Chapter Summaries

Colonel Aisling Windchaser’s Moonstone Fleet was ambushed by the battleship Storm and quickly overwhelmed by its cannon fire. Before the players could capture the fleet, Aisling teleported its surviving crews away, leaving the Storm’s sailors to turn their attention toward the temple.

• The Storm opened fire on the approaching Moonstone Fleet, sinking the Trade Wind and badly damaging the Sea Swallow.
• Aisling’s sailors returned fire with ballistae and magic, but their attacks barely harmed the Storm, and its cannon barrage shattered the Sea Swallow’s mana shield.
• Aisling ordered the crews to abandon ship and instructed the mage to activate the teleportation circle.
• Aisling used her Laurel Medal to teleport everyone aboard the remaining fleet vessels away.
• Knife-in-the-Butt ordered the Storm’s guns to cease fire, and scout crews found the elven ships deserted except for the corpses.
• The players realized the elves had escaped by mass teleportation and said they would pursue the monk’s temple instead.

The Revenge Fleet bombarded Moonstone Port with the Storm, overwhelming its defenses until the elven mages struck back with lightning. After one bolt damaged the ship and killed players, Knife-in-the-Butt ordered the fleet to advance and concentrate fire on the main magic tower.

• Olarian recognized the Storm as a massive warship and ordered Moonstone Port’s defenses activated and a distress signal sent to the kingdom’s navy.
• Knife-in-the-Butt kept the Revenge Fleet a thousand meters from the port, tested the range with cannon shots, and began bombarding its magical shield.
• Olarian contracted the shield around the five magic towers as cannon fire devastated Moonstone Port and set its buildings ablaze.
• Olarian rallied the mages to cast Lightning Strike, and one bolt struck the Storm’s mainmast, destroying part of its lookout platform and killing nearby players.
• Knife-in-the-Butt ordered the Storm to advance toward the port and concentrate its guns on the main tower while the other ships covered its approach.

As the Storm fleet approached Moonstone Port, Olarian chose to risk a powerful joint spell rather than endure the enemy’s bombardment passively. The five Magic Towers began channeling Wail of the Abyssal Goddess, set to strike the Storm at five hundred meters.

• Knife-in-the-Butt led the Storm and several smaller ships closer to Moonstone Port, terrifying the elves with the prospect of more accurate cannon fire.
• An older elven Mage urged Olarian to combine the power of all five Magic Towers for a counterattack that could also deter the fleet and buy time for reinforcements.
• Olarian weighed the weakened defenses and the risk of a failed spell, then approved the plan to target the Storm at five hundred meters.
• Olarian ordered the towers to channel Wail of the Abyssal Goddess, and their mana links activated as they gathered power over the port.

The Storm charged Moonstone Port and destroyed its main Magic Tower just as Olarian completed a strategic spell that trapped the ship in a magical whirlpool. Despite severe damage and freezing conditions, Knife-in-the-Butt ordered the crew to keep attacking the remaining towers as the port’s defenders watched in terror.

• Knife-in-the-Butt ordered the Storm to charge within five hundred meters while the rest of the Revenge Fleet fell back, and Little Minion prepared the guns for a close-range volley.
• The Storm fired fifty-two heavy cannons into Moonstone Port’s main Magic Tower, breaking its shield and causing the tower to collapse before Olarian’s spell could finish.
• Olarian’s Wail of the Abyssal Goddess formed a vast whirlpool that trapped the Storm, tore its sails, froze its decks, and damaged its crew and weapons.
• Knife-in-the-Butt ordered damage-control teams to repair the ship and commanded the gunners to keep firing at the other four Magic Towers and the port.
• The Storm’s gunners fired wildly as the ship spun in the whirlpool, and scattered cannonballs struck buildings and shook the remaining towers’ unstable shields.
• Cole McDow watched from behind a ruined wall as the trapped Storm continued bombarding Moonstone Port, leaving the defenders terrified.

The Storm broke free of the whirlpool and devastated Moonstone Port, allowing the players to seize the Dock District despite fierce resistance. Cole, a captured timber merchant, woke among the prisoners and wondered who the victorious attackers were and why they had come to the Blue Flame Archipelago.

• The Storm resumed its bombardment of Moonstone Port while three armed merchant ships carried players toward the Dock District.
• The first landing party broke a wooden pier, leaving several Heavy Infantry players to drown, while defenders ambushed the landing force from the docks and warehouses.
• Little Minion directed the Storm to fire explosive shells at the Dock District, wiping out most of the defenders and clearing a path for the players.
• The players surged into Moonstone Harbor, which fell, and the conquerors shackled captured elves and half-elves while putting human residents to work clearing the ruins.
• Cole woke injured and bound among the prisoners, saw the ruined port and the damaged Storm loading supplies, and wondered who the attackers were and what they wanted.

