A surprising amount of stuff happened since the last time we checked in on Azure Pond. The Tyrant suddenly lost a once very promising looking flock to being flung off the Inverted Mountain – shortly after having a survivor ascend into blessed communion with Storm, we got the monthly update for May, I had to retire my beautiful hashtag because my Gorm finally arrived (not that it did anything – still #wheremygormat? will be remembered) and I, at least, got through 2 Nightlords before solo players got buffed in ER-NR.

But I’m not going to linger on such distractions for long this time. Instead I’m going to fall asleep while writing this. Err…

With bags filled with loot the group led by Alissa headed back home to Azure Pond. We collected 5 endeavors again thanks to the 1 tinker in the group, and were ready to dive into this Lantern Year’s events – including a story event!

But first – of course – the settlement event:
A Heat Wave struck!
How very fitting as we also got the event Sun Dipping for the first time! As beams of light hit the ground all around the settlement, the most courageous.. or optimistic .. or questionably inclined .. prepared to cleanse themselves in the all revealing light from above.

As we began our prayers to not get incinerated, those willing to brave the celestial trial formed groups of two and the settlement gained Partnership (I) for free.
At the time we had 3 purified survivors in the settlement. Alissa, Granite and Reef. From these 3 only Reef and Alissa made sense to me as a pair, thus, armed with 9 rerolls, the leader of our settlement stepped forth into the scorching light. And her streak continued unaided and unabated!
Another 10 – the two were bonded as partners and both gained Sun Eater (SFA), essentially allowing them to use Surge. Alissa was indeed blessed (for now?) and destined to be the settlement’s central figure! Furthermore, their next child would be somebody really special.

We did begin our develop step by innovating and we got quite the choice to make this time: Ammonia, Paint, Hovel or Hands of the Sun.
I knew which one I should take almost immediately, as with dash we would likely be able to fight Lvl2 lions at the very least, but the other options were just so juicy as well.
It took a while to get her to cooperate, but I had the Feline Entity chose what to innovate and she picked Paint as well. It was the obvious choice to begin with to be fair but having celestial back-up could only be a good sign.

Looking at the 2nd level from Sacred Pool, we wanted to save the Bladder and the Golden Whisker we got last year, you know, just in case.
I will admit that I knew we were going to need a number of resources to get to lvl2 of the location, but not how many or when. It would however make some sense if it were next year, looking over the event time-line as a whole.

After I got done speculating, we built a bunch of stuff regardless. Bone Knuckles, Screaming Horns, Screaming Leg Warmers, Rawhide Pants and Rawhide Boots to finish the 2nd set and 2 Dried Acanthus.

With our crafting for the lantern year mostly done we moved on to spending our remaining 4 endeavors left. And as far as I was concerned, I just had to have Alissa and Reef drink the Sacred Water. They would get a ridiculous bonus to the rolls for intimacy – +12! – and I couldn’t pass on that just to see what happens.
At that high a bonus even the 2 turned into a 14. And in a sudden flash of darkness we witnessed a Solar Eclipse. In such an auspicious moment a Child of the Sun was born, at the cost of both parents’ Sun Eater (SFA).
Young Helios was born with an additional +1STR/SPD and I’m wondering what else this might do in the long run.
Was this worth it? I’m not sure at this point in time, but I’m sure I’ll find out eventually. If I want to or not.

2 more endeavors went to purifying Lionar, and with the final one, with all the bones we had still left over, in an attempt to prepare for the future, I built the Weapon Crafter.
As I was putting the hunters together for the year I noticed how well the Scrap Lantern would activate with most of the gear grids and built 1 and gave it to Calys for an additional +1ACC.

The Hunters:
Felis – green (Rawhide Armor, Beast Knuckles)
Alissa – blue (Rawhide Armor, Bone Blade)
Calys – red (screaming armor bits, Bone Axe)
Reef – yellow (Cat Gut Bow)

And because I’m just a scared lil dude, I kinda wanted to go hunt another Lvl1 lope to get more of the armor done.. buuuut.., well..
Now that we had Paint and dash, we should really be going after Lvl2 with our high STR attacks, shouldn’t we?

The damage obviously wasn’t the issue, but I couldn’t help but be a little skeptical about our chances when it came to survivability.
Especially with the likely rather lengthy hunt.
Therefore I decided to be boring 1 more time, and that we’d push ahead next year.

