Chapter Summaries

Renato discussed the Phantom Forest’s mysteries and the limits of human magic with Perly, who had returned from her assignment in Brekka Town. Perly revealed that she had learned Earth Grasp, while Renato left the conversation planning a celebration for her.

• Perly complained about the filth in Brekka Town and told Renato that her assignment investigating earthquakes had ended without finding their cause.
• Perly shared rumors that the Phantom Forest might have been formed by a vast ritual connected to unstable demiplanes, and Renato questioned whether its origins were truly so elaborate.
• Renato and Perly compared modern human magic with the ancient elves’ twelfth-circle spell and discussed whether the Niter Kingdom’s mages could have created something similar.
• Perly explained that she had learned Earth Grasp, a slow second-circle spell that raised and controlled soil and rock within a limited range.
• Renato congratulated Perly and suggested they celebrate, while Perly asked why he drank boiled water instead of small beer.

Renato prepared his armor for a young nobles' banquet, taking it to Welby at the Crooked Scissors while Perly came along. Welby began servicing and decorating the armor within Renato's strict budget, and Renato picked out a jacket for Perly to try.

• Renato put his twenty gold coins in the Griffon Coin Purse and prepared to attend the banquet as the Atwood Family's Swordsmanship Instructor.
• Renato and Perly visited the Crooked Scissors so Welby could service Renato's armor and find winter clothes for Perly.
• Renato set a budget of ten silver coins and instructed Welby to avoid costly materials and elaborate decorations.
• Welby examined the armor, planned to clean and polish it, and suggested modest decorations for its pauldrons and arm guards.
• Renato handed Perly a velvet jacket embroidered with silver thread and asked her to try it on.

At a banquet, Carl Hearn warned Renato that trouble in the Atwood Family’s domain had apparently weakened Baron Albert’s control of the family. Renato wondered whether Speaker Caspar was behind the upheaval and began considering how to prepare for a possible escape.

• Renato attended the banquet with Perez, then stepped away from the nobles to eat alone.
• Carl Hearn approached Renato, congratulated him on winning the Swordsmanship Tournament, and warned him that the Atwood Family’s younger members had not returned for the expected welcoming ceremony.
• Carl told Renato that rumors said Baron Albert had lost control of the Atwood Family’s domain, and she thanked Renato for preserving her reputation after her past wrongdoing.
• Renato suspected Speaker Caspar might be reclaiming control of the city, but he decided not to flee based on hearsay alone.
• Renato resolved to prepare for a possible escape by selling or disposing of belongings and urging Kira to hurry with the items the Assassins' Guild was selling.

Renato sensed that the city’s tensions and the Dakoul Cult’s growing influence made Fried City unsafe, so he prepared to flee with Perly. After learning that the cult had spread through Shantytown and established ritual sites, he decided they had to leave immediately.

• Renato found the City Guard violently arresting a street performer for insulting Baron Albert and ordered the guards to take him to the Security Department.
• Renato visited Lailas’s empty home, then confirmed that Perly was packed and willing to escape with him, though she wanted to travel to Falania.
• Renato visited Aldo Detective Agency, where Aldo described missing Slum residents and their strangely uniform silence.
• Aldo showed Renato scraps of tanned human skin and a map indicating ritual sites arranged around Shantytown.
• Renato recognized signs of the Dakoul Cult’s spread, warned Aldo to stop investigating, and left when Aldo refused.
• Renato concluded the cult’s followers were preparing to gather for a dangerous purpose and decided to flee with Perly at once.

Renato found Fried City under martial law and learned that a succession dispute within the Atwood Family had trapped the city behind barricades. Lailas revealed that Perez was Sir Eric’s son, leaving Renato to confront the family ties behind the crisis.

• Renato learned that Baron Atwood had declared martial law and that the city gates were blocked by Noble Mercenary soldiers.
• Renato sent Perly to buy food and returned to the Security Department, where armed Atwood knights guarded Perez.
• Perez ordered Renato to maintain order in the southern district and refused to explain the martial law.
• Lailas led Renato into an alley and told him Sir Eric had allied with most of the Atwood Family’s forces and claimed the family lands.
• Lailas explained that Baron Atwood had closed the city gates because he feared returning to his territory, where his brother held power.
• Lailas revealed that Perez was Sir Eric’s son.

