Chapter Summaries

Manshoon ordered the rival Ork and Drow forces to march against Aaron, while Iyachtu Xvim weighed his own army’s involvement. Aaron launched a forced march toward Zhentil Keep, but Jergal stopped him with a question about life and death.

• Gruumsh’s Orks plundered villages near Zhentil Keep, while Quenthel’s Drow mistreated Zhentarim and clashed with the Orks.
• Manshoon ordered the Eastern Army to march against Aaron before its rival factions could descend into civil war.
• Fuzor and Disma argued over Fuzor’s peace plan as Iyachtu Xvim decided to wait and judge the war’s progress before committing his army.
• Aaron ordered the Western Army to make a forced march toward Zhentil Keep and agreed that Elminster and the other Chosen would assist without occupying the Moonsea.
• Jergal appeared in Aaron’s command tent and asked how the god ruling the Underworld should handle the relationship between life and death.

Jergal questioned Aaron about how he would prevent the Golden Tree from distorting reincarnation, and Aaron answered that he would use Destined Death to maintain the system. Fiolena’s vanguard fought the Zhentarim, Orcs, and Drow at the Tesh River before Merciless Harald’s Bedine riders routed the enemy; afterward, Aaron’s council considered the Eastern Army’s defenses at Teshwave, and Aaron proposed breaking through their pocket formation to attack their main camp.

• Jergal asked Aaron how he would avoid interfering with causality and reincarnation, and Aaron said he would use Destined Death to maintain the Underworld’s system.
• Fiolena led five hundred Cormyrian Order Knights against pillaging Orcs at a village on the Tesh River, then was ambushed by Drow and Zhentarim forces.
• Fiolena’s knights fought their way out, and Merciless Harald’s Bedine riders arrived and routed the Eastern Army’s vanguard.
• Manshoon berated the Eastern Army’s commanders, while Selura framed the costly clash as an Eastern Army victory.
• Aaron welcomed the wounded Fiolena, rewarded her and Merciless Harald, and convened a council to discuss the route toward Teshwave.
• Aaron proposed breaking through the Eastern Army’s pocket formation at Teshwave and striking its main camp directly.

Jergal judged Aaron a possible but imperfect successor while Shar prepared to watch the coming battle, and a group of gods gathered in Brightwater to observe Aaron's war with Manshoon. Aaron weighed a direct strike against the Zhentarim and, when Charlotte summoned a thick fog, saw an opportunity to risk everything on a decisive attack.

• Jergal told Shar that Aaron's Golden Law was coherent but favored his own loved ones, so Aaron would remain an alternative candidate for the Underworld.
• Shar showed Jergal a battle map, and they prepared to witness the conflict that could end Cyric's rule over the Underworld.
• Sune welcomed Selûne and Eilistraee to Brightwater, where Tyr, Tempus, and other deities gathered to watch Aaron's battle against Manshoon.
• Aaron assessed the orks and drow as formidable but noted that they were not united with the Zhentarim, and he considered striking Manshoon's main force directly.
• Charlotte pointed out that a thick fog was gathering, and Aaron saw the weather as a chance to launch a decisive attack.

Aaron’s Western Army and the Zhentarim’s Eastern Army prepared for the decisive Battle of Teshwave while hidden forces gathered on both sides. Thompson’s meteor strike launched the Western Army’s attack, as the gods watching the battle warned that Aaron faced a trap and approaching reinforcements.

• Manshoon trusted Cyric’s demigods, Fuzor’s approaching Dark Army and Fey’ri, and Shar’s Dragonspine surprise to secure a Zhentarim victory.
• Aaron completed his Keeper of Secrets Transformation while singing, then shared breakfast with Nastya and Charlotte as the Western Army prepared for battle.
• Harald refused to send his 12,000 Bedine cavalry into the first attack merely to claim distinction, while telling Halfdan he wanted to judge Salian’s strength.
• Dorn, Thompson, the Monarch, and Orpheus agreed to provoke the Eastern Army, and Thompson struck its left flank with a flaming meteor.
• Aaron ordered the entire Western Army to advance, beginning the Great Battle of Teshwave as the gods watched and Tempus warned that Fuzor’s forces were closing in.

