I found myself just past the gate I had just broken. Oddly enough the battlefield was still visible and my creatures were still out on the field. Tent-like hovels lined the path beside the battlefield. Two goblins rushed out from one of the hovels and took up position in the middle of the battlefield.
The goblin archer that had jumped from the tower scrambled on all fours behind the goblin on the right. Further up in the camp, I saw a goblin open a gate to an animal pen and two wargs rushed out and lined up on either side of the goblins. A quick inspection returned the wargs to be (1/1), the goblins were (2/2), and the goblin archer was still (1/1). I heard some shouting from further up in the camp but no further reinforcements showed up. Within that slight pause, I quickly read the notification before the fight started.
Stage one is completed.
Initiating stage two.
Battlefield and hand state retained.
Round counter set to stage number.
Battlefield extended to four lanes.
As I read the notification the challenge size clicked in my mind. While the dungeon gave me the opportunity to retreat after every room the prolonged assault would automatically drag me forward to the next stage of the challenge. That also explained how my field state was still intact since it would advance with me. In hindsight, prolonging the first fight could have given me a better card advantage but it would require me to take hits without dealing a lot of damage in return.
The round had reset from four back to two. This had the effect of adjusting my crystal reserves to play cards back to two. I quickly shuffled my hand to see what I was working with. I drew my (2/2) mole for this new round. I also had the two (1/1) skeletons from before and the goblin shanker with (1/3). No matter how I turned it I would take two damage this round. Blocking the wargs with the skeletons would let three damage through from the two goblins in lane three. I could block the (2/2) with a skeleton but I didn’t know if the archer would also hit my skeleton or bypass it and damage me instead.
Not wanting to take that risk, I played the shanker in lane three. The first warg charged me and I held up an arm to block. It bit down on my arm and the pain suppression only made it feel like someone had strongly gripped my arm. The enforcer did a quick one-two punch on the zombie flesh and was treated to a cloud of escaping poison fumes. As it was coughing and wheezing from the airborne attack an arrow slammed into its chest and it dropped dead.
The other enforcer tried to run up on me but it tripped on something and fell over. The shanker blurred into vision and plunged its dagger into the fallen goblin’s back. A twang sounded out and an arrow caught the shanker in the shoulder knocking it off the goblin as the shanker tried to come in for another stab. The freed goblin quickly scurried back to his own side of the field. I dealt with the final warg in the same way as the first. I was now down to fifteen points of life again. It would be healed by a good night's rest but there were still two stages to go.
Something blurred past in the corner of my eye and I was surprised to see my spider take the vanguard spot in lane one. I had completely forgotten I’d played it but was glad to see it make an appearance. My card for the turn was the skeletal wolf (2/2). Knowing that my field stat would carry over I played the wolf card. I could have played the mole but skeletons had more value due to the bone tokens they generated on death.
The warg pounced on the spider and it down on its head. The chitin started to crack but before it could puncture through, the spider furiously stabbed the wolf a few times with its legs. The chitin gave way but the victory was short-lived as the warg collapsed and started to bleed out. Another arrow flew through the air and struck the shanker in the abdomen. Despite the new wound it still reached the archer and stabbed it to death. The warg and wolf circled each other before they both pounced on each other. They collided in the air with the skeletal wolf coming out on top. It ripped out the warg’s throat and only received scratches to its bones in return.
A fierce-looking orc made its way down the central path between the hovels. As the orc got closer the pull started to happen again but it was gentle and slow for a change as we both got closer to each other. A howl sounded and a goblin riding one of the wargs jumped over the pen fence and took up position on the right side beside the other goblin.
Stage two is completed.
Initiating stage three.
Battlefield and hand state retained.
Round counter set to stage number.
The battlefield was reduced to three lanes.
With the battlefield reduced to three lanes, the bloated zombie and the goblin archer were now in lane one, lane two was open, and the third lane held my skeletal wolf. I first inspected my new opponents.
Orc bloodletter
Greenskin – Orc
Killer (1): When this kills a creature add (1) enrage token.
Attack 3 Health 5
Goblin warg rider
Greenskin – Goblin
Rider (1): When mounted add (1) attack.
