Chapter Summaries

Charles looted the wealthy households in the town, paid poor residents for their livestock, and prepared to leave before the beastmen retaliated. He rewarded his soldiers and conscripts with gold, then invited the conscripts to join his campaign, and one man volunteered.

• Charles confiscated valuables and livestock from the town's wealthy households while paying market price for animals taken from poor residents.
• Charles told the mayor he was leaving to draw the Howling Children of the Wasteland away from the town and invited the mayor to bring his family along.
• Charles addressed his troops, shared the spoils, and gave each soldier twenty gold coins plus another twenty for every beastman killed.
• Charles awarded each conscripted man two gold coins, then offered ten gold coins as a settling allowance to anyone who willingly joined him.
• One conscripted man stepped forward and said he was willing to follow Charles.

Charles recruited dozens of men, accepted Charlotte and his family into the army, and learned that Charlotte’s changed fate had greatly strengthened the Book of Causal Paths. He studied the map and chose another Howling Children of the Wasteland settlement to attack.

• Charles recruited seventy or eighty men and left town with his cavalry.
• Charlotte decided to flee with Charles, and Charles made him the army’s quartermaster.
• Charles’s army continued onward with more than three hundred and seventy cavalrymen and additional recruits.
• The Book of Causal Paths gained a page of power, which it attributed largely to the change in Charlotte’s causality.
• Charles questioned the Book about Charlotte’s original fate, then turned his attention to striking the Howling Children of the Wasteland.
• Charles selected a new target among the orc settlements and sentry posts marked on his map.

Charles chose the Howling Children of the Wasteland as his first target because their territory could become a hub for trade, then launched an attack on one of their outposts. After his cavalry killed the guards and the responding patrol, Charlotte feared the orcs would retaliate.

• Charlotte described the Land of Chaos and named its six other major factions, warning Charles that the Howling Children of the Wasteland were too powerful to target.
• Charles decided to attack the Howling Children of the Wasteland because their territory could become a crossroads for trade.
• Charles ordered his cavalry to take an orc outpost and kill every orc there.
• The cavalry lured a nearby orc patrol to the outpost and slaughtered both the patrol and its defenders.
• Charlotte arrived at the outpost, saw the dead orcs, and feared the faction would hunt them down.

Charles used his cavalry to lure the Howling Children of the Wasteland out and harass their outposts, while the orcs tightened their encirclement. With more than four hundred and fifty riders and the enemy’s movements mapped by summoned bird scouts, Charles prepared to strike their forces that night.

• Charles’s cavalry destroyed several orc sentry posts and strongholds, killing the garrisons and hanging their corpses from stakes.
• A wolf-rider squad led by a brawny orc found a burned sentry post and ordered the infantry to hurry after Charles’s cavalry.
• The Howling Children of the Wasteland pursued Charles’s forces, using dire wolves to track them and waiting for infantry support rather than rushing into battle.
• Charles recruited fighters from small settlements, bringing his cavalry to more than four hundred and fifty men.
• Charles studied the region with Bruce and his summoned bird scouts, then decided to let the exhausted orcs rest that night while his cavalry collected some interest.

Charles led fifty elite cavalrymen on a night raid against an exhausted orc force, using his bird to locate their hidden sentries and casting spells to strengthen the attackers. The cavalry began its charge as the orc leader sensed danger, and Charles sounded the Cavalry Torrent spell.

• Bruce selected fifty elite cavalrymen, and Charles led them toward the orc camp with Bruce and Scorchflame.
• Charles's summoned bird revealed the camp's sentries, and the cavalrymen prepared for the raid several thousand meters away.
• Charles and Scorchflame cast enhancement spells on the cavalry and their horses before the group advanced.
• Charles silently killed the perimeter sentries with Bone Spikes and Kinetic Cones.
• The third-rank orc leader woke, smelled blood, and ordered a guard to check the sentries as Charles's cavalry began charging.
• Charles summoned a gray rhinoceros for Bruce, strengthened the front ranks with Trampling Aura and Soul of the Cavalry, and sounded Cavalry Torrent.

