Chapter Summaries

Bilt Brando heard that Gehrman Sparrow had wounded Vice Admiral Ailment, while Klein sent Mr. Azik a letter asking about a parasitized host and a Worm of Time. After taking a day to enjoy Oravi’s sunset, Klein began volunteering at a medical charity and was recognized from a newspaper portrait.

• Sothoth told Bilt Brando that Gehrman Sparrow had severely wounded Vice Admiral Ailment aboard the Black Death and then hunted down Mithor the Sweet-Talker.
• Bilt told Sothoth he had met someone claiming to be Gehrman Sparrow, and they discussed checking newspapers to identify him.
• Klein wrote to Mr. Azik about a parasitized person and asked how to warn the host, as well as how a Worm of Time could be used.
• Klein saved Will Auceptin’s fragile paper crane for an important message, then spent the day watching the sunset from Mount St. Draco.
• Klein went to the Oravi Medical Aid Foundation to volunteer at hospitals, but the staff member recognized him from a newspaper portrait of Gehrman Sparrow.

Klein registered as a volunteer at the Oravi Medical Aid Foundation, endured basic training that involved scrubbing a filthy toilet, and decided to keep trying despite his doubts. At the Sweet Lemon Bar, he asked Bilt Brando to arrange an Artisan to make a Merfolk swim bladder into an underwater ring and to investigate putting a Spirit World summoning ritual on an item.

• Klein registered to volunteer with Juana at the Oravi Medical Aid Foundation and began training with Graya.
• Klein scrubbed a filthy toilet during his first training session, then left the foundation and resolved to continue volunteering while pursuing his goal of becoming a Marionettist.
• Klein met Bilt Brando and Sothoth Yang at the Sweet Lemon Bar and asked them to find an Artisan.
• Klein gave Bilt a Merfolk swim bladder to be made into a ring that would help him operate underwater, and asked the Artisan to see whether a Spirit World summoning ritual could be fixed onto an item for at least a year.
• Sothoth invited Klein to join a pirate hunt in the east, but Klein declined and left without asking about Bilt and Sothoth's unusual behavior.

Klein considered Bilt Brando and Sothoth Yang’s offer to impersonate an important figure, then accepted after learning the target was a Demigod. The chapter left him preparing to stand in for Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt, while a powerful Feysac spy surrendered to authorities in Backlund.

• Sothoth Yang jumped down to intercept Klein and brought him back to Bilt Brando to hear about a mission.
• Bilt explained that the man chosen to impersonate an important figure had died, and offered Klein one thousand pounds and three Artisan commissions for acting as the replacement.
• Klein said he would decide that night so he could divine the mission’s danger above the gray fog.
• A powerful Feysac spy and the Sauron Family’s people surrendered when Nighthawks and church forces surrounded them in Backlund.
• Klein returned to the Sweet Lemon bar, demanded five hundred pounds in advance, and learned he would impersonate Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt, a Demigod.

Klein agreed to impersonate Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt and studied his appearance and mannerisms at a banquet in Oravi. Meanwhile, Leonard learned the truth about the underground ruins in Backlund, and Amyrius identified Klein as a Beyonder.

• Bilt explained that Amyrius would be easier to impersonate while he stayed in Oravi, and Klein accepted the assignment and studied the prepared information.
• Leonard learned from the Old Man that the ruins beneath Williams Street belonged to the Tudor-Trunsoest United Empire, and Archbishop Saint Anthony ordered the Red Gloves to destroy them without entering.
• Klein followed Bilt into the governor's banquet and memorized Amyrius's appearance, uniform, and behavior while observing him from a distance.
• Bilt led Klein to a storeroom, where Klein transformed to resemble Amyrius, but Amyrius immediately recognized that he was a Beyonder.

Klein agreed to impersonate Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt under a magical contract and received a powerful charm to help maintain the disguise. After exchanging clothes with Amyrius, he prepared to take the admiral’s place for five days.

• Amyrius confronted Bilt about hiring Klein and warned him that the tramp’s death and Klein’s appearance were suspiciously coincidental.
• Amyrius forgave Bilt for his first mistake, and Bilt reaffirmed his loyalty.
• Amyrius had Klein sign a five-day contract restricting his conduct while impersonating the admiral, including his behavior around Miss Cynthia.
• Amyrius gave Klein the charm called the Ninth Law, which could create an imposing presence and impose restrictions on a target.
• Klein and Amyrius exchanged clothes, and Klein looked at his reflection and declared that he was now the admiral.

