Chapter Summaries

Koma gave Lady of Pain a scale containing localized spells and magitech knowledge, and she rewarded him with permission for his followers to adapt to the plane. The Enir Pantheon could soon awaken from their seal, though Lady of Pain warned Koma to keep them from causing trouble.

• Koma explained that his scale contained over three thousand spells and more than a hundred magitech techniques for beginners.
• Lady of Pain accepted the scale and gave Koma a dark green speck of light as his reward.
• Koma recognized the light as permission for foreign creatures to adapt to the plane and rejoiced because it could free the Enir Pantheon from their sealed state.
• Lady of Pain warned Koma to restrain the Enir Pantheon, and he promised to keep them from causing trouble.

Lady of Pain transformed the Snake Scale into a mysterious scroll and gave it to a Githyanki through a rift in space. She told Orsaga that the gift had greatly raised his potential but would likely condemn him to a life of conflict and slaughter.

• Lady of Pain reshaped the Snake Scale into a glowing scroll covered in green patterns and ancient characters.
• Lady of Pain opened a rift and revealed a ragged Githyanki who was eating raw meat.
• The Githyanki caught the scroll Lady of Pain threw to him, then recoiled as Orsaga and Lady of Pain watched him.
• Lady of Pain closed the rift, and Orsaga noted the Githyanki's strengthened Power of Fate.
• Lady of Pain said the Githyanki's future would be unhappy, with the scroll bringing greater potential but a high chance of lifelong conflict.

Fredos Kalgra, a Githyanki slave born in a Mind Flayer dungeon, found a green scroll after two strange outsiders vanished and cautiously opened it. The scroll’s complex, compelling words appeared before him.

• The chapter described the Mind Flayer Empire’s vast reach, powerful Psionics, and conquest of most of the world.
• It explained how the Gith were defeated and divided into the Githyanki and Githzerai.
• Fredos Kalgra, a Githyanki slave, saw a healed Spatial Rift, two vanished outsiders, and a green scroll left behind.
• Fredos Kalgra gave in to curiosity, opened the scroll, and saw its incomprehensible words.

Fredos Kalgra discovered a glowing scroll that seemed to take root in his mind, but hid it when a slave overseer approached. After she threatened to send him to the Breeding Facility if he lied, Fredos was left fearing what discovery would mean for him and his descendants.

• Fredos Kalgra felt the scroll's contents might greatly benefit him as strange information began taking root in his mind.
• Hearing other slaves approach, Fredos used his Psionics to hide the glowing scroll by digging a hole in the cave floor.
• A female Githyanki slave overseer ordered Fredos to dig out eighty loads of stone and threatened him with her barbed whip.
• The overseer noticed Fredos's bloody hands, and Fredos claimed he had injured them while trying to catch a Shooting Rat.
• The overseer warned Fredos that she would send him to the Breeding Facility if she discovered he had lied, then left the cave.

Fredos resolved to use the mysterious scroll as his chance to escape the Mind Flayer Empire, but he realized he needed trustworthy allies and a way to withstand the empire’s power. As he imagined Orsaga and the Lady of Pain as gods testing the Githyanki, Orsaga sensed an unexpected surge of faith from believers in that time and space.

• Fredos decided that the scroll was his only chance to escape Destiny’s shackles and resolved not to give it up.
• After several dozen days, Fredos watched the other slaves and recognized their shared resentment, but he knew they could not challenge the Mind Flayer Empire alone.
• Fredos concluded that he needed reliable allies and a powerful trump card to build a force capable of resisting the empire.
• Fredos vowed to escape the mines someday and reach the ancient homeland his parents had described.
• Fredos imagined that Orsaga and the Lady of Pain were Githyanki gods who had given him the scroll as part of a trial.
• Orsaga paused during a distant gambling game after sensing unexpected power of faith and wondered where the believers had come from.

