Chapter Summaries

Renato visited Balin at the site of Madra’s altar and learned that Little Deepforge’s army had suffered a disastrous defeat against the mind flayers. Balin began recounting the battle, which ended in a one-sided slaughter despite the Stone Sons’ preparations.

• Renato found Flori at the altar construction site and learned Big Tooth had rescued him from the ruins of Deepforge Fortress.
• Flori asked Renato to put in a good word with Madra so he could escape his Devil’s Contract, and Renato agreed to help.
• Renato found Balin, who dismissed the altar’s promise of protection and revealed that Little Deepforge’s army had been crushed by the mind flayers.
• Balin said nearly a hundred warriors had died, fewer than twenty had returned, and Little Deepforge had lost his helmet but survived.
• Balin explained that the Stone Sons had prepared defenses against psionics, yet the battle had been a one-sided slaughter.

Balin explained how an unexpectedly enormous mind flayer force annihilated Madra’s army and left New Rolling Stone City nearly undefended. Renato realized that the Mind Ripper might not stop the mind flayers, while Balin warned that Madra’s faith in Laduguer was desperate and urged Renato to stock up for what came next.

• Balin recounted how Madra withdrew into the Rolling Stone City Ruins, where more than a hundred mind flayers and their slaves overwhelmed the Duergar army and forced Madra to escape by teleportation.
• Renato estimated that the mind flayer nest held at least three hundred mind flayers and a vast force of enslaved warriors, enough to threaten even the Empire.
• Balin explained that Elder Brains were immobile and vulnerable, but their psionic influence coordinated mind flayers and their slaves across several kilometers.
• Renato questioned whether the Mind Ripper had worked, and Balin said that blocking the mind flayers’ mental link would not necessarily stop them from coordinating.
• Balin told Renato to gather food, water, bandages, and potions, then dismissed Madra’s hope that Laduguer would save New Rolling Stone City as a drowning man’s grasp at a miracle.

Renato stocked up on supplies and bought Styx Grease from Dain, who was secretly preparing to leave New Rolling Stone City. Dain explained that he feared the Mind Flayers and hinted that he had another escape route.

• Renato bought food and water before confronting Dain, who was packing his belongings in an alley.
• Renato offered gold for See Invisibility Potions, but Dain said he had none and sold him Styx Grease instead.
• Dain warned Renato not to discuss the failed expedition in the city and said Madra might not remain its lord.
• Dain explained that he feared the Mind Flayers would pursue anyone who fled and hinted that he knew a way out that did not lead upward.

Renato weighed Dain’s offer to explore a deeper Underdark stratum and sought Balin’s advice, while still hoping to find a way back to the surface. Their discussion was interrupted when Madra emerged from Deep Hammer Tower and the Statue of Laduguer began to blaze with light.

• Dain invited Renato to explore Mushroom Putty Cave and gave him a note with directions for a meeting in two days.
• Renato asked Balin about the expedition, and Balin agreed to inspect the cave with him before deciding what to do.
• Balin admitted that deeper strata were more dangerous and vowed to fight the Mind Flayers guerrilla-style if necessary.
• Madra led a solemn procession from Deep Hammer Tower, and the Mind Ripper and Statue of Laduguer began shining as runes lit across the platform.

Madra used the Mind Ripper to bathe New Rolling Stone City in protective golden light and rallied the Duergar by invoking their history and Laduguer. Renato wondered whether the artifact or the god could stop the Mind Flayers, but Balin warned him to prepare for battle instead of waiting for a miracle.

• Madra raised the Mind Ripper and, after chanting an ancient Dwarven prayer, sent it to the Statue of Laduguer, whose light spread throughout New Rolling Stone City.
• The Duergar cheered and praised Laduguer as Madra claimed the artifact would protect every resident.
• Madra recounted the Duergar's history, condemned the Mind Flayers and the gods who had abandoned their ancestors, and promised to rebuild Rolling Stone City.
• Renato recognized Madra's political skill but doubted that the city's fewer than three hundred civilians could withstand the Mind Flayers.
• Renato considered whether Laduguer might intervene, but Balin told him to stop imagining miracles and get ready to fight.

