Chapter Summaries

Keosius and Bael’s forces finished defeating the demons in Avernus, but Tiamat arrived with a host of dragons and claimed Keosius’s conquest as her own. Keosius denied that she had any part in his actions, leaving the Dragon Queen’s intentions and the fate of Avernus in dispute.

• Keosius rallied Hell’s forces and the players to attack the demons while Bael fought and killed the remaining Tanar'ri Frost Giants.
• Bael flew toward Keosius after the battle, and Keosius resolved to keep Bael as his agent rather than openly seize Avernus.
• Tiamat tore through space into Avernus with loyal dragons, alarming Bael, the devils, and the players.
• Tiamat praised Keosius and claimed he had captured Avernus for the Five-Colored Dragon Race, prompting Bael to accuse him of conspiring with her.
• Keosius told Tiamat that he had only borrowed Bael’s Avernus Authority and challenged her claim to any part in his actions.

Keosius rejected Tiamat’s offer to rule Avernus and resisted her attempt to force him into submission, but she discovered his Progenitor Dragon blood and tried to claim him as her chosen. Asmodeus intervened to drive Tiamat from Hell, and Keosius reaffirmed that his ambition was to bring Avernus into the Empire’s colonial system.

• Tiamat offered to support Keosius as Duke of Avernus, but Keosius refused, citing his alliance contract with Bael.
• Tiamat attacked Keosius with divine fire, and his Hell Dragon form was badly damaged before she discovered his Third Generation Progenitor Dragon blood.
• Tiamat tried to make Keosius her chosen, but Keosius resisted her mental assault and began tearing open space to escape.
• Asmodeus appeared, bound Tiamat with Hell’s power, and forced her and her followers to leave for Tiamat’s Nest.
• Asmodeus offered Keosius the position of Lord of Avernus if he became a Hell creature, but Keosius declined in favor of the Empire.
• Bael and Keosius pledged friendship while privately planning to protect their own interests, and Keosius resolved to make Avernus part of the Empire’s colonial system.

Tiamat declared Keosius the Dragon Prince and promised divine favor to dragons who bore his offspring, stirring female dragons across the continent to pursue him. After returning from Hell, Keosius improved his defenses and learned that 139 mostly female Chromatic Dragons had gathered at the empire’s border to lay eggs with him.

• Tiamat proclaimed Keosius the Dragon Prince and promised divine favor to any dragon who produced an egg with him.
• Christina Farias and Drakalis reacted to Tiamat’s announcement, each determined to claim Keosius for herself.
• Keosius returned to Dragon Blood Mountain with Kostchtchie’s divine artifact, Matalotoque, and reviewed the experience he had gained from defeating the Frost Giant King.
• Keosius raised Skincarver Dragon to Level 2, strengthening his armor and gaining protective radiance, while his achievements against Frost Giants and demons advanced.
• Lang Pu reported that 139 mostly female Chromatic Dragons had gathered at the imperial border, claiming Tiamat had ordered them to lay eggs with Keosius.

Keosius ordered the empire to divert Tiamat’s incoming Chromatic Dragons to Tvar Lake, where the military could contain them. After imperial forces froze several attackers, he summoned Tinia and asked whether she had received Tiamat’s Divine Revelation, leaving her misunderstanding his question after she read it.

• Keosius ordered Lang Pu to gather the arriving Chromatic Dragons near Tvar Lake and use force against any who resisted.
• Vesuviula led a group of Green Dragons into imperial airspace, then changed course for Tvar Lake after receiving Keosius’s invitation.
• Ignaria attacked imperial forces in Kalifa Canyon, but the Sky Dreadnought froze her and transported her to containment.
• Keosius observed that several other dragons had clashed with the military and been subdued, then summoned Tinia to Dragon Blood Mountain.
• Tinia told Keosius she had received Tiamat’s Divine Revelation, read it, and excitedly misinterpreted his question before he knocked her away.

Keosius sent Tinia to Tvar Lake to defeat the female dragons answering Tiamat’s Divine Revelation, lending her a portion of Matalotoque to strengthen her. Tinia arrived at the crowded arena and faced Volcanis, who challenged her without realizing Tinia’s new power.

• Keosius showed Tinia the dragons gathered at Tvar Lake and told her to make them leave in defeat through a traditional Dragon Duel.
• Keosius gave Tinia a portion of Matalotoque, and she tested its Frost Divine Power by raising an Ice Mountain and freezing the surrounding land.
• Tinia swallowed the warhammer and traveled through Keosius’s portal to Tvar Lake.
• At Tvar Lake, Vesuviula mocked Christina, while Christina and the Blue Dragons argued with the Green Dragons and Volcanis proclaimed Red Dragons superior.
• Tinia arrived at Tvar Lake, surprising the gathered dragons with her size and icy aura.
• Volcanis blocked Tinia and challenged her, confident that she could defeat the White Dragon.

