Chapter Summaries

Angel defeated Ms. D after tracking her into the sewers, while Klein arrived in spirit form and helped her avoid the authorities. Angel escaped through the sewers toward Cherwood Borough with Ms. D’s Beyonder Characteristic and a bone-like dagger.

• Angel shoved the Crimson Eye into Ms. D’s wound, triggering an explosion that left a reduced mass of flesh behind.
• Klein flew to the battle site, recognized Doctor Allen and Vilma, and found Angel hiding in the sewer.
• Angel explained that she had tracked down Ms. D and burned her to death after the Shepherd fled there.
• Klein gave Angel a Tarot deck and drew the search party away from the sewer.
• Angel placed Judgment and Justice cards beside Ms. D’s remains, collected the Beyonder Characteristic and bone-like dagger, and headed through the sewers toward Cherwood Borough.

Leonard Mitchell joined Soest’s Red Gloves team in Backlund and investigated a villa attacked by Escalante Osileska. The Nighthawks found a dead Shepherd in a sewer, suggesting the Aurora Order was involved.

• Leonard and the Nighthawks pursued an armored ghost, which vanished before Soest could control it.
• Soest sent Leonard to question Stephen Hampres, who said Escalante had attacked him after Audrey Hall left; Hampres later revealed he could guard against their abilities and planned to report to the Review Council.
• Soest and Leonard learned that the Nighthawks had found something in a sewer, while Leonard began questioning Aaron Ceres instead of using Dream Invasion.
• Soest found a charred corpse covered in Tarot Cards and an Astrologer’s Beyonder Characteristic in the sewer.
• Soest recognized the signs of a Shepherd who had Grazed multiple Beyonder souls and identified the dead person’s group as the Aurora Order.

Angel returned to the safe house after killing Ms. D and examined the Beyonder Characteristics and strange items she had recovered. She stored the spoils and asked Mr. Fool to help Audrey prepare for official questioning, then went to sleep while planning how to handle the investigation.

• Angel returned to the East Borough safe house, treated her wounds, and used the Magic Mirror to learn Ms. D had planned to impersonate Audrey and approach Earl Hall.
• Angel divined that one characteristic came from a Sequence 5 Shepherd and learned Ms. D had advanced by sacrificing a man.
• Angel identified a piece of Faceless skin and a Dawn Paladin characteristic fused with tissue, and concluded Ms. D's other Grazed characteristics might also have been extracted after her death.
• Angel stored the Shepherd characteristic and separated the other items, deciding to ask Mr. Hanged Man and Miss Justice about handling them after the Tarot Club gathering.
• Angel reported the battle to Mr. Fool, offered to repay Sherlock Moriarty for his help, and warned that Audrey would face questioning from the official Beyonders.
• Angel considered how to respond to the investigation and fell asleep despite her injuries and the desires that had built up after removing the Madness Ring.

Audrey concealed her awareness during Daly Simone’s questioning and learned that the Nighthawks were seeking Irene Watson. After her family asked the Church to leave her alone, Audrey looked forward to getting answers from Miss Empress at the Tarot Club gathering.

• Daly Simone used Spirit Channeling to question Audrey, but Mr. Fool’s protection kept Audrey’s mind clear as she pretended to be dazed.
• Audrey told Daly that she had attended a psychology seminar with her maid, guards, and Irene Watson, whom she identified as a Seer.
• Daly ended the questioning and told Audrey that Irene had not been found, then asked Audrey to invite her to a tea party so the Nighthawks could confirm her safety.
• Hibbert Hall thanked Daly and warned her not to disturb Audrey further, while Daly assured him that the Nighthawks were conducting routine procedures.
• Audrey wondered why Escalante had targeted her and anticipated asking Miss Empress for answers at the Tarot Club gathering.
• At three o’clock on Monday afternoon, the Tarot Club members appeared around the long bronze table in the palace above the Gray Fog.

At the Tarot Club, the members learned that the Card of Blasphemy revealed Sequence 0, and Angel told Audrey about the Aurora Order’s attempt to target her family. Audrey agreed to compensate Angel and asked the club to conceal her role in the battle, leaving her identity protected for now.

• The Hanged Man presented three new pages of Roselle’s Diary in exchange for information about the card beside the Fool.
• The Fool revealed the Card of Blasphemy, showing Emperor Roselle and the words “Sequence 0, Black Emperor,” surprising the Tarot Club members.
• Audrey privately thanked Angel for her help and warned that the Nighthawks had questioned her and might investigate Angel’s Seer identity.
• Angel explained that Ms. D had targeted Audrey’s father, assets, and status, and Audrey realized her family had narrowly avoided a grave threat.
• Audrey offered Angel 5,000 pounds and possible Beyonder Ingredients as compensation for her help.
• Audrey asked the Tarot Club to conceal her role in the battle to prevent her identity from being exposed.

