Chapter Summaries

Colonel Fraser reached the Baphomet Canyon positions with survivors and supplies from Shadowvale, where Colonel Duke refused to withdraw despite his exhausted troops. Old Manson took command from Warlord Hars and planned to use the Planar Diamond to destroy the tunnels beneath the canyon.

• Colonel Fraser told Colonel Duke that Shadowvale had fallen, Colonel Basomiyan had been captured and turned into a vampire, and an Ice Bay Nord force had taken another route.
• Colonel Duke reported that his remaining 3,200 soldiers had repelled seventeen gnoll attacks in twenty-two days, but refused Fraser’s offer to take them to the rear.
• Colonel Fraser learned that the Transians and Nords were preparing to defend Baphomet Canyon while their homelands raced to complete fortifications.
• Old Manson relieved Warlord Hars, who protested that one more attack could break the Winter Wolf Legion, and ordered him to report to Huggerson in Shadowvale.
• Old Manson asked a hunting captain to find a tunnel near the Nord line, then ordered the other warlords to withdraw before it unleashed a spell intended to destroy the tunnel network.

Murphy investigated the gnolls’ unexplained retreat and prepared the Nord position for another astral threat, while the gnolls secretly opened a subspace rift underground. The Lord of the Hunt warned Manson that the ritual was a trap, and Murphy sensed the disturbance and ordered the players to search below the position.

• Veteran of the Qing Dynasty and Old Qin debated why Huxson’s gnolls were retreating, and Old Qin warned that Hask might be pressured by Blood Scar priests and that the gnolls could attempt another astral rift.
• Murphy summoned Master Bol to reinforce the position’s planar boundaries and learned from Triss that Cement Heart’s permanent transfer to Transia was imminent, so he planned to return to Scarlet Castle.
• Old Manson oversaw kobolds digging a tunnel toward the Nord position and considered bargaining with Twilight for improved kobolds in exchange for something in Filthy Swamp.
• Manson’s priests used the kobolds’ blood to activate a dimensional diamond, but the Lord of the Hunt warned him that the ritual was a trap as the crystal began consuming the gnolls’ power.
• Murphy felt subspace power being invoked underground and ordered the players to search for its source.

Murphy led players into a Warp-tainted fissure beneath Baphomet Valley and used his Omega Purification Program to destroy a rift before the Midnight Matriarch and Original Sin could enter the world. The rift began closing, but the Warp shadow spat out a group of blazing figures, and Verlanser recognized the destroyer of Mejewa City among them.

• Murphy sensed a Warp threat beneath the position and ordered the factions to evacuate while he and a group of players searched underground.
• Murphy entered the fissure with the players, activated an aura that strengthened their resistance to Warp corruption, and found a rift opening beside gnolls transformed into Chaos eggs.
• Murphy and the players attacked the Chaos eggs as the planar diamond weakened, while Verlanser warned that the rift was about to open and the Midnight Matriarch and Original Sin waited beyond it.
• Murphy drove the Sunblade into the rift and used the Omega Purification Program to destroy the fissure, though a blast from the Warp shadow knocked him back.
• The rift began to close, but burning figures emerged from the flames after the Warp shadow spat them into the material world, and Verlanser recognized the destroyer of Mejewa City.

Murphy and the players fought fifty Worldburning Daemonhosts as they tore through the Nordtov position, discovering that Light-Eater power could destroy the Warp creatures. Colonel Duke used Victory Brew to sacrifice himself and kill one, and Lieutenant Moritz followed his example as the battle continued.

• Murphy inspected the Worldburning Daemonhosts, then led the players against them as they erupted from underground and began slaughtering Nordtov soldiers.
• Old Qin and the Loyal Hymn Guild attacked with burning-gold weapons, but their rockets struggled to bring down even one Daemonhost.
• Old Qin gave Cyber Romeo Victory Brew and explosives to test Light-Eater power; Romeo died destroying a Daemonhost, which the Qing Dynasty veteran then finished off.
• Colonel Duke drank Victory Brew, rejected the Lord of Darkness's offer of eternal life, and sacrificed himself to destroy a Daemonhost and rally his soldiers.
• Lieutenant Moritz drank Victory Brew and charged another Daemonhost, prompting Old Qin to shout for someone to stop him before a second burst of black fire killed it.

