Recaps

As Shadowdeep City came under attack, Bertie, operating as “Apprentice,” urged local men to rescue residents and transport supplies by promising them a chance at a better future. Old Mann’s gang took the risk and joined the defense, while Bertie explained to Penny that he hoped the men would claim dignity and power for themselves.

• Old Mann’s gang sheltered refugees in a sewer refuge and debated whether to trust Apprentice’s latest dangerous task.
• Apprentice revealed plans for shadow elves to return to the Kingdom of Castia or join a future shadow-elf kingdom, offering men with high action scores roles as administrators.
• Old Mann led his gang to transport vehicles of supplies through the battle zone, and his men stayed to help the noblewomen while he carried wounded people back to shelter.
• Across the city, Gray Hood’s gang joined the family guards, while other organizations delivered supplies for the defense.
• Penny questioned Bertie’s plans as they fought the insects, and Bertie said he wanted men to earn dignity and power rather than receive them as charity.

Shadowdeep City turned the battle against the swarm into a counterattack while Saliv Shadowblade survived his fight against the Deep Sisterhood, freed two dragons, and set out to finish his final task. He died after learning that Filna was carrying his child, leaving Bertie to take charge of her and the unborn baby.

• Lady Ferrosil launched a counterattack as the ratmen split the swarm’s formation, and heavy weapons, divine magic, and the shadow elves’ defenders helped turn the fighting in Shadowdeep City’s favor.
• Lady Drusilia and Tira entered the Abyssal Council Chamber and found Saliv Shadowblade gravely wounded among the slaughtered priestesses, including Matron Mother Mattis.
• Lady Drusilia revived Saliv, who freed the dragons Apollis and its companion; the dragons agreed to fight the swarm in exchange for help with their eggs.
• Saliv slipped away from the chamber but collapsed in an alley, and Bertie carried him to his hideout, where Filna awaited death.
• Bertie stopped Saliv from killing Filna and revealed that she was pregnant; Saliv died after asking Bertie to care for the child, and Bertie promised to take Saliv back to Mejewa City for burial.

Murphy joined the players at Matriarch Matisse's estate, where Terranova and Jim Raynor prepared gene messengers designed to derail the swarm's evolution. They baited a surviving High Priestess into carrying a corrupted bug toward the swarm, leaving Murphy and Old Turtle Tritan to track the courier and joke about employee benefits.

• Murphy declined Triss's invitation to join the counterattack, told Yvette to leave the city, and headed to Matriarch Matisse's estate.
• Xiao Ashina reported that the players had cleared the estate's corrupted gene bug and were preparing mutant bugs for Terranova's experiment.
• Terranova and Jim Raynor explained how their gene bombs could disrupt the swarm's evolution, and Murphy ordered everyone to withdraw and bait the enemy.
• The Seventeenth Seat High Priestess escaped the estate with a corrupted bug and entered a tunnel, believing she could deliver it to the swarm.
• Old Turtle Tritan told Murphy that the courier was on her way, and Murphy teased him about improving Astral Logistics' employee benefits.

After the swarm retreated from Gloomshade City, Mother of Shadows and Ferrosil discussed the shadow elves’ future alliances and military plans. Murphy then met Lunar, who wanted help hatching her eggs, and offered to take her to the Life Greenhouse to remove the breeding lock.

• The swarm withdrew after its attack failed, leaving Gloomshade City victorious but badly depleted.
• Mother of Shadows gave Ferrosil a holy sword, and they discussed diplomacy with Castia and sending shadow elf forces to the Locust Wall and Hive Zero.
• Black Servant Forest invited Ferrosil and Drusilia to the ratmen’s holy communion in honor of the victory.
• Lunar found Lorin with Triss and asked how to hatch her eggs.
• Murphy explained that a breeding lock prevented Lunar’s eggs from hatching and offered to take her to the Life Greenhouse to remove it.
• Lunar agreed to learn psychic magic, and Murphy told Triss to teach her.

Murphy visited Rose’s data realm, where she discussed her growing World Wide Web and a proposed partnership with Dutena to build a financial network. Rose then expressed her gratitude by pulling Murphy into an intimate encounter, while the Web’s users noticed its data flows behaving strangely.

