Recaps

Meow Brother’s squad reached its staging area after reporting a massive gnoll advance, while Qu Ge received a powerful new anti-gnoll rifle. Hugesen diverted its army toward Shadow Valley after learning Murphy was there, and Murphy prepared to face the furious warlord despite the valley being sealed against portals.

• Meow Brother’s squad spotted gnoll forces near their tunnel, and Yansang reported that at least thirty thousand gnolls were advancing toward Shadow Valley under the Splitclaw Clan’s great warlord.
• Meow Brother sent the reconnaissance report to Domestic 007, then led his squad to Point A, where Qu Ge received the oversized Troll Hammer rifle.
• Taipal arrived after his squad exposed a tunnel entrance and received disciplinary action for the mistake.
• Hars advised Hugesen to bypass Shadow Valley, but Hugesen decided to attack after learning that Murphy’s command banner was in the valley.
• Hugesen assigned Hars a third of the army and hurried the rest toward Shadow Valley, while gnoll priests began sealing the area against portals.
• Murphy discussed the danger with Maxim and chose to face Hugesen himself, confident that the Hunting Lord’s blessing had given the warlord a weakness he could exploit.

The gnolls attacked Shadow Valley but Hugsen decided to march toward the Filthy Swamp, forcing Qin Ye to mobilize a battlefield defense while Murphy went out to fight. Murphy met Hugsen in battle and weakened him with the white ring and an obsidian hunting blade, leaving the Warlord injured and vulnerable.

• Colonel Fraser's artillery and the earth priests repelled the kobolds' charges, while Rending Claw forces captured the karst cave and stalled at the suspension bridge.
• Hugsen rejected a costly assault on Shadow Valley and ordered Harth to take half the troops toward the Filthy Swamp, leaving a third behind to contain the valley.
• Qin Ye ordered an air raid, a makeshift minefield, and a counterattack, but Murphy left the valley to join the fight despite the commander's objections.
• The Vampire Air Force bombed the gnoll forces as Maxim led People's Army warriors and players into battle, and Murphy charged into the fighting with Bonnie and Wilanthir nearby.
• Wilanthir pursued Manson after sensing the corrupted Shadow Elf relic, while Hugsen fought off the players and struck at Murphy.
• Murphy blocked Hugsen's attack, weakened him with the white ring, and stabbed him with the obsidian hunting blade before taunting him as the wounded Warlord struggled to rise.

Murphy drove off Huxerson, the weakened Chosen of the Hunt, while players launched a coordinated campaign against the gnolls’ supply lines around Shadow Valley. Meow Brother’s squad destroyed a convoy and repelled reinforcements, then continued fighting as aerial support struck the enemy.

• Murphy dispelled Huxerson’s hunting power and wounded him, forcing the Chosen of the Hunt to retreat with help from Split-Claw wolf riders.
• Meow Brother’s squad received orders to destroy a gnoll supply convoy and hold their position while other squads ambushed nearby garrisons.
• Brother Qu shot the convoy’s wolf rider captain, signaling Miss Biki’s Rapids Knights to charge as the players burned the wagons and routed the escort.
• Veteran of the Qing Dynasty sent the squad to a second ambush point, where they fought elite Bloodscar Gnolls and held off their counterattack.
• Big Sister Doris and her vampire companions dropped aerial bombs on the gnoll spellcasters and archers, allowing Meow Brother’s forces to press their attack.

After the Hungry Bird operation disrupted the gnolls’ supply lines, Old Qin ordered more aggressive tunnel raids and paired players with NPC soldiers. Hugson sent kobolds underground to hunt the Transians, while Manson revealed he had a plan to destroy Shadow Valley.

• The veteran of the Qing army reported that the Hungry Bird operation destroyed gnoll convoys and outposts, while Five-Wheeled reported the successful raid at the Xiuma River and the canceled attack on the main camp.
• Old Qin ordered frequent supply-line attacks, NPC-player teams, and coordination with Fort Courage to delay the gnolls for at least twenty days.
• Meow Brother accepted a thirty-person NPC squad, gathered supplies, and sent Smoke and Old Qu to scout the tunnels with three inexperienced scouts.
• Priest Manson told Hugson that Transian ambushes had cut off supplies and used underground tunnels, and Hugson ordered kobolds to destroy the tunnels and protect the supply routes.
• Hugson kept the siege of Shadow Valley in place to pin Murphy down and sent Manson to the battlefield, where Manson revealed he had secretly prepared a way to destroy the valley.

