Chapter Summaries

Renato and Perly joined Lailas’s plan to infiltrate the Gilded Dice and steal documents. Renato caused a disturbance to draw the guards away while Lailas slipped upstairs, and he left the casino with Perly to wait for news.

• Renato agreed to let Perly support the operation from outside the casino, as long as she put her safety first.
• Lailas explained that she would replace a waitress and told Renato to arrive before midnight and act drunk.
• Renato played at the Gilded Dice, then deliberately harassed a waitress and provoked the guards to create a commotion.
• As the guards were distracted, Lailas slipped upstairs and disappeared into the shadows.
• Renato calmed the disturbance, left the casino, and met Perly outside before they headed back through the slum.

At the Silver Deer Inn, Renato, Lailas, and Perly confirmed that the Wolf Gang was involved in the slum disappearances, though Lailas withheld what she knew about the case. Later, Renato turned down Jack’s offer to join the Stout Spear’s ghoul-clearing job and drove the group into a confrontation at the Adventurers’ Guild.

• Lailas showed Renato and Perly records indicating that Solas “Gold Tooth” and the Wolf Gang had bought supplies to keep a group of expendable people alive, and she warned that the investigation was more dangerous than they had thought.
• Renato accepted two silver coins from Lailas but insisted on continuing the investigation despite her offer to let him withdraw, and Lailas said she would find him before their next move.
• After failing to receive the expected quest experience, Renato looked for work at the Adventurers’ Guild and noted that mages from the Mage Association had arrived to investigate the Phantom Forest earthquake.
• Jack tried for a third time to recruit Renato into the Stout Spear’s job clearing ghouls from the Northern Cemetery, offering him five Silver Crowns.
• Renato refused Jack, insulted the Stout Spear’s inexperience, and shook off Jack’s hand, prompting the guild staff to escort the group out.

Renato accepted Malik’s bounty to kill Grisel, a fugitive serial killer hiding in the Wolf Gang’s Shantytown stronghold. Perly cast an experimental spell that silenced Renato and his armor for thirty minutes, potentially helping him sneak in.

• Malik asked Renato to kill Grisel, a fugitive called the Harlot Hangman, and offered a bounty of one hundred silver coins and a thousand experience points.
• Renato accepted the job and received Malik’s information about Grisel, including his skill with a greatsword and his presence in Shantytown.
• Renato and Perly considered how he could enter the Wolf Gang’s crowded territory without his noisy armor giving him away.
• Perly cast an illusion-based spell on Renato’s armor, but the effect silenced Renato himself as well as all sounds around him.
• Perly explained in writing that Renato could neither hear nor make sounds for thirty minutes, and Renato silently patted her head.

Renato killed Grisel in a slum alley and searched his corpse, then went to Grisel’s home to continue his investigation. The chapter ended as Renato opened the door and surveyed the dark interior.

• Grisel strangled a woman in an alley and was confronted by Renato, who attacked him without warning.
• Grisel’s blows could not overcome Renato’s swordsmanship and armor, and Renato severed his arm before killing him.
• Renato cut off Grisel’s head and searched the corpse, finding only a few dozen copper coins and a ruined longsword.
• Renato followed directions on a parchment to Grisel’s home while Perly’s Silence spell concealed his movements.
• Renato used Grisel’s key to open the padlocked door, then entered and examined the dark house.

Renato searched Grisel’s room, captured a Thieves’ Guild member named Kira, and learned about a job involving the Reisingen estate and a Legendary Potion. He accepted the dangerous assignment, asking Kira when and where it would begin.

• Renato found Grisel’s hidden coin purses, jewelry, and tools, then packed them into his Bag of Holding.
• Kira tried to escape over the wall, but Renato disarmed her and forced her to explain why she had come looking for Grisel.
• Kira revealed that she belonged to the Thieves’ Guild and had been sent to recruit Grisel for a job arranged by Master Echo.
• Kira said the guild planned to enter the Reisingen estate and help its members steal a Legendary Potion from the Vault.
• Renato accepted the job and asked Kira where and when it would start.