Sun recounted how an Amon Avatar possessed him and how Mr. Fool sent an Angel to free him, then the Tarot Club helped him plan to expose corrupted members of the City of Silver’s Expedition Team. Angel arranged for the Hanged Man to contact an Artisan and began sharing news of an Aurora Order Oracle in Backlund.

• Alger asked Sun what he had learned about the former Exploration Team Leader, and Sun described the man’s loss of control and the Chief’s arrival to kill him and an Amon Avatar.
• Sun revealed that Amon had possessed him, and Mr. Fool had sent an Angel to purify the Avatar and free him.
• Sun said he suspected members of the returning Expedition Team, including Lovia, were corrupted by the True Creator, and the Tarot Club helped him devise a plan to expose them.
• The World offered a True Creator-contaminated All-Black Eye to provoke the corrupted Expedition Team members into losing control.
• Angel asked the Hanged Man to connect her with an Artisan, and he agreed to contact one before the next gathering.
• Angel told the Tarot Club that an Aurora Order Oracle had appeared in Hillston Borough, Backlund, the previous night.

At the Tarot Club, Angel recounted killing an Aurora Order Shepherd and offered several Beyonder Characteristics for sale. She left the gathering delighted by her deals, then realized she had not been wearing the Madness Ring and wondered why she had posted the installment directly.

• Fors heard Miss Empress describe an Aurora Order Oracle’s appearance in Backlund and realized Mr. A might hold a high position in the organization.
• Angel told the Tarot Club she had killed Ms. D, a Sequence 5 Shepherd, and listed the Shepherd, Faceless, Dawn Paladin, and Sheriff Characteristics she had obtained.
• Alger reevaluated Angel’s strength, while Fors asked what Beyonder Characteristics were and learned how they could be used to make Potions or Mystical Items.
• Fors reserved the Sheriff Characteristic for 600 pounds, and Mr. Fool distributed notes explaining symbols and characters in Roselle’s Diary.
• After leaving the gathering, Angel celebrated her promised 5,000 pounds, Fors’s payment, and Alger’s help finding Artisans, then noticed her Madness Ring was missing.

Angel visited Sherlock Moriarty to offer him a share of the spoils from their recent battle, then exchanged Abraham Family notes for a week with his mysticism book. Sherlock borrowed her Master Key and discovered that it could open a path through a floor, returning to the living room through the fireplace.

• Angel visited Sherlock at his home and offered him a share of the spoils, but he refused the Beyonder Characteristics.
• Angel told Sherlock she had advanced to Sequence 6, and they discussed Emlyn White's failed attempt to leave Harvest Church.
• Sherlock lent Angel his copy of the Secret Book for a week in exchange for her copied Abraham Family notes and an Apprentice formula.
• Angel explained how she had found the notes and lent Sherlock the Master Key after he asked to study it.
• Sherlock used the Master Key on the carpet, vanished into it, and returned through the fireplace with Flaming Jump.

Angel studied mysticism, performed a ritual that brought her a blessing from the Fool, and prepared for a Nighthawk interrogation. At Earl Hall’s mansion, she met the interrogator, Soest, and answered his first questions about the night Ms. D died.

• Angel copied knowledge from Klarman’s Secret Book and avoided writing down the Primordial Moon’s Honorific Name.
• Angel used Artificial Sleepwalking to receive the Fool’s protection and felt a twelve-paired-winged Angel merge with her spiritual body.
• Angel disguised her appearance and temperament, preparing to face the Nighthawks’ questions about Ms. D’s death.
• Angel arrived at Earl Hall’s mansion and sensed the Night Emblem protecting her as a Nighthawk tried to draw her into a dream.
• Soest questioned Angel about her visit with Audrey to Mr. Hampres’s villa, and Angel calmly confirmed she had gone there.

Angel concealed her identity from Soest while the Nighthawks investigated the Tarot-card killings and linked them to people seeking the Fool. At Mr. A’s gathering, Fors heard the Aurora Order offer rewards for information about both the Fool’s followers and the Tarot-card organization, leaving her alarmed.

• Angel told Soest she had left Escalante’s villa before the explosion and denied seeing the woman in his sketch, then returned from the dream to reality.
• Angel reunited with Audrey, and Cons told the nobles that an Aurora Order Oracle had been found dead in Hillston Borough with Justice and Judgment cards, while a woman had killed her and vanished.
• Leonard, Lares, Soest, and Daly discussed the Shepherd’s death, and Daly revealed that people were searching for an organization devoted to the Fool and recited the Fool’s Honorific Name.
• Mr. A asked his gathering to find followers of the Fool and promised a reward for clues about the Tarot-card organization, leaving Fors stunned and worried.

