Madflies, madflies everywhere!

 Lantern Year 12 special showdown: Lion Knight level 2

Ragtag team of survivors defended the village with a costume play. 

Prominent roles: Auge (villain/fool), Eedge (fool/villain), Roficien (damsel), Porfic (ruler)

I was fully committed to losing this thing, but when White Mask gave those precious +1 Strength tokens made me question if I might actually be able to pull a win out of this.

Ruler and damsel switched their roles right off the bat so that damsel would be able to both utilize the -1 speed for the Lion Knight, but also shoot with catgut bow.

I thought it would be a good idea to lure Lion Knight closer to damsel, because he just would need to get back to the stage on the next move. With any chance, the fool with her amber poleaxe might poke a wound in to the knight.

It... sort of worked. But the thing is... Lion Knight dismembered the leg of the villain. She'd not get anywhere near the stage anymore. 

At least the volley from Gloom Arrows was beautiful. All five attacks hit, and each of them wounded. There were a total of three Stage Fights in the top three cards though, so damsel was disrobed of armor they had.

However, survivors did fairly well with punching through that toughness 12. Fool had to use the honk horn to save the villain from all but certain demise. She got nearly killed herself as a thanks, so the one-legged ex-villain had to switch the roles back almost right away. She was already at three bleed tokens.

This was especially annoying, because the Lion Knight had been whittled down to, like, two cards remaining, which were finally blasted, too. 

Villain was at four bleed tokens, and about to take two speed 3, dmg 3 attacks to the face, while no longer having any armor points and multiple heavy injury levels. Also not on stage, so unable to dodge. 

Only way to score victory seemed to be the amber poleaxe. The fool walked and dashed in front of Lion Knight, and let the beast loose. Rolls was a four, so the villain used her once-per-lifetime re-roll on that. An eight! 

What a close call. As a reward the villain also had her arm severed. 

What an exciting play!

Lantern Year 12 hunt & showdown: White Lion level 2

Golimato, Goliheen, Leihovia and Pidicule begin hunt.

Settlement is running out of time to explore the new armor sets, so White Lion it is.

Sea of Golden Grass and White Lion Cub gave incredible start to the hunt already, but then Leihovia rolled up Finale, losing her ear in the process. Stone Noses were turned into Steel Sword and Steel Shield.

And  then the hunting party met the Surgeon, who fixed Leihovia's pelvis. Is the game rewarding me for finally hunting level twos? Must be, because the final AI card was Prowling Lion, and the lion itself had been lured on top of Overwhelming Darkness.

Showdown went fine even if a couple of survivors got to zero survival points remaining.

Lantern Year 13: Plague

Oh, okay.

Porfic, Talwar, Eedge and Ofici survive the plague with a single re-roll wasted on this duplicate event. Leihovia went Stark-Raving Mad from the Lion God encounter, and Hands of Heat gave a point of speed for Leihovia.

Hands of Heat carved a massive hole to the settlement storage.

Endeavors:

1: Settlement innovates Momento Mori over Partnership...
2-3: Face Painting for intimacy, only one success
4: Matchmaker for Ofici and Auge. Auge dies. 
5: Face Painting for departing
6-7: Talici Nella was trained with shared experience, she got Orator of Death from Age 1.

Lantern Year 13 showdown - Hand level 1

Leihovia, Pidicule, Porfic and Ficiar talk to The Hand, and that's about it. Zero threat. A couple of survivors went to light brain injury, however. 

However, rewards were not exciting. Pidicule took the best, getting +1 accuracy, strength and evasion, but he had worst stats in the first place. Ficiar took a point of strength, which was splendid. Porfic took a random +1 luck from age, though, so there's that.

Rewards was the best, -1 population, plus Leather, Skull and five basic resources. Eedge uNimportanT "donated" the leather. And the skull.

Lantern Year 14: Lights in the Sky

Gorm Climate gave a point of courage to Ofar

1: FINALLY settlement innovates Symposium!
2: Face Painting for depart bonuses
3: Shared experience triggers Age for Ficiar. He gets Abyssal Sadist.
4: Trepanning for Golimato, who gets rid of Ghostly Beauty
5: Trepanning for Leihovia, who gets rid of Stage Fright
6-7: Auguries for Talici, who manages to get two understanding from the endeavors, and rolled one more endeavor for this settlement phase via Insight.
8: One more Augury, which finally prompted an Intimacy. Eemac and Golimato formed Phouros family, and got a kid named Eelimato. 

Lantern Year 14 hunt & showdown: Screaming Antelope level 2

Leihovia, Pidicule, Golimato and Ficiar start to track the beast.

Dead Antelope gives resources, but then... then... Madflies! Madflies all over again! Half of the team frenzied! This can't be happening! Argh. Well, at least it isn't important or anything to dash out of diabolical trample zone, or anything.

Antelope migrates, and then Golimato trades Rawhide Whip for White Lion Mask and loses all survival. Like he needed it anyway, since he frenzied.

Ficior gets heavy injury levels to head and arms from a frozen lightning. 

At least Overwhelming Darkness wasn't too bad, and fresh grazing fields even gave Ficior one hit location back to full. Leihovia was able to successfully mine a piece of iron as well. 

Pidicule investigates broken lanterns, and finds a broken lantern. What are the chances? 

Next survivors got to skip the next space, and showdown started. Random terrain was Nightmare Tree and Copperfish Den. Tactics was absolutely worst for Screaming Antelope: Trip Formation. Yeah, no thanks, not going to cause a total of four points of damage to two survivors to knock down the antelope.

Screaming Antelope began with Lonely Rampage, which was a blessing of sorts. I was remembering that survivors with 25+ insanity run away in the aftermath, but it was 20+ instead. Golimato had twenty-six. 

Once again Chow Down made the showdown infuriating. Well, that was my mistake to some extent, not obsessively spamming Rawhide Headband without Surge available. But the thing healed a total of five with two Chow Downs. 

Other than that the showdown went sort of fine, only Pidicule was disemboweled and suffered a gaping chest injury. There were far too many severe rolls to feel secure, but that's what bring excitement into the showdowns after all. 

Pidicule had spent most of his time trying to get trampled over by the Screaming Antelope, but at least four or five first tries failed to make a wound with Amber Poleaxe. Only two such attempt succeeded in total, but at least the last one of them was Screaming Antelope impaling its last wound to the stake.

