Recaps

Klein visited the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and suspected a bookmark might conceal a Card of Blasphemy, then unexpectedly encountered Lorne and his pen friend Fors. Their awkward reunion was interrupted by Five of Clubs, who teased Lorne for being with a different woman.

• Klein noticed an unusual bookmark in the display of Roselle's study and asked the guide whether it was the only one that needed checking.
• Klein contacted Miss Justice for help, then bumped into Lorne and recognized Fors as someone who had once prayed to him.
• Lorne introduced Fors as his pen friend, and Klein teased them about being on a date until Fors shyly agreed that it probably counted.
• Bernadette noticed Klein's arrival and postponed approaching Lorne, while the group returned to the first exhibition hall.
• Five of Clubs appeared by the Golden Toilet, scrutinized Fors, and joked that Lorne had switched to another lady again.

After a playful dinner with Fors, Lorne was confronted by Bernadette, who recognized him as Monkey Brando and delivered a letter from Cattleya. The chapter ended with Lorne suspecting that Cattleya had betrayed him.

• Lorne and Fors shared dinner, where Fors teased him and called their outing a date before leaving in a carriage.
• Lorne recalled Sherlock and Five of Clubs making Fors suspicious of him, then wondered whether Will's prediction of bad luck was coming true.
• Lorne entered a deserted alley and sensed that a Beyonder was targeting him, so he prepared a charm and necklace.
• Bernadette confronted Lorne with a bounty notice and revealed that she recognized him as Monkey Brando.
• Bernadette gave Lorne a letter from Cattleya, and Lorne asked whether Cattleya had sold him out.

Lorne confronted Bernadette after learning that Cattleya had revealed his location, but Bernadette said she had not come to harm him. She showed him Roselle’s diary pages and accused him of writing them, then revealed that she could not divine anything about him, leaving Lorne intrigued by his unusual resistance to detection.

• Lorne suspected Cattleya had betrayed him and asked Bernadette whether she was seeking the bounty or revenge.
• Bernadette identified herself as Queen Mystic and told Lorne she had not come to hurt him.
• Bernadette summoned pages of Roselle’s diary and asked Lorne whether he had written them.
• Lorne admitted selling the pages but claimed he had bought them elsewhere, then tried to explain that he had guessed they were a diary.
• Bernadette called Lorne a liar and said his evasive reactions exposed his guilt.
• Bernadette revealed that she could not make prophecies about Lorne, and he realized his unusual quality might block detection.

Lorne negotiated with Bernadette over Roselle’s secrets and a long-term arrangement to translate his diary, while protecting his own dangerous secret. Bernadette left with his pendant to restore it, but learned that her approach had made Lorne believe Cattleya had sold him out.

• Lorne asked Bernadette whether Roselle was truly dead, then demanded to know what she wanted from him.
• Bernadette offered Lorne the Fate pathway’s subsequent potion formulas and its Card of Blasphemy in exchange for everything he knew about Roselle.
• Lorne warned that revealing his secret could destroy them both and proposed translating Roselle’s Diary through his channels in exchange for payment based on the entries’ value.
• Bernadette agreed to their arrangement and offered to restore Lorne’s Winner pendant to a Beyonder characteristic as a welcoming gift.
• Bernadette said Cattleya had not sold Lorne out, but Lorne argued that exposing his location without asking his consent amounted to betrayal.
• Bernadette realized her actions had damaged Lorne’s opinion of Cattleya and wondered whether she had made a mistake.

Lorne’s tense conversation with Bernadette was interrupted by Five of Clubs, whose teasing worsened their awkward misunderstanding before he warned that the Machinery Hivemind was approaching. As Lorne walked home, he sensed danger and heard someone scream that there had been a murder.

• At the Royal Museum, the Machinery Hivemind discovered that the Golden Toilet had disappeared while searching for an intruder.
• Bernadette struggled to explain to Lorne how her actions had harmed him, but Five of Clubs entered her spell and interrupted them.
• Lorne introduced Five of Clubs as an acquaintance, and Five of Clubs teased him about his relationships before warning that the Machinery Hivemind was on its way.
• Five of Clubs vanished, leaving Bernadette more suspicious of Lorne and their conversation more awkward.
• As Lorne walked home, he sensed nearby danger and heard screams of “Murder!” and “Help!”

