Chapter Summaries

Veylance’s attempt to impress Transian players with her humanoid charms backfired, while her spider form made her unexpectedly popular. After seeing how devoted the players were to Murphy, she began studying his methods, and the players discovered a mummy NPC in the labyrinth who needed help recovering civilization tablets.

• Veylance transformed into her Weaver Spider form and slaughtered the goatmen, but the players cheered instead of being frightened.
• Shengzhu, Bogan, and Ximu discussed raising Veylance’s favorability, and Veylance overheard them and misunderstood their intentions.
• The players escorted Veylance out of the labyrinth, then gathered to see her transform again after Shengzhu shared footage of her spider form.
• The players quickly abandoned Veylance to rush toward Murphy, prompting her to study the documents he had left and observe his influence over them.
• River East Lion’s Roar reported that the group had found a mummy NPC being attacked by goatmen, and that she offered a quest to recover civilization tablets.

Murphy sent Transian warriors into Baphomet's Great Dungeon to rescue captives and investigate a lead connected to the civilization tablet. After the players rescued a shackled mummy named Nefertari, she introduced herself as an envoy sent to help Murphy.

• Murphy issued a quest to rescue the dungeon's captives and bring them to safety, then charged into the dungeon with the players.
• Bernice stayed behind to establish a camp, while she scolded Lisa and the abandoned Villance mourned the players' rejection.
• Cat Bro and his brothers fought elite goatmen to protect a strange shackled girl, and Cat Bro carried her away when the group became overwhelmed.
• Shadow hounds knocked Cat Bro down and broke the girl's neck, but arriving players rescued them and Murphy pulled the girl back to her feet.
• The girl revealed she was Nefertari, an envoy sent by High Priest Bayek at Lord Paine's request, and asked Murphy to find glue for her loose eyeball.

Murphy learned from the waterlogged mummy priest Nefertari that Twilight’s forces had stolen a Gnoll civilization tablet and were threatening the Blood Dread Clan’s marines. He prepared to summon his clan and rescue them, while Nefertari agreed to lead him toward the danger.

• Murphy ordered George to search the dungeon maze for the missing players, while George and Ravenor went hunting after he let them slack off.
• Nefertari repaired her broken body in front of the camp, frightening away most onlookers, while A-Feng stayed to observe her.
• Murphy questioned Nefertari about her unusual happiness and learned that water was sloshing inside her skull and affecting her preserved brain.
• Nefertari revealed that the Gnoll civilization tablet had been taken by a Twilight-aligned Goatman Nightmare High Priest and was somewhere in Baphomet’s Great Dungeon.
• Nefertari warned Murphy that underground creatures were attacking the Blood Dread Clan’s marines and might be connected to Twilight’s search for civilization tablets.
• Murphy decided to summon his clan and rescue the marines, and Nefertari offered to lead him to them.

Murphy learned that the Blood Dread Clan had been trapped by Twilight cultists after refusing to join Transia’s defense, and he divided the rescue effort between Triss’s dungeon search and his own mission to save the clan. He summoned the Blood Eagle players, while Hogg prepared to enter Baphomet’s Great Dungeon as the “Wise Wolf.”

• Murphy explained to Triss that the Blood Dread Clan had chosen to cooperate with the Blood Alliance instead of coming to Transia, and that Nefertari’s stolen Civilization Tablet had led her and the pirates into a Twilight trap.
• Triss assigned herself and Palanno to search Baphomet’s Great Dungeon for the tablet, while Murphy, Femis, and Adele would rescue the trapped Blood Dread forces.
• Murphy issued a mandatory Vampire Race main quest summoning Blood Eagle players to gather at Gloomy Valley, and Kuailebang answered the call with Meliya.
• Femis tested the teleportation route by sending players through to Wolf Castle before leading the remaining vampires through the portal.
• Femis told Nash that Hogg would enter the dungeon with Triss, and Hogg handed Nash the chieftain’s scepter before departing as the “Wise Wolf.”

