Chapter Summaries

Lorry traded a Wraith characteristic and other Beyonder items with Sharron and Maric for ingredients and a Desire Apostle characteristic, then gave Fors a lava octopus blood crystal. The chapter ended with Fors kissing Lorry.

• Lorry offered Sharron a Wraith characteristic and Pathway items in exchange for a Desire Apostle characteristic and ingredients, including a lava octopus blood crystal.
• Sharron agreed to complete the trade at noon the next day and confirmed she had the blood crystal.
• Lorry and Sharron completed the trade, and Maric gratefully took the Wraith characteristic.
• Lorry gave Fors the lava octopus blood crystal as a gift to help her digest her potion.
• Fors kissed Lorry, and he returned the kiss.

Fors and Lorry shared an intimate moment before he left to buy herbs for her swelling. Later, Fors told Xio that falling in love had inspired her to quit smoking and become better.

• Fors and Lorry kissed passionately, and he carried her to the sofa before deciding it was too soon to go further.
• Lorry left to buy herbs for Fors's swelling and considered getting ointment for his bruises.
• Xio returned home and found Fors writing while Albert watched her.
• Xio questioned Fors about her writing habits, and Fors said she had quit smoking.
• Fors told Xio that love made her want to improve herself, though Xio did not understand.

Lorry ended his speech by declaring that he hoped the Posner Face Mask Factory would go bankrupt once people could breathe freely. At the Tarot Club, Fors supplied five pages of Roselle’s Diary, and the members discussed a Harvest Priest characteristic and how to turn it into a crop-growing Mystical Item.

• Lorry told the guests and reporters that he had accepted the committee’s invitation because he wanted a world where his children could breathe freely, then left the podium to thunderous applause.
• Audrey noticed that Moon and Hanged Man had advanced to Sequence 6 and greeted the Tarot Club members.
• Fors gave Klein five pages of Roselle’s Diary and promised to bring the other five next week; Klein read them and recalled Roselle’s romantic exploits.
• Klein had World obtain from Sun the method for separating mental corruption from Beyonder Characteristics.
• Alger said the Artisan had refused to provide his blood, and Fors planned to ask Mr. Fool to transfer the Harvest Priest characteristic so it could be made into a Mystical Item for growing crops.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Fors sold Hunter characteristics to Cattleya and offered a Conspirer characteristic. She then revealed that she could have a Mystical Item made from a Hypnotist characteristic restored to a Beyonder Characteristic, leaving the members stunned by the apparent Angel-level power behind her offer.

• Fors sold two Hunter characteristics to Cattleya for 700 pounds after first negotiating a price for one.
• Fors offered a Conspirer characteristic, but the Hanged Man and Hermit showed interest in her wares and no one else spoke up.
• Audrey asked the World whether he had obtained a Psychiatrist characteristic, and he said she would need to wait a few more days.
• Fors offered Audrey a Mystical Item made from a Hypnotist characteristic, but Audrey declined because she wanted the characteristic itself.
• Fors promised that the item could later be restored to a Beyonder Characteristic, prompting the Hanged Man, World, Hermit, and Sun to realize that the process required power at least at the level of an Angel.

At the Tarot Club, Fors’s connection to a powerful angel astonished the members, while Audrey bought her Hypnosis Pocket Watch for six thousand pounds. After Fors mentioned a rumor about the Sauron Family sending relatives to Backlund, the World asked for help with a commission, and Fors suggested that Emlyn take it on.

• Alger wondered whether Fors’s friend was an angel, while Klein privately worried about the implications of the members’ suspicions.
• Audrey bought Fors’s Hypnosis Pocket Watch for six thousand pounds after hearing about its abilities and negative effects.
• Fors reminded Audrey to contact her when she needed a Beyonder characteristic restored, and Klein invited the members to exchange information.
• Fors shared a rumor that the Sauron Family would secretly send members to Backlund, prompting Klein to connect the family to his escape conditions and Fors’s Beyonder characteristics.
• The World asked members in Backlund for help with a commission, and Fors, saying she would focus on digesting her potion, suggested that Emlyn help instead.