After stealing the disguised Card of Blasphemy from the Museum, Klein encountered Lorne while fleeing a Devil Dog, and Lorne escaped with him before returning home. Lorne fed Lucky the potion that made her an Instigator Cat, while the Five of Clubs worried that Backlund was nearing another crisis.

• Klein stole the disguised Card of Blasphemy from the Museum, then fled after encountering a Devil Dog at a murder scene.
• Klein and Lorne ran into each other in an alley and escaped the Devil Dog by fleeing through several streets.
• Lorne met Lucky on Rose Street and took her back to No. 69, where he prepared her advancement potion.
• Lucky drank the potion and became an Instigator Cat.
• The Five of Clubs reflected on the aura he had sensed at the Museum and warned that Backlund was about to descend into chaos again.

Lorne learned that the Worm of Time was tied to the Marauder pathway and that Fors’s Full Moon Muttering was connected to the Abraham Family, while he resisted investing in stocks. Danitz became tempted by Backlund’s market gains, and Lucky set out to test her new Instigator abilities.

• Lucky awakened after advancing, but Lorne could not determine what new ability she had gained before she fell asleep.
• Lorne read Cattleya’s letter, connected Hazel to the Marauder pathway, and learned that Fors’s Full Moon Muttering was linked to the Abraham Family.
• Lorne decided not to risk his money in the stock market and noticed a report about a Devil reappearing in Backlund.
• Danitz brooded over the Golden Dream’s setback and the crew’s resentment before asking Iron Skin about a relative in Backlund, hoping to invest in stocks.
• After Lorne left to visit a Beyonder gathering and Fors, Lucky sneaked out to test her Instigator abilities and spotted a cheerful Golden-Haired Big Dog.

Hazel persuaded Councilman Macht to help James Scott with his firearms business, though he insisted on meeting James first. Councilman Macht revealed that the family’s funds were tied up in a secret investment in a Southern Continent gold mine, leaving Hazel intrigued by the opportunity.

• Susie heard a cat call to her from a treetop and spotted an orange cat watching her.
• Liana remained suspicious that Hazel’s relationship with James Scott was more than friendship, despite the doctor’s examination clearing up one misunderstanding.
• Hazel asked Councilman Macht to help James Scott, and he agreed to hear the young man out in person but said he would not invest family money.
• Councilman Macht explained that he and several friends were buying shares in a mining company after John verified its discovery of a vast gold deposit on the Southern Continent.

Lorne told Fors that her Full Moon Muttering might be tied to the Abraham Family’s curse, but her trail to the family had run cold. Meanwhile, Audrey discovered Earl Hall was lying about the booming stock market, and Susie brought Lucky to her palatial home.

• Fors recalled that Mrs. Anlisa had warned her about a curse affecting the Abraham Family, but she had no contacts among Anlisa’s relatives or friends.
• Lorne promised to keep looking for information and tried to reassure Fors, who asked whether he was helping her only because of Xio.
• Audrey asked Earl Hall about the rising stock market and sensed that he was lying when he called the surge a normal fluctuation.
• Earl Hall planned to profit from the stock boom by lending money to investors and arranging for Hibbert to gain political influence when the market crisis came.
• Susie showed Lucky her luxurious home, leaving Lucky envious of the dog’s grand residence.

Audrey’s new cat guest, Lucky, helped Susie turn a careless remark into a quarrel with Audrey. Susie returned after several hours and demanded double portions of food, while Lucky watched from the shadows after inspecting the Hall Family’s kitchen.

• Audrey met Lucky, the orange cat Susie had brought home, and suspected she was no ordinary stray.
• Lucky dodged Audrey’s attempt to pet her and acted frightened, prompting Susie to defend her friend.
• Audrey called Susie her pet while insisting Lucky leave, and Susie became hurt and went out with Lucky.
• Audrey worried when Susie stayed away for several hours, then welcomed her back and apologized.
• Susie refused to forgive Audrey unless she received double portions of food every day, while the invisible Lucky watched nearby.