Tinia challenged Volcanis after the Red Dragon mocked her and claimed she would become the Dragon Prince’s future mistress. Tinia overwhelmed Volcanis with ice magic and physical strength, freezing her and sending her crashing into the lake as the other dragons watched in shock.

• Tinia revealed her power as a servant of Embers of the Burned Emperor and accepted Volcanis’s challenge to fight.
• Volcanis attacked Tinia with her Fire Breath, but Tinia extinguished it with an Ice Storm and froze the Red Dragon’s flames.
• Volcanis tried to regain the advantage with a close-range attack, but Tinia struck her with a powerful claw and shattered her jaw.
• Tinia’s Freezing Hammer froze Volcanis into an ice sculpture, and the Red Dragon fell through the lake’s ice as the other dragons stared in disbelief.

Tinia defended the Empire’s audience with Keosius by defeating a succession of Chromatic Dragons, leaving Vesuviula as her last challenger. Vesuviula began their duel with illusions and a Dragonfire Spell, and Tinia answered with Matalotoque’s frost as their magic collided above Tvar Lake.

• The Empire’s crew recovered Volcanis from the lake while Tinia warned the dragons that only a victorious duelist could seek an audience with Keosius.
• Vesuviula urged the dragons to wear Tinia down, but Christina refused to fight and led the Blue Dragons away.
• Tinia defeated more than a dozen challengers in succession, causing most of the female dragons to leave Tvar Lake.
• Vesuviula ordered her Green Dragons to attack Tinia from the shadows, then challenged Tinia herself as a Dragon Sorcerer.
• Vesuviula dodged Tinia’s freezing breath with an illusion and struck from behind with a Dragonfire Spell, which Tinia met with Matalotoque’s icy magic.

Tinia defeated Vesuviula after resisting her ambush and Dragon Heart Curse, then challenged the remaining female dragons at Tvar Lake. Just as the others prepared to leave, the powerful Red Dragon Drakalis arrived to challenge her.

• Vesuviula used animated plants, a weakening spell, and Dragon Heart Curse to trap Tinia, but Tinia broke free and defeated the Green Dragons who ambushed her.
• Tinia froze the forest, defeated Vesuviula, and stripped her of her pendant and Magic Equipment.
• Tinia returned to Tvar Lake, announced Vesuviula's defeat, and asked whether any other dragon would challenge her.
• The remaining Chromatic Dragons began flying south, but Drakalis arrived and declared that she would face Tinia.
• The dragons recognized Drakalis as the Rampant Calamity Flame, a noble-born adult Red Dragon who had rejected Tiamat's recruitment.

Tinia challenged Drakalis, a powerful Red Dragon seeking an audience with Keosius, and the two fought fiercely. Tinia wounded Drakalis with her Frost Divine Power, and both dragons charged at each other again.

• Drakalis introduced herself and declared that she had come to seek an audience with Keosius.
• When a Black Dragon tried to flatter her, Drakalis seized and nearly suffocated her, then drove the other Chromatic Dragons away.
• Tinia identified herself as Keosius's vassal and challenged Drakalis to defeat her before seeking an audience.
• Drakalis opened the fight with dragonfire, but Tinia countered with frost and an Ice Storm.
• Drakalis shattered Tinia's ice shield and struck her into a mountain, while Tinia's Frost Divine Power chilled Drakalis's claw.
• Tinia raised ice spikes that pierced Drakalis's shoulder and cut her cheek, and the two dragons then charged at each other again.

Tinia and Drakalis fought fiercely over the Teleportation Scroll, but Drakalis revealed her Bloodscale Berserker nature and overpowered Tinia before Keosius stopped the battle. Drakalis took the scroll and left believing Keosius had ignored her out of overwhelming majesty, while Tinia vowed to defeat her next time.

• Tinia and Drakalis exchanged powerful ice and fire attacks until Tinia pierced Drakalis's wounded shoulder with an Ice Crystal Spear.
• Tinia approached the apparently frozen Drakalis, but Drakalis broke free, entered a Bloodscale Berserker frenzy, and savagely wounded her.
• Keosius appeared as a Red Dragon phantom and ordered the fight to end, causing Drakalis to regain control and Tinia to call him Master.
• Drakalis greeted Keosius, but he disappeared without responding, leaving her thrilled by what she took as a sign of his greatness.
• Drakalis demanded the Teleportation Scroll, and Tinia reluctantly handed it over after Keosius's orders; Drakalis asked Tinia's name and called her Keosius's pet.
• Tinia watched Drakalis leave and swore she would defeat the arrogant Red Dragon if they met again.

