Year 1: Showdown with White Lion - Level 1

So the level 1 lion is tougher and has more wounds than the prologue lion, which will make this tough. But on the plus side there is now terrain that I can use to help me out. All lions have Tall Grass terrain on their showdown. Tall grass gives me +2 evasion if I'm standing in it, making me harder to hit. Also I can use an action to hide in the grass and be marked as not a threat for the lion's next attack. Useful for channeling the lion somewhere else.

I also draw two extra terrain cards and both are Acanthus Plants. Acanthus plants come with two plants per card, so I have four plants on the board. Acanthus are healing plants and if I spend an action to harvest it and roll high enough I can get a fresh acanthus resource that I can use to heal during the fight or to turn into dried acanthus at the organ grinder. Pretty useful stuff. Hopefully I get some.

I park Sierra in some tall grass directly in front of the lion to act as bait. With her extra evasion from the gear and the grass she's got the best chance of survival. Everyone else takes a ready position to try to get into the lion's blind spot or in Krahl's case to throw a dart.

First turn and the lion goes first. He draws a power swat which is strong but only has a speed of 1 so he only rolls one die. With the extra evasion the lion needs a 6+ on a d10 to hit. He rolls a 6. Damn. The hit does two damage and if I can roll a spot where she has armor I can tough it our. Roll the foot. No armor. Damn again. To keep Sierra from taking a heavy wound and being knocked over I have to spend the one survival she got back to dodge, leaving her with nothing. Survival doesn't naturally come back so you need events and gear to restore it, stuff like dried acanthus. Hopefully I can get some.

Sierra activates next and attacks. She hits twice with the axe, one hit being in the lion's groin! Not this again. But she fails to wound both times. Yay? Krahl throws his dart and misses. Derro moves into the blind spot and hits twice. His first wound is a failure and the monster roars at him but I roll low and Derro doesn't panic. His second hit is a wound though. First blood on the lion. Only 10 more to go. Finally Jaqueline moves up and hits twice. Her first hit is also a fail to wound but the second is a crit on the beast's knee. It shatters, dropping the lion to only 5 movement. He's now just as fast as my survivors.

The lion starts the second turn, only slightly wounded. The lion pulls grasp and tries to grab Sierra, who is still taunting him from in front of his face. He only rolls 1 die for the attack but if he hits he grabs her and runs away from everyone, doing extra damage. This time it's a 4. No hit thanks to the tall grass.

Jacqueline starts off and gets a hit and a miss. This hit turns into a wound and she moves away to allow someone else to get in the lion's blind spot. Derro, also in the blind spot rolls his attack and hits only once. It's the lion's Strange Hand again. If only I could roll a crit on this. Roll a 10!?! Well there we go. Derro spends a survival and for the second time tears a lion's hand off. Derro the lion hand ripper-offer. And now he's +2 permanent strength. Damn that was lucky. But that also means that Derro is out of survival now, so he stays in the monster's blind spot so that he won't be an easy target. Krahl moves into the tall grass for some defense and misses with his dart. Good job, Krahl. Sierra has to decide if she wants to move into the blind spot and attack, stay in front to keep tanking and attack, or grab that acanthus. Since the lion still has over half its wound left she decides to tough it out and attack. Sierra's a tough broad. She hits and wounds, dropping the lion to half its AI cards.

Third turn and the lion draws Ground Fighting. This is a lucky break. It means the lion flops over and tries to snatch anyone nearby. If I spend an action while next to the cat, it will do a super attack against me before I can make the attack. Ground fighting only goes away once the lion has killed someone or until it takes a wound. This is why I brought those darts. Also, the lion won't draw any more action cards until Ground Fighting is discarded. That means I'm free to run around and grab those four Acanthus plants now. Taking advantage of the rules for the win.

Jacqueline grabs at the acanthus next to her but find nothing. Remove that plant. Sierra moves out of the lion's zone of death and searches the plant next to her. She finds something tasty and gains 1 survival back. Nice. Krahl the winner moves over and searches a plant to find nothing inside because he's Krahl. I'm sensing a pattern here. And finally Derro runs over to hit plant and rolls an 8! He manages to harvest a fresh acanthus. Derro seems to have taken all of Krahl's good rolls. I'm ok with this.