Promise?

This did have some dire implications for the lope. Which wouldn’t mean that it did not put up a fight.

The Huntphase:
As we set out almost assured of our upcoming victory the lope turned Skittish and backed off. As we took a necessary detour to lull it into a false sense of security again, we are awoken in the middle of the night by a cloaked stranger with a cloven chin and a terrible proposal – a Death Wager (basic HE48). As the tense silence abated and the hooded figure retreated into the night, the survivors stood terrified, but alive (6/5/2/9).
As the group ventured on, they came across a Faceless Statue (basic HE06) and inadvertently though of the two-faced being from the night before. We use the serene nature of place to rest up but for a short while only before pressing on.
Not long after the survivors found the remains of the monster Teething, but there wasn’t anything to be discovered besides sharp edges and rotten ruins.
Pressing on hastily the group came just in time to witness the final moments of a Dying Small Prospector (basic HE79)! They built a small grave and we gained the Portcullis Key for our settlement.
I couldn’t help but notice that I found that key a lot lately.

As I set up the fight I drew some wild terrain. A useless Lion Statue and a Dead Monster, effectively giving us an ambush.
I also randomly dropped the acanthus in again.

10 cards in the deck… the survivors began the fight!
Reef snuck up to the Screaming Antelope to use his Claw Head Arrow from its blindspot. Hitting on 5+.. he rolled a 4 and missed. Its a life-style.
As Reef ran for the hills, Felis moved in next after. Also hitting on 5+, she missed twice as well! Come on guys!
Calys did not really want to head to the blindspot in fear of getting kicked but went anyhow. She’d be hitting the monster on 4+ thanks to the lantern and .. finally changed things around! 2 hits!
She wounded on an easy 2+.. and rolled a 1. Not sure what I was expecting at this point? As an axe specialist, she had 1 reroll to sort it out and do the wound anyhow, turning things around a little. After changing dice color, the second hit also wounded without further issues.
Finally Alissa activated the Bug Patch. And she rolled a 1, suffering 3 brain damage at the sight of her own face on the body of a bug. What a round of events ..

8 cards remain, the Antelope wanted to Gore someone. It ran away and picked Calys as its target to charge at. It hits her in the chest, but she dodged at the last second to avoid the bleed

With a wound for specialization under her belt, Calys started to focus on some light gardening. She picked the acanthus under her feet, getting it before moving towards the Dead Monster.
Reef took the chance and shot his bow, hitting once, and to my surprise, with his +2LCK he crit the monster’s Palate, permanently lowering its SPD!
Alissa attempted the Bug Patch again and found a snack to take along – a Nightmare Tick.
Felis quietly failed her attacks again, hoping nobody would notice.

7 cards remaining, the lope was getting hungry – Bite! The target was the highly inefficient Felis. It snapped at her hands, but she dodged with her superior reflexes (regaining the survival spent as well).

Felis used Embolden for a +1STR-token to help with an attempt to boop the snoot in return. She hit twice all of a sudden and wounded them both!
I did want to check for super dense at this time, so before hiding behind the statue, Reef used his Cat Eye Circlet. We only saw the first strike card that ends your attack if you are insane and sent Alissa in to attack. She failed to hit by a long shot.
Calys ended our turn by searching the Dead Monster. Rolling high we got to chose a quarry monster to get a resource from.
This did get me thinking, usually I would pick Phoenix for this, but its not unlocked yet. (It doesn’t say it has to be an unlocked quarry, but:) Going by vibes, I picked Antelope instead, hoping for a Pelt. And we got lucky!

5 cards left, the monster drew Chow Down. One of the cards I did not want to see! It chomped down on the Acanthus right next to Alissa and healed 4(!) wounds. Oof!

Alissa skirted around to the monster’s side and hit it once, wounding Chow Down off the deck, despite the fear in its eyes.
Reef stirred and headed for the closest Acanthus Plant but something bit his hand as he tugged on the deeply rooted herb. Felis tried to put more damage onto the monster, wounding again on 2+.. but she rolled a 1 to wound on her 1 successful hit.
Calys just had to intervene at this point. She also only hit once from the side and almost had her Bone Axe eaten by the Giant Mouth reflex, but Axe Specialization just about saved it.

