Sovereign Tower Cycles 6–7 — Finish the Dragon Knight Ultimatum

Cycles 6 and 7 are where Sovereign Tower stops teaching and starts grading. Wild Wits plants the Dragon Knight ultimatum in Cycle 4; by Cycle 6 you either hold the meters or you rewind. Curve Games launched the campaign on August 6, 2026. Patch 1.0.8 later retuned Dragon Knight quest difficulty and scoring, so week-one muscle memory may feel softer — still prepare as if the duel can delete a knight. This page continues the verified early path from Early Cycles (Cycles 1–5). It is one community-checked route, not the only righteous reign.

Act 1 spoilers. For the boss checklist without cycle chatter, use Beat the Dragon Knight. For Arron’s arrival after the win, use How to Get Arron.

What the ultimatum actually wants

The Dragon Knight does not ask for a single stat. Community Cycle 5 checkpoints often cite roughly 8 Merchant satisfaction, 11 People satisfaction, and 300 gold, plus an alliance thread (Guilhelm appears in several verified runs). Your UI is the authority after patches. If a meter is short, do not open Cycle 6’s three-card pile — cook, accept a Merchant petition, or rewind to Cycle 4’s Kutnar / lighthouse week.

Read the demand as four jobs: treasury, People, Merchants, and a named alliance. Factions and the Faction Tracker belong on a second monitor here.

Sovereign Tower — court pressure and knight assignments

Cycle 6 — close the meters

Cycle 6 is the last full assignment week before the ultimatum resolves. Community walkthroughs (Into Indie Games and launch sheets) agree on this spine:

1. Investigate Ursula if she has joined. Surface hidden traits before you trust her on a relic card. Angelica often reveals Fear of Ghosts around this week — do not send her on Haunted leftovers.
2. Strengthen knight relationships. Kitchen snacks matter more than another blind contract. Gwendan wants Crêpe or Croque-Monsieur; Angelica wants Préfou or Crêpe (Cooking). If you are mid-Reform Gwendan, do not starve him the week you also need his Charisma at sea.
3. Secure the Guilhelm alliance if the audience is still open. An alliance is not a quest card; it is an audience line you can miss while staring at the Round Table.
4. Accept the three pressure quests that finish the ultimatum checklist in the verified path:

Quest	Verified send	Why
Pirates (raider / harbour card)	Gwendan + Goberto	Strength plus Goberto’s Hunt like; Gwendan covers Wit/Charisma chatter
Knight of the Fountain	Angelica	Agility / Luck lean; keep her off ghost tags
Oracular Cheese	Ursula	Wit / Magic relic; she likes Relic Recovery

All three succeeding is the documented way to complete the Dragon Knight’s requirements on this path. If one fails, rewind one factor — knight, meal, or gear — not the whole week (Quest Outcomes).

Do not start a three-cycle vanity contract that returns after the duel. Seat lock is how people miss Arron.

Cycle 7 — the ultimatum week

Cycle 7 resolves the Dragon Knight confrontation and, on many Groveshire-leaning saves, opens Silgur if you killed the Beast instead of taming it (Beast Hunt, Secret Knights).

Verified Cycle 7 chores after the hooded-peasant / Silgur beat:

• Beaconsbury’s Hunt — Silgur if he just sat down; otherwise a Hunt-like starter.
• Silver Feathers — Angelica if Animal Lover is public and the card is creature-tagged.
• Ask the Nobles — Gwendan unreformed still reads Nobility via Noble Soul; Reformed Gwendan reads every meter.
• Woods Investigation — Ursula or a Wit knight; Brunhilda takes extra Woods damage (Fire Lady) if you already recruited her.
• Bucolic Diplomacy — not Gwendan unreformed (Arrogant). Send a Kind / Diplomacy face or wait.

Community notes call Beaconsbury’s Hunt and Ask the Nobles Great Success targets on this path. Level-up tips from the same runs: put Gwendan’s point into Wits, Silgur into whatever the next Hunt lacks.

Then end the day and fight. Beat the Dragon Knight covers party size, meals, and forge repairs. Patch 1.0.8 reduced weaker-stat penalties and raised over-level bonuses — a repaired, fed party is enough; a cute underlevel solo send is not.

After you win

The Dragon Knight presents Arron as his descendant. Accept with a free chair (How to Get Arron). If the table is full, the Map Room fallback is cheap (~10 funds early). Decide Arron’s Kind versus Brutal rewrite before you pick up a Dragon Heart — Knight Transformations.

Cycle 7 is also when Act 1 region plots (Groveshire / Gavault) stop waiting politely. Return to Act 1: Groveshire or Act 1: Gavault instead of improvising county cards on top of a wounded roster.

If the meters fail

• Gold short: skip Kitchen experiments, finish a Merchant contract, cheapen repairs after 1.0.8.
• People short: keep Kutnar Nomads if that flag is still live; avoid Tyrannic audience jokes for two mornings.
• Merchants short: do not dump Treasury on annex cosmetics; send a success that tags trade.
• Alliance missing: rewind to the Guilhelm audience, not to Cycle 1.
• Knight dead: Goberto’s death opens Dulahan two cycles later — that is a different run, not a patch for the duel.

Related walkthroughs

• Early Cycles — Cycles 1–5 unlocks.
• Demo Walkthrough — Act 0–1 checklist.
• Grest Pirate Quest — later timed harbour emergency (1.0.8 +1 cycle).
• Walkthrough Hub — View all; this page sits after the first eight dropdown rows.

The Dragon Knight is a meter exam wearing a duel. Close Cycle 6’s three cards, feed the table, and only then let Arron’s grandfather test your armour.