Recaps

Rodi and Luna were caught in a trap after a necromancer attacked the fugitives, but Renato killed him and Tristana’s soldiers seized Luna. Rodi attacked Tristana to get Luna back, and Renato stepped in, asking to take Rodi on himself.

• A masked necromancer killed the half-drow warrior and sent enhanced zombies against the fugitives, while Rodi fought to protect Luna.
• Renato killed the necromancer, causing his zombies to collapse, and Tristana’s soldiers captured Luna.
• Tristana confronted Rodi and began taunting her, but Rodi threw a knife at her and prepared to charge despite being struck by crossbow bolts.
• Tristana ordered the soldiers to hold their fire and threatened to mutilate Rodi, but Renato stepped forward and asked to handle her himself.

Renato defeated and killed Rodi in a duel, then escorted Tristana and the rescued moon elf slave back toward Nightwind Chapel. Tristana explained why the moon elf was a prized sacrifice and hinted that the Nightbrize family planned a major ritual before the holy day.

• Renato persuaded Tristana to let him duel Rodi instead of having her tortured, but Rodi charged him to demand Luna's return.
• Renato overpowered Rodi, severed her arm, and killed her with Touch of Dakoul after she cursed him.
• Tristana praised Renato's victory, and he accompanied her with the moon elf slave toward Nightwind Chapel.
• Tristana explained that the moon elf was valued because she worshipped Sehanine and that Lolth's sacrifice required awakened hope to make the victim's despair more potent.
• Tristana told Renato that the ritual would begin soon and that the Nightbrize name would be feared throughout Samoriel City on the holy day.

Renato noticed that the Nightwind Family had sealed the chapel and mobilized its forces, and he deduced that Quelyn was preparing to launch a Family Ascension War against a higher-ranking house. He remained outside Nightwind Chapel in command of the gathered soldiers, unable to confirm the target or share his suspicions.

• Tristana returned to the family compound, sealed Nightwind Chapel, and ordered Renato to wait outside with the lizard riders.
• Nightwind soldiers gathered before the chapel and, treating Renato as Tristana's representative, placed more than a hundred troops under his command.
• Renato connected the missing main force, the sacrifices, and the mobilization to a possible Family Ascension War.
• Renato concluded that Quelyn had used the Holy Day preparations, the earthquake, and the Ruling Council's absence to prepare an attack in secret.

Renato took command of the assembled Nightwind Family soldiers as Aknath delivered a magically strengthened mithral mask and urged him to march quickly. Tristana then ordered the troops to Noble Heights, revealing the family’s intended target remained uncertain.

• After hours of waiting, Aknath emerged from Nightwind Chapel and approached Renato, prompting soldiers from rival forces within the family to aim weapons at one another.
• Renato ordered everyone to lower their weapons, ending the standoff, and Aknath told him that Rodi’s death was not his fault.
• Aknath gave Renato a mithral mask strengthened by Quelyn’s divine spell and warned him to use it carefully.
• Aknath told Renato to form ranks and lead the soldiers out of the city quickly, saying he would assist.
• Tristana emerged from the chapel and ordered the army to sound the horn and march to Noble Heights, declaring that Nightbrize’s name would resound through Sammoril.

Renato discovered that Quelyn had secretly made the Consort's Mask lethal, then accompanied Nightwind's army to Noble Heights. Quelyn announced a Family Ascension War against the Fryce Family and ordered her warriors to attack, claiming Lolth had chosen Nightwind to rule Samoriel City.

• Renato read the Consort's Mask's Betrayal Spike enchantment and stored the mask rather than wearing it.
• Tristana led Nightwind's lightly equipped army on a forced march to Noble Heights, where more than six hundred warriors assembled.
• Renato saw Quelyn at the army's gathering and noticed that she had given birth, though no newborn was present.
• Quelyn announced that Nightwind would challenge the Fryce Family, the city's fifth-ranked ruling family.
• Quelyn claimed Lolth had stripped Ginafey Fryce of the authority to lead the Holy City and commanded Nightwind's warriors to slaughter the Fryce priestesses.

Renato watched the Nightwind Family’s magical siege overwhelm the undermanned Fryce Family fortress and saw how the loss of Lolth’s favor had left its defenders without Priestesses. Brichidi and seven commoner Priestesses sacrificed eight captives to collapse part of the wall, breaking the remaining defenders’ resistance.