Klein impersonated Admiral Amyrius through a banquet and the journey home, avoiding suspicion from Auston and secretary Luan while assessing the admiral’s habits. At the residence, he was left alone in the locked bathroom as Cynthia prepared to join him.

• Klein disguised himself as Amyrius and told Auston he would give him an answer when he left Oravi.
• Klein attended the governor-general’s banquet, spoke with guests, and ate while keeping up Amyrius’s appearance.
• Luan presented Klein with suspicious naval-base accounts, and Klein told him to put them on his desk.
• Klein returned to Amyrius’s residence, where Cynthia welcomed him and led him upstairs to bathe.
• Cynthia changed into a nightgown and tried to enter the bathroom, but found that Klein had locked the door from inside.

Klein continued impersonating Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt, avoided Cynthia’s advances, and worked through the night. While sleeping at his desk, he was trapped in a dream by a mysterious figure who warned him to stay out of Aston and the others’ affairs, leaving Klein suspecting the Hermits of Fate were involved.

• Klein avoided intimacy with Cynthia by telling her he had work, then changed into pajamas and went to the study.
• Cynthia prayed to the Mother Tree of Desire with a strange black necklace, asking to become more alluring and bear Amyrius a child.
• Klein signed simple documents as Amyrius and left vague comments on complicated ones before falling asleep at his desk using false eyes.
• A mysterious figure invaded Klein’s dream and warned him not to get involved in Aston and the others’ affairs.
• Klein challenged the figure’s identity, and its talk of an era’s fate led him to suspect the Hermits of Fate.

Klein reasoned about the Hermits of Fate’s warning to Amyrius, then impersonated the admiral through a full day of inspections, reports, and a dinner banquet. As he returned home dreading his encounter with Cynthia, she secretly prepared and drank a potion after invoking the Tree of Desire.

• Klein suspected the Hermits of Fate had warned Amyrius because a member had commissioned the intervention, but he decided to stay out of the matter.
• Klein realized the dream visitor had used a method other than Nightmare powers to reach him, and felt his work for Amyrius had earned him the Ninth Law charm.
• In the City of Silver, Colin asked Derrick whether he had later Sun potion formulas, and arranged for him to join an exploration in about two months.
• Klein, disguised as Amyrius, inspected Oravi Naval Base, listened to officers’ reports, and attended a supplier’s dinner banquet without breaking character.
• Cynthia scraped powder from a black-rhinoceros-horn pendant, mixed it into hot water, invoked the Tree of Desire, and drank the mixture while awaiting Amyrius’s return.

Klein, disguised as Admiral Amyrius, avoided Cynthia by claiming his body needed time to recover, then learned that Auston Rieveldt had been removed as governor. He chose not to meet his brother and sent him back to Backlund, leaving Klein to carry Amyrius’s restrained grief over the family crisis.

• Klein claimed to Cynthia that his body had developed abnormalities and asked to spend the night alone, then she fell asleep after dreaming of a star-filled sky.
• Klein returned to Oravi Naval Base and learned from Luan that Auston Rieveldt had been removed as governor and that a replacement would arrive that day.
• Klein considered how Amyrius would respond when Luan reported that Auston wanted to see him.
• Klein refused to meet Auston and told Luan to buy him a ticket back to Backlund.
• Luan told Klein that Auston had called him cold-hearted before leaving.
• Klein returned to the villa, embraced Cynthia, and told her that Auston had been removed as governor.

Klein, acting as Admiral Amyrius, reflected on his identity before waking to an outside influence that drove the villa’s occupants into grotesque compulsions. He found Cynthia transformed into a towering monster, and she asked him to have a child with her.

• Klein used his experiences as Amyrius to clarify his own identity, then fell asleep peacefully.
• Klein awoke from a sexually charged dream, recognized that an outside force had affected him, and armed himself with the Ninth Law charm and Creeping Hunger.
• Klein found a waiter frantically eating raw fish and two maids acting out compulsions as he made his way toward the master bedroom.
• Klein entered the bedroom and saw Luan and the other occupants caught up in uncontrolled lust around a towering, flower-covered body.
• The monster revealed itself as Cynthia and shyly told Klein that she wanted to have a child with him.

Klein used the Ninth Law charm to block the outside power that had transformed Cynthia, but its backlash burst his eyes. After escaping her grasp by changing into Gehrman Sparrow, he healed himself and attacked the weakened monster with Creeping Hunger.

