After a few hours of walking at around midday, I came across a change in scenery. I had noted it a bit earlier but the tree around me seemed to have changed. They were still the same type of tree but they seemed to have lost their colour slightly. That's when I also noticed that the ground changed from a mostly dry and packed earth to a more wet substance. Only a few minutes later it turned from wet to downright muddy ground with stagnant pools of water here and there.

I debated my options for a moment. The terrain was becoming more and more difficult so going around it might be a good option. The downside was that I didn't know how big this area was so it could be a very lengthy detour. On the other hand, the change of scenery might indicate something special up ahead. The third option was that I was overthinking it and this was just a normal swampy area.

In the end, I decided to give in to my adventurous side and continue on. Not three minutes later I was regretting my choice as the area completely turned into a swamp. I was traversing over tree roots more than the ground when I kept getting sucked in by the mud. Having seen videos of the nasty creatures that lived inside tepid swamp water I wasn't going to risk crossing any of it.

A sudden shift almost pulled me into the water but luckily I managed to keep my balance. The battlefield overlay came to life and without seeing any creatures I knew that I was facing at least one ambush creature.

Combat initiated with disadvantage (caught unaware).

You’ll draw one card less in the first round of combat.

Battlefield modifiers are in effect.

Lanes one and five are disabled for both sides.

The rearguard is disabled for both sides.

The disabled rearguard modification was a new one for the collection. Luckily, it didn't impact me in a major way since I only had damage-dealing rearguards but I could see the downside of it if your deck was built around a buffing rearguard. In a twisted sense of faith, my opening hand contained one of my goblin archers. I also had my spider egg, a goblin enforcer, and thankfully a regular skeleton.

With only three lanes the possibility of me hitting the right lane was higher. Unlike in the fight with the mole where all three lanes were tunnels, there was some difference this time around. Lane one was mostly mud since it was on the water's edge. The other two lanes were both water. The murky state made it impossible to gauge the depth and thus the possibility of the creature that lived inside of it.

With no real indication, I literally took a jump in the deep end and picked lane three for my skeleton. It even was the thematical correct Lizardman skeleton. It stood inside the thigh-high water with its club at the ready. Nothing happened for a while until the skeleton was suddenly pulled underwater. The water was a storm of activity before it settled back down to a serene pool of water. A U-shaped snout poked out of the water with beady black eyes behind them. The scales were coloured in a dark green giving it perfect camouflage in the dark and murky water.

Swamp gator

Beast - Gator

Aqua ambush

Glass armour(1)

Attack 3 Health 2

Nothing else happened while I pulled up the opponent's card thus indicating I was only fighting the one gator. I drew the bloated zombie for the second round but since I already had an enforcer that would end the fight I played that instead. The goblin was quite a bit shorter than the lizardman skeleton and stood in waist-high water compared to only thigh-high for the skeleton. The snout retreated back underwater and the goblin took a ready stance to fight off the oncoming attack. Despite its effort, the goblin also vanished underwater. A massive splotch of crimson mixed in with the frothing water as the fight took place underwater. As the water set back into its serene state, the battlefield lifted and I claimed my reward of experience and coins.

I used this moment to also take a break for some water. I was back on my feet five minutes later and continued my journey through the swamp. Not even ten minutes later the same thing happened again. I wasn't this lucky this time around as I lost my footing and was now ankle-deep inside the water. I took the same approach and played a skeleton in the rightmost lane but this time I missed the coin toss. The gator rose up out of the water and attempted to bite my head off. Not wanting to take three points of life damage I activated my ring and a wall of mud shot up out of the water and blocked the gator. It landed back in the water with a giant splash and luckily the mud wall protected me from that as well. This time around one of my knights fought the gator and it ended in a similar scene.

I stepped out of the water and sat down on a root to pull off my shoes. Both them and my socks were drenched and a small stream of water fell from my shoes. I wrung out my socks and stuffed them in the side pocket of my backpack. Reluctantly I put my shoes back on and I could feel the squelch with every step I took. I tried to avoid the pools of water after that. My shoes were already ruined so getting more mud on them was the better alternative than those coin toss gator fights. I trudged through the swamp and the mud for another twenty minutes before some sort of building caught my eye.

Ancient remains of a low stone wall surrounded a lone stone building. If I had to compare it to anything it was a very old church building. As I walked through the entrance my suspicion was mostly confirmed as it was an open space and at the far end stood a stone plight. I envisioned the building could hold four rows of benches back in its prime. I observed a shimmer on the plight and carefully made my way over to it. I took a few steps up the dais and faced the shining object on the plight. It was a small blue marble and when I touched it a system notification appeared.