Knife-in-the-Butt decided to leave Forest Song Port before reinforcements arrived, then interrogated prisoners to learn about the Blue Flame Kingdom and its fleet’s mass-teleportation spell. After the players discovered World Tree leaves among the spoils, he ordered the fleet to return to Bagnia with its loot.

• Knife-in-the-Butt rejected a night assault and a forward base, choosing to loot the port and depart before dark because the players were tired and the Storm was damaged.
• Players brought Makon interpreters and elven prisoners aboard the Storm, where Knife-in-the-Butt questioned them about the sea, islands, and vanished elven fleet.
• The half-elf Seloen Ironfeather revealed that Life's Final Redemption teleported fleet members carrying World Tree leaves, but worked only within a limited area near the Blue Flame Archipelago.
• Knife-in-the-Butt cross-checked the prisoners’ accounts and learned that the spell consumed the World Tree’s vitality and could not be used for just one person.
• Players found World Tree leaves in the ruins of the port’s Magic Tower, and Knife-in-the-Butt ordered them sealed as valuable spoils for Chris.
• As night fell, Knife-in-the-Butt ordered the Storm and the other ships to sail for Bagnia with their captured goods.

Hask discovered a massive force of fishlike creatures attacking Casarina Island and sounded the alarm. Olaf’s tavern revelry was interrupted, and he charged toward the burning docks to fight.

• Hask spotted unnatural shapes moving beneath the water and rang the watchtower alarm bell.
• Countless fishlike attackers burst from the sea, armed with harpoons and bone knives, and assaulted the docks and ships.
• Olaf’s drinking and drunken flirtation were interrupted by the alarm, enraging him over his lost pleasure and activated Easter egg.
• Olaf grabbed his battle-axe and charged through the streets toward the battle at the docks.

Chris learned that a dozen players had joined the Minisia Restoration Army, while Ximen Daguanren grew suspicious that the rebel organization had a mole. After speaking with Sir Dolong, Ximen suspected the nominal commander did not believe the planned uprising could succeed.

• Chris received a report that players had joined the rebels and that moles and defectors had infiltrated the Restoration Army.
• Chris dismissed the rebellion as little threat and focused on the Revenge Fleet and the fighting on Casarina Island.
• Ximen Daguanren told Sir Dolong that unfamiliar people had been seen near a rebel weapons shipment, but Sir Dolong said the shipment from Rex was bait and would not be used.
• Sir Dolong told Ximen that Count Lawrence had planned a diversionary assassination attempt for Chris's arrival the next morning.
• Ximen questioned Count Lawrence's loyalty, and Sir Dolong defended the count before advising Ximen to preserve his life.
• After Sir Dolong left, Ximen concluded that the commander probably never believed the uprising would succeed.

Ximen Daguanren abandoned his plan to assassinate Chris and began preparing to strengthen the Minisia Restoration Army, but masked attackers stormed his warehouse. He and the surviving players escaped through a hidden waterway, leaving Kui Shan behind to cover their retreat.

• Ximen Daguanren told the players that Sir Dolong considered Count Lawrence's assassination plan suicidal, so they decided to move their troops and investigate the Restoration Army's factions instead.
• Ximen Daguanren, Black Solkin, and Kui Shan planned to use Sir Dolong's name to recruit allies and secure their forces.
• Masked attackers burst into the warehouse, and the players fought back with guns, blades, and burning gunpowder.
• Ximen Daguanren ordered a retreat through a hidden door, while Kui Shan held off the attackers and the players fled down to an underground waterway.
• The surviving players boarded Ximen Daguanren's fishing boat, and he vowed that their defeat would not be the end.

After surviving an attack on their warehouse, Ximen Daguanren and the remaining players suspected that leaders within the Minisia Restoration Army had targeted them. Their plan to question Sir Dolong was cut short when they found his apartment building engulfed in flames, leaving his fate unknown and forcing them to hide and reconsider their next move.

• The surviving players treated their wounds aboard a fishing boat and Ximen Daguanren suspected Count Lawrence, Rex, or even Sir Dolong had helped orchestrate the attack as a purge.
• Ximen Daguanren sent Black Solkin and five players to move their hidden recruits, while he and Night Cat and Anvil set out to observe Sir Dolong’s residence.
• The three evaded increased patrols and martial-law checkpoints as they crossed Treasure Island City before dawn.
• They discovered Sir Dolong’s apartment building burning fiercely and could not determine whether he was inside or who had set the fire.
• Ximen Daguanren ordered Night Cat and Anvil to retreat and hide while they waited for news from Black Solkin and planned how to secure their own ranks.

