Chapter Summaries

Lin Ruoyu evaded a cavalry patrol by posing as a haughty noble and returned to the house with the secret passage. Finding the gate open and the butler inside, he killed him and headed deeper into the brightly lit house, believing the depraved noble had returned.

• Lin Ruoyu walked openly beneath streetlamps and convinced three cavalrymen that he was a noble investigating the gunfire.
• After the patrol left, Lin Ruoyu continued calmly and returned to the house with the secret passage half an hour later.
• Lin Ruoyu found the gate unlocked, slipped inside, and encountered the house's butler behind the door.
• Lin Ruoyu stabbed the butler and left him dead on the floor.
• Lin Ruoyu saw that the house was lit, suspected the depraved noble had returned, and crept farther inside with his dagger.

Wyatt Kash Fernal learned that an assassination attempt in Noble City had targeted Bagnia’s eldest prince, but the discovery of firearms assigned to the Black Dove raised suspicions that the Peace Dove had slipped out of his control. He authorized Meredith to investigate the incident and demanded a full account of how the weapons had been used.

• Meredith reported that an assassination attempt had targeted Bagnia’s eldest prince, though no one had died.
• Fernal asked whether the attack was connected to corruption in the equipment supplied to infantry regiments, and Meredith confirmed only minor discrepancies.
• Meredith told Fernal that investigators had killed one assassin and captured another, but stopped pursuing the case after finding three Rifled Flintlocks assigned to the Black Dove.
• Meredith revealed that the three Black Dove agents issued those weapons were out of contact and that the assassins were not Peace Dove agents.
• Fernal authorized the Peace Dove to join the investigation and ordered Meredith to uncover why the firearms had appeared at the scene.

After the players’ failed assassination of the Bagnian Crown Prince, Chris revived the dead and confronted Lin Ruoyu about the attack. Chris realized that his lack of guidance had helped cause the disaster and resolved not to wait passively for the authorities to find them.

• Chris woke to find five player corpses in his living room and learned from the logs that the players had attacked the Bagnian Crown Prince’s carriage, leaving one dead and another captured.
• Chris revived the five players with corpses and the captured player, then called Lin Ruoyu into the master bedroom to question him.
• Lin Ruoyu said he had attacked the crown prince because the prince was an obstacle to restoring his kingdom, though Chris had never given him that quest.
• Chris recognized that he had summoned the players without guidance or quests and accepted responsibility for their reckless actions.
• Chris feared the police or Royal Guard would trace the players back to his home and resolved not to sit and wait for them.

Meredith investigated the assassination of Viscount Kada and discovered that a Peace Dove traitor had likely silenced him and three missing Black Doves. Meanwhile, Chris decided to flee the Bohemian Empire with Isaac’s help and gave the players a main story quest to escort him.

• Meredith learned that Viscount Kada and everyone in his house had been killed, while three bodies were found beyond a secret tunnel.
• Meredith suspected a traitor within the Peace Dove and learned that Inyama’s Number Four pigeon keeper and his family had disappeared.
• Chris told Isaac he had to flee the Bohemian Empire, and Isaac offered to use his merchant caravan as cover.
• Chris left the infirmary and issued the players the main story quest to help him escape the empire.
• Lin Ruoyu and the other players eagerly agreed to help Chris.

Fernal investigated the failed assassination attempt and ordered a covert inquiry into the border defeat in Hendali Province. Meanwhile, Chris escaped Inyama with Isaac’s caravan and chose Bagnia as their destination, leaving the group to plan a safe route.

• Fernal reviewed Meredith’s findings that a traitor might be inside the Peace Dove, the assassins had poisoned themselves, and the Bagnian Junior Prince had disappeared.
• Fernal dismissed the apparent attempt to implicate the Bagnian Junior Prince, ordered the Peace Dove purged of unreliable agents, and sent covert investigators to Hendali Province.
• Chris realized that he had escaped Inyama without anyone stopping him, while Connie celebrated the caravan’s departure with Lin Ruoyu.
• Isaac apologized to Chris for Connie’s involvement, and Chris took responsibility for what had happened.
• Chris decided the caravan would camp before nightfall and travel to Bagnia rather than risk reaching Retalia as its border fighting resumed.