• Triss taught Runar psionic illusions, and Runar quickly turned her dragon breath into a fireball spell.
• Rose summoned Murphy to her data realm and showed him the expanding World Wide Web, whose largest nodes had over two hundred thousand users.
• Rose told Murphy that Dutena had offered to help the dark elves in exchange for Rose’s help building a global financial network, and Murphy advised her to accept.
• Rose revealed her ambitions to expand the Web into a Cosmic Web, then abandoned the discussion and embraced Murphy to thank him.
• The World Wide Web’s data flows surged and slowed unpredictably, and Lady Vilancer’s hackers named the phenomenon “Rose’s Tremors.”
• Runar mistook Murphy’s shaking for a wet dream, while Triss joked about his performance and suggested inviting Adele.

Murphy accompanied the players to inspect the Swarm after they tested a gene-bomb designed to trigger uncontrolled evolution. The test had made the Swarm discard deformed bugs, and the group recovered a mutated giant dragon larva that Little Potato hoped to raise.

• Murphy learned how Jim and Nova had genetically enhanced their scarabs, and his praise triggered a dangerous legendary quest to improve them further.
• Teranova attacked Jim after the new quest exposed the risks to their beloved bugs, but the Silvermoon Group decided to fund the project.
• Nova and the players searched the hive’s outskirts and found that the Swarm was abandoning deformed specimens instead of recycling their biomass.
• The group discovered a giant dragon larva whose uncontrolled evolution had left it too slow to fit the Swarm’s combat strategy.
• Nova said the larva would not obey anyone while the Scale Father lived, but promised to reserve it for Little Potato if there was a chance to tame it later.

Murphy prepared the expedition to attack Hive Zero while considering how the failing hive could feed the ratmen and how Black Servant Sen might build a kingdom in the Eternal Rift. As the players entered the Gray Desert, a powerful swarm appeared ahead, beginning the expedition’s first major battle.

• Terra Nova reported that the sabotaged hive would keep weakening and suggested the ratmen raise its bugs for food, while Nova warned that the swarms might become dangerous if the Scale Father died.
• Murphy accepted Nova’s suggestion for consideration, and Black Servant Sen stayed in the Eternal Rift to strengthen its ratman army as General Ferosil remained in Shadowdeep City.
• Murphy met Lady Runar, who had joined the Cloudmist World-Cleansing Celestial Venerable’s followers and planned to recover her scattered dragon eggs with player help.
• Black Servant Sen offered players chosen-one status, a warlord title, and ten thousand ratmen to encourage them to take the ratman template; Murphy’s forum leak sparked enthusiastic strategy discussions.
• Murphy led the Gray Expeditionary Army out of the Eternal Rift toward Sin Bastion, and vampires warned that a huge swarm with more than six dragon-worms was approaching.

Murphy and the Gray Expeditionary Army fought back the swarm at Sin Bastion, then restored the hidden Creator-built Genesis Matrix beneath the city. The Matrix could clone fully grown individuals, and Murphy prepared to use it as players waited above.

• Happy Stick organized more than five thousand players to hold off the swarm until the Lightchaser arrived, while Lord Apollis and Lady Runar made their debut as Dragon Island support.
• The players and Apollis routed the swarm's giant dragon-insect lords, though some players died, and Triss warned Murphy that their reckless combat habits could make those losses costly.
• Murphy discussed Sin Bastion's defense with Lord Badler, then followed the Lord, Triss, and Adele through a hidden passage to the Creator laboratory beneath the city.
• Eden identified the laboratory's Genesis Matrix as an auxiliary Life Greenhouse system and explained that it could clone fully grown organisms but could not truly create life.
• Murphy had Eden restore power to the Genesis Matrix and, after seeing its mechanical wombs, proposed making a person.

Players in Sinfort uncovered a dwarven armory and turned its value into money, but a new trial offering 45 places to receive Otherworldly Physical Bodies sparked a chaotic player free-for-all. The battle began under divine protection, with Great Shark and Meow Brother facing off as the selection remained unresolved.