Chris investigated the Minisian Restoration Army’s violent infighting and suspected Count Hornheim Lawrence had outside backing. After Lawrence’s purge destroyed their recruits and left Sir Dolong’s fate unknown, Ximen Daguanren decided to target Lawrence before resuming plans to assassinate Chris.

• Chris learned that armed clashes had killed more than twenty people and that a fire had struck Sir Dolong’s hiding place, then ordered a search for him.
• Chris’s clerk identified Hornheim Lawrence as a young Restoration Army financier and likely organizer of the attacks, while Chris questioned whether foreign powers were supporting him.
• Ximen Daguanren, Night Cat, and Quickblade learned that Blue Banner Army soldiers had wiped out their unarmed recruits, killing five of Black Solkin’s group as well.
• Dolong’s confidant said Lawrence’s radicals had accused Dolong of cowardice and betrayal, then attacked him; he did not know whether Dolong escaped the fire.
• Ximen ordered Quickblade to contact Black Solkin and Night Cat to erase their tracks, then decided they would take out Lawrence before attempting to assassinate Chris.

Chris handled Treasure Island’s affairs, ordered the Storm to become a training ship, and used the Makon Alliance’s crisis to seek greater concessions. Meanwhile, the captured elves learned that the players could understand them, but Lilandra’s threats failed to change their captivity.

• Chris ordered the damaged Storm repaired in Omdur Harbor and kept as a naval training ship.
• Chris had the Elvish language pack uploaded and instructed Lynch to demand higher fees and a permanent supply base on Casarina Island from the Makon Alliance.
• Knife-in-the-Butt and the other players discovered they could understand the captured elves after the language update.
• Lilandra Kailandel identified herself as a noble of the Blue Flame Kingdom and threatened war if the elves were not released.
• Knife-in-the-Butt dismissed Lilandra’s threats and ordered the elves separated and guarded until they were willing to discuss their value.

Players auctioned the captured elves’ debts in Omdur, where a Bagnian official bought Lilandra Kailandel’s debt for 1.5 million silver dollars. As the Revenge Fleet’s shareholders planned a second expedition to pursue the profitable Elf Route, Knife-in-the-Butt sold his shares and withdrew.

• Players auctioned half-elves’ debts, then bid up Lilandra Kailandel’s debt to 1.5 million silver dollars.
• A player in a Bagnian civil official’s uniform won Lilandra’s debt, shackled her, and escorted her away as a gift.
• Revenge Fleet shareholders gathered at the Anchor and Barrel tavern and celebrated the auction’s profits while planning another expedition.
• Knife-in-the-Butt announced he would leave the Elf Route venture and transfer his shares and voting rights.
• Knife-in-the-Butt negotiated a share sale, cashed out, and withdrew while investors moved to organize the Second Expedition Fleet.

Little Knife left Omdur Harbor, while Chris rejected the Revenge Fleet’s request for battleships and learned that several churches had warned of a coming calamity beyond the world. The warning shifted Chris’s attention toward preparing Bagnia, as an unnoticed flicker crossed the night sky.

• Little Knife settled his share and left the tavern, deciding to return to Ankandela rather than join the Revenge Fleet’s renewed expedition.
• Chris approved audit reports sentencing corrupt officials and a military logistics officer, while reviewing reports of murders committed by Ximen Daguanren and his followers.
• The clerk told Chris that three major churches had jointly warned of an approaching calamity beyond the world containing the Greek Continent.
• Chris ordered the cabinet to discuss a response plan and rejected the Revenge Fleet’s application to purchase three battleships, prioritizing Bagnia’s homeland defense.
• An almost imperceptible flicker passed across the night sky over Treasure Island City, but Chris did not notice it.

Chris consolidated Bagnia’s control over Minisia while a player-led investment frenzy built a massive second Revenge Fleet for an expedition to the Blue Flame Archipelago. He learned the Makon Alliance was using stranded mercenaries on Casarina Island as leverage, and ordered Bagnia to end negotiations and leave the mercenary business.

• Chris met with Minisian nobles, merchants, gentry, and officials through the winter, using incentives and firm pressure to integrate Minisia into Bagnia.
• Ximen Daguanren’s group killed Count Lawrence and his Makon backers, but Inquisitors arrested the group and imprisoned them.
• Players organized the second Revenge Fleet by selling shares, attracting investors and assembling more than ten thousand people and over 150 ships for a spring expedition.
• The Makon Alliance sought another contingent of Bagnian mercenaries for Casarina Island, but its representatives refused Bagnia’s demands for land or higher pay.
• After more than a month of stalled talks, the Makon representatives revealed that the mercenaries were near annihilation and had been used as bargaining leverage.
• Chris ordered the Department of Commerce to end negotiations and withdraw from the mercenary business.

