Chapter Summaries

Bruce and Pale Rider kidnapped a wealthy Higeltek businessman, then persuaded him to consider hiring them to target Siltec. After dropping the man off, Bruce left the decision about killing Old Siltec open.

• Bruce learned the businessman ran a local decorating company and blamed Siltec for squeezing his business after a fatal construction-site accident.
• Bruce offered to take money to intimidate or kill Siltec, and the businessman suggested involving the Church and blaming it for the deed.
• The businessman gave Bruce a way to contact him through mailboxes at vacant houses on streets beginning with W.
• Bruce released the businessman near the city's wealthy residential district and warned him about what to tell the police.
• Pale Rider questioned Bruce about killing Old Siltec, and Bruce said it depended on how Siltec behaved.

Bruce and the Pale Rider evaded professional pursuers while using Old Siltec’s suspicions to draw him into a trap that could expose his activities in Farainess. They planned to keep their kidnapped informant alive by drawing police to the villa district, while Bruce’s bizarre account of life in Gotham left the Pale Rider baffled.

• Bruce noticed professional vehicles tailing them and deliberately allowed them to follow, reasoning that Old Siltec might identify them through surveillance footage.
• The Pale Rider realized Bruce wanted Old Siltec to know they had kidnapped a man, prompting Old Siltec to send an Assassin and potentially reveal what he was hiding in Farainess.
• Bruce explained that the Assassin’s attempt could lead the kidnapped man to investigate Old Siltec and discover his connection to Farainess.
• Bruce escaped the pursuing cars by taking an exit, then told the Beyonder they needed to draw police to the villa district to protect the informant without intervening directly.
• The Pale Rider offered to help create a commotion, but Bruce distracted him with a story about parking near Wayne Tower, Tim, and his unfinished doctorate.

Schiller and Batman planned to investigate the Deep Ones’ ships and prepare to face their dangers, while Schiller sought a way to use the Book of the Water God’s Old Ones’ Mark. Schiller decided to summon Nyarlathotep to gain an advantage, then attacked a Deep One and confronted the mysterious voice behind the battle notifications.

• Schiller told Batman about Old Siltec and the laboratory, and Batman deduced that Old Siltec’s hurried departure suggested something had gone wrong.
• Batman and Schiller agreed to stay in Farainess, investigate the three ships, and prepare supplies and mental protection against the Deep Ones.
• Schiller examined the Book of the Water God and planned to locate its Old Ones’ Mark, but decided he first needed to learn about Nyarlathotep so he could summon him.
• Schiller left the church, sneaked up on two patrolling Deep Ones, and smashed one’s skull with his Crowbar.
• When the battle notification appeared, Schiller asked the mysterious voice who it was, and it replied that he had finally noticed it.

Schiller deduced that Nyarlathotep had manipulated the game’s announcements and dice, and he contacted the Outer God to ask about the Book of the Water God. After learning he might investigate the book himself by lowering his Mental Health Value, Schiller still asked Nyarlathotep to state his terms.

• Schiller concluded that Nyarlathotep had enticed Joker into a dice-related bargain that led to Joker’s death by electrocution.
• Schiller contacted Nyarlathotep and asked him to change the voice he was using.
• Schiller asked Nyarlathotep to protect him from the forbidden knowledge in the Book of the Water God.
• Nyarlathotep explained that Schiller could use his talent to uncover the book’s secrets by lowering his Mental Health Value.
• Schiller weighed the risks of making a bargain against investigating the book himself, then asked Nyarlathotep for his terms.

Schiller accepted Nyarlathotep’s request to find a box hidden in the underground caves and used the Book of the Water God to obtain the Old Ones’ Mark. He and Batman prepared for an assault, reached a ship at the docks, and entered its dark cargo hold.

• Nyarlathotep asked Schiller to find a box in the underground caves, and Schiller agreed after learning that Arkham and Miskatonic University might be nearby.
• Schiller read the Book of the Water God, found the Old Ones’ Mark, and gained faintly glowing ink streaks on his palm that could temporarily protect him from forbidden knowledge.
• Schiller reunited with Batman, and they returned to the lighthouse to treat their wounds and prepare weapons, including two electric batons.
• Schiller gave Batman the cross necklace from Old Siltec’s safe to help resist mental contamination, and they traveled toward the docks without being spotted by Deep Ones.
• Batman killed the guard at a ship’s entrance, Schiller disposed of the body, and the two entered through the lower cargo area.
• Schiller wondered what Nyarlathotep had hidden in the caves as he and Batman cautiously advanced through the ship’s darkness.