Lantern Year 15: Dark Trader

Only five endeavors, since Ficiar got post-traumatic stress disorder from Overwhelming Darkness. 

... and, oh no. I hunted White Lion and Screaming Antelope just for the sole reason of wanting to try out the new hybrid armor sets from Lion Knight... but I really should have read those beforehand. I didn't realize even Dancer and Brawler armor required pieces from Phoenix set. Funny fun. Whee. Yay. Well... I guess I should use the resources elsewhere instead.

Like buying a useless pink stone from the trader. Yeah, I just did that.

1: Settlement innovates Nightmare Training... still no surge.
2-3: Since Pidicule had frenzied and was at max survival, he trained twice with the new innovation, gaining +1 strength and weapon proficiency level.
4: Settlement builds Weapon Crafter
5: Settlement turns all Pelts and White Furs into leather, just out of spite.

Next? I want to try out other new content I have, so Dragon King it is. I hope it goes better than against Phoenix.

Lantern Year 15 hunt & showdown - Dragon King level 1

Although unsure if I'll wreck this settlement another time around, Leihovia, Talici, Golimato and Goliheen start the hunt against a never-faced before quarry. I did have a hunch not to bring any flammable gear with me.

Talici met a thespian troupe, but dared not encounter them. I wonder if those were Lion Knight's entourage. Instead, Talici had a dream where to go. Leihovia and Goliheen had the exactly same dream, which was weird enough until next year.

Leihovia went down the sinkhole, or would have had not Goliheen sacrificed his re-roll.

Golimato gazes upwards to see the majestic shadow of, well, nothing. 

Goliheen finds the charred remains of a settlement, and then the showdown starts.

It wasn't... too bad. But how it looked to me is that that's going to be the case, until survivors get caught in the meltdown zone. I did quickly learn to respect irradiate as well. 

Golimato certainly had a theme going on, since during hunt he was brave enough to gaze up... and during showdown the Dragon King was impressed by his courage, archiving Lordly Roar. 

Goliheen did pick up a few too many disorders, though. One of them being Sworn Enemy against Dragon King. So I guess I go hunt the beast more in the future. 

Lantern Year 16: Weird Dream

Well, it appears the hunters brought weird dreams with them back to settlement.

Eelimato had to spend his re-roll on Gorm Climate.

1: Settlement innovates Scrap Smelting. 
2: Leihovia tried Nightmare Training, but it was more nightmare than training. 
3-5: Face Paintings for intimacy, one fail.
6-7: I had the expectation that murder might be on the menu at the theatre tonight, so settlement used both matchmakers and Love Juice to make three babies for Phouros family. Welcome, Emacita, Phobaro and Ihcisias. This whole ordeal took a total of one re-roll.

Lantern Year 16 special showdown - Lion Knight level 3

Oh my. That Toughness 15 sure looks rough to deal with, but I'll try nonetheless with a semi-proper team.

Ficiar, Golimato, Ofar, and already a veteran of Lion Knight, Porfic Nimportan defend the settlement right before Butcher appears.

... and what a pathetic play it was. 

It was a wipe. Survivors managed to inflict six wounds, although plenty of attempts were made that fell one short. When villain died the first time around, I decided to ditch the play and tried to run away. Except that Golimato was villain by then, so Ofar had to swap with him. However, all the runaways just stumbled on the stage miserably, dying to their injuries even without the help of Lion Knight.

Settlement lost the Steel Sword as well. Not a big loss, but still. 

I guess level 3 Lion Knight is, by design, so hard that it can be realistically be won after one failure such as this. Provided, of course, that lantern year 20 still has good enough survivors.

Well, let's continue with the settlement phase, then.

8-11: Age for Emacita and Ihcisias
12: White Mask offers strength tokens for departees.
13-14: Auguries until intimacy, Roficien and Goliheen receive twins, Rofiheen and Golicien.
15: Broken Lantern scavenge at Weapon Crafter. Success.

Lantern Year 16 Nemesis Showdown: Butcher level 2

And... I see.

So that's how it is.

Butcher drew SEVEN cards on his first turn, and killed the bow user. Fortunately after he had at least used the gloom arrows for two wounds. Of course one of the seven was the mood that made Butcher attack after taking two wounds.

I had taken the fully linked Monster Grease for one of the newborn I took to the showdown, meaning Butcher was hitting her only with 8+. But the way Butcher was rolling would have required 10+. There was even a 9,9,9 roll. Fortunately I had taken the steel shield to this showdown, so it was easy to dodge Butcher attacks for as long as there was survival... And when survival ended, Butcher was hitting just as happily. 

Now, all this might have been manageable, but survivors were rolling the exact inverse of what Butcher was rolling, especially when wounding. The amount of ones and twos was beyond frustrating. This was bulls diarrhea!

Survivors did get Butcher down to like four AI cards remaining, which wasn't good news either because one of them was the Bite, which always targeted head location for severe rolls.

Yeah. Another four survivors down the drain... as well as all the resources.

I think think this settlement is done, and I'll just mess around with the last few survivors.

Lantern Year 17: Nickname

Real funny, event deck. Real funny.

At least Gorm Climate rolled poorly, and I let it take all resources from settlement storage... where there were none! Bwahahaha! Yes, I'm crying as I'm laughing.

Well. At least a ton of endeavors.

1-2: Auguries for intimacy.
3-4: Another two auguries for intimacy.
5-8: Goliheen scavenges in the Weapon Crafter, triggering See the Truth and finally getting the one Broken Lantern.
9: White Mask to get +1 strength tokens, but didn't even with three re-rolls.
10: Last Augury for augury. Looks like this settlement is going to drag on in life support...

Ofici and Roficien choose the family name of Panik, and receive the kids named Lostit, Defeatred and Vanqusha.

Leihovia, Phobaro, Vanqusha and Rofiheen begin the hunt for Frogdog level 2. But I think that sorry epilogue will be another update later on.

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.

Dawn of Verpowere

 So, finally Clinging Mists led Golimato, Tremuli, Rahlovia and Leiha to a new settlement. This is a continuation from the 

This time population was whopping 14, and when Golimato invented new and improved language for the survivor swarm. This made him a Matchmaker, and first year began with five endeavors.

Tremuli braved the storm and got blinded as a result. 

Endeavors:

1: Settlement innovates Paint
2-4: Organ Grinder, Skinnery, Bone Smith
5: Matchmaker procs both New Life and Society principles.

