Moly cow

Lantern Year 4 Showdown - Butcher Level 1

Senaus, Chybele, Theus and Omena set out to defend the settlement. With great struggle survivors did a point of damage in to Butcher on first turn, and I believe it was second Butcher turn when the nemesis disemboweled Chybele. 

But that was the extent of Butcher's threat. Despite mauling Chybele almost turn after turn, he wasn't able to kill the disemboweled survivor. Survivors got their act together and were able to score two to four wounds per turn. 

It looked like Devour Lantern might become one of the cards left in deck, which certainly could have made things difficult... but even that threat didn't turn real. Relatively clean showdown, if we discount one meager disembowelment.

 Lantern Year 5: Stranger in the Dark

We thought we had a population of fourteen, but there had been a guy who responded to the name of Incognito, all along.

Chybele was nominated for Hands of Heat, and eventually her feet were branded. She really tried to form a tradition, but other people felt more like using branding irons.

Gorm Climate took off some re-rolls, too. We were not keen on losing innovations.

Benoira took the Sleeping Virus Flower.

Endeavors: 

1: Settlement innovates Face Painting
2-3: Face Painting by Gravemind and Hoki
4: Senaus makes a match out of the painted people, Grachio is born.
5: Chybele does the same, and a green savior, Fortuna, is born!
6: Theus attempts augury with no results. 

Lantern Year 5 Hunt & Showdown: Gorm level 1:

Senaus, Fortuna, Omena and Theus hunt the beast. Hunt is uneventful. Survivors manage to ambush Gorm, which already carved four wounds off from the quarry before it had drawn a single AI card. A couple of retches did some heavy injury levels, but that's it. Gorm was a total pushover. However, gained resources matched the challenge.

Lantern Year 6: Open Maw, again!

Returning survivors forget their name with Memory Haze. 

1: We had four survivors with no name, and one guy called Incognito. That was almost 33% of the population, so settlement innovated Family to better structure their names that seemed to get lost.
2: Polly jumps into Open Maw, returning courageous and with Hissing Cockroach and Cyclops Fly. Omena places the fly into her empty eye socket, and doesn't die.
3: Settlement special innovates Citrinitas.
4: Face-Painting for Intimacy
5: Nameless guy did some matchmaking anyhow, Tumbo and Hoki becoming the first family, Fifaly. They were blessed with a baby girl named Yalcapallo.

Lantern Year 6 Hunt & Showdown: Gorm level 1

First two showdowns were played with Tabletop Simulator, but what comes next was live games. Nameless guy with Twilight Sword, Incognito, nameless woman and Theuvo begin hunt. This whole thing was nothing but an appetizer. Gorm chips munch munch.

Lantern Year 7: Slender Blight

Slender Blight was to invert the survival and insanity of departing survivors.

Hooded knight paid a visit, dueling now nameless Twilight Sword wielder. Duel was lop-sided, and ended up with a gaping chest wound for the wielder.

1: Settlement innovates Clan of Death
2-3: Face Painting for Manda and Theus Bo.
4:  Matchmaker for Manda and Theus, Manaus Bo is born.
5: Augury for Manaus Bo, giving her +1 understanding.

Settlement develops Bone Axe and Manda and Theus drink a love potion to give Manaus a little brother, Pentska Bo.

Lantern Year 7 hunt & showdown: Gorm level 1

We just didn't want to give up on Gorm just yet, wanting those sweet pieces of armor instead. So, 

nameless Twilight Sword, Chybele, nameless daggerist and Theus begin hunt. Hunt wasn't big of a deal, but thanks to Slender Blight and a couple of advanced AI cards that got stuck in the last few cards gave an actual challenge no-one expected at this point. 

Lantern Year 8: Gorm Climate out of deck

Gorm Climate took a bunch of re-rolls, because it threatened the loss of innovations.

While Benoira watches the meteor flying up high, Manaus gazes at the dung ball rolling around in the distance.  Not sure if that leads to any sort of camaraderie, though.

1: Settlement innovates Bloodletting
2: Settlement builds Leather Crafter
3: Settlement cures leather
4:Matchmaker, Tumbo and Hoki receive Volibala, little brother to Yalcapallo.
5: Stone Noses.

