Chapter Summaries

Tang Qi began preparing a short tragedy for the competition while Dawn explored the market with Rumi, Shalti, and Noa Bo and tried a Crying-Face Cake. Dawn recorded her experiences in a diary, which ended with her certainty that Noa Bo was Markwen.

• The inn explained that it sensed what happened in its rooms and directed the guests to the attic and the Sadness Gathering for rehearsals and food.
• Tang Qi used the Spore Replicator to make a copy of himself and began drafting a play, while Rumi meditated and felt the inn watching him.
• Rumi and Dawn left their room after sensing the inn's gaze; Noa Bo invited Rumi and Shalti to the market for Crying-Face Cake, and Dawn joined them after Shalti asked about her past exploits.
• Dawn recounted how she had saved both criminals and civilians by defeating the cultists who had forced her to choose between them, then began writing a diary about the market.
• Dawn tasted the cake and was saddened by memories of failed challenges; Tang Qi read her diary and found her conclusion that Noa Bo was Markwen.

Tang Qi suspected Markwen was secretly observing the party, but chose to keep watch without confronting him while focusing on the play. After struggling to coach Rumi, Shalti, and Dawn, Tang Qi arranged an orchestra and dancers to help turn the production into a musical, then learned that no wishes had been granted during the latest three-week cycle.

• Tang Qi inferred that Markwen was using the alias Noa Bo to spy on the party and decided to observe him rather than confront him.
• Tang Qi struggled to teach Rumi, Shalti, and Dawn their roles, so Shalti suggested singing and Tang Qi considered adapting the play into a musical.
• Road's End revealed that Fulei could help provide an orchestra, and Tang Qi used the Spore Replicator to create a clone so Fulei could join rehearsals.
• Fulei promised to arrange musicians and dancing for Tang Qi's production in exchange for Tang Qi helping him and Guna.
• Ponto told Tang Qi that the wish list had been finalized and that nobody's wish had been granted in the latest three-week cycle.

Tang Qi prepared his musical for the theater competition while Ponto’s troupe also entered, and a rival play earned the Queen’s first point in some time. On performance day, Tang Qi discovered that Ponto had staged a play identical to his own.

• Ponto explained that plays needed at least 40 points to grant a wish and that the Queen’s tastes had shifted toward new forms of tragedy.
• Tang Qi rehearsed his musical with his troupe while failing to find any clues about Markwen’s disguise as Noa Bo.
• Tang Qi and Ponto drew the final and thirteenth performance slots, respectively, and Ponto warned that their plays might be compared.
• The Impostor received 1 point from the Queen despite its low overall score, suggesting she favored falsehood.
• Tang Qi encouraged Rumi and his nervous companions before their performance, promising he would help them reach Wish Palace.
• Tang Qi recognized the opening scene of his rehearsed play onstage and realized that Ponto had copied his musical.

The Hundred Faces Troupe performed Tang Qi’s stolen musical, The Secret of the Basement, and won acclaim despite the judges giving it zero points. Tang Qi realized the troupe had used the performance to pursue a wish, and with only two acts left before his own troupe performed, he faced a choice between withdrawing and revising their script.

• The Hundred Faces Troupe performed The Secret of the Basement, revealing a story of an older brother who avenged his younger brother after their uncle’s alleged abuse.
• The audience applauded the performance, and the judges praised its story, acting, and props before the Queen gave it zero points.
• Ponto publicly credited Tang Qi with writing the script, music, and much of the staging, redirecting the audience’s praise toward him.
• Tang Qi noticed that Ponto’s four-leaf clover had lost a leaf and concluded the troupe had knowingly used the stolen play to gain a chance to make a wish.
• Tang Qi realized his own performance was only two acts away and wondered whether to abandon it or revise the script in the remaining time.

With only three hours to prepare, Tang Qi turned Rumi’s story about leaving and returning to his mother into a deliberately chaotic play that revealed the mother’s sinister deception. The Queen awarded the performance 50 points, leaving Tang Qi relieved that she preferred a false world to tragedy.

• Rumi narrated his childhood, his departure from Ebony Forest, and his longing to return to his mother while Tang Qi and the others acted out a seemingly unrelated, disorderly story behind him.
• Tang Qi filled the stage with crude sunflowers as Rumi described coming home to find his mother gone, then brought the narrative back to its beginning.
• Shalti’s wind spell scattered the sunflowers, and Tang Qi revealed that the mother had fabricated dangers to make her son stay by her side forever.
• The judges criticized the rushed story’s performance and props, while Ponto and Markwen realized the apparent farce had led the audience to question what was true.
• The Queen’s score appeared as 50 points, surprising Ponto, and Tang Qi concluded that she preferred a false world to tragedy.

