Chapter Summaries

Lin Jie completed his I.A.R.C. hunter registration and accepted a low-risk investigation into thefts and disappearances at a London warehouse. The Association assigned Marcus to accompany him as a safety line, leaving Lin Jie to begin his first official commission with an unwanted but familiar bodyguard.

• Lin Jie completed his registration, received his Free Hunter Manual and ten pounds, and learned he could accept commissions from the Mission Board.
• He chose a Caution Rank case involving stolen industrial supplies and three missing night watchmen at a warehouse in London’s West India Docks.
• Lin Jie declined the clerk’s offer of an experienced assistant so he could lead the investigation himself.
• Barton told Lin Jie that the Association would assign a non-cooperating investigator because a company shareholder sponsored the Association.
• Barton assigned Marcus to serve as Lin Jie’s safety line, and Marcus reluctantly joined him.

Lin Jie used his new Hunter status and money to prepare for his first mission at the West India Docks. After securing equipment and ammunition, he returned to his room ready to set out.

• Lin Jie stayed at an I.A.R.C. safe-house inn in Bloomsbury and planned the equipment he needed for the West India Docks case.
• Lin Jie bought a military-grade London map, new hunting clothes, a portable carbide lamp, a telescope, and a Kukri.
• Marcus accompanied Lin Jie as he shopped and grew curious about how deliberately he chose his supplies.
• Lin Jie visited Quartermaster Old Tom in the Underground City's Logistics Supply Zone and bought twelve standard Anti-Spirit Alchemical Bullets for five gold pounds.
• Lin Jie returned to the inn, laid out his equipment, and decided it was time to begin the mission.

Lin Jie began his first I.A.R.C. assignment at West India Docks with veteran investigator William Keane assigned as his combat partner and evaluator. After inspecting the sealed warehouse where goods had vanished, Lin Jie faced William’s demand to explain his plan.

• Barton introduced William Keane as Lin Jie’s experienced partner, and William warned Lin Jie to follow his orders in danger.
• Marcus praised William’s tracking skills, and the three men traveled to West India Docks.
• Lin Jie and his companions posed as private detectives and met the distressed manager of the United Spice and Textile Company.
• The manager showed them Warehouse No. 3, where goods had disappeared despite its sealed doors and intact windows.
• Lin Jie examined the warehouse exterior and spotted narrow ventilation windows and a damaged drainage grille.
• William identified fresh scratches and a faint mixture of machine oil and rot near the grille, then asked Lin Jie to state his plan.

Lin Jie set a flour trap in Warehouse No. 3 to expose the Dock Whisperers’ camouflage. After a dozen creatures triggered it, they were covered in white powder, leaving them visible and marked as they fled.

• Lin Jie had William hang a sack of flour from the warehouse’s central beam and lay a hidden tripwire along the creatures’ route.
• At midnight, more than a dozen Dock Whisperers entered through the ventilation window and headed for a crate of tin ingots.
• The leading creature brushed the tripwire, releasing the flour over the troop and marking them in white.
• The Dock Whisperers scattered through the warehouse, leaving visible tracks as William watched Lin Jie with admiration.

Lin Jie identified the creatures in the warehouse as Gremlins and learned that their curse could disable firearms. He planned to use rhythmic sounds to drive them toward an underground drainage channel and track them to their lair.

• Lin Jie ordered Marcus to guard the entrance while he and Sergeant William observed the Gremlins from a distance.
• Lin Jie consulted the Free Hunter Manual and identified the creatures as Gremlins, learning about their mechanical curse and their weakness to steady, regular sounds.
• Lin Jie warned Sergeant William not to fire because the Gremlins could make their weapons malfunction, and William lowered his gun.
• Lin Jie proposed using rhythmic noise to herd the Gremlins through a quiet exit toward the underground drainage channel, allowing the group to follow them to their nest.
• Marcus's disdain turned to respect as he watched Lin Jie explain his plan.

Lin Jie used rhythmic noise to herd the Gremlins toward a sewer entrance and recovered a brass gear they dropped. With [Touch of Afterimage], he sensed that their nest and the missing Night Watchers were beneath the group in the sewers, setting the stage for a dangerous search.

