Chapter Summaries

Priest Manson opened an Astral rift in the Silver Wolf Herson’s territory, but the battle turned against the gnolls when the Transians attacked and Lina struck Manson with a devastating spell. Herson’s pack crossed the rift to hunt Murphy’s allies, leaving Lina ambushed by a two-headed Astral wolf as Manson claimed the advantage.

• Manson forced open an Astral rift, while Pol enlisted Mannis and Herson to help suppress it.
• Herson recognized Murphy through the rift, reopened it, and sent her pack after him; Mannis revealed he had helped Murphy lure her into action.
• The Winged Hussars and Wam barbarians routed the gnolls, while Manson cast Blood Frenzy to strengthen his warriors.
• Lina descended onto the battlefield and unleashed her Dragon Slave spell, burning Manson and the priests around him.
• A two-headed Astral wolf ambushed Lina, and Manson rose from the ashes, claiming that the advantage was his.

Lina and the Big Bird Squad helped bring down Bloodscar Priest Old Manson after he tried to escape the battlefield. Lady Ivette Liad Cappadocia arrived in time to destroy Manson’s soul and set her sights on Murphy and Lina.

• Lina struggled to evade an astral wolf lord while Bohr trapped the injured Old Manson with an astrological spell.
• The Big Bird Squad attacked Manson, and Quick Hands sacrificed himself in an explosion after stabbing him with the Bone-Biter King’s dagger.
• Meow Brother, newly transformed into a Red Knight, struck Manson with Borut’s Butcher and petrified his legs, while Manson tried to escape through dark arts.
• Jie Chong, Sanwudou, and Brother Black Silk attacked Manson, but Lady Ivette Liad Cappadocia’s arrow killed him and her judgment condemned his soul to servitude in the spirit world.
• Lady Ivette teased Sanwudou, offered rewards to the Big Bird Squad, and asked to meet Murphy and the vampire beauty Lina.

Astral wolves poured through the rift and attacked both Shadowvale and the gnolls, while Murphy fought them and summoned undead to confront the legendary wolf Box. The development team announced a Lunar New Year wolf-hunting event, and players began hunting for wolves to tame.

• Astral wolves attacked the Transian forces and gnolls, disrupting Hugheson's ambush on Shadowvale.
• Hugheson learned that Hunting Chosen could serve as vessels for divine descent and reconsidered whether to keep following others’ plans.
• Murphy, Villance, Bonnie, and George fought astral wolves as they advanced toward Shadowvale’s cemetery.
• Murphy identified the legendary wolf Box, summoned ten half-elf undead from a tomb, and sent them against the wolf disaster while players watched.
• The development team announced a staged Lunar New Year event in which players could hunt astral wolves for materials, rewards, and potential animal companions.
• Catbro received the event announcement, and players Lumina and Lady Shu prepared to capture a two-headed wolf pup.

Murphy lured the wolf-calamity lord Jupel into a fight with Aurora, who badly wounded him and forced the astral wolves to retreat. After reinforcements arrived, Lena warned Murphy that Manson’s soul had escaped, while Lady Yvette set her sights on him; meanwhile, Colonel Fraser and General Maxim demanded that the Winter Wolf Church explain the attack and make reparations.

• Murphy led Jupel to Aurora, who charged the wolf-calamity lord and left him gravely wounded.
• Baux and the astral wolves withdrew after Jupel’s defeat, and Lena arrived with reinforcements carrying the severed head of a two-headed legendary wolf.
• Lena told Murphy that the golden gnoll Manson had ties to the Dusk, but his soul had escaped, then left to resume the hunt.
• Vilanthes and Bonnie warned Murphy that Lady Yvette was staring at him with predatory interest.
• Colonel Fraser and General Maxim confronted Turner over the wolf-calamity’s attack, and Turner promised that the Winter Wolf Church would make reparations.

Murphy was summoned by Su after the astral wolf disaster, while Triss warned him that Ivette’s supernatural lust made her dangerous. When Ivette tried to seduce Triss, Triss revealed the Mother of Midnight’s terrifying presence and overpowered her, then Murphy stayed to comfort Triss instead of answering Su’s summons.

