Chapter Summaries

Renato and Balin entered the Jade District through the sewers, reached Dain’s residence, and recovered the hidden adamantine ingots. As orcs and Duergar fought outside, a towering orc spotted Renato and Balin, leaving them trapped at the entrance.

• Renato and Balin identified the black-skinned guards as Duergar and entered the sewers to avoid alerting the mind flayers.
• Balin explained that the Duergar guarding the district were altered creatures created by mind flayers, distinct from the Duergar who had once escaped enslavement.
• Renato and Balin reached Dain’s residence and found signs of orc destruction throughout the house.
• Renato uncovered six adamantine ingots hidden behind a loose stone brick and stored them in his Bag of Holding.
• Renato and Balin emerged from the residence and found orcs and Duergar fighting in the street.
• An orc hurled a Duergar in front of Renato and Balin, then turned toward them and shouted.

Renato and Balin fought through the derro-filled streets of the Jade District after Renato killed an orc chieftain. A towering mind flayer killed its fellow mind flayer, giving them a chance to escape, then watched Renato with apparent curiosity before leaving.

• Renato killed the orc chieftain, and the surviving orcs began to flee as derro swarmed the street.
• Balin used his warhammer’s lightning to clear a path, and he directed Renato west toward the district exit instead of the sewers.
• A mind flayer emerged from a psionic portal and crushed a fleeing orc, but another, larger mind flayer appeared and killed it.
• The derro froze in confusion, allowing Renato and Balin to fight their way out of the Jade District.
• Renato noticed the towering mind flayer watching him with an unusual look before he followed Balin into the ruined streets; the mind flayer left through a portal.

After escaping the Jade District, Renato and Balin reached a secluded cavern where Balin found a safe fishing spot. As Balin fished, Renato asked to learn how to control runes, but Balin said he could not.

• Renato and Balin fled the Jade District and rested in a natural cavern, where they discussed the Mind Flayers and their meager supplies.
• Balin led Renato through another route to a cavern pool, explaining that the surrounding wilderness was safer than the city ruins.
• Balin caught a blind fish and told Renato the pool was a secret fishing spot, safe because he had used lightning to check for aquatic monsters.
• Renato asked Balin to teach him to control the Flame Runes on his cleaver, but Balin said he could not learn it.

After raising his Chosen of Dakoul level, Renato collected his payment from Dain and returned to Deep Hammer Tower. Balin explained that he could enchant Renato’s sword after preparing new runes, then offered him a set of Mountain Runes for his armor.

• Renato reached Chosen of Dakoul level 3 and sensed the malicious emotions around Dain, though he reminded himself that shadow energy could not read thoughts.
• Renato negotiated three bottles of Oil of Speed and a dozen Healing Potions from Dain, then entered Deep Hammer Tower.
• Balin warned Renato that Dain rarely honored deals, and explained that he was reshaping his adamantine armor to fit better in tunnels.
• Balin examined Renato’s Silent Lady and said he could enchant its alloy with runes, but needed two days to prepare new Weapon Runes Tablets.
• Balin offered Renato a set of Mountain Runes for armor enchanting and invited him to discuss the price.

Renato received Mountain's Embrace after Balin reforged and enchanted his plate armor with adamantine and Mountain Runes. During their sparring, Balin urged Renato to trust his armor and use it to block attacks, leaving Renato with a new approach to battle.

• Balin reforged Renato's armor, named it Mountain's Embrace, and explained that its runes increased its toughness and resistance to forced movement.
• Renato tested the armor's weight and found that he could move and fight comfortably in it despite its added heft.
• Balin challenged Renato to spar with iron rods on a deserted street in New Rolling Stone City.
• Balin pointed out that Renato's reliance on dodging kept him from using his armor effectively.
• Balin advised Renato to judge when to absorb attacks with his armor and strike during the openings, telling him to trust Mountain's Embrace.