As vampire players celebrated the second chapter of their race’s main quest, human players flooded the feedback forum demanding a quest of their own, prompting Triss to recognize a major problem for Murphy’s game. In Baphomet Canyon, Triss warned Hogg that entering the underworld would bind its fate to Transia’s, but Hogg accepted the danger and chose to pursue greatness for its clan.

• Vampire players prepared to head for Shadow Valley as human players complained about the lack of a human race quest, and Triss’s feedback section filled with posts.
• Triss traveled through Crimson Rifts to Baphomet Canyon with Bonnie and assembled Hogg, Palanno, a vampire summoner, and Touch Me I'm Poor for the underworld expedition.
• Triss told Hogg that recovering its civilization tablet from a goatman Nightmare Priest would make it an enemy of a dangerous family, and offered to let it escape and forget everything.
• Hogg considered returning to an ordinary life but decided that the risks were worth the chance to save the gnolls and lead the Bloodclaw Clan to power.
• Hogg accepted the dangers of the alliance and welcomed being bound to Murphy, calling it an honor to become his dog.

Murphy prepared a rescue operation for the besieged Blood Dread Clan while he and Adele discussed her freedom and feelings for him. As the clan’s pirates launched a desperate counterattack, Murphy’s forces and other allies were set to join the fight.

• Adele reported that four hundred Blood Eagle vampires and fifty Shadowvale rangers were preparing to support Murphy’s operation, and Murphy praised her efforts.
• Adele admitted that the blood pact had once distorted her feelings for Murphy, and he explained how source blood had freed him from similar feelings toward Triss.
• Adele confessed that she had fallen for Murphy after regaining her senses, and Murphy told her he might consider her in a hundred years; Adele then spoke with Awen about the exchange.
• Adele reported that Count White Mountain and his faction wanted to join the rescue, while Murphy planned to rest before the operation.
• The Blood Dread pirates refused to rescue the comrades on their lost flank and joked about claiming their hidden treasure, until their captain ordered them to charge the cultists.
• The Blood Dread captain worried that his force was nearly exhausted and needed reinforcements as his pirates attacked the cultists.

Murphy and the player-led forces reached Blackflame Valley to rescue the besieged Blood Terror Clan, but Lord Qin warned that the war fog concealed a trap and organized a cautious approach. Murphy slipped into the valley and found the clan near defeat, then met its drunken captain, whose response left negotiations unsettled.

• Old Qu warned that dense war fog concealed a battle and blocked psionic messages, while Lady Water and Lord Qin suspected the attackers were hiding an ambush.
• Happy Rod changed the plan to wait for Blood Alliance reinforcements, and Lord Qin led hunters and assassins on armed reconnaissance while Murphy assigned Count White Mountain's Nightwalkers to him.
• The armies established a temporary position outside the valley, and Murphy flew ahead with Andrei to contact the Blood Terror Clan's leaders.
• Murphy discovered that the Twilight Faithful had seized most of the valley and forced the Blood Terror pirates into a battered fortress, where captured clan members hung from the walls.
• Murphy and Andrei entered the fortress and found the captain drunk and undressed; Murphy mocked him, prompting the surrounding sea dogs to laugh.

Murphy and Andrei met the Blood Dread Clan’s pirate leaders, Pablo and Claire, and established that cooperation would require them to follow orders. The pirates revealed that a swarm of deadly creatures had trapped them in the valley, and Murphy recognized the creatures as ratmen.

• Murphy and Andrei mocked Blood Captain Pablo before Claire explained that Pablo was an outsider whom the Blood Dread had chosen as their Grand Duke for saving them.
• Claire recounted the Blood Dread exiles’ survival at sea and declared her loyalty to Pablo, while Pablo revealed his Grand Duke’s seal.
• Murphy told Pablo and Claire that the Blood Eagles and Thornes would respect the Blood Dread’s heritage but expected the pirates to follow orders and stop playing games.
• Pablo and Claire argued over whose plan had trapped their forces in the valley before Pablo explained that creatures underground had destroyed their defenses and overwhelmed his troops.
• Claire showed Murphy and Andrei the piles of corpses and warned that the creatures carried deadly pathogens.
• Andrei mistook the creatures for rats, but Murphy identified them as ratmen and warned that they were in serious trouble.

