Chapter Summaries

Dominic and Feld struggled to drive their cart through the mountain road after a supply trip. Dominic experienced a terrifying vision and, after mistaking the first thunderclap for thunder, lost control of the cart when another roar struck.

• Feld drove the cart into ruts while Dominic tried to remember a poem, and they entered the dangerous mountain path as daylight faded.
• Dominic fell asleep in the cart and dreamed that an immense presence in a void had seen him.
• Dominic woke at night, discovered his notebook was missing, and learned that the cart was only halfway up the mountain.
• A flash of lightning and the delayed thunder startled Dominic and Feld, but Dominic took the reins and steadied the horses.
• A second explosive roar made Dominic drop the reins, and the cart charged toward the darkness as he realized the first sound had not been thunder.

Dominic and Feld overturned their carriage during a storm after Dominic became absorbed in a strange vision, leaving Dominic injured and shaken. Kraft questioned them, then ordered their horses moved and watched in case the accident had a suspicious cause.

• Dominic glimpsed a mysterious, living presence during the storm before being thrown from the carriage into a tree.
• Kraft treated Dominic and Feld for their injuries, and the two apologized for the carriage accident.
• Dominic recalled that he had been thinking about a poem and may have found a new interpretation before the crash.
• Kraft excused the injured men from patrols and night watch, then asked Raymond what he thought of the incident.
• Kraft noted that the Sigo Family's horses were normally reliable and ordered them transferred to the estate down the mountain for close observation.

Dominic and Feld adjusted to their slow work overseeing the monastery estate’s reconstruction, while Dominic remained troubled by the accident and their apparent lack of purpose. After learning about the locals’ cloud-shaped protective straw hats, they decided to explore the village and nearby slopes to gather useful information for Kraft.

• Dominic lamented that he and Feld might be stuck overseeing the fields after his carriage accident, while Feld noted that Kraft still requested reports every three days.
• Feld offered Dominic berries and a book, then suggested they take a walk when he noticed Dominic repeatedly drifting into thought.
• Dominic found a strange spiral-shaped straw hat on his face, and Feld explained that a young woman had given it to him in thanks for prayers for her father.
• Feld described the locals’ belief that the spiral hat resembled a cloud and would protect its wearer from harm.
• Dominic agreed to explore the village and nearby slopes with Feld, hoping their observations would improve their report to Kraft.

The Monastery’s reopening brought jobs, trade, and prosperity to the Priyell Domain, while Dominic and Feld became overworked village mediators. The chapter left them preparing to investigate an old grave-robbing accusation that had fueled a feud between two families for years.

• The Monastery’s spending created construction work and new orders, and the baron anticipated more benefits from the Knight Order’s charitable programs.
• Dominic and Feld helped villagers settle disputes, using canon law and doctrine before Feld’s sword made people more willing to listen.
• A stonemason asked Dominic and Feld to investigate his family’s accusation that Old John had disturbed their ancestral grave five years earlier.
• Dominic learned that Old John was dead and that the dispute had grown into a long-running feud between the families.
• Dominic promised to look into the case while urging the stonemason to accept reconciliation if the truth could not be established.

Dominic and Feld accompanied the stonemason to his grandfather’s remote grave to investigate its alleged robbery. The stonemason revealed that Old John’s grave contained no body, leaving Dominic with a new mystery.

• Dominic, Feld, and the stonemason climbed through the mountains to the stonemason’s grandfather’s grave.
• The stonemason described finding the grave disturbed and blamed Old John, but the long delay had left no evidence.
• Dominic asked what had been buried with the stonemason’s grandfather, and learned it was a copper Holy Emblem and a return gift from the Monastery.
• The stonemason said Old John had died in a fall after acting nervously, and pointed out his unmarked grave.
• The stonemason told Dominic that Old John’s grave was empty and speculated that a wild animal had carried off the body.

