Chapter Summaries

Aaron recognized Doherty Blood Sword as the Half-Orc he had buried, while the sealed power of Khorne stirred inside him. After Doherty defeated Rellta in the arena, Aaron raised his hand to challenge him, and Doherty eagerly accepted.

• Aaron recognized Doherty Blood Sword from the Snake God's temple and wondered how the Half-Orc had returned from the dead.
• Samir explained that Lady Laeral had established the arena for resolving disputes, and Doherty demanded more challengers after defeating a Fire Elemental Kin.
• Rellta entered the ring and attacked Doherty with an Arcane Shot, but Doherty blocked the arrow and overwhelmed him with a counterattack.
• Doherty kicked and stomped Rellta until the Snow Elf fell silent, then challenged the spectators to fight him.
• Aaron raised his hand to enter the ring, and Doherty excitedly called him to fight.

Aaron dueled Doherty, a Khorne-blessed half-orc Sword Saint, and endured his assault before winning with lightning and a Slaanesh-powered slash. The crowd celebrated Aaron’s victory at the Arabel Restoration Army camp.

• Doherty defeated Rellta, and Aaron stepped forward to challenge him while Eleanor and Ivenna carried the unconscious snow elf away.
• Aaron prepared several defensive spells before Doherty let him strike first, then Doherty cut through Aaron’s magic and drove him to his knees.
• Aaron transformed into a Keeper of Secrets and fought Doherty in close combat while secretly using Tesla’s Arc to weaken him.
• Aaron paralyzed Doherty with lightning and shattered his brass saber with a Slaanesh True Silver Slash.
• A guard of Helm declared Aaron the winner, and Aaron announced his victory to the cheering crowd.

Aaron defeated Doherty in a celebrated duel, resisted the Chaos-fueled urges stirred by his powers, and offered the defeated sword saint a new way to understand his path. As Volo recorded the victory for his guide, Aaron's cousin Robert introduced him to a mysterious enchantress who approached him with fanatical interest.

• Cormyr's soldiers and locals cheered Aaron after he defeated Doherty, while Milmantle Rhaur considered his victory a promising sign.
• Aaron endured exhaustion and briefly resisted a surge of Chaos-fueled bloodlust and indulgence before regaining control.
• Doherty acknowledged his defeat and mourned his shattered blade, and Aaron urged him to see the sword as more than a weapon in hand.
• Robert and Volo Thamp-Zheda announced that Volo would record Aaron's duel in Volo's Guide to Cormyr, and Aaron confronted Robert for coming to the front.
• A purple-robed enchantress approached Aaron and asked to get to know him, staring at him with fanatical intensity.

Aaron met the mysterious Enchanting Witch Mysty Tanshul, whose power resonated with his, and learned that she wanted him to join her in ruling an Imperium. He declined her offer and left with a scroll arranging a secret meeting in six months, while Mysty warned him that Dark Sun was his greatest enemy.

• Aaron met Mysty Tanshul in a private manor, where she revealed that only he could see her and that their powers resonated.
• Mysty questioned Aaron about his past and the source of his power, then served him Abyssal demon fish that healed his injuries and restored his mana.
• Mysty invited Aaron to join her as a sister and brother to rule an Imperium, but Aaron refused and prepared to leave.
• Mysty warned Aaron that Dark Sun was his greatest enemy and claimed his goddess could not protect him.
• Aaron accepted Mysty's contact scroll and discovered it named a ruined Elven Empire site in the Eastern Stormhorn Mountains as their secret meeting place in six months.

After defeating Doherty, Aaron reunited with Eleanor and learned that Rellta had shut himself away after his humiliating loss. Aaron and Samir were summoned by Lady Laeral to explain their dangerous battle plans, which she had decided to carry out.

• Aaron rested at the lodgings Samir had secured after meeting Mysty and reflected on Khorne’s attempts to push him toward slaughter.
• Eleanor told Aaron that Rellta had erupted in anger after waking from treatment, then withdrawn into a dark room; Aaron decided to give him time to recover.
• Aaron reassured Eleanor that he was unharmed, and the two became intimate while Pani teased them from outside.
• Aaron joined his companions downstairs, where they were playing cards, and prepared to cook before Evan Starlana arrived with Phoenix Legion soldiers.
• Evan told Aaron and Samir that Lady Laeral had approved all their battle plans and wanted them to explain the dangerous details in person.

Lady Laeral prepared the Restoration Army for a dangerous campaign to reclaim Arabel and sent Aaron and Samir on missions to invoke their gods’ power. After Aaron bought an elderly milk seller’s remaining goat’s milk, a gaunt stranger calling himself Singer approached him with a business offer and revealed that they shared an enemy.