After Renato collected Grisel’s bounty, he reluctantly agreed to let Perly join the dangerous operation. Kira supplied their disguises and directed them to meet the guild’s Tongue, while Perly learned that the supposed thieves’ guild was actually the Assassins’ Guild.

• Renato collected the remaining bounty and experience, declined Malik’s offer to join the Iron Fist Gang, and left with a worried Perly.
• Renato tried to dissuade Perly from joining the mansion operation, but she insisted on coming along.
• Kira met Renato and Perly in an alley, gave them masks, cloaks, and paint, and shared the location of their meeting with a Tongue the next day.
• Kira warned Renato that Master Echo was urgently pushing the job and told him not to call the guild members thieves.
• Perly recognized the meeting place as a general store and questioned Kira, who explained that Petro was a Tongue and that the organization was the Assassins’ Guild.

Renato and Perly joined the Assassins' Guild operation against the Reisingen family and learned their role in the raid. Petro outlined the dangers and rendezvous arrangements, leaving them to prepare for the mission three days later.

• Petro approved Grisel's swordsmanship and accepted Perly after spotting her Mage Armor.
• Petro told Renato and Perly they would join the third team, tasked with securing the mansion's perimeter, fighting guards and reinforcements, and helping the second team withdraw.
• Petro described the risks around 1 Crown Street, including Caster, the noble mercenaries, and Maximilian's Three Swords' Pact.
• Renato memorized the intelligence and asked how the team would enter and escape the Inner District.
• Petro said the guild had secret passages and safe houses, then gave Renato the rendezvous time and address: one in the morning at 38 Widow Street, three days later.

Perly accompanied Renato as he bought Plate Armor and prepared for another dangerous commission, reflecting on why she continued to follow him despite her fears. She helped paint his armor and discussed their gear before they set out, with Perly still at his side.

• Perly watched Renato put on Plate Armor and struggled to express how handsome he looked while he bargained with Edgar over the price.
• Perly thought about Renato's risky commissions and her own ambition to become an Archmage, deciding that she and Renato were alike.
• Renato organized supplies in his Bag of Holding while Perly painted decorative patterns on his armor.
• Perly asked Renato to wear a helmet, but he chose a Metal Mask and urged her to get Leather Armor.
• Perly realized Renato had forgotten to tell Kira that she was a Mage, so her black cloak had no pockets for spell components.

Renato and Perly joined the Assassins' Guild's attack on the Reisingen mansion, but an early explosion and the arrival of the Atwood family's troops forced them to flee. They returned to the guild's hideout to find it abandoned, and Perly led Renato back into the trapped tunnel from memory.

• Renato and Perly met Petro and the other cleaners underground before Petro directed their group toward 1 Crown Street.
• The cleaners reached the Reisingen mansion as an explosion tore through its main building, and animated armor attacked them amid the ensuing battle.
• Renato and Perly fought the animated armor and City Guard soldiers until the Atwood family's heavily armed troops arrived.
• Renato carried Perly away from the mansion, suspecting the guild's operation had been a conspiracy, and returned to find Petro and the guild members gone.
• Perly insisted she remembered the tunnel route and descended into it despite Renato's warning that it was trapped.

Renato and Perly escaped the underground passage, fought the guild traitors, and recovered the Decree of Youth, only for Master Assassin Echo to take it. With the guards closing in, they prepared to flee with the surviving thief Kira.

• Renato emerged from the passage and fought Petro and another assassin while Perly secretly cast magic missiles that killed Petro.
• Renato took the Decree of Youth from Petro's Bag of Holding and dismissed its value, but Perly recognized it as a Legendary Potion.
• Master Assassin Echo appeared, took the potion, and declared Petro punished before vanishing; Kira then revealed she had survived by playing dead.
• Renato collected Petro's Amulet of Adaptation and Bag of Holding, and the quest completed with 3,000 experience credited.
• Renato gave Kira a Healing Potion and ordered her to lead them out by quiet routes as the guards began searching the streets.

Renato saved the wounded Kira with a Cure Wounds scroll, then asked her about the mansion heist and the explosion. Kira described the deadly traps, the empty treasury, and the guild’s betrayal, leaving Renato with more questions about the conspiracy in Fried City.

