Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Huai rescued Mary and Shirley from Antarctica, destroyed the Shoggoths and returned with the others to Fog City. Mary was left considering whether to join the Inquisition, while Ashelika invited her to visit Shirley during the holiday.

• Duanmu Huai put Mary aboard the plane and told her and Lorena to care for the unconscious Shirley as the Shoggoths overran the ancient city.
• Duanmu Huai hurled his Black Flame staff into the Shoggoths, causing an explosion that buried the city and part of a mountain.
• Duanmu Huai contacted Professor Parmal, then took the group back to Fog City instead of returning to the Research Station.
• Duanmu Huai gave Chief Lestrade an account of Shirley's rescue, and the Bronte Family arranged for Shirley to recuperate in her hometown after she woke with no memory of what happened.
• Duanmu Huai asked Mary to join the Inquisition, leaving her uncertain about her future, and Ashelika invited her to visit Shirley during the holiday.

Duanmu Huai investigated reports of the Baskerville Family’s Demon Hound with Lorena, while Mary traveled with her friends to visit Shirley at a resort. The chapter ended as a medical examiner opened a morgue drawer to show Duanmu Huai the latest victim.

• Mary invited Duanmu Huai to visit Shirley with her and Ashelika, but he declined and instead invited Mary to investigate the Baskerville Family’s Demon Hound; Mary chose to travel to the resort.
• Duanmu Huai and Lorena concluded that the Baskerville Family’s old legend might have involved a failed heretical ritual, and they went to Devonshire to investigate the renewed attacks.
• A medical examiner told Duanmu Huai that Old Baskerville had died of an apparent heart attack, Charles and his wife had been found with their throats torn open, and Fred had died after his skull was crushed.
• The medical examiner said witnesses had reported a huge black hound during the attacks, then opened a morgue drawer to show Duanmu Huai the body.

Duanmu Huai investigated the deaths blamed on a monstrous hound, questioning the sheriff, the widowed Baroness Baskerville, and the manor’s butler. He arranged for Lorena to protect the baroness and then asked Robert to show him the room of the Baskerville ancestor behind the family legend.

• Duanmu Huai examined two corpses and learned that one had been mauled by a beast while another had suffered an impact like being struck by a speeding truck.
• Sheriff Tester recounted how Fred led a nighttime hunt after a strange howl, and how the hounds fled before the searchers found Fred’s guards and the officers dead.
• Mary and Ashelika visited Shirley at her family’s villa, where Dona warned them about rumors of a dangerous beast nearby.
• Duanmu Huai questioned Baroness Baskerville, who had seen the shadow of a huge hound outside her window, and left Lorena to stay with her.
• Robert told Duanmu Huai that the ancestor in the hound legend had been a violent man with disreputable friends, and agreed to show him the ancestor’s room.

Duanmu Huai waited in the mountains for the Demon Hound while Mary and Ashelika encountered signs of a creature near their rooms. As Christmas approached, Duanmu Huai spotted a shadow in the blizzard and realized the monster had finally appeared.

• Duanmu Huai stayed in a caretaker's cabin and patrolled the forest, but the Demon Hound avoided him for several days.
• Ashelika told Mary that she had seen a monster outside her window, and Mary heard a roar before letting Ashelika sleep in her room.
• Duanmu Huai found claw marks on a tree after the monster fled from him, then decided he would need to use bait to catch it.
• Mary, Ashelika, and Shirley accepted an invitation to the Baroness Baskerville's Christmas dinner, and Mary wondered whether Duanmu Huai would be there.
• During a blizzard, Ling Nu spotted a black shadow moving through the forest, and Duanmu Huai recognized that the monster had appeared.

Duanmu Huai hunted an injured shadowy monster through the forest, but it escaped before he could catch it. He arrived late at Baroness Baskerville’s Christmas dinner with a captured white deer, while Shirley and Ashelika began to suspect Mary had feelings for him.

• Duanmu Huai chased a black monster through the snowy forest, knocked it down by punching a tree into its path, and followed its blood trail after it escaped.
• Shirley, Mary, and Ashelika arrived at Baskerville Manor, where Mary revealed that she knew Lorena and Duanmu Huai.
• Shirley and Ashelika questioned Mary about Duanmu Huai, and Ashelika resolved to judge him for herself when he arrived.
• Duanmu Huai came to the dinner carrying a huge white deer he had captured after it blocked his pursuit of the monster.
• Baroness Baskerville kept the deer, and Shirley and Ashelika wondered whether Mary liked Duanmu Huai after Mary defended him.