With Fried City under martial law, Albert took control of the Security Department and assigned Renato to assist a secretive group investigating destabilizing elements. Renato left for their meeting place in the Outer District, wary of the dangers and planning to bring Perly for magical support.

• Albert declared himself Fried City's sole legitimate Speaker and ordered Security Department personnel to report directly to him.
• Albert assigned constables and guard captains tasks to inspect building-material transports and support work on the city walls.
• Albert told Renato to meet outside investigators in the Outer District, assist them, and secretly monitor their activities.
• Renato accepted the assignment but questioned the group's identity and purpose, which Albert refused to explain.
• Renato considered the city's various threats and decided he would need Perly's magical support for the dangerous meeting.

Renato and Perly met Lailas, who explained that her allies had divided over how to oppose Eric and asked Renato to help investigate Lord Orton. Renato accepted the investigation, received a magical cleaver as payment, and joined Lailas’s search plan, while Perly bristled at Lailas’s closeness to him.

• Renato and Perly found Lailas waiting at their rendezvous, and she explained why her group had parted ways over opposing Eric.
• Lailas told Renato and Perly that Albert wanted them to investigate Lord Orton, whose unusual movements had reportedly taken him to the Slums.
• Renato wondered whether Orton was connected to the Dakoul Cult and weighed the danger of exposing his own link to it.
• At 11 Widow Street, Lailas gave Renato a Flame Rune-enchanted Battle Chef's Cleaver as payment for helping locate Orton.
• Lailas planned to search the Inner District with Renato and Perly, while Reggie and the young warriors covered the Outer District.
• Perly insisted she would help Renato and confronted Lailas when the half-elf teased her about searching with him alone.

Renato and Lailas searched another empty hideout while investigating Lord Orton, then Renato revealed a letter that led Lailas to identify the Dakoul Cult. Lailas rushed to find the detective Aldo, leaving Renato to wonder how the cult, Lord Orton, and the Wolf Gang were connected.

• Renato and Lailas searched the sixth hideout with City Guards, but found it empty and concluded it was another decoy.
• Renato sent Perly back to Fragrant Words, then showed Lailas a letter he claimed had surfaced during the Gilded Dice casino investigation.
• Renato told Lailas that detective Aldo suspected the disappearances were linked to a secret organization and hinted that it might be a cult.
• Lailas recognized the black ring and human-skin products as signs of the Dakoul Cult and hurried off to find Aldo.
• Renato stayed behind, frustrated that he still did not know how Lord Orton, the Wolf Gang, and the Dakoul Cult were connected.

Renato and Perly learned that Orton was hiding in the Slums with a large Dakoul Cult group, while Reggie helped them locate him and then stayed behind to feed impoverished children. Renato and Perly left without finding Lailas, and Renato offered to help Reggie if he needed anything.

• Reggie revealed that he had used Detect Thoughts to tell whether Orton’s guards were lying, and Perly explained the spell’s limits and how bardic magic differed from magecraft.
• Renato asked Reggie to teach Perly Detect Thoughts, but Perly explained that bards used words of power rather than orthodox magecraft.
• Renato questioned Reggie about Lailas, and Reggie said she had saved him eleven years earlier and might have rushed off because the Dakoul Cult was dangerous.
• Perly criticized Lailas for abandoning them and argued that helping the Slums’ poor mattered more than hunting villains.
• Reggie handed black bread to a group of children and stayed in the alley, while Renato offered to help him through the Security Department.
• Renato and Perly left together and discussed what to eat for dinner.

Renato was formally appointed a city constable but was ordered to monitor Lailas instead of pursuing the Dakoul Cult. He secretly recruited Kira and Perly to help investigate the cult, then approached the imprisoned Gorlag, who agreed to join his warband.

• Albert appointed Renato as a full city constable and ordered him to focus on city security and monitoring Lailas.
• Renato and Perly visited Kira, who asked for a way to bring her parents into Fried City as war approached.
• Renato told Kira and Perly about the Dakoul Cult and asked Kira to find capable allies for his secret investigation.
• Kira said Gorlag, a skilled guild cleaner, was imprisoned and could be recruited.
• Renato offered Gorlag early release and rewards in exchange for his help, and Gorlag recognized him as Grisel and agreed to join his Warband.