You have found a challenge!

Name: Crumbled Sanctum

Rating: Intermediate

Type: Holdout

Deck size: 14+

Accept challenge: Yes / No.

The most noticeable fact about the challenge was the lack of size. Both the dungeon and the settlement had a size but this challenge didn't. The most logical option was that the challenge didn't have a size or size one wasn't being displayed. The Intermediate rating was fine if the difficulty was on par with the settlement and I had no real trouble clearing that. Since I had a full deck I wasn't concerned about the size. The only variable was the Holdout type but combining the keyword with the lack of size almost guaranteed I was standing my ground again, most likely, waves of enemies. My deck was as upgraded as I wanted it to be, I had the full twenty life points, and I still had a charge on my ring if needed. I took a deep breath and accepted the challenge.

The ground shook and I fearfully eyed the still-standing walls expecting them to collapse at any minute. Whatever type of magic was at play luckily kept them standing. The dais slowly lowered itself into the floor. When the dasi was no longer visible, the floor in the center of the sanctum slid away and an alter rose up out of the floor. Just looking at the thing sent shivers down my spine as whisps of black and purple floated away from it. When the alter was done rising from the ground the battlefield snapped into place and it was in a configuration I had never seen before.

Combat initiated.

Battlefield modifiers are in effect.

Battlefield adjusted to a holdout formation.

The formation contains 16 Vanguard slots, 8 Rearguard slots, and 1 event slot.

A five-by-five grid was now in place. In the center were me and the alter which I assumed to be the event slot. It was surrounded by the eight rearguard slots and the outside of the sanctum was surrounded by the sixteen vanguard slots. The very open space would prove to be a challenge to properly manage all of my defenders to the attackers. Unlike in a normal battle, I now held seven cards in my hand. Spider egg, two Skeletons, Goblin shanker, Skeletal knight, a card called Redeploy, and a card called Take Aim. The two mystery cards didn't cost any crystal to play and were very straightforward. Redeploy lets me move any of my creatures to another slot and Take Aim allows a rearguard unit to make a free attack on any enemy creature. Since it was an event item I also decided to see if the alter was anything special and to my surprise, it was a field effect card.

Desecrated holy alter of light

Field effect - Unique

Unholy aura: undead creatures receive a +1 to attack.

Cursed aura: All non-undead creatures receive a -1 to attack.

Life linked: Any damage done to the alter will be redirected to the player.

The difficulty was directly related to this field effect. Any other deck would have been at a severe disadvantage in this case. Even my own deck was taking a hit with almost half of my deck containing goblins. The Spider and Shanker were already downgraded to chump blockers since they'd have zero attack points with the aura in play. It also lifted the veil on what type of creature I'd be fighting in this event. As if on cue, the ground in front of the entrance burst apart as a hand popped out of the ground. It was quickly followed by a second hand and a head. If the zombies would pop out every round, the battle ahead suddenly became somewhat easier for me. When most of the zombie's body had risen up out of the ground purple whisps shot out from the altar and enveloped the zombie. A quick inspection showed it was just a regular zombie at a buffed-up (2/1). I still played the spider even if it was just a speedbump at this point along a normal skeleton facing the zombie. Identical purple whisps shot out from the altar again and enveloped my skeleton boosting it (2/1). The zombie shuffled its way forward but before it even came into range a horizontal axe chop chopped off its head. Despite losing its head the zombie still charged forward and clobbered the skeleton in the head, cracking the skull and killing the skeleton

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Two more zombies popped up. One on the east side and the other on the west side. Unfortunately, my current hand wouldn't allow me to block both zombies since I drew my tomb guard. With only a single one cost card in hand, I needed to make a decision. The zombie had two points of attack and trading my knight for a zombie felt like a bad deal. The tomb guard would block a hit but I really liked it against something super strong. The Shanker would drop down to zero attack points but it also made me wonder if it would still apply the poison debuff via venomous. Curiosity got the better of me so I opted for the Shanker on the east side. The zombies launched a simultaneous attack with surprising speed. The eastern zombie fell backward as the Shanker uncloaked and stood on its chest. It stabbed down with the venomous dagger but the zombie blocked the strike by holding up its hand and the dagger pierced straight through it. The zombie's other hand was coming in for a retaliatory swing so the Shanker quickly dashed backwards to avoid the strike.

