Chapter Summaries

Renato guarded Lawrence Sterling while the tax commissioner reviewed the Coin Corridor’s accounts, then grew suspicious when Lawrence accepted the financial director’s lunch invitation. After realizing the director was simply bribing Lawrence and sending Renato away, Renato took the offered wine and headed for the casino floor.

• Renato noticed the City Guard members abandoning their posts and grew wary when Lawrence agreed to lunch with the financial director.
• At lunch, Renato refused to leave Lawrence, watched the pair avoid discussing taxes, and suspected that Lawrence had been charmed.
• The financial director dismissed Brandon and gave Renato five gold coins as Lawrence asked him to fetch a pen.
• Renato realized the money was a bribe, pocketed it, and left with Brandon.
• Renato put both bottles of noble rot wine into his Bag of Holding and told Brandon to fetch Lawrence’s pen while he went to check out the magical slot machine.

Renato became a probationary constable and celebrated with Perly, then agreed to investigate the Wolf Gang for Kira. As Kira challenged him to a coin game, Renato learned Perly was preparing him a surprise meal.

• Renato received his constable's badge and celebrated his new job with Perly, who complained about his expensive enchanted armor and planned to cook at home.
• Renato noticed how much Perly had grown and felt glad that she had become lively and healthy since they first met.
• Kira told Renato that the Assassins' Guild had hired her to investigate the Wolf Gang's local boss in Shantytown, and Renato accepted the job without taking the payment in advance.
• Kira revealed that Perly was preparing Renato a surprise and had told her to keep him outside until mealtime.
• Kira invited Renato to play a coin-guessing game, but he refused when she proposed that the loser remove a piece of clothing.

Renato began his first day as a Constable and was assigned to accompany Detective Aldo in investigating Elliot Hearn’s murder. Aldo exposed Maria Hearn as the killer, but the Earl paid Renato and Aldo to keep the family scandal secret, and Renato let the noble household take Maria and Carl away without arresting them.

• Renato deployed his guards, reviewed the department’s disorganized reports, and admired the Ring of Protection he had received from Director Perez.
• Director Perez assigned Renato to accompany Detective Aldo at the Hearn family murder investigation, where Aldo presented evidence that Elliot had been poisoned with oleander from Maria’s plants.
• Aldo accused Maria of killing Elliot, and Maria admitted the murder before Earl Hearn, Carl, Renato, and the detective.
• Maria explained under Truth Serum that she killed Elliot because he planned to separate her from Carl, while Carl had not helped with the crime.
• Renato allowed attendants to escort Maria and Carl away without arresting Maria, then accepted gold from Earl Hearn in exchange for keeping the scandal secret.

Renato began his patrol in Shantytown, where a crippled mother told him the Wolf Gang had killed her young son and broken her legs. He confronted the gang at the Lame Dog, injured its boss Uta, Fang, and arrested a man who claimed responsibility for the boy’s murder.

• Renato left the Security Department after filing a report that blamed Elliot’s death on accidental poisoning, then walked Perly back toward the Silver Deer Inn.
• During a patrol with George and Burton, Renato stopped to hear a destitute woman’s account of the Wolf Gang killing her son and breaking her legs when she sought justice.
• Renato silenced George’s dismissive remarks and ordered Burton to record the woman’s statement.
• At the Lame Dog, Renato forced his way past the doormen and confronted Uta, Fang, demanding that he surrender his axe as evidence in a smuggling case.
• Renato broke Uta’s wrist and took his axe, then questioned the gang about the murder; one of Uta’s men claimed responsibility and Renato ordered him to come to the Security Department for questioning.

Renato learned that the Wolf Gang had powerful backing and planned to move into Fried City's Inner District while seeking new ways to gain experience. Assigned to compete in the Swordsmanship Tournament, he learned that its champion could challenge a swordsmanship master to a duel to the death, a challenge that had killed every challenger to Maximilian.

• Renato concluded that Uta was unlikely to retaliate recklessly, but decided to leave the Silver Deer Inn and move into the Inner District.
• The department head assigned Renato to represent the Security Department in the Swordsmanship Tournament and excused him from his weekly work until he returned.
• Renato registered at the Blacksmiths' Guild, where Wolfram explained the tournament's new double-elimination format and its champion's right to challenge a swordsmanship master.
• Wolfram told Renato that his friend Leon had challenged Maximilian, the Three Swords' Pact leader and Fried City's swordsmanship master, seven years earlier and died by his sword.

