Recaps

Renato learned that Morlock and the Mage Pure White had slain a demigod Titan, but Pure White then betrayed their agreement to pursue Orcus, binding Morlock to the White Tower for a thousand years. Morlock asked Renato to destroy the tower in exchange for helping him claim the Titan’s divinity and escape the Arena watched over by the Gods.

• Renato refused to sign a contract with Morlock and demanded to know why the devil had brought them there.
• Morlock explained that he had worked with Pure White a thousand years earlier and agreed to help him challenge the Divine Scion of Skoreus.
• Morlock revealed that he and Pure White destroyed the Titan’s cradle, woke the Divine Scion, and defeated Him.
• Morlock said Pure White had betrayed their agreement by targeting Orcus, forcing Morlock to maintain the White Tower under their contract for a thousand years.
• Morlock offered to help Renato escape if Renato destroyed the White Tower’s core, allowing Morlock to claim the Titan’s divinity.

Renato prepared to cross the Guard Room’s maze while Klauthsura scanned its corridors, wary of Morlock’s offer to help them reach the Tower of Pure White’s core. As Klauthsura explained the power and obligations of devils, Renato grew more suspicious of Morlock and wondered what Pure White had intended.

• Renato prepared with Cat's Grace and Oil of Speed while Klauthsura mapped the Guard Room with psionic instruments.
• Renato considered Morlock’s suspiciously generous offer and decided to attempt the maze without summoning the devil unless they had no other choice.
• Renato worried that Rafada had not made it through The Never-Ending Revel and resolved to get Klauthsura safely out of the demiplane.
• Klauthsura explained that devil titles and territories were governed by Asmodeus and that Morlock’s power made him nearly a demigod by mortal standards.
• Klauthsura suspected Morlock was concealing his true motives, and Renato wondered what reward he expected and what Pure White’s goal had been.

Renato and Klauthsura fought their way through the Guard Room maze, where Klauthsura destroyed a swarm of awakened Iron Golems with a powerful Lightning Bolt. As they neared the exit, a massive Construct smashed through the wall and began its elimination protocol.

• Renato and Klauthsura entered the Guard Room maze and carefully advanced past dormant Iron Golems.
• Renato destroyed an awakening Iron Golem while Klauthsura used her psionics to identify the machines' magical cores.
• Dozens of Iron Golems awakened and targeted Renato, so Klauthsura obliterated them with a Lightning Bolt.
• Klauthsura told Renato the maze exit was less than fifty meters away and urged him to reach the tower's top floor.
• A huge Construct burst through the wall beside Renato and Klauthsura, announced that its safeties were disengaged, and began its elimination protocol.

Renato and Klauthsura confronted an adamantine golem whose defenses resisted their attacks and whose chest crystal fired a Disintegrate beam that destroyed Klauthsura’s Wall of Force. Renato teleported to the golem’s flank, but it sealed its energy core and swung its Shock Hammer at his head.

• Klauthsura struck the adamantine golem with Psionics Lightning, but its runes and armor absorbed the attack without damage.
• The golem charged Renato and Klauthsura, and Klauthsura stopped it with a Wall of Force.
• Klauthsura warned Renato about the golem’s resistances and told him to target its joints and machinery.
• The golem exposed its magical core and fired a Disintegrate beam, so Renato dragged Klauthsura out of its path as the beam shattered the Wall of Force and destroyed the corridor walls.
• Renato used Misty Step to reach the golem’s left flank, but it sealed its core and swung its Shock Hammer toward his head.

Renato and Klauthsura fought the self-repairing adamantine golem as it unleashed fire and poison gas. After tearing off its head, Renato exposed the power core and drove the Silent Lady toward the crystal, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Renato crippled the golem's left knee, but it began repairing the damage and fired Fire Arrows from its shoulders.
• Klauthsura used telekinetic force to pin the golem down and urged Renato to attack its head sensors.
• Renato struck the sensors, but the golem released poison gas that threatened him and the weakened Klauthsura.
• Renato hacked apart the golem's head, then pried it from the neck to expose the internal core.
• Renato aimed the Silent Lady at the pale green crystal and drove the blade down.