Settlement chooses Survival of the Fittest, and Neliprinso, the first baby, was born a rageholic.

Society Principle in turn gives settlement the Death Principle, which was Graves.

It took three re-rolls to get +1 permanent luck for aichmophobic Leiha, but now we had a Fist & Tooth master in training. What a smashing start for Verpowere settlement!

Settlement produced Bone Axe and started hunting more Gorms. 

Year 1 hunt & showdown - Gorm level 1

Confidently Leiha, Rahlovia, Neliprinso and Urvivo set out to hunt a gorm.

Neliprinso gets Priority Target token from getting her face painted by an experienced sportsman. 

Urvivo steered the hunting party clear from a Mourning Bull. 

Leiha leads the survivors down a Tomb of Excellence, where everyone gets depressed how weak they look when compared to murals. Damn strong murals. 

Survivors found the Gorm munching on a generic dead monster. Turned out it was Gorm, and survivors were able to skin a hide out of the corpse.

Despite having the ambush, survivors landed only two wounds on the first turn. And before Gorm had activated, it had also dealt two points of damage to Rahlovia. He was walloped for another two points. 

Rahlovia continued to inflict two wounds, while everyone else failed. Gorm was the first to break this cycle by trying to backslap Rahlovia, which he dodged. 

Survivors hacked three more wounds in, and Gorm had had enough of this pathetic display. It flattened Neliprinso, the first born of Verpowere settlement. Every single attack hit, although hit on the head was dodged while she still could. No severe injuries happened just yet, but waist and legs were on heavy injury level.

With Flatten now in the last three cards was threatening to say the least. And also trap was coming up.

Rahlovia decided to take a walloping and trigger the upcoming trap. Flatten was now next in line. Leiha messed up her attacks, but at least Rib Blade wielding Neliprinso did not. Anticipating smooth sailing now, right?

Well, I was adamant in trying to get at least one wound in with Leiha to start training Fist & Tooth. There even were flank locations coming up next. 

Urvivo tanked two wallopings, Leiha failed to wound both flank locations. Urvivo went down to zero survival, so tanker had to be changed. Rahlovia took a backslap to his chest, and finally - Leiha's ninth hit in the fight was finally a wound. Not a critical wound, though. She pulled Gorm by the tail and inflicted a normal wound with flank bonus.

Finally. 

Neliprinso took a walloping before Gorm was finally put down - in style. Rahlovia scored the only critical during this fight when there was only a single AI card left in Gorm's deck. But that was a crit with Bone Axe. 

Killing blow: Rahlovia.

Lantern Year 2: Gorm Climate

Random event was Gorm Climate, which forced the entire team to skip next hunt. 

Golimato and Urvivo duke it out with Spidicules, Urvivo being the one to die in Young Rivals.

Endless Screams made Rahlovia a figure who now stand in the beginning and the end - he became Matchmaker as well as gained the Orator of Death fighting art.

Endeavors:

1: Settlement innovated Face Painting
2-3: Being entirely new innovation, survivors quite weren't able to get it right straight away. It took two attempts to get a +1. 
4: Matchmaker from Rahlovia. Timac and Eebon, who had used their re-rolls last turn digging graves, welcomed their newborn Timbon to settlement.
5: Augury gives an intimacy. Timac and Eebon were at it again, and Timbon got a sibling, Eemac

Settlement develops Gorment Boots and Greater Gaxe.

Lantern Year 2 hunt & showdown - Gorm level 1

Right after being born Timbon and Eemac go on a hunt, lead by Golimato and Seresteheen.

All the survivors are too dumb to understand what enormous, smooth boulders might mean. Horizon of Bones is also closed off because of incompetency, and instead Seresteheen investigates one of the stone faces. She is struck with loneliness and loses all survival.

Lastly, the hunting party braved through a jagged bones storm. Results were... rough. Two heads and one body was starting the showdown with heavy injury level already.

Terrain cards were some stone pillars and flowers. 

Gorm started hiccups right off the bat. I guess it was intoxicated, as the showdown went so sorry for the great beast. Despite inexperienced survivors, this showdown went a lot more effortlessly than the first year one. 

Lantern Year 3: Hunt Re-Enactment

Well, the enactment was all about Gorm, wasn't it? No other monsters killed yet, not even prologue lion! Leiha and Timac play their parts, but only Leiha exits the stage, alive. 

Gorm climate forces another new lineup for the next hunt.

1: Settlement innovates Albedo, because the other choice (Ammonia) might come from upcoming Gorm hunts. Yeah, I'm going to farm this quarry.
2: Settlement builds Barber Surgeon
3-4: Face Painting x2
5: Golimato's matchmaker, Eebon and Odge have their first chiled, Eedge.
6: Augury gives Intimacy right away, although I was fishing for +1 Understanding. Oh well. Odge and Roficien barely manage to make a baby, Odcien.

Settlement develops Gorm helmet, Monster Grease and Dried Acanthus.

Lantern Year 3 hunt & showdown - Gorm level 1

Leiha, Rahlovia, Neliprinso and Talwar begin the hunt.

All survivors investigate the mating fields, finding a mammoth hand and triggering bold for Neliprinso. She got +1 speed token. And was using Rib Blade. Yaaay.

Once more a mourning bull looks too threatening, and survivors steer clear from its sight. I had three stone noses and two survivors were already down to injured brain, so might as well.

Leiha discovers the coveted Object of Desire, and takes even more brain damage out of it. 

Showdown began with advanced AI, Eat and Run. Talwar, being the freshest face, was picked up as the target, but she dashes out of reach. Neliprinso is knocked back as a collateral damage.

Leiha begins to miss her attacks, but also encourages Neliprinso back up. Rahlovia gets one hit after rolling six dice of attacks, but at least that one was a wound. Neliprinso missed with a one. Somehow it looks like the A-team is doing worse than the newbies.

Neliprinso is walloped for a bit. and the whole survivor turn becomes a mess. Wounding on 2+, Rahlovia fails to wound Gorm and Gorm makes a basic attack. It tramples over Leiha, who is eventually encouraged back up by Talwar. Forming a deep bond already, I see!

Well, Leiha struck Gorm and made it retch, Leiha getting hit right to the head.

A total of one wound was dealt with a Catgut Bow by Talwar. 

Hiccups start next, and Neliprinso is retched all over. 

