Stormsunder: Heirs of Ruin

Sandstorms and Roses
about 1 month ago – Sat, Feb 28, 2026 at 08:58:15 PM

Hello, folks!

We’re back with another Stormsunder update! This time we’re going to look at a villain encounter, but one where the mini is included inside Heirs of Ruin (no Villains & Civilians need apply). A different version of this encounter was supposed to be part of the original demo, but didn't make it in due to time constraints. The goal of the fight remains the same, but Zahra was still an unused concept for Rose for the first campaign of Wild Assent, so she was definitely not part of it:

Anyway, even though we’re not going into the story for this update, we’ll still hide the encounter description/cards behind our standard Aleksandra spoiler shush. We’ll be back at the end of April to talk about the latest Stormsunder new. Until then, we’ll see you in the Storm (where survival doesn’t come easy, even for a desert rose).

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Zahra isn’t visible at the beginning of the encounter; you will need to fight your way past her golems and some dune worms, all the while protecting a mystery guest. Let’s look at the Sand Golems’ card:

Sand Golems are rough on your tanks, slowing heroes down with Thunderous Steps and knocking extra armor away with their Heavy Fist attack. The latter might be preferable depending on your positioning, especially with your guest, as he or she might make Sand Wave have two or more targets (since you do not control allies). Your guest will make a beeline to the closed doors and open them, adding Zahra to the encounter and potentially putting you in a difficult spot with enemies in front and behind:

Zahra re-summons any slain Sand Golems as part of the rules for the encounter. This is quite advantageous for her, as it guarantees she gets 10 armor from her Wall of Sand ability. Adversaries don’t typically have armor; Zahra is special. She’s also incredibly dangerous. If an ally is nearby she’ll attack with her Storm Breach ability, damaging every hero in her zone as well as applying Blind automatically in addition to Bleed if she rolls a Critical and additional damage if she rolls a Special. 

Desert Queen is a simple ability that allows her to sacrifice her activation and have one of her golems act in her stead (if no enemy is nearby). If her Sand Golems are slain, she charges to the nearest zone which can result in a lot more damage / status effects than you were probably planning on. 

A Villain in the Desert is Worth...
3 months ago – Wed, Dec 31, 2025 at 05:44:23 PM

Hello, folks!

In this update we're going to look at a villain encounter (a double villain encounter, in fact). We won't show everything, especially the choices that get you there, so even if you take a peek below there will still be some surprises for you when you finally have Heirs of Ruin and reach this part of the campaign. Still, you know the drill, don't scroll past "shoosh" Aleksandra if you don't want any kind of spoilers. 

We'll be back at the end of February with some actual Stormsunder news (with any luck). Until then we'll see you in the Storm (where the only spoiler is exactly how you'll die).

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Laz'lek & Wynter Fight

As stated above, we won't go into the story reasons for this fight, only that it's not a certainty that it will ever occur in your playthrough. Here's a render of how the encounter is set up:

It's neither the smallest nor the biggest map, nor does it have the most enemies. The big threats are all in the back, including the Myrmidite Shaman (who has a 5-range, no LOS needed attack), Laz'lek and Wynter herself. Thanks to their AI, the shaman and Laz'lek won't move much, so the heroes will need to push through the Skirmishers (buffed by Wynter, see below) to get to those threats. You'll need to slay everyone to end the Encounter. You definitely don't want to miss the chest behind the shaman before that happens, mind you.

Laz'lek is a support-minded mage who can throw melee heroes away from himself with Banishment and heal allies with his other two abilities. He won't use Syphon Life until the heroes enter his zone, so expect a lot of Shamanistic Healing until you engage him properly. This ability won't work on Wynter, since it specifies Myrmidites, but it heals and activates the most-wounded Skirmisher or Shaman. Laz'lek also has a surprise in the form of a Wrath deck card, but we'll leave that for you to experience on your own.

Wynter isn't fooling around in this encounter, and she's dangerous both at melee and at range. She can do a ton of damage with her Hellfire Scimitar to adjacent enemies and apply Burn if she rolls a Special. Flintlock Pistol is just as deadly, and applies Bleed with a Special besides. Wynter likely won't be an immediate threat aside from the fact that she buffs all allies with +1 Dice, which will add up considerably over the course of the encounter (especially if you choose to leave her for last). 

