Chapter Summaries

Raymond confronted Lolth over the Eldrazi crisis, demanded a substantial bargain before sealing the Titans, and bound Viconia to him with a Devil Contract. Meanwhile, Velsharoon attacked Szass Tam for the Eye of the Storm, but Irenicus’s arrival interrupted their battle and left all three wary of one another.

• Raymond recognized Viconia and questioned her about being imprisoned, then revealed that Lolth had manipulated events to bring her before him.
• Lolth asked Raymond to seal the Eldrazi Titans, but he refused until the Abyssal Will and its allies offered a tempting price.
• After Lolth departed, Soros had Viconia sign a Devil Contract and accept him as her new master.
• Velsharoon attacked Szass Tam in Thay to reclaim the Eye of the Storm, and the two liches led their forces into a massive battle.
• Irenicus struck Szass Tam with Bigby's Crushing Hand, then faced both liches as they halted their fight and watched him cautiously.

Szass Tam and Velsharoon’s contest for the Eye of the Storm drew Irenicus and then Storm Silverhand and Shandril Shessair into a shifting fight that left Velsharoon dead and Szass Tam allied uneasily with Irenicus. Meanwhile, Abdel’s party escaped Baldur’s Gate through a Zhentarim tunnel, and Raymond prepared to set Sarevok’s coming war in motion.

• Szass Tam and Velsharoon attacked Irenicus, but he used an Antimagic Field to thwart their Energy Drain spells and demanded the Eye of the Storm.
• Red Wizard leaders arrived, and Velsharoon began retreating before Storm Silverhand killed him with Silver Fire.
• Storm Silverhand and Shandril Shessair confronted Szass Tam, but Irenicus allied with him and fought Shandril as Szass Tam battled Storm Silverhand; the women eventually teleported away.
• Szass Tam and Irenicus struck a wary agreement to share the Eye of the Storm’s power and pursue godhood together.
• In Baldur’s Gate, Abdel and his companions accepted Ximmon’s costly offer of escape through Zhentil Keep’s secret tunnels and agreed to join the coming battle against Sarevok.
• Ximmon reported to Raymond, who ordered Fzoul Chembryl to march west and instructed Ximmon to monitor Baldur’s Gate’s factions until Raymond could purge the city.

Sarevok militarized Baldur’s Gate as Fzoul Chembryl led a large army toward Trollclaw, while Abdel’s party planned to confront Sarevok. In Athkatla, Raymond secured agreement on the Trade Alliance’s currency and discussed Amn’s plans for the war, then revealed to Alustriel and Qilué that he had deliberately made Szass Tam a target to distract other powers.

• Sarevok expanded Baldur’s Gate’s army, seized resources, and promised recruits rewards for defeating Zhentil Keep.
• Fzoul Chembryl marched fifteen thousand troops toward Trollclaw, where Abdel and his companions planned to use the battle as an opportunity to kill Sarevok.
• Raymond persuaded the Trade Alliance delegates to adopt a shared currency backed by Waukeen’s churches and services.
• Raymond told Alustriel and the delegates that Amn would act against Zhentil Keep if Baldur’s Gate fell, and Aribeth pledged five hundred troops from Neverwinter.
• Raymond told Alustriel and Qilué that he had modified the Eye of the Storm’s seal and made Szass Tam bait to draw out would-be gods and distract powerful mages from his plans.

Raymond discussed the Eye of the Storm and the coming war with Alustriel and Qilué, while Waukeen expanded her plans for commerce and influence after hearing how Amn’s trade war had brought Sembia to collapse. The chapter ended with Utheria reporting that Syril Darkhope had raised a powerful army in Sembia, surprising Raymond with her preparations.

• Raymond told Alustriel he could not guarantee Szass Tam would fail to use the Eye of the Storm, but promised to reclaim it if anyone other than Elminster took it.
• Raymond urged Qilué to prepare Eilistraee’s Drow for the coming war, and Qilué said more than a thousand were ready to fight for acceptance on the Surface World.
• Alustriel and Qilué agreed to maintain close ties with Raymond and help mediate his conflict with Elminster.
• Waukeen ordered her followers to expand her influence in Baator, while Raymond explained that he had planned the trade operation that triggered famine and rebellion in Sembia.
• Raymond encouraged Waukeen to embrace Lawful Evil and expand her portfolio into capital, monopoly, and economic warfare, and she said she would consider it.
• Utheria told Raymond that Sembia’s rebellion was spreading and that Syril Darkhope had stockpiled supplies, captured towns, and raised an army of nearly three thousand.