• Renato noted that his Resolve had reached 18 and gained the extra Constitution saving throw from Mind Over Body.
• Renato watched Nightwind Clerics use divine spells to help their warriors scale the walls and devastate the Fryce defenders, whose formations fell apart without Priestesses.
• Renato realized that Lolth had abandoned Matron Mother Ginafey Fryce and stripped her Priestesses of their divine power because another sacrifice had pleased the Goddess more.
• Brichidi led seven commoner Priestesses in a ritual that killed eight abducted Drow and brought down a section of the Fryce Family wall.
• The collapsing wall shattered the defenders’ morale, and the Fryce soldiers fled into the fortress.

As the Nightwind Family’s assault on the Fryce estate advanced, Renato worried that reinforcements from two ruling families could overwhelm Quelyn’s small interception force. Tristana revealed that the Mizzrym Family, led by Matron Mother Delina, had secretly allied with Quelyn to destroy the Fryce Family.

• Renato asked Tristana whether other noble houses would send reinforcements to help the Fryce Family, and she said two nearby ruling families would likely intervene.
• Tristana praised Quelyn’s divine power and described how her mother had once destroyed a castle defended by heretics.
• Tristana angrily rejected Renato’s comparison between Quelyn and Brichidi, insisting that Quelyn’s high-level divine spells could devastate entire streets or caverns.
• Renato questioned whether an enemy High Priestess or Matron Mother could counter Quelyn, and Tristana said the ruling mothers would stay in their castles while the Nightwind Family had allies ready to intercept.
• Tristana revealed that Matron Mother Delina and the Mizzrym Family had agreed to help Quelyn destroy the Fryce Family.

Renato realized that Matron Mother Delina had secretly allied with Quelyn, whose long-running schemes had helped set the assault on the Fryce Family in motion. With Fryce Castle’s defenders routed, Renato joined Aknath’s elite force to clear the compound and prove his worth to the Nightwind Family.

• Renato pieced together how Delina’s alliance with Quelyn had allowed the Mizzrym Family to mislead the ruling families and aid the Nightwind Family’s plans.
• The Nightwind forces routed the Fryce defenders, while their main army maintained the encirclement to prevent Ginafi and her descendants from escaping.
• After Tristana left to help secure the encirclement, Renato prepared to fulfill his duties by joining the assault on Fryce Castle.
• Aknath ordered the elite reserves to advance through the breach and invited Renato to join him in clearing out the remaining Fryce forces.

Renato and the Nightwind Family finished slaughtering the Fryce Family soldiers outside the chapel, while Aknath swept the fortress’s other buildings. They prepared to break into the chapel, where Aknath believed the surviving Fryce priestesses were praying, and warned Renato to expect desperate resistance.

• Renato and the Nightwind assault squad defeated the Fryce soldiers guarding the way to the chapel.
• Renato surveyed the grand chapel and reflected that the Fryce Family’s destruction would come despite its lavish devotion to Lolth.
• Aknath arrived through a portal and reported that the castle’s other buildings had been swept but no Fryce nobles were found.
• Aknath explained the Family Ascension War’s custom of killing defeated female drow and said the chapel was the last area left to search.
• Renato asked whether the priestesses might have escaped through a secret passage, but Aknath insisted they were inside Lolth’s sanctuary.
• Aknath ordered the soldiers to break down the chapel doors and warned Renato to guard against the Fryce Family’s magical items and last desperate attacks.

Nightwind forces stormed the Fryce Chapel and began hunting the Fryce priestesses on a kill list. Aknath divided the soldiers to clear the side corridors and lead an advance toward the nave and altar, while Renato stayed cautious at the rear.

• Nightwind Elite Warriors smashed through the Chapel's weakened doors and killed three Fryce female guards who fired crossbows at them.
• Fryce servants fled in panic as the attackers conserved their poison arrows and prepared to hunt the direct-line women named on their list.
• Renato deferred command to Aknath, who split the force and sent two squads to clear the left and right corridors within half an hour.
• Aknath led the remaining soldiers toward the nave and altar, where he expected the Fryce priestesses to be hiding.
• Renato stayed at the back, wary of the Fryce Family's hidden weapons and choosing not to risk himself without a quest or reward.

