Chapter Summaries

Klein disguised himself as Brando to meet Tracy, but her rage and jealousy turned the encounter into a fight. After Tracy revealed her demigod power, she recognized Klein as Sherlock Moriarty and decided to keep him prisoner aboard the Black Death until Brando came to Bayam.

• Tracy accused Klein of harming Brando, and Klein tried to reassure her that Brando was safe in Loen.
• Klein fled Tracy’s ailment with a hurricane charm and struck her with lightning charms, but she survived and revealed an incomplete mythical creature form.
• Tracy shot Klein down with an ice spear, and he used Wound Transfer to move the injury before trying to escape toward the rainforest.
• Klein changed back into Sherlock Moriarty and reminded Tracy that he was Brando’s friend, causing her to recognize him from the Descent Site.
• Tracy grew jealous when Klein claimed he was close to Brando and ordered him taken to the Black Death’s mast until Brando came to collect him.

Danitz and Klein were captured by Tracy and hanged from the Black Death’s mast, while Lorne decided to return to Backlund after sensing that something was wrong. On the train, he met Hibbert, who was secretly returning to the capital, and asked him about the counterfeit banknotes troubling the Hall family.

• Danitz waited aboard the Black Death for Brando, worrying that Tracy might not release him even if Brando came to rescue him.
• Tracy returned with an unconscious Klein, had him hanged from the mast, and ordered her sailors to hang Danitz beside him.
• Tracy wondered why punishing Klein and Danitz gave her an inexplicable flicker of pleasure.
• Lorne sensed a foreboding and left Viller with Benson and three secretaries to return to Backlund.
• At Stoen, Lorne encountered Hibbert, who had secretly traveled back to investigate his family’s affairs, and invited him into his compartment.
• Lorne asked Hibbert for inside information about the counterfeit banknotes, and Hibbert reacted with visible bitterness.

Lorne divined that Hibbert’s family might find a turnaround through his sister, while Charles worked to keep conservative nobles invested in the campaign against the Hall Family. Charles believed the Hall Family was close to collapse, but his spiritual intuition warned him of danger as police searched Backlund.

• Hibbert asked Lorne to divine the Hall Family’s future, and Lorne’s coin toss suggested bad fortune before a dream divination led him to ask about Hibbert’s sister.
• Charles persuaded Earl Levin that the banking crisis would soon break the Hall Family and convinced him to keep the conservative nobles’ campaign going.
• Charles reflected that the Society’s plan would strip the nobles of their mortgaged assets as well as bring down the Hall Family, and he hoped to earn a demigod advancement before leaving Backlund.
• Charles examined documents about the Hall Family secretly transferring assets to Intis and obtaining a letter to the Florent Family.
• Charles sensed that someone was targeting him, then saw police officers pass and wondered whether he had mistaken them for a threat.

Klein woke up captured beside Danitz on Tracy’s ship and waited for a chance to escape, while Lorne returned to Backlund and investigated the counterfeit-banknote crisis. Lorne received a sea-borne letter from Sherlock and learned that Tracy was involved, leaving him shocked and uncertain about what had happened.

• Klein regained consciousness hanging upside down beside Danitz, explained that Tracy was a demigod, and planned to recover his strength while waiting for rescue.
• Lorne returned to Backlund with Benson, reviewed the Rosen Trading Company’s accounts, and allocated more money to Hazel’s foundation.
• Lorne sent Hazel a letter containing the Cryptologist potion formula and information about underground Beyonder gatherings.
• At the Bravehearts Bar, Ian told Lorne that convincing counterfeit notes were causing bank runs and that suspicious people had appeared around his territory; Sharron suspected officials or their hired bounty hunters were watching them.
• Sharron gave Lorne a letter from Sherlock, and Lorne reacted with shock upon reading that Tracy was involved.

Lorne learned that Sherlock had become entangled with Tracy and Danitz in Bayam, so he prepared to leave at once and faced Sharron’s uneasy request to go with him. Meanwhile, Tracy held two men captive aboard the Black Death, Danitz tried to stay unnoticed, and Azik arrived in Bayam to find Klein already gone.

• Lorne read a letter about Sherlock, Tracy, and Danitz and realized Sherlock might learn embarrassing details about his past at sea.
• Lorne told Sharron he had to leave for Bayam, and Sharron asked to accompany him so she could help.
• Danitz, hanging upside down on the Black Death, saw that the other captive beside him was only a paper figure.
• Tracy grieved over Brando, kept the two impostors captive, and sensed someone approaching while she was in her cabin.
• Azik reached the inn in Bayam, found Klein absent, and concluded that his student had likely gone to rescue the captive.

