Wyrmshard recap

The Lunar Eternal leads Mercy and Asher in gathering the remaining pieces of a weapon believed capable of stopping the Void God. Their search takes them through Leofric's coercive stronghold, a hidden Shagnar Fawn settlement, the realm of the dead, an attack on Talon's Keep, and a deadly ambush at the Serpent's Gate. They recover shards from Leofric and the corrupted spirit of Gorgafel, while the Lunar Eternal's concealed Void powers fracture trust within the group. The Alvarin Empress answers Saren's call for help but kills Saren and retreats after the Lunar Eternal wounds her. Leofric and Orphea then die, and the surviving party reconciles before reaching the Spire. The last shards are removed from a corrupted Great Worm at the cost of the worm and the White Prophet. Reforging all six pieces releases the Void God rather than defeating it. The three companions survive, return to Talon's Keep, and pledge to oppose the newly freed threat to Amaranth.

Previously: The Lunar Eternal, Mercy, and Asher are allied Eternals based at Talon's Keep, where a Dvergar settlement has formed. Saren is the Lunar Eternal's Alvarin partner and combat instructor. The group has already acquired and soul-bound pieces of a shattered blade connected to the Void God. Their larger task is to find the other pieces and restore the weapon before the Void God can return.

So far this book: Asher makes the Waystone network usable and sends the Lunar Eternal to scout the Shattered Bastion, where the human garrison attacks his Shagnar Fawn form. Orphea recognizes him but fights him until Leofric intervenes. Leofric commands the stronghold, carries the human blade shard in his sword, and demands fealty while asserting that Eternals should rule ordinary people. Mercy and Asher join their companion at the Bastion and initially favor cooperation because Leofric's army could help oppose the Void God. His conduct soon exposes the danger in that choice. He executes soldiers for their attack on his guest, treats Orphea coercively and punitively, and regards the visiting Eternals as assets to absorb into his authority. The group decides to feign friendship instead of confronting him immediately. Leofric sends the Lunar Eternal to negotiate with the Shagnar Fawn, while Mercy and Asher remain inside the Bastion and prepare for the possibility that all three will have to defeat their host.

The Lunar Eternal crosses the ash wasteland alone, refuses the Void God's offer to abandon the blade, and reaches a hidden Shagnar Fawn settlement. Its Dvergar leader explains that the Fawn shard was soul-bound to the dead hero Gorgafel and followed him into the realm of the dead. The leader distrusts both Leofric and the Solar Eternals, and negotiations fail as conflict between the two camps approaches. A powerful Fawn Eternal Adviser then attacks the visitor with spirits and freezing power. The Lunar Eternal reveals Void-linked abilities, defeats the adviser, and uses Psychopomp to make the death permanent. The adviser had maintained authority by claiming access to ancestral spirits, so the killing destabilizes the settlement's hierarchy. After the Lunar Eternal demonstrates that power to the clan chieftains, they accept his argument that their people should leave the wasteland, find fertile ground, and abandon customs built around deprivation. The Shagnar begin dismantling their settlement, though their leader offers no alliance and warns that the two sides may still become enemies.

Mercy condemns the calculated killing of the Fawn adviser, and Leofric tries to claim the Lunar Eternal as his favored war master. Mercy and Asher deny Leofric access to the Waystone network, leaving their companion trapped. He steals Leofric's shard-bearing sword and escapes by soul-binding it before death carries him back to Talon's Keep, raising the party's total to three pieces. After a bitter reunion, he admits that the Void God has spoken through a shard, and the group follows the next lead into the realm of the dead. Death permits the journey, where the party tracks the blade's resonance to Gorgafel. The hero has become a gigantic Void-corrupted spirit with the shard replacing an eye. The three defeat him, recover the fourth piece, and let Mercy soul-bind it so the Lunar Eternal does not carry every corrupting burden. On returning to Amaranth, they find Talon's Keep under Inyoka attack. Saren joins the defense, the party kills the fire-breathing worm supporting the assault, and the settlement survives. Gunnhild is healed, but two of her sons and other Dvergar are dead, and much of the Keep's new construction has burned.