Renato discovered that his Heavy Armor Proficiency had upgraded through his combat experience, then Madra summoned him and offered a quest to retrieve the Deepforge Family’s divine artifact, the Mind Ripper. Balin challenged Madra’s plan, and the chapter left Renato listening as the two argued over whether the expedition was a trap.

• Renato noticed that Heavy Armor Proficiency had become Heavy Armor Specialization and wondered whether his actions could improve his feats.
• A guard escorted Renato to Deep Hammer Tower, where Balin was arguing with Madra.
• Madra asked Renato to retrieve the Mind Ripper from the Rolling Stone City Ruins and offered 500 gold coins and 4,000 experience points.
• Madra explained that the artifact could sever telepathic links between Mind Flayers, while Balin warned that seeking it could be a trap.
• Madra insulted Balin’s origins, and Renato realized the old Dwarf had a complicated past with the Deepforge Tribe.

Renato negotiated with Madra for access to Deepforge resources, asking instead for the power to enchant a sword forged by Balin. While gathering materials, Renato and Balin debated the danger of Madra’s mission to find an Artifact, and Balin revealed a bottle of demon’s ashes as a possible forging material.

• Madra offered Renato gold, shelter, and a Deepforge Emblem in exchange for his cooperation, but Renato said he wanted power to enchant Balin’s sword.
• Madra gave Renato an Emblem and permission to take materials from the storeroom, warning that the cost would come out of his pay.
• Renato and Balin discussed the mission to find an Artifact, with Balin doubting it had escaped the Mind Flayers’ notice and advocating a direct attack.
• Renato judged that searching for the Artifact was safer than fighting the Mind Flayers, while Balin explained that he would preserve the sword’s carefully balanced alloy.
• Balin opened a locked cabinet with Madra’s Emblem and showed Renato a bottle of demon’s ashes, explaining that demons returned to the Abyss after turning to ash.

Renato watched a Duergar Psion screen refugees at New Rolling Stone City's gate, then bought See Invisibility Potions and asked Dain where he could find entertainment. Dain directed him to the Acid Tunnel Mine, where Renato planned to go next.

• Renato left Balin engraving a rune tablet and saw a Duergar Psion forcibly screen refugees for mind flayer influence.
• Renato bought two See Invisibility Potions from Dain for nearly 500 silver coins.
• Renato asked Dain about work and places for gambling or entertainment inside the city.
• Dain told Renato to visit the Acid Tunnel Mine and use his name to get past the gatekeeper.

Renato entered the Acid Tunnel Mine, a hidden Duergar gathering place, and confronted Flori while looking for work. Flori dismissed Renato’s threat and warned him that Duergar had killed powerful Sorcerers before.

• Renato used his Deepforge crest and shadow magic to persuade the doorkeeper to let him into the Acid Tunnel Mine.
• Renato found Duergar tormenting a chained Troll and recognized Flori, an explorer from his previous expedition.
• Renato introduced himself as a Swordsman and Sorcerer and asked Flori for work, but Flori said the mine was only a place for entertainment.
• Renato corroded a metal cup to challenge the Duergar gathered around him, and Flori crushed the ruined cup in his hand.
• Flori warned Renato that Duergar had killed many high-level Sorcerers and that another warlock would not matter.

Renato visited Flori at the Acid Tunnel Mine, where the Duergar offered to broker trades and showed him unusual goods. Renato learned that Flori partnered with a clever troll named Big Tooth, and the chapter ended with Flori pitching Deinonychus claws as a virility remedy.

• Flori explained that the Acid Tunnel Mine hosted barter, and Renato offered gold coins as a possible trade.
• Flori cleared the mine of its customers so he and Renato could talk privately.
• Big Tooth broke free of its chains, spoke Common, and obeyed Flori, who explained that they worked as partners.
• Renato asked to see Flori's merchandise, and Flori displayed an assortment of strange creature parts.
• Flori claimed that powdered Deinonychus claws could restore a Duergar man's virility.

Renato bought a mysterious ore from Flori and mastered Gorogoroth's Form-Twisting, using it to imitate Madra before realizing the spell could not change his height. After the spell awakened an urge to read The Edict of Dakoul, Renato resisted the Grimoire's influence and recognized the growing danger of pursuing dark knowledge.