Batman and Schiller explored a sunken Age of Discovery ship, discovered that an unknown man had been searching it, and found evidence that Sailor Pick had died aboard. Their investigation suggested that Pick’s diary had been salvaged from another wreck and that the fleet’s disaster might have been caused by a spell from The Water God K'thaya.

• Batman and Schiller examined the ship’s cargo and wondered why the Deep Ones had arrived with the three wrecks and what the church might want from them.
• They spotted an unidentified man moving through the ship, and Batman concluded that he knew the layout and had returned to search for something.
• Schiller found Pick’s name and the words “It has come” carved into a crew bunk, then realized the diary’s account of a safe return had a forged ending.
• Batman suggested that salvage companies might have recovered Pick’s diary from another, more valuable ship in the fleet, explaining how it could have reached Jeff.
• Schiller suspected that The Water God K'thaya had also come from Pick’s fleet and that a spell from it may have caused the fleet’s disaster.

Schiller and Batman concluded that the living book The Water God K'thaya had manipulated Jeff’s family and Old Siltec, while Bruce traced the three frigates at the pier to a history the church had erased. They suspected the returned ships had sunk long ago and that the church had brought them back to retrieve something aboard.

• Schiller and Batman realized The Water God K'thaya contained a cultist’s soul and could beguile people, explaining how Jeff survived and how his family met its end.
• Schiller and Batman suspected the book had influenced Jeff and his family, and that the diary’s false survival advice had encouraged Old Siltec to summon disasters.
• Schiller and Batman identified unresolved questions about Old Siltec’s knowledge of Pick’s crew and the fleet and figures that had appeared unexpectedly.
• Bruce and the Pale Rider established a temporary base in an empty house in the Affluent Area, and Bruce searched online for the origin of the three ships at the pier.
• Bruce found records of a church-linked theft of Spanish naval archives and concluded the church had concealed the frigates’ history before bringing the sunken ships back for something aboard.

Schiller and Batman reached the Captain’s Cabin, where Schiller confronted a wounded Court of Arbitration agent and learned that the Oracle Gade’s followers were coming. The Beyonder revealed that Nyarlathotep had eliminated the intended final boss, leaving Schiller unable to open the cabin door, so he decided to seek out Gade.

• Schiller and Batman found a Court of Arbitration agent fighting Deep Ones, and Schiller shot one while Batman and Schiller defeated the other.
• The agent touched a Deep One’s trident and suffered a rapidly rotting hand before Schiller drove him away from the Captain’s Cabin.
• The agent warned Schiller that the Oracle Gade would arrive and claimed only the Oracle could open the cabin door.
• The Beyonder explained that the Book of the Water God had been the planned final boss, but Nyarlathotep had destroyed it while protecting Schiller.
• Schiller learned that the cabin still held a reward chest but could not be opened without clues from the missing book, and he chose to find Gade.

Schiller and Batman uncovered how the Captain's Cabin door connected to the hotel and suspected the church used removable room plaques to unleash monsters. The chapter ended with Schiller wondering whether the Room 1913 plaque had been planted to release the Wanderer in the village.

• Schiller and Batman examined the Bible's missing letters but could not determine the clue to the locked door.
• Schiller realized the Captain's Cabin plaque was larger than his Room 1913 plaque and removed it, revealing matching screw holes and transforming the corridor into a dark hotel hallway.
• Nyarlathotep returned the screws Schiller had left behind, and Batman suggested they could be modified into bullets.
• Schiller told Batman how he had used the Room 1913 plaque to make two hotel monsters collide, and they discussed the danger behind the Captain's Cabin door.
• Schiller theorized that the Oracle had taken hotel plaques and used them to create the church's worldwide monster incidents, then suspected the church had placed the Room 1913 plaque in the village.

Schiller and Batman deciphered how to enter the Captain's Cabin and discovered Golden Honey Wine, which could suspend a person's body and mind and might protect them from the disaster. Schiller suspected the Oracle had come to Farainess seeking the wine, while the church's internal conflict and the disaster's true purpose remained unresolved.

• Schiller concluded that Farainess was likely a trap set amid conflict between the Oracle and the Pope, while the Players' interference had disrupted both sides' plans.
• Schiller noticed the Captain's Cabin plaque could be dismantled and used Cipher Decryption to help Batman identify the hidden room number 1413 in the Bible's missing letters.
• Schiller carved 1413 onto the smaller plaque, fastened it with the hotel door plaque screws, and opened the door to the Captain's Cabin with Batman.
• Schiller and Batman searched the cabin, where Schiller found a strange octopus-shaped silver sculpture and a bottle of Golden Honey Wine.
• Schiller inferred that Golden Honey Wine could suspend the body and mind, allowing someone to survive the disaster without hearing, seeing, or feeling anything.