• At a tavern, foreign soldiers complained that the astral wolf disaster had damaged the God of the North Wind’s reputation, while Little Rich Bro suggested taming astral wolves through their pack mind or Su’s permission.
• After Su called for Murphy, he left Triss to visit the Winter Wolf shrine, unaware that Ivette had entered their room.
• Ivette tried to seduce Triss, but Triss asked whether she had ever called to the Mother of Midnight and exposed her to a vision of a vampire godfiend.
• Triss subdued Ivette with the Mother of Midnight’s power and threatened her until Lord Pahn intervened through their blood pact.
• Murphy returned, embraced Triss, and said he would protect her, leaving Su waiting.

Murphy met Su in the Shrine of Winter to discuss Silver Wolf Herson’s wolf calamity and the danger she posed to Su and the mortal world. Su offered a plan involving his banished child Eris and promised aid to Transia, while Murphy left to deal with the next problem involving Maxim and Leinia.

• Murphy confronted Su about Herson’s rebellion, and Su explained that she had taken control of the astral wolf packs while he and his strongest offspring fought on the subspace frontier.
• Murphy warned that Herson might be targeting Su for godhood, and Su asked him to find Eris, the black giant wolf banished to the Great Wilderness, to serve as a last guardian.
• Murphy asked Su to help persuade Ao to aid Kulkan and to let Transian hunters earn astral wolf companions, but Su said the hunters would have to win the packs’ loyalty themselves.
• Su agreed to grant Kulkan battle-related power, give Transian shamans the wild winds and spirit wolves, and keep his followers from joining a future war between Transia and Nordtov in their religious capacity.
• Murphy left the shrine and saw Maxim finishing a conversation with Leinia, whose face showed sorrow.

Herson challenged her father, Su, over his demand that she call off the astral wolves invading the Material World. After defeating Su’s projection, she became the new leader of the pack.

• Herson told Su she would recall her pack only if he returned to the Astral Plane in person, then accused him of abandoning the wolves and their homeland.
• Su demanded that Herson stop the invasion, and she challenged his authority and called him a traitor to the pack.
• Su and Herson fought in her lair as astral wolves gathered beneath the inverted mountain to witness the battle.
• Su overpowered Herson but spared her and again urged her to call off the pack.
• Herson used her second and third heads to defeat Su’s projection, then howled to claim the wolf king’s place as the pack answered her.

Maxim and Laenniya confronted Ivetta to demand Laenniya’s freedom from the blood pact, and Laenniya finally spoke openly about the coercive relationship that had bound them for a century. Murphy proposed that Laenniya earn her freedom by surviving the hunt for the Lord of the Hunt, leaving Ivetta furious but apparently agreeing to the terms.

• Maxim joined the nervous Laenniya outside Ivetta’s sickroom and promised to stand by her as she asked for freedom.
• Maxim and Laenniya found Ivetta badly injured, and Ivetta tried to use the blood pact to make Laenniya and Maxim entertain her.
• Ivetta argued that granting Laenniya freedom would violate vampire tradition, while Laenniya declared that she wanted to be free and condemned Ivetta’s century of manipulation.
• Murphy entered and proposed that Laenniya take part in the hunt for the Lord of the Hunt, with her survival securing freedom for both women.
• Ivetta angrily told Murphy to take Laenniya, and Murphy asked whether they had a deal.

Murphy arranged Laenennia’s freedom from Yvette and ordered an orderly retreat from Shadow Valley as the Black Calamity worsened. After receiving Laenennia’s combat manual and learning the ancestral power Conviction, Murphy contacted Shani to ask for the Thorn Clan’s secret technique.