The Battle of Teshwave began as Eleanor's forces fought the orks and Cormyr's Ninth Shepherd Legion attacked the Zhentarim center. By ten o'clock the Zhentarim front was buckling, while Xvim's exhausted Dark Army delayed Manshoon's request for immediate support.

• Eleanor rallied the churches and Bedine knights on the Western Army's left flank, and Lady Aylin's Silver Moon Warriors accidentally shot an ork berserker, provoking Gorgutz to send all twenty thousand orks into battle.
• The orks charged Eleanor's defensive lines, and the churches met them with divine magic, shields, and spears.
• Manshoon ordered the Zhentarim archers to fire on Cormyr's Ninth Shepherd Legion, but the heavily armored soldiers pressed forward through the volleys and clashed with Selura's spearmen.
• Aegir's mercenaries fought cautiously while Aegir and the drow held back; Quenthel demanded Aaron's head, and Gromph advised waiting for both sides to exhaust their reserves.
• By ten in the morning, the Zhentarim center's front line began to buckle under the Cormyrian assault.
• Xvim's exhausted Dark Army reached its position south of Teshwave, and Fuzor told Manshoon it needed a brief rest before attacking.

Xvim held his forces back while Aaron’s armies fought the Zhentarim and their Orc allies, waiting to gauge the gods’ support. As Charlotte’s mages joined the battle, the Shade Enclave appeared above the battlefield, leaving Aaron uncertain whether it would aid him or his enemies.

• Xvim rejected Disma’s plan to exploit the fighting and ordered his forces to wait until he knew how the deities would support each side.
• Orcs battered the religious forces on the left flank as Baid’s knights and Jimgong’s Dwarves fought back, while the Shepherd Legion advanced against the Zhentarim in the center.
• Aaron sent Charlotte and the War Wizard and Astral Mage Corps to reinforce the center, where their magic devastated Zhentarim troops.
• As the Zhentarim retreated toward Teshwave, Aaron and Nastya spotted the Shade Enclave rising over the Dragonspine Mountains.

Shade Enclave returned to the Realms and disrupted the battle, but Aaron led the Western Army in a sudden assault on Teshwave. As Chaos Hellcannon shells struck the city, Telamont realized Shade Enclave had badly underestimated Aaron.

• Telamont Tanshul and his twelve princes debated whether Shade Enclave should attack, while Hajehorn warned them that the Black Knights were Bedine Netherese Remnants.
• Eleanor ordered the Western Army’s left flank to retreat and prepare its defenses as Shade Enclave’s arrival frightened both her forces and the Orks.
• Selûne grew anxious at Shar’s intervention, but Eilistraee urged her to trust Aaron.
• Aaron identified the Zhentarim’s plan to attack both flanks and led the main force toward Teshwave, ordering his allies to hold the camp.
• Manshoon ordered Teshwave fortified and called for reinforcements as Aaron’s army advanced.
• Aaron’s Chaos Hellcannons blasted a Zhentarim tower, and Telamont’s princes realized Aaron was far more powerful than they had expected.

Aaron led the Salian Shogunate and Cormyrian forces in a brutal assault on Teshwave, while Shar stripped Telamont and the Shade Enclave princes of their magic. Manshoon’s defenses held temporarily, but Fuzor refused to send the Dark Army, and Aaron launched another attack with reinforcements moving out.