Schiller and Batman sank a warship by dispelling the force protecting its hull, throwing the Deep Ones into chaos. Schiller then ventured deeper into the Underground Cave, where he found the Shining Trapezohedron and a book titled "The Gloom of Farainess" by John V. Constantine.

• Schiller identified the Golden Honey Wine's ability to restore Mental Health Value and grant temporary immunity to mental contamination, then split occult weapons with Batman.
• Schiller used the Old Ones' Mark to break through the ship's protective barrier, causing the rotten hull to collapse and sink the warship onto the Deep Ones' oxygen recovery base.
• Schiller and Batman escaped to the lighthouse and watched the sinking ship crush many Deep Ones and send the dock into chaos.
• Schiller gave Batman the screw and Siltec Laboratory access card, asked him to hold the lighthouse, and went into the Underground Cave to fulfill his agreement with Nyarlathotep.
• Schiller followed successful intuition checks to a hidden clearing and found the Shining Trapezohedron, which summoned Nyarlathotep's dangerous avatar in darkness.
• Schiller kept the Shining Trapezohedron sealed with his flashlight and discovered a black book titled "The Gloom of Farainess," authored by John V. Constantine.

Schiller rejected Nyarlathotep’s offers while making his way to the ruined Wooden House to meet Batman. The Water God K'thaya then began a bloody ritual, and Schiller was drawn into a battle against the forces summoning Othuum.

• Schiller refused Nyarlathotep’s request to read Constantine’s novel and help publish it, then set off for the Wooden House to reunite with Batman.
• Nyarlathotep offered Schiller knowledge to help him deal with the church in exchange for an evaluation of the novel, but Schiller rejected the uncertain bargain.
• As Schiller neared the Wooden House, The Water God K'thaya began bleeding and turning its pages on its own.
• The book’s blasphemous image struck Schiller, and blood spread into a web as a chant summoned Othuum.
• A battle began.

Schiller survived an encounter with Autumn, the Great Old One summoned by the book, by drinking Golden Honey Wine, then reunited with Batman and confronted Nyarlathotep about the trap. Nyarlathotep offered Schiller a dangerous bottle of wine as compensation, and Schiller realized it might help expose the suspected fraud Great Prophet Gade.

• Schiller watched Autumn rise from the book and learned from the Beyonder that the final battle required a sacrifice, but he drank Golden Honey Wine to protect himself instead.
• Batman found Schiller unconscious after escaping a fight with church members, and the two replenished their supplies and discussed what had happened.
• Schiller threatened to publish his chat logs with Nyarlathotep unless Nyarlathotep explained himself, and Batman urged Schiller to read the novel that had caused the trouble.
• Nyarlathotep offered Schiller a bottle of Golden Vintage Red Wine, whose effect was to drain the drinker's Mental Health Value and trap them in endless hallucinations.
• Schiller recognized that the wine's effect would not harm him like an ordinary person and considered using it against Great Prophet Gade, whom he suspected was a fraud.

Bruce and the Pale Rider collected money from a businessman who wanted Old Siltec killed, but Bruce refused to act as an assassin and instead began posing as an insurance company representative. After provoking Teresa Bing over her daughter’s death, Bruce revealed a list of dozens of addresses and set out to use the same scheme on other grieving families.

• Schiller and Batman discussed the church’s arrival and agreed that the Oracle would likely try to silence Old Siltec.
• Bruce accepted a $30,000 deposit from a businessman seeking Old Siltec’s death and learned Siltec would appear at the Higeltek Broadcast Television Center the next morning.
• Bruce and the Pale Rider bought expensive suits and other luxury items, then drove to the Slums in a stolen Lincoln.
• Bruce posed as a Siltek Medical Insurance Company representative and offered Teresa Bing $1,000 to withdraw her complaint about her daughter’s death.
• Bruce left after deliberately enraging Teresa, then showed the Pale Rider a list of forty or fifty addresses and said they would visit more people.

Bruce and Pale Rider stirred resentment among families whose insurance claims Siltek had denied, then Bruce attracted reporters by posing as a Siltek public-relations employee. He hinted that he had visited the victims to comfort them, and a television host began asking how he had done so.

• Bruce found hundreds of complaints about Siltek and identified families whose denied claims had left them impoverished or bereaved.
• Bruce and Pale Rider visited victims, mocking them and stoking their anger while mentioning Old Siltec's upcoming interview.
• Bruce returned to the broadcasting center area, where reporters noticed him and Pale Rider dressed in expensive clothes.
• Bruce entered a coffee shop with Pale Rider and sat conspicuously by the window as reporters watched.
• Bruce told a television host that he worked for Siltek and had been assigned to comfort clients denied insurance payouts.
• The host asked Bruce how he had comforted the clients.

