Chapter Summaries

Murphy considered the Silver Trial and urged Maxim to gather more Ancestral Powers before completing it. After Adele persuaded Maxim to help her with her plans for Murphy and the Blood Eagle Clan, gnolls approached Blackflame Pass, prompting Murphy to send the players into battle.

• Murphy concluded that players who gathered more Ancestral Powers before completing the Silver Trial could become elite Silvers, then learned that Maxim had already awakened three.
• Maxim described his Ancestral Powers, and Murphy gave him Scarlet Arcana notes and urged him to seek six powers before completing the trial.
• Maxim confronted Adele for severing her blood pact with Murphy, but let her go after she explained that she wanted to get closer to Murphy through love.
• Adele asked Maxim to turn the valley's half-elves into vampires when needed and to help pressure Kudel to choose a side; Maxim said he needed time to think.
• Laenia reported gnolls near Blackflame Pass, and Maxim hurried to reinforce her with several vampires.
• After learning a gnoll vanguard was approaching Blackflame Pass, Murphy summoned the players to join the battle and assess their strength against the Black Calamity.

Murphy used safe Astral teleportation to send Transian players into the battle at Blackflame Pass, where they fought a powerful gnoll vanguard. After the players’ near-suicidal counterattack and the arrival of the Westco Winged Cavalry destroyed the gnolls, Murphy told Lady Heather that Transians would sacrifice themselves for victory and claimed the area for his forces.

• More than a dozen portals appeared at Blackflame Pass, sending Transian players into the fight, while Mannis returned eight lost travelers to the battlefield.
• Qin and seven companions formed a defensive ring, but the gnolls’ strength and discipline trapped the players as the retainers regrouped behind their shield-and-spear line.
• With the players facing heavy losses, Qin urged them to drink Victory Wine and fight to the end; the boost and their reckless charges broke the gnoll encirclement.
• Three hundred Westco Winged Cavalry arrived and smashed the gnoll vanguard as the surviving players continued their attack.
• Murphy asked Lady Heather whether his warriors had proved themselves, then said Transians accepted sacrifice for victory and claimed the area for his forces.

After the Winged Cavalry’s victory, Punching Mama died fighting gnolls, inspiring the Bloodsworn Auxiliaries to return to battle. The developers then announced a twenty-day Arena of Death event to defend a banner, and players began discussing its rules and joining up.

• The Bloodsworn commander tried to save Punching Mama, but Punching Mama used the last of his Victory Brew to attack a gnoll hunter and died before the commander killed it.
• The commander honored Punching Mama’s courage and rallied the auxiliaries to keep fighting the gnolls.
• Punching Mama bragged on the forum about his kill count, while Kamen Rider complained that the system had branded him a Reserve Deserter; Banzai Happy Stick explained the rules and assigned him to collect players’ drops.
• Brother Stick returned to Blackflame Pass, where the auxiliaries saluted him, then read the developers’ announcement for the twenty-day Arena of Death event and its banner-defense, rotation, and support-point rules.
• Players discussed the event’s rewards and NPC support costs, and Chenlong revealed that the Unfallen Pride guild had joined the game and planned to compete.

Murphy organized Transian supporters to buy time and build the people’s reputation, while warning Kudel that he feared the Black Calamity would go badly. After vampires and other forces raised banners over a mound of gnoll heads, the provocation drew a gnoll vanguard to the arena of death, where Meow Brother’s First Battle Group prepared to defend its ground.

• Murphy explained the strategic need for the deadly contest and urged the supporters to help Transia’s warriors, while Captain Pablo and Andre considered what the battle meant for their reputations and ambitions.
• Peachy insisted on joining the fighting, so Murphy made her a temporary quartermaster carrying the Torrent Knights’ banner and assigned her to manage spoils.
• Kudel thanked Murphy for protecting Peachy, and Murphy warned him that he had found clues suggesting the Black Calamity would turn out badly.
• Vampires built a tower of gnoll heads and planted Transian banners on the battlefield, prompting retainers from several groups to add their own banners and spoils.
• Gnolls returned in force, and Meow Brother led the roughly five-hundred-player First Battle Group into position as Rich Bro warned that the enemy was approaching.

