Recaps

Tang Qi and Leon crossed the aboleth-filled pool and reached the buried snakefolk empire, where they learned the Great Wall had been built to buy time. The Deep Pit Lord hurried to the temple altar, convinced he would awaken the Snake God Mairshauk and restore the snakefolk empire.

• Tang Qi saw imprisoned aboleths whose fungal neural network spread thoughts across the cavern, and Leon explained that their brain fluid became the dangerous spice used by psionic users.
• Leon revealed that the Golden Country had imprisoned the aboleths and built the Great Wall to gain time, while the snakefolk homeland lay beneath Wind Sand Islet.
• Aboleth influence began to overwhelm the adventurers, but Tang Qi's song calmed them and restored order as the group advanced.
• Leon led Tang Qi and the others into the ruined snakefolk temple, where the Deep Pit Lord rushed toward its sacred altar.
• The Deep Pit Lord saw the altar inscription and Ouroboros symbol and believed awakening Mairshauk would begin the snakefolk's revival.

Leon showed Tang Qi that the Deep Pit Lord’s sacrifice would fail, then used an Aether Prism and [Spice] to let Tang Qi witness Eve Edel explaining the origin of the universe, the gods, and their dependence on living believers. The vision left Tang Qi with the truth that gods could abandon a dying world and its people when they were about to return to nothingness.

• The Deep Pit Lord sacrificed the blood of eighty-eight Pureblood Snakefolk, but the Stone Tablet did not answer, and Leon told him that his god had abandoned him.
• Leon asked Tang Qi to use the Aether Prism and [Spice] to view events from a thousand years earlier, and Tang Qi saw Eve Edel in the ancient Temple.
• Eve explained that the universe began as a singularity that split into two primal origins, giving rise to opposing concepts and the first gods.
• Eve described how living beings’ wishes gave concepts power and brought gods into being, while the gods later competed for believers to strengthen themselves.
• Eve explained that gods could abandon believers and a world facing the Phlogiston Sea if those beings were about to cease to exist.

Tang Qi learned from the Aboleth’s memories that the world was a cosmic junkyard and that Eve Edel had sought to escape it, then confronted Leon about why he had abandoned that hope. Leon admitted he was a villain who had forsaken his oath, but argued that life’s flaws gave the universe meaning.

• Eve explained to the Progenitor that civilizations were randomly cast into a forgotten land to be devoured by phlogiston and recycled.
• Eve urged the Progenitor to lead the Snakefolk Empire into the Lord Alliance, restore stability, and help her find a way to escape the world.
• Tang Qi connected Eve’s drive to preserve time and peace with the fading records in the Journal and Stone of Oblivion, but could not understand their significance.
• Stella glimpsed Tang Qi in the Aboleth’s memories before the memory ended and Tang Qi returned to the present.
• Tang Qi asked Leon whether he had extinguished the hope of escaping the world, and Leon explained how people had lost faith during the long wait.
• Leon admitted he was a villain who had forsaken his oath, then argued that hesitation and baseness gave the universe meaning.

Tang Qi kept the world’s truth secret and traveled with Leon through a water-powered elevator to Wind Sand Islet. There, Uha mistook the arrivals for an invasion, while Shedskin exposed Uha’s secret role in helping his brother Monka escape and discovered that Uha suspected him of reading minds.

• Tang Qi refused to record the Aboleth’s memories in his Journal, writing only that he had realized the truth about the world.
• Leon used the Temple’s jade-and-glass pillar to send groups of adventurers upward in a surge of seawater.
• Uha saw unfamiliar figures emerge from the Pyramid and raised an alarm, but Damon and Kandelian ordered him to return with his soldiers to the walls.
• Shedskin taunted Uha about helping Monka escape after the Yellow Snake Lane murders, and Uha insisted that his brother had been framed.
• Shedskin read Uha’s thoughts and learned that Monka’s prosthetic body made it unlikely he could have committed the crimes; Uha realized Shedskin had uncovered his secret.

Tang Qi brought the allied force to Wind Sand Islet, where Kandelian vouched for them and Damon arranged their lodging. After Leon secretly escaped, Tang Qi learned that the Deep Pit Lord had left and recruited Night Wind to investigate a pureblood snakefolk.