Charles, Bruce, and Scorchflame launched a surprise cavalry assault on the orc camp, using witchcraft to scatter the defenders and burn their supplies. Charles and Scorchflame focused their attack on the third-circle orc leader, who was left engulfed in dragon breath as the charge continued.

• The orc leader raised the alarm, but Cavalry Torrent let Charles and Bruce’s riders charge through ordinary obstacles in the darkness.
• Charles extinguished the camp’s bonfires while the cavalry trampled orcs, and Scorchflame flew overhead to set fire to the supplies.
• The orc leader tried to rally his forces, so Charles redirected Bruce’s charge toward him before the orcs could gather.
• Charles used Elven War Banner to restore and heal the cavalry, then trapped the orc leader with Thorn Lash and struck him with Radiant Ray.
• Scorchflame drew in the camp’s flames and blasted the orc leader and nearby orcs with dragon breath.

Charles and Bruce led a night raid that killed the third-tier orc leader and devastated the orc camp, though the cavalry suffered losses and Scorchflame was wounded. After regrouping, Charles waited for reinforcements, and at dawn the orcs heard the main human cavalry force approaching.

• Bruce charged the third-tier orc with the gray rhinoceros and killed him, breaking the orcs' morale.
• Charles led the cavalry out of the burning camp while Bruce and Scorchflame attacked from the air, but Scorchflame was wounded by thrown spears.
• Charles rallied the cavalry and led another charge through the chaotic camp, striking the orcs twice more.
• Charles withdrew to a high slope with thirty-five riders and sent messengers to summon the main cavalry force.
• At dawn, the exhausted orcs heard the human cavalry approaching again.

After Charles crushed the Howling Children of the Wasteland’s pursuers, Kurto Shatterbone sought peace, and Charles demanded three settlements in exchange for a truce. Kurto agreed, intending to deal with Charles’s forces after confronting the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe.

• Kurto Shatterbone silenced his warband’s calls for revenge and sent a messenger to ask Charles what it would take to end the fighting.
• Charles told Molly and Erika that negotiations could secure a foothold, then demanded that the Howling Children of the Wasteland cede three adjacent human settlements.
• Kurto Shatterbone considered the settlements’ limited value and agreed to Charles’s terms.
• Kurto Shatterbone planned to finish dealing with the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe before turning against Charles’s forces, now tied to their new settlements.

After the Howling Children of the Wasteland ceded three towns, Charles established control and assigned Charlotte to govern them. He sent Erika to obtain equipment for creating Blood Ring Knights and approved grain, relief work, and new recruits to strengthen his territory.

• Charles accepted the Howling Children of the Wasteland's surrender of the towns and entered one with his cavalry after the orcs withdrew.
• Charles appointed Charlotte mayor of all three towns and assigned him thirty cavalry guards.
• Charles sent Erika and Bruce with fifty cavalrymen to the Verdant Crystal Domain to buy witchcraft equipment and materials for the Blood Ring Knights.
• Molly gathered local herbs and studied them for making potions.
• Charlotte asked Charles for money to buy grain, then planned to feed residents in exchange for work expanding the military camp.
• Charles approved funds through Yvenjieling and asked her to recruit more soldiers.

Elendil and Selena learned that Charles had defeated the Howling Children of the Wasteland and seized three towns, though the territory remained at risk. Charles then began rebuilding and recruiting as his forces expanded.

• Elendil told Selena that Charles had fought the Howling Children of the Wasteland, and she anxiously asked whether he was safe.
• Selena read the report and rejoiced that Charles had won and taken three towns.
• Elendil refused to let Selena visit Charles because his territory was still in danger, but allowed her to help the men buying supplies.
• Charlotte secured food for the starving civilians and organized a work-for-relief program in the three towns.
• Charles began building a new military camp and secretly recruiting soldiers from the Howling Children of the Wasteland's territory.
• Charles's cavalry returned with new recruits, rapidly increasing the size of his forces.

Charles expanded his army to a thousand men and received the equipment Erika had bought, then began preparing an experimental base to create Blood Ring Knights. He left open the possibility of abandoning the settlement and faced the challenge of modifying Gray-Scaled Horses with only three wizards.