Lorne set out for Bayam with Sharron to confront Tracy and rescue Danitz, but passenger routes were suspended because of martial law. Meanwhile, Klein used a storm to help Danitz escape the Black Death, only to be confronted by Tracy.

• Sharron insisted on accompanying Lorne to Bayam, saying she wanted to help him as a friend despite the danger and her knowledge of rumors about Tracy.
• Lorne found that no tickets to Bayam were available because the passenger routes had not fully resumed, then realized he could use his shipping company to arrange travel.
• Aboard the Black Death, a storm snapped Danitz's restraints, but Klein caught him and told him to reach the stern and launch a tender.
• Klein used the Sea God's Scepter above the gray fog to unleash a storm and planned to make his and Danitz's escape look like an accident.
• Tracy noticed Danitz had vanished and confronted Klein, accusing him of being the detective's accomplice.

Klein fled Tracy through the Black Death, but she caught him, Danitz, and his physical body in the ammunition depot. Azik arrived with a horde of undead to confront Tracy, while Lorne and Sharron shared a cramped cabin aboard a cargo ship bound for Damir Port.

• Klein escaped Tracy’s attacks by diving through the deck, then ordered Danitz to board a tender while he tried to draw the pirates away.
• Klein headed for the ammunition depot to cause an explosion, but Tracy trapped him there using a mirror and brought in the bound Danitz and Klein’s physical body.
• An enormous skeleton and a horde of undead broke into the depot, and Azik arrived, his expression darkening when he saw Klein and Danitz bound.
• Lorne boarded his company’s cargo ship with Sharron, and the two shared the first mate’s cabin as they traveled toward Damir Port.
• Sharron said she did not need sleep and urged Lorne to rest, but he awkwardly replied that demigods did not need much sleep either.

Azik rescued Klein and Danitz from Tracy, who was left aboard the damaged Black Death and froze its breach to keep it from sinking. After Azik took Klein and Danitz to a nearby island and returned Creeping Hunger to Klein, they spotted Cattleya’s ship, the Future, and decided to seek medical help despite Klein’s suspicion that Cattleya might also be involved with Brando.

• Klein returned to his body and asked Azik to stop attacking Tracy, so Azik freed Klein and Danitz and carried them away.
• Tracy recovered enough to freeze the Black Death’s breached hull, while resenting that another of her intended captures had been taken from her.
• Azik brought Klein and Danitz out of the Spirit World onto an island, explained his exhaustion, and gave Klein Creeping Hunger.
• Klein introduced Azik as his teacher and warned Danitz to keep Azik’s identity confidential.
• Danitz recognized Cattleya’s ship, the Future, and suggested asking her for a ride and medical help.
• Azik agreed that the Future could treat their injuries, while Klein anxiously questioned whether Cattleya’s connection to Brando meant danger.

Cattleya welcomed Klein, Danitz, and Azik aboard the Future after Danitz asked for help, while Charles’s schemes against the Hall Family continued amid Backlund’s financial turmoil. The chapter ended with Charles trapped by a group of Beyonders who had sealed his spirituality and destroyed his signal flare.

• Cattleya worried about Brando’s silence and the rumors linking him to Tracy before her intuition alerted her that someone had intruded on the Future.
• Klein arrived aboard the Future with Danitz and Azik, and Cattleya welcomed them after Danitz explained that they needed help.
• Hibbert returned to the Hall Family residence despite Earl Hall’s orders, but Earl Hall sent him to remain at home for his safety.
• Charles sent evidence of the Hall Family’s alleged dealings with the Florent Family to Earl Levin and planned to move his gold.
• Charles sensed a trap in Backlund, escaped into an alley, and discovered that Beyonders had sealed his spirituality and shot down his distress flare.

Charles tried to escape an official-force crackdown but was cornered by Qonas Kilgor, whose demigod presence overwhelmed him. Aboard the Future, Klein and Danitz recovered with Frank’s garlic-based medicine, while Frank revealed his bizarre crossbreeding experiments.

• Charles suspected the official forces had targeted him, armed himself with spells and an illusory armor, and fled toward the edge of the suppression barrier.
• On the Future, Cattleya questioned Danitz about the failed attempt against Tracy, then introduced Frank to Klein and Danitz.
• Frank gave Klein and Danitz garlic crossbred with medicine, which eased their plague symptoms and injuries.
• Frank explained that Brando had funded his crop research and revealed that he had tried to breed calves that would grow from the ground like wheat.
• Charles blasted through a low wall and ran toward an alley exit, but Qonas Kilgor appeared and overwhelmed him with demigod-level suppression.
• As Charles trembled before Qonas, another set of footsteps approached.