Murphy negotiated with Captain Bloody Babro for his crew to follow his orders during the Black Calamity in exchange for helping them escape, while ratmen attacked the players and Bloodsworn forces from underground. The chapter ended as Cheche and the others faced swarms of ratmen flooding through the tunnels.

• Captain Bloody Babro described how ratmen had attacked his crew, and Murphy suspected their appearance was connected to the coming Black Calamity.
• Murphy explained that First Mate Claire could temporarily wield Golden-level power and asked her to use it in the coming battle.
• Murphy and Babro sealed a bet: Murphy would rescue the crew, and Babro would follow Murphy's orders during the Black Calamity if he succeeded.
• Scout Leader Qin and Yan Sang sensed tunnels beneath the players' position, but an underground assault collapsed the ground beneath Brother Bang's forces.
• Cheche and other players fell into the tunnels, where swarms of armed ratmen attacked them.

Murphy watched the vampire pirates use Dagon's symbols to repel the ratmen while the creatures attacked Transia's forces outside the valley. The players regrouped, fought through the tunnels, and prepared to destroy the ratmen with white phosphorus and an aerial bomb.

• Baburo and Claire explained that the pirates had used Dagon's symbols to stop the ratmen from tunneling into their trenches.
• Baburo warned Murphy that the ratmen had attacked Transia's positions, and Murphy trusted the players to handle the assault without intervening.
• Niu Niu, Meow Brother, Brother Bang, and the other players rallied the scattered defenders while Lord Qin led a tunnel charge with Sanfudou and Lan Hua.
• Lord Qin's assault squad fought through the ratmen's tunnels, allowing the trapped players and Blood Oath Knights to retreat to a safe distance.
• Happy Stick ordered the artillery crew to fire white phosphorus into the tunnels, and the burning ratmen panicked as Little Weiming prepared a saved aerial bomb.

The Transian forces caught the Twilight researchers trying to escape through the ratmen’s tunnels and fought their way toward the Explorer. Murphy and Claire cornered the Explorer, who transformed into a werewolf, but Bablo killed him with one shot from his holy relic, Midnight Luck.

• The Explorer ordered his cultists to abandon the failing ratmen assault and erase their laboratory before escaping through the tunnels with their research data.
• Cheche’s group blundered into the cultists’ escape route, and the Explorer attacked Yuan, killing him with three corrosive beams.
• The players and Blood Covenant knights fought the cultists and ratmen as Murphy arrived and called Claire underground to stop the escape.
• Claire broke through the ground with her Paragon power, then cut down most of the cultists before Murphy restored her to peak condition with Time Exile.
• The Explorer transformed into a werewolf and charged Murphy, but Bablo shot it apart with his Blood Dread holy relic, Midnight Luck.

After Murphy’s warriors rescued the Blood Dread pirates, he sent the players to hunt the fleeing ratmen and learned that they were rapidly adapting to warfare. Murphy examined Bablo’s relic, Midnight Good Fortune, extracted its blueprint, and unlocked a mechanical version for himself.

• Murphy offered Beast Within as a prize to the player who killed the most ratmen within three days, and the players charged into the tunnels to pursue them.
• The Blood Pact shield knight thanked Murphy for the rescue, agreed to report the Blood Dread Clan’s support for the coming war, and bought sample firearms for Lord Heather.
• Bablo warned Murphy that the ratmen were learning quickly and had likely fought organized sieges before, suggesting a new danger in the Dark Mountains.
• Murphy asked Bablo to inspect Midnight Good Fortune, and Bablo let him handle the Blood Dread relic after Murphy offered Necessary Evil in return.
• Murphy used the Myriad Manifestations Device to extract Midnight Good Fortune’s blueprint, unlocking its mechanical version, then invited Bablo to visit a casino.

Murphy rescued the Bloody Captain’s pirates, uncovered Dusk’s experiments and its infiltration of the Tower of Rings, and learned that Heru might have ties to the cult. At Baphomet Gorge, Velanse revealed that ratmen had destroyed Majewa City and driven her from her homeland.

