Recaps

Ilyena feigned guilt to keep the hostile Winterhold knights from realizing she had seen through them, while protecting Fog Town’s residents from a fight. A system quest revealed her plan and ordered the players to join her act and lure the knights toward an ambush.

• The Knight Captain complained that Ilyena had mistreated the knights who came to rescue Fog Town, and she pretended to feel guilty and apologize.
• The players grew angry at the Knight Captain until a main story quest revealed that Ilyena was acting to draw the knights away from town.
• The quest instructed the players to support Ilyena’s performance and lure the hostile knights into an ambush zone.
• The players theatrically praised Winterhold and apologized to the knights, leaving Fog Town’s residents bewildered.

Lin En orchestrated Ilyena’s invitation and the players’ flattery to lure six Winterhold knights into Fog Town’s central plaza, where he planned to kill them without endangering the townspeople. He updated the Main Quest to call players to the plaza and warned that even one knight escaping would bring devastating retaliation from Winterhold.

• The knight captain accepted Ilyena’s invitation to the Divine Hall, believing it would let him investigate Fog Town and the damaged Divine Statue.
• Ilyena led the six Winterhold knights toward the central plaza and privately sneered that their final happy moments were ending.
• Lin En revealed that he had directed Ilyena and the players to lure the knights away from the townspeople before attacking them.
• Lin En decided that all six knights had to die so none could report Fog Town’s actions to Winterhold.
• Lin En updated the Main Quest, ordering players to assemble at the plaza and kill all six knights, with a warning that an escapee would trigger Winterhold’s retaliation.

Lin En offered players large rewards to ensure the six knights from Winterhold could not escape Fog Town, prompting them to organize a defense. Meanwhile, Ji Luo, Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and their allies continued battling the Second-Tier Mutant Hound King in the Black Forest.

• Lin En's reward announcement and warning drove the players to call reinforcements and spread out to block Fog Town's exits.
• Ji Luo dodged the Mutant Hound King's bone spikes while Lu Ziye took hits and used his tendrils to drain the boss's blood.
• Jiahao and Even Monkeys Have Dignity fired enhanced Ashen Missiles at the Hound King as its howls summoned more Mutant Hounds.
• A Mutant Hound knocked Kuang Shao down, but Jiahao blasted it away before it could bite him.
• Kuang Shao thanked Jiahao, who criticized him for needing protection while fighting the boss.

After the [Threat of Winterhold] quest promised players 30 Ash Coins for joining the battle in Fog Town, players across the Black Forest abandoned other pursuits or even killed themselves to get there quickly. [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already], undercover Cultists promoted to squad leaders, grew desperate to claim the reward and decided to approach the Priest.

• Kuang Shao's group continued fighting the wounded Mutant Hound King while Kuang Shao fretted over missing the Fog Town quest rewards.
• A veteran-led team abandoned nearly defeated Mutant Boars and rushed toward the Ash Altar to return to Fog Town.
• Two lost players calculated that dying, paying the 10-coin resurrection fee, and joining the battle would earn them a net 20 Ash Coins, then used the plan to travel back.
• Players began repeatedly respawning at the Ash Church after adopting the suicidal travel method to reach Fog Town and collect the guaranteed reward.
• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] lamented being stuck undercover in the Cultists' headquarters and went to see the Priest for a chance to claim the reward.

[Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] plotted to join a patrol and attack the Righteous Gods’ knights to complete their quest and earn the Cultists’ favor. In Fog Town, the Winterhold knight captain demanded fifty townspeople and Ilyena, leaving her to refuse despite his threat.

• [Give Me Your Phone] persuaded [You've Cried Already] to seek a patrol assignment by pretending they despised Fog Town and wanted to scout it for the Cultists.
• Ilyena led the six Winterhold knights to Fog Town’s church while they mocked its condition.
• The knight captain concluded that Fog Town was weak after learning that its former High Priest had died and its remaining residents were mostly vulnerable.
• The knight captain demanded that Fog Town send fifty able-bodied townspeople to Winterhold and declared that Ilyena would be among them.
• Ilyena protested that the townspeople could not be forced to leave their home and refused to abandon Fog Town.

