VICTORY!

Exp gained: 15

Coins gained: 28

Card(s) gained: None

Additional reward(s): Vampiric essence

Claim

I was expecting the vampiric essence to turn into an item but it was an equipment card instead.

Vampiric essence

Equipment - non-undead, non-vampire

A creature equipped with this item gains the Vampiric (1) ability.

That creature will also gain the Vampire subtype in addition to its other types.

Once equipped, this item can not be removed.

There was a lot to unpack in this single piece of equipment. The main takeaway was of course the Vampiric ability. Similar to the Renew orb I got back in the goblin settlement, it restored the health of my creatures but with the caveat that it dealt damage to a creature. The wording on Vampiric also hinted at a deeper meaning behind the ability. Especially the part that said, " for each creature they've damaged". If I interpreted the wording correctly, a creature that was able to damage two creatures would also heal two points of health. I quickly went over all the creatures I'd encountered so far and the two large spiders from the dungeon both had the sweep ability. The best course of action would be to save the equipment card till I got a creature with such an ability.

The fact that it couldn't be removed might be an inconvenience but it only emphasised the importance of using it on the right creature. Turning it into a vampire in addition to its other types of no consequence currently since I had no vampire synergy going. It did paint a good picture of how you could bring in a creature for your tribal synergy that didn't meet that requirement. It also made me wonder if there were items out there that could turn creatures into skeletons.

During my musing about the essence card, I had gone around the outpost in search of any valuable. Unfortunately, there were no items of interest anywhere to be found. With the outpost being a disappointment I turned my attention to the only other location of interest, the gate.

The gate was a lot sturdier than I suspected it to be. The gate sat in the middle of the wall and was flanked by two enclosed staircases that led up to a walkway. Instead of the top being open, it was completely closed to cover any open space. A multitude of window shutters could be opened up to see outside and most likely rain attacks on the enemies assaulting the gate. This made me wonder why none of the kobolds had any bows but I discarded that line of thought. I ascended one of the stairs and peered out one of the windows. Visibility was almost zero beyond the wall so I closed up the window again and went back downstairs.

Standing in front of the gate gave me a dilemma. I wanted to further explore the cave but the dilemma was what to do about the gate. I could open up the gate and walk about without an issue but what if a patrol came round, found the open gate, and closed it? I would be trapped outside the walls with no real way of getting back inside. On the other hand, taking it down might pose another risk since I didn't know what I would find further in and the gate might be my salvation in a daring escape.

I went back into the outpost to go and find a rope. it took me only a few minutes and with the rope in hand I went up the stairs again. I tied the rope to the wall where the wood didn't correctly align and left the rope dangling outside the shutter. It wasn't perfect but it was my backup plan. With that in place, I unlocked the gate by removing the heavy wooden beam and stepped into the dark tunnel beyond.

Not even five minutes into the journey I heard a shuffling sound coming from up ahead. I turned off the magical torch and found myself in utter darkness. I stayed close to the wall so I had no trouble finding it with my hand and carefully knelt. The shuffling sound came closer and closer and being in the suffocating darkness made me anxious. Just when I thought the source of the sound was in range I relit the torch to try and catch whatever it was by surprise. My mind quickly processed what was in front of me. Two creatures stood in front of me and they were about 5 feet tall and based on that perceived threat level, I initiated combat.

Despite my guesstimation of their distance, they were closer than I initially thought so we were pulled apart quite a bit. Now that the battlefield was in place I took the time to further observe my opponents. Their skin was a shade of greenish-brown leather skin. The two creatures were hunchbacked with lanky arms that held a primitive weapon. They had bulbous heads with, surprisingly, no eyes but with a mouth filled with small teeth similar to a shark. The sudden light source didn't affect them since the notification lacked the expected ambush part.

Troglodyte

Trogg - Troglodyte

Attack 1 Health 1

Luckily, they were only common and weak creatures. My mistake meant I would take a point of damage in this combat, unfortunately. My card for the first round was my (2/2) skeletal wolf. It charged the troglodyte which used its club to smack the incoming maw aside but without the power to back up the strike, the wolf quickly recovered and pounced onto the troglodyte and started ripping it apart. The other troglodyte charged me with a spear and stabbed me in the chest. The protection dimmed it down to a light punch but it still didn't feel great to get hit. My life points went down to sixteen and the next round of combat began. I didn't want to waste any time so I played another skeleton card to end the fight.

VICTORY!