Chenlong defied command by leading Unfallen Pride in a suicide raid on the gnoll camp’s supply depots, using Decisive Victory Wine to turn the newcomers’ deaths into powerful explosions. The attack set the depots ablaze and reached Hugsen, while NPC soldiers looted and planted charges at the armory.

• Sai'en’s squad encountered armed kobolds in the tunnels, and forum users discussed scouting tactics for tunnel warfare.
• Chenlong gathered Unfallen Pride in Tunnel No. 9 and announced that he would carry out the canceled raid on the gnoll supply depot.
• Hailong and Xugou armed the newcomers with TNT and Decisive Victory Wine, while Chenlong prepared to lead the assault.
• Chenlong’s force broke into the gnoll camp, and Chenlong drank the wine before exploding with dark divine power among the defenders.
• Chouniu led the attack onward as Zishu, Yinhu, and Maotu’s demolition squads set supply depots ablaze.
• Hugsen charged into the battle and was caught in a newcomer’s explosion, while Hailong seized his helmet and NPC soldiers planted charges and looted the armory.

Qin Ye urged his officers to exploit players’ willingness to sacrifice themselves and treated the Transia front as a military academy, while gnoll Hunting Chosen began threatening players in the trenches. Players discussed the Chosen’s abilities and counters, then organized to respond to an ambush and sabotage a dire wolf pen.

• Qin Ye praised the raid on the gnoll encampment and told Five Pairs of Wheels and the officers to plan bolder tactics around the players’ willingness to die.
• Domestic 007 proposed using trench collapses as bait, and Qin Ye framed the fighting as a training ground for future commanders before gnoll wyvern riders attacked.
• Hugheson punished the officer responsible for the failed patrol and sent kobolds and Hunting Chosen underground to fight in the trenches.
• Players reported that Hunting Chosen were powerful melee fighters immune to ordinary ranged damage, and they shared advice about skills, status effects, and equipment that could counter them.
• Players coordinated patrols and reinforcements after Lion's Roar reported an ambush in Trench 8, while Race of the Shrimp invited others to sabotage a dire wolf pen.

General Baldwin prepared Krim Fortress for the spreading war as the Wolf Queen sent reinforcements, including the Great Wilderness Legion and eight thousand Ironfeet. Colonel Duke’s forces faced another gnoll attack at Baphomet Gorge, where they had to hold their incomplete defenses until the Transian front and fortifications were ready.

• General Baldwin repaired Krim Fortress and received urgent support from the Wolf Queen, including the Great Wilderness Legion.
• A Frost Dwarf messenger delivered a stone scepter and announced that eight thousand Ironfeet would join Baldwin under his honorary command while Lord Badelde pursued revenge for his father’s murder and the stolen relic Winter’s Strike.
• Baldwin learned that nearly two thousand troops had been lost in Duke’s battle at Baphomet Gorge, ordered reinforcements and care for the wounded, and paid to insure every soldier.
• Colonel Duke prepared his exhausted troops for another gnoll attack, ordered artillery fire and Transian walking machines into position, and refused to abandon the gorge.

Hugsen disrupted the Transians’ psionic command network and ordered a sweep of the tunnels, forcing Old Qin’s staff to switch to backup communications and reposition their forces. At Blackflame Mountain Pass, Old Qu discovered the gnolls were preparing to tear open the astral realm, and Meow Brother rushed to alert headquarters as the ritual neared completion.

• Hugsen identified the Calculation Orbs as the Transians’ command-network weakness and ordered psionic disruption and a tunnel sweep.
• Old Qin’s headquarters detected the communications blackout, established an hourly forum reporting system, and deployed troops to defend tunnel junctions.
• Wheels proposed sending flexible players to Baphomet Gorge, while Old Qin left to command there and kept the Blackflame Mountain Pass blockade in place.
• Meow Brother and his squad discussed backup communications and the prototype radio while their communications module remained disabled.
• Old Qu called Meow Brother after discovering the gnolls preparing an astral-realm rupture, and Meow Brother set off to report the imminent threat to headquarters.