Renato and Nightwind’s assault team reached the Fryce Family’s central hall, where its guards resisted with adamantine armor and magic scrolls. Aknath intercepted their spellcasting, then faced a powerful Dark Guard who challenged him to fight.

• Renato saw Fryce servants and disguised soldiers loot the family compound while its female guards lay dead.
• Nightwind’s elites fired crossbow bolts at the altar chamber’s guards, but their adamantine Scale Plate Armor deflected the attack.
• The guards began casting spells from multiple scrolls, but Aknath used Dimension Door to kill one and disrupt them.
• A flame-wielding Dark Guard met Aknath’s Silver Sword with her halberd and held her ground against the Weapon Master.
• The Dark Guard declared her allegiance to Lolth and demanded that Aknath kneel, but he questioned whether she could control her borrowed powers.

Renato survived the magical explosion unleashed by the Fryce Family’s bodyguards and assessed the ruined central hall. As the Weapon Master continued dueling the Dark Guard, Renato turned to attack the surviving bodyguards before they could regroup.

• The Fryce bodyguards unleashed dozens of Magic Scrolls, causing their conflicting spells to explode throughout the central hall.
• Renato survived the blast behind the Drow Soldiers with Shadow Shield and divine protection, then checked that his health had not fallen.
• Renato surveyed the dead and ruined hall and recognized several of the spells that had caused the destruction.
• Aknath and the Dark Guard continued their duel, with the Dark Guard striking using Dreadful Smite.
• Several Fryce bodyguards emerged from the rubble largely unharmed, so Renato changed course and charged at them with the Black Sword.

Renato fought the Fryce Guards, using Dakoul's Blessing and Shadow Shield to withstand their attacks and enhance his strength. After killing one guard and discovering that Dakoul's Blessing could stack, he faced the remaining five as they formed a defensive halberd formation.

• Renato charged through the smoke and rubble, relying on Dakoul's Blessing and Shadow Shield as he attacked the Fryce Guards.
• Renato broke the lead guard's halberd and wounded her, but she trapped his sword with her arm guards.
• Renato pierced the guard's visor, drained her life with Touch of Dakoul, and killed her.
• Renato replenished his health and activated Dakoul's Blessing again, finding that its effects could stack.
• The remaining five Fryce Guards regrouped into a tight halberd formation and challenged Renato.

Renato feinted toward the Fryce Family’s secret chamber to split the guards, then used Misty Step, his weapons, and shadow magic to defeat them. He left the guards’ formation shattered, with two still alive after the blast of shadow energy.

• Renato pretended to run toward the secret chamber, drawing five Fryce Family guards out of formation.
• Renato teleported in front of the lead guard, struck her with the Silent Lady’s pommel, and killed her with a captured halberd.
• Renato swept another guard into a wall, then threw his halberd to stop a third as he teleported behind her and killed her with the Silent Lady.
• Two guards struck Renato from behind, but his Shadow Shield absorbed their blows while shadow spread up their halberd shafts.
• Renato’s Shadow Shield fragments exploded, blasting the two guards backward across the hall.

Renato and the Nightwind soldiers defeated the Fryce Family’s remaining defenders, while Aknath killed the Fryce blackguard. The troops opened the altar chamber, and Aknath warned Renato to stay close as they prepared to enter.

• Renato killed two badly wounded Fryce bodyguards as Nightwind soldiers arrived and overwhelmed the remaining defenders.
• Nightwind soldiers pinned a female Drow bodyguard and killed her with a poisoned hand crossbow bolt.
• Aknath defeated the Fryce noblewoman in a duel and killed her with his Silver Sword.
• Assault squad leaders reported that they had found no Fryce priestesses and urged Aknath to attack the altar.
• Aknath ordered the troops to gather before the altar chamber, and they opened its heavy doors.
• Aknath quietly told Renato not to stray far from him inside the chamber.

Renato and the Nightwind soldiers entered the Fryce Family’s secret chamber, where they found priestesses sacrificed to Lolth and confronted Matron Mother Jinafi. The soldiers attacked her but were stopped by a warding barrier left by Gromph Baenre, while Jinafi remained eerily calm as it began to crack.