Angel had an Ancient Feysac passage from Sherlock’s Secret Book translated at a college, where she unexpectedly saw Cole Granger’s sister Lily and chose not to approach her. Later, she discussed Sherman’s choice to become an Assassin with Sevillea and learned that the Demoness Sect knew an Aurora Order Oracle had disappeared in Hillston Borough.

• Angel exchanged a Sheriff Beyonder Characteristic with Miss Magician for 600 pounds, then decided to have difficult passages in Sherlock’s Secret Book translated.
• Angel paid Benny at Backlund Technical College to translate the Ancient Feysac pages and planned to collect the translation the next morning.
• Angel recognized Lily Granger on campus, checked her aura with Spirit Vision, and let her leave without making contact.
• Angel told Sevillea that Sherman had been reluctant to join the Demoness Sect, and Sevillea said he had requested the Assassin Potion himself.
• Angel mentioned that an Aurora Order Oracle had died in the sewers, and Sevillea confirmed that Ms. D had gone missing that day.

Angel learned that the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order were searching for the Fool’s believers in Backlund and informed Klein, who decided not to report the search for fear of exposing his allies. Angel then collected the translated Secret Book manuscript while continuing to deal with the bad luck caused by her pistol.

• Angel questioned Sevillea about the Demoness Sect’s plans and agreed to attend a royal ball after Sevillea offered to reimburse her clothes.
• Sevillea tasked Angel with investigating whether an organization that worshipped the Fool operated in East Borough, and Angel decided to report this to the Fool.
• Klein heard Angel’s prayer, concluded that the Aurora Order and Demoness Sect knew the Fool’s Honorific Names but had not identified him, and chose not to report Mr. A.
• Angel apologized to a coachman after her pistol’s bad luck damaged his carriage, then collected Benny’s Loenese translation of the Secret Book.
• Klein answered Angel through the gray fog, telling her not to worry.

Angel investigated Lily Granger’s recent change in behavior and discovered that someone had been sending her threatening letters. After divining the identity of the letter writer, Angel spotted a man watching Lily’s house and wondered whether he was a Nighthawk.

• After Benny said Lily had recently been troubled and impolite, Angel followed her home and secretly searched her house.
• Angel found a Church of the Evernight death notice about Angel Granger and divined that Lily had hidden several letters behind her study desk.
• The letters threatened Lily and her family, and Angel used the Magic Mirror to see that a middle-aged man had written and delivered them.
• Angel failed to divine more about the man, hid the letters again, and left to investigate by traditional means.
• Angel noticed a man in a trench coat and top hat watching Lily’s house and wondered whether he was a Nighthawk keeping watch.

Angel hired a private detective to watch Lily Granger’s home for the man sending threatening letters, then trained Sherman and learned he was searching for the human trafficker Baelen. She left Sherman struggling with the moral demands of the Assassin Pathway and returned to find an unmarked envelope at her safe house.

• Angel hired a private detective to surveil Lily Granger’s residence for a week and search for the man from her divination.
• Angel visited Sherman, praised his improved awareness, and heard that his search for Baelen had made little progress.
• Sherman told Angel that people in the East Borough were spreading a Creator faith resembling the Aurora Order’s beliefs, and Angel told him to focus on missing-person cases.
• Angel taught Sherman how to use his Assassin abilities and learned that he had chosen the pathway because he hoped to become a Witch.
• Angel warned Sherman about the path’s dangers, urged him to target only those who deserved to die, and left him a dagger and 10 pounds for informants.
• Angel returned to her safe house and found an unmarked envelope by the door.

Angel received an invitation from Lola Swann and met her in Docklands, where Lola revealed that she knew Angel had advanced to Sequence 6. Lola offered a way to communicate and began proposing cooperation against the Demoness Sect.

• Angel found Lola Swann's letter inviting her to meet in Docklands and prepared to leave her safehouse.
• Angel took precautions against the bad luck from her revolver, then went to the riverside house where Lola was waiting with Vincent.
• Lola explained that Vincent had tracked Angel by watching her movements and said she wanted to stay in contact.
• Angel removed the Madness Ring and revealed her Sequence 6 appearance to Lola.
• Lola gave Angel a potion for communicating through mirrors and said she would teach her more Beyonder techniques after explaining her request.

Angel discussed the Demoness Sect and Aurora Order’s cooperation with Lola and Vincent, then accepted a Communication Potion to test whether Lola’s information was reliable. She left the safe house disguised by a Faceless Beyonder Characteristic and planned to question Sevillea about Lady Despair’s possible return to Backlund.