Charles and Six of Clubs were cornered during MI9’s arrest operation, while Antigonus confronted Derlink Augustus over the royal family’s role in Backlund’s chaos. William Augustus arrived and proposed cooperation with the Society, leaving the two sides poised to negotiate.

• Six of Clubs and Charles found Prince Grove blocking their escape as Qonas Kilgor closed in, and Six of Clubs gave Charles a Spirit-Banishing Bullet before they planned to flee separately.
• Derlink Augustus watched the arrest operation from a hidden position, but Antigonus and the Mother of Heaven appeared and challenged his intervention.
• Antigonus accused the Augustus family of using the Society’s financial and political upheaval to weaken conservative nobles and advance a secret plan.
• Derlink’s thoughts revealed that the royal family had knowingly allowed Charles’s scheme to cripple the Conservatives, while trying to prevent the chaos from destroying Loen’s economy and war potential.
• William Augustus appeared, ordered Derlink to halt the operation, and told Antigonus that Loen and the Society could cooperate instead of choosing mutual destruction.

Lorne arrived in Bayam disguised as Moros and searched for Danitz, while Sharron accompanied him in disguise. He learned that Bayam was under martial law after Sea God statues shattered, then recognized a disguised Klein passing by.

• Lorne disembarked at Tiana Harbor, changed his appearance to Moros, and traveled with Sharron through the Spirit World to Bayam.
• Lorne and Sharron found that Sherlock was absent from the inn, and Lorne divined that Danitz was alive somewhere in Bayam.
• Lorne and Sharron searched the Golden Dream's abandoned contact points before entering a tavern for news.
• Lorne found sensational gossip about Monkey Brando on the tavern noticeboard, and Sharron said she had read the article before.
• Lorne learned that the Church of Storms was investigating shattered Sea God statues, then spotted a disguised blond man and recognized Klein.

Lorne reunited with Danitz in Bayam after Sharron and he tracked him down, then learned how Tracy had injured him while trying to force Lorne to appear. Lorne promised to make Tracy understand that his friends were off-limits and offered Danitz the Sequence 5 Reaper potion formula as compensation.

• Danitz tried to escape Lorne and Sharron, but Lorne stopped him and revealed his identity as Brando.
• Danitz angrily confronted Lorne about his suffering aboard the Black Death and showed him his wounds from Tracy.
• At Danitz’s inn, Lorne explained that he had only just learned of Danitz’s trouble, while Sharron listened quietly.
• Danitz recounted how Sherlock had disguised himself as Lorne to meet Tracy, and Lorne worried about Tracy’s injuries and the Church of Storms.
• Lorne decided to punish Tracy for hurting his friend, then questioned why Danitz was still a Sequence 7 Pyromaniac.
• Danitz demanded compensation, and Lorne wrote down the Hunter Pathway’s Sequence 5 Reaper potion formula for him.

Lorne gave Danitz a Sequence 5 potion formula and money, then warned him they could hunt the new Admiral of Blood for a bounty. He later inspected Platinum Shipping’s Bayam branch, closed its long-running unprofitable foreign routes, and requested its fastest idle freighter for an undisclosed purpose.

• Lorne gave Danitz a Sequence 5 formula, and Danitz admitted he lacked the money to advance or buy ingredients.
• Lorne gave Danitz access to 800 pounds and proposed killing the newly appointed Admiral of Blood for a bounty; he then pressured Danitz not to tell Gehrman Sparrow about their past with Tracy.
• Lorne changed into James Scott and visited Platinum Shipping’s Bayam branch to inspect its accounts and operations.
• Lorne discovered that the branch maintained loss-making overseas routes and employed foreign crews, then ordered the routes shut down and their contracts not renewed.
• Lorne asked the branch manager to assign him the fastest idle freighter so he could pursue a treasure hunt.

Lorne investigated a Society ship in Bayam and discovered it had been transporting grain to East Balam for years, then recruited Danitz to captain a fleet on a risky voyage. In Backlund, official claims that the counterfeit-banknote crisis was over failed to calm public anger, while rumors spread that foreign powers and nobles had helped cause the unrest.

• Lorne and Sharron searched a Society ship in Bayam and found evidence that it had carried grain on routes reaching East Balam.
• Lorne offered Danitz command of the Flame and a fleet in exchange for helping him go to sea and search for something.
• Danitz accepted the voyage after Lorne promised him the captaincy and extra pay.
• Lorne proposed recruiting pirates as sailors and turning them into living corpses rather than hiring them.
• Backlund officials announced that the counterfeit-banknote gang had been crushed and deposited gold in banks, but strikes and protests continued as rumors blamed foreign powers and nobles.

