Chapter Summaries

Transian bureaucrat players and construction workers defied the curfew to help the Blood Eagle Clan fight the Wolfsbane vampires, turning the sewer battle in their allies’ favor. As the Witch Hunters joined the fight, Natalie faced several Wolfsbane attackers and spoke with the Holy Blade.

• The Chosen Construction Worker and Bricklayer led workers and bureaucrat players to obtain weapons and Molotov cocktails, then headed for the sewers despite Meow Brother’s objections.
• Mud Truck rallied the group to defend their homes, and Meow Brother and the Old Church players followed by claiming the workers as Avalon Church followers.
• Moqiniung and Belly joined the battle, while Natalie led the Witch Hunters into the sewers to defend their holy land.
• Muddy Road Oil lured two Wolfsbane elites to the workers’ ambush, where gunfire and Molotov cocktails weakened them and let him strike one down.
• The workers’ ambushes spread through the sewers, and Natalie burned a Wolfsbane vampire with her sword before preparing to face four more.
• Natalie spoke with the Holy Blade Watcher as the Wolfsbane attackers closed in around her.

Murphy weakened Korando with summons and psionic lightning, but Andre arrived and asked to claim the Wolfbat as proof of his growing strength. Murphy yielded the fight to Andre, who faced Korando alone, determined to earn a place beside his sister.

• Murphy fought Korando, whose Wolfbat transformation gave him immense strength and regeneration, while George and Reyfano battled Korando’s summoned astral wolves.
• Korando’s claws and a spell banished Necessary Evil, but Murphy noticed that his attacks pushed Korando further into an uncontrollable animalistic state.
• Murphy summoned astral beasts to restrain Korando, then struck him with psionic lightning and took to the air to attack from a distance.
• Andre arrived with five frozen Wolfsbane hearts and asked Murphy to let him claim Korando so he could prove his growth and rebuild his faction.
• Murphy accepted Andre’s request, warned him of Korando’s danger, and left with Korando’s sword-cane.
• Andre faced the frost-covered Wolfbat and declared his ambition to become the shadow beneath his sister’s throne.

The Blood Eagles and their allies defeated Wolfsbane and Grayclaw in the sewer battle, though the victory came at heavy cost. Murphy praised the wounded Andre for killing Colando and gave him a weapon as the old feud entered a new phase.

• Mark Colando watched Loyalty Bro die in a bomb attack before Maxim, Adele, Dolores, and the players surrounded the Wolfsbane fighters.
• Femis sealed the fissure to the third cavern level, trapping the remaining gnolls, ghouls, and Wolfsbane warriors below.
• Murphy told Femis that the Blood Eagles had suffered severe casualties but had won, and he asked her to teach him psionic control techniques.
• Murphy revealed that Colando was dead and that Andre had won their duel; Andre had frozen Colando into a sculpture and taken his heart.
• Andre ordered Vista to deliver Colando's heart to Shani and the ice sculpture to his sister, then Murphy gave Andre a carved wolf-head cane sword.

Players and Blood Eagle allies defeated the Wolfsbane forces in the sewers, while Professor Chen collapsed a tunnel to kill the elites hiding inside. On Greeny Island, Lord Palanno confronted Old Edward over the Bloodclaw faction’s crimes, and Venerable Lord Pahng arrived with the instruments of midnight arbitration, leaving Edward in serious trouble.

• Meow Brother’s group surveyed the bloody sewer battlefield and learned that only thirty players had survived the Wolfsbane attack.
• Players gathered to hunt down the remaining Wolfsbane warriors, while Frostfang Claw announced a bounty for capturing them alive.
• Professor Chen used explosives to collapse a tunnel, killing thirty-seven Wolfsbane elites and impressing Kuder, Murphy, and Femis.
• Old Edward sensed Kolando’s death and celebrated, believing it would erase the Bloodclaw faction’s threat.
• Lord Palanno confronted Old Edward over Kolando’s collusion with gnolls and his theft of the Cato region’s defense plans.
• Venerable Lord Pahng entered with Third Lady Ivette, carrying the Eternal Silence spear and a bloodstone cross, and left Old Edward alarmed.