Settlement develops Leather Cuirass, Dried Acanthus and Rib Blade

Lantern Year 8 hunt & showdown: Flower Knight level 1

Twilight Sword, Benoira, nameless daggerist and Theus begin the hunt.

Which was an emotional rollercoaster of sorts, as twilight sword guy was constantly losing and gaining access to use Twilight Sword. 

Benoira, our luck machine, got the Unlucky disorder just to eventually lose it.

 Flower Knight opened the showdown with an advanced card that pulled two survivors inside the fairy ring, and incidentally those were the worst armored. The knight lopped off Twilight Sword wielder's inner ears, making him deaf.

Although exciting in other ways, that was the most severe setback of the showdown. Eventually the knight calmed down a bit, and became much easier to handle.

Lantern Year 9: Dark Seamstress

Well there sure seems to be a few endeavors this time around. 

1: Settlement innovates Bed.
2: Nameless daggerist sleeps in bed, healing broken rib. 
3: Matchmaker for Mossman and Yalcapallo forms a new family and receives Vega Greenery. 
4-5: Round-Stone Training for Pentska and Benoira, both gain Tumble
6-7:  Shared Experience for Pentska and Benoira
8: Twilight Sword does augury intimacy for Mossman and Yalcapallo - both die despite Mossman's re-roll.
9: Twilight Sword does augury for +1 Understanding.
 10: Twilight Sword does augury for +1 survival.

Settlement develops Skull Helm. 

Lantern Year 9 showdown: Slenderman level 1

Benoira, Chybele, Pentska and Theus defend the settlement from this unknown threat.

It's been a long time since I was against the Slenderman, and I had... almost forgotten how distressing showdown that is. Those dmg 4 hits are scary, and the feeling of powerlessness and futility that comes from not being able to really fight back until the posse is together. It certainly only added to this theme, when the Slenderman opened with the advanced card that pushes everyone to a corner and attempts to ensnare. Survivors had started by tossing a Founding Stone at a location that inflicted two wounds on a critical.

Survivors got only two Dark Water from pod imprisonment thing, and one of those had to be used to clear Benoira's disorders so that she was able to pull Pentska or Theus back from the darkness, because they had three bleed tokens already. Benoira suffered a few nonpermanent injuries, one of which has her skip next hunt.

Slowly survivors grinded through Slenderman's AI cards and were victorious. Reward check was not that thrilling, though, because a one dropped.

Lantern Year 10: Cracks in the Ground

After a few re-rolls, settlement regained the lost Founding Stone.

1: Settlement uses Light Forging to craft gloom arrows. 
2-3: Failed auguries
4: Shared Experience for Incognito

Next it's going to be a level 2 something. Lacking Surge be damned.

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. 

Harvester, second take

 A friend visited over, and we continued our Kingdom Death campaign.

Lantern Year 17 hunt & showdown: Screaming Antelope level 3

Moldonial, Tyypi, Twyllaria and Maxaria start the hunt, which seems to be a misfortune after another. Carpet of ticks? Check. Harvester again? Check. Devoured grounds, okay, not too gross, poop and half eaten plants as far as eye can see. But right after we get piles of vomit. 

After overwhelming darkness a pit appeared below Tyypi and broke her leg. Dead bodies of four survivors were found from failed start, and then, dead antelope itself. 

Depressing.

The actual showdown was a bit lackluster thanks to the Antelope not doing much other than stomping and snorting. It did less than five actual attacks, all others were negated in one way or another. At least trample did some damage here and there, but no severe damage rolls had to be taken at all, and only one brain trauma. 

There was one threat, however. Moldonial had received Tunnel Vision from the harvester and Screaming Antelope had a couple of these reactions where attacker needed to spend an action to regain senses to attack... and Tunnel Vision lets you spend actions only to activate weapons. Moldonial was wounding the beast on 3+, and once he rolled a 2 in such a location. Fortunately axe proficiency helped there. 

Finally the Antelope was slain and it's resource deck was emptied. 