Exp gained: 2

Coins gained: 4

Card(s) gained: None

Additional reward(s): None

Claim

I quickly claimed my rewards and resumed my journey through the dark tunnel. A couple of minutes later I came upon a split in the tunnel. The left path seemed to slope slightly down and the right path sloped up. With no real indication of which was the better option, I decided to follow the right tunnel first. After ten minutes of walking, I was met with a dead end where the tunnel had collapsed into itself. I could do nothing but shrug my shoulders as I turned around and walked back down to the split.

Before I could round the corner and take the left tunnel, I heard the same shuffling sound again and halted my step. In the light of the torch, I was barely able to see the back of another two troglodytes as they came from the left tunnel and were heading up the tunnel towards the outpost. Curiously enough, they didn't react to the torchlight. Considering how they had no eyes, they must have a different way of seeing in the dark tunnels.

I picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it over the two troglodytes further into the cave. Their heads instantly snapped at the sound of the rock skittering off the other rocks. Using that moment when their attention was focused on the sound from up ahead, I charged forward and before they had the time to turn around I initiated combat.

Combat initiated with advantage (all opponents unaware).

You’ll receive one bonus crystal for the first round of combat.

This time I got the ambush bonus and two skeletons made quick work of the two troglodytes. I claimed the reward and made my way down the other tunnel. Ten minutes I found myself in a somewhat open space where multiple paths converged. Indecision took hold as I started to think that this journey might be a bad idea. Picking a path to follow wasn't the problem but what would happen after that. I had limited time left in the tournament and I wanted to take Falliana to the store with me before the round ended and that would take us most of the final day since I needed to pick her up at the keep before making our way back to the store.

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I knew that light deprivation did funny things to your time perception. Without the cycle of the sun, it was very hard to tell time and I also lacked a watch to tell time with. I grabbed my knife from my backpack and carved a big up arrow into the wall next to the tunnel I came from to indicate where I needed to go to get out. There had to have been a reason why the path was blocked and greed for a good reward won out in the end.

I inspected four possible tunnels to take but none of them had any indication of which was the best one to take. Since the right side didn't pan out for me last time, I picked the leftmost tunnel this time around. The path was sloping steadily down and I had to turn around when the slope became too dangerous to follow. Slipping here without a way back up was screaming that it was a bad idea and with plenty of tunnels left to explore, I made my way back to the open space. The second tunnel also ended in a blocked path and hopefully, the third time was a charm as I entered the third tunnel.

The tunnel kept slowly descending and the silence was a bit oppressing. I had been walking for a while before sounds from up ahead started to echo off the walls. It sounded like combat and I lowered the torch's light output and made my way forward. A short while later I came to another more open cavern space. This room only had three tunnels connected to it and in one of the other tunnels, a group of troglodytes was fighting with two spiders. The troglodytes seemed to be fighting a losing battle as I saw another one of their numbers die of a spider's bite.

There was a certain risk involved by also entering the fight. There were three possible scenarios. One, I joined the side that I was currently on which meant the troglodytes. Two, they could all turn on me and that would be a very bad thing with five hostile creatures on the field. Option three was the unknown. Anything could happen since I'd never mingled or found an ongoing fight before. In the end, my curiosity needed to be sated and when I was in range of the troglodytes I initiated the duel.

Combat initiated with advantage (all opponents unaware).

You’ll receive one bonus crystal for the first round of combat.

Pincer manouvre detected.

Applying pincer battlefield format.

With minimal fluctuation, the troglodytes and spiders shifted into space. My positioning was also a gentle affair. The battlefield didn't look all too different compared to the normal layout. Where it normally separated me and my opponent by the middle strip, there was now a single row of spaces occupied by the troglodytes followed by another strip and finally the spiders in the normal vanguard and rearguard format.

Each spider was facing one of the troglodytes while the final one focused its attention on me. Using that crucial bit of information would mean that I only had to contest with that one enemy until the others finished each other off before they set their sights on me. My opening hand was a normal skeleton (1/1), the wolf skeleton (2/2), two enforcers (3/2), and the tomb guardian (3/3). Being one of the better opening hands to draw, I had to make a decision on how to proceed. The first step was to inspect all the enemies on the field.

Troglodyte scaleskin

Trogg - Troglodyte

Glass armour (1)

Attack 2 Health 2

Cave stalker

Insect - Spider

Venomous (1)

Attack 1 Health 4

A new troglodyte variant and venomous spiders. The spiders and troglodytes would be locked in combat for two rounds if it wasn't for the fact that some of the previous damage had bled over into our battle. The left spider still had full health while the troglodyte was already missing a point of health and poisoned. The right lane had a wounded spider with two health points left while the troglodyte was unharmed. And finally, the centre troglodyte that was facing me was also at full health.