• Murphy warned Laenennia not to exploit Yvette’s fear and reassured her that Yvette would honor their contract if she helped slay an evil god.
• Murphy ordered Maxim to prepare the Shadow Valley garrison’s retreat toward Baphomet Canyon and the Filthy Swamp line, while leaving elite defenders and planning an operation with upgraded weapons.
• Murphy told Maxim that he would represent Transia and the Blood Eagle Clan in the coming mission against the gnolls and the god-slaying plan.
• Laenennia gave Murphy her combat manual, explained her family’s history with Yvette, and said she hoped to serve Transia as a Ranger General if she gained her freedom.
• Murphy learned several of Laenennia’s combat techniques and the ancestral power Conviction, then contacted Shani to ask her to teach him Nightthorn’s Sting.
• Shani agreed to consider teaching Murphy Nightthorn’s Sting if he got rid of the ancient-memory resonance that was troubling her.

After gnoll attacks began collapsing tunnels and threatening Shadowvale, the command center approved Kokusan 003’s plan to dig beneath the gnoll camp and plant explosives. He recruited Haizhu’s players and more than two hundred Nord soldiers, then prepared to begin the operation.

• The gnolls used tunnel collapses to trap players and kobolds, prompting Chenlong to report the tactic and the command center to recognize a coordinated effort to restrict movement and weaken morale.
• Domestic013 and other staff officers proposed counterattacks, while Kokusan 003 suggested digging beneath the gnoll camp and detonating explosives; Five Pairs of Wheels authorized the plan and around a thousand troops for support.
• Kokusan 003 recruited Haizhu and Pride of the Tribe players to dig from Tunnel 5, explaining that the route’s depth would help conceal their approach from gnoll psionic mages.
• Kokusan 003 encountered Jusha leaving the Shadow Elf proprietress’s building and realized what had happened between them.
• A Nord soldier whose brother had been killed by an Astral Wolf offered more than two hundred soldiers for the raid, and Kokusan 003 agreed to take them if they followed orders.

Hugsun hunted down and killed the astral wolf lord Box, using the Corrupted Fang and the Lord of the Hunt’s power. As the gnolls celebrated their victory, a mysterious woman offered to trade for the sword, which she said had belonged to her father.

• Maxim planned to make 003’s underground demolition operation the centerpiece of Shadow Valley’s final counterattack.
• Hugsun entered the astral wolves’ territory and confronted Box in the frozen mist.
• Hugsun wounded Box with the Corrupted Fang, then pursued him with the sword’s divine power.
• Hugsun and Deathclaw killed Box, and the gnolls began carving up the wolf lord’s corpse.
• A woman approached Hugsun and offered a deal for the Corrupted Fang, claiming it had belonged to her father.

Ferguson negotiated with Helsong over the Tainted Fang, agreeing to trade it for a Bloodhorn shard and a possible alliance. Helsong accepted conditional cooperation and demanded that Ferguson kill Murphy, while revealing her plan to take Su’s divinity.

• Ferguson recalled Wise Wolf Hogg’s warning about the Tainted Fang and decided that giving it up could reduce Nordtovian resistance and benefit his war.
• Helsong offered Ferguson a Bloodhorn shard for the sword, and Ferguson said the shard alone was not enough.
• Ferguson proposed that the astral wolves and gnolls cooperate, with his army helping Helsong reach Nordtov so she could wound the North Wind God.
• Helsong agreed to limited cooperation on the condition that Ferguson kill Murphy if the wolves could not, and she suggested the gnolls might become a new wolf-blooded people.
• Helsong explained that she intended to take Su’s divinity because the wolf pack could have only one symbol, then arranged for someone to collect the Tainted Fang.

Guochan 003 and the Nords finished preparing an underground raid on the gnoll camp as Shadowvale’s defenders readied a withdrawal and counterattack. With the operation due to begin that night, Five-Wheel prepared to lead strategists into battle, while Rainbow Cat Hero arrived with Loyalty Bro’s new weapons.