• Tang Qi surrendered to Wind Sand Islet's guards, then realized Leon had disappeared during the journey through the Pyramid.
• Tang Qi summoned Kandelian, who confirmed the allied force's identities and persuaded Damon to lower the guards' weapons.
• Tang Qi told Damon the force had come from Dragon Gold City to stop the south from falling to the beastfolk, and Damon arranged lodgings in Sunset Market.
• Tang Qi settled the beastfolk in tents and counted 1,003 believers before Night Wind came to ask why Leon had left.
• Tang Qi offered to relay Leon's message if Night Wind gave an Aether Prism to the pureblood snakefolk feeding the red dragon and secretly followed her.

Tang Qi persuaded Night Wind that Leon had entrusted him with Night Wind’s safety, then followed Bella’s tracking trail to the Pyramid and deduced that a psionic practitioner there had helped bring down the Great Wall. As Uha arrived with a group of guards, Tang Qi and his companions waited for a chance to enter the heavily guarded sanctuary.

• Night Wind admitted he had used a Tracking Spider to follow Bella, and Tang Qi convinced him that Leon had ordered him to obey Tang Qi and stay under his protection.
• Tang Qi explained that Bella’s alleged attempt to steal the Aether Prism for the Deep Pit Lord did not fit the Snakefolk’s rational nature, and suspected the prism was meant for an insider in Wind Sand Islet.
• Night Wind led Tang Qi and Dawn to the Pyramid, where Tang Qi concluded that Bella’s accomplice was likely a psionic practitioner connected to the Great Wall’s collapse.
• Tang Qi rejected Night Wind’s suggestion to kill the guards one by one and proposed looking for an opportunity to approach the Pyramid.
• Uha led several dozen people toward the Pyramid and recognized that the guards there belonged to his unit, then resolved to find proof of the reptile’s crimes.

Bella infiltrated the Pyramid to deliver the Aether Prism to Shedskin and win her freedom, while Uha and Shedskin separately searched the dean’s office. Tang Qi and his companions arrived to find Bella trapped between two opponents just as someone knocked on the door.

• Bella entered the Pyramid with the Aether Prism, intending to hand it to Shedskin in exchange for her freedom.
• Bella hid in Shedskin’s office when Uha approached, and Uha searched the room for evidence against Shedskin before hiding as well.
• Shedskin returned and sensed that someone was concealed in his office, while Tang Qi, Night Wind, and Dawn followed Bella’s trail to the fifth floor.
• Tang Qi and his companions tried to hide from someone approaching the office, then found Bella between a Snakefolk and a Half-Orc.
• Someone knocked on the office door and announced that they were coming in.

Tang Qi and his companions confronted Shedskin over Bella’s theft of the Aether Prism, but discovered Shedskin had never ordered it and that someone had impersonated him. The clues pointed toward the Mercenary company [War Hatchet] and Uha’s subordinate Monka, and Tang Qi proposed questioning the dead to learn what happened at the Southern Great Wall.

• A new assistant entered Shedskin’s office, forcing Tang Qi, Night Wind, Dawn, Bella, Uha, and Shedskin to emerge from hiding and explain themselves.
• Uha attacked Tang Qi, but Dawn quickly subdued him before Tang Qi questioned Shedskin about the Aether Prism and the Southern Great Wall.
• Shedskin revealed he had lived for nine hundred years and used the Journal to confirm that he was telling the truth and Bella believed she had received a real assignment from him.
• Shedskin concluded that someone had impersonated him, and Bella said the supposed assignment involved a Mercenary company called [War Hatchet].
• Uha recognized [War Hatchet] as the company connected to Monka, while Shedskin linked its past crimes and Uha’s orders to the Southern Great Wall’s internal strife.
• Tang Qi suggested speaking with the dead, and Shedskin objected that Wind Sand Islet had no priest who could cast divine spells; Tang Qi replied that Bards could use [Speak with Dead].

After discovering the girls’ graves were empty, Tang Qi and Uha were interrupted by a Beastfolk attack on Wind Sand Islet. Tang Qi brought his allies to help defend the city, and the chapter ended as the enemy approached the walls.