Renato destroyed the adamantine golem, and Klauthsura used a Restoration Crystal to recover from its poison and the battle. As they discovered a route to the Top Floor, three more constructs arrived and began an elimination operation.

• Renato shattered the golem's magic crystal, causing its core to explode and destroying it.
• Renato found Klauthsura poisoned and near collapse, but she rejected his antidote and used a Restoration Crystal to heal herself.
• Klauthsura recovered, transformed back into her dragonborn sorceress guise, and told Renato she had detected an entrance to the Top Floor thirty-five meters ahead.
• Three more adamantine constructs emerged from the dust and announced that they would eliminate the intruders.

Renato and Klauthsura fled three adamantine Golems and reached a white-mist passage they believed led to the White Tower’s core. Renato refused to summon Morlock unless they had no other choice, and the pair entered the mist together.

• Renato and Klauthsura ran from the three Golems, dodging Fire Arrows and a Disintegrate ray.
• The Golems stopped to diagnose their systems after the Disintegrate ray damaged the tower, giving Renato and Klauthsura a chance to escape.
• Klauthsura guided Renato through the wreckage to a white-mist passage that seemed to lead to the tower’s core.
• Renato rejected summoning Morlock and chose to enter the passage without the Devil’s help.
• Renato and Klauthsura stepped hand in hand into the mist, and their surroundings fell silent as the mist swallowed them.

Pure White recalled his rise from a magically gifted prince to the mage who helped Nittel prosper, and his decision to let his elder brother become king. When Orcus’s curse devastated the Southern Kingdoms, Pure White refused to abandon Nittel’s people and prepared to stand against the Demon Lord.

• Pure White’s magic appeared in infancy, and his father, Nittel II, showed him special affection after his mother died in childbirth.
• As a child, Pure White cast Ray of Frost, and at sixteen he defeated a court mage who called him a monster; later, Morlock also described him as a born devil.
• At twenty-two, Pure White returned to the palace, where the dying Nittel II offered him the crown because of his heart.
• Pure White doubted his worthiness and gave the crown to his elder brother, Nittel III, then helped him govern and used magic to transform Nittel into a prosperous kingdom.
• Orcus’s curse spread across the Southern Kingdoms, draining souls and causing the collapse of governments as nobles, mages, and clerics abandoned the common people.
• Pure White refused to let Orcus claim the people of Nittel and vowed to defend them.

Renato discovered that Rafada was King Nittel and the Legendary Mage Pure White, whose soul had been divided to resist the Demon Lord’s corruption. With Klauthsura frozen in time on the tower’s top floor, Rafada offered to answer Renato’s questions in return for bringing him to the Tower of Pure White and letting him restart the Demiplane ritual.

• Renato recalled fragments of Pure White’s past and recognized the White-Haired Boy as Rafada, King Nittel and the Legendary Mage.
• Rafada admitted he was responsible for the disasters and explained that his soul had been divided to resist the Demon Lord’s corruption, leaving him with a damaged, childlike appearance.
• Renato found Klauthsura frozen in place and learned Rafada had stopped time inside the tower.
• Rafada offered to answer Renato’s questions in exchange for being brought to the Tower of Pure White and allowed to restart the Demiplane ritual.

Renato demanded that Rafada release Klauthsura from temporal stasis, but learned the spell affected the entire demiplane and could only be ended completely. Rafada showed him the frozen battle between the Drow and the Undead Legion below as they waited for the Ritual to begin.

• Renato asked Rafada to undo the spell on Klauthsura, but Rafada explained that his domain-wide Time Stop could not be lifted for one person.
• Rafada made the White Tower transparent, revealing a moonlit Nittel Royal City where the undead and Drow forces were frozen in battle.
• Renato recognized that the Drow army was too large to have come merely to capture him and Klauthsura.
• Renato concluded that Lolth had sent the Drow into the Misty Realm to pursue something there.
• Rafada said they would wait for the Ritual to begin and wondered whether the Gods or Asmodeus had arranged events.

Renato learned that Rafada had sought divinity to oppose Orcus and save the souls of the Niter Kingdom’s people. Rafada revealed that only by ascending to godhood could he preserve the kingdom and its people from the disaster he had caused.

