I’ve mentioned that I am playing a second settlement on the side with a friend of mine a few times before and today we suffered a most unfortunate loss.., our frogdog-set wearing survivor drew Vestiphobia (D).

But we are here in Bogstop, where the bog don’t stop and the frogdogs sing in the unbroken darkness.

As our survivors make their way back home we are surprised by this year’s settlement event: Startling Barks! A random survivor was picked and I rolled on the table for Mars – the recently risen all-star. He continued his lucky streak by rolling really high and getting an ability for himself: Gravel Guts – which was a nice +1 to severe injuries to the body and he could ignore intimidate actions as well.

As we got back to the settlement we took stock of what we had got and, well, if nothing else, we should be able to finish that leather set this year and have a few things left over still.
But first things first.., the hunt for Song of the Brave (I) continued, so we innovated.
This year’s choice was between Scrap Smelting and Shrine. I could start mentioning how much I liked Shrine again at this point, but, truth be told, I do prefer Lantern Glaives even more. So, I guess, a switch got flipped and I picked Scrap Smelting and started looking at opportunities to build that Blacksmith immediately. If I were to forgo everything else.., the small devil on my shoulder whispered. Or was it a small frogdog?

In the end I built a Blast Shield, Dragonskull Helm and the missing leather bracers. I also made one more dried acanthus and lastly we tutored Glow with our final endeavor. Calys was just far enough ahead still to do this one last time as we picked up the pattern for the Mage’s Hood as Glow (+1STR) aged up.

I’ve spent a long time this year trying to figure out what I wanted to hunt. Should I continue going after Dragon Kings? I did kinda want to do that.. Or have a look at the Dung Beetle Knight? I couldn’t help but feel afraid of that one.
As I felt our weapons lacking for either of the fights, and me suddenly shifting my focus to the Blacksmith, I figured I should just get some resources piled up. And, as the adage went: when in doubt, hunt a lope.

This year’s hunters:
Selen (frogdog set, twilight sword)
Sir Hermes (leather set, bone club)
Lelia (various armor bits, blast shield)
Mars (rawhide set, scrap sword)

We just needed to pray the lope did not have an appetite for twilight swords again..

With the Feline Entity in place, the hunt began as it normally would: by noodling. Mars has had an incredible streak of just yanking out copper and today it just carried on as he rolled another 6.
Apparently we did take too long though as all we found afterwards were signs of a large scale Migration.
Pressing onwards after the lopes, on top of a hill close by we found a strangely welcome sight: A Dying Small Prospector (basic HE97). Almost gleefully we took the portcullis key and made note of this discovery as we could barely hold off from scavenging more from the body.
The next large plane before us was nothing but Devoured Grounds, but after a quick heart attack later we stumble upon Monster Droppings (basic HE11) at least. Lelia was able to learn something from the findings as we surged ahead, leaping, bounding. We were On The Trail (basic HE36). This moved us onto Overwhelming Darkness.., which did not actually help us. Worst off was Selen this time around, as she started lashing out wildly at each and every one of us, and was only quelled once she had punched each of us at least once.

As we continued the hunt Lelia investigated a Vomit Pile and whilst Mars found the remnants of a half-digested survivor – a skull – she couldn’t help but throw up and lost her monster grease in the deluge.
Still, we were, once again, On The Trail (basic HE36), and surged ahead one more time! The antelope was sickly and we were ought to be catching up to the monster at this point. But it wasn’t only the lope that was ailing – this whole area was. Rotten Faces (basic HE30) were everywhere and each step broke another visage beneath us. Carefully pushing on – rolling between 6 and 9 for all of us – we escaped this wretched landscape without incident.
Then we finally were able to corner the antelope!

Level 2 of the Screaming Antelope adds Diabolical. This trait sends the antelope running at or over a random survivor positioned in one of the cardinal directions to the monster. And if it collides or passes of a survivor, the antelope will trigger its signature monster level amount of damage via its other trait, Trample.

15 cards in the deck, the first card drawn was Ravenous. That wasn’t a great one to see first. Of course, the first attack from the antelope typically misses and this time was no different. It came running at us but fell short, whilst Diabolical did not find a target, which forced it to just full move forward again.

As it arrived in our midst, Mars and Lelia ran up towards the acanthus growing towards the center of the board. Mars, wearing a rawhide set, even dashed forward to get an immediate attempt at gathering the herbs, but he only got bitten in the hand.
Lelia was the first to swing at the monster and she hit with a 9 for 7STR before her dice roll, this meant she would easily wound before moving towards the acanthus as well.
Sir Hermes engaged the monster to finish of the first turn – he got a perfect hit – getting an overpowering 36 total on his wound attempt. No crit and only 1 wound though. Club Mastery could not come soon enough.

With 13 cards remaining the antelope drew Bite, attacking Sir Hermes, the only one left close by. It scored 1 hit on 4+ as Sir Hermes dodged it to circumvent the attached bleed. Finally the lope ran him over.

Mars began by encouraging Sir Hermes before plucking at another acanthus, this time managing to the get the resource – yay! Lelia also picked one, whilst Selen only got bit in the arm.
Sir Hermes swung – even hit the monster – but rolled a 1 for his roll to wound – nothing.

13 cards remaining, it drew Gore. The monster bolted away and charged at Sir Hermes, but missed outright. Frustrated it trampled over him once more.

Just 2 more acanthus to go. Lelia picked one, but found nothing at all before she encouraged Sir Hermes again – the game plan was just that simple.
Selen was already set up to help deal with the lope, so she moved back and began pumping up her armor (frogdog vest‘s ability can add 1 armor to all hit locations wearing armor for an activation – Edit: that’s wrong it adds armor to 1 spot wearing armor. Again, this mistake will be present throughout the campaign. I am sorry.).
Mars also picked up one more fresh acanthus (SR) before he began making his way towards the fight.
Sir Hermes swung – but missed again.

