With GenCon now firmly behind us the wait for the Witches and Wanderers continues.
To help pass the time for the rest of us Big Deno has been making some moves in his newest campaign, and he seems to be up to Lantern Year 5 or 6 already.
I on the other hand had not only a Call of Cthulhu session to tend to just yesterday, but also the Feline Entity’s birthday! She has turned 14 this year, but is still as spry and quick as ever, especially between 11p.m. and 4 a.m.
So, with all that going on, Azure Pond was forced to be delayed just a little longer. But we will be remedying this right now!

Once again strapped with loot we returned home, the Lvl3 Phoenix defeated by axe hits and crits – my favorite!
3 Tinkers in the group, we would have 8 endeavors to play with for the year before the random event hit. And as we crossed the threshold to the settlement, the resident elders proclaimed The Triathlon of Death to be held in celebration of such a grand successful hunt!
To not be too boring: Squobble, Helios, Stardust and Gemma would be the ones competing. And for the sake of clarity: if we should get any joint placements, I will award the higher placement for both, skipping the next spot (i.e. if two survivors tied for 2nd, both would earn 2nd place, and the 3rd place spot would get skipped entirely and not be awarded).
Without further ado:

The Race: Gemma and Helios were joint first (+1MOV).Squobble won a new pair of Rawhide Boots and Stardust injured herself, suffering a Torn Achilles Tendon.
The Debate: Stardust won this one handily (1 Skull). Helios was awarded second (+1 understanding), Squobble third (skip next hunt) and Gemma in last place was adamant that she “didn’t even care” (Apathetic D).
The Fight: Squobble won this contest. Awesome he couldn’t even gain proficiency with a weapon. Stardust proved to be second best(+1STR), Gemma third (Timeless Eye FA) and Helios lost an arm – ouch!

Nobody was exiled as a complete failure, whilst I pondered the need for a Sculpture (I) now that Timeless Eye (FA) had shown up.
I’m also very sorry that I took no picture of the event – I got way ahead of myself and instead took a picture of my new Phoenix Armor set.

So, yeah, before I really started contemplating anything else, I turned 1 of the freshly gained Monster Hides into a Leather and finished the Phoenix Armor.

Having a cursory look at everything we could make. both the Wrought Longbow and Wrought Tachi were on the table, with the obvious caveat that the latter would not work alongside Sun Vestements (not that we had any of those).
There were also a few Phoenix items we could build, but ..*pauses for about 5 minutes* I wanted to do fun stuff! And what’s the point if I can’t try out cool, fun stuff?
Realistically speaking the Sun Vestements were probably the best thing to build from these resources, but I really, really wanted a katana for Celestine to use.
So I spent 1 endeavor to smelt Iron (I rolled a 10 but was only able to make exactly 1 more with the worm poop added to storage on our arrival).
Back up to 3 Iron, we spent 1 more at the Bloomery to roll – a 4, just enough to craft what we want. And then we get to folding the blade!

Whilst it only has 4 base strength the Wrought Tachi is a Sharp weapon and will likely score around 15 to wound. This could work well with the birb set to augment the attack with a fixed STR bonus, typically between 5 and 7, but that would also favor getting Bird Bread built. Which would definitely lock the Sun Vestements behind at least another Phoenix.
To give me a little more time and a few more variables to consider…

I innovated!
Bloodletting, Sauna Shrine, Bed or Storytelling.
That’s got to be the Sauna Shrine.

In general, I do work better with stuff on hand, rather than theory-crafting for ages, sooo.., Bird Bread and a Hollowpoint Arrow were made. I followed that up with a Lucky Charm as well as I rearrange a few of my Gear Grids.

I will also quickly adress the fact that I could have build a Scavenger Kit and didn’t – I know. That is all.

As I continued with the simple goal of playing with my new toys, I used the Perfect Organ in storage to roll on Sauna Shrine and we got the armor/STR-token buff.
The remaining bones and single set of Pustules were stored for the time being. We did still have 3 endeavors though. And I would also LOVE to build that Tachyon Nodachi, which meant I was set on keeping those resources as well.
But the Apostle Crown looks incredible as well. So, I’ll likely end up making that one? Well, I already got the hard bit done. A Lvl3 lope should be easy by comparison. Even if the axe master was not nearly as hard-counter-y towards the lope, it would usually be just less threatening to begin with.
A lot of these choices felt like a fight between what I *should* be building and what I actually *want* to build.