Renato told Tristana that New Rolling Stone City’s army had been wiped out and planned for their escape as the city faced the mind flayers. Tristana explained that the artifact could not stop the mind flayers’ spellcasting and recalled that Klauthsura had once used psionics to travel to the upper level, though that route was now inaccessible.

• Tristana reacted to the Mind Ripper’s light with protective spells, and Renato questioned her about a pouch she had obtained from a duergar using Suggestion.
• Renato told Tristana he wanted to discuss their escape route after New Rolling Stone City fell, and she smashed furniture in anger when he explained the army had been annihilated.
• Renato decided Tristana’s knowledge and divine magic would make her a valuable teammate, then asked whether the artifact could protect the city and whether she knew another route to the upper level.
• Tristana warned Renato that mind flayers remained dangerous because of their spellcasting, even if the artifact blocked mental connections.
• Tristana struggled to recall memories overwritten by Klauthsura’s psionics and revealed that he had once floated through an opening above the mind flayer nest, a route they could not use now.

Renato visited Madra to ask about the Mind Ripper and learned that the young Deepforge had lost faith in Laduguer after his prayers went unanswered. Madra believed the Deepforge family and New Rolling Stone City were doomed, leaving Renato without a clear answer about the artifact.

• Renato arranged with Balin and Tristana to investigate the Mushroom Putty Cave and lent Tristana fifty gold coins for repairs and supplies.
• Renato entered Deep Hammer Tower after Madra allowed the guards to let him in.
• Renato asked Madra about the Mind Ripper, and Madra said Balin had already told him what Renato wanted to know.
• Madra accused the people of New Rolling Stone City of plotting against him and said he had hoped Laduguer would save the city.
• Madra said Laduguer had ignored his rituals and prayers, then lamented that the earthquake had destroyed Rolling Stone City and left him with nowhere to flee.

Renato told Madra Deepforge that he knew a safe route out of New Rolling Stone City, and Madra agreed to flee with him to Mushroom Putty Cave. They arranged to meet at the rear gate within an hour as the Mind Flayers threatened to attack.

• Renato learned that Madra's ritual had only awakened and amplified the Mind Ripper's power, not earned Laduguer's favor.
• Renato offered Madra a way to escape, and Madra agreed to pay him after they reached Mushroom Putty Cave.
• Madra negotiated the payment with Renato and decided they would leave immediately rather than wait until the next day.
• Madra ordered Renato to fetch Balin and told his guards to pack the supplies for their departure.

Renato searched for Balin amid the Duergar’s celebration, but Mind Flayers suddenly attacked the Altar. As the Duergar fell around him, Renato killed one of the attackers and discovered that it resisted neither his sword nor the Mountain’s Embrace.

• Renato went to Balin’s empty stone house, then asked Flori at the Altar where the old Dwarf had gone.
• Flori sent a Duergar laborer to find Balin while he and Renato talked about Big Tooth and the city’s food supply.
• More than a dozen portals opened around the Altar, and armored Mind Flayers emerged as Flori shouted that the city was under attack.
• The Mind Flayers slaughtered Duergar with psionic blades and Mind Blasts, while Renato countercharged one of them.
• Renato pierced the Mind Flayer’s shield, resisted its Mind Blast, and split its head with the Silent Lady.

Renato fought three Mind Flayers after an unknown voice helped him break through a Wall of Force, and Klauthsura appeared atop Laduguer’s Statue. The chapter left Renato facing the Mind Flayer who had defied the Elder Brain.

• Renato drank Oil of Speed and coated the Silent Lady with Styx Grease as three Mind Flayers closed in on him.
• An unknown voice told Renato to pass through the Wall of Force and attack the Mind Flayer on the right.
• Renato used his knowledge of the Mind Flayers’ instinctive evasions to decapitate one, then endured lightning from the other two.
• A snap of fingers interrupted one Mind Flayer’s spell and froze the other in place.
• Renato turned and recognized Klauthsura standing atop Laduguer’s Statue.

Renato and Klauthsura faced the newly arrived Mind Flayer Zephros, who destroyed Laduguer’s statue and crushed the Duergar forces with his psionic power. Zephros condemned Klauthsura as a defective specimen and declared the Elder Brain’s experiment a failure.

