Chapter Summaries

After stopping Mr. A’s ritual, Klein counted the losses and arranged to sell the Book of Secrets and an Interrogator Beyonder characteristic. Lorry returned to the White Swan, where Fors bought both items, while Pali Beria was summoned to take her brother’s place as a full member of the Twilight Hermit Order.

• The lyre-holding woman told Klein to work harder before vanishing, and he lamented losing the Master Key and the reward for his intelligence while planning to sell mysticism knowledge and a Beyonder characteristic.
• After the catastrophe, Lorry left Qiao money to handle compensation at the Posner Face Mask Factory, then traveled to the White Swan.
• Lorry gave Fors medicine for Xio, learned that Albert had been sent to another room, and joined Fors for dinner while Xio recovered from the medicine’s taste.
• Fors asked Lorry to lend her money to buy the Book of Secrets and an Interrogator Beyonder characteristic, and he gave her the funds.
• Pali Beria appeared in an ancient palace and was told she would replace her elder brother as a full member rather than remain an observer.

Pali Beria Lorry attended a gathering hosted by Adam and chose a seat once occupied by Roselle, while Klein received payment from Miss Magician and prepared to advance to Faceless. The chapter left Lorry puzzling over Adam’s greeting to the beings behind her.

• Pali Beria Lorry saw Adam at the gathering, chose a glowing seat, and learned that Roselle had once occupied it.
• Adam told Pali Beria Lorry that participants could not see into one another’s hearts, then asked her to give his regards to the beings behind her.
• Klein received a payment from Miss Magician, decided to send two thousand five hundred pounds to Miss Justice, and planned to advance to Faceless.
• Klein regretted setting too low a price for the items and considered charging Miss Magician more in future trades.
• Lorry sneezed aboard the White Swan and wondered whom Adam had meant by the beings behind her.

Lorry reviewed the commissions from the gathering, left the Abyss card with Pali Beria Lorry, and weighed plans for his Southern Continent investigation. At sea, Xio fished while Lorry realized he had forgotten the Monday gathering, which had just begun in the Gray Fog Space.

• Lorry recalled three commissions: finding the Sea God, warning Amyrius Rieveldt, and investigating the Black Emperor's identity.
• Pali Beria Lorry found the Abyss card by her pillow, and Lorry decided she should keep it to strengthen her upcoming investigation.
• Lorry considered using his wealth to establish a base and hire help in the Southern Continent, while pondering how to help the Tarot Club's little Sun gather materials.
• On December 27, Xio caught a large fish while Lorry and Albert lounged on the ship's fishing deck, and Xio complained that Fors had abandoned them to go back to sleep.
• Lorry realized he had forgotten that it was Monday as the Fool Klein began the gathering in the Gray Fog Space and turned to the Magician.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Fors gave Mr. Fool five pages of Roselle’s Diary, while Klein used the members’ mistaken belief that his power had recovered to reinforce his image. The members exchanged requests for Beyonder ingredients and Audrey described Fitz Posner’s unexpected rise after the Backlund catastrophe, leaving Klein focused on the potential profits and cost of his new face-mask business.

• Fors presented Mr. Fool with five pages of Emperor Roselle’s Diary and promised to bring the remaining pages at the next gathering.
• Audrey postponed delivering her promised diary pages because of the upheaval in Backlund, and Klein let the members believe the thickening gray fog showed his strength had recovered.
• Fors offered to obtain a Mirror Dragon’s eyes for Audrey, who also requested Elder Tree Fruit and mirror dragon blood.
• Alger asked the members for Dragon-Eyed Sea Eagle eyeballs and requested information about the recent catastrophe.
• Audrey explained that Fitz Posner’s face masks had brought him attention from the churches and political circles, and that the Church of the Evernight Goddess planned to secure him a Hereditary Lord title.
• Klein privately calculated that the face masks could become bestsellers and that the title would require a donation of 300,000 pounds.

Klein mourned the dead from the Great Smog and discovered that Emlyn had prayed for help, while Lorry, Fors, Xio, and Audrey marked the New Year in separate scenes. The chapter ended with Lorry and Fors sharing a quiet moment on the terrace as Xio dragged Albert away to fight.

