Chapter Summaries

At the Tarot Club gathering, The Fool warned The Hermit Cattleya after revealing that Bernadette wanted answers, then punished Cattleya when she tried to see through the gray fog. Klein stopped her mutation and left the members with a warning about spying on a god.

• The Fool told The Hermit Cattleya to tell Bernadette that she could exchange certain things for answers.
• The Fool identified Bernadette as Roselle's eldest daughter, the owner of the Dawn, and the leader of Element Dawn.
• Cattleya admitted she had made mistakes and said she would accept any punishment.
• Cattleya tried to see through the gray fog, but the True Creator's ravings caused her pain and a grotesque mutation.
• Klein suppressed the ravings and stopped Cattleya's mutation, after which The Hanged Man warned her not to spy on a god.

Klein warned Cattleya against prying into the Fool, then heard Fors seek help killing an Aurora Order Oracle who had harmed her teacher’s family. The Tarot Club agreed to investigate the target and report him to the Churches if they found him soon, with the World as a possible backup after two months.

• Alger warned the Tarot Club that no one should pry into God, and Cattleya thanked the Fool for his leniency after suffering his warning.
• Fors asked the Tarot Club to help assassinate Lewis Wien, an Aurora Order Oracle in Backlund who might be Sequence 6 or Sequence 5.
• The World said he could consider taking the mission, but not for at least two months, and asked Fors about the target’s location and abilities.
• Alger suggested that Fors report Lewis Wien to the Churches if she discovered his whereabouts, rather than immediately hiring an assassin.
• Fors agreed to investigate Lewis Wien and report him to the Churches if she found him within two months, with the World as a possible option later.

At the Tarot Club, Fors and Audrey secured help finding potion ingredients, while The World sought a Seer Sequence 4 formula and promised Derrick the Notary formula. The meeting moved to free exchange, with the members turning their attention to Derrick’s possible expedition near the Giant King's Court.

• Fors asked for Astrologer ingredients, and Cattleya offered crystallized Lavaux Octopus blood and promised to obtain fallen star crystal.
• Audrey requested Hypnotist ingredients, and Cattleya offered to seek Dark Hunt Giant Lizard spinal fluid and Hallucinatory Wind Chime fruit.
• The World asked for leads on the Seer Sequence 4 formula, and Cattleya requested a drop of Mythical Creature blood in return for her cooperation.
• Emlyn asked the members to find believers of The Moon Primordial and offered rewards for useful leads.
• The World promised Derrick the Notary potion formula within three days, while the members had no lead on Alger’s Ocean Songster formula.
• The Fool opened the free exchange, and the members looked toward Derrick because of his possible exploration mission near the Giant King's Court.

Derrick recounted the horrors of Afternoon Town and asked Mr. Fool about the concealed names and the way out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods. Mr. Fool gave an indirect answer that linked the route to the Giant King's Court projection, and Cattleya began to share what she had learned about it.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club about the altar, the names tied to Afternoon Town, and the repentant clergyman who burned to ashes while trying to speak a fourth Angel King's name.
• Derrick asked who tempted Dark Angel Sasrir and why the fourth name could not be spoken, and Mr. Fool replied that it was concealed.
• Alger suggested that the names referred to deities, proposing that the True Creator tempted Sasrir and that the fourth Angel King later became a true god.
• Derrick asked whether the key to leaving the Forsaken Land of the Gods was in the Giant King's Court, and Mr. Fool revealed that Bernadette knew how to enter it through a projection.
• Cattleya sealed her mystery-prying eyes with glasses conjured at Mr. Fool's instruction, then confirmed that the projection appeared in nighttime dreams over the easternmost waters of the Sonia Sea.
• Cattleya said she was about to recount what she had seen and heard there.

Cattleya described the dangerous sea route and the ruins rumored to hold the Fountain of Youth, while Klein declared the treasure a scam. After divining his fate and searching for Moon Primordial believers, Klein received Anderson’s bounty money and learned about gang boss Mithor, whom he approached at a boxing bar as a potential source of food for Creeping Hunger.

• Cattleya described the sea route, and Audrey and Emlyn argued that the bloody message about the Fountain of Youth was likely a trap before the World declared it a scam.
• Klein divined that his hope of advancing to Sequence 4 lay on the main peak of the Hornacis Mountain Range and learned that three Moon Primordial believers were in Backlund while two others were in Enmat Port or Pritz Harbor.
• Anderson gave Klein the remaining 1,200 pounds and identified Mithor of the New Loen Party as a powerful gang boss protected by several Beyonders.
• Klein went to the Oak Bar, located Mithor among his guards, and moved within five meters of him while pretending to watch a deadly boxing match.