• William, Marcus, and Lin Jie made a rhythmic noise symphony that drove the Gremlins toward the underground drainage channel.
• Lin Jie rushed to retrieve a brass gear while William shot and killed two Gremlins that turned to attack him.
• Lin Jie used [Touch of Afterimage] on the gear and sensed the direction of the Gremlins' collective will.
• Lin Jie told William and Marcus that the nest lay beneath them in the sewers and that the missing Night Watchers were probably there.
• William steadied Lin Jie, offered him water, and prepared for the dangerous journey ahead.

Lin Jie and William tracked the Gremlins through the sewers, found clues to their weakness, and discovered the missing Night Watchers had been transformed into Mechanical Wraiths. The three undead figures awakened and turned their murderous attention toward the intruders.

• William and Lin Jie followed Lin Jie's Afterimage perception through the sewers toward the Gremlins' nest.
• William identified the remains of Billy, and Lin Jie found a key ring and a notebook with a clue about noisy monkeys, clock thieves, and a grandfather's item.
• William recalled that sailors called anchor-shaped music boxes “Old Captain's Lullaby,” leading Lin Jie to suspect regular sounds could weaken the Gremlins.
• Lin Jie and William continued past strange metal totems and clockwork structures until Lin Jie sensed powerful resentment ahead.
• They discovered the other missing Night Watchers bound together on a scrap-metal throne, their bodies mechanically altered into Mechanical Wraiths.
• The three Mechanical Wraiths raised their heads and fixed Lin Jie and William with murderous intent.

Lin Jie and Sergeant William faced three Mechanical Wraiths guarding the route into the Gremlin nest, but Lin Jie used a ticking pocket watch to turn the Gremlins against them and open a path. They escaped into the deeper passage, leaving the Wraiths and Gremlins in chaos behind them.

• The three Mechanical Wraiths confronted Lin Jie and William, and William prepared to fight them.
• Lin Jie stopped William and proposed using the Wraiths and Gremlins against each other to avoid wasting time and ammunition.
• Lin Jie wound and threw his pocket watch into the passage while William drew the Wraiths' attention with a gunshot.
• The ticking watch enraged the Gremlins, who surged toward it and collided with the Wraiths.
• Lin Jie and William dashed through the chaos and reached the passage beyond the Throne.

Lin Jie and Sergeant William lured an isolated Gremlin squad into a narrow passage and killed them in a coordinated ambush. They escaped before the rest of the Gremlin horde could counterattack, leaving the Artisan Leader still ahead.

• Lin Jie and William surveyed the Gremlin lair and identified the Artisan Leader atop the Mechanical Shrine as their target.
• Lin Jie proposed luring an isolated group of Gremlins away from the shrine while William waited to shoot them in a narrow passage.
• Lin Jie used a music box playing "Greensleeves" to draw the Gremlins dismantling alarm clocks toward the passage.
• William used a Winchester M1873 to kill the Gremlin squad while Lin Jie illuminated the targets with his Carbide Lamp.
• Lin Jie and William withdrew into the darkness, and William praised Lin Jie for being suited to the work.

Lin Jie and William discovered that the Gremlins’ most valuable crafting materials came from objects spiritually altered by the creatures’ collective will. They identified several powerful materials in the Mechanical Shrine and prepared to take them without alerting the Artisan Leader.

• Lin Jie and William scavenged the Gremlins’ bodies and found their claws and crystal lenses useful but lacking strong spiritual properties.
• Lin Jie noticed the Gremlins had altered the music box’s components, and William explained that spiritual saturation turned ordinary objects into supernatural materials.
• Lin Jie and William searched the stolen objects and found more spiritually saturated parts among the dismantled alarm clocks.
• Lin Jie used his [Touch of Afterimage] to locate unusually potent materials in the Mechanical Shrine.
• Lin Jie and William uncovered black, light-absorbing rubber tubing and rune-carved brass ingots that could interfere with magnetic fields.

Lin Jie and William withdrew from the Gremlin lair with valuable materials and reported their findings to the I.A.R.C. London Branch. Their mission earned an exceptional reward and recognition from the Evaluation Department, while the lair remained undiscovered by a full sweep.