• Renato used Petro's Cure Wounds scroll to heal Kira, and she agreed to pay him five gold coins.
• Renato introduced himself and Perly, then befriended Kira so he could learn about the Assassins' Guild and the growing conflict in Fried City.
• Kira recounted how her team forced its way through the mansion's magical traps, lost several members, and found the treasury empty except for the Decree of Youth potion.
• Kira said Foreman took the potion and triggered a mechanism that shook the underground storeroom before the mansion exploded.
• Kira explained that the guild withdrew through a backyard opening, then Petro and Tongue betrayed the group and attacked them for the potion.
• Kira said she was stabbed and paralyzed during the ensuing melee, then passed out.

Renato and Perly identified and divided the valuables from Petro’s Bag of Holding, while Renato gained a new feat and tested his enhanced grip. Kira returned with news that Baron Atwood had closed the city gates and imposed martial law, leaving the group to hide in the Old Barrel General Store.

• Renato examined Petro’s magical sword, decided to keep using the Silent Lady for now, and counted the gold found in Petro’s Bag of Holding.
• Perly identified the remaining items, and she and Renato divided the money and loot between them.
• Renato used the experience from the quest to reach Champion Warrior level 7 and gained the Titan’s Grip feat, which gave him extraordinary grip strength.
• Kira returned from gathering information and reported that Baron Atwood had seized control of the Security Department, closed the city gates, and ordered searches and looting throughout the streets.
• Renato and the others decided to stay hidden in the Old Barrel General Store rather than return to the Silver Deer Inn.

Renato cooked a meal with Perly and Kira at Old Barrel General Store, where Kira explained how the Assassins' Guild controlled its Quickhands and restricted their earnings. After they ate, Renato asked Kira how to contact the guild, and she said they would have to go to the southernmost district now that Petro was dead.

• Renato and Perly prepared soup while Kira broke up stools for firewood.
• Renato asked Kira whether she was short of money, and she described how the Tongues planned jobs and claimed the loot for the guild.
• Perly challenged Kira's claims of poverty by pointing out the cost of her armor and weapons, and Renato diverted their argument.
• Kira and Perly praised Renato's soup despite his doubts about its taste.
• Renato told Perly to set an Alarm at the front door, and she said she needed to prepare her spells first.
• Renato asked Kira how to contact the Assassins' Guild, and Kira said they would need to go to the southernmost district.

Renato learned that martial law would be lifted the next day, though new checkpoints would remain in place. He persuaded Kira to stay in the city and seek advancement in the Assassins' Guild, and she agreed to ask her contacts about the Master.

• Renato exercised in the general store's backyard, then bathed while Perly gave him a massage and spoke briefly about her training at Servant School.
• Kira returned with a notice announcing that Acting Speaker Baron Atwood would lift martial law and reopen the markets the next day, while adding checkpoints at the city gates.
• Renato noticed that the planned public hangings targeted City Guard personnel, not assassins, and concluded that Baron Atwood did not intend to attack the Assassins' Guild.
• Renato urged Kira to use the guild's losses as a chance to gain authority, offering to teach her to read and help her if she ran into trouble.
• Kira said she did not know the Master's whereabouts but agreed to visit a guild contact point and ask people she knew.

Renato and Perly returned to the Silver Deer Inn, where Lailas announced she would leave for the inner city and warned them to stay away. Perly explained the academy system and her own difficult path to becoming a mage, leaving Renato comforting her as she leaned against him.

• Renato told Lailas to pause the missing persons investigation while she was away, and she warned him to avoid the inner city.
• Renato and Perly speculated about Lailas’s motives, with Perly suspecting she might be a fraud.
• Perly told Renato that advancing as a mage required graduating from an academy before joining the Mage Association.
• Perly described Aetherium Academy’s entrance exams, apprenticeship system, tuition, and graduation requirements.
• Renato praised Perly’s accomplishments, and she blushed and leaned against his chest.

Renato commissioned extensive enchantments and structural upgrades for his plate armor at Reliable Enchanting, paying 865 Silver Crowns after trading in Petro's Sword and providing his orichalcum ingot. The armor was finished the same day, leaving Renato equipped with magically reinforced armor infused with adamantine and orichalcum.