Lord Pain interrogated Edward Spencer Gangrel about Salokdar, the subspace rift, and the hidden organization Dusk, then warned him to stay away from subspace. Edward confessed that he had exploited Salokdar’s plan to create a vampire god, and the chapter ended with him accepting Lord Pain’s orders and making armor as a gift for those who had dealt with Corando.

• Lord Pain arrived at Edward’s study with the Holy Spear Eternal Silence and demanded to know how involved Edward was in Salokdar’s plan and the subspace rift beneath Transia.
• Edward confessed that Cecilia’s memories had revealed Dusk’s role in manipulating Salokdar into trying to create a Midnight God, and that he had helped the plan proceed to weaken the Blood Eagle Clan.
• Lord Pain accused Edward of knowing that subspace had tempted Salokdar, and Edward admitted that the ancient vampires were haunted by scattered memories of their origins and an original sin.
• Lord Pain revealed that Dusk was real, ordered Edward to avoid subspace, and reminded him that their first vampires had sworn to preserve civilization together.
• Lord Pain told Edward to monitor Cecilia and urged him to reward the Blood Eagle Clan; Edward promised to defend the Cato region and later began crafting armor as a gift for those who had eliminated Corando.

Lord Payn ordered the Blood Dread Clan to send an army of atonement to help defend Transia, trusting Murphy to lead them. When Laenniya delivered the news, Murphy protested that his territory already had too many vampire factions to manage and turned his attention back to the approaching gnoll threat.

• Lord Payn praised Murphy's leadership after hearing how the Blood Eagles, Witch Hunters, Thorn Clan, and Scarlet Castle residents defeated the Wolfsbane vanguard without Triss fighting.
• Lord Payn ordered Ivette to contact the Blood Dread Fleet and send a reliable force to Transia, giving the exiled clan a chance to atone for its ancient crimes.
• Lord Payn decided to let Kolando's daughters and the Gray Claw children travel to Transia, leaving their fate to Murphy.
• Laenniya told Murphy that the Blood Dread Clan would come to Transia and that he was ordered to command its army of atonement.
• Murphy complained about managing the many vampire clans in his territory, then warned Laenniya that the gnolls might soon attack and prepared to fight them.

The players discussed the vampires, the game’s population-linked player slots, and a newly unlocked way for vampire players to learn skills from Vampire Hearts. As gnolls crossed the Cadman River toward Scarlet Keep, warlord Kenport ordered his forces to seize the weakened city and declared his intent to become King of Transia.

• Players debated the combat strengths of the vampire clans and theorized that future player slots depended on Transia’s population.
• Honored Knight Taipal and Legendary Hero arranged for the Rapids Knights to travel through the Interworld Gate to aid Transia.
• Chen Dian Niu Niu Not Afraid of Difficulty reported that vampire players could learn skills by extracting them from Vampire Hearts.
• Bricklayer announced that six thousand blood thralls would soon return from Nordtov, potentially opening more player slots.
• Healthcare God of War Saien filmed tens of thousands of gnolls crossing the Cadman River toward Scarlet Keep.
• Kenport blamed the weakened Blood Eagle forces for his opportunity and ordered the Transian gnolls to take Scarlet City before marching on Cato.

Murphy and his allies prepared to defend Scarlet Castle from a twenty-thousand-strong gnoll vanguard while planning an astral rift and a decapitation strike against the enemy camp. Triss gave Murphy a risky prototype Return Scroll to speed his warriors’ return, leaving the city’s leaders to face the coming attack while its barrier cores powered the operation.

• Triss activated three psionic cores to raise a single-layer Serenade Barrier around Scarlet Castle.
• Maxim outlined the plan to harass the gnoll vanguard, overload the cores to create an astral rift in the main camp, and let Murphy lead a decapitation strike against Kenport.
• Murphy said reinforcements from the mountain tribes would join him, while the city’s defenders would have to hold out with the barrier down for one to three hours.
• Raennia doubted the plan’s chances and offered to join the dangerous strike, but Murphy told her to stay and help defend the city.
• Triss gave Murphy her prototype Return Scroll, which could bring one to three people back to a bound save point but carried a small risk of stranding them in the astral plane.

