Chapter Summaries

Lady Heather and Adele prepared Blackflame Pass for an impending gnoll assault while Botana arranged the attack with the Source and secretly pursued her own ambitions. Botana sent Hugheson to lead the charge as Hogg and Ripmeat approached Blackeye Clan territory.

• Lady Heather linked Murphy’s assassination and the gods’ silence to the approaching Black Calamity, and Adele persuaded her to let Illich Um Warheart inspect Blackflame Pass’s blueprints.
• Adele warned Lady Heather about the Brass Dwarves and the Earth Mother’s decree, while Lady Heather prepared a strange rune candle and worried over her secrets.
• Botana agreed with the Source to launch the final assault and awaken the dead beneath Blackflame Pass, though she secretly planned to use Dusk and establish gnoll rule.
• Botana ordered Hugheson to disrupt the psionic field and lead the attack only as far as the seventh defense line, revealing that he was the Bonechewer King’s hidden child and her creation.
• Hogg sneezed as he sensed the Bonechewer King’s consciousness tremble, then continued with Ripmeat toward Blackeye Clan territory.

At Krim Fortress, Irina Misinbayeva warned General Baldwin that the Wolfblood holy sword had been corrupted and that the gnolls posed a greater threat than expected. Convinced by her message and his own intelligence, Baldwin sent troops to reinforce Shadowvale and ordered preparations for the wider war.

• General Baldwin learned that the undead Irina Misinbayeva had returned with news about the Wolfblood holy sword.
• Irina told Baldwin that the Rending Claw Tribe had corrupted the sword and that Old General Baldwin planned to reclaim it with help from Transian warriors.
• Irina urged Baldwin to send twenty thousand troops to support Shadowvale, warning that the Winterwolf Legion could not leave the vampires to fight alone.
• Baldwin promised to keep Irina's return from her sister and told her that her sister had become a Winterwolf Sword Saint serving in the Wolf Queen's guard.
• After Irina left to join Old General Baldwin, General Baldwin ordered twelve thousand soldiers and five artillery regiments to Shadowvale, sent Northwind Guards to Blackflame Pass, and requested reinforcements from the Wolf Queen.

Old Chen, Master Illich, and the other architects inspected Blackflame Pass after Lord Murphy suspected its defenses had a hidden flaw. They discovered a vast, uncharted cavity beneath the fortifications just as the gnolls began their assault.

• Lord Heather faced a siege by more than 150,000 gnolls while small enemy groups infiltrated the mountains behind Blackflame Pass.
• Old Chen, Master Illich, and two students reviewed the defensive plans and found them flawless on paper, so they began inspecting the underground structures in person.
• Samoyel noticed that rooms throughout the ninth position were consistently shorter than the blueprints specified and concluded that the mismatch could conceal a huge cavity beneath the defenses.
• Old Chen ordered Master Illich to summon the original architect and alert the Temple of Gaia so they could locate the cavity and warn the commander.
• A deafening boom announced the gnolls' attack, and Samoyel urged the group to find what lay beneath the position immediately.

Vilance recovered Mejewa’s treasure and negotiated with Natalie to help locate Avalon’s stolen holy blades in exchange for support against the Baphomet cultists. The players then discovered an old ratman tunnel leading toward Blackflame Pass and realized the gnolls and kobolds had concealed a major underground attack, but their warning could not get through.

• Vilance opened Treasure Cache No. 5, and the players divided its weapons and armor while she retrieved an Abyssal Diamond for Triss.
• Vilance showed Natalie the holy blade Verdant Gale and offered to locate the holy blades stolen by the elves in exchange for help attacking the Baphomet cultists in the catacombs.
• Natalie accepted the deal, and Vilance and the players left the cave with the recovered bow and their share of the treasure.
• The players fought off a swarm of sickle-claws and followed them to a vast, old ratman tunnel that Little Rich Guy identified as leading toward Blackflame Pass.
• Meow Brother concluded that the gnolls and kobolds had used their recent actions to cover the ratmen’s digging and ordered the players to rush through the tunnel to warn Blackflame Pass.
• The Calculating Orb failed to connect because of a complex psionic environment, so the players tried to alert the defenders through the forums and outside calls.