Winterhold’s knight captain threatened Ilyena and demanded fifty people, while players hid nearby and prepared to stop the knights. [God Never Laughs] devised a plan to lure the mounted knights close and pull them from their horses, ending with the players charging forward to pretend they wanted a life in Winterhold.

• The knight captain threatened Ilyena and demanded that she hand over fifty people to Winterhold.
• Players hiding in the ruins grew furious when they heard the knights threaten Ilyena.
• [Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge] explained that the first-beta big shots and Undying Stars’ main force were fighting a second-tier monster in the Black Forest.
• [God Never Laughs] proposed pretending to volunteer for Winterhold so the players could swarm the knights and drag them from their horses.
• The players agreed to the plan, and [God Never Laughs] led them in a charge, shouting that they were off to Winterhold for the good life.

Ilyena watched as the players pretended to beg the Winterhold knights to take them away, then suddenly attacked them. The players dragged the knights from their horses and began beating them.

• The knight captain demanded that Ilyena bring fifty townspeople back to Winterhold.
• Players rushed the six Winterhold knights, begging to go to Winterhold and clinging to their horses.
• The knight captain mocked Ilyena, claiming the townspeople’s eagerness proved Winterhold’s prestige.
• [God Never Laughs] revealed the players’ deception and ordered them to drag the knights down.
• The players pulled the Winterhold knights from their horses and attacked them.

Players ambushed the Winterhold knights while Ilyena revealed her allegiance and empowered them with a blessing. The knight captain froze his attackers and launched a powerful assault that overwhelmed Ilyena’s only offensive skill, leaving the players in immediate danger.

• Players dragged three Novice Knights from their horses and beat them while the knight captain froze the players who tried to pull him down.
• The knight captain threatened Ilyena, but she declared that their deity had sentenced the knights to death and blessed the players with Madonna’s Compassion.
• The players rallied under Ilyena’s blessing as the knight captain prepared to kill them with Winter’s Thorn.
• Ilyena countered with Tears of Compassion, but the knight captain’s ice spikes froze and shattered her water spheres and continued toward the players.

The Knight Captain tried to kill Ilyena, but players swarmed him and revealed that even those he had killed had resurrected. He unleashed his power to break through the encirclement and rescue three Novice Knights, only to face the players’ renewed attack.

• Ilyena healed players who had been critically wounded by the Knight Captain’s ice spikes.
• The Knight Captain charged toward Ilyena, but more than a hundred players emerged and surrounded him, including fighters who had resurrected after being killed.
• The Knight Captain abandoned his attempt to reach Ilyena and prayed to the Great Lord of Winter and Contracts for strength to break through the encirclement.
• He formed an Ice Crystal Lance, shattered the players’ Ash Ropes, and froze their Ashen Missiles with Wrath of Winter.
• The Knight Captain swept aside the players surrounding three Novice Knights and ordered his battered subordinates to mount up and flee Fog Town.
• The players admired the Knight Captain’s strength and rushed to surround him again, believing his ultimate had exhausted his mana.

Players killed two Novice Knights but failed to stop the Knight Captain and the remaining knights from breaking through the encirclement. At Lin En’s command, Ilyena stayed back as the knights split up and fled in different directions, with the players continuing their pursuit.

• Seeing Through the Red Dust and Death-Wish Daredevil killed two Novice Knights and received kill notifications promising twenty Ash Coins each.
• The Knight Captain charged through the players’ encirclement, taking injuries as he tried to protect the three remaining Novice Knights.
• Ilyena prepared to intervene, but Lin En ordered her to stand down and trust his Apostles.
• The Knight Captain ordered his three subordinates to split up and escape, while he galloped toward Fog Town’s main exit.
• God Never Laughs directed players to block the Novice Knights’ summoned warhorses, but three horses reached their riders and carried them off in separate directions.
• Players used Ashen Shaping to pursue the fleeing knights, and Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge ordered them to prioritize stopping the escapees over claiming kills.