Murphy prepared Scarlet Keep for the approaching gnoll siege while discussing defenses, supplies, and the risks of the coming battle. Triss comforted him and promised to wait for his return, while admitting she liked him.

• Triss persuaded Murphy to use the players to test psychic spells, and Murphy requested at least 200 return scrolls.
• Murphy told Mirian the gnoll vanguard would reach Morland Village within six hours and ordered preparations to shelter the growing population in Scarlet Keep.
• Mirian reported that Chauvin had returned with muskets, ammunition, and eight cannons, and Murphy ordered more weapons and veteran specialists recruited after the calamity.
• Murphy worried to Triss that Lord Paine had sent the Blood Dread pirates to support them, and Triss said she would handle the vampire matter.
• Triss listened to Murphy's thoughts, kissed him, and promised to stay in Scarlet Keep until his triumphant return, while saying she only liked him so far.

As players prepared for the Battle of the Andmar Hills, they discussed raid quests and tactics, including a hidden mission to find the agent Pangolin. Meanwhile, Hogg prepared a blood-red crystal hidden in an axe and arranged for Nash to carry it, then gave a small gnoll Nash’s name as the story left the sabotage plan in motion.

• Murphy posted reconnaissance footage of the gnoll camp and the players compared raid quests from their faction leaders.
• Yaya shared Lady Dorothy’s hidden quest to find Pangolin, and the players argued over the Easter eggs before Banzai Happy Stick organized a tactical discussion.
• Hogg prepared a blood-red crystal Murphy had given him and concealed it inside a double-headed axe intended for Kenport’s camp.
• Hogg gave the axe to Nash, who planned to keep serving Kenport, and watched him leave with relief.
• Hogg met a small gnoll and renamed him Nash.

Lady Triss gathered Scarlet Keep’s psionics users to overload the Serenade Barrier’s cores and open an Astral Rift over the gnoll camp. As the barrier fell and the defenders prepared to face the vanguard, Murphy and 140 players entered the camp, where an astral bombardment began with an explosion near King Kenport’s tent.

• Car and Leading Pigeon answered Triss’s call, joining the players and Scarlet Keep’s other psionics users beneath the Scarlet Corridor.
• Triss explained that the ritual would overload the Serenade cores and create an Astral Rift over the gnoll camp, and the psionics users took their casting positions.
• Triss and Femis activated the ritual, causing Scarlet Keep’s barrier to fade as the local defenders prepared to meet the gnoll vanguard.
• Femis opened portals to the gnoll camp, and Murphy led 140 players through after they killed a gnoll who crossed into the Blood Eagle Corridor.
• Nash noticed his axe glowing near King Kenport’s tent, and a deafening explosion swallowed him as the Astral Rift’s destruction began.

Murphy and 140 players launched the Decisive Battle at the Andmar Hills raid after Triss’s Astral Rift devastated the gnoll camp, killing thousands and shattering many survivors’ minds. The attack left victory within reach, though Femis warned that Kenport and his protected elite forces might still resist.

• Triss’s Astral Rift tore through the gnoll encampment, killing thousands and filling the area with tainted astral energy.
• Murphy sheltered the players from the first blast, then summoned George and more than forty astral wolves to charge into the shadows.
• Murphy ordered the players to attack, officially beginning the Decisive Battle at the Andmar Hills raid.
• Murphy found a gnoll brute begging for death and killed it to end its psychic torment.
• Femis warned Murphy that Kenport’s core elite and hunting priests could resist the astral assault by protecting their minds.
• Femis told Murphy that she and Triss feared the rift’s effect on Transia’s ecology, not the deaths of the gnolls, and called Murphy unusually kindhearted by vampire standards.

