Chapter Summaries

The Emberfall Expedition began under Gron’s command and peacefully brought Lakeside Village under its protection. After hearing that the lake’s nearly invulnerable water wraiths had terrorized the villagers, Gron assigned Mortas and the Hunter Clan to hunt them.

• Lin Jin blessed the clan chiefs, and the expedition departed through the Blazing Gate with the Gear Clan joining as ranged support.
• Gron sent a Recorder to Lakeside Village, whose chief submitted in exchange for protection.
• The village chief described water wraiths that resisted weapons and fire, attacked boats, and caused villagers to disappear.
• Gron considered the dangers of fighting the wraiths in the water and recognized that his forces were unprepared for the terrain.
• Mortas offered the Hunter Clan’s services, and Gron ordered him to lead the hunt.
• Mortas gathered the hunters and told them to prepare to hunt the undying monsters beneath the water.

At the Misty Lake, Mantis Lord Mortas sent Hunter Clan fighters to test the Water Wraiths, whose rapid adaptation and regeneration thwarted poison and blades. Lin Jin recognized the blue-blooded creatures as a spreading Lifeblood Plague and ordered everything with blue blood in his domain killed on sight.

• A Green Mantis disguised as a fisherman attacked the Water Wraiths with poison and a poison-soaked boat, but they recovered and destroyed the boat.
• A Dark Green Mantis tested blades on the Water Wraiths, only to watch them regrow severed limbs and even their heads.
• The two Mantises coordinated their attacks as Mantis Lord Mortas observed and ordered the Hunter Clan to keep fighting.
• Mortas recalled how the Water Wraiths had adapted to the villagers' attacks and noted how quickly they evolved against new methods.
• Lin Jin identified the Water Wraiths' blue blood and growth as a Lifeblood Plague spreading out of control.
• Lin Jin ordered his forces to kill anything with blue blood within his domain.

Lin Jin used Soulfire to sever the Lifeblood infection in the water wraiths and empowered the Hunter Clan to fight them. Vessel pursued the infection to its source at Misty Lake, where it confronted a vast Lifeblood plant.

• Lin Jin destroyed a water wraith with Soulfire, then blessed the fighting mantises so their weapons and abilities could kill the infected monsters.
• The Hunter Clan gained the upper hand as Mortas joined the fight, while Gron organized Lakeside Village’s defenses and temporary guards.
• Vessel leapt from the wall to attack a water wraith threatening the guards, drove it off, and pursued it toward Misty Lake.
• Vessel fought through water wraiths along a separate route, and the Void within it grew stronger by devouring them.
• Vessel found a massive Lifeblood plant spreading through the area and drew its Bone Nail.

The Vessel fought the regenerating Blueblood Demon Pillar in the Reef Cave while Lin Jin realized it was in danger and rushed to help. Lin Jin arrived as the Vessel was cornered, and the Vessel accepted his offer of assistance.

• The Vessel attacked the Blueblood Demon Pillar, but its wounds healed almost immediately as it retaliated with corrosive fluid and whipping tentacles.
• The Water Wraiths withdrew from Lakeside Village, and Mortas and Lin Jin noticed that they were converging on the enormous blue sphere in the lake.
• Lin Jin spotted the Vessel near the blue sphere and hurried toward it, fearing it had encountered lifeblood.
• The Vessel’s attacks failed to stop the chimera, and acid gradually left it with nowhere to escape.
• Lin Jin arrived with golden flames that scorched the Blueblood Demon Pillar, then offered to help the Vessel, which solemnly nodded.

Lin Jin and the Little Knight fought the Blueblood Demon Pillar, and Lin Jin infused the wounded Vessel with Sunfire to help it defeat the creature. The victory only destroyed an avatar of the deeper Lifeblood source, while Lin Jin was left wondering how to explain the transformed Little Knight to Gron and Isara.

• Lin Jin discovered that the Blueblood Demon Pillar adapted to heat and healed itself by drawing Lifeblood through roots underground.
• Lin Jin ignited the pillar from within while the Little Knight cut its roots, but a tentacle hurled the Little Knight into a wall and badly damaged it.
• Lin Jin used Sunfire to repair the Little Knight, transforming its cloak, mask, and Bone Nail and giving it flame-based power.
• The Little Knight returned to battle and severed the pillar’s vines, destroying the chimera with a powerful strike.
• Dark green vines emerged from the lake and dragged away the remains, revealing that the deeper Lifeblood source still survived; Lin Jin worried about explaining the Little Knight’s new appearance to Gron and Isara.

