Chapter Summaries

Shade and Claire learned that the Seer Association had agreed to cooperate with Snow Mountain, while Elder Harald returned furious after losing all his Special Rule Cards gambling. Shade agreed to win them back and went home briefly, where Luvia offered to care for Little Mia; he then returned to Snow Mountain.

• Claire told Shade that the Church had contained an unactivated Infinite Snake in the City of Time Wheels using a new method proposed by the Seer Association.
• Elder Vilda said negotiations with the Church and Seer Association had gone smoothly, and that Adelaide Lenormand had promised cooperation with Snow Mountain.
• Elder Vilda revealed that Elder Harald had lost all four of his Special Rule Cards gambling, and Shade agreed to help him win them back.
• Elder Vilda offered to borrow cards for Shade, and the group planned to go gambling that afternoon.
• Shade returned home for Little Mia's lunch, but Luvia said she would look after the Cat while he went back to Snow Mountain.
• After Shade left, Luvia wondered aloud whether he was the prince sent to answer her wish and asked Little Mia how she could love him more.

Shade and Claire went to the City of Time Wheels park to win back Elder Harald’s four Special Rule Cards from a young card player. Shade wagered four Special Rule Cards of his own, and the young man warned that the result would be final.

• Elder Vilda gave Shade three borrowed Special Rule Cards, and Elder Harald told Claire to accompany Shade to win his cards back.
• Claire and Shade traveled to the city park, where Elder Harald had lost four cards to a young man with an impressive winning streak.
• Shade checked the young man for signs of unusual influence, then sat down to challenge him while Claire watched under an illusion.
• Shade wagered four Special Rule Cards and explained that he had come to recover the cards Elder Harald lost that morning.
• The young man agreed to play but insisted Shade would have to surrender his cards if he lost.

Shade played Clement Kruger for Special Rule Cards and lost repeatedly despite suspecting that Kruger’s unusual luck was affecting the game. Shade then won ten rounds in a row, recovering his own cards and Elder Harald’s lost cards, before Kruger won again with a risky Special Card.

• Shade agreed with Clement Kruger to play one card at a time under tournament-style rules, wagering Special Rule Cards.
• Shade lost the first three rounds, and he and Claire could detect no supernatural presence or cheating that explained Kruger’s luck.
• Shade lost several more rounds, including Power and Conquest: Conscription Order, but refused Claire’s offers to intervene.
• Starting in the eleventh round, Shade won ten consecutive rounds and recovered his cards as well as three cards Elder Harald had lost.
• After Shade’s long winning streak, Clement Kruger finally won the twenty-first round with Star 5, Age of Navigation: First Mate.

Shade won Elder Harald’s four Rhodes Cards from Clement Kruger, who abruptly left after hearing that his family’s house had collapsed. At a dinner aboard the Radiance Messenger, Shade and the Great Witches coordinated investigations into the island’s dangers, while new information revealed that Kruger’s family had died.

• Clement Kruger ended the card game and handed Shade the final card after learning his mother and brother were trapped beneath their collapsed house.
• Shade returned Elder Harald’s cards and asked Claire to investigate Kruger, then explained the strange game and its outcome to the Elder.
• Shade boarded the Radiance Messenger with Claire and others for a dinner where the Great Witches discussed plans to investigate the island and its threats.
• Shade assigned the witches and their allies to gather information about the Seer Association ritual, cults, ancient Fatu People documents, Snow Mountain, and Starfall Bay.
• Stella reported that Kruger’s mother and brother had died in the collapse and that his father’s body had been found washed ashore.

Shade and Megan investigated Clement Kruger, whose extraordinary luck at cards had cost him his family, and learned that he had obtained it from a mysterious figure called Mr. Snake. They found that the snake-eye gemstone meant to end the bargain had become a strange stone marked with black lines, leaving them with a new lead.

• Shade and Megan visited Clement Kruger at the Fish Tail Alley Tavern and hypnotized him so Shade could question him.
• Clement confessed that he had gained luck for gambling and paid for it with things he possessed, culminating in the deaths of his family after he lost to Shade.
• Clement said he had obtained the power by spinning an Ouroboros Roulette in an ancient Temple, where a robed man called Mr. Snake offered to alter his Destiny.
• Clement explained that Mr. Snake gave him a snake-eye gemstone that could end the borrowed luck if thrown into water, but the gemstone had turned into a pitted gray stone.
• Shade examined the stone and found black lines forming patterns across it, which gave him and Megan their next lead.

Shade and Megan investigated Kruger’s memories of a mysterious temple, but a Misfortune Order procession confronted them and demanded that Shade hand him over. Shade used the Holy Bell to resist the cultists’ church grounds, and as Luck and Misfortune clashed, he gained a new insight into Destiny.