Botana led gnolls and ratmen to awaken the dead beneath Blackflame Pass, while Hester and Ovegg discovered a hidden flaw in the defenses and moved to contain the undead. Ovegg stayed behind to hold them back and sent Hester to warn Lord Pain and the halflings that the Brass Dwarves were corrupted.

• Botana and Lord Manson discussed the ratmen’s tunnel, the gnolls’ plans, and their faith in the corrupted Lord of the Hunt as they approached Blackflame Pass’s ninth defense line.
• Botana opened a concealed hollow beneath the defenses, where the remains of warriors killed in the Black Calamity lay buried, and awakened them with green radiance.
• Hester learned that the defenses contained a hidden flaw and ordered the Silver Dwarves to find it while she prepared to hold off the gnoll attack.
• Ovegg and Hester reached the hollow after an earth priest found it, but Botana’s magic awakened the buried dead before they could seal it.
• Ovegg refused to collapse the hollow because it lay where the ley lines converged, and he sent Hester to warn Lord Pain and the halflings while he held back the undead.

Villance and Triss warned their allies that the Skaven had joined the gnolls, while Murphy recovered and prepared to go to Shadowvale. At Blackflame Pass, Skaven sabotage and a massive earthquake shattered the defenses, letting the Clawsplitter gnolls charge in as the Black Calamity began in earnest.

• Villance told Triss that the Skaven were likely allied with the gnolls, and Triss sent a warning to the Bloodbound Knights at Brass Fortress through Shani.
• Triss gave Murphy the antidote, and he recovered enough to prepare for the retreat while promising to value life and avoid risking himself until he had another Resurrection Bottle.
• Lord Hither received reports of undead attacks, disrupted communications, and Skaven beneath the defenses before General Maxim ordered the evacuation of Blackflame Pass.
• Skaven explosives and a possible gnoll earthquake spell collapsed Position One and much of the front, while Qin Ye and his soldiers fell into tunnels filled with Skaven.
• Skaven broke through the ground inside the Nocturne Barrier as the barrier failed, and A-Cha saw the Clawsplitter gnoll army charge the ruined pass.

The defenders of Blackflame Pass struggled to survive as gnolls, kobolds, and ratmen overwhelmed the ruined lines, while Old Qin organized a tunnel escape and planned a counterattack. Botana urged Dusk to unleash its ritual, and Wally summoned an army of vengeful wraiths toward Blackflame Pass, alarming Nefertari.

• Gnolls and ratmen overwhelmed the first defensive line after an earthquake, while surviving players sheltered in bunkers and learned that the rear lines faced an undead threat.
• Old Qin told the players to gather survivors and NPCs, then Great Shark proposed escaping through ratman tunnels; Qin ordered everyone to head toward the tunnels and travel toward Fort Courage.
• A messenger reported that Grand Warlord Hugerson had captured half of Blackflame Pass, and Botana demanded that Yuan activate Dusk's ritual to summon vengeful spirits.
• Wally planted a bone scepter outside Blackflame Pass and summoned fallen gnoll wraiths, which swept toward the battlefield and drained the life from living creatures.
• Nefertari sensed the Feast of Ten Thousand Souls and warned that the Moonlit Holy City would react furiously.

The Feast of a Thousand Souls devastated the defenders at Blackflame Pass, forcing a retreat as vengeful spirits swept through the lines. Lord Heather ordered the withdrawal while Oufge held the hollow tomb, and Major Ron’s force seized Defense Line Eight and opened fire; the Ironhearts were revealed to be fighting independently near Line Seven.

• The servants unleashed the Feast of a Thousand Souls, and its vengeful spirits overwhelmed the kobold and ratfolk encampments before sweeping into the defenses.
• Players trapped among the shattered defenses gathered nearby NPCs and escaped through a ratfolk tunnel as the fear-stricken servants failed to stop them.
• Oufge refused to abandon the soldiers at Blackflame Pass and used Gaia’s Whisper to raise a barrier against the spirits and undead.
• Lord Heather ordered a full retreat from Defense Line Six and sent Daims to tell Kader to fire on the advancing kobolds.
• Daims found that Major Ron and the Transians had seized Defense Line Eight after Kader deserted and was executed, then ordered the artillery to cover the retreat.
• Ron’s artillery destroyed the armed kobolds advancing behind Line Six, while Ironhand explained that the Ironhearts had charged out to fight on their own near Line Seven.