• Uha questioned Rowe about the girls’ bodies, but Rowe confirmed they had been buried in the grave that Shedskin and the others found empty.
• Tang Qi concluded that someone had faked the girls’ deaths to prevent anyone from using [Speak with Dead] to uncover what happened.
• The Pyramid’s alarm bells sounded, and Uha warned the city that the Beastfolk were attacking.
• Tang Qi assigned Shivana to lead his tribe as reserves and followed Governor Damon to the eastern wall with Bella, Spitfire, Night Wind, and A Group of Adventurers.
• Damon explained that the wall’s [Spice] crystals strengthened it and helped psionics users maintain an [Aether Barrier].
• A horn sounded as the Beastfolk arrived, and Damon warned Tang Qi that the attackers were there.

Tang Qi, Damon, and Kandelian defended Wind Sand Islet as the Beastfolk attacked, and Kandelian’s Plague Source-powered spells devastated their army. The Aether Barrier eventually shattered, but Bella used the Aether Prism to shield the defenders from aerial attacks as Beastfolk climbed the walls, and Tang Qi called Dawn to join him.

• Damon rallied the soldiers as the Beastfolk and hellhounds began bombarding the weakened Aether Barrier, while Kandelian said the Psionics users could not sustain it for long.
• Psionics users fell under the strain, and a meteor breached the barrier and set Sunset Market ablaze as Tang Qi and Kandelian argued over the Plague Source and Tang Qi’s curse.
• Kandelian and the Spellcasters cast Stench Cloud Spell and unleashed powerful Fireball attacks fueled by the Plague Source, causing devastating explosions that scattered the Beastfolk.
• The Beastfolk pressed their assault despite the bombardment, and Damon’s Ice Storm and the guards’ crossbow volleys failed to stop their charge; an ogre shattered the Aether Barrier and the attackers began scaling the wall.
• Goblins riding bats dropped black oil over the wall while young Red Dragons approached, but Bella used the Aether Prism to shield the defenders and knock the attackers from the air.
• As Beastfolk climbed the ladders and the guards began falling, Tang Qi called to Dawn and headed toward the distant tower.

As Beastfolk battered Wind Sand Islet’s eastern defenses, Tang Qi used a magically amplified war song to restore the defenders’ morale, prompting Damon and Kandelian to call reinforcements from the north. The reinforcements discovered that the northern wall had collapsed.

• Kandelian and the Spellcasters fought off Beastfolk assaults while a magic battering ram struck the gates, and Kandelian feared the defenders’ morale would fail.
• Tang Qi used Magic Mouth and his Fairy Singing Voice to make his war song reach the soldiers and rally them to hold the walls.
• Damon asked Kandelian to bring skilled fighters from the northern wall, and Kandelian agreed to reinforce the eastern defense quickly.
• Damon contacted Uha, and the adventurers stationed in the north hurried toward the eastern wall.
• A blast shook the adventurers as they marched, and they turned to see that the northern wall had collapsed.

After the northern wall collapsed, Tang Qi led the Crackhowl Tribe and the adventurers to reinforce Uha, helping turn the battle at the northern gate in their favor. As Kandelian watched through an Image Transmission Orb, a gigantic dragon appeared above the wall.

• Damon told Kandelian that the northern wall had collapsed, and Damon raised a sandstorm to conceal the eastern defenders from the Beastfolk.
• Kandelian sent Tang Qi and the Crackhowl Tribe north to reinforce Uha, while Shedskin guided Tang Qi through the city and gave him an Image Transmission Orb.
• Tang Qi found the lost adventurers and led them toward the northern gate, where Uha and his defenders were struggling against the Beastfolk.
• Tang Qi, the adventurers, and the Crackhowl Tribe joined the fight, and Shedskin helped seal the breached gate with rubble as the defenders overwhelmed the Beastfolk.
• Kandelian watched the battle turn in the defenders' favor, then saw a gigantic emerald-eyed dragon looming over the northern wall.

A Giant Dragon named Anduin attacked Wind Sand Islet, breaking through its defenses and terrifying both the defenders and the Beastfolk. Tang Qi and Dawn resisted its fear and acid breath, and the chapter ended as Dawn charged Anduin while its acid splashed toward Tang Qi.

