Chapter Summaries

In the ruined capital of Cliff City, Kasperchi defeated the Archmage Sangus after a battle that killed at least a hundred thousand people. As Kasperchi moved to finish him, Sangus opened his chest and unleashed the power of a cracked crystal sphere.

• A day before Punk’s mission, a battle devastated Cliff City, leaving its survivors stranded outside the ruins.
• Kasperchi, badly wounded, proclaimed victory over the fallen Sangus and praised the deaths of the city’s inhabitants as sacrifices to the Lord of Dawn.
• Sangus challenged Kasperchi’s claims of goodness and reflected that the Kingdom of Dilon he had built was doomed.
• Kasperchi raised his wand to kill Sangus, who tore open his chest and revealed a cracked crystal sphere in place of his organs.
• The crystal sphere ignited with violent energy as Sangus said he had done all he could.

Punk fought Blood Claw in the western wilderness, using summoned wolves and several spells to keep the wounded melee specialist at a distance. Blood Claw used the life energy of three Dokraina Man-eating Fruits to withstand Punk’s attacks and charge at him, while Punk prepared to stop him before he could get close.

• Blood Claw stopped fleeing, swallowed three Dokraina Man-eating Fruits, and prepared to fight Punk.
• Punk summoned three magic wolves and cast Pre-emptive Reading, Greater Weakening, and Kinetic Shockwave while retreating with Greater Haste.
• Blood Claw resisted Greater Weakening, endured the Kinetic Shockwave, and blasted himself out of its area with his exploding blood wings.
• Punk ordered the magic wolves to intercept Blood Claw and prepared another spell, recognizing that Blood Claw’s injuries and the fruits’ compressed life energy made him dangerous at close range.

Punk defeated Blood Claw but sensed that an unknown force had interfered with his thoughts. After confirming Blood Claw was dead, Punk reviewed his memories and drank a Focus Potion to investigate the growing sense of discord.

• Punk's demon wolves overwhelmed Blood Claw, preventing him from reaching Punk or triggering his prepared self-destruction.
• Punk sensed a brief disturbance while preparing to finish Blood Claw, but released Kinetic Cone and killed him.
• Punk confirmed Blood Claw's death with Divination Spells, then felt the Activation Potion's effects fade and his exhaustion set in.
• Punk realized the sense of discord was growing and ordered the demon wolves to guard him while he searched his memories for what had happened.
• Punk found no tampering in his memories and drank a Focus Potion to investigate the unknown influence.

Punk used a Focus Potion to break free of a Mass Suggestion Spell that had made everyone overlook a huge fireball crossing the sky. He connected the fireball to Sangus’s apparent death and suspected it was carrying a valuable inheritance to Princess Trellinka in Green Vine City, so he decided to investigate.

• Punk reviewed his memories after drinking the Focus Potion and realized a conspicuous fireball had been hidden from his notice by a Mind Spell.
• Punk identified the spell as a powerful Mass Suggestion Spell and reasoned that the fireball’s long journey required a stable magical source and Master-level power.
• Punk checked his Night Walker Alliance card and found that Silver Cane’s magical mark had disappeared.
• Punk concluded that Silver Cane was Sangus’s alias and that the mark’s disappearance, together with the fireball’s origin near Cliff City, likely meant Sangus had died.
• Punk inferred that the fireball was heading to Princess Trellinka and decided to pursue it for a possible inheritance or treasure.

Doran Green Vine convened the family elders after learning that Sangus and Kasperchi had died and that Kuren, the Kingdom of Kamos's envoy, had been found murdered. With Kamos likely to invade and Green Vine City caught on the border, the family realized it faced imminent ruin but had no plan to survive.

• Doran Green Vine summoned the Green Vine Family elders to a secret meeting and announced that Sangus and Kasperchi had perished together in Cliff City.
• The elders argued that Princess Trellinka should surrender to the Church of Dawn, but Doran silenced them and revealed the second piece of bad news.
• Doran reported that scouts tracking the Night Walkers had instead found Kuren's corpse on a road in the Kingdom of Dilon.
• The elders concluded that Kamos would use Kuren's likely assassination as justification to declare war on Dilon.
• The Green Vine Family recognized that Green Vine City would face the invasion first and fell silent, unable to find a way to save themselves.

