Chapter Summaries

Felicity Odolai secretly returned to the Sword Duke’s Floating Castle after adventuring as the Moonshadow Mask and clashed with Madam Martha over her suspicions about Madam Anlin. Unable to uncover anything on her own, Felicity considered asking others for help.

• Felicity slipped through the castle grounds with Snowball, activated [Fly], and entered the Floating Castle through a concealed maintenance hatch.
• Felicity changed out of her Moonshadow Mask disguise and tried to sneak back to her room, but Madam Martha caught her and confronted her about causing problems for Madam Anlin’s shops.
• Madam Martha let Felicity go after warning her, then told her to bathe because she smelled awful.
• After bathing, Felicity complained to Snowball that Madam Anlin was suspicious and that her father was neglecting her.
• Felicity admitted she could not investigate the matter alone and considered asking someone else for help, while Snowball purred in agreement.

After three days of bureaucratic runaround, Xia Lin waited in a long City Hall queue to claim his reward for stopping the Sea Serpent. When a merchant guild representative cut in line, Xia Lin secretly sabotaged his documents, then got a chance to submit his own papers before the clerk left for the day.

• Xia Lin was sent between several departments to gather reports and seals required to claim his fifty-gold-coin reward.
• While waiting at City Hall, Xia Lin practiced sword movements and gained Magic Warrior Arts proficiency.
• A Greenwich Merchant Guild representative cut in line, and Xia Lin used Lesser Invisibility to tangle his shoelaces and spill ink over his documents.
• A woman who had been chatting with Xia Lin recognized his trick and let him take her place in line.
• Xia Lin hurriedly handed his paperwork to the clerk as the workday ended.

After collecting a fifty-gold-coin reward for rescuing children from a Sialiche slave ship, Xia Lin spent the evening eating, maintaining his gear, and indulging in a bath and massage. He sneaked onto a platform at the Star Moon Opera House to watch the final performance of Starfall Love, where his loud criticism drew an unexpected voice from behind him.

• Treasury clerks gossiped that Xia Lin had single-handedly defeated a Sialiche slave ship crew and rescued the children, while hinting that the ship’s registration was tied to Madam Anlin.
• Xia Lin collected fifty gold coins from City Hall and spent the evening on a meal, equipment maintenance, a bath, a massage, and night-market treats.
• Xia Lin bought the cheapest ticket to the Star Moon Opera House, then moved onto an unused platform for a better view.
• As Xia Lin watched Starfall Love, he mocked its clichés and performances aloud.
• An unseen speaker asked Xia Lin whether he had strong opinions about the play.

Xia Lin criticized a melodramatic play to a mysterious woman in the theater’s balcony and offered ideas for improving it. She eagerly recorded his suggestions and asked for his name, while a flash of light briefly revealed her unusual, reptilian pupils.

• Xia Lin met a woman who claimed the balcony box as her exclusive viewing place, then invited her to watch beside him.
• The woman asked Xia Lin for his opinion of the play, and he criticized its contrived premise, dialogue, characters, and romance.
• Xia Lin proposed ways to improve the play, including a more natural meeting, a deeper family feud, stronger characters, and a more meaningful ending.
• The woman took notes on Xia Lin’s ideas and encouraged him to continue.
• The stage lights briefly revealed that the woman’s pupils had contracted into vertical ovals before returning to their usual shape.
• After the play ended, the woman praised Xia Lin’s insights and asked him his name.

Xia Lin met playwright Veronica de Nocturna, who asked him to discuss improvements to her script, but he escaped after she awkwardly tried to seduce him. Later, Veronica revised the play while dismissing a report about repeated damage at a warehouse in the East District docks.

• Veronica took Xia Lin's hand and invited him to a private box to discuss her script, but he refused and tried to leave.
• Veronica awkwardly exposed her thigh to entice Xia Lin, then handed him her business card and jumped from the stage, landing hard.
• Xia Lin used an Invisibility Scroll and a Levitation Spell to escape the theater, then realized Veronica was the playwright and went home.
• Veronica spent the night revising her play, incorporating Xia Lin's comments about making the male lead's encounter more natural.
• Gerard reported damage to Warehouse Three's fence and magical sensor lamps, but Veronica ordered him to handle it himself and drove him from the room.

Xia Lin discovered that Veronica’s business card was made from an adult Crystal Dragon scale and received her invitation to discuss a script adaptation for thirty gold coins. With Kade occupied at the temple and Sera withdrawn, Xia Lin prepared to meet Veronica that afternoon.