• Megan put Kruger to sleep, and Shade planned to have Siris examine his memories of the temple and Mr. Snake.
• Shade and Megan returned to the alley with Kruger, where they encountered a Misfortune Order procession led by Archbishop Kalle Fortuna.
• Kalle demanded Kruger in exchange for secrets about the Chosen One Ritual and the Fate Dice, but Shade refused and tried to escape with Megan.
• The cultists’ church grounds disrupted Megan’s Space Movement, so Shade rang the Hermits’ Holy Bell to create a sanctuary against their Misfortune.
• As Luck and Misfortune resonated, Shade reflected on Destiny’s two edges, and the noble color of his Fate flowed into the Holy Bell.

Shade defeated the Followers of Misfortune in a clash of power and traded information with their Archbishop about Clement Kruger and the Temple of Fate. After returning home, he explained what had happened and how he had handled Clement, while Galina warned that the Church might trace the events back to Kael-Todd Town.

• Shade's Holy Bell and the Saint Tree Order's power shattered the cultists' ritual and damaged their shrine, forcing the Archbishop to negotiate.
• Shade told Kalle Fortuna that Mr. Snake had given Clement Kruger limited luck, and Kalle revealed that the Temple was Lord of the Ring's Temple of Fate and that Mr. Snake was the sealed Infinite Snake.
• Kalle Fortuna shared the All-Number-One Society candidate's recent misfortunes and said the Blood Spirit School had wagered on the wrong chips before leading his group away.
• Shade and Megan returned home, where Shade told Luvia and Galina about the day's events and explained that he had erased Clement's memories of the night rather than taking his cards or damaging his brain.
• Galina warned Shade that the Church might investigate Clement's family's deaths and trace his unusual luck back to Shade and Kael-Todd Town.

Shade entered the Time Corridor to help the Lord of Walls choose suitable guests for an inn, with one hundred minutes to complete several tasks. In the 1022 Demon Room, Hrimthurs trapped Shade in its freezing aura and appeared to overpower him despite his First Fire.

• Shade discussed the unidentified symbols on Clement Kruger's petrified Snake Eye Gem and worried about choosing a birthday gift for Angelina.
• Shade used the Time Key at Home and received the task of helping the Lord of Walls select suitable guests, along with a reward involving the Transformation Spell - Snake.
• Shade planned to help Miss Coens, repair Rooms 2547 and 2548, and investigate the Moon Beast in Room 2530.
• Shade arrived in the 1022 Demon Room and recognized Hrimthurs, the Ice and Snow Demon, as the ice began freezing him to the floor.
• Shade summoned the Moonbeam Greatsword and used the First Fire against Hrimthurs, but the Demon exhaled freezing air that crystallized the steam and immobilized him.

Shade rescued a black-haired Witch from an Evil Spirit Demon that had possessed her, then brought her to Room 1024. While Lady Gerd treated the Witch and the group drank the Doctor’s potion, Shade returned the borrowed weapons and asked what had happened while he was away.

• Shade used the flaming dagger to fight the demon in Room 1024 and saw an ice-blue figure inside its eyes pleading for help.
• Shade pierced the possessed Witch with the dagger and drove the demon out of her with Moon Fire, then carried her into the Safe Room.
• Shade tested the rescued Witch with the Demon Hunting Seal and holy water before Lady Gerd examined her and found her soul was close to withering.
• Shade gave the group the Doctor’s potion mixed with holy water, then returned Dawn’s First Light and the Demon Hunting Seal to Miss Coens.
• Shade sat by the fireplace and asked what had happened while he was away.

Shade and Miss Novare pursued the sleepwalking Miss Coens through the hotel after Shade realized the Dream Devouring Demon Nagur had possessed her. They reached the 25th Floor to complete the god’s task and hoped to save Miss Coens, but a strong smell of blood warned of another danger nearby.

• Miss Novare and Lady Gerd told Shade that the Witches had explored the hotel and planned to wait until they had three keys before trading with the god.
• Shade stabbed Miss Coens with a black dagger, revealing that the apparent Miss Coens in the room was an illusion while the real one fled.
• Shade and Miss Novare chased Miss Coens through the stairwell, fighting her illusions until she abandoned Dawn’s First Light and her Demon Hunting Seal.
• Miss Novare sensed Miss Coens had gone to a higher floor, and Shade decided they should continue to the 25th Floor and complete the task there.
• Shade gave Miss Novare a black dagger and told her it was the only way to save Miss Coens, then smelled blood as they entered the 25th Floor.

Shade fought and restrained the Spiral Evil Being in Room 2547, then discovered and sealed the gap connecting it to Room 2548. The Lord of Walls’ second task was complete, but Miss Novare was still missing.