• Renato bought spices and sausages while strolling through the Inner District before visiting Reliable Enchanting.
• Dodge told Renato that a mage had answered his inquiry and showed him the shop's armor-enchanting services.
• Renato chose Reinforcement Runes, adamantine and orichalcum infiltration, and structural and fastening-system improvements for his armor.
• Dodge confirmed Renato's orichalcum was pure enough for infiltration and waived the mage's labor fee.
• Renato signed the contract, traded in Petro's Sword for a forty-gold credit, and paid the remaining 865 Silver Crowns upfront.
• Three mages from the School of Transmutation completed Renato's armor in about three hours and forty-six minutes, leaving it with Reinforcement Runes and magical armor protection.

Renato completed a guard quest in the Shantytown, received gold from Kira for equipment sold through the guild, and agreed to join her for dinner with Perly. Later, Perly told him about Baron Atwood’s public accusation against Lord Orton and the growing conflict between nobles and commoners on the City Council; Renato dismissed the politics, and Perly decided to keep her long hair because he liked it.

• Renato finished guarding the Shantytown and met Kira, who gave him gold from the guild’s sale of the seized equipment.
• Kira invited Renato to cook dinner at the Old Barrel, and he said he would fetch Perly after turning in his quest.
• Perly told Renato that Baron Atwood had accused Lord Orton of colluding with the Security Department and undermining the city’s safety.
• Perly explained that the accusation signaled a worsening struggle between noble and commoner councilors after the old Speaker disappeared.
• Renato brushed off the political conflict, then told Perly he liked her long hair, and she decided not to cut it.

Renato won the Adventurers' Guild's trial for a commission protecting tax commissioner Lawrence Sterling, which could help him become a city law officer. Perly gave him Cat's Grace to prepare him for the assignment, while their Moon Banquet Festival plans stirred Renato's longing for a home he could not remember.

• Renato learned that protecting Lawrence Sterling would serve as a recruitment trial for a probationary city law officer, then passed the guild's attack and defense assessments.
• Renato accepted the commission and planned to report to the city's Security Department the day after tomorrow.
• Perly supported Renato's attempt to gain public office but offered to help with the solo quest; Renato explained that the trial required him to work alone alongside four Security Department guards.
• Perly cast Cat's Grace on Renato, and he felt lighter, more agile, and better balanced.
• Perly invited Renato to celebrate the Moon Banquet Festival with her, and his thoughts of family awakened a painful longing for his forgotten home.

Renato, Perly, and Kira celebrated the Moon Banquet Festival with a roast and stories after watching the city’s commemorative procession. Renato began telling them a northern legend about a fearsome warlord revered as the Unifier, leaving his tale unfinished.

• Perly and Renato watched processions commemorating Fried City’s founders and the heroes who defeated a Bhaalspawn.
• Renato and Perly returned to Kira and prepared a roast together for the festival.
• Kira explained she had stayed in the city instead of returning to her nearby hometown for the festival.
• Perly told Kira a frightening tale about sea spawn supposedly attacking boats on the Reha River, then admitted the story was mostly speculation.
• Perly asked Renato to share a festival story, and he began recounting the legend of a warlord called the Unifier.

Renato guarded tax commissioner Lawrence Sterling during an audit and settled into his new duties as a probationary constable. After preparing to protect Lawrence overnight, Renato reflected on the Harpers’ presence in the city and meditated while suppressing his murderous thoughts.

• Renato spent the day guarding Lawrence Sterling as Lawrence examined the warehouse accounts and questioned a bookkeeper about a suspicious payment to Cardamom Rose.
• Renato saw Perly off, inspected Fragrant Words with her, and told the inn’s receptionist to watch for suspicious visitors and retain the guest register.
• Renato declined the inn’s entertainment, saved money by eating his own provisions, and warned Lawrence to alert him if he sensed danger overnight.
• Renato considered his prospects in the Security Department, worried about the Harpers and Lailas’s quest, and entered meditation after suppressing his anger.