Chapter Summaries

Soros visited Dragonspear Castle, where Marshall asked to step down as its ruler amid growing tensions with Devils, Drow, and other factions. Soros arranged for Marshall to remain temporarily, then supplied Qilué’s followers and secured their agreement to join the coming war against Zhentil Keep.

• Soros arrived at Dragonspear Castle and learned from Marshall how its population, trade, and dealings with Devils and Drow had grown beyond Marshall’s ability to manage.
• Marshall offered to surrender his authority, and Soros accepted his resignation while promising to keep him in charge temporarily and compensate him and the founding shareholders.
• Soros traveled underground with Davian, met a Pit Fiend who reported on the Drow settlement, and reached Qilué’s territory.
• Qilué welcomed Soros, who delivered promised supplies and explained that the Drow would need to fight alongside the coalition to gain acceptance on the surface.
• Qilué agreed to raise an army of more than a thousand Drow for the coming war against Zhentil Keep, and Soros promised them weapons, armor, and nighttime deployments.

Soros explained why Sarevok sought command of the Flaming Fist and described Vera Salemquante’s takeover of Amn’s Council of Six. He recruited Fid after Aran Linvail’s murder, while Atio joined Abdel and Imoen’s party and began eating metal.

• Soros told Davian that Sarevok wanted to command a mass slaughter as Grand Duke and that Soros had arranged for his death in the Trollclaw Mountains.
• Atona reported that Vera had weakened rival families, gained control of Amn’s highest authority, and arranged to expand the Council of Six into the Council of Seven with Soros in charge of the military.
• Soros learned that Aran Linvail had been murdered, that Fid was blamed, and that Mae'Var and other Shadow Thieves factions were plotting with mysterious support.
• Fid agreed to a Devil Contract with Raymond, who brought her invisibly to the municipal office building.
• Jaheira discovered Atio following Abdel and Imoen, and mistakenly believed he had come to collect a debt from them.
• Atio ate Abdel’s sword and later crushed a band of human bandits, revealing that he fed on metal and resisted nonmagical weapons.

Raymond used his new authority on Amn’s Council to demand sweeping military, magical, and law-enforcement reforms and declared his plan to make himself the realm’s supreme ruler. After the Council members submitted, the Shadow Thieves faced pressure to transform or leave Athkatla, while Bodhi prepared her own move against the Guild.

• Raymond entered the Council chamber and proposed rebuilding Amn’s army, gradually lifting the Magic Ban, and establishing incorruptible law enforcement.
• Raymond threatened the Shadow Thieves’ representative, ordered the Guild to become legitimate or leave Athkatla within three days, and kicked him out of the meeting.
• Raymond told the remaining Council members that he would rule Amn and build an Imperium, while Vera revealed her role in his rise and said Shaan VII had long prepared for it.
• The Council members abandoned resistance and approved disbanding the existing army and recruiting a new one.
• Renal Bloodscalp heard the representative’s report and decided to focus on the Guild’s internal crisis before considering transformation.
• Bodhi met with subordinate Guild leaders, warned them to follow her plan, and gave them a prepared parchment.

Raymond explained to Fid why he believed he could rule Amn, then brought her to a Harper stronghold to confront Elminster. After Geoffrey attacked Soros and was killed, Soros forced Elminster to abandon his plans against Fzoul Chembryl in exchange for withdrawing his spies, and threatened to undermine the Harpers’ ideals.

• Raymond told Fid that his trade policies and military plans could win him popular support and make him King of Amn.
• Raymond took Fid to a Harper stronghold and demanded to speak with Elminster.
• When Geoffrey and other Harpers attacked, Soros defeated them and killed Geoffrey with a punch.
• Soros revealed that he had spies throughout the Harpers and the Zhentarim, then confronted Elminster about his plan to defeat Fzoul Chembryl’s army before Soros could intervene.
• Elminster agreed to halt the Harpers’ operation in exchange for Soros withdrawing his spies after the region was integrated.
• Soros criticized the Harpers’ idealism and vowed to make them doubt their beliefs, leaving Elminster and the other Harpers shaken.

Raymond learned that Mae'Var and Edwin had conspired to assassinate Aran Linvail and that a mysterious power backed Mae'Var, then prepared Fid to pursue revenge. Meanwhile, Vermees challenged Balagos near Zazesspur and gained the upper hand, while Ximmon and Kurlemos watched and collected Balagos's blood.