Leiha manages to crit a flank location, but those were the testes. Not wanting to look any worse, Rahlovia crits Gorm with Greater Gaxe, and scores three hits. Wow. Too bad the crit was to a location that caused Gorm to run away. This showdown... Sheesh.

Thunder Footing Gorm pushed Leiha and Rahlovia around, and Neliprinso that had been heavily injured by a retch was encouraged up. At least her blade struck true. One turn there had been two wounds done to the monster, but otherwise it had been a steady "1".

AI deck went over, and of course the thing started again with Eat and Run. Rahlovia was the target, but he managed to dodge the only hit. That was his last survival point, though.

A turn went by without survivors dealing ANY wounds. Resources started to run out. But then, the hunting party finally got their act together and landed three wounds, leaving the beast with only one AI card  left. Last attack from blind spot even moved the monster away from survival-less Rahlovia. 

Neliprinso managed to strike last AI card away, which was Aggravated Bite anyway. And now, three cards left in hit location deck, and there was Death Blow coming up. Looked like a job for Rib Blade's singular attack.

...

And it took six turns for Neliprinso to score the required hit! Leiha was taking the hits, and she was inside Tall Grass, so she was still at one survival point after the showdown. 

But what a farce. At least nobody died.

Talwar, never having hunted Gorm before, wasn't aware of the dangers of picking up the Pure Bulb. She went blind.

Rahlovia got Axe proficiency online.

Lantern Year 4 - Open Maw

Talwar, blinded by the pure bulb didn't see quite well enough when she came back to the settlement and instead strayed to Bone Witch's hut. 

It took one re-roll to get Eedge to draw courage from Gorm Climate instead of losing language again.

1: Talwar's Bone Witch does nothing. Oh well.
2: Settlement innovates Hovel, which blew up the innovation deck. Oh well.
3: Eebon tried the Open Maw, making it close its jaws. Oh well. 
4: Matchmaker. Tremuli and Odge have a baby, but it takes two re-rolls. Oh well.
5: Seresteheen was tutored a bit, but she just received useless Fighting Art from aging. Thrill Seeker.

Settlement completes Gorm armor set. 

And as a little bit of a risk, survivors dabble in Gormchymy, getting a... whoop-de-doo... Steadfast Potion.

And next, Butcher.

Lantern Year 4 Nemesis Showdown - Butcher level 1

Tregde, Rahlovia, Neliprinso and Seresteheen were the champions of the settlement. 

Butcher started with some bad news. Embrace the Pain on the first turn, plus Hack City and Kick going into the discard pile. 

At least only one wound was made this turn, when Butcher had cornered all survivors and bashed three of them knocked down. Well well. All survivors knocked down at the start of monster turn 2. 

Carefully gritting teeth the showdown continued on, and while survivors were slowly and steadily getting mauled, the damage was spread over pretty much each of the brave defenders. Double Wild Carve gave some use for bandages, but for a few turns that was the worst threat faced by the team. But there was the psychological factor of knowing Hack City was in the deck, and deck had already been reshuffled. There were only four cards left in the deck when it got confirmed that the City had been thrown out. Phew! Kick was the most threatening card, but surely enough that was threatening.

Bleed tokens start piling up, and last two AI cards are Wild Carve and Kick. Things might very well go south, still. 

Tregde patches up Rahlovia, who is no longer suffering from bleed tokens. However, Tregde had two and Neliprinso three, so only Rahlovia dared to challenge Butcher after Seresteheen missed with Catgut Bow. And look at that, three hits! With Axe proficiency! Butcher might go down now.

My teeth couldn't have taken much more of the pressure, and Rahlovia decided to spare me a bill from dental services. First, Butcher's Mask fell off. Next, Butcher's Cape. And lastly, killing blow was struck through Pig Iron Shoulders.

Hooray!

As a reward, Butcher just vanishes without giving resources. 

Lantern Year 5: Dark Seamstress

Butcher vanished in a flashing light, and in its place was standing an innocent looking Dark Seamstress, willing to craft sub-par items for exorbitant prices. Could have been worse, though.

Seresteheen experiments with lanterns during Hand of Heat, and burns four re-rolls from the settlement in getting the best result. Only one re-roll available now - ironically on Seresteheen.

Endeavors:

1: Settlement innovates Pictograph. What can I say. Innovation deck is bloated now.
2-3: Face-Painting, one success.
4-5: Matchmakers from Seresteheen and Rahlovia. Odge and Roficien have the siblings Rofige and Egifor.
6: Battle Paint is a success. 

Before moving on to level 2 quarries, I decided to give Ammonia a one more try. I also had the Pure Bulb, and wanted to try Riot Mace for the first time. So a level 1 Gorm it was.

Lantern Year 5 hunt & showdown - Gorm level 1

Hunters were Leiha, Rahlovia, Neliprinso and Seresteheen. Lonely Tree made an appearance again, this time straight out of deck. 

Neliprinso encounters Horizon of Bones, and Rahlovia takes the lead. This triggered Bold from Leiha. Do those have a thing going on between them?

Mating Fields gives Jiggling Lard and a bunch of brain damage for the hunters.

Last hunt event is Bone Storm. Rare indeed to get a total of +12 Courage during a level 1 quarry hunt, but I guess it happens.

Gorm starts showdown with a body check on Rahlovia, but misses. Rahlovia returns the favor by missing eleven times before landing a successful hit. That single hit required three points of survival. Probably not worth it. All other survivors missed, so this might be the case of curse of A-team again.

Gorm strobes all but Leiha down. Leiha manages to crit the beast, but got trampled over as a result. Face palm moment there. Well, at least that caused Gorm just to illuminate. 

Gorm's attacks were no longer much of a threat for survivors, so I delayed attacks to that each survivor got their wound in for weapon proficiency. And as an added bonus, last card in AI deck was the Posturing Piss. 

Showdown was a miserable stooge fest - survivors were not getting injured, but damaging Gorm didn't quite succeed either. When 2+ wounding, accuracy 7+ Rahlovia scored three hits, first two locations were a "1" to damage. Axe proficiency made the other into a wound, but second cancelled the rest of wound attempts. Bah.

Finally showdown ended by Leiha critting the Mammoth Testes. Again.

Hoarder causes Rahlovia to see the truth. He needs to protect his waist from now on, but has the Sweet Battle ability.

Lantern Year 6 - Acid Storm

Neliprinso has to skip next hunt after she runs into the acid storm, flailing wildly. 