After repeated water wraith attacks stalled the expedition at Lakeside Village, Lin Jin reprimanded Gron and ordered him to find and destroy the Lifeblood threat. He announced that a second Chosen of God would assist, and Gron met the newly arrived Little Knight.

• Water wraiths repeatedly attacked Lakeside Village, while Blueblood Vines and Lifeseeds spread among the defenses; Soulfire casters burned the plants back.
• Lin Jin descended before Gron and the gathered bugs, praised the expedition’s initial success, then expressed dissatisfaction with its lack of progress.
• Lin Jin warned that Lifeblood threatened to corrupt everything and ordered Gron to find and destroy it, promising to send another Chosen of God.
• Mortas decided to investigate the lake bed, while Gron struggled with the news that another Chosen of God would share his standing.
• An attendant informed Gron that the new Chosen of God had arrived, and Gron met Little Knight, a small grub dressed in flame-patterned clothing and a mask.

Gron led the Ashen Clan’s all-out campaign to purge Lifeblood contamination around Lakeside Village, then organized a reconnaissance force to cross Misty Lake. The three ships set sail for the far shore with Gron and the silent Little Knight aboard.

• Gron assembled the Ashen Clan and ordered it to burn away the blue contamination around Lakeside Village.
• Over three days, the Expedition Army wiped out nearby Water Wraiths and Lifeblood-tainted creatures, while Soulfire mages purified the area and new Campfires expanded Lin Jin’s influence.
• The Ashen Clan’s advance forced Lifeblood’s contamination to retreat from the lakeshore, and the Gear Clan built three ships using Lin Jin’s plans.
• Gron selected three hundred warriors for a reconnaissance mission across Misty Lake and boarded one of the ships himself.
• The Little Knight joined the advance force, and Gron decided to use the journey to assess its strength.
• Gron ordered the ships to set sail for the far shore.

The Ashen Clan warships came under attack from Lifeblood’s water wraiths while crossing Misty Lake, but the Little Knight destroyed the creatures with its Bone Nail and Soulfire. The surviving warriors reached the opposite shore, with Lifeblood retreating but still intent on spreading across the Wilderness.

• The Little Knight sensed Lifeblood’s concealed attack and drew its Bone Nail as water wraiths surged from the lake to assault the three ships.
• Gron led the Ashen Clan warriors into battle, but the wraiths regenerated, infected the wooden ships, and wounded soldiers as the defensive formation faltered.
• The Little Knight joined the fight and burned the water wraiths to ash with its Bone Nail, Void, and Soulfire.
• The Little Knight leapt between the ships, protecting the soldiers and creating openings for them to defeat the remaining wraiths.
• Lifeblood withdrew after its creatures were overwhelmed, and the three warships reached the opposite shore with 284 warriors surviving.

Gron led the Ashen Clan’s vanguard to a temporary camp beneath Ashen City and discovered a Lifeblood-besieged Smelting Plant nearby. As the plant’s defenders ran out of weapons and hope, Gron’s force launched a relief attack.

• Gron landed with the vanguard, organized a temporary base, and sent scouts to explore the area while Little Knight stayed behind to guard the camp.
• Gron concluded the expedition was directly beneath Ashen City and learned that Lifeblood-infected beasts were besieging a nearby Smelting Plant where survivors were resisting.
• Gron took two hundred bugs to relieve the siege, leaving the remaining troops and Little Knight to defend the temporary fortress.
• The Smelting Plant’s defenders used their last flint-crystal bomb to repel one attack, but a much larger horde gathered and left them nearly helpless.
• As the defenders prayed for rescue, Gron and the Ashen Clan attacked the Lifeblood beasts and began the relief battle.

Gron’s forces defeated the Lifeblood beasts and brought the smelting plant’s Bugfolk under the Flame Capital’s protection. He then discovered that the plant’s great boiler had been stalled by a disabled waterwheel and solidified molten iron, leaving its restoration as the next challenge.

• Gron used Indomitable and Fireflow Cloud to destroy the Lifeblood-infected beasts, whose survivors retreated into the corrupted forest.
• A Recorder negotiated with the smelting plant’s Bugfolk, offering Flame Capital protection and supply routes in exchange for their loyalty.
• The bandage-wrapped Bugfolk leader opened the gate, and the plant’s survivors swore allegiance to the Sunfire God.
• Gron asked whether the smelting plant could supply repaired equipment and bombs for the coming forest campaign.
• Gron learned that Lifeblood vines had disabled the waterwheel, stopping the great boiler and leaving molten iron solidified throughout the furnace.

