Chapter Summaries

Marba took command of half the Holy Crusaders and investigated the rebels in Fir City. After finding several suspected infiltrators, he concluded the city was already riddled with rebels and decided to seek opportunities elsewhere while Antiya Lisi continued defending it.

• Marba questioned Antiya Lisi's account of the rebels and negotiated command of half the Holy Crusaders.
• Marba spent three days reviewing rebel records and examining captured rebels' bodies.
• Marba disguised himself in rebel clothing and went out into Fir City to look for infiltrators.
• Marba noticed three suspicious citizens within an hour and concluded Fir City had nearly become a sieve.
• Marba decided to let Antiya Lisi keep defending Fir City while he looked for a better chance to defeat the enemy.

Duma disguised himself as a civilian and attacked a military camp in Fir City, setting it ablaze before fleeing the Holy Crusaders. Two young men sheltered him and considered recruiting him, and the chapter ended with Duma giving his name.

• Duma approached the Second Order of Knights' camp and attacked the guards after asking for Lord Howard.
• Duma threw explosive objects coated with flammable oil from Oil Vines, then set the largest tent alight and ignited the camp.
• Duma fled through Fir City's streets and alleys as Holy Crusaders chased him.
• Two young men watched the chase and agreed to help Duma if he reached them.
• A young man hid Duma in his house until the Holy Crusaders passed, then asked his name.
• Duma introduced himself as Duma.

Duma joined two foreign-server players in a temporary alliance in Fir City, then watched them log off in a way that left their bodies undetectable to his demonic senses. After leaving, he resumed his identity as Legion Commander Marba and ordered his Holy Crusaders to make contact with the rebels rather than arrest them.

• Duma agreed to work with the players within Fir City and arranged to meet them again around dusk the next day.
• The two players went to sleep, and Duma realized he could no longer sense their souls or living bodies.
• Duma left the house, discarded the Symbiotic Tree, and transformed back into Legion Commander Marba.
• Marba stopped his Holy Crusaders from arresting the rebels and ordered them to mark the house while he made contact himself.
• Marba declared that the Second Order of Knights had been incorporated into his legion and told his subordinate to treat them as comrades.

Legion Commander Marba folded the Second Legion’s Holy Crusaders into his own ranks while leading priests through Fir City, where a treant enforced the curfew. Players discussed the dangerous new night patrols, and Duma arrived at a commoners’ house to meet two young men who called him “Little Du.”

• Marba ordered the Second Legion’s Holy Crusaders to join his legion and receive space in its quarters.
• A treant confronted Marba’s priests at an intersection and threatened to kill anyone roaming after curfew.
• Mysterious Goblin failed to find Duma’s player ID and realized the name might use another writing system.
• Clear Soup Master posted a warning after priests badly damaged him during a night patrol, prompting players to report similar encounters.
• Duma used a cuckoo password to enter a commoners’ house, where two young men greeted him and settled on calling him “Little Du.”

Duma joined Mysterious Goblin and Dark and Heavy Secret on a nighttime mission to infiltrate the newly built Holy Crusaders’ camp in Fir City and gather intelligence. The group got inside amid a diversion and a small fire, but the search for documents remained underway.

• Mysterious Goblin told Duma that the group planned to sneak into a new camp in southwest Fir City and steal documents, while Duma realized he had drawn up the camp’s plans.
• Duma used his knowledge of the city and the Psionic Energy Sleep Spell to guide Mysterious Goblin and Dark and Heavy Secret toward the heavily guarded camp.
• Dark and Heavy Secret volunteered to draw the guards away, and Mysterious Goblin accepted the plan despite their teasing exchange about the Hall of Heroic Spirits.
• Dark and Heavy Secret threw gadgets into the camp, starting a disturbance and leading the sentries to chase him.
• Duma and Mysterious Goblin slipped into the camp while the Holy Crusaders fought a fire, and Duma put two guards to sleep with his ability.
• Mysterious Goblin asked Duma how he had learned the sleep ability, and Duma claimed it came from raw strength.

Duma and [Mysterious Goblin] stole military documents from the Holy Crusaders’ camp and arranged to ship them through [Howling Pothos]. They returned to their hideout before dawn, but [Dark and Heavy Secret] was missing.