• Charles formed a thousand-man army with five hundred cavalry and five hundred mounted infantry, spending heavily on troops and equipment.
• Erika returned with supplies and hired mercenaries, while a little over forty of the fifty cavalrymen who had left came back with her.
• Charles welcomed Erika and learned that Selena had helped her buy the needed supplies.
• Charles arranged the sorcery devices and instruments in the new laboratory and discussed the ongoing conflict between the Howling Children of the Wasteland and the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe with Molly.
• Charles began planning to modify his cavalrymen and Gray-Scaled Horses into Blood Ring Knights, drawing on existing magical-mount templates despite having only three wizards.

Charles reviewed Erika and Molly’s rapid transformation of Gray-Scaled Horses into first-rank magic mounts for the Blood Ring Knights. The mounts proved powerful but short-lived and costly, leaving Charles needing more Magic Stones to expand his cavalry.

• Charles assigned Erika and Molly to develop a rapid Gray-Scaled Horse transformation, using magic, potions, training, and runes to strengthen the horses’ bodies and defenses.
• Erika showed Charles more than ten transformed magic mounts, each meeting the standard of a first-rank magic mount.
• Charles discovered that the transformation burned the horses’ life force, leaving them at most three years to live, and Erika said they could not reproduce or pass on their enhancements.
• Charles accepted the mounts’ short service lives as suitable for the intense early stages of war and noted that battle losses would often kill mounts before old age.
• Erika reported that each transformed mount cost about fifteen hundred Magic Stones, with future large-scale production possibly lowering the cost to twelve hundred.
• Charles concluded that he needed more Magic Stones if he wanted to raise more Blood Ring Knights.

Charles calculated that Blood Ring Knights cost nearly twelve thousand Magic Stones each to create and required costly monthly upkeep, leaving him able to afford only a small force. As he worked to finish his first knights, envoys from the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe and the Crimson Caravan Alliance arrived, and Charles waited to hear their proposals.

• Charles calculated the expenses for Blood Ring Knight mounts, modifications, equipment, and upkeep, and lamented that his resources would fund only a dozen or so knights.
• Charles reflected that a large force of Blood Ring Knights could help him defeat the Howling Children of the Wasteland, but he lacked the resources to build one.
• Molly speculated that the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe had sent an envoy to seek an alliance against the Howling Children of the Wasteland.
• Charles declined to decide on an alliance before hearing the envoy's message.
• A cavalryman reported that an envoy from the Crimson Caravan Alliance also wanted to visit Charles, prompting his surprise.

Charles received an envoy from the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe, who offered gifts and proposed an alliance against the Howling Children of the Wasteland. Charles refused to break his truce for a few gifts and left the envoy to consider paying more.

• Charles received the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe's envoy and accepted the tribe's gifts of feathers, tree seeds, and works of art.
• The envoy proposed an alliance and offered the tribe's support in helping Charles take the Howling Children of the Wasteland's territory.
• Charles pointed out that he had recently agreed to a truce with the Howling Children of the Wasteland and refused to risk his reputation for the tribe's sake.
• Charles told the envoy he would accept the tribe's friendship but that its gifts were not enough to persuade him to go to war.
• Charles reminded the envoy that the Howling Children of the Wasteland had given him three settlements and said the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe would have to pay more.

Charles demanded valuable magical goods from the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe in exchange for joining its war against the Howling Children of the Wasteland, then met a Crimson Caravan Alliance merchant offering supplies and trade. Charles ended their discussion by asking whether the caravan offered loans.

• Charles demanded goods worth around three hundred thousand Magic Stones from the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe before sending his troops to fight the Howling Children of the Wasteland.
• A half-elf merchant representing the Crimson Caravan Alliance arrived and greeted Charles with an elven salute.
• Charles questioned the merchant about his visit, and the merchant said the alliance could supply goods Charles had been buying at lower prices and deliver them directly.
• The merchant offered to make Charles a supplier by buying slaves from the wars he would wage.
• Charles asked the merchant whether the Crimson Caravan Alliance offered loans.