• The Nightwind soldiers entered the chamber and discovered the gruesome remains of priestesses sacrificed before Lolth’s statue.
• Aknath killed two noble priestesses, and Renato identified them as daughters of Matron Mother Jinafi.
• The soldiers recognized Jinafi and rushed to claim Quelyn’s bounty, but a warding barrier threw them back.
• Aknath explained that Gromph Baenre had placed the barrier and withdrawn his spider mages after the Fryce Family lost Lolth’s favor.
• The soldiers struck the barrier until it neared breaking, while Jinafi knelt beside the statue and giggled.

Matron Mother Jinafi triggered a magical explosion that destroyed the Fryce Fortress, and Aknath saved Renato by teleporting them away. After the blast, a violent earthquake shook Sammoriel City before an unseen force stopped it, and strange white mist appeared near the West Wall.

• As the Nightwind soldiers broke the warding barrier, Aknath realized the chamber was dangerous and shouted for them to stop, but they continued striking it.
• Jinafi offered the destruction of the Fryce Family as a sacrifice to Lolth, and the barrier's collapse activated the chamber's runes, causing a massive explosion.
• Aknath pulled Renato through a Dimension Door, and they sheltered behind a stone statue while the blast devastated the fortress and surrounding Drow forces.
• Renato and Aknath surveyed the ruins, and Aknath said the Fryce Family had been destroyed but Quelyn's plans to strengthen the Nightwind Family had failed.
• A powerful earthquake struck Sammoriel City, but an invisible force abruptly stilled the ground.
• Renato saw dense white mist descend near the West Wall and glimpsed unfamiliar ruined buildings within it.

After the Nightwind Family’s costly victory, a mysterious white fog swallowed part of Sammoril, and the ruling families failed to discover what lay inside. Klauthsura proposed that Renato enter the demiplane with it and use its spatial nodes to escape the drow city, and Renato agreed.

• The Nightwind Family became the Fifth Family, but Quelyn grew increasingly unstable as the family suffered heavy losses and the other ruling families seized former Fryce territory.
• A vast white fog engulfed Sammoril’s West Wall district, and exploration teams vanished inside it, prompting the Ruling Council to ban unauthorized entry.
• Renato told Klauthsura that drow mages believed the fog concealed a habitable demiplane, while Klauthsura confirmed that its psionic probes had detected life there.
• Klauthsura revealed that the Psionics Beacon Eye could locate spatial nodes in the demiplane and offer a strong chance of teleporting them to an upper stratum.
• Renato weighed the risks of entering the fog against remaining under Tristana’s control and facing danger in Sammoril, then clasped Klauthsura’s hand and agreed to escape with it.

Renato and Klauthsura prepared to escape Samoriel City through the West Wall’s white mist during the Holy Day Festival, gathering supplies, scrolls, and potions for the journey. As they waited for Dark Time, Renato found another cryptic note in his Griffon Coin Purse and resolved to survive whatever lay ahead.

• Renato decided to use the Holy Day Festival’s reduced security to enter the mysterious demiplane with Klauthsura.
• Renato stocked his Space Ring with food and water, while Klauthsura bought brain fungi for emergency food.
• Renato equipped himself with Magic Scrolls suited to his abilities, including Fly and Stinking Cloud.
• Klauthsura gave Renato thirty magic potions that had been intended for the Nightwind Family, explaining that Quelyn had broken their contract.
• Renato found a folded Draconic note in his Griffon Coin Purse and stored it beside the earlier note.

Renato and Klauthsura escaped the Nightwind Fortress in disguise and approached the sealed mist at Sammoril’s West Wall. A High Priestess and Ruling Council soldiers confronted them, threatening death for trespassing.

• Quelyn went to Lolth’s Holy Day ceremony with Tristana and ordered Renato to attend.
• Klauthsura devoured a Nightwind Guard messenger and transformed into her likeness.
• Renato and Klauthsura passed through the fortress’s side gate and headed toward the West Wall.
• Renato considered how the vast mist might have formed as he and Klauthsura approached it.
• Ruling Council soldiers surrounded Renato and Klauthsura, and a High Priestess declared that trespassers would be executed.

Renato and Klauthsura faced a Drow Inquisitor and the Ruling Council’s forces while disguised as Nightwind Guards, and prepared to strike before her detection magic exposed them. Weapon Master Nightwind, Aknath, arrived and confronted the Inquisitor, leaving the standoff unresolved.