Lantern Year 18: Acid Storm

Settlement event was Acid Storm, and it gave us a scrap. 

We had only five endeavors as Maxaria had received post-traumatic stress disorder from Screaming Antelope's trap. 

Innovation choices were horrible. Partnership, Nigredo, Shadow Dancing and Face Painting. It was a toss between face painting and Nigredo, and in the end survival limit seemed a better choice. 

With tons of resources the settlement developed a few screaming armor pieces more and beast katars in double. 

1: Innovated Nigredo
2-3: Moldonial tries to use augury, fails
4: Moldonial cooks a delicious Venison Oco Busco for himself.
5: Twyllaria uses bloodletting, losing survival and gaining +1 understanding.

Hopefully we can step up the pace this year, because this campaign is going to take a while if we only play one lantern year in six months... 

...

NINJA UPDATE from 21st of May. I decided to add our tabletop simulator game into this update. 

Lantern Year 18 hunt & showdown: Gigalion level 3

Moldonial, Fatalia, Tyypi and Noitatsaved were the hunters. Hunt began easy and stayed easy. First we get Gigalion with Ground Fighting automatically on. Later, white lion cub gives a ton of resources and begins the showdown right away before Overwhelming Darkness.

And the beast just begins by doing nothing and once wounds started rolling in, it was only sizing up or doing something else inconsequential. Cheap victory? No. Gigantic Pendulous Paunch eventually had to be fished out by Moldonial, who took the job since his purpose was to die anyway.

Resulting severe injury was only a knockdown. Gigalion had taken around nine wounds or so, maybe a bit more. 

Maybe emboldened by this, Fatalia demonstrates the true meaning of her name. She went to strike Gigalion from blind spot, and obviously scored a reaction that had it move forward - taking Moldonial along with it for a second six damage grab. Although Moldonial was supposed to die anyway. Just no quite yet when there were so mane AI cards left...

A lot rested on Tyypi's shoulders now. 

Fortunately she was able to score well aimed shots at the quarry. But she had only understanding of four, meaning she had to take three brain damage each time she made one aimed attack.

Trap broke Fatalia's back, and post-trap hit locations were horrifying. Pendulous Paunch and one with basic attack with extra damage wound reaction. Soon enough Tyypi had to start taking brain traumas.

Which she did quite well, actually. It was around the fourth or fifth that finally came up as the dreaded "1-2". 

So, Fatalia's back had been broken so she was out of the game. Noitatsaved was dedicated support and armed with only Rib Blade. In the end, the often mocked "Ground Fighting" actually took out any chance of winning the day. A total party wipe!

Lantern Year 19 - Dark Trader

Urgh. Population fell down to ten, which fortunately meant two endeavors for us.

First was to innovate Family. 

Second innovation still waits resolution.

To Fell a Tree

Lantern Year 15 special showdown - Lonely Tree level 2

 Moldonial, Tyypi, Noitatsaved and Fatalia convinced apathetic, twice contractured and dismembered Twix to eat a delicious fruit they had found. Much to everyone's surprise the treat did cheer up Twix! Kind of, because he died.

 This showdown revealed how, how do they say - dope? Synchronized Strike is when fully built with Forbidden Dance and Heart Flute. Fatalia would have been tossed around the board, as well as given 2 bleed tokens for multiple people if the reactions triggers had not been changed to failures. 

People were still drawn over the board, though, but as far as reactions and AI cards go, this was more preferable than getting damage 6 explosions in the face.

When Moldonial was thrown to the corner on turn 1, it was slightly concerning - it wouldn't be until two rounds had passed when he'd be able to deliver those bites and punches to the tree. Tyypi with her Vespertine bow and +1 speed and +1 accuracy was quite adept in missing shots and rolling four or below when wounding. But her main purpose was to check the hit locations with Cat Eye Circlet anyway.

Noitatsaved was also missing all her Rib Blade attacks. So an unlikely hero appears. Fatalia with one missing eye actually scores most wounds to the monster with Counter-Weighted Axe. But Tyypi and Moldonial want to steal their share of glory, when Moldonial finally arrives at the scene and delivers three wounds, leaving the tree with one AI card remaining. Tyypi activates, walks next to the tree and uses Heroic fighting art with Bone Axe, which was a proper thing to do. 