So the left spider would break through at the start of the next round while the right spider would die and free up the troglodyte this round. Any card played in the centre lane would be useless in the next round. This already made the tomb guardian a bad option. With two more opponents next round and considering the stack of glass armour, I set my play in motion.

As anticipated, the spider lunged toward the wounded troglodyte. The spider got in a small bite and injected its venom before it was knocked back by a club swing. It fell to a knee and was panting heavily while the spider got back on its many feet. The middle troglodyte hit my goblin enforcer in the head with the club it held which made the goblin stagger a step before a mad grin overtook it and it wrestled the troglodyte down to the ground. Having pinned it to the ground, the enforcer pulled back its right arm and landed a vicious punch on the troglodyte's bulbous head. The first strike audibly cracked the scaly skin and the follow-up punch saw the fist puncture the head entirely. Blood dripped from the goblin's face as it stood up. It took a step back followed by a stagger and finally, it went belly up on the floor. The right spider also lunged at the troglodyte but the creature just held up a hand to block the attack. The tiny fangs barely managed to break skin before the spider's guts spilled onto the floor where the troglodyte had cut it with a jagged rock dagger.

The next round started with the left troglodyte dying from the two stacks of poison it had accumulated and me drawing another skeleton (1/1) card. With both the spider and the troglodyte at two health points the kill order wasn't too specific. Since it didn't really matter, I just played them as they were in my hand, The normal skeleton faced the spider while the wolf faced the troglodyte. Once again the spider lunged for its opponent and before it landed, an axe swing cut it in the abdomen. Undeterred, the spider started a barrage of bites and leg stabs and completely dismantled the skeleton.

On the other side, the wolf lunged for the troglodyte. It dodged under a dagger swipe and lunged up to sink its fangs into the throat area. Having locked onto its target the troglodyte had a much easier time to stab and cut the wolf's neck bones and managed to sever the head. With the lifeless body falling to the floor, the troglodyte ripped off the head which had the downside of also ripping out its throat causing it to bleed to death.

Without looking at the final cards I pulled, I played tomb guardian just for fun. Another spider lunge was deflected by the mighty shield before the spider's life was reaped by the spear.

VICTORY!

Exp gained: 10+1

Coins gained: 20

Card(s) gained: None

Additional reward(s): None

Claim

No special rewards this time around but having won the fight unharmed was a price on its own. Faced with the two tunnels, I decided to explore the left tunnel first believing the right tunnel would house more spiders if the battle scenario from before was an indication. It was just a short five-minute walk before I walked into the biggest open cavern space I had seen so far. The light from my torch didn't reach the ceiling or the far walls. Cautiously, I made my way along the left side and followed along the wall. I could start to see the vague outline of something but before I could properly see what it was a notification informed me instead.

You have found a settlement with the following traits: Single entrance and Lead from the back.

Rating: Beginner

Type: Frontal assault

Size: 3 staged prolonged assault

Deck size: 10+

This challenge has been completed and can not be repeated.

The hairs at the back of my neck stood up and I nervously glanced around. Suddenly, hostile creatures weren't the only danger around. If the settlement had been cleared that meant that another player was somewhere in the area. I dimmed down my torch light to the lowest setting and contemplated my options. It was a coin flip on whether that player was still in the area or not. Thinking back on my own settlement victory, the village itself didn't hold any rewards apart from the ones I got for clearing it. That made it seem unlikely for me to run into another player here unless they just finished the challenge.

With a bit of apprehension, I slowly made my way around the village. Houses were carved directly into the rock. Well, I say houses but it wasn't more than an open door leading into an open space. The houses had no real furniture apart from what looked like the odd rocky stool. Seeing the downright shabby state of this settlement I was glad to have cleared the goblin one with its bountiful rewards.

I was in one of the open spaces when I heard a commotion from outside. Something was trudging through the settlement and they weren't hiding their movement whatsoever. I repeated the same manoeuvre I had pulled on the kobold when their patrol almost found me. I turned off my torch and waited for the sound to pass by the house. As soon as the sound was close enough, I dialled up the torch brightness to full while keeping it behind me so as to not be blinded by the sudden flare.

Whatever was on the other side shrieked at the sudden source of light and fell to the ground. Before it had a chance to recover I initiated a duel seeing as it was only one creature. A battlefield formed but instead of being pulled into position, both me and the prone creature still stood in our places. And that's when it dawned on me that what I assumed to be a creature was actually another player.