Every floor has a woman on it who thinks she can make me crack first. A dryad who wants to tie me up in her vines. A siren who sings until your knees go. A serpent empress with more coils than manners. And at the top, Lilith, Queen of the Spire, who has never once been the one to give in.
I'm Varg. I didn't come here to be seduced. I came to win.
- Pleasure is my weapon. Every attack fills her Arousal bar.
- Composure is my shield. It soaks up whatever she throws back at me.
- Passion pays for the cards. Spend it well.
- Whoever hits full Arousal first climaxes, and loses. Simple. I like simple.
Other men run from the edge. I live on it. I Indulge to fill my own Arousal on purpose, and once I'm halfway gone I hit Rut, and my hits turn savage. Stack Lust to make every strike count again. Burn cards for good with Spend to feed the fire. The closer I get to losing, the worse it gets for her.
- The Thorned Garden: dryads, pixies, harpies and a garden full of thorns.
- The Masquerade: dancers, sirens, a card dealer who marks the deck, and a hostess who never shows her face.
- The Crimson Throne: lava halls, hellhound girls, chain mistresses and fallen valkyries.
- The Summit: her. Pink sky, a heart the size of a house, and the Queen herself.
- After every win, pick a new card and shape a deck that doesn't flinch.
- Trinkets that bend the rules and Philters for when it gets close.
- Shop at Madame Vesper's Boutique. She's charming. Her prices aren't.
- Soak or train at the Hot Spring: cool off, or upgrade a card.
- Strike a deal with a Muse like Nyx. Her gifts are generous. Her terms are her own.
- Encounters like the Forbidden Library, the Tailor of Sins and the Pit of Wagers, where one choice can win you the run, or ruin it.
- Every run is different: new floors, new rewards, new women with new tricks.
- Win, and raise the Sin level for a nastier climb.
- Take on the Daily Climb. Same seed for everyone, one shot to do it right.
- Read up on everything you've met in the Codex, and fill the Gallery.
Every woman I face up there has two endings with me. One for when I break her. One for when she breaks me first, and the Law of the Spire is very clear about who belongs to whom after that.
The Slime Queen tried to drown me in her garden. The bee girl brought her own honey. I've seen both endings. You'll want to see both too.
Every scene I've earned waits in the Gallery, win or lose.
The Spire has broken a lot of men.
It hasn't met me.
