Chapter Summaries

While the group rested in an underground cave, Lily revealed her ties to the Berardi Family and explained how her adoptive father Vito changed after his wife died and allowed the Misty Hand to trade water smoke. Xia Lin urged Lily to judge the truth for herself and follow her conscience, leaving their relationship warmer as he went to rest.

• Sera, Lily, Xia Lin, and Kade washed up, then arranged watches, with Xia Lin taking the first and Lily the second.
• Xia Lin read Zane’s records and wondered why Zane joined the gang that sold the drug that had destroyed her parents.
• Lily thanked Xia Lin for saving and trusting her, then revealed that Vito Berardi was her adoptive father and traced the Berardi Family’s ancestry to a heroic adventurer.
• Lily explained that Vito had once forbidden the family’s water smoke trade but began tolerating and encouraging it after his wife died.
• Xia Lin told Lily that appearances might not reveal the whole truth and urged her to make the choice that did not go against her heart.
• Lily advised Xia Lin to rest, and he noticed her fragrance had changed as he left for the resting area.

Kade, Xia Lin, Lily, and Sera reached Valerius’s underground camp and launched a surprise attack on his group. They killed the Priest and ranger, then began fighting the remaining guards as Kade charged Valerius.

• The four traveled deeper underground, defeating crystal-scaled lizards and driving off luminous web-spiders along the way.
• They discovered Valerius and four subordinates gathered around a mysterious device, and Xia Lin learned that Valerius was a level-six mage.
• The group prepared their weapons and positioned themselves to ambush Valerius’s camp.
• Lily killed the Priest while Sera struck down the ranger with Eldritch Blast.
• Lily’s Killing Intent dazed the Warrior and barbarian, allowing Xia Lin and Lily to attack the Warrior while Sera targeted the barbarian.
• Kade charged Valerius as the battle began.

Xia Lin and his companions defeated Valerius and his allies, then learned that Valerius had used the Misty Seed to imitate a level-six mage without gaining the knowledge or skill to wield magic properly. Just as Valerius began to name the person who had directed him, his head exploded, leaving the group without an answer.

• Xia Lin’s illusions and Lily’s mantis phantoms helped bring down the Warrior, while Sera exhausted the Half-Orc barbarian and shattered his knee with an Eldritch Blast.
• Kade knocked Valerius unconscious, and Xia Lin found a glowing artifact in his robes that Appraisal identified as the Misty Seed (Incomplete).
• Valerius revealed that the Misty Seed had transformed him from an ordinary person into a mage, and that he had sought its missing core to open a mechanism.
• Xia Lin connected the missing core to the unappraisable fragment he had found in Zane’s room.
• Valerius tried to bargain with Lily using a secret about her adoptive mother, but Sera struck him and Xia Lin demanded to know who had sent him.
• As Valerius began to answer, his head suddenly exploded.

Valerius died when a magical restriction spell detonated his head, ending the trail to his correspondent. Xia Lin and his companions rescued Zane, who explained the Misty Seed’s origins and confronted Lily over her past; Lily apologized, but Zane fainted before accepting it.

• Valerius's head exploded after a restriction spell triggered, and Xia Lin realized the name Mr. A had been protected by safeguards embedded in Valerius's brain.
• Xia Lin, Kade, and Lily found Zane bound and badly injured in a tent, and Kade revived her with a healing potion.
• Zane explained that the Misty Seed had been stolen from a sealed evil lich and that Valerius had hurried his plans after receiving an order from an unknown correspondent.
• Zane revealed that she had hidden part of the Misty Seed's mechanism, then recognized Lily and accused her of helping cause her family's ruin through the water-pipe trade.
• Lily apologized for the harm she had caused, but Zane demanded that she destroy the gang and fainted from exhaustion.
• Xia Lin found Lily shaken by the confrontation and urged her to follow what her heart told her.

Xia Lin urged Lily to follow her heart, prompting her to remember the loving childhood she had before her adoptive mother's death transformed Vito and shaped Lily into an assassin. Lily resolved to stop her family's evil and asked Xia Lin to leave Vito to her if they had to fight, while Xia Lin reminded her that sinners had to face the consequences.

