A Tale of the Spire — Journey I (Part One)

Waking up was slow.

I didn’t mind it.

When I finally woke, I stood and picked up my sword.

It had rusted, which annoyed me.  I found oil in my bag and cared for it.  Satisfied, I finally paid attention to what was around me.

A pallet, disturbed and blood soaked next to battered armor was all that came to eye in the run down room.  An equally dilapidated door barely closed off the room from whatever lay beyond it.

It seemed somehow appropriate.  

I donned the armor, which fit well.  It was mine, a companion to many battles in the past.

The door was a poor obstacle and I stepped into a wide opening constrained only by other, falling down buildings and a high cavernous ceiling.

I was underground.

Light came from…somewhere.  I didn’t know where and was less curious in finding out.  Only one thing dominated this desolate scene.

A beached whale.

Or, so it looked like, one battered and scarred, barely alive.

I walked up to it.  A giant eye lolled open, the pupil milky white.  It breathed upon me, filling my form with a strange fiery energy.

I poked at my chest, then laid a hand on the breastplate.  I could feel a heat and pulling it up, I could see a flame tattoo emblazoned on my skin.  It was giving off the heat.

It reminded me of my sword, which I picked up.  Swinging it back and forth, I felt it cut the air.  Mimicking battle, I danced a grim dance of cut and evade, strike and shield.

I could fight.

Ignoring the strange whale, I walked away.   One path looked like another.   I chose one at random and walked.

I came to a falling down sign on rusted chains.  It spelled out, “Enchiridion”.  After some thought, I decided the name meant nothing to me and walked past it.

The path was faded and dim, full of ruined buildings in the dim light.  Curiosity had died in me long ago so none of it was interesting.  A mass of trash jiggled.  It made me cautious and I kept an eye on it.

When amorphous blobs crawled out from it, I knew what they were immediately.  

Slimes.

A couple of them.  I stepped forward, eager for the the fight, the fire on my chest burning hot.

The first was easy to slice in half, though I found the attack ineffective as it remorphed back into a shape just as easily as I cut it.

I dodged another as it extended a strand of its body to attach to me.

This move.  It…reminded me of something and I used it to attack and defend at the same time.  If I move…this way…and dodge…that way…yes!  That’s how I did it before!

Intrigued, I slipped away from them, using the sword to attack and defend, setting up the attacks that followed to hit for even more power.

Time and a keen eye found the bit of metal I needed to strike sparks.  The fires lit the trash and a bit of herding consigned the slimes to a fiery death.

The smell was horrible.

It also attracted attention.  Groups of thickly shrouded men wearing large avian skulls poured out of the buildings.  I eluded them by staying to the shadows and hiding my footsteps behind the strange chanting they did as they moved around.

Terrible way to find someone.  Making so much noise…in my ignorance I missed one.  He (it?) jumped out at me from a run down building.  I blocked its attack and slipped the follow up.  It was persistent, however, seeming to gain in strength as it muttered and chanted.  Deciding I like that little and no mind to fight more, I stepped deeply into its guard, clashing with its weapon.  It reminded me of a little secret and I used the clash to cut it with the blade at the same time I stopped its attack.  It seemed no the wiser and I repeated it several times before I slipped the blade into its throat.

Feeling the hidden gaze of more of them, I dived into an alley and through a smashed doorway into a rotting building.  It contained an idol made of wood, swollen from moisture and splitting.  Sneering, I kicked a random chunk of debris and hit it.  It must have set off some old trap or maybe just bad luck.  The ceiling collapsed and I barely made it out without being crushed.  Just not without taking a big splinter in the leg.  I cursed the idol as I pulled it out and limped away.

....

Louse

Louse

Louses

Louses are a common battle in act one, even appearing as the very first battle on occasion. As seen above, there are two types: Green and Red. The types have absolutely no difference between them except appearance. The Louses aren't heavy hitters, so they can mostly be blocked with simple defense cards. Louses usually come in groups of two or three, rather than coming alone.

Red Louse

Green Louse.

