Recaps

A Devil called the Apostle of Desire attacked Duke Pallas Negan and his secretary, manipulating fear to kill the duke before escaping. The secretary pursued the attacker but lost him, while the archbishop never arrived in time.

• The Apostle of Desire assaulted Duke Negan, while the blond secretary entered the attic and sealed the room to confront him.
• The secretary deflected the Apostle’s fireballs and partially turned his Words of Filth back on him.
• Duke Negan blew a conch to summon Archbishop Snake, and the Wind-blessed guarded him outside as they waited.
• Duke Negan’s mistress jumped from a window and died, heightening the fear among the duke’s guards.
• The Apostle of Desire magnified Duke Negan’s terror, causing the duke to die as the Wind-blessed cut down guards who fired wildly.
• The secretary rushed outside after sensing the duke’s death, but the Apostle of Desire escaped with his suitcase as a vast blood-red sea appeared before him.

Leonard used Sealed Artifact 1-42 to dismember the Apostle of Desire, Belial, but the Devil escaped as a shadow. Klein tracked the wounded Belial through Backlund’s sewers and pursued him, just as Leonard’s armor entered the sewer nearby.

• Leonard, wearing 1-42, dismembered Belial, who escaped by abandoning his body and becoming a shadow.
• Soest sent Leonard and a team to pursue Belial while he ordered Ikanser to investigate whether someone close to Duke Negan had helped the assassin.
• Klein divined Belial’s location and learned he was badly injured, fleeing through the sewers toward Hillston Borough and Queens Borough.
• Klein used a ritual, his remembered aura, and a dowsing rod to locate Belial’s route and began pursuing him through the sewers.
• Belial sensed Klein nearby as Leonard descended into the sewer in the bloodstained silver armor.

Klein killed the Apostle of Desire and learned that the assassination of Duke Negan had been commissioned by the Hermits of Fate, who sought to awaken the true Creator. Meanwhile, Lockhard Siakam concealed his apparent grief over the duke’s death and privately called it the choice of the times.

• Klein ambushed the Apostle of Desire in the sewers and destroyed him with holy light before a Red Glove arrived.
• Klein questioned the Apostle of Desire above the gray fog and learned that he had successfully assassinated Duke Negan for a promised Abyss Card of Blasphemy.
• The Apostle of Desire revealed that the ancient organization behind the mission was called the Hermits of Fate and aimed to resurrect or awaken the true Creator.
• Deacon Ikanser questioned Lockhard Siakam about the duke’s visit and the events surrounding the assassination.
• Lockhard approached Duke Negan’s body, apologized aloud, and privately declared that the death had been the choice of the times.

After Duke Negan’s assassination, Prime Minister Agusid and Earl Hall planned to blame the Aurora Order and later implicate the Feynapotter Empire. Klein learned that the Machinery Hivemind considered him safe, received news of a bounty and an offer to act as an informant, and finally digested his Magician potion.

• Agusid told Earl Hall that a Devil named Patrick Jason had assassinated Duke Negan and that the Black Emperor had killed Jason while he fled.
• Agusid and Earl Hall agreed to publicly blame the Aurora Order, then use the investigation to accuse the Feynapotter Empire once the kingdom was prepared for war.
• After spirit-channeling, Klein wondered whether the Hermits of Fate were the organization Emperor Roselle had joined and whether they sought to awaken the original Creator.
• Carlson told Klein that Jason had been killed, offered him a secret bounty of about 1,000 pounds, and asked him to pass information to the Machinery Hivemind.
• Klein read Isengard Stanton’s praise of his deductions and felt his Magician potion finish digesting in the final month of 1349.

After killing the Apostle of Desire, Klein considered the ingredients and money he needed to become a Faceless. Meanwhile, the churches investigated Duke Negan’s assassination, and Audrey learned that Klein had pursued the organization behind the attack: the Hermits of Fate.

