After a weekend stuffed to the brim with KD:M, I re-emerge after some more to finally get us ready to face off against Braal.

***

Just one more Lantern Year until the first of the three Red Witches arrives at our gates, and this one was again filled with a load of events for us to resolve.
After collecting our 7 endeavors for the year (4 survivors, 3 Tinkers, 22 pop – I did a dumb and forgot about Hidari having to stay home to remove PTSD last year), we switched our attention to the random settlement event:
The Plant and the Stone.
Of course I had known all along that it would only be a matter of time before Skrelle found us again, but joke’s on her, we still couldn’t read.

The second event was Glowing Crater – the introduction of the Dragon King.
I nominated Ferrus to be the witness of the crash. He gained Acid Palms – an incredible ability for leveling Fist & Tooth weapon proficiency (+1D10 to all F&T wound attempts), Destined (D) and the rare gear Destiny Husk making him permanently insane.

The third event for the year was Rumbling in the Dark.
Ruby was the one who couldn’t sleep and thus spent her night watching a Dung Beetle Knight crest a hill. Smitten with the creature and its simplistic yet determined struggle she gained Vermin Obsession (D) and +1STR, unlocking yet another quarry for us to hunt.
The Dragon King would be a tall order if we were to fight it so soon, but the Dung Beetle was a whole other story entirely.

And finally: Murder.
Frogmagog had to be nominated due to his Marrow Hunger, that much was certain. But who else? Candy and Calys each qualified to get murdered with a tied 8 hunt xp, whilst Calys also had 25 insanity to consider.
As I wanted to see more of Candy’s story still, the choice was fairly simple .. if not exactly easy: Calys murdered Frogmagog.
She still had Bone Whisperer (SFA), so narratively, she knew of his hidden hunger, I’d reckon. With that Frogmagog was murdered (we got a Skull) and we needed to deal with the culprit. A settlement with Collective Toil is likely going to exile the murderer.
But the Luck-Vampire struck again!
The settlement tried to get rid of Calys, but she returned just a few hours later with a chunk of Iron to pay for the life taken!

4 Events down – one more to go: Candy!
With the start of the develop step our Wanderer was able to continue her story.

Candy was looking for lasting friendships in the settlement and she did indeed find them. Soda erupted from one of the stone faces in the settlement as her joy bubbled over and with the Soda Fountain innovation we now had the ability to make new soda gear at the cost of Candy’s disposition.
Her being able to carry an unlimited amount and pass them around during combat as well as sharing all her gear with the settlement was a nice bonus as well.

Finally ready to build new gear, I did not innovate first, but instead I rushed to the Froskrafter to build those damned Frogdog Boots!
Once again it had taken me until LY08 to complete the armor.
Then we innovated…
Partnership, Cooking, Pictograph or Storytelling.
That did feel like a familiar line-up to chose from. In the end i picked Cooking thinking about making Radiant Kabayaki in the future and for the guaranteed endeavor.

Afterwards I spent quite a while considering what I wanted to build. Should I just make a Weapon Crafter/ Barber Surgeon? Should I keep stuff for a Spite Balm? Vigor Capsules? Acid Bombs?
There was a lot to chose from but we were severely limited by the amount of bones and scrap we had to work with.
Ultimately I chose to invest in more immediate power by building the Leather Cuirass, Leather Skirt, a Lucky Charm and both bone tools. Maybe we’d get some scrap that way?
As for endeavors we still had 5 after that.
The first was used at the soda fountain, we bottled up some Amethyst Splash.

We also played the drums for Candy (+ 2Survival)
I then spent 2 endeavors to give both Ruby and Ferrus 1 hunt xp each, mostly because I was considering a Lvl1 hunt at that point still, before I cashed in both Love Juice. Malleus and Goldenglow were to be the parents.
1st: 4&5 – 1 child, a boy named Frogmorton.
2nd: 2&5 – 1 child, a girl named Honeydew

The last 2 endeavors were used to teach Synchronized Strike to Ferrus and Honeydew.