• Lady Laeral reviewed plans for activating divine power against Tugin’s ancestral spirits, authorized Aaron and Samir’s missions, and ordered her adopted daughter Christine sent to Suzail.
• Aaron and Samir left the command post, discussed their reasons for risking their lives, and encountered an elderly woman selling goat’s milk.
• Aaron learned that the woman’s five children had been killed by Orks and bought all her remaining milk, paying her generously.
• Singer introduced himself to Aaron and Samir, proposed a business deal, and pointed out that Mannacorn Anaheim was approaching and was also Singer’s enemy.

Mannacorn ordered an old refugee silenced because her account of the war harmed Cormyr’s image, while Aaron and Samir met a mysterious Singer who offered intelligence and sought Ork slaves. Aaron later visited the withdrawn Rellta and found fresh goat’s milk outside his room, suggesting someone had tried to reach him.

• Mannacorn learned that the old goat’s-milk seller’s children had been killed by Orks, but he ordered Andreas to stop her selling and make her keep quiet.
• The bald Singer offered to buy Ork slaves, warned Samir and Aaron to watch out for Bael, and vanished after explaining how to contact him.
• Samir told Aaron how devil contracts and the Infernal Court worked, and Aaron appreciated his friend’s advice.
• Aaron and Samir distributed goat’s milk to Selûne’s faithful and the Suzail soldiers before Aaron went to check on Rellta.
• Ivenna warned Aaron that Rellta might take his own life, and Aaron found a bucket of fresh goat’s milk outside the elf’s closed inner room.

After Rellta was broken by defeat, Aaron manipulated him into worshipping Sune, then assembled a small team to activate Selûne’s temple near occupied Arabel. Aaron and his companions reached the city’s outskirts and discovered an Ork patrol, leaving them ready to attack.

• A seductive voice reached Rellta in the field hospital, overwhelmed his defenses with pleasure, and made him worship Sune.
• Charlotte arrived at the Restoration Army’s camp, but Aaron refused to let her join his expedition and chose Eleanor, Disma, and Maximian for the mission to Selûne’s temple.
• Teams prepared to activate several deities’ powers, while eighty followers of Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater volunteered to march toward central Arabel.
• Robert, Varo, and the masked Mysty Tanshul secretly followed Aaron’s group as it set out for the occupied city.
• Aaron and his companions crossed the devastated outskirts of Arabel and hid when Maximian spotted an Ork Warhawk scouting nearby.
• Aaron recognized the patrol as a threat and decided that the four of them would attack.

Aaron and his companions ambushed several Ork patrols while traveling through the forest toward Selûne’s temple near Arabel. They discovered more than thirty Orks feasting inside the temple under a one-eyed leader, and Aaron prepared to attack.

• Disma, Eleanor, and Maximian helped Aaron ambush and wipe out an Ork patrol, killing its officer and deputies before Aaron struck down the fleeing survivors with Chaos Bolts.
• The party burned the corpses and continued through the forest, fighting more Ork patrols to improve their coordination.
• During a rest, Aaron asked Disma about his animal companion and learned that Disma had no such abilities; Eleanor recalled Selûne’s temple and described its layout.
• Disma scouted Selûne’s temple and reported that more than thirty Orks were feasting inside around a one-eyed leader.
• Aaron prepared the fifth-level spell Slaanesh’s Torment and declared that the party would slaughter the Orks in the name of justice.

Aaron and his companions attacked the Orks occupying the Temple of the Lady of Silver, using a spell to turn them against one another before fighting their way inside. After discovering the Orks had desecrated the temple and killed the children of its choir, Aaron resolved to kill every last Ork.

• Aaron and his companions slipped past the sentries and entered the temple, where they prepared to attack the Orks feasting in the great hall.
• Aaron cast Slaanesh's Torment, making the Orks mistake one another for Elves and driving them into a chaotic battle.
• Aaron, Disma, Eleanor, and Maximian attacked the confused Orks, but the one-eyed Eye of Gruumsh escaped into the inner courtyard.
• Aaron blasted open the stone doors, and Disma and Eleanor charged into the courtyard after the fleeing Ork.
• Aaron saw the desecrated statue of Selûne and the children's heads in the fountain, then vowed to kill every Ork.

Aaron and his companions defeated the Orks inside Selûne’s temple and prepared to channel divine power through its damaged conduits. As they began preparing the ritual, Fearblade summoned a large Ork patrol toward the temple, intending to make the squad die in a staged attack.