• Xia Lin practiced his swordsmanship, gained Magic Warrior Arts proficiency, and planned to seek further combat training when he had more money.
• Xia Lin told Kade about meeting the strange Veronica at the Opera House, and Kade sensed an ancient, powerful aura on her business card.
• Xia Lin appraised the card and learned it was made from an adult Crystal Dragon scale and contained a miniature messaging array.
• Sera appeared exhausted, declined breakfast, and returned to her room to continue researching while Xia Lin and Kade worried about her.
• Veronica’s card displayed an invitation for Xia Lin to visit her studio at the Crown of Stars at three o’clock, offering thirty gold coins for his opinions on a script adaptation.
• Kade left to help with an Iomedae temple event for ten gold coins, and Xia Lin organized his equipment and decided to meet Veronica.

Xia Lin visited Veronica’s floating loft to help improve her play, and their script discussion turned into an awkward rehearsal of increasingly intimate scenes. The chapter ended with Veronica promising to deal with Xia Lin’s uncontrollable reaction as the loft drifted into darkness.

• Xia Lin met Veronica in her floating loft and accepted an advance of fifteen gold coins for helping revise her script.
• Xia Lin suggested adding depth to the leads, realistic family pressures, and more nuanced supporting characters, while Veronica took notes.
• Veronica created a crystal stage, and she and Xia Lin awkwardly acted out several romantic, dramatic, and comedic scenes.
• Veronica insisted on rehearsing a comedic bed scene, immobilized Xia Lin with a spell, and removed his clothes before covering him with a blanket.
• Veronica noticed Xia Lin’s physiological response, said it disrupted the scene, and told him she would help him take care of it as the lights went out.

Xia Lin learned that Veronica was a Crystal Dragon after helping her finish a script, then returned home with a hundred gold coins. Sera revealed that her patron had directed her toward another warlock in New Stefan, while Veronica joined a gathering where Madam Anlin announced that Ivy was nearly done dealing with a human.

• Xia Lin and Veronica finished discussing her script, and Veronica revealed that she was a Crystal Dragon before vanishing and leaving him a hundred gold coins.
• Xia Lin returned home and told Kade that Veronica was a dragon, then joked about his night with her.
• Sera told Xia Lin and Kade that her patron had revealed another warlock with the same source was hiding in New Stefan and seemed to be guiding them toward a meeting.
• Xia Lin offered to help Sera find the warlock, and Sera said they would likely encounter him if they stayed in the city.
• Veronica appeared at a meeting in an Upper City mansion, where Madam Anlin warned her not to be late again and said Ivy was almost done dealing with a human.

Madam Anlin gathered her allies to report on their preparations to resurrect Dahak’s offspring, while Veronica clashed with Ivy over her plays. The meeting ended with Madam Anlin ordering Veronica to kill the human inspiring her if necessary, as the dragon cult prepared to pursue its plan involving the Sword Duke.

• Carlson, Ivy, the hooded man, and Veronica reported their progress to Madam Anlin, including their infiltration of city officials and preparations for the ritual.
• Ivy mocked Veronica, and Veronica slapped her hard enough to send her through a wall; Ivy transformed into a black dragon, but Veronica became a Crystal Dragon and overpowered her.
• Madam Anlin stopped the fight, and Ivy discovered the hooded man had teleported away when the dragons began battling.
• Madam Anlin declared that the group would resurrect Dahak’s offspring by obtaining something from the Sword Duke, and she told Carlson to use an Adventurer’s Guild quest to address sabotage of their assets.
• After the others left, Madam Anlin warned Veronica not to seek out the human who inspired her and ordered her to eliminate him if necessary; Veronica agreed and teleported away.

Xia Lin, Sera, and Kade guarded Madam Anlin’s warehouse district while discussing a reported attack and Xia Lin’s recent preparations. A red alert announced an enemy attack in the Dock District, ending their quiet shift as they braced for trouble.

• Sera read a report accusing the attackers behind sabotage of Madam Anlin’s properties of attacking City Hall official Carlson Rothschild’s villa.
• Xia Lin, Sera, and Kade discussed their warehouse guard contract, with Kade defending Madam Anlin’s charity work and Xia Lin dismissing the assignment as easy money.
• A company manager warned the three that the final cargo shipment was arriving that night and that the warehouse district’s three receiving points were important targets.
• Xia Lin told Sera and Kade that he had learned Defensive Offense, bought control scrolls, and purchased Sera a +2 Charisma Headband.
• An alarm sounded, and a guard reported that enemies were attacking the Dock District east of the city.

Xia Lin and his companions stayed behind at the warehouse, correctly suspecting the commotion was meant to draw its guards away. When Moonshadow Mask arrived and was ambushed, Sera recognized the hooded leader as the sorcerer she had been searching for.

