Chapter Summaries

Rorschach studied the dwarves’ environmental-magic array and explained how its circuits gathered ether throughout the Mage Tower. He then demonstrated his layered defensive array, designed to stop energy attacks and slow incoming high-speed objects.

• Jansen reprimanded the dwarves who had abandoned their work, and they apologized before returning to the construction site.
• Rorschach examined the installed magic array and deduced how its circuits drew in ether and sustained a higher concentration of magic power inside the tower.
• Rorschach suggested reversing the array’s rings to make a cheaper magic-power collector, giving him hope of reproducing and improving the first machine in Bayern.
• Rorschach demonstrated a protective setup using a pre-charged Blue Light Barrier against energy attacks and a combination of Arrow Reversal, Feather Fall Spell, and Lagging Spell against fast-moving objects.

Rorschach helped Bart and Jansen design and build defensive magic circles for Bart’s town garrison Mage Tower, then secured Jansen’s agreement to build a future Mage Tower. With the tower’s exterior complete, Rorschach left Bayern for the Holy Kingdom.

• Rorschach demonstrated how magic circles could shield and partially repair a tower, and offered to keep upgrading Bart’s defenses in the future.
• Rorschach, Jansen, Bart, and Amelia spent two days drafting the tower’s magic circuits, and Rorschach authorized Bart to sell copies of the design for a share of the profits.
• The dwarves completed the tower’s main structure in three days, while Rorschach discussed hiring Jansen to build a real Mage Tower and a Transmutation Dust Collector.
• After the tower’s façade and roof were finished, Rorschach said farewell to Bart and Amelia and traveled by carriage and airship toward the Holy Kingdom.

Duplessis confronted Necker over the Minister of Finance’s plan to preserve the currency until after the autumn harvest, then let its depreciation erase debts and burden farmers and small merchants. After Necker left, Duplessis began preparations for an Assembly of Notables to address the Kingdom’s looming crisis.

• Duplessis accused Necker of misleading the nation and the King, while Necker argued that the currency must remain stable until after the autumn harvest.
• Necker explained that he planned to use tax collection, dividends, debt repayment, and later currency depreciation to stabilize food supplies and clear Public Bonds.
• Duplessis threatened to have the Church condemn Necker, but Necker warned that Duplessis did not want the Church interfering in the Kingdom’s affairs.
• Necker left the monastery, and Duplessis ordered his assistant to summon bishops and southern nobles to the royal capital before June.
• Duplessis ordered preparations for an Assembly of Notables and added representatives of the Mage Guild to the invitation list.

After returning to the Tower of Stars, Rorschach learned that the Magic Awakening School had been closed amid an investigation into students learning magic. He found Andre studying alone in the abandoned school and heard how its former students still hoped to continue their education.

• Rorschach returned to the Tower of Stars, gave Kano drinks and Würzburg white wine, and explained why he had come back to study.
• Kano told Rorschach that High Master Valuana had suspended all teaching after gifted students began performing minor magic, teachers resigned, and the King ordered the school closed.
• Kano said the investigation would continue and revealed that he intended to discover who was instigating the Archaic Arcane Senate; he encouraged Rorschach to try to save the school.
• Rorschach entered the closed school and found Andre copying old lecture notes in an empty classroom.
• Andre told Rorschach that he and the other students wanted to keep studying, and Rorschach reassured him that the closure was not his fault.

Rorschach sought help from the Alchemy Department for Andre, a former student left without schooling after the Higher Normal School closed. Pascal showed him a night school already operating for workers, leaving Rorschach to see an immediate way to continue educating students.

• Rorschach promised to bring Andre fresh paper, pens, and handouts, then asked Snow to take him on as an apprentice in the Alchemy Department.
• Snow agreed to seek Kano’s approval, and Kano allowed Andre to apprentice as long as the arrangement stayed quiet and away from Tower of Stars headquarters.
• Rorschach met Pascal, who urged him to keep fighting for students’ right to an education and invited him to see what he had been doing.
• Pascal brought Rorschach to a textile mill night school where workers studied under Higher Normal School trainees serving as little teachers.

Rorschach visited the textile mill night school, where Pascal and other former High College teachers were educating workers and students after the school’s closure. Pascal agreed to admit six students recommended by Rorschach if Rorschach joined the teaching staff, and Rorschach resolved to discuss rebuilding the High College with Mr. Pierre.