Dominic tried to ease the feud between the stonemason’s family and Old John’s family, then learned that the mountain’s soil showed signs of disturbance. The clues of old graves, disturbed earth, and cut-down trees left Dominic with a nagging suspicion, and he decided to speak privately with Old John’s child.

• Dominic persuaded the stonemason to reconsider the family feud and return home to think about making peace.
• Dominic questioned the stonemason about Old John’s disappearance and learned that no one had seen the supposed large wild animals blamed for missing people.
• Feld reported that he had found signs of disturbed soil in several places on the mountain without digging near any graves.
• Feld kicked a jagged tree stump and complained that trees beside the graves had been cut down.
• Dominic connected the old graves, disturbed soil, and stumps to an elusive suspicion and decided to talk privately with Old John’s child.

Kraft struggled under the monastery’s relentless work before inspecting the newly discovered remains of a tower on the mountain. He ordered Kup to take a small party, including Yvonne, to search the valley for what remained of the structure and other traces.

• Kup interrupted Kraft’s paperwork to ask whether the tower foundation should be added to the repair list.
• Kraft went with Kup and the craftsmen to inspect a stone foundation that had first looked like a reservoir.
• The stonemason explained that the foundation’s post holes and depth suggested a wooden tower that had collapsed, and the carpenter recommended oak for rebuilding it.
• Kraft thanked the craftsmen and told Kup to send two or three people into the valley the next day to search for the tower’s remains and other signs.
• Kraft asked Kup to bring Yvonne along and learned that she had been studying and helping clean the monastery.

Dominic visited Little John to invite him to the monks’ planned Mass and festival, then noticed disturbing spiral patterns throughout the basket weaver’s home. The chapter left Dominic staring at a vortex-shaped structure in the ceiling as nausea overcame him.

• Dominic declined to seek help from Mr. Kraft’s assistant and went with his companion to visit Old John’s household.
• Dominic and his companion met Little John, who welcomed them and agreed to attend the monks’ gatherings.
• Dominic observed Little John’s intricate basket weaving and decided the family’s trade made the suspected tomb-robbing seem like a misunderstanding.
• As Dominic prepared to leave Little John a Holy Emblem pendant, the spiraling woven goods made him dizzy and nauseated.
• Dominic looked up and saw the straw ceiling spiraling inward into a vortex.

Dominic recovered after collapsing at Little John’s home, then learned about the Basket Weaver’s father and the family craft he had passed down. Little John began to reveal that his father may have done something wrong, after Dominic promised to keep the matter secret.

• Dominic fainted and was carried outside, where Feld checked his condition and Little John anxiously watched.
• After recovering, Dominic reassured Little John and praised his basket weaving.
• Little John explained that his father had become a full-time Basket Weaver and created many new designs, including cushions, stools, and a roof.
• When Dominic offered condolences for his father, Little John grew more distressed and hinted that his father had caused trouble.
• Dominic promised to keep Little John’s secret, and Little John began to say that his father might have done things he should not have.

Dominic comforted Little John as he confessed that his father, Old John, had become obsessively devoted to weaving before vanishing after a stormy night. Little John recalled the strange circumstances of his father’s disappearance, including a basket full of mud and thunder without lightning, leaving Dominic with a sense that something uncanny had happened.

• Dominic reassured Little John that even serious wrongdoing could be forgiven, and Little John admitted he feared his father had disturbed the dead.
• Little John described how Old John became obsessed with weaving, worked through the night, and eventually left home carrying a basket and shovel.
• During a torrential storm, Old John returned covered in mud, ordered everyone out of the house, and carried a basket that held only dried mud when Little John found it the next day.
• Old John later went out in the rain again and never returned, leaving Little John haunted by the possibility that he should have stayed and spoken with him.
• Dominic asked Little John to recall more about the night, and Little John remembered that thunder had sounded all night without a single flash of lightning.