• Anduin smashed through Wind Sand Islet's outer defenses, and the defenders lost confidence as the Beastfolk stormed the walls.
• Tang Qi used a song to help his companions resist Anduin's [Dread Majesty], but Anduin's acid breath melted the defenders and buildings.
• Anduin demanded the Beastfolk submit and offered Tang Qi a chance to swear loyalty, but Dawn refused and struck down his acid breath with [Supreme Holy Slash].
• Dawn suppressed Tang Qi's curse, and Tang Qi activated [Three Dragon Gift] on his Crimson Curved Saber as Kandelian ordered the guards to hold the gates.
• Shalti used [Great Step Sprint] on Dawn, who charged Anduin with golden wings while Night Wind fled; Anduin's acid breath splashed toward Tang Qi.

Tang Qi, Dawn, and Shalti fought Anduin as the Black Dragon attacked Wind Sand Islet and tried to destroy its protective barrier. Tang Qi severed Anduin’s tail and struck his neck, declaring himself the Dragon Slayer as the battle reached its climax.

• Dawn wounded Anduin with [Supreme Holy Slash], but he battered her into the ruins and nearly crushed her beneath his claws.
• Shalti shot Anduin with enchanted arrows, distracting him long enough for Dawn to escape, while he covered the barrier with corrosive acid.
• Uha ordered the defenders to flee as Shedskin and the psionicists strained to maintain the barrier against Anduin’s assault.
• Tang Qi emerged from the mist and struck Anduin’s tail with a powered blade, severing it and sending the dragon crashing through the barrier.
• Uha and Shivana rescued the fallen psionicists from the acid rain as Tang Qi dodged Anduin’s breath and announced, “I am the [Dragon Slayer]. I am Tang Qi Weinberg.”
• Tang Qi’s blade pierced Anduin’s neck, leaving the dragon’s throat severed and burned by the strike.

Tang Qi helped the defenders repel the beastfolk at dawn after driving off Anduin, then uncovered evidence that the siege’s sabotage was tied to the theft of the Aether Prism. The chapter ended with Tang Qi identifying the Gnome consul as the likely mole.

• Kandelian broadcast Tang Qi’s dragon-slaying through the Image Transmission Orb, restoring the defenders’ morale as Anduin fled from the city.
• The defenders held through the night, and the beastfolk retreated at dawn while Damon raised the military banner and Uha celebrated their victory.
• Tang Qi sent Night Wind to search the streets for surviving enemies, then went with Dawn and Shalti to inspect the destroyed city gate.
• Tang Qi and Shivana found a buried tunnel and explosives beneath the gate, leading him to conclude that someone inside the Lord Alliance had aided the beastfolk’s attack.
• Tang Qi connected the siege’s diversions to the people investigating the Aether Prism theft and recognized the Gnome consul’s earlier questions as suspicious.
• Tang Qi concluded that he had found the mole.

After Wind Sand Islet’s defense, Tang Qi accepted a mission to carry the dead defenders’ names to the Southern Great Wall and bring emergency food back. He planned to investigate Damon’s suspected ties to the Beastfolk there, while Bella learned that freeing the Snakefolk from their curse required defeating its controller.

• Tang Qi received the names of 3,441 dead defenders and agreed to take the roster to the Southern Great Wall.
• Damon gave Tang Qi an official certificate and asked him to transport emergency food from Great Wall Prison; Tang Qi planned to leave at dawn with the adventurers and Snakefolk.
• Tang Qi told Dawn that he needed evidence connecting Damon, the Beastfolk, the Aether Prism, and other clues before acting against the governor.
• Tang Qi joined the adventurers at a feast of Black Dragon meat, where Shalti enjoyed the food and Tang Qi teased her.
• Bella reported that the Deep Pit Lord had never met Shedskin and said the Snakefolk’s curse could be removed by defeating its controller.

After Wind Sand Islet’s victory, Tang Qi received new rewards for his deeds and learned that the Forgotten Continent had only 871 days before Doomsday. He considered how to spend the remaining time and wondered whether the sleeping Yiwu could awaken as Eve Edel.

