Chapter Summaries

Klein explained that Rosell had created Blasphemy Slate cards containing a complete Sequence, while Hobart described how his family’s Curse drove him to advance. The meeting ended with Alger sharing the sale proceeds from intelligence Hobart had provided and discussing Hell Admiral Ludwell’s encounter with a ship.

• Klein revealed that Rosell had seen the second Blasphemy Slate and created cards recording a complete Sequence, which was not any of the Tarot members’ Sequences.
• Hobart said his Potion had been completely Digested after Mr. Fool accepted his sacrifice and plea, then explained that a friend of one of his elders had known Rosell.
• Hobart told the Tarot Club that his family’s Curse made it difficult for members to live past thirty without becoming Madmen, and said the danger motivated him to advance.
• Alger reported that Hell Admiral Ludwell had bought the intelligence from the previous gathering for 3,000 Pounds, giving Hobart his agreed share of 900 Pounds.
• Alger said that, according to his inquiries, Ludwell had not fought the target vessel intensely and had not taken all its valuables.

Alger explained how he had reconstructed the likely deal between the Hell Admiral and the Intis ship, while Derrick shared how his sunlight-assisted work was benefiting Silver City. The Tarot Club discussed a possible trade for Silver City’s scarce Beyonder weapons, but no arrangement had yet been made.

• Alger explained that the Hell Admiral probably negotiated with the Intis ship, taking some gold and helping it evade other pirates.
• Alger said he planned to attend the Pirate Gathering and ask about the travel-capable Sealed Artifact, while no one had found clues about the Storm Blessed Potion.
• Derrick told Mr. World that he expected to obtain Mist Treant roots and sap through helping at the Workshop, and Mr. World agreed to look for a suitable weapon for him.
• Derrick explained that Silver City had few uses for many low-Sequence materials, and Hobart suggested that the Tarot Club might trade useful goods with the city.
• Derrick identified Beyonder weapons as something Silver City urgently needed because its own Workshop produced only ordinary weapons and monster spoils rarely included enchanted ones.

At the Tarot Club, Hobart arranged to exchange Beyonder Weapons for Silver City’s surplus Extraordinary Materials, while Alger offered to help The World find ingredients. After the gathering, Alger resolved to prepare more carefully for an expedition, Derrick recognized the value of Silver City’s unused materials, and Klein considered how to fund his next advancement.

• Hobart proposed trading Beyonder Weapons for Extraordinary Materials that Derrick did not need, and Alger asked to join the cooperation.
• Alger told The World that the Marrow Crystal of the Elven Spring and the Full Spinal Fluid of the Evil-Patterned Black Panther might be available at the Pirate Gathering.
• Derrick identified the Serial Killing cases in Backlund as resembling a Demon pathway advancement Ritual, and Klein ended the gathering after the members exchanged information.
• Alger, worried that Hobart and The World were approaching higher sequences, planned to seek the Storm Blessed Potion Recipe and explore a ruin more cautiously.
• Derrick calculated that many materials worthless in Silver City could be valuable outside it, then left home to help at the workshop.
• Klein considered selling Potion Recipes to raise money and decided to visit the Roselle Memorial Exhibition while waiting for the next gathering.

Audrey realized that the information she encountered might be filtered and planned to ask Mr. Hobart for advice before visiting the East End. Hobart brewed and drank the Corrupted Baron Potion, resisted its corrupting influence, and successfully advanced to Sequence 6.

• Audrey told Susie she had realized she did not know what Backlund or the world looked like and that some of her information seemed filtered.
• Audrey planned to visit the East End after the Justice League gathering and ask Mr. Hobart what to watch out for.
• Hobart considered selling the Madman and Werewolf Extraordinary Characteristics to afford a Sealed Artifact and seeking Klein's help finding Hayman.
• Hobart brewed the Corrupted Baron Potion using the fused main ingredients and its auxiliary materials.
• Hobart resisted the Potion's malicious and greedy thoughts, regained control of his body, and became a Corrupted Baron.

Hobart explored the abilities he gained from the Corrupted Baron's Potion and found that his strength had increased across the board. In the Country of Disorder, he discovered a powerful Black Crystal that could protect him from mental influence and lend him some of the Country’s power in the real world.

• Hobart found that Bribe, Distortion, his ability to find loopholes, and his physical strength had improved, while Corrosion had become a new skill.
• Hobart recorded how the Black Emperor’s Distortion and loophole-finding differed from the authorities of The Fool and Error.
• Hobart entered the Country of Disorder, moved the blurry figure from the pool into a lake, and sensed that his controlled territory and borrowed power had expanded.
• Hobart discovered a Black Crystal that could resist Loss of Control, Bewitchment, and spiritual attacks, but would strip emotions and Extraordinary Power from anyone who held it too long.
• Hobart realized that the Black Crystal’s negative effects would not affect him and that he could use it to borrow some of the Country of Disorder’s power in the real world.