7 cards in the deck, again, the monster’s tactic changed back to ramming. Reef was hidden behind the statue and thus furthest away. The lope ran over to Calys, trampling her hands for a light wound. And it would have dealt 5 damage to Reef’s head – but he obviously dodged that.

Reef shot point blank at the monster, but failed the wound on another roll of 1 – so many 1s today!
Felis also failed to hit the monster in the rump. Alissa couldn’t get to the monster and instead spent her activation to check its next AI. Great Kick or Chow Down number 2… err. That would have to be Great Kick.
A big ol’ round of nothing.

7 cards remaining, Great Kick targeted Alissa. She was hit 3 times dodging one hit to her feet, soaking the rest with her Rawhide Armor.

Calys got up again hoping to get her revenge, but Reef acted first. Cat Eye Circlet revealed the trap and the Degenerative Wound hit location (Restless Inner Thigh). I’m not going to lie, I wanted to throw my Founding Stone into that so badly.., but that would have been an overreaction.
Alissa attacked regularly instead. 2 perfect hits. Could she crit it? No, she didn’t even wound! She managed on the second hit to deal a wound, so at least Chow Down was definitely gone from this fight.
Felis has 10 insanity, so she was chosen to try and trigger the trap. To nobody’s surprise, she missed. Wow.
Annoyed Calys picked one more acanthus from under the monster, getting bit and falling over again. (Because I used the wrong colored dice! Aaaah!!)

6 cards in the deck. A mood – Buck is put into play. The monster was now hard-coded to attack survivors in its blind spot at the start of its turn.

Calys got up yet again and spent 1 survival to move along the antelope’s path. Felis began the turn and this time she at managed to hit the trap – finally! The sound of teeth grinding on stone was nearly unbearable as the monster took off.
At this point I neither had any trust for the lope, nor my survivors left and I used the Cat Eye Circlet again to reveal the trap right on top of the deck. Awesome! I felt a little dirty for scouting so hard, but also vindicated. Thus I buried the trap 2 cards deep and Calys stepped up to the monster hitting it twice. 2 wounds were dealt but nothing special amongst them. Alissa tried to pick another Acanthus and got nibbled on as well.
All these acanthus be biting back!

3 (4) cards in the deck, Gore was the first repeat-card of the fight. The lope hobbled 1 space forward and turned to Calys, and it missed completely.
Such a borked fight allround.

As Alissa and Felis slowly made their way to the action, I buried the trap yet again, before Calys moved to the monster’s side, wounding a single time.

2 (3) cards remaining. Bite was the last unknown card in the deck. The lope bit Calys in the boob, or tried to at least, as she dodged the hit.

I figured I might as well keep burying the trap at this stage. Calys failed both her hit attempts but Alissa was close enough at this point to try an attack well. 1 critical would for a Shank Bone followed.

1 (2) cards remaining. The final card: Gore. It hobbled forward again, before going for Calys’ chest yet again. She didn’t want to be knocked down and had to dodge with her final survival to prevent this.

Was this it?
No. We only got a single hit. And whilst we wounded the lope survived. I already knew if we attacked again, we’d hit the monster twice and trigger the trap. So I’d rather have it run over Calys to get to the last Acanthus with its instinct.

0(1) card left. Basic action turned to instinct as there were no knocked down survivors.

One more time, the trap got buried..
Suddenly Felis was finally able to hit twice! And she wounded as well. Just as we had predicted.

What a drawn out fight. At the start of this I was so sure of myself and these survivors and that I should have gone after a level 2.., but now? Well, now .., I’m just a scared lil’ dude again.

Both Felis (Giant’s Blood FA) and Reef (Relentless FA) aged from the ordeal, both picking their weapon specs as well. And surprisingly everyone has managed to wound so they all learned something. Finally, Alissa gained Sword Specialization.

As we collected our loot, we got a Perfect Bone, but no further Pelt.

Yikes.

The lope didn’t do enough damage to be actually threatening throughout that encounter, but our attacks were just scuffed most of the time. At least that’s what it felt like.
Fighting ye ol’ double heal lope also wasn’t exactly what I’d hoped for. But nobody wants that, to be fair.

Next lantern year we are looking at another story event before we will try our hand at a level 2. I mean, I promised, didn’t I? Until then I will nervously twiddle my thumbs.

As always, thank you very much for your time, and always eat your vegetables or they might eat you first.
Amathul