• The student faction found a Sin Dwarf armory beneath the ruins and submitted it as spoils of war, earning money for their discoveries.
• Ge Bao learned that A-Cha and four other players had secured trial places through the achievement leaderboard, while 45 places remained open.
• Players crowded around Madam Triss to apply for the Otherworldly Physical Body trial, and Meow Brother proposed settling the remaining places through combat.
• Triss allowed the players to fight in groups of one hundred under life-saving protection, and Wam's divine power reinforced the protection after Great Shark called upon him.
• Great Shark charged into battle against Meow Brother, while Tiger-Leopard Cavalryman attacked and was struck down by Wam's Beheader.
• Meow Brother challenged Great Shark to trade trial places, then invoked the Punisher and awakened his Holy Sword to attack him.

The players’ selection melees revealed the strength of Giant Shark, Teacher Li, and Master Yang, while Niu Niu was eliminated and lost confidence. A-Cha gave Niu Niu his guaranteed spot, then recruited him to help build a player-run company focused on the ancient kingdom of Callum.

• Giant Shark won the first melee after using Divine Descent, and Teacher Li defeated Lion Beast in the second fight with Cloud Mist Dragon Fist.
• Master Yang unleashed his sword techniques in the fourth melee, eliminated nearly thirty players, and defeated Niu Niu after a long fight.
• Niu Niu flew to a deserted spot outside Sin Fortress to mourn his loss, but A-Cha found him and gave him his guaranteed selection spot.
• A-Cha told Niu Niu that Witch Hunters led by Amber were coming to help defend Sin Fortress, and Niu Niu jokingly agreed to call A-Cha his sworn father.
• A-Cha proposed forming a company with their fellow students, and Niu Niu suggested involving Little Rich, his older sister, and his brother-in-law.
• A-Cha revealed his plan to focus the company on Callum, where he intended to join the Secret Blood Clan and use Grand Duke Hathor’s connections to find a powerful backer.

Murphy oversaw the first tests of the Genesis Matrix, which began creating physical bodies for five players and explained the risks and options involved. Niu Niu chose a human template to preserve his chance of having children with Amber, then learned that players could revive their bodies by storing biomass.

• Murphy welcomed the fifty selected players and activated the Genesis Matrix’s scanning pods for the first five volunteers, including Giant Shark and Niu Niu.
• Eden explained that the Matrix used players’ genetic information for reproduction, could adapt their bodies to chosen templates, and could remove illnesses such as Little Amina’s.
• Niu Niu chose to base his body on his character’s appearance but switched his template from vampire to human after the agreement warned that vampires could not have children.
• The five players logged out as their Otherworldly Entities began forming in breeding pods, and Niu Niu learned from Giant Shark that an Otherworldly Entity’s death carried stricter revival rules.
• Niu Niu reread the agreement and discovered that storing enough biomass allowed a dead Otherworldly Entity to be recreated after a three-day penalty; he then teased Giant Shark about what he would do with his new body.

Murphy oversaw the creation of physical Otherworldly Entities for fifty players while preparing Sinfort and the expeditionary force for the coming war. When the first players awakened, they discovered the realities of their new bodies, and Ashina received the healthy body she would have had without her illness.

• Murphy coordinated new weapons and armor deployments, then learned from Mosna that ancient abominations were awakening and a major invasion was approaching.
• Murphy arranged for Ashina’s Otherworldly Entity to cure her illness, despite its higher biomass cost and harsher revival penalty.
• After the six-hour wait, Niu Niu and the first players awakened in physical bodies and experienced sensations and pain unlike those of their projections.
• Great Shark tested his Berserker Armor, while Madam Water covered herself with Holy Light Protection after the players emerged naked in their underwear.
• Sister Pomegranate recognized Ashina’s healthy adult appearance, and Madam Water told her that her parents were waiting to see her.

After receiving physical bodies, the players explored how those bodies changed combat and intimacy, while Giant Shark headed to Shadow City to meet his lover. The chapter ended with the players eager to attack the Life Greenhouse and unlock their own bodies.