Lorne used Sharron’s zombies as sailors and workers, then set out with Danitz to search for a treasure while Klein was still absent. In Backlund, Six of Clubs took over Charles’s scheme against the Hall Family and gave Earl Levin evidence to use against other nobles and distract the military.

• Lorne had Sharron turn five wanted pirates into zombies, promised Danitz half their bounty, and considered using zombies for factory labor.
• Lorne left a letter for Klein and sailed with Danitz and the zombies toward a broad, uncertain area of sea to search for treasure.
• Earl Levin complained that Charles had vanished while the Conservatives faced financial ruin, public unrest, and pressure from the royal family and military.
• Six of Clubs reassured Earl Levin that Charles had left Backlund to avoid military attention and explained that the Society would keep its acquired businesses operating.
• Six of Clubs gave Earl Levin a letter and photographs containing evidence against an earl and a colonel, proposing that the scandal divert public anger and military scrutiny.

Six of Clubs persuaded Earl Levin to help frame Earl Hall as a traitor, and Levin agreed to trust him once more. At sea, Danitz and Lorne spotted Vice Admiral Dusk’s fleet approaching aboard the Glory.

• Six of Clubs argued that public anger could be redirected toward Earl Hall by publicizing evidence of his financial dealings and asset transfers.
• Six of Clubs suggested that Earl Hall could be portrayed as betraying Loen to protect his captured son, Alfred Hall, and linked him to the counterfeit banknotes through Bavart Bank.
• Earl Levin, tempted by the prospect of political influence and fearing the military would uncover their earlier schemes, agreed to proceed.
• Danitz and Lorne reached the target waters and found no treasure, ghost ship, or merchant vessels, while Danitz worried about encountering the Loen Navy.
• A fleet appeared on the horizon, and Danitz identified its flagship as the Glory, Vice Admiral Dusk’s ship.

Lorne, Danitz, and Sharron encountered Vice Admiral Dusk’s fleet in waters where ships could not escape and sailors mysteriously withered away. After rescuing a stranded young man, Lorne sensed something was wrong as the stranger put an object over his eye.

• Lorne identified Vice Admiral Dusk’s flagship, and Danitz recalled that Dusk had ties to the Church of the God of Combat and a grudge against the Rose School.
• Lorne told Danitz he could be called a Pirate King, leading Danitz to realize his friend was a demigod and that he had powerful backing.
• A ship appeared beside the Glory, and Dusk’s pirates boarded Edwin’s transport ship to demand food and water.
• A sailor on Edwin’s ship rapidly withered and died, and Dusk shot him before the disease could spread.
• Lorne, Danitz, and Sharron found themselves unable to steer away from the other ship, spotted a stranded young man, and hauled him aboard.
• The rescued young man put an object over his right eye and looked at Lorne and the others with a broad smile.

Lorne encountered Mill Walton, a monocled Sequence 5 adventurer who claimed to have become trapped at sea during an expedition. After Vice Admiral Dusk’s starving pirates attacked, Lorne subdued them and took Mill into the cabin, suspecting he was an avatar of Amon.

• Lorne recognized Mill’s monocle and suspected he was an Amon avatar, while Mill introduced himself as an adventurer trapped in strange waters after an expedition to ancient ruins.
• Mill explained that his ship had been unable to escape the waters and accepted food from Lorne’s crew.
• Vice Admiral Dusk’s pirate ship caught up with the cargo ship, and Igor the Whirlwind demanded its food and water.
• A pirate rapidly aged and died, prompting Lorne to unleash a blizzard and use Mental Storm to incapacitate Igor and the other pirates.
• Lorne took Mill into the cabin to question him, and Mill asked whether Lorne belonged to the Society.

Lorne and Mill Walton exchanged information about the Amon-filled waters, then discovered that their ship was trapped in a loop. Lorne began interrogating the captured Glory pirates for information, but Sailor Chief Igor collapsed before he could resist.

• Mill Walton revealed that he belonged to the Society's Special Intelligence Department and had encountered numerous Amon avatars and corpses in the anomalous waters.
• Lorne gave Mill Walton a false identity as Moros from the Treasury Department, with Three of Diamonds as his superior.
• Lorne, Mill Walton, and Danitz shared what they knew and concluded that the ship could not escape the waters by sailing in any direction.
• Lorne offered food to the captured pirates in exchange for information about the Glory and the waters, while Danitz taunted them by eating in front of them.
• Igor secretly prepared to attack Lorne but suddenly collapsed, and Lorne said he would use Spirit Channeling to question him.