After hearing Little John’s confession, Dominic and Feld recognized similarities between his account of thunder and the strange event they had experienced. They decided to investigate the phenomenon through old Church records and use their findings for a report before the Consecration Festival.

• Dominic absolved Little John, and he and Feld left the village without accepting his offer of a donation.
• Dominic and Feld compared Little John’s account of thunder to the mysterious crash they had heard before.
• Dominic proposed that they investigate the event as a local celestial phenomenon and use it to explain the carriage accident.
• Dominic suggested searching records at Church stations in nearby settlements, and Feld agreed to the plan.

Dominic and Feld searched an old church library for material for their report and discovered that settlements across the diocese shared nearly identical woven crafts called the “Heavenly Tower.” Their investigation left Dominic sensing a vast, unsettling unity behind the patterns, but its origins remained unknown.

• The Priest welcomed Dominic and Feld into the church’s dusty library and left them to browse while he prepared dinner.
• Dominic and Feld searched the monks’ writings and found scattered references to distinctive woven hats and baskets across the region.
• Feld found a monk’s account describing nearly identical crafts in isolated settlements throughout the diocese, which the writer had named the “Heavenly Tower.”
• The account suggested the craft’s origins had been forgotten, and the monks could find no records reaching back more than three generations.
• Dominic wondered whether the woven patterns came from something larger and unified, then felt the familiar dread of something vast as Feld asked him to help with a crumbling book.

Dominic and Feld examined an ancient missionary’s notebook, which described a mysterious spiral associated with a local belief the Church had never fully understood. As the missionary’s writing became increasingly confused, Dominic encountered the word “Scales?” and felt his consciousness drawn toward an impossible direction.

• Dominic nearly dropped the strange old book, and Feld carefully opened it on a book rest.
• Dominic and Feld read the missionary’s account of his years living among frontier residents and recording their customs.
• The missionary investigated a local belief centered on a recurring, unnamed spiral that resembled neither ordinary nature worship nor familiar forms of shamanism.
• The missionary’s efforts to understand the belief stalled despite the residents’ acceptance of Church doctrine and their attempts to describe “that thing.”
• The missionary’s final notes spiraled into tangled lines, and Dominic read the word “Scales?” before his consciousness moved toward a direction that did not exist.

Dominic became seriously ill but insisted that he and Feld continue to their next destination because he felt they were close to finding it. Meanwhile, Kup discovered strange, lightweight fragments in the stream beneath the cliff, giving the search for the vanished structure a new lead.

• The village priest warned Dominic to rest after he grew dizzy, cold, and clammy, while Feld helped him drink water and urged him to return to the Monastery for treatment.
• Dominic refused to abandon their search and told Feld they should continue to the next destination because he felt they were close to finding it.
• Kup and Yvonne found scraps and hand-cut masonry in the stream valley but not enough debris to reconstruct the destroyed structure.
• After a rock toppled beneath him, Kup found pale yellow, porous fragments that resembled unusually light bone and noticed more pieces in the water.
• Kup called the others over and asked them to bring him a sieve so he could collect the fragments.

Kup pieced together human bones recovered from the stream and realized the remains belonged to someone crushed after falling into the valley. A recovered Holy Emblem triggered a vivid vision of the dead person clutching something while falling, leaving Kup with new memories and unanswered questions.

• Kup sorted the recovered fragments and identified ribs, vertebrae, and other bones as belonging to a human-sized person.
• Kup reconstructed a partial skeleton and questioned how the person’s remains had ended up far from the cliff.
• Kup imagined the victim falling into the valley and being crushed, but found that the theory did not explain how the bones had broken.
• A cultivator brought Kup a deformed silver Holy Emblem, and Kup’s outstretched arms triggered a vision of someone clutching a heavy object while plunging into the abyss.
• Kup sat upright, shaken by the despair of the vision, as unsettling memories awakened within him.