• Renato killed one Mind Flayer and drained vitality from another with Touch of Dakoul, healing his injuries and leaving him with a cold, detached clarity.
• The surviving Mind Flayer escaped through a Dimension Door as Zephros’s Disintegrate spell struck and reduced Laduguer’s statue to dust.
• Zephros emerged from invisibility and swept the Duergar from the battlefield with immense telekinetic force.
• Klauthsura arrived beside Renato and identified Zephros as the Voice of the Elder Brain, a centuries-old master of psionics.
• Zephros silenced the battlefield, then rebuked Klauthsura as a defective specimen and said the Elder Brain’s experiment had failed.

Renato and Klauthsura faced Zephros as he revealed his power and the Mind Flayers prepared a large-scale teleportation. Zephros banished the Mind Ripper and activated the Psionics Beacon, leaving Klauthsura and the Duergar under threat from incoming thralls.

• Renato asked Klauthsura about Zephros, and Klauthsura explained that Zephros was the colony's most powerful Psion with independent authority.
• Mind Flayers gathered in the square and inscribed a Psionics Beacon to prepare for a large-scale teleportation.
• Zephros unleashed a Fire Storm that killed advancing Duergar and several Mind Flayers, then declared that the Elder Brain's plan would restore the lost Empire.
• Zephros noticed Renato was an Untransformed and banished the Mind Ripper to the Ethereal Plane, while Klauthsura reassured Renato that it would return within an hour.
• Zephros finished activating the beacon, threatened to discard Klauthsura's brain, and caused countless portals to open.

Klauthsura disrupted the Elder Brain’s mass teleportation, causing the arriving slaves to die in chaos, while Renato faced Zephros’s attack. After Renato’s sword somehow made Zephros’s fireball vanish, Klauthsura countered Zephros’s shield as Renato hurled a dart at him.

• Klauthsura activated interference arrays during the Elder Brain’s mass deployment, scattering portals across New Rolling Stone City and killing many slaves.
• Zephros attacked Klauthsura and Renato with a massive psionic fireball.
• Renato stepped forward and swung the Silent Lady at the fireball, which disappeared without an explosion.
• Renato threw a heavy dart at Zephros as Klauthsura countered Zephros’s Psionics Shield.
• The dart flew toward Zephros’s head.

Renato and Klauthsura escaped Zephros’s attack by teleporting away, while Balin, Tristana, Whitebeard, and the duergar joined the fight against the Voice of the Elder Brain. As the mind flayers scattered, Renato countered one’s lightning with the Silent Lady and prepared to duel it in close combat.

• Renato threw a dart at Zephros, and Klauthsura deactivated the interference array and teleported them away as Zephros’s psionic backlash struck.
• Klauthsura explained that Zephros had prepared Contingency spells, then pulled Renato through another portal as Zephros unleashed lightning.
• Balin and Tristana attacked Zephros, while Whitebeard drove the Rockborer mech into the fight and the duergar fired crossbows.
• Renato fought the scattered mind flayers, killing two duergar civilians whom one mind flayer had forced to charge him.
• Renato blocked a mind flayer’s Lightning Bolt with the Silent Lady, nullifying the spell with its Negation Runes.
• The mind flayer abandoned spellcasting, formed psionic blades, and rushed Renato for a close-range duel.

Renato and Klauthsura discussed Zephros’s defeat and the Mind Flayer’s interest in Renato while the city lay in ruins. As Balin, Tristana, and Deepforge warriors arrived with weapons ready, Klauthsura asked Renato to convince them it meant no harm.

• Renato killed the Mind Flayer after defeating it in close combat.
• Renato surveyed the destruction Zephros had wrought on New Rolling Stone City and learned that Madra’s ninth-level Banishment scroll had sent Zephros to the Astral Plane.
• Klauthsura explained that Renato’s psionic signal resembled a Mind Flayer’s and that Zephros had mistaken him for one of the Untransformed.
• Klauthsura asked Renato to explain its actions to his companions as Balin, Tristana, and armed Deepforge warriors approached.

