Recaps

Kronos, Portland, and Kask arranged to delay the Church of Steam and Machinery’s proposal while seeking gifts in return for their cooperation. Kronos asked Ikanser to let him borrow Emperor Roselle’s belongings, and Ikanser went to consult Archbishop Horamick.

• Kronos and Portland visited Kask, and the three refined a plan to delay the Research Center proposal and pass information through intermediaries.
• At the reorganization meeting, Kronos presented the Church of Steam and Machinery’s proposal while Portland opposed it and Kask remained neutral.
• Kronos visited Saint Hilleran Cathedral and told Ikanser that Portland opposed the proposal and Kask’s political influence might be useful.
• Kronos asked Ikanser to borrow Emperor Roselle’s belongings, and Ikanser went to ask Archbishop Horamick about it.
• Ikanser told Horamick that a boy from the Argel Family had arrived, and Horamick asked him to explain the matter.

Horamick took over negotiations with Kask after Ikanser failed to find a way to secure his support, while Kronos received access to Roselle’s belongings at Saint Hilarion Church. Back home, Kronos used Roselle’s bookmark to reveal the sealed Black Emperor Card.

• Ikanser told Horamick that Cask Wolf’s position was unclear and Portland firmly opposed the Church’s proposal, then admitted he had no way to secure Kask’s support.
• Horamick agreed to handle negotiations and instructed Ikanser to let Kronos inspect Roselle’s belongings, though the Church would not give them away.
• Ikanser led Kronos to a storeroom full of Roselle’s possessions, and Kronos took the books and manuscripts after finding the plagiarism notebook and its bookmark.
• At home, Kronos set aside most of the books, selected several works for study, and instructed his servants to record and obtain copies of the rest.
• Kronos said “Bernadette!” in Ancient Feysac, causing the bookmark to reveal Roselle seated as the Black Emperor and display “Sequence 0: Black Emperor!”

Kronos kept the Black Emperor Card and studied it alongside the Justiciar Card, while Horamick’s political gift persuaded Kask to advance the plan to report the Church of Steam and Machinery to the royal family. Kronos later completed an Armor of Guardianship scroll, leaving him with a new success in his preparations.

• Kronos decided to keep the unsealed Black Emperor Card, asked Beck to find a genuine Roselle-era bookmark, and studied the card alongside the Justiciar Card.
• Horamick arranged Kask’s promotion to secretary-general of the Higher Education Committee and a seat in the House of Commons as a gift from the Church of Steam and Machinery.
• Kask told Portland about the offer, and the two agreed to report the Church’s plans to the royal family through Earl Wolf.
• Portland suggested that Kask give Kronos an Eggers Family artifact, and Kask said his brother had one in his collection.
• Portland planned to demand technology from the Church of Steam and Machinery, while Kask prepared to seek the royal family’s intervention.
• Kronos returned to making Armor of Guardianship scrolls and successfully completed one.

Kronos recovered from creating his first Sequence 5 scroll and repeatedly watched the moment of its creation to study the sensation. He then learned that the plan was progressing smoothly and that Kask might obtain a mysterious mask for him, while Portland considered asking the Church of Steam and Machinery for a major favor.

• Kronos recovered his spirituality and physical strength, then used the Eye of Time to replay the creation of the Armor of Guardianship scroll and study his harmonious state.
• Kronos spent three days watching his recording and studying the Justiciar and Black Emperor cards before Kask’s meeting notice prompted him to check on the plan.
• Kronos visited Portland, who said the Church of Steam and Machinery had secured Kask a Secretary-General position and a parliamentary seat.
• Portland told Kronos that Earl Wolf might give him a mysterious mask from the Eggers Family collection at the meeting the next day.
• Portland considered asking the Church of Steam and Machinery to sign a contract promising him a major favor in the future.

Kronos, Kask, and Portland maneuvered to block the Church of Steam and Machinery’s proposal while keeping the Royal Family’s tacit approval intact. After their plan proceeded as intended, Kask gave Kronos a mask belonging to a descendant of the Death God's family, and Kronos sensed that it held unusual power.

• Portland told Kronos that Kask had secured his appointment and a meeting with the Speaker after briefing Earl Wolf and George III about the plan.
• Kask led a secret ballot on the Church of Steam and Machinery’s presence in the Research Center, and the proposal received 62 percent approval, short of the required two-thirds.
• Kask and Portland led a heated debate while Kronos watched the participants and tried to identify those secretly steering the discussion.
• Kask asked Kronos to deliver the news to Saint Hilarion Church and gave him a gift to compensate him for his part in the plan.
• Kronos opened the gift and found a black mask marked with the name Eggers, sensing a faint chill from it.