• Xia Lin told Lily to follow her heart, and she recalled being adopted by Vito and his wife and growing up in their loving home.
• Lily remembered how her adoptive mother's death changed Vito, who trained her to become an assassin and taught her that power could prevent loss.
• Lily recalled becoming Captain of the Crimson Blades and the Deadfire Arena's undefeated queen before meeting Xia Lin.
• Lily told Xia Lin she would personally end her family's evil, even at great cost, and asked to face Vito herself if it came to that.
• Xia Lin warned that their actions would make an enemy of the Misty Hand, then told Lily that sinners had to face the consequences.

After defeating Valerius and his gang, Xia Lin and his companions divided their magical loot and discovered a sealed message concerning Lily's adoptive mother. Xia Lin joined the Misty Seed with a fragment found earlier and proposed using the completed key to open the ancient mechanism.

• Lily refused to take any of the loot, saying it was not what she wanted.
• Xia Lin found a sealed document about Lily's adoptive mother and secretly told Kade and Sera what it contained.
• The group divided the magical equipment, with Kade taking defensive items, Xia Lin claiming the Shift Cloak and metamagic rod, and Sera receiving the Medical Box.
• Xia Lin combined the fragment from Zane's room with the Misty Seed, forming a Mythic key.
• Xia Lin asked his companions whether they wanted to discover the treasure behind the sealed mechanism.

Xia Lin, Kade, and Lily entered the portal beneath the mechanism and found themselves on a fragment of the Astral Plane. They discovered eleven statues of major gods surrounding a control panel and a barrier enclosing an ornate Treasure Chest.

• Xia Lin convinced Sera, Kade, and Lily to explore beyond the portal, while Sera agreed to stay behind with the [Misty Seed].
• Xia Lin activated the mechanism with the [Misty Seed], opening a portal that remained open after he retrieved the artifact.
• Xia Lin tested the portal, then entered it first, followed by Kade and Lily.
• The three emerged on a vast fragment of the Astral Plane, where Xia Lin recognized the scene as the Pantheon.
• Xia Lin and the others saw eleven statues of major gods, a glowing control panel, and a Treasure Chest enclosed by an emerald-green barrier.

Xia Lin and his companions explored the gods’ Temple and discovered powerful artifacts, but an adventurer’s diary revealed that touching them could trigger a lethal trap. The diary left them with only one clue for safely opening a sealed chest: begin with the statue of Pharasma facing the console.

• Xia Lin brought Sera into the Temple and led the group to inspect its control terminal.
• When Xia Lin stepped onto the console’s platform, all eleven statues lit up and revealed an artifact beneath each one.
• Kade was drawn toward the holy sword Legacy of Light, but Xia Lin stopped him before he could touch it.
• Lily found an adventurer’s diary beside the console, and Sera read how the artifacts had killed the diary writer’s companions and trapped him inside.
• The diary suggested that the statues had to be activated in an order based on their domains and power, beginning with Pharasma, but the rest of the sequence was unreadable.

Xia Lin and the others solved the Temple’s divine-history puzzle and used the [Misty Seed] to deactivate the emerald-green barrier. With the seal gone, they could finally see what it had been guarding.

• Kade recognized the masculine statue as Aroden, the predecessor to Iomedae, while Lily identified Gorum as an earlier Lord of War whose statue showed that the Mantis Epic had not yet occurred.
• Sera revealed that the presence in her mind had grown clearer in the Temple and that the statues’ arrangement seemed to depict an ancient sequence of events.
• The group concluded that they had to touch the statues’ plinths with the [Misty Seed] in the historical order of the gods’ births, falls, and transfers of power.
• Xia Lin touched the statues in their proposed order, and the statues lit up as their energy resonated.
• After Xia Lin touched Gorum’s statue last, the emerald-green barrier vanished and the artifacts powering the seal lost their divine pressure.

Xia Lin and his companions opened the stone coffin and awakened Star-Gazer, an ancient commander who mistook them for slaves and servants of false gods. When Xia Lin revealed that more than ten thousand years had passed, Star-Gazer tried to contact its king and council, but received no response and collapsed in despair.

• The Misty Seed lost its power after dissolving the barrier, and Xia Lin appraised it before putting it away.
• Xia Lin, Kade, and Lily realized the strange stone treasure was a coffin, and beams of light formed a humanoid figure on the control console.
• The awakened Star-Gazer threatened the group, calling them slaves and servants of false gods, while Xia Lin questioned it.
• Xia Lin told Star-Gazer that more than ten thousand years had passed, and Lily suggested that its council no longer existed.
• Star-Gazer attempted to contact its king and council through the console, but received no answer and collapsed in bewilderment.