After advancing, Hobart named the black crystal Order Crystal and fashioned it into weapons, accessories, and containers for dangerous items while discovering that the Order Wood and Stone of Loss of Control had grown stronger. He returned home, invited Fors and Xue to the Roselle Memorial Exhibition, then went to collect the completed swords from Jessica and Kelly.

• Hobart shaped Order Crystal into sword components, a wax seal, a pocket watch key, black boxes for the Teleport Stone Statue and Dream Stealing Pocket Watch, and several masks.
• Hobart discovered that the Order Wood doubled his Distortion power beneath its canopy and that the Stone of Loss of Control had gained an adjustable attack range of three to eight meters.
• Hobart left the Country of Disorder, brought his prepared items into the real world, and wore the crystal seal and watch key on Kelly's Key Ring.
• Hobart invited Fors and Xue to the Roselle Memorial Exhibition with three VIP tickets, and they agreed to go the next day.
• Hobart carried the Order Wood and Order Crystal to Jessica and Kelly's residence to collect the completed Tang Sword and Two-Handed Sword.

Hobart visited Kelly and Jessica to inspect Kelly’s Beyonder weapons and recruit her as an Artisan by offering access to a confidential Beyonder gathering. After learning Kelly would negotiate with others the next night, he asked how Beyonder Weapons differed from crafted Mystical Items.

• Jessica showed Hobart the Black Tang Sword and Two-Handed Sword, explaining their spirit-damaging abilities and the Two-Handed Sword’s chance to send an enemy’s spirit body into the Underworld.
• Hobart had Kelly remove the weapons’ original handles, then used Order Crystal and the Country of Disorder’s power to refashion his cane and create a sword sheath.
• Hobart invited Jessica to a confidential Beyonder gathering, hoping to recruit Kelly and give them a chance to trade for materials; Jessica agreed and offered to sell Kelly’s weapons there.
• Jessica showed Hobart the Hurricane Axe and Slow Whip; Hobart declined the whip and left the axe for Klein to buy from Little Sun.
• Kelly said she would negotiate with the others at an abandoned suburban workshop the following night, and Hobart asked about the difference between Beyonder Weapons and crafted Mystical Items.

Hobart learned how Artisans made Beyonder Weapons and Mystical Items, then formed a long-term partnership with Kelly to have her forge weapons from Extraordinary Materials. He headed to the Freight Railway Station, where Grove and his partner witnessed a small locomotive rise into the air again.

• Kelly explained the differences between Beyonder Weapons and Mystical Items, including how Artisans made them and the risks involved.
• Hobart asked Kelly whether Extraordinary Materials could be used to forge Beyonder Weapons, and she agreed to work with him while warning that success could take several costly attempts.
• Hobart and Kelly established a long-term cooperative relationship, and Hobart left with the wooden box containing the Two-Handed Sword.
• Hobart told Jessica that he would take half a day off the next day, then traveled to the Freight Railway Station.
• Grove and his partner saw familiar firelight and a gust of wind as the small locomotive slowly rose into the air.

Grove and his companion found the locomotive mysteriously shifted off its tracks, prompting rumors that the Freight Railway Station was haunted. At the Roselle Memorial Exhibition, Hobart ran into Klein, recruited him for a bounty hunt, and mentioned a weapon Klein could buy.

• Grove and his companion saw the locomotive float and vanish, but guards later found it sitting off the tracks and reported the strange incident.
• Audrey invited Hobart, Fors, and Xue to a Justice League gathering on Friday and said she would introduce a new member.
• Hobart visited the Roselle Memorial Exhibition, where Machinery Hearts treated him as a low-priority suspect in the theft of Rosell's Creative Manuscript.
• Hobart recognized Klein studying the exhibits, and they stepped aside to talk.
• Hobart offered Klein a share of an 800-pound bounty for capturing or killing an extremist, and Klein agreed to meet him at the exhibition the next morning.
• Klein asked about Beyonder weapons, and Hobart told him about the Hurricane Axe, which cost under 600 pounds before his discount.

Hobart spotted Bernadette at a memorial exhibition but chose not to approach her, then learned Elizabeth and her companions planned to visit Backlund. That evening, he accompanied Kelly and Jessica to meet a group trying to force Kelly into their organization, and he began an attack when negotiations failed.