• Klein reviewed his decision to kill the Apostle of Desire and weighed the cost and availability of the ingredients needed for his next advancement.
• Ikanser asked Arrodes who had ordered the assassination, receiving a sunset scene, while Carlson learned that the Apostle of Desire had two collaborators and endured Arrodes’s personal question.
• Soest assigned the Nighthawks to investigate other tarot-card cases, while Ace Snake ordered the Mandated Punishers to use Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts to find Duke Negan’s killers.
• Audrey heard from Susie that Duke Negan had been killed by an Apostle of Desire whom the Black Emperor had silenced, then asked the Fool whether his Blessed had been there.
• The Fool confirmed that his Blessed had been searching for the organization behind the Apostle of Desire and identified it as the Hermits of Fate.

Audrey and Alger learned more about the aftermath of Duke Negan’s assassination, while Klein received the Machinery Hivemind’s bounty and met Emlyn to arrange their transaction. The chapter left Klein ready to obtain the two ingredients he had paid for.

• Audrey concluded that the Hermits of Fate were a secretive organization opposing the Aurora Order and resolved to advance her Sequence to protect her family.
• Alger learned that a Sequence 5 Devil had assassinated Duke Negan and that the Church of Storms was investigating the Black Emperor and tarot-related incidents.
• Klein collected 1,000 pounds from the Machinery Hivemind and decided he could now complete his transaction with Emlyn White.
• Klein greeted Starling Summer as she prepared to travel with her family for the new year.
• Emlyn showed Klein information about Jason Beria, but Klein explained that the newspapers had already identified Jason as Duke Negan’s assassin and reported the Aurora Order’s claim of responsibility.
• Klein told Emlyn that he had raised enough money for the two ingredients and asked when Emlyn could provide them.

Klein arranged for Emlyn to buy two Beyonder ingredients through a safer church-based exchange, then learned why Emlyn feared praying to the Moon Primordial. As Klein planned to pursue new leads, Dorian asked Fors whether she wanted to become a Beyonder.

• Klein gave Emlyn a 1,000-pound advance and asked him to bring the ingredients to the Harvest Church for verification and payment.
• Emlyn asked Klein about The Fool and the Moon Primordial, explaining that prayers to the latter could turn Sanguine into monsters.
• Klein warned Emlyn against blindly praying to unknown secret existences and left the Harvest Church to plan his search for ingredients and contacts.
• Fors visited the graves of Lawrence, Anlisa, and others with Dorian while worrying about finding a Spirit Eater's stomach pouch.
• Dorian called Lawrence's epitaph ironic, then asked Fors whether she wanted to become a Beyonder.

Fors accepted Dorian Gray as her teacher, and he summoned his contracted creature Marmot to retrieve the Apprentice potion ingredients before giving her the potion. Meanwhile, Klein met Freja and Daisy in East Borough, then encountered a man asking whether he had heard of the Primordial Creator.

• Fors agreed to become Dorian Gray’s student, and he demonstrated his ability to pass through a tree.
• Dorian summoned Marmot, who produced the Apprentice potion ingredients it had been storing.
• Fors drank the Apprentice potion despite privately wishing she had already become a Beyonder.
• Klein met Freja and Daisy, learned Daisy was using her lunch break to help deliver laundry, and encouraged her to teach Freja what she learned at school.
• After changing into workers’ clothes, Klein was approached by a middle-aged man who asked if he had heard of the Primordial Creator.

Klein investigated reports of the original Creator’s believers, learned that Kaspars Kanlinen had died, and met Ian, who had taken over as an information broker and arms dealer. Sharron unexpectedly reappeared, confirmed the High-Sequence Beyonder had left, and told Klein she knew where to find a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic.