Players hunted down a fleeing Novice Knight in Fog Town after he escaped the main force. Kuang Shao and the Undying Stars arrived just as an ambush stopped him, and the players rushed to claim the kill.

• Cat Alliance Leader ordered the players to split up and chase the fleeing enemies.
• A wounded Novice Knight rode toward Fog Town's exit, hoping to escape into the Wilderness.
• Players hiding in the ruins used ash chains to trip the Novice Knight's horse and surround him.
• Kuang Shao and the Undying Stars arrived from the exit and claimed the intersection and the kill.
• The ambushers protested, then both groups charged the trapped Novice Knight and overwhelmed him.

Lu Ziye ambushed the Knight Captain at Fog Town’s northern exit, survived a brutal collision, and fought back using his Abyssal powers. The Knight Captain accused Fog Town of siding with the Abyss, and their battle continued as both unleashed their attacks.

• The Knight Captain blasted through an ambush at Fog Town’s northern exit, but two clouds of Ash Mist blocked the gate.
• Lu Ziye charged out of the mist and smashed into the Knight Captain’s warhorse, throwing them both into the ruins.
• Lu Ziye drained blood and life essence from the warhorse’s remains to heal his injuries, then attacked the dazed Knight Captain with his Crimson Great Axe.
• The Knight Captain used Winter Frost Armor to withstand Lu Ziye’s axe, then accused him and Fog Town of conspiring with the Abyss.
• Lu Ziye dismissed the Knight Captain’s accusations and fired Blood Spikes at him as the Knight Captain charged through them with his Ice Crystal Lance.

Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou overwhelmed the Winterhold Knight Captain at Fog Town’s exit, while Ji Luo and Bossy Guy supported them from a watchtower. The captain was left badly wounded, but the fight had not yet ended.

• Lu Ziye fought the Knight Captain to a stalemate until Jiahao and Ma Lou emerged from the Ash Mist and joined the battle.
• Ji Luo and Bossy Guy watched from a ruined watchtower, deciding not to join the fight because they had not yet reached the second tier.
• Ji Luo and Bossy Guy used Ashen Shaping to form a new Ash Great Axe for Lu Ziye.
• Jiahao, Ma Lou, and Lu Ziye coordinated their attacks, breaking the captain’s armor and leaving him bleeding.

Ji Luo realized one of the three Winterhold knights had escaped the players’ pursuit and rushed to intercept him. The knight used a decoy horse to evade the ambush and escaped Fog Town through the Deity Barrier, vowing to return with Winterhold’s elite Knight Order.

• Lu Ziye and two other fighters drove the Knight Captain toward the mass of pursuing players.
• Ji Luo spotted a Winterhold warhorse heading for Fog Town’s western exit and hurried off with Bossy Guy.
• Players brought down the warhorse with Ash Chains but discovered its rider was missing.
• The Novice Knight revealed he had abandoned the horse as a decoy and crept toward the town’s barrier.
• The Novice Knight passed through the Deity Barrier and vowed to return with an elite Knight Order to destroy Fog Town.
• Ji Luo and Bossy Guy raced through the alleys in pursuit as Ji Luo replayed what he had seen from the watchtower.

Ji Luo deduced that the last Winterhold Knight had escaped Fog Town on foot through a southwestern side path and organized a pursuit. He split the players into two teams to search south and north before converging northeast toward Winterhold.

• Ji Luo reasoned that the Knight had used his galloping warhorse as a decoy and escaped southwest, then convinced Bossy Guy to follow him.
• Ji Luo recruited nearby players by promising them a share of the reward, and the pursuit party grew to more than thirty members.
• The players found footprints and fresh blood outside Fog Town's southwestern barrier, confirming that the Knight had escaped that way.
• Ji Luo deduced that the Knight could either circle south before heading northeast or travel north toward the Black Forest and then east.
• Ji Luo sent Bossy Guy and a dozen players south while he led the rest north, planning for both teams to meet in the northeastern wilderness.