Popok led his remaining troops to attack the Transian defenders at Bloodflag Highland, where the players defeated his force and he barely escaped. Nash, a gnoll from Transia, secretly approached the wounded Popok and urged him to bring powerful reinforcements, setting him up to carry intelligence back to his leaders.

• Popok dismissed his scout captains' advice to wait for reinforcements and marched toward Blackflame Pass with five companies.
• Popok saw the gnoll heads displayed beneath a blood-red flag and charged the Transian defenders at Bloodflag Highland.
• Meow Brother and the players used cannons, mines, and coordinated attacks to repel Popok's troops, though the Black-Eye elites briefly broke their line.
• The players defeated most of Popok's force, but Popok escaped the battlefield on his dire wolf.
• Nash identified himself as the new chieftain of the Bloodclaw Clan, offered Popok herbs and intelligence about Transia, and urged him to request elite reinforcements.

The Whiptail Chieftain sent Hurley to attack the Transians at Blackflame Pass while keeping the clan’s elite forces from being sacrificed in the campaign. At a meeting of the great clans, the Bloodstain priest revealed that the Chieftain of the Hunt was close to becoming a real god, and the gnolls agreed to target Brass Fortress.

• Hurley told the aging Whiptail chieftain that Popok Blackeye’s scouts had been defeated by Transians defending Blackflame Pass.
• The Whiptail chieftain ordered Hurley to gather scouts and attack the Transians, but told him to prioritize his survival and join the clan’s forces if needed.
• The Whiptail chieftain joined the other clan leaders as Gelman Bonechewer argued for an assault on Brass Fortress and Potana insisted on attacking Blackflame Pass.
• The Bloodstain priest revealed that the Chieftain of the Hunt was taking form and that the gnolls needed a major war to provide faith for the god’s ascension.
• Gelman Bonechewer rallied the leaders to capture Brass Fortress and claim the wealth of the dwarves and halflings.

At the Brass Fortress, Lord Paine brought Hogg before the continent’s rulers to propose ending the Black Calamities by addressing the gnolls’ future. Hogg won their attention with a forceful appeal, and Hadlan pledged the Brass Dwarves to the campaign against the newborn evil god.

• Lord Paine explained the Brass Fortress’s defenses and the halflings’ vulnerability to Hogg, then prepared it to address the gathered rulers.
• Bannock Earthforce escorted Lord Paine and Hogg to the throne hall, where the dwarven High Lords and the kings’ psychic projections awaited them.
• Lord Paine confirmed Hogg’s status as the representative of gnoll civilization, while King Louis and the Wolf Queen questioned its authority and its ties to Lord Murphy.
• Hogg warned the rulers that the fifth Black Calamity had begun and argued that repeated wars would continue until the gnolls could join civilization.
• Hadlan praised Hogg’s speech and declared that the Brass Dwarves would join the campaign against the evil god.

The First Battle Group endured three days defending Bloodflag Heights before an elite gnoll assault nearly overwhelmed them, forcing Meow Brother to spend support points on reinforcements. The winged cavalry and airborne fighters helped turn the battle, but the group suffered devastating losses and prepared to rotate out.

• Word of the Transians' defense at Bloodflag Heights spread across the front, inspiring Lady Heather's retainers to establish seven more outposts and fight the gnolls.
• Exhausted after three days of fighting, Meow Brother agreed to rotate out after one more battle, but elite gnoll hunters attacked and killed many defenders.
• Meow Brother spent 1,200 support points to summon vampires, Thornstalker nightwalkers, and winged cavalry, then ordered the cavalry to charge through the defenders to stop the gnolls.
• Murphy and Andre descended onto the heights and helped the reinforcements stabilize the defense while Meow Brother held a Silver hunter until the cavalry struck it down.
• Fire Bro killed the wounded Silver gnoll, then detonated his explosives and charged other gnolls after his wife was killed; the battle left only forty-five members of the First Battle Group alive.
• A-Cha decided to log off after the survivors assessed their losses and the group prepared to leave the heights.

Qin turned Blood Banner Heights into a layered trench defense, and the Second Regiment repelled several gnoll attacks with mines, crossbows, firearms, and coordinated counterattacks. After a Silver gnoll broke through and caused heavy losses, Qin realized the battle’s special NPC summons were meant to counter powerful individual enemies.

