Chapter Summaries

Renato accepted Quelyn’s quest to kill Rodi Nightbrize and capture Luna, though he had no wish to kill the daughter Aknath had protected. Quelyn revealed her resentment toward Aknath and tried to tempt Renato into fighting for her, leaving her motives and the fate of the Nightwind Family’s Weapon Master uncertain.

• Renato accepted Quelyn’s quest, intending to leave it pending rather than commit to killing Rodi.
• Renato suspected Rodi’s escape attempt had been orchestrated by Quelyn and wondered why the Matron Mother wanted Luna captured alive.
• Quelyn explained that she viewed Rodi as a malformed child and had wanted to eliminate her despite Aknath’s efforts to protect her.
• Quelyn removed Renato’s mask and urged him to fight for the Nightwind Family and for her, promising him status and wealth if he won her favor.

Renato accompanied Tristana and eight Nightwind cavalrymen to an abandoned alchemical workshop where they planned to ambush Rodi. Tristana threatened the Spider Mage who had prepared the site, and the group was about to follow him inside.

• Renato judged Quelyn’s offer and taking of his Consort’s Mask shameless, while Tristana reacted furiously after overhearing their exchange.
• Tristana led Renato and eight Nightwind lizard cavalrymen along a secluded route toward the West Wall, as Renato reflected that Rodi’s fate rested in her own hands.
• The party reached an abandoned workshop, and a family soldier told Renato it had belonged to a destroyed noble house.
• A masked Spider Mage emerged and claimed he had prepared an ambush position inside the workshop.
• Tristana cut off the Mage’s flattery, threatened to punish him if his claims failed, and ordered him to lead them inside.

Renato learned that the supposed escape route was a trap set by the Nightwind Matron, and Tristana ordered him to kill the Spider Mage. Before he went downstairs, Tristana warned him not to trust her mother's promises.

• The Spider Mage showed Tristana and Renato his surveillance magic and explained that Rodi Nightbrize would arrive to deliver Luna as an offering.
• Renato realized the escape route had been arranged as a trap by the Nightwind Matron.
• After dismissing the Spider Mage, Tristana ordered Renato to kill him once Rodi arrived, while she dealt with her sister.
• Renato agreed to obey and considered how to kill the third-circle mage by surprise.
• Tristana stopped Renato on the stairs and warned him that her mother had made false promises to former House Consorts.

Renato realized Quelyn might be using Rodi’s death to satisfy a political agreement with Aknath while protecting the Nightwind Family’s standing. When Rodi and Luna approached the Workshop with a band of thugs, Tristana prepared to welcome them into the trap.

• Renato reasoned that Quelyn planned to make Rodi’s death appear lawful and might also be using her favor toward him to pressure Aknath.
• Renato watched a Spider Mage prepare corpses while cautiously trying to learn about Sammoril’s drow mages.
• The Spider Mage’s crystal ball showed armed drow approaching the Workshop, including a greatsword-bearing figure Renato recognized as Rodi and a hunched figure he identified as Luna.
• The Spider Mage hurried to the Workshop entrance as Renato wondered whether he, too, was caught in a larger conspiracy.
• Tristana joined Renato, said the Goddess was waiting, and watched the entrance with anticipation while Renato gripped his sword.

Rodi approached the city wall with Luna, determined to escape Sammoril and save her from being sacrificed. As a Mage emerged from the abandoned Workshop to arrange their passage, Luna sensed danger and tried to lead Rodi away.

• Rodi recalled meeting Luna five years earlier and falling in love with the helpless Moon Elf.
• Rodi cared for Luna for five years, gradually earning her trust through touch and gentle attention.
• Aknath ordered Rodi to surrender Luna as the family’s offering for the Holy Day sacrifice.
• Rodi sought help from Matron Mother Quelyn and arranged for a Mage to open a passage through the city wall.
• Rodi lured four Beast Tamers to their deaths and disposed of their bodies to keep the escape secret.
• Luna trembled and tried to draw Rodi away from the Workshop as the Mage appeared and a thug began negotiating.

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.