Old Qu and the Big Bird Squad discovered that Bloodscar gnolls were preparing a ritual near Shadowvale and agreed to help stop it. As the squad prepared to establish a teleportation beacon for Courage Fortress, Old Qu began his Silver Trial and lined up a shot at Manson’s ritual staff.

• Old Qu and Mia observed Manson leading a Bloodscar gnoll ritual, and Mia urged the squad to stop it because the ritual threatened Shadowvale.
• The Big Bird Squad contacted headquarters and learned that they had to plant a one-use rune stone as a teleportation marker, despite being exposed afterward.
• Meow Brother agreed to defend the marker, while Old Qu decided to snipe Manson’s staff and begin his Silver Trial.
• Mia and two other huntress apprentices followed Old Qu, and he gave them a spare Troll Hammer in case he missed.
• Old Qu and the apprentices took positions on the ridge, and Old Qu activated his Ancestral Powers before aiming at Manson’s staff.

Manson tried to open an Astral Rift above Shadow Valley, but Old Qu and Corporal Mia destroyed his star staff and left him bound to the unstable ritual. As the Big Bird Squad struggled to hold a position in the valley, Fort Courage’s winged cavalry entered the battlefield through a portal to drive off the jackalopes.

• Manson used the star staff to power a ritual that would tear open an Astral Rift above Shadow Valley and weaken its defenses.
• Old Qu and Corporal Mia shot Manson’s star staff until it broke, forcing him to stabilize the ritual with his own body; Old Qu then faced five wyverns carrying Prowlerclaw hunters.
• Brother Meow and the Big Bird Squad fought to protect their positioning stone as the war thornbeast fell and the team’s position came under pressure.
• Lady Femis opened a portal at Fort Courage, and Valand led the winged cavalry through it to reinforce the battlefield and drive off the jackalopes.

Priest Manson opened an Astral rift in the Silver Wolf Herson’s territory, but the battle turned against the gnolls when the Transians attacked and Lina struck Manson with a devastating spell. Herson’s pack crossed the rift to hunt Murphy’s allies, leaving Lina ambushed by a two-headed Astral wolf as Manson claimed the advantage.

• Manson forced open an Astral rift, while Pol enlisted Mannis and Herson to help suppress it.
• Herson recognized Murphy through the rift, reopened it, and sent her pack after him; Mannis revealed he had helped Murphy lure her into action.
• The Winged Hussars and Wam barbarians routed the gnolls, while Manson cast Blood Frenzy to strengthen his warriors.
• Lina descended onto the battlefield and unleashed her Dragon Slave spell, burning Manson and the priests around him.
• A two-headed Astral wolf ambushed Lina, and Manson rose from the ashes, claiming that the advantage was his.

Lina and the Big Bird Squad helped bring down Bloodscar Priest Old Manson after he tried to escape the battlefield. Lady Ivette Liad Cappadocia arrived in time to destroy Manson’s soul and set her sights on Murphy and Lina.

• Lina struggled to evade an astral wolf lord while Bohr trapped the injured Old Manson with an astrological spell.
• The Big Bird Squad attacked Manson, and Quick Hands sacrificed himself in an explosion after stabbing him with the Bone-Biter King’s dagger.
• Meow Brother, newly transformed into a Red Knight, struck Manson with Borut’s Butcher and petrified his legs, while Manson tried to escape through dark arts.
• Jie Chong, Sanwudou, and Brother Black Silk attacked Manson, but Lady Ivette Liad Cappadocia’s arrow killed him and her judgment condemned his soul to servitude in the spirit world.
• Lady Ivette teased Sanwudou, offered rewards to the Big Bird Squad, and asked to meet Murphy and the vampire beauty Lina.

Astral wolves poured through the rift and attacked both Shadowvale and the gnolls, while Murphy fought them and summoned undead to confront the legendary wolf Box. The development team announced a Lunar New Year wolf-hunting event, and players began hunting for wolves to tame.