• Raymond forced Elminster to share what the Harpers knew about Aran Linvail's assassination, Mae'Var, and Edwin, and Elminster ordered the Harpers to withdraw from Amn and Baldur's Gate.
• Raymond questioned Clarisse at the Zhentarim base and learned that Mae'Var's rebellion against Renal Bloodscalp had support from a powerful force hidden in the Graveyard District.
• Raymond concluded that Fid had been framed by Renal Bloodscalp and that Mae'Var had planned Aran Linvail's assassination, then took Fid to get enchanted armor and weapons.
• Vermees attacked Balagos near Zazesspur, trapped him with Wingbind, and overpowered him in a brutal aerial battle.
• Ximmon collected Balagos's blood during the fight and drank some, while Kurlemos watched and considered future dragon targets.

Vermees defeated Balagos and claimed the title of Dragon King, but Kurlemos persuaded her to let him and Ximmon interrogate and exploit the captive. Meanwhile, Sozo trained a new army, rejected Tethyr’s pleas for help, and ordered Shaan VII to destroy its nobility as his conflict with the Harpers widened.

• Vermees pinned Balagos, rejected his offer of treasure and submission on Soros’s orders, and prepared to kill him, but Balagos used Choking Claw to interrupt her.
• Kurlemos stopped Balagos from escaping and persuaded Vermees to let him and Ximmon interrogate the dragon and extract value from him; Balagos was dragged into a cave, and Vermees was recognized as the new Dragon King.
• Sozo watched Atona defeat Fid, then ordered Nemetona to train the fiendish elf for direct combat.
• Sozo suppressed resistance to disbanding Amn’s army, recruited a new force, and explained to Vera that the army served political goals as well as military ones.
• Vera delivered pleas for aid from Tethyr’s nobles, but Sozo burned them and ordered Shaan VII to eliminate the nobles who resisted and capture the rest for sale.
• Vera rode off to relay Sozo’s order as the Harpers shifted their efforts toward Tethyr and the confrontation with Sozo escalated.

Shaan VII’s advance and Raymond’s plans threatened Tethyr, while the Tethyr Eight tried to rally resistance. Raymond killed most of the party and held Harred III until Elminster arrived and offered to make a deal.

• After Myratma surrendered, Wex Tagget joined Shaan VII and moved to encircle Zazesspur, while the Nobles’ Council failed to agree on a response.
• Marilyn told Harred III that Zazesspur was poorly defended, and he revealed Elminster’s warning that Soros planned a vast Sword Coast Empire.
• Sylvanus Moonfall and Launsha Hilendia failed to persuade Wex Tagget to switch sides; Sylvanus and Launsha were killed by Shaan VII after Sylvanus attacked the earl.
• The Nobles’ Council branded the Tethyr Eight fugitives, and Raymond ambushed the party as they fled Zazesspur, killing Marilyn and the other companions one by one.
• Raymond caught Harred III and explained why he had chosen to fight for Tethyr; Elminster arrived just before Harred’s execution and offered Raymond a deal.

Raymond explained that he had killed the Tethyr Eight to prevent nobles from dragging commoners into another civil war, then manipulated Harred III’s grief over his companions into joining him against Elminster and the Harpers. Meanwhile, Abdel’s party accepted a mysterious job to investigate the bandits, while Ximmon secretly arranged to guide Abdel toward Sarevok.

• Raymond told Elminster that he had acted to protect Tethyr’s commoners and threatened to blame the Harpers for the coming purge of the nobility.
• Elminster agreed to keep himself and the Harpers south of the Winding River if Raymond spared Harred III, but he refused Harred’s plea to resurrect Marilyn and the others.
• Harred denounced Elminster, severed ties with the Harpers, and pledged himself to Raymond, who promised a Wish if Harred proved his value within a year.
• Elminster teleported away, and Raymond told Shaan VII that he had three Sparks available for him to choose from.
• In Beregost, Atio damaged two suits of full plate, forcing Abdel’s party to pawn magical equipment before they accepted a ten-thousand-gold job to investigate the bandits.
• At Feld Inn, Ximmon ordered his Half-Elf Rogue subordinate to lead Abdel toward Sarevok, while secretly planting a concealed camera on him.

Gond sent Raymond the artifact Ultimate Craftsmanship, which let him shape its metal strands into weapons and tools. Raymond used it to rebuild Kezef’s thinking brain and turn the Chaos Hound into an obedient puppy, then learned from Fid that Mae'Var had attacked the Shadow Thieves’ headquarters and set out to meet Edwin as a guild war erupted in Athkatla.