Fatalia did six wounds, Tyypi four, Moldonial three and the tree itself had two moods in play. 

Settlement receives five resources from the fruits, as well as Blistering Plasma Fruit. 

Lantern Year 15 hunt & showdown - Screaming Antelope level 2

Noitatsaved, Tyypi, Fatalia and Twyllaria are the nominated hunters. During hunt Twyllaria continuously loses all her survival. Hunt isn't very exciting as most results just boil down to "and then nothing happened", except that Twyllaria also finds Oda from path of brave during overwhelming darkness.

Showdown started horrendously. After first Vespertine Bow attack from Tyypi, all survivors were knocked down. Now and then Antelope makes for some scary traps. Next few rounds Antelope spends trampling and biting Fatalia, but fortunately she survives with only collapsed lung and being disemboweled.

Fight took far longer than it was supposed to - and this was all because of Infested trait that came up early. The amount of missing-to-wound-by-one was staggering. Also three or four traps wasn't much for help either.

Twyllaria was our dedicated tank, so it was her who wasn't attacked even once, or even trampled over even just one time.

But once survivors got their stuff together and quit the habit of failing hard at everything, the showdown was a pushover.

Lantern Year 16: Weird Dream

We had Hands of Heat on timeline, and since we received 17 resources and had equal amount in storage, we pretty much just got to shuffle around our resources. At least Weird Dream gave a few endeavors for us.

Settlement develops the final missing piece from Screaming armor and Leather Shield.

1: Settlement innovated Bloodletting
2: Love Juice and Augury gives settlement two new babies, Maxaria and Sibmux.
3-4: Failed Forbidden Dances for Sibyllaria and Oda
5-6: Synchronized Strike for Maxaria and Twyllaria
7: Leather for shield crafting.

Next we have Manhunter level 3 coming up. 

The end is nigh

Shadowbrook and the nearby areas are nearing a total extinction of heroes, as our Touch of Evil campaign continues with one additional game via Tabletop Simulator. 

Game was Heinrich the Cartwright and Victor Danforth versus The Ghost Ship.

For once the shadow track took a slow and steady decline into darkness, which would have given heroes time to gear up. In theory, at least. As it turned out there were sporadic Ghost Pirate sprees, getting almost all of their counters on the map. Heroes needed to react to them, but the fights against those damnable pirates were awfully unlucky. 

Victor spent a whole lot of time in spewing out events, most of which were sub-par. 

Heinrich at least manages to find two pieces of cursed gold, and enough weapons and assorted gear to equal nine fight dice. Victor had cunning 6 and tools of science.

Suddenly shadow track was in its last stage to darkness, and heroes had to start the showdown way too early. Fortunately there was only one evil elder, although he did have the darkest secret.

Heroes had to assemble hunting party blindly, and we took Reverend Harding. And look at that. A second darkest secret, plus accompanied betrayal.

Ghost Ship had 32 wounds, and heroes managed to remove only thirteen out of them.

Good night, Heinrich and Victor.

Campaign Statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper, Dreamweaver, Werewolf, Unspeakable Horror, Necromancer

Villains still to be defeated: 2, +2 investigation vs Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul, Karl, Eliza, Dr. Edwards, Sara the Bright Witch, Heinrich Cartwright, Victor Danforth
Heroes remaining: 2

Stashed investigation: 3

Ten

 Whoa, hey! It didn't take a year since Maurala settlement in the world of Kingdom Death got updated with additional misery. And we can thank Tabletop Simulator for that. It was clunky and tiresome and you couldn't play around with nifty miniatures, but at least lantern years pass.

Residents of Maurala wanted to cure Moldonial of his flower addiction, so we hunted for Flower Knight level 2 for lantern year 10. 

Hunt phase showered Moldonial, Padoral, Sibylla and... Pudge with courage and understanding and major boosts from triggered insights This was until Forest Wants What It Wants. Then, just about all survivors lost all leg armor and took a point of damage to head that ignored armor. 