Chris fled Inyama with Isaac’s caravan and traveled through the Bohemian Empire toward Bagnia, learning firsthand how difficult winter trade could be. The caravan profited from selling goods and providing entertainment and medical care, and it continued toward the border despite harsh roads, tolls, and bandit attacks.

• Chris escaped Inyama and joined a caravan of more than fifty people heading toward the Kingdom of Bagnia.
• Chris struggled through rough roads as the caravan pushed wagons, repaired frozen routes, and paid tolls to Bohemian soldiers and local officials.
• Isaac negotiated lower costs and sold the caravan’s smuggled goods outside Taka Town, where music and dancing drew customers and two wagonloads sold out.
• Chris discovered that one of the players was a medical student and presented the player as his own student so the caravan’s travelers would accept the treatment.
• The players earned tips with performances while Chris and the medical student treated travelers and townspeople, increasing the caravan’s profits.
• Isaac estimated that the caravan would reach the border between the Bohemian Empire and Bagnia when spring arrived, despite several bandit attacks.

While traveling through the Bohemian Empire’s dangerous border provinces, Chris overheard companions explaining why they had joined his caravan and describing him as a good man. Alibaba then claimed Chris dreamed of building a country where the poor could live securely, leaving Chris stunned that he had supposedly shared a dream he did not remember having.

• Chris carefully patrolled the caravan camp after relieving himself, then stopped when he heard his name mentioned by people around the fire.
• A smuggler explained that Chris’s partnership with Isaac had helped him afford schooling for his son, so he had joined the journey to repay Chris and help the poor.
• A young man under Connie’s command said Chris had treated his dying mother without payment, so he came when Connie asked for help.
• A man from Bagnia said Chris’s goods had helped the poor there and that he wanted Prince Chris to return home and improve their lives.
• Alibaba told the three men that Chris dreamed of ending poverty and noble violence, and Chris silently wondered when he had ever said such a thing.

Chris realized the players had rallied the caravan around restoring the Kingdom of Bagnia, leaving him with no choice but to pursue the cause. As the group prepared for battle after a scout’s warning shot, five mounted men chased a smuggler toward them.

• Chris monitored the players’ talks and discovered they had persuaded the caravan workers to follow him and help restore the Kingdom of Bagnia.
• Lin Ruoyu confirmed that everyone in the caravan was committed to following Chris, and Alibaba listed the group’s veterans and skilled workers.
• A warning shot sounded, and Isaac organized the caravan into a wagon fort with armed ranks and livestock protected inside.
• Chris hid behind a rock while the caravan prepared to fight.
• A smuggler on horseback raced back along the road as five mounted men pursued him.

Isaac's Caravan faced a mounted-bandit threat in El Province, and Chris revealed his ability to obtain modern supplies by providing concertina wire for the camp's defenses. The bandits withdrew for the moment, but the caravan prepared for a likely nighttime attack.

• Isaac's men stopped five mounted bandits from approaching, and the returning scout reported that seasoned bandits had sabotaged a bridge and wounded him with an arrow.
• Isaac decided the caravan would wait for reinforcements, while Chris organized a meal and prepared the camp.
• Thirty-five mounted bandits demanded a third of the caravan's goods, but Isaac rejected the demand and the bandits rode away.
• Chris recognized that the bandits would likely return at night, and Isaac began planning traps around the wagon formation.
• Chris bought two hundred meters of concertina wire online, and the Players joined Isaac to camouflage it and plan further horse traps.

Chris strengthened the caravan’s defenses while Brand’s bandits voted to attack for its horses. As both sides prepared for a nighttime fight, Lin Ruoyu organized the players to make weapons and protect key NPCs.

• After the mounted bandits withdrew, Chris ordered the caravan hands to enlarge the wagon formation with cargo and logs.
• Brand’s scouts reported that the caravan had over fifty armed people, a dozen guns, and more than twenty horses, while its cargo seemed nearly worthless.
• Brand’s bandits voted fifteen to seven to attack the caravan late that night because they needed the horses to escape their pursuers.
• Lin Ruoyu and the other players discussed their limited weapons and decided to make throwing spears from wooden poles.
• Home Alone warned that the blacksmith was a technical NPC who could make guns, so Lin Ruoyu proposed assigning players to protect him and Chris.

Brand led the Brand Bandit Gang on a night raid against a caravan, but traps forced them to change their approach. As the bandits charged through scrub toward the wagons, bells jingled beneath Brand’s horse.

