The last 2 weeks have been quite busy on my end all of a sudden, so I did not have the time to get quite as much done as I wanted to for this campaign, and this upcoming one isn’t looking that much lighter either.
However I am back for today at least.

But, we are also in a good news/bad news kinda situation here.
As in: I have managed to achieve one of the goals I had set for myself for this particular campaign in another game outside of the recorded ones – I managed to get the Carnage Worms strain!
Whilst I am happy that it worked out during that other campaign, I did want to try and get it “on record”, but there has been a certain downward trend within the Bloody Shallows that, well, whilst it should easily be still recoverable overall, its not looking like I’d have the buffer for all those sacrifices even if I wanted to do the strain again for the “camera”.
So, there’s that.

I am also still waiting on Preacher being available from the EU warehouse, which at this point, might well be with the end-of-month sale, I think.
Which is a little sad, reading all the early discussion on her on discord.
Apparently she is incredibly strong, maybe even the strongest Wanderer currently, with a lot to gain for settlements that let her in and follow her teachings.
Whilst this isn’t my usual be-all-end-all for a White Box, color me intrigued, I say!

Oh, well, for now I’ll distract myself by going dragon hunting. We are in for a bumpy ride with this one.

***

This was another Lantern Year which posed the age-old question of what to hunt. But if I wanted to make the most of Candy and her 3 hunt xp remaining until age 4, it was pretty clear that I needed to go hunt either a Dragon King or a Dung Beetle Knight as either only gave out 1 hunt xp (which would end up being 2 for her, of course).
Either one will be a tough proposition considering how much damage they each could put out, but there’s no way around that.

We collected a bunch of endeavors for the year (4 returning survivors, 2 of which were Tinkers, Cooking (I) and 20 pop in the settlement) and were ready to get to work.
But the random settlement event put a quick end to my upbeat demeanor: Cracks in the Ground.
And just like that, Ferrus was dead. A promising young survivor, granted he had leprosy, fallen into a hole .., in the prime of his life.
A couple of foolhardy survivors clambered into the chasm to retrieve a Monster Organ for the settlement. That at least wasn’t too bad, I’d say?
Gotta take the good and the bad as they arrive together.

As we got around to developing, you know what we had to do first!
I spent 1 endeavor at Blood Weaving (I) for the crafting table, and with the Red Thread and Ferrus’ remains we built our first Red Cloak – a piece of clothing that was trying to eat us alive! Literally!
We also had 1 more Monster Hide in storage from Honeydew’s death and turned that into Bandages to be paired with the cloak. Hidari will likely be the one to get the honors.

I then spent some time to look through our eligible survivors to take a spot on the team and I eventually landed on Malleus. I taught Synchronized Strike (SFA) to him, before Emerald, waiting on a new dagger to be built, rolled on Forbidden Dance (I) – and managed to get +1EVA! Good job!
Next up: Augury!
With 6 endeavors left I sent Calys to roll them bones, hoping for her to trigger the +1 understanding – which she did instantly by rolling a 1. We lost a Fresh Acanthus from storage and she triggered Dark Secret.
A 7 meant that she survived the event with the coveted ability One-Two!
A 4 or 5 would have killed her outright! Which, together with Dark Secret eating all your survival, were the reasons why I wanted to trigger it before departing. Having Indecision (D) on her could be pretty bad as well, but we couldn’t exactly do anything about that at this point in time.

With quite a few endeavors left, 1 more was spent to bottle up some Citrine Brew from the Soda Fountain (I).
We then played the Drums (I) 2 more times for survival for Calys and Malleus to make sure they both got to max when leaving, before we also started telling Malleus stories of previous hunts for +1hunt xp.
Finally Frogdos also got his chance to do the Forbidden Dance and he aced it as well for +1EVA! Some of these survivors were starting to look like Survival of the Fittest base-line survivors now!
*cries in PtY*

Looking over my team, I was weighing my options again, but I already knew for a while that if anything, we should be hunting a Dragon King this year.
The 13TGH would be be a hurdle to get past, but I was hoping that Candy and Hidari would pull through for us!