And then, the white speaker appears and explodes into black water that makes returning survivors forget fighting arts. Most consequential was Rahlovia losing Orator of Death.

A lion-like figure was watching all over this, stoically, without moving. Neliprinso encounters this monster and worships it during her acid rain trip and gains Tunnel Vision.

Hovel protects survivors from Gorm Climate second year in a row. Weather, however, is getting really bad - need to innovate Drums and Song of the Brave, fast. And survivors didn't even receive all the materials for Riot Mace. But I don't know if I want to tackle a level 2 Gorm just yet. Well, let's look at the endeavor results first.

1: Settlement innovates Family. That's no Drums. 
2-3: Face Painting succeeds twice, thanks to Acid Storm. 
4: Matchmaker from Seresteheen marries Seresteheen and Golimato. They form a deep bond and choose Bowister as their surname. Goleheen Bowister inherits a point of bow proficiency.
5: Matchmaker from Rahlovia confirms that there was a thing going on between Leiha and Rahlovia. They pick up the surname of Toothon, and Leiha gives birth to Leihovia Toothon, who inherits a point of Fist & Tooth proficiency.

Settlement develops Scavenger Kit. 

To aim for Amber Poleaxe or Silk Whip, next hunt it going to be Spidicules level 2.

Lantern Year 6 hunt & showdown - Spidicules level 2

Leiha, Rahlovia, Golimato and Seresteheen start to track the gigantic spider. Golimato only because he had to, to avenge Urvivo.

Right outside of settlement Rahlovia was grabbed by the feet by spiderlings. His leg was saved.

Golimato took some brain damage from encountering a formation of cocoons.

Antler-gouged terrain tears Rahlovia's leg muscles.

Golimato took a heavy injury level to head from spiderlings when attempting to retrieve the Weaver.

First Overwhelming Darkness of the game! All the survivors were able to walk the path of the brave, and Leiha even gained a fighting art. Golimato and Seresteheen got some minor damage, but -1 accuracy token for Rahlovia... damn, that hurt.

Terrain cards were Debris and Survivor Corpse, so no help from there.

Echoing Screech didn't amount to much, but Spidicules was also out of reach.

But for the longest time that was the only relatively good news about the showdown. It was stressful, it was intense. Somehow survivors just wouldn't land hits or wound even the spiderlings. While survivors were able to get by, number of survival point and armor was finite. It was going to badly that Rahlovia tossed  a Founding Stone at the Spidicules, giving it a -1 toughness token. 

That course of action also revealed that there was trap coming up, so survivors had to spend even more turns just to remove spiderlings. 

Soon enough survivors were at one or two survival points lost and multiple heavy injuries, and the beast itself was only down to about half wounds remaining! Eight spiderlings on board!

But then Golimato had had enough, and suffered Frenzy brain trauma. He was knocked down before he actually did anything, but that seemed to signal the survivors to get their act together. Two AI cards remaining. Necrotoxins and Echoing Screech. 

Maybe there was still some hope, although every survivor was about one hit away from severe injuries?

Spiderlings were blocking the way for Golimato to reach Spidicules, but after Seresteheen hit with bow and triggered a spiderling-shuffling wound reaction, she was able to encourage Golimato up and go frenzy against Spidicules. No hits, though. So there was a new Spidicules turn with nine spiderlings.

Leiha went deaf. Seresteheen got gaping chest wound. Golimato was disemboweled. Seresteheen succumbed to bleed tokens. Rahlovia had to spend his last survival point to go out of range of spiderlings.

Oh my. Last turn, I reckon.

Rahlovia attacks Spidicules, but triggers a spiderling action response. He also takes a severe injury, but it's prevented by Dried Acanthus. He had heavy injury levels at body, waist and legs, plus light injury level at hands.

Still two wounds left. 

And there it is! Golimato's AWESOME revenge, frenzying with a rib blade. Both attacks cut off a leg from Spidicules, giving the narrowest of victory for survivors!

While it was annoying that I lost Red Fist, at least the stars of settlement didn't go down. Leiha unfortunately did not get a point of fist & tooth proficiency, though. She also gained a fighting art from second Age milestone, boo!

... oh no. I had completely forgotten about Taken. 

As a final act of stress and aggravation, Spidicules took Golimato! Golimato! Nooo!

Lantern Year 7 - Dark Seamstress

Well okay, Dark Seamstress stuck around, then. 

Rahlovia dared to pick Phoenix Feather, and Goliheen Bowister challenged Gorm Climate, getting a bit more courageous.

Endeavors:

1: Settlement innovates Cooking
2: Settlement build Leather Worker
3: Face-Painting is a success
4: Matchmaker from Rahlovia, Timbon and Egifor Brees get twins, Timbifor and Egibon
5: Battle-Paint is a success
6-7: Rahlovia and Leihovia worshiped the lion statue together, Rahlovia getting Tinkerer as a result.
8: Rahlovia's Insight lead to also Timbifor Brees to worship lion statue.

Settlement develops Bug Trap.

Lantern Year 7 hunt & showdown - Spidicules level 1

Since my team power level dropped dramatically and the last showdown was such a stressful occasion, Leiha, Tregde, Neliprinso take Goliheen Bowister with them to avenge his mother and rescue his father from a level 1 Spidicules before settlement is slapped with an onslaught of Nemesis monsters.

Hunt party crosses the lonely bridge without issues, and bad vibrations increase the number of spiderlings at the start of showdown.

Goliheen, on the other hand, stumbles on his lantern and burns his clothing. What a champ.

Showdown starts with Tregde and Goliheen picking up some silk and getting knocked down, and Neliprinso finding a second Scrap Sword. Leiha misses her attacks, but so had Spidicules done because of Tall Grass terrain.

Although survivors proved themselves capable of messing up a staggering number of attacks, Tall Grass made it easy to farm all the egg sacs, and three out of four survivors went to dig through Silk Nest. Pidicule was found there, as well as a skull.

Goliheen had to spend his re-roll to rescue dad. Golimato had either seen too much or suffered too much spider venom, and suffered from seizures from now on.

Lantern Year 8 - Gorm Climate

This settlement is making history in a particular way - Only seven settlement events in, and already twice has there been duplicates. Hovel protected survivors from the worst of Gorm Climate.

Tremuli witnessed the falling meteorite, and felt destined because of it. 