Orsaga tracked Fredos through a faint strand of faith but hesitated to act because he had promised not to cause major trouble in the plane. Instead, he ran an honest casino and became famous as an artist after carving gang members into artworks, drawing the admiration of a local lich and other necromancers.

• Orsaga found Fredos through the Power of Faith connecting them, but decided he could not act without risking expulsion by Lady of Pain's group.
• Orsaga ran a casino where gamblers freely bet and lost their money, while he valued their despair more than the profits.
• After rival casino owners resorted to intimidation, Orsaga carved several hundred gang members into artworks with a fruit knife.
• A passing Legendary Rank lich praised Orsaga's work, was deeply moved, and insisted on becoming his disciple.
• Liches and necromancers came to see Orsaga's artworks, praised them as supreme art, and offered to buy or commission pieces.

Orsaga used basic Eldar Flesh Art techniques in the plane, then gambled in Sigil City and asked the Lady of Pain whether he could accept a benefit connected to Fredos. She allowed it as long as he did not cross the line, while Orsaga maintained that he wanted to cooperate with OAA.

• The chapter described how the Eldar under Orsaga had advanced their Flesh Art into feared new fields, though their affairs had little to do with the current plane.
• Orsaga lifted the dice cup after the gamblers placed their bets, and the round left some winning fortunes while others lost everything.
• Orsaga sent an unseen message asking whether he could accept a benefit that came to him.
• The Lady of Pain answered that he could, provided he did not cross the line, showing that she had sensed the matter concerning Fredos.
• Orsaga decided that intrigue with the Lady of Pain was too much trouble and said he had approached OAA with a sincere desire to cooperate.

Orsaga chose not to risk offending the Lady of Pain over Fredos and made Fredos his follower, naming himself the Bloody King. He granted Fredos powers that strengthened him in battle and let him claim a portion of a slain target’s power, leaving Fredos convinced he was destined to unite the Gith and overthrow the Mind Flayer Empire.

• Orsaga decided that the Lady of Pain’s Primal Pain was worth more than Fredos or the Githyanki, but accepted the benefits Fredos could offer without challenging her.
• Orsaga sent his consciousness to Fredos, declared himself the Bloody King, and bestowed a gift upon him.
• Fredos interpreted Orsaga’s arrival as divine recognition and imagined himself leading the Githyanki and Githzerai to overthrow the Mind Flayer Empire and reunite the Gith.
• Orsaga’s gift transformed Fredos and granted him Blood Bath, which increased his strength during battle, and Slaughter, which let him claim part of a designated prey’s power after killing it.

Orsaga’s restricted blessing gave Fredos the abilities Blood Bath and Slaughter, and Fredos’s piety rose to saint-tier as he prayed in the mine. When fellow Githyanki slaves mistook him for having gone mad, Fredos declared he would one day see the surface and learn the truth about the sun, the stars, and the ocean.

• Orsaga’s surveillance by Lady of Pain and others forced him to give Fredos only weak, discounted abilities: Blood Bath and Slaughter.
• Fredos mistook the abilities for divine encouragement, and his piety rose to the gods’ saint-tier standard.
• Fredos tearfully thanked Orsaga and vowed to spread his name while his fellow slaves watched in confusion.
• A young Githyanki slave said he wished to see the sun and stars, and an older slave recalled that their people had forgotten the surface after over a thousand years in captivity.
• Fredos answered that he would personally see the surface, sun, and ocean, and his confidence silenced the older slave.

Fredos marked a stronger stranger as prey, planning to poison and kill him to steal part of his power while avoiding suspicion. Decades later, the Mind Flayer Elder was enjoying a rare delicacy when a huge explosion struck the underground city.

• Fredos split his consciousness and marked a sleeping, stronger stranger as his target for the power-stealing ritual.
• Fredos decided to poison the stranger and kill him with a single strike, relying on his faith as he prepared to risk his life.
• Decades later, the Mind Flayer Elder ate a delicacy made from mixed-blood offspring in its luxurious quarters.
• A massive explosion sent a crimson mushroom cloud rising over the underground city, and the Mind Flayer Elder cried out in alarm that the city was under attack.