The Hunters:
Malleus – green (Frogdog Armor, Beast Knuckles)
Candy – purple (Rawhide Armor, Sharpened Heel)
Calys – red (Leather Armor, Bone Axe)
Hidari – yellow (Screaming Armor, Bone Club)

In particular the hunting of Dragon King’s can get pretty rough, pretty quickly due to how nasty some of their hunt events are, so I was quite worried about the next step.
But I also have to say, the excitement of being able to roll on Red Incursion offset my worries a little bit.

The Huntphase:
We actually had a whole host of extra events for this hunt, but I was committed to start off strong by attempting a Red Incursion just beyond the settlement’s limit! Hidari was the one wearing the Red Cloak and he stepped away from the group with trepidation. But my worries were unfounded – he aced the transport and found himself in the Elastomer Mines!
Oh, my Feline Entity! As Hidari reappeared he had a story of the grandest adventure for us, his armor torn to shreds, but he mostly unharmed! He had made quick headway down into the Elastomer Refinery before he found his way into an even deeper nest. In those dark tunnels he got grabbed by a gliding mollusk which tore apart his armor to the very last pieve, but he survived as it was unable to break his skin! 6 Black Resin were added to settlement storage before he returned to us with 2 more and a Red Thread still in hand – incredible!
Calys then continued the trend of rolling high for Mineral Gathering as well, but only got us a scrap. She rolled too high, turns out.

As we wanted to leave the area we were surprised by anold crone. She whispered secrets of once before and soon to come as Calys was sent to talk to the Lorekeeper. The 2 were gushing about numerology for a long time (she already had Arithmophilia D) before we finally got to move on.
As we pressed on, trying to keep Calys from going back, we soon gleamed a chance to become Opportunists (basic HE44): 2 trails split from this point, but we ignored the smaller one, as we usually do.
Wondering if it was the right thing to do, Candy lead us straight into a collection of Settlement Ruins. This did trigger a Bold streak in her (+1SPD-token, Prepared), and she put her newfound bravado to good use as she managed to save someone from underneath the rubble! I called the young man Lucky and sent him on his way back to our settlement.
Just when I felt safe and on the home stretch we completely whiffed on Herb Gathering! I wanted to take it slow and only rolled 3 dice for each survivor .. and they still all rolled doubles! This added an extra hunt event before we could corner the monster!
During this detour Malleus had a horrific Nightmare (basic HE41) about the Dragon King slaughtering our settlement. (Of the 2 dream events, that’s actually the good one currently.)
Flipping hopefully the last event for the phase, we stood before a Lava Flow. With no way around it, the group starts to precariously jump from rock to rock – Malleus could actually fall in and incinerate his Frogdog Armor Set here! Thankfully they all made it across, although we got 4 extra Lava Pools added to set up .. if we ever got there!.
Forced into yet another detour, the survivors found themselves on the back of a gigantic creature made of Living Stone (basic HE97)! Before anybody understood what was happening, the titanic creatures brought us right to the Dragon King’s lair, with a bunch of Founding Stones shaken loose during travel as well. Candy did drop her Fecal Salve for 1 of them, and after a lot of deliberation, I also threw away the Brain Mint and Bone Sickle, thinking we’d be able to just make more of them eventually.
This felt like a great turn of events!
This upcoming fight was looking easy!

As far as Dragon King hunts could go, that one had played out pretty nicely!

A Dragon King Lvl1 has 13TGH on Level 1, 12 AI cards (4A, 8B) and 2 traits.
The fIrst of them, Irradiate triggers as a keyword of the same name, stacking -1TGH-tokens on the monster, and afterwards either causing the story event Meltdown at 5 or more, or it activates the other trait: Unseen Agony.
In turn, Unseen Agony will deal 1DMG per -1TGH-token currently on the monster to ☆ hit locations.

With 12 cards in the monster’s deck, the survivors ambushed it.
Candy gained Ptophobia (D) from her Neurosis and we were ready to start the first round.
Hidari was the first survivor to activate. He suffered 1 bleed from wearing the Red Cloak and used his first surge to active his Bandages (3 bleed down to 1), before he Slammed into the Dragon King. He missed both his attacks.
Candy spent 2 survival to get rid of her most recent disorder (5/8 observations), and headed into the blind spot. She attacked with 5SPD, hitting the monster 3 times on 7+ – I felt good about this!
And she hit the trap.