• Klein visited the graves of Old Kohler, Liv, and Freya, adding their names and epitaphs to their urns.
• Klein heard Emlyn's prayer and decided to visit Harvest Church before responding to his request about a Psychological Suggestion.
• Fors told Lorry that he could secure a lordship through a donation, but he wistfully asked if he could take the three hundred thousand pounds in cash instead.
• Audrey Hall was formally introduced by the Queen at a New Year's Eve ball as fireworks lit the sky, while she remembered the Great Smog's victims.
• In Desi Bay, Lorry showed Fors and Xio how to eat Desi pies with chopsticks, and Xio repeatedly failed before using her fork.
• After Xio lost at Fight Evil, she dragged Albert into a bedroom for a fight while Lorry brushed Fors's hair back on the terrace.

On New Year’s Eve, Lorry comforted Fors by telling her about his dead superior, then worried over his dwindling funds and attempted a ritual to contact the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. The ritual finally answered with a voice asking who he was.

• Lorry gave Fors his long black trench coat and told her about his superior, who had died on the eve of his wedding.
• After midnight, Lorry calculated that he had about eight hundred pounds left and considered competing with Klein to hunt pirates for money.
• Lorry prepared a ritual to contact the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, but the altar showed no response for fifteen minutes.
• An ethereal voice suddenly spoke from the altar and asked Lorry who he was.

Lorry used the Star Mark ritual to contact Vice Admiral Iceberg, Edwina Edwards, and claimed to be Sebastian Verne’s student. Edwina believed him and offered to come help, while the Curse of Knowledge warned Lorry not to pursue her.

• Lorry removed the seal from the White Bone Ring, and the Curse of Knowledge recognized Edwina’s voice and told him to identify himself as Sebastian Verne’s student.
• Lorry performed the Star Mark ritual, sent Edwina his identity, and waited for her reply.
• When Edwina asked for proof, the Curse of Knowledge suggested an embarrassing childhood memory, but Lorry persuaded it to offer a less humiliating message instead.
• Lorry told Edwina that Sebastian considered her his favorite student and had high hopes for her, though she was not the student he had spent the most effort on.
• Edwina asked whether Teacher Sebastian was all right and offered to set off immediately to help him.
• The Curse of Knowledge warned Lorry not to get any ideas about Edwina.

Lorry arranged to meet Vice Admiral Iceberg at Damir Port, then joined Fors and Xio on a New Year outing to Talin Island. As they approached the island’s blessing forest, someone warned them that its trees were alive and ate people.

• Lorry chose Damir Port as the meeting place after Edwina offered Desi Bay or Bansy Harbor, and Edwina agreed to contact him when needed.
• The Curse of Knowledge pressured Lorry to tell Edwina about tugging braids by threatening to make his exams unrelated to mysticism.
• Xio overheard a family discussing New Year prayers on Talin Island, then paid a waitress to learn more about the island’s attractions and legends.
• Lorry, Fors, and Xio decided to visit Talin Island and traveled there by shallow-water transport vessel.
• Lorry hired a guide and followed Fors and Xio toward the forest where visitors tied red cloth strips to make wishes.
• A nearby voice warned the group not to enter the forest because its trees were alive and ate people.

Lorry, Fors, and Xio visited Talin Island’s forest, where a local guide dismissed Jansen’s warning that the trees ate people as madness and admitted the village’s tourist stories were fabricated. After hanging their wish strips and paying the guide, they entered the woods, where a nearby voice asked whether the warning was true.

• Lorry saw two men drag Jansen away as he shouted that the trees in the forest ate people.
• The local guide told Lorry that Jansen had once been a guide but had gone mad, and claimed the village was safe.
• Lorry used Mind Reading to check the guide, then learned that the village had invented stories about wishes coming true to attract tourists.
• The guide explained that Jansen had once taken tourists to secluded trees and quietly offered Lorry a place where their cloth strips would not be removed.
• Fors and Xio wrote wishes on red cloth strips, and Lorry wrote one of his own before paying the guide the remaining fee.
• Lorry, Fors, and Xio entered the forest, where a nearby voice asked whether Jansen’s warning was true.

Lorry, Fors, and Xio followed a group of students into the depths of the forest to investigate claims that wishes hung there came true. As they headed back toward the docks, Xio noticed that a family they had seen earlier had lost one of its members.

• A brown-haired student claimed that praying in Talin Village had ended his bad luck and invited Lorry and the others to follow him deeper into the forest.
• Lorry used Mind Reading to confirm the student believed his story, then secretly followed the group with Fors and Xio using the Shadow Ring.
• The student led his companions to hang their wishes, and after they left, Lorry, Fors, and Xio hung their own strips of cloth.
• Xio admitted that using the Shadow Ring had tempted her to knock out Lorry and Fors and have their limbs amputated, so they agreed to avoid letting her use it unless necessary.
• Near the forest entrance, Xio saw that a family previously seen with five people now had only four, and realized someone was missing.

