Chapter Summaries

Barbarossa scouted the drowned ruins of Suvano, where the Lamia Snakefolk had taken over the city. After his companion’s shouting drew an attack and the man disappeared, Barbarossa collected evidence of a nearby Snake-Man nest and withdrew to continue his mission.

• Barbarossa surveyed Suvano’s flooded ruins and detected the pervasive scent and distant hissing of the Snake-Men.
• When his companion loudly complained about the cold, Barbarossa slipped away, concealed himself in a tree, and covered his tracks.
• Barbarossa heard the companion fight nearby before the clash abruptly ended, suggesting one side had been killed.
• After waiting for the Snake-Men to move on, Barbarossa returned to the ruins and collected a black scale as evidence.
• Barbarossa marked a likely Snake-Man nest on his map and withdrew through the ruins to continue his mission.

Diu Ni Leimu and the Holy Crusade Army encountered a silent tide of Minisian refugees fleeing toward Bagnia. The refugees revealed that Snake-Men had devastated Suvano and said they trusted Chris to shelter them, leaving Diu Ni Leimu’s soldiers sharing their food with the desperate crowd.

• Diu Ni Leimu ordered the Holy Crusade Army to clear the road after the refugees silently yielded to its soldiers.
• The soldiers tried to ask the refugees why they were fleeing, but fear and distrust kept most of them silent.
• A player offered an old man canned meat, and the old man explained that Snake-Men had come from Suvano, killing, capturing, and eating people.
• A woman and a middle-aged man said they were fleeing to Bagnia because Chris would give them food and shelter, unlike their own lords.
• Diu Ni Leimu watched the soldiers distribute their rations to the refugees and understood why they had come.

As Bagnia’s Holy Crusade Army advanced toward the Snake-Men in Suvano, Minicia’s King Charles III and his advisers debated whether to stop them. Charles chose to let the armies fight while Minicia guarded its borders and waited to exploit the outcome.

• The Holy Crusade Army traveled along the coast toward Suvano, finding deserted settlements and learning that many civilians had fled north, south, or behind city walls.
• Reports of the Bagnians’ advance and of Snake-Man scouts reaching Naxi Bay reached Treasure Island’s royal council.
• General Dalek argued that Minicia lacked the funds to stop the Bagnians and would benefit whether their army defeated the Snake-Men or suffered heavy losses.
• King Charles III ordered the navy to monitor the Holy Crusade Army without provoking it and commanded stronger defenses and patrols at the Naxi Mountain passes.
• Charles decided Minicia would let Bagnia and the Snake-Men weaken each other, then seek to claim the advantages afterward.

Diu Ni Leimu brought the Holy Crusade Army to the edge of the Snake-Man Swamp and learned from Barbarossa that the corrupted ruins of Suvano were a deadly, expanding stronghold filled with organized Snake-Men and other monsters. The army agreed to try luring the Snake-Men out before committing to an assault, while Diu Ni Leimu prepared to seek advice from the high-level NPCs.

• Diu Ni Leimu led the Holy Crusade Army to a camp five kilometers from the Snake-Man Swamp and inspected its poisonous miasma and corrupted vegetation.
• Barbarossa reported that most of the scouts sent into the swamp had died, and described the slime lake, Snake-Man lair, sacrificial altars, and powerful monsters near Suvano City.
• Barbarossa warned the commanders that the Snake-Men were organized and that the swamp’s poison, miasma, and venomous insects made a large-scale assault especially dangerous.
• Diu Ni Leimu asked whether elite players could launch a decapitation strike, but Barbarossa said he lacked enough intelligence about the Snake-Men’s forces and leaders.
• Little Knife proposed luring the Snake-Men to the swamp’s edge and killing them before the army advanced, and Diu Ni Leimu agreed to try it.
• A player reminded Diu Ni Leimu that Chris had sent high-level NPC advisors, so Diu Ni Leimu decided to ask them for help.

Three Minisians who had survived the Snake-Men’s takeover of Suvano decided to seek help from the newly arrived Holy Crusade Army. As they approached the camp, players ambushed them, and the woman offered to lead the army to fight the Snake-Men.

• The woman persuaded the old man and the wounded man that the Holy Crusade Army was their only chance, even if its soldiers were Bagnians.
• After a nearby Snake-Man patrol passed close to their hiding place, the three left the crevice and cautiously crossed the wilderness toward the camp.
• Near the camp, the woman told the men to lay down their weapons and prepared to approach with their hands raised.
• Three camouflaged players surprised the Minisians and ordered them not to move.
• The woman, the old man, and finally the anguished man raised their hands as she shouted that they could lead the players to fight the Snake-Men.