Tang Qi deduced why the Queen favored stories that built false worlds and then shattered them, and he left Road's End with his companions. At Nasar's home, Tang Qi learned that Nasar remembered people and events from other worlds before he woke in Ebony Forest, giving Tang Qi a clue that the forest had been fused from another civilization.

• Tang Qi ruled out Road's End and the other guests as sources of the leaked script, privately concluded Shalti had passed it to Markwen, and chose not to confront her.
• Tang Qi explained to Rumi, Dawn, and Shalti that the Queen favored stories that created false worlds and then exposed them as false.
• Nasar arrived to take Tang Qi and his companions to Wish Palace, and Tang Qi promised to record Road's End's story in The Guide before leaving.
• At Nasar's tree-trunk home, Tang Qi found books about pranks and learned that Nasar had devised the trick that helped earn the troupe its high score.
• Nasar described people he had encountered in dreams, including figures from Faerun, and Tang Qi connected those memories to his World Fusion Hypothesis.
• Nasar said he had awakened in Ebony Forest after a long sleep and began to tell Tang Qi about a friend's past, but stopped to protect her secrets.

Tang Qi and his companions reached Wish Palace, where Dawn beat Ponto in a duel over his script theft and Ponto gave Tang Qi the Lucky Stone as an apology. The Queen accepted their two scripts and led Rumi into a hidden room so she could grant his wish to find his mother.

• One Ear warned Tang Qi's group and Ponto's troupe not to cause trouble inside Wish Palace, so Tang Qi and Ponto agreed to settle their dispute outside its grounds.
• Ponto challenged Dawn to an unarmed duel, and Dawn beat him until Tang Qi called her off.
• Ponto apologized for stealing the script and gave Tang Qi the Lucky Stone; One Ear healed Ponto and escorted the group into the palace.
• One Ear's staff collected the group's weapons and armor before leading them to the Queen's banquet hall.
• The Queen praised Tang Qi's script, explained that the group had two wishes for their two scripts, and asked Rumi what he wanted.
• Rumi wished to find his mother, and the Queen opened a hidden door behind her bed and told him to follow.

Rumi chose to bring his mother back and learned that the price was losing his love for her. Tang Qi realized a silhouette had lured Rumi to Wish Palace before his mother was resurrected, suggesting a loophole in the Queen’s bargain.

• Rumi chose the blue fruit to see his mother, and the Queen granted his wish by resurrecting Windsor Emerald Leaf.
• Ponto returned to the banquet hall after trading away his inspiration, and Tang Qi learned that Markwen had stayed behind.
• Rumi admitted that he no longer felt love for his mother and was irritated by her, revealing what the Queen had taken as payment.
• Dawn condemned the Queen for exploiting Rumi’s feelings, but Rumi refused to trade his mother’s life to regain his love.
• Tang Qi recalled that a silhouette had lured Rumi to Wish Palace and questioned what it could have been if Windsor was already dead.

Tang Qi challenged the Queen’s claim that Rumi’s wish had brought back his real mother, forcing her to confront the contradiction in her story. When she could not drive them out under the Hospitality Law, she summoned Glass Golems and Bedboard Dragon to stop them from leaving with the woman.

• Tang Qi questioned the Queen about how she would have fulfilled Rumi’s wish and established that she did not remember knowing Rumi or using the method described in his script.
• The Queen tried to expel Tang Qi and his companions, but One Ear reminded her that the Hospitality Law protected guests who had not broken its rules.
• Tang Qi asked who the woman in Rumi’s arms really was, and the Queen insisted she was real while demanding that they leave her behind.
• The Queen summoned Glass Golems, and Dawn prepared to fight with Tang Qi’s enchanted lute while Rumi struggled to understand what was happening.
• The Queen ordered them to surrender the woman, then raised Bedboard Dragon, whose roar sent a storm of wood chips toward them.

The queen cast [Slow Spell] over the banquet hall, but Tang Qi kept up his verbal abuse long enough to break her concentration. With everyone’s movements restored, the fight continued and the queen’s advantage vanished.

• Dawn shielded Tang Qi from the Bedboard Dragon’s breath attack, while Shalti used [Pixie Dust] to help Rumi evade One Ear’s rapier.
• Tang Qi diverted a golem’s strike so Shalti could kick it, and Shalti’s flash of light disoriented the golems.
• Rumi shattered two Glass Golems, while Dawn blocked One Ear’s rapier and struck him with the Lute before he bound her with [Ensnaring Strike].
• The Bedboard Wyvern lunged at Shalti, but Yiwu overturned it with the Gravity Orb; Markwen had also used wind magic to stop Rumi.
• The queen cast [Slow Spell], slowing Tang Qi and the others, but Tang Qi completed twelve seconds of verbal abuse and broke her concentration.

Quinn remembered being rescued from a hag as a child, then learned the hag had made her a hagspawn and sent her back to her family. The revelation shattered Quinn’s concentration, and after her Slow Spell collapsed, One Ear attacked Dawn but was swiftly defeated.

