Tower of Dread lore challenge: the Dreadwood

Introduction

The Gods Unchained team hosted a lore event on Discord, in the lead up to the release of the new expansion Tower of Dread. Every day they would present a map of a tower 'level' with challenges at certain locations. At the end of each day the players were able to fight the Sovereigns (Legendary bosses) in a Direct Challenge against a dev.

I thoroughly enjoyed this event and I dove deep into the lore challenges, writing up a short solution for each challenge. I tried to connect the challenges, reference the card effects and make use of what we already know of the Band of the Wolf and the abilities of each member.

The narrative direction and the bulk of the text are all mine, but I did run it through ChatGPT at the end to check for composition mistakes, adjust the pacing and clarity of the descriptions with words better adjusted to what I was trying to convey. For this, ChatGPT is great, it really improves the quality of the text while retaining its original character and direction. Especially so for a non-native English writer like me.

Bristling Pixies

Glinn glanced at the rest of the band, confused. They stood in place, weapons lowered, facing the red-eyed pixies gathering before them. More of the creatures emerged from the shadows, edging closer to them. Without warning, the pixies began lobbing magical shots at the band, who remained eerily still, enthralled by the pixies' charm.

"What's happening? Do something! They are going to kill you!", Glinn shouts, but nobody moves. The pixies, realizing Glinn was not affected, focus their charm on him. The concentrated magic still has no effect, but brought him some clarity on what could be going on. He grabbed his whelk shell and blew on it hard, releasing a high-pitched, almost inaudible sound. He then took his spear and lunged at the pixies. "Get away! Get away or I'll kill you!" The pixies recoiled, hissing in fury, shocked that their magic wasn’t working on him. Moments later, the air filled with a shrill screech, followed by a powerful gust of wind. The dragons that had flown the team in swooped down, their wings beating rapidly, sending the pixies scattering and breaking eye contact.

With the pixie's gaze broken, the bandmates slowly regained control of their senses. The lingering magic still clung to the edges of their minds, but it was fading. "Snap out of it!" Glinn yelled. "They were about to kill you! Don’t look at them!"

Then, a jarring note pierces the air. Divya, standing against the dragon wind, plays a dissonant melody - sharp, uneven, with strange, shifting tones. It dispels the remaining of the Pixies' magic, snapping everyone fully back to focus. The charm was broken.

Divya lowers his flute and smiles briefly. "It’s done… this tune should reverberate in our minds for a while and protect us from the Bristling Pixies' charm. We should be safe for now. But... why weren't you affected, Glinn? We probably owe you our lives."

Glinn shrugged, waving to his dragons as they returned to the edge of the forest. "We Draka are built differently. We’ve grown our whole lives with a crystal inside us. That might have something to do with it." He paused, then added with a grin, "Either way, you’re welcome."

Blackbriar Whip

At the sight of the vine whip, as thick as a tree trunk, Argus steps forward with his shield, doubling in size in the blink of an eye. As he assumes his blocking stance, he shouts: "Eiko, slide under the shield and slice it at the base! Divya!" As Eiko lunges forward, the vine slashes into the shield, knocking Argus down. The momentum of something so massive, like an enormous tree, can't be easily withstood, whether human or giant. The whip recoils unnaturally fast for its size and prepares to strike again.

Argus is still on the ground, struggling to rise. There isn't enough time to get back into position for a second strike! Eiko has to cut it cleanly on the first try. She recalls her fight with Hortuk, but this time the target is literally as thick as a tree. How could her katana possibly slice through that?

At the back, the rest of the team prepares to dodge the next swing. Divya however is holding his flute to his mouth, his gaze fixed on Eiko. "What are you doing?!?", shouts Gamma. "Get behind a tree!" But there was no time now, and Divya knew he couldn't falter. Eiko has no chance of cutting through that vine without help.

Eiko was closing in, sliding across the forest floor. As she lets out a battle cry, Divya hits three notes in quick succession; a weird dissonant tune echoed, at the same time there but somehow also muffled, as if part was being played in another dimension. As soon as the final note sounds, the vine begins to change: it uncoils, opening gaps between the tangled fibers wide enough for light to pass through. At the same time, some of the coils turn into liquid black goo, dripping between the woody vines.

Eiko's katana connects. It slices cleanly through the thinner vines in succession, cutting from one end to the other. The vine falls—not with a heavy thud, but with a muted, brittle clatter. Breathing heavily, Eiko stands still, her eyes locked on the fallen vine, wary that it might somehow spring back to life. With her katana still poised and dripping with black Dread goo, she shouts without looking backward, "Divya?"

Dyvia played a different tune on his flute, this time resonant and bright, with a warm and rejuvenating undertone. As the song played, the woody coils began to decompose, mixing into the forest floor until they were indistinguishable from the surrounding dirt.

"It's gone, we should be safe for now", Divya declared, "But we shouldn't linger".

"Let's get moving then" Argus added, as he strapped on his shield, ready to continue.

Eiko turned around, and with a swift flick of her katana, whipped the black goo off the blade before sheathing it in its guard. She then bowed to Divya and said quietly, "Thank you."

Warded Bear

"It's a warded bear!" shouts Reios. "Hah, but no ward can block my hammer!"

"Something's off," interjects Glinn. "Is it actually growing, or is it just getting closer? It's getting too big, too fast!"