Selur’s growing power in southern Sembia was interrupted when Raymond ordered her to dismantle the church she had founded in his name, then left to watch a confrontation over the Eye of the Storm. In Thay, Sammaster and Szass Tam joined forces with Larloch against Elminster and the Chosen, leaving the battle poised to escalate.

• Selur reported that the Church of Bane and several other churches had recognized her rule in Urmlaspyr, while Inigo urged her to become queen of southern Sembia.
• Raymond arrived with Utheria, told Selur to secularize or dissolve her church, and stopped granting Divine Magic to Clerics other than her.
• Utheria explained that worship burdened Raymond and agreed to help Selur destroy the cult while supporting her campaign to conquer Sembia.
• Raymond left Sancho on a Trollclaw peak to study Bhaal’s power, and Sancho fought off five Forest Trolls with a summoned Felhound.
• Raymond traveled to Thay, where Sammaster demanded the Eye of the Storm from Szass Tam and threatened to devastate the country if refused.
• Elminster and Storm Silverhand arrived to confront Sammaster and Irenicus, but Larloch appeared with his Liches, renewed his pact with Szass Tam, and joined the conflict.

Soros revealed that he had manipulated Szass Tam into holding the Eye of the Storm to draw powerful rivals away from his plans, then Raymond challenged Larloch to a spell duel. After Sammaster and his Dracoliches ambushed Raymond, Raymond destroyed them with overwhelming Positive Energy and resumed the duel.

• Elminster called Soros down, and Soros explained that he had engineered the crisis to draw attention toward Thay and keep Elminster occupied.
• Soros confronted Szass Tam about his invasion of neighboring lands and explained how his investment in the Eye of the Storm had trapped him in the conflict.
• Larloch praised Raymond’s views and offered to cooperate, but Raymond refused and used Tempus’s War Chain to bind them together for a spell duel.
• Raymond and Larloch began exchanging spells at remarkable speed until Sammaster and six Dracoliches attacked Raymond by surprise.
• Raymond survived the ambush and obliterated Sammaster and the Dracoliches with a barrage of Sunbursts, then explained Mirari’s role in doubling the spells.
• Raymond put away Mirari, bowed to Larloch, and began casting again to continue their duel.

Raymond and Larloch ended their spell duel when Szass Tam threatened Thay with the Eye of the Storm, but Velsharoon stole the artifact during the confusion. Raymond tracked Velsharoon to Kindlank City and watched him begin an ascension ritual that shattered his Phylactery and unleashed Divine Power into his soul.

• Raymond and Larloch fought an attritional spell duel while trying to understand each other’s motives, and Elminster confronted Szass Tam over the Eye of the Storm.
• Szass Tam broke the Eye of the Storm’s seal and threatened to destroy Thay, forcing Elminster to halt his attack as Larloch ended the duel.
• A black-robed intruder stole the Eye of the Storm and escaped; the intruder was revealed to be Velsharoon, while Raymond disappeared and followed him to Kindlank City.
• Velsharoon ordered his followers to prepare an ascension ritual as Raymond watched in hiding and used Kezef to track him and locate his Phylactery.
• Velsharoon inserted his Phylactery into the Eye of the Storm, and its destruction released Divine Power that flooded his body as the ritual runes lit up.

Raymond interrupted Velsharoon’s ascension ritual and tested whether Ao predetermined the divine portfolios of mortal ascendants by having Jebidiah Tulan replace him. Jebidiah became an evil god of Necromancy School magic, confirming Raymond’s suspicion that Ao maintained balance, and Raymond decided to limit his empire’s expansion.

• Talos’s lightning killed the remaining witnesses, and Raymond deduced how the runes protected Velsharoon’s soul during the ascension ritual.
• Raymond revealed himself to Velsharoon and explained that Kezef, the Chaos Hound, had tracked him to the cave.
• Raymond questioned Velsharoon about his visions of symbols and knowledge, then decided to test whether a different candidate would receive the same divine portfolio.
• Raymond summoned Jebidiah Tulan, diverted Talos’s Divine Power, and forced the Gnome wizard to take Velsharoon’s place in the ritual.
• After a day and night, Jebidiah ascended as the god of Necromancy School magic, necromancers, Liches, and Undead, while Velsharoon’s soul remained trapped in the formation.
• Raymond concluded that Ao had arranged the portfolios to balance the gods and decided to restrict his empire’s expansion to the Dragon Coast.

Raymond transformed Velsharoon into a Spellbreaker Devil, then turned him into a card, while Midnight agreed to reconsider her approach to magic and opened the Deep Weave to Soros. As war approached in the Trollclaw Mountains, Sancho spotted his half-brother Abdel climbing the mountain and feared what would happen if they met.