Neliprinso felt another calling, becoming obsessed by vermin after witnessing a gigantic beetle rolling a ball up and down a hill. 

Tremuli, Egibon, Tregde and Goliheen were chosen for the play. Goliheen gains Anxious disorder from the stage fright.

Endeavors:

1: Settlement innovates Citrinitas
2: Settlement builds the Silk Mill
3: Settlement makes 3x Leather
4-5: One successful Face Painting
6-7: Leihovia and Timbifor worships the lion statue, but something has changed. They whip each other into a religious frenzy and give +10 survival for departing survivors. 

Roficien and Eedge Nimportan made a new baby, Eedgien Nimportan, by drinking a Love Juice.

Settlement develops Amber Poleaxe, Wisdom Potion, Leather Mask and First-Aid Kit

And now, the less interesting years have passed. From now on, Verwpowere is going to get physical instead of Tabletop Simulator.

Population: 21

This entry was actually written back in November, last year, but it took me this long to copy settlement and survivor details to paper format. 

Dawn of Decapitulium

 It's been a while since I played Kingdom Death solo, but recently I did start my first Kingdom Death 1.6 campaign. 

I'm using Gorm, Spidicules Lion Knight, Slenderman, Dung Beetle Knight and Dragon King expansions. My aim is to try graves/survival of the fittest and break it to the extreme, but without Flower Knight and Manhunter. That's because I have a suspicion that those two expansions are the reason why graves/survival gets so messed up.

Lantern Year 0 showdown: Prologue White Lion

Survivors had already deposited three wounds in to the lion with Cuhuu taking the permanent strength from first hit. I thought I was in for another easy, no death prologue. Hoo boy, was I wrong!

Survivors kept failing their attacks for a few rounds, scoring failure reactions and even the trap three times. Light and heavy injury levels were gone on most locations before Chomp turned out to be one of the last few cards in AI deck. 

Cuhuu was the first to go down with a massive head explosion. Right next went Keinoin, although that was not because of Chomp. It was still head explosion, though.

Finally Chomp was the very last card in AI deck, and both remaining survivors had their head location injury levels filled. And surely enough, Yaddarah received a Chomp. Fortunately it was not third explosion, the lion only nibbled Yaddarah's eye off. 

It might have been a prologue loss, but the one-eyed Yaddarah still managed to score both hits with Founding Stone which were both injuries. 

Lantern Year 1: First Survivors

First Speaker was the one-eyed Yaddarah.

Second returning survivor, Tellilovia, was the one who braved the gorm storm, losing her eye in the process. So my returning survivors brought back enough eyes for one complete person. 

Because of events during prologue, settlement was named Decapitulium.

A total of ten survivors. Graves gave +1 survival and understanding, which kind of felt better than permanent luck. Since I had only two returning survivors, I only had one endeavor after innovating Paint. With Bone Smith I was able to craft Bone Axe and Bone Darts. With such horrendous gear, that +1 survival might actually be required for surviving past year one!

Endeavors:

1: Innovated Paint
2: Built Bone Smith

Lantern Year 1 hunt & showdown - White Lion level 1

Vergeerd, Tellilovia, Medolonh and Serhoa start the hunt with two survival points each. 

Vergeerd discovers Prowling Lion, so that's a bonus at least. Tellilovia suffers a mental breakdown during Sea of Golden Grass, presumably from remembering the prologue fight. She got Revenge -disorder. 

Medolonh decided it is too risky to rush through Pus Fields in these circumstances, and instead Tellilovia suffers another mental anguish in the form of crippling misery. Maybe she should have taken a break after the traumatic prologue fight... oh well.

Showdown starts with Toppled Pillar and a Sinkhole.

Since lion was a prowling one, survivors were able to prowl back really hard. But, for once the cat outsmarted survivors! First hit location was no other than the trap. 

And I suspect this cat was not so distant relative to prologue lion - severe head injury gave the bone dart wielding Medolonh an intracranial hemorrhage. 

Third failed hit location had a basic attack reaction on failure, and Medolonh was adorned with gaping chest wound and two bleed tokens, so he was now at four. This showdown was going just GREAT.

It wasn't until fifth attempt when Medolonh finally scored a wound - and what a wound that was. It was a critical wound that removed the lion's jaw. Phew. Ground Fighting discarded. And Medolonh would now have to run for the hills in case Ground Fighting would later come back. 

Thankfully each survivor was able to score a wound that turn, although Tellilovia did it by tossing her Founding Stone, also giving the cat -1 accuracy token. Four wounds out of twelve did give a little hope. 

First real AI card was Power Swat, so easy dodges there. 

Serhoa managed to land a critical wound with Bone Axe. What a boon! Decapitulium might actually live to see the new monster I have never played before. 

I couldn't believe my luck when the Lion received another -1 accuracy token, this time by Vergeerd. 

Next AI card was Alert, and Tellilovia made her second contribution to the fight by triggering it. I didn't realize the priority target token part, though...

Serhoa and Vergeerd made exceptional job at beating the lion from behind, and last card in AI deck turned out to be Alert, again. With only mood in play, Serhoa just needed to land one wound in with his Bone Axe, and that he did. 

So, the first real showdown reminded me why Kingdom Death can be such an exciting game. Situation was beyond grim after Bone Dart user got so badly mauled that there didn't seem to be much hope for victory. But as it happened, remainder of showdown passed through without another severe injury roll.

Tellilovia received Last Man Standing from her Age milestone.

Lantern Year 2: Slender Blight

Second intense moment - would Slender Man attack the settlement? No, but survival and insanity for departing survivors would be switched. 

Gorm Climate was no other than "1", so everyone just kind of forgot how to speak. 

Medolonh and Serhoa were chosen to become rivals... with intracranially bleeding, chest wound gaping Medolonh succumbing to Spidicules' tricks. 

Serhoa was nominated for Endless Screams, and stood as the Voice of Reason. Whatever that meant now that settlement did not have language. She became Matchmaker.

Not a single bone had been scavenged during last year, so survivors weren't even able to try to innovate language back. But, at least there were plenty resources to build a full Rawhide set and even bandages to boot. Those coupled with Cat Eye Circlet made me quite confident about the upcoming fight.

When first Matchmaking by Beahbewe resulted in a baby and Survival of the Fittest, second year fight would probably go fine. So, a Gorm it is. 

Because Slender Blight was about to mess up survival values, I decided to stock up on Stone Noses.