• Brand led his gang through the dark toward the caravan, planning to charge downhill from a nearby hill.
• Brand discovered horse traps on the hillside and ordered his men to retreat before they were spotted.
• Brand ruled out the flat approaches after considering that the ground there was likely trapped, too.
• Brand led the bandits on a long detour through the scrub, then rallied them to charge the caravan.
• Brand’s horse jolted as the gang neared the wagons, and bells jingled beneath its belly.

Chris spotted Brand’s bandits approaching at night with a Thermal Imager, and Isaac’s Caravan prepared an ambush around its wagons. Concertina wire and animal traps shattered the charge, but the players pursued the retreating bandits as Chris stopped Isaac from following them.

• Chris detected about thirty bandits on Small Hill and alerted Isaac, who quietly readied the caravan while the attackers detoured toward the scrubland.
• Chris left the watchtower and took cover as Isaac ordered the caravan’s spearmen and musketeers into position against the approaching cavalry.
• The horses hit the Concertina Wire and fell, allowing the caravan and players to fire on the trapped bandits and illuminate them with torches.
• Brand freed himself from the wire, saw his gang pinned down by gunfire and animal traps, and gave the signal to retreat.
• Lin Ruoyu and the other players charged after the fleeing bandits, and Chris stopped Isaac from pursuing them into the dark.

Isaac's Caravan survived a mounted bandit attack, but the Bohemian Cavalry arrived the next morning and seized a third of its goods, the bandits' heads, and the recovered wire. The caravan was left to continue on with its remaining supplies as the players watched the cavalry ride away.

• Isaac's Caravan defeated the mounted bandits without losing anyone, and Home Alone returned with three severed heads and a wounded horse.
• Isaac recognized Brand among the dead, ordered the bandit corpses shot again, and kept the caravan inside its wagon formation overnight.
• Chris and the caravan hands began clearing the battlefield after breakfast, but hoofbeats announced the arrival of nearly a hundred Bohemian Cavalry.
• Isaac showed the cavalry captain the caravan's papers and agreed to surrender a third of the cargo.
• The Bohemian Cavalry took valuable goods, concertina wire, the bandits' heads, and three cooking pots before riding away.

Isaac’s Caravan rested at Tack while selling its goods and preparing to send earnings home, but a tax collector’s attempt to demand five hundred silver coins brought Bohemian cavalry to the camp. The cavalry captain recognized Isaac’s Gray Tax receipt, killed the corrupt tax collector, and revealed that he had charged far more than the authorized rate.

• Isaac decided the exhausted caravan would rest at Tack for ten to fifteen days while it sold its remaining goods and arranged to send workers’ earnings back to Inyama.
• Chris woke to find a local girl following him because she thought he was handsome, while Isaac and Connie served food to caravan workers and townspeople.
• Isaac told Chris that the goods were selling well but that he had beaten a tax collector who demanded five hundred silver coins, and the two planned to move camp that night.
• The tax collector returned with Bohemian cavalry and tried to strike Isaac, while Lin Ruoyu prepared to shoot the cavalry officer.
• The cavalry captain recognized Isaac from the Gray Tax checkpoint, confirmed his receipt, and had the tax collector shot after Isaac explained the five-hundred-coin demand.
• The captain said the tax collector had charged ten times the authorized tax of five silver coins per wagon and fired another shot into the dead man.

Isaac grew close to Popoli Alfonso, a corrupt Bohemian cavalry captain who had been selling goods taken as gray tax. On the seventh evening, Popoli recognized Isaac as a smuggler and proposed that they partner to sell weapons to the warring factions in Bagnia.

• Isaac learned that Popoli Alfonso commanded the Third Company of Bohemia’s cavalry and collected gray tax in Pinewood Town, where he had killed a corrupt tax collector stealing from his family.
• Popoli and his cavalry camped beside Isaac’s Caravan, sold confiscated goods—including its homespun cloth—and borrowed caravan workers and cooking supplies.
• For five days, Popoli stayed near the caravan, returning from patrols and hunts with gifts for Isaac.
• On the seventh evening, Popoli told Isaac he knew he was a smuggler and promised not to collect gray tax from him in the future.
• Isaac said he planned to take homespun cloth to Bagnia, and Popoli offered to supply weapons for them to sell there in exchange for splitting the proceeds.