Murphy’s players divided into three teams to attack the gnoll camp, but a missed watchtower let Kenpot Bonechewer escape through the defenders’ first line and cost the raiders a reward chest. As the players rushed to recover, Meow Brother joined the fight with a bloodthirsty treant and renewed his ambition to become a Red Knight.

• The players split into an assault team led by Banzai Happy Stick, a supply-destruction team led by Meow Brother, and a quest team tasked with finding the pangolin and establishing a faction.
• Banzai Happy Stick judged that the mindless gnolls could be defeated through coordinated attacks and ordered players to draw enemies into the open for bombardment.
• Murphy ordered Femis to leave Kenpot an escape route, then had her ignite a southern watchtower to pressure the players after they missed their deadline.
• A notification announced that Kenpot Bonechewer had broken through Countess Andermar’s first defense line, while Femis withheld one instance reward and the extra drops fell from three to two.
• Banzai Happy Stick blamed Meow Brother for missing the watchtower, and Meow Brother admitted the mistake before continuing to burn the gnolls’ supplies.
• Meow Brother summoned a bloodthirsty treant with Nature’s Call and charged the gnolls, vowing to pursue his path to becoming a Red Knight.

The Silvermoon Pride group met Hogg, the operative codenamed "Pangolin," and considered whether to help him build a gnoll faction in Transia. They accepted his quest, and Hogg proposed killing the clan chieftains held in Kenport Bonegnaw’s guard so the remaining gnolls could be shaped into a more compliant group.

• The administrative players fought through the gnoll camp while Professor Chen resisted his apprentices’ attempts to keep him out of combat.
• Frostfang's Claw led the group to Hogg, who explained that Kenport Bonegnaw’s death would plunge the gnoll camp into chaos.
• The quest "The Birth of a Clan" updated, asking the players to hear Hogg’s proposal and decide whether to help him.
• The administrators debated the risks of supporting a gnoll faction and agreed to accept the quest, with Little Ashina arguing to keep Hogg alive.
• Hogg asked the players to kill the gnoll chieftains serving in Kenport Bonegnaw’s personal guard so the remaining gnolls could be organized under Murphy’s rule.

Hogg recruited Lord Murphy’s warriors to hunt rival gnoll chieftains in exchange for mounts, while he organized the Bloodclaw Clan’s escape from Kenport’s chaotic camp. After killing a wounded guard and spreading news of Kenport’s death, Hogg left the other gnolls fleeing and looked toward the possibility of becoming the Bonechewer King’s heir.

• Hogg offered the warriors Ridgetooth Hyenas as rewards for hunting three rival gnoll chieftains, and the players accepted the bounty quest.
• The players headed toward the battle zone while Frostfang's Claw delivered Murphy’s edict granting Smugglers' Grove to the Bloodclaw Clan under Lady Adele’s administration.
• Hogg rallied his clan, ordered them to seize supplies and recruit gnolls, and sent Nash to escort the clan’s females and pups to Smugglers' Grove.
• Nash revealed that he knew where rival chieftains had hidden valuables, and Hogg ordered him to dig them up to fund future rewards.
• Hogg killed a wounded Kenport guard, put on his armor, and spread the false news that Kenport was dead so the camp’s gnolls would flee.

Happy Stick and the players rushed to defend Kuder’s second line and confronted the Silver-tier gnoll warlord Kenport Bonechewer. As the players fought Kenport and others hunted the wanted gnolls, Murphy arranged rewards for their efforts and Kuder offered to retrieve prized weapons from his homeland.

• Happy Stick and Meow Brother discussed finishing Hog’s wanted-list quest, reaching the dungeon boss, and how to divide its loot.
• After Murphy ordered Kuder to withdraw, the players arrived in time to protect the second line of defense and surrounded Kenport.
• Reed Name’s bullets failed against Kenport’s hunting blessing, and Kenport’s sweeping flail badly injured or killed several players.
• Meow Brother and Lady Water healed the survivors, while Great Shark and Wanderer Zhou urged weaker players to retreat and hunt other wanted gnolls.
• Murphy sent Femis and Kuder to support Scarlet Castle, took Kuder’s crimson greatsword as a reward for the players, and told Kuder that legendary equipment would appeal to them.
• Kuder agreed to retrieve his former ranger-knight weapons from Nant, while Murphy remained to deal with Kenport.