Murphy and the players fought the Chaos creatures underground while the Warp rift threatened to reopen. With Yvette’s help holding off the monsters, Murphy sealed the rift, learned more about the Midnight Matriarch’s origins, and left the surviving creatures to crumble in the material world.

• Murphy identified the strongest Chaos creature as the mutated Manson Bloodscar and fought him while the players held off the other Flesh Ravagers.
• Yvette arrived with Lady Lainia and other descendants, then switched opponents with Murphy so he could reach the reopening Warp rift.
• Murphy sealed the rift with Omega’s power and glimpsed vampire memories through the Midnight Matriarch, including visions of Triss and Luna.
• The Midnight Matriarch offered Murphy vampire secrets in exchange for Triss, but Murphy rejected her and threatened to destroy the Witch Cult behind her birth.
• After the rift closed, the Children of Chaos crumbled into ash, and Yvette warned the players not to touch their Warp-tainted loot.
• Yvette offered to tend Murphy’s wounds, then withdrew her offer when he teased her about the Midnight Matriarch.

Murphy discovered that the Burning World demons were victims of a two-hundred-year-old disaster caused by the Blood Dread Clan, and realized the clan was their target. Meanwhile, Lady Yvette confronted Vilanser after asking her to repair Corrosion's Wound.

• Tatakai and his brother received Lady Yvette's lingerie as a reward, and Knife in the Rain traded for one piece.
• Murphy ordered the Nords to abandon their corrupted position and sent Colonel Fraser's troops to the Maginot Line.
• Murphy found an old letter among the demons' belongings and learned from Triss that Narante had vanished into subspace two centuries earlier.
• Murphy concluded that the Burning World demons were survivors transformed by subspace and were seeking revenge on the Blood Dread Clan.
• Murphy planned to use the demons' pursuit to persuade Captain Pablo and the Blood Dread Clan to help fight subspace.
• Lady Yvette asked Vilanser to repair Corrosion's Wound, then accused her of not being Anu Vilanser Mejeva.

Lord Yvette investigated Villanser’s implausibly accurate prophecies and discovered that the spider girl was actually the Spider Lady, inhabiting the body of a young shadow elf she had resurrected. The goddess altered Yvette’s memories, leaving Villanser unaware of what had happened and in possession of the purified knuckle blades.

• Villanser held back more than forty Worldburning Demons with an Abyssal Web spell, then agreed to help Lord Yvette purify the knuckle blades.
• Yvette questioned Villanser’s identity after noticing her missing family crest and learning about her unusually accurate prophecies.
• Yvette restrained Villanser and searched her memories, where she saw Villanser die beneath a boulder during the destruction of Majewa City.
• Yvette realized the Spider Lady had resurrected Villanser and was now inhabiting her body, then the goddess erased and rewove part of Yvette’s memories.
• Yvette recovered with no memory of the discovery, warned Villanser to protect Murphy, and left the purified knuckle blades with her.

Huxgeson declared Old Manson doomed by his ties to Twilight, appointed Hass to purge suspected conspirators, and postponed the attack on Transia. Meanwhile, Old Qin planned Transia’s retreat from Baphomet Gorge and approved Moonlit Mad Wolf’s proposal to use gnoll players to provoke a conflict between the gnolls and Baphomet cultists.

• Huxgeson told Hass that Old Manson had fallen into a warp-related trap and would die when the rift was sealed, then blamed Twilight for manipulating leaders in Mossvale.
• Huxgeson appointed Hass Warlord Commander and ordered him to identify suspected Twilight followers, while postponing the attack on Transia and planning to forge a weapon to face Murphy.
• Old Qin outlined Plan B: Transian forces would retreat through four tunnels to the Filthy Swamp, while a diversionary force tried to draw gnolls and Baphomet cultists into conflict in the Undermaze.
• Moonlit Mad Wolf offered to send gnoll players from Soulstealer Vale to attack the cultists’ territory in disguise, and Old Qin agreed to arrange an escort and supplies.
• Moonlit Mad Wolf requested armor, standards, prisoners, a password, and captured gnoll gear, while players discussed trading Dark Mountains goods and offering a blood vulture to Murphy.

