Chapter Summaries

Zhao Si helped Godrick learn Dragonbolt and recorded his observations while questioning him about Ancient Dragon Gransax. Godrick revealed that Gransax’s spear was stored in his family’s private storehouse, which he had secretly claimed for himself.

• Zhao Si suggested a chant to Godrick, who used it to summon a Golden Lightning Spear and clash with Vyke’s lightning spear.
• Zhao Si practiced with Ghostflame and wrote down his martial observations and theories about the Lands Between and its rulers.
• Godrick told Zhao Si that his father had killed Gransax after the dragon crashed into the capital, and that Gransax’s body had later been dismantled on Radagon’s orders.
• Godrick said that a spear carved from Gransax’s weapon had been put into storage and revealed that he had secretly kept his family’s storehouse for himself.

Morgott told Godrick and Zhao Si that the Greater Will had announced a succession in which Empyreans could become gods and Demigods or heroes could become lords, raising the prospect of a violent family struggle. Godwyn may have been avoiding the contest to spare his siblings, while Zhao Si connected the rare Haligtree wine Sacramental Bud to a possible way of getting Maliketh drunk and stealing Destined Death.

• After dinner, Zhao Si, Morgott, and Godrick relaxed in the courtyard, where Zhao Si sketched the Erdtree and Morgott began recalling a visit from Godwyn.
• Morgott explained that Godwyn had been troubled by the coming succession, after the Two Fingers announced that an Empyrean would succeed Marika and a Demigod or hero would become lord.
• Zhao Si and Godrick realized that Godwyn might refuse to compete for lordship, perhaps because he knew Marika's plans and wanted to prevent his siblings from fighting.
• Zhao Si asked about Sacramental Bud, and Godrick said the rare wine came from the Haligtree and could make a Demigod black out.
• Zhao Si wrote down the idea that Sacramental Bud might also incapacitate Maliketh, creating a chance to steal Destined Death.

Zhao Si and Godrick snuck into the Golden Lineage's storeroom to retrieve the Bolt of Gransax, which Godrick had secretly hidden there. Zhao Si entered disguised as a treasure chest, but after the storeroom doors closed, he found himself surrounded by a vast mountain of gold and had no idea where to begin searching.

• Zhao Si added a warning about Blaidd to his notebook, treated his injured arm, and was startled awake by Godrick arriving with a plan to steal the Bolt of Gransax.
• Godrick explained that Zhao Si would use the Mimic's Veil and his remote-moving ability to search the storeroom, but admitted he had forgotten where the spear was stored.
• Godrick and Zhao Si left the residence at night, and Godrick revealed that he had arranged a hammock so Morgott's horns would not press against him while he slept.
• Godrick disguised Zhao Si as a treasure chest and persuaded the guards to carry him into the sealed storeroom without registering him.
• After the doors closed, Zhao Si's disguise ended, and he lit the storeroom with Ghostflame before discovering it was filled with an enormous amount of gold.

Zhao Si risked suffocation while searching Godrick’s sealed vault and used Ghostflame to locate the Bolt of Gransax. After escaping with Godrick’s help, he collapsed from exhaustion, then woke to find Godrick fighting on the practice grounds.

• Zhao Si dug through the gold in Godrick’s vault, and a collapsed mound of beads buried him.
• Zhao Si used Ghostflame as an extension of his senses to find the Bolt of Gransax and stored it in his Inventory.
• Godrick arranged for a guard to carry Zhao Si, disguised as a treasure chest, out of the vault.
• Zhao Si handed Godrick the Bolt of Gransax and Mimic's Veil, and Godrick promised to commission him a weapon after he won the championship.
• Zhao Si asked Godrick to help him ask Lansseax where Fortissax was, then went home and fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Zhao Si woke at noon to rumbling and saw golden and red streaks of lightning colliding on the practice grounds.

Godrick received Malenia’s agreement to teach him swordsmanship after the Combat Festival, along with a bottle of Sacramental Bud. The chapter revealed that Miquella had urged Malenia to support Zhao Si’s plans and protect Godwyn, while suspecting that Zhao Si was using Godrick to draw Malenia into the unfolding conspiracy.