• Astral wolves attacked the Transian forces and gnolls, disrupting Hugheson's ambush on Shadowvale.
• Hugheson learned that Hunting Chosen could serve as vessels for divine descent and reconsidered whether to keep following others’ plans.
• Murphy, Villance, Bonnie, and George fought astral wolves as they advanced toward Shadowvale’s cemetery.
• Murphy identified the legendary wolf Box, summoned ten half-elf undead from a tomb, and sent them against the wolf disaster while players watched.
• The development team announced a staged Lunar New Year event in which players could hunt astral wolves for materials, rewards, and potential animal companions.
• Catbro received the event announcement, and players Lumina and Lady Shu prepared to capture a two-headed wolf pup.

Murphy lured the wolf-calamity lord Jupel into a fight with Aurora, who badly wounded him and forced the astral wolves to retreat. After reinforcements arrived, Lena warned Murphy that Manson’s soul had escaped, while Lady Yvette set her sights on him; meanwhile, Colonel Fraser and General Maxim demanded that the Winter Wolf Church explain the attack and make reparations.

• Murphy led Jupel to Aurora, who charged the wolf-calamity lord and left him gravely wounded.
• Baux and the astral wolves withdrew after Jupel’s defeat, and Lena arrived with reinforcements carrying the severed head of a two-headed legendary wolf.
• Lena told Murphy that the golden gnoll Manson had ties to the Dusk, but his soul had escaped, then left to resume the hunt.
• Vilanthes and Bonnie warned Murphy that Lady Yvette was staring at him with predatory interest.
• Colonel Fraser and General Maxim confronted Turner over the wolf-calamity’s attack, and Turner promised that the Winter Wolf Church would make reparations.

Murphy was summoned by Su after the astral wolf disaster, while Triss warned him that Ivette’s supernatural lust made her dangerous. When Ivette tried to seduce Triss, Triss revealed the Mother of Midnight’s terrifying presence and overpowered her, then Murphy stayed to comfort Triss instead of answering Su’s summons.

• At a tavern, foreign soldiers complained that the astral wolf disaster had damaged the God of the North Wind’s reputation, while Little Rich Bro suggested taming astral wolves through their pack mind or Su’s permission.
• After Su called for Murphy, he left Triss to visit the Winter Wolf shrine, unaware that Ivette had entered their room.
• Ivette tried to seduce Triss, but Triss asked whether she had ever called to the Mother of Midnight and exposed her to a vision of a vampire godfiend.
• Triss subdued Ivette with the Mother of Midnight’s power and threatened her until Lord Pahn intervened through their blood pact.
• Murphy returned, embraced Triss, and said he would protect her, leaving Su waiting.

Murphy met Su in the Shrine of Winter to discuss Silver Wolf Herson’s wolf calamity and the danger she posed to Su and the mortal world. Su offered a plan involving his banished child Eris and promised aid to Transia, while Murphy left to deal with the next problem involving Maxim and Leinia.

• Murphy confronted Su about Herson’s rebellion, and Su explained that she had taken control of the astral wolf packs while he and his strongest offspring fought on the subspace frontier.
• Murphy warned that Herson might be targeting Su for godhood, and Su asked him to find Eris, the black giant wolf banished to the Great Wilderness, to serve as a last guardian.
• Murphy asked Su to help persuade Ao to aid Kulkan and to let Transian hunters earn astral wolf companions, but Su said the hunters would have to win the packs’ loyalty themselves.
• Su agreed to grant Kulkan battle-related power, give Transian shamans the wild winds and spirit wolves, and keep his followers from joining a future war between Transia and Nordtov in their religious capacity.
• Murphy left the shrine and saw Maxim finishing a conversation with Leinia, whose face showed sorrow.

Herson challenged her father, Su, over his demand that she call off the astral wolves invading the Material World. After defeating Su’s projection, she became the new leader of the pack.

• Herson told Su she would recall her pack only if he returned to the Astral Plane in person, then accused him of abandoning the wolves and their homeland.
• Su demanded that Herson stop the invasion, and she challenged his authority and called him a traitor to the pack.
• Su and Herson fought in her lair as astral wolves gathered beneath the inverted mountain to witness the battle.
• Su overpowered Herson but spared her and again urged her to call off the pack.
• Herson used her second and third heads to defeat Su’s projection, then howled to claim the wolf king’s place as the pack answered her.