As Fried City came under siege, Renato and his companions investigated the Dakoul Cult while Albert ignored the growing danger in the Slums. Lailas revealed she was a Harper and invited Renato to join, while offering Perly a letter of recommendation to study under Veronica Brightstone.

• Eric's besieging army attacked Fried City's North Gate, and the defenders drove the assault back before the army began preparing for a siege.
• Renato learned that Albert had placed the city's guards under his knights and barred Security Department personnel from entering the Slums, leaving Renato to investigate the Dakoul Cult with his companions.
• Perly found and destroyed the remains of a Dakoul Cult magic circle, while Renato concluded that the ritual's core was in Shantytown.
• Lailas reported that Reggie and two young men who went looking for him had not returned, then revealed she was a Bright Lamp of the Harpers and invited Renato to join them.
• Perly condemned the Harpers, but Lailas gave her a letter from Veronica Brightstone recommending that she study at the Academy.

Renato rejected Lailas’s Harper invitation for now and focused on stopping the Dakoul Cult’s ritual in Shantytown. He planned to recruit the Iron Fist Gang by offering Malik official recognition as a citizen militia, then confront the Wolf Gang the next day.

• Renato asked Lailas for more time to consider her invitation, and she left the letter with Perly.
• Renato told Kira, Perly, and Gorlag that the cult was likely operating in Shantytown, which the Wolf Gang had sealed off.
• Renato explained that Orton was probably the sane figure directing the cult and that killing him might disrupt its ritual.
• Renato proposed recruiting Malik and the Iron Fist Gang by promising them recognition as a citizen militia.
• Renato sent the group to rest and said he would approach Malik before they dealt with the Wolf Gang the next day.

Renato spoke with Gorlag about his past and learned that the barbarian had come south to save his son, who later died. Perly worried that Renato would join the Harpers for her sake, but Renato reassured her while keeping secret that he could never become one of them.

• Renato asked Gorlag about his stew and steered their conversation toward the barbarian's past.
• Gorlag explained that he had challenged his tribal chief to save his premature son from the Newborn Rite, lost, and been exiled with the child.
• Gorlag said his son had died in the south and that he would seek glory in battle or die fighting rather than return to the Great Glacier.
• Perly asked why Archmage Veronica had written Lailas's letter and urged Renato not to join the Harpers for her sake.
• Renato told Perly he would not join the Harpers and waited until she fell asleep before leaving.
• Renato touched the mark over his heart and reflected that, as Dakoul's Chosen One, he could never become a Harper.

Renato learned that a Dakoul descent ritual was being prepared in the Shantytown and gathered allies to stop it. He and Lailas led a force toward the Wolf Gang's territory, determined to break through that night.

• Albert berated Renato for not knowing that Lailas had raided Orton's temporary residence, then ordered him to secure weapons from the Blacksmiths' Guild.
• Renato sensed the preliminary Dakoul ritual calling its worshippers from the Shantytown and realized the cultists were gathering followers.
• Renato recruited Malik and the Iron Fist Gang by promising rewards and presenting Albert's authority.
• Lailas arrived with eight Harpers, including a cleric of Lathander, and reported that the Wolf Gang's South Intersection was lightly guarded.
• Renato and Lailas set out with their forces to break through the South Intersection and stop Dakoul's descent.

Renato and his companions searched Shantytown for the Dakoul Cultists’ ritual and found a courtyard crowded with hooded worshippers gathered around a strange magic circle. Reggie appeared beside the ritual and greeted Renato, leaving the group facing the bard and the cult.

• Malik led the Iron Fist Gang toward the Limping Dog tavern while Lailas split the Harpers into teams to search Shantytown.
• Renato, Perly, Gorlag, Kira, and Lailas searched west through the empty streets, and Kira spotted a crowded courtyard ahead.
• Renato’s group approached the courtyard and discovered hooded cultists injuring themselves as they prayed around a pulsing magic circle.
• Reggie emerged from behind the kneeling cultists and casually greeted Renato, offering to play music.