As Blackflame Pass collapsed, Murphy led reinforcements from Shadowvale to rescue the retreating defenders and hold back the werewolves. His arrival saved Major Ron’s artillery crew, and the soldiers turned back to fight even as the battle remained a likely defeat.

• The wounded People's Army soldiers and Shadowvale players mobilized to rescue the defenders, while Hell Tiger led five modified steam walkers into battle.
• Murphy arrived in heavy Blood Vulture armor, refused the commander's banner, and rallied the crowd to fight the werewolves.
• Lord Heather coordinated the evacuation as Position Eight's artillery resumed firing after a meteor strike damaged its guns.
• Major Ron fired a last shell toward the werewolf formation, killing bodyguards and disrupting psychics before another meteor threatened his position.
• Murphy used a black obelisk to hold the meteor aloft, ordered Ron's crew to keep firing, and led vampire soldiers and players toward the front.
• The retreating soldiers followed Murphy's forces back to the battlefield and joined the fight against the armed kobolds.

Murphy and the retreating defenders used chainswords, steam walkers, and bombing runs to break the kobolds and drive the gnolls from Positions Six and Seven, then fell back toward General Maxim’s line at Position Nine. As the Rending Claw elite withdrew, replacement clans advanced into a rearmed Position Eight and were met by artillery, flames, and a counterattack, leaving the battle poised for a final explosive turn.

• Murphy and his vampires cut through the kobold defenses at Position Seven while Hell Tiger, Mouse-Style Fatso, and Iron Leopard drove their steam walker forward with crossbow bolts and flamethrowers, sending the kobolds into a rout.
• Murphy reached Position Six and told Lord Heather to retreat toward Position Nine, but she warned him that undead and wraiths threatened the position; Murphy urged her to lure the gnolls into their lines before falling back to Fort Courage.
• Femis led fifty Bloodhawks in a bombing run that destroyed the gnoll vanguard at Position Six, and Heather offered salvaged materials so Murphy’s engineers could make more bombs.
• A messenger delivered Potana’s order for Huxson to withdraw with the Rending Claw elites, and Huxson obeyed while recognizing that the Matriarch meant to spare her own forces and weaken the allied clans.
• The replacement gnolls captured abandoned Position Seven and pushed toward Position Eight, where Major Ron’s rearmed artillery, the walkers, players, and retainer forces repelled their assault.

After Blackflame Pass was devastated by the gnolls, the players learned that a desperate counterattack from Fort Valor required recovering two lost barrier cores. A major story choice appeared, and the players prepared to risk the battlefield for the chance to strike back.

• The treasure hunters returned to find Blackflame Pass’s defenses shattered and the crystal in danger, while Natalie sensed a mass retreat toward Shadowvale and warned that the pass would fall.
• Lan Hua reported that Uncle Qin’s group had reached Fort Valor and planned to use Astral Rift against the gnolls, but the players realized the spell needed the two missing barrier cores from the ruins.
• Natalie entrusted the Sacred Blade Verdant Gale to Madam Shui before riding away to help the defenders.
• Meow Brother learned that the barrier cores were still somewhere in the ruins, and a major story choice appeared requiring players to decide whether to recover them or retreat.
• Little Weiming rallied the players to accept the dangerous quest, eager to compete for the Hero of Transia title and its rewards.

Murphy sent five hundred players to retrieve the lost Serenade Barrier core crystals from the occupied ruins of Blackflame Pass, while preparing to use an Astral Rift to halt the Gnolls. Meow Brother and the Silvermoon group recovered both crystals at heavy cost, and the survivors escaped under aerial bombardment.

• Murphy gave the players a choice quest to recover the two barrier core crystals and ordered Adele to bring aerial bombs to Position Three to cover their retreat.
• Meow Brother's group spotted the ratmen retreating, and Little Hand located one crystal among Gnolls and kobolds while Stone Sister found the other.
• Meow Brother summoned his Thornbeast of War and led the assault on the first crystal as the Gnolls called for reinforcements.
• Fire Bro carried the second crystal toward a ratmen tunnel while Little Ashina, Stone Sister, and Orchid guarded him; trapped rookies asked Adele's vampires to bomb their position.
• Adele's vampires dropped aerial bombs on the pursuing enemies, and the surviving players escaped with both crystals after losing many teammates.

