Chapter 5. The Reaches

The chapter opens beyond the Swamp of the Sleepers: the Mother of Nightmares has fallen and the Keeper has reached level 66. From there the thread leads south through seven Reaches — twenty-eight lands, each with its own campfire where people hold out. The lands are independent: whoever has gone far south does not have to walk back to the Salt Marshes for an errand — the chain of every land its gate lets you into is open.

A campfire gives three errands, one after another: “The Approaches” — fell 15 creatures of the land, “Pack Leaders” — defeat both pack leaders you can see on the map, “Lord of the Land” — bring down the lord in the lair. A finished errand is handed in by talking at the same campfire, and the next one is taken right away. A lord felled before the chapter still counts: the step only waits for the talk.

Every campfire has its own keeper of the fire, 28 in all: at the first campfire, Vedana, the head salt-boiler; at the last, the First Keeper, the shade of the first Keeper. Between the common errands they give their own: hunts for particular creatures, a road to a special place, souls returned. Each Reach tells one story across its four campfires, and after the Reach’s last lord the Keeper chooses how it ends — and earns its title. The last finale waits at the Throne of the Blight: it ends the whole road.

The reward grows with the land’s level — a farther land pays more, and the lord pays double: gold, materials and emblems. Close every errand of a Reach’s four lands and you earn a title: “Warden of the Salt Reaches”, “Warden of the North”, “Tamer of Ash”, “Skywalker”, “Light of the Deep”, “Scourge of the Blood Marches”, “Conqueror of the Underside”. The road ends at the Throne of the Blight, at the feet of the Blight Lord.

The chapter has 140 steps; it opens at level 66.