Chapter Summaries

After learning the Mandated Punishers had searched his former hideout, Lorne tried to find a safe way out of Bayam and then sought refuge in an upscale restaurant. A woman with a familiar fragrance appeared and asked to share his table, leaving him facing the stranger he had wondered about earlier.

• Lorne returned to the Cheap Hotel in disguise, startled Danitz and Lucky, and told Danitz about the Church of Storms’ Mandated Punishers.
• Danitz recalled that Alger had official connections, and Lorne blamed him for withholding the information.
• After two days in hiding, Lorne checked his ruined hideout, found signs the Mandated Punishers had searched it, and tried to ask Roy King how to leave Bayam safely.
• Roy King hid inside his home until Lorne left, while Lorne later entered an upscale restaurant and ordered a ten-pound meal.
• A woman with a familiar fragrance approached Lorne and asked if she could share his table.

Lorne reluctantly shared a meal with Katarina, resisting her charm and refusing her advances before leaving the restaurant. Katarina became fascinated by him, while Lorne headed to the Wiz Antique Shop for protection.

• Katarina joined Lorne at his table, ordered an expensive meal, and offered to repay him for helping her, but he refused.
• Katarina tried to draw Lorne closer with suggestive remarks, but his Monster Pathway intuition helped him suppress his feelings.
• After finishing his meal, Lorne resisted Katarina’s invitation to exchange names and left the restaurant.
• Katarina watched Lorne go and decided he was an interesting target who had brought out her competitive streak.
• Lorne realized he was too agitated to return home safely and changed course for the Wiz Antique Shop.

Lorne bought a calming Mystical Item from Xize and arranged through Cattleya to obtain a dangerous dagger, while considering her help to escape Bayam. The next morning, Danitz went to contact the Captain’s crew as Misor watched, preparing to pursue him.

• Lorne returned to the Wiz Antique Shop, bought the Silence ring, and met Cattleya, who offered him a dagger in three days.
• Lorne learned Cattleya might help him and Danitz leave Bayam, but Danitz chose to wait for news of the Captain’s ship.
• Lorne sensed a trace of calamity as he and Danitz headed to their contact point, so he sent Danitz ahead while following at a distance.
• Danitz entered a hidden side door near a shabby bar to make contact with the Captain’s crew.
• Misor watched Danitz enter and recognized him as Flame Danitz, whom Tracy had ordered him to capture.

Lorne discovered that Danitz had been captured in an ambush and tracked the attackers to an abandoned warehouse, where Misor and Maveti questioned and beat him. As Misor went to investigate a noise outside, an unseen figure prepared an attack.

• Lorne sensed a watcher outside the bar, realized the explosion was a decoy, and found signs that Danitz had been taken.
• Lorne used his ring, Spirit Vision, and a coin divination to confirm Danitz had been captured and reasoned that the kidnappers could not have gone far.
• At an abandoned warehouse, Misor joined Maveti as they questioned Danitz about his Captain and Monkey Brando, while Maveti demanded the promised eight thousand pounds.
• Misor gave Maveti a deposit of less than three thousand pounds, and the two argued over the unpaid balance.
• After hearing a faint noise outside, Maveti sent Misor to investigate; Misor found scattered objects and playing cards, then heard a click behind him followed by a bang.

Lorne killed Steel Maveti in the warehouse, then joined forces with Danitz to kill Misor and escape before the Mandated Punishers arrived. Katarina watched from a nearby rooftop and regretted losing her chance to help Lorne.

• Lorne brought down the warehouse wall on Maveti, injured him with an Explosion charm, then killed him with a Blazing Sun charm after disrupting his charge with Mental Storm.
• Misor shot at Lorne as he freed Danitz, and Lorne negotiated to leave Maveti to Misor in exchange for Danitz.
• Lorne and Misor cautiously approached their respective targets, but Danitz suddenly shot Misor in the head from behind.
• Lorne and Danitz prepared to leave before the Mandated Punishers arrived, and Lorne recognized Maveti's connection to the Rose School.
• Katarina watched from a rooftop and lamented that Lorne had handled the fight without her help.

After learning that Danitz’s bounty had risen and finding no help from Roy King, Lorne encountered Katarina again at a restaurant. Though he remained suspicious, he listened as she described her wealthy family and offered to help him.