13 cards remaining, still, it drew Chow Down! And just as we got done picking weeds. No acanthus left, meant a basic attack. With no knocked down survivors around, this in turn meant the monster would go for its instinct.., to graze. Which, with no acanthus, meant it would just run off in a straight line. And with nobody in the trample zone it would move straight onwards again,

Thanks to the +2 from the screaming bracers to terrain activations, Lelia was able to pick a broken lantern off of the nightmare tree and she began making her way over to the vermin patch.
Selen blocked as we all just repositioned.

13 cards remaining and I had a minor deja vu. It drew Bite again. This time the monster headed for Selen. Only 1 hit, which the spiked buckler blocked, but the retaliation effect failed and she got trampled.

Lelia got a Crab Spider (V) from the final piece of terrain she could interact with and would from then on be trying to take part in the fight again. Selen was encouraged as she swung into the blind spot of the monster with the twilight sword and wounded fairly easily. Trying to not risk the sword unnecessarily she would head for the tree next.

Mars then came running in, swinging wildly, he scored 2 hits, critting on 8+, we did roll exactly an 8 on the furry throat, gaining a screaming brain before we could attempt the cash in on the insta kill – which failed on a 9 – so close! A second wound followed afterwards.
Mars surged and scored two more hits, getting another crit on the first wound attempt, hacking off a spiral horn.

But he did get punished for his aggression as the reflex on the second card sent a basic attack his way. Getting lucky once again, he was merely hit once, in the body.
Sir Hermes finished the turn by dashing in and swinging for 1 more wound.

8 cards remaining, Back Kick was the next card that came off the deck. Targeting Mars, the antelope turned and.., missed all attacks! Quickly realizing its failure, the lope trampled Sir Hermes again.

As per usual, Sir Hermes got encouraged and he swung yet again. He managed to just about hit and wound the creature to avoid his weapon being devoured.
Mars ran in again, swinging and hitting the trap! It had to happen at some point. The positioning wasn’t terrible for us and the lope would just shoot off into the distance not running anybody over so the only real consequence was that Mars took a brain trauma. Having picked Accept Darkness for the settlement we got a static +2 to brain trauma rolls and Mars merely got knocked down with a 9.

Selen wanted to take her time with the tree, but she just rolled really well and secured us another broken lantern. Meanwhile, Lelia re-engaged the lope but missed.

7 cards remaining, Crush and Devour. Oh no.
Lelia got gobbled up. Oh, no.
She did manage to fight back valiantly whilst being masticated, avoiding the loss of a limb, but she got chewed on pretty well taking damage to all hit locations.
Diabolical helped us in this case, as the lope ran towards the rest of the survivors, stopping just in front of Selen.

We needed to deal at least 2 wounds asap, so Lelia would get spit out.
Selen had lured the antelope back towards her, so she swung instantly for 1 wound. She surged as well and, on a perfect hit, the monster was wounded yet again – not able to keep Lelia in the undermaw, dropping her to the floor, Lelia was clutching a large flat tooth as a prize!
The moment of panic had already passed. Lelia did attempt her revenge, but the fear in the monster’s eyes was too much for her.
Sir Hermes would follow up on all of commotion though, dashing in and bonking it for one more wound.
Mars swung twice with all his survival spent at that point, but it was all for naught.

3 cards remaining. It drew Bite. I felt like I got lucky there. The chance for either hitting Ravenous and another Crush and Devour was menacing.
The lope picked Selen as its target and only hit her once. She dodged the hit but took the trample.

Just one more push and this would be over with.
Selen got encouraged by Lelia and moved aside, just blocking. I’d rather not risk the twilight sword at this point.
Mars was up next, swinging and hitting twice. 1 quick wound, followed by an equally quick critical hit – that took away all potentially dangerous draws. Phew.
Lelia followed up on this and got another wound with her shield.

Sir Hermes could be the one to end this.., but his swing missed wholly.
Lelia was still able to surge but also missed.
It did come down to Mars spending his +1STR-token via Red Fist (SFA) on Sir Hermes to surge. 2 more hits. More importantly: no trap.
1 last crit.
It was done.

The Feline Entity did lay claim to the kill though.

It was a somewhat drawn out fight, but as soon as we were done touching grass, it died pretty quickly.
I cannot help but panic every time I see Crush and Devour come up though. I guess I’m still traumatized from my first 2 settlements.

AS for rewards: Selen (+1ACC) and Mars (Giant’s Blood FA) hit age 1, whilst Sir Hermes (+1STR) hit age 2. And everybody got some weapon proficiency. Only 1 more point for Sir Hermes until he has mastered the club!
This will likely mean that I will take on a “safe” quarry again next year to get the mastery with fairly little risk involved.
And nobody died to 20 insanity (highest in the group being only at 6).

We took the somewhat untypical +1 basic resource from scavenger kit, hoping for a perfect hide – which we did not get.

As the survivors around Sir Hermes make their way back home to Bogstop we find ourselves in the grasp of Thanksgiving / Black Friday week. Just a couple more days until the big sale and update hit and I couldn’t be more exited. Let’s hope for some nice discounts, interesting naked bundles, cool new releases and tantalizing infos on what is to come!
I’ve more or less made up my mind about my personal wish-list, some of which I wrote out at the end of the last post here,

I do have a somewhat special offering planned for Black Friday, and I will also have a look at the update by the weekend as well.

So, thank you very much for your time, until then and try not to lose a finger in the acanthus fields,
Amathul