• Aaron empowered his troops with Mass Golden Cloak and led them against the Zhentarim, using Metal Storm to devastate their positions as Telamont and the Shade Enclave princes watched in alarm.
• Shar returned as Mysty and deprived Telamont and the other Shade Enclave princes of their connection to the Shadow Weave after they refused to obey her.
• Annomyn, Aaron’s commanders, and the Cormyrian forces inflicted heavy losses on the Zhentarim, but Selura’s pikemen and ranged troops repelled repeated assaults, and Robert was gravely wounded.
• Manshoon received reports of mounting casualties and called repeatedly for Fuzor’s Dark Army, while Fuzor and Disma refused to advance and told the Fey’ri envoy their troops were eating.
• Aaron regrouped, mounted Tzeentch’s Sky-Chariot, and ordered another assault as Lyla Silverhand’s Pegasus Knights and Dove Silverhand’s Myth Drannor knights joined the attack.

The Phaerimm emerged during the fall of Teshwave, turning the battle against the Shogunate and forcing Aaron into a fierce magical duel with three elders. As the Shogunate began to retreat, Shade Enclave moved to destroy the Phaerimm, while the Shogunate revealed two mysterious objects.

• Robert was carried from the battlefield after the Zhentarim's elite knights severed both his arms, and he urged Imoen, Abdel, and Sarevok to help Aaron.
• Lyla Silverhand and Dove Falconhand's flying cavalry helped Aaron's forces take Teshwave, but Phaerimm appeared and attacked the Shogunate army.
• Aaron fought three Phaerimm Elders with Wild Magic and Nurgle's Five Blessings, but they overwhelmed his attack and engulfed him in fire.
• Aaron survived by using Tzeentch's Destiny Tome to absorb the Phaerimm's magic, then struck them with Slaanesh's Mirror and Razorwind.
• The Shogunate soldiers brought out two rune-chained square crystals as their army retreated, and Telamont ordered Shade Enclave to kill every Phaerimm.

Aaron turned the battle at Teshwave by killing a Phaerimm elder with Khorne’s Skull Cannon and helping the Shogunate army counter the remaining creatures with the Cubes of Torment. Meanwhile, the Dark Sun Prince dismissed Jergal’s warning and claimed control over fate.

• The Phaerimm overwhelmed the Shogunate army, and Maximian ordered a retreat after Grassrunner died protecting him.
• Charlotte and Nastya fought the Phaerimm while Lyla Silverhand and Dove Falconhand arrived; Charlotte revealed the two Cubes of Torment her brother had prepared.
• Elminster advised Aaron to fight the Phaerimm with divine power and melee combat, and Aaron broke through an elder’s defenses and was swallowed.
• Aaron transformed into a Bloodthirster and killed the elder from within with Khorne’s Skull Cannon, frightening the other two elders into fleeing.
• The Cubes of Torment punished the Phaerimm whenever they cast spells, allowing the Shogunate army to regroup and resume its assault on Teshwave.
• Jergal warned the Dark Sun Prince that confronting the Chaos Hellhounds could bring disastrous losses, but the prince boasted that he controlled fate.

Cyric opened a passage to Pandemonium to release Kozef the Chaos Hellhound, while Aaron's forces overwhelmed the Zhentarim in Teshwave. As Manshoon used the Beherit to open another passage, Kozef emerged and smelled Aaron.

• Cyric tortured Jergal, ordered him to prepare a passage to Pandemonium, and departed to release Kozef despite Jergal's warnings.
• The Salian Shogunate and Shade Enclave routed the Zhentarim and Orks, while Aaron drove off the remaining Phaerimm Elders.
• Aaron and Telamont agreed to a three-month truce as their forces pressed toward Manshoon's residence.
• Manshoon rejected Selura's suggestion to retreat and activated the Beherit, opening a passage to Pandemonium.
• Kozef emerged from the passage and called Aaron delicious.

Midnight warned the gods that Cyric had freed Kozef, the Chaos Hellhound, while Aaron and four legendary mages fought the beast in Teshwave. Aaron drove Kozef away with Drach'nyen, but Perturabo arrived and opened fire on him.

