Chapter Summaries

Keosius returned to Dragon Blood Mountain and confronted the awakening power within the Eye of Gruumsh. He exposed the apparent Gruumsh as the Ancient Evil Ivenis and destroyed its manifested form, though the evil’s true fate remained unclear.

• Keosius returned to Anzeta and took the Eye of Gruumsh into his Empire Domain to investigate its awakening power.
• The Eye unleashed an ancient battlefield illusion, where a figure posing as Gruumsh demanded that Keosius kneel.
• Keosius broke the illusion and used his Empire Domain to attack the disguised Ancient Evil.
• Keosius’s Orderly Breath revealed Ivenis, a gigantic, tentacled eye that identified itself as Gruumsh’s Half Eye.
• Keosius recognized that Ivenis was still weakened and trapped in the half-stone, then struck it with a giant crimson claw, causing it to explode into black mist.

Keosius subdued the Chaos Evil Eye Ivenis and forced it to explain several paths to godhood, while rejecting its deceptive advice about using Kareks's divinity. He sealed Ivenis beneath an Empire Forbidden Zone and began weighing his own possible routes to becoming a god.

• Keosius burned Ivenis with Order Flame, stripping away its immortal traits until it begged him to spare it.
• Ivenis claimed it knew the Secret of Godhood, and Keosius demanded that it explain how mortals could become gods.
• Ivenis described Primordial Divinity, receiving a god's gift, and seizing a god's Symbol of God as paths to godhood.
• When Ivenis urged him to use Kareks's divinity, Keosius recognized the danger and forced it to admit that one god's divinity could corrupt another's will.
• Keosius extracted more details about stealing a god's Symbol of God, then sealed Ivenis beneath a hill and declared the site an Empire Forbidden Zone.
• Keosius considered the paths he had learned and reflected that he had several possible ways to pursue godhood.

Keosius and Lang Pu prepared an Imperial campaign against the weakened High Mountain Dwarf Kingdom, and the Empire’s forces marched toward Avendell Dan. General Dror arrived before the fortress and rallied his troops, while Ed prepared to face the invaders.

• Keosius contacted Lang Pu, who reported that the Senate had assigned General Dror to lead an army toward Avendell Dan within three days.
• Lang Pu outlined the Imperial force and said Misha would accompany it to counter Ed. Klein and summon Keosius if dwarven gods intervened.
• The Empire’s tanks, Wyverns, infantry, and support units advanced along the Metal Road toward the northeastern region.
• Dror led the Imperial army to the Gavin Basin, where the soldiers gathered before Avendell Dan.
• Dror rallied his troops and declared that they would conquer the fortress for the Empire and the Great Red Dragon.
• Ed heard the Imperial army’s cries, gripped his warhammer, and prepared to meet them.

Ed rallied the Dwarves of Avendell Dan to defend their homeland from the advancing Embers of the Burned Empire, while the Empire's forces arrived with overwhelming technology and firepower. After Ed rejected Dror's demand to surrender, the imperial assault began, and the Dwarves suffered devastating losses in the Path of Glory.

• Ed gathered the High Mountain Kingdom's remaining fighters and urged them to defend Avendell Dan, though the Dwarven Pantheon could not answer their call for aid.
• The imperial army advanced with Steam Tanks and Wyverns, shocking the Dwarves as they prepared the southern defenses.
• Dror offered surrender in the name of Emperor Keosius, but Ed projected his voice through Blackstone Mountain and declared that the Dwarves would never submit.
• Dror ordered the imperial forces to attack, and machine-gun fire struck the Dwarves hiding in the Path of Glory.
• Kord watched his companions fall under the Empire's gunfire and despaired at the weapons' destructive power.

The Empire’s Steam Tanks and flamethrowers overwhelmed the dwarven defenses at Trial Road, while infantry and Wyverns killed those who fled. The tanks advanced toward Avendell Dan, where dwarven heavy infantry formed a final shield wall against them.

• Using Keosius’s intelligence, the Imperial forces crushed the dwarves’ traps and survived Kord’s Rolling Stone attack with cannon fire and magically enhanced spikes.
• Dror ordered the tanks to unleash flamethrowers into the hidden passages, setting dwarves ablaze and filling the tunnels with smoke.
• The Steam Tanks advanced through Trial Road as Imperial soldiers shot Kord and Wyverns tore apart Bern and other dwarves above the valley.
• The tank legion neared Avendell Dan and encountered dwarven heavy infantry blocking the valley exit.
• Bill mocked the dwarves’ attempt to stop the tanks with their bodies and shields.

The Embers of the Burned Empire’s Steel Torrent broke through Trial Road, annihilating the dwarf heavy infantry and advancing on Avendell Dan. Dwarf King Ed prepared to make a final stand against the nearly fifty thousand imperial soldiers as General Dror eyed him as a chance for promotion.