Meanwhile, the other zombie had flopped over the low outer wall and flung itself onto the altar. Two things happened at the same time. First, the zombie burst into purple flames which burned it to dust in a few seconds. The second effect was a bolt of purple lightning striking me in the chest. The protection effect reduced it to the feeling of getting a strong shock of static electricity and left me rubbing the spot on my chest where it had impacted.

A new zombie popped up again on the west side. It was quickly followed by another two zombies on the north side. This time it was a (2/1) and a (3/2) zombie. I now had to deal with four zombies and it was looking a bit dicey on my end. Fortunately for me, the east-side zombie's flesh turned into a rotting black mess and it collapsed onto the ground. That was another question answer as a creature with no attack power would still proc venomous.

Out of a dark corner, my spider scurried onto the battlefield and luckily it was on the west side where it could hold off the zombie for a round. My draw card didn't help me this round since it was the three-cost goblin redcap (5/3). Trading a (3/2) for another was now the right play so I played both my normal skeleton and my skeletal knight on the north side. The skeletons charged ahead but with no rusty armour holding it back the common skeleton reached the smaller zombie first. With a swift horizontal chop of the axe, the zombie was killed. The victory was short-lived as the other zombie's meaty hand grabbed a hold of the skull and crushed it into dust. The skeletal knight arrived and almost bisected the zombie as its innards spilled all over the ground. Undeterred, the zombie slapped its two palms together with the unfortunate knight in the middle. The zombie waddled a few steps but succumbed to the grisly innard-spilling wound. I hadn't focussed on what had happened on the west side but a quick look showed the zombie chowing down on the spider's corpse.

A new round started and I got another skeletal knight card. Only one zombie extracted itself from the ground on the north side.

Infested zombie

Undead - Zombie, Elf

On death, spawn (2) undead maggots (1/1)

Attack 2 Health 4

Wanting to be as crystal efficient as possible, I played my knight on the west side and my tomb guardian in the north opposing the Infested zombie. Combined with the alter's effect, the maggots would turn into (2/1) creatures but I'd figure out a solution in the next round. I still had the movement card in hand that I could use if needed.

Meaty hand impacted the guardian's shield and thanks to the block ability they were rebuffed. In retaliation, the spear swept out and bisected the zombie at the waist. The top half fell to the left as the bottom part fell to the right. After both halves struck the ground a bile green maggots the size of a small dog slithered from each half of the zombie. My Shakner still stood by idle and the knight and zombie were trading blows before they both collapsed from the accumulated damage.

With my attention drawn away from the altar, the sudden whoosh of a zombie igniting into flames gave me a jump scare. With my heart going a hundred miles per hour another bolt of purple lightning struck me in the chest. Another zombie burrowed itself out of the ground and upon inspection I realized why I had missed it in the last round.

Zombie burrower

Undead - Zombie

Ambush

Attack 2 Health 2

That intermediate rating wasn't for show and this event was rapidly turning into a real challenge. All my fights so far had mostly been straight-up duels and this new type of event was throwing a wrench in my plans. This was still the first zone and I idly wondered what type of challenges I would face further in the tournament. I promptly refocused on the current fight since not paying attention might cost me more than I was willing to lose. East and west both had a (3/2) zombie popping up and faced with five enemies I had to come up with a good counterstrategy.

Bloated zombie (0/5) was my card for the turn and I still held the redcap. Different scenarios went through my head but there was no play to block everything. The only option that left me with was to mitigate as much damage as possible. The maggots did the least amount of damage so not blocking one of them was the best option. The shanker would die without getting a counter kill which was unfortunate as well.

Another solution suddenly popped up. It was a bit risky since I didn't know what type of further surprises would pop up but I would mitigate most of the damage on this turn. Using the movement card, I relocated the shanker to the north facing off against one of the maggots. Assuming that south would spawn the next zombie I played my bloated zombie there and my redcap on the west side.

The shanker was the first to reach the maggot and his venomous knife only left the smallest cut on the maggot's flesh as it slid off the slimy body. Now severely overextended, the maggot used its chance to chomp down on the goblin's leg. It let out a wailing scream and started to punch the maggot in the head. This caused the maggot to slightly open its maw which was enough space for the goblin to pull it out and quickly crawl backward. Meanwhile, the guardian easily killed the maggot by piercing it with the spear. The maggot ballooned up and exploded in a shower of acidic gore that only covered a small portion of the Jah'kali but the acidic fluid quickly ate away the shield which he discarded. A quick inspection told me the guardian still had two health points remaining and the glass armour had fallen off. Glad to see that the armour buff only got removed once it no longer had the stack of block validated my choice to equip it with the armour piece.