The World hired Emlyn to watch Williams Street for anything unusual, while Fors offered a five-hundred-pound reward to anyone who could see through her magic trick. The World agreed to meet Fors in the real world, with the Fool arranging a locator and a disguise item, and looked forward to testing her trick.

• The World commissioned Emlyn to patrol Williams Street every two or three days and report anything unusual, offering him two hundred pounds.
• The World warned Emlyn that the Sanguine higher-ups might monitor him, and Emlyn claimed he could sneak out of the church and hire a bounty hunter to help.
• Fors offered five hundred pounds to anyone who could see through her five-minute cup-and-ball trick in the real world.
• Sun Derrick and Emlyn declined, Audrey asked to try after returning to Backlund, and Cattleya said she was too busy.
• Fors offered the World an alternative payment and proposed that the Fool provide a locator while she lent the World an item to disguise his appearance.
• The World accepted Fors's proposal and said he looked forward to being surprised by her trick.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Fors asked Justice for advice on managing extensive landholdings, while Klein privately reflected on the members’ wealth. In the countryside near Backlund, farmer Matthew learned that a noble lord had taken over the surrounding land but promised to keep rents unchanged, then arrived at a crowded church square to discover an unexplained gathering and platform.

• Fors asked Justice for advice on managing fixed assets covering more than a hundred thousand mu, and Justice explained how to hire managers.
• Klein calculated the likely value and income of Fors’s assets and envied the wealth of a rich lady.
• Matthew worried that a noble lord taking over the land would raise rents as falling grain prices strained local farmers.
• A villager told Matthew that the Church had announced the land transfer and that rent would remain unchanged for devout believers.
• Matthew’s companions led him to a packed church square, where he saw a raised platform and wondered what was happening.

Matthew and his family enjoyed a lavish free meal before watching a spectacular circus performance arranged by the new lord. Backstage, Fors steadied her nerves with Lorry’s support and prepared to perform.

• Matthew found his family among the villagers, learned they had been allowed to collect plenty of food, and ate meat pies and white bread.
• Matthew’s wife told him the lord had hired more than a dozen circus troupes to perform together.
• The circus dazzled the crowd with trained animals, acrobats, and clowns, while Matthew cheered and his family edged away from him.
• Backstage, Lorry reassured the nervous Fors that she could use her abilities freely and that he would be there.
• Fors regained her courage and told Lorry she was going onstage.

Fors performed a knife-throwing act with Lorry and invited audience member Matthew to verify the knife was real. Matthew agreed to take part despite his wife’s fears, and her deadpan reply that she was looking for someone to marry him sent laughter through the crowd.

• Fors called Lorry onto the stage, blindfolded him, and threw a real knife that appeared to pierce his chest before revealing it was lodged in the board behind him.
• Fors invited Matthew to inspect the knife, and he confirmed it was genuine after pulling it from the board.
• At Fors’s direction, Matthew cut the apple into eight pieces and gave them to audience members, while the hecklers refused to try the act themselves.
• Fors invited Matthew to participate, and Lorry joked that her former colleagues’ families had received generous death benefits if anything went wrong.
• Matthew’s wife warned him not to agree, but he chose to try the act and joked that she could remarry if he died.
• Matthew’s wife accepted his suggestion and told him she was looking for someone to marry, making the nearby audience laugh.

Lorry and Fors finished a successful circus performance, then traveled from Backlund to Bayam to meet Klein. Klein recognized Lorry as Raven, the Blessed he had heard about, and joined them at the Tree Leaf Bar as their discussion was about to begin.

• After the performance, Fors said circus managers wanted to hire Matthew and his wife, and Lorry asked how her Trickmaster digestion was progressing.
• Lorry and Fors teased each other backstage, then Teleported to Bayam and spent the night at an upscale inn.
• The next morning, Lorry and Fors prepared for their scheduled noon meeting with Klein.
• Klein arrived at the Tree Leaf Bar shortly before noon and privately marveled at Fors's good fortune and Lorry's looks, wealth, and apparent support.
• Fors introduced herself to Klein as Fors, Lorry gave his name, and Klein asked for a Southville Beer.