Fort Courage’s defenders planned a counterattack to recover two crystal cores and used a portal-assisted Winged Rider charge to break through the gnolls’ encirclement. Brother Bang led the charge, allowing Meow Brother’s group to escort the cores toward the isolated city.

• Teacher Li reported that Big Bird Squad and Silvermoon Squad had recovered the crystal cores but needed help reaching Fort Courage, and Old Qin organized a rescue operation.
• Happy Stick proposed using Knight Valand’s Winged Riders to charge through a portal, while Old Eugene and other faithful agreed to attack the gnolls from the remaining sides.
• Master Yuri warned that the planned planar rift would require more psychics and a rare beacon, but Old Qin decided to secure the crystals first.
• Brother Bang led the Winged Riders through the portal, and the Enduring One reversed time to correct his planar disorientation.
• The Winged Riders burst into the gnoll camp and caused chaos, giving Meow Brother’s surviving group a chance to carry the two crystal cores toward Fort Courage.

After the rescue delivered three Serenade Cores to Fort Courage, Murphy arranged for Triss to send goatman sorcerers to help create a Great Astral Rift. The Dark Roots arrived and prepared to aid Transia, while one warlock warned Master Yuli that the Silver Wolf and other wolves in the Astral Plane might be rebelling against Su.

• Transia's winged cavalry used Happy Stick's portal leapfrog tactic to help the rescue team deliver the barrier-core crystals to Fort Courage, though only a third of the covering players survived.
• Murphy told Triss to prepare Fort Courage for the Great Astral Rift, but Triss stayed in Shadowvale to keep the Rending Claw matriarch and Bloodscar priest occupied.
• Triss told Murphy that Old Finley and the Dark Roots had returned with about four hundred goatman spellcasters and asked for an independent faction and territory in the Filthy Swamp.
• Murphy agreed to Julia becoming Swamp Lord and promised the goatmen a city, in exchange for their help at Fort Courage.
• Finley led the Dark Roots through a portal to Fort Courage, where Master Yuli let them proceed to work on the Serenade Cores.
• A scarred goatman warlock warned Master Yuli that wolves in the Astral Plane might be rebelling against Su, then urged the goatmen to begin creating the Astral Rift.

As Blackflame Pass was evacuated, Murphy secured Lady Heather’s cooperation and warned that Brass Fortress was threatened by the Warp’s influence through burning gold. At Position Nine, Kudell reunited with the sight of his undead comrades and resolved to fight beside Maxim, beginning his path toward the Silver Trial and joining the Blood Eagle Clan.

• Murphy told Lady Heather that the Winterwolf Legion would reinforce Shadowvale and required her soldiers to take temporary Transian citizenship and follow his command.
• Heather agreed to request reinforcements from Lord Payn and the Blood Covenant Knights, while Murphy planned to evacuate threatened halflings and bring them to Transia.
• Murphy, Heather, Maxim, and Femis entered the death space, where Oufuge Silverheart said he could hold the barrier for three more hours and warned that the undead could become the gnolls’ vanguard.
• Murphy asked Oufuge to seal most connections to the death space and promised his soldiers would defend it while the evacuation finished.
• Kudell saw his former comrades among the trapped undead, knelt in grief, and vowed to stay with them and restore their dignity.
• Kudell appointed Maxim his deputy for the battle and agreed to help him complete the Silver Trial as Murphy welcomed Kudell into the Blood Eagle Clan.

Murphy organized the defense and evacuation of Blackflame Pass while Nefertari tracked the Wraith Feast to its core. There, she encountered Mamluk, but Bayek took control of her body and confronted the King of Wraiths.

• Murphy assigned commanders and volunteers to defend four tunnels while supplies and evacuees were transported toward Shadow Valley.
• Murphy and Villance reached Point A, where undead warriors emerged and they joined the fight.
• Nefertari explained that the Wraith Feast could open a breach to the Underworld and realized Mamluk was connected to Dusk and the curse.
• Nefertari and Talanova found Mamluk at the ritual's core, where he revealed his identity as the Explorer and threatened them.
• Bayek took control of Nefertari's body, recognized Mamluk, and warned that the King of Wraiths would not enjoy his freedom for long.