Xia Lin’s party prepared to strike the weakened Star-Gazer, but its discovery of traces of its people’s power in Xia Lin shifted its attention from rage to hungry hope. Sera then identified the Star-Gazer and the power as “[Remnants],” leaving the meaning of her words unexplained.

• Kade activated [Divine Weapon] and Lily cast [Blessing Spell] while Xia Lin assessed the weakened Star-Gazer.
• Xia Lin questioned the Star-Gazer about its reinforcements and the danger it posed, provoking its anger.
• The Star-Gazer noticed traces of its people’s power on Xia Lin and concluded that its people might not have been completely defeated.
• The Star-Gazer turned its hungry gaze toward Xia Lin and his party, and Sera stepped beside him and said, “[Remnants].”

The ancient will possessing Sera rejected the Star-Gazer’s offer and shielded Xia Lin and the others from its attack. Sera regained control, weakened but alive, and urged the group to strike while the Star-Gazer was vulnerable.

• The ancient will inside Sera scrutinized the Star-Gazer and proposed a game and possible cooperation, but the Star-Gazer refused and threatened to consume their souls.
• Sera’s ancient will declared the negotiation failed and resolved to kill the Star-Gazer, which activated the control panel and unleashed a devastating beam.
• Sera stepped in front of Xia Lin, Lily, and Kade and absorbed the beam with a dark-purple shield.
• Sera regained control, exhausted from defending them, and urged her companions to attack the weakened Star-Gazer.

Xia Lin and his allies fought the Stargazer and its astral hounds, with Sera gaining the power to bind the ancient enemy. Xia Lin struck the restrained Stargazer with an empowered, lightning-infused sword, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• The Stargazer summoned four astral hounds and attacked Xia Lin with powerful stellar spells and a starlight blade.
• Kade and Lily struggled against the hounds, whose bodies shifted between reality and illusion, while Xia Lin fought the Stargazer inside its zero-gravity field.
• Xia Lin used his Displacement Cloak to evade a Comet Ray and wound the Stargazer, buying Sera time to recover.
• Sera used Abyssal Grasp to bind the Stargazer with shadow tentacles and teleport it in front of Xia Lin.
• Xia Lin empowered his sword with his wand and magic, then drove the lightning-charged blade through the Stargazer’s chest.

Xia Lin killed the Star-Gazer and received its memories, glimpsing an ancient civilization that conquered worlds. He found he could understand a mysterious Permission Card left behind, but did not know why.

• Xia Lin pierced the Star-Gazer, whose body collapsed into stardust and flowed into him.
• Xia Lin witnessed memories of a powerful star-faring civilization that enslaved and conquered other races.
• Kade called Xia Lin back to his senses after he stood dazed, and Lily explained that the four stellar hounds had vanished with the Star-Gazer.
• Xia Lin found a card containing a miniature galaxy and recognized it as a Permission Card that controlled mechanisms in the Pantheon.
• Xia Lin picked up the card and wondered what had happened to him.

After gaining limited control of the Pantheon through the Permission Card, Xia Lin rallied his injured companions and planned to lure the Misty Hand into a trap. He and Lily returned to the surface to seek help from her squad.

• Xia Lin discovered that the Permission Card had given him Star Knowledge and some control over the Pantheon.
• Xia Lin, Lily, Kade, and Sera agreed to strike back against the Misty Hand.
• Xia Lin used the Permission Card to demonstrate control of the Pantheon's statue and portal, then outlined a trap.
• Xia Lin assigned Kade and Sera to prepare the Pantheon defenses while he and Lily returned to the surface.
• Xia Lin asked Lily whether anyone in the Misty Hand could be trusted, and she said her squad might help.

Xia Lin deceived Bazi into believing the Misty Seed was spent and the treasure lay beyond a sealed door, then helped him use Lily to force Vito’s removal. Vito died after drinking poison, and Bazi prepared to lead the family to the treasure, believing he could open it himself.