The fight looks pretty straight-forward and that may be true, but it's certainly not easy, especially given the resources you will have available at this specific point of the campaign. Choosing which of the three "leaders" to push for first will dictate a lot on how the fight will go, but appropriate use of ability and signature skill cards will make or break the heroes' success against Laz'lek and Wynter.

 - LSG

The Cult of the Horned Ruin
5 months ago – Fri, Nov 07, 2025 at 08:53:39 PM

Hello, folks!

In this update we're going to look at some concept art for the people of Kantarak and their demonic hosts. Kantarak is one of the three cities in the Inali Desert that fell to the Storm and an important location in the Bones of the Conquered.

The Cult of the Horned Ruin
The Cult of the Horned Ruin was not native to Kantarak. Like the many goods found in its massive markets, it was imported from afar. The cult’s leader was charismatic; promising good fortune to those who lacked the aptitude or skills to survive in a city of merchants and artisans. Those who lived on the fringes of a society that had left them behind.

The work was simple at first. Some petty theft, a handful of cryptic vows that eventually escalated into small acts of violence. Then the sacrifices began. The Merchant Guild kept the horrors secret to avoid causing a panic. Genuine concern by a governmental body that had its citizens’ best interests at heart. They poured more and more resources into the constabulary, but it seemed the Cult of the Horned Ruin was always one step ahead. 

The cult’s murders became more brazen and impossible to hide. Pressure upon the Kantarak constables was immense, leaving them vulnerable to lapses in judgment. They received a tip: the Cult of the Horned Ruin was set to sacrifice an entire family to their demonic gods in the caverns below the city. The constables rallied their forces, adding well-paid mercenaries and the city’s small militia to their numbers. They entered through the sewers, expecting to find a dozen or two fanatics and one terrified family. They were ambushed by close to a thousand cultists, dragged screaming to the lowest point in the caverns and tied to wooden posts inside a circle drawn in blood. 

The cultists chanted in the tongue of demons, a rhythmic and guttural language thought lost to the sands of Anali. When their foul song ended, they slit the throats of every single constable, mercenary and militiaman in the circle. Some of the cultists were swept up in the moment and slit their own throats, gleefully expiring among their many victims. A torrent of blood filled the circle, rolling in deliberate waves to form the crude shape of a star. A fiery maw erupted, flooding the caverns with demons and other banished evils. The cultists cheered as Kael’apac, the first demon, approached the gateway. Then the Storm struck the Inali Desert, sending its three cities into ruin. 

Now Kantarak is run by the Cult of the Horned Ruin and its demonic masters. The city is a hollow shell; many of its people were dragged to the caverns below, never to return. Those that fled into the Storm have yet to reach its edge. Demons patrol the streets in search of new sacrifices, and though their ambitions of burning the world have been delayed, nothing, not even the Storm, will contain the minions of Hell forever.

That's all for now! We'll be back at the end of the year to go over any and all Stormsunder news. Until then, we'll see you in the Storm (maybe avoid Kantarak, if you can help it).

- LSG

Stormsunder Lore
6 months ago – Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 09:00:12 PM

Hello, folks!

In this update we're going to look at something a little bit different. Below is a bit of pre-campaign lore from a slightly biased source. I had some related sketches, so I sprinkled those in as well. If you were lucky enough to get your hands on one of the promo boxes we made for Stormsunder PVC, you may have a card in there that directly connects to the events described below, specifically the Lord Gregor, Lord Darijus and Aleksander cards. You could make a strong case for the Capac and Vanessa cards being related as well. 

None of this is a substitute for your actual game (or even a schedule for when you will get said game), but there is movement towards that, it'll just be after wave 1 of Wild Assent, so keep an eye out for those updates in the coming months. Until then, enjoy a little blood spilling in Tarpitt:

Blood Spilled in Tarpitt
Tarpitt, city of vampires, is under the complete control of the High Council. Its nine members represent the leadership of every facet of the city’s operation, from infrastructure and trade to criminal justice and defense. Before today, the council’s majority was in favor of Lord Rihard’s stewardship of the vampire people, rarely voting against his wishes and following him in all but the most minor of affairs. Before today Rihard ruled the council much as the council ruled Tarpitt, with unmatched authority, but before today the council was still numbered at nine.

Lady Ines was found shortly before dusk, impaled to one of the balcony doors of her mansion, a crossbow bolt buried in her heart. She was not the most influential member of the High Council, nor the most vocal, but her charge was vital to the survival of Tarpitt. She managed the crimson towers, massive cylindrical vats filled with blood harvested from thousands of slaves and thralls. She was also charged with distribution of that sweet ambrosia to the populace, and if the towers were ever to empty, chaos would surely follow.