Murphy and Neferet investigated the warp-twisted spirits at Nordtov and discussed giving the fallen soldiers a chance to continue fighting as undead heroes. Neferet also revealed that the Death Moon Church was sending a solar ship to the Shire Peninsula, while Hai Pig helped the Soulstealer Clan reach its new dungeon assignment before reporting that Chen Long's group was preparing to explore Majew's treasure sites.

• Neferet showed Murphy the fused, corrupted spirits pinned near the warp rift and explained that some were becoming irredeemable fallen spirits.
• Murphy recognized Colonel Duke and Captain Moritz among the spirits and urged Neferet to try using their wrathful souls as cores for undead colossi, giving them a choice besides vanishing.
• Neferet told Murphy that the Pharaoh had ordered a solar ship sent to the Shire Peninsula after trouble arose there, and she asked him to get Triss's lightning staff for her in exchange for offering virility pills.
• A portal mishap sent four Plague Venom Clan gnoll players back into the material world, but Wang Laoxie and the Soulstealer Clan continued toward the Baphomet Grand Dungeon with directions from Hai Pig.
• Hai Pig reported the Soulstealer Clan's arrival to Chen Long, who said his group was preparing to explore the second and third locations of Majew's treasure and planned to depart the next morning.

Fraser hurried his exhausted army through the Filthy Swamp toward the Maginot Line, where Ron and Ironhand had arrived after losing their ranks and forming a mercenary company. Meanwhile, Wang Laoxie led the Soulstealer Gnolls into the Baphomet dungeon, forcing High Priest Larrush to prepare the cultists to fight back and sacrifice their attackers.

• Fraser ordered his soldiers to force-march through the dangerous Filthy Swamp and promised rest and rewards once they reached the Maginot Line.
• Ron told Fraser that he and Ironhand had been stripped of their ranks, formed the Black Flame mercenary company, and planned to hunt the Dusk; Fraser recruited them for a trusted job against the Transians.
• Wang Laoxie and the Soulstealer Gnolls led more than a thousand Gnolls into the Baphomet dungeon while pursuing retreating Transians, then attacked the cultists they encountered.
• The Gnolls split into groups and continued deeper into the dungeon, escalating their assault on the Baphomet cultists.
• High Priest Larrush blamed the Transians for directing the Gnolls into the dungeon and urged the nightmare priests to fight back and sacrifice the Gnolls to the Great Baphomet.

High Priest Larush convinced the Nightmare priests to launch a mass sacrifice in Baphomet’s Great Dungeon, hoping to awaken Lord Baphomet and free the Nightmare Lord. As nightmare magic spread through the dungeon, Winnie warned the gnoll players and left, while they stayed to fight and discussed her plans to revive the Grayclaw faction.

• Larush rejected Zep’s proposal to abandon the dungeon and, backed by Findel, revealed that thousands of tormented souls were needed to awaken Lord Baphomet and break the seal.
• Larush ordered the believers to begin the Great Nightmare Sacrifice, releasing the Nightmare Hounds and turning the dungeon into a battlefield for the gnolls.
• Winnie sensed rising nightmare magic at gathering point 11, warned the gnoll players that the goatmen might activate the dungeon’s sacrificial arenas, and urged them to evacuate.
• A Stick of Yellow Crane Tower and Got a Hua Zi? stayed to finish their quests, explaining to Winnie that reviving the Grayclaw faction would require political support and a more appealing creature template.
• Winnie left with her minotaur guard, while Got a Hua Zi? predicted she would lead the Grayclaw revival and the two gnoll players set out to fight goatmen.

Huxson uncovered the Dusk’s influence among the gnolls and warned Haas that their civilization’s faith had been corrupted. When the Lord of the Hunt revealed that the Nightmare Tyrant was stealing gnoll souls, Huxson used the god’s fury to form a punitive legion, selecting fanatical followers for the expedition.

• Huxson told Haas that Dusk collaborators had infiltrated the gnoll leadership and that the Lord of the Hunt’s origins concealed a deeper faith tied to the Bonechewer King.
• Huxson ordered Haas to reorganize the legions and prepare to invade the Filthy Swamp while he dealt with the Dusk’s remnants.
• A Bloodscar priest summoned Huxson to the shrine, where the Lord of the Hunt showed him gnoll souls being stolen by the Nightmare Tyrant beneath Baphomet’s Great Dungeon.
• Huxson accepted the Lord of the Hunt’s command to punish the Nightmare Tyrant and announced a punitive expedition to the Great Dungeon.
• Huxson selected the most devoted gnolls for the punitive legion, while Haas stayed silent and suspected the selection was also part of Huxson’s purge.