• Xia Lin returned to Bazi with the bound Lily and claimed Valerius, Kade, and Sera had died, while the Misty Seed had lost its power.
• Xia Lin showed Bazi the Legacy of Light and claimed the true treasure was sealed and could only be opened by a Berardi descendant.
• After Bazi’s men confirmed the Stone Gate and the space beyond it, Bazi paid Xia Lin with a +2 Magic Longsword and planned to use Lily to pressure Vito.
• Bazi and the senior family members deposed Vito, then forced him to drink poisoned wine in exchange for sparing Lily.
• After Vito died, Xia Lin questioned who could open the treasure door, and Bazi claimed he was also a direct Berardi descendant before rallying the family to set out.

Xia Lin lured Bazi and the Misty Hand into the Pantheon, where its ancient divine defenses slaughtered the gang after Bazi confessed to poisoning Lily’s foster mother. The massacre ended with Bazi wounded but alive as Xia Lin confronted him.

• Xia Lin led Bazi, Lily, and the Misty Hand into the Pantheon and tricked Bazi into activating its treasures.
• Bazi confessed to Lily that he had poisoned her foster mother, and Lily erupted in hatred and cut off his hand.
• Xia Lin sealed the portal and raised the energy barrier, trapping the gang inside as Kade, Sera, and Lily launched their attack.
• The Pantheon’s statues unleashed divine spells and summoned warriors, killing the Misty Hand in a one-sided slaughter.
• Xia Lin noticed the slain gang members’ souls were absorbed by the statues, then confronted the wounded Bazi.

After avenging her foster mother, Lily learned that the dead in the Pantheon were trapped in a sealed rift, while Xia Lin and Sera dismantled Bazi’s last hopes of escape. Sera crippled Bazi and left him to Lily, who approached him for the final reckoning.

• Xia Lin discovered that the Pantheon’s magic had destroyed the magical equipment on the gang leaders’ corpses, then apologized to Lily for hiding the truth about her foster mother’s death.
• Lily thanked Xia Lin for letting her avenge her foster mother herself and said that everything was over.
• Kade sensed that souls who died in the Pantheon were trapped there forever as nourishment for its divine statues, and he left through the portal, disturbed by the injustice.
• Bazi begged for his life, but Lily revealed that his watchers were dead and Xia Lin told him that his headquarters had likely been raided by tax officials.
• Bazi offered the location of the Berardi Family’s hidden treasure, and Xia Lin agreed to hear him out before leaving through the portal.
• Sera shattered Bazi’s knees with an Eldritch Blast and left him to Lily, who walked toward him as Sera departed.

Xia Lin explained how he identified the female Dwarf as the Sword Duke’s agent, while Lily carried out the Red Mantis’s execution of Bazi. After the portal’s stored energy ran out and sealed the Pantheon away, Xia Lin led the others back toward the surface, still intent on uncovering the mystery of AJ.

• Xia Lin told Kade and Sera that the note’s fragrance and Sera’s mention of Berardi Family soap had led him to recognize the female Dwarf’s connection to the Misty Hand.
• A scream and the sounds of an execution came from beyond the portal, and Kade identified the ritual as the Red Mantis’s offering to Akakak.
• Lily emerged in a clean priestess’s robe and told Xia Lin that he did not want to know what had happened to Bazi.
• Xia Lin discovered that the teleportation had consumed the portal’s stored energy, leaving the gateway to the Pantheon unable to open again.
• Xia Lin shut down the portal and told Kade, Sera, and Lily it was time to return to the surface.

Xia Lin reviewed the rewards and advances his team had made since the Misty Hand fell, including a stake in Anvil Mine, Zane’s rescue, and his own new abilities. Lily appeared above him as he rested outside Restov.

• The Daily Horn Herald reported that the Misty Hand had collapsed, and Restov’s gangs divided its former territory.
• The owner of Anvil Mine gave Xia Lin’s team a five-percent stake and promised to promote the supposed treasures beyond the Stone Gate to attract adventurers.
• Zane was placed in the Sword Duke’s protection as a witness, while Master Sesti gave Xia Lin his Magic Warrior cultivation knowledge and the Deep Pool Talisman.
• Xia Lin advanced to Magic Warrior Lv.5, increased his attributes and Arcane Pool, and learned to use Arcane Weapon Enhancement and Master Initiative.
• Xia Lin made progress with Converge Spell and gained a Dimension Door technique that let him teleport near an enemy and strike.
• Lily silently leaned over Xia Lin as he rested beneath a tree outside Restov.