The party helps rebuild Talon's Keep in stone, then follows the remaining shards beyond the Serpent's Gate. Leofric and Orphea are waiting there with an army and destroy the Waystone exit. When the battle turns against the trapped group, Saren uses a beacon to summon the Alvarin Empress. The Empress rejects Saren's defense of the Eternals and kills her for divided loyalty. Grief drives the Lunar Eternal to reveal Slaughter, a concealed Void-derived power that kills nearby mortals and wounds the Empress badly enough to force her retreat. She publicly names him a new Void God before leaving. Mercy initially doubts him, but his decision to protect Asher restores her trust. The Lunar Eternal permanently removes Orphea, while Mercy and Asher kill the fleeing Leofric. After building a tomb for Saren, the Lunar Eternal admits that he deliberately sought Void power because he believes it may be needed against the original god. He accepts responsibility for hiding the choice. Mercy and Asher demand full honesty, then remain with him as the three continue toward the final shards. He intends to seek Saren's return after the immediate crisis.

Beyond the Serpent's Gate, the party finds the final-shard region cultivated and defended by pale worms and Inyoka. The last two pieces appear to lie at the Spire where the Void God first rose. The three abandon stealth and force their way through fire bombardment and repeated worm attacks, combining Artifice with Mercy's command of storms and flame and Asher's ice magic. A white Worm Prince refuses to surrender what his brood considers part of its horde and challenges the Lunar Eternal to single combat. The prince dies as the wider battle collapses, and Asher's large ice spell finishes the remaining attackers. Much of the apparent Inyoka army proves to be dummies or non-albino soldiers painted white. The White Prophet, leader of the outcast community, admits inventing parts of his shard prophecy and takes the party beneath the Spire. A tormented Great Worm carries both pieces inside its corrupted body. The Prophet dies in its death breath while helping the party, and removing the shards also kills the creature despite efforts to heal it. The Lunar Eternal now possesses all six pieces, with only the promised reforging left to complete.

The Lunar Eternal joins the six shards into the rusted blade beneath the Spire. The act releases the Void God, whose soul had been imprisoned within the broken weapon. The quest to prevent its return was the means of restoring it, and the god claims to have manipulated the party toward that result. Its emergence grievously wounds Mercy and Asher. The Lunar Eternal kills Mercy so that she can respawn and directs Asher's spirit toward Talon's Keep before the god can destroy him completely. He then distracts the Void God and turns its own blade against both of them, apparently losing his body in the attack. The exact damage to the god remains unknown. The Lunar Eternal resurrects at Talon's Keep and reunites with Mercy and Asher. Mercy survives with lasting scars from the Void blast, and all three are shaken but alive. They warn Gunnhild's gathered Dvergar that the Void God has returned and threatens Amaranth and its wider echo. With Saren permanently dead, the Alvarin Empress still hostile, and the condition of the released god uncertain, the surviving companions stay together and commit themselves to stopping it.

The Lunar Eternal, Mercy, and Asher obtain the final two shards beneath the Spire, although both the Great Worm and the White Prophet die during the attempt. Joining all six pieces does not create the expected defense. It frees the Void God, whose soul had been confined within the broken weapon. The release nearly destroys the party. Mercy is killed so that she can respawn, Asher's spirit is directed toward Talon's Keep, and the Lunar Eternal turns the god's own weapon against it before resurrecting. The three reunite at the Keep, where Mercy retains scars from the Void attack. Saren remains permanently dead, killed by the Alvarin Empress, while Leofric and Orphea are also gone. The Empress has withdrawn as an enemy, the displaced Shagnar Fawn have no settled future, and the condition of the Void God after the counterattack is uncertain. Believing it still active and threatening Amaranth, the surviving companions tell Gunnhild's Dvergar what happened and commit themselves to stopping it. The Lunar Eternal also retains the longer-term hope of recovering Saren after the immediate crisis.