Gron’s craftsmen accidentally uncovered a hidden room in the Smelting Plant, while Lin Jin accepted his role as the Sunfire God and resolved to bring order and civilization to the Wilderness. As Lin Jin’s power grew, Grimm sensed a change and redirected his convoy toward another ruined civilization.

• Gron ordered the Smelting Plant repaired, but the craftsmen discovered that a damaged pipe concealed a room and were attacked after entering it.
• Little Knight arrived with a map of the Smelting Site and stepped through the opening.
• Lin Jin failed to find a way to eradicate lifeblood, then saw the bugs living safely in Ashen City and the Royal City and resolved to protect them.
• Lin Jin embraced his identity as the Sunfire God, aligned himself with the principle of order, and grew in power.
• A strange bug’s corpse and a dark-red torch crumbled away in a remote cave as Grimm sensed a change and ordered Bloom to redirect the convoy.

The Little Knight found two trapped bug artisans in a hidden scrapyard and faced No. 2 Machine, a surviving machine bug controlling many steel bodies. After surviving her strongest attack, the Little Knight prepared to fight as No. 2 Machine combined her remaining bodies into a towering construct.

• The Little Knight entered a sealed chamber beneath the Smelting Plant and found two artisans hiding from machines marked with "Ⅱ".
• The artisans identified the machines as No. 2 Machine's bodies, and No. 2 Machine ordered them to attack the Little Knight.
• No. 2 Machine revealed that she had escaped the King's control during Gron's assault and fought desperately to protect her chance at freedom.
• The Little Knight used its Charms and Bone Nail to destroy many machines and survived No. 2 Machine's explosive attack unharmed.
• No. 2 Machine merged her remaining bodies into a giant construct resembling No. 1 Machine as the Little Knight readied its Bone Nail.

Little Knight used Soulfire to expose No. 2 Machine’s mech weaknesses and dismantled her army in battle. The Artisans stopped Little Knight from killing No. 2 Machine, who surrendered and was spared so she could help repair the great furnace.

• Little Knight detected the mech’s weak points with Soulfire and broke off its enormous fist with the Bone Nail.
• Little Knight climbed across the mech, destroying its vulnerable mechanisms until No. 2 Machine dismantled it and sent smaller units to attack.
• Little Knight defeated No. 2 Machine’s forces, targeting their cores and hub units until only two damaged machines remained.
• No. 2 Machine surrendered, but Little Knight prepared to finish her because they did not understand her plea.
• The Artisans intervened, arguing that No. 2 Machine could help the expedition and repair the great furnace.
• Little Knight spared No. 2 Machine, who reluctantly accepted that she would have to serve the Sunfire God to survive.

After No. 2 Machine joined the expedition, she received the Sunfire God’s protective runes and used her coordination abilities to restore the Smelting Plant. During Gron’s sacrifice, Lin Jin appeared, learned what had happened, and named her Amelia, appointing her Chief Mechanical Archsage, though he worried he had made her overly devoted.

• Artisans engraved Sunfire God runes onto No. 2 Machine’s bodies, granting them a gentle supply of soulfire and protection from other gods’ powers.
• No. 2 Machine directed her bodies to clear blocked pipes and repair the Smelting Plant, while new machine bodies assembled in the scrapyard.
• Gron offered lifeblood-infected creatures to the Campfire, and Lin Jin manifested in its flames to hear Gron’s report.
• Lin Jin noticed No. 2 Machine’s torch mark and approached her, overwhelming her machinery with his divine presence.
• Lin Jin calmed No. 2 Machine, learned that her name was Amelia, and appointed her his Chief Mechanical Archsage.
• Amelia accepted joyfully, while Lin Jin privately worried that he had influenced her too strongly.

Amelia helped the Ashen Clan prepare new weapons at the Smelting Plant, and Gron led a frontal assault while the Little Knight’s squad infiltrated Lifeblood’s base. As the squad fought through the cave, the Little Knight recognized the infestation from memories of Hallownest’s Abyss and pressed onward with renewed resolve.

• Amelia oversaw the production of weapons powered by Soulfire as the Ashen Clan prepared for its final advance.
• Gron led the army in a head-on attack against Lifeblood’s infected beasts while the Little Knight’s rapid-response squad entered the forest from the flank.
• The Little Knight and the squad located a cave believed to be Lifeblood’s troop-producing base and prepared their weapons for the assault.
• After Lifeblood killed a scout at the cave entrance, the mantis leader ordered the troops to attack, and they advanced using cannons, Electromagnetic Guns, and Thermite Bombs.
• The Little Knight fought through the cave and remembered seeing a similar infestation in Hallownest’s Abyss, then continued forward with renewed resolve.

