Chapter Summaries

Natalie’s forces captured the R-9 base’s control room with Sister Cement’s help and discovered that the sealed fourth floor held an immense spatial rift. They found the Explorer there attempting to activate a teleporter, and the chapter ended with the group realizing the rift could destroy the Dark Mountains if it exploded.

• The players and Bloodsworn Hunters secured most of the R-9 base despite severe casualties, while Natalie sent forces to capture the base’s leader.
• Amber told Natalie that old Flynn knew of a hidden fourth floor and offered to guide them to the control room, where the group could take control of the base.
• Yvette used her powers to make old Flynn open the control room, and Sister Cement entered with Madam Shui and Ruyi to take over its control core.
• Sister Cement opened the passage to the fourth floor and revealed that the Explorer was below with an item called the TS-092 Mind Manipulation Unit.
• Natalie, Lina, Yvette, and the players descended to the fourth floor and found a huge spatial rift that Meow Brother warned could devastate the Dark Mountains.

Natalie and the others confronted the Explorer beneath R-9 Base, where a massive Otherworld rift threatened the cavern. The Explorer escaped with Lina through an ancient teleportation array, but he arrived in a sealed Golden Age chamber before Murphy and Triss, who captured him and spoke with the Scholar.

• Natalie, Lina, Yvette, and their allies found a stable Otherworld rift more than thirty meters across beneath R-9 Base.
• The Explorer threatened to detonate a huge crystal and revealed that Peachie and Liwen were stranded on floating rocks near the rift, so Natalie and the players went to rescue them.
• Lina recognized the Explorer as Canter Berreson, and she and Yvette attacked him while the others tried to reach Peachie and Liwen.
• Canter activated the ancient teleportation array and dragged Lina away with him, but the teleportation sent them to separate locations.
• Canter arrived in a sealed Golden Age chamber, where Murphy and Triss captured him and Murphy spoke with the Scholar through Canter's runestone.

Murphy and Triss traced the sabotaged runestone to R-9 Base, where they found a huge subspace rift and rescued Biki from being pulled into it. Murphy recognized the rift as the ancient disaster tied to Cadman City’s planned sacrifice, and Mannis began searching for a way to use the base’s creation energy to stop it.

• Triss identified the dead explorer as an old halfling from Chardo Port, traced his signal to the Eternal Rift, and Murphy recovered a thought-collective device that controlled ratmen.
• Murphy gathered more than thirty gnoll players and teleported with them to R-9 Base, where they found a subspace rift over thirty meters wide.
• Murphy used the Omega Protocol to reach Biki, who was being dragged toward the rift, and carried her back to safety while shielding her eyes from what lay beyond it.
• After hearing Natalie’s account, Murphy sent the players to the level above and asked Yvette how to locate Lina; Yvette proposed taking Lina in once Murphy freed her.
• Murphy told Mannis that he had found an ancient rift beneath R-9 Base and had seen Cadman City within it, then identified its pale restraint as the Prototype Subspace Cleansing Protocol, code name 'Beta.'
• Murphy asked Mannis to devise a way to use R-9 Base’s creation energy to address the danger to Cadman City, and Mannis agreed to investigate.

Murphy investigated the subspace rift and discovered that R-9 Base’s cultists had sent a dangerous Planar Diamond to the Brass Fortress, while Marnes warned that Cadman City was being drawn into the subspace. The chapter ended with Murphy trying to contact Lord Payn about the Brass Fortress and asking Marnes to reassure Lina as he prepared to retrieve her.

• Natalie overheard Sister Cement explain R-9 Base’s research and learned that the Twilight Cultists had targeted powers connected to Avalon’s gods.
• Old Qu found records showing that the cultists had sent a Planar Diamond to a Twilight collaborator called the General in the Brass Fortress, and Natalie connected the Brass Dwarves’ corruption to Dagon.
• Murphy examined the subspace rift, identified its pale seal as a prototype Beta cleansing program, and began upgrading his Omega program with its data.
• Ashina told Murphy that the third Planar Diamond had gone to the Brass Fortress, so he contacted Lord Payn while Marnes warned him that Cadman City and its hundred thousand people were being pulled into the subspace.
• Murphy asked Marnes to tell Lina, who had been teleported near the Gorgon Pass, to wait for him while he went to retrieve her.