• Qin ordered the Second Regiment to dig trenches, organize firing positions, and hold Blood Banner Heights for at least three days.
• Lin led a team that planted mines, while Lumina arranged six rapid-fire Hunter Crossbows to cover the approaches.
• The Second Regiment used mines, explosives, crossbows, and gunfire to repel a nighttime gnoll attack without losses, then chased the fleeing enemies.
• A later raid led by a Silver gnoll broke through the defenses, and Meow Brother and four companions killed it after more than twenty newbies died.
• At dawn, Qin examined the regiment’s support points and realized that special NPC summons could counter enemy powerhouses, while Old Baldwin admired the trench defense.

Old Qin’s Second Battle Group held Blood Banner Heights through increasingly dangerous gnoll attacks, while Happy Stick planned the Third Battle Group’s defenses and warned that the Black Calamity would escalate. After the Second Battle Group suffered heavy losses, Old Qin prepared to hand over the position, and Happy Stick began to suspect that Qin’s family had arranged for veterans to join his regiment.

• Old Qin used support points to summon Bella and Lady Bernice, then had their skeletons help finish the trenches and minefields before the Second Battle Group repelled another gnoll attack.
• Happy Stick ordered the Third Battle Group to prepare terrain-changing defenses and discussed support heroes, predicting that stronger gnoll units and eventually a major boss would appear.
• Gnoll hunting priests used Bloodlust and Ranged Immunity totems to overwhelm the defenders, and forty inexperienced players sacrificed themselves to kill the priests and blunt the attack.
• After the battle left only 307 defenders, Old Qin and Happy Stick discussed countermeasures, support choices, and the planned midnight handover.
• Old Qin hinted that he might not have retired, prompting Happy Stick to suspect that Qin’s family was quietly placing veterans in his regiment; Fish on the Clock then delivered the defensive blueprints.

Hurley took command of the gnoll forces after Bobok’s disastrous attacks on Bloodflag Heights and redirected the Filthclaw Clan toward the front. Nash persuaded Bobok that Hurley was testing his loyalty and urged him to prove himself, while Bobok remained wary of joining Lord Sagewolf’s cause.

• Hurley stopped himself from executing Bobok, reprimanded the gnoll warlords, and learned that Bloodflag Heights and Blackflame Pass’s defenses had stalled their advance.
• Hurley suspended the warlords’ authority and ordered the Filthclaw Clan to fight, assigning Bobok to guide them to Bloodflag Heights.
• Nash told Bobok that the Whiptail warlords had used him to weaken their rivals and that Hurley might value his usefulness.
• Bobok realized Hurley was sending him against the Rendingclaw Clan’s vassals, and Nash urged him to demonstrate loyalty by targeting a nuisance with swamp giant snake venom.
• Bobok returned the poison to Nash and said he would consider serving Lord Sagewolf, while Nash asked him to introduce Lord Sagewolf to his politically astute father if he survived.

Old Qin’s Second Battalion nearly lost Bloodflag Heights to a coordinated Filthy Claw Clan assault, but Adele’s intervention helped them survive until the Third Battalion arrived. As the exhausted defenders were relieved, Chieftain Filthy Claw dismissed the attack as a probe while considering how to break the Transians’ position.

• Filthy Claw Clan elites, priests, hunters, and assassins overwhelmed the Second Battalion’s defenses, leaving fewer than a hundred players alive and threatening the battle flag.
• Old Qin spent 2,000 support points to summon Adele, who killed the enemy priests and hunted down gnoll forces with her ancestral powers.
• Niu Niu activated Blood Thirst and charged into the enemy ranks, while Adele’s attack ended the gnolls’ Bloodlust and helped the defenders break their morale.
• Happy Bang’s Third Battalion arrived to relieve the Second Battalion, and Old Qin saluted Bloodflag Heights before preparing to fight again.
• Bobok Blackeye urged Chieftain Filthy Claw to call reinforcements and use dependent tribes as cannon fodder, but the chieftain said the assault had only been a probe.

Murphy returned from Blackflame Pass to Transia and helped prepare the territory for the coming war, while Mirian revealed her resolve to become a vampire and lead its defense. The chapter left her asking Murphy for a jar of source blood so she could make that sacrifice.

