Recaps

Angel was startled by a supernatural visitor in her home, only to discover it was Daly, who came to discuss the Acting Method and the Church’s knowledge of Angel’s pathway. Daly began to reveal a third matter, leaving Angel waiting to hear what it was.

• Angel used Flame Leap to escape a nightmare, but found her living room lit by eerie green flames and saw a translucent face descend from the ceiling.
• The face identified itself as Daly, and Angel lowered her revolver after Daly explained that Dunn was occupied and Klein’s spirituality was unstable.
• Daly said Dunn’s letters had convinced her that Angel and Klein had discovered the Acting Method, and she asked them to explain it to Dunn and the Tingen Team.
• Daly warned that the Church would likely discover the Acting Method and require Angel and Klein to swear an oath not to reveal it to those who did not know it.
• Daly told Angel that the Church of the Evernight Goddess lacked the Sequence 8 Instigator Potion Formula, then began to explain a third matter.

Angel learned that the Red Gloves would arrive in Tingen to investigate the Aurora Order member, and Daly urged her to reveal the Machinery Hivemind Mystical Item during their operation. Daly then shared her lonely past and doubts about Dunn's feelings, while Angel tried to persuade her that Dunn liked her.

• Daly told Angel that the Red Gloves would arrive that afternoon and advised her to display the Machinery Hivemind Mystical Item during their investigation.
• Angel accidentally called Daly an acquaintance from Backlund, then corrected herself by saying Dunn liked her and the whole Nighthawks team knew it.
• Daly asked Angel whether she knew she had become a Corpse Collector at nineteen and described her isolation and past Indulgence.
• Daly recalled meeting Dunn and questioned whether a conservative man like him could truly like her.
• Angel said Dunn had felt inferior too and suggested that both of them were afraid to approach each other.
• Angel provoked Daly by saying she might pursue Dunn herself, and the living-room gas lamp burst into emerald flames.

Angel woke after the Magician Pocket Watch’s effects and read an apologetic note from Ms. Daly, who advised her to gradually grow accustomed to the item’s fear-inducing side effects. After depositing money at Backlund Bank, Angel recognized a suspicious customer as the Aurora Order member who had butchered the Pluck Family and questioned the bank manager about him.

• Angel woke on the living room sofa and found Ms. Daly’s note apologizing for frightening her and recommending gradual exposure to the Magician Pocket Watch’s effects.
• Angel learned that Ms. Daly planned to speak with Dunn about their relationship and had arranged for Angel to rest at home before going to headquarters that afternoon.
• Angel deposited one hundred pounds into her anonymous account at Backlund Bank.
• Angel recognized a gloomy customer leaving the VIP room as the Aurora Order member who had butchered the Pluck Family, then showed the bank manager her Police Badge and asked what business he had conducted.

Angel traced the Aurora Order member’s bearer bonds to a bank and summoned Dunn and Klein to investigate. Klein’s dream divination located the bonds’ destination on Wendell Street and revealed another Aurora Order divine envoy, Ms. D.

• Angel used Persuasion to learn that the wanted man had redeemed bearer bonds stolen from the Pluck Family, but the bank manager refused to surrender them without authorization.
• Angel contacted Dunn, who arrived with Klein and the precinct sheriff; the bank manager agreed to let them examine the bonds but not remove them.
• Klein sealed the reception room and performed Dream Divination to discover where the bonds had been taken.
• Klein saw that the bonds had gone to a detached house on Wendell Street in the North Borough, now likely occupied by the Aurora Order.
• Klein reported seeing another Aurora Order divine envoy, a brown-haired woman around thirty called Ms. D.

The Tingen Nighthawks identified Ms. D as a likely Sequence 5 Shepherd and prepared to attack the Aurora Order’s base with the arriving Red Gloves. Soest questioned Klein and Angel about their roles and pasts, while his hostility toward Dunn eased.

• Klein used divination to confirm that the person who redeemed the bond was not the true killer of the Pluck family.
• Angel and the other Nighthawks returned to Blackthorn Security Company and met Soest and two other Red Gloves.
• Klein described his Dream Divination, and Dunn identified Ms. D as a likely Sequence 5 Shepherd who could use grazed Beyonder abilities.
• Dunn proposed gathering police information and launching an attack that night, and Soest accepted the plan.
• Soest asked Klein about the risks Seers faced in the Nighthawks, then told Angel that Daly had mentioned her Assassin past.