Attack 6 Health 3
Seeing my new and pretty powerful opponents I was glad to not have run into them in the wild with the many patrols they used to be in the forest. Apart from the witch doctor, I hadn´t seen anything more difficult then with a combined stat total higher than four. The new distribution rendered my first lane with the zombie and archer useless for the current round. It was also a blessing since they would carry over to the fourth round. I added the two new abilities to my mental library for future reference. The bloodletter was a beast if it would be allowed to ramp and could easily take out bigger and bigger targets unless you could keep chump blocking it. The warg rider only had a high attack stat. It got a small buff from being mounted but that was all it did. With the low amount of health points, it could be taken out by a lot of other creatures.
I didn’t have any cards to play this round. All my vanguard slots had been filled up and my archer was the only vanguard card I had. I only had two bone tokens so no new skeletal archer would arrive any time soon. I drew the (3/3) tomb guardian as my card and just ended my turn. My boated zombie exploded into a shower of gore and a massive putrid cloud hovered in its wake. The twang of a bow resounded and I saw my archer had launched an arrow into the cloud of green smog but nothing else moved after that. The bloodletter tried to grab hold of the shanker with its meaty hands. While the nimble goblin managed to dodge twice, the third time was the charm as the orc caught it by the throat. The orc immediately started to choke out the goblin that was wildly flaying its arms around. I tried to stab the orc but the light in its eyes was quickly fading from being choked to death. It did manage to deliver a few shallow cuts to the orc’s arm before it went completely limp. With a sadistic glee, the orc twisted the goblin’s head around and ripped it clean off its shoulders. It dropped the mangled shanker´s corpse and dragged its bloodied hands over its face using the blood as face paint. The blood took on a dark red glow and the orc visibly bulked up.
Like a true undead, the skeletal wolf had no fear as it charged the goblin riding the dark-coloured warg. It locked its skeletal fang around the goblin's leg which yelped out in pain before it flicked its spear around and with a few bashes reduced the wolf’s skull to nothing but broken pieces of bone. In the meantime, the putrid cloud had dissipated and it finally spotted what had killed my bloated zombie.
Goblin redcap
Greenskin – Goblin
Ambush
Attack 5 Health 3
I had to do a double-take on those stat points. The redcap clearly was an upgraded version of my own shanker. Instead of relying on the venom for most of its damage it just dealt it straight up. Combined with a deadly stealth skill it could end any card currently in my deck with ease. The arrow had pierced it through the back. It first felts its back to confirm it and then uses its sickle to cut off the feather part of the arrow and pull it out from the back. A spurt of dark purple blood spurted from the wound and the redcap started to sway on its legs before it folded like a deck of cards. The poison luckily triggered on being attacked and not on doing damage so it negated most of the advantages of the ambush skill.
And just like that, I went from a full vanguard to it being completely open. The bloodletter had ticket down to three health due to the poison stack it got from the shanker. I got another common skeleton and a skeletal token from my deck bonus and I considered my options for the round. The third lane was easily solved by playing one of my common skeletons since the rider only had one health remaining. My tomb guardian would finish off the bloodletter and block the return damage with its stack of block thus leaving it alive for the final battle. I almost played it before I thought about it being poisoned. Since it would lose another point of life next round I only needed to do two points of damage to it. I quickly swapped over and played my mole card instead. That left me with one of my better cards in hand for the final fight.
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The mole burrowed underground and while the confused bloodletter looked around it got hit with the double slash uppercut as the mole popped out of the ground. Before it could retreat however it was caught by the bloodletter. With the same sadistic glee, it started to rip off the mole’s paws one by one. The mole quickly died from the blood loss and the orc now drew its hands across its chest and added another blood painting to its body. The blood took on a brighter shade of red than before and its muscles bulked up even further. The goblin rider kicked his heels into the warg's flank and made it charge forward. The skeleton placed the butt of his spear into the ground and reinforced it with its foot. Like two jousting knights both goblin and skeleton collided with the tip of a spear. Momentum carried the warg forward but the rider was left behind and impaled on the spear. Without a single glance back the warg kept running forward and out of the destroyed gate. The bloodletter started to froth dark foam at the mouth and it collapsed to the ground as its eye rolled back into its skull.