Klein met with Fors and Lorry, then tried to win a cup-and-ball trick by guessing where the ball was hidden. After several wrong guesses, he asked whether he could use divination.

• Klein asked Fors why she had avoided calling him “The World” in front of Lorry, and Fors explained that she respected the Tarot Club and Mr. Fool.
• Klein questioned Lorry about his faith in the great existence and how he learned the honorific name, but Lorry gave evasive answers and claimed Mr. Fool shared a secret with him.
• Fors returned from the washroom and began a cup-and-ball trick, offering Klein pounds or a method as his reward for seeing through her sleight of hand.
• Klein guessed that the ball was under the middle cup, but Fors revealed it was under the left one.
• Klein continued guessing through several rounds and repeatedly chose the wrong cup, then asked Fors if he could use divination.

Klein tried to expose Fors’s cup trick but failed, and Fors paid him anyway after her performance fully digested her Trickmaster potion. Fors and Lorry left together, Klein received an invitation from Elland, and Xio continued promising Albert that she would soon earn enough contribution for the Interrogator formula.

• Klein used coin divination to identify the cup with the small ball, but Fors revealed that she had hidden multiple balls and fooled him.
• Klein went above the gray fog to divine Fors’s movements, then returned and guessed the middle cup, only for Fors to reveal balls beneath the left and right cups.
• Fors gave Klein the agreed cheque despite his failure, and told him she had fully digested her Trickmaster potion.
• Klein watched Fors and Lorry leave, then accepted Elland’s offer to introduce him to someone.
• Fors and Lorry returned to their rented house in Cherwood Borough and shared an intimate moment.
• Xio brought Albert home and promised she would earn enough contribution to obtain the Interrogator formula within a month.

Xio returned home to find Fors kissing Lorry, then learned Fors had fully digested her Trickmaster potion. Aboard the Golden Dream, Lorry teased Danitz with knowledge of his Sequence 6 potion and hinted he might know its formula.

• Xio found Fors and Lorry kissing on the sofa, then hurried outside with Albert to give them privacy.
• Fors told Xio that Lorry had returned to sea and revealed she had completely digested her Trickmaster potion.
• Lorry savored the memory of the kiss aboard the Golden Dream until Danitz arrived and said Edwina wanted to see him.
• Lorry named Danitz's Sequence 6 potion as Conspirer, leaving Danitz stunned and wondering who had told him.
• Lorry suggested he might know the Conspirer potion formula and told Danitz to lead the way.

Lorry returned to the Golden Dream, where Edwina arranged cover for his sudden appearance and planned research into a Teleportation charm while they waited for his Mysticism Mentor potion. He proposed searching for the Solomon Empire's lost treasure, and Edwina agreed to consider it before testing his knowledge.

• Danitz asked Lorry whether he had the Conspirer formula, then stormed away after Lorry denied having it.
• Danitz told the pirates that Jodson had returned and gone upstairs, prompting them to watch the stairway with hostility.
• Edwina told Lorry that his Mysticism Mentor potion was on its way and proposed developing a Teleportation charm to explain his return.
• Edwina proposed evening research sessions, and Lorry agreed despite her suspicions about the citrus-scented perfume on him.
• Lorry recommended exploring the Solomon Empire's Legacy, and Edwina said she would decide within two days.
• Edwina gave Lorry an examination paper to assess how well he had learned the materials.

Pali learned that Gibson was in Tetenik and prepared to travel there to begin the killings required for her advancement to Sequence 5. Aboard the Golden Dream, Danitz suggested that the crew gang up on Lorry, while Edwina invited Lorry to discuss matters over breakfast.

• Simon secretly left a bamboo tube in a tree hollow, and a veiled woman retrieved and destroyed the message inside.
• Pali learned that Gibson was awaiting approval to advance to Werewolf in Tetenik and ordered a ticket for the earliest departure.
• Pali gathered the ingredients for the Desire Apostle advancement and decided to begin her ritual with Gibson in Tetenik.
• Danitz proposed that the Golden Dream crew gang up on Lorry, but Bru Walls challenged him to lead the attack, and Danitz fell silent.
• Edwina invited Lorry into the captain's dining room to talk over breakfast, and Lorry spotted the inept hunter and waved at him.