• Aaron, Disma, Eleanor, and Maximian fought through the temple, and Aaron’s magic turned the Ork Shaman’s Lightning Bolt back on the Orks.
• Disma accepted the Eye of Gruumsh’s duel, dodged his attacks, shot him with a scattergun, and killed him with a sword thrust through his remaining eye.
• Disma savored the Eye of Gruumsh’s prolonged death, drawing criticism from Maximian while Aaron restrained Eleanor.
• Eleanor inspected the desecrated, badly damaged temple and determined that only two of its four surviving conduits could be used, making the ritual dangerous.
• Fearblade watched the squad and used a signal to redirect a patrol of five Ogres, twenty Orks, and auxiliary troops toward the temple.

Aaron struggled against Khorne’s call while defending Eleanor’s ritual from a large ork force led by a two-headed ogre wizard. He defeated the ogre in a Slaanesh-fueled transformation, but an earthquake dislodged a crucial Moon Gem and threatened the collapsing temple.

• Aaron resisted Khorne’s demands to kill his companions as Eleanor prepared Selûne’s ritual with help from Maximian.
• Disma warned that a force of orks and other enemies was approaching, led by a two-headed ogre wizard.
• Aaron, Disma, and Maximian fought the attackers, but the enemy broke through their defenses and wounded Maximian.
• After the ogre wizard struck Aaron with Contagion, Aaron transformed into a Keeper of Secrets and killed the enemies surrounding him.
• Aaron used Slaanesh’s Dance to incapacitate the two-headed ogre and cut it down, while Khorne’s voice urged him to claim more blood and skulls.
• An earthquake shook the temple and dislodged the Moon Gem from a crucial ritual node as Eleanor warned Aaron that the ritual was in danger.

Aaron and his companions survived the collapsing temple after Robert restored the Moon Gem and Selûne completed the ritual. In the underground escape tunnel, Varo revealed that Lady Mysty had guided Robert, leaving Aaron uncertain whether she was friend or foe.

• An earthquake pinned Eleanor beneath ork corpses, and Aaron was injured while shielding her from a falling pillar.
• Robert and Varo arrived, and Robert retrieved the Moon Gem and returned it to its place in the ritual circle.
• Selûne manifested, killed the orks, and held the collapsing temple long enough for Aaron, Eleanor, Disma, Maximian, Robert, and Varo to escape through a hidden door.
• The temple collapsed, completing the ritual and making it harder for the Orc Pantheon to manifest power near Arabel; Fearblade abandoned his chance to kill Aaron and vowed to try again later.
• In the tunnel, Varo said Lady Mysty had helped them find the group and urged Robert to restore the gem, but Aaron and his companions had not seen her.

After Robert confessed that he had risked his life to repay Aaron and feel like his brother again, Aaron withdrew into the underground temple. There, the Child of Chaos encountered a golden-armored figure he recognized and addressed as “Your Majesty.”

• Aaron suspected that Lady Mysty had sent Robert and Varo to save the group, while an unknown enemy had caused the earthquake to kill them.
• Robert told Aaron that he envied their closeness and wanted to repay him, not gain status or recognition, then fell asleep exhausted.
• Aaron realized he had overlooked Robert’s need to feel useful and left the others to spend time alone in the ruined temple.
• A sunlike presence appeared before Aaron in the underground library, and Aaron recognized the golden-armored giant and called him “Your Majesty.”

The Emperor revealed that Aaron Salian was the reincarnation of Ra-Endymion, with Ra’s lingering will and the daemon Drach’nyen sealed within him. He explained that Aaron had been brought to the Forgotten Realms to evade the Chaos Gods’ control and said he would now reveal Aaron’s true destiny.

• The Emperor took Aaron through a vision of humanity’s earliest settlement and addressed him as Ra.
• Aaron insisted he was not Ra, but the Emperor identified him as Ra-Endymion, the Custodian who had carried Drach’nyen into the Webway.
• Aaron realized that Drach’nyen was sealed within him and that Ra’s lingering will had shaped his thoughts and loyalty.
• Aaron and the Emperor discussed humanity’s selfishness and capacity for courage, sacrifice, and self-worth.
• The Emperor explained that the Forgotten Realms’ powerful gods could help Aaron escape the Chaos Gods’ control, then led him into his childhood village to reveal Aaron’s destiny.

The Emperor explained why he had trapped Drach'nyen and charged Aaron with becoming humanity’s Sword-Bearer, teaching him the deity-killing power Destined Death. After Aaron rejoined his companions and they left the Underdark, Disma spotted Reynard in trouble and called for Aaron.