• Godrick and Vyke sparred with powerful lightning techniques, and Lansseax praised Godrick’s progress before Zhao Si arrived exhausted.
• Godrick received Malenia’s letter agreeing to teach him swordsmanship after the Combat Festival and sent a bottle of Sacramental Bud for him to share with his friends.
• Miquella advised Malenia to follow Zhao Si’s lead, investigate possible conspirators in Caelid, and ensure Godwyn did not die.
• Malenia asked Miquella what to do about Zhao Si’s unusual knowledge, and Miquella reasoned that he had a special source he could not reveal.
• Miquella recognized that Zhao Si had likely prompted Godrick to invite Malenia to Leyndell and approved her plans to help him.

Ranni learned that the Two Fingers had sent a Tarnished to contact Godrick as a signal to the Golden Lineage, then received word that the Sacramental Bud was ready. She prepared to put her plan into motion at Marika’s Demigod Banquet, where Maliketh would appear, and Blaidd pledged to follow her.

• Ranni made rag dolls of her family and herself while Blaidd reported that the Tarnished sent to Godrick knew little about his mission.
• Ranni inferred that the Two Fingers were signaling the Golden Lineage through Godrick, and she questioned Blaidd about Godrick’s war games and rumors at his estate.
• Blaidd brought Ranni a secret letter from Rykard stating that the Sacramental Bud was ready.
• Ranni realized the Demigod Banquet would draw Maliketh back to Marika and offer the best chance to strike, while she and Rykard pursued their separate aims.
• Ranni looked at the Four-Armed Marionette made in her teacher’s image and asked Blaidd to follow her; he promised to clear her path with his teeth and sword.

Zhao Si was summoned to the Roundtable Hold, where Gideon briefed the members on unresolved flaying incidents in Windmill Village and wrongful hangings of several suspects. Zhao Si volunteered to investigate and was told to choose a few companions.

• Zhao Si left Godrick behind after Morgott carried him off to the training grounds.
• Gideon told the Roundtable Hold members that flaying incidents near Leyndell had continued despite several villagers being hanged.
• Gideon explained that the suspects had been convicted after bloodstained tools and human skins were found in their homes.
• Vyke left the meeting, while the remaining members struggled to decide how to investigate the case.
• Zhao Si volunteered to go to Windmill Village, and Gideon agreed, telling him to pick a few people.

Zhao Si and Blaidd? assembled a team to investigate the unnatural deaths in Windmill Village, with Fia volunteering because of her connection to death. The group rode across Altus Plateau and Abundance Forest toward the village, where the investigation awaited them.

• Zhao Si declined to lead the mission, and Blaidd? chose himself, Zhao Si, Helena, and Fia for the team.
• Fia agreed to join because the unnatural deaths drew her, while Dolores left and Alberich stayed behind at Roundtable Hold.
• Fia changed into practical travel clothes and prepared to ride with the others.
• Blaidd? led the team out of Leyndell and across the elevated bridge over Abundance Forest toward Windmill Village.

Blaidd?, Helena, Fia, and Zhao Si arrived at Windmill Village to investigate murders and found the village shrouded in an eerie fog. As the storm prevented them from questioning residents, Gideon discovered that the village had a history of flaying incidents.

• Blaidd?, Helena, Fia, and Zhao Si reached Windmill Village and saw three executed suspects hanging at its entrance.
• Helena showed the Two Fingers' seal, and the villagers accepted the group's authority and brought them to Chief Yage.
• Zhao Si noticed the villagers' sickly appearance, the hidden Erdtree, and the contrast between their poverty and the village's reputed wealth.
• Chief Yage gave Blaidd? the case records, but a sudden storm forced the group to postpone visiting residents.
• Gideon searched case files for flaying incidents and found earlier cases connected to Windmill Village.

Zhao Si and Fia read the records of Wiener's murder and discovered that Jack had been executed after a dubious investigation and a village-wide verdict. Zhao Si suspected the case was more complicated than identifying the killer.

• Blaidd? questioned Yage about the village's weather, the deaths, and why the corpses still hung at the entrance.
• Zhao Si read the records showing that Wiener had been stabbed through the heart and skinned while his wife and child were away.
• John led a village-wide search and found a bloodstained knife and skinning tools beneath Jack's bedboards.
• John accused Jack of being a cultist despite Jack denying the murder and no clear motive being found.
• The village publicly found Jack guilty and hanged him, and Zhao Si realized the villagers would all uphold the verdict and share responsibility for his death.

Zhao Si and Fia reviewed Windmill Village's murder records and considered whether the flaying victims had been selected for the quality of their skin. They discovered that the village chief's soup carried an aura of death that could harm the living, suggesting it might be connected to the village's troubles.