Facing pressure from the Kingdom of Kamos and the Church Faction of the Kingdom of Dilon, Doran decided the Green Vine Family would seek the Church of Dawn’s protection by surrendering its assets, troops, and Princess Trellinka. The family prepared to abandon its noble standing and territory as a winter blizzard swept over Green Vine City.

• Doran rejected surrendering to the Kingdom of Kamos and proposed that the Green Vine Family submit to the Church of Dawn, offer up most of its assets and the Glory Army, and hand over Princess Trellinka.
• The elders objected that the plan would cost the family its noble title, Green Vine City, and its ancestral status, but Doran argued that survival mattered more than its fading glory.
• Doran ordered the elders to gather the direct bloodline, sell the family’s businesses, recall its private soldiers, and send its collateral bloodlines out of the Kingdom of Dilon.
• Doran asked Beigean to gather the guards and capture Princess Trellinka, and Beigean agreed to act.
• Doran and most of the elders left the secret chamber as a Winter Season blizzard covered Green Vine City.

During a worsening blizzard, Trelinka gave up hope of saving the Glory Army and was seized by the Green Vine Family. After Beigean revealed that Archbishop Kasperchi and Lord Sangus had died and Kuren had been killed, Trelinka faced imprisonment and trial with the Glory Army’s fate uncertain.

• Trelinka stayed awake in Green Vine Castle, accepting that her revolution had failed and wishing only to save the Glory Army’s soldiers.
• More than ten Green Vine Family soldiers entered Trelinka’s room, followed by Beigean, who told her resistance was pointless.
• Trelinka asked why the Green Vine Family had betrayed her, and Beigean explained that its decision followed the deaths of Archbishop Kasperchi and Lord Sangus and Kuren’s killing.
• Beigean ordered Trelinka arrested, sealed away her battle aura, and left her to be imprisoned until she was taken to Cliff City for trial at dawn.

Trelinka was taken to the Green Vine Family’s dungeon after losing her battle qi, where she discovered a mysterious fireball that only she could see. It became a white crystal sphere and a golden sheet, and a message from Sangus revealed that the Kingdom of Dilon existed in name only and left her future choices to her.

• Soldiers mocked and shoved Trelinka, and she struck her head but silently walked to the dungeon.
• Trelinka was locked in a cell amid the bloodied, empty dungeon and thought that death might be her only destination.
• A warm fireball appeared before Trelinka, illuminating the dungeon while remaining invisible to everyone else.
• Trelinka cupped the shrinking flame, revealing a white crystal sphere and a golden sheet.
• A message from Sangus identified Trelinka as the last member of the Dilon Royal Family and told her that the kingdom was effectively gone.

Punk followed the fireball into Green Vine Castle’s dungeon, where Princess Trellinka received Sangus’s final message from a crystal sphere. Sangus left her a mysterious alchemical scroll and the choice to flee or use it, while Punk watched warily as the sphere cracked and began leaking energy.

• Punk followed the fireball into Green Vine City and discovered that Green Vine Castle had been quietly emptied.
• Punk watched Trellinka hold the fireball, now a tiny sphere, and suspected she was receiving information from it.
• Sangus’s message revealed that his plan had failed and that the Kingdom of Dilon’s destruction could not be prevented.
• Sangus told Trellinka that she could flee with his gold or open the dangerous alchemical scroll he had left her.
• The sphere dimmed and cracked, leaking pure white energy as the dungeon returned to darkness.

After learning that the Kingdom of Dilon had fallen and she was being held captive, Trelinka tore open Sangus's mysterious alchemical scroll. Its portal appeared in her cell, drawing the attention of gods and ancient powers across Faerun, who recognized it as Netheril.