• Hobart saw a striking woman at the exhibition and realized after leaving that she was Bernadette, but decided to wait for a more natural chance to approach her about the Lamp Genie.
• Hobart received Elizabeth's letter saying she, Selena, Melissa, and Benson would come to Backlund that weekend, and he asked Elizabeth to telegram him after buying their tickets.
• Hobart traveled with Jessica and Kelly to an abandoned workshop, where they met John and his three Extraordinary companions.
• John demanded that Kelly join his organization and threatened Hobart and Jessica when Kelly refused.
• Hobart answered John's threat by beginning an attack, and the two Sequence 8 Provokers suddenly argued over Mary.

Hobart fought John and Alex in the abandoned workshop, using Corrosion, the Stone of Loss of Control, and his abilities to weaken his opponents. After the battle shifted against him, he used a classical Pocket Watch to make John’s Dawn Sword vanish and appear in his own hand.

• Hobart used Corrosion and the Stone of Loss of Control on John, Alex, and two Sequence 8s, then weakened John with his bribery ability.
• Hobart killed one Sequence 8 and tried to press his advantage, but John parried a Stone of Loss of Control and attacked him with a Dawn Sword.
• Hobart twisted John’s attack and used Frenzy, but Alex summoned an Undead and three Golden Skeletons that immobilized and attacked Hobart.
• Kelly and Jessica killed the Sequence 8 who was nearing loss of control while Alex and Kelly fought, and Hobart freed himself and destroyed the Golden Skeletons.
• John recovered from Frenzy and charged Hobart, who used a classical Pocket Watch to take the Dawn Sword from John’s hand.

Hobart used his abilities and the Teleport Stone Statue to keep John from escaping while he weakened him with Corrosion. After killing Alex and John, Hobart reflected on how difficult a Sequence 6 was to defeat.

• Hobart exploited the limits of John's abilities, cut through his Dawn Armor, and forced him to retreat with Alex.
• Hobart used the Teleport Stone Statue to return John and Alex to the Abandoned Workshop after they fled through separate windows.
• Kelly helped Hobart fight the two men, and Hobart killed Alex with his blade.
• John charged Hobart with his fists while Hobart evaded his attacks and continued using Corrosion.
• Hobart's Corrosion overwhelmed John's damaged spirit body, allowing Hobart to pierce John's chest and cut off half his head.
• John collapsed and died, and Hobart remarked that Sequence 6 was hard to kill.

After the fight, Hobart used Spirit Communication on John to learn about the Judgement Group and trace John’s rise through the Beyonder sequences. He obtained several Potion Recipes, including the Sequence 5 Guardian recipe, and wondered whether the Giant Bishop had already found it.

• Hobart checked the area for hidden enemies, then asked Kelly and Jessica to search the bodies while he questioned John’s spirit.
• Hobart learned that John belonged to the Judgement Group, which had a Leader and five Vice Leaders; John’s superior was the scar-faced Gale.
• Hobart saw the Judgement Group’s obscured Leader and concluded that a powerful Sealed Artifact might be hiding the man’s appearance.
• Hobart learned John’s Sequence 9 Warrior and Sequence 8 Pugilist recipes, then saw how John obtained recipes for higher sequences.
• Hobart obtained the Sequence 5 Guardian Potion Recipe and wondered whether the Giant Bishop had already acquired it.

Hobart questioned the Dawn Knight, John, through Spirit Communication and learned where he had hidden a Mutated Fire Rose Spider and how his superior Gale made contact. After John’s spirit dissipated, Hobart and his companions disposed of the bodies and divided the spoils, including several Extraordinary Characteristics.

• Hobart used Spirit Communication to learn that John had hidden a Mutated Fire Rose Spider in a grave at Bostan Cemetery and that only John knew its location.
• Hobart learned that Gale would contact John when needed, then John’s spirit body dissipated.
• Kelly and Jessica searched the bodies, dissolved the corpses, and left the Abandoned Workshop with Hobart.
• Kelly told Hobart that Alex had commissioned a Beyonder Weapon, which might have been intended for someone else or for the Judgment Group.
• Hobart and his companions divided the spoils, and Hobart accepted the Provoker’s Extraordinary Characteristics from Kelly.

After reviewing the mistakes and lessons from his battle, Hobart prepared for Fors’s Blood Moon crisis and watched as she resisted losing control by reciting The Fool’s Honorific Name. He healed Fors afterward, and she thanked him for his earlier advice.

• Hobart reviewed his battle, recognizing that he had misused the Stone of Loss of Control and had been overconfident, while noting what he had learned about Corrosion, Distortion, and the limits of the Teleport Stone Statue.
• Hobart returned to Blanca Street and found Fors awake; she told him she had quit her job as an Apprentice.
• Hobart realized the Blood Moon had arrived and used True Sight to observe Fors as she grew agitated and began showing signs of losing control.
• Fors opened a book and haltingly recited The Fool’s Honorific Name, and Hobart sensed that her loss of control had not continued.
• Hobart gave Fors a Healing Art, and she thanked him for his advice.