Charles sought military funding from a half-elf merchant, persuading him that his status as a Sun Elf guaranteed repayment even if his campaign failed. The merchant agreed to arrange a large loan, and Charles asked him to recruit other lenders.

• Charles asked the half-elf merchant whether the Crimson Caravan Alliance could lend him military funds, and the merchant asked what collateral he could offer.
• Charles admitted he planned to conquer and govern the Land of Chaos, then insisted he would not be defeated and could repay any loan through his connections in Lotheran.
• The half-elf merchant realized that Charles's Sun Elf status made the loan low-risk and agreed to lend him money.
• Charles asked for as much funding as the merchants could provide, mostly in supplies, and offered thirty percent profit over one year.
• The half-elf merchant promised to consult the other merchants and try to secure more military funds for Charles.

Charles sought a loan from the Crimson Caravan Alliance by offering interest, profits from his purchases, and future business ties. After hearing the half-elf merchant’s report, Ross agreed to provide the requested supplies and 200,000 Magic Stones, leaving Charles’s plans dependent on the caravan’s delivery.

• Charles gave the half-elf merchant a supply list and argued that lending him money would benefit the Crimson Caravan Alliance.
• The half-elf merchant noticed formidable cavalry in Charles’s territory and wondered about the strength of Imril’s forces.
• The merchant reported to Ross, who concluded that Imril was a young, ambitious Sun Elf with the potential to rival Felenlos.
• Ross agreed to send every material on Charles’s list and another 200,000 Magic Stones, and ordered the merchant to obtain proof of the loan with Charles’s seal.

Tyler and Teresa discussed the shifting conflicts in the Land of Chaos and the dangers facing the human powers. Tyler warned the Sons of the Broken Blade to stay out of the war and predicted that Imril would lose now that his lack of support from the Avenor Elven Court had become clear.

• Teresa told Tyler that the Howling Children of the Wasteland were about to defeat the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe and that rumors linked the Sons of the Broken Blade and Imril to the conflict.
• Tyler told Teresa to warn Ivan that the Sons of the Broken Blade should avoid the war and preserve their strength.
• Teresa asked whether the Howling Children of the Wasteland would attack Imril after defeating the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe.
• Tyler explained that the Orcs had made peace with Imril because they feared the Avenor Elven Court, but months without its support had revealed Imril's weakness.
• Tyler predicted that Imril would lose because his territory made his forces vulnerable and the Avenor Elven Court had sent him no substantial aid.

Charles used borrowed funds to resume training Blood Ring Knights and expand his cavalry to eight hundred. After receiving an aid request from the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe, he demanded three hundred thousand Magic Stones and planned to attack the Howling Children of the Wasteland when the timing favored him.

• The Crimson Caravan Alliance delivered more than a million Magic Stones’ worth of materials to Charles, allowing him to resume military preparations.
• Charles trained and modified Blood Ring Knights, gathered fifty newly trained knights, and expanded his cavalry to eight hundred men.
• Yvenjieling brought Charles an aid request from the besieged Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe, which offered two hundred thousand Magic Stones.
• Charles raised his price to three hundred thousand Magic Stones and said he would honor the deal if the tribe paid.
• Charles explained that he intended to attack the Howling Children of the Wasteland before they could recover from their war with the Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe.

The besieged Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe argued over whether to hire the sun elf Imril after the Sons of the Broken Blade refused to aid them. They agreed to pay Imril and spread news of his involvement to distract Kurto Shatterbone, while Molok Scorched-Earth hoped the war would strengthen his authority.

• The Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe's chieftains argued over hiring Imril or making peace with Kurto Shatterbone after the Sons of the Broken Blade refused to send troops.
• Molok Scorched-Earth persuaded the chieftains to hire Imril, arguing that his cavalry could draw troops away from the siege.
• The tribe delivered Magic Stones to Charles's location and announced that Imril would join the war against the Howling Children of the Wasteland.
• Molok watched Kurto Shatterbone's besieging forces and hoped the news would force him to choose between maintaining the siege and attacking Imril's stronghold.
• Molok reflected that the other clans had been weakened while his own clan remained strong, and laughed as he anticipated gaining absolute authority.