• Duma and [Mysterious Goblin] disguised themselves as clerics, slipped into the camp’s document storage, and stole recent documents.
• The pair escaped the camp and went to [Howling Pothos] to ship their loot for a ten-percent commission.
• Duma asked [Mysterious Goblin] to sign [Dark and Heavy Secret]’s name and give him a share of the reward.
• Duma secretly marked [Howling Pothos]’s doorframe while [Mysterious Goblin] watched for patrols and boss squads.
• The two returned to their hideout, found no answer at the door, and discovered that [Dark and Heavy Secret] was gone.

[Dark and Heavy Secret] set fires at the Second Order of Knights’ new camp, then tried to make the pursuing Holy Crusaders fight three Treant Hunters. After the treants began hunting the knights, a young man in clerical robes intervened and ordered them to stop.

• After a fire destroyed half their old camp, the Second Order of Knights moved to a new site and built a wooden camp using Directed Alienation.
• [Dark and Heavy Secret] set fire to the new camp with Oil Vine firebombs and scattered Blood-Drinking Thornbush caltrops to hinder the firefighters.
• The Holy Crusaders pursued [Dark and Heavy Secret], but a Treant Hunter killed him before he could provoke a fight.
• The Treant Hunters chased the fleeing Holy Crusaders, and one cornered two knights in a dead-end alley.
• A young man in clerical robes used withered branches to stop a Treant Hunter’s attack and said that pointless fighting displeased God.

[Howling Pothos] carried confidential documents through the icy river to the supply station, where [Good Times Don't Last] agreed to send them to Black Locust Town with the next wagonload. In Fir City, Antiya Lisi continued investigating rumors about himself before Legion Commander Marba arrived to ask for information and apologize.

• [Howling Pothos] sealed the documents in a waterproof box and swam beneath the ice to the supply station.
• [Howling Pothos] found [Do Some Farm Work] and [Good Times Don't Last] playing Gomoku and told them he had confidential documents to deliver.
• [Good Times Don't Last] repacked the documents and decided to wait until a full wagonload could be sent to Black Locust Town.
• [Good Times Don't Last] explained that adding Angler Melon rind to steeped tree leaves made people believe they were tasting real tea, and [Howling Pothos] considered joining the tea drinkers.
• Antiya Lisi remained at Twin Towers Cathedral, disgusted by rumors that had recast stories about the last marquis of the Aduolin Family as tales about him.
• Legion Commander Marba visited Antiya Lisi to ask for information and apologize.

Marba confronted Antiya Lisi over the Treant Hunters, and the two reached a tense agreement about patrols and targeting. Reports of a dead Treant Hunter and two missing Holy Crusaders left both men puzzled, while Marba turned to the exhausted, resentful Second Order of Knights.

• Marba apologized to Antiya Lisi for underestimating the Treant Hunters, then accused him of maintaining them as private troops; Antiya Lisi denied the charge.
• Marba threatened to report the Treant Hunters to Lord Sailesi, and Antiya Lisi agreed to exempt people wearing Holy City-style clerical robes from the creatures' targets.
• An assistant bishop reported that a Treant Hunter had been killed in an alley the previous night, and Antiya Lisi wondered whether rebels or Duolin's agents were responsible.
• Marba's squad leader reported that two soldiers from the former Second Order of Knights had gone missing after chasing rebels away from the order's encampment.
• Marba recalled that [Mysterious Goblin] had confirmed [Dark and Heavy Secret]'s death and could not explain why the rebel and the two soldiers were all unaccounted for.
• Marba left the cathedral and turned to the exhausted Holy Crusaders of the Second Order of Knights, who were seething with resentment after forty-eight hours without sleep.

Marba used psionic marks left on stolen documents to locate a rebel base outside Fir City, then ordered Gorn to lead the Second and Third Orders of Knights in a nighttime attack. Gorn’s forces reached the houses and began their assault.

• Marba sensed that his psionic marks were at a stationary location north of Fir City and waited until they began moving.
• Marba ordered Gorn to gather the Second and Third Orders of Knights and attack the rebel base after midnight, telling him to kill everyone.
• Gorn mobilized both orders and led them out through Fir City’s west gate under cover of darkness.
• Gorn’s army circled north and reached a cluster of houses where firelight revealed the rebel base.
• Gorn ordered the Holy Crusaders to attack and wipe out the rebels.

Gorn’s Holy Crusaders attacked the players’ camp, killing the anglers and tea-drinking players as they overwhelmed its defenders. The Dragonborn clerk escaped into the forest carrying her unconscious boss, [Good Times Don't Last], and used his body as a weapon to break through the encirclement.