• Bill drove the Steam Tank Emperor’s Wrath into the dwarf formation, crushing its defenses and setting the surviving heavy infantry ablaze.
• The dwarf commander damaged the tank with a powerful hammer strike, but its emergency protection field threw him back, and Goblin machine gunners shot him before the tank ran him over.
• The empire’s tanks, Wyverns, and elite infantry cleared Trial Road and reached the plains beneath Avendell Dan in less than an hour.
• The remaining dwarves saw the imperial army arrive and realized their fewer than ten thousand defenders faced a formidable force.
• Dwarf King Ed resolved to lead his warriors in one final stand, while Dror identified Ed as the key to his own promotion.

The Empire opened its assault on Avendell Dan with a massive artillery barrage and Wyvern air raid, killing many dwarves before Ed activated the fortress’s protection and struck back. After Ed destroyed a full Wyvern formation and deflected Imperial sniper fire, General Dror ordered the Empire’s forces to begin their full-scale attack.

• Dror ordered the Empire’s artillery to fire on Avendell Dan, badly damaging the walls and killing hundreds of dwarves.
• Ed activated the Shelter of the Mountains, while dwarves tried to block the shells with magic, arrows, and rocks.
• Imperial Wyverns bombed the walls, and Ed used a Steel Crossbow to shoot down two of them.
• Ed leaped into the sky and destroyed all twelve Wyverns in a formation with his warhammer.
• Imperial snipers fired enchanted bullets at Ed, but he deflected them with rocks summoned by the Power of the Mountains.
• Dror canceled further Wyvern attacks and ordered the Empire’s forces to begin a full-scale assault.

Ed rallied Avendell Dan’s dwarves as the Empire launched a massive assault with Steam Tanks, artillery, infantry, and Wyverns. The dwarves’ weapons destroyed several tanks, but the Empire broke the city’s magical shield and devastated its defenses before Vitagis Dragon Scale Monks landed on the walls.

• Ed returned to Avendell Dan’s battlements and urged the dwarves to defend their home, renewing their resolve despite the Empire’s advance.
• The Empire’s Steam Tanks bombarded the city while the dwarves counterattacked with flaming arrows, Steel Crossbows, and trebuchets, destroying or crippling several tanks.
• Bill activated the Emperor’s Wrath’s force-field shield, and the Steam Tanks’ concentrated fire shattered Avendell Dan’s magical barrier.
• The Empire’s Ogre Artillery destroyed the dwarves’ defensive weapons and damaged the walls while the tanks and machine guns killed defenders and battered the gates.
• The Wyverns returned and dropped Vitagis Dragon Scale Monks onto the battlements, where one announced the Empire’s attack on the dwarves.

The Embers of the Burned Empire attacked Avendell Dan with Dragon Scale Monks, infantry, artillery, and Wyverns, overwhelming the dwarven defenders despite their fierce resistance. As Bren Farrell led another counterattack, Smaug appeared and unleashed dragonfire across the walls.

• A Dragon Scale Monk killed Tyron and slaughtered scores of dwarf Fighters with fragmentation rounds and floating gun platforms.
• Dwarf king Ed killed two Dragon Scale Monks, rallied the defenders, and sent the dwarf powerhouses into battle, but the Empire's artillery and siege ladders let its infantry seize sections of the walls.
• Bren Farrell led repeated counterattacks against the Imperial infantry while Wyverns attacked from the sky, and the dwarves' dwindling numbers struggled against the much larger force.
• As Bren charged to retake a tower, Smaug attacked him, then engulfed Avendell Dan's walls in dragonfire while proclaiming, "I am fire, I am death!"

Bren fought Smaug across Avendell Dan but discovered an unscaled gap over the Wyvern’s heart and escaped to retrieve a Steel Crossbow. After Smaug burned the dwarf defenders, Bren reappeared with a Dragon Slayer Arrow and prepared to face him in a final duel.

• Bren endured Smaug’s dragonfire and provoked the Wyvern into attacking him across Avendell Dan’s walls.
• Bren’s sword strikes failed to pierce Smaug’s armored scales, but he spotted an unscaled gap on the Wyvern’s left chest.
• Bren escaped through the city’s secret passages to an Arrow Tower and obtained a Steel Crossbow with a Dragon Slayer Arrow.
• Smaug, unable to find Bren, attacked the dwarf defenders and burned them across the southwestern city walls.
• Bren reappeared atop a distant tower with the loaded crossbow, and Smaug flew toward him as Bren prepared to aim at the gap in his chest.