• Guochan 003 told Ivankov that Shadowvale would be abandoned after the final counterattack and explained how the army planned to retake it later.
• Ivankov pledged that his Nords would see the raid through, and 003 joined the wounded soldiers and players digging toward the gnoll camp.
• Guochan 009 reported that the gnolls had weakened the mountain above Shadowvale, and Five-Wheel ordered the colonels to defend the valley and 003 to finish Gaia’s Wrath by midnight.
• Five-Wheel ordered the strategists to prepare to fight and told Guochan 013 to protect the confidential documents and plant mines in the command post.
• Rainbow Cat Hero arrived with special weapons from Loyalty Bro and warned the Transian soldiers not to point them at anyone or drop them.

On the eve of Transia's final battle in Shadowvale, Loyalist's armory delivered cheap, unreliable Blood Eagle Claw submachine guns to the troops. Murphy rallied the soldiers to hold the valley until the midnight counterattack, while the players prepared a tunnel ambush against the gnolls.

• The Transia National First Armory delivered enough Blood Eagle Claw submachine guns to re-equip the forces fighting in Shadowvale.
• A vampire captain test-fired the gun, and its loose magazine and risk of accidental discharge became clear even as its automatic fire impressed the soldiers.
• Colonel Fraser examined the weapon and recognized that it could give his forces an alternative to relying on halfling military aid.
• Murphy appraised the Blood Eagle Claw, handed it to a vampire, and told Colonel Fraser and the commanders to take the weapons to their positions for the coming battle.
• Domestic 003 complained about the weapon's poor quality, while Haizhu and the others accepted it and continued preparing explosives in their completed tunnel.

Hugsgen brought down the mountainside to open a path into Shadow Valley, and the gnoll army overwhelmed the defenders before Transian reinforcements counterattacked with cannons, automatic guns, and flamethrowers. As the battle turned, Murphy stayed behind to hold the line and used the Blood Pact Clan’s Sentence of Guilt against the charging kobolds.

• Hugsgen ordered the gnolls to attack after lunch and kept himself in reserve, fearing that Murphy could exploit his presence on the front line.
• The hunting priests cracked the mountain, creating a rubble ridge that let the gnolls charge into Shadow Valley and seize part of the Winterwolf Legion’s position.
• Colonel Basomian led the Hungry Brothers and his guards in a countercharge while bearfolk hobgoblins escorted wounded soldiers toward the tunnels.
• Colonel Fraser ordered the valley’s cannons to cut off the gnoll vanguard, and Transian troops advanced with automatic weapons and flamethrowers.
• A bone arrow struck Basomian in the neck, and a vampire bodyguard began turning him as Murphy and Bonnie reached the battlefield.
• Murphy refused to withdraw, told Maxim to take his people into the tunnels, and used the Sentence of Guilt to make charging kobolds flee across his line.

As the players prepared Operation Gaia's Wrath, Domestic 003 warned Major Ivankov against spying on Transia and urged him to consider the limits imposed by Nordtov's class system. With Maxim's forces and the players assembled, 003 rallied the troops before they detonated explosives beneath the gnoll camp, launching the attack.

• Players discussed the battle in Shadow Vale while the People's Army and Arsenal experts finished laying explosives beneath the gnoll camp.
• Domestic 003 revealed Transia's secure communications advantage to Major Ivankov, warned him not to jeopardize their cooperation, and challenged his hopes of advancing in Nordtov.
• 003 armed himself and joined Chenlong's Twelve Zodiac brothers as they organized the players into squads for the raid.
• General Maxim arrived with elite vampire soldiers and human retainers, while players from the Vam Brotherhood and Shadow Sect joined the force.
• At 003's urging, Maxim gave him the floor to rally the assembled troops before ordering the detonation.
• Medieval Evangelion and Nuke Bro triggered the explosives, blasting the gnoll camp and alerting Hugson that the Transians had attacked.

The Transians launched their assault on the gnoll camp after an explosion, amplified by Gaia’s power, devastated a fifth of the stronghold and blinded its defenders with a sandstorm. 003 led rookie players through their first battle, but his squad was overwhelmed by elite gnoll reinforcements and died fighting as Little Ashina prepared to strike back.