1: Skinnery
2: Organ Grinder
3: Stone Nose
4: Augury
5: Stone Nose

Lantern Year 2 Hunt & Showdown - Gorm level 1

Beahbewe, Veergerd, Simuli and Serhoa began to hunt. First Serhoa investigates some mating fields, finding a stout hide. 

Survivors begin to suffer from head-splitting brain, and Veergerd gains Monster Panic, Simuli overcomes the sensation by becoming Emotionless and the ordeal leaves Serhoa with Hyper-Sensitivity.

And then, showdown!

Gorm was seen in a massive meadow with a total of four Tall Grass terrain pieces and even a couple of Acanthus plants.

Gorm starts by standing on two hindlegs. This gave time for Simuli and Beahbewe to pick up some Acanthus with no results. 

Once the beast came stomping down, Serhoa and Beahbewe were able to wound it already. Gorm tried to backslap Beahbewe, who was inside Tall Grass terrain, missing completely. 

Serhoa was able to score yet another wound, but Cat's Eye Circlet revealed that trap was coming soon. 

Showdown went smoothly until Gorm reared up again, knocking down Serhoa and Beahbewe - the two main stars of this fight. Now this wouldn't have been problematic if it wasn't for the loss of language... nobody shouted words of encouragement for those two. Boom.

Beahbewe survived because of her Tough -fighting art, Serhoa suffered contracture. And then? Survivors manage a few rounds just fine, but plans go south when Beahbewe tosses a bone dart, leaving Gorm with two AI cards remaining. Those cards were in the discard pile. Reat Up and Scratch. 

Cat Eye Circlet revealed a hit location to move Gorm away with failure, so Vergeerd tried to charge in and trigger just that. Nope. A 50% chance of Rear Up.

But... it was Scratch! Attack rolls succeeded just fine, and soon enough Gorm was at zero cards remaining. Up until now, Beahbewe and Serhoa had done all the work, dealing all those wounds, taking all the risks. And now, Gorm nearly dead, Vergeerd made his entrance and kill-stealed the beast. Oh wow, what a jerk. At least he did it with style, critically injuring a resource location.

And finally! Survivors received some bone for innovations. A Perfect bone, ??? and Meaty Rib. Not a whole lot, but at least something.

Lantern Year 3 - PLAGUE

Hell yeah! No ammonia, no nothing!

Good bye, Decapitulium. 

Tellilovia, Yaddarah and Veergerd were to die at the end of settlement phase. At least Simuli made a full recovery. Phew. It didn't stick.

Gorm Climate wasted returning survivors' insanity and denied returning survivors to hunt again.

1: Settlement innovates Symposium.
2: Augury intimacy, Tellilovia and Yaddarah had to spend their re-rolls, but it's twins, Tellirah and Yadlovia! Anticipation of impending death causes the parents to breed like rabbits, drinking Love Juice, using Vergeerd's re-roll in the process. Third kid, Rahlovia, is born. At least population remains at nine. 
3: Augury, giving understanding and ensuing Insight giving +1 permanent accuracy for Serhoa.
4: Shared Experience for Rahlovia

Settlement develops old trustworthy Rib Blade, Rawhide Headband, Rawhide Vest and Luck Charm.

Lantern Year 3 Hunt & Showdown - Gorm level 1

Since survivors gained stout kidney and two stout hides, I'm drooling at the mere thought of gorm vest. 

And since multiple instances prevented returning survivors to depart, new kids lead the charge. Yadlovia, Tellirah and Rahlovia start their own weird saga with Leiha tagging along. 

Leiha discovered a Founding Stone in flatter earth, while Tellirah took some good advice from a passing huntsman. 

After carefully trekking through pus fields, Yadlovia tries to take something out of a stone mouth, getting bitten as a result. And then it was showdown already.

Terrain cards were Lion Statue and Dead Monster. Hooray.

Leiha doesn't find anything of value from the carcass. Tellirah scores the first wound.

Gorm started walloping Rahlovia, but missed both attacks thanks to tall grass. Leiha tossed a bone dart at the quarry, but failed to wound which resulted in Rahlovia taking a retch to the face. Ouch.

Gorm attempted to head-butt Tellirah, but missed its attack, and next turn I hit the jackpot - Posturing Piss. The beast had gone head trashing Rahlovia, so Tellirah had to end his act in Gorm's blind spot. But definitely worth it, as he got a critical strike against Gorm with Bone Axe. 

Survivors were going slow and steady, as there was Death Blow location coming up. It was annoying for sure, as attack rolls just did not seem to connect. Last AI card that was left in the deck was wallop, so I made sure it just kept walloping Rahlovia who had Rawhide armor set. 

It took three wallops until the beast had zero AI cards. Then survivors just had to make sure Rahlovia would hit with Rib Blade, and that one took at least three turns, too. Fortunately Gorm rolled absolutely terribly its attack rolls with basic action. 

Finally, the Rahlovia's Rib Blade hit home and even scored a critical with a 9. Not that Death Blow has a critical, but still. 

And yes! Not one, but two Stout Hides as a reward. Otherwise this hunt provided rather few resources, and bones were avoiding me again. At least there was one regular monster bone for innovations. Rahlovia went blind from gaining Pure Bulb.

Lantern Year 4 - Glossolalia

Settlement event was Glossolalia, but I'm not sure how that works out without language... Isn't that like, the normal? Anyway, Leiha starts to argue with everyone... somehow... and ruins the settlement phase. Well, at least there is an endeavor left for innovating.

Gorm Climate gave Golimato a point of courage. 

1: Settlement innovates Inner Lantern. Additionally they had gained Ammonia from Gorm's piss.

Golimato and Simuli drank a love potion, and they barely managed to make a new baby, Gomuli.

Settlement develops Gorm Suit, and after some deliberation Cat Gut bow, although that meant sacrificing Perfect Bone I had stashed. Settlement needed some weapons against Butcher.

And then...

Lantern Year 4 Nemesis Showdown: Butcher level 1

Almost weaponless Yadlovia is terrified with going against Butcher with measly fragile darts as her armament. But Beahbewe assures her: You have my sword. Megalophobic Serhoa takes the Catgut Bow, as he had lost a point of evasion from Rival's Scar. He tells Yadlovia: You have my bow. And her brother Tellirah yells rather annoyingly: And my axe! as he was armed with Bone Axe. Oh yeah. That just happened.