• Gond’s priest delivered Raymond a handcrafted gift and an invitation to meet at the Hall of Wonders, while Lantan’s Inventors' Association invited him to discuss the Airship.
• Raymond discovered that the gift, Ultimate Craftsmanship, could form weapons, tools, and other objects from its two bundles of metal strands, then used it to reconstruct Kezef’s brain and collar him into obedience.
• Isadora returned with her personalities merged and told Raymond that the allied Floating Cities were likely to resist an attack; Raymond chose to delay the campaign and promised to help her become a Planeswalker.
• Fid reported that Mae'Var’s hired attackers had killed at least seven guild leaders and their deputies at Shadow Thieves headquarters, prompting Raymond to agree to meet the Red Wizard Edwin.
• Raymond, Fid, and the puppy-shaped Kezef headed for the Copper Coronet Inn as rival factions began killing one another in Athkatla’s underground guild war.

Edwin was lured from the Copper Coronet Inn and forced to reveal what he knew about Mae'Var and the Shadow Thieves. A false Netherese scroll transformed him into a woman instead of a Lich, while Vermees guarded Balagos's treasure and discussed Kurlemos's schemes.

• Lehtinan extorted Edwin for spellcasting materials until a masked woman offered him another supplier and led him to Raymond.
• Fid held Edwin at knifepoint, tortured him, and made him reveal his involvement with Mae'Var and his knowledge of the Shadow Thieves and Aran Linvail's murder.
• Raymond supplied Edwin with the materials for the scroll's ritual, which transformed him into a woman; Raymond and Fid left him behind as Edwina.
• Vermees took control of Balagos's treasure-filled lair and used violence to train Otagos and Oloxes while Kurlemos planned to exploit Klauth against the Harpers and Kastelan Ferian.
• Kurlemos and Ximmon departed, and Ashmi appeared beside Vermees to warn her that Ximmon was treacherous.

Vermees recruited Ashmi and began building a network of subordinates by rewarding and manipulating them, while Raymond assigned Fid responsibility for the Shadow Thieves and investigated Irenicus and Sarevok. Sarevok strengthened himself with Bhaal’s temple rituals and moved toward eliminating Baldur’s Gate’s dukes, while an unknown resurrected boy defiled Bhaal’s statue after the ritual.

• Vermees threatened Ashmi into serving as her adviser, and Ashmi agreed to coordinate intelligence and build Vermees a network across the wilderness.
• Vermees restored Oloxes’s wings, fed Oloxes and Otagos, and offered them freedom and treasure shares in exchange for obedience and tribute.
• Bodhi reported Mae’Var’s role in the Shadow Thieves’ conflict and Irenicus’s activities at Durlag’s Tower, while Raymond tasked Fid with deciding the guild’s future.
• Bodhi told Raymond that Sarevok was infiltrating Baldur’s Gate’s factions, performing Bhaalite sacrifices, and plotting to seize military power; Raymond warned that Sarevok’s rituals could strengthen Bhaal.
• Sarevok transformed into a Slayer through a temple ritual, sent his blood to Irenicus, and ordered plans to remove Duke Silvershield and Duke Eltan while investigating Abdel’s commission.
• After Sarevok and his followers left, a dead boy revived, retrieved his heart, insulted Bhaal’s statue, and urinated on it.

Sancho, a young Bhaalspawn with unusual powers, escaped to Baldur’s Gate and was caught trying to steal a magical item from Sorcerous Sundries. Soros took him on as an apprentice to study his resistance to Bhaal’s influence, while Raymond secretly ordered Atona to watch him.

• Sancho teleported to Baldur’s Gate, killed two Shadow Thieves for clothes and money, and tried to steal a Greater Horn of Blasting from Sorcerous Sundries.
• Habasar tracked Sancho after he teleported away, captured him, and learned that he was a Bhaalspawn with an innate random teleportation ability.
• Habasar brought Sancho to meet Soros, who offered him protection and mentorship after learning that Sancho resisted the bloodlust affecting other Bhaalspawn.
• Sancho accepted Soros’s offer to become his mentor, and Raymond assigned him a stack of apprentice books to study within two weeks.
• Raymond told Atona to watch Sancho closely so he could study the unusual changes in the boy’s Divine Power.