Klein used Mithor as a marionette to obtain documents about a new drug, cash, and Creeping Hunger, then returned to Gehrman Sparrow’s appearance and went to a harbor bar. There he spotted Gillschies, the Slaughterer, and opened an attack.

• Klein controlled Mithor during a boxing match and made him prepare an envelope containing important drug documents, an address slip, and 758 pounds.
• Mithor performed a ritual to bestow Creeping Hunger, and Klein sent the glove through the ritual before releasing his control.
• Klein used a rat marionette to retrieve Creeping Hunger from Mithor’s lounge and collected the envelope from Corner Alley.
• Klein mailed the drug information, put on Creeping Hunger, and went to a harbor bar frequented by pirates.
• Klein recognized Gillschies, the Slaughterer, at the bar, threw a beer at him, and drew his revolver.

Gehrman Sparrow ambushed Gillschies in a bar, then fought the powerful Devil while using Bribery, Distortion, and spiritual attacks to gain an advantage. The battle ended in a tense pause as Klein deepened his control over Gillschies, who was still resisting and unleashing his emotions.

• Gillschies caught Klein’s bullet in pale blue flames as his two companions joined the fight.
• Klein fled upstairs and used Distortion to divert Gillschies’s companions, isolating himself with Gillschies.
• Gillschies transformed into a Devil and attacked with filthy words, fireballs, and Corruption, while Klein evaded and redirected the assault.
• Klein used Spirit Piercing and holy light to weaken Gillschies and destroy much of his black-liquid form.
• Klein gained partial control of Gillschies’s Spirit Body Threads, but Gillschies resisted and spread hatred, greed, lust, and rage as Klein tried to tighten his hold.

Klein defeated and killed Gillschies by maintaining control over his Spirit Body Threads and attacking him with Air Bullets, then Grazed his spirit with Creeping Hunger. After discovering the new powers he had gained, Klein found a strange blood crystal on Gillschies's corpse.

• Klein calmed himself before Gillschies could exploit his fear, then continued strengthening his control over the Devil.
• Klein used Flame Manipulation to destroy Gillschies's gathering fireballs and evaded his attacks while preparing to strike.
• Klein repeatedly fired Air Bullets into Gillschies's forehead until he killed him, then absorbed his spirit into Creeping Hunger.
• Klein gained the Words of Filth power Slow, Magma Sword, and Sulfur Fireball from Gillschies.
• Klein saw Gillschies's companions fleeing nearby and found a slender blood crystal on the corpse, though he did not know what it was.

Klein arranged to collect a reduced bounty for Gillschies and left the damaged bar, then used Creeping Hunger to kill a corrupt policeman. Above the gray fog, he learned the Sun pathway formulas through Sequence 5 and discovered that the blood crystal came from the Black Death, which appeared to exert a living, corrupting influence.

• Klein left Gillschies's corpse with the bar owner and arranged to receive six thousand pounds by noon the next day, leaving eight pence for the beer and glass he had damaged.
• Klein confirmed a drug-controlled policeman's crimes through Spirit Channeling and fed him to Creeping Hunger.
• Klein summoned Creeping Hunger and the blood crystal above the gray fog, then divined the Sun pathway formulas from the Light Priest's spirit.
• Klein learned the Sequence 6 Notary and Sequence 5 Light Priest formulas and ritual, and considered how the Light Priest ritual might work in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Klein divined the blood crystal's origin and saw Gillschies pledge himself to the Black Death, leading him to suspect that the ship was alive and its influence corrupted its crew and mystical items.

Klein investigated the blood crystal taken from Gillschies and learned that it was connected to a Myrmidon and the Black Death. After collecting his bounty, he boarded a passenger liner with Anderson, leaving Toscarter openly despite the risk of the King of Immortality intercepting them.

• Klein divined that the blood crystal was connected to a monster and an altar, then named it “A Myrmidon's aura” and stored it with his other possessions.
• Klein confirmed that Agarito would not come to Toscarter that night and that he would be safe at the hotel.
• Anderson told Klein that the city’s adventurers considered him the strongest hunter and reported that Mithor had disappeared after an anonymous letter exposed his crimes.
• The bar owner advanced Klein six thousand pounds of bounty money and warned him that the King of Immortality might intercept his ship.
• Klein and Anderson boarded their passenger liner, and Klein prepared to face the Black Death at sea if it attacked.