• Giant Shark fought Banchang in the slave arena and discovered that his physical body made berserker combat and hunger feel intensely real.
• Madam Judy reunited with Little Ashina, whose new body showed the healthy adult she might have become, while Three to Five Dou went to receive a divine blessing.
• Meow Brother and his friends traveled to Shadow City to spy on Giant Shark and test the new 18+ feature, while Niu Niu sealed his tent with divine power to keep eavesdroppers out.
• Giant Shark visited the shadow elf proprietress, and Lady Rose disrupted the surveillance device after he entered her bedroom.
• Meow Brother and Old Qu concluded the 18+ feature was working and urged the players to attack the Life Greenhouse before the expedition began.

As Sinfort prepared to depart for the Land of Sacred Blood, Maxim warned Murphy that the insect swarm was adapting and growing more intelligent, while the players’ eagerness to obtain real bodies fueled their enthusiasm for the coming campaign. Shani gave Murphy the Thorn Slate for Andre and left to scout ahead, and Edward asked Murphy to hear a personal request.

• Earth Priests and silver dwarves rebuilt Sinfort’s defenses while upgraded third-generation Dragoons arrived through the astral portals.
• Maxim told Murphy that the swarm had developed new tactics, corrosive Poisonburst Insects, and more psychic creatures, and he warned that Chaos remained their true enemy.
• Murphy watched players demand access to the Life Greenhouse and took their enthusiasm as proof that the expeditionary force was ready to fight.
• Shani gave Murphy the Thorn Slate to pass to Andre, said she would no longer pursue her old grievances, and departed to scout the Land of Sacred Blood.
• Edward stood by the treatment-room window and told Murphy he had a request to discuss.
• Meow Brother and the other players found Great Shark exhausted after his encounter with the Shadow Elf proprietress, who let them take him away.

Murphy discussed the Wolfsbane Clan, Constance, and the coming journey to the Holy Blood Land with old Edward, who asked for a chance to persuade Constance to abandon her plans. Afterward, Murphy asked Eden to help devise a way to disrupt Constance’s resurrection in the Life Greenhouse.

• Murphy gave old Edward Creator’s Soda and told him Laura had been invited to represent the Wolfsbane Clan and had already recovered the Wolfsbane Tablet.
• Edward accepted Laura as his heir and asked Murphy and Paine to spare Constance, promising to try to change her mind.
• Murphy agreed to give Edward a chance but warned that he would stop Constance if she pursued her plans after reviving.
• Murphy left the Chaser for Sin Fortress and asked Eden to reconstruct the Life Greenhouse’s breeding program so they could place a controllable program in its pods.
• Eden said the task was impossible, but Murphy argued that Eden could exploit flaws in the code added by Revival and planned to enlist Rose’s help.

Lord Qin decided to use the Storm Spire to unleash a polar storm across the Locust Wall and destroy the swarm’s nearby hives, after its evolving tactics caused heavy losses at Abyss City. The Wolf Queen approved the plan, while Lord Qin’s declining experimental clone left him needing to reach Sin Fortress soon.

• The swarm shifted to elite units, spellcasters, and coordinated attacks at Abyss City, gravely wounding the King Without a Home and increasing the Faithful Army’s losses.
• Lord Qin concluded that the swarm was using the Locust Wall battles to accelerate the Scalefather’s evolution and resolved to destroy every hive in the region.
• Lord Qin asked the Wolf Queen to ready the Storm Spire within five days so it could blanket the Locust Wall theater in a polar storm.
• The Wolf Queen approved the deployment but warned that its climate change would be semi-permanent and could affect Gnoll lands.
• Lord Qin sent Murphy his decision, then suffered a sharp kidney pain as his experimental clone entered irreversible decline.

Little Ashina scouted Hive Zero’s vast Gray Desert territory while the expeditionary force planned its next moves. Murphy and the vampires decided to split forces for the Holy Blood Seal, where they hoped to recruit the Madblood Clan by finding its leader, Fato.

• Little Ashina mapped a fringe hive and returned to the Lightchaser after vampires burned it clean.
• Meow Brother and the others criticized Great White Shark for nearly letting a hive lord escape, then learned he was exhausted after nine encounters with the shadow elf boss lady.
• Murphy and Overlord Paine reviewed reconnaissance showing Hive Zero covered more than sixty percent of the Gray Desert and chose a direct route through the swarm.
• Paine proposed sending the vampires to the Holy Blood Seal while the Lightchaser continued toward Hive Zero, and Hathor explained that the bugs could not enter the sealed region.
• Edward revealed that his brother Fato was alive, and Paine explained that blood contracts originated with the Madblood Clan and that Fato could help bring them into the vampire coalition.