Duanmu Huai took Mary on a nighttime patrol to draw out the demonic hound, while urging her to consider joining the Inquisition and warning her how dangerous it was. The hound ambushed them in the town square, and Mary spotted a strange shadow as hunting hounds surrounded them.

• Lorena told Duanmu Huai that Baroness Baskerville might be pregnant, and Duanmu Huai suspected the demonic hound could be targeting her unborn child.
• Duanmu Huai left Baskerville Manor to patrol the town, and Mary joined him to avoid her friends' questions about their relationship.
• Duanmu Huai asked Mary to consider joining the Inquisition and explained that the work was extremely dangerous, though her Gold Eye would be valuable.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary reached the fog-filled town square, where the demonic hound attacked Mary and Duanmu Huai struck a shadowy hound apart.
• More than a hundred shadowy hunting hounds surrounded Duanmu Huai and Mary, and Mary pointed out a strange shadow along a distant path.

Duanmu Huai lured the Black Shadow into attacking and defeated it, then picked up a wolf-head pendant that showed him a vision contradicting the Baskerville Family legend. He wondered whether the danger was over and whether the pendant could reveal more about the family’s past.

• Duanmu Huai carried Mary toward Baskerville Manor to bait the cautious Black Shadow into charging, and it finally attacked near the gates.
• Duanmu Huai struck the Black Shadow down, and it melted into black sludge, leaving behind an old pendant engraved with a wolf head.
• Duanmu Huai picked up the pendant and saw a vision of Baskerville ancestors pursuing a girl who ran like a beast before vanishing and attacking one of them.
• Duanmu Huai returned to his senses as Mary checked his torn clothes, and he considered whether the pendant could explain the contradiction in the Baskerville legend.

Duanmu Huai uncovered the Baskerville Family’s hidden history and learned that the ancestor had opposed a demon named Dominic. He confronted Dominic’s granddaughter at their secluded cottage, where she revealed herself as the tentacled monster from the ancestor’s past.

• Duanmu Huai showed Baroness Baskerville and the old butler the pendant he had taken from the Demon Hound, and Ling Nu opened it into a key that revealed a secret passage beneath the family study.
• Duanmu Huai, Baroness Baskerville, and the old butler found an underground chamber filled with weapons, armor, records, and a diary describing the Baskerville ancestors’ secret work as exorcists.
• Duanmu Huai read that an ancestor had discovered the occult scholar Dominic was a demon and had hidden an object to stop him, but the diary ended before explaining what happened.
• Duanmu Huai learned that Old Mr. Dominic lived nearby with his granddaughter and went to their cottage to confront them.
• Duanmu Huai attacked Dominic’s granddaughter, whose face split open to reveal the tentacled monster he had seen in the ancestor’s phantom.

Duanmu Huai discovered that Mi-Go had manipulated the Baskerville Ancestor, killed one and captured another alive, then turned the captive and its research station over to the Foundation. He returned to Fog City with the Baskerville affair resolved and received a C-Rank Personnel card, bringing him closer to a Reality Stabilizing Anchor blueprint.

• Duanmu Huai recognized the transformed girl as a Mi-Go, tore off its head, then caught the second Mi-Go and disabled it by removing its nerve center.
• Duanmu Huai found the Mi-Go Research Station beneath the farm and contacted the Foundation, whose soldiers arrived by helicopter to collect the living Mi-Go and equipment.
• Duanmu Huai told the Baroness that the Baskerville Family's trouble was over and warned her against choosing dangerous investigator work.
• After Christmas, Duanmu Huai left Baskerville Manor with Lorena while Mary faced questions from her friends about going out with him at night.
• Duanmu Huai returned to Fog City and received an unsigned letter containing a C-Rank Personnel card.

Duanmu Huai weighed how to obtain and manufacture Scranton Reality Stabilizing Anchors, then brought Mary into the Inquisition after she chose to join so she could protect her friends from the world’s dangers. He arranged for Ranni to teach Mary Dark Moon Magic, while the Inquisition remained unconcerned about the Citadel Council dismissing the Shepard siblings’ warning about the Reapers.

• Duanmu Huai considered buying Reality Stabilizing Anchors or their blueprint, but worried that the Inquisition lacked the expertise to manufacture them without Deus Ex Machina.
• Mary asked to join the Inquisition because the incidents at Baskerville Manor and elsewhere convinced her that she needed the power to protect her friends.
• Duanmu Huai brought Mary through a Teleportation Gate to the Inquisition, where she watched its recordings and struggled to believe what she had seen.
• Odel reported that the Shepard siblings had defeated a brainwashed Spectre Agent and destroyed a Collector warship, but the Citadel Council rejected their warning about the Reapers.
• Duanmu Huai assured Mary that her Gold Eye would be useful and told her she would train in combat, firearms, and possibly magic.
• Duanmu Huai took Mary to Ranni, who gave her a scroll to learn Dark Moon Magic and emphasized that practical combat training was essential.