"Look at the ground! It's withering as it moves!" Argus exclaims, his keen eye and experience shining through. "The bear is consuming the decomposing cadavers to gain strength! It’s not safe to engage this beast in melee, Reios!"

The band hesitates for a moment, except for Gamma, who is busy rummaging through the bottom of his bag. As he searches, he nervously mutters, "I have a good solution for this. I do! Just let me find my magic Gonchberry poison... Argh! Make noise and act scary while I search for it!"

The bear is getting closer and growing far too large. The team closes ranks in front of Gamma, growling and puffing themselves up to try to intimidate the creature. It doesn’t seem impressed and continues to advance slowly, but its size is rapidly increasing!

Now almost within reach of the band, the bear rises on its hind legs, its front paws stretched upwards, huge claws splintered with Dread protrusions. It roars, spraying a shower of Dread goo over everyone. Suddenly, Gamma steps beside his teammates with his blowpipe ready and shouts, "Here we go!" He fires a sleeping dart at the bear, popping its ward. The bear is burning but not asleep, now enraged and lunging straight for Reios, who stands right in front of it.

"Hit it with another one, NOW!" shouts Argus, moving in with his shield raised to protect his bandmates. Gamma doesn’t need the reminder; he already has a second dart ready. With practiced ease, he blows it in quick succession, as he has done many times before. The second dart connects this time, and the bear recoils in pain from the intensified burning. Argus slams the shield against the bear's head and the beast falls to the side unconscious, as magical flames avidly consume its Dread-corrupted body.

Spore-addled Arachne

"Keep it busy!" Reios shouted to her bandmates as she slipped out of sight behind them. Everyone sprang into action in a coordinated act, as if they had done this dozens of times before. Eiko unsheated her katana and advanced towards Divya, who was still ensnared in the web. As expected, the giant spider shifted its focus, blocking her path. From the other side, Gamma began pelting the spider with darts. Poison was useless, but the darts still distracted it and chipped some damage. The rest of the band hurled rocks or sticks, careful to stay well beyond its reach, wary of a sudden leap or a spray of corrosive venom. The spider grew visibly aggravated. Despite the distractions from all sides, it remained locked on Eiko, intent on keeping her away from its prey. Despite the taunting from many sides, Eiko was clearly the primary target. It was going to attack her, the one threatening to release its lunch. Eiko perceived this and steeled herself for whatever move the spider was going to make, muttering under her breath, "Come on Reios, what's taking you so long..." And then she leaped in. With a quiet roar, Reios sprang from behind the spider, hammer raised high, her eyes narrowed with concern. She didn’t want to be splattered with its venomous entrails, there was no telling what Dread-tainted spider guts could do, even with minimal contact. Trusting her bandmates to back her up, as they always had, she made a risky choice.

Her hammer came crashing down on the rear of the spider’s abdomen, just before the spinnerets. The impact sent the creature reeling, a mix of pain and surprise reflected in its jerky movements. The hammer had squeezed the spider’s ventral silk glands, and a torrent of sticky webbing shot out, enveloping Reios in a cocoon of silk, trapping her mid-attack. Immobilized, her hammer stuck between her hands and the spider’s body, she could only watch as the spider struggled to turn and aim its venomous fangs at her head sticking out of the silky mess. But before it could strike, Eiko closed the distance. With a swift, clean slash, she severed the spider at the pedicel, neatly cutting it in half. With the spider collapsed, everyone started looking around for more nasty surprises. But there was only quiet chaos: Reios trapped in layers of thick spider silk, her hammer pinned awkwardly in the mess; Divya, both panicked and relieved, still tangled in the web; Eiko checking herself for any spilled spider goo; Gamma laughing; and the rest of the team clutching rocks and sticks, their faces still tense from the fight. A moment passed. As nothing else stirred, Divya finally broke the silence with a pleading voice: "It’s fine, just get me out of here! I hate spiders!"

Path of Crumbs

Divya crouches next to the trunk of a dead tree, dew drops pinging slowly from the overgrown Dread lichens hanging from its branches. "There are tracks in the mud here. Looks like crows."

"So the crows were eating the breadcrumbs?", Glinn sighs. "Corrupted or not, those birds are working against us." He looks up into the canopy, trying to discern any crows watching from above.

"Nothing here is untouched by the Dread," Argus remarks. "We’re lost, and we need to find our way around this place, crows or no crows."

"If the crows are corrupted, let's use them to our advantage then. I’m sure our Amazon friend wouldn’t object if they suddenly drop dead, yes?" Eiko asks, casting a cunning glance at Divya.

"The Dread are a blight upon the land and must be eradicated. Those birds are beyond saving", Divya confirms sadly.

"Well then, in that case..." Eiko turns swiftly to Gamma. "You have more Gonchberry poison, right?"

"Yes, of course. I had a full vial before we came here. The darts I used for the bear only needed a thin coating. You want to poison the birds too?" Gamma replies.

"Yes! We’ll poison the breadcrumbs. If the birds eat them, we’ll have a trail of dead crows in our path. If they don’t eat them, we should still have the breadcrumbs intact. Smart as they are, after the first few die, the rest should figure out what’s happening and leave the rest of the crumbs alone. Everyone, start taking some bread from your rations and give it to Gamma. Let’s see if this works!"

"What if the breadcrumbs still disappear?" Argus seemed unsure of this plan.

"In that case..." Eiko clasps her katana, looking around at the trees, "We’ll need to leave a more permanent mark on the landscape. But let’s try a quicker solution for now."