Louses have a trait special to them, Curl, as seen in these two photos. The trait gives them armor as soon as they're hit. It does not come into effect when harmed by The Defect's lightning orbs. Curl gives armor depending on the number, as seen in these two photos. On the left, the Red louse has a four, so it will get four armor. On the other hand, the Green Louse has six, do it will get six armor, and so on. The amount never goes above ten, or below three.

Strategies:

- (The Defect) The card Electrodynamics is perfect for battles such as these, and can speed up the Louses' defeat.

- (The Defect) Dark orbs are good for battling louses after a round or two. They have such low health that they can easily be subdued with a hit from a dark orb

- (The Ironclad) As I've mentioned before, the Ironclad has a great many cards that deal heavy damage, and can subdue Louses quickly.

Feel No Pain

Whenever a card is exhausted, gain 3 block.  You can read more about the card here on Fandom.

Notes

• Not affected by dexterity or frail.

Card Synergy

• Awesome with shivs and other weapons that get exhausted.  Same for cards that exhaust but provide other (exhaustible) cards as well.
• If combined with Dual Wield, it can be used to constantly create 1 (2 with upgrade) of exhaustible weapons to create an endless supply.
• If combined with Infinite Blades card, provides a new shiv every turn.
• If combined with Second Wind, can exhaust all non-attack cards in hand and provide 5 block per card in addition to the 3 Block from Feel No Pain.

Relic Synergy

• Ninja scroll lets you start a combat with 3 shivs.  
• Dead Branch adds a random card to your when a card is exhausted.
• Charon's Ashes will do 3 HP damage to all enemies when a card is exhausted.
• Medical Kit will let you Exhaust a status card.

Monster Synergy

• When fighting the Elite Monster Sentry, the "daze" cards they put in your deck will exhaust, adding block to your total.
• When fighting the Chosen or enemies that place a "hex" on you to add "daze" into your deck, it will add block to your total.

Lagavulin

Lagavulins

This is a difficult fight from Act 1, since the Lagavulin is an epic monster. It is a lone wolf, coming into every battle alone.  It starts every battle asleep, only waking when its health is damaged.

After it's woken,  it will start its turn stunned, otherwise it will wake up naturally if it isn't damaged.

It will consistently attack with 18 damage for almost every turn. However it will debuff the player with negative dexterity, which lowers the amount defense is gained from cards. In the right picture, you can see that it also has the trait Plated Armor, which gives them 8 armor at each turn. A balanced deck is crucial to defend the character from its powerful attacks.

An Awake Lagavulin

An Asleep Lagavulin

 Strategies:

-  (The Ironclad) The cards in The Ironclad's deck cause large amounts of damage, which are amazing for the start of any battle against the Lagavulin. The best way to kill it would be to deal over 16 points of damage in the same turn, so that the Plated Armor trait is neutralized.

- (The Defect) Ice orbs are incredibly useful in fights against the Lagavulins, since they don't rely on dexterity to provide defense. A large amount of these is sufficient to defend against attacks without using defense cards. Any number above six ice orbs will defend the character completely.

-

Du-Vu Doll

Notes

• Temporary curses gained during combat COUNT towards this bonus.

Strategies

The Du-Vu Doll lets you gain bonus strength for each curse, levering high strength to do enormous damage as your accumulate curses.  Its the next important relic to try and put in your portfolio to make the cursed deck work.  When you gain it is less important that HAVING it with curses in your deck to leverage.

Darkstone Periapt

Notes

• Temporary curses gained during combat do not count.

Strategies

• The Darkstone Periapt provides bonus HP for each curse.  However, you want it as early as possible, since its bonus HP only accumulate for curses you gather after you have it.  That restriction is one of the reason why its pushed down farther on the "good to own" list.

Cursed Key

Notes

• Curses are completely random when given.

Strategies

• This relic is hard to get early but if you can acquire it in Act 1 or at the beginning, it provides a path to get curses easy for each non-Boss chest.  If you have this relic, shoot for every question mark (?) on the path to try and get the non-boss chests.

Omamori

Strategies

Pretty straightforward.  Useful to counter curses, either from events or by relic pickup.