Kronos visited Saint Ceyran Grand Church to report to Ikanser, but Archbishop Horamick questioned him first about his motives and the Argel Family’s role in recent events. Kronos deflected suspicion with a carefully crafted explanation and a display of hurt, then left without revealing his ambitions.

• Kronos entered Saint Ceyran Grand Church and followed Archbishop Horamick’s summons to his reception room.
• Horamick questioned Kronos about his father’s departure from Backlund and why he had joined Backlund Technical College.
• Kronos explained that he wanted to pursue research, credited Professor Portland with the research center plans, and said he had come to report to Ikanser.
• Horamick warned Kronos that the Church already knew what had happened, so Kronos feigned hurt until Horamick apologized and let him leave.
• After Kronos departed, Ikanser and Nosk emerged from a door inside the reception room.

Kronos survived Horamick’s scrutiny and, after recovering from the encounter, successfully created a Sequence 5 Armor of Guardianship scroll. He identified the conditions needed to enter the scroll-making state and sent his father the findings, hoping they would help Marquis Argel advance.

• Nosk and Ikanser reported Kronos’s heart-rate results to Horamick, who accepted Ikanser’s explanation and dismissed them.
• Horamick lamented that he had missed another chance to take over the Argel Family and earn contribution credit.
• Kronos returned home, rested for fourteen hours, and successfully made an Armor of Guardianship scroll on his second attempt.
• Kronos failed to make another scroll when his stamina ran short, then concluded that familiarity, full spirituality, and ample rest were key to entering the state.
• Kronos’s Sequence 6 potion digested by a quarter, confirming his conclusions, and he sent Marquis Argel a ciphered letter through the family telegraph.

Kronos practiced the Justiciar and Black Emperor skills for Sequence 5 scrolls and realized that teaching Marquis Argel had advanced his potion digestion. Marquis Argel prepared to advance to Sequence 5, leaving Kronos worried that the Hidden Sage would target him.

• Kronos focused his practice on the Justiciar’s rule-setting skill, using large quantities of expensive scroll materials.
• Kronos’s potion digestion passed the halfway point while he practiced, and he suspected it was because he had taught Marquis Argel the standards he had summarized.
• Marquis Argel sent a telegram saying Kronos’s standards had revealed an opportunity and that he planned to attempt advancement the next morning.
• Kronos worried that Marquis Argel’s advancement to Sequence 5 would attract the Hidden Sage, as it had threatened Kronos’s grandfather and Cattleya.
• Kronos recalled that the Argel Family required members advancing to Astronomer to return to Midseashire, where the God of Steam and Machinery’s protection was stronger.

Kronos learned that the Loen royal family had changed the Higher Education Committee meeting by bringing in the Churches of Evernight and Storms. As Kask and Portland faced suspicion from the Church of Steam and Machinery, Kronos believed his family’s history as a trusted pawn would keep him clear.

• Kronos worried that Marquis Argel’s pursuit of Sequence 5 could expose him to danger from the Hidden Sage, then resumed practicing his rule-inscribing skill.
• Kronos arrived at the Higher Education Committee and found Portland and Kask waiting in a side room with news that the royal family had intervened.
• Kask explained that Earl Rustin, also known as Prince Edessak Augustus, would chair the meeting and had brought bishops from the Churches of Evernight and Storms.
• Kronos learned that the meeting would now consider all three churches joining the Research Center, with the king awaiting the result.
• Kronos told Kask and Portland that the Church of Steam and Machinery might suspect them of helping it, but he could escape suspicion because he had barely been involved and the Argel Family had long served as a trusted pawn to both sides.

Kronos and his colleagues backed the Royal Family’s plan to limit the Church of Steam and Machinery’s role in the Research Center, and the meeting approved a security squad shared by three churches. After Edessak told Kronos that Amyrius had secured him a commendation and a requested promotion for his service in the Southern Continent, Kronos took it as a sign that Amyrius viewed their alliance favorably.