Diu Ni Leimu questioned three Minician survivors who offered a hidden route into Suvano City, and learned that the young woman, Ivyra, was a Sea God priestess. After Polka described the Lamia Snakefolk’s weaknesses and suggested destroying their Hatchery, Polka refused to enter the swamp, leaving the army without a guide for the mission.

• Alvin reported that three survivors had surrendered outside the camp, adding to the many suspected or unreliable groups that had approached the army.
• Diu Ni Leimu summoned the three survivors and Polka, who identified Ivyra’s trident emblem and recognized her as a Sea God priestess.
• Ivyra, Athos, and Old Hark introduced themselves and offered a concealed underground church route to Suvano City; Ivyra also asked the army to shelter a dozen people from their camp.
• Polka detected no signs of corruption in the three survivors, then explained the Lamia Snakefolk’s traits and proposed finding and destroying their Hatchery.
• Diu Ni Leimu asked Polka to lead a team into the swamp, but Polka refused, leaving the army’s next move uncertain.

Diu Ni Leimu was nearly killed by a Lamia Snakefolk assassin during a nighttime attack, but Polka saved him with a shot from his rifled musket. Diu Ni Leimu then ordered guards to protect Polka and went with him to the frontline command post as the battle continued.

• A signal cannon woke Diu Ni Leimu, who left the command tent to respond to the alarm.
• A Lamia Snakefolk assassin slipped through the guards and lunged at Diu Ni Leimu with a poisoned dagger.
• Polka shot the assassin between the eyes with his rifled musket, saving Diu Ni Leimu.
• Polka explained that he trusted the musket's accuracy and killing power more than magic.
• Diu Ni Leimu told some guards to protect Polka and headed with him for the frontline command post.

Diu Ni Leimu and Jacques witnessed the Lamia Snakefolk assault the Military Camp, where firearms, artillery, and layered obstacles devastated the attackers. The snake tide continued to charge, but the defenses held and Diu Ni Leimu judged the Snake-Men manageable.

• Diu Ni Leimu ordered flares launched as the Lamia Snakefolk surged out of the swamp toward the camp.
• Jacques rushed to a makeshift breastwork and watched Riflemen fire disciplined volleys that halted the front ranks of Snake-Men.
• Diu Ni Leimu called for artillery, and the Crouching Tiger Cannons, three-pounders, and Six-Pounder Field Guns blasted the advancing tide.
• The Snake-Men became trapped and wounded among chevaux de frise, caltrops, and Concertina Wire, where Riflemen shot them down.
• A few Snake-Men leaped past the obstacles, but prepared Players killed them quickly as the human line continued to hold.

Lydia led Battle Priests toward the front line expecting to aid wounded soldiers, but witnessed Bagnia’s firearms and fortifications annihilate the Snake-Men’s assault. After the fighting ended, she overheard the King’s Guards treating the slaughter as an unsatisfying game, leaving her and her companions horrified by their view of war.

• Lydia refused to let frightened camp workers flee and led her squad toward the front line to help the soldiers.
• Lydia and the priests watched flintlock volleys, Crouching Tiger Cannons, Field Guns, and barbed-wire defenses devastate the Snake-Men’s charge.
• Lydia reached the defensive line after the Snake-Men retreated and found the soldiers had few casualties because of their fortifications and medical system.
• Lydia went farther across the battlefield with two priests to search for wounded people and encountered the King’s Guards discussing the battle.
• The King’s Guards complained that the Snake-Men had been weak, scarce opponents, and Lydia and the priests were shaken by their casual remarks about the killing.

After the Snakefolk's failed night raid boosted the Holy Crusade Army's confidence and exposed the enemy's weaknesses, Diu Ni Leimu proposed attacking their leaders through underground passages. When the warband commanders refused, he presented a slower, methodical advance plan that left the army preparing to grind its way toward Suvano City.

• The Holy Crusade Army repelled the Lamia Snakefolk's night attack, and players and NPC soldiers grew more confident after seeing the enemy overwhelmed by their defenses and firepower.
• The army's leaders identified the Snakefolk's lack of ranged attacks, poor coordination, inability to overcome fortifications, and vulnerability to bullets and artillery.
• Diu Ni Leimu proposed a Decapitation Plan using local guides and underground passages to strike the Snakefolk's command center, but Knife-in-the-Butt and the other warband commanders refused to enter the swamp.
• Diu Ni Leimu abandoned the Decapitation Plan and distributed his Bulldozer Plan for the commanders to review.
• The Bulldozer Plan called for artillery bombardments, engineers laying roads and building forward bases, and riflemen providing cover as the army advanced toward Suvano City.
• Knife-in-the-Butt approved the plan's coordinated approach, while Diu Ni Leimu recognized that it would take too long.

The Snake-Men began clearing the swamp’s woodland and performing a blood ritual that intensified its toxins as the Holy Crusade Army prepared to advance. After the army’s roadwork poisoned dozens of workers, Diu Ni Leimu learned the Snake-Men had likely corrupted the swamp and decided to revise the Bulldozer Plan rather than involve the churches.