Soest and the Red Gloves met with the Tingen Nighthawks and discussed the Aurora Order’s occupation of a villa on Wendell Street. Dunn arranged a joint operation for that night, assigning Angel to join the assault while Klein stayed behind to prepare support.

• Soest praised Angel’s battle record and asked about her knowledge of the Red Gloves, but Angel avoided his apparent attempt to recruit her.
• Soest introduced Henry and Lares, then enthusiastically discussed Daly Simone’s rapid advancement to Sequence 6.
• Dunn presented information about the Wendell Street villa, where Ms. D and her subordinates had occupied the building and set up an altar to the True Creator.
• Soest identified Ms. D as a Sequence 5 Shepherd and warned that the unknown souls she had Grazed could make her a formidable enemy; Klein also cautioned that the suspected murderer might be dangerous.
• Dunn proposed using Sealed Artifact 2-105, Blood Vessel Thief, to steal one of Ms. D’s abilities during the fight.
• Dunn assigned Angel to join Soest’s team in the operation that night, while Klein remained at headquarters to prepare healing Ritual Magic.

Angel, Dunn, Soest, Lares, and Henry raided Ms. D’s villa after Soest pulled her and another Beyonder into a dream, but Ms. D appeared in the hall and attacked them. She blocked their gunpowder weapons with an Order, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Dunn rejected artillery because the battle would endanger nearby residents, and the team planned to evacuate the area before the assault.
• Soest entered a dream and pulled Ms. D and another Beyonder into a second-floor bedroom, allowing the others to enter the villa.
• The team found a statue of the True Creator in the hall, but Ms. D suddenly appeared and attacked them with Flame Spears and firebirds.
• Lares used the Blood Vessel Thief to steal Ms. D’s ability to control flames, and Ms. D imposed an Order forbidding gunpowder weapons.

Angel and the Nighthawks fought Ms. D, who switched between abilities from her Grazed souls and her own Pathway while using declarations to prohibit attacks. After Ms. D extinguished the flames and fled through the shadows toward the main door, Angel warned her teammates as the door opened.

• Angel used Flame Leap and her dagger to attack Ms. D, while Dunn and Henry tried to put the Shepherd to sleep.
• Ms. D donned silver armor and summoned a radiant Greatsword, forcing Angel to evade while the Nighthawks damaged her armor with gunfire.
• Angel and Lares struck Ms. D with Black Flame bullets and a Flame Spear, but Ms. D destroyed the flames and vanished into the shadows.
• Angel realized Ms. D could use only one Grazed soul's abilities at a time, warned the Nighthawks to protect Lares, and reloaded Bloodthirst.
• Angel spotted Ms. D's shadow fleeing toward the main door and warned her teammates, but her Black Flame bullets were extinguished by the prohibition.
• Dunn sent an invisible ripple toward the fleeing shadow as Henry prepared to confront Ms. D, and the villa's main door opened.

Angel and the Nighthawks fought Ms. D in the villa, but an Aurora Order member’s Flesh Bomb explosion devastated the hall and left both Angel and Ms. D injured. Angel attacked Ms. D after the blast, but Ms. D escaped through the wall, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Soest used his Silver Ring to force Ms. D out of the shadows, and Angel shot her while Dunn and Henry fired as well.
• Ms. D Grazed the Silver White Armor, resisted Dunn’s hypnosis, and prepared to attack as a bare-chested Aurora Order member leaped down with a Flesh Bomb.
• Angel shoved Dunn through the doors and used Paper Figurine Substitute to escape the explosion, though the blast injured her back.
• Angel found Ms. D still alive, severed her gun-holding hand, and pressed her with her dagger as Ms. D cryptically said Angel was just as someone had described.
• Ms. D detonated her severed arm, blasted Angel toward the altar, then sank into the hall wall and disappeared.

Angel and the Nighthawks survived their battle with Ms. D, but the Shepherd escaped after losing an arm. The group began tending to the injured and preparing to deal with the ruined villa.