After the slaves escaped through a breach in the underground city, the Mind Flayer Elder questioned how they had acquired explosives and spells despite years of isolation. He ordered every remaining slave screened, while his anger grew over the humiliation and the rebuke from His Majesty.

• The Mind Flayer Elder confirmed with his subordinate that Fredos, a Githyanki slave, was the chief suspect in the escape.
• His subordinate reported that the slaves had apparently planted explosives and used a spell to disrupt the Defensive Barrier.
• The Mind Flayer Elder blamed the incident on failures in slave management and ordered all remaining slaves to undergo mind-reading or consciousness extraction.
• The subordinate reluctantly accepted the order and considered the burden of screening more than one hundred thousand slaves.
• The Mind Flayer Elder unleashed his psychic energy and vowed to torture the escaped slaves for making him lose face.

After uncovering clues to Fredos’s power, the Mind Flayer Elder warned the Mind Flayer King, who ordered an overwhelming force to eliminate him. Meanwhile, Fredos and his companions emerged from the Underground World into a sunlit desert, where he marveled at the unfamiliar landscape.

• The Mind Flayer Elder’s exhaustive search uncovered links between Fredos and the deaths of several slaves, leading It to suspect he could plunder other beings’ power and knowledge.
• Recognizing Fredos’s potential threat to the Mind Flayer Empire, the Mind Flayer Elder contacted the Mind Flayer King for help.
• The Mind Flayer King ordered Fredos’s elimination at any cost and dispatched five elite Mind Flayer Elders to the underground city.
• Fredos and his bedraggled companions emerged from a deep fissure into a scorching desert and struggled to adjust to the sunlight.
• Fredos finally opened his eyes, admired the golden sands, and praised the beauty of the world beyond the underground.

After escaping the underground city, Fredos and the former slave laborers struggled through the desert heat, and growing resentment culminated in an attempted attack on him. Fredos subdued the attackers and spared them, then resolved to find a settlement and recruit more capable people to serve his Lord.

• The former slave laborers wandered through the scorching desert, becoming disoriented, exhausted, and nostalgic for the certainty of underground captivity.
• As the heat and thirst worsened, some of the escapees blamed Fredos for their predicament and mocked him.
• After one slave collapsed from dehydration, several others charged at Fredos and tried to beat him.
• Fredos restrained the attackers with psionic tentacles and crushed them into the hot sand until one begged for mercy.
• Fredos released the men with a warning and decided to find a settlement where he could recruit more capable followers.

Fredos’s sabotage destroyed the Mind Flayer Elders pursuing him, while his companions’ desperation in the desert led them to pray to Orsaga. Orsaga sensed their faith growing but remained puzzled about what Fredos believed he had understood.

• The Mind Flayer Elders restored part of the teleportation array, triggering Fredos’s concealed spell and an explosion that killed one Elder.
• In the desert, Fredos decided their suffering was a trial from his lord and prayed for mercy.
• A slave dismissed Fredos’s beliefs but eventually prayed too, and the other fugitives followed as their thirst and despair grew.
• Orsaga felt the fugitives’ faith rise to that of devout believers and wondered what Fredos had figured out.

Orsaga accepted Fredos’s mistaken belief that their ordeal was a divine test and bestowed simple spells on his group. The spells helped them survive the desert, though predators still posed a threat and Fredos struggled to understand what bread was.

• Orsaga decided to acknowledge Fredos’s claimed divine test and gave him and his companions several basic spells.
• Fredos received the divine feedback and celebrated, while the others were shocked and some strengthened their faith.
• One of the group used the Water Creation Technique and drank, and the others soon cast the spell to quench their thirst.
• Fredos tried the Bread Making Technique, Path Guiding Technique, and Light Shading Spell, giving the group practical help for crossing the desert.
• The group remained vulnerable to carnivorous desert creatures, and Fredos discovered he did not know what bread was.