Next round and I reposition myself. The lion continues to wiggle on the ground, taunting me.

Fifth turn and Krahl throws a dart. Miss. Lion wiggles.

Sixth turn and Krahl throws a dart. Miss. Lion wiggles.

Seventh turn and Krahl throws a dart. Miss. Lion wiggles.

I'd like to point out that the darts have an accuracy of 7+, meaning I need to roll a seven or better to hit with them. Still, 2 out of those 3 rolls were 1's. Krahl needs to spend some time at the Stonevale Pub's dart board.

Eighth turn and Krahl throws a dart. Sigh. Miss.

Ninth turn and Krahl throws a dart. 7! A hit! Darts may not be accurate but they do have a +3 to strength, same as the axe. This hit is a wound. Everything's comin' up Krahl. Derro finally gets to attack from the blind spot and gets a hit, which turns into a wound. The end is closing in for the lion. Next, Sierra attacks from the blind spot with her axe and gets two hits. But she draws the lion's trap card!

Every monster has a trap hard in their hit deck. Drawing it cancels all hits from the attack, causes the monster to attack back in some fashion, and reshuffles the hit location deck. It is possible to shuffle from a trap and draw a trap card. I've done it more than once, it sucks.

The trap makes Sierra DOOMED, which means she can't spend that precious survival she just got. Despite her extra evasion, the lion hits both times and both of them land on the body. Sierra has to take both hits but she has her armor on the chest and ends up with only a light wound. Sierra finishes her turn by scampering back to the tall grass. That leaves Jacqueline, who moves up next to the lion and hits it twice. Both hits fail to wound and one reaction causes the lion to attack back at her. Both of those hit and Jacqueline takes a wound to her arms and legs.

Finally the lion gets to go again. I reshuffle the AI deck and draw Power Swat. Jacqueline is the target because the lion had turned to face her during its counter-attack. It hits and does heavy damage to Jacqueline's chest, knocking her down. It also knocks her back 6 squares because it was a power swat. Poor Jacqueline.

For the survivors, Krahl throws his dart and misses. Big surprise. Jacqueline is down and I could encourage her, but she is too far away to reach the lion after the power swat. Derro instead moves up and attacks, hitting once. It is a wound but the lion has a reaction and runs away after the wound, taking him away from Derro. Sierra chases it down and gets two hits but fails to wound after the first and the lion's triumphant roar knocks her over and does some brain damage. No more insanity for Sierra. That also means her second hit is wasted since you can't wound a monster when you're huddling on the ground in fear.

Monster's turn and he draws grasp, which will target the closes knocked down survivor. Both Sierra and Jacqueline are knocked down but Sierra is right next to him while Jacqueline is still one square away. Sierra it is. He rolls a 1 and misses her. Then both women stand up since they were knocked down last turn.

Sierra moves back around to the blind spot and rolls one hit, which wounds. Jacqueline moves up to the other position in the blind spot and attacks, hitting once and rolling a 10 to wound. Crit! On the beast's femur she breaks another leg, gaining a white lion resource and dropping the lion's movement again. Jacqueline hates legs. And the resource I get from the lion is ... heh ... the testicles. Women, am I right? That also means the lion is down to just 1 wound. Derro moves up and hits twice and finally finishes off this lion.

In the aftermath, the survivor's gain resources and a Hunt XP, which puts them all at 2 xp. This means that they get their first Age milestone and can now start learning weapon proficiency.

To age, I pick a survivor and roll 2d10 then add them together and see what the chart says. Krahl goes first and gains a fighting art. It's the most likely thing to get during age 1. He draws the vengance fighting art which says that he gets stronger and a bunch of survival back if someone else dies in a fight. That's ... thanks Krahl for being such a huge help.

Sierra ages next and also gets a random fighting art. She gains tough, making her harder to kill. How appropriate for my tank girl. Derro gets a fighting art as well and draws Monster Claw Fighting Style. This gives him accuracy, strength, and extra crit damage when he fights unarmed. With his +2 strength already I think we've got our unarmed fighter here. Finally Jacqueline, who also gains a fighting art (seriously there's like an 80% chance that you get a fighting art your first age) and also draws Monster Claw Style. Huh. Ok then.

With spoils in tow, the four survivors set back to return to Stonevale.