Stage three is completed.
Initiating stage four.
Battlefield and hand state retained.
Round counter set to stage number.
With the stage advancement, I was pulled forward and up a dais where a large hovel stood. I was pulled through the open doorway and found myself in some sort of throne room. A dark green-skinned orc sat on a throne of animal bones and was flanked by two orcish bodyguards on either side. The bodyguards carried glaives and a normal-sized shield which they made look like bucklers. They wore chain mail armour and open metal helmets. The chieftain only wore a set of dark leather pants. His chest was bare and crisscrossed with healed scars. Long and dark braided hair lay across his chest.
The orc said something to his bodyguards in a language I didn’t understand and while the orc started to loudly laugh the bodyguards only chuckled along. More words were spoken before the orc picked up two axes from the side of his throne and descended onto the main floor flanked by his guards. He yelled out something but whatever he had expected to happen it was not the silence that greeted him. He turned around and faced one of the side exits and more forcefully repeated his previous declaration. Once again the reply was silence and I could see the anger written on his face. Spittle flew as he instructed his guards in a very angry tone and they all entered the battlefield overlay. Now that they finally took up a position I was able to identify them all but not before another notification popped up.
Modification in effect.
By previously defeating the goblin witch doctor it will not reinforce this fight.
As a result, the Orc chieftain has gained an additional effect.
Orc bodyguard
Greenskin – Orc, Unique
Chief’s bodyguard
Glass armour (1)
Attack 1 Health 4
Orc chieftain
Greenskin – Orc, Unique
Rage aura (1): This creature will boost the attack of itself and its adjacent allies by (1).
Twin strike: This creature will deal its attack damage twice. Each attack will trigger attack abilities.
Attack 2 Health 8
For the first time since this tournament had started, I felt the impact of what a loss would mean. This was going to be a big hurdle to overcome. I still had plenty of cards left in my deck to finish this fight but at the outset, it didn’t look that great.
A dark red aura enveloped the chieftain and slowly spread out to the two bodyguards. Their eyes took on a red sheen and their muscles bulked up under their armour. Going off the narrative from the notification I was assuming the Rage aura was the additional effect. It also made me wonder how the witch doctor would have come in effect. Since there was still the limited three-lane space my best bet was that an upgraded version of the witch doctor would have entered the field instead of a deck bearer. If I had to contest with that deck and these guys it surely would have been a very sad end for me.
I tried to push the negative thought from my head and focus on the fight but an uneasy feeling still lingered in my stomach. When I won the fight I’d need some time to get a handle on them. The feelings from yesterday’s duel added even more weight to it. I psyched myself up and let out a mighty roar directed at the chieftain. It smiled at me and let out a roar in return. I took a final deep breath and drew my card for the turn. I smiled at the goblin brute card I had pulled but I’d have to hold on to it for this round. My field was completely open and I was facing three opponents with a possible ten incoming damage.
With four crystals I knew I wanted to block each of my opponents. I had two common skeletons and the tomb guardian in my hand as I was going over my options and the lane to play them in. This was still a normal fight so once the bodyguards were taken care of the side lanes would become useless. This only left me with one option and that was the two skeletons in the side lane to block the bodyguards and strip their armour while I played the tomb guardian in the middle lane where it would stick around for two rounds. For good measure, I also converted my token into a skeleton archer in the middle lane. As long as I took care of the bodyguard I was fine with top decking the rest of the fight.
My skeleton came in with a horizontal axe chop but was rebuffed by the bodyguard's shield. The rebound left the skeleton wide open and it was promptly bisected. The goblin archer let an arrow fly but only managed a glancing blow. The tomb guardian took a waiting approach and the chieftain eagerly advanced. It took a horizontal swipe with the left axe which bounced off the massive shield. The rebound caused the other axe strike that came if diagonally from the bottom right to be slightly off target but it still sliced through the massive shield cleaning cutting it apart. The tomb guardian’s spear flashed out but out of nowhere, the left-side bodyguard intercepted it with its shield. The spear cut straight through it and stabbed the bodyguard in the chest. Unfortunately, It missed the heart and with a sweep of the glaive, the guardian lost his head. As I tried to process what had just happened the skeleton fired his crossbow but the shot went wide adding to my confusion even more. The final skeleton came in with an overhead axe swing and on the orc’s side another shield died but that was all the damage the orc received as the skeleton’s rib case was obliterated by a sweeping glaive attack.
