Chapter Summaries

Orsaga and Allison discussed the Elves’ sheltered descendants before reflecting on the children Allison was expecting. Orsaga proposed giving each child a Miniature Multiverse and began creating one as a sample.

• Allison voiced worries that the Elves raised in safety would struggle to withstand hardship, and Orsaga chatted with her rather than dismissing her concerns.
• Orsaga stroked Allison’s belly, admitted that feeling his blood connection to the unborn children improved his mood, and promised to try to be a good father.
• Orsaga asked Allison what gifts he should prepare, and she urged him to treat all the children equally to avoid sibling conflicts.
• Orsaga suggested giving every child a Miniature Multiverse as a private nursery.
• Orsaga formed a mote of light into a Miniature Multiverse, creating independent time-spaces, branching possibilities, and endlessly layered structures.

Orsaga created a Miniature Multiverse as a gift for his unborn child, giving the child sovereignty over it while restricting the authority of his other children. Allison accepted the gift and put it aside to mature, tacitly agreeing that it could later help their children train.

• Orsaga created the Miniature Multiverse and formed its laws into a key that granted his unborn child absolute sovereignty over it.
• Orsaga explained to Allison that he had combined technologies offered by the Fallen Empire and others to make a finished toy that could serve as a nursery.
• Allison realized Orsaga also intended the Miniature Multiverse to provide controlled combat practice for their children and warned against exposing them to it as newborns.
• Orsaga told Allison she could decide how to raise the children but argued that they would eventually need to master their innate instinct for killing.
• Allison closed her hand, sent the immature Miniature Multiverse to a corner of Crimson Heaven to develop, and tacitly accepted Orsaga's plan.

Elsa and Orsaga went to find fresh ingredients while Kaila and Keliya reflected on how content they were with their immortal lives. Kaila remembered that their parents had chosen natural death and that her memories of them were beginning to fade.

• Elsa asked Orsaga what had happened with Allison, and he blamed her reaction on pregnancy; Elsa doubted him and then invited him to find fresh food.
• Orsaga let Elsa lead him toward the planet’s eastern region, enjoying the simple outing with her.
• Kaila watched Elsa and Orsaga leave and wondered why beings with immense power and immortality pursued ordinary pleasures.
• Keliya said she enjoyed outings, cooking, and conversation, and Kaila agreed that their relaxed life suited them.
• Kaila recalled that her and Keliya’s parents had accepted natural death, and she noticed that her memories of them were growing blurry.

Orsaga and Lady of Pain discussed his impending fatherhood until a disturbance shook the DND Plane. Orsaga recognized the upheaval as the start of AO’s plan to punish the gods, and he watched with calm amusement as the scheme began.

• Orsaga told Lady of Pain that he was about to become a father and worried about raising his descendants well.
• Lady of Pain and Orsaga chatted about family despite their limited experience with it.
• A strange fluctuation disrupted the plane, shaking countless worlds and filling the skies above Sigil City with storms and lightning.
• Orsaga identified the disturbance as the beginning of the Punishment Mechanism, which he had proposed to AO to keep the gods from growing complacent.
• Orsaga anticipated that AO’s scheme would bring many deaths and injuries among the gods, and he looked forward to watching it unfold.

The gods were forcibly summoned to the Pantheon, where AO announced that one or more of them had made a grave error. They discovered that the Fate Stone Tablet had vanished, and the chapter left them wondering which god had stolen it.

• Worida Mala regained consciousness in the Pantheon and hid in a corner as the gods gathered without their divine thrones.
• AO appeared above the Pantheon and told the gods that one or more of them had committed a grave error.
• The gods noticed that the place where the Fate Stone Tablet belonged was empty and saw its guardian half-kneeling in humiliation and anger.
• The gods realized the Fate Stone Tablet had been stolen and began suspecting gods known for stealth, including Worida Mala and Mask.

AO condemned the Gods for the theft of the Fate Stone Tablet and declared that all of them would be punished. He cast them into the Material World with most of their divine power stripped away, beginning the conflict later called the Cataclysm of the Saints.