Murphy warned Lord Paine that a Planar Diamond could bring down Brass Fortress, and Lord Paine set out to stop it while entrusting the purge at Whitecliff to Simm. As Lord Paine and Aurora traveled, Lord Paine confronted Aurora about the Old Gods’ prisons and learned that his former colleague Widia was still imprisoned and awaiting him.

• Murphy failed to reach Lord Paine at first, then explained that Twilight had sent a Planar Diamond to Brass Fortress and asked Lord Paine to stop it.
• Lord Paine revealed that Simm and the Purist faction were resisting Twilight at the Tower of Rings, and Murphy remained wary of them and planned to meet Little Bach himself.
• Lord Paine summoned Aurora and left Whitecliff for Brass Fortress, assigning Simm to finish the campaign and punish the compromised psychics.
• Simm told Lord Paine that the Purists had undergone a protective initiation and that the guilty would face the Purifier Vanguard trials.
• Lord Paine asked Aurora to reveal what he knew about the Old Gods’ prisons, and Aurora admitted that Widia was likely still imprisoned and expected Lord Paine to return.

After the Brass Dwarves defeated the Skaven and drove back the gnolls, General Bannock persuaded Hadlan Earthhammer to open Gaia’s treasury and reward the soldiers. Bannock then led royal psykers into the tunnels and revealed his plan to bring a new God of Trade into the material world.

• Bannock reported that the Brass Dwarves had retaken the Skaven tunnels and the gnolls were retreating, and he promised soldiers rewards and leave.
• Hadlan learned that the treasury could not cover the promised rewards, and Bannock urged him to use Gaia’s offerings instead.
• Hadlan received no answer to his prayer and authorized Bannock to open Gaia’s treasury and distribute its wealth.
• Bannock broke open the treasury, ordered rewards paid from its riches, and gave the exhausted soldiers leave.
• Bannock led royal psykers into the tunnels and explained that he planned to bring a new God of Trade, empowered by embergold, into the material world.

High Lord Hadlan discovered that his guard Dutna Burning Gold was a newly awakened God of Wealth, born from the dwarves’ trade in Burning Gold, and learned that the warp had used Brass Fortress to reveal a path for mortals to create gods. Hadlan fought his own wealth-sworn warriors and confronted General Bannock at the warp rift, where Bannock admitted to helping bring the god into being and prepared to face his judgment.

• Brass Fortress celebrated its victory as High Lord Hadlan left the throne room and met his guard, who revealed that he was Dutna Burning Gold, a god awakened by centuries of dwarven mining and trade.
• Dutna warned Hadlan that the coming birth of gods from mortal activity would destabilize the old faiths, then vanished, leaving a goblet of golden wine behind.
• Hadlan rejected the goblet’s pull, urged the dwarves to discard their Burning Gold, and realized the fortress had been transformed by a new order built on wealth.
• Hadlan armed himself and went underground, where Ironheart Warriors loyal to the God of Wealth blocked his way and attacked him.
• General Bannock watched the warp rift widen and refused an invitation to join its speaker, explaining that he had only wanted to create something wondrous.
• Bannock told the speaker that Brass Fortress was now ready for the God of Wealth, then faced the bloodied Hadlan and accepted his lord’s judgment.

Bannock revealed that he had created the God of Wealth, Dutena Burning Gold, to force change on the continent, and Hadlan tried to stop him as the new god entered the material world. Dutena became a cosmic law governing wealth, then greeted Murphy through a gold coin and offered to earn his goodwill.