• Xia Lin persuaded Kade and Sera to fake leaving the warehouse district, then hide nearby and watch the warehouse.
• The group saw a heavily sealed crate arrive among the goods, and the supervisor left a few workers to guard the warehouse.
• Moonshadow Mask appeared in a new disguise as Midnight Star and began confronting the workers.
• Hooded figures surrounded Moonshadow Mask, and their leader revealed that the east-side commotion had been a trap to lure her in.
• Sera sensed a familiar connection to the hooded leader and told Xia Lin and Kade that he was the sorcerer she had been looking for.

Moonshadow Mask fought off a group of black-clad attackers but was immobilized by their hooded leader. A precisely cast Stinking Cloud disrupted the ambush and let her escape, after which Xia Lin revealed himself and reminded her that he had saved her twice.

• Moonshadow Mask killed a black-robed mage and wounded another attacker while using enchanted gear to evade the others.
• The hooded leader immobilized Moonshadow Mask with a Human Stasis Spell and prepared to stab her.
• The hooded leader collapsed in terror, and a Stinking Cloud incapacitated two attackers and ended the spell holding Moonshadow Mask.
• Moonshadow Mask escaped the remaining attackers, who retreated when the hooded leader ordered them to withdraw.
• Xia Lin emerged from the shadows and told Moonshadow Mask he had saved her for the second time.

Xia Lin and Sera reunited with the wounded Moonshadow Mask after the warehouse incident, and she tried to hire them to investigate Madam Anlin. When she admitted she was Felicity Odolai, daughter of Sword Duke Edwin Odolai, and offered to pay, Xia Lin eagerly accepted.

• Xia Lin used a potion from Sera's Medical Box to heal Moonshadow Mask's wound.
• Sera told Xia Lin that Kade and the adventurers had returned to the warehouse, while Xia Lin suspected the real culprits had escaped.
• Xia Lin said he had only helped Moonshadow Mask to repay an earlier favor and started to leave.
• Moonshadow Mask begged Xia Lin and Sera to investigate Madam Anlin, then admitted she wanted to stop the woman from becoming her stepmother.
• Felicity Odolai removed her mask, introduced herself as Sword Duke Edwin Odolai's daughter, and offered to hire them to investigate Madam Anlin.
• Xia Lin immediately changed his mind and accepted Felicity's commission, asking about the payment.

Xia Lin accepted Felicity’s commission to investigate her future stepmother and arranged a meeting, intending to earn the Sword Duke’s family’s favor. Back at the warehouse, Sera explained that a mysterious warlock seemed cut off from their shared patron, and the group prepared to face him again as they waited out the night.

• Xia Lin agreed to Felicity’s commission, and they set a meeting for two o’clock three afternoons later at Amber Taste Restaurant.
• After Felicity left, Xia Lin told Sera he had accepted the commission to control the investigation and earn favor with the Sword Duke’s family.
• Kade reported that the black-robed intruders had vanished and that the trade company staff believed they were ordinary thieves.
• Xia Lin told Kade about Felicity’s identity and commission, while Kade praised her for fighting the cultists and Sera dismissed her motives.
• Sera explained that she could barely sense the hooded warlock’s connection to their patron unless he was in sight, suggesting something had severed or blocked it.
• Xia Lin said they would decide whether to fight or speak with the warlock when they encountered him again, and the group waited silently at the warehouse.

Xia Lin met Felicity Odolai to discuss investigating Madam Anlin and agreed to take the case for two hundred gold coins. After he sensed someone watching them, he used Felicity’s list of attacks to draw the observer out, leaving him face-to-face with an enraged noblewoman.

• Xia Lin met Felicity Odolai at Amber Taste Restaurant, where they introduced themselves and discussed her suspicions about Madam Anlin.
• Xia Lin agreed to investigate Madam Anlin for two hundred gold coins and asked Felicity about the attacks attributed to Moonshadow Mask.
• Felicity said she had acted alone and that others had copied her attacks, then listed places she had targeted, including the Red Rose pleasure house.
• Xia Lin sensed an angry observer and whispered to Felicity before pretending to proposition her, prompting her to storm out.
• A middle-aged woman in sunglasses tried to grab Xia Lin, but he dodged and watched her remove the glasses with fury in her eyes.

Xia Lin reunited with Felicity’s head maid, Martha, and learned that their family quarrel centered on Felicity’s plan to investigate Madam Anlin. After collecting the first payment for the job, he left to find Sera, while the invisible Veronica watched him go and hesitated over whether to interfere.