• Klein heard a preacher in East Borough promote the original Creator’s faith, refused to listen, and decided the situation should be reported to the Machinery Hivemind.
• Klein visited the Bravehearts Bar to buy ammunition and learned that Kaspars Kanlinen had died under suspicious circumstances.
• Klein met Ian, who said he had no information about believers of The Fool and revealed that Military Intelligence Section 9 had posted a bounty for Azik Eggers.
• Sharron appeared in Klein’s carriage, confirmed the High-Sequence Beyonder had left, and warned that the Moon Primordial and the Chained God were suspected mortal enemies.
• Klein asked Sharron where he could find a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic, and she said she knew.

Klein asked Sharron about leads on Human-skinned Shadows and learned of a dangerous tomb belonging to the Amon family and a bounty to uncover the chivalrous thief Black Emperor’s identity. He recognized the bounty-giver as the female demigod he had encountered before, but told Sharron he would only keep an eye out for her.

• Sharron told Klein that Maric’s friend had died inside an unexplored Amon family tomb near Whitecliff Town, and warned that exploring it required a Sequence 4 Beyonder or an equivalent Sealed Artifact.
• Sharron described a High-Sequence woman’s offer to fulfill a reasonable request in exchange for investigating the chivalrous thief Black Emperor’s true identity.
• Klein recognized the woman from her chestnut hair and black leather boots as the demigod he had encountered at the Kingdom Museum and suspected she was pursuing the Black Emperor card.
• Klein told Sharron he would keep an eye out for the woman, then asked about her and Maric’s curse and Steve’s corrupted Beyonder Characteristic.
• Sharron said Whitecliff Town lay south of Bridge South Borough and gave Klein permission to tell others about the tomb before vanishing from the carriage.

Klein bought the Thousand-faced Hunter’s mutated pituitary gland and blood from Emlyn, while Fors and Xio approached a damaged Aurora Order gathering site. The next day, Klein gave Carlson a lead about a Fourth Epoch noble’s mausoleum.

• Klein confirmed Emlyn’s two Beyonder ingredients, paid him 1,450 pounds, and took the suitcase before vanishing from Harvest Church.
• Fors explained to Xio how Beyonder ingredients and potions differed as they traveled to Mr. A’s gathering, then noticed the gathering house had been badly damaged and diverted their carriage.
• Klein read that the Aurora Order had suffered a major blow and stored the Thousand-faced Hunter ingredients above the gray fog.
• Klein visited Carlson at the Bravehearts Bar, reported that people in the East Borough were spreading faith in the Primordial Creator, and offered a lead about a Fourth Epoch noble’s mausoleum.

Klein negotiated with the Machinery Hivemind for a share of the finds from the Amon Family mausoleum in exchange for revealing its location. After leaving the bar, he considered the danger posed by the Hermits of Fate, then witnessed Talym Dumont suddenly collapse and die.

• Klein asked Carlson for one item from the mausoleum's discoveries as compensation for his intelligence, and Carlson sought approval from Ikanser Bernard.
• Ikanser accepted Klein's request on the condition that cursed items and those with powerful side effects were excluded, and Klein told him where the mausoleum was and warned that it required High-Sequence strength to explore.
• Klein suspected that writing or speaking the name Hermits of Fate could alert the organization, and he decided to warn Miss Justice at the next Tarot Club meeting.
• At the Cragg Club, Klein greeted Talym Dumont, who spoke excitedly about liking someone and thanked Klein for introducing him to Mr. Franky Cagg.
• Talym suddenly collapsed, convulsed, and died before Klein could help him.

Klein investigated the sudden death of his friend Talym Dumont, whose death appeared to involve a curse, and sought help from official Beyonders. He learned that the royal family had taken over the case, leaving the identity of Talym’s killer unknown.

• Talym Dumont suddenly died at the Cragg Club, and Klein saw fading black energy on his chest with Spirit Vision.
• Klein reported Talym’s suspected curse to Carlson, who explained that the Mandated Punishers had jurisdiction because Talym was a believer in the Lord of Storms.
• Klein read an obituary attributing Talym’s death to a sudden heart condition and visited Isengard Stanton to ask whether it might conceal a trap.
• Isengard sent Klein word that the Mandated Punishers were not handling the case because the royal family had taken it over due to Talym’s noble descent.

