Chapter 75: Garden Of The Doomed Maiden Part 6: Finale
Alabaster
Everything was going according to plan, better than according to plan in fact. The effect of Saoirse, Relentless Banshee had turned out to be a massive boon that had accelerated his plans significantly. Now so long as Lady Astley didn’t play that Aegis Of Thorns spell she had used against his first attempt to Challenge her before he drew the spell he was looking for, she was by Alley’s calculations one hundred percent fucked.
It would probably help a lot if it was this turn so that the now 4600 Power but still 3 Vitality Unique monster Astley had Manifested. Doubtless, it had some special effect of its own and if he could defeat her before finding out what that was would be nice too. If he had to guess it was probably on the more powerful side, the Creature cost 3 Vials! So he doubted it was just a highly statted monster.
It was probably fine…at least he hoped that was the case, as even if the Creature had some way to raise its power dramatically it would likely still fall short of stopping Alley’s play. Now if it could somehow stop spell Cards now that would be a major wrench in the works. The dark-haired boy judged that to be fairly unlikely from what he had gleaned about The Garden Of The Doomed Maiden and Bloom Resonance in general.
Moving on from her War Phase Lady Astley didn’t play anything during her second Creation Phase but she did discard a Rotting Willow Guardian, which both gave the Unearthed Botanist another 500 power and the Seeds Of Death another counter. Now sitting at three the spell was dangerously close to activation and the Manifestation of a Death Elemental. The elemental was another powerful Creature that usually required 2 Vials to Manifest, so that was something else Alley likely wanted to avoid if he could help it.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcBPUy9Hq1p-XxoOLaqqzWBGbd--j9UOO2ruq6KsEzVv4ClpyMZjpyMcTJweizjL7IHy5YmKdHXPuPKVKfxQTR0L_gpkS9dBZRfqaUZI4EdJ2ixzguLuUWBb2z2IVgYG8EvxxiULg?key=KvPGZ9FuGnfATktAtsidK8gA]
[Rotting Willow Guardian
Resonances: Undeath, Bloom, Faekin
No Cost
Power: 1400
Vitality: 1
If Rotting Willow Guardian is in your Crypt when you play a Card with the Bloom Resonance, Manifest Rotting Willow Guardian.]
It would all be fine if he could just Draw that one spell. Closing his eyes as his turn began Alley silently willed his Deck to produce the Card he needed. He couldn’t influence the draw in truth but his mind was still burning with thoughts that were one part prayer to the gods and one part demand to the universe.
‘Give me what I need!!’
The light in front of Alley’s closed eyes changed and he knew he had redrawn from the Card he had discarded at the end of his last turn. Seeing what he now held the boy’s eyes sparkled with relief and elation
“You are a Powerful opponent Lady Astley. Truly I mean that.” He didn’t seem like he meant it as Alley’s shit-eating grin had returned in full force to the boy’s features. “If you fought almost anyone else at my Rank I think you would crush them, but sorry to say your Deck is simply an awful match against mine. All this growing you have been doing over there in your Garden by filling our Crypts has benefitted me too much, and now it’s over.”
The tree woman made the mental equivalent of a dismissive snort. “You think you have me beaten already?”
Alley’s eyes met the flickering purple of hers for what he thought would be the final time.
“I know I do.”
It was then that Alley began to unleash the Power of his ‘grand plan’. His field held
City Of The Doomed And Rotten, Saoirse, and Zombie Brute. His hand held Skeletal Cavalry, End The Bloodline, Chill Of The Grave, Rouse The Heroes, and now Danse Macabre. All of it didn’t seem like much compared to the steadily growing might of Lady Astley’s Unearthed Botanist and her Unique Malaithe, Lord Of The Rotting Woods. But it was all the pieces he needed to utterly annihilate her.
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Alley thought perhaps if Astley could move and dodge effectively she might have a hope of surviving this turn, as things stood she was dead to rights.
“First I Cast End The Bloodline.”
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe8wqGz1T4aVOgxh7ii7cYdQJSIc985CAR0yAG53WXBea-ywtG8I0he7Z2nHHgdW4SOsB4t8HaicaCFAqTmeBLilLdlzh2tLcpSI_mcFxRiZP2Q-TKxCGpQSZ2AvDn1ghOd-WCS2w?key=KvPGZ9FuGnfATktAtsidK8gA]
[End The Bloodline
Resonance: Curse
Spell
Play only during your turn, or pay 1 Vial to play any time.
Search your Library for a Creature of your choice. Send all copies of the chosen Creature in your Library to your Crypt.]
Alley felt his eyes grow the tiniest bit warm as they glowed blue and he accessed his Library. End The Bloodline was a powerful search Card that could send any Creature Card he had in the Deck to his Crypt. Every Copy of that Card.
There were a lot of options that he could send to the Crypt and expect a strong impact on the field when he resurrected them in a moment, but he ignored them. Alley had a Card in mind, in fact, the choice was more than obvious.
“I choose Endless Horde.” Immediately the two copies of the Zombie Card he owned were sent to his Crypt in a flash of teal light.