• Angel chose not to pursue Ms. D and returned to the hall to help the injured Nighthawks.
• Angel gave Henry Goddess's Gaze and checked on Lares, taking Blood Vessel Thief from his hand for safekeeping.
• Dunn and Soest entered the hall, and Angel reported that Ms. D had escaped through the wall after detonating her severed arm.
• Soest judged that the team had done well and concluded Ms. D would flee Tingen to recover, making pursuit impractical.
• Dunn and Henry moved Lares outside, while Dunn checked that Angel was unharmed.
• Angel pointed out the devastated villa and the Magician Pocket Watch's nearly finished countdown as the group turned to cleanup.

Ms. D escaped Tingen City and headed toward Backlund after the Nighthawks’ battle with the Aurora Order. Klein used the Grey Fog to review the fight and learned that Lanevus had been in contact with Ms. D.

• Ms. D swam down the Tussock River, told someone she would reach Backlund before dawn, and warned them to continue the plan.
• Dunn, Soest, and Angel discussed the battle at Blackthorn Security Company while Old Neil treated the injured Henry and Lares.
• Klein’s ordinary Divination of Ms. D’s location was interfered with, so he entered the Grey Fog Space to investigate.
• Klein’s dream Divination showed him the Nighthawks’ ambush, Ms. D’s escape, and Angel being caught in an explosion.
• Klein used Pendulum Divination in the Grey Fog Space and confirmed Ms. D had left Tingen City.
• Klein’s Divination about people who had contacted Ms. D revealed the familiar face of Lanevus.

Klein reported that his divination linked Lanevus to Ms. D and the Aurora Order, prompting Soest to spread the wanted man’s description among the Red Gloves. After Dunn brought Klein and Angel home, Angel entered her cold house and found a strange, eyeless face with an enormous mouth floating before her.

• Klein told Dunn, Soest, and Angel that Ms. D had left Tingen and that his dream divination had identified Lanevus as someone connected to her.
• Angel explained that Lanevus had run off with more than ten thousand pounds raised through an investment scheme, and Soest ordered a wanted poster and a search for him.
• Soest said he would return to Backlund the next morning and seek a higher-level Sealed Artifact to track down Ms. D.
• Klein and Angel awkwardly discussed the danger of the fight and her Mystical Item before Dunn offered them a carriage ride home.
• Angel reached her house at 6 Daffodil Street, sensed an unnatural chill, activated her Spirit Vision, and saw a translucent face with no eyes or nose and an enormous mouth.

Angel received a letter from Daly advising her and Klein to apply early for advancement, then replied with an account of the battle and her thoughts on the application. She also asked Daly to find an Agate Peacock's Egg in Backlund, and sent the reply through Daly's messenger.

• Daly's messenger delivered a letter to Angel, in which Daly asked about the operation and urged Angel and Klein to submit special advancement applications soon.
• Angel considered whether she and Klein should apply early or wait until the end of the month, and read Daly's instructions for summoning her messenger.
• The messenger reappeared while Angel recited the incantation, and Angel wrote a reply describing the battle against Ms. D and their suspicions about Lanevus.
• Angel told Daly she would discuss the advancement application with Klein before deciding, and teased Daly about her concern for Captain Dunn.
• Angel asked Daly to find and purchase an Agate Peacock's Egg in Backlund, then gave the letter to the messenger.

Angel visited Klein to discuss Ms. Daly’s renewed proposal for a special application and the Acting Method, and she and Klein agreed to submit it to the captain. Melissa invited Angel to dinner with Klein, where Angel learned that Benson was studying for a public examination and began to suspect the Moretti family had heard about the proposal unusually early.

• Angel told Klein about Ms. Daly’s visits, her letter, and the Church’s special application for advancing through the Acting Method.
• Klein and Angel agreed to submit their special application to the captain the next day and discussed how to share the Acting Method with the other team members without exposing Ms. Daly.
• Melissa returned home, saw Angel with Klein, and invited her to join their dinner.
• At dinner, Melissa explained that Benson had been working late less often since Klein became a Nighthawk and was studying for the Kingdom’s public examination.
• Angel realized the public-examination proposal had not yet passed the Upper and Lower Houses, wondered how the Moretti family knew about it, and noticed Klein quickly avert his gaze.

Angel reported Klein Moretti as a possible Tarot Club candidate, and the Fool agreed to assess him while ordering her to keep the club secret from him. The next morning, Angel and Klein persuaded Dunn to approve their applications to advance, leaving Klein startled when Angel asked whether a Seer’s Sequence 8 was called Clown.