• Shade and Miss Novare entered Room 2547 and found a large, intact suite that may have combined the layouts of both rooms.
• Miss Novare vanished as she passed through a doorway, and Shade found that the suite opened into another similar room instead of the corridor.
• Shade pursued a shadow into a distorted spiral space and used his Red Butterfly thaumaturgy and Divine Moonbeam to defeat the Spiral Evil Being.
• Shade found phantom bricks in the kitchen wall and saw his own image in a black metal mirror in Room 2548; the image and mirror cracked apart.
• Shade severed the black line connected to the mirror and rebuilt the gap with bricks, completing the task while Miss Novare remained missing.

Shade fought Miss Coens, whose Demon Man form trapped him in a nightmare between dream and reality. A blessing from the Dream Giver shattered the nightmare and let Shade wound her, but the released shadow of the Demon threatened to bring the dream back.

• Shade attacked Miss Coens after Miss Novare was thrown into the corridor, but the Demon Man overwhelmed him with darkness and strength.
• Shade summoned the Silver Moon with Mystic Lock—Match Girl and used moonlight and Thaumaturgies to resist the nightmare, but Miss Coens’s gaze pulled him into darkness.
• The Childhood Dream blessing summoned a white Unicorn, which pierced Miss Coens and the Ancient Evil Spirit behind her, breaking the nightmare.
• Shade chased the wounded Miss Coens, bound her with Great Sin Chains, and stabbed her chest with the black dagger using False Immortality.
• A shadow sprang from Miss Coens and tried to attack Shade, but she pressed the Demon Hunting Seal against it.

Shade defeated the Demon possessing Miss Coens and returned to the Safe Room with Miss Novare, where Lady Gerd treated the injured women. As they recovered, Lady Gerd identified the symbols on Shade’s Yellow Snake Eye Gem as possibly belonging to the Guiding Light Hermitage.

• Shade sealed the dagger containing the expelled Demon inside a miniature coffin, then used Miss Novare’s spiral power to drive away another evil being.
• Shade, Miss Novare, and Miss Coens returned to the Safe Room, where Lady Gerd stabilized Miss Coens and the still-unconscious Witch.
• Shade concluded that the hotel had targeted Miss Coens because the Demon she was tracking had possessed her all along.
• Lady Gerd explained that she had been adopted by her Witch mother and wanted to learn why, while Miss Novare considered seeking more power from the hotel’s evil beings.
• Lady Gerd recognized the symbols Shade had copied from the Yellow Snake Eye Gem as resembling those used by the Guiding Light Hermitage.

Shade learned more about the Fourth Epoch and Lady Gerd explained her mother’s forbidden research into Human Transmutation and the events that led her to Whisper Hills. As Shade and Lady Gerd reached the hotel’s 1st Floor, he wondered whether Lady Gerd herself had been created by her mother’s experiments.

• Lady Gerd described the Guiding Light Hermitage and the Fourth Epoch, while she and Miss Novare reflected on the Fifth Epoch’s relative peace.
• Shade learned that Lady Gerd’s mother had researched Human Transmutation, including forcibly fusing captured souls in an attempt to create life.
• Lady Gerd said her mother’s final research involved a snake-related Human Subspecies, but her test subjects and records had mysteriously vanished.
• Lady Gerd explained that she followed her mother’s clues to Whisper Hills, entered the hotel, and met Coens and Novare before Shade arrived.
• As Shade and Lady Gerd reached the 1st Floor, he asked whether she might be the product of her mother’s Human Transmutation.

Shade spoke with the Lord of Walls, who confirmed the second task was complete, accepted Nagur as a hotel guest, and explained the challenge waiting on the 40th Floor. Shade received a gold coin that the Fate Manual recognized as Solidified Fate, then returned to the Safe Room with Lady Gerd.

• Lady Gerd told Shade that she was naturally born and had been examined by the Academy after her mother was expelled.
• Shade asked the Lord of Walls to accept Nagur, the Dream Devouring Demon sealed in a coffin, as a guest, and received a key to the 25th Floor.
• The Lord of Walls offered information about Shibel Beast in exchange for a key, but Shade declined to trade away a key that belonged to the group.
• The Lord of Walls explained that Shade had to reach the disconnected 40th Floor and resolve the chaos there, promising to accompany him once they found a way up.
• The Lord of Walls rewarded Shade with a gold coin, which Shade absorbed into the Fate Manual and identified as Solidified Fate that added one point to a Fated Story.
• Shade left with Lady Gerd and returned to the Safe Room on the 10th Floor because she was shaken by meeting the god.