Calling Bell

The Calling Bell is nice because it provides a number of curses and relics to boost your deck's power.

Strategies

• Best used with a Cursed Deck, as it obviously boosts the number of curses and provides a bunch of relics to boot.
• Take this as boss loot when you don't mind the curse cards.  If matched with an Omamori, it can remove two of the three curses that will come with it.

Blue Candle

Notes

• Having it provides an avenue to play curses and get them out of your active hand.
• Removing a curse only costs 1 HP but doesn't require energy.

Card Synergy

Employing the Blue Candle lets you create synergies with cards that provide an effect from either exhaustion or from taking damage.  For example, a card that provides +3 block when you take HP damage from a card.  Or, a card that provides an effect that does damage to foes when you exhaust cards.

Strategies

Use it to handle curses.  If used in a full on Cursed Deck, it can become very powerful.

Byrds

Byrds

 

Byrds are a rather difficult battle from act 2, since they never come alone. They enter battle in groups of three, or just one with a chosen. Their key trait, called Flight, causes them to take only half damage from attacks. However, This trait can be erased if the Byrd takes damage three times in the same turn. If they do, the Byrd will fall to the ground and be stunned for the next turn. The Byrd will pick itself up again as soon as it can, buffing itself with the flight buff again.


Byrds, like most non-epic creatures, attack simply. Each Byrd in a fight will usually do 5 points in damage, which can increase to 10 if it is allowed to put the strength effect on itself. They don't do much aside from this.

Strategies:

- (The Defect) The power card Electrolysis is powerful, especially when paired with the cards Storm and Tempest. If all three orb slots are full while Electrolysis is activated, the Byrd's trait is neutralized before it take its turn.

- (Any) The Ninja Scroll adds three Shiv cards to your hand, which are zero-cost attack cards. If all used against the same Byrd, the Flight trait is neutralized.

Running a Curse Deck

Concept

The thought process here is to collect curse cards and leverage the right relics to make having them in your deck an empowering versus debilitating effect.

To do this well, you will want to focus on getting the following Relics to make this deck sing.

The Blue Candle is the number one relic you want to leverage to make this deck not kill you to employ.  Having it provides an avenue to play the curses and get them out of your active hand.

The Du-Vu Doll lets you gain bonus strength for each curse, levering high strength to do enormous damage as your accumulate curses.  Its the next important relic to try and put in your portfolio to make the cursed deck work.

This relic is hard to get early but if you can acquire it in Act 1 or at the beginning, it provides a path to get curses easy for each non-Boss chest.  If you have this relic, shoot for every question mark (?) on the path to try and get the non-boss chests.

The Darkstone Periapt provides bonus HP for each curse.  However, you want it as early as possible, since its bonus HP only accumulate for curses you gather after you have it.  That restriction is one of the reason why its pushed down farther on the "good to own" list.

The Calling Bell is nice because it provides a number of curses and relics to boost your deck's power.

Strategies

• Employing the Blue Candle lets you create synergies with cards that provide an effect from either exhaustion or from taking damage.  For example, a card that provides +3 block when you take HP damage from a card.  Or, a card that provides an effect that does damage to foes when you exhaust cards.
• Foes that add an Injury card (in contrast to a Wound card) to your deck provide a curse that you can take advantage of in this manner.
• Darkstone Periapt & Du Vu Doll provide a path to get bonus strength and max HP for each curse.  This makes you hit harder and survive longer.
• Pick up the Necronomicon, if the event is possible, since it will provide an automatic curse with it.

Self Forming Clay

Introduction

This happens to be a favorite of mine.  When combined well with cards or relics that do HP damage to you, it can provide a massive amount of block accumulation.

Notes

• Anything that causes the HP loss provides 3 block for NEXT round.
• Dexterity or bonuses to Block do not apply to this value.
• Self inflicted, e.g., your own cards hurt you, damage is the most controllable way to get a huge pile of block when you need it.