• The Gods feared being blamed for stealing the Fate Stone Tablet, while Worida Mala and Mask insisted inwardly that they had not dared take it.
• AO confirmed that a God had stolen the Fate Stone Tablet and rebuked the Gods for putting power above their duties.
• Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal were revealed as the thieves, having stolen the tablet with AO's tacit approval.
• AO decreed that all Gods would lose most of their power and be sent to the Material World until they recovered the Fate Stone Tablet.
• The Gods were cast from the Pantheon as their divine power and traits faded, while people in the Material World saw them fall like meteors.

In a hidden dungeon beneath Toril, the legendary Grand Arcanist Iolam watched mysterious meteors descend and sensed a vast, unclear threat. Unable to divine their nature, he recalled the catastrophe that destroyed Netheril, then decided the distant turmoil could not reach his underground refuge.

• The chapter described the dungeon’s clean outer regions and the extensive Magic Veins and barriers hidden beneath them.
• It revealed a towering, rune-covered Black Rock spire at the dungeon’s center, built with the work of a master scholar.
• Iolam observed meteors falling across the projected night sky and sensed that they carried an unusual scent of divinity.
• Iolam’s Divination Magic failed to identify the meteors, recalling a similar disturbance before Netheril’s destruction.
• Iolam concluded that the outside conflict would not affect his deeply buried dungeon and steadied himself.

Iolam watched the turmoil spreading across Toril and, resentful over Netheril’s destruction and his monstrous transformation, wished for bloodshed. As the gods entered the Material World, priests across the land lost contact with their deities and believed they had fallen, plunging their followers into grief and panic.

• Iolam recalled how Netheril had been reduced to ruins and how little his secret aid had done for its scattered survivors.
• He reflected on taking the body of a Mind Flayer Overlord and combining it with Lichdom, gaining power and avoiding some drawbacks while losing his human appearance, sex, and former life.
• Bitter over his losses, Iolam watched meteors cross the sky and silently urged the turmoil to bring war and bloodshed.
• The gods’ move into open conflict began an upheaval greater than Netheril’s fall, terrifying nations and factions across Toril.
• Priests found their connection to their gods severed and their temples’ statues dimmed, and many concluded their deities had fallen.
• Believers wept and panicked over the apparent deaths of their gods, with followers of evil gods especially affected.

Orsaga and Lady of Pain watched the gods’ conflict in Toril, which AO had made a testing ground for the God Punishment Elimination Mechanism. Lady of Pain predicted that around eighty gods would die, and the chapter ended with the prospect of the mechanism being imposed on gods across other worlds.

• Orsaga complained that the gods’ restricted brawl lacked spectacle, while Lady of Pain dismissed his desire for greater chaos.
• Orsaga asked Lady of Pain how many gods would die, and she estimated that about eighty would perish.
• The chapter explained that the Pantheon contained gods from many worlds, while Sigil City served as a potential transit point between them.
• Lady of Pain regarded Sigil City as a future turning point for interworld contact, though its importance remained limited while the worlds were still immature.
• AO had selected Toril to test the God Punishment Elimination Mechanism, which could eventually be imposed on gods in every world.

Orsaga proposed a game with Lady of Pain to bet on whether an even or odd number of gods would die before the Fate Stone Tablet was returned, hoping to win her Primal Pain. Lady of Pain initially refused, but Orsaga offered a valuable fragment of a powerful being’s origin, leaving her tempted to reconsider.

• Orsaga suggested that he and Lady of Pain use avatars and indirect interference to influence the number of gods who died, then bet on whether the final count would be even or odd.
• Lady of Pain rejected the game, saying it sounded uninteresting and would bring losses to her gods.
• Orsaga offered to stake gifts on the outcome and revealed that he wanted Lady of Pain’s Primal Pain.
• Lady of Pain prepared to refuse again, but Orsaga showed her a valuable sphere containing part of a powerful being’s origin.
• Orsaga offered to give Lady of Pain one-tenth of the origin even if she declined to trade, and the offer drew the attention of AO and the Order Serpents.