Shade and Miss Novare prepared to investigate the 25th Floor and seek a route to the 40th, while Shade warned her about the danger of relying on the evil power fused into her arm. Before they entered the 25th Floor, Miss Novare gave Shade a Red Moon secret art, leaving her decision about separating the evil creature in her body unresolved.

• Shade and Miss Novare decided to visit the 25th Floor and then investigate the inaccessible 40th Floor, while Lady Gerd stayed behind to rest and prepare supplies.
• Shade checked on Miss Coens and the unfamiliar witch, learned the latter was trapped in nightmares, and asked Lady Gerd to prepare medicine before they considered entering her consciousness.
• Shade warned Miss Novare that her desire to remain in Whisper Hills and gain power might reflect the influence of her right hand, and offered to help remove the evil creature fused into her body.
• Miss Novare said she needed time to consider Shade's offer, then gave him her self-developed Witch Secret Art, Blood Moon Return, which pulled blood-bearing targets toward its caster.

Shade and Miss Novare fought a blood entity on the 25th Floor, and Shade helped Miss Novare resist the dangerous instinct taking hold of her arm. They continued their investigation, sealed the Doctor’s dagger in Room 2544, and prepared to enter the room containing the Moon Beast.

• A blood entity ambushed Shade and Miss Novare as they left the elevator, but they fought it off with Miss Novare’s toxin and Shade’s Sunlight Ray and Moonlight Ray.
• Miss Novare began drawing the Blood Water into the mouth in her mutated arm, but Shade’s touch made her recognize the danger, and she stopped the spell before drinking any.
• Shade turned the remaining Blood Water into Blood Brew and gave it to Miss Novare to analyze, reassuring her that he would help if she asked.
• Shade and Miss Novare found Room 2544, searched it, and sealed the Doctor’s black dagger inside with the god-given key.
• Shade and Miss Novare reviewed the Moon Beast’s abilities and prepared to open Room 2530, where it had been confined.

Shade and Miss Novare found the wounded Moon Beast and a letter from Miss Bister, who had taken one of its eyes and left supplies for Shade. After gathering the supplies, they continued their ascent toward the 40th Floor, where the floors grew increasingly dangerous.

• Shade and Miss Novare opened a room and found the Moon Beast reduced to a writhing mass of dark-silver Flesh.
• Miss Novare pulled Shade away when the Moon Beast's shifting forms began drawing him into contemplation.
• Shade found a letter from Miss Bister explaining that she had taken one of the Moon Beast's eyes and left it with the god downstairs for safekeeping.
• Shade translated Miss Bister's letter for Miss Novare, then asked the god why it had not mentioned the stored Eye.
• Shade and Miss Novare collected Miss Bister's supplies, including a Golden Apple, Gold Dust, and matches.
• Shade and Miss Novare set out for the 40th Floor, encountering increasingly dangerous conditions from the 28th Floor onward.

Shade and Miss Novare climbed from the 25th Floor to investigate the disconnected 40th Floor, enduring deadly supernatural hazards before finding a Rune Lock they could not open. After returning to the 10th Floor, Shade entered the unconscious Black-haired Witch’s dream, where he discovered a golden ritual beneath the ice of a vast frozen landscape.

• Shade and Miss Novare survived lethal gravity, darkness, illusions, and a Spatial Anomaly as they climbed toward the 40th Floor.
• Shade found a purple Rune Lock blocking the 40th Floor, recorded its runes, and decided to seek experts after returning to the Sixth Epoch.
• Shade and Miss Novare descended through the apparently safe 39th Floor and returned by elevator to the 10th Floor, where Miss Coens briefly awoke and wept after hearing the Demon had been sealed.
• Shade drank Lady Gerd’s potion and entered the unconscious Black-haired Witch’s dream with Miss Novare’s spell.
• Shade searched the dream’s Ice Field, followed a distant golden light, and found a vast ritual filled with Miracle Element beneath the ice.

Shade explored Miss Novare’s dream and discovered that the icy landscape was her enormous body, with the Winter Maiden’s holy emblem over her heart and gray mist keeping her from waking. He returned to the present without the Moon Beast’s Eye, then learned from Luvia that the Rune Lock on the 40th Floor was a Destiny-based barrier that rejected passage.

• Shade used Chloe’s Ice Echo to reveal the Winter Maiden’s holy emblem beneath the ice in Miss Novare’s dream.
• Shade discovered that the Ice Field was Miss Novare’s gigantic body and that gray mist was covering it and preventing her from waking.
• Shade and Lady Gerd went to the 1st Floor, but the deity was absent and left a note saying the Moon Beast’s Eye still had other uses.
• Shade returned to the present, where Galina and Luvia welcomed him and Little Mia ran to his feet.
• Luvia recognized Shade’s description of the 40th Floor Rune Lock and explained that it used Destiny to make passage impossible.