• Zhao Si and Fia compared the case records and noted that the victims had been killed at home, while many suspects had been near Windmill Pasture.
• Helena suggested the killer might have chosen victims for their skin, and Zhao Si and Fia found that most victims were young or middle-aged adults, often women, with no children among them.
• Zhao Si tried to ask Yage about the victims' occupations, but Yage refused to speak until after they had eaten.
• Fia sensed an aura of death in the soup Yage brought and warned Zhao Si and Helena that eating it could erode their health and mental stability.

Blaidd? and Zhao Si's group sensed a deathly smell and unseen watchers in Windmill Village, while Gideon Ofnir uncovered the village's history of flaying festivals. The group prepared to find the culprit or fight their way out if the villagers attacked.

• Blaidd? noticed that the village's persistent mist, strange smell, and still, dark houses made Windmill Village feel like a tomb.
• Zhao Si, Helena, Fia, and Blaidd? discussed the watchers and deathly aura, avoided the village's food, and worried the air might weaken or affect them.
• Gideon Ofnir linked the village's recurring flaying festivals to sacrifices for the Queen of the Full Moon Eyes and sent spies to warn Blaidd? and the others.
• Zhao Si told Blaidd? that the entire village might be complicit, though he could not explain why its people had asked the Two Fingers for help.
• Blaidd? and the group agreed to find the culprit and leave, or fight their way out if the villagers turned against them.

Zhao Si and Blaidd? questioned the twelve suspects held in Windmill Village’s warehouse and uncovered evidence that the killer was selecting victims for their skin as part of a ritual sacrifice. After learning the suspects had all been near Windmill Pasture, Zhao Si set out to investigate it.

• Zhao Si persuaded Blaidd? to stop standing guard outside and join him in investigating the village chief and the suspects.
• Blaidd? and Zhao Si brought Village Chief Yage and Leyndell soldiers John and Bill to the warehouse, where they found twelve bound suspects.
• Zhao Si, Helena, and Fia questioned the suspects while Blaidd? guarded the group, asking about their backgrounds and the victims’ occupations.
• A suspect said Wiener was the village’s wine taster and had soft, smooth hands, strengthening Zhao Si’s suspicion that the killer chose victims for their skin as ritual sacrifices.
• After learning that all the suspects had been near Windmill Pasture, Zhao Si left to investigate it while Blaidd? stayed with Helena and Fia.

Zhao Si crossed Windmill Pasture, where deathly fog trapped him in an illusion of his old life and a vengeful Valkyrie. After breaking free with Ghostflame, he found an old man dressed in human skin inside a windmill and shot him.

• Zhao Si searched the eastern windmill and found an oversized human skull, then continued toward the windmill in the middle of the pasture.
• Deathly fog overwhelmed Zhao Si's senses and made him believe he had returned to his home and was playing Elden Ring.
• After Zhao Si defeated the Valkyrie in the illusion, she emerged from the screen, accused him of killing her, and tried to strangle him.
• Zhao Si realized the Valkyrie could not know his name, broke through the illusion, and burned it away with Ghostflame.
• Zhao Si entered the second windmill and found an old man dressed in human skin, then raised his Glintstone Firearm and shot him.

Zhao Si listened as Gowris explained Windmill Village’s human-sacrifice festival, his family’s murder, and his failed search for a god of death. After Gowris revealed that he had created the deadly mist to punish the villagers, Zhao Si fought and killed him, leaving the mist noticeably thinner.

• Zhao Si’s Glintstone shot passed through Gowris’s illusion and exposed a crate of weapons made from human bones.
• Gowris recounted how the villagers sacrificed his wife and children, driving him to seek a god of death who could bring them back.
• Gowris returned to Windmill Village, used sorcery to draw deathly energy from buried corpses, and created the mist to trap the villagers and take revenge.
• Zhao Si asked whether Gowris had seen the god behind the village, then fought him when Gowris admitted he had not.
• Zhao Si used hidden Glintstone Bullets, Ghostflame, and gunfire to defeat Gowris and destroy his head, and the surrounding mist began to thin.

Zhao Si and Bagralim uncovered Windmill Village’s plot to lure outsiders for sacrifice, while Chief Yage revealed that Lord Rykard had ordered the scheme. They fought their way out of the warehouse as more villagers attacked, and Zhao Si and Bagralim announced that the villagers were surrounded.