Fredos fed the starving slaves magically created bread and led them south through the desert using the Path Guiding Technique. Nearly three months later, they reached a poor Githyanki settlement, where its leader welcomed Fredos and spoke hopefully of their future with the Bloody King’s support.

• Fredos tasted the hard, dry bread, judged it filling and practical despite its awful texture, and conjured loaves for the other starving slaves.
• The slaves reluctantly ate the bread and rested before following the Path Guiding Technique south across the sand.
• After nearly three months of hardship, Fredos and the others found the outside Githyanki, who were struggling to find enough food.
• The Githyanki leader showed Fredos the crude settlement he had built, and Fredos praised it in comparison with the dungeon.
• The leader credited the Bread Making and Water Creation Techniques and the Bloody King’s support for their promising future.

Five years after Fredos shared the Lady of Pain’s scroll, his settlement had grown into a thriving city where Githyanki and Githzerai worked together. Mind Flayers secretly watched the city and received orders to destroy it, while Fredos foresaw his own death and resolved to preserve some survivors.

• Fredos shared the Lady of Pain’s scroll with gifted people, and the settlement advanced through newly deciphered technologies and practical spells.
• Githyanki and Githzerai repaired their relationship and helped transform the refugee camp into a growing city.
• Mind Flayers found the city and contacted their king, who ordered them to observe it until the Empire’s forces arrived to annihilate it.
• Fredos received a vision of the city burning and his own corpse displayed at the temple.
• Fredos left the temple and decided that he needed to preserve some seeds.

Fredos told the city’s leaders that the Mind Flayer Empire was coming and proposed sacrificing most of the population so a small group could escape and rebuild elsewhere. The leaders resisted his plan, refusing to abandon the people who trusted them.

• Fredos gathered the city lord and several elite Gith and revealed that the Mind Flayer Empire was coming.
• The assembled leaders reacted with fear and despair, while some vowed to fight rather than die without resistance.
• Fredos explained that his plan was to let most of the people be killed or wounded while secretly transferring a small group to a distant, safer region.
• Fredos argued that the city could never escape the Mind Flayer Empire’s control while it remained in the region and could not move its entire population.
• One leader rejected the plan as a betrayal, and others voiced agreement with him.

Fredos explained that some leaders and many commoners would remain behind to die, convincing the Mind Flayer Empire that their people had been wiped out while selected seeds escaped. He chose to stay and face death, trusting that his soul would reach his Lord’s kingdom.

• Fredos argued that survival required sending selected seeds away and sacrificing those left behind to deceive the Mind Flayer Empire.
• He explained that some administrators had to remain to hide the escape and make the enemy believe their forces were destroyed.
• Several leaders volunteered to stay and resist until the end, with far more offering themselves than seeking escape.
• Fredos limited the number who would remain to around one-third and declared that he would stay as well.
• After rejecting an offer to use a double in his place, Fredos read from the Sacred Text and said he would await the others in his Lord’s kingdom.

Fifteen days after the invasion began, Mind Flayers had conquered the city and cornered Fredos, who fought back with overwhelming power. The Mind Flayer King demanded the treasured scroll, but Fredos refused, and the King began to gather the surrounding Mind Flayers’ Psionics.

• Mind Flayer Elders examined a dead enemy’s brain but failed to recover useful information, so they turned their attention to the remaining resistance led by Fredos.
• Fredos fought the Mind Flayer Elders and their slave soldiers, growing stronger amid the bloodshed even as he neared the limit of what his body could endure.
• The Mind Flayer King contacted Fredos through an Elder and offered him his life in exchange for the scroll.
• Fredos refused, declaring that the scroll’s secrets would be buried with him rather than handed to the invaders.
• The Mind Flayer King accepted Fredos’s refusal and began gathering the surrounding Mind Flayers’ Psionics around the Elder under its control.