Lorne worried that Fors was upset with him, reviewed the Firearms Factory’s rising costs, and woke from a strange dream of a silvery-white snake. He visited Councilman Macht to discuss his business, but the meeting ended with Macht confronting him about making Hazel cry.

• Lorne fretted over Fors’s reaction and considered suspending Firearms Factory production because raw material prices had surged.
• Lucky returned from a noble’s home, where she had overeaten and resolved to look out for the innocent golden-haired dog.
• Lorne woke from a dream about a strange silvery-white snake, then prepared a prototype, business plan, financial statements, and wine for his visit to Councilman Macht.
• Lorne introduced himself as James Scott and answered Councilman Macht’s questions about his background, business, and faith.
• Councilman Macht praised Lorne as a promising young man, then accused him of making Hazel cry.

Lorne visited Councilman Macht to ask for help, but Macht mistakenly believed Lorne was romantically involved with Hazel and refusing to take responsibility. Hazel interrupted and took Lorne aside, where he tried to clear up the misunderstanding and revealed he knew she was a Marauder.

• Councilman Macht accused Lorne of making Hazel cry and confronted him about their supposed relationship, believing they had secretly been dating.
• Lorne denied that he and Hazel were anything more than friends, but Macht refused to believe him.
• Hazel entered the study, realized her father had misunderstood, and led Lorne to another room.
• Lorne asked Hazel what she had told her father and confirmed she had asked him to help Lorne.
• Lorne urged Hazel to clarify their relationship with her father to protect his reputation, then called her a Marauder and startled her.
• Lorne and Hazel prepared to return to Macht to settle the matter, while Lorne considered how easily Hazel's emotions showed.

After Councilman Macht dismissed Lorne’s Lever-Action Shotgun as unsuitable for the army, Lorne began developing submachine gun prototypes at the Logot Firearms Factory. Seeing the full moon and worrying about Fors, he abandoned his plans to go home and headed to check on her.

• Lorne learned that Councilman Macht would help find buyers for his shotgun, though the home army was unlikely to purchase it and colonial guards might order only a small number.
• Lorne considered designing weapons for military use and chose to build prototypes of a Thompson and a low-cost Sten submachine gun.
• Lorne worked at the factory until evening, making rough progress on a prototype before exhaustion drove him to seek a hackney carriage.
• Lorne noticed the full moon and feared Fors might be suffering from her Full Moon Muttering.
• Lorne decided to visit Fors and make sure she was safe, despite telling himself he should stop accommodating her.

Klein answered Fors’s desperate plea through the gray fog and tried to shield her from whispers as she neared losing control. Lorne found Fors unconscious, and she broke down in his arms after waking, just as Xio arrived and saw them together.

• Klein noticed Fors’s prayer-star Above the Gray Fog and heard her pleading for help while she showed signs of losing control.
• Lorne arrived at Fors’s apartment, entered through an open window, and found her unconscious amid a wrecked living room.
• Lorne confirmed Fors was breathing, carried her to the sofa, and watched her wake.
• Fors clung to Lorne and sobbed that he had come too late, while he stood unsure how to comfort her.
• Xio returned home and found Fors in Lorne’s arms, then asked what the two of them were doing.

After Lorne rescued Fors from a frightening encounter with a Hidden Being, Xio mistook their disheveled scene for something romantic before Fors explained what happened. Fors suspected Lorne might be connected to the Fool’s warning, but chose not to reveal her suspicions and vowed to protect him.

• Xio arrived to find Fors crying in Lorne’s arms amid a room full of scattered books and overturned furniture, then fled after misreading the scene.
• Fors caught up with Xio and explained that she had been frightened, while Lorne claimed he had found her unconscious after breaking in to check on her.
• Lorne and Fors left together, and he asked whether she had anything she wanted to ask him before telling her to stay alive.
• Fors remembered the Fool’s warning not to reveal the gathering and wondered whether Lorne Dysenk was connected to James Scott.
• Fors decided she could not treat her suspicion as a confirmed fact and vowed to protect Lorne.

Lorne returned home exhausted, but Sharron soon appeared and asked him to help her confront a Sequence 5 Wraith from the Indulgence Faction. When Lorne asked for money as payment, Sharron admitted she was too poor to offer much and asked him to request something else.