• Angel told Lola and Vincent that the Demoness Sect and Aurora Order had cooperated in several cities and might be involved in human trafficking and the True Creator’s attempted descent.
• Lola said she would investigate the nobles while Angel watched the Demoness Sect, warning that a High Sequence powerhouse might return to Backlund by the end of the month.
• Lola taught Angel how to brew the Communication Potion and warned her that mistakes could turn it into a cursed medium.
• Angel and Lola agreed to use the potion for about half a month to verify each other’s information before considering an alliance.
• Angel left the safe house, checked for pursuers, restored her appearance with the Madness Ring, and removed the Faceless characteristic she had used as a disguise.
• Angel planned to ask Sevillea whether Lady Despair intended to return to Backlund, then hired a carriage out of the Docklands.

Angel gathered ingredients and successfully brewed a Communication Potion, then tested it by linking two mirrors through the Spirit World. She prepared bottles for her contacts in Backlund and confirmed the potion worked.

• Angel bought Deep Sleep Flower and Graveyard Grass powders from Darkwill’s shop, where Darkwill returned injured after an owl ruined his attempt to catch a black-furred dog.
• Angel examined her Faceless, Dawn Paladin, and Shepherd Beyonder Characteristics and considered their abilities and drawbacks while the potion mixture simmered.
• Angel completed the Communication Potion, severed its connection to herself through a ritual, and divided it among five bottles.
• Angel smeared the potion around her bedroom mirror and portable Magic Mirror, then linked them through the Spirit World.

Angel delivered the Secret Book and a bottle of Communication Potion to Sherlock Moriarty, who explained the curse on the Abraham Family’s Master Key. She then delivered another potion to Audrey and found Sherman in a bar, leaving their meeting poised to continue.

• Angel brought the copied Secret Book and the Master Key to Sherlock Moriarty, who divined that a powerful Abraham ancestor’s calls for help could destabilize his descendants and kill them, especially during a full moon.
• Sherlock advised Angel to seal or sell the Master Key, and Angel placed it inside a bullet box sealed with a Wall of Spirituality.
• Angel gave Sherlock a Communication Potion and explained how the mirror-based contact method worked, then learned he had invested in a bicycle invention based on Emperor Roselle’s designs.
• Angel delivered another Communication Potion to Audrey and traveled to the Eastern District, where the Good Luck revolver’s misfortune caused more trouble for her coachmen.
• Angel found Sherman talking with a young man in a nearby bar, and Sherman left with her to speak in an alley.

Angel trained Sherman as an assassin and arranged for a Shepherd Beyonder Characteristic to be made into a Mystical Item at the Tarot Club. The meeting ended with the members learning that the Fool and the Tarot Club were being searched for across Backlund and beyond.

• Angel gave Sherman a Communication Potion, warned him to be cautious while investigating Baelen, and told him to choose his own assassination target without harming innocents or provoking other Beyonders.
• Sherman said he planned to target a man who exploited local children, and Angel advised him about dangerous combat-capable Beyonder pathways.
• At the Tarot Club, Angel chose a Sequence 5 Shepherd Beyonder Characteristic for an Artisan to use, agreeing to a 1,700-pound fee, including Hanged Man's 500-pound referral fee.
• Justice offered to cover the Artisan's 1,200-pound crafting fee, allowing Angel to proceed with the commission.
• World, Justice, and Magician reported that detectives, Bounty Hunters, the royal family, and the Aurora Order were searching for believers in the Fool and investigating Tarot-related cases.

At the Tarot Club, Mr. Fool reassured the members that the True Creator’s spying posed no immediate concern, while Angel considered how to earn money and learned more about Sevillea’s plans. Sevillea brought Angel to a grand ball in Queens Borough, where Angel spotted Viscount Glaint approaching.

• Mr. Fool told the Tarot Club that the True Creator was spying on them and advised them not to reveal the place’s secrets, and the members agreed to keep a low profile.
• Miss Magician asked about the Abraham Family, and Hanged Man recounted its history; afterward, Angel sacrificed Ms. D’s Shepherd Beyonder Characteristic and received Hanged Man’s request for the remaining 500 pounds.
• Angel reported to Sevillea that Sherman had begun planning an assassination, and Sevillea told Angel to attend a ball and keep an eye on a young woman as part of a Grand Plan.
• Sevillea said a demigod would return to Backlund at the beginning of the next month, then took Angel to an extravagant ball in Queens Borough.
• Angel recognized Viscount Glaint among the guests, and Sevillea stepped forward to greet him.