The Hunters:
Emerald – green (Frogdog Armor, Vertabrayonet)
Honeydew – blue (Rawhide Armor, Sharpened Heel)
Ferrus – red (armor bits, fist&tooth)
Morticus – yellow (leather bits, Bone Club)

So, this was the point when stuff started first going wrong.
Somehow setting up this team was littered with mistake after mistake after mistake.
I had to re-take the pictures for the team 3 times because every time I noticed something else that didn’t work out. And to be completely honest: those pics aren’t 100% correct either.., I gave up a some point.
In any case: Hidari couldn’t come along because he needed to get rid of PTSD, Candy still had Eproctophilia (D) and me shuffling gear grids around broke her set-up, and finally Calys would just go insane and run off into the darkness after any ol’ lope fight so, the A-team was almost completely off the table.

At least the new Soda Fountain enabled all my survivors to make use of Candy’s gear.

The Huntphase:
Of course the first thing this lope did was run away – that Skittish creature.
Just about everything about this hunt felt a little cursed .. the survivors were suddenly caught in a Mudslide (basic HE55). Ferrus swung away to safety with his Rawhide Whip, however both Emerald and Honeydew got caught in the worst of it, losing not only their sodas, but also the Monster Grease as they both took damage twice!
Moving on, still caked in mud, Honeydew got suddenly drawn Face-to-Face (basic HE17) with a stone face that reminded her of someone she believed to have once known. Before we could continue the hunt she had been sobbing her little heart out.
Not long after, the sound on the wind betrayed the Stampede raging on well before we ever got to see it. We chose to hide this time, in an attempt to not trigger the showdown immediately because I foolishly wanted to make use of both Herb Gathering and Mineral Gathering after Overwhelming Darkness.
As Morticus took the lead we find a way around the fleeing herd of antelopes, we stumbled upon the lone Portcullis (basic HE99) once more. Wondering how one would open it, there was nothing to do but continue on. None the wiser the survivors were soon lost in the deep darkness, Overload[ed] (basic HE13). Morticus lost all survival and gained PTSD (funny!) before almost giving in to his despair fully. It was the bond with the rest of the settlement that helped him through his desperation – he regains all his survival and 1 courage as he rose again.
Feeling a chance to surge ahead, Morticus kept leading the group until he was distracted by a stone face [that] whisper[ed his] name (basic HE33). Morticus gained an understanding from this strange encounter and we continue on slightly dumbfounded.

At the threshold to Overwhelming Darkness I noticed something else .. everybody here had to take the Path of the Doomed. Yikes!
Ferrus was soon swarmed by translucent moths, forcing him to spend all his survival to not be taken by the darkness.
Emerald was burdened with -3Luck-tokens.
Morticus lost 2 survival and gained a -1EVA-token.
And Honeydew actually gained +1 courage and insanity, emerging stronger and non-the-wiser of what happened to the rest of the group.

As we started this next stretch of our journey, the lope was still decently close by and we thought we could spend the time to do some light gathering. First, Morticus just about missed the blood rock and blasted his feet with stone shrapnel to extract some scrap, then we managed to grab a Crab Spider and 2 Fresh Acanthus – all in all we felt fairly successful after that.
But, in the mean time, the lope had continued its Migration to the end of the board.
We had not given up just yet, but all of the survivors looking for a shortcut only managed to find a bunch of Putrid Tunnels (basic HE86), with Ferrus going deep enough inside one of them to discover a colony of people.
We were desperate for a lead to where the lope could have fled to when we almost fell into a Carpet of Ticks. Emerald and Honeydew almost got overwhelmed, but quick thinking just about saved them from the worst of it.
In hindsight, resting too close to that spot had been a bad call, but none of the team could venture much further. As the survivors rested Morticus was attacked in his sleep by Man-Stealers (basic HE27). As he awakened his genitalia was gone and he gained Vermin Obsession (D) from the severe injury (coincidence?)
Just before we were able to finally reach the Screaming Antelope we spotted a Gregalope (basic HE38). Leaping and bounding it was gone long before we knew it.
By the time the hunters had found their mark, the settlement had grown too hungry. We did get lucky on Starvation at least, the people at home only ate a single resource (the Golden Frog).