• Lorne and Danitz returned to the Cheap Hotel, treated their wounds, and learned from Lorne’s Spirit Channeling that Maveti had likely returned to Bayam with the Admiral of Blood.
• Danitz told Lorne that their contact point was destroyed and the other backup points might be watched, so Lorne told him to rest while he sought another solution.
• Lorne learned that Danitz’s official bounty had risen to 5,500 pounds, then visited Roy King but received no answer.
• At a restaurant, Lorne ran into Katarina, who persuaded him to sit with her and used his Silence ring to question her more calmly.
• Katarina claimed her father owned a shipping company and her mother was a baroness, then asked Lorne whether he needed help.

Katarina offered Lorne help through her family’s shipping and political connections, then claimed she had fled an arranged marriage and expected him to help her. Meanwhile, Roy King prepared to flee Bayam, but a mysterious woman appeared in his room to question him.

• Katarina told Lorne that her family’s shipping company had influence at sea and ties to the Governor’s Mansion, and Lorne considered using those connections to escape Bayam with Danitz.
• Katarina took Lorne shopping for several hours, then claimed she had run away to avoid an arranged marriage.
• Lorne grew suspicious of Katarina’s story and questioned why she expected him to help, while Katarina confidently affirmed that he would.
• Roy King packed his cash, Beyonder characteristics, and Mystical Items so he could leave Bayam after Brando visited again.
• A strange vine emerged from Roy King’s bedroom floor, and a woman with long chestnut hair appeared, telling him not to be nervous and that she wanted to ask him something.

Lorne negotiated with Cattleya for passage out of Bayam, but her price of three thousand pounds left him and Danitz weighing their options. As Lorne spent time with Katarina, Bernadette tracked Danitz’s whereabouts using an ancient gold coin.

• Bernadette questioned Roy King about Danitz and Monkey Brando, pressing him to reveal what he knew.
• Lorne escorted Katarina to her hotel, where she teased him about keeping his name secret and called him “Mr. Gentleman” her pet name for him.
• Lorne bought another Blazing Sun charm, completed his dagger deal with Cattleya, and asked her to take him and Danitz safely to Damian Port for three thousand pounds.
• Lorne told Danitz about Cattleya’s offer, and Danitz protested the cost before agreeing to try contacting the captain again.
• Lorne met Katarina in the street and walked with her, while Bernadette used an ancient gold coin to locate Danitz near the inn.

Lorne strolled through Bayam with Katarina, who offered to help him escape, while both sensed an unseen threat. Bernadette tracked them and mistook Lorne for a victim of Katarina, but the two powerful women kept each other at bay as Lorne remained between them.

• Katarina offered to use her family's sea connections to help Lorne leave Bayam, privately planning to make him rely on her.
• Lorne sensed a faint aura of calamity nearby and tried to leave, but Katarina clung to his arm and promised to protect him.
• Lorne wondered whether Katarina had also noticed the threat, then chose to keep strolling with her as if nothing was wrong.
• Bernadette identified Katarina as a Demoness and suspected Lorne had been deceived, so she planned to rescue him and ask about Roselle's Diary.
• Bernadette followed the pair but found no chance to approach without risking a clash with Katarina, leaving the two Sequence 3 Beyonders at an uneasy balance.

After Bernadette tried to take Lorne from Katarina, he fled across Bayam and decided to leave the city immediately. He headed to the Wiz Antique Shop for help, while a pale man arrived at the wrecked warehouse and prepared to capture him.

• After dinner, Lorne asked Katarina to stay with him, but she suggested he return to her hotel before they parted ways.
• Bernadette confronted Lorne in an alley, claiming she wanted to save him from a Demoness, but Katarina intervened and destroyed Bernadette’s Pea Vine with frost.
• Lorne fled across Bayam, used a coin to check his safety, and concluded that he had to leave the city.
• Lorne consulted the Wish-Granting Box, received the answer “Leave,” and headed toward the Wiz Antique Shop, prepared to spend three thousand pounds.
• A pale man in a worn tricorn hat arrived at the ruined warehouse and received orders to capture Lorne alive without alerting the Church of Storms.

Lorne arranged for Cattleya to take him and Danitz out of Bayam, while rumors about the Golden Dream and a Rose School raid drew the Church of Storms’ attention. At the midnight meeting, they found Cattleya in agony from the Hidden Sage’s forced knowledge, and Lorne’s glimpse of a pair of eyes seemed to ease her torment before she led them onward.