Renato and his companions confronted Reggie, who was protecting children corrupted by Dakoul, and Lailas killed him after persuading him she would seek help. As they destroyed the cultists and the ritual circle, a vast crowd of hooded cultists surrounded them beneath a suddenly blackened sky.

• Renato found Reggie in the courtyard with the bodies of two missing Harpers and discovered that Reggie had been defending the children from them.
• Reggie cast Mirror Image and prepared Cloud of Daggers, but Lailas talked him into believing she would help save the children.
• When Reggie lowered his guard, Lailas shot him through the heart and skull, then used Flame Arrows to kill the kneeling cultists.
• The magic circle shattered, but Renato sensed that it was not the core of the Descent Ritual.
• The sky went completely dark as countless candle-bearing cultists emerged and surrounded Renato and his companions.

Renato and his companions fought through an overwhelming crowd of Dakoul Cultists as the ritual began beneath a strange black celestial body. After splitting up, Renato and Gorlag escaped through a dark alley toward the Slums, where they hoped to stop the ritual.

• Renato, Perly, and Lailas fought off cultists who kept advancing despite their wounds and Perly's Burning Hands spell.
• Lailas used spectral bows to clear a path, rescued Perly, and helped Renato and Gorlag retreat into a courtyard and bar the gate.
• Renato saw that the moon had vanished behind a black celestial body, while Lailas sensed that the Descent Ritual's heart lay deeper in the Slums.
• Perly warned Renato that a powerful psionic signal was interfering with her connection to the Weave before cultists broke through the gate.
• Lailas split from Renato and Gorlag with Perly, while Renato stopped Gorlag from charging and led him over a wall to escape through a dark alley.

Renato and Gorlag fought their way through the Shantytown toward the Ritual’s core, where nearly a hundred Dakoul Cultists had gathered. With the Ritual nearing completion and no reinforcements in sight, they attacked, and Gorlag killed the cultist leader with a javelin, drawing the congregation’s attention.

• Renato saw cultists marching toward the Shantytown’s outskirts and concluded that someone was trying to enter, while explosions flared in the Inner City.
• Renato asked Gorlag to fight beside him despite the danger, and Gorlag agreed to seek glory together.
• Renato and Gorlag crossed the Shantytown, killing small groups of cultists and avoiding larger ones as Gorlag’s wounds accumulated.
• They found nearly a hundred well-armed cultists kneeling around the courtyard that Renato sensed was the Ritual’s core, among the bodies of fallen Harpers and Gang thugs.
• Gorlag hurled a javelin into the cultist leader’s chest, and the gathered cultists turned toward them.

Renato and Gorlag fought through a horde of cultists, but Gorlag suffered mortal wounds and died after calling their struggle their shared glory. Renato continued alone toward the heart of the ritual.

• Renato and Gorlag battled the cultists as the shack collapsed, and Renato used Shadow Shield to repel and kill his attackers.
• Renato fought until the cultists were dead, then found Gorlag gravely wounded beneath the wreckage.
• Renato tried to give Gorlag a Healing Potion, but it spilled from the barbarian’s mouth.
• Gorlag called their achievement shared glory and died in Renato’s arms.
• Renato took up his longsword and charged toward the heart of the ritual.

Renato entered the courtyard and discovered Benjamin, the Wolf Gang leader, was directing a new ritual to give Dakoul a physical vessel and record the knowledge produced during His descent. Benjamin invited Renato to join him and escape Fried City through a hidden tunnel before the ritual finished.

• Renato found cultists worshipping a writhing mountain of fused people, including Uta, Solas, and Detective Aldo, and fought off tentacles summoned through a magic circle.
• Benjamin introduced himself as the man behind the ritual and dismissed Orton and the fused men as sacrifices in the pursuit of knowledge.
• Benjamin explained that he had destroyed a group of Harpers six months earlier and burned his research notes and a Harpers Badge.
• Benjamin revealed that his new ritual would give Dakoul a body in the Material Plane so that His knowledge could be recorded.
• Benjamin showed Renato a hidden tunnel leading outside Fried City and invited him to help protect the ritual before they escaped together.