As far as hunts go, this one won’t end up on my list of favorite memories.

15 cards in the deck, Ram had the lope charge towards Morticus without as much as a moment of hesitation, whilst Diabolical closed the gap to fully run him over.

Ferrus started our counter-attack and, as expected of a fist&tooth novice, he whiffed completely.
Honeydew on the other hand had all 3 of her attacks connect. Drawing the Restless Eye on her was fortuitous as well as she was not insane and could actually continue her attack! She did take 1 bleed to secure all 3 wounds, even if none of them had been critical hits.
Morticus was then stood up, so he could activate the Ore Vein we got as a random terrain for 1 Iron.
Finally Emerald dashed towards the Acanthus field and used her sickle to cut the closest plant.
Some more light and fun gathering to start the fight.

12 cards remaining, the lope noticed the acanthus-thief and made a break for it to Slam into Emerald. She dodged the one hit but got trampled in the aftermath still.

Due to his Vermin Obsession (D), Morticus could only move slowly towards the Vermin Patch, so he spent his act to block as he made his way to it.
The rest of the team encouraged each other. Back on her feet Emerald, quickly cut off another acathus to take along before the lope could eat it..
Ferrus moved up, blocking as well, whilst Honeydew dashed in to strike at the monster! Her Rawhide Armor set was keeping her survival nice and high!
She hit twice, turning one hit into a critical wound for a Pelt and -1TGH on the lope!
She even surged, but the monster bolted away without as much as a scratch.

10 cards remaining, Run Down. The monster kept running straight ahead until it had reached the other side of the board, which meant that nobody was in range anymore! So it ate an acanthus and healed 1 wound instead!
Its Diabolical nature had it charging at us yet again, but it was still a little too far away to get to us.

Morticus was able to get to the Vermin Patch this turn, so he quickly activated it. He found a Hissing Cockroach which the dummy ate immediately, setting him to 15 insanity and 0 survival. So much for him getting access to survival.
Ferrus managed to find 1 wound with his Acid Palms, whilst only Honeydew was also able to deal some damage to the majestic Gnarled Horns, ruining them as a persistent injury.

8 cards remaining. Of course the next card had to be Chow Down!
At least the roll wasn’t too bad, it healing only 1 wound as it gleefully ate an acanthus plant.
Ferrus has his hands trampled over at the end of the lope’s activation for good measure.

Morticus tried his luck at getting a survival from one of the few remaining acanthus, but he found nothing at all.
Ferrus, after having been pulled back to his feet, managed to get a hold of the lope and tore out something important to Chow-ing Down, which improved my mood a bit.
Honeydew also tries her best to keep the pressure up on the monster, but fell short this round, forced to surge and take another bleed to even get 1 wound in.
Finally Emerald removed the last acanthus from the board, curbing the lope’s healing spree potential.

7 cards left, Stomp and Snort came off the deck – that’s like Its third favorite past time!
Morticus heard the gurgle from the undermaw and couldn’t help but run! And for good reason it seemed, the lope charged after him, just about hitting him in the head.

Despite having just removed the lopes easiest means of healing from the board, things were about to get messy real quick.
For the first time in the fight, Emerald attempted to deal a wound, but the Giant Maw gobbled up her weapon with a frantic gulp! Horrified, she dashed away from the lope again as the trap shouldn’t be too far off now either.
In turn, Honeydew came dashing back in, her rawhide suddenly not working anymore! She surged to strike and ultimately hit only once .. for the trap.
Before I fully knew what was going on, she had died screaming to brain trauma.
Morticus was encouraged before he and Ferrus both blocked.