• Klein used Creeping Hunger’s Distortion on Cynthia’s request, but her mutated form resisted it and sent branches and flowers after him and the others.
• Klein activated the Ninth Law charm and prohibited interaction with the outside world, isolating the power that had transformed Cynthia.
• The backlash burst Klein’s eyes, while Cynthia collapsed into a mass of flesh and tumors and the surrounding guards and attendants fell unconscious.
• Cynthia’s branches seized Klein, but he changed his appearance to Gehrman Sparrow, causing her to loosen her grip and let him go.
• Klein transferred his eye injuries to his left shoulder, activated Creeping Hunger, and summoned a pillar of sacred light onto Cynthia.

Klein purified Cynthia after she revealed that the Mother Tree of Desire and the Celestial Sect had caused her transformation, then ordered an investigation into the sect. After his subordinates arrested its Sequence 8 leader, Klein began to suspect the sect was connected to the Rose School of Thought.

• Cynthia identified the Mother Tree of Desire and the Celestial Sect as the cause of her condition, and Klein purified her to stop the corruption.
• Klein found a cracked, black pendant resembling a miniature rhinoceros horn among Cynthia's clothes and ordered Luan to investigate the Celestial Sect and tend to the unconscious household staff.
• While waiting in the study, Klein considered whether the starry sky he had seen represented the Astral World and wondered what the bright star signified.
• Luan reported that Cynthia's parents had led investigators to the active Celestial Sect, whose members preached nudity, nature, and indulgence, and whose leader was a Sequence 8 Lunatic.
• Klein suspected the sect might be connected to the Rose School of Thought and ordered Luan to bring its leader to him.

Klein interrogated Follett Ken and learned that the Celestial Sect had planned to corrupt Admiral Amyrius through Cynthia and the Necklace of Procreation. Follett revealed that the Mother Tree of Desire had directed the scheme, and Klein connected its first revelation to the day he arrived on Oravi Island.

• Klein used the pressure of Spirit Piercing to make Follett explain that Cynthia had wanted a child with Beyonder powers and that the Necklace of Procreation could help her conceive with Admiral Amyrius.
• Follett revealed that the necklace’s powder and Cynthia’s prayers could corrupt the man who conceived a child with her, making him a believer and blessed one of the Mother Tree of Desire.
• Klein deduced that the Celestial Sect had sought to covertly corrupt Amyrius, while Luan admitted the guard had failed to monitor Cynthia’s relatives and friends.
• Follett said the Mother Tree of Desire had instructed the sect in a dream on February 4, and identified the sect as a branch of the Rose School of Thought under the saint Zatwin.
• After Luan left the study, Follett admitted that the sect had used the necklace and a tramp’s hair in a ritual on February 6 to amplify the tramp’s appetite.
• Klein realized the ritual had targeted Amyrius’s tramp double and that February 4 was the day Klein had arrived on Oravi Island.

Klein uncovered the Celestial Sect’s crimes, killed Follett Ken, and ordered a purge on Oravi Island while impersonating Admiral Amyrius. Three days later, the real Amyrius returned and learned how much had changed in his absence.

• Klein questioned Follett Ken, confirmed the sect had made no special arrangements to interfere with divination, and heard him confess to numerous crimes.
• Klein killed Follett Ken, took his Lunatic Beyonder Characteristic, and ordered Luan to help the police purge the Celestial Sect and pursue the Rose School of Thought.
• Klein declined Governor Ben Connard’s banquet invitation and spent the next two days recovering from his injuries.
• The real Admiral Amyrius returned to Klein’s room and verified his identity by naming the Ninth Law charm.
• Klein told Amyrius that his secretary had been injured, his younger brother had lost the governorship, Cynthia had mutated and been purified, and several staff members had been infected.

Klein finished impersonating Admiral Amyrius, received his remaining payment and a merfolk cufflink, and learned that the Celestial Sect’s attack had caused Cynthia’s death and Secretary Luan’s injury. In Stoen, Audrey learned that the potion formula she sought was for a Hypnotist.

• Klein told Amyrius about the dream warning, Cynthia’s mutation, and the investigation, and Amyrius said Klein had made the right choice while refusing to explain why he had changed his plans.
• Klein gave Amyrius the cracked Necklace of Procreation, changed back into his own clothes, and left the garden villa; Amyrius watched the night sky as the pendant crumbled in his hand.
• Klein collected five hundred pounds and the Merfolk Cufflink from Bilt, then provided the ritual details for making a messenger-calling harmonica.
• Bilt learned that Auston Rieveldt had been removed as governor and that Cynthia had died in a Celestial Sect assassination attempt on Amyrius, while Secretary Luan had been injured.
• In Stoen, Audrey heard from Smin that the potion formula she could earn through contributions was called Hypnotist.