Raymond learned that the first player had uncovered the truth about Infinite City and met Kurt, a deceased player whose soul he restored after securing his loyalty. Kurt began training under Isadora, while Raymond continued to await developments in the Bhaalspawn conflict and the war in the Western Heartlands.

• Raymond strengthened his control over Athkatla and Amn, while Zhentil Keep's army suffered a major defeat against allied forces from Scornubel and Elturel at the Chionthar River.
• Diary returned from another world and told Raymond that Kurt had discovered Infinite City was virtual and the players' world was real.
• Raymond met Kurt in Replica Waterdeep, restored his memories, explained the players' resurrection system, and offered him a choice between death and service.
• Kurt agreed to serve Raymond, signed a soul contract, and was resurrected through a Wish from the Vessel of Greed.
• Raymond assigned Kurt to study magic under Isadora, who began forcing Arcane Magic knowledge into his mind through psionic power.

Velsharoon hunted Sancho because the Bhaalspawn had unknowingly absorbed a crucial part of an ancient method of ascension, while Raymond sheltered the boy in Athkatla. Raymond traded Szass Tam the secret of Velsharoon’s plan for Thayan magical tattoo techniques and persuaded him to help Fzoul Chembryl, setting rival wizards in motion against Velsharoon.

• Velsharoon ordered his followers to search Baldur’s Gate for Sancho and bring him back alive so he could complete his path to godhood.
• Atona told Sancho that strangers were asking about him, then reassured him that Raymond already knew and was handling the danger.
• Szass Tam met Raymond and revealed that Velsharoon had discovered an ancient method of attaining godhood and that Sancho was the thief he sought.
• Raymond exchanged the secret of Velsharoon’s ascension method for Szass Tam’s complete magical tattoo techniques and confirmed that Sancho was under his protection.
• Raymond refused Szass Tam’s offer of an alliance but asked him to help Fzoul Chembryl crush resistance in the Western Heartlands in exchange for future information about Sancho.
• Szass Tam returned to Thay and mobilized his forces against Velsharoon, prompting the other Red Wizard Zulkirs to grow nervous.

Red Wizards and other factions plunged Baldur’s Gate into chaos as Sarevok learned that Abdel had destroyed his bandit camp. Raymond tested Gond’s Smokepowder, discussed how technology and magic could advance together, then returned to Athkatla and found the ancient Lich Owo waiting in his tower.

• Red Wizard leaders sent agents to investigate Baldur’s Gate, where their factions’ fighting spread violence and drew the attention of the Harpers, Zhentarim, and nearby Druid circles.
• Sarevok learned that Abdel had wiped out his bandit camp and feared Duke Belt would demand military action before Sarevok could seize power.
• Abdel’s party celebrated their victory, while Jaheira questioned his bloodlust and pressed Imoen about the Ring of the Ram.
• Raymond met Gond in the Hall of Wonders, tested Smokepowder with an enchanted firearm, and explained how commerce, government, craftsmanship, and magic could support invention.
• Gond warned Raymond that a powerful relic from Talos lay in the right eye of the boy who had visited the Purple Dust Plains, and Raymond returned to Athkatla to investigate.
• Raymond entered his reception room and found Owo, the ancient Lich known as The Undying, waiting for him.

Raymond negotiated with Owo, a Netherese Lich, who agreed to help restore Netheril’s magical culture under Raymond’s centralized rule. After Owo left, Raymond investigated why Red Wizards were searching for Sancho and discovered a destructive divine relic fused with the boy’s right eye.

• Owo visited Raymond’s tower, explained his efforts to revive Netheril’s heritage, and asked to join Raymond’s plans for a magical nation.
• Raymond agreed to cooperate with Owo but rejected Netheril’s loose political system, insisted that Wizards submit to central authority, and explained that he would not permit teachings that denied the gods.
• Raymond demonstrated that his Planeswalker abilities could bypass the Weave, and Owo accepted Raymond’s terms and agreed to cooperate.
• Raymond questioned Sancho about the people searching for him, and Sancho recalled stealing a sealed box containing a lightning-filled gemstone that later vanished.
• Raymond used Silver Fire to reveal and extract the Eye of Destruction hidden in Sancho’s right eye, triggering a violent storm that nearly destroyed the room.
• Raymond identified the relic as a source of Talos’s Divine Power, fitted Sancho with a magical replacement eye, and kept the dangerous relic.