• Renato sensed shadow energy converging on a strange blue-black ore and bought it from Flori for three gold coins.
• Renato studied the Skin of the Nameless One and learned Gorogoroth's Form-Twisting.
• Renato changed his appearance to resemble Madra but remained too tall to pass as a Duergar.
• Renato considered how the spell could help him disguise himself and evade pursuit on the surface.
• Renato felt an unnatural desire to read The Edict of Dakoul, resisted it through meditation, and warned himself about the Grimoires' influence.

Renato learned that the strange ore was star antimony, a metal from beyond the known worlds that could hold runes not yet defined. Balin used it to create a Negation rune for the Silent Lady, though the weapon’s enchantment was not yet finished.

• Balin identified the ore Renato brought him as star antimony, a rare metal from beyond the known worlds.
• Balin explained that star antimony could hold rune structures that could not be realized on ordinary materials.
• Balin transferred the Nemesis rune from a runestone tablet onto a strip of star antimony by shattering the tablet with his warhammer.
• Balin modified the rune into the Negation rune, which he intended to use to enchant the Silent Lady.

Balin reforged Renato’s Silent Lady with star antimony and a negation rune, turning it into a rare magic weapon. Renato tested the completed sword and offered to pay, but Balin said Little Deepforge had covered the cost and called it a gift from Moradin.

• Balin strengthened the Silent Lady’s alloy, coated it with demon ash, and forged a negation rune into its spine.
• Renato chose a mithral grip, and Balin finished the hilt with kuo-toa leather and woven adamantine wire.
• Renato attuned to the completed Silent Lady and learned that its rune could disrupt magic and deal extra force damage.
• Renato tested the sword’s balance and offered Balin twenty gold coins as partial payment.
• Balin refused Renato’s money, saying Little Deepforge had paid for the enchantment and the sword was a gift from Moradin.

Renato and Balin explored an earthquake-damaged Duergar fortress in search of artifacts, finding an abandoned shrine to Laduguer. After discovering signs of earlier looting, they debated whether the deity had truly been a Duergar who freed his people from the Mind Flayers.

• Renato and Balin pushed aside a boulder and reached the cavern marked on their map.
• From a rubble heap, Renato spotted a damaged shrine to Laduguer inside the leaning fortress, and Balin warned that Mind Flayers could use illusions.
• The two searched the fortress and found no living creatures, while Renato noticed that someone had scraped the gold from ritual objects.
• Balin searched for hidden rooms and dismissed the story that Laduguer had been a Duergar who ascended to godhood.
• Renato picked up a stone holy symbol depicting a broken arrow piercing a Mind Flayer's skull and placed it on the shrine's remains.

Renato and Balin left the empty fortress and encountered two owlbears in a tunnel. Renato used the Silent Lady’s Negation rune to dispel an owlbear’s Enlarge spell and kill it, while Balin defeated the other; Balin then credited the weapon’s power to Moradin’s will.

• Renato and Balin found no treasure or Mind Ripper in the fortress, then left without resting.
• Renato asked Balin about his military service, and Balin recalled fighting orcs as an auxiliary with the Tenth Legion.
• Balin signaled Renato to be quiet after they heard several growls coming from the tunnel ahead.
• Balin stunned an owlbear with his Runes Warhammer and hurled it into a cavern wall.
• Renato pierced the other owlbear with the Silent Lady, whose Negation rune dispelled its Enlarge spell, then cut it in half.
• Balin praised Renato’s work on the Silent Lady and said Moradin had a purpose in granting him the weapon.

After Renato and Balin fought owlbears released from a hidden cavern, they returned to Deep Hammer Tower and confronted Madra about the search for the Mind Ripper. Madra revealed that the expeditions were a test to expose traitors among his followers, and Renato offered cooperation based on their shared interests.