He could feel a sort of amused curiosity emanating from the former woman. She didn’t believe him when he had said she was beaten, likely assuming it was just bravado from the boy who was so clearly on the back foot. What the tree lady didn’t know was that both Alley and The Crown Of The Cursed King had a knack for ending a Challenge with a sudden and unexpected explosion of aggression. If you left even one chink in your armour Alley believed he would eventually find a way to widen it enough to destroy you.
Now came the moment of truth, the moment where he would either turn the tide and win here and now or waste his only 2 Vials and several of his most powerful Cards.
“Next we Rouse The Heroes.”
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfvNJ-IQ8OSQOEh-wQpsCJf0b_2wkQ2EgfckKUPMO-4OwkdJ1lTHtuW7z0S5O3PAAm062r3mhDtQN9KsMK3651xae67jBFEdqoSaVnyWDdU9FcdDLDx4XG_8FBHnr695SfRZU0eXw?key=KvPGZ9FuGnfATktAtsidK8gA]
[ Rouse The Heroes
Resonances: Undeath, Glory
Spell
Cost: 2 Vials
Play Only During your turn.
Choose a Creature in your Crypt. Manifest all copies of the chosen Creature currently in your Crypt. If you play a spell on one of these Creatures the effects are applied to all of them currently in Play. At the end of your next turn Destroy all Creatures Manifested this way.]
Activating the spell cost him two Vials. It was a sensation Alley wasn’t sure he would ever get used to and felt oh so similar to stepping out of a warm bath on a cold morning and feeling the heat leak out of you.
As with last time, he watched the Vial gems float off of the crown and attach themselves to his cloak. Unlike last time he wasn’t wearing the artefact Dealer leaving the empty Vials to float halfway across the arena.
“Rise Endless Horde.”
From the ground, a simple pair of zombies clawed and pulled their way out of the earthen ground. Initially, they both showed 0 Power above their heads along with their Resonance Runes. He had no doubt Lady Astley would make some comment about the weakness of his Creatures but before she could their effects kicked in.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeYUL_uze-0Bf3HekeUjlg7n15ml4J4wXptMWfiO4HXCCFx-AxXVKtAgzoR8OKV7cprBqL1AKXgLqjys3psqAvl25TwNQnXHhlhLpm1Efzn4rMBSSlFHumnwyMh97KZNN00RcsY?key=KvPGZ9FuGnfATktAtsidK8gA]
[Endless Horde
Resonances: Undeath, Zombie, Hunger
No Cost
Power: 0
Vitality: 1
While Endless Horde is in play it gains 800 Power for each Creature with the Zombie Resonance in either Crypt.]
The Zombies synergized extremely well with City Of The Doomed and Rotten a Card Alley had played earlier but hadn’t impacted the Challenge. At least up until this point, that was changing in a very big way.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXf54HnXL9-nPiLvXKxy2SzLc01ucQ2v5iJ1gu3iJx68ad3F22FDnNHHB2mxQYMNomtaiL-Qg9fowOyjTt0YBSyyBl64ZTDnV4_SfZ3ll5vIqdNhQL-KgchBEuStT_Vn9aMANP5Qrg?key=KvPGZ9FuGnfATktAtsidK8gA]
[City Of The Doomed And Rotting
Land Manipulation Spell-Continuous
No Cost
While this Card remains in play all Creatures in both Crypts gain the Undeath and Zombie Resonances]
While the city was in play every monster in either Crypt was a Zombie, just what Unending Horde needed. There was Rotting Willow Guardian, Clarence, Greater Shade Hound, Hecatia, Shadeling, Feral Stalker, Guardian Of The Shallows, Bone Golem, Failing Lich, Wraith Master, Lesser Shade Hound.
By Alley’s count that was eleven Zombies….Suddenly Alley’s side of the field was utterly covered in zombies. The Hordes lived up to their names as Zombie after Zombie Manifested as the power listed above the pair of Creature Cards grew to 8800. Even the Zombie Brute had activated some sort of ability as its Power and Vitality both rose. That wasn’t really going to help here, but it was good to know.
“Wha-” The tree woman began, but Alley cut her off.
“Danse Macabre!”
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcRuJt_RoWapD133DPO_kLLiZwPxmYvc7E7qWx5RJvpWmvwMa6kvktZEfl-9_nMQJtYW0Hb_yXudI1nXWp922zOjC5UHij66R5wgJGDtchm-4v0tS7z3xLW_FffeYUaHklMNGGBTg?key=KvPGZ9FuGnfATktAtsidK8gA]
[ Danse Macabre
Resonances: Shadow, Curse
No Cost
Play only during your turn.
Destroy one Creature you control. If you do another Creature you control may attack as normal the first turn it has been Manifested.]
Without a second thought, Alley sacrificed Zombie Brute. The swarm of zombies that had forced Alley all the way to the back barrier of the Arena glowed Teal as the spell’s effect empowered them. Both Swarms that was, the spell effect added by Rouse The Heroes meant that both Endless Hordes would be able to attack this turn.