Fight itself was carefully executed and it ended up with Flower Knight executed. We managed without a single severe injury roll, but only barely. Pudge and Sibylla would have started getting them on most hit locations. 

Showdown would have, again, been far more difficult if it wasn't for the almightiness of the Vespertine Bow. I'll probably house rule it as Cumbersome in my future solo playthroughs.

Anyway, survivors were victorious.

Lantern Year 11: Nickname.

Settlement event gave us a division of sorts. All my friends survivors had their name end with ... of the Antelope, and both of mine were that of the Lion. Go figure. A short moment of merriment like that was soon abolished when The Hand came and was about to carve four survivors plus Lantern Oven in two. Next session will begin with a showdown against the Hand.

Since the showdown was so successful, settlement phase was much less so. Maurala did erect Weapon Crafter, and settlement innovated Forbidden Dance and gave Synchronized Strike to Padoral and Moldonial. One augury gave us an intimacy right away, which gave us a dead mother right away. 

UPDATE:

We played The Hand showdown already, so I'm tacking it on to this blog post. It was standard procedure how you handle The Hand. Nohaus, Maximus, Baby of Silence and Moldonial challenged the godlike monster, and each survived until (and past) the applause. Maximus was left psychically scarred with Controlophobia, and Nohaus was left physically scarred with gaping chest wound, but other than that it was only success for Maurala. Baby of Silence gained +1 strength, accuracy and evasion, while Moldonial and Nohaus gained only +1 strength. Maximus was content with only surviving the clapping of applause and not dying. 

Cornered Locations

One quick game of A Touch of Evil via Tabletop Simulator.

It was a continuation of our long running campaign with a friend.

This time we were up against the Necromancer, which I consider one of the more if not the most difficult encounters of the game. Especially with only two players. Because of this we took two extra investigation per hero from our campaign stash, and spent one investigation to draw two heroes and choose either one. 

We had some luck to receive Karl the Zombie Killer in our pool of heroes. Karl is especially good against the most frequent spawn of the Necromancer, the Walking Dead. They have four combat dice, but hit only on 6+, and Karl ignores first hit during every fight round.

Another character was Sara the Bright Witch. Initial plan was to make Karl invulnerable with her Aura of Protection.

But the very first zombie the heroes faced must have been an ancient warlord or something. It took over five fight rounds for Karl to carve through it, and he went to one wound remaining with Aura of Protection. I guess campaign rules caused bad karma, and game wanted to rob us of our resources right from the start.

Sara single-handedly beat her first zombie. She visited Manor and entered the Forgotten Island via secret passage. She drew a +3 combat pistol she couldn't use. But at least she'd be able to carry it for Karl, right? Right??

Yes and no. She managed to get knocked down as she tried to grind some investigation points to get Sacred Chalice. But the zombie guarding the Monastery was a cousin of the first zombie, and ate through Sara's Aura of Protection, leaving Sara knocked down with just one investigation point, a horse, and the pistol. 

On mystery phase she rolled 2 for lost investigation. She had lost it all, except for the magic pistol.

Karl visited Abandoned Keep, and after losing one investigation from a collapse, he found the Rogue's Rapier. 

These two visits to corner locations were the only times heroes were able to do it in this game. 

Such is the nature of the Necromancer.

But thanks to some lucky events and courses of action, Karl was able to afford silver bullets and pistol. He did receive -1 combat Devil's Mark. Coupled with the magic pistol from Sara and Magistrate Kroft, Karl sported ten fight dice once we started showdown. He had also managed to train his Spirit & Cunning to 8, unlike Sara. 

Sara's most accomplished deed over the course of the game was to bring magic pistol for Karl. In the showdown she also prevented a total of four wounds from Karl, so her contribution wasn't negligible. But she scored no wounds to the villain, and didn't succeed to kill Mayor Carver, the Shadow's Puppet, first time she tried with three dice and a re-roll. Second time with four dice and a re-roll she got through with her spell of death. 

Karl, however, did the dirty work. It was toughest showdown in a while - for two rounds victory hinged solely on a roll of 5+ if Necromancer killed Magistrate Kroft and brought Shadow Track to 0. He didn't, so heroes saved Shadowbrook from the most oppressive of villains. 

