks. Leihovia and Pidicule were the hard ones. It took a re-roll to not add plague to the timeline. All four had to skip next hunt.

Golimato was anointed as the Mere Navi. After all, they had witnessed an omen. This took one re-roll, though.

After all the coughing had passed, Lion Knight paid a visit. Had not plague blocked so many proper survivors, I'd have tried to take on the knight fair and square. Of course I still do, but with a crapstack of Porfic, Eedge, Roficien and Auge. Roficien began dancing.

I know I will curse my conviction, but settlement chose Barbarism. That Hands of Heat is going to wreck this settlement, but since all the star survivors have died long time ago, the settlement needs that strength. Goliheen was nominated as the Thundercaller.

And finally the Gorm Climate. Home endeavors get +2.

One tinker, one Brave result, population 10+ and Cooking yielded eight endeavors before the encounter with Lion Knight. 

1: Settlement innovates... Clan of Death. I shouldn't complain, but getting this far without Surge action or even Symposium feels rough.
2: Leather curing. 
3-4: Face Painting x2
5-6: Golimato and Goliheen spend their Matchmakers on the two plague victims. Ofici and Talwar establish a new Nella family. Talici and Ficiar are born. They even drink a Love Juice for good measure. Third sibling, Ofar, is born.
7-8: Goliheen and Talici leave offerings to the white mask, getting +1 strength token for the departees.

Settlement completes the Leather Armor set, Bone Pickaxe, Frogdog suit and Monster Grease.

Coming up next is Lion Knight level 2, but that's going to be... some day. Verpowere has been due an update for a while, and even if this is just a four year advancement that's still eight showdowns. 

Population: 14

Departing survivors gain +1 strength tokens.