• Lin Jie and William chose to retreat from the shrine rather than risk fighting the Artisan Leader and dozens of Gremlins, then reunited safely with Marcus aboveground.
• William reported that Gremlins beneath Warehouse No. 3 had killed four Night Watchers and transformed three into Mechanical Wraiths, and that he and Lin Jie had eliminated nine Gremlins before withdrawing.
• The Level Two appraiser valued the Gremlin materials at eighteen Association points, then called in a Level One appraiser after seeing the mutated brass and light-absorbing rubber tubing.
• The Level One appraiser identified the materials as high-quality Town Rank Chaos Brass and Void Rubber, and the Association awarded Lin Jie and William 25 pounds and 88 Association points.
• The head of the Evaluation Department gave Lin Jie a gold-embossed business card and invited him to bring in any future discoveries.

Lin Jie presented Arthur Conan with a blueprint for a modular Grotesque Armament built around standardized interfaces, spiritual conduction circuits, and ergonomic design. Arthur recognized the ideas as a revolutionary new approach, and Lin Jie left him eager to build the design using mutated brass and Void Rubber.

• Lin Jie returned to Arthur Conan’s Fourth Equipment Laboratory after resting at the inn.
• Lin Jie showed Arthur a blueprint for a modular vambrace and explained its design principles.
• Arthur studied the notes, praised Lin Jie’s ideas, and treated him as an equal.
• Arthur asked which materials Lin Jie wanted to use for the design.
• Lin Jie placed mutated brass ingots and Void Rubber on the workbench.

Lin Jie and Arthur forged a prototype armguard that used Chaos Brass to disrupt machinery and Void Rubber to create active optical camouflage. After purifying the brass and guiding its energy into the Spirit Conduction Circuit, they completed the first fusion and left the prototype cooling on the workbench.

• Arthur recognized that Lin Jie's design would guide cursed energy into a controlled disruption field instead of suppressing it, and Lin Jie confirmed his intent.
• Lin Jie proposed using activated Void Rubber to release absorbed light and energy as a field that could grant temporary invisibility.
• Arthur asked Lin Jie to guide him through the materials' spiritual changes as he forged the armguard, and Lin Jie agreed.
• Arthur purified the Chaos Brass by drilling out impurities at the locations Lin Jie identified.
• Arthur shaped the leather armguard base and etched golden Spirit Conduction Circuits into it.
• When the Chaos Brass resisted fusion, Lin Jie called out its surges while Arthur hammered it into the circuits, completing the prototype.

Lin Jie and Arthur Conan completed the Spellbreaker Bracer, which let Lin Jie focus Gremlin’s disruptive curse into a controlled field. Lin Jie tested it on a Clockwork Soldier and reduced the mechanical dummy to useless scrap.

• Arthur Conan finished the bracer, and Lin Jie fitted it to his arm.
• Lin Jie channeled his will into the bracer and awakened its curse through the Spirit Conduction Circuits.
• Lin Jie named the armament the Spellbreaker Bracer after its field stopped Arthur’s Astronomical Clock.
• Arthur Conan took Lin Jie to the Weapon Testing Room to test the bracer on a Clockwork Soldier.
• Lin Jie directed the interference field at the Clockwork Soldier, locking its gears and disabling it.

After receiving the complete translation of Cartographer Karl’s diary, Lin Jie learned that White Lotus planned to hatch UMA eggs during the Paris World’s Fair, and that Karl had died trying to stop the scheme. Barton then assigned Lin Jie a Loch Ness investigation, with Sergeant William as his partner.

• Barton told Lin Jie that his Chaos Brass and blueprint had inspired Arthur’s research and handed him the unredacted translation of Karl’s diary.
• Lin Jie read Karl’s account of White Lotus transporting UMA eggs to Europe for a ritual at the Paris World’s Fair, and the Sea Witch’s voyage into the Sea of Resentful Women.
• Lin Jie spent the day studying Karl’s knowledge of UMAs, Grotesque Armaments, and the Underworld.
• Barton gave Lin Jie a Caution Rank commission to investigate reports of a huge aquatic creature in Loch Ness and collect evidence without hunting it unless threatened.
• Barton said Lin Jie’s interpretive abilities and modular Spellbreaker Bracer suited the mission, and that Sergeant William had volunteered to accompany him.

