Chapter Summaries

Moby searched for grain after the city's shops and black market were wiped out, then rushed to sign up when trading companies began recruiting workers with wages and food. He was pushed aside before he could demonstrate his tailoring skills.

• Moby learned that the city's grain shops had been looted and hurried to the black market for food.
• Moby found gray-armored soldiers raiding the slums and arresting members of the Beggars' Guild.
• Moby returned toward his tailor shop and heard the Ding-Ding-Dang Trading Company offering jobs, silver dollars, and food.
• Moby rushed to sign up as a tailor when the Red Cliff Chamber of Commerce announced even better wages.
• Moby accepted cloth and tools for a trial, but a man shoved past him to demonstrate his blacksmithing.

Little Knife established a police force in Ankandela and used it to retaliate against the merchants and guilds he suspected of conspiring against him. After ordering a brutal crackdown on the slums, he turned to poaching artisans for workshops and shops that would remain in the city.

• Little Knife formed the Ankandela Police Station with player recruits, local residents, and a few guards from Bolas.
• Little Knife had starving people raid profiteers’ grain stores, then bought back the stolen grain to replenish his supplies.
• Little Knife sent the police into the slums, where players demolished buildings, killed attackers, and destroyed the Beggars' Guild.
• Little Knife declared all slum residents criminals and ordered them into labor reform, while Chris chose not to punish the players.
• Little Knife directed players to poach artisans from eight chambers of commerce and twelve guilds, requiring them to keep their businesses in Ankandela.

Little Knife’s campaign left Ankandela’s powerful factions isolated and unable to resist or negotiate, just as a message from Prince Chris interrupted his plans. Meanwhile, Speaker Antonio faced the Republic’s worsening collapse when he learned that the First and Second Corps had mutinied two days earlier.

• Little Knife’s players destroyed the gangs and political influence that Ankandela’s powerful men had relied on, leaving them unable to contact him or make peace.
• Marlow hid in the barracks rather than plead with Little Knife, despite his family suffering heavy losses.
• Little Knife prepared to squeeze wealth from Ankandela’s remaining leaders, but a messenger from Prince Chris arrived and interrupted him.
• Antonio reflected on the Bagnia Republic’s fragile founding, its worsening conflicts, and his own lack of power as Speaker.
• A young officer burst into Antonio’s office and reported that the First and Second Corps had mutinied two days earlier.

After the Republic's army collapsed, Prince Chris mobilized forces to seize Votradnoi and secure Bagnia's borders. As the mixed army advanced, Chris rode to join it, while other powers watched the situation closely.

• Prince Chris ordered the formation of the Third Infantry Regiment and a march toward Votradnoi after scouts reported the Republic's army had mutinied and collapsed.
• Joachim told Roderick that he had sent his 160 silver dollars home, and Roderick explained that their company would scout ahead before the march.
• The players assembled a regiment, and reinforcements arrived before the Second Infantry Regiment, the Extreme Warriors Infantry Regiment, Marlow's Independent Regiment, and players set out toward Votradnoi.
• Marlow led his regiment south to prepare defenses along the mountain road to the Retalia Empire, while Isaac stayed in Bolas with the First Infantry Regiment.
• Chris left Bolas with guards to join the advancing army, and interested parties began quietly responding to the unfolding conflict.

Captain Bock returned to Votradnoi after the First Infantry Regiment was destroyed, but military headquarters dismissed him and he was left starving on the streets. His former classmate Karl bought him food, explained that all three of the Republic's infantry regiments were gone, and asked for his help delaying Prince Chris's advancing army.

• Captain Bock went to military headquarters to return to duty, but officials dismissed him because the First Infantry Regiment had been disbanded and the army lacked supplies.
• Captain Bock wandered the streets hungry until Captain Karl recognized him and invited him to a café.
• Captain Bock told Karl that unpaid wages and food shortages had caused a soldiers' riot, allowing the enemy to attack and defeat them.
• Karl told Bock that the Third Infantry Regiment had also been destroyed and that Prince Chris's army was nearing the city.
• Karl asked Bock to help lead a company into the mountains to delay Prince Chris's army.

Captain Bock and Captain Karl tried to organize their ill-equipped, demoralized soldiers to ambush the Prince’s Army, but Call Me Aku’s players refused to chase the bait. When the enemy attacked their camp, Ranger Company broke and fled.