Lorry discussed the Golden Dream’s upcoming expedition with Edwina, offered Danitz a Conspirer potion, and helped choose the Solomon Empire’s legacy as their target. The ship was set to sail for Bodo Port, where Lorry’s potion would arrive in three days.

• Danitz brought Lorry’s meal after Lorry warned him not to tamper with the food and teased him about the Conspirer formula.
• Edwina asked Danitz to consider advancing and suggested he try buying a Conspirer potion from Lorry, while warning him to wait until after the expedition before drinking it.
• Edwina told Danitz that the Golden Dream would search for the Solomon Empire’s legacy.
• Lorry proposed two clues for the expedition: the ghost-ship legend on Norgar Island and a route into the deepest reaches of the Fog Sea; Edwina chose the Norgar Island clue first.
• Edwina said the Golden Dream would sail for Bodo Port at noon, where Lorry’s potion was due to arrive in three days.

Fors met her teacher, Dorian Gray Abraham, in Cherwood Borough and revealed that she had completely digested the Trickmaster potion in less than twenty days. Dorian recovered from the shock and asked her to explain how she had done it.

• Fors left Xio to visit her teacher, while Xio wondered whether Lorry had returned for a date.
• Dorian Gray Abraham traveled from Pritz Harbor to Cherwood Borough after receiving Fors's letter about her potion progress.
• Fors met Dorian at the train station and took him to the Hat Trick inn to rest and talk privately.
• Dorian asked whether Fors was close to finishing the Trickmaster potion, and Fors told him she had already completely digested it.
• Dorian suffered a sudden heart condition, took medicine from his suitcase, and recovered.
• Dorian asked Fors how she had digested the potion so quickly, and she began describing a large-scale magic show.

Fors received the Astrologer potion formula from Dorian and, with the main ingredient already supplied by her boyfriend, gathered the remaining ingredients and advanced to Sequence 7. Aboard the Golden Dream, Edwina noticed Jodson had missed his lesson and sent Danitz to find him.

• Dorian learned about Fors's boyfriend and gave her the Astrologer potion formula, explaining that he had lost the promised main ingredient.
• Fors told Dorian she already had lava octopus blood crystal, a gift from her boyfriend, and left to gather the remaining ingredients.
• Fors collected a withered grapevine and returned home, where Lorry checked her potion before she drank it.
• Fors successfully advanced to Astrologer.
• Edwina noticed Jodson was fifteen minutes late for his lesson and asked Danitz to find him.

Lorry met with Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina to study charm-making and agreed to help her experience his Teleportation ability. After lending her the Curse of Knowledge for the experiment, he studied her notes on charms while she traveled through the Spirit World, and she returned looking pleased with what she had learned.

• Lorry arrived late to his research meeting with Edwina after returning to Backlund, and they postponed the session until half past ten.
• Edwina explained three methods of making charms and corrected Lorry's assumption that ordinary charms were unnecessary.
• Edwina asked Lorry to take her through the Spirit World so she could study Teleportation firsthand, but he suggested lending her the Curse of Knowledge instead.
• Edwina accepted the Mystical Item and allowed Lorry to read her books and notes, except for six sealed volumes.
• Lorry studied two sets of mysticism notes for three hours, then returned the Curse of Knowledge when Edwina reappeared, visibly excited.

Pali Beria Lorry broke into a Rose School contact point in Tetenik and killed its liaison, Mason, hoping to draw out Gibson. She found a hidden chamber full of gold, which Lorry collected before leaving, while Pali continued on alone.

• Pali waited until night, then broke into the Rose School contact point at 251 Victory Avenue.
• Pali used a Devil-language spell to kill Mason before he could transform or identify her.
• Pali found little money while searching Mason's room, then discovered stairs hidden beneath the bed.
• Pali explored the underground chamber, found bones and a room piled with gold coins, and opened its door with a fireball.
• Lorry appeared, transferred the gold to another dimension, and left after praising Pali's plan.
• Pali gave Lorry a contemptuous look and headed back toward the stairs.