• Happy Stick took command at Blackflame Pass and began clearing the battlefield and upgrading its defenses while Murphy left Femis in charge and returned to Transia.
• Murphy met Triss, who explained that Nefertari needed specialized help after her psychological distress and that they would soon travel with her to Xike City.
• Murphy saw Old Chen, Ilyich, and Mother Marian overseeing construction of the Midnight Tower before meeting Mirian at the administrative office.
• Mirian outlined wartime requisitions, mobilization, and harsh penalties for deserters, including hangings and assignment to a penal battalion.
• Mirian told Murphy she had accepted Transia’s vampire legacy and asked him for source blood so she could become a vampire and defend the land as its commander.

Triss received Julia and Finley, learned that Moran had likely been murdered amid the Abyssal City's political turmoil, and agreed to mentor Julia and help the Dark Roots establish themselves in Transia. She left Julia and Finley with a choice between rebuilding their strength in Transia and returning to reclaim the Abyssal City, while promising an eventual expedition to avenge Moran.

• Julia and Finley visited Triss, and Finley gave her clawed gauntlets made from the remains of mysterious giant beasts that had begun threatening the Abyssal City.
• Finley revealed that Moran had died after a conflict of ideals, and Julia suspected the city lord Samork had arranged her death with mysterious outsiders.
• Julia offered Triss the key to the Abyssal Vault in exchange for help reclaiming the Dark Roots, but Finley rebuked her and asked Triss to take Julia as her student.
• Triss agreed to mentor Julia, let the Dark Roots study the Book of Ten Thousand Curses, and tasked them with helping create a Transian psionic system.
• Triss offered Julia and Finley a future in Transia and promised to lead an expedition to avenge Moran and recover the Abyssal Vault.
• Finley volunteered to return to the Abyssal City to recruit curse-mages for Transia, while Julia revealed that she had hidden Moran's key in the mountains.

Murphy returned to the ruins and learned about Old Flywheel’s goldflame work, his automaton apprentices, and his connection to the psychic master Amia Little Bach Vaslamp. After suspecting that Little Bach might be tied to Dusk’s plot against the Tower of Rings, Murphy used the Explorer’s diary to pressure Flywheel into arranging a meeting with her.

• Murphy found Molly guarding a mining walker and learned from her that Old Flywheel had built it and that goldflame refining had been discovered by his mentor, Professor Old Bach Vaslamp.
• Molly revealed that she and her sister Dina had died in an explosion caused by Flywheel and had later been revived as steam automatons.
• Old Flywheel showed Murphy semi-finished goldflame and proposed selling it through Transia’s black market, while Murphy bargained for a larger share and suggested bringing Flywheel’s old flame and her business to the city.
• Flywheel explained that he had once owned the Avalon relic Sacred Leaf, which he had sold to a friend in Chardo Port and which was later bought by elves.
• Murphy recognized Little Bach as Amia Little Bach Vaslamp, a master of the Tower of Rings, and suspected she might be connected to Dusk.
• Murphy showed Flywheel the Explorer’s diary and held him until he agreed to arrange a meeting with Little Bach, warning that her life could be in danger.

Murphy, Triss, and Nefetari entered Xike City, where Nefetari summoned a three-headed hound to drive back the undead. On the way, Murphy pressed Triss about Luna’s hidden past, and Triss revealed that she had rescued Luna from imprisonment in the Elven Royal Court.

• Triss complained that Murphy had given Mirian source blood, and Murphy explained that Mirian had chosen to become a vampire.
• Nefetari was thrown out of the astral plane, then accused Triss of causing her bad luck before Murphy calmed her and blamed a curse from the Bloodfear Relic.
• Nefetari summoned the three-headed hound Sanchez, which drove the undead back into hiding as it charged through Xike City.
• Murphy asked Triss what Luna had learned in the Moonlit Holy City, and Triss said Luna may have returned to the Land of Origins after faking her death.
• Murphy suspected someone in the Moonlit Holy City had sheltered Luna and asked Triss about her origins.
• Triss said Luna was a half-elf who had been imprisoned in the Elven Royal Court, and that she had rescued her while fleeing after stealing the Elven Holy Grail.