Sherlock Moriarty was summoned to Red Rose Manor by Prince Edessak Augustus, who wanted him to investigate Talym’s death. Their conversation was interrupted by news about a woman Edessak had forbidden to leave, though he allowed her to walk around the manor.

• Klein burned Isengard Stanton’s letter and prepared for the day.
• A butler invited Klein to meet his master, explaining that the man was Talym’s friend and wanted to discuss his death.
• Klein learned that the butler’s master was Prince Edessak Augustus and traveled to Red Rose Manor, where guards confiscated his revolver.
• Edessak asked Klein to uncover the truth about Talym’s death, citing reports that Klein had found traces of a curse.
• A maid reported something to Edessak, who ordered that a woman could not go out but could walk freely around the manor.

Prince Edessak hired Klein to investigate Talym Dumont’s death, and Klein accepted despite fearing the danger. At the Tarot Gathering, Audrey gave Mr. Fool three pages of Roselle’s diary, the first of which mentioned Mr. Door.

• Klein suspected that Prince Edessak was the nobleman in Talym’s story and listened as Edessak explained his feelings about romance and his reasons for hiring a private detective.
• Edessak agreed to provide Talym’s hair or bodily remains and belongings, arrange a secret way to contact him, and pay Klein for his work.
• Klein returned to Minsk Street, worried that investigating could put Sherlock Moriarty in danger, and decided he could not wait for the Machinery Hivemind to obtain a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic.
• Klein prepared for the Tarot Gathering, where Audrey observed the members and offered Mr. Fool three new pages of Roselle’s diary as payment for an earlier answer.
• Klein read the first diary page, which recorded that Roselle had established stable contact with Mr. Door.

Klein read Roselle’s diary pages, which revealed Mr. Door’s claims about the vacant Moon pathway and the powerful angel families of the Fourth Epoch. The entries also described Bernadette, Florent’s strange change, and the Primordial Demoness’s name, Cheek.

• Audrey and Fors promised to repay Mr. Fool with diary pages for his help, and Derrick offered to study historical records for him.
• Klein read Roselle’s account of Mr. Door claiming that the Moon pathway’s Sequence 0 had no owner and that the Evernight Goddess corresponded to The Star.
• Roselle recorded Mr. Door’s list of Fourth Epoch angel families and wondered what had become of the Trunsoest imperial family.
• Klein connected the diary’s history to his questions about the Fourth Epoch and the underground ruin with two seats of honor.
• Roselle wrote that Bernadette cared for him, Florent had become a mental patchwork, and an ancient tome named the Primordial Demoness Cheek.

Klein considered Roselle's speculation that the Primordial Demoness might once have been male, then the Tarot Club exchanged leads on Beyonder ingredients and discussed Duke Negan's assassination. The meeting ended with Fors asking how to deal with accumulating too many Beyonder characteristics of the same level.

• Klein read Roselle's Diary and considered how the Primordial Demoness's possible male origin related to the Assassin pathway and Beyonder characteristics.
• The Hanged Man Alger reported selling The World's Werewolf characteristic for 1,200 pounds and finding Deep-sea Naga hair, while The World agreed to the transactions.
• Justice Audrey sought Mirror Dragon eyes, Mirror Dragon blood, and an Elder Tree's fruit, and Fors and The Sun offered to search for ingredients and formulas through their connections.
• The Hanged Man Alger asked about Duke Negan's assassination, and Justice Audrey explained that the Apostle of Desire had killed the duke before dying in the sewers while Black Emperor pursued the organization behind the attack.
• Mr. Fool warned Justice Audrey not to speak or write the name Hermits of Fate because whatever was spoken would be known, and the others considered the implications.
• Fors asked the Tarot Club how to resolve the problem of accumulating too many Beyonder characteristics of the same level.