• As a child, Quinn was rescued from a hag by a group of adventurers and returned to her family.
• Quinn dreamed of celebrating Nao Nao’s birthday, only to discover that the adventurers had killed her family because she was a hagspawn planted among them.
• Quinn awoke amid the bloodied dining table and, enraged by Tang Qi’s curses, broke the Slow Spell covering everyone.
• One Ear used [Swarm Gathering] and lunged at Dawn, who countered with an upcast [Supreme Holy Slash] and smashed him into the wall.
• Dawn asked who would fight next.

Dawn defeated the Bedboard Wyvern, and Markwen revealed that the Society had been obstructing Tang Qi to keep him from discovering the truth about Rumi’s mother and the Ebony Forest’s wish-granting mechanism. Tang Qi refused to abandon his investigation, so Markwen agreed to reveal the secret; his clap plunged everyone into darkness as the dreamlike forest came to an end.

• Dawn charged through the Bedboard Wyvern’s wood-chip breath and knocked it down with [Supreme Holy Slash].
• Markwen appeared, stopped Quinn from summoning a storm, and revealed his true form as an elderly Gnome.
• Tang Qi deduced that Markwen and the Society had tried to keep him from learning that Rumi’s mother was not his real mother.
• Markwen explained how he had tried to divert Tang Qi’s curiosity and offered rewards in exchange for keeping the secret.
• Tang Qi insisted on learning the truth, and Markwen warned that it was very sad before clapping and plunging everyone into darkness.

Tang Qi, Dawn, and Markwen woke from the Society’s shared dream in the ruined real Ebony Forest, where the World Tree Mr. Potato sustained their sleeping bodies. Elder Bell Deer revealed that the Society had concealed the plague’s irreversible mutations by reshaping memories and building a dream world, leaving Tang Qi with the truth of Ebony Forest’s survival.

• Tang Qi and Dawn escaped their vine cocoons and learned from Markwen that they had been dreaming while their bodies received nourishment from Mr. Potato.
• Markwen led Tang Qi and Dawn to the Society’s elders, where Tang Qi recognized Elder Bell Deer as a mutated druid.
• Elder Bell Deer explained that the plague’s warped arcane energy caused irreversible bodily mutations, so the Society hid the outbreak from its members.
• Elder Bell Deer described how the Society used Mr. Potato to create a shared dream, impose the Three Laws and Breeding Assembly, and establish Wish Palace to manage problems caused by the illusion.
• Elder Bell Deer explained that Robert’s lingering memories of plague infection had been addressed with Memory Alteration and the removal of his sense of taste.

Tang Qi learned that Ebony Forest was a dream created by the Dream Society, and that the Plague Society had used Rumi’s mother to expose the truth. After weighing the Society’s request against the rewards he could gain by revealing what he had learned, Tang Qi agreed to keep the secret.

• Tang Qi learned that Vera was not Rumi’s mother and that the Dream Society had altered their memories to replace the family bond they had lost.
• Markwen and Elder Bell Deer explained that the Plague Society believed the plague was part of nature and opposed using the World Tree to shape a dream.
• Tang Qi deduced that Rumi’s real mother had survived, joined the Plague Society, and helped lure Rumi to the Wish Palace to expose Ebony Forest’s lie.
• Elder Bell Deer asked Tang Qi to conceal the truth because outsiders learning of the dream could cause it to collapse.
• Tang Qi considered whether to give up the rewards from recording what he had learned, then agreed to keep the secret.

Tang Qi and Shalti discussed their plans to leave the Ebony Forest after its festival and travel together in search of magic-ship knowledge and the Golden Country’s history. Shalti agreed to join him, then revealed that Elder Ronan had brought the Plague Source to save the forest, unleashing the disaster that devastated the land.

• Tang Qi explained why he continued writing in his dream journal, and Shalti asked about his reasons for agreeing to protect the dream.
• Shalti recalled that she had spent the past two centuries searching for lost books, especially knowledge of the Create Magic Rudder spell and magic ships.
• Shalti said she would leave the Ebony Forest after the festival, and Tang Qi invited her to travel with him to the Southern Great Wall, Dragon Gold City, and the Tyron Empire.
• Shalti accepted Tang Qi’s invitation, saying she was interested in magic ships and that traveling with him would be safer.
• Shalti explained that Markwen had named their old group the Minions of the Ebony Forest because they had killed people to stop the plague, and she revealed that Elder Ronan had brought the Plague Source while trying to save the forest.

Shalti recounted how Ronan and Markwen clashed over using the Plague Source to save Ebony Forest from the advancing Phlogiston Sea, while Tang Qi reflected on the choices of the past. As the festival approached, Tang Qi returned to the Society and told Shivana that her tribe could remain in Ebony Forest after he left, leaving her uncertain about disbanding.