• Rafada told Renato that the true spatial node was at the base of the Tower of Pure White and offered a way for him and Klauthsura to return to the Surface.
• Renato asked Rafada why he had killed a demigod and severed part of the Material Plane, and Rafada said he wanted to undo his mistakes and save the Niter Kingdom’s citizens.
• Rafada explained that he had mistaken Orcus’s soul-loss curse for a magical plague, and his attempt to isolate the infected had strengthened the curse and doomed the city’s people.
• Rafada said he had sought knowledge from Asmodeus because only a god could oppose a god, and Renato realized he had killed the sleeping Titan to obtain divinity.
• Rafada showed Renato the white light filled with memories of the Niter Kingdom and declared that he had to ascend to godhood to save everything from the past.

Renato learned from Rafada how mortals could become demigods and how Rafada was using a shortcut to create a divine rank and ascend as a god. Rafada rewarded Renato with Asmodeus’s Spatial Artifact and gave him Pure White’s blessing, completing the quest.

• Renato asked Rafada whether his ritual was a path to immortality, then asked how mortals became deities.
• Rafada explained that legendary deeds and mortal belief could crystallize into divinity, making someone a demigod, while a divine rank was needed to become a true deity.
• Rafada revealed that he had seized the divinity in Skoreus's Divine Scion and spent a thousand years shaping a domain and condensing a divine rank tied to resisting oblivion and restoring what was lost.
• Rafada said he needed to defeat a powerful nemesis whose concept opposed his divine rank, and Renato questioned whether that enemy was Orcus.
• Rafada gave Renato the Spatial Artifact Asmodeus had given him as a reward and bestowed Pure White's blessing, completing Renato's quest.

Rafada reforged Renato’s Silent Lady into a powerful magical sword, but their conversation was interrupted by Sinnaphyx, a yochlol demanding an Artifact for Lolth. Rafada destroyed her and declared that Asmodeus’s gift was his to give as he pleased.

• Rafada finished transforming Renato’s sword, Silent Lady, with the blessing of Pure White and the Negation rune.
• Sinnaphyx, a handmaiden of Lolth, broke through the tower’s frozen time and demanded an Artifact from Renato.
• Rafada seized Sinnaphyx in a hand of white light, dispelled her protections, and destroyed her.
• Rafada said Asmodeus had given him the item and that Lolth had no claim over his choice of recipient.

Rafada recognized the newly arrived deity Vecna as his fated nemesis and sent Renato away before confronting him. Vecna rejected Rafada’s attack and began casting a spell to make him forgotten and enslaved.

• Rafada explained that Sinnaphyx had been sent back to the Abyss and was too weak to be his nemesis.
• A lightless fissure opened in the sky, time resumed in Nittel Royal City, and the undead grew stronger as the battle resumed.
• Klauthsura reported that his psionic disguise had been dispelled, while Rafada recognized the approaching figure as his fated nemesis.
• Rafada opened a doorway for Renato and ordered him to leave as Vecna emerged from the fissure.
• Renato recognized Vecna as the Whisperer, a newly descended deity, and Vecna tried to tempt Rafada with knowledge and divine authority.
• Rafada attacked Vecna with a beam of white light, but Vecna erased it and invoked a spell to make Rafada forgotten and command him.

Renato and Klauthsura fought their way through the collapsing battle in Nittel Royal City as they searched for the real spatial node beneath the Royal Palace. A Drow Matron Mother riding a Glabrezu attacked Renato and demanded the divine artifact.

• Renato learned that the spatial node atop the White Tower was a trap and told Klauthsura to guide him to the Royal Palace.
• Klauthsura mapped a route through the ruined city while Renato fought off undead and rejected the idea of waiting for Rafada to save them.
• Klauthsura warned Renato that an undead unit was approaching when a Glabrezu swooped down toward them.
• A Drow Matron Mother riding the Glabrezu demanded that Renato surrender the divine artifact or suffer eternal torment.

Renato fled toward the White Tower with Klauthsura as the Drow Matron Mother pursued them, but a rift brought Baron Morlock Scorching Heart into the battle. The pit fiend killed the Glabrezu and Matron Mother, then trapped the Drow forces in hellfire and announced himself as he turned to watch the battle in the sky.