• Snake-Man scouts watched human soldiers rapidly cut down the woodland bordering the swamp, and their leaders were alerted that the humans were clearing a path for their weapons.
• An old Snake-Man priest and other Lamia Snakefolk priests sacrificed themselves and captured warriors in a blood ritual that spread poison and hallucinations through the swamp.
• Players stripped the woodland within five kilometers of the swamp, but the Snake-Men stayed inside and avoided the players waiting outside.
• The Holy Crusade Army began building a wooden road into the swamp, but dozens of workers became mildly poisoned and were treated at the field hospital.
• Starbucks concluded that toxic air had caused the poisoning, and Polka suspected a Snake-Man ritual had also tainted the swamp’s water.
• Diu Ni Leimu rejected Polka’s suggestion to ask the churches for help and decided to revise the Bulldozer Plan around physically removing the toxins.

Hua'er Daji and other players received Death Korps protective suits, then dug a ditch to drain the Snake-Man Swamp’s poisoned water. When the Snake-Men attacked through the thickening mist, Hua'er Daji seized a flamethrower and turned the fight around, but accidentally burned three fellow players.

• After three days of logging and a halt to roadwork, Hua'er Daji abandoned his plans to attack the swamp when he heard the Logistics Officer was distributing new equipment.
• Hua'er Daji received an Imperial Type III Isolation Suit and gas mask, while Diu Ni Leimu ordered the players to dig drainage ditches and build a temporary pier.
• Diu Ni Leimu explained that the swamp’s water and air were poisoned, and players dug a five-kilometer ditch and installed a steam-powered pump to drain the swamp.
• As the pump drained the water, the mist thickened and Snake-Men attacked the players guarding it.
• Hua'er Daji grabbed an abandoned flamethrower and burned through the attacking Snake-Men, then accidentally set three allied players on fire while sweeping the nozzle through the mist.

After Hua'er Daji was executed for killing allied players with his flamethrower, Diu Ni Leimu armed the front line with experimental flamethrowers, turning the Death Corps into roaming swamp-sweeping squads. Their rapid advance threatened to reach Suvano's center before winter, far ahead of the original plan.

• The players burned Hua'er Daji after his friendly-fire deaths gave him red-name status, while Lydia watched with Mia and Aisha.
• Mia left the execution with Aisha to go to the mess hall, and Lydia reflected on how little she understood Chris and the Holy Crusade Army.
• The snake-men kept attacking the drainage works, so Diu Ni Leimu distributed a hundred experimental flamethrowers to the front-line players.
• Death Corps squads ventured into the draining swamp, using flamethrowers, melee guards, and signal flares to find and destroy snake-men.
• The snake-men's ambushes became less effective as the pumps lowered the water, and Diu Ni Leimu realized the new tactics had outpaced the Bulldozer Plan.

King Chris felt trapped by the monotony and responsibilities of palace life while reviewing reports from the Holy Crusade Army. After discovering that more than a thousand Minisian refugees had joined its camp, he ordered an investigation into their presence and motives.

• Chris approved the day’s final border tax proposal and reflected on how little his life had changed since becoming king.
• Chris read that the Holy Crusade Army was advancing without interference from the Minisians, while its campaign helped the second fleet reach Guano Island.
• Chris noticed the army’s rising food consumption and found a report saying more than a thousand local Minisian civilians had sought refuge in its camp.
• Chris searched the Player Forum and found players describing how they had brought Minisian survivors to the camp and encountered refugees from multiple places.
• Chris ordered a clerk to organize an Investigation Team to examine the Minisians in the military camp and discover what they were thinking.

Athos led displaced Minisians cutting timber for Bagnia’s Holy Crusade Army while struggling with the Kingdom of Minisia’s abandonment of Suvano. A camp argument over whether the refugees should identify as Minisians or Bagnians left Athos questioning the loyalty and identity he had once defended.

• Athos supervised lumberjacks supplying timber to the Bagnian army as its cannons bombarded Snake-Men positions in the swamp.
• Athos remembered Suvano’s fall and resented that Bagnia had come to fight the Snake-Men while Minisia’s army and rulers had abandoned its people.
• At dinner, Little Tom, Old John, and Pete argued over whether the refugees owed their loyalty to Minisia or to King Chris of Bagnia.
• Pete and Little Tom said Bagnia had given the refugees food, shelter, and protection, while Minisia had abandoned them.
• Athos listened in silence, recognized the force of Pete’s accusation, and wondered where he belonged as he looked toward the Bagnian banner.