• Bannock told Hadlan he had used burning gold, Dagon, and knowledge from the Witch Cult to create Dutena and spread the power of wealth.
• Hadlan rejected Bannock's offer of change, attacked him, and fought off the Chaos creatures emerging from nearby eggs.
• Bannock announced Dutena's arrival, and the god stepped through the Warp fissure, transforming the fortress's rocks, coins, and valuables.
• Dutena rose into the sky and made wealth's value a law across the continent before returning to the Warp.
• Murphy received Dutena's greeting through a transformed coin, asked the god to take a female voice and honor promises, and remarked to Lady Gaia that she had missed a possibility.

The God of Wealth’s birth unleashed Worldburning Demons and ratmen on Brasshold, while Bannock tried to cast Hadlan into the Warp. Paine and Edward rescued Hadlan, who sacrificed himself to destroy the rift, but he awoke in a strange place where the God of Wealth offered to grant him a request.

• More than a hundred Worldburning Demons poured through the Warp rift as ratmen returned to Brasshold’s tunnels.
• Hadlan attacked Bannock, but Bannock overwhelmed him with Warp energy and hurled him toward the rift.
• Paine rescued Hadlan, and Edward broke Bannock’s teleportation spell and wounded him.
• Hadlan told Paine that detonation of the raw burnished gold would destroy the rift and Brasshold, then revealed Gaia had once saved the dwarves as a friend.
• Paine left with Edward, and Hadlan detonated the burnished gold, apparently sacrificing himself to destroy the rift.
• The God of Wealth spoke to Hadlan in a wondrous place and offered him a chance to make a request.

The warp rift’s collapse devastated the Brass Fortress, and Gaia’s Might struck the ground to destroy the ratmen advancing on the surviving dwarves. As Lord Paine and Old Edward prepared to defend the ruins, Murphy decided to contact Gaia before joining the fight.

• Lord Paine and Old Edward watched the warp rift erupt, flattening the Gorgon Pass and causing the Brass Fortress to collapse.
• Lord Paine said the God of Wealth was protecting the Brass Dwarves, while Old Edward spotted ratmen closing in on the ruins.
• Gaia’s Might flew into the ground and unleashed a massive earthquake that killed the first wave of ratmen.
• Lord Paine and Old Edward prepared to defend the surviving Brass Dwarves from the approaching ratmen.
• Murphy asked Mannis to contact Gaia so he could learn her intentions before intervening.

Murphy secured Gaia’s reluctant permission to help the Brass Dwarves and asked her to lend protection to the developing Holy Light. He then used the Omega Program to destroy the ratmen’s mind crystal and free their shared will, leaving their next actions uncertain.

• Mannis contacted Padd, who agreed to deliver Murphy’s message to Gaia and asked him to test the wielder of Padd’s broken-horn weapon.
• Gaia told Murphy that the Brass Dwarves were no longer her people, but agreed to support the Holy Light after Murphy urged her to protect it.
• Murphy promised to save the Brass Dwarves by disrupting the ratmen’s collective control, despite Mannis warning that the plan could make them more dangerous.
• Murphy activated the Omega Program’s high-energy purification and struck the ratmen’s vat-brain crystal with Necessary Evil.
• Murphy sensed the ratmen’s shared memories and instincts, then granted their racial will freedom and told them to leave.

Murphy broke the ratmen’s mind crystal, throwing their forces into chaos and giving the Brass Dwarves a chance to retreat. As the survivors in Gorgon Pass sought refuge in a mysterious Creator ruin, Lina appeared and summoned the commanders to meet her master.

• Edward and Paine noticed the ratmen losing their discipline and fleeing across the Brass Fortress ruins.
• Murphy told Paine he had destroyed the mind crystal, urged him to evacuate the dwarves, and directed him to prepare the godslaying plan.
• Paine ordered Hogg and the Wise Wolf to stand ready to rescue Filocyr’s elven ranger legion, then told Edward to visit Murphy about his lost memories.
• Filocyr, Misoyang, and Wumeng entered a Creator ruin to escape the approaching gnolls, but its defense system denied them access and trained guns on them.
• Lina emerged from the ruin, told the three commanders that her master was waiting, and led them inside.