And just like that my entire vanguard was gone again. I had to mentally replay what had just happened to my tomb guardian and that whiffed crossbow shot. The chieftain’s attack should have been nullified by the block and the bodyguard didn’t have enough damage to finish it off. That’s when the true impact of Twin Strike clicked in my mind and the chieftain had literally attacked twice. The first strike ate up the stack of block displayed as the rebound. The second attack would have killed the guardian but since its damage would be intercepted by the bodyguard the final action had the bodyguard kill the guardian instead. The archer would have also hit the bodyguard but the glass armour prevented said damage and displayed it as a miss instead.
That twin-strike attack had thrown a serious wrench in my plans on how I’d approach the second turn of this fight. I drew my sword-equipped skeleton (2/1) and went to plan my play. I could play both of my cards and like last round, there was only one real option here. I’d need to put all my power in the middle lane since it would be wasted on the sides. Since the bodyguard had lost their glass armour stacks last turn I could easily finish them off this round. My brute went in the middle lane and the skeleton on the third lane. I didn’t need to play a card in the first lane since the archer would finish off the bodyguard there.
The bodyguard was clutching the wound in its chest it gained from the guardian as the goblin nocked an arrow. Since it wouldn’t make it in time to attack the goblin before it would die it adjusted the grip on the glaive and threw it like a javelin. The glaive turned javelin and arrow passed each other in their flight before they each killed their opponent. The orc caught the arrow in the neck while the goblin was speared through the chest and pinned to the ground. With a roar, the brute charged the chieftain but was tackled to the ground by the bodyguard. The brute came out on top of the tumble and started to bash the bodyguard's face in. In only a few punches it was turned into a bloody mess but the brute’s victory was short-lived as the chieftain decapitated the brute still sitting on the bodyguard. With no one to protect it, the chieftain was hit by a crossbow bolt in its left thigh. And with me not having calculated the damage properly my skeleton now stood motionless in the third lane.
The final fight did make me realize that the number of attacks didn’t carry over. The bodyguard and the first strike from the chieftain would have killed the brute but the second attack did not pass over to my skeletal archer. With the bodyguards taken care of, the killing of the chieftain was nothing but a formality at this point. I drew a goblin enforcer and got another skeletal token. The conversion rate with my new deck box bonus also including goblins was already proving its benefits. I drew a common skeleton for the turn and immediately played it. The chieftain got hit by the crossbow bolt which slightly unbalanced it which allowed the skeleton to get in a cut with its sword before the twin axes finished it off.
The chieftain was down to its last point of health and without looking at my drawn card I played the skeletal token in the vanguard. The skeleton twirled around the spike ball of its morning star. It tried to hit the chieftain who came in to attack but the telegraphed attack was easily evaded as the chieftain ducked under it and tackled the skeleton to the ground. With two quick axe hits the skeleton was reduced to rubble but before the chieftain could get up a final crossbow bolt embedded itself in its chest. The red aura stopped spilling out of its body as it looked quizzical at the bolt embedded in its chest before a bloody smile crept on his face and he fell over dead.
I also sagged to the ground with relief of surviving the settlement assault. Silence filled the room with nothing but the crisper of burning torches. It was now completely dark outside and I was tired from the long forest track and the unexpected continuous assault. A victory notification popped up but I decided to let it open for now as I went to look for a place to sleep. I first tried the left exit and indeed found a room dedicated to the witch doctor. I left the room and went down the right exit this time. A short corridor let me to an open door and the chieftain’s quarters. The fact that it had a door was good enough and I barricaded it before sitting down on the bed. The smell wasn’t great but I was too tired to care at the moment. Before I drifted off to sleep I claimed my rewards.