• Pascal led Rorschach into the textile mill night school, where Madeline taught workers basic writing and grammar.
• Pascal explained that the Enlightenment Mutual Aid Organization ran the school independently of the Friends of Fraternity and Equality club, with support from the factory owner and volunteer teachers.
• After the workers’ lesson ended, Druo taught a class for High College students, while Rorschach asked Pascal to admit six former students known to Andre.
• Pascal agreed to admit them on the condition that Rorschach join the teaching staff, and Rorschach decided to speak with Mr. Pierre about reopening the High College.
• Druo and Thor escorted the students home along planned routes, and Rorschach checked his watch at nearly ten o’clock.

Rorschach and Pascal returned toward the Tower of Stars while the Noble Faction met secretly to discuss the coming Assembly of Notables. Count Granoir rallied support to replace Chief Mage Lionel Kano and left Gerard de Villefort tasked with investigating two of Kano’s students.

• Rorschach and Pascal walked back toward the Tower of Stars and passed a brightly lit mansion where nobles were gathering.
• Count Granoir dismissed the waitresses, sealed the room, and revealed that an Assembly of Notables would soon convene.
• Granoir explained how the Mage Guild, Robe Nobles, landed nobility, and church would be represented, and criticized Lionel Kano’s leadership.
• Granoir declared his ambition to replace Kano as Chief Mage, and Gerard de Villefort and the other guests pledged their support.
• Granoir told Gerard, who was leading an investigation, to focus on Kano’s two students and toasted Mage Wilford’s success.

Rorschach helped Andre leave his night-shift job for paid work at the Tower of Stars' Alchemy Department, where he could continue studying and develop his magic. Andre passed his trial period and produced a small flame, while Snow approved Rorschach's proposal to reduce the cost of magic collectors.

• Rorschach offered Andre a three-Gold-Lang monthly job in the Alchemy Department so he could support his family and keep studying.
• Rorschach brought Andre to the Alchemy Department, where Snow arranged his work and study plan and proposed training him on the aether generator set.
• Rorschach explained his reversed-ring energy-gathering array idea, and Snow approved it as a cheaper alternative to the mithril rod.
• Andre completed his paperwork successfully, passed his trial period, and summoned a tiny flame with Rorschach and Snow's guidance.
• Snow gave Andre apprentice robes and told him to practice magic to Rorschach's standard after Rorschach demonstrated a Fireball that shattered the room's protective magic.

Rorschach learned how political resistance to wider magical education had shaped Caroline’s past and left him wary of a targeted investigation. Back at the Tower of Stars, he disguised himself and faced investigator Gerard de Villefort, whom he firmly told that Rorschach had shown no suspicious behavior.

• Snow explained that Caroline had once tried to expand magical aptitude testing and create teaching materials for low-ability Spellcasters, but Kano had stopped her, prompting her to leave the Holy Kingdom.
• Snow warned Rorschach and Pascal that the Senate investigation was targeted and advised Rorschach to avoid the Tower of Stars, but Rorschach chose to stay and continue his research.
• Rorschach returned to the Tower of Stars and found Gerard de Villefort questioning apprentices about him outside his dormitory.
• Rorschach bought a Disguise Scroll, changed his appearance, and posed as an apprentice to question Gerard about the investigation.
• Gerard said he was investigating a magical information leak at Valuana Higher Normal College and asked whether Rorschach had acted against the Holy Kingdom or Tower of Stars; Rorschach answered no.

Rorschach outmaneuvered Gerard’s questioning about Philip’s injury by exposing the investigator’s conflicting principles. Gerard then presented the Senate’s decree and searched Rorschach’s dormitory, but found nothing incriminating before raising the Merowinger matter again.

• Rorschach told Gerard that Philip had fallen because he was dizzy and that Philip had later joined Master Kano’s research group in Rorschach’s laboratory.
• Rorschach questioned Gerard about political infiltration and mages’ independence and fair treatment, then left after pointing out Gerard’s unprofessional conduct.
• Gerard introduced himself to Rorschach as an agent of the Archaic Arcane Senate and presented the Senate’s decree when Rorschach demanded proof of his mission.
• Rorschach let Gerard inspect his dormitory, where Gerard found signed work from Poincaré, correspondence with several scholars, lecture notes, and unused examination papers.
• Gerard took copies of Rorschach’s lecture notes and examination papers, then said he had also been tasked with investigating Rorschach’s dealings with Merowinger.