Lina escorted General Misoyan, Lady Ferrosil, and the injured Umon into the damaged Farstrider Headquarters to meet Murphy. Umon fainted after discovering gnolls working there as Creator’s Guardians, and Murphy ended the chapter by telling Ferrosil she looked just like Luna Christine Emmagil and insisting they would discuss the connection.

• Lina used the headquarters’ tracking systems and armed defenders to establish authority, then escorted the three commanders inside.
• Lady Ferrosil, Umon, and Misoyan received visitor access; Umon used a medical hover wheelchair while the others surveyed the damaged ruins.
• Lina warned the commanders that Murphy had brought Creator’s Guardians, but Misoyan and Ferrosil drew weapons when they encountered the gnolls, prompting Bobok to demand they put them away.
• Terranova tried to calm the outraged Umon, but he fainted after denouncing the gnolls, and players rushed him away for treatment.
• Murphy met Ferrosil and Misoyan at the control center and told Ferrosil she resembled Luna Christine Emmagil, insisting they would discuss the connection.

Murphy secured the Wayfarer Headquarters ruins and arranged support for the stranded soldiers while preparing for the coming battles against Dusk and the gnolls. The headquarters system came online and revealed weapons caches and a crashed transport vehicle, giving Murphy new resources to pursue.

• Murphy offered Major General Misoyang airship evacuation and a choice of fronts for his surviving troops, while Prince Felociel requested shelter for her exhausted rangers.
• Murphy sent Hogg and the Creator Guards to protect the ruins from an approaching gnoll detachment and told the commanders their soldiers would receive supplies.
• Triss confronted Felociel about her resemblance to Luna, and Felociel admitted she was Luna's mother in a manner of speaking before Triss took her away to talk.
• Murphy sent Lina to find Shani and asked her to bring Princess Chuchut from Scarlet Castle to help train his warriors with their new weapons.
• Murphy discovered Eden's database held combat armor and weapon blueprints, then the restored control system revealed three stocked weapons containers and a signal from a crashed transport vehicle.

Murphy explored a hidden Wayfarer warehouse with Andre, Bablo, and Claire, uncovering Creator security technology and vast stores of equipment. He found a coveted set of unpainted power armor in the final cargo bay, while the others waited to negotiate over the haul.

• Murphy led Andre and the pirates to a locked warehouse, where Bablo and Claire used a concealed device to open the Creator lock and triggered its defenses.
• Murphy passed safely through the warehouse’s targeting system, then took Bablo’s authentication circuit after learning the pirates had used it to access other ruins.
• Murphy discovered five thousand sets of Wayfarer protective gear in the first cargo bay, and Claire tried on a set and praised its capabilities.
• Murphy found fifteen hundred Swift Hawk police combat exoskeletons in the second cargo bay and told Andre and Bablo that negotiations could wait.
• Murphy entered the third cargo bay alone and opened a giant containment canister, revealing unpainted power armor.

Murphy discovered the War Marshal powered armor, arranged for Eden to compile a combat AI for it, and used the gathering to demand that the vampire factions unite and reform. He warned that the vampires faced corruption from a coming godspawn and forced Andre to choose between Duke Shani and his sister.

• Murphy appraised the War Marshal armor and had Eden begin compiling its combat AI.
• Murphy activated the armor’s attachment system and told the vampires that the Elders’ past actions had caused the war and the present crisis.
• Murphy demanded that the Blood Vultures, Blood Terrors, and White Mountain factions form the Midnight Coven and abandon blood pacts.
• Murphy revealed that Salokdar had created a corrupted vampire godspawn that could bring every vampire under the Warp’s control.
• Andre said he could not betray Duke Shani, so Murphy handed him Shani’s Bloodsource of Envy and told him to choose between Shani and his sister.