• Gorn and the Holy Crusaders surrounded the camp and killed the anglers, throwing their bodies into the river.
• The Holy Crusaders attacked the wellness enthusiasts, who were quickly defeated and sent back to the Hall of Heroic Spirits.
• The Dragonborn clerk realized the general store was in danger and went to rescue her sleeping boss, [Good Times Don't Last].
• The Dragonborn carried [Good Times Don't Last] through the darkness toward the south side of the encirclement.
• When two Holy Crusaders spotted them, the Dragonborn swung [Good Times Don't Last] by his ankles, knocking down enemies and escaping into the forest.

Gorn’s Holy Crusaders completed their attack on the northern supply station, killing or capturing nearly all the rebels and taking their spoils. [Good Times Don't Last] woke during the Dragonborn’s escape with severe injuries and realized she had used him as a shield.

• Gorn ordered the unconscious rebel prisoners killed after his squad cleared the houses and collected the spoils.
• Players flooded the official forum with reports about the attack, while [Good Times Don't Last] learned that the supply station had been wiped out.
• [Good Times Don't Last] logged in and woke in a jolting carriage with a crushed nose, a broken arm, and arrows through his torso.
• The Dragonborn explained that enemies had caused his injuries, and [Good Times Don't Last] noticed she was almost unharmed.
• [Good Times Don't Last] accused the Dragonborn of using him as a shield, and she defended herself by pointing out that she had carried him on her back.

After the Holy Crusaders destroyed the players’ supply station, [Ginseng Rooster] spread suspicions among Fir City’s residents while the commanders celebrated their victory. Ed watched the players’ response unfold and wondered how the station had been discovered.

• After treating his wounds, [Good Times Don't Last] learned from Dragonborn that they were south of Black Locust Town and headed toward it, promising he still had resources.
• The Holy Crusaders returned to Fir City with corpses and seized supplies, and Grand Knight Commander Gorn told residents they had crushed a rebel stronghold.
• [Ginseng Rooster] made insinuations about the Holy Crusaders’ trophies, prompting residents to suspect they had killed innocents or looted the supplies.
• Antiya Lisi used the victory to restore public confidence, while Marba strengthened his authority among the Holy Crusaders; the dissatisfied Soul Returners began waiting for a chance to act.
• Ed followed the players’ forum posts, saw that [Good Times Don't Last] and others were raising funds for a bounty on Gorn, and wondered how the supply station had been exposed.

After the Holy Crusaders destroyed his supply station, [Howling Pothos] joined [Good Times Don't Last]'s revenge plan and discovered that his base was likely exposed too. He attacked the Holy Crusaders outside his base, while a box of classified documents continued toward Valhalla.

• [Howling Pothos] learned that the Holy Crusaders had destroyed his supply station and captured the players there.
• [Howling Pothos] joined the [Avengers] group chat, where [Good Times Don't Last] organized retaliation against the Holy Crusaders and offered daily compensation.
• [Howling Pothos] agreed to contribute money and manpower, and he and [Good Times Don't Last] discussed the possibility that his base had also been exposed.
• [Howling Pothos] found suspicious figures outside his base, hid his valuable equipment, and killed several Holy Crusaders before a squad leader's men killed him.
• A box of classified documents continued toward Valhalla from the other side of Aduolin Province.

Ed discovered that documents delivered from Fir City carried faint psionic energy, and Willow took them to analyze. Meanwhile, players gathered intelligence about the Holy Crusaders attacking them, and [Good Times Don't Last] prepared for revenge.

• A Dragonborn delivered goods and documents from Fir City to the Shattered Castle, where Ed noticed the documents felt warm with psionic energy.
• Willow sensed unfamiliar psionic energy nearby and traced it to the documents, which she borrowed to analyze.
• Ed kept one document and reviewed players’ recorded perspectives to trace its origin and investigate how the players’ supply station had been discovered.
• [Good Times Don't Last] and [Do Some Farm Work] gathered reports about the Treant Hunter, an escape tunnel, the Holy Crusaders’ commanders, and the knights’ camp.
• [Good Times Don't Last] realized that the revenge he had anticipated was drawing near.

[Do Some Farm Work] and [Good Times Don't Last] discussed how to obtain the Holy Crusaders' combat robes so the Soul Returners could move through the city at night. Unable to infiltrate the heavily guarded barracks, [Do Some Farm Work] proposed destroying the robes instead and planned a one-way attack to reach them.