Orsaga offered Lady of Pain a clump of origin essence in exchange for Primal Pain, and she accepted after weighing the uncertain value of the bargain. She left behind a Blank Divine Spark for Orsaga to use as an identity in the game they would arrange.

• Orsaga presented the origin essence left over from Liu Longma as a bargaining chip for Primal Pain, drawing the attention of AO and the Order Serpents.
• AO, the Good Serpent, and the Evil Serpent watched without interfering, accepting that Lady of Pain could decide what happened to her creation.
• After a long hesitation, Lady of Pain chose odd and agreed to Orsaga's proposal.
• Orsaga and Lady of Pain discussed rules for the game, and she offered him a Blank Divine Spark if he wanted a new identity.
• Lady of Pain vanished, leaving behind a crystalline Blank Divine Spark, while AO and the Order Serpents withdrew and awaited the outcome.

Gith World celebrated the annual Supreme Sacrifice Ceremony, honoring the Gith Empire’s founding and the Bloody King, while its Pope abruptly teleported to the church’s sacred altar. The chapter described the altar’s trials and the immense power of the Slaughterer of All Beings, then contrasted Gith World’s vast, peaceful population with the World of Toril.

• Gith World celebrated the Supreme Sacrifice Ceremony, during which people of every race were compelled to praise the Bloody King.
• The Pope suddenly changed expression and teleported away, postponing his festival speech without explaining why.
• The chapter detailed the cathedral altar’s six hundred and sixty-six steps, whose trials granted believers increasing religious rank and divinity.
• The Slaughterer of All Beings rested on the altar’s final step, strengthened by a thousand years of faith offered to Orsaga.
• The chapter noted that Gith World’s long peace and population policies had made its population more than a hundred times that of the World of Toril.

The chapter contrasted the chaotic cycles of Toril with the Gith World’s rapid growth under Orsaga’s rule and experience. It ended as the Pope, Haqqatar, knelt before the Bloody King and eagerly awaited his new commands.

• The chapter explained how gods depended on believers and how population growth and competing interests produced recurring conflicts and collapsing civilizations in Toril.
• It described how Orsaga’s indifference to Gith rebellion and his experience with different forms of civilization allowed the Gith World to expand and advance.
• The Pope teleported beneath the altar and knelt before the Slaughterer of All Beings.
• The Bloody King addressed Haqqatar and announced that he had new commands for him.
• Haqqatar tearfully declared his devotion and asked the Bloody King to issue his decree.

Pope Haqqatar and Captain of the Bloody Guard Kaleid announced that the Bloody King had decreed a Holy War. A red sword beam rose from beneath the holy city and broadcast their declaration across the world.

• Believers gathered in the holy city and grew confused as Haqqatar delayed his appearance, while Church officials and troops held their positions.
• Haqqatar and Kaleid appeared together in Central Plaza, alarming those who recognized the Captain of the Bloody Guard.
• Haqqatar and Kaleid proclaimed that the Bloody King had issued a Divine Decree and that the Holy War was about to begin.
• A red beam burst from the altar beneath the holy city and carried their announcement across the world.

Orsaga used his divine power to expose and destroy the Gith World’s rebels, then ordered Haqqatar and Kaleid to carry out his will. Haqqatar took up the empowered Slaughterer of All Beings as the believers proclaimed a holy war.

• A blood-colored pillar and Orsaga’s divine presence filled the sky, stirring awe and fervor among the Gith World’s inhabitants and believers.
• Orsaga scrutinized the world’s people and declared that those who disrespected him deserved to die.
• Countless blood-red arms seized the rebels from across the world and brought them to the Holy City, where they were torn apart and reduced to blood and souls.
• Slaughterer of All Beings devoured the blood pool’s essence and returned to Haqqatar, empowered by its feast.
• Orsaga commanded Haqqatar and Kaleid to act, and Haqqatar vowed obedience as the believers cried out for holy war.