• Renato threw a stone at the Glabrezu, seized Klauthsura, and ran toward the White Tower.
• The Drow Matron Mother prepared to stun Renato and capture him for the artifact Lolth wanted.
• A rift opened beside the Matron Mother, and Baron Morlock Scorching Heart emerged despite the demiplane's restrictions on teleportation.
• The Matron Mother's Power Word Stun failed, and Morlock crushed the Glabrezu and devoured her.
• Morlock raised walls of hellfire around the Drow troops and introduced himself as a Baatezu noble from Phlegethos.

Renato and Klauthsura reached the ruined Royal Palace of Nittel, where the White Tower had been shattered and drow forces were searching inside. With the spatial node still beneath the tower and danger closing in, Renato prepared to fight his way through.

• Renato and Klauthsura hurried through foggy, nearly empty streets toward the White Tower while discussing how they would locate the spatial node and create a teleportation circle.
• They found the ruined Royal Palace and saw that the White Tower’s upper portion had been destroyed, leaving its base embedded in the palace wreckage.
• Renato discovered the remains of palace undead guards and slain drow warriors bearing the emblems of the Mizzrym Family and the Nightwind Family.
• Klauthsura explained that the drow had severed the warriors’ heads, preventing her from learning anything by consuming their brains.
• Hearing drow searching inside the palace and feeling the ground tremble, Renato coated his sword with Carrion Crawler Mucus and told Klauthsura to prepare for a fight.

Renato and Klauthsura fought through the Drow guarding the Royal Palace and found the ruined White Tower, where Klauthsura identified the spatial node. Before she could open a way out of the demiplane, Tristana trapped her and confronted Renato with the Nightwind Guard.

• Renato dodged one crossbow bolt and cut another in half before Klauthsura's Synaptic Static disabled the Drow warriors and Renato killed them.
• Klauthsura killed a fleeing priestess and learned that Lolth had ordered her followers to seize an artifact and block escape through the spatial node.
• Renato and Klauthsura entered the ruined Royal Hall and found the shattered White Tower, where Klauthsura located the spatial node beneath its foundations.
• As Klauthsura hurried toward the tower, Tristana used earth-and-stone tentacles to drag her underground and trap her.
• Tristana emerged with the Nightwind Guard and challenged Renato, threatening to torture him.

Tristana revealed that she intended to offer Renato to Lolth and reshape his soul into a Drow, while Renato prepared a spell and confronted her. The chapter ended with Tristana ordering her guards to block his escape and threatening to torture him.

• The Nightwind Guards realized Renato was human as Tristana demanded that he kneel and hand over the artifact.
• Renato asked Tristana what she had done to Klauthsura, and she claimed the creature was suffering underground because of his disobedience.
• Tristana told Renato that Lolth had promised to reshape his soul into a Drow if he was offered upon the altar.
• Renato secretly cast Fly and rose to Tristana's level, then urged her to leave with her followers and offered to spare her life.
• Tristana rejected Renato's ultimatum, positioned the Nightwind Guards to block him, and threatened to torture him and cut apart Klauthsura before his eyes.

Renato and Klauthsura defeated the Nightwind Guards after the Spider Mage’s reckless teleport killed him and devastated his own forces. Tristana remained alive but refused to accept defeat, pleading to Lolth as Renato offered her a chance to surrender.

• Renato attacked the drow forces with Stinking Cloud and Heavy Darts, but the Spider Mage used Earthbind to pull him down.
• Renato clung to the tower wall and launched himself at the Spider Mage, who teleported into a guard’s armor and died when the spell misfired.
• Klauthsura emerged from the ruins and killed the remaining Nightwind Guards with Chain Lightning, while Tristana’s last two guards fled.
• Renato pointed the Silent Lady at Tristana and offered to spare her if she surrendered and left.
• Tristana rejected the defeat as impossible and cried out to Lolth for guidance.

Tristana’s memories traced how her father’s execution and her mother’s teachings shaped her into a fervent servant of Lolth, convinced the goddess had chosen her. After Tristana’s divine magic failed and she died in an acid mist, Lolth’s handmaiden Sinnaphyx took her whip and holy symbol and threatened the surviving mortals.