• Lorne agreed to pay Cattleya fifteen hundred pounds up front for passage from Bayam and arranged to meet her at Warehouse No. 7 at midnight.
• Danitz told Lorne that the Church of Storms was searching for him because of a rumor that the captain planned a major operation in Bayam, so Lorne told him to warn the captain not to come.
• A squad of Mandated Punishers found traces of a battle and Rose School methods in an abandoned bar warehouse, and their captain ordered a report to the bishop.
• Lorne and Danitz went to Warehouse No. 7 wearing white masks and found Cattleya writhing in pain behind a small door.
• Lorne saw cold, transparent eyes hovering above Cattleya through Spirit Vision, screamed, and collapsed; afterward, Cattleya’s torment eased sharply.
• Cattleya examined Lorne and Danitz with Eyes of Mystery Prying, then told them to follow her.

Lorne and Danitz left Bayam with Cattleya aboard a small boat meant to carry them to her flagship, while Katarina secretly kept one of Lorne’s hairs. As Cattleya began preparing Ritual Magic, the Hidden Sage’s assault returned and Lorne’s premonition of calamity warned that something terrifying was approaching.

• Cattleya led Lorne and Danitz to a secluded dock and brought them aboard a small transfer boat.
• Cattleya explained that she would use Ritual Magic to evade Church of Storms patrols and reach her flagship.
• Katarina reflected on Bernadette’s attack and revealed that she had secretly taken one of Lorne’s hairs.
• After the boat sailed away from Bayam, Cattleya began preparing the ritual but collapsed as the Hidden Sage’s chaotic knowledge flooded her mind.
• Danitz called for help as Lorne’s head and chest wound erupted in pain, and he sensed an approaching calamity.

Lorne and Danitz feared that a calamity was approaching while Cattleya suffered through a mysterious ordeal. After Cattleya defended Queen Mystic but admitted the Queen might not come for her, Lorne sent Danitz and Lucky to the deck and stayed behind to watch her.

• Lorne warned Danitz that a calamity was coming and stopped himself from using Spirit Vision on the agonized Cattleya.
• Lorne and Danitz speculated that Queen Mystic might be targeting Cattleya after rumors that they had fallen out.
• Cattleya angrily insisted that Queen Mystic would never harm her and told Lorne not to slander the Queen.
• When Lorne asked whether the Queen would rescue her, Cattleya admitted that she might not come anymore.
• Lorne gave Danitz a Blazing Sun charm and sent him and Lucky to the deck while he stayed with Cattleya.

Lorne refused Admiral of Blood Seniors’s offer to hand over Cattleya and fought to protect her, but Seniors’s possession attempt triggered a terrifying reaction inside Lorne. As a storm overtook the boat and Lorne knocked Cattleya unconscious, Katarina remained under pursuit by Sea King Jahn Kottman nearby.

• Seniors entered the boat in his wraith form and attacked Lorne and Cattleya, knocking Danitz unconscious before demanding that Lorne surrender Cattleya.
• Lorne refused Seniors’s offer and used his gunfire to distract him while Lucky struck him with a Blazing Sun charm.
• Seniors possessed Lorne, but began losing control inside him; Lorne pressed another Blazing Sun charm against Seniors, and both fell unconscious.
• Lorne rose again and knocked Cattleya unconscious with a glance, while a storm battered the boat.
• Katarina fled Sea King Jahn Kottman, whose attacks drove the boat farther from Bayam.

Lorne survived the battle with Seniors, rescued Cattleya, and found himself stranded with her near Oravi Island as the Black Death passed nearby. After Cattleya deduced his history with Tracy and they properly introduced themselves, Lorne spotted the Golden Dream approaching.

• Lorne woke after the battle, confirmed that Lucky, Danitz, and Cattleya were alive, and examined Seniors's corpse, finding a Sequence 5 Monster pathway necklace.
• Cattleya woke from a nightmare about the queen, thanked Lorne for saving her, and agreed to return his deposit and help him claim Seniors's bounty.
• Lorne and Cattleya discovered that the storm had left them near Oravi Island and that the damaged ritual could not take them back.
• The Black Death, commanded by Tracy, sailed past their small boat, and Lorne spotted a blond figure bound and hanging from its mast.
• Cattleya deduced that Lorne had a history with Tracy and introduced herself as Admiral of Stars, while Lorne called himself Monkey Brando, a rookie adventurer.
• At dusk, Lorne spotted the Golden Dream sailing toward them.