Drakalis entered Keosius’s palace, rejected allegiance to Tiamat, and offered to spy on the Dragon Queen’s Advent Plan. She then challenged Keosius to a traditional dragon duel, and he accepted.

• Drakalis reached Keosius’s palace, where the guards warned her that flying was forbidden and she entered the main hall on foot.
• Drakalis met Keosius and explained that she worshiped him rather than Tiamat because she believed the Dragon Queen would eventually consume her followers.
• Drakalis declared that she wanted to mate with Keosius, but he refused to trust her with his bloodline.
• Drakalis offered to spy on Tiamat and provide intelligence about the Dragon Queen’s Advent Plan.
• Drakalis challenged Keosius to a traditional dragon duel so she could witness his full power, and Keosius accepted.

Keosius fought Drakalis after moving their duel away from the Imperial Palace, overwhelming her with his strength and abilities until she conceded defeat. He healed her and demanded that she explain everything she knew about Tiamat’s arrival in the mortal world.

• Keosius transported Drakalis to a barren battlefield and began their duel, suppressing her with his Progenitor Dragon Might.
• Drakalis resisted his command to kneel and attacked, but Keosius struck her with a blow that shattered her body and sent her crashing into a mountainside.
• Drakalis breathed fire at Keosius, who seized control of the flames and turned them back on her, then blew her from the air and smashed her into the ground.
• Drakalis kept trying to fight despite her near-fatal injuries, so Keosius dispelled her Bloodscale Berserker state and trapped her in a giant stone claw.
• Drakalis admitted defeat, and Keosius healed her before demanding that she tell him everything she knew about Tiamat’s descent into the mortal world.

Keosius learned that Tiamat was preparing to enter the Material Plane through three ancient dragons bearing pieces of her divine body, and he ordered his dukes to prepare an invasion of Seleucia. As his Golden Dragon avatar, Titus, he received Catherine Moonchaser’s request to aid a coup in Serenia and planned to form a Holy Alliance with the Shield Dwarves.

• Drakalis told Keosius that Tiamat had given divine body parts to three ancient dragons, including her father Kazur, whose mind had been twisted by the Evil Dragon Heart.
• Keosius rejected Drakalis’s proposal to mate and decided to contact the Faria family’s Blue Dragon and plan an attack on Seleucia.
• Mezhuolash reported that the Dragon Worship Cult controlled Seleucia, while Lang Pu revealed that the kingdom had invited the empire to unite under Tiamat’s command.
• Keosius ordered Lang Pu, Dolo, and Mezhuolash to draft an attack plan within a month and mobilize the empire within three months.
• Keosius awakened his Golden Dragon avatar, Titus, and received Catherine Moonchaser’s request for aid in a coup against the corruption in Serenia.
• Keosius agreed to intervene in Serenia, planned to establish a Holy Alliance with the Shield Dwarves, and opened a portal toward the Volcanic Secret Realm.

Titus persuaded Zane Klein to send the Shield Dwarves to Serenia to support Queen Catherine's holy coup, concealing that he was actually their enemy Keosius. Zane led nearly three thousand warriors through a portal toward Serenia, believing their actions would help the dwarves reclaim Avendell Dan.

• Zane Klein and the Shield Dwarves forged equipment and gathered precious metals as an offering for Titus.
• Titus told Zane that Queen Catherine Moonchaser had asked for help overthrowing the Elven Council, and he urged the dwarves to support her.
• Remembering his father, King Ed, Zane agreed to lead the Shield Dwarves to Serenia and rallied them to join the holy coup.
• Titus secretly used his charisma to manipulate Zane and the dwarves, though they believed him to be their righteous ally.
• Zane assembled nearly three thousand warriors into the High Mountain Expeditionary Force and led them through Titus's portal to Serenia.

Queen Catherine and her forces were ambushed by Elder Serian and the corrupted Holy Court Blade as they prepared to reclaim the Vilanther Holy Court. The rebels were overwhelmed by Fallen Elves and half-spider monsters until a golden figure appeared in the sky.

• Rhea reported that the Harper reinforcements had suffered heavy losses in an ambush, and Catherine healed the wounded as they arrived.
• Melisandre Wildpath warned Catherine that disguised enemies had attacked the Harpers, while Catherine discovered a dark curse on Melisandre that revealed their location.
• Elder Serian confronted Catherine and demanded she disband her royal guards, but Catherine ordered her forces to attack.
• Serian blocked the rebels' spells and summoned the corrupted Holy Court Blade, whose poisoned arrows and overwhelming numbers forced Catherine's forces into a desperate battle.
• Rhea and Melisandre struck back against the Fallen Elves, while Catherine's magic destroyed half-spider creatures emerging from their corpses.
• A golden figure appeared above the battlefield, bringing a scorching gale and overwhelming pressure.