Murphy and his companions reached the frozen castle in Xike City and discovered that the Ice Coffin could be opened with elemental magic. Nefertari agreed to teach Murphy’s warriors in exchange for access to a Site of Creation, and the group prepared to enter the castle and meet the old earl and his wife.

• Murphy found the castle sealed inside an Ice Coffin and decided against forcing his way in after Necessary Evil barely cracked the ice.
• Nefertari identified the barrier as a composite spell and explained that the people of Sanghai preserved elemental magic alongside their distinct forms of psionic energy.
• Murphy’s detection spell revealed that Nefertari was a shaman as well as a mummy priest, and that the underworld’s consciousness was observing him through her.
• Nefertari accidentally burned an entrance through the Ice Coffin when Murphy offered miraculous artifacts as payment for teaching his warriors.
• Murphy promised to take Nefertari to a Site of Creation after she trained a hundred Black Iron apprentices, and she asked him to visit the Land of Origin after the Black Calamity.
• Murphy, Triss, and Nefertari prepared to enter the castle and meet the old earl and his wife.

Murphy, Triss, and Nefertari discovered that Count and Countess Xike Maier were being transformed into undead rulers as part of Twilight’s plan to turn Xike City into a holy city of death. Nefertari calmed the couple and delayed the ritual, leaving Murphy and Triss three months to find its source and shared phylactery before the city’s transformation became irreversible.

• Murphy brought Nefertari and Triss into the ruined castle, where Nefertari warded them against the Netherworld’s influence before they entered the library.
• Nefertari used Moon of Death rites to calm Count Xike Maier, and Countess Xike revealed that someone was tormenting the city’s dead and forcing them toward vengeance.
• Triss and Nefertari examined the couple and determined that Lady Xike had been made into a phylactery while the count was bound to the city as part of a ritual to create a lich and a Tomb Lord.
• Nefertari concluded that Twilight had likely prepared Xike City’s transformation during the Ten-Year War and said the ascension ritual could no longer be stopped outright.
• Nefertari promised to delay the ritual for three months and told Murphy and Triss to find and kill its source, destroy her faction, and recover the couple’s shared phylactery.
• Nefertari offered Count and Countess Xike applications to join the Ancient Kings, describing the status and benefits they could receive after death.

Murphy and Triss discussed Sanghai’s afterlife traditions and the possibility of extending them to Transians before an emergency report drew them back to Blood Banner Heights. As the Third Legion faced overwhelming gnoll attacks and dwindling numbers, Happy Stick spent all its support points to summon Triss.

• Nefertari told Count Sikomar and his wife about the Underworld’s social gatherings, including an annual beauty pageant, while Triss was offended by Nefertari’s appraisal of her figure.
• Triss explained to Murphy that Sanghai’s peaceful afterlife traditions were unique, and Murphy proposed making Sikomar City’s future afterlife benefits conditional on Transians’ service and good conduct.
• Murphy received Adele’s report that Happy Stick’s Third Legion was surrounded by the Filthy Claw Clan and hurried with Triss to the front.
• Happy Stick’s Third Legion endured a six-hour assault, lost most of its members, and drove back the gnolls with a charge supported by winged cavalry.
• With fewer than a hundred players remaining and another attack likely, Happy Stick spent all 4,000 support points to summon gold-ranked Triss to the battlefield.

Meow Brother returned to Transia to secure dangerous plant seeds and magic swords for his battle group, while Crow Brother bargained for a future church position. Lady Triss devastated the gnolls at Blood Flag Highland, but after she withdrew, the Filthy Claw Chieftain learned that the next defenders lacked powerful fighters and saw a chance to attack.

• Meow Brother sent his players to prepare gear and returned to Transia to seek seeds from Old Eugene through Crow Brother.
• Crow Brother agreed to help Meow Brother obtain the contraband seeds in exchange for support for Sister Shui as bishop and a post as missionary and sanctuary manager in Shadow Valley.
• Lady Triss used lightning and other spells to nearly wipe out the Filthy Claw Clan's attacking force, forcing its chieftain to order a retreat.
• Matriarch Cleawatch forbade the Filthy Claw Clan from withdrawing and threatened its chieftain, though she promised spellcasters would arrive in three days.
• Two days later, Popok told the Filthy Claw Chieftain that Triss had left and a new, apparently weak Transian battle company had taken over Blood Flag Highland.