7 cards still left, the monster attempted a wild Back Kick.
Morticus was the target yet again, getting brutally kicked for 4 damage, and whilst he was able to block 1 hit, his armor got shredded as he took a heavy leg injury anyhow due to being trampled.
After having just lost not only a weapon but also my best fighter thus far, I was suddenly VERY worried!

Ferrus quickly tried to kill the lope by lunging at its Furry Throat, but he only inflicted a wound.
Emerald used 1 survival to encourage Morticus, who could swing the Bone Club from his position in the blind spot and wanted to make use of the opportunity – 1 hit into 1 crit was a decent enough ratio, but we are not out of the woods yet, even if the monster had just been Dazed.
After using encourage Emerald had +2ACC for the rest of the turn because of the ability she got from Candy’s story, so I was eager for her to dash in with her last survival and only then I remembered – her Vertabrayonet had just been eaten!
She nevertheless attacked with fist&tooth and even managed to find a hit and a 9 to wound! But the -3LCK collected their dues.

4 cards left after the last turn, we were slowly wearing the monster down! It re-drew Ram and turned to Emerald. Hit twice in the head she was knocked off balance and hit the floor.
Just before the Diabolical monster could double down on its effort, Ferrus made use of the flow.
Swiftly he dashed around the monster and surged to attack hoping for a miracle! And he did in a way get it – whilst it wasn’t the knock down he had desired, the dealt 2 wounds!
Ultimately he still got kicked in the dick for the trouble though.

With only Morticus on his feet and his weapon being cumbersome, there was nothing he could do this turn but wait. Or so I thought at first. He swung with his shield after stepping up to the monster but he missed, sadly.

2 cards left, the lope got dazed! It blindly ran into a corner instead of drawing its AI, before turning around, ready to go after Ferrus!

This time, things had lined up for Morticus to use the Bone Club again!
He bonked the lope once, and wounded off the second to last card whilst Ferrus stared it down!
Running up to it, he gets a wound in as well- his fists of fury coming in clutch time and time again!
Just as Emerald had missed her attempt from the blind spot to strike as well, Ferrus used his “last” survival to surge and another 9 to hit was enough to secure us the victory – it quickly turned into a wound and the monster finally fell!

Ferrus was the clear MVP of this fight (after Honeydew died at least)!
Unga-bunga protects!

Still, today had not been the best day to head out for a hunt it would seem, though I guess “everything going wrong” would have killed more people.
Losing 4 items somehow felt just as bad though.

Before I drew resources Ferrus (Reframe FA) and Morticus (Piercer FA) each aged up.

We got a lot of Pelt from that – and a lot of hide in general!
This should be enough for the missing lope armor pieces I believe.

A full Screaming Armor set would most certainly help to make the Bone Club more usable, or .. well, any weapon really due to the extra STR the set-bonus adds.

Next up: Braal!

***

I am looking forward to fighting a new nemesis next time, taking pictures and making notes with a timer will definitely add to the challenge, though I have an idea of how to best handle that, I think.

As for other posts, I am looking at putting my thoughts together on the Black Knight. It is one of my personal favorite expansions, and whilst I will be skipping over the Red Witches for the time being by doing this, they will get their own “review” as well eventually. I just don’t think I can actually contribute a lot the discussion on them at this point.

But I am done for the day.
I got to enjoy 4 rather intense Lantern Years just the day prior to writing this in the weekly campaign I play with a friend, including a fight against a bunch of Lvl2 monster – a Dragon King, the Pariah and Black Knight, as well as a Lion God Lvl1.
And whilst we did emerge victorious the combination of us hitting 5 traps, and it starting to cause earthquakes made for a nail-biter of a fight.

As always, thank you very much for your time, if no-one barks at the moon at night, are you the one missing out?
Amathul