Duanmu Huai learned that Ranni had trained Mary in a Hero Graveyard, where Mary developed strong combat instincts and learned several spells. After a quiet stretch at home, Duanmu Huai accepted a commission to investigate suspected Vampires in Cornwall and arranged for Mary to join him on leave from Shuo Academy.

• Duanmu Huai questioned Ranni about Mary's unstable behavior and learned that Ranni had trained her in an underground Hero Graveyard.
• Ranni explained that Mary's Gold Eye helped her track attacks and magic, and Mary showed she could dodge and counterattack with several spells.
• Duanmu Huai received a letter from Schiller Bost, who asked him to investigate missing people and vanished corpses in Cornwall on behalf of Count Best Hank.
• Duanmu Huai accepted the commission and told Mary they would travel to Cornwall for roughly half a month, possibly a month.
• Mary agreed to join the investigation, and Professor Parmal approved her leave from Shuo Academy as an off-campus internship.

Duanmu Huai accepted Professor Parmal’s request to investigate the disappearance of James Fraser while traveling to Cornwall, and warned Mary that their work could require killing Cultists. At the remote Lakeside Inn, the owners denied seeing James, but Duanmu Huai noticed suspicious details and planned to watch them overnight.

• Shirley and Ashelika reluctantly accepted Mary’s explanation as Duanmu Huai and his group prepared to leave, and Professor Parmal asked him to find James Fraser, his missing nephew.
• Duanmu Huai accepted the request, obtained James’s photograph and car details, and agreed with Professor Parmal that threats to humanity had to be stopped.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary that investigators might have to kill Cultists, then reasoned that James had likely stayed at the only inn along their route to Cornwall.
• Duanmu Huai and his group reached Lakeside Inn, where William and Robert denied seeing James and William claimed a page was missing from the guest register because of a spill.
• Duanmu Huai warned Mary, Lorena, and the maid that the inn’s owners seemed suspicious, then chose to sleep in the truck and watch them.

Duanmu Huai investigated the disappearances at the inn, uncovering evidence that the owners were hiding something and that the lake was polluted by vehicles driven into it. After Jacob found his missing friend Abraham Hickey’s clothes in the workshop, a decaying monster burst from a box and attacked him.

• Mary and Lorena reported finding a trapdoor beneath their room and hearing something moving under the floor.
• Duanmu Huai questioned Jacob Trent, who said his friend Abraham Hickey had checked into the inn but vanished, and confirmed that James had stayed there and driven a black Chrysler.
• Duanmu Huai sent Mary and Lorena to question the other guests, while Mary learned that Sarah Bonner had recurring nightmares about a submerged city and a three-eyed monster.
• Duanmu Huai spotted tire tracks leading into the lake, then agreed to help Jacob search the innkeepers’ workshop after Jacob took William’s keys.
• Jacob found Abraham’s labeled jacket in the workshop and opened a coffin-like box, where a rotting monster seized him and bit down.

Duanmu Huai and his companions fought walking corpses in the inn’s workshop, then followed the Black Cat to the lakeshore, where they found the innkeepers holding two guests captive. Glaaki emerged from the lake, and Duanmu Huai ordered the group to attack it, eager to claim the creature and the alien city beneath the lake for the Foundation.

• Duanmu Huai rescued Jacob from a walking corpse, and Lorena smashed it with her Holy Book.
• Duanmu Huai pushed Mary to fight the second corpse, and she destroyed it with Caria Greatsword, splitting furniture as well.
• Duanmu Huai’s group followed the Black Cat along the lakeshore, and Jacob realized his missing friend Abel was likely dead.
• They found William and the other innkeeper guarding Sarah and Bill alongside two zombie-like servants, while Jacob tried to rush toward Abel.
• A huge monster emerged from the lake, and Duanmu Huai recognized it as Glaaki before knocking Jacob unconscious.
• Duanmu Huai ordered Mary and Lorena to help take down Glaaki, hoping to gain a reward from the Foundation.

Duanmu Huai and his allies defeated Glaaki’s avatar, rescued the captives, and drained the lake to expose the Great Old One’s submerged lair. Duanmu Huai killed Glaaki, while Mary discovered a strange new mark on her abdomen.