Catherine’s forces fought the Fallen Elves for control of the Sacred Tree as Titus and allied reinforcements turned the battle in their favor. After the enemy was routed, Catherine captured a Fallen Elf and learned that he claimed to worship Sehanine as the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess.

• Titus arrived as a Golden Dragon and burned through the Fallen Elf ranks, then battled a giant spider summoned by Serian.
• The Fallen Elves pressed toward Catherine while Serian’s magic trapped Rhea, but Zane and the High Mountain Dwarf cavalry emerged through a portal and crushed the attacking squad.
• The Arcane Hermit Order, the Celestial Legion, and Harper rangers joined the battle, and the allied forces routed the Fallen Elves.
• Titus shattered Serian’s protective barrier and killed him, while Rhea captured a surviving Fallen Elf at Catherine’s request.
• Catherine questioned the captive, who declared himself a devoted follower of Sehanine, the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess and Goddess of Moonlight and Darkness.

Catherine exposed the Council of Elders’ worship of the Spider Queen Lolth and gathered a broad coalition of supporters to march on the Sacred Tree. As her forces advanced, Seron began a mass sacrifice and summoned the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess, transforming elves into spider monsters.

• Rhea killed a Fallen Elf after he transformed into a half-human, half-spider monster, and Catherine identified his supposed goddess as the Spider Queen Lolth.
• Catherine condemned the Council of Elders’ corruption, rallied elves and allied factions, and built an army fifteen thousand strong.
• Catherine led the Holy Alliance Coalition into the Soul Bell Tree Sea to reclaim the Sacred Tree.
• At the Enser Royal Court, Seron and the elders agreed to sacrifice elves and ordered each family to provide one hundred victims.
• Seron and the elders prayed to the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess as spiders devoured or infested the victims and the elders began transforming.
• The Eight-Armed Mother Goddess appeared, and the cocoons burst open to release newly transformed spider monsters that worshipped her.

Catherine led the allied army through the Holy Tree Barrier and discovered that the Sacred Tree had been corrupted, its roots attacking them and its branches hung with the mutilated bodies of elves. As a spider horde and transformed elves assaulted the army, Rhea killed her former instructor Ophion Hayes and pressed onward into the corrupted grove.

• Catherine opened the Holy Tree Barrier, where corrupted roots attacked her and Rhea defended her.
• Catherine vowed to protect the Sacred Tree, and Titus rallied the allied forces to support her.
• The army saw more than a thousand bloodied cocoons containing dead elves and learned that spiders covered the Sacred Tree.
• Catherine ordered the army to attack as spiders surged toward them, and the allies burned and blasted the swarm.
• Rhea recognized the half-spider monster Ophion Hayes, her former instructor, and killed him after he attacked the allied soldiers.

The allied forces fought Seron’s Abyss-corrupted Treants and endured a deadly Poison Mist before Catherine confronted the transformed High Elder. Seron rejected her appeal and prepared to sacrifice Catherine to the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess as a vast Poison Mist vortex formed behind him.

• Treants born from the Sacred Trees’ roots attacked the allied soldiers, and Zane killed one with his hammer and rising stone pillars.
• Rhea rallied the hesitant Silver Moon Elves to fight the Treants, while Seron’s followers unleashed Poison Mist that killed several elves, including Carl.
• Catherine purified the Poison Mist with silver radiance as the allied forces used magic, stone walls, and wind to stop it from spreading.
• Seron descended from the Crown of the Sky in a grotesque spider-like form, and Catherine recognized her former teacher as the Drider who had become an Evil God follower.
• Seron blamed Catherine for the deaths and defended his past sacrifices for Serenia, while Catherine, the Ancient Gold Dragon, and Rhea condemned his crimes.
• Seron vowed to sacrifice Catherine, and the Poison Mist gathered behind him into a terrifying vortex.

Seron corrupted the Sacred Tree and opened Abyss Gates, turning Serenia into a blood sacrifice array to summon the Spider Queen. As Catherine tried to break the ritual, Rhea and Titus fought back against the invading monsters, but Seron's summoning continued.

• Seron transformed into a monstrous servant of the Spider Queen and opened Abyss Gates across the Sacred Tree, unleashing an army of Abyss creatures.
• Catherine called down silver divine light to destroy the monsters while a mage from the Arcane Hermit Order revealed that the entire Serenia Royal Court had become a blood sacrifice array.
• Rhea led her Guard regiment to defend Catherine, transformed into an Avenging Angel, and cut down Sword Spiders, a Drider Sorcerer, and several Demon Hunter Spiders.
• Rhea exposed and killed Doppelganger Spiders disguised as soldiers, while the Arcane Hermit mage dispelled the infiltrators' disguises and the allied forces killed them.
• Titus attacked the Deep Dragons, burning them with dragonfire as Rhea severed one of their necks.