• Kronos told Kask and Portland to support the Royal Family’s decisions, while reassuring Kask that the Royal Family would protect him from the Church of Steam and Machinery’s retaliation.
• Kronos fell asleep before the meeting, and Edessak asked Kask to wake him because he wanted to speak with him afterward.
• The meeting unanimously approved a security squad staffed by the three churches, while rejecting the Church of Steam and Machinery’s request to teach and spread its faith at the Research Center.
• Edessak told Kronos that he had been recommended for a commendation for his service in the Southern Continent and explained how his information had helped the Sonia Fleet defend its colony.
• Kronos learned that Amyrius had submitted his name for credit and requested his promotion to colonel, which suggested to him that Amyrius supported their alliance.

After hearing Edessak’s empty promises about the throne, Kronos rejected involvement in the royal struggle and focused on improving his own condition. He began a regular sleep and exercise routine, leaving political affairs behind for now.

• Kronos decided the Argel Family should avoid the royal power struggle until he was strong enough to resist William I, and he endured Edessak’s lengthy pitch without agreeing to support him.
• After Edessak left, Kronos went home and, feeling unusually weary, chose to stop practicing with Skill Scrolls and rest.
• Kronos set ten o’clock as his bedtime, fell asleep quickly, and woke at seven the next morning.
• Kronos went for an hour-long run around the lake near his villa, then returned home and showered.
• While eating breakfast and reading the newspaper, Kronos dismissed political and economic affairs and resolved to focus on improving himself.

Kronos created his first successful scroll while Marquis Argel prepared to advance to Sequence 5, Astronomer. Marquis Argel drank the potion and entered the starry-sky ritual, where he began observing the stars without moving.

• Kronos returned to his research, naturally completed a Sequence 5 Disciplinary Paladin Decree scroll, and confirmed its success when his potion began digesting.
• Marquis Argel considered moving the family’s efforts from Backlund to Midseashire and traveled to the Argel Family’s ancestral manor.
• Marquis Argel met his father at the family church, then entered a roofless room prepared for his advancement ritual.
• Marquis Argel drank the Astronomer potion and entered a state of union with the starry sky.
• Marquis Argel stayed still as required by the family’s warning and began observing the stars for possible stellar configurations.

Marquis Argel advanced to Sequence 5 but reconsidered his plans after Old Man warned him about the Hidden Sage. At the Eye of Wisdom’s gathering, Kronos negotiated with an Artisan’s representative and then began discussing a trade for 2-081 with Isengard.

• Marquis Argel became a Sequence 5, and Old Man warned him that advancing could draw the Hidden Sage’s attention and leave him little chance to survive.
• Kronos resumed a healthy routine and went to the Eye of Wisdom’s gathering to pursue information about an Artisan.
• Isengard welcomed Kronos after learning that the Church of Knowledge could trace the holder of 2-081 through its records.
• Kronos bargained with the Artisan’s representative over a weapon commission, offering Lawyer Pathway potion formulas up to Sequence 5 and persuading the representative to consult the Artisan.
• Isengard recognized that Kronos had achieved his objective, then agreed to trade 2-081 in exchange for a suitable Beyonder Item.

Kronos arranged to trade a White Tower Pathway Sealed Artifact with Isengard, then tracked down an Artisan who had been lured into meeting him. He offered the captured Artisan a position in the Argel Family and a chance for his daughter to advance along the Lawyer Pathway, leaving the Artisan tempted but not yet agreeing.

• Kronos and Isengard agreed to meet in a week to trade Beyonder Items, with Isengard seeking one with strong offensive power and minor side effects.
• Kronos met his household’s team and learned that Mr. Todd and the others had followed the representative using scented powder and Tracking Mice.
• Kronos and two companions followed the scent to a house in Bridge Borough, where Mr. Todd’s team had already restrained the Artisan, his daughter, and the representative.
• Kronos offered the Artisan high pay, advancement support, and a chance for his daughter to obtain Lawyer Pathway potions.
• The Artisan recalled the brutal fate of a captured unaffiliated Artisan and considered Kronos’s offer, suspecting it might be too good to be true.

Kronos recruited Roel Patrick as the Argyle family's Artisan, then selected Beyonder Items to offer Isengard and studied the Family Secret Manual. He left the manual room after memorizing its Scroll Professor volume, intending to practice its skills later.

• Kronos offered Roel Patrick a contract, revealed his identity, and brought him to Argel Manor.
• Kronos and Roel finalized and signed the contract, and Kronos gave Roel a Lawyer Potion and showed him the family's storeroom.
• Kronos selected four Beyonder Items to offer Isengard, while Roel stayed behind to study the storeroom's items.
• Kronos opened the Family Secret Manual and spent the afternoon studying and memorizing the Scroll Professor volume.