Chris and Isaac considered whether to accept Popoli’s offer to smuggle weapons, balancing the practical benefits against Isaac’s shaken convictions. They agreed to work with Popoli and planned a route into Bagnia, but still needed a guide for the mountains beyond the border.

• Isaac told Chris that an active-duty officer had organized an arms-smuggling operation, leaving Isaac questioning his principles.
• Chris decided to let Isaac choose whether to work with Popoli, valuing Isaac’s trust more than access to another source of gunpowder.
• Isaac agreed to work with Popoli, who could supply a hundred matchlocks and ammunition for ten thousand shots in exchange for half the proceeds.
• Isaac explained that they would leave their wagons and skirt three military fortresses using remote trails, but would need a guide after crossing into Bagnia.
• Chris promised to have his followers search for a guide while he arranged the money and weapons.

Home Alone went into Pinewood Town to find a guide for crossing the mountains along Bagnia’s border, but his vague offer turned into recruiting mercenaries. He hired Carlos, a retired Bohemian grenadier captain, and planned to choose Carlos’s subordinates before leaving after the Spring Festival.

• Home Alone searched Pinewood Town for a mountain guide and offered free beer at a tavern to get people’s attention.
• Home Alone described a dangerous, well-paid long-term job, leading the tavern patrons to think he was recruiting mercenaries.
• Carlos introduced himself as a retired Bohemian grenadier and asked for thirty silver coins a month plus a family allowance.
• The tavern keeper confirmed Carlos’s military service, and Home Alone used his newly activated troop assessment system to inspect applicants.
• Home Alone hired Carlos for forty silver coins a month, paid him fifty silver coins for his family, and told him to select subordinates before they left after the Spring Festival.

Home Alone and the other players recruited a large force, prompting Chris to suspend top-ups after he ran out of silver coins. As the group prepared to leave for the Kingdom of Bagnia, Chris still had no guide.

• Home Alone recruited ten mercenaries, paid Chris for silver coins, and promised his men a settling-in allowance.
• Chris considered how military recruitment might encourage players to spend money, then disabled top-ups after the other players bought all his remaining silver coins.
• The other players recruited men from nearby towns and villages, bringing the force under Chris's command to more than a hundred and sixty people.
• Lord Popoli mistook the recruitment for Isaac's preparations to smuggle weapons and increased his promised matchlock contribution from a hundred to five hundred.
• Isaac returned to camp, bought more horses and donkeys to carry the enlarged force, and prepared to depart after fifteen days of rest.
• Chris remained frustrated that the players had still not found a guide.

Chris hired Mia, a refugee from Bagnia, as the caravan’s only guide through the Bagnia mountains, and her story made him consider intervening in the starving country. As the caravan prepared to leave, Chris equipped Carlos and his men and appointed Carlos to enforce camp discipline.

• Isaac introduced Mia as the only guide near Pinewood Town who could cross the Bagnia mountains without using the Boba Passage, and Chris hired her despite doubting her age.
• Isaac told Chris that Mia’s parents had died after fleeing Bagnia, leaving her to survive with her white pig, and Chris resolved to take care of her.
• Chris wondered whether he should do something about Bagnia after seeing how Mia’s hunger reflected the country’s dire condition, while Isaac worried Chris might be diminishing his authority.
• Carlos observed Chris improve the recruits’ breakfast, then used force to organize a crowd waiting for gear.
• Chris issued Carlos and his nine men new clothes and equipment, then appointed Carlos to handle discipline in the camp.

Chris led the nearly two-hundred-strong group toward the border on a cautious schedule while training the inexperienced recruits and avoiding checkpoints. On the first day, Carlos caught a recruit preparing to desert and steal from the others, and Chris ordered him assigned to logistics duty as he considered rules to prevent further escapes.

• Chris set a four-to-five-day march to the border, moving through Bohemia's wilderness to avoid checkpoints while carrying muskets and ammunition.
• Chris arranged for the recruits to train as they marched, and Home Alone and the military police beat those who demanded horses.
• Carlos noticed a suspicious recruit during the lunch break and searched him, finding five flatbreads and more than twenty silver coins.
• Carlos reported the would-be deserter to Chris, who assigned him to logistics duty and considered introducing collective punishment.