Smaug killed Bren after the dwarf’s Dragon Slayer Arrow struck adamantine armor hidden in the Wyvern’s apparent weak spot, then displayed his corpse as the Empire pressed its siege of Avendell Dan. Ed rallied the dwindling dwarven defenders, but after watching his guards and people fall, he faced Smaug and vowed to avenge Bren and the dead.

• Bren fired a Dragon Slayer Arrow at Smaug’s exposed-looking left chest, but it shattered against concealed adamantine armor, and Smaug killed him with dragonfire and his tail.
• Smaug raised Bren’s corpse over the burning Arrow Tower, deepening the despair among Avendell Dan’s defenders as the Empire seized most of the walls.
• Ed rallied the dwarves and led a counterattack, destroying an occupied tower, but his guards died and the Empire continued advancing through the city.
• Ed looked across the devastated fortress and doubted whether the dwarves’ resistance could matter against the Empire’s weapons.
• Smaug spotted Ed and challenged the dwarf king, while Ed recognized him as Bren’s killer and prepared to fight him.

Ed fought Smaug with earth-enhanced strength and nearly killed him, but Misha intervened and blocked Ed’s final strike. Misha offered to spare Ed and his subjects if he knelt before the Embers of the Burned Emperor.

• Ed used Stone Strength and struck Smaug hard enough to send him crashing into the city wall.
• Ed pursued Smaug with earth magic, piercing his hind leg and enduring the Wyvern’s dragonfire.
• Smaug used his alloy tail hook to attack Ed, but Ed’s stone body resisted the blow and he prepared a massive hammer strike.
• Misha appeared and stopped Ed’s attack with a wall of fire, saving Smaug.
• Misha offered Ed and his subjects their lives if Ed would kneel before her master.

Misha and Smaug battled Ed as the Dwarf King transformed into an earth elemental and unleashed the mountains against them. Keosius took control of Misha and offered Ed one last chance to submit, but Ed refused, and Misha prepared to destroy him and Avendell Dan.

• Misha used powerful fire spells against Ed, but he escaped underground with the Earth Movement Technique and survived her Meteor Swarm by transforming his body into rock.
• Ed summoned a vast sandstorm and attacked Misha and Smaug, wounding Smaug and forcing him to fight desperately in the air.
• Misha chanted in Draconic and summoned the phantom of a colossal Red Dragon, while Keosius took control of her body and addressed Ed.
• Keosius pointed out Avendell Dan's ruin and offered Ed a final chance to submit, but Ed reaffirmed that the Shield Dwarves and the High Mountain Kingdom would never yield.
• Misha raised her hand and declared that Ed would perish with his kingdom as firelight filled the sky.

Misha’s borrowed power killed Ed. Klein and the Empire began occupying Avendell Dan, but Dumasong descended into Ed’s remains and unleashed his fury upon the invaders. The chapter ended as Blackstone Mountain shook and buildings collapsed around the Empire’s soldiers.

• Ed. Klein raised a stone shield against Misha’s fire, but the blast pierced it and left him apparently dead.
• The grieving Shield Dwarf Fighters charged the Empire’s soldiers and were cut down, while Misha regained control of her body.
• Bjorn Riley sang Ed’s funeral elegy from the palace, and Empire soldiers shot him dead as he continued chanting.
• Ed’s remains reassembled under an earth-colored light, and Dror recognized the figure as Dumasong, the Silent Guardian.
• Dumasong surveyed the destruction and corpses, then shook Blackstone Mountain with his fury, collapsing buildings across Avendell Dan.

Dumasong devastated the Imperial army at Blackstone Mountain until Misha summoned Keosius, who confronted the dwarven god over the Empire’s occupation of Avendell Dan. The two prepared to fight as Dumasong formed a colossal stone body.

• Dumasong collapsed Blackstone Mountain, buried Imperial soldiers, and unleashed magma after sealing the Weave and space around the peak.
• Dror ordered the Empire’s guns and artillery to bombard Dumasong, but the dwarven god emerged unharmed and crushed tanks, artillery, snipers, and Wyverns with falling boulders.
• Misha invoked Cross-Border Breath, summoning Keosius through a rift in the sky as Dumasong threatened Smaug.
• Keosius arrived and forced Dumasong’s earth domain back with his fiery presence, while Smaug escaped and Imperial troops cheered their Emperor.
• Keosius and Dumasong argued over the Empire’s occupation of Avendell Dan, then prepared to fight as Keosius gathered fire and Dumasong grew into a hundred-meter stone dwarf.

Keosius battled Dumasong across the Black Rock Mountains, devastating the land before accusing the dwarf god of abandoning his role as the earth’s guardian. After threatening the Shield Dwarves and warning that he might ally with the Orcs, Keosius left Dumasong wavering over whether to continue the conflict.