• [Do Some Farm Work] told [Good Times Don't Last] that players investigating the barracks had all been caught and that the Holy Crusaders' camps were now heavily guarded.
• [Good Times Don't Last] suggested using [Clear Soup Master] to bypass the nighttime curfew, but [Do Some Farm Work] warned that exposing their mole could ruin his usefulness in a future attack.
• [Do Some Farm Work] realized that if the Soul Returners could not obtain the robes, they could destroy them and force Antiya Lisi's rules to change.
• [Do Some Farm Work] told [Good Times Don't Last] that the robes had to be inside a barracks and proposed a suicide mission, reasoning that the hardest part was getting out.
• [Good Times Don't Last] understood the plan and asked how much money it would take; [Do Some Farm Work] said it would require a huge sum.

[Do Some Farm Work] hired ten gold farmers from Soaring Sky Studio to carry out a suicide-attack plan in Fir City. He and [Good Times Don't Last] prepared supplies and players for the operation, while Nuolun reported the Soul Returners’ unusual mood to the Son of God and was told to wait.

• [Do Some Farm Work] searched for Soaring Sky Studio and negotiated with [Soaring Clouds--] to hire ten players for five silver coins each per day, starting in three days.
• [Do Some Farm Work] planned to use the hired fighters as disposable attackers to wreak havoc in Fir City.
• [Do Some Farm Work] and [Good Times Don't Last] assigned most combat-capable [Avengers] members to farm Dungeon resources.
• The Avengers players gathered body parts and other supplies, which Dragonborn and casual players transported by wagon to Black Locust Town for use in resurrections.
• Nuolun noticed the senior Soul Returners acting unusually angry and reported it to the Son of God, who told her to wait and enjoy the show.

After rebel activity in Fir City declined, [Do Some Farm Work] launched a new campaign against the Holy Crusaders by sending [Soaring Sky 3638] to set an Eighth Order of Knights camp on fire. [Soaring Sky 3638] respawned in Black Locust Town and headed to the Adventurers' Guild for his next assignment.

• Fir City remained quiet after Gorn destroyed the rebels’ stronghold, and the Holy Crusaders grew confident about attacking rebel bases.
• [Do Some Farm Work] sent [Soaring Sky 3638] to the Eighth Order of Knights camp while a staged disturbance distracted the guards.
• [Soaring Sky 3638] set off an oil-vine incendiary weapon, engulfing tents and soldiers in flames before he died in the blast.
• [Do Some Farm Work] instructed [Soaring Sky 3638] to respawn at the teleportation tree in northern Black Locust Town and report to [Good Times Don't Last].
• [Soaring Sky 3638] respawned with prepared body parts at a reduced cost and headed for the Black Locust Town Adventurers' Guild.

[Soaring Sky 3638] received a new mission from [Good Times Don't Last], who paired him with the ace pilot [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows]. In Fir City, Marba suspected the rebels were persuading people to die by promising their souls would return to the Hall of Heroic Spirits, then went undercover and met [Dark and Heavy Secret].

• [Soaring Sky 3638] arrived at the Adventurers' Guild and asked to see [Good Times Don't Last].
• [Good Times Don't Last] gave [Soaring Sky 3638] a new mission and introduced him to [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows], the ace pilot he would serve as a bomber.
• Antiya Lisi and Marba learned that the Twelfth Order of Knights' encampment was on fire and discussed how rebels could persuade people to carry out suicidal attacks.
• Marba recalled the Hall of Heroic Spirits and suspected that the rebels and the false god promised lower-class people their souls would return there after death.
• Marba left Antiya Lisi's study, changed into a worn coat, and went to a residential neighborhood at dusk.
• [Dark and Heavy Secret] opened the door and greeted Marba, while Duma recognized his familiar voice.

Duma learned from [Dark and Heavy Secret] and [Mysterious Goblin] that the rebels could resurrect, which explained their repeated attacks and the missing bodies. As Duma weighed whether to tell the Holy Crusaders, soldiers shouted that enemies were attacking from the sky.

• Duma asked [Dark and Heavy Secret] about the camp encounter, and he confirmed that he had died after a treant impaled him.
• Duma concluded that the rebels could resurrect, explaining why the rebel’s corpse and the missing Holy Crusaders had not been found.
• [Dark and Heavy Secret] and [Mysterious Goblin] spoke casually about resurrection, and Duma realized the rebels treated death as a minor cost.
• Duma considered how the Holy Crusaders might fight resurrecting rebels and recognized that Gorn’s victims could return to life.
• Duma wondered whether to tell Antiya Lisi about the rebels’ resurrection when patrolling Holy Crusaders shouted that enemies were attacking from the sky.