• Raymond summoned Lantis and fused Talos's Eye of the Storm into his left eye, then gave him a magical monocular scope to restrain and store its power.
• Raymond offered Velsharoon a choice between soul annihilation and service in the Nine Hells; Velsharoon signed the contract and became a Spellbreaker Devil.
• Soros turned the newly created Velsharoon into a card, erased the cave, and persuaded Midnight that Ao wanted her to restore balance in magic.
• Midnight agreed to treat magic more fairly and granted Soros access to the Deep Weave, letting him cast tenth- and eleventh-circle spells.
• Sancho watched rival armies assemble in the Trollclaw Mountains and saw Abdel arrive with several figures, leaving him worried about their impending encounter.

Sarevok rushed Baldur’s Gate’s army toward a decisive battle while Fzoul Chembryl prepared Zhentil Keep’s stronger forces and Raymond revealed Bhaal’s plan for resurrection. On Trollclaw, Abdel’s group found Sancho hiding, but the young Bhaalspawn turned their attempt to capture him into a trap.

• Sarevok rejected an officer’s cautious advice and ordered Baldur’s Gate’s exhausted troops to hurry their assembly.
• Fzoul Chembryl agreed to fight Sarevok the next day after Raymond warned him that Waterdeep and Cormyr might intervene.
• Raymond explained that Bhaal had prepared to resurrect through the slaughter and devouring of his Bhaalspawn, then told Fzoul to eliminate Sarevok’s Monster bandits, Doppelgangers, and Shadow Druids.
• Abdel and his companions waited on Trollclaw for a chance to strike Sarevok, while Jaheira grew concerned about Abdel’s increasing bloodlust.
• Atio detected Sancho hiding in a rock crevice, and Jaheira’s summoned spiders drove the boy out.
• Sancho knocked Montaron unconscious with Bigby’s Tripping Hand, blocked Thrall’s Magic Missiles, then scattered allergy-triggering powder that left Abdel’s group scratching and unable to fight.

Sancho incapacitated Abdel’s party with an alchemical powder, then revealed that he was a Bhaalspawn and joined them after Raymond explained Abdel’s connection to Bhaal’s plans. Raymond confronted Irenicus over his pursuit of the Bhaalspawn and demanded Irenicus’s soul as compensation, leaving him to consider the bargain while Raymond studied the Nether Scrolls.

• Sancho’s humanoid-targeted powder caused severe allergic reactions that left Abdel, Jaheira, Khalid, and the others unconscious, while Atio remained unaffected and played dead.
• Sancho told Jaheira and Abdel that he was Soros’s apprentice and a Bhaalspawn who had escaped Sarevok’s sacrifice; he then used Deep Slumber to incapacitate Abdel before Raymond arrived.
• Raymond praised Sancho’s tactics, revealed that Atio had secretly observed Abdel, and explained that Bhaal had made Abdel a pawn in the struggle over the God of Murder’s legacy.
• Raymond told Sancho to stay close to Abdel, and Sancho joined the group after they recovered, earning their sympathy by describing Sarevok’s sacrifices of their siblings.
• Raymond offered to leave Irenicus’s plans for the Bhaalspawn alone in exchange for Irenicus’s soul if he failed to become a god; Irenicus asked for time to consider as Raymond began reading a Nether Scroll.

Zhentil Keep and Baldur's Gate began a bloody battle in the Deadlands, where Zhentil Keep's magical assault broke the enemy line and Sarevok used archers to force fleeing soldiers back into combat. Abdel and his companions teleported in to attack Sarevok, but both Bhaalspawn transformed into Slayers, leaving the battle poised between two monstrous foes.

• Fzoul Chembryl and Sarevok deployed their armies across the Deadlands, and a Zhentil Keep probe defeated Baldur's Gate's soldiers before longbow fire drove the Orcs back.
• Fzoul Chembryl ordered the main forces forward, and Zhentil Keep's cavalry maneuvered against Baldur's Gate's wings as Sarevok held to a defensive strategy.
• Manshoon's Clone led more than forty wizards in a ritual that killed hundreds of Flaming Fist mercenaries, allowing Goblins to break through and rout Baldur's Gate's recruits.
• Sarevok ordered archers to shoot fleeing soldiers and pursuing Goblins, then sent his reserves forward to stabilize the line.
• Abdel and his companions teleported to Sarevok, and Sancho blinded Sarevok in one eye with Melf's Acid Arrow.
• Abdel transformed into a Slayer, and Sarevok revealed that he could transform into one as well.