• Midnight warned the gods across the planes that Cyric was trying to release Kozef, but Oghma discovered that Kozef had already escaped.
• Kozef attacked Aaron, and Telamont, Elminster, Storm Silverhand, and Khelben Blackstaff joined Aaron to fight him.
• The mages and Aaron unleashed powerful spells that wounded Kozef, but he survived their assault, impaled Aaron, and spewed poisonous mist.
• Aaron escaped Kozef's claw and threatened him with Drach'nyen, forcing Kozef to retreat from the battlefield.
• Perturabo descended and fired Boltgun rounds at Aaron's position.

Aaron and Dorn defeated and sealed Perturabo, while Lorgar’s detour to Sigil brought him and his companions face-to-face with the Lady of Pain. The Lady killed the three intruders, and the Emperor appeared afterward, saying Guilliman needed help.

• Perturabo attacked Aaron, but Dorn arrived, empowered by Tyr, and joined Aaron in fighting the Daemon Primarch.
• Selûne and the others helped subdue Perturabo, and Aaron, Dorn, the Monarch, Orpheus, and Thompson sealed him in an astral crystal.
• Aaron revealed that he had sent Lorgar to Sigil with false coordinates, where Lorgar arrived with Kor Phaeron and Erebus.
• Lorgar and his companions proclaimed their plans to conquer Sigil and challenge the Lady of Pain, who stood silently behind them.
• The Lady of Pain killed Lorgar, Kor Phaeron, and Erebus, then left their remains for a passing traveller to handle.
• The Emperor revealed himself and said Guilliman needed help.

The Pantheon defeated Perturabo’s Iron Warriors and prepared to attack Cyric’s divine realm after Aaron revealed its location and asked for Baal’s crown. Meanwhile, Manshoon fled toward Ravenhold and discovered that a Chaos army had appeared there.

• The Emperor carried Lorgar’s flayed remains away from Sigil, deciding to leave his fate to Jonson and Guilliman.
• Elminster unleashed his full power against the Iron Warriors, while the gods’ avatars gathered after Kozef escaped.
• Aaron told the Pantheon he knew where Cyric’s divine realm was and explained that Cyric’s attempt to kill the gods fulfilled his divine duty.
• Aaron asked the Pantheon to reserve Baal’s crown for him, and the gods set out to attack Cyric’s High Throne.
• Manshoon and Selura fled toward Ravenhold, where they found a vast Chaos army battling beneath the Dragonspine Mountains.

After the Eastern Army was routed, Aaron’s Western Army advanced toward Zhentil Keep while the Pantheon found Cyric’s hidden divine realm and attacked him. Their assault devastated the realm and caused Cyric’s divine rank to fall, revealing Baal’s Crown—the prize Aaron wanted.

• Quenthel ordered House Baenre to betray the Moonsea city-states, but Hajehorn and Shade Enclave’s forces stopped most of the Drow from escaping.
• Xvim rallied the Dark Army against Cyric and called for the recovery of the Moonsea and Zhentil Keep.
• Aaron ordered the victorious Western Army to advance toward Zhentil Keep as the Eastern Army’s rout ended.
• The gods found Cyric’s divine realm hidden inside a cigarette pack marked “Midnight,” and Mystra exposed it with a divine smite.
• Cyric lunged at Sune, prompting the Pantheon to restrain him and bombard his divine realm for hours.
• Cyric’s divine rank fell as his realm began to collapse, and Baal’s Crown emerged from his true body.

The High God Council summoned Ao to judge Cyric, but Ao declared that Cyric’s crimes were part of the balance and left the gods unable to punish him. After Cyric learned that Aaron’s armies had captured Zhentil Keep and Ravenhold, Aaron changed his plans and ordered the Chaos Army to attack the City of Strife.

• Tyr, Helm, and Torm stopped Midnight and Lathander from killing Cyric and brought the gods to the High God Council.
• The gods summoned Ao, who declared that Cyric’s actions and the gods’ resistance to him both served the balance.
• Tyr asked Ao whether Aaron Salian could receive the [Murder] portfolio, and Ao neither approved nor opposed the proposal.
• Cyric broke free, threatened the gods, closed the City of Strife and Bone Bastion to them, and left the council.
• Cyric learned that Aaron’s Western Army had entered Zhentil Keep and the Chaos Army had breached Ravenhold, weakening his divine power.
• Aaron learned that the gods would observe him before granting him [Murder], then ordered the Chaos Army to attack the City of Strife.