Fors celebrated her newfound freedom with Hobart and Xue, while Raft Pond recovered his memories of the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and prayed to the Creator for help restoring his family’s glory. Hobart heard Raft’s prayer in the Country of Disorder but chose not to answer, leaving Raft’s plea unresolved.

• Fors celebrated with Hobart, who brought out aged white wine, and Xue admitted she had been stuffing her shoes to seem taller.
• Under the Blood Moon, Raft Pond used a Sealed Artifact to confirm that no one was secretly watching him.
• Raft used a crystal ball to recover details of the Roselle Memorial Exhibition, including the Creator’s Honorific Name.
• Raft prayed to the Creator in the Shadow of Order for guidance and help restoring the Pond family’s glory.
• Hobart received Raft’s prayer in the Country of Disorder, confirmed Raft was acting on his own, and decided not to respond.

Hobart and Klein searched for Hayman, using Klein’s divination to track the pipe’s owner to an enamel factory in Backlund. They found a likely underground hiding place and Hobart thrust his sheathed blade into the ground above it, calling out an order.

• Hobart mailed Byron the message that the goods had arrived, then met Klein and sold him Hurricane Axe for 510 Pounds.
• Klein divined that Hayman’s pipe owner was still in Backlund and guided their carriage to an enamel factory in the Factory District.
• Hobart and Klein investigated the factory, shared the carriage fare, and returned at night wearing anti-divination masks.
• Hobart hypnotized the factory workers into believing he was their manager while Klein’s divination led them to abandoned equipment and a suspected underground entrance.
• Hobart hypnotized two men guarding the equipment to ignore them, then thrust his sheathed Tang Sword into the ground and called out, “Order!”

Hobart and Klein ambushed the people beneath the abandoned workshop, but Hobart discovered the target was not Hayman and that two Rose Bishops were involved. He turned the fight to his advantage by exploiting Hillman’s injuries and loss of control, then stole the other Rose Bishop’s ability to transform into flesh.

• Hobart sensed two people underground with the Teleport Stone Statue and found that one was a weakened Rose Bishop who was already close to losing control.
• Hobart used the Order Wood, the Stone of Loss of Control, and the Psychological Spoon to push the first Rose Bishop toward a complete loss of control.
• A second Rose Bishop attacked, and Hobart realized the pipe that had led him there belonged to Hillman rather than Hayman.
• Hillman lost control, and Hobart redirected the monster’s attacks toward the second Rose Bishop while weakening him.
• Hobart stole the second Rose Bishop’s ability to transform into flesh, leaving him vulnerable as the monster pounced.
• The Rose Bishop detonated the guard’s head inside the monster, blasting it apart.

Hobart defeated the Rose Bishop by weakening the battlefield’s flesh with Distortion and exploiting the Rose Bishop’s loss of control over it. After collecting the spoils, Hobart and Klein left, while Mr. A arrived and decided to bring in replacements for the Aurora Society’s losses in Backlund.

• Hobart used Frenzy and a Stone of Loss of Control against the Rose Bishop, who feigned weakness to lure him closer.
• Hobart turned into flesh, cut off the Rose Bishop’s leg with his spirit-damaging blade, and weakened the surrounding flesh by distorting its spirituality.
• Hobart used Corrosion to fill the Rose Bishop with greed, then split him in half and fatally wounded his spirit body.
• Hobart and Klein retrieved the Stone of Loss of Control, found Hillman’s pulsing heart inside the writhing monster, and collected the Rose Bishop’s Extraordinary Characteristics.
• Hobart and Klein left the battlefield, and Mr. A arrived and decided to transfer people from other cities to Backlund.

Klein and Hobart divided the rewards from killing Hillman and the Rose Bishop, then Hobart negotiated with Captain Thomas to sell Hillman’s Sealed Artifact to the Nighthawks. Hobart left with payment approved for the following morning as thick fog covered Backlund.

• Klein and Hobart agreed to split Hillman’s 1,500-Pound bounty, share the Sealed Artifact’s value, and give Hobart the Rose Bishop’s Extraordinary Characteristic in exchange for 300 Pounds.
• Klein gave Hobart the Krag Club as a contact address, and Hobart went to the Blackthorn Security Company to claim the bounty.
• Hobart told Captain Thomas that he had killed Hillman with a companion’s help and offered Hillman’s Sealed Artifact to the Nighthawks.
• Hobart asked for one-fifth of a Judge Extraordinary Characteristic and 2,000 Pounds for the Sealed Artifact, and Thomas agreed to arrange the payment.
• Hobart left the security company and walked into the thick fog spreading across Backlund.