A wounded Novice Knight fled toward the Black Forest, but Ji Luo and the players spotted him and resumed their pursuit. Meanwhile, [Give Me Your Phone] raced toward Fog Town to join the battle, pushing his exhausted cultist recruits to keep up.

• The wounded Novice Knight reached the Black Forest’s edge, saw Ji Luo and the players behind him, and sprinted north into the forest.
• Ji Luo ordered the players to chase the Novice Knight and kill him, even if they had to pursue him to Winterhold.
• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] raced from the Black Forest Branch toward Fog Town, passing Mutant Hounds that sensed their abyssal aura.
• The newly recruited cultists fell behind and begged [Give Me Your Phone] to slow down.
• [Give Me Your Phone] berated the cultists for their weakness and reminded them of their training and sacred mission, shaming them into silence.

[Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] led their cultist recruits through the Black Forest and intercepted a wounded Novice Knight fleeing from pursuers. They attacked him just enough to claim a thirty-Ash-Coin reward, leaving the knight bewildered.

• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] rallied their exhausted cultist underlings and hurried toward the sound of running footsteps.
• The wounded Novice Knight from Winterhold fled into the Black Forest to escape the pursuers chasing him.
• [Give Me Your Phone] emerged from the bushes and recognized the knight as a valuable target, then slapped him to qualify for a combat reward.
• [You've Cried Already] kicked the knight and celebrated earning his own thirty coins, while the knight stared at them in confusion.

Players chasing the Novice Knight ran into [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] with a group of newly inducted Cultists, bringing both sides to the brink of fighting. [Give Me Your Phone] framed the knight as an enemy raider, and [Ji Luo] helped the players stage a panicked retreat, leaving the Cultists confused.

• [Ji Luo] arrived with over a dozen players as the newly inducted Cultists caught up with [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already], surrounding the battered Novice Knight in a clearing.
• The players recognized [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] as famous undercover agents, while the Cultists mistook the players for heretics and prepared to attack.
• [Give Me Your Phone] accused the Novice Knight of leading refugees to raid the Cultists' Black Forest Branch.
• [Ji Luo] interrupted the Novice Knight and pretended that the knight had promised to lead the refugees to defeat the Cultists.
• The players performed a frightened retreat toward Fog Town, leaving the Cultists bewildered in the clearing.

Lin Shen stopped his cultist squad from pursuing the fleeing players, winning their fanatical loyalty by claiming he wanted to protect them. The injured Winterhold Novice Knight tried to defect and reveal information about Fog Town, but [You've Cried Already] kicked and silenced him.

• [Give Me Your Phone], revealed as Lin Shen, refused to pursue the players and told his squad that capturing the Winterhold knight was their real prize.
• Lin Shen promised to bring every cultist back safely, and his underlings responded with gratitude and fanatical devotion.
• The Winterhold Novice Knight, believing Lin Shen might spare him, crawled forward and offered to defect in exchange for his intelligence about Fog Town and the players.
• [You've Cried Already] kicked the knight in the face before he could finish, then accused him of betraying teammates who had risked themselves to save him.

[Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] killed the last Winterhold Novice Knight, completing the main quest and resolving the server-wide faction crisis. Lin Shen promised the Cultist underlings a share of the credit and persuaded them to support the captains’ version of events.

• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] convinced the Cultist underlings that the Novice Knight was lying about Winterhold.
• [You've Cried Already] stomped on the wounded Novice Knight until he died, unable to reveal the truth.
• The system announced that the main quest "Threat of Winterhold" was complete and the faction crisis had been resolved.
• [You've Cried Already] claimed the Novice Knight had killed himself, while Lin Shen told the underlings they could report the death as a group effort.
• Lin Shen promised to share the credit with the underlings, who agreed to back up the captains’ account.

Lu Ziye and the Fog Town players celebrated completing the Winterhold quest and receiving their rewards, while Ji Luo returned with news that Phone Bro and Crybaby had killed the last Novice Knight. The High Priest feared Winterhold would retaliate, and the players marveled at the undercover pair’s success.