Campaign Statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper, Dreamweaver, Werewolf, Unspeakable Horror, Necromancer

Villains still to be defeated: 2, +1 investigation vs Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 8

Stashed investigation: 4

It's Golden

Fifty games of A Touch of Evil in this blog after this update. 

Which continues the long-running (currently at six years) campaign. And starts to look like it might one day be over.

Villain was Unspeakable Horror, to whom we had lost Katarina the Outlaw and Frederic Leon earlier. Was it to devour the souls of Heinrich Cartwright and Eliza the Witch Hunter?

Maybe, because on round two there was already one dead town elder and three (3) evil elders. All the elders of the coastal town had revealed their rotten core right from the start.

Early in the game the heroes had to suffer At Mightnight, They Come and the game saw at least the appearance of The Heretic, Matriach of Silence and The Outcast. 

Fallen demons were sprouting all over the countryside of Shadowbrook, and their 4+ to ignore a wound was a nuisance that caused a few greedy knock outs. But other than that the fight against Unspeakable Horror was rather steady. Shadow Track was surprisingly stable - probably again thanks to not too many Murders being committed. 

Doctor Manning was struck dead by the villain, then revived by Eliza, only to be killed again by her. Just wondering who's the real villain here.  

Sophie and Magistrate Kroft went mad from encountering the ancient demon, and Lady Hanbrook was seen running all around the locations until she was betrayed by, well, a Betrayer. 

Turning point for the game was when Eliza found Cross of Kandor, Family Bible, Sacred Stone and even had the Sacred Chalice - that was +8 fight dice on command. Heinrich had been keeping a collection of your everyday tools such as hatchets, axes and pitchforks - all the while being possessed by perhaps another demon, rival to Unspeakable Horror.

Half of the board was filled with summoning circles, but the rolls of 3+ were merciful. And the procession of cultists was sluggish at best, which was perhaps suggesting the heroes were hunting a greater demon of sloth after all.

This all culminated in a 30 fight dice attack with silver bullets against the villain when showdown began. The Ancient Evil stood no chance, and Katarina and Frederic Leon were avenged.

 Campaign statistics

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper, Dreamweaver, Werewolf, Unspeakable Horror
Villains still to be defeated: 3, +1 investigation vs Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 8

Stashed investigation: 8

Reaper of Reapers

Sara, the Bright Witch and Doctor Edwards continued the Touch of Evil two-player campaign.

The Grim Reaper was our villain.

I had remembered the Reaper to be a rough villain, and probably it would have been if it wasn't for the astonishing luck of heroes.

Did Sara and Edwards actually draw even one negative corner location? I can't remember, but it was few indeed. Not a single murder was played throughout the game, and only one town elder died - and even that was in the hands of heroes via Traitor's Blood mystery card. Heck, also a lightning bolt struck Doctor Edwards straight in the head, and he took zero wounds without Sara's interference.

Grim Spectres were most problematic asset at Reaper's disposal, but in the end they served just to fuel the disgusting amount of investigation points heroes eventually had. Throughout the entire game we maybe drew three or four extra mystery cards despite constant presence of Spectres. Seemed like Reaper would absolutely not stand a chance in the actual showdown.

In the actual showdown, that is.

To even things out the Reaper called out for a Surprise Showdown. Sara was rolling six dice, and after the first showdown round Doctor Edwards was able to muster five Fight Dice. Reaper only had three Fight Dice, but sixteen wounds. And each hit it does is two wounds.

Well, the villain had its chance but it didn't amount to much. The heroes waltzed through the shadow of the valley of death, had a picnic and came back to wait for a proper challenge.

This is one of the first, if not the first time heroes have been able to win the villain during surprise showdown. Well, the campaign needed this. Now heroes at least outnumber the villains, if even only by one.


Campaign statistics

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper
Villains still to be defeated: 7, +1 investigation vs Werewolf and Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 8

Stashed investigation: 7

Unspeakable March of Horror

Touch of Evil campaign continued virtually once more after the bitter defeat of last time.