Lin Jie and Sergeant William traveled north by train toward Inverness-shire, where they were headed to investigate an aquatic UMA in a Scottish loch. William shared how supernatural forces had shaped his experience in the Zulu War, bringing him and Lin Jie closer as they approached their next mission.

• Lin Jie and William departed London aboard the Flying Scotsman in a first-class compartment.
• Lin Jie asked William about the Zulu War, and William described how the Zulu war cry and Sangomas had unnerved British soldiers with supernatural power.
• William told Lin Jie he had recognized him as a kindred survivor because Lin Jie used his mind against a monster at the warehouse.
• Lin Jie read the translated Cartographer's diary while William rested as the train traveled into the Scottish Highlands.
• Lin Jie reviewed Karl's diary over dinner as he and William neared the loch where an ancient aquatic UMA was said to lurk.

Lin Jie and William investigated the Loch Ness Monster’s history and recent sightings in Inverness, finding evidence that industrial projects repeatedly disturbed a creature once revered as the lake’s guardian. They ended the day suspecting their mission was to find a peaceful recluse whose home had been invaded.

• Lin Jie and William arrived in Inverness and planned separate investigations for the next morning.
• William gathered fishermen’s and pubgoers’ rumors about the monster while Lin Jie examined old records at the county library.
• Lin Jie found that sixth-century accounts described a water beast, while older Celtic legends revered it as the lake’s guardian deity.
• Lin Jie traced a sharp rise in monster sightings to industrial projects around Loch Ness, including recent underwater mineral exploration near Urquhart Bay.
• William returned with conflicting reports that all described an enormous creature, and Lin Jie shared his findings with him over whisky.

Lin Jie and William investigated Ian MacGregor’s encounter with the Loch Ness creature and learned that he had seen a benevolent guardian rather than a monster. They then consulted Alistair MacDonald, whose research supported Lin Jie’s theory and warned that human activity could drive the ancient being to extinction or violence.

• Lin Jie and William traveled to Ian MacGregor’s cottage, where William lured Ian away so Lin Jie could inspect his fishing boat.
• Lin Jie touched the boat and saw Ian’s memory of a blue-lit creature saving him from dangerous rocks; he understood why Ian had withdrawn from the village.
• Lin Jie told Ian that he understood his vision of the Guardian Deity, and Ian broke down before welcoming the two men and recounting the encounter.
• Ian warned them about exploration equipment meant to blast open the lakebed, reinforcing Lin Jie’s theory that industrial activity had drawn out the creature.
• Lin Jie and William visited Alistair MacDonald, who concluded that an ancient, divinely natural being lived in Loch Ness and that human ignorance threatened to destroy it or provoke it.

Lin Jie, William, and Alistair began surveying Loch Ness with Alistair’s underwater listening device, but it could not isolate the sound they sought. Lin Jie decided to use his Touch of Afterimage through the device’s cable to contact the Guardian Deity, and began channeling his power into it.

• Alistair helped Lin Jie and William rent a modified steam-powered fishing boat, and the three set out for Urquhart Bay at dawn.
• Alistair lowered his Ear of the Lake to eighty meters and listened for the voices beneath Loch Ness.
• After failing to distinguish the desired sound from underwater noise, Alistair admitted that his device was too dull.
• Lin Jie proposed using the metal cable to sense a pulse traveling through the lakebed and persuaded William to trust his judgment.
• Lin Jie pressed his bare hand against the cable and unleashed the full power of Touch of Afterimage.

Lin Jie used the cable to connect with Loch Ness’s memories and discovered a living, immense spiritual field beneath the lake, whose serene heartbeat nearly assimilated him. He warned William and Alistair that the being was far more dangerous than its current rank suggested, then collapsed after confirming its existence.

• Lin Jie touched the metal cable and experienced Loch Ness’s ancient memories, nearly losing himself in them.
• Lin Jie found the lake’s deep heartbeat and fought its peaceful pull with the Heart of Serenity.
• Lin Jie broke free, collapsed, and told William and Alistair that a living spiritual field lay beneath the lake.
• Lin Jie explained that the being’s calm could assimilate mortal minds and that its threat exceeded Caution Rank despite its lack of malice.
• Lin Jie passed out after confirming the Loch Ness Monster’s existence.