As Abdel and Sarevok fought in monstrous Slayer forms, Bhaal appeared, killed Sarevok, and reclaimed his power through the surviving Bhaalspawn. After the battle ended and the army surrendered, Raymond revealed to Imoen that she was also a child of Bhaal and offered to train her in Amn.

• Abdel and Sarevok transformed into Slayers and fought while their armies continued battling around them.
• Abdel nearly killed Jaheira, but Atio rescued her; Sancho then led the companions toward the Polar Bear for safety.
• Sarevok struck Abdel with Death God's Ambush, but Bhaal appeared, killed Sarevok, and absorbed his soul's power into the nearby Bhaalspawn before releasing control of Abdel.
• With Sarevok dead, Baldur's Gate's soldiers surrendered to Zhentil Keep, while Jaheira's party found Abdel alive and searched for the missing Imoen.
• Raymond found Imoen hiding after she had killed nearby soldiers during her bloodline's awakening, told her she was a Bhaalspawn, and offered to help train her in Amn.

After Zhentil Keep conquered Baldur’s Gate, Fzoul Chembryl purged the city’s ruling class and expanded Bane’s church, while Waterdeep and Cormyr debated how to respond. The chapter ended with Kelben asking Raymond when he would move against Zhentil Keep, as Waterdeep and Cormyr prepared to coordinate with Amn.

• Fzoul Chembryl occupied Baldur’s Gate, enslaved its wealthy ruling families, seized their property and ships, and sent the plunder east.
• Zhentil Keep’s forces destroyed the Temple of Lathander in Beregost, and more than thirty surviving Paladins and Clerics joined Bane’s church after Lathander failed to save them.
• Piergeiron and Waterdeep’s Masked Lords considered war but found they could afford only three thousand soldiers, so Kelben agreed to meet Raymond and Leira set out for Cormyr.
• Azoun IV rejected an immediate campaign against Fzoul, while Alusair urged her father to send her into battle.
• Leira told Azoun IV that Amn, rather than Waterdeep, would join Cormyr in attacking Fzoul’s forces when they retreated.
• Kelben met Raymond in Athkatla, questioned his alliance with the Nine Hells, and asked when Raymond planned to deal with Zhentil Keep.

Raymond negotiated Waterdeep’s entry into the Trade Alliance, the relocation of its Spaceport, and its participation in a coalition against Zhentil Keep. As he prepared the campaign, he enlisted Gelsania to contact Metallic Dragons, displayed his growing infernal power to Vermees, and gave her an Oddity to control Balagos.

• Raymond demanded that Waterdeep join the Trade Alliance, relocate its Spaceport to Athkatla, and accept an observer from him; Kelben secured agreement to the first two terms and an observer without voting rights, along with Waterdeep’s troops for the coalition.
• Raymond and Kelben agreed that their forces would march against Fzoul Chembryl in one week, and Kelben later told Leira that Waterdeep had accepted the terms.
• Leira told Kelben that Azoun IV would attack Fzoul’s retreat and supplies, then revealed her interest in introducing Raymond to Alusair.
• Raymond persuaded Gelsania to recruit good-aligned Metallic Dragons for the coming war and gave her a Teleportation ring.
• Vermees returned to the Dragon Lair, mocked Raymond for manipulating Gelsania, and saw him overpower her in his two-headed Infernal Dragon form.
• Vermees asked Raymond for the Oddity so she could control Balagos, and Raymond handed it over.

Vermees used the Oddity to subdue Balagos the Flying Flame and sent him to provoke the Bhaalspawn and the Elves of Vildas Forest. Meanwhile, Kurlemos’s scheme against the Harpers escalated as he joined forces with Ximmon and Harred III, who aimed to destroy Elminster’s organization.

• Vermees returned to her underground city, rewarded Todak Haudehek with authority over the Dwarf tribes, and learned through the Oddity that he secretly hoped to inherit her lair someday.
• Vermees used the Oddity to control Balagos’s body, forced him to swear loyalty, and ordered him to provoke the Bhaalspawn near Calimshan and Tethyr before frightening the Elves of Vildas Forest.
• Kurlemos engineered a battle between Klauth and a group of Metallic Dragons and Harpers, hoping the ensuing conflict would draw in more enemies he could later destroy.
• Kurlemos told Ximmon about the Harpers’ meeting in Longsaddle, and Harred III arrived with information about Elminster and promised to help dismantle the Harpers.
• Harred III led Kurlemos and Ximmon to his safe house in Mirabar, unaware that Soros and the two schemers intended to use him as a weapon against Elminster.

Harred III, Ximmon, and Kurlemos formed an alliance in Mirabar and planned a Northland-wide assault on the Harpers. Meanwhile, Soros assembled an unprecedented allied army, marched to Baldur’s Gate, and prepared to fight Fzoul Chembryl’s forces while leaving them a route to retreat.