• Captain Bock judged that his poorly supplied soldiers could only manage one strike before retreating, so he ordered Karl to prepare traps and selected twenty men to carry matchlocks.
• Call Me Aku heard the shots from Bock’s ambush but continued down the road, warning the players that the hill was likely bait.
• Captain Bock realized the enemy had seen through his plan and led his men back to their mountain camp to prepare a surprise attack after nightfall.
• Shouts from outside interrupted Bock’s attempt to rally the troops, and he discovered that Captain Karl’s Ranger Company had broken.

Iron Fist and the other players stormed a camp after its soldiers fled or surrendered, and Iron Fist subdued a fierce officer before ordering him captured for questioning. Bock woke in the enemy camp as a prisoner, where Captain Karl offered to take him to get food.

• Iron Fist led the players into the camp after its soldiers scattered, with many surrendering and others fleeing.
• An officer charged Iron Fist, and the two fought until Iron Fist knocked him unconscious with his sword pommel.
• Iron Fist complained that the other players had watched instead of helping, then ordered them to tie up the officer for questioning.
• Another player spotted a second officer staring blankly at them across the camp.
• Bock woke in a tent, remembered being knocked out by Iron Fist, and learned from Captain Karl that they were prisoners in the enemy camp.
• Captain Karl showed Bock his empty bowl and offered to take him to get food.

Bock woke in a loosely run prisoner-of-war camp, where he learned that Karl had surrendered and revealed information about Votradnoi to Prince Chris. Karl told him that other captains had defected and that the Republic was finished.

• Karl led Bock from their tent and got him several bowls of soup at the camp’s cook shelter.
• Bock noticed that prisoners moved freely around the camp and that no guards watched the open gate.
• Bock asked Karl what had happened, and Karl explained that they were prisoners about ten kilometers from the King's Plain.
• Karl admitted that he had told Prince Chris everything he knew about Votradnoi, prompting Bock to accuse him of betraying his country.
• Karl said the Republic had abandoned their starving, ill-equipped soldiers and revealed that other captains had defected and guided Prince Chris's troops to Votradnoi.

Minisian forces ambushed players advancing into King's Plain, prompting Chris to launch an event and prepare the main army while players searched the area. Barbarossa stalked a Minisians scouting party and killed two men, then emerged behind Justin as Justin froze in fear.

• Minisian cannons and light cavalry ambushed players in King's Plain, killing them and costing them their equipment.
• Players revealed the ambush after respawning, and Chris launched an event without the death penalty while the main army rested and planned its advance.
• Barbarossa tracked nearby Minisians while livestreaming and moved through the grove with a hand crossbow.
• Justin led Louis and Evans through a dangerous area where Minisia scouts had disappeared, and Barbarossa killed Louis with a poisoned crossbow bolt.
• Justin found Evans's body hanging from a tree, while Barbarossa rose from camouflage behind him and fixed his gaze on Justin.

After the Prince's Army exploited a gap in the Minisians’ warning line, Jacques accompanied the Extreme Warriors into battle as a Military Supervisor. He recorded the unit’s preparations as three hundred elite Minisian Dragoons approached, leaving the army braced behind its Shield Wagons.

• The Prince's Army seized an opening in the Minisians’ line, and Chris ordered his troops out of the mountains to secure a foothold.
• Jacques reflected on how Chris’s grant of land had let Mountain Peak Village’s hunters return to farming, then took his place with the army as a Military Supervisor.
• When a whistle warned that enemy cavalry was approaching, a shield-bearing sergeant offered to protect Jacques while the unit prepared for battle.
• The Extreme Warriors’ Musketeers loaded their weapons, the Sword and Shield Company positioned Shield Wagons, and Jacques recorded that the soldiers completed their tasks despite their nervousness.
• Jacques spotted three hundred elite Minisian Dragoons approaching and felt somewhat reassured by the defensive line of Shield Wagons.

Colonel Sackley sent Captain Old Pegleg and thirty Dragoons to test the Bagnian Shield Wagons while his main force advanced and its artillery began firing. Lin Ruoyu dispatched Home Alone’s 11th Company to intercept the cavalry, and the chapter ended as the company’s volley brought down only two riders before the rest kept charging.