Murphy and the vampire expedition reached the Holy Blood Seal, where the Secretblood Clan presented him with the Dark Scabbard. Inside the sealed territory, Murphy discovered the Scarlet Dawn, the lost starship that had belonged to him before its crash a thousand years earlier.

• Murphy explained that the expedition would wait to attack Zero Hive until Operation Winter General drew away part of the swarm, while Lord Paine warned that Chaos might corrupt the Scaled Father.
• Murphy revealed that he could use the Creation Engine to restore the Gray Desert to primordial Order if the swarm fell to Chaos.
• Murphy told Triss and Adele that Lady Lily had warned him not to let Lord Paine enter the seal because Fato was seeking a successor, but he decided to proceed with precautions.
• Hathor opened the Holy Blood Seal and offered Murphy the Dark Scabbard, which he accepted as the vampire dukes and Lord Paine endorsed him as their future leader.
• Lord Paine entered the sealed territory ahead of Murphy, where they found the Scarlet Dawn and Lord Paine told Murphy to reclaim it.

Murphy and his allies reached the Scarlet Dawn, Salok’s ancient starship, and split up to confront the Blood-Maddened vampires and reach the bridge. Murphy opened the bridge with Salok’s key, where the first officer, Solma Lasombra, challenged them for control of the ship.

• Murphy learned the Scarlet Dawn’s history and saw the starship aground in the mountains, where Hathor identified it as the Blood-Maddened Clan’s base.
• The Lord sent Murphy, Triss, Adele, and Shani to the bridge while he led the others toward Fato; Blood-Maddened vampires attacked the group entering the lower deck.
• A Blood-Maddened crew member taunted Femis about Salok abandoning the crew and lunged at her, but Maxim knocked her away.
• Murphy and his companions flew through the ship’s palace-like corridors, noting that the Blood-Maddened vampires had maintained its interior and might have preserved their reason.
• Murphy used Salok’s pocket watch to open the bridge, where Solma Lasombra introduced himself as the first officer and demanded the activation key or a fight.

Murphy activated the Crimson Dawn and began taking command, but the authorization process triggered Losa’s final memory of Eden’s destruction and Fato’s choice to contain the Chaos corruption. After seeing the memory, Murphy ordered the ship to lead the group to the ecological dome so they could fulfill their promise to Fato.

• Triss restrained the weakened Sir Solmar, and Murphy inserted Salokdar’s ignition key to awaken the Crimson Dawn’s systems.
• Solmar ordered Juno to revoke the crew’s acting authority and recognized Murphy as the rightful captain because of Necessary Evil.
• Murphy began transferring command authorization, and the process pulled him and Shani into Losa’s final memory.
• In the memory, Fato urged Salokdar to imprison the Chaos-corrupted vampires, while Losa left Oksana and entrusted Solmar with leading the Blood Vulture forward.
• Murphy emerged from the memory and ordered Juno to lock up the Bloodfiends, open a route to the ecological dome, and guide Paine and the others there.

Murphy secured the Scarlet Dawn and guided Venerable Paien’s party toward Fato, while the vampires uncovered more questions about the Madblood Clan’s origins. The chapter ended with Fato awakening in the ecological dome as Paien and the others approached.

• Both factions rushed for the emergency hatch, but Old Edward, Grand Duke Wolfsbane, and the vampires forced their way aboard and sealed several hundred Madbloods inside.
• Murphy told Venerable Paien that he controlled the starship, had isolated the active Madbloods, and discovered that Fato had kept most of his clan in hibernation.
• Venerable Paien questioned whether Fato had escaped Chaos’s influence and whether the source blood used to create vampires was connected to the Madbloods’ transformation.
• Murphy asked Sister Cement to negotiate with the Explorers over a starship manual in exchange for their aid in the coming war against Chaos.
• Murphy urged Venerable Paien to take command on the bridge, but Paien refused and headed for the ecological dome to meet Fato.
• Fato rose from the blood pool and greeted Paien and Edward as his brothers.