Byron sensed a massive Snake-Man movement north as Minisia’s army assembled at Grayrock Pass to threaten the Holy Crusade Army and stall its campaign through winter. Diu Ni Leimu realized the Minisians were using the Snake-Men’s advance as part of their strategy, while Norton’s forces remained unaware that the Snake-Men were approaching them.

• Byron touched the swamp mud, sensed that many Snake-Men were moving north, and sent a priest to warn Diu Ni Leimu.
• A scout told Diu Ni Leimu that more than ten thousand Minisian troops had gathered near Grayrock Pass.
• Byron’s warning reached Diu Ni Leimu, who understood that the Minisians intended to exploit the Snake-Men’s movement.
• Norton Perrier revealed that his mission was to make the Holy Crusade Army hesitate and keep it trapped near the swamp through winter.
• Norton ordered stronger defenses and continued surveillance, unaware that the Snake-Men were moving toward Grayrock Pass.

Diu Ni Leimu announced that players could help the Minisians at Grayrock Pass, but most chose not to risk traveling at night. By the time Street-Sweeper and two companions reached the pass, the Snake-Men had overwhelmed the Minisians, leaving the players to assess the massacre and worry about a nearby fortress.

• Diu Ni Leimu debated helping the Minisians and posted an announcement, but most players ignored it or decided to wait until daylight.
• Hark stood watch at Grayrock Pass, heard the Snake-Men approaching, and was killed by a spear after sounding his whistle.
• Street-Sweeper and two companions fought through a Snake-Men ambush on their way to Grayrock Pass.
• Street-Sweeper's group found the pass blocked by heaps of dead Minisians and Snake-Men, including the slain sentry Hark.
• Street-Sweeper ordered his companions to search for survivors, while one player warned that a nearby Minisian fortress could be in danger.

After learning that the Snake-Men had taken Grayrock Pass and Naxi Fortress, Diu Ni Leimu created the Eastern Railway Guard Corps as a pretext to arm local survivors and recruit them to help defend the region. He sent Ivyra to gather fighters, leaving him hopeful that the force would ease the Holy Crusade Army’s manpower crisis, though he worried his scheme might fail.

• Street-Sweeper reported that the Snake-Men had captured Grayrock Pass and Naxi Fortress, forcing Diu Ni Leimu to redirect troops while the Holy Crusade Army remained short on manpower.
• When Ivyra arrived with information about the north, Diu Ni Leimu realized local survivors could provide recruits familiar with the region.
• Ivyra angrily condemned Minisia’s abandonment of its people and declared that she and the survivors wanted to fight the Snake-Men.
• Diu Ni Leimu authorized the Eastern Railway Guard Corps, appointing Ivyra its Recruiting Officer and ordering her to gather willing survivors for weapons and training.
• Ivyra accepted Diu Ni Leimu’s badge and left to recruit fighters, while he wondered whether his railway pretext would hold and considered returning to smithing if he lost his post.

Black-and-White Bear cleared a swamp with a flamethrower, then survived an ambush by a Snake-Man Warrior and killed it with a white-phosphorus flare. He summoned the surrounding Snake-Men with a signal flare and found them too frightened to attack, concluding their event was nearing its end.

• Black-and-White Bear burned the swamp while searching for hazards and noticed a strange chemical flame flare up from a mud pool.
• A Snake-Man Warrior burst from the pool and attacked Black-and-White Bear with a steel blade, but he blocked the strike with his flamethrower.
• Black-and-White Bear fired a white-phosphorus flare into the Snake-Man Warrior's chest, and it burned to death in the mud.
• Black-and-White Bear fired a second flare into the sky, drawing numerous weaker Snake-Men out of the surrounding pools.
• The Snake-Men surrounded Black-and-White Bear but hesitated to attack after seeing the Warrior's burning corpse, and he judged that the event would soon end.

Athos led the Railway Corps' First Battalion toward a green flare and found Black-and-White Bear standing atop more than a hundred slain snake-men, calmly remarking that they had gotten weaker. Meanwhile, Ivyra's recruitment drive brought Minisians to the Holy Crusade Army, where fishermen revealed the location of the Minisia Royal Fleet's Secret Anchorage.

• Athos led three hundred Railway Troops through the swamp to answer the signal flare and found Black-and-White Bear alone amid a mountain of snake-men corpses.
• Black-and-White Bear told Athos that the snake-men had gotten weaker, leaving Athos and his soldiers stunned.
• Ivyra recruited twelve hundred revenge-seeking Minisians, and Athos took command of the First Battalion after she rode northwest.
• The First Battalion received three days of flintlock training before marching into the swamp to support the players and transport supplies.
• Ivyra brought additional recruits to Diu Ni Leimu and reported that more Minisians were traveling to join the fight.
• Several Minisian fishermen joined the Holy Crusade Army and told Diu Ni Leimu that the Minisia Royal Fleet's Secret Anchorage lay on a secluded island near Suvano.