• Colonel Sackley ordered Captain Old Pegleg to lead a cavalry detachment around the flank and test the Shield Wagons with Flintlocks and fire bottles.
• Colonel Sackley advanced with the remaining Dragoons as five cannons took position and fired a ranging shot.
• Lin Ruoyu spotted the flanking cavalry and ordered the left flank to keep them away from the Shield Wagons.
• Home Alone led a hundred Flintlock infantrymen out from behind the wagons to intercept the cavalry.
• Home Alone ordered two ranks to fire, but only two of the charging cavalrymen fell, so he called for bayonets and a close-order square.

Lin Ruoyu’s forces repelled the Minisian Dragoons with flintlock volleys, incendiary bottles, and concealed Crouching Tiger Cannons, inflicting heavy casualties. Colonel Sackley withdrew and sent for reinforcements after learning that the enemy’s shield wagons and artillery made a quick advance impossible.

• Captain Old Lame’s dragoons fired on Home Alone’s square and charged along its flank, but Home Alone and the front rank shot down four riders at close range.
• The dragoons circled to the shield wagons and hurled incendiary bottles, setting wagons and soldiers aflame and disrupting the formation.
• Five Imperial Bronze Cannon shots struck the shield formation, while Lin Ruoyu ordered his three Crouching Tiger Cannons to fire double charges at the cavalry.
• The Crouching Tiger Cannons’ lead pellets tore through the advancing dragoons, and Colonel Sackley ordered a retreat after suffering heavy casualties.
• Captain Old Lame reported that breaking through the shield-wagon formation would take too long, so Colonel Sackley sent word to the general requesting reinforcements.

After repelling the dragoons, Lin Ruoyu organized medical care, food, and scouting while preparing to hold the defensive line for a day. Ten kilometers away, General Dude ordered his entire army to advance against the infantry and Shield Wagons.

• Lin Ruoyu ordered medics to treat the wounded and the Cook Squad to distribute food after the battle.
• The regiment counted twenty-seven casualties, and Jacques recorded losses, supplies, and enemy information.
• Lin Ruoyu sent riders to scout the flanks and ordered the players to intercept enemy scouts while holding the line until night.
• Second Lieutenant Sackley reported to General Dude that a thousand elite infantry had fortified a position near a grove.
• After discussing their lack of intelligence, Dude ordered the entire army forward, with Colonel Aeschylus's unit leading the advance to support Sackley.

Chris led his army through a mountain exit while using a diversion to mislead the enemy, and Lin Ruoyu's force endured an artillery bombardment as enemy infantry advanced. Lin Ruoyu held back his cannons and refused to use the secret weapon yet, leaving the defenders awaiting the imminent attack.

• Chris learned that the enemy had taken the bait and led his nearly ten-thousand-strong army out through a different mountain exit while Extreme Warriors staged a diversion.
• Chris trusted the Mountain Tiger Warband, the Han-Tang Warriors, and other player groups to hold a defensive position until his army deployed.
• Enemy reinforcements arrived at Lin Ruoyu's position, and five Bronze Cannons bombarded the Shield Wagons from about six hundred meters away.
• Lin Ruoyu kept his Crouching Tiger Cannons from firing at the concealed enemy guns, preserving them for the approaching infantry.
• Enemy artillery struck Hawkeye's watchtower, and Hawkeye reported that roughly five hundred enemy infantry were advancing as a player urged Lin Ruoyu to use their secret weapon.

Lin Ruoyu’s Extreme Warriors endured repeated Minisian assaults but could no longer hold their position. As the defenders prepared a secret weapon and a retreat, Colonel Sackley and Colonel Aeschylus planned a final coordinated attack.

• Lin Ruoyu’s flintlock gunners repelled the first Minisian infantry advance with rotating volleys, forcing the enemy to retreat and regroup.
• The Minisians renewed their attack with cannon support, flank assaults, and Dragoon harassment, forcing Lin Ruoyu to divide his troops to defend the rear.
• The Extreme Warriors repelled five assaults over three hours, but Minisian melee troops reached the Shield Wagons during the fifth attack and burned nearly half of them with Molotov cocktails.
• Lin Ruoyu decided his force had to retreat and ordered his men to set up their secret weapon, abandon anything expendable, and scatter caltrops.
• Colonel Sackley and Colonel Aeschylus agreed to launch the Anvil Tactic, with Aeschylus attacking first while Sackley’s troops followed and watched for a chance to capture the three cannons.