1 more endeavor spent on Brain Surgery removed Stardust’s Intracranial Hemorrhage and made her eligible to go out and hunt again. With the final 2 endeavors, I sent Helios to the barber surgeon as well, removing Honorable (D) and Intracranial Hemorrhage, which he didn’t have to begin with.
Babies were thusly scheduled for next Lantern Year, for the time being, I was ready to play with a kitty cat.

The Hunters:
Helios – green (Leather Armor, Tempered Axe)
Celestine – blue (Phoenix Armor, Wrought Tachi)
Calys – red (Screaming Armor, Sonic Tomahawk)
Cassandra – yellow (Rawhide Armor, Arc Bow)

Both the Bird Bread and Sunring Bow were used on Celestine to activate the Phoenix Plackart.
Before we could really head out, there still was the worm to worry about, of course. (It didn’t do anything. Just slithering around, being weird. It probably was intimidated by Calys.)
I also just realized that Helios and Stardust would have 1 bleed each going into this hunt as I set up the characters. Which ultimately should be fine.
Say it with me now, all together: Bleed is always fine.., until its not.
(I wanted to take Stardust along, but forgot about the Skip next hunt part of Torn Achilles Tendon – so we had to take Cassandra along for the fight but I was too lazy to change to pictures again. Sorry, not sorry.)

The Huntphase:
With the Lion so far back on the hunt board, it’d be ideal if it came to us.
As soon as we left the settlement we came across signs of this area being Marked Territory. Yet another reason to hunt this monster – free Ammonia (I) in the early game.
Calys however was quickly distracted by a copse of Banquet Trees (basic HE47) instead. Greedily the survivors started eating the radiant fruit. Luckily Celestine was the only one showing signs of addiction. She did eat 3 times before she was satisfied, bloated and down to 4 survival. As a Sun Eater (SFA), overall, this could be worse.
Taking the lead on the hunt, we found evidence that this Prowling Lion was moving away from us faster than anticipated, the hunt event would put Ground Fighting into play come the showdown – a boon for us, no doubt!
Suddenly surrounded by Heavy Mist (basic HE39) the survivors stumbled around aimlessly until Helios heard how the stone faced floor [It] whisper[ed his] name (basic HE33). To the group’s surprise he fell upon its lips kissing it wildly. A disturbing sight for the rest of the group, seeing Helios display actual emotions, they dragged him away from what appeared to be his own likeness.
Eager to find a moment to rest on this long journey, the group found some quick shelter beneath a Faceless Statue (basic HE06). Its lack of a visage was disquieting and they moved on despite the tranquil atmosphere. Soon other sounds filled the unbroken darkness from afar though and the group came to regret their decision.
A disturbing yowling could be heard far and wide – the White Lion was In Heat.

Overwhelming Darkness offered a strange and disturbing relief, enveloped in oppressive darkness. Celestine averted her eyes from a dying unknown survivor as she crossed the gloom. Helios and Cassandra took 1 arms damage from holding their lanterns up high, and Calys took to her calling of becoming a Leader (FA) true.

Beyond the threshold, they knew it was time to go to work and as Cassandra took up the Bone Pickaxe to do some Mineral Gathering, she proved herself to have a good eye for ore as she expertly extracted the gleaming Iron without breaking her tool. She also knew to not hit the blood-rock.
The ore in hand we found a Sickening Mess (basic HE94). Calys, Celestine and Helios all felt compelled to eat whatever they could grab from the pile, making themselves sick (-1STR-tokens for all 3), whilst Cassandra found a usable Monster Hide. She hurts her arms as she tries to extract it though.
Meanwhile as the survivors were pushing onwards, the Lion had picked up our trail. It moved closer again and off of Starvation – sniffing our Aromatic Breeze on the wind. As the lion was hunting us again, our group re-found The Beginning (basic HE91). The sight of this place did trigger a Bold streak in Cassandra (+1STR) as she felt able to rise to the challenges presented to her.
Soon after we found one of those strange Lion Sculptures hidden behind a nightmare-bush. Intrigued and horrified Celestine did not notice the Man-trap (basic HE15) until after it was sprung. Luckily it was old and did only a single damage to her legs. That could have been a lot worse.
Finally, we had one more chance at a moment of respite – a Stone Fountain (basic HE64) stood, out in the middle of nowhere. Naturally we did not trust the random structure enough to drink from it and just moved on to finish this hunt phase – we managed to find the monster just beyond the next hill!