Katarina the Outlaw and Frederic Leon were against Unspeakable Horror. We decided to take two extra investigation points from our stashed campaign investigation.

Soon enough Katarina and Frederic were both KO'd and at zero investigation points, so those extras were essentially wasted.

Although Shadow Track was moving mercifully slowly, it didn't help much when heroes did next to no progress. Both heroes gained a lot of events, but even there were no especially good ones.

Early in the gave five elders had turned their coat and worshiped the Horror. Usually Surprise Showdown is only a negative experience, but this time we managed to take down three of the evil elders.

Surprise Showdown showed signs of what could have been a turning point for the heroes. And maybe it could have been, if it wasn't again the Sacred Chalice getting lost on second Mystery cancellation.

In this game, Brother Janus fell from atop the Inn, was murdered by those of his own creed as well as becoming a sacrifice you just have to make.

In the end there were quite a few minions on board, and March of Darkness triggered twice in one mystery phase. Shadow track was then sitting at a steady number of 3, except that then the murders started pouring in. Lair showed villain to be at the furthest possible point from heroes, so we didn't even get to fight.

Good night Katarina and Frederic. Another heroes will come to pull you back from the Void.

Campaign statistics

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee
Villains still to be defeated: 8, +1 investigation vs Werewolf and Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 8

Stashed investigation: 6

One More Revenge

So I was finally lured into continuing A Touch of Evil campaign via Tabletop Simulator.

Recently, we've been having some good luck in our campaign. That was about to change.

We tried to vanquish our nemesis, the Shadow Witch. And from the very first round of the game it seemed apparent we'd have a very rough road. Two Spectres spawned on turn 1, one of which was fortunately removed right away. But still. During the whole game there was not a single round we'd draw only one mystery card in a turn. Even first turn was compromised when Brother Marcus entered The Marsh, and... did not draw an event.

You know how cats are usually drawn to those who like them least? Solomon was no exception either. He made acquaintances with Brother Marcus very soon after game started - but only after Brother Marcus, who sports a Cunning value of 1, received Devil's Mark that gave -1 Cunning.

It gives a good idea how vehemently the game treated us, when Brother Marcus finally entered The Coast board (where both Shadow Spectres were), there was a cave-in in Smugglers Cove that threw him right back to Abandoned Keep.

Our other hero, Anne-Marie the Schoolteacher didn't find a single book in the game. She was able to buy Sacred Chalice, which could have saved us if it wasn't third or fourth Mystery card that removed it from the game. Sure, such were the probabilities anyway. But we would have needed a little extra there.

At worst, we had to draw three mystery cards per turn and roll 4+ to see if we needed to draw additional mysteries.

When Shadow Track fell five whole steps in one round, it was about the time to start showdown. With no gear, events, nothing.

Grandest accomplishment must have been surviving the first Showdown fight round, although...

Oh. It wasn't any accomplishment at all, now that I take a closer look. We forgot all about Shadow Witch gaining extra combat dice from Remains In Play - which Brother Marcus already had two. Both were Devil's Mark, by the way.

So we accidentally cheated and survived one showdown fight round, where Shadow Witch rolled only eleven dice, as well as hitting on 4+ from Laying in Wait.

So... now we got less than half of heroes remaining.


Campaign statistics

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee
Villains still to be defeated: 8, +1 investigation vs Werewolf and Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 10

Stashed investigation: 10

Heinrich Have You Been Drinking Again?

Touch of Evil campaign continues with the aid of Tabletop Simulator.

This time Heinrich the Cartwright and Katarina the Outlaw are solving a strange mystery of having the church gargoyle along with smaller grotesques killing people in plain sight and jumping up and down on Heinrich Cartwright, mocking him crudely.

From early on it looked like Katarina would be the real - and only - star in this game. Heinrich had one of the unluckiest games for a hero character I have witnessed. He moved more often during mystery phase than on his own turn - and that was to run away from a fight at Town Hall. He had no investigation to heal, or stats to fight grotesques. When he actually got to play his own turn, he usually had at least two wounds from the escape fight.