• Angel recorded her suspicions about Klein and prayed to the Fool, who said he would assess Klein and told her not to reveal the Tarot Club to him.
• Angel and Klein visited Dunn and requested permission to submit applications to advance beyond their current Sequences.
• Klein explained the coincidences he had faced since joining the Nighthawks and said he wanted to grow stronger to protect his family and friends.
• Dunn approved both applications, though he could not guarantee the church had the Instigator Potion formula for Angel.
• Klein went to draft his application, and Angel asked whether the Seer’s Sequence 8 was Clown, freezing his excited expression.

Angel and Klein prepared applications to advance to Sequence 8, while Angel hinted to Rozanne that their rapid progress came from a method of mastering Potions. Leonard revealed his familiarity with Potion digestion and, after the pair went to submit their applications, wondered whether he should advance too.

• Angel told Rozanne that she and Klein had learned a way to master Potions quickly and were preparing to advance.
• Rozanne and Angel discussed how the method might help the other Nighthawks, though Old Neil's age and health made advancement risky.
• Rozanne complained about Tingen's mayoral election turmoil and the muddy road caused by the renovation of Street Park.
• Leonard arrived, reacted with surprise to Angel and Klein's planned advancement, and let slip that he understood Potion digestion.
• Klein handed Angel the prepared applications, and she approved hers before going with him to submit it to the captain.
• After Angel and Klein left, Leonard wondered whether he should advance as well.

Angel revealed the Acting Method to her fellow Nighthawks by describing how she and others mastered their Potions, while Klein informed Kenley. Angel and Klein then connected the Church’s secrecy about the method to the Law of Conservation of Extraordinary Characteristics and the danger of Beyonders killing one another for advancement materials.

• Leonard introduced Angel to Seeka, Frye, and Royale as someone who had mastered her Sequence 9 Potion in less than two months.
• Angel shared examples and her own Assassin Rule, indirectly teaching the Nighthawks the Acting Method without naming it outright.
• Angel told Klein that Seeka, Royale, Frye, and possibly Leonard had gained insight, while Klein reported that Kenley had also understood the method.
• Angel told Klein that Beyonder Characteristics left by the dead could serve as Potion materials, and Klein concluded that the Church might hide the Acting Method to prevent demand for those materials from driving Beyonders to kill.
• Angel recalled that Captain Dunn had taken a Sequence 6 Beyonder Characteristic from Mrs. Sharon.

Angel and Klein learned that a Holy Cathedral assessor had arrived to evaluate their advancement applications. The assessor, high-sequence deacon Crestet Cesimir, waited in the underground Alchemy Room with the formulas and materials for their next Potions, leaving Angel alarmed by Daly’s hint that she had submitted the application for her.

• Leonard told the Nighthawks that he had gained new insights into acting and might apply to advance from Midnight Poet.
• Dunn Smith summoned Angel and Klein and told them that someone from the Holy Cathedral had arrived.
• Angel recognized Daly in the reception hall, and Dunn identified Crestet Cesimir as the assessor waiting underground.
• Daly said Crestet had brought the formulas and materials for clown and Instigator Potions so Angel and Klein could advance if they passed.
• Angel realized Daly had arranged the application for her when Daly winked at her.

Angel feared that the Church would make her drink another Instigator Potion, but she realized Daly was warning her not to conceal that she had already advanced. She underwent Crestet Cesimir’s assessment and passed, though the test left her irritated with him.

• Angel worried that Daly’s mention of the Instigator Potion meant the Church might force her to drink it again, then understood that Daly was signaling Crestet Cesimir already knew she had advanced.
• Daly told Angel to go downstairs for the assessment, and Klein also understood the hidden meaning while Dunn remained confused.
• Angel entered the Alchemy Room and met Crestet Cesimir, who gave her three minutes to prepare for an assessment of her Potion mastery and mental state.
• During the assessment, Crestet’s disorienting darkness and chaotic singing provoked Angel’s urge to attack him, but she restrained herself.
• Crestet declared that Angel had passed without signs of losing control or hidden dangers, and Angel thanked him while privately wanting to beat him up.

Crestet questioned Angel about her insights into the Assassin Potion, then had her swear an oath on a Holy Artifact. The oath bound her to answer three questions truthfully, and Crestet began by asking when she became an Instigator.