• Keosius and Dumasong exchanged fire, metal, stone, and magical attacks as their battle shook the mountains and buried many living beings.
• Keosius struck Dumasong with a dive and chaotic breath, then taunted him for causing destruction to the Prime Material Plane.
• Misha identified Dumasong to the imperial soldiers as the guardian god of the Shield Dwarves and praised Keosius for fighting a true god.
• Dumasong demanded that Keosius return Avendell Dan and warned that Moradin was angered, but Keosius refused and threatened to destroy the Shield Dwarves in their Demiplane.
• Keosius warned that he could join the Orc gods and let them combine Orcs with his dragon blood, leaving Dumasong uncertain about pursuing the conflict.

After Dumasong withdrew from Avendell Dan, Keosius returned to his troops and directed them to occupy the city and prepare to fight the Orcs. He named Smaug the King Under the Mountain and granted him Blackstone Mountain and the emptied Lonely Mountain Treasure Vault.

• Dumasong restored the ruined battlefield, laid the fallen Shield Dwarves to rest, and left the Prime Material Plane after reaching a truce with Keosius.
• The imperial soldiers celebrated Keosius as a god-slaying victor, and the terrified dwarf Jiaer Buick surrendered to the Empire.
• Keosius met with Dror, Misha, and Smaug in the emptied Lonely Mountain Treasure Vault and ordered Dror to secure Avendell Dan as a base for attacking north.
• Misha showed Dror the vast spread of Orc Spores, and Keosius promised forty thousand troops, weapons, and five hundred thousand Starfallers to help eradicate the Orcs.
• Keosius assigned Blackstone Mountain to Smaug as a home for the dragon flock and named him the King Under the Mountain.

After Avendell Dan fell to the Empire and Ed died resisting the invasion, Zane learned the fate of his homeland while living with the displaced Shield Dwarves in the Volcanic Secret Realm. Titus crowned him the new Lord of the High Mountains, and Zane vowed to lead his people and reclaim Avendell Dan.

• The Empire occupied Avendell Dan, renamed it Dragon City, and began turning its newly discovered mineral wealth into a military and commercial stronghold.
• Zane visited the dwarves working in the Volcanic Secret Realm, promised to seek heat-resistant potions, and told them they could not return to Blackstone Mountain until the war ended.
• A messenger sent Zane to Lysander Mountain, where Titus told him that Avendell Dan had fallen and Ed had sacrificed himself.
• Zane mourned his father, then swore to inherit his will and eventually overthrow the invaders and reclaim Avendell Dan.
• Titus presented Ed's Crown of Mountains and crowned Zane as the new Lord of the High Mountains while the dwarves cheered their new king.

After learning that the Embers of the Burned Empire had conquered Avendell Dan and defeated the dwarven god Dumasong, Catherine agreed to lead a coup in Serenia and sought support from Titus. On the Ugo Great Prairie, Soro learned that the Empire had claimed Avendell Dan first and rallied more than a million Orcs to march against it, unaware they would become test subjects for the Empire’s new weapons.

• Catherine received Harper intelligence that the High Mountain Kingdom had fallen, Ed had died, and the Embers of the Burned Empire had occupied Avendell Dan after driving Dumasong from the Material Plane.
• Rhea urged Catherine to act before the Empire threatened Serenia, and Catherine agreed to overthrow the Council of Elders with support from the Harpers, the Silver Moon Followers Legion, and the Arcane Hermit Order.
• Catherine asked Rhea to invite the Ancient Gold Dragon Titus to support their planned coup.
• Soro watched Orcs multiply across the Ugo Great Prairie and learned that the Embers of the Burned Empire had conquered Avendell Dan before the Orcs could claim it.
• Enraged, Soro rallied the Orcs to attack the Empire, and more than a million Orcs prepared to march toward war.
• The Orcs' growing horde began to form an Orc Tide, while the Empire planned to use them as test subjects for its new weapons.

Curtis and the Church of the Machine God players joined General Dror to prepare weapons against the rapidly growing Orc horde, while Steamed Bun and Singo headed out together after learning of a new War Quest. The chapter left the players flying northeast toward the quest.

• Curtis and the Church of the Machine God players met General Dror in Wyvern City and discussed plans to fight the Orcs, whose population had grown to more than three million.
• Curtis rejected destroying the Ugo Great Prairie and instead proposed testing incendiary weapons on the Orcs, unsettling Dror with his enthusiasm for destruction.
• Steamed Bun arrived in Dragon Head City on his Wyvern and disappointed the admiring newcomers when he revealed his face.
• Players recognized Steamed Bun as a video creator who had been absent for over half a year and demanded that he release a new video.
• Singo arrived on an armored Wyvern, asked Steamed Bun to join a new War Quest, and the two flew northeast.