Klein learned how Marauders could parasitize hosts and postponed investigating Leonard until he could find a safe helper. He left the area under a new identity, while Audrey was assigned a final task to earn the Hypnotist formula.

• Azik replied to Klein, explaining the two forms of Parasite control and how a host might be freed through an unwitting prayer and ritual.
• Klein decided not to investigate Leonard yet because he lacked a trustworthy helper and feared alerting the Parasite.
• Bilt learned that Admiral Amyrius had sailed for Bayam and ordered his subordinates to stop searching for Gehrman Sparrow after hearing he had disappeared.
• Klein changed his identity and lodging, then registered as a volunteer at the Oravi Medical Aid Foundation under the name Sinbad Volent.
• Audrey hunted with Susie in East Chester County, and Smin told her to buy a Twenty Years' War notebook from Associate Professor Michelle as her final task for the Hypnotist formula.

Audrey planned how to approach Associate Professor Michelle about a wartime notebook, while Alger and Fors continued advancing their own plans. Klein arrived in Nass, the City of White, and was introduced to the archipelago’s pirate-filled port before canned wolf-fish drove him to dry-heave.

• Audrey learned that the notebook belonged to Associate Professor Michelle’s collection and devised a discreet way to request a viewing through Jane and her brother.
• Alger reflected on his progress digesting the Wind-blessed potion and his difficulty obtaining the Ocean Songster formula.
• Fors finished her circus work after digesting the Trickmaster potion, and the circus owner asked her to advertise the circus in her next book.
• Klein traveled from Oravi Island to Nass to meet Cattleya and seek wild mermaids in the eastern Sonia Sea.
• Klein walked through a fight between pirates and a local gang, then fled the stench of cans of wolf-fish and dry-heaved in a secluded corner.

Klein arrived in Nass, sampled its whale-based cuisine, and contacted Admiral of Stars Cattleya through a coded meeting. The chapter ended with Klein asking when they would set off for the dangerous waters of the Sonia Sea.

• Klein recovered from opening a can of wolf-fish and walked through Nass, where he saw a protest against excessive whaling turn into a clash with police.
• Klein settled into an inn under the name Gehrman Sparrow and reasoned that few Faceless would remain in the Gargas Archipelago.
• Klein sampled several white-whale dishes before returning to the inn for the night.
• Klein went to the Fanatical Whale Dance general store, gave the shopkeeper the coded message, and was led to a hidden room.
• Klein met Admiral of Stars Cattleya through a crystal ball, confirmed his identity as Gehrman Sparrow, and asked when they would set off.

Klein visited the Rorsted Bar to gather information and heard of a mysterious deep-sea ruin before encountering the notorious pirate Gillschies. He returned to his hotel without pursuing the pirate, while Derrick met Colin Iliad in the City of Silver about the upcoming exploration mission.

• Klein arranged a meeting with Cattleya for eight that night, then went to the Rorsted Bar to collect news and check whether Roy King had been rescued.
• Klein overheard an adventurer describe Garis finding an enormous, mysterious well on the seabed east of Gargas.
• A nervous young man entered the bar seeking members of the Adventurers' Mutual Aid Society, and several adventurers stood to respond.
• Klein recognized the man who appeared at the entrance as Gillschies, Agarito's second mate, but Gillschies withdrew and left after glancing at Klein and a towering adventurer.
• Klein left the bar and returned to his hotel, while Derrick Berg met Colin Iliad in the City of Silver.

Derrick prepared to join Colin’s expedition to cleanse Afternoon Town while Klein waited to leave Nass aboard the Future. After receiving a warning from Slaughterer Gillschies, Klein boarded Admiral of Stars Cattleya’s ship and departed for the eastern Sonia Sea.

• Colin told Derrick that he would lead an exploration team to cleanse Afternoon Town again, and Derrick agreed to join.
• A shadow warned Klein not to interfere in the events at noon, claiming to speak for the King of Immortality.
• Klein decided not to report the warning to the Church of the God of Combat and prepared his equipment for the sea voyage.
• Klein traveled to Pier 6, where Admiral of Stars Cattleya arrived aboard the Future amid the harbor’s alarm and coastal cannons.
• Cattleya created a bridge of starlight to the pier, and Klein crossed it to board the Future.