Chapter Summaries

Saruman visited Roadside Fortress and explored its grand library, hoping to learn about the beacon and the Nether Star but finding no information about either. As he left, he discovered Little Pink was a dragon and got into a tug-of-war with it over his staff.

• Saruman arrived at Roadside Fortress, inspected the city, and found the Nameless Tower as impressive as Orthanc.
• Saruman explored the grand library, read the history of Roadside Fortress, and then studied A General History of the Free City-State.
• Saruman searched the library for information about the beacon and the Nether Star but found no records, and he resolved to tease Li Wei about withholding information.
• Saruman passed the Mallorn Tree and then noticed Little Pink, a fire dragon, lying in his path.
• Saruman prodded Little Pink with his staff, and Little Pink bit it; Saruman pulled back while telling the dragon to let go.

Li Wei stopped Saruman and Little Pink from fighting over Saruman’s staff, then explained why he kept dangerous knowledge secret. He revealed that the beacon and its Nether Star came from a monster called the Wither.

• Li Wei saw Saruman and Little Pink tugging over Saruman’s staff and broke up their contest.
• Saruman warned Li Wei to watch Little Pink, but Li Wei defended her as a mild, civilized dragon.
• Saruman said he had searched the Nameless Tower for information about the beacon and Li Wei’s mysterious artifacts.
• Li Wei explained that he withheld Forbidden Knowledge because learning it could attract danger, though the beacon and star were not forbidden.
• Li Wei told Saruman that the Wither was a powerful undead monster whose deaths left dangerous black roses, and that the Nether Star formed after the Wither died.

Li Wei questioned Saruman about the Entwives and the Huorns before Saruman hurried away. Another year passed as the Rangers expanded their reach into the North Downs and the ruins of Arnor.

• Saruman explained that understanding things required looking beyond the senses, then tried to leave before Li Wei stopped him with further questions.
• Saruman said the Entwives’ lands had been burned during the War of the Last Alliance and that prophecies foretold their return at the end of the world.
• Saruman dismissed rumors of Ents in the North Downs and explained that the dangerous tree-like beings in the Old Forest were Huorns.
• Saruman finished his tea and left after hinting that a bandit had broken into his home.
• The Rangers of Roadside Fortress and Riverside Fortress pushed dangers farther into the wilderness and established a stronghold in the North Downs.
• Roadside Fortress extended its influence toward Amon Sûl and the ruins of Annúminas and Fornost Erain, where Rangers had long fought to protect their former homeland.

Li Wei trained Little Pink to breathe fire and used its dragonfire to forge Dragonfire Steel. He crafted and enchanted a powerful greatsword, leaving Nemesis as a keepsake in his backpack.

• Li Wei taught Little Pink to breathe fire, and after nearly a week of training it produced its first dragonfire.
• Li Wei had Little Pink breathe into the dragonsteel forge until Dragon Blood and Iron fused into a Dragonfire Steel Ingot.
• Li Wei rested and fed Little Pink, then used two Dragonfire Steel Ingots and a Wither bone to craft a greatsword.
• Li Wei tested the Dragonfire Steel Sword and enchanted it with utility enchantments and Undead Slayer.
• Li Wei retired Nemesis to his backpack as a weapon of commemorative value.

Li Wei completed Dragonfire Steel armor and a Dragon Bone Bow, then tested their power and shared Dragon Bone Arrows with Falrodan. Balin arrived from Erebor to report a longstanding anomaly that Thorin hoped Li Wei could help solve.

• Little Pink spent a month breathing dragonfire to help Li Wei forge enough Dragonfire Steel for a full set of armor.
• Li Wei crafted Dragonfire Steel armor and a Dragon Bone Bow with Dragon Bone Arrows, then tested the bow's powerful shot at the barracks.
• Falrodan examined Li Wei's new equipment, and Li Wei gave him Dragon Bone Arrows to use against elite enemies.
• Balin arrived at the castle, marveled at Li Wei's Dragonfire Steel armor and greatsword, and recognized the dragon blood used in the metal.
• Balin told Li Wei that Thorin had sent him from Erebor to seek help with a longstanding anomaly there.