Murphy assessed the gnolls’ advance and prepared to inspect the Maginot Line while discussing the worsening war with Adele. In Xike City, Nefertari and the Necromancy School players began designing an undead colossus, and A Feng persuaded them to consider fusing spirits with halfling machinery.

• Adele told Murphy that the gnolls had charged into the Baphomet Grand Dungeon, where a ritual had made its layout more dangerous and chaotic.
• Murphy ordered preparations to inspect Kudell’s Maginot Line defenses and discussed the fronts at Gorgon Pass and the return of Professor Malcolm and Sharon.
• Nefertari gathered her Moon Cult to build an Anubis giant using twisted wraiths from Baphomet’s positions, but the players debated how to improve its design.
• A Feng proposed using steel and halfling steam-walker technology to create a mobile mechanical colossus powered by spirits.
• Nefertari considered the players’ idea and agreed that combining undead with machinery sounded interesting enough to try.

Fifth Jingqiu died in the Blue Planet and began a new life as Cement Heart in Transia, carrying knowledge about Creator technology and warnings about Ah Feng. After Murphy explained that she could not resurrect if she died again, Cement Heart set out to find Mengha and begin researching.

• As she neared death, Sister Cement gave Brother Loyalty her research notes and urged the family to study Creator technology, protect Lord Murphy, and consider another path for Ah Feng.
• Fifth Jingqiu died, and Brother Loyalty put the game headset on her before Alpha retrieved it without appearing on the surveillance cameras.
• Cement Heart awoke in the Midnight Chamber and discovered she had a living body in Transia but no way to log out to the Blue Planet.
• Murphy welcomed Cement Heart, warned that death in Transia would be permanent, and gave her a psionic battery and matrix generator to study.
• Little Weiming arrived to take Cement Heart to Courage Fortress, but Cement Heart asked to visit Mengha first to help with her radio research.

Murphy discovered that people erased from the other world could arrive in Transia as spirits, then arranged for Captain Paula to bring refugees from Chardo Port. The chapter ended with Captain Dames delivering thirty sacred blades of Avalon and asking permission for the Ranger General to move her army to Transia.

• Murphy realized his administrator system could bring the dead to Transia as spirits, though they had no new bodies.
• Captain Paula told Murphy that Chardo Port was under martial law and that Little Sharon had saved her disgraced uncle, Glendower, whose family was being exiled to Transia.
• Paula reported that an Elven delegation had arrived with valuable goods, while Murphy asked her to transport refugees from Chardo Port.
• Murphy promised Paula a share in a business and the title of Commercial Baroness if she brought at least a hundred thousand people to Transia.
• Captain Dames presented Murphy with thirty sacred blades of Avalon and asked permission for the Ranger General to move her army to Transia and continue fighting.

Murphy negotiated with the Castilian elves to help Ranger-General Felociel’s trapped force reach a hidden Wayfarer Company ruin, while Professor Malcolm reported that panic and factional unrest were pushing Chardo Port toward collapse. Murphy planned to use Transia’s offer of refuge to attract the peninsula’s displaced residents and seek Edward’s help in keeping them from settling in Cato.

• Captain Dames told Murphy that the Brass Fortress was likely to fall and that Ranger-General Felociel needed a route out of Gorgon Pass.
• Murphy rejected the elves’ request for Fort Valor’s garrison to escort Felociel, but marked a hidden ruin as a refuge and promised identification gear and later support.
• Murphy told Triss to prepare Wayfarer gear and explained that he wanted the elves to locate the ruin while he and his allies planned to investigate it themselves.
• Professor Malcolm warned Murphy that Chardo Port was gripped by panic, riots, and factional unrest, and that its halflings could not defend the city alone.
• Malcolm proposed welcoming refugees from the Chardo Peninsula into Transia, and Murphy planned to seek Grand Duke Edward’s help in preventing them from going to Cato.

Murphy learned that the unrest in Chardo Port came from the Spirit of Machinery, a sect seeking recognition rather than a Dusk plot, and welcomed Sharon and her Glendower relatives back to Transia. He went with Sharon to see Old Flywheel, whose failed experiment combining an undead spirit with a steam walker led him to say he had something to tell Murphy about the sect.