• Harred III shared intelligence on the Harpers with Ximmon and Kurlemos, and the three agreed to provoke multiple factions into attacking the Harpers across the Northland.
• Raymond’s allies and Amn’s new troops gathered under Soros, creating a force of thirty to forty thousand soldiers and publicly establishing Soros as the Sword Coast’s leading power.
• Soros assigned Aribeth to lead five thousand troops east to secure towns along the Chionthar River, then allowed Qilué’s Drow to march at night because of their sensitivity to sunlight.
• Soros’s army crossed the Cloudy Mountains and advanced through Nashkel and Beregost toward Baldur’s Gate, encountering almost no resistance as Fzoul Chembryl concentrated his forces north of the Chionthar River.
• Soros and Fzoul’s armies met on open ground and arranged a pitched battle, while Soros left the Zhentil Keep forces a route to retreat.

Raymond’s coalition confronted Fzoul Chembryl’s forces outside Baldur’s Gate, while the two leaders secretly agreed that Fzoul could escape with some troops and leave the monsters and dragons behind. The battle began with the coalition crushing the Goblin charge, and Fzoul’s attempt to use wolf cavalry was met by a powerful allied cavalry countercharge.

• Qilué prepared the Drow to fight after dark, and Liriel delivered a Bag of Holding filled with potions that Qilué recognized as Raymond’s way of helping the Drow distinguish themselves.
• The coalition and Zhentil Keep’s forces formed ranks outside Baldur’s Gate, where Fzoul and Raymond privately agreed that roughly two thousand troops could escape while the monsters and dragons remained behind.
• Raymond gave command of the coalition army to Vera, despite Alustriel’s doubts about her lack of experience.
• Fzoul sent Goblins into a suicidal charge, but coalition archers, Lantanese Gnome musketeers, and Amn’s heavily armored infantry slaughtered them and pushed into the Gnolls.
• Fzoul ordered Hobgoblin wolf cavalry to harass the coalition’s flanks, but allied dinosaur-mounted heavy cavalry, camel cavalry, and Silverymoon knights charged toward them, causing the Worgs and Winter Wolves to flee.

Vera’s allied forces crushed Zhentil Keep’s army, while Raymond’s ambush defeated the evil dragons and drove Fzoul Chembryl and Manshoon to flee. After the victory, Raymond secured Waterdeep’s public support for the Trade Alliance, marking the transfer of regional leadership to Lord Soros, while Leira revealed Cormyr planned to intercept Zhentil Keep’s ships.

• Vera had Jeffrey and the wizards freeze the Chionthar River, trapping the worgs and winter wolves, while the cavalry and camel riders broke the troll spear formations with flaming oil.
• Fzoul Chembryl persuaded the green and black dragons to attack the heavy cavalry, but Raymond’s metallic dragons and airborne troops ambushed them as the Drow struck the enemy rear.
• Fzoul Chembryl and Manshoon teleported away, and Raymond ordered the allied wizards to unleash their spells against the remaining monsters, completing the defeat.
• Raymond declined Alustriel’s invitation and proposed a direct air route between Athkatla and Waterdeep; Piergeiron agreed to join the Trade Alliance.
• Raymond raised a toast to the Trade Alliance, and Piergeiron publicly endorsed Lord Soros’s leadership as the Lords’ Alliance gave way to the new order.
• Leira told Kelben that Azoun IV had agreed to send Alusair’s fleet against Zhentil Keep’s supply ships.

Raymond secured Baldur's Gate for Amn, resurrected his fallen soldiers, and set the stage for further expansion while dealing with captured dragons. Meanwhile, Aribeth seized Iriaebor’s supplies and prepared for Zhentil Keep’s counterattack, only to learn that Alusair had arrived with Cormyr’s knights.

• Raymond celebrated the victory in Baldur's Gate, took control of its administration, and planned to secure lawful rule over the lands south of the Winding River.
• Vera reported the battle’s casualties, and Raymond resurrected the fallen Amn New Army soldiers while rewarding the allied forces.
• Eilistraee praised Qilué for winning the drow acceptance on the surface, while Raymond met Naryenya and the metallic dragons.
• Raymond made the captured black dragon Mulharans sign a contract and sent Davian to exterminate the green and black dragons in the Dragon Forest.
• Aribeth defeated Zhentil Keep’s defenders at Iriaebor and ordered the city fortified to protect its seized supplies.
• A Cormyr force led by Alusair arrived to help stop Fzoul Chembryl, leaving Aribeth astonished by the unexpected reinforcements.