• Tang Qi spoke with Kandelian, who warned him about the Beastfolk encampments and described a route to Great Wall Prison; Tang Qi warned him to beware of Damon.
• Tang Qi reflected on Kandelian’s actions in his Journal and gained an enhanced Commoner Hero bearing, stronger Poet’s Inspiration, and the Heroism spell.
• Tang Qi received enhanced Dragon Slayer and Three Dragon Gift abilities after recording his continuing feats against Giant Dragons.
• Tang Qi gained the Doom Witness bearing and saw that 871 days remained before the Forgotten Continent’s Doomsday.
• Tang Qi talked with his companions, considered making a wish list, and wondered whether the sleeping Yiwu could awaken as Eve Edel.

Tang Qi’s group encountered a camp of nomadic half-orcs under attack by gnolls and young blue dragons, and he chose to intervene. As the battle began, the Storm Dragon Sivir saw Tang Qi and was overcome by fear, just as a golden strike tore into his wing.

• Night Wind reported that gnolls and two blue dragons were attacking a nomadic camp near the landmark Tang Qi sought.
• Tang Qi decided to help the camp, and Shivana sounded the war horn.
• Great Sword Dance and the other tribesmen fought the gnolls while the young blue dragon Sivir ordered the beastfolk to seize the lake for his master.
• Sivir spotted Tang Qi on the Sky Turtle and panicked, then tried to flee to his family.
• A golden meteor struck Sivir’s wing with [Supreme Holy Slash].

Tang Qi and his allies spent the night with the Morning Light tribe after helping them defeat gnolls and capture the blue dragon Sivir. Dawn learned that the tribe’s legendary founder was Aiyer Dawn, and Great Sword Dance urged her to ask the Collector about her past.

• Tang Qi subdued Sivir, and Great Sword Dance introduced himself as Olistophernet, chief of the Morning Light tribe.
• Great Sword Dance told Tang Qi that the tribe had fled north after the Southern Great Wall fell and had encountered another Alliance group heading toward the Great Wall five days earlier.
• Tang Qi found a Hound Neckerchief and Hunter’s Collar among the loot, while Great Sword Dance explained that the Ocelot People had helped refugees reach the Collector.
• Great Sword Dance recounted how Aiyer Dawn had slain a griffin, taught the tribe swordsmanship, and founded its traditions of honor and challenge.
• Dawn asked about Aiyer Dawn’s past, and Great Sword Dance recognized her broken sword and showed her the tribe’s tablet depicting the legendary warrior.
• Great Sword Dance told Dawn that the Collector had once sought the sword’s scabbard and might know more about her past.

Tang Qi recruited the Dawnlight Tribe and helped Dawn confront her fear of recovering her memories. He learned from Sivir that a Gnome had awakened the Giant Dragons and arranged their escape, deepening the mystery around Damon’s plans.

• At dinner, Great Sword Dance and Three Reindeer Antlers explained the Dawnlight Tribe’s code and recalled Wind Sand Islet’s lavish wartime celebrations, prompting Tang Qi to suspect Damon had sought to corrupt its people.
• Tang Qi offered the Dawnlight Tribe a choice between fleeing north and joining his journey to the Great Wall, and Great Sword Dance accepted on the tribe’s behalf.
• Dawn admitted she feared that her past might mean she lacked individuality, and Tang Qi encouraged her to recover her memories and judge herself by who she was now.
• Tang Qi threatened Sivir’s children, and Sivir revealed that a Gnome had awakened the Giant Dragons in an Underground Cavern and made a Pact with them to break through a wall.
• Tang Qi connected Damon to the dragons’ awakening and a plot to corrupt souls, but concluded that the plan’s long duration made it more complicated than it seemed.

Tang Qi and the allied army reached the Southern Great Wall, where the Collector welcomed them and revealed that Anbi and her adventuring team had arrived ahead of them. The group brought the missing Aether Prism, setting the stage for its repair.

• Tang Qi's group passed migrating Stone Giants and spotted the breach in the Southern Great Wall as they approached.
• The Great Wall's ballistae aimed at the allied army, but Anbi rushed out to reunite with Tang Qi and explained that her team had come south on a mission.
• Tang Qi recognized Arthur and greeted Hubble Hall, Wendy, and the rest of Anbi's team.
• The Collector emerged from the Great Wall, urged everyone to repair the Aether Prism, and led them inside to shelter with the refugees.
• The Collector asked whether anyone had the other missing Aether Prism, and Bella presented it; he praised her, leaving Bella to wonder how he knew her.