• The explosion tore through the gnoll stronghold, and Maxim led the Kadman People's Army and players out of the tunnels to attack through the dust.
• Ivankov declared that Gaia had empowered the blast, while the sandstorm left the gnolls unable to see and gave the Transians an advantage.
• 003 scolded his rookies for wasting ammunition, then organized them into a squad and led an attack that killed a gnoll warlord.
• 003's squad burned a gnoll meat warehouse, but a wyvern brought elite brutes, hunters, and a priest whose totems nullified ranged attacks.
• As the rookies faced defeat, 003 and his squad drank Victory Wine and charged; 003 killed a brute before an explosion consumed him and the surrounding fighters.
• Little Ashina watched the rookies die and prepared an aerial bombardment against the gnolls.

During the Transians’ coordinated assaults in the Barren Mountains, Giant Shark defeated a Chosen of the Hunt and awakened a new ancestral power. Murphy learned he could add player-developed powers to his skill list and prepared to test Giant Shark’s technique on a fleeing Bloodscar priest.

• The Transians attacked gnoll positions across the Barren Mountains while players and Nord forces supported the operation and covered the Shadowvale defenders’ retreat.
• Giant Shark and the WAAAGH Brotherhood blocked gnoll reinforcements, and Giant Shark challenged a Chosen of the Hunt to fight him.
• Giant Shark used Bloodlust and Berserker strength to kill the Chosen of the Hunt with his new move, Infinite Annihilation, and declared he would defeat nine Chosen to complete his Silver Trial.
• The WAAAGH boss awakened and demanded that Giant Shark kill more Chosen, while Avalon warned WAAAGH that his wounds were severe.
• Murphy received a notice that Giant Shark had developed the ancestral power Infinite Annihilation and realized player-created powers could enter his skill list.
• After Vilance saved him from a sneak attack, Murphy activated Bloodlust and aimed his chainsword at a fleeing Bloodscar priest to test the technique under the name Annihilation.

As Shadowvale fell to the gnolls, Murphy stayed behind to cover the evacuation while the Silvermoon Company and Lisa swore to fight for the valley’s return. He slaughtered hundreds of gnolls and challenged their leader, leaving the story poised for a final confrontation.

• Hugheson abandoned the gnoll camp and returned to Shadowvale, intent on taking the valley and advancing toward Baphomet Canyon.
• Adele told Murphy that kobolds had broken through near the Nord camp and cut off the Winterwolf Legion’s retreat; Murphy ordered her to evacuate and relay his orders to Colonel Fraser.
• Murphy reassured Lisa that Shadowvale would be reclaimed, while Lady Water and Lisa swore that the Silvermoon Company and Shadowvale’s people would keep fighting for the valley.
• Murphy ordered the evacuation through the tunnels and stayed behind with Bonnie to attack the gnoll leaders as the others collapsed the passages.
• Murphy and Bonnie killed more than five hundred gnolls and their allies, after which Murphy demanded that the remaining gnolls bring their leader to him.

Murphy battled the gnolls at Transia, drove off their forces, and escaped Hugheson’s encirclement after learning that a Hunting Priest had marked him. Meanwhile, an emissary from Dusk gave the resurrected Manson an Eye of the Planes and urged him to open a rift into the Filthy Swamp, while Murphy suspected Hugheson had come to deliver a hidden message.

• Murphy used time magic, his chainsword, and resurrected gnoll warriors to slaughter the attackers, then banished nearly a thousand gnolls and more kobolds into the astral plane as food for a World Serpent.
• Murphy turned down Villanse’s offer to summon the Spider Lady’s incarnation and prepared to face the next wave of gnolls with Bonnie and his other weapons.
• Hugheson arrived on a wyvern, surrounded Murphy with his army, and offered him a chance to surrender while boasting that he had captured Shadow Valley.
• Mannis warned Murphy that a Hunting Priest had placed a tracking Mark of the Hunt on him; Murphy escaped the encirclement and asked Mannis to investigate why Hugheson had left his Tainted Fang behind.
• In Baphomet Valley, a Scholar faction emissary gave Manson the Eye of the Planes and ordered him to open a subspace rift into the Filthy Swamp, warning that Dusk expected faster progress.