• The chapter described how commoner Priestesses became fanatical Inquisitors who enforced Lolth’s doctrine under the Ruling Council’s authority.
• The Inquisitor began judging Klauthsura while Renato assessed the soldiers, crossbowmen, and High Priestess surrounding them.
• Renato and Klauthsura used psionics to plan a surprise attack against the Inquisitor and her forces.
• The Inquisitor noticed the Nightwind crests and demanded to know why Klauthsura was there and whether she carried orders from Matron Mother Quelyn.
• A sword rang nearby, prompting the Inquisitor to leap back and shield herself with divine spells.
• Aknath approached with his Silver Sword and suggested that there had been a misunderstanding about the deployment.

Aknath revealed that he knew Renato was human and understood his plan to escape Sammoril with Klauthsura, but helped them reach the white mist and warned Renato about trusting the Mind Flayer. Renato invited Aknath to the Surface, but Aknath refused to leave because he had promised Brichidi and intended to protect his family.

• Aknath led Renato and Klauthsura to a secluded stretch of Lake Tonnigat after convincing the Inquisitor that their escape was a mistake in Nightwind Family assignments.
• Aknath told Renato he suspected he was human and had recognized Klauthsura as a Mind Flayer, then explained that his Gith Silver Sword helped him evade psionic scans.
• Aknath warned Renato that relying on Klauthsura to teleport them out of the demiplane was dangerous, but Renato said he trusted their partnership.
• Aknath showed Renato a route through the ruins to the white mist and promised to cover for him and delay the discovery of his disappearance.
• Renato invited Aknath to join him on the Surface, but Aknath refused because he had promised Brichidi and would not abandon his responsibilities.
• Aknath told Renato to leave quickly and said he would kill the Inquisitor and the Ruling Council soldiers if necessary to keep his role in their escape secret.

Renato and Klauthsura entered the white mist leading into the demiplane after Klauthsura confirmed their arrival point would be solid ground, though they warned that it might be high above the surface. They found themselves in freezing, dense fog that swallowed Renato as they continued over damp soil.

• Renato and Klauthsura found a narrow fissure behind a collapsed tower that led to the Mist Wall.
• Klauthsura used a Crystal Ball to scan the demiplane and confirmed they would arrive over solid ground, but could not determine the arrival point’s height.
• Renato drank a Greater Healing Potion and Oil of Speed before preparing to enter the mist.
• Klauthsura took Renato’s hand and warned that they might fall upon arrival, offering to use psionics to lessen the impact.
• Renato and Klauthsura stepped through the mist and found themselves in bitter cold, where the flagstones gave way to soft, muddy soil.
• The fog thickened until Renato could see less than five feet ahead and then swallowed him completely.

During a sacrifice in Sammoril, Lolth’s ritual engulfed the altar in purple witchfire before the goddess summoned a yochlol through the Grand Inquisitor’s death. Sinnaphyx declared herself Lolth’s apostle and ordered the city’s priestesses to march on the Misty Domain for an artifact.

• Tristana watched nearly a thousand priestesses sacrifice slaves and offer their blood to Lolth in Sammoril.
• Purple witchfire engulfed the altar, but the noble Matron Mothers survived unharmed while several mid-ranking priestesses who resisted were burned to death.
• Lolth’s statue seized the Grand Inquisitor, tortured her to death, and used her soul to open a rift to the Abyss.
• A white-haired female drow emerged from the rift, took the Grand Inquisitor’s robe and whip, and introduced herself as Sinnaphyx, Lolth’s handmaiden and apostle.
• Sinnaphyx flooded the priestesses with the goddess’s will and commanded Samoriel City to march on the Misty Domain and reclaim Lolth’s artifact.

Renato woke in a wheat field near a human city and realized he had somehow reached the surface instead of the planned demiplane. As he searched for Klauthsura, he found Drow corpses displayed on wooden frames and was confronted by an armed stranger.

• Renato woke in a sunlit wheat field with the Silent Lady in his hand and recalled entering the mist with Klauthsura.
• Renato saw farmland and a nearby city bearing a noble banner, and realized he was on the surface.
• Renato used Gorogoroth's Form-Twisting to restore his human appearance and decided to search for Klauthsura.
• Renato found Drow warriors from Sammoril nailed to wooden frames, their bodies stripped and marked with battle wounds.
• A voice with a southern accent shouted at Renato from behind, warning him not to move.