In the ruins of New Rolling Stone City, Renato questioned Klauthsura about his plan to counter the Elder Brain while Tristana and Balin distrusted the Mind Flayer. Klauthsura explained how he predicted the attack and infiltrated the city, but Tristana exposed his disguise and remained hostile.

• Tristana demanded that Klauthsura beg for her help, while Balin accused him of trying to deceive them.
• Madra withdrew with his wounded warriors to salvage supplies from the ruins.
• Renato stopped Tristana from attacking Klauthsura and asked how he had predicted the Elder Brain's attack and entered the city.
• Klauthsura explained that he learned about New Rolling Stone City by reading the mind of a fleeing Duergar and predicted the Elder Brain would strike again.
• Klauthsura demonstrated his psionic disguises by taking Balin's and then Tristana's appearance, explaining that he had used them to infiltrate the city.
• Tristana used her spider Holy Symbol to dispel Klauthsura's disguise and cursed him for his true Mind Flayer form.

Renato and the Deepforge warriors prepared to flee New Rolling Stone City while Klauthsura warned that the Elder Brain’s ritual could enslave the entire Underdark. After learning the danger from a quest description, Renato reluctantly agreed that Klauthsura had a point.

• The Deepforge warriors rescued Dain from the collapsed sewer, and Renato trusted Madra to force the merchant to reveal what he knew about Mushroom Putty Cave.
• Klauthsura urged the group to help stop the Elder Brain, but Balin rejected him as the duergar prepared to leave for another layer.
• Klauthsura deduced that the group planned to escape and warned that the Elder Brain’s ritual would make everyone in the Underdark its puppet.
• Renato received a quest to destroy the Elder Brain and learned that it had captured a legendary dragon to use as a new vessel.
• After considering the threat of the Elder Brain’s plan, Renato told Balin that Klauthsura had a point.

Renato tried to persuade Balin to help Klauthsura stop the Elder Brain, but Balin refused until Klauthsura named the dragon involved as Gattholex. Balin recognized the name and revealed an unexpected connection to the true dragon.

• Renato tried to recruit Balin to stay and fight the Elder Brain, while Tristana agreed after praying to Lolth.
• Balin rejected Renato's warnings and prepared to leave with the Deepforge Tribe through Mushroom Putty Cave.
• Madra told Balin to stop trying to persuade Renato and get ready to leave.
• Klauthsura said the Elder Brain was weakened but its transformation ritual was progressing, and warned that Gattholex would merge with it within seven to fifteen days.
• Balin reacted strongly to Gattholex's name, and Klauthsura asked whether he knew the old deep dragon.

After the battle, Madra paid Renato and led the Deepforge warriors away, leaving supplies and the Mind Ripper behind. That night, Balin revealed that he had come to the Underdark more than twenty years ago after swearing to kill Gattholex.

• Renato collected his thousand gold coins while Madra complained that Balin had changed their agreement.
• Madra left the Mind Ripper with Balin, warned that its power would last about fifty days, and ordered his clan to move to the next stratum.
• Madra departed with his bodyguards, and Big Tooth passed along Flori's garbled blessing to Renato.
• Renato, Tristana, Balin, and Klauthsura gathered supplies and rested overnight in the ruins of New Rolling Stone City.
• When Tristana asked what he and Balin had discussed, Klauthsura mentioned deep dragon ecology, and Balin revealed his oath to kill Gattholex.

Balin told Renato and Tristana how he joined the Tenth Legion and lost his comrades when a giant serpent attacked their camp. He revealed that the creature was named Gattholex and swore to kill it, wherever it fled.

• Balin explained that he had secretly joined the Empire Legion as an Auxiliary Soldier to earn enough money to buy land and marry.
• Balin recalled serving in the Tenth Legion, which fought across the Empire and later guarded the Great Cavern against attacks from the Underdark.
• Balin boasted that his Century had defeated many Drow, prompting Tristana to accuse him of lying.
• Balin described how a giant serpent attacked the Legion's camp, killed sixty-five of his comrades, and turned soldiers to stone with its magic.
• Balin remembered the serpent naming itself Gattholex and vowed to kill it with his own hands.