Maxim and Laenniya confronted Ivetta to demand Laenniya’s freedom from the blood pact, and Laenniya finally spoke openly about the coercive relationship that had bound them for a century. Murphy proposed that Laenniya earn her freedom by surviving the hunt for the Lord of the Hunt, leaving Ivetta furious but apparently agreeing to the terms.

• Maxim joined the nervous Laenniya outside Ivetta’s sickroom and promised to stand by her as she asked for freedom.
• Maxim and Laenniya found Ivetta badly injured, and Ivetta tried to use the blood pact to make Laenniya and Maxim entertain her.
• Ivetta argued that granting Laenniya freedom would violate vampire tradition, while Laenniya declared that she wanted to be free and condemned Ivetta’s century of manipulation.
• Murphy entered and proposed that Laenniya take part in the hunt for the Lord of the Hunt, with her survival securing freedom for both women.
• Ivetta angrily told Murphy to take Laenniya, and Murphy asked whether they had a deal.

Murphy arranged Laenennia’s freedom from Yvette and ordered an orderly retreat from Shadow Valley as the Black Calamity worsened. After receiving Laenennia’s combat manual and learning the ancestral power Conviction, Murphy contacted Shani to ask for the Thorn Clan’s secret technique.

• Murphy warned Laenennia not to exploit Yvette’s fear and reassured her that Yvette would honor their contract if she helped slay an evil god.
• Murphy ordered Maxim to prepare the Shadow Valley garrison’s retreat toward Baphomet Canyon and the Filthy Swamp line, while leaving elite defenders and planning an operation with upgraded weapons.
• Murphy told Maxim that he would represent Transia and the Blood Eagle Clan in the coming mission against the gnolls and the god-slaying plan.
• Laenennia gave Murphy her combat manual, explained her family’s history with Yvette, and said she hoped to serve Transia as a Ranger General if she gained her freedom.
• Murphy learned several of Laenennia’s combat techniques and the ancestral power Conviction, then contacted Shani to ask her to teach him Nightthorn’s Sting.
• Shani agreed to consider teaching Murphy Nightthorn’s Sting if he got rid of the ancient-memory resonance that was troubling her.

After gnoll attacks began collapsing tunnels and threatening Shadowvale, the command center approved Kokusan 003’s plan to dig beneath the gnoll camp and plant explosives. He recruited Haizhu’s players and more than two hundred Nord soldiers, then prepared to begin the operation.

• The gnolls used tunnel collapses to trap players and kobolds, prompting Chenlong to report the tactic and the command center to recognize a coordinated effort to restrict movement and weaken morale.
• Domestic013 and other staff officers proposed counterattacks, while Kokusan 003 suggested digging beneath the gnoll camp and detonating explosives; Five Pairs of Wheels authorized the plan and around a thousand troops for support.
• Kokusan 003 recruited Haizhu and Pride of the Tribe players to dig from Tunnel 5, explaining that the route’s depth would help conceal their approach from gnoll psionic mages.
• Kokusan 003 encountered Jusha leaving the Shadow Elf proprietress’s building and realized what had happened between them.
• A Nord soldier whose brother had been killed by an Astral Wolf offered more than two hundred soldiers for the raid, and Kokusan 003 agreed to take them if they followed orders.

Hugsun hunted down and killed the astral wolf lord Box, using the Corrupted Fang and the Lord of the Hunt’s power. As the gnolls celebrated their victory, a mysterious woman offered to trade for the sword, which she said had belonged to her father.

• Maxim planned to make 003’s underground demolition operation the centerpiece of Shadow Valley’s final counterattack.
• Hugsun entered the astral wolves’ territory and confronted Box in the frozen mist.
• Hugsun wounded Box with the Corrupted Fang, then pursued him with the sword’s divine power.
• Hugsun and Deathclaw killed Box, and the gnolls began carving up the wolf lord’s corpse.
• A woman approached Hugsun and offered a deal for the Corrupted Fang, claiming it had belonged to her father.