Bruce and the Pale Rider infiltrated the television station to stop the church from using a strange incident to kill Old Siltec during his interview. They seized a door plaque marked “1011” and prepared for the interview, where protesters and reporters began flooding the venue as Old Siltec arrived.

• Bruce used reporters and his public provocation to draw attention to Old Siltec, then predicted the church would scout the interview venue and try to stage a strange incident.
• Bruce and the Pale Rider entered the television station after dark and split up to intercept the church’s intruders.
• Bruce captured the man pushing a cart of disguise materials, while the Pale Rider subdued the other intruders and seized a door plaque marked “1011” along with several screws.
• Bruce hid in a ventilation duct above the news venue, set up a rifle with a clear line of sight to the seating area, and waited for the interview.
• Old Siltec arrived at the station around five-thirty, while Ms. Teresa led protesters through a side entrance and reporters followed them toward the venue.

Bruce’s staged attack left Old Siltec gravely injured and fueled a scandal that benefited the businessman who hired him. Back in Farainess, Bruce planned to pit Siltec against the arriving Oracle while Schiller and Batman prepared to sabotage the lighthouse and suspected the church had orchestrated their gathering.

• Bruce fired repeatedly at the protesters, but every shot missed; police arrived as he escaped through a ventilation duct.
• News reports blamed Old Siltec for the shooting, and the businessman who hired Bruce paid him a bonus because Siltec remained unconscious and vulnerable.
• Bruce learned that the Oracle was approaching Farainess with a large group and planned to make Siltec suspect the church had attacked him.
• Bruce and Pale Rider returned to Farainess while Schiller and Batman avoided the church’s search and headed toward the lighthouse.
• Batman prepared to damage the lighthouse’s electrical system, while Schiller theorized that the church had gathered the cursed people for a sacrifice and might have begun planning years earlier.

Bruce and the Pale Rider were captured near Farainess and questioned by a church operative, while Schiller and Batman infiltrated the lighthouse and found the real Great Prophet Gade imprisoned there. Gade revealed that the Pope planned to sacrifice him, but had not yet explained the full scheme.

• The Pale Rider drove Bruce toward Farainess, where armed church forces stopped their car, arrested them, and took them into the village.
• A church woman questioned the Pale Rider about what he had done in Higeltek.
• Schiller and Batman cut the lighthouse’s power, used the darkness to enter, and placed the Tri-Eight-Sided Elixir beneath the atrium railing, where a night demon attacked someone.
• Schiller and Batman bypassed a defensive team and found Great Prophet Gade in a room with signs that someone had been tied up.
• Gade told Schiller that the public Great Prophet was a puppet controlled by the Pope and that the Pope intended to sacrifice him as his own life neared its end.

Schiller questioned Gade about the Farainess hotel massacre, the Church’s use of monsters, and Gade’s unnatural youth. Gade revealed that he had survived by making a bargain with Ibo-Zitel, leaving Schiller and Batman with the truth about the Pope’s sacrifices and Gade’s transformation.

• Gade told Schiller that he had been a Vatican investigator who entered the Farainess hotel and discovered monsters had killed its victims.
• Gade explained that the Church released the hotel’s monsters to create disasters, then intervened to gain influence, and that the Pope sought immortality by sacrificing people.
• Gade said the Pope targeted people with Inspiration Physique, while Schiller and Batman recognized that their own mental-health curse might be related.
• Batman identified Gade as a servant of an Outer God, and Schiller summoned Nyarlathotep to demonstrate that he could communicate with such beings.
• Gade recounted how he encountered Ibo-Zitel in the hotel, recovered from his wounds, and began dreaming of Him while his blood devoured other people’s souls.

Schiller learned that Gad was an avatar of Eihort and uncovered the history behind Farainess and the Pope’s sacrifice ritual. At the lighthouse, he found the Pope transformed into a mass of human heads, then discovered Bruce waiting behind a bookshelf as the novel identified him as Lodov’s former student Matthew, who had summoned Nyarlathotep.

• Gad explained that the Wanderer was an avatar of Eihort and that its disappearance had left him vulnerable to the Pope.
• Nya told Schiller that Farainess’s ancestors worshipped Dagon and that the lighthouse had been used for a sacrifice ritual that brought fish to the village.
• Schiller decided to confront the Pope at the lighthouse while snow fell over Farainess.
• One Hand killed the wounded Pale Rider in the snow.
• Schiller found the Pope covered in the heads of people whose lifespans he had taken, including Dougert, Madeline, and Jeff.
• Schiller read the novel’s account of Lodov and Matthew, then watched Bruce emerge and greet him as his teacher.