Card Synergy

• The Regret curse does HP damage equal to the cards in the hand at the end of the turn, providing an easy means to gain block.  Its a single HP loss, however, regardless of the card count, so it only provides 3 Block by itself.
• Brutality [Iron Clad] or Combust [Iron Clad] both cause 1 HP damage.  In combination with the relic, it would also generate 3 Block.  Keep in mind, if you have Combust stacked, it will 2, 3, 4, etc., amounts of damage equal to the times you have stacked this.  It only, however, provides the 3 Block for the total HP damage.
• Combined with the Blood for Blood card, it can rapidly drive this cost down to zero energy while providing 3 Block each time HP is lost.
• If combined with Barricade and a card like Combust that creates low level HP loss, it will provide a steady stream of Block that will not decay.
• The Offering card inflicts HP loss and trigger the effect as well.
• The J.A.X. card is a repeatable, non-exhausting card that inflicts 3 HP damage in return for 2 STR.  That also means it provides 3 Block when combined with this relic.
• The Burn card inflict 2 HP damage at the end of your turn, triggering the 3 Block effect.
• Hemokinesis card inflicts HP damage and triggers the relic.

Relic Synergy

• Runic Cube is a good match up, as it puts more cards in your hand as you take damage and stack Block.  
• Torii reduces 5 HP or less Attack damage to 1 HP.  This can greatly enable the strategy to take damage one turn to build block while minimizing the HP impact at the same time.
• Calipers relic can only reduces your accumulated Block by 15 each turn, versus losing it all.  This can help you maintain more Block across turns, especially when combined with an effect that ignores block to do HP loss.

Strategies

• Any effect that causes damage, especially those that only cause 1 HP damage can provide a high volume of continuous Block.  Combust is an excellent card to use.
• Pain Curse card with high energy can be leveraged to create a lot of Block quickly, since each card played will cause 1 HP damage and generate 3 Block accordingly.
• Can be combined with the Runic Cube to generate 1 extra card per HP loss.
• Can be massively effective against opponents who perform #x# of attacks.
• The Rupture [Iron Clad] card provides 1 STR whenever you lose HP.  Combined with another card that provides HP loss, you would gain STR and Block each time.
• The Act 4 Corrupt Heart can use the Beat of Death to inflict HP damage every time you play a card, triggering the relic.  You can use this to build up Block to balance its Blood Shot & Echo attacks, which can do 20, 40, 60 or more damage as the turns progress.  Combined with a healing strategy to regain HP, you can use this to your advantage.

Magic Flower

Introduction

Adds a 50% bonus to healing effects.  This is stronger than you might think, since it affects everything that provide healing during combat.

Notes

• Affects also extend to Burning Blood. Blood Vial and other relics or effects that occur at the beginning or end of combat.
• Includes healing effects from any source.

Relic Synergies

• Bloody Idol.  Gaining gold provides 5 HP of healing, or 7 HP of healing with the Magic Flower.  You can get gold by the Hand of Greed card that allows you to kill foes and gain 20/25 gold.
• Meat on the Bone.  When this kicks in to heal you at the end of combat, it healings 18 HP versus 12 HP.
• Burning Blood.  Heals 6 HP at the end of combat.  Heals 9 HP with the flower.
• Black Blood.  Heals 10 HP at the end of combat.  Heals 15 HP with the flower.
• Blood Vial.  Heals 2 HP (3 HP) at the start of combat.
• Pantograph.  At the start of boss combats, heal 25 HP + 50% more.
• Bird Faced Urn.  Provides 2 HP / 3 HP when you play a power.
• Lizard's Tail.  When you die, return with 50% HP.  Also affected by the Magic Flower effect, which provides 50% more of your 1/2 HP.

Card Synergies

• Reaper card when used against multiple enemies.
• Bandage is a zero cost card that provides 4/6 healing.
• Bite card is one of the best combinations.  Does damage and heals without being exhausted.

Potion Synergies

• Regeneration.  Five rounds of 50% more healing.