As the Feast of Ten Thousand Souls waned and the retreat from Blackflame Pass became safer, Maxim fought the undead under Kudel’s guidance to complete his Silver Trial. He emerged with his Night Bat Aspect and new mastery over life-draining blood power, then prepared to finish off the remaining undead in Lord Murphy’s name.

• Bayek’s battle with the Wraith King halted the Feast of Ten Thousand Souls, allowing the winter wolf monks and vampire psychics to force the wraiths back into the realm of death.
• Kudel explained the Silver Trial to Maxim and urged him to fuse his ancestral powers while holding the undead line without help.
• Maxim fought through the undead with Bloodthirst, his Skullcrusher, and his Night Claws while Kudel and the vampire soldiers kept their distance.
• Maxim drew blood from the vampire soldiers, used it to impale hundreds of undead with crimson spikes, and began draining their cursed life force.
• Maxim completed his ascension and gained a Night Bat Aspect that enlarged his claws and strengthened his wings.
• Maxim summoned seven crimson spears and declared that he would grant the remaining undead peace in Lord Murphy’s name.

Mother Botana unleashed the Rending Claw tribe’s voodoo plague against Blackflame Pass, devastating the eighth position and trapping Lord Heather in the poison fog. Heather urged Murphy to evacuate the survivors while she stayed behind to buy them time.

• Mother Botana dismissed a fanatical gnoll psychic and decided the Dusk could not be trusted to win the battle.
• Botana ordered plague warlocks to prepare nearly two hundred barrels of voodoo plague and sent wyvern riders toward Blackflame Pass.
• Lord Heather learned from Murphy that the defenders would soon have to retreat, while Dames spotted the approaching wyvern riders carrying barrels.
• Dames recognized the plague weapons and ordered the ground forces to retreat, but the barrels burst across the battlefield and released deadly green fog.
• Heather watched her adjutant die, told Murphy to evacuate the survivors, and reached for her helmet as she prepared to release what she had kept hidden.

Gnoll plague weapons overwhelmed Blackflame Pass, and Heather unleashed the power of the sealed Lord of Darkness to stop the advance. Murphy received Heather’s Life Candle and set out with Dames to strike back against the gnolls.

• The gnolls bombarded Position Eight with plague barrels, forcing Hell Tiger’s crews and the defenders to flee as poisoned dead began rising.
• Major Ron recognized the plague as the weapon used against Westmere City, while Captain Dames learned that the gnolls were advancing through underground tunnels.
• Dames found Heather remaining at Position Eight, where she revealed her monstrous face, gave him a rune-covered candle, and unleashed the Lord of Darkness.
• The Lord of Darkness spread over the battlefield and tried to tempt Dames, but Murphy rescued him and identified the candle as the seal keeping the Old God dormant.
• Murphy told Dames to come with him so they could deliver the revenge Heather had demanded.

Murphy led Dames and Vilance through the tunnels beneath Blackflame Pass toward Couragehold, intending to use a massive explosion to stop the Dark Lord’s corruption and strike back at the gnolls. At Couragehold, he joined the psychics preparing an assault and vowed to save Heather and make the Razorclaw gnolls pay.

• Murphy persuaded Dames to accompany him through the ratmen’s tunnels, explaining that he planned to draw the Dark Lord’s power away from Blackflame Pass and deliver a counterattack beacon to Couragehold.
• Vilance joined Murphy and Dames underground, and Murphy asked Dames to urge King Quirion to return Avalon’s holy blades while learning that the Holy Grail might be on the island of Glamour.
• Murphy, Vilance, and Dames emerged near Couragehold and found Terra Nova guarding the unconscious Nefertari amid the undead; Terra Nova recounted Bayek’s battle with Mamluk and gave Murphy the core scepter of the Feast of Ten Thousand Souls.
• Murphy brought the scepter and Nefertari to Couragehold, where psychics and goatfolk spellcasters prepared a ritual using three crystals to open the Astral Plane.
• Murphy used the Myriad Device as an astral guiding staff and told the assembled psychics that they would save Heather and punish the Razorclaw gnolls.