Kraft tried cultivating mold in his new laboratory but failed to produce the result he wanted, then attempted to extract Salicylic Acid from Willow Bark for the Monastery’s upcoming charity clinic. The process also failed to produce a precipitate, leaving him without the remedy he had hoped to make.

• Kraft prepared a nutrient-rich culture medium and sowed mold in a Petri dish, but the growth produced a colorful, unsuccessful culture.
• Kraft reflected that Kup and his team were investigating down the mountain with Yvonne, while he used the extra time to work in the laboratory.
• Kraft chopped Willow Bark, soaked it in high-proof alcohol, and heated the mixture to extract Salicin.
• Kraft filtered and acidified the darkened liquid, then added concentrated Sulfuric Acid to try to form Salicylic Acid.
• Kraft found that no precipitate appeared.

Kraft investigated why his experiments extracting a substance from Willow Bark had failed and discovered hidden writing in a corridor fresco. He chased the strange presence into the Great Hall, where he destroyed a bookcase and concealed the damage from an arriving monk.

• Kraft reviewed his failed Willow Bark experiments and suspected that part of the procedure had been concealed or lost from his memory.
• Kraft followed his intuition from the laboratory to hidden words embedded in the corridor’s religious frescoes.
• Kraft chased the strange presence through the monastery passages and intercepted it near the Baptism of Jeria Mural.
• Kraft broke into the Great Hall after the presence, where his instincts surged and a hardwood bookcase crashed to the floor.
• Kraft told the arriving monk that he had been chasing a snake and blamed his poor condition on work and his thesis.

Kraft focused on refining a remedy while Brother Raymond urged him to delegate responsibilities and build ties with other Churches. Kraft discovered that heating the extract destroyed unstable compounds and concluded he was making cold medicine.

• Brother Raymond confronted Kraft about his late-night damage to the Monastery and asked what he had encountered.
• Raymond urged Kraft to divide Knight Order responsibilities and establish correspondence with other Churches.
• Kraft prayed over his experiment and filtered an extract while giving Raymond little attention.
• Kraft noticed white flakes forming in the solution and realized that heating the alcohol had destroyed unstable compounds.
• Kraft said he would let the ingredients soak longer at room temperature and identified his broad remedy as cold medicine.

Feld and Dominic searched old church records for clues about the local Spiral Shape traditions and disappearances, but found mostly contradictory accounts. A journal entry revealed that over twenty years earlier, the church had supplied a passing party with provisions and a horse in exchange for silver ceremonial vessels, leaving Feld puzzled.

• Feld and Dominic reviewed accounts describing local beliefs, Spiral Shape crafts, and stories of people disappearing, but found no clear conclusions.
• Dominic developed a headache, and Feld prepared to stay an extra day so he could rest.
• Feld read an acolyte’s journal and noticed that the church had once given a party three months’ worth of supplies and lent them its horse.
• Feld found that the party had left valuable silver ceremonial vessels in return, and estimated the transaction had taken place a little over twenty years earlier.
• Dominic asked what Feld had found, and Feld said the entry seemed strange.

Dominic and Feld investigated an old ledger entry showing that a caravan from the Monastery traded its ceremonial vessels for provisions, and they realized it coincided with the Monastery’s hurried departure about twenty-one years earlier. As Dominic became consumed by the mystery, he began vomiting violently and collapsed, leaving Feld to call for help.

• Feld and Dominic examined the record of the Monastery trading its ceremonial vessels for provisions and livestock, puzzling over why the caravan had come and why it was in such a hurry.
• Dominic searched through old records for more clues, despite Feld’s doubts that they could uncover what had happened.
• Feld noted that more than twenty years had passed, prompting Dominic to connect the ledger entry to the Monastery’s hurried departure about twenty-one years earlier.
• Dominic grew increasingly feverish and struggled to speak as he wondered whether the caravan had ever returned.
• Dominic vomited violently, collapsed with his chair, and Feld turned his head to keep him from choking while calling for help.