• Ronan defended mutation and the Plague Source as necessary to move the World Tree north and prolong the Society's survival, while Markwen argued that people should face death without sacrificing others.
• Tang Qi called Markwen's outlook the Death-Waiting Faction, discussed the Red Moon and Phlogiston Sea with Shalti, and learned she had searched for a magic ship for two hundred years.
• Shalti explained that she had told Tang Qi the past because she belonged to the Escape Faction, while Markwen emerged from invisibility and teased her about finding an ally.
• Tang Qi returned to the Society, where festival preparations were underway, and saw Dawn enjoying the food stalls before heading to the orc settlement.
• Tang Qi reunited with Anbi and told Shivana that her tribe could live in Ebony Forest after he left, prompting Shivana to question whether staying meant disbanding.

During Ebony Forest’s celebration, Tang Qi learned that Quinn wished for the dream world to collapse and suspected the Plague Society had an insider helping bring Rumi’s mother into the dream. The rangers began moving as Quinn disappeared in a burst of petals, leaving Tang Qi to face an unfolding disturbance.

• Tang Qi and his companions watched the carnival parade, and Anbi received a donkey head after touching a Pixie’s prank bubble.
• At the celebration, the group’s wishes appeared on colored paper, including Tang Qi’s wish for freedom and Shivana’s first wish, “Don’t split up.”
• Dawn noticed someone watching them, and Tang Qi recognized the disguised Quinn, who revealed her wish to make the false dream collapse.
• Quinn told Tang Qi that Rumi had been told his mother was dead, and Tang Qi explained that the Plague Society had brought Rumi’s biological mother to Ebony Forest.
• Quinn suspected a mole within the Society had helped bring an unfamiliar person into the dream, and the rangers began moving as Quinn vanished into petals.

Tang Qi investigated the Flail Snail’s disappearance and learned that its dream-world spiritual matter was essential to the coming ritual. The search led to evidence that Elder Ailivy had vanished, leaving the mystery unresolved with only three hours until the ritual began.

• Tang Qi used a Newleaf to persuade the rangers to reveal that the Flail Snail had gone missing again and that its disappearance threatened the ritual’s supply of materials.
• Tang Qi joined Markwen’s investigation and learned that the Flail Snail’s [Road of Wealth] produced earth-element spiritual matter needed to stabilize the shared dream.
• Tang Qi and Markwen concluded that the snail could only have been taken from within the dream, despite no one’s reputation score showing signs of wrongdoing.
• Markwen sent Little Rascal's companion to investigate the few people who knew the truth about the dream and could perform the magic needed to hide the snail.
• Little Rascal's companion returned with a [Wealth Footprints] fragment and reported that Elder Ailivy had disappeared, three hours before the ritual.

Tang Qi investigated Elder Ailivy’s apparent role in the Flail Snail’s disappearance, then noticed clues that the thefts might have been staged. He concluded that Markwen, who had brought both snails to the Society and owned them, may have used misdirection to make them seem stolen.

• Tang Qi and the rangers found evidence in Ailivy’s treehouse and discussed how she could have used a Confusion spell to take the Flail Snail unnoticed.
• Elder Bell Deer announced that Ailivy had fled to the Forest Beyond the Forest with ritual materials, and the rangers set out to retrieve them.
• Tang Qi declined to join the pursuit and agreed to perform at the theater while the rangers searched for the materials.
• A ranger told Tang Qi that Markwen had taken responsibility when the first Flail Snail disappeared and had later brought back both snails.
• Tang Qi questioned why no one’s leaves had withered after either disappearance and proposed that the snails had never been stolen.
• Tang Qi told Markwen that he had brought both snails back, making them his property, and concluded that Markwen could have staged their disappearances with misdirection.

Markwen explained how grief over his family and the Plague Society led him to create a dream, then decided the Society’s people deserved to choose between the dream and reality for themselves. As lightning gathered and the ritual’s deadline passed, he revealed that the Road of Wealth—not the snail—was required, and there was no longer enough time.

• Markwen recalled losing his wife and daughter Oda, and how Ronan’s plan to save the Society caused the plague that killed Oda.
• Markwen said he had helped Bell Deer create a ten-year dream but had come to believe the Society’s citizens should choose their own future, so he planned to return the truth to reality.
• Markwen explained that he hid his snail and staged its thefts to draw suspicion away from his plan, using Elder Ailivy and Rumi’s case to test Tang Qi’s response.
• Tang Qi agreed that people should choose for themselves but challenged Markwen’s cruel method of waking them from the dream.
• Markwen said Bell Deer would not permit the dream to end because the Breeding Assembly sustained the World Tree, then revealed that the ritual required the Road of Wealth rather than the snail and that time had run out.