• Renato and Balin found a fissure that led to a cavern full of gnawed owlbear remains, realizing they had accidentally freed the surviving owlbears.
• Renato and Balin returned to Deep Hammer Tower, where Madra and Balin argued over the failed search for the Mind Ripper.
• Renato questioned whether Madra truly wanted the artifact and pointed out that his small, scattered search parties seemed poorly suited to finding it.
• Madra showed Renato a map and revealed that the expeditions were a screening process to identify ambitious followers who planned to seize the Mind Ripper and power.
• Madra asked whether he could trust Renato, and Renato said their shared interests gave them a stronger basis for cooperation than an oath.

Madra used the mind flayer threat and the Artifact search to consolidate his control over New Rolling Stone City, then summoned Renato to discuss the next move. Renato and Balin headed to Deep Hammer Tower, where Madra wanted Renato’s advice.

• Madra blamed the expedition’s losses on mind flayers, branded the survivors spies, and rallied the Duergar to support his Artifact plan.
• The crowd voiced support but offered no volunteers or supplies, while Balin guarded Madra and Renato noticed that Madra trusted them both.
• A Deepforge guard said Madra held the righteous cause and that rival factions had to support him publicly, prompting Renato to ask about Madra’s plans.
• Renato claimed Madra had summoned him to enter Deep Hammer Tower, then followed Balin upstairs after learning Madra wanted to discuss their next move.

Madra ordered the Duergar to assemble in three days to search for Laduguer’s Artifact, but told Renato that he would leave the city early with Balin. Balin explained the covert plan and prepared Renato for the expedition, which would begin through a tunnel in four hours.

• Madra reviewed New Rolling Stone City’s shortages, dismissed the miners’ wage demands, and ordered the city’s captains to prepare for an expedition to find Laduguer’s Artifact.
• Renato praised Madra’s political maneuvering, then learned that Madra would stay behind while Renato left early with Balin.
• Balin said Madra would lead the other Duergar through the Underdark to draw the Mind Flayers’ attention while the small party slipped away.
• Balin revealed that an Engineering Master and a Veteran Dungeon Scout would join them, and that the party would travel with a mysterious machine-like device.
• Balin told Renato to gather seven days of supplies and meet him in four hours to leave New Rolling Stone City through a tunnel.

Renato joined Balin, Flori, and Big Tooth on a search for the Mind Ripper, using a Rockborer mech to cut through ruined parts of Rolling Stone City. After their first search site proved empty, Balin planned to check District 2 before risking District 1 and explained why the dormant artifact might evade the mind flayers.

• Flori questioned Renato’s place on the expedition and brought the troll Big Tooth along as a porter and laborer.
• Balin unveiled the Rockborer mech, piloted by the hard-of-hearing Whitebeard, and the group set off through the rock.
• The Rockborer carved a straight route through the tunnels, while Balin guided it, Big Tooth cleared rubble, and Renato and Flori reinforced the walls.
• After nearly twelve hours, the group searched a ruined section of Rolling Stone City but found no artifact, then stopped to rest while the mech cooled down.
• Balin marked Districts 1 and 2 as the remaining possible sites and chose to search the more remote District 2 first.
• Balin explained that the Mind Ripper was dormant because its divine power had gone unused, and said Madra had rediscovered it in the Deepforge Family records.

Renato, Balin, and Flori infiltrated District 2 while the Mind Flayers’ forces were reduced, aiming to reach Deepforge Fortress and find the Artifact. They prepared to kill the three slaves guarding its entrance.

• Renato and Balin left Whitebeard, the Rockborer, and Big Tooth outside District 2, keeping a Sending bracelet ready to summon the mech if needed.
• Renato recalled that Madra had sent a Duergar army toward false coordinates to divert the Mind Flayers and weaken District 2’s defenses.
• Flori reported that Mind Flayers and roaming slaves had largely vanished from the streets, so Balin ordered the group to move immediately toward Deepforge Fortress.
• The three infiltrated through hidden alleys and reached the fortress, where three mind-controlled Duergar slaves guarded the only entrance.
• Balin assigned one guard to each of them, and Renato aimed his dart at the middle slave.