Lynch and Sterling rejected the Makon League’s request to hire Bagnian mercenaries, leaving Casarina Island without reinforcements as fishmen besieged its last stronghold. After learning a captured escape ship could carry only about six hundred people, Olaf planned to abandon Governor Almeida and the civilians and flee with the remaining defenders.

• Lynch denied Ambassador Alvarez’s request to hire Bagnian mercenaries, and Sterling declared that Bagnia’s dealings with the Makon League had been purely transactional and were over.
• Olaf and the defenders fought off a fishman assault at Casarina Town, holding a breach at the cost of three player deaths and many wounded soldiers.
• Ammunition and supplies ran dangerously low, while fewer than two hundred mercenary players remained available to defend the town.
• Three returning players told Olaf they had recovered Governor Almeida’s six-hundred-ton escape ship and sent it out to sea with more than fifty players aboard.
• Olaf concluded the ship could carry only about six hundred people and decided to leave that night, abandoning Governor Almeida, his guards, and the civilians.

Players led Olaf in escorting the surviving Makon civilians from Casarina Town to the docks, fighting through waves of fishmen. The armed merchant ship arrived and carried the civilians away, while Olaf and the remaining players stayed behind to fight to the last man.

• Players burned Governor Almeida's residence and joined Olaf's column of Makon civilians and surviving soldiers as they left Casarina Town.
• Fishmen ambushed the column on the road, and the players fought to keep the civilians moving toward the docks.
• Olaf and the Varangian Warband held off a large force of fishmen, allowing the main column to reach the docks, where it was surrounded.
• The armed merchant ship fired on the fishmen and approached the docks, while players and Makon soldiers hurried the civilians aboard.
• Players threw the ship's cannons and ammunition overboard to make room for the civilians, then returned to fight as the ship pulled away.
• Olaf and the remaining players lit incendiary jars to block the fishmen and stayed behind, with Olaf calling for Chris to be told that the warriors of Varangian had fought to the last man.

A battered ship carrying survivors from Casarina Island reached Omdur Harbor, confirming the island had fallen to the Fishmen. Chris used the news to order the First Fleet to sail, while the second Revenge Fleet departed alongside it before the fleets prepared to follow separate routes across the Storm Belt.

• Hank and Joseph watched a battered ship arrive in Omdur Harbor, where harbor officials and soldiers escorted its silent survivors ashore.
• The survivors' leader told Elliott that thousands of Fishmen had attacked their ship after they fled Casarina Island, leaving fewer than three hundred alive.
• Elliott learned that Casarina Island had fallen and reported the survivors' account to higher authorities.
• Chris received word of Casarina Island's fall and signed the order for the First Fleet to depart.
• The First Fleet and the second Revenge Fleet sailed from Omdur Harbor together, then prepared to split after crossing the Storm Belt, with the First Fleet bound for Casarina Island and the other fleet for the Blue Flame Archipelago.

After discovering that Bagnians had captured and auctioned elves from Moonstone Port, Eliunor learned a massive fleet called the Revenge Fleet was heading for the Blue Flame Archipelago and proposed contacting it to discover the cause of the war. Meanwhile, Shanghai Pirate King led the fleet east, confident his navigators had charted a faster route.

• Eliunor reviewed Moonstone Port’s destruction and learned that Lilandra Kailandel and nearly all elves and half-elves who had not escaped were missing.
• An attendant told Eliunor that Bagnians had attacked the port, auctioned their captives, and were assembling more than 150 ships and 10,000 people for the Revenge Fleet.
• Eliunor learned that Mooncrown City was mobilizing the kingdom’s fleet and the Emerald Dream, then proposed leading a delegation to contact the Bagnians before they reached the archipelago.
• Aboard the Iron Justice, Shanghai Pirate King criticized the first expedition’s route and described how his fleet planned to reach the Blue Flame Archipelago in about thirty days.
• Shanghai Pirate King complained that Chris had refused to sell him a battleship, while the other players discussed wishing the First Fleet would fight elves instead of Fishmen.

Eliunor led a small Elven diplomatic fleet to intercept the Bagnians' second Revenge Fleet and seek peace. He met Shanghai Pirate King aboard the Iron Justice, but the talks had only just begun.

• Eliunor's Druid scouts located the immense Revenge Fleet, and Eliunor ordered his three ships to approach under diplomatic flags.
• Shanghai Pirate King spotted the Elven ships and ordered his fleet to remain alert without firing.
• After suspecting the Elves might attempt a decapitation strike, Shanghai Pirate King prepared marines and moved nearby ships away from the Iron Justice before allowing the envoys to board.
• Eliunor boarded the Iron Justice with two attendants and introduced himself to Shanghai Pirate King through an interpreter.
• Eliunor said he had come on behalf of the High Council of Mooncrown City and in his own name to seek peace and clear up misunderstandings.