Two first AI cards were, but Butcher wasn't even able to reach survivors. But the next upcoming AI cards... Hack City and Lantern Hunger. Oh boy oh boy. Fortunately I had both Dash and Surge, so I was able to get that Hack City do nothing, and Lantern Hunger targeting evasion tank Beahbewe. That went fine, but once the deck refreshes, who knows.

Also trap was within first three cards during first three turns, sheesh... At least Beahbewe, who also had the priority target token, managed to land two wounds. Tellirah also inflicted two, but took a point of brain damage. This robbed him of his re-roll, and put him already at two lunacy tokens. 

But... yeah. I had been a tad too trusting with the priority target token. Yeah. Lantern Frenzy. It was too good to be true to have five wounds in two rounds. Ah well. Yadlovia was the target, the only survivor with only cloth armor. Yadlovia was also so far from action that first Kick didn't reach her even with +2 movement.

Next card? Bite. Fortunately only one attack hit, and she still had the survival to dodge. 

Serhoa had climbed atop Giant Stone Face to shoot a blind shot with Cat Gut Bow. Cleaver deflected one hit, but another wounded through Thick Cape. 

Since Yadlovia was now about to receive the worst of it, other survivors were free to be as reckless as they please. Yadlovia used Cat Eye Circlet and checked that there were no traps coming. 

Beahbewe knocked Butcher down heroically, which encouraged Tellirah to spend her last survival point to dash into Butcher's blind spot. Together with Beahbewe they managed to leave Butcher with just two AI cards remaining.

There were two cards left in AI deck. And the first one... oh dear. No no no no. Hack City. Only six hits though, and spread of hit locations was fairly even. Hooray, a chance to get Legendary Lungs! Well, she didn't get it, but arguably got something better for this situation: +3 survival. 

And the second card left in AI deck? Why, Bite of course! This time it was two hits, one of which was dodged. Even after re-roll, attack resulted in decapitation right at the gates of Decapitulium. Lantern Frenzy got discarded, and survivors lost Cat Eye Circlet for the showdown. 

Beahbewe landed one hit on Butcher's blind spot, and received second lunacy token. Although, that was the only hit done. This was getting scary.

Bite came first. It went on Beahbewe, the hero of the showdown, and only one hit was promptly dodged. Second AI? No good options there, but I believe it was the worst. Well, settlement's name is Decapitulium, after all. Lantern Frenzy. 

Tellirah became target, and Lantern Frenzy forced to draw Bite again. Three hits, how else?

Showdown just got serious. Beahbewe landed a hit on natural 10, but for wound she rolled a 1. I deemed this roll serious enough to warrant a life-time reroll because of head hunter failure reaction. 

Either Lantern Frenzy or Bite went away. Pheeeeew. Serhoa managed to remove the last, too. After a round of doing some basic action on Beahbewe, Butcher fell to Serhoa's Cat Gut Bow.

As a reward for this tough showdown, Beahbewe received Tough -fighting art from the deck. Too bad she already had that fighting art. Milestone, wasted. 

Butcher left five broken lanterns behind, so there's that.

Lantern Year 5: Clinging Mist

Returning survivors just need to skip next hunt, nothing too fancy here. 

Gorm Climate gives another point of courage to Golimato. 

Serhoa receives Red Fist and permanent strength from Hands of Heat. Too bad he isn't going on a hunt now. It's a whopping seven endeavors this settlement phase. Oh... Right. No bones for innovation... unless...

1: Gormchymy! That's Albedo for settlement.
2: Matchmaker from Serhoa. It took two re-rolls, from Gomuli and Trelevari, but finally resulted in Tremuli.
3: Stone Noses
4-6: Rahlovia starts augury, which ends Simuli's life and has Golimato considering himself immortal.
7: Beahbewe checks if she's a better augur. Well, it's intimacy, but drains way too many re-rolls.
8: Beahbewe gains a point of understanding from trashing Butcher's lanters via augury.

By losing language there was actually very little for me to do during this settlement phase. No resources to build locations, no language for shared experience. No useful innovations. Augury and stone noses were, in matter of fact, only real choices. So the settlement got third nose and terrible, terrible auguries. 

Lantern Year 5 Hunt & Showdown: Gorm level 1

Since it's not going too well back in the settlement and I kind of want more Gorm armor pieces, Tremuli, Golimato, Rahlovia and Leiha begin hunt.

Tremuli steers survivors clear from a mourning bull. 

Flashing lights followed by head-splitting pain devastates survivors; Leiha becomes aichmophobic, Rahlovia is an unrelenting hoarder, and Golimato wastes team only re-roll because of brain trauma. At least the Immortal Golimato gained a little insanity from his ordeal, and even Ghostly Beauty disorder to boot. Interesting combo there. 

Gorm starts the showdown with posturing piss and backslapping Temuli, missing the attack. It looked like a promising start, but survivors missed every single attack they made. 

Gorm Eat & Runs Leiha down, while survivors do manage to make one wound, but then they start missing again. 

Survivors seem content with their rate of one wound to Gorm every two rounds, which could be sustainable if Gorm kept flailing as uselessly as survivors did. But, another mood came into play, Thunder Foot that was "upkept" by survivors triggering trap and everyone getting knocked down. 

Rate of wounds was reduced to one per three rounds and Gorm just flattened Tremuli. Rahlovia manages to break Bone Axe. Showdown was getting miserable, although not yet hopeless. 

And even if one-in-three was the new standard, at least Flatten was confined to wound stack after Rawhide Headband shenanigans.

Survivors had managed to dodge any meaningful attacks for a long time, but finally a few survivors were at zero survival remaining with multiple heavy injury levels. Fortunately the hunting party realized they need to stop whatever the hell they were doing before, and slapped three wounds in in a single turn along with tearing an active thyroid out of Gorm. Gorm was down to one AI card remaining, which was Scratch. 

They still spent three turns in taking the life of this mighty beast, but at least they did it with style - Tremuli made the killing blow with Rib Blade, scoring a critical and gaining an extra Stout Kidney.

Lantern Year 6 - Clinging Mist

Uhh... soo. The mist just wouldn't leave Decapitulium alone, now would it? So, Leiha, Tremuli, Golimato and Rahlovia start a new settlement. So... it will take a while indeed until I get to fight new monsters. Oh well.

So I guess I drop this update here. It's kind of a shame, as Decapitulium had a theme going on - it had four survivors decapitated already.