• Murphy arranged care and shelter for the rescued pirates, sent Adele to prepare the Shadowy Half-Elves’ relocation, and received evidence from the suspected werewolf’s remains.
• Murphy examined a Maker-made injection device and the cultist’s diary, learning that Dusk’s Scholar faction had created ratmen and werewolves as weapons.
• Murphy discovered that Dusk had manipulated King Louis’s purge of the Tower of Rings, framed Lina Firm Anitara, and recruited mages including Paniel and possibly Heru.
• Murphy decided to investigate Heru’s possible ties to Dusk and seek the escaped Lina as an ally against the cult.
• At Baphomet Gorge, Velanse told Murphy that ratmen had destroyed Majewa City and asked where they had come from.

Murphy Embraced Vilanth, gaining a death-defying talent and the Shadow Spider Sword, then revealed his theory that Twilight’s agents had colluded with ratmen to destroy Mejewa. Vilanth accepted the alliance and left to find the traitor within her family.

• Vilanth described how ratmen tunneled into Mejewa and helped devastate the city alongside another power, while Murphy suspected a conspiracy.
• Murphy Embraced Vilanth, who survived through the Spider Lady’s protection, and gained Weaver’s Embrace and the Shadow Spider Sword.
• Murphy told Vilanth that Twilight had infiltrated Mejewa and likely used ratmen as part of a betrayal that brought down her city.
• Vilanth vowed to expose the traitor and seek the other Shadow Elf families’ help, while Murphy urged her to identify spies among her followers.
• Murphy sent Vilanth to recover her strength and bring her followers to Transia within five days, and she left determined to find the traitor.

The Tablet Expedition advanced through Baphomet's Great Dungeon, with Winnie explaining the risks and costs of summoning minotaurs to Touching Your Poverty. The group found the hidden church containing the gnolls' Tablet of Civilization, where the Bonechewer King urged them to retrieve it and offered to help Hogg become the gnolls' representative of civilization.

• Winnie summoned a minotaur and taught Touching Your Poverty about its gold-ring offering, the chance of summoning a lethal hell bull, and the costs of other powerful summons.
• Triss told the group that the minotaur had sensed danger, while Hogg used the Bonechewer King's whispers to guide them toward the tablet.
• The expedition reached a hidden church atop a stone pillar, and Hogg struggled against the Bonechewer King as it tried to take control of his mind.
• Triss helped Hogg yield control temporarily, allowing the Bonechewer King to reveal that the tablet was inside the church and offer to help Hogg represent gnoll civilization.
• Triss called the Bonechewer King Phile and warned it to behave; it agreed to cooperate after the tablet was retrieved and said the matter was important to both it and the Scarlet Witch.

Triss, Palanno, and their companions stormed the goatmen church to stop a Warp ritual and recover the gnoll Civilization Tablet. Murphy’s Omega program purified the church and destroyed the Corrupted priest, and the chapter ended with Murphy asking Hogg to explain himself before the recovered relic.

• Palanno smashed through the church doors and charged the servants conducting a blood ritual that was opening a connection to the Warp.
• Triss attacked the goatman priest while Hogg and Monyqiong tried to remove the Civilization Tablet, and the priest used a talisman to trap Palanno in Baphomet’s nightmare.
• The priest immobilized Hogg, Monyqiong, and the manticore, but Murphy’s Omega program released a purifying halo that freed the party and burned the Corrupted priest to death.
• Monyqiong brought the recovered Civilization Tablet to Murphy, who turned to Hogg and asked him to answer his questions.

Murphy questioned Phile, the Bone-Biting King, about the gnolls’ origins and the Golden Age, learning how Phile became their king and lost the Fourth Calamity. Phile also explained why Dusk sought the Pact of All Life and revealed that he had led its followers to a Creation Site.