When he astonishingly had some investigation to patch himself up at Doctor's Office, that was when he rolled the "1" for lingering. Nope, Heinrich. In this game your destiny is to only heal through suffering. But what do the villagers think, seeing you lying on the ground all the time with bloodshot eyes and splitting head ache?

The only turn when he got to Abandoned Keep to draw actual location cards, well, he drew Dark Keep. And failed the test. So Shadow Track fell by two. Looked like safest play for heroes would be to keep Heinrich permanently knocked out.

At least Katarina was doing better. That was until she got stuck in Olde Woods for six turns thanks to Shifting Woods. She had Skilled Hand and the chalice to remove mystery cards, so that eased our game for a while. It was lost on some useless Mystery Card that would spawn minions. But situation was grim - Katarina was locked in woods and Heinrich was not able to do anything to minions on board.

But then, after the long wait Katarina was able to come back from the woods, and all hell broke loose. She could spend 22 investigation points at Blacksmith at her leisure, and still have a safety belt against knock-outs with 6+ investigation.

And she did get knocked down. Once. During whole game. Compared to 10+ times of Heinrich.

But even Heinrich started to fare a little better once Katarina was out of the woods. That's probably due to whole board not being that populated with minions. He also found crossbow pistol from abandoned keep that helped him at least on a couple of occasions against Grotesques that were being hit only on 6+.

Katarina also found memory of forever, which gave her three more fight dice against the villain.

Heinrich, well, Heinrich was constantly arguing over everything. Probably first time during my history of playing Touch of Evil one hero had all three "I think not!" cards simultaneously. Shadow track was on the last space before last red stage when we started showdown. Mostly we did it because we drew mystery card that lowered shadow track by two each time hero was KO'd, and finally Widow Jessica transformed into werewolf elder. That wasn't a good combination, especially as we had one sorry drifter in our team.

Lies and Deceit that had been rolled many times had revealed three evil elders. Heinrich tried to redeem one of them, but obviously failed, as he had done the whole game.

Gargoyle's lair was in the church, which was somehow fitting even if it was a modest village church instead of a grand cathedral.

Showdown wasn't very exciting. Villain's bad luck on fight dice was amazing once again. But then on the other hand, Katarina mostly had to be able to defeat villain by herself. Well, Heinrich was able to kill two evil elders and inflict five wounds on the villain, so that was far more than anyone expected.

Katarina, by comparison, dealt fourteen wounds and killed one evil elder.




Campaign statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle
Villains still to be defeated: 9, +1 investigation vs Werewolf and Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 12

Stashed investigation: 9

Sunk Again

To continue ongoing campaign of A Touch of Evil, we decided to try out the Tabletop Simulator version.

Villain was randomized to Sunken Seven. Heroes we got were Sara, the Bright Witch and Doctor Edwards. And what a combination that was! Sara was able to prevent KO wounds for Doctor Edwards, who could then heal himself.

Heroes had astonishing luck when it came to attribute tokens - both heroes had at least five tokens at the end of the game. Well, Doctor Edwards' luck was also astonishing - three times he attempted to gain +1 spirit token from Church, and three times he failed. First with Honor of 5, and later with Honor 7.

Shadow track was merciful in this game, which gave Sara quite an advantage. Pace was almost peaceful. Almost.

Once again Sacred Chalice disappeared after first use.

Both heroes had four bone piles from defeated hauntings at the end of the game. We could have tried to fight a couple more hauntings, but then came this Remains in Play card that lowered Shadow Track by two each time hero got KO'd.

During showdown villain attack rolls were absurd. It must have been in the top 3 of games with worst luck for the villain during showdown. We had Reverend Harding in our hunting party, and twice in a row Sunken Seven failed to kill him - despite having four dice against him.

Edwards had no investigation points when showdown started, but turned out he didn't really need those. There was one round where out of the 9 attack dice villain had against Edwards, he received only one wound.

So it was a straightforward victory for heroes. Well, the campaign needed this but still. One of the most perplexing game of A Touch of Evil. And not because the table was a virtual one.



Campaign statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven
Villains still to be defeated: 10, +1 investigation vs Werewolf and Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 12

Stashed investigation: 8