• The Emperor recounted how his early belief in law and justice failed to overcome humanity’s selfishness, which Drach'nyen embodied.
• The Emperor revealed that he had arranged for Aaron and Drach'nyen to remain trapped in Realmspace and hoped Aaron would become a fifth Chaos God, diverting the other gods and keeping humanity united.
• The Emperor named Aaron humanity’s Sword-Bearer and taught him Destined Death, a power that could inflict true death on gods and other powerful beings.
• The Emperor vanished, and Aaron’s Exalted Chaos Sorcerer level rose to the peak of Elite.
• Aaron returned to the party, learned that Selûne’s avatar had healed and blessed his companions, and watched Eleanor claim a moonlit Drow longsword.
• The party left the Underdark and heard weapons clashing nearby; Disma spotted Reynard in danger and urgently summoned Aaron.

Aaron and his companions rescued Reynard’s group from an Ork ambush, but Reynard revealed that nearly all teams sent to activate the gods’ temples had been destroyed. Aaron agreed to keep fighting in the coming war and set his sights on Great Ork Khan Tugin.

• Reynard and the Anaheim family guards were surrounded by hundreds of Orks after an Ork Shaman used a human officer’s corpse to lure them into a trap.
• Aaron arrived on Tzeentch’s Disc and unleashed Tzeentch’s Fire Storm, while Disma, Maximian, and Eleanor joined the attack.
• The Orks broke and retreated, leaving many dead; Reynard and the surviving Paladins thanked Aaron and Disma after reaching safety.
• Reynard told Aaron that the teams sent to activate several temples had failed, and that all eighty Paladins assigned to his lord’s temple had died.
• Reynard said he intended to try again to activate the Three Gods of Justice, and Aaron chose to join the coming battle and challenge Great Ork Khan Tugin.

After abandoning their failed attempt to enter the orks’ territory, Aaron and his companions decided who would join the coming battle, while Maximian withdrew to protect his family’s future. In the Restoration Army camp, Lady Laeral revealed that the army’s depleted supplies left her no choice but to march on Arabel soon.

• Aaron persuaded Reynard to abandon the dangerous mission, and the surviving companions discussed joining the coming battle.
• Maximian refused to fight, explaining that he had done enough for Cormyr and needed to look after Anna, so Aaron let him leave with Varo and Robert.
• Charlotte greeted Aaron at the Restoration Army camp, while Mannacorn learned that his shipment of weapons and supplies had failed to reach Arabel.
• Mannacorn visited Reynard and reminded him that the Anaheim family had lost goods and eighteen lives saving him.
• Aaron and Samir reported their mission to Lady Laeral, who showed them the army’s enormous supply costs and declared that it would march soon.

Lady Laeral prepared the Arabel Restoration Army to fight despite its poor odds, while Tugin rallied the ork coalition and led it out of the city. The two armies assembled for the coming battle over Arabel.

• Lady Laeral told Aaron and Samir that the army would march at noon, and they chose to stay and fight for their ambitions.
• Lady Laeral faced her commanders’ concerns about fighting Tugin’s forces and vowed that they would either celebrate victory in Arabel or die at its gates.
• Tugin ordered his forces to assemble and promised gnoll chieftain Kordik freedom and territory if the orks won.
• Tugin prayed to Gruumsh, then rallied his coalition by calling for ork freedom and blaming humans for their suffering.
• Tugin led the ork army out of Arabel and into battle formation as the great battle began.

The human coalition and Tugin’s Ork army clashed on the open plains outside Arabel, with the Orks’ boar riders smashing through the forward defenses. Aaron strengthened part of the coalition’s shield wall with magic and joined the fighting as Ork warriors charged.

• Lady Laeral arranged the coalition’s forces, placing irregular troops at the front and assigning Aaron and Eleanor to Grand Baron Damon’s right wing.
• Aaron reassured Eleanor before the battle, then heard Khorne demand that he kill the Orks and raise a mound of skulls.
• Tugin rallied the Orks, and more than a hundred boar riders charged ahead of the auxiliary troops into the coalition’s front lines.
• Damon ordered the coalition’s troops to fire and cast spells, but the boar riders broke through the shield wall and let Ork warriors surge into the gaps.
• Aaron enhanced nearby soldiers’ armor and weapons with magic, helping them hold their section of the shield wall against the Ork attack.
• Aaron killed an Ork with the Sword of the Dark Moon as close combat began.