Introduction
The Gods Unchained team hosted a lore event in 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, and finally against Thaeriel himself during the event finale!
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.
You can find my solutions for all 6 challenges in this collection post.
Creeper Hand
Chira takes the lead: "No matter what incantation is causing this hand to multiply, it still comes from a dead body. Excuse me for a moment." Without any warning, her body collapses lifeless into Glinn's arms, who happened to be right behind her. "What happened?!?" he gasps, confused and alarmed.
"Don't worry, you're doing fine." Eiko retorts dryly. "Just hold her while the rest of us kick the hands away."
The hands keep on multiplying every time someone kicks one away. Glinn remains perplexed: "How is this helping? At this rate, we’ll be overrun by disembodied hands!" Just as the panic rises in his voice, Glinn feels a sudden chill spreading from where Chira touches him. Suddenly she opens her eyes and stands upright, almost as if nothing had happened. Concomitantly, the hands stop moving.
Chira flicks a finger and the hands move in synchrony in front of her. Eiko shrugs at Glinn, who is who's still staring in disbelief: "Now we have a hand army. We can continue."
Endure Carving
"We need more information about this place,” Eiko begins, glancing at Argus. “Can you heal them quickly?”
“I can try to get them strong enough to talk, but we can’t linger here. We’ll need to carry whoever is in there while we question them,” Argus replies.
“Alright band. Argus, stand by. You two, pry it open. I’ll get them out of the device,” Eiko orders, efficiently coordinating the team. Glinn and Divya move into position, unlocking the mechanism and straining to pry it open—it’s heavier than it looks.
As the device creaks open, they freeze: inside, bound by chains, is not a person as they expected, but a fettered wight! Cold dread fills the air. They instinctively take a step back as the wight stirs, its voice a chilling whisper: “Who... daresss unbind my sshackles?”
Chira, eyes open wide, shouts “Nothing to heal here! Let’s move before this thing fully wakes. Now!”
"Yikes!"
Suffer Carving
Before anyone can react, Glinn is already wearing the cursed helmet. Blood pours from his hands and gushes down his neck where the helm’s sharp edges cut into his skin. He doesn't seem fazed by the pain. “Ah, I feel stronger!” he exclaims, his voice filled with an eerie fervor, clearly enthralled by the artifact’s cursed power.
“Take it off, Glinn! That thing’s going to bleed you dry!” Argus pleads, desperation in his voice. But Glinn stands elated: “The helmet is mine now. “Take it off, Glinn! That thing’s going to bleed you dry!” Argus pleads, desperation in his voice. But Glinn stands elated: “The helmet is mine now. I feel my weakness turning to strength! I feel as mighty as Xansiddion herself! Anyone who tries to take it from me will feel my wrath!”
The bleeding continues and the band continues to plead with him, but to no avail. Argus heals him somewhat, but that only seems to enrage Glinn further, cursing and threatening Argus for making him feel weaker. They need to continue moving, but Glinn won't leave without the helmet, and the helmet will kill him sooner or later. While this is going on, Gamma sneaks in behind Glinn and using the tip of his blowpipe dextrously locks it into a crevice in the back of the helmet and twists his hands. The blowpipe grows longer in an instant, one end smashing against the floor while the other lifts the helmet from Glinn's head towards the ceiling. It connects with such strength the wooden cover that some of the spikes stick deep into the wood, leaving the helmet suspended above their heads.
Glinn lets out a roar of fury, but Argus smacks him with his shield, the blow knocking Glinn to the ground. “Snap out of it, Glinn! You’re going to get us all killed!” Argus’s voice is sharp, cutting through the haze of Glinn’s rage. For a moment, Glinn’s eyes blaze with anger, but then they soften. The rage fades into pain, and finally, shame. “Thank you,” he mutters, his voice hoarse. “I... I would’ve bled to death with the power of a hundred dragons, thinking I was invincible. You saved me from the helm's madness.”
“This place is full of traps,” Eiko says, offering Glinn a hand. “You won’t be the last to fall into one. Let’s get moving before something worse finds us.” Argus casts a healing spell to stem the bleeding as they prepare to move forward, wary of what other dangers may still lurk ahead.
Thorn Carving
This time, it was Gamma. Before anyone could stop him, he found himself caught - quite literally red-handed, dripping blood. As he shrieks in horror and pain, he lifts the carving from its stand, only to reveal its true nature: it wasn’t a solid sculpture, but a hollow, animated glove that latched onto his hand with crushing force. Some sort of carved glove!
There was no time for debate or analysis; without caring for her own safety, Eiko slid her hand inside the animated carving. She expected to struggle against its crushing grip, but as soon as her hand entered, the glove became pliant. The once-rigid fingers moved easily under her command, and she effortlessly pulled them back, releasing Gamma.
But that wasn't the only surprise. Now looking genuinely shocked, she gasps and tries to shake the glove off her hand. It drops to the ground with a loud clatter, resting immobile once again. Her voice was shaken in disbelief as she faced her companions: "Someone was controlling it... the connection was severed when I put it on. I saw him. It was... Hortuk. He's here! And he knows we're here too!"
Sordid Dreadnoughts
Chira mutters a soundless word and all the disembodied hands leap onto the dreadnoughts’ faces. They swat the hands away, only for them to split into more and attack again moments later. Chira smirks, but doesn't break her concentration.
Though the dreadnoughts remain a formidable threat, the hands provide a much-needed distraction. Reios roars and smashes her hammer against one of them, spilling his innards. She swings the hammer around; with each hit the hammerhead glows red briefly, followed by the hairs on Argus's body illuminating with the same hue, as he visibly grows in strength and size.
The other companions aren't asking for an invitation either - they start attacking the dreadnoughts closer to them, steel clashing with steel while also getting distracted by the ever-splitting hands. Argus crashed into their lines with his shield, while Eiko’s blade cut down any that ventured too close to Gama or Divya, who hurled projectiles from within the group’s protective formation. Glinn’s long-blade slashed with precision, matching the raw force of Reios's hammer blow for blow.
Soon, there are so many hands swarming the battlefield that Chira alone is able to smother the remaining foes, overwhelming them with just ghastly fingers. The battle is over.
GU art for Hortuk. All rights reserved, etc. source
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STOPThis artwork is incredible, as is the post.
A lot of quality together.
You know they used AI art this time, right? It's pretty obvious in some of the cards. In the past, card art was created by real artists.
Wow, I really thought they were dedicated to designing this, I didn't imagine it was AI.
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