No ambush or early end to the hunt, but also no Starvation and we get to have Ground Fighting in play as well – overall I’d say that’s a successful hunt!
Without going on a tangent – I’ll leave that for after the fight – basic HE15 – Man-trap always reminds me of the story of the 2 survivors Hera and Zeus. But first we have to deal with the White Lion.

The Level 3 White Lion comes along with the typical +2SPD/DMG and Indomitable. Additionally it has +2ACC and +1LCK in tokens, 8MOV and a fairly low 14TGH.
It also adds 1 more trait to the fight: Merciless. This trait adds 3 effects to the fight, each simple in their own right.
1. It removes 3 HL cards – 1 of the 2 insta-kills, the card that turns off Grab on a crit and one that interacts with a few attacks, best known for being the card you are supposed to crit in the prologue.
2. All survivors are considered threats regardless of any effects stating otherwise.
3. All damage dealt by grab is doubled. So that is 6(!) damage for each successful grab, making the Dash away from Cunning basically mandatory at this level!

As for terrain we got a useless Lion Statue and an Ore Vein.

20 (21) cards in the deck, the Lion put Ground Fighting into play during set-up and we got a chance to set up and move around as the cat waited for us to make the first move.
Considering how explosive our first turns had typically been so far, I was feeling good about this.
So, with all the time in the world and in no particular order: we checked both Hit Location and AI decks, used the Ore Vein for a double Iron and positioned ourselves for the best possible start to the fight.
This set up took us 3 rounds in total. It should also be mentioned that only Celestine and her Wrought Tachi would be able to deal critical wounds (aside from persistent injuries) to the monster due to its +1LCK-token.

After we were done setting up, Cassandra was the first to activate. She shot her Claw Head Arrow at the monster and wounded it on 2+, we knew we took off Golden Eyes (L) as a wound for that.
To give her the best possible chance of avoiding the trap, Calys activated next. She slammed into the lion’s blind spot, hitting a total of 5 times! No persistent injuries were in this lot, but the impervious Glorious Mane, so she wasn’t going to be dealing any critical wounds here. She did wound on 2+ as well though, and dealt 4 of them before the lion ran off on a reflex.

Celestine dashed after the monster and used the Phoenix Armor‘s effect – Charge – to move to the monster’s blind spot as well. She did have 7 movement whilst she was insane so she could do this with ease. The Wrought Tachi had Perfection 1 which increased the range of Perfect Hits by 1. She did get a 9 and a 10, triggering the weapons effect, giving the monster -2ACC until the end of its next turn. We drew 2 persistent injuries and I couldn’t help be a little grumpy about it. The rolls were terrible as well and without the +7STR from Charging at the lion both wounds would have failed by a lot!
Finally, and it took some debate, Helios, who didn’t care, dashed in as well, taking his spot right next to Celestine to attack. From the 4 attacks he made, 3 turned into hits, and all of them wounded.

As we ended our turn, we were already more than halfway through the HL deck, and it was already getting a little concerning to attack with these high SPD characters.
Then again, we dealt 10 wounds this turn, so what am I complaining about?

11 cards remaining, the Lion drew Bloody Claw. Helios already had a bleeding token and was thus the target for the attack The Wrought Tachi‘s effect off-set the Lion’s bonus ACC, and with Helios’ 3EVA, the lion would hit him on 5+ with 4SPD for 4DMG each.
To not fall over and take Celestine down with him, Helios dodged 1 hit to the chest. Both survivors dashed away before Cunning could trigger a grab.

Celestine opened the next round by charging in to the side of the monster, finding another Perfect Hit to lower the monster’s ACC, she dealt a single wound in total, which the White Lion did not let go unpunished. 1 hit was soaked by the Phoenix Plackard, but it hurt a little bit overall.

Helios had a look at the upcoming Hit Location cards and he saw the trap. Cassandra came a little closer and checked the AI deck opting to put Power Swat on top.
Finally, Calys did trigger the trap with her flurry of blows after slamming into the monster, as I figured we might as well get that over with. At 5 armor all around against a 3DMG attack I felt reasonably safe, but 3 hits to the head? Yup, that’s a severe.
She rolled a 6 on her severe head injury – deaf. That one is quite rare I find, considering how many effects interact with it all over the game.