• As a child, Tristana watched Quelyn burn Kalesh to death and was told that only Lolth could save a drow.
• Quelyn taught Tristana to treat power as both a source of strength and a poison, and later promised that she would follow her mother’s path through devotion to Lolth.
• Tristana became a priestess, advanced rapidly with what she believed were Lolth’s whispered guidance, and developed a fascination with torturing sacrifices.
• Among the ruins, Tristana summoned Lolth’s messenger, but an acid mist consumed her and her divine magic failed.
• Sinnaphyx emerged from the mist, pried the Spider Holy Symbol from Tristana’s corpse, transformed her whip into a Nine-Headed Snake Whip, and demanded that the mortals surrender the divine artifact.

Renato fought Sinnaphyx while Klauthsura was trapped underground, and he realized the yochlol had been severely weakened. Sinnaphyx’s disguise split open as she threatened to kill him, leaving Renato poised to continue the battle.

• Klauthsura warned Renato about yochlols’ abilities and resistances as his lightning attack failed to harm Sinnaphyx.
• Sinnaphyx used Tristana’s Spider Emblem to cast Buried Alive Spell and drag Klauthsura underground.
• Renato charged Sinnaphyx, dodged her whip, and thrust at her, but she blocked his attack and retreated across the rubble.
• Renato inferred that Sinnaphyx had lost most of her former power and might need a Holy Symbol to cast divine spells.
• Renato activated Dakoul's Blessing and prepared to attack as Sinnaphyx’s face split open and she vowed to torment him.

Renato fought Sinnaphyx in the ruined Royal Hall, using Misty Step and Apocalypse Prophecy to land a heavy wound before the Yochlol overwhelmed him with a furious counterattack. Renato rose despite broken bones as Sinnaphyx demanded that he stop struggling and die.

• Sinnaphyx unleashed a blazing divine beam, but Renato escaped it with Misty Step and appeared behind her.
• Renato cast Apocalypse Prophecy on Sinnaphyx and charged through her whip attack.
• Sinnaphyx tried to charm Renato into handing over the artifact, but he resisted and struck her neck with the Silent Lady.
• Sinnaphyx’s resilient flesh kept the blow from severing her head, and she retaliated with venomous claws that forced Renato onto the defensive.
• Sinnaphyx broke Dakoul’s Blessing and smashed Renato across the Royal Hall, leaving him with broken ribs and a cracked forearm.
• Renato got back up as Sinnaphyx declared that she would seize the artifact and ordered him to die.

Renato revealed that he had stolen and destroyed Sinnaphyx's Holy Symbol, cutting off her divine spells, then taunted her into abandoning her whip and charging him. As Sinnaphyx attacked in a rage, Renato judged that her injuries and weakened abilities gave him a chance to win.

• Renato showed Sinnaphyx that her Holy Symbol was missing and crushed it into powder.
• Mountain's Embrace repaired its dented breastplate as Renato prepared to fight again.
• Renato used Dakoul's Blessing to shroud himself in shadows and provoke Sinnaphyx with taunts.
• Sinnaphyx lost control of her fury and charged Renato with her claws aimed at his head.
• Renato recalled how he had stolen the symbol and assessed Sinnaphyx's weakened condition, concluding that he could win.

Renato defeated Sinnaphyx after surviving her Power Word Kill, but collapsed from his injuries as Klauthsura reached the ruins. Klauthsura confirmed that the spatial node was usable and began treating Renato, whose vital signs were critically unstable.

• Renato and Sinnaphyx continued their brutal melee, and the wounded yochlol decided to cast a high-level divine spell.
• Sinnaphyx used Power Word Kill to stop Renato and drain his life, then reached for the artifact at his waist.
• Renato survived the spell, seized Sinnaphyx, and killed her with the Black Sword at the point revealed by Apocalypse Prophecy.
• Klauthsura broke free of the Buried Alive Spell and emerged from the ground, worried about Renato's safety.
• Renato told Klauthsura that he had killed the yochlol, and Klauthsura confirmed it could open the spatial node.
• Renato collapsed as his shadowflame vanished, and Klauthsura detected his critical condition and began treatment.