After the Bloody King issued his Divine Decree, the Gith prepared a massive Holy War expedition to Toril, assembling a fleet and selecting millions of warriors. Haqqatar and Kaleid launched the army into the Astral Plane as the Gith cheered them on.

• The Gith World embraced the Bloody King's Divine Decree and prepared to wage Holy War against Toril despite the distance and the presence of true gods.
• The Bloody Guard enforced loyalty, and the Gith assembled one hundred thousand Void Starships and several million selected warriors.
• The Gith set the Aracah-class Warrior standard for participation, roughly equivalent to being able to cast fourth-circle spells.
• Haqqatar and Kaleid reviewed the assembled troops and ordered the entire army to deploy into the Astral Plane.

After the gods lost contact with their churches, Toril’s factions struggled to maintain order while the gods themselves recovered in hiding. The gods began searching for the Fate Stone Tablet, wary of rivals who might exploit their weakened state.

• The churches discovered that every god’s followers had been affected and chose to preserve stability rather than search the Astral Plane for their gods’ corpses.
• Popes, patriarchs, demigods, Divine Descendants, and God Blood Users reassured believers that the crisis was a test, helping some churches grow more devout.
• The gods AO had driven down recovered enough strength to approach the pinnacle of the mortal world and began exploring in disguise for the Fate Stone Tablet.
• The gods watched their churches stabilize but avoided contacting their followers because they feared betrayal and did not want to draw attention from rival gods.
• Ambitious beings eyed weakened gods as targets, prompting the gods to keep concealing themselves across Toril.

The Bottomless Abyss factions largely ignored the gods’ apparent troubles, though some considered raiding the World of Toril. In Saltwater Swamp, Dimogegen received a summons that stopped him mid-tryst and left Mephistopheles suspecting his constant bickering had been an elaborate act.

• The Demon Lords and Demon Princes withdrew their attention from the gods’ situation, while some Abyss beings began considering how to profit from the World of Toril’s apparent disorder.
• Orsaga judged the demons of the Bottomless Abyss to be limited and mostly useful as troublemakers.
• Dimogegen and Mephistopheles were together in his palace when a voice entered Dimogegen’s mind and ordered him to do something.
• Dimogegen froze, then tossed Mephistopheles aside and sank into thought without either of his heads arguing.
• Mephistopheles saw his silence and wondered if Dimogegen had been pretending to bicker for more than ten thousand years.

Dimogegen considered how to smuggle his true body into Toril so he could hunt the gods who had been cast down to mortal power. In the Nine-Layered Hell, Orsaga’s orders set the Scorching Hell’s devils moving, while his deputy speculated that he was preparing a major campaign against Toril.

• Dimogegen remembered Orsaga’s orders to hunt and capture gods and wondered whether he could keep some of the spoils.
• Dimogegen decided he needed to get his true body from the Bottomless Abyss into Toril, since an avatar might not defeat the fallen gods.
• Orsaga’s orders mobilized devils of every rank throughout the Scorching Hell.
• Orsaga’s deputy inferred from the orders that he was targeting Toril and grew excited at the prospect of sharing in his success.
• The deputy trusted that Orsaga could challenge Toril, knowing the Lord of the Scorching Hell and the Lord of the Nine-Layered Hell held uniquely powerful positions.

Orsaga watched events across the multiverse while casually drinking wine in his palace in the Scorching Hell. Asmodeus arrived to discuss the game Orsaga was playing with an opposing force, and Orsaga said he preferred to enjoy it rather than hurry.

• Orsaga drank Netheril-era wine while observing events throughout the multiverse.
• Orsaga dismissed the power and spoils of the gods and other forces as insignificant to him.
• Asmodeus arrived at Orsaga’s palace and took a seat on a throne of Black Mists and venomous snakes.
• Orsaga told Asmodeus that the game had only just begun and that he found their use of Chess Pieces to interfere with each other interesting.
• Asmodeus praised Orsaga’s easygoing personality and said he enjoyed his company.