• Trelinka learned from Sangus's message that she had become a prisoner and that the Green Vine Family planned to hand her over to the Church of Dawn.
• The scroll's energy restored Trelinka's Journeyman Level strength, while Punk realized its runes could overwhelm anyone who perceived them and saw that it was meant to be torn open.
• Trelinka tore the scroll along its unenchanted center line before Punk could stop her.
• A silent portal filled with nine-colored points of light appeared in the cell, and gods and powerful beings across Faerun turned their attention toward the Kingdom of Dilon.
• Powerful beings across Faerun spoke the name Netheril.

The Netherese legacy’s appearance triggered the River of Fate to order powerful gods to destroy it, and Lord of Dawn Lousanda began a divine punishment over Green Vine City. With the attack about to destroy the city, Punk chose to escape through the portal Trelinka had entered.

• Spellcasters detected a Netherese relic in the Kingdom of Dilon and waited cautiously rather than approach it.
• The River of Fate ordered deities with intermediate divine power or above to destroy anything connected to the Netherese Civilization.
• Lord of Dawn Lousanda unleashed divine punishment over Green Vine City as Trelinka stepped through a portal.
• Punk realized the weakened divine punishment would still kill him and that he could not flee the city in time.
• Punk decided to enter the open portal as his only chance to survive.

Punk escaped the Lord of Dawn’s divine punishment through a portal, which carried him to a sealed room with Princess Trellinka. He discovered that his magical items could no longer respond to him and began considering how to survive if he could not escape.

• Punk rushed through the portal as the Lord of Dawn’s Legendary Divine Spell struck, and the portal blocked the punishment from following him.
• The portal vanished after Punk arrived in an unknown sealed room, where he found Princess Trellinka crouched in a corner.
• Punk extracted Trellinka’s soul and took her storage necklace, then discovered that he could not access it or any of his other magical items.
• Punk determined that the room’s walls resisted spells below the Legendary tier and that its air could not be replenished.
• Punk realized his food, water, and survival supplies were trapped in his storage ring, so he lifted Trellinka’s corpse as a possible resource if he remained trapped.

Punk failed to break out of the sealed room, so he connected his mana to its runes and activated a hidden system. A projection appeared and identified the chamber as a Netherese Civilization inheritance ruin, leaving Punk wary of whatever trials might follow.

• Punk tested the Alchemy Walls with his strongest spell but could not damage them or find an exit.
• Punk studied the walls' runes and cautiously connected his mana to them.
• The room's walls, ceiling, and floor lit up as the runes activated, then returned to silence.
• A pale blue humanoid projection appeared before Punk and introduced itself as the ruin's virtual administrator.
• The projection welcomed Punk to Netherese Civilization inheritance ruin number 57864128748, and Punk suspected he would have to pass trials to claim its inheritance.

Punk learned that the relic was one of billions created to preserve the Netherese Civilization’s legacy, and that its inheritance required passing four trials. When he declined to inherit the knowledge, the projection revealed that the only exit was inside the Inheritance Zone, leaving him trapped in the room.

• The projection explained that the Netherese Civilization had hidden billions of relics and distributed keys to preserve its legacy from the gods.
• Punk asked how to obtain the inheritance, and the projection said he had to pass four trials testing willpower, wisdom, intelligence, and curiosity.
• The projection identified Migz Onosen as one of the relic builders and said Punk had already passed the curiosity trial by connecting his magic to the relic.
• Punk asked what would happen if he refused the inheritance, and the projection assured him that no one would force him to accept it.
• The projection revealed that the only exit was in the Inheritance Zone, which it would not let Punk enter unless he pursued the legacy.

Punk began Netheril’s intelligence trial after discovering that the Alchemy Room was sealed by a powerful Magic Lock. Archmage Miggs-Onosen presented him with a coin-exchange puzzle and gave him three minutes to identify which customer later paid with a diamond-value voucher.

• Punk deduced that the Alchemy Room’s Magic Lock could trap even a Level Forty Morningstar Spellcaster and accepted that he had to continue the trial.
• Punk dismissed Miggs-Onosen’s explanation for Netheril’s elaborate security measures and asked to begin the next trial.
• Miggs-Onosen announced that Punk had three minutes to answer an intelligence question or die.
• Miggs-Onosen described a puzzle about three customers, their coins, and a later purchase, then asked which customer used a voucher worth one diamond coin.