Afterwards, both Calys and Malleus were so stunned that they also failed to hit any of their attacks.
What a terrible ambush! If anything the Dragon King surprised us!

12 cards remaining, the Dragon King retaliated with a Rough Smack.
It moved over to Hidari and punted him into a wall. Malleus was also thrown away, standing on the other side of the monster.

As our turn started, Candy smashed into the ground next to the monster, taking 4DMG to her body. It had to hit the only spot that had already been damaged! The impact caused the first severe injury of the fight!
A 7 (really close to being a 1 .. ) meant 2 bleed and that she would have to skip the next hunt.

Calys helped up Malleus, who in turn encouraged Candy.
Candy then attacked, hoping for a little bit of revenge, again hitting 3 times. And after that last round, I feared the worst, but we did not draw the trap again. She only managed to deal 1 wound though. But I’m sure she must have been still really wobbly from that fall.
Unsure of what to do for a while, I ended up having Candy surge as well. This time she found 2 hits and managed to turn things around real quick – 2 critical wounds! As she carved off several Husks and a Veined Wing, she gained +1MOV as well!
Before her turn ended, she spend 1 more survival to encourage Hidari and used her 7MOV to retreat to a safer distance.
Calys was the next one to run up to the monster, striking from the blind spot. She dealt 1 more wound before she was knocked away, but as it removed all one -1TGH-tokens, it gained another 4TGH on top of that for the rest of the turn.
Seeing this, Hidari took a few steps before he just used his block.
Finally, Malleus pumped up his armor as he repositioned.

7 cards remaining, Glowing Fist entered play. This mood added +1DMG for each -1TGH-token on the Dragon King. It also drew a 2nd AI card and as luck would have it, I drew Overheat.
What a potentially deadly combo. This will shorten the time to the Meltdown happening significantly though.

As our turn started, Hidari attempted to Slam into the monster’s side again, this time he at least managed to hit once. The Death Blow was discarded somewhat prematurely, but we had dealt at least dealt a wound this time.
Candy also managed to hit just once and it caused an Irradiate to go off as she dealt her wound, and of course it hit her body for 2 more damage! Another severe had to be rolled! As her stomach opened she was Disemboweled – being stuck at 1MOV against the Dragon King was horrifying! All that movement of hers won’t help her one bit from here on out and she was up to 3 bleed as well on top of that.

Calys and Malleus spent their turns repositioning, hoping to find spots where they could draw heat away from Candy and Hidari.

3 (5) cards remaining, the Dragon King was prepared for its next attack.
The Stuff of Nightmares is drawn and Calys was quickly identified as the chosen target. At 25 insanity, this attack was brutal – especially against her – dealing damage equal to the target’s insanity! And there was no running away from this gigantic foe either!
Whilst the Dragon King cannot be knocked down – it is hard-coded into its rules – Malleus still blindly threw the Founding Stone, hoping to maybe have it stumble backwards, giving Calys just the right amount of space to hide after all.
In the end, Malleus did spend 2 survival to make the +1EVA from the critical wound permanent, but he could not help his comrade.
Calys got punched for 25DMG in the waist and she hit the floor with the 3rd severe injury roll of the day.
As the turn finally ended Calys suffered another 3 damage to her head as the monster Irradiated again.

Hidari dash/Slammed into the monster again, and whilst he did managed to deal a wound, the Irradiate trigger hits him hard as well. With his hip broken, he was now stuck in the blind spot and the potential Meltdown area.

Candy could help up Calys, so she did, who in turn found 1 more wound, but also ended up in the monster’s blind spot. She dashed away and I was left to contemplate if Candy should just throw another Founding Stone to finish the fight – the monster was currently on 0 cards in its deck, so it felt like a decent enough idea.
Malleus took another chance first, he dashed closer and used the Frogdog Armor set bonus for once. I removed all armor at his arms and he was flung into the fray. The chance to hit was kinda low for him (6+) and he missed with confidence (4 & 4)at least. Still able to surge, i visibly shrugged and had him attack. And he missed those attacks as well (1 & 2).
At this point, Candy had seen enough and she threw her Founding Stone .. but the hit location she drew was impervious! She did get 2 Horn Fragments from the hit, but the monster was still alive.