Renato and Perly settled into an upscale inn as Renato prepared for the swordsmanship tournament, while Perly worried about the competition and his safety. At the training ground, Renato defeated challenger after challenger and reaffirmed that sword fighting was his own choice and passion.

• Renato paid for a room at Fragrant Words, and Perly questioned his decision before they discussed his plans to win the tournament and seek a Mage Association recommendation.
• Perly asked Renato not to push himself too hard, and Renato promised he would be careful.
• Kira followed Renato to the training ground, saying Perly had asked her to look after him and that she wanted to repay his forgiveness of five gold coins of debt.
• Renato defeated fourteen challengers in the training ground, drawing a large crowd as Kira replaced his bent practice sword.
• Burton warned Renato that spectators could study his swordsmanship, but Renato said he would improve by fighting different opponents.
• Renato faced a skilled defensive opponent, knocked his sword away, and recognized that sword fighting was a passion he had chosen for himself.

After winning his tournament match, Renato met Malik and Kadera at Iron Wheat, where Malik connected him with merchant Fair. Fair asked Renato to investigate the Wolf Gang’s Dreamweed operation at the Gilded Dice, and Renato set out to seek a search warrant.

• Renato defeated his City Court opponent in less than a round and left the tournament with Kira to visit Iron Wheat.
• Malik gave Renato a hundred silver pieces as a reward for killing Grisel and discussed the Wolf Gang’s growing influence.
• Malik arranged for merchant Fair to meet Renato, and Fair offered him a commission involving the Wolf Gang’s illegal Dreamweed sales.
• Fair gave Renato an anonymous tip identifying Dreamweed ingredients hidden in the Gilded Dice cellar, and Malik confirmed the shipment was there.
• Renato took the evidence and said he would immediately apply to the Security Department director for a search warrant, while Fair paid him twenty gold pieces in advance.

Renato led a raid on the Gilded Dice, seized Dreamweed and looted the casino while searching for clues to the disappearances. He found a coded letter bearing Dakoul's mark and decided to keep it from the authorities as he weighed the Wolf Gang's possible connection to the cult.

• Renato bribed his minister for a search warrant, then ordered Burton to assemble ten guards for a raid on the Gilded Dice.
• Renato broke into the casino, defeated the Wolf Gang guards in the dark, and found a large Dreamweed operation in the cellar.
• Renato searched the casino's upper floors, took valuables, and broke into Solas "Gold Tooth"'s magically locked private suite.
• Renato found records of repeated bulk purchases of cheap necessities and a coded letter marked with Dakoul's symbol.
• Renato hid the letter in his Bag of Holding, decided not to expose the possible cult connection, and called Burton upstairs to collect evidence.

Renato balanced his work, training, and dealings with Kira while studying the Skin of the Nameless One and worrying that his past was closing in on him. He began considering an escape plan but did not know how he would persuade Perly to leave with him.

• Minister Perez arranged an emergency hearing and prepared the case against the Wolf Gang while Renato warned Perly to stay alert; Perly told him she might leave the city for a geological survey near Brekka Town.
• Perly offered to help Renato with any trouble he was facing, then fled in embarrassment after he noticed her developing figure.
• Kira delivered Malik’s thirty gold coins, and Renato explained that it was payment for a job before asking her to sell a batch of goods through the Assassins' Guild.
• Renato studied the Skin of the Nameless One, struggled with its complex spell and anger-inducing effects, and worried about the missing owner of Number Seven Oak Street, the Harpers, and the Wolf Gang’s possible ties to Dakoul’s cult.
• Renato decided he needed a way to escape if his identity was exposed, but wondered how he could convince Perly to leave with him.

Lailas warned Renato that Lord Orton backed the Wolf Gang and explained that Baron Atwood’s apparent attacks on Orton might conceal a shared effort to find the missing Old Speaker, Caspar Reisingen. After Renato shared evidence of large supply purchases tied to disappearances, Lailas agreed to move temporarily into Fragrant Words and keep watch over him.

