After taking Prism’s castle, Carl sends Toyotomi and the new mercenaries northwest toward Shanty Town because they cannot fit in Party Planner. The convoy will pick up allied guards along the route, while Li Jun and Li Na prepare to separate true NPCs from off-worlders and process the latter before trusting them. Carl worries that Shanty Town is vulnerable because it borders every faction territory, but he also knows enemies cannot truly take it without killing him.

Carl and Donut return to the FUPA through a saferoom entrance south of Prism’s former castle after Carl leaves a hidden landmine trap there. Louis is sent back by air, carefully routed to avoid friendly fire, so he can reload and support Florin. In the personal space, Carl and Donut rush to clean up, but the saferoom timer has returned now that fighting has begun, limiting how long anyone can hide inside unless they refill the blood bar by killing enemies.

Carl reviews the battle map and finds the campaign already chaotic. Tran and Boomer are stabilizing the southern front after wrecking enemy positions, Boomer is moving north to help Florin, Elle and Imani are also heading north, Tipid defends the castle, and Li Na’s White Dragons are scattered through Shanty Town building defenses. Carl briefly reflects on how frightening he became while confronting D’Nadia, but the thought is interrupted by Donut’s message about a disturbing spellbook and Florin’s warning that the northern enemy is making a major armored push.

Trap alerts flood in from the north, then a separate silent alarm at the home anti-air battery triggers. Explosions destroy the anti-air battery and the castle hangar, while Boomer reports enemy flyers and Tipid warns of enemies inside the base. Donut discovers an extra saferoom door in the situational space, revealing that an enemy reaver team has used the same kind of saferoom access Carl and Donut had considered using for a sneak attack.

Carl realizes the attackers are also compromising the base from within. After casting Ping and comparing active dots with casualty notifications, Carl identifies dead-but-moving mages such as Reid Gunn and concludes Valtay brain worms are controlling troops. When Bucket Boy and others drag in an injured yenk, Carl sees that the assisting human mage Charles Andrew is listed as dead, kills him, and stomps the worm that emerges from the corpse. Carl warns everyone to cross-check nearby soldiers against the casualty list, refuses to let Rend eat the fallen ally, and orders the castle defenders to unleash Tina.