The Collector revealed how Damon had used Bella, War Hatchet, and the Snakefolk as bait to destroy an Aether Prism, then helped Tang Qi investigate Damon’s motives and explained that rescuing the imprisoned Succubus would require a prison break. The chapter ended with the Collector revealing that he had already sent the sword sheath Dawn might own to an underground location in Dragon Gold City.

• The Collector explained that he had let Bella carry the Aether Prism so he could follow the scheme that had led to its loss, and Tang Qi identified Damon as the mastermind.
• The Collector suggested Damon might have acted out of loyalty to Eve Edel, but Tang Qi questioned that motive because the Succubus’s corruption campaign had begun long before the Great Wall fell.
• Tang Qi told the Collector that he intended to rescue the Succubus, and the Collector explained that the prison’s alert protocols left breaking the inmates out as their only option.
• Tang Qi asked the Collector to bring back a sword sheath that might belong to Dawn, but the Collector said he had already sent it to an underground location in Dragon Gold City.

The Collector revealed that Dawn may have sealed a passage to the Nine Hells and explained that the Forgotten Continent was a doomed world isolated from other planes. Tang and the others chose to learn the truth, then turned their attention to the beastfolk threat and the Aether Prisms, which Yiwu was supposed to repair.

• Tang realized Hope had lied about the Saint's Sword Sheath, while the Collector and Arthur explained its history and conflicting accounts of its origins.
• The Collector told Dawn that she may have sealed the Gates of Hell fifteen hundred years ago and that her remains still guarded the passage in the Northern Lands.
• The Collector explained that the Forgotten Continent was a stitched-together world destined for destruction, isolated so completely that spells could not reach it from other planes.
• Tang and the others reacted to the revelation, and Dawn resolved to retrieve the sheath while Shalti wondered whether she could return home.
• The Collector proposed using Yiwu to repair two Aether Prisms before investigating Damon's purpose, but Tang revealed that malnutrition had left Yiwu treating a prism like a toy.

The Collector explained why Yiwu’s memories remained sealed and why advanced magic could strengthen the beastfolk, then let the group choose rewards for returning the Aether Prism. Tang accepted a magical tome that enhanced presence and received a map to the Great Wall Prison, where he would investigate Damon.

• The Collector explained that Yiwu’s memories would return as her body matured, and fed her a Wand of Wonder that she found delicious.
• The Collector warned that powerful technology and magic could be copied by the beastfolk, making simpler weapons safer for the Great Wall’s defenders.
• Night Wind chose a Rogue’s Eyepatch, Wendy chose a Poisonproof Amulet, Arthur requested gold for refugees, Shalti took a Rope of Entanglement, and Dawn chose a cursed Arrow-Attracting Shield.
• Anbi chose a Ring of Free Action and gave it to Tang, who traded her his Hunter’s Collar as a bracelet; Night Wind complained and turned invisible.
• Tang accepted the Collector’s tome of magic that enhanced presence, and the Collector gave him a map of the Great Wall Prison so he could uncover the truth about Damon.

After a dream urged him to go to Dragon Gold City, Tang Ran considered returning to Teren and prepared to infiltrate Great Wall Prison to find the Succubus. He assembled a team and entered the prison, where the Collector warned that the Beastfolk’s unexplained departure made time critical.

• Tang Ran woke from a dream about a Stone Tablet and wondered if his childhood memories had been sealed until he was old enough to bear them.
• Tang Ran and Dawn discussed traveling to Teren someday, but agreed to decide after the crisis at the Great Wall and her search for the Northern Lands.
• The Collector gave Tang Ran a magical orb that revealed a map of Great Wall Prison, and Tang Ran planned to sneak into the warden’s office to search the prison records for the Succubus.
• Tang Ran recruited Shalti, Bella, and Night Wind for the infiltration, forcing Night Wind to join despite his fear of a Drow in the prison.
• The Collector led Tang Ran’s team across the rye fields to Great Wall Prison and warned them to uncover why the Beastfolk had left.