• Lorne returned to 69 Rose Street, changed back from his disguise, and reflected on the women he had met.
• Lucky woke when Lorne disturbed her, then fell asleep again before dawn.
• Sharron appeared in Lorne’s room and asked for his help against the Indulgence Faction.
• Sharron explained that she and Maric had drawn the operation’s high-sequence leader away, leaving a Sequence 5 Wraith with a Sealed Artifact as their main threat.
• Lorne agreed to consider helping and asked for money, but Sharron revealed that she and Maric were poor and asked him to request another form of payment.

Lorne agreed to help Sharron and Maric confront a team carrying the Scarlet Lunar Corona, which strengthened their enemies and weakened the Temperance Faction. In exchange, Sharron would teach him mysticism after the cooperation, while Lorne hoped to study the artifact for a friend’s full-moon problem.

• Sharron explained that the Scarlet Lunar Corona could create full-moon conditions, weakening her and Maric while empowering the Indulgence Faction team, which included a Wraith, a Zombie, and a Werewolf.
• Lorne agreed to help Sharron, but she refused to give up the Corona and offered the Werewolf and Zombie Beyonder Characteristics as payment.
• Lorne offered Maric a Wraith Beyonder Characteristic, but Sharron said Maric lacked time to complete the advancement ritual.
• Lorne proposed borrowing the Corona to study and asked Sharron to teach him mysticism knowledge after their cooperation; Sharron accepted.
• Lorne called her Teacher Sharron, and Sharron vanished after asking him to return to his usual tone.

Lorne learned that Backlund’s stock-market frenzy had disrupted the factory’s sales, while Ted admitted he had mortgaged his house to speculate. As Lorne prepared holy-water-treated bullets for an upcoming hunt, Klein urged Charles to end the Continental United Mining Company stock scheme early, but Charles refused.

• Lorne questioned Ted about the factory’s faltering sales, and Ted explained that wholesalers had sold their businesses to invest in stocks.
• Lorne discovered that Ted had mortgaged his house to speculate in the stock market and worried that the international boom could end in a depression.
• Lorne made holy water with a Sun-rune charm and soaked bullet heads in it to prepare purifying bullets for the hunt for Beyonders of the Indulgence Faction.
• Charles praised the success of the Society’s scheme to inflate Continental United Mining Company shares and promised Klein a possible promotion.
• Klein asked Charles to end the scheme early because its funds were running low, but Charles insisted that it continue as planned.
• Ilyin warned Klein that his sense of justice could cost him dearly.

After failing to trade for useful resources at Backlund’s Beyonder gatherings, Lorne received a summons to meet Maric and Sharron for their planned operation. As they traveled toward the ambush site, he asked Sharron to stop appearing in his room like a ghost.

• Lorne visited several Backlund Beyonder gatherings but failed to buy or sell anything useful, and considered trying Mr. A’s gathering.
• Lorne found a letter directing him to meet at the back entrance of the Bravehearts Bar at ten that night.
• Mrs. Griffin warned Lorne that a powerful ghost might be haunting the house and feeding on young people’s souls.
• Lorne met Maric at the Bravehearts Bar and rode with him in an unmarked carriage to join Sharron.
• Lorne asked Maric whether his curse would cause problems, and Maric said he would try to keep it under control.
• Lorne asked Sharron to knock before visiting him in the future so his landlady would not think he was haunted.

Lorne joined Sharron and Maric’s ambush against Steve, the Wraith, but the enemy team’s Scarlet Lunar Corona disrupted their plan and left Sharron and Maric in danger. As Steve prepared to strike, Lorne activated his charm to intervene.

• Lorne sensed that the ambush could be dangerous, but he refused to abandon Sharron and Maric and promised to use a teleportation gemstone if they faced an emergency.
• Lorne hid on a warehouse roof as Maric led Jason, the Zombie, and Tiel, the Werewolf, into the clearing.
• Maric’s buried Zombies failed to stop Jason, and Sharron possessed the Zombie before Tiel activated the Scarlet Lunar Corona, forcing her out and weakening her.
• Sharron used her glove to summon a bronze door that seized Jason, while Maric struggled against the curse and Tiel urged him to lose control.
• Lorne spotted Steve, the Wraith, preparing to attack Maric, so he activated the charm in his sleeve.