The council's judgement was swift, the perpetrator undeniable. Lord Darijus made an impassioned but self-serving speech on Ines's behalf. Rihard's prior ambivalence to the threat posed by Vanessa von Brandt was called into question and when the votes were tallied, Lady Renata, an unlikely swing vote, sided with Darijus. The Potra twins, a pair of the High Council’s most ruthless enforcers, were immediately summoned, tasked with tracking down von Brandt and bringing the Nyere to the council's justice.

Vanessa von Brandt was a resident of old Tarpitt, a relic and a cancer that remained after the city fell to the vampires. Combining her unnatural gifts with an extensive knowledge of Tarpitt’s streets and sewers, she effortlessly avoided patrols as she waged a one-woman war that should have ended with the death of King Wilfried. Hunted by guardsmen and inquisitors alike, she murdered civilians with impunity, a one-eyed monster lurking in the shadows with crossbow and stakes in hand. Shortly after the murder of Lady Ines, Vanessa von Brandt fled Tarpitt, cementing her guilt in the eyes of the council.

The Potra twins left the city with haste, tracking von Brandt beyond the outskirts of Tarpitt, following the trail of dead vampires left in her wake. Aleksander, the younger of the two siblings, if only by a few minutes, was the mastermind of the pair. As cunning as he was ambitious, Aleksander was eager to prove his (and his sister’s) worth to a council with a vacant chair. Aleksandra, reckless and untamed, cared not for her brother’s machinations and instead was fervently excited to spill as much blood as possible on their pursuit.

They tracked the Nyere terrorist south for what felt like weeks, until they finally had Vanessa von Brandt cornered, holed up in a decrepit cabin half-buried in sand on the southwestern edge of the Storm. She was joined by a co-conspirator, a priest from New Iyrnnath, hunted herself by an unsated. The smell of blood carried on the wind and the twins salivated at the manifold opportunities just beyond the cabin’s wind-weathered door.

That's all for now! We'll be back next month with more news/reveals and anything else happening related to Stormsunder. Until then, we'll see you in the Storm (keep an eye out for shady shacks).

- LSG

Rask
7 months ago – Sun, Aug 31, 2025 at 07:06:34 PM

Hello, folks!

In this update we're going to continue our look at half-giants, this time with the hermit Rask. 

A Giant's Wrath
Rask's two specializations, Violent Vagabond and Mighty Recluse, both give Rask iterative bonuses to his default skills while also providing powerful new abilities. Today we'll be looking at Violent Vagabond:

Lowering the power cost of Throw "Friend" makes the ability diabolically consistent if you want to stun-lock a pesky adversary. Further, his Loner skill gets an extra bonus if you keep him away from the other heroes with a free Offense buff.

Proud owner of one of my favorite pieces of art in the game, Throw Cover lets Rask actually change the battlefield by picking up a piece of Half Cover and chucking it at some vampires (or some minotaurs, or maybe Aleksander). At a reasonable 5 Power, Rask can have a pretty ridiculous impact on available cover; just make sure he stays away from the treasure chests, or Wynter may lose it.

Rask also gains disembowel, which is an expensive but decisive way to remove a Soldier or Creature from the board. There is some mitigatable risk involved, as the ability enhances an attack (and if that attack doesn't drop the target below half Health, you burn 2 cards and 2 action points for nothing).

Rask also gets the Sunder Armor ability which simply applies the devastating Shatter debuff for 2 action points (also an enhance). Shatter makes the next attack against the target assign damage, meaning no armor/defense can mitigate the damage.

For Rask's traits, we start with his starting trait, Eccentric, which makes him discard a random card when he activates (which means he starts 2 cards short as you will also discard Eccentric).

Erratic is Rask's first "negative" trait (when decisions/events do not go his way). It's stronger than Eccentric, having him discard 2 random ability cards. Please keep the man (half-giant) happy, he just wants to play with his friends (rocks).

If the course of the campaign goes the other way, Rask will replace Eccentric with Peculiar instead, which is still not a positive trait, but has good with the bad in gaining power from the card you discard (assuming it has a cost).

That's all for now! We'll be back next month with more card reveals and other Stormsunder-related news. Until then, we'll see you in the Storm (where solitude is often preferable to running into something or someone else).

- LSG