Ferguson negotiated with Helsong over the Tainted Fang, agreeing to trade it for a Bloodhorn shard and a possible alliance. Helsong accepted conditional cooperation and demanded that Ferguson kill Murphy, while revealing her plan to take Su’s divinity.

• Ferguson recalled Wise Wolf Hogg’s warning about the Tainted Fang and decided that giving it up could reduce Nordtovian resistance and benefit his war.
• Helsong offered Ferguson a Bloodhorn shard for the sword, and Ferguson said the shard alone was not enough.
• Ferguson proposed that the astral wolves and gnolls cooperate, with his army helping Helsong reach Nordtov so she could wound the North Wind God.
• Helsong agreed to limited cooperation on the condition that Ferguson kill Murphy if the wolves could not, and she suggested the gnolls might become a new wolf-blooded people.
• Helsong explained that she intended to take Su’s divinity because the wolf pack could have only one symbol, then arranged for someone to collect the Tainted Fang.

Guochan 003 and the Nords finished preparing an underground raid on the gnoll camp as Shadowvale’s defenders readied a withdrawal and counterattack. With the operation due to begin that night, Five-Wheel prepared to lead strategists into battle, while Rainbow Cat Hero arrived with Loyalty Bro’s new weapons.

• Guochan 003 told Ivankov that Shadowvale would be abandoned after the final counterattack and explained how the army planned to retake it later.
• Ivankov pledged that his Nords would see the raid through, and 003 joined the wounded soldiers and players digging toward the gnoll camp.
• Guochan 009 reported that the gnolls had weakened the mountain above Shadowvale, and Five-Wheel ordered the colonels to defend the valley and 003 to finish Gaia’s Wrath by midnight.
• Five-Wheel ordered the strategists to prepare to fight and told Guochan 013 to protect the confidential documents and plant mines in the command post.
• Rainbow Cat Hero arrived with special weapons from Loyalty Bro and warned the Transian soldiers not to point them at anyone or drop them.

On the eve of Transia's final battle in Shadowvale, Loyalist's armory delivered cheap, unreliable Blood Eagle Claw submachine guns to the troops. Murphy rallied the soldiers to hold the valley until the midnight counterattack, while the players prepared a tunnel ambush against the gnolls.

• The Transia National First Armory delivered enough Blood Eagle Claw submachine guns to re-equip the forces fighting in Shadowvale.
• A vampire captain test-fired the gun, and its loose magazine and risk of accidental discharge became clear even as its automatic fire impressed the soldiers.
• Colonel Fraser examined the weapon and recognized that it could give his forces an alternative to relying on halfling military aid.
• Murphy appraised the Blood Eagle Claw, handed it to a vampire, and told Colonel Fraser and the commanders to take the weapons to their positions for the coming battle.
• Domestic 003 complained about the weapon's poor quality, while Haizhu and the others accepted it and continued preparing explosives in their completed tunnel.

Hugsgen brought down the mountainside to open a path into Shadow Valley, and the gnoll army overwhelmed the defenders before Transian reinforcements counterattacked with cannons, automatic guns, and flamethrowers. As the battle turned, Murphy stayed behind to hold the line and used the Blood Pact Clan’s Sentence of Guilt against the charging kobolds.

• Hugsgen ordered the gnolls to attack after lunch and kept himself in reserve, fearing that Murphy could exploit his presence on the front line.
• The hunting priests cracked the mountain, creating a rubble ridge that let the gnolls charge into Shadow Valley and seize part of the Winterwolf Legion’s position.
• Colonel Basomian led the Hungry Brothers and his guards in a countercharge while bearfolk hobgoblins escorted wounded soldiers toward the tunnels.
• Colonel Fraser ordered the valley’s cannons to cut off the gnoll vanguard, and Transian troops advanced with automatic weapons and flamethrowers.
• A bone arrow struck Basomian in the neck, and a vampire bodyguard began turning him as Murphy and Bonnie reached the battlefield.
• Murphy refused to withdraw, told Maxim to take his people into the tunnels, and used the Sentence of Guilt to make charging kobolds flee across his line.