Lorne and Cattleya reunited with Edwina aboard the Golden Dream, where they discussed mysterious Fourth Epoch murals and agreed to investigate their history. Danitz woke safely on the ship, while Lorne hoped his troubles were finally behind him.

• Lorne asked Cattleya about the Rose School, and she explained its Indulgence and Temperance factions.
• Lorne and Cattleya spotted the Golden Dream, signaled it for help, and were lifted aboard with the unconscious Danitz.
• Edwina recognized Lorne as Brando, welcomed him and Cattleya, and heard his account of recent events.
• Lorne showed Edwina and Cattleya photographs of murals from destroyed ruins, and both offered to help investigate their history.
• Danitz woke in the Golden Dream's infirmary, reunited with Lorne and Edwina, and refused another vacation.

Lorne encountered treasure hunter Anderson aboard the Golden Dream, received Edwina’s translation of the Antigonus Notebook, and refused Cattleya’s offer to join her crew. He parted from Cattleya at Tiana Harbor after revealing his true appearance, and they exchanged ways to contact each other.

• Cattleya warned Lorne that Anderson Hood was a powerful treasure hunter and bounty hunter, while Anderson watched Lorne and speculated that he would become a new legend.
• Edwina gave Lorne her deciphered translation of the Antigonus Family’s notebook and said the bronze key likely came from a giant in the Third Epoch.
• Cattleya examined the translation and offered Lorne a place on her crew, but he refused because he wanted to avoid further risks.
• Lorne, Edwina, and Cattleya arranged for Cattleya to collect the forty-two-thousand-pound bounty and for Edwina to hold the money; Lorne gave Danitz twenty percent as compensation.
• Lorne and Cattleya disembarked near Tiana Harbor, where Lorne removed his disguise at her request and they exchanged secret ways to send letters.

Lorne traveled toward Backlund, examined the luck-altering pendant he had taken from the Admiral of Blood, and worried about dangers awaiting him at home. In Backlund, Xio canceled her search commission with Sherlock Moriarty, unaware that Lorne was still away.

• Lorne studied the pendant’s ability to grant good luck and inflict equal bad luck, then decided to keep it for now.
• Lorne gave Lucky a dried fish and worried about the person who had given him the Assassin potion and the Rose School.
• Lorne recalled asking Edwina to prepare many Sun-domain charms and bullets to protect him from future dangers.
• Xio confronted Sherlock Moriarty at the Truth Society and canceled her commission because he had failed to find her pen pal, Lorne.
• Klein thought that his divination had shown Lorne was not in Backlund, but he could not present it as formal evidence.

Lorne returned to Backlund and visited Mrs. Griffin, who revealed that multiple groups had searched for him while he was away. The chapter ended with Mrs. Griffin warning that the other visitors were certainly no good.

• Lorne arrived in Backlund, ate lunch, and went to his old home at 69 Rose Street.
• Mrs. Griffin initially mistook Lorne for a stranger and unleashed a dangerous aura before recognizing him.
• Lorne told Mrs. Griffin about his voyage, and she said several groups had come looking for him.
• Mrs. Griffin said the first visitors were two young women, including his worried pen pal Fors.
• Mrs. Griffin turned solemn and warned Lorne that the other group of visitors was certainly no good.

After discovering that powerful Beyonders had searched his room, Lorne decided to find protection and investigate who was targeting him. He went to the Grizzly Bear Bar seeking Bottle and learned that Kaspars had taken charge.

• Mrs. Griffin told Lorne that two high-Sequence Beyonders had searched his room before she drove them away, and she agreed to let him keep Lucky.
• Lorne read letters from his pen pal, found the money she had sent him, and discovered that his room had been searched but nothing important was missing.
• Lorne used divination and the Wish-Granting Box, which advised him to find a bodyguard, then told Lucky to stay home and seek Mrs. Griffin if trouble arose.
• Lorne disguised himself and went to the Grizzly Bear Bar, hoping to find a helper through the Eye of Wisdom.
• A scarred man approached Lorne and said Bottle had returned to Feysac and that he was Kaspars, now in charge of the bar.