• Xia Lin recognized Martha as the noblewoman who had once given him her seat, and Felicity returned to find them together.
• Martha confronted Felicity about meeting Xia Lin alone and her dangerous nighttime exploits, prompting Xia Lin to lead them out of the restaurant.
• In a nearby park, Xia Lin learned Martha had raised Felicity after her mother’s death and discovered through appraisal that Martha was a level-six Gunner.
• Felicity confirmed that she still wanted Xia Lin to investigate Madam Anlin, paid him one hundred gold coins, and agreed to pay the rest when the work was done.
• Xia Lin left to find Sera, while the invisible Veronica watched him depart and murmured that there could be no variables, though she still wanted to finish her script.

Xia Lin and Sera visited the prison to question a captured thug about who had hired him to attack a warehouse, but his unreliable memory revealed little. Sera sent Xia Lin into his memories, where he finally found a fragment that seemed to show the mysterious employer approaching the thug.

• Xia Lin met Sera outside the city prison, where she had bribed a guard to let them in for an hour.
• Xia Lin offered the imprisoned thug a gold coin for information about the warehouse attack, but the man could not give a reliable account.
• Sera used a spell from her master's notebook to send Xia Lin into the thug's memories.
• Xia Lin explored several fragments, including an interrogation and the thug's unrelated misadventures, before finding a dusk memory in the Dock District.
• Xia Lin heard someone behind the thug say, "Hey, Rick. I've got a good job for you."

Xia Lin investigated Rick’s memory and uncovered clues about the cloaked man who hired thugs to damage sites across New Stefan in protest against Madam Anlin. He woke and told Sera that the situation was more complicated than they had thought.

• Xia Lin examined the cloaked man during Rick’s memory and found traces linking him to silverwork, Galt’s slums, the Artisan Guild, and a former slave brand.
• The man hired Rick and other thugs to attack a warehouse, the docks, and the Commercial District, insisting they smash property without stealing or hurting anyone.
• Xia Lin noticed that people at the tavern meeting hated Madam Anlin, and the man used a whistle with three long notes and two short notes to signal retreat.
• When city guards arrived, the cloaked man watched from a rooftop and escaped; Xia Lin spotted a pouch marked “Lucky Copper Coin Inn.”
• Rick was captured and could not describe his employer, then Xia Lin woke from the memory and told Sera that things were not as simple as they seemed.

After discovering the organizer’s hideout beneath the Lucky Copper Coin Inn, Xia Lin and Sera faced the artisan-led group plotting against Madam Anlin. Xia Lin proved he was not her spy, and the leader agreed to hear what he wanted.

• Xia Lin told Sera that Madam Anlin’s enemies were an organized group led by a former slave and said they were likely hiding at the Lucky Copper Coin Inn.
• Xia Lin used a coded knock to gain access to Room 7, where he found a hidden passage leading to an underground workshop.
• Xia Lin recognized the group’s leader from the memory and described the organizer’s identity and plan to strike Madam Anlin’s businesses.
• The leader accused Xia Lin and Sera of being spies, but Xia Lin threatened the group and revealed details of their plan and the leader’s past.
• Tim recognized Xia Lin as the adventurer who rescued kidnapped children from the Sea Serpent, and Xia Lin showed proof of his role.
• The leader accepted Xia Lin’s evidence, dismissed the group’s hostility, and asked what he wanted.

Xia Lin and Sera learned that Marcus Ironhammer’s group were ruined merchants and craftsmen seeking revenge on Madam Anlin, and Xia Lin persuaded them to cooperate by offering to rescue Elias. He decided to infiltrate Carlson Rothschild’s mansion, leaving Kade to investigate its upcoming masquerade ball as the group prepared for the rescue.

• Marcus Ironhammer explained how Madam Anlin’s predatory charity trading company had ruined the people in his workshop and revealed that they had been attacking her businesses to expose her.
• Marcus rejected Xia Lin’s offer until Xia Lin deduced that Elias was imprisoned, then agreed to cooperate if Xia Lin rescued him from Carlson Rothschild’s private dungeon.
• Marcus explained that Elias had uncovered evidence of Madam Anlin’s bribery, market manipulation, and smuggling before he was framed and imprisoned.
• Xia Lin and Sera agreed to pursue the rescue for information and payment, while keeping their distance from the craftsmen’s later revenge.
• Xia Lin and Sera recruited Kade at Rose Hall, and Kade agreed to investigate Carlson’s masquerade balls and mansion without violating his principles.
• Xia Lin planned to prepare disguises and rescue tools, hoping to use the evidence against Madam Anlin to charge Felicity a higher fee.