Bloodsoaked Blade
The Bloodsoaked Blade is the 
Bloodmage silver challenge. The dungeon is a modified version of the 
Havendale Bridge. The reward for completion is the 
Vampiric Blade.
Preparations
Mage Tower, Blacksmith, and Bazaar.
Monsters
- The Bridge Troll is present and drops a
Sensation Stone.
Boss
The boss is a 
Druid named Trikkistix that has two forms.
First Form (Physical Resist Form):
Blinks when struck.
Spawns 3 random plants in random locations whenever he is struck.
Death Protection x 10
Second Form (Magic Resist Form):
- Blinks when struck.
- Death Protection x 10
Magic resist 50%
Resources
Unlike the standard Havendale Bridge, there are no altars. There are no subdungeons or secret subdungeons. Standard number of stat boosters. Standard number of shops.
All glyphs except 
BURNDAYRAZ are random.
The Problem
The typical Bloodmage strategy of fueling BURNDAYRAZ with 
BLUDTUPOWA is problematic once you get to the boss for three reasons.
1) Fireballs will make Trikkistix blink and spawn three plants. The map has several long tunnels that are easily and quickly cut off by plants, and Trikkistix will inevitably spawn to a location where he is protected by his plants. Because there are no altars, 
Clearance is not an option. Killing these plants, in addition to causing status ailments, will discharge 
Burned on Trikkistix; Trikkistix will not blink, but discharging Burned will spawn additional plants. The plants will frequently cover bloodpools.
2) Unless you are an 
Elf, you will not have enough mana to cast two fireballs in a row. Because the boss Blinks, the map will be mostly explored by the time you fight him, so BLUDTUPOWA is not viable for mana recovery. Your only options are either Mana Potions, 
Crystal Ball (which cannot be prepped), or mid-fight level ups.
3) If you survive his first form, his second form has 50% Magic resist. Even with a 
Piercing Wand, fireballs will not be mana-efficient compared to physical attacks.
Strategies
A successful strategy should utilize BURNDAYRAZ with BLUDTUPOWA for leveling until the time comes to fight the boss, at which point transitioning to physical damage is necessary. A combination of the following tactics are effective:
- A
Dwarf will maximize your 
Sanguine ability by increasing the % of health regained by blood pools. During leveling, it allows for more uses of BLUDTUPOWA as well. Between glyphs and the Sensation Stone, a health pool of 200 is easily attained, making it possible to take two hits from the boss before needing to drink blood pools/health potions.
- A
Gnome can produce mana potions that can boost the effectiveness of Sanguine and is a race that can reliably defeat this challenge. Glyph conversions, combined with the preppable apothecary and the Sensation Stone dropped by the troll, will boost your Sanguine bonus to surpass the effectiveness of health potions. Normally during gameplay, potions are a "last resort," if they get used at all. For this challenge, it is preferable to use mana potions early to facilitate leveling. Blood pools should be saved for the boss fight. If the 
Gloves of Midas are found early enough, the Triling strategy (fueling the 
Trisword and 
Alchemist Scroll with one mana potion per level) can be particularly effective. Since none of those items can be prepped, this is nearly impossible to pull off.
- The
Goblin can level up extremely fast and thus create more "popcorn", but without a store item to boost his HP pool the Goblin will struggle against the boss.
- The
Bear Mace can be prepped and is particularly effective. It can be used to move the Bridge Troll if no 
WEYTWUT is available. It prevents the boss from blinking and helps remove death protections quickly. Avoid hitting the boss into walls until he is down to his death protections, or you will spawn double the plants. Combined with the 
Rock Heart and 
BYSSEPS it is particularly effective against the boss's first form. Adding a 
Whurrgarbl will remove the death protections even faster.
-
Burn Salve should be purchased as soon as possible. Once the boss's first form has been killed, kill every plant on the screen and soak up every corrosion pool that is not stacked on top of a blood pool; one Burn Salve will remove the more than 100 stacks of 
Corrosion that you can receive from this.
- There are no Altars or subdungeons, and preps are limited, so you are particularly dependent on the shops. An early Gloves of Midas find can dramatically change how this dungeon plays.