At the Tarot Club, Alger explained how Beyonder characteristics could pass to descendants, while Derrick received advice for his next expedition into the Fallen Creator’s temple. After the gathering, Audrey and Fors pursued leads on Beyonder ingredients and formulas, Alger searched a trading market, and Klein worried about raising enough money to buy a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic.

• Alger told Fors and Audrey that Beyonder characteristics could pass to children and that having children could reduce the potion residue left in a Beyonder’s body.
• Derrick revealed he would join another exploration of the Fallen Creator’s half-destroyed temple, and Alger and Klein warned him to follow the Chief’s instructions and avoid the temple’s flesh and ravings.
• Audrey reviewed Backlund’s political disputes and later planned to ask Miss Islante about a buyer seeking a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic while continuing to pursue the Psychiatrist ingredients and Wind-blessed formula.
• Fors wrote to Dorian Gray about the Human-skinned Shadow characteristic, the Wind-blessed formula, and Roselle’s notes.
• Alger went to a secret underground market in the City of Generosity to look for Deep-sea Naga hair and a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic, while Klein considered another way to sell the Interrogator characteristic because he needed money.

Klein secretly divined the true cause of Talym Dumont’s death and discovered that Talym had been killed by a curse whose caster might be protected from the gray fog’s influence. At Talym’s funeral, Klein spotted a woman wearing a sapphire ring like the one in his vision.

• A postman delivered Talym’s belongings and records to Klein, who publicly acted puzzled and then staged failed attempts to investigate the death.
• Klein secretly took the bloodstained handkerchief above the gray fog and divined a vision of a hand with a sapphire ring casting a curse on a wooden puppet.
• Klein repeated the divination and saw only gray fog, leading him to suspect that the killer or something nearby could resist the gray fog’s power.
• Klein decided to delay Prince Edessak’s investigation and claim he could not uncover the truth.
• At Talym’s funeral, Klein saw a veiled woman whose left-hand sapphire ring matched the ring in his vision, and he felt alarmed.

After discovering that Talym’s death was tied to a powerful and mysterious woman, Klein recognized how deeply he had become entangled with demigods and dangerous artifacts. He accepted Prince Edessak’s investigation money, learned Audrey was beginning formal Beyonder training, and confessed his fear and intention to withdraw from the case at the Steam Church.

• Klein saw a woman in black lay flowers at Talym’s grave and suspected she had killed him with the power of a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact or an equivalent being.
• Klein realized that his recent life had brought him into contact with numerous demigods, powerful beings, and dangerous Sealed Artifacts.
• Prince Edessak asked Klein about his investigation, gave him a hundred pounds for expenses, and expressed regret that he could not attend Talym’s funeral openly.
• Audrey asked her teacher Islante about a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic and a Wind-blessed potion formula, and Islante began offering her formal Beyonder instruction.
• Klein found signs that a stranger had entered his home, then went to the Steam Church and confessed his suspicions and desire to avoid further involvement in Talym’s case.
• The bishop reassured Klein that God would not blame him for retreating, and Klein left determined to advance as quickly as possible.

Derrick joined Colin Iliad’s team as they ventured beyond the City of Silver into the darkness, while Klein investigated a lead about Azik Eggers and learned that unemployed East Borough workers had been disappearing from the area. That night, Klein dreamed of the Machinery Hivemind exploring the Amon family tomb and received a report from Arrodes.

• Derrick followed Colin Iliad and the exploration team into the black-grass fields, where they relied on candlelight to survive the darkness.
• Klein paid Old Kohler for information, learned that a suspected sighting of Azik Eggers had led bounty hunters to a room marked by a fight, and heard that unemployed workers had left the East Borough.
• Klein and Old Kohler inspected the hotel room on Goldcloak Street, where Klein spotted a diseased rat but found no valuable clues about Azik.
• Klein entered a lucid dream showing Ikanser Bernard and the Machinery Hivemind exploring an underground entrance near Seford River Bend.
• Arrodes appeared in the dream and told Klein that it was reporting on the exploration as his loyal servant.