• Zhao Si learned that Windmill Village’s united villagers had lured outsiders into a trap and killed a spy sent by Sir Gideon Ofnir.
• Zhao Si attacked the villagers and made his way toward the warehouse.
• Bagralim, Helena, Bill, and John defeated the disguised villagers inside the warehouse while Yage confessed that Lord Rykard had sent him to oversee the village’s scheme.
• An alarm sounded as villagers gathered outside the warehouse, shouting for sacrifices and trying to break in.
• Bagralim led the group out of the warehouse, and Zhao Si joined them in the crowd as they declared that the villagers were surrounded.

Zhao Si and Bagralim defeated the armed villagers, but John betrayed Bill and transformed into a Godskin Apostle. Zhao Si faced the Apostle while the Gloam-Eyed Queen explained she could no longer control him, and their fight began.

• Zhao Si and Bagralim fought together, killed many villagers, and drove the survivors away while Helena restored their strength.
• Bagralim accused Bill, John, and Yage of helping cover up the Village Chief’s lies, and John stabbed Bill.
• John shed his human skin and revealed himself as a Godskin Apostle, then killed Yage with Black Flame.
• Fia warned the others that the Apostle’s Black Flame could burn away life, while Bagralim protected Helena and Fia.
• The Gloam-Eyed Queen told Zhao Si that she had lost control of the Godskin Apostles and that he would have to kill this one.
• Zhao Si evaded the Apostle’s attacks and fired Glintstone Pebble, which clashed with the Apostle’s Black Flame.

Zhao Si defeated the Godskin Apostle after narrowly escaping his Black Flame attacks and constricting body. The Godskin Apostle's Remembrance then showed Zhao Si how Maliketh slaughtered the Godskin during the confrontation between the Gloam-Eyed Queen and Marika, when Destined Death changed hands.

• Zhao Si used Thops's Force Field to block Black Flame and wounded the Godskin Apostle's calf and backside.
• The Godskin Apostle transformed his body into a snakelike form and trapped Zhao Si while attacking with Black Flame Tornado.
• Zhao Si used Ghostflame: Ohega's Dancing Blade to spit a damaged Glintstone Bullet into the Godskin Apostle's face, escaped his grip, and severed his head.
• Zhao Si collected the Godskin Peeler and the Godskin Apostle's hood before the Godskin Apostle's Remembrance appeared in his mind.
• The Godskin Apostle's memory showed the Godskin assembling confidently for the decisive battle between the Gloam-Eyed Queen and Marika.
• Maliketh slaughtered the Godskin and drove the Godskin Apostle to flee, and Destined Death changed hands.

Zhao Si received the Gloam-Eyed Queen’s Black Flame Protection and led his companions to Windmill Village’s hidden Godskin Altar, where they found the Godslayer’s Greatsword. As they left with evidence, a troop of cavalry approached the village.

• The Gloam-Eyed Queen blessed Zhao Si with Black Flame Protection and urged him to bring her more death.
• Zhao Si told Blaidd? he knew where Windmill Village’s altar was, and the group found a concealed passage beneath the storehouse.
• Zhao Si and his companions discovered an underground altar, a goddess statue covered in human skin, and marks left by the Godskin Apostle.
• Zhao Si pulled the Godslayer’s Greatsword from its stand and gave it to Blaidd?, who tested its Black Flame attacks.
• The group took human skin as evidence and left the chamber, but a troop of cavalry arrived as they were preparing to depart.

Zhao Si and his companions fought their way through Gelmir Knights who tried to arrest them over the Windmill Village massacre, then fled toward Leyndell. Crepus, a secret envoy of the Two Fingers, emerged from the woods to meet them.

• Spello identified his force as Gelmir Knights and ordered Bagralim, Zhao Si, and their companions to come to Volcano Manor for questioning.
• Bagralim refused to submit without the Two Fingers' approval, so Spello ordered the knights to seize them.
• Zhao Si and Bagralim attacked the knights, and they broke through the formation with Helena and Fia's horse.
• Spello ordered his men to pursue, but Zhao Si deflected their crossbow bolts as the group rode toward Leyndell.
• Bagralim led the group into the woods, where poisoned bolts struck down their pursuers.
• Crepus revealed himself and told Bagralim that he was a secret envoy of the Two Fingers sent to meet them.