• Murphy inspected the gnoll Civilization Stone Tablet and learned it could make Hogg the gnolls’ spokesperson and grant him an evolution.
• Phile revealed that he was a third-generation gnoll named Perfect, created in the Golden Age to lead the gnolls, and that he awoke after the Eden district had vanished.
• Phile described uniting the gnolls, binding himself to the Civilization Stone Tablet, and losing the Fourth Calamity before returning to his people’s original homeland.
• Phile explained that Dusk wanted the Pact of All Life so its followers could approach the Heart of the World without suffering the Creator’s punishment.
• Phile admitted that he had told Dusk about the first Creation Site it discovered and asked Murphy to send his soul to the Creation Engine after his death.

Murphy and Triss learned how the Bone-Biting King had encountered the Dusk and discovered their interest in the World's Heart, while Triss challenged his claim to serve the Creator. After the group acquired a valuable cursed grimoire, they confronted goatfolk cultists who let them leave rather than risk Murphy's purifying power.

• The Bone-Biting King explained that he had told an advance force where to find a Creator ruin, later refused to join the Dusk, and suspected they sought civilization tablets to reach the World's Heart.
• Murphy said Mannis had tasked him with helping the World's Heart ascend to godhood, and the Bone-Biting King suggested finding the Eye of the World to locate it.
• Triss accused Fierro of manipulating the gnolls and creating a corrupted Lord of the Hunt, and Fierro admitted his mistake before relinquishing control of Hogg.
• Triss identified the cultist's grimoire as a fragment of the Book of Ten Thousand Curses, and Murphy checked that it carried no dangerous power.
• Murphy, Triss, Hogg, and their allies faced a Nightmare High Priest and his goatfolk cultists, who ordered them out of Baphomet's underground palace.
• Murphy decided to accept the cultists' departure offer and leave with the grimoire rather than waste time fighting them.

Murphy assigned Winnie to map Baphomet’s grand dungeon and prepare it for future adventurers, while Touch Me Poor began his initiation task. At the Genesis Site, Hogg asked Murphy to secure the Filthy Swamp, Baphomet Canyon, and Barren Mountain for the gnolls, and Murphy ordered the underground laboratory restarted so Hogg could become their representative.

• Murphy appointed Winnie the Blood Eagle Clan’s permanent Maze Exploration Officer and promised to grant her a wish if she completed a map of Baphomet’s grand dungeon.
• Murphy assigned Touch Me Poor to organize a map of the dungeon’s upper levels, and Triss gave him a manual for summoning minotaurs.
• Triss brought Hogg, Knight Palanno, and the civilization slate to the Genesis Site, where Murphy learned the exhibition hall could hatch another Millennium Egg and restart its sealed biological laboratory.
• Triss warned that restarting the laboratory would weaken the sanctuary’s defenses, but Palanno pledged the Bloodbound Knights’ support for Hogg’s safety.
• Hogg agreed to try to become the Sage Gnoll and asked Murphy to secure the Filthy Swamp, Baphomet Canyon, and Barren Mountain as a homeland for his people.
• Murphy accepted Hogg’s request and ordered the underground biological laboratory restarted to prepare for Hogg’s spokesperson binding.

Murphy and his companions took Hogg to the Creator’s underground laboratory, where Hogg became the gnolls’ new civilization representative and gained enhanced intelligence. Hogg then bound itself to Murphy with the Geas of Eternal Life and prepared to build its influence among the Dark Mountains’ gnolls.

• Murphy, Triss, Hogg, and Palanno explored the geothermal machines beneath the Swamp Exhibition Hall and entered the reactivated biological laboratory.
• Murphy and Triss placed the gnoll civilization tablet in the certification device, and Hogg underwent the representative-binding process in the biological pod.
• Hogg chose intelligence as its enhancement, saw a vision of the first gnoll, and nearly answered the Hunting Lord’s call before Triss and Murphy snapped it out of the trance.
• Hogg resolved to seek out the Plagueblight Clan and Rending-Flesh in the Dark Mountains, while Murphy offered to take it to the Dark Valley and help it select godslayer warriors.
• Hogg asked Murphy to bind it with Lord Paine’s Geas of Eternal Life, and both of them crushed the bloodstones to complete the bond.
• Hogg privately addressed Murphy as the Messenger of the Creator and Sir Alpha.