Timeline

Lynel, Mavice, and Malice intend to travel to the port district but are blocked by a guard at the gate named Podai Gerlin. After speaking with Talern JanCastle, they are allowed through the gate on the promise that they will assist with the refugees.

Upon entering the port district they see the massively overflowing populace overwhelming the streets. Meandering through the crowds of homeless refugees, they come to the Black Swan and speak to Eidelon, a fisherman who has become incredibly wealthy as the rich countryside refugees pour into the district looking for food and shelter. Eidelon directs them to a place nick named the Warbelly Hideout. He speaks poorly of the place, saying it is shabby and run down and that their leader Cadence is a weak willed pawn of some good-for-nothings from the city.

After being ambushed by a gang on the way out of the Black Swan, the group comes to the Warbelly hideout and are surprised by how well kept it is in comparison to the rest of the port. Speaking with Cadence, they find out that he is willing to pay for help dealing with a gang that is threatening their safety and fishing business.

They setup an ambush and a story and then go talk to the gang and convince them to ambush Cadence in the morning when a fishing shipment. However, it is actually a ruse to split the gang. When half the gang leaves, they attack the half that stayed and quickly kill them. Then, they setup an ambush for the second half when they return. However, the second half of the gang uncovered the empty boxes and realize that it was a setup, and so they ambush Lynel, Mavice, and Malice instead. Malice nearly dies while Lynel and Mavice barely are able to overcome the gang.

They quickly carry Malice towards the gate of the city, only to find the entrance blocked by a crowd numbering in the thousands pressing towards the gate, without any clear indication to why they are doing it or what is going on.

The once-mighty fleets of JanCastle languished upon the vast lake, their routes to the southern seas severed by the relentless Krimkar blockade that choked the river passages. With the coasts patrolled by enemy sentinels and the city itself fallen to the invaders, the sailors faced a grim choice. Some dared to disembark, slipping ashore in desperate bids for freedom, only to be seized and dragged into captivity by the watchful Krimkar. Others clung to their vessels, casting lines into the murky waters to snare fish for sustenance, quenching their thirst with the lake's brackish offering, and enduring the slow erosion of hope amid the encroaching shadows of defeat.

Mephiston, Yohdels, and Scott’s character are sent to the pit to show the Krimkar that they have what it takes. They in turn kill their opponents, which were slaves that the Krimkar had gathered in the north. On the way back to the barracks they see Atreus raised on a spike, long dead. Mephiston is taken by the shamans to the shaman tent.