Lin Ruoyu and Home Alone launched thirty-six experimental rockets at the advancing Minisians, devastating their formation but leaving one rocket stuck on its rack. A player rushed back to salvage the rocket’s experimental sphere and was engulfed when it exploded.

• Home Alone and his fellow players hurried to mount the rockets as the Minisians deployed their cannons and fired at the Shield Wagon position.
• The cannon fire killed engineers, damaged a Shield Wagon, and knocked a leg off one rocket’s launch frame, which Lin Ruoyu and Home Alone braced while the players lit the fuses.
• The rockets flew erratically into the Minisian ranks, exploding among the infantry and cannons and spreading fires until the Minisian formation collapsed and the Dragoons fled.
• The thirty-sixth rocket remained stuck on its rack, so Lin Ruoyu, Home Alone, and the nearby soldiers ran as its frame began to melt.
• An unnamed player rushed back, broke open the rocket’s warhead, and threw its experimental sphere toward Home Alone before the rocket exploded and engulfed him.

After Lin Ruoyu’s rocket attack drove back the Minisian army and started a wildfire, General Dude withdrew while Chris was forced to decide how to respond. Chris then sent Black-and-White Bear a combat mission, and he prepared to ride out with Young Langduo.

• Lin Ruoyu ordered the Extreme Warriors to dismantle and carry off the rocket launchers as the Minisians regrouped, and the wildfire blocked pursuit.
• General Dude ordered his army to retreat to Votradnoi, intending to let the fire disrupt Prince Chris’s plans and weaken the region.
• Chris weighed fighting the fire against attacking the retreating Minisians and concluded he had no safe alternative.
• Black-and-White Bear read Chris’s combat order and told Young Langduo to ready his warhorse, pack mules, and three days of supplies.

Players carrying out Prince Chris's quest harassed Minisia's army with explosions, ambushes, and repeated cavalry attacks, slowing its march toward Votradnoi. By noon, the Minisians had finally set out, but they remained frightened and vulnerable to attacks from all sides.

• Three trapped warhorses exploded near Minisia's camp, killing or injuring cavalrymen and throwing the army into alarm.
• Players lured twenty Dragoons away from camp and surrounded them, while Black-and-White Bear and his companions killed five in the opening clash.
• The players broke the Dragoons' formation with gunfire, pursued the scattered survivors, and captured or killed those who fled.
• Minisia's army repeatedly sent cavalry to chase off the players, but the pursuers disappeared and the players returned to harass the camp.
• Players fired a cannon and ambushed Minisia's cavalry, delaying the army's departure until noon as it began a fearful march toward Votradnoi.

General Dude’s army was slowed and harassed by Chris’s forces before taking shelter in defensible terrain. Chris surveyed the unfinished Minisia camp and prepared to call a war council, but learned that the Minicia Kingdom had sent an envoy requesting an audience.

• General Dude watched his mounted infantry collapse under enemy harassment and ordered his army to halt and camp in defensible hills by a stream.
• Players kept harassing the Minisia troops as they built their camp, delaying their preparations until Chris arrived with his army the next day.
• Chris surveyed the Minisia camp and recognized that its stream, hills, and earthen walls made it a strong position to hold.
• Chris realized he needed to capture King's Plain and Votradnoi quickly, then ordered a war council as the messenger announced that a Minicia envoy sought an audience.

Chris rejected a Minisian envoy’s attempt to sway him with claims to the Minicia throne and a supposed letter from his father. He refused Minisia’s ceasefire terms and sent Albert back to General Dude with a letter of his own.

• Albert de Molson claimed Chris shared Minisian royal blood and had a distant claim to the throne, but Chris dismissed it as worthless.
• Albert presented a tender letter supposedly written by Chris’s father, but Chris ordered it torn up and accused the Minisian court of forging it.
• Chris threatened Albert and demanded that he state General Dude’s real purpose.
• Albert revealed that Dude proposed a ceasefire if Chris withdrew his troops, in exchange for Minisia recognizing his rule over Bagnia.
• Chris drew the Cross Blade and cut Albert’s necklace without harming him, then ordered Albert to deliver a letter to General Dude.