The players defeated Ken Porter after a coordinated fight that turned against him when his bestial transformation left him vulnerable to aerial attacks. They claimed his loot and Murphy’s reward chests, while Hog escaped with Ken Porter’s injured dire wolf; the war at Crimson Castle remained unresolved.

• Ken Porter broke through the shield fighters and nearly killed Madam Water, but Professor Chen’s gargoyle and the players’ reinforcements kept their formation from collapsing.
• Xiao Weiming knocked Ken Porter’s helmet off, and Stinky Treasure poisoned him, allowing Frostfang’s Claw and the other players to disarm and overwhelm him.
• Ken Porter purged the poison and transformed into a stronger beast, but the players kept their distance and wore him down with attacks from the air.
• Ka Qituoni struck Ken Porter from above, Yaya poisoned him with bone daggers, and Brother Cat decapitated him as the players celebrated their dungeon clear.
• Hog watched Ken Porter die, then approached his injured dire wolf with meat and a healing potion before leaving the encampment.
• The players collected Ken Porter’s equipment, and Murphy presented them with two treasure chests while reminding them that Crimson Castle was still under siege.

Murphy oversaw the players’ random distribution of Kenport’s loot before returning toward Scarlet Castle, where the defense was holding and northern allies had arrived. Cheche died after his return scroll sent him to a dangerous place in the astral realm, and Murphy led the players to meet Knight Valand and the Sico heavy cavalry.

• Murphy activated random loot rolls to distribute Kenport’s belongings and promised the players they could search the camp after the fighting at Scarlet Castle ended.
• Sister Pomegranate, Professor Chen, Niu Niu, and other players won valuable weapons and equipment, while the players prepared to return to the castle.
• Murphy contacted Hog Bonechewer and allowed the gnoll to keep one-third of the spoils, then returned to the Blood Vulture Corridor with a scroll.
• Cheche’s return scroll sent him to the astral realm, where a huge snake killed him; his Calculation Orb returned with a recording of his final cries.
• Maxim reported that Scarlet Castle’s defenses were holding, and Adele reported strange signals from the north.
• Murphy contacted Knight Valand, learned that the Sico cavalry was coming to support them, and led the players toward the battlefield.

Valand and the Sico Winged Cavalry charged the gnolls attacking Scarlet Keep, while the young Count of Sico joined them and rallied the knights to overcome the shame of their past defeat. Their charge broke through the gnoll formation as they began reclaiming the Winged Cavalry’s lost glory.

• Valand and Lady Sunny prepared five hundred Winged Cavalry knights to charge the gnoll vanguard at Scarlet Keep.
• Valand urged the knights to hold their heads high, but the young Count of Sico spoke to them about their past defeat and their duty to fight.
• The young Count of Sico ordered the knights to follow her and charge as the cavalry spread their psionic wings and accelerated.
• Valand led the Winged Cavalry into the gnolls, killing a brute captain and tearing through their formation.

The Winged Cavalry shattered the gnoll vanguard’s morale, allowing Transia’s defenders to launch a counterattack and rout the attackers. Murphy planned to force captured gnolls into labor while pursuing a darker plan to reduce their numbers before the Black Calamity, as Happy Stick decided he wanted to become a cavalryman.

• The Winged Cavalry charged through the gnoll formation twice, splitting it and sending much of the vanguard fleeing.
• Little Ashina attacked the panicked gnolls, while Maxim, Adele, the Witch Hunters, and the Bloodsworn Knights led Transia’s counterattack.
• Murphy realized Countess Sickle’s Winged Cavalry had dwindled to 475 riders and discussed using captured gnolls to build a major road.
• Murphy demanded that gnolls surrender and revealed his plan to domesticate them, while Triss objected and struck fleeing troops with a dimensional meteorite.
• Happy Stick declared that he wanted to become a cavalryman, and his companions teased him about his many ideas of romance.