After Xio noticed that a boy she had seen with a family had vanished from everyone else’s memory, Lorry confirmed that the woods held a serious abnormality. The three decided to investigate, with Fors and Xio agreeing to remain on the outskirts unless Lorry permitted them to approach the woods.

• Xio recalled seeing a blond boy with a family of four, but only the parents, their daughter, and their guide came out of the woods, acting as though the boy had never existed.
• Xio asked Fors and Lorry how many people they remembered seeing in the family, and both said there had been three.
• After the group left the woods behind, Lorry told Fors and Xio that something was seriously wrong there and asked what they intended to do.
• Fors explained that she and Lorry had pretended not to notice the boy in case anyone was listening.
• Lorry said he wanted to investigate if he found a chance to digest his Mystery Pryer potion, but warned Fors and Xio about the risks.
• Xio chose to stay and investigate, and Fors joined her; Lorry limited them to investigating the outskirts and forbade them from approaching the woods without his permission.

Lorry, Xio, and Fors compared clues about the abnormality on Talin Island and divided up their investigation. After lending Fors the Sure-Hit Revolver, Lorry took out the Book of Dimensions to pursue his own leads.

• Xio and Fors reported their observations about the family, the guide, Jansen, and the university students, while Lorry recorded and assessed the clues.
• Lorry reasoned that the abnormality might target certain outsiders, could be hidden from the Church’s investigators, and might be linked to the rise in tourism and recent construction.
• Lorry assigned Xio and Fors to investigate the family and possible missing outsiders, while he took responsibility for Jansen, the History Student, and the altered perceptions.
• Xio asked how Lorry would find the university students, and he said he had his own methods.
• Lorry lent Fors the Sure-Hit Revolver for protection, then took out the Book of Dimensions after the two women left.

Lorry used the Book of Dimensions to set up encounters for Fors and Xio and to arrange a chance meeting with Jansen, while a ship narrowly escaped dangerous underwater currents. At the inn, Fors and Xio shared a table with a woman and her daughter, who had forgotten their son and brother.

• Lorry wrote in the Book of Dimensions that Fors and Xio would meet the same family again at the Talin Island inn and strike up a conversation.
• Lorry wrote that Doris and her friends would stay on Talin Island and that he would encounter Jansen while walking alone.
• Kady and Kane's ship was struck by underwater currents, but the captain turned it around and escaped the dangerous area.
• The woman and her daughter asked to share Fors and Xio's table, and Xio entertained the girl with a story.
• The woman apologized for her daughter's interruption, unaware that she had forgotten her son, and the four began talking after the story ended.

Lorry investigated Jansen’s story about the woods eating people and learned that a tourist’s distinctive gold ring had appeared in the forest after its owner had left the island. He also hypnotized Kady, whose illness and misfortune had ended after he prayed in the woods, and waited for Fors and Xio’s inquiries to complete his theory.

• Lorry transferred the cabin’s surroundings into another dimension, entered, and used Soothing and hypnosis to question Jansen.
• Jansen recalled finding a bloodstained gold ring in the woods in early August, though he had seen its owner leave the island days earlier.
• Lorry guided Jansen to forget the frightening memories and returned quietly to the inn.
• Fors and Xio told Lorry that a family had hung red strips of cloth deep in the woods after their tour guide accepted money.
• Lorry hypnotized Kady and learned that praying in the woods had brought him golden sunlight and warmth while ending his unexplained coldness and bad luck.
• Lorry formed a rough theory, and the three met again at dusk on January 2.

After investigating Talin Island, Lorry concluded that an Elder Tree was behind the tourist disappearances and decided to confront it. He used the Book of Dimensions to create a Painter version of himself, which brought Fors and Xio into the Painting World alongside him.

• Xio reported that no tourists had been declared missing, the villagers had built the inn two years earlier, and the original rumors had come from elsewhere.
• Lorry explained that the anomaly targeted outsiders, altered memories, and likely used suggestions to make victims leave and return unnoticed.
• Lorry identified a Beyonder creature, an Elder Tree, as the probable culprit and said he planned to visit it.
• After dark, Lorry asked the Old Gentleman about Elder Trees and was warned that this one seemed unusually unsettling.
• Lorry used the Book of Dimensions to create a Painter version of himself, who drew several images and brought Lorry, Fors, and Xio out of the Painting World.