Li Wei traveled to Erebor to investigate an unexplained heat affecting the miners underground for more than ten years. After visiting Bard and Bain in Dale, he descended with Thorin into the vast, warmly lit mines to inspect the anomaly.

• Balin told Li Wei that Erebor's miners had felt intense heat underground since 2949, and Li Wei agreed to investigate the site in person.
• Li Wei encountered Bard and Bain competing in archery near Dale's archery range.
• Li Wei gave Bard a bundle of Dragon Bone Arrows, and Bard hurried to find a more suitable bow.
• Li Wei met Thorin in Erebor, and Thorin prepared to lead him into the mines.
• Li Wei and Thorin descended by elevator into a vast underground space where miners were at work.

Li Wei and Thorin discovered a chasm beneath Erebor that Li Wei suspected concealed a Balrog, prompting Thorin to evacuate the Dwarves to Dale. At the bottom, Li Wei found a box inscribed in Black Speech and awakened a dark power, as a real, oppressive heat finally reached him.

• Thorin led Li Wei deep beneath Erebor, where he described the ominous sensations troubling the Dwarves, but Li Wei felt only pleasant warmth.
• At the edge of a vast chasm, Li Wei shot a bat and sensed a familiar presence below, then warned Thorin that a Balrog might be there.
• Thorin ran back to evacuate the Dwarves, and Bard learned they were taking refuge in Dale rather than forming a coalition to hunt the monster.
• Li Wei followed water down to the chasm’s bottom and found a small box covered in Black Speech.
• Li Wei read the inscription aloud, unleashing darkness and a new beacon buff; after the darkness faded, he felt the Balrog’s oppressive heat.

Li Wei fought the awakened Balrog in the underground rift, overpowering it with the Dragonfire Steel Greatsword. The Balrog erupted in a pillar of flame that hurled Li Wei into the air, and his counterattack triggered the rift’s collapse.

• The Balrog awakened underground and followed a dark power upward, breaking into the rift where Li Wei confronted it.
• Li Wei rejected the Balrog’s chance to return to sleep and cut through its flaming whip, arm, and sword with the Dragonfire Steel Greatsword.
• The Balrog pressed Li Wei with its strength and heat, but Li Wei used potions and his Rune Shield to withstand the assault.
• Li Wei unleashed a rapid combination that opened the Balrog’s leg and drove it into the rock, then prepared to strike its chest.
• The Balrog erupted in flames, launching Li Wei upward, and Li Wei crashed back down onto it in a fiery counterattack.
• The impact shattered the rift walls, and the underground chasm collapsed.

Li Wei pursued the Balrog from the collapsed mines of Erebor to Dale and fought to keep it from reaching the city. With Bard and Bain's help, he killed the Balrog and earned the title "Fire Demon Nemesis."

• Li Wei climbed out of the rubble and chased the Balrog through Erebor as it fled toward the surface.
• The Balrog smashed through Erebor's gates and emerged before Dale, where Li Wei dragged it away from the city and continued fighting.
• Bard overcame his fear, readied Dragon Bone Arrows with Bain, and urged him to join the fight.
• Bain shot through the Balrog's wing, and Li Wei cut off its other wing and struck down its flaming sword.
• Bain shot Li Wei's sword forward into the Balrog's chest, and Li Wei delivered the final blow, earning the title "Fire Demon Nemesis."

Bard helped Li Wei defeat the Balrog with a precisely aimed arrow, and Li Wei collected the creature’s loot. The dwarves celebrated, while Thorin discovered that Erebor had been badly damaged and postponed dealing with the ruins until the next day.

• Bard shot the Balrog, earned Li Wei’s praise, and showed Bain that he still had much to learn.
• Li Wei gathered the Balrog’s Flame of Udûn and considered its uses, then dragged the corpse away from the city.
• Thorin congratulated Li Wei, who suggested that Erebor would need extensive repairs and renovations.
• The dwarves celebrated the Balrog’s death while Thorin and the other leaders returned to find Erebor heavily damaged.
• Thorin agreed to leave repairs until the next day and invited everyone to go drinking.