Murphy searched the wrecked transport ship in the Wanderers' headquarters ruins and discovered an Alpha Project component that upgraded his Myriad Device with powerful new weapon forms. He headed for the energy bay while Mannis urged him to ally with Yvette and promised a quest for access to Base R-9's secrets.

• Murphy flew toward the transport ship while Mannis praised his plan to free the vampires from the blood-contract system and urged him to approach Yvette as an ally.
• Mannis revealed that the Secret Blood Clan was the strongest vampire clan and offered to trade the location of something hidden at Base R-9 for outsider access.
• Murphy reached the wreck, unlocked its sealed compartment with the special key, and found a strange mechanical box instead of another suit of power armor.
• Murphy connected his Myriad Device to the box, which upgraded it with a semi-fixed magnetic field cannon form and a God's Scepter access-key form.
• Murphy flew toward the ruins' energy bay and told Mannis he would provide Genesis energy after they dealt with the Voidspace rift.

Mannis persuaded Tracer to help lure Dagon into the material world so Murphy could strike the evil god, while Murphy sent the players to fight the Bonegnaw Gnolls. The players charged off for the Creator’s mysterious gift, and Murphy prepared to take the Warmaster Power Armor into battle.

• Mannis explained that undoing seals restored his control over time rather than directly restoring his power, then proposed using a timed trial in the ruins as a reusable player instance.
• Mannis tempted Tracer with creation energy and convinced him to help lure Dagon toward Leviathan’s avatar so Murphy could attack Dagon in the material world.
• Tracer agreed to Mannis’s plan after tasting the creation energy and deciding to take a chance with Administrator on their side.
• Brother Bang, Meow Brother, and the other players asked Murphy to let them join the fighting, and Murphy ordered them to battle the Bonegnaw Gnolls with the Creation Guardians.
• The players rushed out after seeing the Creator’s Mysterious Gift among the quest rewards, while Murphy entered the Warmaster Power Armor and asked Eden to repaint it crimson.

Hogg led the Grey Wolf Army and the players into battle against the Bonechewer Clan near the Wayfarers' Headquarters ruins, while Murphy prepared to make a dramatic entrance in War Marshal power armor. The chapter left Murphy launching toward the battlefield as the troops advanced, outnumbered but confident of victory.

• Senk's forces ambushed and wiped out Bonechewer scouts, while Madam Water reported that the enemy detachment numbered about two thousand Bonechewer troops and five hundred Whiptail auxiliaries.
• Senk ordered Hogg and the Golden Lion enforcers to lead a frontal charge, despite Happy Stick's objections about the enemy's numbers and the risk of reinforcements.
• Bonnie, Andre, and Pablo arrived with vampire forces and new exoskeletons, and Andre relayed Murphy's confidence in victory and advice for Hogg to persuade the Whiptail chief.
• Hogg rallied the Construct Guardians and players with a speech about the Creator's returning warriors, and Senk praised their spirit as the army advanced.
• Murphy activated the War Marshal power armor and prepared to launch from the Wayfarers' Headquarters ruins, announcing his entrance over the communications network.

The Gray Wolf Army ambushed the Bonechewer Clan in a mountain pass, overwhelming its forces with advanced armor. Murphy arrived in War Marshal power armor, killed the Bonechewer warlord, and urged the players to hunt down the Hunting Lord in return for a promised reward.

• Old Sen ordered the Gray Wolf Army to charge the Bonechewer Clan's army as it traveled through a mountain pass.
• Hogg and the armored Gray Wolf Army broke through the Bonechewer warriors, while the players watched the lopsided battle unfold.
• Murphy arrived in red War Marshal power armor and made a dramatic landing that thrilled the players and inspired the Gray Wolf Army.
• Hogg and Murphy cornered the Bonechewer warlord, and Murphy killed him after demanding to know where the Hunting Lord was.
• Murphy rallied the players to find the Hunting Lord and bring him its skull, promising a reward for their victories.