The squad fought through the infected Glass Mine and destroyed Lifeblood’s apparent core with an oversized Thermite Bomb. Little Knight sensed something was wrong, and a deeper monster survived the blast, vowing to continue its work.

• The squad entered the infected Glass Mine, where Captain Mantis tracked Lifeblood’s growing activity deeper underground.
• Lifeblood’s vines and creatures attacked as the squad descended, and one bug sacrificed himself to help the others advance.
• Little Knight broke through a vine-sealed gate, and the squad found Lifeblood’s enormous blood sac and its pulsing core.
• Little Knight and the squad fought off a final wave of creatures while Mantis hurled Lin Jin’s oversized Thermite Bomb at the core.
• The explosion destroyed Lifeblood’s apparent true body, and the squad celebrated as Little Knight remained uneasy.
• A monstrous creature deeper beneath the cave survived, watched Little Knight through the rock, and vowed to continue its work.

After the Lifeblood campaign, Flame Capital entered a period of recovery and development while Lin Jin prepared to refine his Divinity. Just as he fell asleep, the Godseekers arrived and their strange attunement pulled him into an unknown place before him.

• Gron approved supervised Lifeblood research at the infected Melag Mine while the Sunfall Expedition consolidated its newly acquired territories.
• Lin Jin ordered Centipede Stations established across Flame Capital, supporting the Gear Clan's industry and the Hunter Clan's beast-taming work.
• Lin Jin entrusted Flame Capital to Isara and returned his consciousness to the divine statue to undergo a major refinement.
• The Godseekers arrived at the Radiant Gate and used a strange device to perform an attunement that caused several of them to collapse.
• Lin Jin awoke in a strange space among ancient buildings and hot springs, where a crowd of Godseekers prostrated themselves and praised him.

Lin Jin discovered that the Godseekers’ combat ritual could help him ascend, so he claimed Godhome and planned to use it to grow stronger. He summoned Isara and tasked her with finding powerful minds in the Flame Capital, then went to sleep at Godhome’s summit until enough souls were gathered.

• Lin Jin learned that the Godseekers used combat attunement to pursue ascension and realized he could use their ritual to advance.
• In Ashen City, Isara completed her daily scripture and cleaning duties before falling asleep beside Lin Jin’s statue.
• Lin Jin summoned Isara to Godhome and explained that it was a realm of the mind.
• Lin Jin ordered Isara to seek powerful minds throughout the Flame Capital and bring their consciousnesses to Godhome for the ritual.
• Isara accepted the task, and Lin Jin flew to Godhome’s summit to sleep until enough souls had gathered.

Isara entered Godhome, opened the brass building, and used her soul sight to search Ashen City's barracks for powerful warriors. She found Rust-Red Deathfury and Yellow-Shell Golden Armor dueling, then drew their simultaneous fight into Godhome, where their souls began to clash.

• Isara opened a doorway in Godhome's brass building and found its interior gallery unfinished and empty.
• Isara learned to leave her body and use soul sight, then headed toward Ashen City's military barracks to find warriors for the Sunfire God's Ritual.
• Rust-Red Deathfury and Yellow-Shell Golden Armor began a duel before a crowd of spectators at the western barracks.
• Rust-Red Deathfury attacked at high speed, but Yellow-Shell Golden Armor stood firm and struck him, making him stronger through his damage-taking constitution.
• Rust-Red Deathfury launched a faster barrage at the same spot on Yellow-Shell Golden Armor's defenses, while Isara made their souls clash inside Godhome as they fought in the arena.

Rust-Red Deathfury and Yellow-Shell Golden Armor fought an honor duel that ended with Yellow-Shell Golden Armor standing after Rust-Red Deathfury’s final attack. Isara chose both warriors for her lord, and their new statues advanced the Warlord Pantheon gate to one-fifth complete.

• Rust-Red Deathfury intensified his attacks as his injuries grew, while Yellow-Shell Golden Armor endured the assault and waited for an opening.
• Yellow-Shell Golden Armor pierced Rust-Red Deathfury’s abdomen with a shield strike, but Rust-Red Deathfury landed one final slash that cracked his armor.
• Rust-Red Deathfury lost his strength and conceded, and the two warriors praised each other and clasped feelers as the spectators cheered.
• Isara decided Rust-Red Deathfury and Yellow-Shell Golden Armor were warriors her lord needed, and their soul imprints formed two new statues in Godhome.
• The Warlord Pantheon gate appeared with two of its ten rings filled, bringing its progress to one-fifth.