Murphy and the others reached the Madblood cavern, where they discovered that the Origin Blood used by all seven vampire clans came from a pool guarded by the ancient vampire Fato. Fato revealed that Chaos was corrupting him and challenged the newcomers to fight over who would inherit the burden of controlling the Madbloods.

• The Scarlet Dawn's security machines suppressed the roaming Madbloods while Murphy's group advanced toward the ecological dome.
• Triss sensed a force in the dome that preyed on vampires, and Murphy used the Reflection of the Blood River to shield their minds.
• Venerable Paine led the group into the cavern, where Murphy's Long Night's Guard shattered a crimson illusion and revealed thousands of Madbloods worshipping a pool of Origin Blood.
• Venerable Paine called for Fato, who rose from the pool wielding a Chaos Greater Demon's bone greatsword.
• Fato and Venerable Paine discussed the deaths of their ancient kin and the Chaos corruption tied to the Origin Blood.
• Fato said he could no longer contain the corruption and challenged the group to fight, declaring that the survivor would inherit the curse and guard the Madbloods.

Murphy fought Fato and dove into the Sourceblood Pool to investigate the source of its pure blood. After purifying a corrupted civilization tablet, he witnessed a memory revealing that Fato had resisted Chaos’s forced transformation and awakened the Bloodmad Clan’s primal power.

• Fato attacked the Lord, old Edward, and the players while Murphy organized the defense and summoned reinforcements.
• The Lord joined old Edward against Fato, but Fato healed rapidly and overpowered them; the Lord then entered Murphy’s Warlord Armor.
• Murphy dove into the Sourceblood Pool as the Lord, old Edward, and Shani held Fato back, and Shani’s Corrupted Virtue inflicted severe damage on him.
• Murphy found a corrupted Bloodmad Clan civilization tablet at the pool’s bottom and began purifying it with Omega energy.
• Murphy witnessed a memory of Fato refusing a Chaos fiend’s attempt to transform the vampires, then claiming the transformation let him trace his bloodline to the most primal vampires.

Murphy learned that Fato created source blood while trying to control the blood-mad vampires, and concluded that Fato could only be killed by breaking their blood pact. He chose to pursue the Blood Ancestor’s power himself, then gathered the vampire clans’ shards to unify Midnight and overtake Fato.

• Murphy witnessed Fato devour a Chaos demon, use blood pacts to control the blood-mad vampires, and create source blood to ease their hunger.
• Murphy realized Fato’s immortality depended on the blood pact and that someone had to replace him as Lord of the Blood Pact; he decided to take the dangerous path himself rather than let the Lord risk corruption.
• Murphy emerged from the source-blood pool after purifying the shard of Wrath and explained that collecting every clan inheritance could let him reach the Blood Ancestor’s source before Fato.
• Triss and Hathor gave Murphy the Shards of Desire and Dominion, while Baburo, Andre, and Palanno supplied the shards of Greed, Envy, and Pride.
• Murphy took the Shard of Fear from Laura and sent her back to battle as he prepared to unify Midnight.

Murphy began gathering the vampire clans’ inheritances to reach the Blood Ancestor’s power before Fattor could, despite the risk of his bloodline collapsing. After Fattor granted him the final inheritance, Murphy entered a blood cocoon, poised to emerge as the Scarlet Lord.

• Murphy reassembled the seven Original Sin tablets, unleashing ancestral memories that disrupted the vampires and players around him.
• Murphy received the Secret Blood, Blood Pact, Wolfsbane, and Thorn inheritances, while the Midnight Twins’ power kept his unstable bloodline moving toward its source.
• Edward fought Fattor to buy Murphy time, and Claire gave Murphy the Blood Pact Embrace before Adele tossed her aside.
• Murphy witnessed memories of the Night of Godslaying and confronted Fattor, who recognized that Murphy understood the curse of the Blood Ancestor’s power.
• Murphy told Fattor that Oor was safe and missed him, prompting Fattor to remember his past and grant Murphy the final vampire inheritance.
• Murphy’s hemolysis overwhelmed his body, and the Midnight Twins enveloped him in a blood cocoon as he began his transformation.