Rorschach used his connections and wealth to discourage Gerard Wilford from pursuing the investigation too deeply, while Gerard weighed which faction to support. Rorschach then discussed the King’s financial demands with Kano and suggested that the Mage Guild seek safeguards against the Royal Palace printing money recklessly.

• Rorschach showed Gerard his ties to Grand Duke Merowinger and Charles XVI, then warned him to investigate Pascal, whom he claimed might be Master Kano’s illegitimate son.
• Gerard withheld some reports and lecture notes, judged that Kano’s side had too much influence to challenge safely, and considered when to align himself with Kano.
• Rorschach reported Gerard’s visit to Kano, who said he was occupied with mundane affairs involving the King’s request for money from the Mage Guild and its merchant associations.
• Rorschach argued that a simple financial deal would not protect the guild and raised concerns that the Royal Palace could print money without restraint.

Rorschach proposed sharing currency issuance among banks representing the kingdom’s factions and urged Pierre to move the beverage factory out of Valuana. The chapter ended with Rorschach finding the Mining Company’s general manager, Valan, coughing blood and asking for help.

• Rorschach suggested that banks owned by different factions form a guild to share the right to issue currency, and Kano revealed he would represent two towers at the Assembly of Notables.
• Rorschach urged Pierre to relocate the beverage factory to the kingdom’s northwest, and Pierre agreed to consider expanding his political influence there.
• Pierre declined to fund the rebuilding of the Advanced Teachers’ College, though he promised to raise money from other owners.
• Rorschach met Pascal and Andre outside the textile mill’s night school and discussed the owners’ reluctance to support the college.
• Rorschach and Pascal saw a noblewoman assault Valan after he coughed blood, and Rorschach recognized the fallen man as the Mining Company’s general manager.

Rorschach took Valan to a private hospital after finding him coughing up blood and holding a shrinking piece of Donkey Skin. A doctor diagnosed Valan with advanced pulmonary consumption, and Rorschach began considering ways to keep him alive before Valan woke and asked for his Donkey Skin.

• Rorschach and Pascal found Valan coughing blood, and Rorschach used magic to stabilize him.
• Valan showed them a shriveled piece of Donkey Skin before fainting again, and Rorschach took him to a private hospital.
• A doctor diagnosed Valan with advanced pulmonary consumption and warned that his chances of recovery were poor.
• The doctor suggested destroying and magically restoring Valan’s chest, while Rorschach considered contacting Master Humboldt or developing medicine.
• Valan woke after sunset and immediately asked where his Donkey Skin was.

Rorschach learned that Valan’s wish-granting donkey skin had consumed much of his life, leaving him gravely ill, and took it from him. He agreed to seek a way to save Valan in exchange for information about the Mining Company and gold mine, then headed to the Tower of Stars with the skin.

• Rorschach examined the donkey skin with Arcane Vision and saw a connection draining Valan’s life into it.
• Valan recounted how his wishes had brought him wealth and influence while shrinking the skin and shortening his life.
• Rorschach took the skin and told Valan he would try to save him if Valan shared everything about the Mining Company and gold mine.
• Valan agreed to the deal, and Rorschach arranged for the doctor and attendants to keep him under watch.
• Rorschach suspected Valan might have meant to transfer the curse to him, but carried the skin toward the Tower of Stars.

Rorschach and Kano investigated the cursed donkey skin Valan had acquired and traced it to legends about Balan and the gods of the Sand Kingdom. Rorschach’s upgraded Deity Expulsion destroyed the relic, and Kano banished the mist that tried to enter Valan.

• Rorschach brought the donkey skin to Kano, who arranged guards for Valan and joined him in the research building.
• Kano identified the skin as a likely relic connected to Prophet Balan and discussed its possible ties to Churimo and Thoth.
• At the hospital, Rorschach tried Reverse Ray and Deity Expulsion on Valan, but the curse overwhelmed him and Kano healed him.
• Rorschach cast Deity Expulsion on the donkey skin, whose shifting light resisted the spell until his magic combined it with Minor Disintegration and Reverse Ray.
• The donkey skin collapsed into ashes, and Kano stopped and banished the mist that tried to enter Valan.