• Lailas confronted Renato for acting against the Wolf Gang and revealed that Lord Orton was their powerful patron, though the gang would temporarily leave Renato alone and apologize.
• Lailas described how Baron Atwood’s and Orton’s actions suggested they might be cooperating to locate Caspar Reisingen, while Renato suspected Caspar had orchestrated the explosion and was manipulating both sides.
• Renato told Lailas that receipts from the Gilded Dice showed large purchases of basic supplies over two years, and she proposed investigating events from that period.
• Lailas said she could not support an investigation into the disappearances because the Baron prioritized Caspar’s whereabouts and political balance.
• Renato persuaded Lailas to move temporarily into Fragrant Words, and she agreed on the condition that he warn her before making major moves.

Renato tried to learn ranger magic from Lailas, but nature energy seemed to reject him during meditation. Lailas encouraged him by recounting how Elna had taught her to understand nature, while Renato remained troubled by the dangers surrounding the city.

• Lailas taught Renato about ogres and instructed him to meditate before learning ranger spells.
• Renato touched Lailas's nature magic and felt it recoil from him, though Lailas blamed his nerves and impatience.
• Lailas recalled growing up amid prejudice in Fried City and nearly being eaten by dire wolves after leaving.
• Lailas explained that the druid Elna rescued her and taught her to understand nature through observation and experience.
• Renato thanked Lailas for her encouragement, though he still felt urgency over the city's political dangers, Harper spies, and Dakoul cultists.

Renato trained with Lailas for his upcoming swordsmanship match, then agreed to join her investigation of a Reisingen hideout. He collected his mithral gauntlets from Edgar and prepared to meet Lailas the next day.

• Renato and Lailas sparred in the public gardens, and she critiqued his footwork and attacks.
• Lailas invited Renato to investigate the Reisingen hideout north of Fried City, offering a magic scroll as payment, and arranged to meet him at noon the next day.
• Renato and Lailas discussed why Caspar Reisingen might have visited the abandoned hunting lodge five years earlier.
• Edgar gave Renato the mithral plate gauntlets he had ordered and reduced the remaining price from twenty-one gold coins to fifteen.

Renato defeated Walter in the tournament and met Lailas and Reggie to prepare for their operation. Reggie gave Renato an experimental Feather Fall scroll, which Renato accidentally activated as soon as he spoke its incantation.

• Renato recognized Walter as the swordsman who had caused trouble at the Blacksmiths' Guild and defeated him in one round.
• After leaving the arena, Renato went to 11 Widow Street to meet Reggie, where Lailas arrived late and introduced them as companions for the operation.
• Lailas explained that she trusted Renato, and Reggie gave him a narrow, wearable Feather Fall scroll as payment for his help.
• Reggie explained that the scroll needed no gestures and was activated by saying the Elvish word "Wilwarin."
• Renato repeated the word and triggered the spell, leaving himself buoyed by magic while Reggie tried to stop it.

Renato, Lailas, and Reggie reached a hunting lodge and discovered it had been occupied by poachers and robbers rather than Baron Caspar. After killing the men, they found an abused teenage boy dead and prepared to search the lodge for clues before burning it down.

• Lailas warned Renato against Reggie's unstable experimental scrolls and used a bird's warning to locate activity at the hunting lodge.
• Renato approached the lodge and overheard men inside before Lailas attacked with a flaming arrow and Reggie cast Cloud of Daggers.
• Renato killed a bloodied man who charged out, while Lailas's arrows killed the other three robbers inside.
• The group discovered the dead teenage boy in the woodshed and realized the lodge held no sign of Baron Caspar.
• Reggie carried the boy away to bury him, while Lailas took Renato inside to look for clues and valuables before burning the lodge.

Lailas told Renato that she had returned to Fried City to resist the exploitation and inequality that followed its independence, and said he had renewed her hope. As she drew close to him, she offered to relieve his physical tension.