Engrossed by the fighting I almost missed my chance to block the zombie from the east. A quick ring activation saw it rebuffed by a wall of dark earth. I had hoped to save the second charge but mitigation was mitigation and thus I opted to use it now hoping the event would soon conclude. The burrower dived underground similar to how my mole had attacked when it was still in my deck and slashed my bloated zombie. It just stood there unfazed as poisonous clouds escaped from the slashed flesh. The final zombie on the west side got cross-slashed out of nowhere and fell apart in four quarters with the redcap power posing behind it.

To my dismay, a zombie appeared in each direction and I only drew a common skeleton. Since it was the only card I could play it went east to stall out one of the zombies there. The tomb guardian took a stance to face off the incoming zombie. The goblin shanker got up using the guardian as a support due to the mangled leg. It gave a bloody smile at me and jumped straight into the path of the zombie. The zombie instantly went for the throat and ripped out a massive chunk of flesh. With the zombie occupied with the now-dead goblin, its spear flashed forward and impaled both the goblin and the zombie. With a flourish, it pulled the spear back out and the two bodies fell to the floor.

The lizardman skeleton managed to strike the zombie's head with its massive two-handed club and it splattered apart like an overripe melon. The second zombie smashed apart the skeleton in a rush towards the altar. Purple flames ignited and I was struck by yet another bolt of lightning. The burrower had died to the poison at the start of the round and in the one versus one, the enemy zombie came out on top as it slashed away the bloated zombie's flesh. It ripped open in a massive cloud of poisonous green smoke and enveloped the zombie inside. Without the advantage of ambush the redcap faced off against the zombie. The zombie went in with a right haymaker which was interrupted by the redcap slicing of the arm. The same action repeated for the left arm. But when the redcap came out of the roundhouse swing to finish off the zombie it lunged forward and bit down on the redcap's neck. They went down as the redcap lost its balance and they both died soon after. The round had cleared the entire field of all creatures apart from my guardian and the zombie in the east.

My five tokens converted into a skeleton card and my own card for the turn was another goblin enforcer. Just as I thought the event might have ended the biggest zombie to date burst from the ground in front of the building. While another burrowing zombie might have spawned it was impossible to tell in the current situation. I inspected the latest zombie to enter the field.

Hulking zombie

Undead - Zombie

Large

Sweep

Attack 3 Health 9

Luckily, it didn't have any scary abilities. Large and sweep weren't that hard to counter and it was just an endurance race. I first used my token to play an archer in the rearguard slot facing the hulking zombie. Not sure if it would work, I held off on playing the enforcer and played the Take Aim card on my new skeletal archer and targeted the zombie on the east side. The skeleton swung the crossbow it was armed with around and, due to the buffing effect of the alter, killed it with the bolt piercing through the head. I held back on playing the enforcer since all my damage only added up to eight which was not enough to kill the zombie. And if more zombies spawned it was a nice counter to have on hand. Another crossbow bolt flew through the air and embedded itself into the large zombie. Meanwhile, the guardian used the spear it held as a javelin and threw it at the hulking zombie. In return, the zombie stomped down onto the guardian and splintered every bone it was out of.

Nothing else attacked me and I let out a sigh of relief as no new zombies spawned. I drew my non-equipped goblin archer and placed it next to my skeletal archer. The goblin enforcer I played in the vanguard to hold off the hulking zombie from my backline. Two twangs went out two more projectiles embedded themselves into the hulking zombie. One of the projectiles must have hit something vital as the hulking zombie staggered for a step before it promptly fell forward and crushed the enforcer in the process kicking up a massive dust cloud. It took a bit for the dust to settle but once it did I was greeted by a victory notification.

VICTORY!

Exp gained: 15

Coins gained: 30

Card(s) gained: Altar

Additional reward(s): Deck box upgrade.

Claim

It had been a tough fight and with my health now at only twelve out of twenty points, I realised how lucky I had been up until now. I had used the difficulty rating from the settlement as a baseline but without the proper understanding of the holdout format I was caught off guard and paid a hefty price for it. I was tempted to drink my healing potion but decided not to since it would be better served when I needed it compared to a slight boost now.

I eagerly claimed my rewards and was immediately greeted by another notification popup.