Raymond explained Nemetona’s nature-related Divinity and planned to use her against Silvanus’s followers, then plotted to exploit Szass Tam and Velsharoon’s rivalry. Meanwhile, Fzoul Chembryl’s army attacked the allied forces at the Chionthar River, where a dragon-cursing javelin brought down two Metallic Dragons and left them captured.

• Raymond warned Nemetona not to absorb the Eye of Destruction and urged her to develop a broad understanding of nature and her own Divinity.
• Raymond planned to use Nemetona to divide Silvanus’s allies and secretly considered trading the Eye to Szass Tam to provoke a fight with Velsharoon.
• Szass Tam and Fzoul Chembryl prepared to attack across the Chionthar River, and Manshoon delivered a javelin cursed to harm dragons.
• Delt led the allied forces to defend the riverbank, but Fzoul’s army crossed on magic bridges and its monsters broke through the defenders’ line.
• The allied spellcasters and Metallic Dragons slowed the attack, but Fzoul used the cursed javelin to bring down a Gold Dragon and a Silver Dragon and ordered them bound as prisoners.

Zhentil Keep’s army defeated the allied forces, and Fzoul Chembryl captured Delt and a Gold Dragon. Raymond then traded the Eye of the Gods to Szass Tam for three Artifacts and ordered Fzoul to clear the Sword Coast’s ruling structures ahead of the coming war.

• Fzoul Chembryl’s forces broke the allied defensive line, while Delt charged him to save the captured Metallic Dragons and was defeated.
• Fzoul Chembryl offered Delt a place in Bane’s Church, but Delt refused, and Fzoul prepared to enslave him.
• A Gold Dragon attacked Fzoul Chembryl, but he struck her with a cursed javelin and left her near death.
• Raymond arrived and traded the Eye of the Gods to Szass Tam for the Dead Moon Orb, the Throne of Sakkors, and the Three Wishes Ring.
• Raymond told Fzoul Chembryl that Sarevok had secured his bid for power and ordered him to leave the region without its existing ruling structure.
• Raymond explained his plans to redistribute noble lands and divide Amn’s powerful merchant families, and Fzoul Chembryl praised his methods.

Soros revealed his plans to use Bane’s church and the Trade Alliance to bring the Northland under his control, then secretly altered two captured Metallic Dragons’ memories and rescued the young Gold Dragon Gelsania. News that Szass Tam had obtained the Eye of the Storm spread across Faerun, drawing the attention of the Red Wizards, Chosen, and Talos’s followers.

• Soth and Fzoul Chembryl divided Bane’s churches along the Sword Coast, with Soth taking control south of the Winding River.
• Soth persuaded Fzoul Chembryl to spare the wounded young Gold Dragon, then used Kezef to subdue two captive Adult Metallic Dragons and alter their memories.
• Soros healed Gelsania but left her flight-affecting Curse in place, and she thanked him and shared what she knew about the Gold Dragons’ interest in his rule.
• Red Wizard leaders learned that Szass Tam had traded the Dead Moon Orb and the Throne of Sakkors to Soros for the Eye of the Storm and debated seeking Velsharoon or Soros as an ally.
• Elminster, Storm Silverhand, Khelben "Blackstaff," Owo, and other powerful figures received news of the Eye of the Storm, while Talos’s followers planned to march on Thay.

After Soros traded the Eye of the Storm to Szass Tam, powerful spellcasters prepared to compete for it, while Irenicus traveled to Thay after absorbing Divine Power and Divinity from Bhaalspawn. Raymond revealed that this had tied Irenicus’s soul to Bhaal’s resurrection, leaving him with only one life, before discovering the imprisoned Drow Viconia in Durlag’s Tower.

• Marissa suspected Soros had engineered the Eye of the Storm crisis as bait, but Owo dismissed the prospect of pursuing it.
• The Harpers concluded that Soros had traded Szass Tam the Eye of the Storm for Artifacts and a Ring, and Storm Silverhand departed for Thay while the others arranged emergency plans.
• Bodhi agreed to watch over Durlag’s Tower as Irenicus left for Thay, after he sacrificed captured Bhaalspawn to absorb their Divine Power and Divinity.
• Raymond arrived at the tower and explained to Sancho that Irenicus’s stolen Divinity had bound his soul to the Blood Throne, making him a participant in Bhaal’s resurrection with only one life.
• Raymond questioned Bodhi about Irenicus’s behavior and her own changes before she subdued an escaped Drow named Viconia, whom Raymond recognized.