• After they found no clues at the Hunting Lodge, Renato and Lailas returned to Fried City, where he asked why she had devoted herself to helping the city.
• Lailas described Fried City before its independence and explained how Caspar Reisingen had led the people against royal rule.
• Lailas said the city's poor conditions and guild exploitation had shattered her hopes, so she returned as an inn waitress, ranger, and clandestine operative.
• Lailas told Renato that his kindness and courage had restored her faith in the city, while Renato privately remained uninterested in its future.
• Lailas noticed Renato's embarrassment, moved in front of him, and offered to take care of his physical urges.

Renato met with Solas, the Wolf Gang boss behind the Gilded Dice, after Director Perez urged him to smooth over the casino case. At lunch, Solas issued a veiled threat, while Lailas secretly watched over Renato and warned him the food and wine were safe.

• Director Perez excused Renato from field duty and told him to meet Solas at the Poets and Nightingales Gallery about the Gilded Dice case.
• Renato went to the restaurant and traded pointed remarks with Solas, refusing to be intimidated by the Wolf Gang boss's warning.
• Renato took a universal toxin diluent before returning to the private room, despite Lailas telling him she had checked the food and found no poison.
• Renato brought the disguised Lailas back to the table as a waitress and sat her on his lap while keeping watch on Solas and his bodyguards.

Renato prepared for the swordsmanship final while Kira gave him a magical coin purse she had bought with the proceeds from selling his goods. The purse produced a cryptic Draconic message that Renato dismissed as a joke, leaving its meaning unexplained.

• Renato recalled secretly hiring the detective Aldo to investigate disappearances in the slums and suspected the Security Department had arranged his semifinal forfeit.
• Bastu defeated the former swordsmanship champion and became Renato's final opponent, then left before Renato could speak with him.
• Renato told Kira he would win the final, and she took him to the Old Barrel General Store for a surprise.
• Kira gave Renato a Griffon Coin Purse that cleaned and sorted coins, and Renato found a parchment inside bearing the Draconic sentence, "Fortune and calamity dance in harmony."
• Renato thanked Kira for the bargain and put the purse in his armor, then declined to teach her to read and write immediately and went to practice.

Renato and Lailas discussed their relationship and the dangers of Lailas’s unsettled life before turning to Renato’s tournament opponent, Bastu. Renato learned about Bastu’s history with Maximilian and looked forward to their duel.

• Lailas warned Renato not to overexert himself and teased him about Perly, while explaining why she considered their relationship impractical.
• Renato inferred that Lailas might belong to an underground rebel organization and noted that her work with the Atwood Family could mean their aims were not entirely opposed.
• Lailas described Bastu as a powerful swordsman whose fighting style resembled Renato’s and explained that Maximilian had taken him in after his parents died fighting the Bhaalspawn.
• Lailas recounted how Maximilian’s disciples turned against him in a bloody battle, after which Bastu alone remained with his former master.
• Renato set aside the reasons Bastu had entered the tournament and eagerly anticipated defeating him in the arena.

Renato fought Bastu in the tournament final, falling behind before forcing the match into a contest of strength. Bastu lost his sword and reflected that he had never been worthy of challenging his teacher, Master Maximilian.

• Renato traded blows with Bastu and realized he was trailing by a considerable margin.
• Renato abandoned cautious exchanges and charged Bastu, locking their swords together in a test of strength.
• Bastu recalled how his resolve and skill had faded during years of peaceful living before the tournament reignited his desire to challenge Master Maximilian.
• Bastu renewed his determination to win the title and prove himself worthy of becoming the next Master swordsman.
• Renato wrested Bastu's longsword away, and Bastu accepted defeat, believing he was not qualified to challenge Maximilian.

Renato won the swordsmanship tournament, accepted his prize, and was offered a nominal instructor position with the Atwood Family. He agreed to the offer while remaining wary of the family’s political position, and Perez promised to give him his healing bracers the next day.

• Renato accepted the championship medal and prize money, then declined to challenge Maximilian for his title.
• Kira congratulated Renato and invited him to celebrate, but he said he had business with the Security Department and City Hall.
• Renato spoke with Bastu, praised his swordsmanship, and invited him to spar again, but Bastu refused to visit the Security Department.
• Perez congratulated Renato and offered him a paid, mostly ceremonial swordsmanship instructor position with the Atwood Family.
• Renato accepted the position and asked about his healing bracers, so Perez told him to return the next day to collect them.