Rorschach and Kano expelled the will inhabiting Donkey Skin, freeing Valan from its curse and returning him to the hospital room. Valan returned to the Mining Company with two Alchemy Department bodyguards and began the mission he had agreed to undertake.

• The dying will drew Valan's soul into a realm of shifting sands, but Rorschach's warning helped him follow a red light back to the hospital room.
• Valan awoke, and Kano confirmed that he was not knowingly concealing the names Rorschach asked about and could be protected from the remaining fragmented will.
• After a doctor confirmed Valan was unharmed, Rorschach asked whether he had seen anything during the final moment, and Valan said he could not remember or describe it.
• Valan returned to the Mining Company with two Alchemy Department bodyguards, told his secretary they were family guards, and resumed work.
• At Rorschach and Kano's instruction, Valan handed his documents to one of the bodyguards, who began casting a spell.

Rorschach reflected on freeing Valan from the God of Change and questioned the weakened god trapped in a marble, then failed to reproduce his new Great Disintegration spell. The chapter ended when Pascal told him that Andre had disappeared.

• Rorschach recalled how he used Divine Exorcism and Reverse Ray to destroy the God of Change’s remnant soul and free Valan.
• Rorschach questioned the marble containing the weakened god, learning that it identified itself as Thoth and keeping it in a box with the promise of a possible deal.
• Rorschach tried to recreate Great Disintegration in the Tower of Stars’ Practice Room but could only cast Minor Disintegration.
• Pascal found Rorschach at the Tower of Stars and reported that Andre had missed work and could not be found at home or in the Alchemy Department.

After Andre disappeared, Rorschach and Pascal searched the Alchemy Department and visited his family, where they learned about his strained relationship with his father but found no clear explanation for his absence. Rorschach returned to the Tower of Stars with Andre’s belongings and asked the Pearl of Balan to help locate him.

• Rorschach and Pascal went to the Alchemy Department, where Snow said Andre was not there.
• Pascal led Rorschach to Andre’s home, where Andre’s mother told them he had vanished after leaving for night school.
• Rorschach stopped Security Team officers from questioning Andre’s mother and said the Tower of Stars would handle the search.
• Rorschach and Pascal questioned Andre’s parents and learned that Andre had often argued with his father about his work with mages.
• Rorschach took Andre’s jacket and charcoal pencil, then returned to the Tower of Stars and asked the Pearl of Balan to help find him.

Rorschach used the Pearl of Balan to locate Andre and went to a mansion in Valuana’s upscale Auture district. Held captive in the mansion’s dungeon, Andre discovered how to cast a spell despite the disrupted aether, escaped his bonds, and attacked Young Fernan as he entered his cell.

• Rorschach recharged the Pearl of Balan, used Andre’s belongings to locate him in Auture, and set off with Pascal.
• Andre remained bound and blind in a dungeon cell while he heard other captives being taken away and learned that the surrounding aether disrupted his magic.
• Old Fernan and Young Fernan used kidnapped students as blood donors for Old Fernan’s life-extension attempt and Young Fernan’s research into magical talent.
• Andre ignited a flame on himself, burned through his ropes, and freed himself from the hood.
• When Young Fernan opened Andre’s cell, Andre sprang from beside the door and grabbed him by the throat.

Andre, Rorschach, and Pascal confronted Old Fernan in the dungeon beneath his manor and stopped him from destroying the evidence. Master Kano arrived, freed the prisoners, and promised that the Fernans would be punished.

• Andre subdued Young Fernan but could not open the cells because their doors were protected by Arcane Locks.
• Pascal and Rorschach broke through the ceiling into the dungeon, where Old Fernan attacked them with spells and magical items.
• Old Fernan tried to destroy the dungeon and its evidence, but Andre warned him that his son was still inside.
• Old Fernan summoned undead spirits and separated Rorschach from Pascal, but Rorschach used Great Disintegration to destroy the spirits, the old man's magical items, and the manor's ether core.
• Pascal used Combat Inspiration to remove Rorschach's fatigue, and Master Kano arrived, captured both Fernans, and broke the locks.
• Kano promised Rorschach that the victims would receive care and the Fernans would face punishment.