Strategies

• Acquire the Bird Faced Urn relic and stock your deck with power cards to take advantage of its 2 HP heal (3 HP with the Flower) when they are played.
• If you have the Toy Ornithopter, you can take advantage of 5 HP heal (7HP with the flower) when you use a potion.  Further combined with the White Beast Statue means each combat will provide one potion.  Potion belt will raise the cap to 5 potions versus three.
• Acquire a Hand of Greed card.  You will get not only gold but HP healing when you kill foes and turn them into money.  The card is repeatable, unlike the Feed card and can be used multiple times.
• Use the Feed card and the strange spoon relic.   The spoon provides a 50% chance that the feed card will only discard versus exhaust.  

Acid Slimes

The Acid Slimes

The Acid Slimes are monsters normally found on the first act.  The come in three sizes, much like their cousins, the Spike Slimes. The bigger each slime gets, the more dangerous it becomes, but they remain relatively easy to kill nonetheless. Acid slimes often come with other monsters, or in large groups.

Large Acid Slime

This is the biggest variation of acid slime, and                                  

therefore the most dangerous. It deals out
sizable amounts of damage, usually 16
at most. Like all slimes, it casts an
effect to shuffle Slimed cards into your hand.
This variation also inflicts Weak cards into your hand, proving to be a problem if left alone. To boot, this variation also has a unique trait it comes with, called Split (seen under the health bar).This trait causes it to preform an action titled "split" to save itself. If it succeeds, the slime will die and summon two Medium Acid Slimes, each with half its total health.

Medium Acid Slime

Only a small bit weaker than its relative, the
 Large Acid Slime, this variation is a common enemy
in the first act. At most, this slime does a mere 10 damage, proving itself do be an easy kill. Like its larger variation, it shuffles the effects Weak and  Slimed into your hand.  It doesn't come with any traits or anything like that. It can't even buff itself, dying quickly due to its low health.

 

 

 

 

Small Acid Slime

The weakest of acid slimes, this variation is barely able to do even a mere 3 damage. It  usually be killed with a combination of two
basic Strike cards, owing to its horribly low   health. Like its larger variations, it can shuffle Weak cards into your hand, as a small annoyance.
Overall, any player can kill this monster.

Charon's Ashes

Introduction

This is one of the more critical relics you can find.  Its a rare one, so you have a possibility of getting it from NEOW as an option when you start the game or as a chance during encounters with elites.

Notes

• Only works on cards that you play and get exhausted.  Additions like "Daze" do not make its effect occur.
• Can stack with other card effects that provide an effect when a card is exhausted, such as "Feel no Pain".

Card Synergies

• The card "Endless Agony" is an excellent companion to this relic as it perpetually puts a copy of itself in your hand when drawn.
• Using "Feel no Pain" to add a +3 block effect to when cards are exhausted.
• Use the card "Corruption" in combination with a lot of skill cards to make a run on leveraging this relic.
• Use in combination with "Sever Soul" and a large hand to do damage en masse.
• Use the card "Fiend Fire", which will exhaust your hand and do damage per card for a bonus +3 per card. Best done with a large hand.
• Pair with the card Purity to exhaust 4 cards rapidly to do 12 damage to all enemies.
• Shiv cards and cards that provide Shivs will also assist here.  Storm of Steel will let you convert every card in your hand to shivs.  These are exhausted when used and will provide the damaging effect.

Relic Synergies

• The Blue Candle relic allows you to exhaust Curse cards.  It inflicts 1 HP damage but removes them from your deck.
• The Medical Kit relic can be purchased in the shop.  It allows you to play status cards, which will exhaust them.  Playing a status does not require Energy.

Strategies

• Build a deck with numerous exhaust cards to take advantage of this relic.
• Using a card that exhausts it.  Seeing Red, War Cry, Havoc, etc.  this provides the damage.
• Enemies that put playable exhaust cards into your hand can be used against them, such as the "Slimed" card.
• Pair the card Nightmare with Endless Agony to create a large number of Endless Agony cards quickly that will equally double as they are drawn (Endless Agony creates a copy when drawn and is exhausted when used).
• Pair with the curse "Pride" to create a new 1 energy cost card to exhaust every turn.