0 (2) cards left, the Dragon King used its basic action for 6DMG per hit.
It turned to Calys, which was good for the rest of the team at least. She managed to dodge one of the hits, but suffered a severe arm injury anyhow.
As the temperature rose to new heights and the incessant whining in our ears grew only louder, the Meltdown could not be prevented anymore. Another severe injury roll, for the head this time, was too much. She died in pure atomic fire. As the Lava Pools directly behind the monster hardened to Obsidian Pillars, the glowing chest lost its luster and I considered what I wanted to do now that the 2 moods had been returned to the monster AI deck.

I did also make 1 quite severe mistake at this point – unfocussed because of all the severes (and the death of my axe protégé) I forgot about Calys’s One-Two ability.
I only noticed this MUCH too late and, whilst I split her into Cal and Ys – choice names, I know, I did consider Cal dead from getting Irradiated in the fight and only Ys returned to the settlement. I might have been able to get out of this fight without “loses” so to speak – but I missed that ability entirely at the time.

But back to the fight: the 2 moods wouldn’t do too much on their own, and honestly, ideally, both would just enter play next turn again, so I spent my turn by removing the 2 pillars between us and the Dragon King.
I got a Broken Lantern and an Iron from it.

2 cards left, unfortunately the Dragon King only put Overheat into play, which was the worse outcome for us.

But I might as well try to end it again anyhow. Hidari hit another Microwave Heart and suffered a severe head injury – deaf! Whilst he did deal a wound, should he activate again next round, he was going to die to the Red Cloak causing another bleed (6 of 7).
So we needed to prevent that!

Malleus could end the fight right here! Using his armor set, he Propelled in, hit the monster once .. and drew the trap again.
Oh, come on!
Malleus was punched Skyward, and Hidari died quietly to the bleed from yet another severe caused by the Irradiate trigger of the basic action.

0 (1) card left, we were still not out of the woods yet!
The Dragon King had found his next target – and it would be Candy! It stomped on over to her, ready to strike her down, but she managed to dodge and block the necessary hits.
Realizing that the next step on the basic would trigger Meltdown with Candy right in front of the monster, she used her last survival to surge. Maybe she could prevent the worst of it.
1 wound would be all it takes to end this! She scored exactly 1 hit – to the Serpent Tail Vertebra and after rolling the dice off the table twice – a 9 delivered the final wound to this grueling encounter!

Considering that we had been the ones ambushing the Dragon King, this was a terrible fight!
9 severe injuries! The Dragon King went truly blow for blow with us.

But we did collect a BUNCH of resources on the flipside, even if it cost us 2 of my most prolific survivors. They would have each been just 1 point away from axe and club mastery respectively after this fight!
A real shame.
We are incredibly behind when it comes to weapon specs and masteries, and this fight did not help that one bit.

Malleus aged (Unfroggable FA) but he also did not get any wounds in for his new Katar specialization, whilst Candy was 1 hunt xp away from reaching her 4th age Milestone at this point.
If she leaves or retires, she will leave a giant hole in this settlement’s power level! She turned this fight around almost by herself!
I am aware that I did not use Phantom Friend (FA) again, but, I figured that I’d probably rather have the resource.

The haul was pretty decent overall, even if it was costly.

***

Lantern Year 10 in the books, 1 third of a full PotLantern campaign if everything goes alright.
Next Lantern Year is going to be a tough one, though, as that hunt is headed into the Principal Conviction year and we might lose all our resources in that one event.

But before we look ahead too far, we need to build stuff out of all that resin we have brought home this year! I’m sure we’ll be able to get a few things built with all that!

***

For now I will leave it at that.
Have you gotten your hands on Preacher yet? And if so, did you play her outside of the mind palace yet? I believe she comes to the settlement around Lantern Year 8? Which is fairly late to be fair.
I still have to try out Aeneas for a campaign as well.

In any case, as always, thank you very much for your time, and don’t pet the Dragon King. He doesn’t like to be touched!
Amathul