• Angel explained how battles with Mrs. Sharon and an assassin helped her understand and digest the Assassin Potion.
• Angel said she shared her insights with all her Beyonder teammates and had submitted a special application with Klein.
• Crestet revealed a glowing white short sword and instructed Angel to swear an oath on it.
• Angel swore never to reveal details of the Acting Method to those who did not know it and to answer three questions truthfully.
• Crestet began his questioning by asking Angel when she became an Instigator.

Angel passed Crestet Cesimar’s special examination and was confirmed as a Sequence 8 Instigator, learning that the Church’s Acting Method was the same approach she had already used. She left the Alchemy Room and was told to send Klein Moretti to meet Crestet.

• Angel told Crestet that she had become an Instigator in Enmat Harbor and explained that Cole Granger had given her the Potion formula while she bought the Main Materials at the Underground Market.
• Crestet asked whether Angel had harmed any innocents while mastering the Assassin Potion, and she answered no.
• Crestet used the Bone Sword and an improvised mixture to confirm Angel’s successful examination and congratulate her on advancing to Sequence 8.
• Crestet explained that the three questions were specific to Angel because her application had faced opposition over her place in the Demoness pathway.
• Angel asked about the Acting Method, and Crestet explained how acting helped Beyonders master Potions while reducing the risk of losing control.
• Crestet sent Angel upstairs to tell her teammates she had passed and to ask Klein Moretti to come down.

Angel passed Crestet Cesimir’s assessment, advanced to Sequence 8, and received the Agate Peacock’s Egg from Daly. Klein also passed his assessment and advanced to Clown, but Angel immediately tested his newly enhanced reflexes and found he still needed training.

• Angel returned from the basement and told Klein she had passed the assessment and taken the Potion, becoming a Sequence 8 Beyonder.
• Daly gave Angel a wooden box containing the Agate Peacock’s Egg, asking her to send weekly reports on Dunn’s movements in return.
• Klein returned from his assessment, and Angel surprised him with a dagger attack to test his Clown-enhanced reflexes.
• Angel told Klein his reaction was better but still needed training, while Daly laughed at their exchange.

Klein and Angel advanced to Sequence 8 and shared the Acting Method with their fellow Nighthawks, while Dunn appeared poised to advance to Sequence 6. The assessment ended in disaster when Angel and Daly entered the Alchemy Room and found that Old Neil had lost control.

• Klein described the Clown Potion's abilities to Angel and the others after his advancement to Sequence 8.
• Dunn arranged for the Nighthawks to complete their assessments and swear an oath, while Daly hinted that Dunn was preparing to advance to Sequence 6.
• The Nighthawks thanked Angel and Klein for sharing the Acting Method as the assessments neared completion.
• Crestet summoned Dunn and Daly to the Alchemy Room, and Angel went to fetch Daly.
• Angel and Daly entered the blood-covered Alchemy Room, where Crestet stood beside Old Neil's body and Dunn looked exhausted and stricken.

Old Neil lost control after being contaminated by the Hidden Sage, and Dunn killed him rather than let him become a monster. Angel returned to the Nighthawks and told them of Old Neil’s death.

• Crestet explained that Old Neil had been contaminated and lost control when he used Dream Invasion to examine him.
• Crestet warned that Old Neil could not be saved, and Dunn stopped Daly from attempting Spirit Channeling.
• Dunn covered Old Neil with his trench coat and snapped his neck while Crestet maintained the Holy Artifact’s effect.
• Angel returned upstairs and told the Nighthawks that Old Neil was dead, shocking the team.

After Old Neil’s death, Angel struggled with her grief and sought a way to obtain the ingredients she needed without revealing her whereabouts. At the Tarot Club, the Fool proposed testing a sacrifice-and-bestowal method to transfer Justice’s Black Abyss Demon Fish’s Blood to Angel safely.

• Angel returned home after Old Neil’s funeral and recalled how his attempts to resurrect Shariste had led to his corruption and death.
• Justice exchanged the Telepathist formula with Sun for a page from Emperor Roselle’s Diary.
• Justice offered to sell Angel Black Abyss Demon Fish’s Blood for 350 pounds, but they had no safe way to deliver it.
• The Fool proposed that Justice sacrifice a designated item to Him so He could bestow it upon Angel.