• Lin Shen ordered the Cultist underlings to bring the Novice Knight’s body back to their Branch as proof of the battle.
• Lu Ziye, Ma Lou, and Jiahao waited anxiously for Ji Luo and Bossy Guy to return from chasing the wounded knight.
• A server-wide announcement confirmed the Main Quest was complete, and the players received their rewards.
• The High Priest saw the players celebrating and worried that Winterhold would retaliate against Fog Town for killing its Knights.
• Ji Luo returned with the other players and explained that Phone Bro and Crybaby had killed the final Novice Knight.

After Bossy Guy discovered a ruined town southeast of Fog Town where people still moved despite its shattered Deity Barrier, Ji Luo and the players debated the danger and planned to investigate. As the players logged off to contact their undercover agents and prepare for threats from Winterhold and the Cultists, Lin En considered the mysterious town.

• Bossy Guy reported that he had found a ruined town six or seven kilometers southeast of Fog Town, with its Deity Barrier shattered and people still moving inside.
• Ji Luo and the players questioned how the apparent townspeople could have survived without a Barrier and considered whether they were Cultists or Mutants setting a trap.
• Bossy Guy explained that he had prioritized pursuing the fleeing Novice Knight instead of approaching the town.
• Ji Luo told the players to ask the Ninth Art forum about the town and to contact their undercover agents to plan for Winterhold and the Black Forest Cultists.
• The First Closed Beta Five-Person Group logged off, and Lin En wondered about the people still moving in the unprotected town.

Lin En investigated reports of strange figures in the ruins of Feather Town and decided to explore through the players rather than spend divine power. Back at the Ash Church, he saw how much the players’ gathering quests benefited Sivir and decided to build her a proper residence.

• Lin En identified the ruined settlement southeast of Fog Town as Feather Town, whose deity and barrier had fallen, and suspected the townsfolk still moving there were unnatural.
• Lin En chose to investigate Feather Town through the Fourth Catastrophe players when they explored the next day.
• Lin En watched Sivir sort the players’ gathered ingredients, carefully keeping poisonous plants that they had brought as tokens of kindness.
• Lin En selected a plot beside the Ash Church and asked the system to build Sivir a luxurious courtyard residence.

Lin En spent 2,000 Faith Points to build Sivir a deluxe courtyard residence and made her wooden cabin a supply warehouse. Meanwhile, players celebrated the game’s tactical NPCs and turned Ma Lou’s dance into a viral meme, while another post highlighted a young Knight crying after finding her home still standing.

• Lin En confirmed construction of a 2,000-Faith-Point courtyard residence beside the Church.
• Lin En bestowed the new residence on Sivir and assigned her wooden cabin as a warehouse for supplies.
• I'm a Proud Noob posted about the players’ ambush of Winterhold’s Knights and praised the NPCs’ tactical intelligence.
• I'm Not Jiahao shared a GIF of Ma Lou dancing, prompting players to flood the forum with memes of Even Monkeys Have Dignity.
• Even Monkeys Have Dignity threatened to send the meme posters lawyer’s letters, but they replied with more dance GIFs.
• A separate trending post featured a young Knight crying after seeing that her home in Fog Town was still standing.

Players discussed Feias's emotional reunion with Fog Town, Knight Kyle's apparent act of behaving like a bot, and a newly discovered settlement southeast of town. Offline, Ji Luo failed to reach his Cultist contacts and interrupted Ji Li while she was drawing.

• Players praised Feias for breaking down in tears after finding his neighbors alive in Fog Town.
• A player posted evidence that Knight Kyle sighed, wiped his sweat, and chuckled after players left, prompting speculation that he was hiding a quest.
• Players discussed a ruined settlement southeast of Fog Town where survivors were still moving, and the Free Players Alliance planned to explore it.
• Ji Luo checked his unread messages to Give Me Your Phone and You've Cried Already, then guessed they were busy at the Cultists' headquarters.
• Ji Luo leaned over Ji Li's tablet to see what she was drawing, blocking the screen and irritating her.