• Mary destroyed Glaaki’s avatar, while Lorena purified William, the other old man, and their servants, and the group identified the corpses of Abraham and James.
• The Foundation evacuated the survivors, but divers disappeared after entering the lake, so Duanmu Huai told the Foundation to drain it.
• As the lake receded, the Foundation exposed an alien city and Glaaki’s true body, and Duanmu Huai leaped down to attack it.
• Duanmu Huai resisted Glaaki’s psychic storm, terrified the Great Old One, tore it apart, and burned its remains with Black Flame.
• Mary felt a burning sensation on her lower abdomen and discovered a skull-and-hammer mark surrounded by a heart-shaped design.

After leaving Glaaki’s case to the Foundation, Duanmu Huai traveled to Cornwall with Mary and Lorena to investigate a series of suspected vampire attacks. Earl Best Hank hired them to restore peace to the town, and Duanmu Huai prepared to begin the investigation.

• Duanmu Huai explained that the Foundation would handle the aftermath of Glaaki’s death, while the public would be told that two murderous innkeepers had killed Mr. James and attacked the investigators.
• Mary worried about a mysterious Inquisition mark on her lower abdomen, then told Duanmu Huai that she wanted to write their investigations as a novel; he warned her to use aliases and omit monsters’ true names.
• Mary and Lorena chatted about the planned novel as the group traveled to Cornwall and met their client, Earl Best Hank.
• Earl Best said he doubted vampires were behind the attacks but wanted the town’s frightening nighttime disorder to end, and Duanmu Huai agreed to investigate.
• After Earl Best went to rest, Duanmu Huai called him an ideal client and announced that the investigation would begin.

After hearing the police dismiss the deaths as gang violence, Duanmu Huai took Mary and Lorena to a mental hospital to question Vince Scott, who had survived an encounter with a monster. Dr. Berg refused to let them see him, so Duanmu Huai threatened him until he agreed to lead them to Vince.

• The police chief told Duanmu Huai that the victims were likely killed by a human-trafficking gang and promised to investigate.
• Mary explained that Vince Scott was recovering at the State Mental Hospital after the bodies were found at his renovation project in Vinate Bay.
• On the way to the hospital, Duanmu Huai explained to Mary why ordinary people went insane after encountering monsters and said her Gold Eye helped keep her mind stable.
• Dr. Berg refused Duanmu Huai's request to see Vince Scott, warning that Vince was prone to agitation and that Duanmu Huai could traumatize him.
• Duanmu Huai grabbed Dr. Berg by the throat and threatened him until the doctor nodded and agreed to take them to Vince.

Duanmu Huai and his companions questioned the traumatized Mr. Vinskot about the horrors beneath his mansion. After hearing how monsters killed his construction crew and he sealed the underground passage, Duanmu Huai decided they would reopen it and investigate.

• Duanmu Huai had Mary use Calm on Mr. Vinskot so he could question him about the mansion.
• Mr. Vinskot recounted discovering a hidden passage beneath the study with Old Scott's construction crew and finding an underground cave system.
• Pale, monkey-like monsters attacked the crew, and larger creatures killed Old Scott while Mr. Vinskot fled.
• Mr. Vinskot used explosives to collapse the passage, but the police dismissed his account and blamed the deaths on gang activity.
• Duanmu Huai explained the police's conclusion to Mary and Lorena, then said they could dig open the collapsed passage.

Duanmu Huai studied Ling Nu’s underground maps and discovered that the monsters beneath Cornwall included Man-Serpents who worshipped the Snake God Yig. He prepared to confront them, while Mary noticed that the mark on her abdomen had disappeared.

• Duanmu Huai sent Ling Nu underground to scout and spent the night at a hotel with the others.
• Mary found that the mark on her abdomen had vanished while she prepared to bathe.
• Ling Nu returned with maps of the caverns and drawings of the monsters, including Ghouls and Man-Serpents.
• Duanmu Huai learned that the Man-Serpents worshipped Yig and that their guarded underground entrance was their only way in or out.
• Duanmu Huai considered how to fight Yig underground without causing a collapse and wondered whether Lorena and Mary feared snakes.

Duanmu Huai led Lorena and Mary through a collapsed passage to launch a surprise attack on the Man-Serpents’ underground lair. After navigating the cavern and dropping down a cliff, they encountered a monster in the darkness.

• Duanmu Huai explained the Man-Serpents’ threat to Lorena and Mary and said they would wipe them out.
• Duanmu Huai summoned puppets to clear the rubble blocking the passage beneath Vince Scott’s mansion.
• Duanmu Huai led Lorena and Mary through the ancient cavern, following Ling Nu’s report and avoiding a trapped passage.
• Duanmu Huai grabbed Lorena and Mary and leaped down an abyss to reach the lower level.
• A pitch-black monster emerged from the darkness as Duanmu Huai told Lorena and Mary to prepare for battle.