After Li Wei helped celebrate the defeat of the Balrog, the dwarves began rebuilding Erebor with Dale’s support. Back at Roadside Fortress, he forged Blazing Gliding Wings Armor, deciding to save it for aerial combat and extreme environments.

• At a celebration in Dale, Thorin worried about the fires and damage in Erebor’s mines, and Li Wei promised to deal with the remaining heat.
• Bard introduced Alfred, who explained that Bard had given him a chance to survive and that he had changed; Li Wei praised his transformation.
• After the celebration, the dwarves began rebuilding Erebor with help from the humans of Dale, while the Balrog’s head was displayed above the city gate.
• Li Wei returned to Roadside Fortress and forged a Blazegold Ingot to upgrade his Netherite breastplate.
• Li Wei fused the upgraded breastplate with his Elytra to create Blazing Gliding Wings Armor, then chose to keep it as a backup for flight and fiery environments because it was conspicuous and less protective than his Dragonfire Steel set.

After Li Wei killed the Balrog, Sauron sent three Ringwraiths into the far northern wastes to investigate the other beings that had answered his call. The Ringwraiths returned to Mordor without their armor and reported finding a passage to a shattered underground fortress filled with familiar but even more evil things.

• Sauron reflected on the Balrog’s death and remembered that several distant beings had answered his call from beneath the far north.
• Sauron ordered three Ringwraiths to travel into the Northern Wastes and investigate the source of the echoes.
• The Ringwraiths crossed the frozen wasteland for months, lost their horses to the cold, and searched the snowfields for several years.
• One Ringwraith sensed ancient malice near a broken gap in the mountains, and the three gathered there to investigate.
• The Ringwraiths lost their armor and eventually returned to Mordor as spirits.
• The leading Ringwraith told Sauron they had found a passage into the deepest depths of the world and a shattered underground fortress containing beings more evil than they were.

Li Wei built a Great Wall across the Ettenmoors, easing the Rangers’ pressure and leading to the formation of the Watchers. In 2968, he visited Dale, where Bard invited him to stay for Bain’s wedding.

• The Rangers pushed into the Ettenmoors as Orcs, Trolls, and Angmar’s forces gathered and fighting intensified.
• Li Wei linked and extended the Rangers’ fortresses into a Great Wall, completed in spring 2967.
• The Rangers established the Watchers to guard the Great Wall while continuing their operations against the enemy.
• Li Wei visited Dale in spring 2968 and learned from Bard that Erebor had been repaired.
• Bard told Li Wei that Bain would marry next month, and Li Wei agreed to stay and attend the wedding.

Li Wei attended Bain’s wedding in Dale, inspected the rebuilt Lonely Mountain, and later visited Bilbo in Hobbiton for his birthday. The chapter ended with Li Wei laying out a huge feast at Bag End.

• Li Wei celebrated Bain and his wife’s wedding, hugged Bain, and accidentally burned his hands with his Dragonfire Steel armor.
• Li Wei inspected the rebuilt Lonely Mountain, where Thorin explained the dwarves’ new defenses and weapons.
• Li Wei rode to Hobbiton in mid-September and reunited with Bilbo at Bag End.
• Li Wei revealed that he had come for Bilbo’s birthday and stayed the night in his old room.
• Li Wei brought out a feast of food from Dale and the Lonely Mountain and placed a cake on Bilbo’s table.

After Bilbo’s birthday feast, Li Wei spent the night under the Star of Eärendil and greeted a Hobbit postman in the morning. The postman delivered an invitation to a banquet celebrating the birth of Bilbo’s cousin’s son, Frodo Baggins.

• Li Wei and Bilbo finished their birthday meal, then Li Wei gazed at the Star of Eärendil and fell asleep in the yard.
• A Hobbit postman delivered a letter, asked Li Wei for an autograph, and received pastries for his children.
• Li Wei called Bilbo to collect the letter, which came from Drogo Baggins in Buckland.
• Bilbo explained that Drogo had invited him to a feast celebrating his newborn son, Frodo Baggins, who shared Bilbo’s birthday.