Lorne attacked Werewolf Tiel with holy water, a mental assault, and a rune sword, but Wraith Steve’s shriek disrupted the battle and left Tiel alive. Lorne appeared to surrender, then revealed a black long gun and aimed at Tiel in midair.

• Lorne struck Tiel with holy water and used Mental Storm to attack him with the Rune Steel Sword, but frost interfered and Tiel survived the wounds.
• Tiel transformed into a werewolf as Lorne retreated, while Wraith Steve revealed himself and unleashed a shriek that injured Lorne and Maric.
• Lorne dropped his sword and Phantom revolver and claimed he surrendered, astonishing Maric and Sharron.
• Tiel lunged at the apparently unarmed Lorne, who revealed a black long gun and aimed it at Tiel as he descended.

Lorne and Sharron fought Steve and Jason while the Scarlet Lunar Corona and poison weakened them. Lorne used the blue gem and a strange ear to overwhelm Steve with maddening mutterings, and Sharron finished him after killing Jason.

• Lorne killed Tiel with a barrage of purification bullets, then fired at Steve to drive him back.
• Maric attacked and wounded Lorne, while Steve ambushed Sharron but was driven off by Lorne’s Black Flame.
• Poison weakened Lorne, Sharron, and Maric, and Lorne realized the Scarlet Lunar Corona was amplifying the Full Moon Muttering.
• Lorne hurled a blue gem near the Corona, then used a charm to vanish and planted a pitch-black ear inside Steve, forcing him out of Wraith form.
• Lorne reappeared and shot Steve, who crushed his own head and tried to flee as a huge phantom.
• Sharron used the Scarlet Lunar Corona to regain her powers, killed Jason, and brought down Steve with a Wraith Shriek.

After the battle, Lorne and Sharron confirmed that Steve and his companions were gone, then prepared to leave before official Beyonders arrived. Lorne collapsed from exhaustion, and after Maric recovered, Lorne punched him to settle the score for the earlier blow.

• Lorne used Spirit Vision to check the ruined battlefield, and Sharron confirmed that Steve and his companions were no longer nearby.
• Sharron urged Lorne to leave before official Beyonders arrived, but Lorne collapsed from exhaustion and she caught him.
• Lorne joked with Sharron about being her creditor and asked her to carry him, but she handed him over to Maric when he arrived.
• Maric apologized for losing control under the full moon and Steve's Shriek, and Lorne asked whether he was injured.
• Lorne punched Maric in the abdomen and said they were even.

After escaping the dockyard battle, Lorne fled divination and searched for the injured boy Will, whose tarot readings might explain his recent misfortune. He found Doctor Aaron at the hospital, and Aaron revealed that he had also become unlucky.

• In the carriage, Lorne told Sharron and Maric that the cursed item he used on Steve was connected to a Listener, and Sharron suggested he see a psychiatrist.
• Ikanser Bernard asked Arrodes who had fought at the dockyard, but the mirror showed only blurred images and demanded that Ikanser answer a question about his sexual orientation.
• When Lorne sensed someone divining him, he left his lodgings and spent the night at an inn before heading out in disguise.
• Lorne recognized a hospital he had visited before, remembered a child's warning about his bad luck, and decided to seek out Will for a tarot reading.
• Lorne found Doctor Aaron and explained that he wanted to consult Will; Aaron asked whether Lorne had become unlucky too.

Lorne learned that Doctor Aaron had suffered a string of misfortunes after a tarot reading with Will, who had predicted Aaron’s luck would worsen. Suspecting Will and unable to investigate while injured, Lorne decided to hire a detective, while Klein resumed his private detective work and sensed trouble approaching.

• Doctor Aaron told Lorne that his recent run of bad luck began after Will predicted it during a tarot reading.
• Aaron showed Lorne a Paper Crane that Will had given him for good luck, but Lorne found nothing unusual about it.
• Lorne concluded that Will needed investigating and, because he and Sharron were injured, proposed hiring a detective.
• Klein resumed his private detective business as Sherlock Moriarty and wondered why he suddenly had a bad feeling.