Klein used Arrodes to observe the Machinery Hivemind’s expedition into the Amon Family’s mausoleum, learning how its members cleared dangers with powerful Beyonder weapons and charms. The team defeated a Human-skinned Shadow and collected its Beyonder Characteristic before continuing toward the main burial chamber, still puzzled by the absence of murals.

• Arrodes showed Klein the Machinery Hivemind’s expedition, led by Archbishop Horamick Haydn and Deacon Ikanser Bernard, as they descended into the mausoleum.
• The Machinery Hivemind cleared the dark passages with cannon-like Beyonder weapons, golden bullets, and purifying scrolls, then collected scattered Beyonder Characteristics.
• Horamick Haydn noticed that the mausoleum had no murals, so Ikanser sent members to search for traces.
• A Human-skinned Shadow disguised itself as Ikanser and attacked a Machinery Hivemind member, but the team drove it off with charms, weapons, and bullets.
• The Human-skinned Shadow’s Beyonder Characteristic formed into a many-faceted diamond, which Klein recognized as the last one he needed.
• The Machinery Hivemind found no murals and proceeded toward the main burial chamber.

The Machinery Hivemind entered the main burial chamber, where Horamick Haydn used a refined puppet to investigate signs of the Amon Family’s power over time. The coffin was empty, and the portrait Horamick uncovered showed Amon.

• Horamick explained the Ghost Picture Frame’s danger, then safely covered and removed it using a black cloth.
• Horamick opened the Amon Family’s stone door and found recent explorers’ bodies aged into corpses inside the burial chamber.
• Horamick ordered Ikanser and the others to stay back, then approached a facedown picture frame as his body shed gears, screws, wax, and bones.
• Klein realized Horamick was a refined puppet with no spirit body, explaining why the Ghost Picture Frame had not affected him.
• Horamick turned over the picture frame, opened the black coffin, and found it empty.
• Horamick showed the recovered portrait to the others, and Klein recognized the young man wearing a monocle as Amon.

Klein explored Amon's mausoleum with Horamick and discovered murals suggesting Amon and Adam were descendants of the ancient Creator, along with a passage connected to the Abyss. The exploration ended after Horamick destroyed the hidden door, and Klein looked forward to choosing an item from the Machinery Hivemind's haul.

• Horamick told Ikanser and the others to search the corpses while he and Klein examined the mausoleum.
• Klein and Horamick found a mural depicting Amon and Adam as infants before a godlike figure, and Horamick destroyed the damaged mural.
• They discovered a concealed stone door that showed a scene of the Abyss, which Horamick identified by name.
• Horamick revealed a mystical cannon embedded in his left arm and used it to destroy the stone door.
• Arrodes ended its report to Klein, who wondered about the mirror's intentions and anticipated choosing an item from the Machinery Hivemind's recovered goods.

Audrey negotiated with Islante over the Psychology Alchemists’ Human-skinned Shadow characteristic and Wind-blessed formula, while Alger offered a mystical mask for the formula. Klein chose to avoid the Machinery Hivemind’s characteristic and accepted 2,000 pounds instead, leaving him to pursue the Psychology Alchemists’ deal with a safer source of funds.

• Audrey met Islante in her studio, where Islante offered the Human-skinned Shadow characteristic for 2,500 pounds and the Wind-blessed formula for 3,000 pounds, or a mystical item of equivalent value.
• Klein relayed Islante’s offer to Alger, who offered a gold mask with powerful abilities and a humanity-eroding drawback in exchange for the Wind-blessed formula.
• Klein considered his mystical items and decided to accept the Psychology Alchemists’ price for the Human-skinned Shadow characteristic, giving himself two days to raise the money.
• Klein met Ikanser at the Backlund Machinery Research Society, declined the items on display, and accepted 2,000 pounds instead.