Bilbo invited Li Wei to Drogo’s feast in Buckland, where Li Wei’s reputation and stories drew a crowd of women and children. The gathering left Bilbo thinking Li Wei would earn a new title in the Shire: Friend of Women and Children.

• Bilbo invited Li Wei to attend Drogo’s feast, and the two set out for Buckland with gifts and wine.
• Bilbo told Li Wei about Primula’s late father, Gorbadoc Brandybuck, as they traveled through the Shire.
• Drogo welcomed Bilbo and Li Wei, then led Li Wei away to place his barrels of wine in the cellar.
• Primula introduced Li Wei to the guests, and he spoke about the Great Wall, Wargs, and Orcs.
• Women and children gathered around Li Wei to hear his stories, leaving Drogo and Bilbo aside as Bilbo anticipated Li Wei’s new title.

After years of visits and construction, Li Wei oversaw Riverside Fortress’s expansion into a ring-shaped city around the river confluence. With its districts completed and named the City of Water, Riverside Fortress became the name of Li Wei’s castle alone.

• Li Wei visited Frodo again a year later and held the lively one-year-old before another year passed.
• Li Wei surveyed the land around the river delta and began enclosing it in stone to start Riverside Fortress’s expansion.
• The Roadside Fortress construction brigade joined the work, and the two brigades competed to build the East and South Districts.
• Li Wei designed the East District’s Hanging Gardens, which became the city’s most magnificent sight.
• The residents chose to build both a giant lighthouse in the West District and a towering statue of Li Wei in the South District.
• After the city plan was completed, the residents named it the City of Water, and Li Wei adopted the name.

Li Wei encountered Saruman while boating with Bard in the Water City and learned that Bard had been surveying the ruins of Flamsburg with Beorn. Li Wei approved rebuilding the site as a forward fortress, while Saruman continued exploring the city.

• Bard and Li Wei traveled by boat through the Water City until Saruman called out to them from shore.
• Li Wei noticed Saruman's Territory contribution was positive, but briefly suspected him of doing something after it dipped slightly.
• Li Wei let Saruman explore the city and offered him tea and snacks at Riverside Fortress.
• Bard told Li Wei that Bain's son, Brand, had been born the previous year.
• Bard explained that he and Beorn had considered rebuilding Flamsburg as a defensive fortress against Mount Gundabad and the Grey Mountains.
• Li Wei identified the ruins as Flamsburg and approved the plan to rebuild it.

Li Wei expanded defenses across the Anduin Valley, then visited Rohan and Gondor, where he learned that Thorongil had led a successful raid on Umbar. The chapter ended with Li Wei discovering that Thorongil had already left Gondor before he could meet him.

• Li Wei oversaw the expansion to Flamsburg and the construction of an outpost in the Golden Iris Marshes.
• Li Wei visited Senger in Rohan, heard of Thorongil’s battlefield exploits, and replenished Theoden’s amulet.
• Senger told Li Wei that Thorongil had left, and Li Wei departed for Gondor.
• Li Wei learned that Gondor’s fleet had raided Umbar under Thorongil’s command, burning ships and killing the harbor commander.
• Ecthelion told Li Wei that Thorongil had left Gondor without returning to receive his reward.

Li Wei visited Ecthelion and Denethor in Gondor, where Denethor’s old resentment of Thorongil resurfaced before Li Wei teased him into an awkward embrace. Meanwhile, Aragorn began traveling alone through Harlond to investigate Sauron’s plans, following in Li Wei’s legendary footsteps.

• Ecthelion told Li Wei that Aragorn had crossed the Anduin and left Gondor through Ithilien, while Denethor privately recalled how Thorongil had overshadowed him.
• Li Wei praised Denethor and tried to hug him, and Denethor protested before enduring an uncomfortable embrace through Li Wei’s hot armor.
• Denethor left the parlor appearing lighter in mood, and Li Wei resumed catching up with Ecthelion.
• Aragorn landed east of Pelargir near Harlond and set out alone to explore the lands and gather intelligence on Sauron’s schemes.
• Aragorn remembered Li Wei’s past fighting near Harlond and laughed at finding himself following the same path.