Punk passed the intelligence trial by solving a coin-exchange puzzle and explaining how Glais could pay for the Contes Caterpillar's Tongue. The projection began teleporting him to the next trial, where he would face a theoretically defeatable enemy without magical items.

• Punk recalled the puzzle's clues and concluded that Glais owed money for the Contes Caterpillar's Tongue with a voucher worth one diamond coin.
• Punk explained the exchanges and payments to the projection, which confirmed that he had passed the intelligence trial.
• Punk asked about the trial of wisdom, and the projection explained that it tested overall abilities through a life-or-death battle.
• The projection said Punk would face an enemy matched to his strength and could not use magical items.
• The room began teleporting Punk before he had time to prepare, and he stayed calm as he awaited the enemy.

Punk was stripped of his equipment and forced to face a Level Fifteen Soul Shepherd in the Trial Ground. After narrowly dodging the creature’s deadly attacks and failing to break its defense, Punk searched for a way to win.

• Punk arrived in a vast Trial Ground and discovered that his robe, storage ring, and Verdant Staff had disappeared.
• Punk identified his opponent as a Master Level Soul Shepherd and recognized that the open arena and lack of undead limited its abilities.
• The Soul Shepherd attacked Punk with Negative Energy Finger, and Punk dodged the deadly spell.
• Punk fired a Kinetic Cone, but the Soul Shepherd blocked it with Negative Energy Aegis.
• Punk acted panicked to encourage the Soul Shepherd’s disdain while secretly trying to find a chance to defeat it.

Punk identified restrictions that kept the Soul Shepherd from using its area spells and concluded that exploiting the ruins was his only chance to win. The Soul Shepherd summoned two Fanged Wraiths to end the fight quickly, and Punk pierced his own eardrums to withstand their screams as they charged him.

• Punk noticed the Soul Shepherd relied on Negative Energy Finger and inferred that the ruins prevented it from using most of its spells.
• Punk concluded that the Soul Shepherd could not cast Negative Energy Finger continuously and that hidden restrictions or assistance in the ruins offered his only chance of victory.
• The Soul Shepherd realized Punk might uncover its limitations, stopped its attacks, and cast Summon Fanged Wraith.
• Two Fanged Wraiths appeared and charged at Punk, shrieking as they went.
• Punk pierced his own eardrums with magical needles to escape the wraiths' deafening screams.

Punk struggled to evade the Soul Shepherd’s vengeful souls and Negative Energy Finger while searching for a way to threaten the Master Level enemy. He realized the four old lanterns were likely a clue in the trial and rushed toward one of them.

• The Soul Shepherd coordinated its Negative Energy Finger attacks with two Fanged Vengeful Souls, forcing Punk to dodge while his mana dwindled.
• Punk used Kinetic Stasis to slow one vengeful soul and escape its bite.
• Punk reasoned that the trial must contain a way for a Formal Level inheritor to challenge the Soul Shepherd, rather than merely endure its attacks.
• Punk noticed that the four battered lanterns were unnecessary for lighting the already bright room and suspected they were a clue.
• Punk sprinted toward one of the lanterns, hoping to use it against the Soul Shepherd.

Punk realized the corner lanterns were crucial and used summoned wolves to draw Soul Shepherd and the Fanged Vengeful Souls away from him. He tricked Soul Shepherd into guarding the wrong lantern and secured another with Mage Hand.

• Punk confirmed Soul Shepherd reacted urgently when he charged toward a corner lantern and concluded the lanterns were important.
• Punk summoned four Magic Wolves and sent the three surviving wolves toward the other lanterns to split Soul Shepherd's attacks.
• Soul Shepherd killed two Magic Wolves and ordered a wraith to guard the upper-left lantern, while the remaining wolf carried another lantern toward Punk.
• Punk changed direction and headed for the lantern carried by the surviving wolf, leaving the guarding wraith unable to pursue him.
• Soul Shepherd killed the wolf, but Punk used Mage Hand to take the lantern before its attack could stop him.