Klein sailed with Anderson Hood from Toscarter Island, but the Black Death never appeared, and the liner reached Oravi Island safely. After reading Mr. Azik’s letter, Klein went to Saint Draco Church to meet Councilor Ricciardo and asked Carnot whether he knew Frank Lee.

• Anderson Hood noticed the passengers were unusually calm, then agreed to watch for the Black Death from the lookout while Klein waited in their cabin.
• Klein received Mr. Azik’s letter about the dangerous sea, Artificial Death, and the Seer pathway’s Sequence 4, then drafted a reply and planned to ask for help if the Black Death appeared.
• Anderson returned after several hours and reported that the Black Death had not appeared and the ship had left the waters around Toscarter Island.
• Soest briefed the Red Gloves on a Devil murder case, and Leonard suggested that the human-skin disguises might serve a ritual purpose.
• After two days at sea, Klein and Anderson arrived safely on Oravi Island, where Klein went to Saint Draco Church to meet Councilor Ricciardo.
• Carnot agreed to take Klein to Ricciardo, and Klein asked whether Carnot knew Frank Lee.

Gehrman Sparrow met Councilor Ricciardo, who removed Anderson's bad luck and discussed the Mother Tree of Desire. Anderson gave Gehrman a lead on a revolver in Bayam, while Danitz discovered that the captain had been missing for three days.

• Carnot told Gehrman Sparrow that Frank Lee had left the Church of the Earth Mother after nearly facing a tribunal over his strange ideas.
• Carnot introduced Gehrman to Councilor Ricciardo, who explained that he had rescued Roy King in Bayam and shared information about the Mother Tree of Desire.
• Gehrman asked Ricciardo to remove the bad luck afflicting Anderson, and Ricciardo did so by taking a gold coin from him.
• An explosion destroyed part of the hotel where Anderson had been staying, and Anderson emerged alive before giving Gehrman a lead on a revolver in Bayam.
• Danitz discovered aboard the Golden Dream that the captain had not appeared for three days.

After Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina vanished from the Golden Dream, Danitz summoned Gehrman Sparrow’s messenger to ask for help. Klein received the letter and planned to divine with Edwina’s earrings, while Reinette Tinekerr stayed to await his reply.

• After Edwina failed to return or answer divinations, Blou Walls urged the crew to seek help, and Danitz proposed contacting Gehrman Sparrow.
• Danitz wrote Gehrman a concise account of Edwina’s disappearance, included the Golden Dream’s location, and sent her pearl earrings with the letter through a summoning ritual.
• Reinette Tinekerr appeared beside Klein on Oravi Island, where Anderson Hood tried to admire her and nearly strangled himself before Klein stopped him.
• Klein read Danitz’s request, learned Reinette had investigated the Golden Dream, and said he would reply after divining with Edwina’s earrings.
• Anderson recovered and told Klein that his messenger was at the demigod level.

Klein investigated Edwina Edwards’s disappearance and arranged to meet the Golden Dream at a nearby island, traveling there with Anderson Hood inside a summoned sea creature. He reunited with Danitz, whose warning about Anderson was interrupted by Anderson’s claim that he had once pulled the captain’s hair.

• Klein divined that Edwina was missing from the Golden Dream but could not determine her exact whereabouts, and he found no sign of a trap aboard the ship.
• Klein sent Danitz a letter asking him to bring the Golden Dream to an uninhabited island, then had Reinette Tinekerr confirm that Danitz was within her range.
• Klein told Anderson that they were going elsewhere before heading to Bayam, and Anderson chose to accompany him.
• Klein used charms to breathe underwater and summoned a massive sea creature to carry them to the island where the Golden Dream was anchored.
• Danitz met Klein and warned him that Anderson was a former classmate of the captain who had been expelled from the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
• Anderson said he had once pulled the captain’s hair, leaving Danitz and the Golden Dream’s crew stunned.

Klein boarded the Golden Dream and investigated Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina's disappearance, finding that Groselle's Travels had gained pages describing a female pirate who might be Edwina. He brought the book above the gray fog to test his suspicion, leaving the investigation at the divination stage.