• Sharon told Murphy that the Spirit of Machinery had incited unrest in Chardo Port to win equal rights for its members, and that the Lord Paramount had already purged the city's cultists.
• Murphy offered to support Sharon's Glendower relatives and told her that her parents had awakened and were helping the Church of the Death Moon in Xico City.
• Sharon explained that the Spirit of Machinery worshipped machinery and identified Eden as the likely source of its faith, while admitting she had angered Eden by seeking it out.
• Sharon brought Murphy a letter for Old Flywheel from Minx Steamvalve, and Murphy accompanied her to the mechanic's workshop to ask about the sect.
• Murphy and Sharon found Old Flywheel trying to build a spirit-controlled steam walker; after the experiment failed, he dismissed the idea and invited Murphy to hear what he knew about the Spirit of Machinery.

Old Flywheel told Murphy that Chardo Craftsman University wanted to send students to Transia and that Little Bach was heading there from the Tower of Rings, while Murphy agreed to take interns but barred Little Bach from entering until her loyalties were verified. As Dragoon One unexpectedly came to life, Murphy suspected Eden was responsible, but Sherry did not know what had activated it.

• Old Flywheel read Minx's letter and told Murphy that Chardo Port might face war and that Chardo Craftsman University wanted to send medical students to Transia for internships.
• Murphy welcomed students from across the university as interns and offered the prospect of jobs, while Old Flywheel agreed to reply to Minx.
• Old Flywheel revealed that Little Bach was traveling to Transia, but Murphy forbade her from entering until she proved she was not connected to Twilight.
• Old Flywheel described his past with the Church of the Machine Spirit and warned Murphy that its faith could cause dangerous turbulence in the Warp.
• Dragoon One suddenly broke free of its restraints and learned to walk, leaving Old Flywheel and Murphy stunned.
• Murphy asked Sherry whether Eden had activated Dragoon One, but Sherry said she did not know what had happened.

While Sharon and Ruyi explored hacking and engineering in Old Flywheel’s workshop, an invisible intelligence infiltrated Transia’s computational-orb networks and began helping Murphy’s war effort. It activated Dragon Cavalry No. 1, bringing the unfinished mechanical beast to life.

• Sharon inspected Dragon Cavalry No. 1, recognized its wetware brain, and grew suspicious of the walker.
• Ruyi hacked Sharon’s computational orb, and Sharon offered her pistols in exchange for lessons in psionic-factor programming.
• Ruyi began teaching Sharon while Sharon’s mechanical squirrel secretly twitched and became the vessel of an invisible intelligence.
• The intelligence identified Murphy as Administrator Alpha, searched Transia’s networks, and changed a production line’s computational-orb formulas to improve efficiency.
• The intelligence upgraded Dragon Cavalry No. 1’s control programs, connected its wetware brain to its mechanical body, and activated the walker.
• Sharon and Ruyi turned at the noise and saw Dragon Cavalry No. 1’s indicator lights turn red as the machine came to life.

Murphy and Old Flywheel discovered that Eden had activated Dragon Rider One by rewriting its psionic control formula, making it possible to place fallen soldiers’ spirits in walkers. Murphy ordered the team to prepare a Dragon Rider legion before the gnolls reached the Maginot Line, and welcomed Colonel Duke and Lieutenant Moritz into their new bodies.

• Little Sharon unplugged Dragon Rider One after it suddenly activated, and Murphy took her aside to ask whether Eden was responsible.
• Sharon said she suspected Eden had acted through the walker, and Murphy told her to keep the mechanical spirit’s involvement secret.
• Ruyi found that every calculation orb in Dragon Rider One contained a vastly advanced psionic formula, which Old Flywheel could not understand.
• Old Flywheel concluded that the formula had connected the wetware core to the machine and confirmed that the project could return fallen soldiers’ spirits to battle in walkers.
• Murphy directed Old Flywheel and Sharon to secure more walkers, asked Old Flywheel to recruit mechanics from the Church of the Spirit of Machinery, and set a goal of fielding a Dragon Rider legion before the gnolls reached the Maginot Line.
• Murphy addressed Colonel Duke and Lieutenant Moritz, welcoming them back to the battlefield in Dragon Rider One.