Lorry sent painted copies and illusions to attack the Elder Tree, testing its defenses while keeping his real self hidden. After the tree destroyed Painter Lorry, Lorry launched a massive barrage of amplified Wind Blades from another dimension.

• Lorry conjured three Shadow Rings and sent painted copies of himself, Fors, and Xio into the woods as bait.
• The Elder Tree struck down Xio in the Painting, and Fors in the Painting attacked it with Fire Crows while Lorry in the Painting used Bribe-Arrogance to create an opening.
• The Elder Tree used Notarization and Fire of Light to destroy Painter Lorry, causing the two remaining painted figures to disappear.
• Sebastian Verne urged Lorry to retreat, but Lorry returned to the real world and unleashed countless amplified Wind Blades at the Elder Tree.

Lorry killed the mutated Elder Tree and collected valuable ingredients before fleeing with the boy to Desi Bay. In Pritz Harbor, Klein prepared to become Gehrman Sparrow and attended a Tarot Club meeting where Fors worried about the Fool’s reaction to her diary pages.

• Lorry used amplified Wind Blades to kill the Elder Tree while staying hidden in the Book of Dimensions, then collected its fruits and other valuable materials.
• Lorry learned through Spirit Channeling that a pirate and the Elder Tree had fused after the pirate was killed, and he returned to Desi Bay with the blond boy and his companions.
• Klein received legal identity documents bearing the name Gehrman Sparrow and prepared to recover the Faceless characteristic using Creeping Hunger.
• Klein summoned the Tarot Club and warned the Sun in advance before the meeting began.
• Fors worried that the Fool’s reaction to her submitted Roselle diary page meant she had displeased him.

Klein read Roselle’s account of Kalvetua’s escape and learned the Sea God was badly injured, then continued the Tarot Club meeting. Fors arranged trades with Audrey and Derrick, offering each an elder-tree ingredient in exchange for payment and help gathering materials.

• Klein read Roselle’s diary entry about Kalvetua, learning that the Sea God was severely injured and that replacing it to answer its believers could help digest certain potions.
• Klein dismissed the idea of immediately hunting Kalvetua and told Fors that her debt to him was settled.
• Emlyn asked about Roselle’s Diary, and Klein introduced him to the Tarot Club as Mr. Moon.
• Audrey asked about the City of Silver expedition, and Derrick reported that it had escaped the loop.
• Fors offered Audrey an elder tree fruit for 650 pounds and a small favor, and Audrey agreed.
• Fors offered to trade two-thirds of Derrick’s debt for listed materials and asked whether he needed an elder tree rhizome crystal; Derrick accepted and promised to gather her requested materials.

At the Tarot Club gathering, members exchanged requests for ingredients and help, while Fors revealed that Audrey’s small favor involved delivering a letter to Empress Borough. Audrey requested a private conversation with Fors, leaving Klein and Alger wondering what the two women had discussed.

• Fors promised the Sun a requested item after the gathering, and Alger asked her to look for Dragon-Eyed Sea Eagle eyes.
• Klein had the World ask the Tarot Club to find ancient wraith dust and a Six-Winged Gargoyle’s core crystal for his companions.
• Emlyn asked the members how a Sanguine could grow stronger without relying on gifts from elders, then took Audrey’s request to find Mirror Dragon blood.
• The members discussed several other requests, including Alger’s sale of a Faceless characteristic and Emlyn’s help putting a ship’s crew to sleep.
• Fors reminded Audrey that the Elder Tree Fruit’s price included a favor: delivering a letter to someone in Empress Borough.
• Audrey requested a private conversation with Fors, and after their discussion Klein noticed that Audrey seemed far more shocked than Fors.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Justice revealed that Magician Fors had arranged to trade twenty-one elder tree fruits with her secret organization, provoking shock and envy. Fors then recounted her New Year's vacation, while Klein anticipated his own upcoming journey.

• Justice Audrey told the Tarot Club that Fors had arranged a deal for twenty-one elder tree fruits, not counting the one she had already traded to Justice.
• Hanged Man Alger questioned whether Fors and her companions had robbed a church treasury, and Fors explained that they had found an Elder Tree while on vacation.
• Fool Klein suggested that the Elder Tree had undergone some form of mutation.
• At Justice Audrey's request, Fors recounted her New Year's vacation at sea, leaving Justice longing for adventure and Klein anticipating his own journey.