Kronos stayed at Argel Manor to make skill scrolls and avoid contact with the Church of Steam and Machinery while he gauged the political fallout. He returned to Backlund to meet Isengard and asked Professor Portland about recent developments, learning that the Church’s pressure on Portland and Kask might be part of a calculated effort to appease the Royal Family.

• Kronos made several skill scrolls, kept to a healthy routine, and stayed at Argel Manor to avoid the Church of Steam and Machinery’s invitations.
• Kronos left for Backlund on the day of his arranged transaction with Isengard and went to the Higher Education Committee to see Professor Portland.
• Kronos told Portland he was wary of contacting the Church because the Royal Family might question his loyalties.
• Portland said the Church had offered him money to end the contract, then sent Ikanser to threaten him at home, but Portland ignored him.
• Portland told Kronos that Kask’s appointment had been suspended and Parliament had turned against him; Kronos suggested the Church might be sacrificing temporary allies to placate the Royal Family.

Kronos visited Isengard and hired him to investigate the boy Will Auceptin through ordinary inquiries, then revealed that he knew Isengard was the Eye of Wisdom. Isengard was left panicked and despairing as he wondered whether Kronos knew his other identity too.

• Kronos asked Portland about the Research Center and learned that construction was proceeding as planned.
• Kronos visited Isengard disguised as Klein and startled him by greeting the image-transmitting ornament in the reception room.
• Kronos hired Isengard to make harmless inquiries about Will Auceptin at 66 Doughty Street, and they signed a contract.
• After Isengard offered to take more commissions, Kronos said he wanted to trade for 2-081 and called him Mr. Eye of Wisdom.
• Isengard panicked over Kronos exposing his identity, considered whether he could eliminate Kronos, then grew despondent when he judged Kronos likely to be better equipped.

Kronos and Isengard began trading 2-081 for one of four Beyonder Items, and Isengard weighed the options after inspecting them. Kronos recommended the Wind-blessed Boots, leaving Isengard questioning why he was being offered such sincere advice.

• Kronos interrupted Isengard's fearful thoughts and asked whether he still wanted to trade for 2-081.
• Isengard agreed to exchange 2-081 for one of Kronos's four Beyonder Items, and they brought the items together.
• Kronos tested 2-081 with his spirituality and felt its effects alter how his brain comprehended the world as pain began to build.
• Isengard inspected the Bright Light War Blade, Wind-blessed Boots, Distortion Gauntlet, and Hat of Order, ruling out the blade and gauntlet as unsuitable.
• Kronos recommended the Wind-blessed Boots because they had more abilities and greater resale value, and Isengard asked why Kronos was helping him choose.

Kronos and Isengard agreed on the Wind-blessed Boots, exchanged a way to contact each other, and Kronos left to stay in Backlund. On the way, a Church of Steam and Machinery bishop named Nosk intercepted him and began questioning him.

• Kronos joked with Isengard, then advised him to choose the Wind-blessed Boots and promised to keep his identity secret.
• Isengard learned Kronos had recruited the Artisan, and Kronos gave him a Kain Club card as a way to send messages.
• Kronos left Isengard's home and decided to stay in Backlund rather than avoid the Church of Steam and Machinery.
• A blue starlight rope bound Kronos's coachman, and Kronos recognized the man who stopped the carriage as a likely Sequence 5 Astronomer.
• The man released the coachman, introduced himself as Nosk, a bishop of Saint Hilleran Cathedral, and asked who had told Kronos he was Archbishop Horamick's adopted son.

Kronos met Bishop Nosk, who asked him to help the Church of Steam and Machinery place someone in the House of Commons through the Negan family. When Kronos refused and called out Nosk for making the request on his own, Nosk grew angry, and Kronos prepared to fight him if necessary.

• Kronos told Nosk that Ikanser had revealed his relationship with Archbishop Horamick, and Nosk vowed to remember Ikanser.
• Nosk asked whether Kronos's family would return to its seat in the House of Lords, and Kronos said he would ask his father but expected him to remain in Midseashire.
• Nosk asked Kronos to help the Church place someone in the House of Commons through the Negan family, but Kronos said he lacked the influence and connections to do so.
• Kronos suggested that Horamick approach Duke Negan, then accused Nosk of making the request without authorization.
• Nosk became angry, and Kronos readied his Sealed Artifact and weapons, deciding he would kill Nosk if a fight broke out.