As Aaron’s army entered Zhentil Keep, Xvim began a ritual to claim Bane’s divine power and ascended as a god. Cyric lost the Crown of Murder during Xvim’s ascension, leaving Aaron’s campaign against him unresolved.

• Aaron ordered Eleanor, Charlotte, and Nastya to eliminate Cyric’s clerics and followers, while Maximian reported that Xvim and the Dark Army had entered Zhentil Keep.
• The Shogunate’s army captured Zhentil Keep with little resistance, and Aaron’s officers occupied key districts while church armies entered the Slums.
• Xvim led Fuzor and Disma through a secret passage to Bane’s throne and urged Disma to become his true son and future Warmaster.
• More than three hundred clerics performed Xvim’s ascension ritual, and Xvim absorbed Bane’s power and rose into Realmspace as a god.
• Oghma announced that a new god was joining the Pantheon as Iyachtu Xvim, God of Tyranny and Hatred.
• Cyric vomited the Crown of Murder and failed to stop it from drifting away.

Xvim ascended as a god but lost [Bureaucracy] to Amaunator and [Strife] to Aaron, forcing him to claim only [Fear] and [Hatred]. After one hour and twenty-two minutes as a lesser deity, Xvim was killed and Bane returned through his body.

• Xvim began his ascension by claiming Bane’s portfolios, while Amaunator seized [Bureaucracy] from Bane’s corpse in the Astral Plane.
• Aaron used the Golden Law Beast to split the Tyranny Crown, claimed [Strife], and escaped as Xvim absorbed [Fear] and [Hatred] to complete his ascension.
• Xvim followed Aaron through a wormhole into the Round Table Hall, saw Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Slaanesh, then retreated without finding Aaron.
• Bane’s black iron fist emerged from Xvim’s chest and tore into him while Reynard struck Xvim’s true body with the Holy Avenger in Zhentil Keep.
• Bane returned through Xvim’s body, took the laws of fear and hatred, and declared that he had returned.

Reynard discovered that Bhaal had manipulated his life and his efforts to kill Bane's godspawn had helped bring Bane back. After giving Aaron the power granted by Torm, Reynard died, and Aaron ascended as a quasi-deity before pursuing Bane.

• Bane emerged from Xvim's body, sacrificed more than three hundred clerics to restore his divine power, and rose toward his divine realm.
• Aaron told Reynard that Bhaal had guided him into killing Bane's godspawn, which had concentrated Bane's power in Xvim and enabled Bane's resurrection.
• Reynard gave Aaron the Platinum Light Orb containing Torm's power and the divinity he had gained, then turned to dust.
• Aaron absorbed Reynard's power and became a quasi-deity, while Bane recovered to greater-deity rank but remained gravely wounded and lost the [Strife] and [Bureaucracy] portfolios.
• Bane fled Aaron in the Astral Plane, and Aaron turned toward Cyric as the Three Chaos Gods attacked the City of Strife.

Aaron pursued Bane after the God of Tyranny fled, then charged toward Cyric’s City of Strife as Chaos armies battled the undead there. In Bane’s revived divine realm, Disma rejected Bane’s offer to remain at his side and left, grieving for Iyachtu Xvim.

• Bane escaped Aaron, who then set off for the City of Strife to take Cyric’s remaining crowns.
• The gods watched Aaron’s advance and the Chaos assault on the City of Strife, while Tyr noticed that Mask was absent from the Pantheon.
• Bane welcomed Fuzor back and forgave him for the losses suffered during Bane’s absence.
• Disma confronted Bane, insisting that his father was Iyachtu Xvim and not Bane.
• Bane offered Disma the choice to stay as his Warmaster or leave freely, and Disma chose to leave.
• Bane stopped Fuzor and the petitioners from attacking Disma and let him depart.