• Klein had Danitz take him to the captain's cabin while Anderson joked that the crew should be more wary of Klein than of him.
• Klein examined Groselle's Travels and noticed that two pages had appeared since he last read it.
• Klein read about a female pirate who encountered the frost dragon and suspected she was Edwina, trapped inside the book.
• Klein asked the crew to prepare supplies, then performed a ritual and brought Groselle's Travels above the gray fog.
• Klein wrote the divination statement, “Edwina is in this book's story.”

Klein discovered that blood or prolonged contact could activate Groselle's Travels, and that the King of the North was likely the key to leaving it. Unable to break the book's barrier, he recruited Danitz to enter and help rescue Edwina.

• Klein divined that Edwina was inside Groselle's Travels and learned that prolonged contact or blood on its cover could activate the book.
• Klein divined that the King of the North was the key to escaping the book, then tried and failed to destroy it with a powerful lightning attack.
• Klein rejected entering the book with only his Spirit Body because his physical body would be left unprotected and his identity could be exposed.
• Klein told the Golden Dream's gathered crew that he had found clues, then summoned Danitz as an assistant and warned him that the task could be fatal.
• Klein handed Danitz a folded note and told him to smear his blood on Groselle's Travels.

Danitz and Anderson entered the frozen world inside Groselle's Travels while Klein confirmed that the book could still connect to the Gray Fog. After arranging for the Golden Dream's crew to watch one another, Klein entered the book himself to search for Edwina.

• Danitz cut his hand, smeared his blood on Groselle's Travels, and appeared in a frozen world.
• Danitz recited the Fool's honorific name in Ancient Hermes, while Klein confirmed from the Gray Fog that Danitz's body and soul had entered the book.
• Klein told the Golden Dream's crew to guard one another and said Edwina's life depended on the ritual.
• Klein persuaded Anderson to enter the book by threatening to treat him as a potential threat, and Anderson vanished after smearing blood on its cover.
• Klein cut his own hand, smeared blood on the book, and entered the frozen world.

Klein found Danitz in the icy wilderness and forced him to accept that reciting the hidden existence’s honorific name made him a believer. Klein and Danitz then found Anderson in a cave, where a powerful creature’s aura passed overhead, which Klein recognized as the King of the North.

• Klein failed to summon Reinette Tinekerr and used Danitz’s blood to track him through the blizzard.
• Klein found Danitz protected by fire ravens, confirmed he had burned the bloodied paper, and warned him to keep his new faith secret.
• Klein used Anderson Hood’s blood to track him, and Danitz complained about Anderson’s reputation as they traveled together.
• Klein and Danitz found Anderson roasting a strange rabbit in a cave he had blasted open, and Anderson shared lessons about surviving in the wild.
• A savage aura passed overhead, causing Danitz to tremble, and Klein recognized it as belonging to the King of the North.

Klein, Anderson, and Danitz followed divination to Edwina’s location and found her safe in Groselle’s camp. They joined the giant’s planned fight against Yurizan, while Edwina warned them that the camp’s history and languages were strange.

• After the King of the North’s aura passed, Klein warned Anderson and Danitz not to eat the rabbit until they knew whether the food was safe.
• Klein used divination to lead Anderson and Danitz to a mountain cave, where an elf stood guard.
• Groselle appeared before the group, and Edwina emerged from the cave and identified them as her companions.
• Edwina introduced the giant Guardian Groselle and the Elf Singer Siatas, while Groselle welcomed the newcomers as allies against Yurizan.
• As they entered the camp, Edwina quietly told Klein that its history was strange and that everyone could understand one another regardless of the language spoken.

Klein and his companions met the members of Edwina’s party in the cave and learned more about how the book’s world affected its inhabitants. Mobett’s account of the Solomon Empire revealed that several later powers had once been its nobles, and that gods walked the earth in his time.

• Klein questioned Danitz about the language spoken inside the book and concluded that its rules enabled people to understand unfamiliar speech.
• Edwina introduced Klein, Anderson, and Danitz to Mobett Zoroast, a Sequence 5 Dream Stealer, the praying ascetic Snowman, and the sleeping knight Longzel.
• Longzel asked Klein about his family’s home in Backlund and learned that the West North Borough no longer existed; Mobett explained how the party had spent long periods living ordinary lives or sleeping before meeting Edwina.
• Klein reasoned that the book’s influence could make its inhabitants forget their objective, while Edwina said the story was nearing its end and they would soon encounter the King of the North.
• Mobett told Klein that the Tudor and Trunsoest families had once been nobles of the Solomon Empire, listed other great families, and said that gods walked the earth in his era.