Kronos persuaded Bishop Nosk that the Argel Family could not help the Church and escorted him back to Saint Hilleran Cathedral. After returning the borrowed books and manuscripts, Kronos waited in the cathedral in case Archbishop Horamick wanted to question him.

• Kronos convinced Nosk that the Argel Family lacked the power to assist the Church, and Nosk agreed to ride with him to the cathedral.
• Kronos stopped at his villa and gathered the borrowed books and manuscripts, including the manuscript containing a replacement bookmark.
• Kronos and Nosk arrived at Saint Hilleran Cathedral, where Kronos arranged for the books and manuscripts to be returned to the storeroom.
• A clergyman recruited helpers to unload the books, and Kronos rewarded them with cash.
• Kronos sat in the cathedral's main hall and decided to wait half an hour in case Archbishop Horamick sent for him.

Kronos received Marquis Argel’s decision to move the family’s life from Backlund to Midseashire and was tasked with overseeing the family’s remaining assets. He left Butler to organize the transfer while claiming the vital role of approving the expenses.

• Kronos left Saint Hilleran Cathedral without being confronted, while Horamick watched him depart and remarked on his promise and his Argel Family ties.
• Kronos continued researching Skill Scrolls and developing a variation of Decree called Punishment.
• Butler returned alone from Midseashire with Marquis Argel’s letter explaining that he planned to move there after advancing to Sequence 5 and wanted the family’s Backlund assets transferred or settled.
• Butler outlined how he would sort the family’s properties, valuables, companies, and investments, including arranging a Steam Train to transport movable assets.
• Kronos told Butler to coordinate with his father’s secretaries and handle the planning, claiming that he would provide logistical support and approve the funding.

Kronos set the Argel Family’s relocation plan in motion while the butler organized its businesses and secretly prepared Kain Bank and the Kain Club to move from Backlund to Midseashire. The butler began arranging a gradual transfer that would keep Kain’s connection to the family hidden until the kingdom’s coming crises drew attention elsewhere.

• The butler realized Marquis Argel had left him in charge because Kronos was unlikely to handle the tedious work, and he suspected Kronos had exceptional Beyonder talent.
• The butler recruited Marquis Argel’s secretarial team and told them the family planned to move its base to Midseashire, where they began assessing the family’s open assets.
• The butler focused on Kain Bank and the Kain Club, whose headquarters had to relocate quietly without revealing that Kain was Marquis Argel’s disguised identity.
• The butler planned to transfer the bank’s funds and business and the club’s intelligence and connections before the coming crises consumed the attention of Backlund’s powerful factions.
• The man in charge of Kain Bank eagerly supported the move after explaining that he had endured years of constant surveillance in Backlund.

Kronos weighed returning to the sea after reaching Sequence 5, then moved back to his laboratory and completed a Punishment skill scroll that advanced his potion digestion. When three church representatives arrived to discuss staffing the Scientific Research Base, he tried to buy time while considering how to treat them fairly without damaging his ties to any church.

• Kronos decided that after returning to Midseashire and advancing to Sequence 5, another voyage at sea would offer the best chance to find the Mysticologist potion formula and other opportunities.
• Kronos moved back into his Materials Center laboratory, where helping teach students gave his potion digestion a slight boost.
• Kronos completed his second Sequence 5 Skill Scroll, Punishment, and began researching the Black Emperor Pathway.
• A student told Kronos that Ikanser, Soest, and Roy Willing had arrived to discuss stationing church personnel at the Scientific Research Base.
• Kronos considered how to preserve good relations with the Churches of Evernight and Storms while avoiding a conflict with the Church of Steam and Machinery.
• Kronos invited the three representatives to inspect the rooms he had prepared, buying himself time to devise a fair plan.

Kronos tried to settle the three churches’ dispute over the Research Center’s rooms by proposing a draw, but first planned to suppress the deacons’ Beyonder abilities with a Decree scroll. He presented the scroll to Ikanser, Roy, and Soest, leaving its effectiveness untested.

• Kronos decided to use lots to assign the rooms and prepared Decree scrolls to suppress the deacons’ powers.
• Ikanser, Roy, and Soest toured the Research Center and traded insults over which church deserved the best room.
• Kronos explained that Kask and Portland had left the room decision to the deacons, who then argued over competing ways to settle it.
• After the deacons failed to agree, Kronos proposed drawing lots and explained that their abilities would need to be suppressed first.
• Kronos took out a Decree scroll made by his father and said it should suppress the deacons’ Beyonder abilities.