10 cards left, the monster was not done with Calys just yet. Power Swat would target her as well. 3 more hits at 4 DMG came raining down on her. She dodged 1 of them to her legs, before the knockback effect got her out of Cunning’s effect radius.

Calys got back up as the survivor turn started. And, honestly, I just couldn’t really help myself. Unga-bunga protects!
She slammed back into the monster’s facing! This time it felt personal! 3 hits, 1 persistent injury was amongst the cards, so she crit once, activating savage!
After 4 wounds were dealt, the Lion got another chance to retaliate! We get semi-lucky as Calys was only knocked down by the damage spread, which still might get her grabbed next turn!
Celestine is too afraid to successfully hit the monster and intervene. Helios attempted the same and he at least got one hit, aka one wound in.
Finally the Hollowpoint Arrow was used for the first time and, I probably should have expected as much, it missed completely.

5 cards remaining, the White Lion shrugged off the Concussion he had just suffered this round and drew Smart Cat. Only 1 card to reveal left, and it was Bloodthirsty. Okay.
Bloodthirsty was put into play which drew another AI.
Bloody Claw came up, BUT, the Concussion kicked in again – and the lion rolled a 2!
The monster turn ended! No Cunning triggers!

Calys could get up, and we would be stupid if we didn’t play it safe now. There were only 2 cards left in the AI deck and I knew that one of them was Ground Fighting. Cassandra put it on top with the Rawhide Headband as the rest of the team backed off.

3 (4) cards left, Ground Fighting was drawn as it had been my design and immediately discarded on another 1 from the Concussion! Not quite what I had planned, but I guess that should be fine?

Helios tried to do some damage, and he he hit the White Lion 3 times, dealing 2 wounds, mostly exhausting the monster deck. Because we might as well know, I checked on the last card in the deck, and it was still Ground Fighting. So, I let the Lion do its thing.

1 (2) cards remaining, Ground Fighting was drawn again and it did come into play this time!

Cassandra moved up and took aim (this did take more than 1 turn), and she shot the panting lion dead where it lay.

Calys had had a brush up with death right there. Not that she shouldn’t be retired or dead at this point, the Phoenix hunts had helped a lot in keeping her active and relevant.
The Lvl3 White Lion can generally deal a lot of damage, especially on reactions, and even more so if you cannot reliably wound it. The other big thing is of course grab, and had the lion not fumbled the Bloodthirsty AI draw, there would have been a good chance somebody would have gotten seriously mangled.
I also needed to keep Overcharge in mind. I forget about it way too easily. I did not use that combo even once today. So if you were screaming at me because of that, I’m sorry.

As for rewards: Celestine (Ethereal Pact FA) hit age 1 after all this time.
I like Etheral Pact as a FA, but I would strongly prefer to have it on people I didn’t want to age quicker… its both on our Katana master in training and Axe Master Calys.

As for resources: there were A LOT of bones in this lion. We also gained an Overgrown Dewclaw from the monster, which raised my interest in getting Nightmare Training innovated to build the sharp katar for Helios.
Alternatively its 2 Perfect Bones for other stuff.
Taking home 3 more Iron also wasn’t too shabby a feeling either.
Oh, and we did get the 2 extra endeavors from Saga, plus the bonus for Cassandra. For having just finished her first hunt ever, she was up to a comfortable +2/+6/+2 in stats, as the first member of our Clan of Death survivors.

To round things out: here’s my little anecdote of the two survivors Zeus and Hera.
My friend and I were playing the game and I believe we were out hunting one of the early Lvl2s. He hit back-to-back Man-traps.
Zeus stepped into one, lost a leg. Now the survivors he played always seemed to lose MOV points in previous settlements before, so we were laughing at that outcome already. But as he sent Hera out into the next hunt event he said something on the lines of “Watch, its going to happen again.” and she also hit a Man-trap and lost her leg.
A pair for the ages. 1 man, 1 woman, 2 legs.
Of course they were not quite as well-round as the legless “Armstrong” and his fully blind, armless wife, mother of over 30 children.

In any case, I’ll watch some more of Deno’s stuff now, maybe I’ll do some painting as well, or I’ll just hang out with the Feline Entity. Whose absence in today’s lion fight was sorely felt.
As always thank you very much for your time, don’t forget to Overcharge!
Amathul