Chapter Summaries

Klein arranged a 200-pound bounty to help Vahana and her husband recover stolen cloth, and Xio quickly caught the swindlers. Vahana learned that Dawn Dantès had funded the bounty and praised him to Liana, who planned to invite him to a ball.

• Walter told Klein that Vahana's husband had lost 1,000 pounds' worth of cloth to swindlers, and Klein offered 200 pounds for their capture or the cloth's recovery.
• Xio accepted Walter's bounty in an East Borough tavern and began tracking the swindlers through the channels used to sell stolen goods.
• Walter told Klein that the bicycle company stake had drawn a 10,000-pound offer and that Xio had caught the swindlers, recovering about 850 pounds in cash and cloth.
• Vahana and Bacus learned at the police station that the swindlers had been caught, and Vahana discovered that a butler had posted the 200-pound bounty.
• Vahana praised Dawn Dantès to Liana, who said she planned to invite him to her weekend ball.

Klein attended Mauri Macht's ball as Dawn Dantès, recognized Hibbert Macht as the young woman he had seen in Arrodes's vision, and suspected she was a Beyonder. He invited her to dance to observe her, but his attempt at conversation met with a rebuke.

• Klein arrived at Mauri Macht's home with a bottle of Southville red wine and greeted Mauri, Madam Liana, and their daughter Hibbert.
• Klein recognized Hibbert as the young woman from Arrodes's vision and wondered whether she possessed a mystical item and had become a Beyonder.
• Mauri welcomed the guests with a speech praising the deities, the kingdom, and the improvement in Backlund's air before opening the ball with Madam Liana.
• Klein spotted Madam Mary among the guests and watched Hibbert, whose haughty manner strengthened his suspicion that she was a Beyonder.
• Klein invited Hibbert to dance so he could observe her, but when he suggested that young gentlemen had been too shy to ask her, she called the topic impolite.

At a Backlund ball, Klein, posing as Dawn Dantès, built connections with Hibbert and Mary by discussing sea legends and business. The chapter ended with Klein noticing Hibbert Macht hurry toward the third floor.

• Klein entertained Hibbert with tales of Death's Key, the Four Kings, and the pirate admirals, and escorted her back to her place after their dance.
• Klein spoke with Mary Short about the Coim Company and its growth, then met Hibbert Hall, the chief secretary of the Atmospheric Pollution Investigation Commission.
• Klein revealed that he had offered 9,000 pounds for a ten-percent stake in the Backlund Bicycle Company, which Audrey was also seeking to acquire.
• Hibbert Hall invited Mary to dance, while Klein ate and watched the guests socialize.
• Klein noticed Hibbert Macht heading toward the third floor in a hurry.

At the Macht ball, Klein noticed Hibbert’s strange behavior and learned that she had secretly helped capture an intruder at his home. The intruder had tried to recruit Richardson into an organization seeking to restore Balam, leaving Klein torn over whether to dismiss his valet as the intruder escaped.

• Klein observed Hibbert hurry upstairs and later return calm, suspecting she was dealing with a mystical item’s negative effects.
• Vahana told Klein that her husband’s trouble had been resolved, and Hibbert later praised Klein’s knowledge while saying she only liked powerful men.
• Hibbert secretly left her home and caught a dark-skinned intruder entering Klein’s garden at 160 Böklund Street.
• Klein watched the intruder pressure Richardson to serve Death’s people and wait for an assignment, while Richardson remained uncertain.
• Hibbert knocked the intruder unconscious and left him at Klein’s gate, but Klein worried that an investigation could expose him and hesitated to dismiss Richardson.
• The intruder regained consciousness and hid nearby as Walter came outside to answer the doorbell.

Klein used Senor to interrogate Godops, learning about the Black Skull Party, the East Balam Rose of Redemption, and their plans to steal a death-related mask from Earl Wolfe. He destroyed the gang’s headquarters in an explosion, while Richardson remained unaware of Klein’s actions and considered resigning.

• Klein had Senor spirit-channel Godops and learned that he belonged to the Black Skull Party, which served the East Balam Rose of Redemption and sought a mask from Earl Wolfe’s collection.
• Godops revealed that he and Richardson had once been enslaved in East Balam and joined the Eternal Life Society, but Richardson later abandoned the faith and tried to avoid him.
• Klein had Senor possess Godops and lead him back to the Black Skull Party’s headquarters, where Godops ignited explosives and killed the gang’s senior members.
• Klein returned home, and Richardson told him he wanted to resign after the week; Klein asked him to consider the decision and answer the next day.
• Richardson read a newspaper report that an explosion had killed the Black Skull Party’s senior members, including Godops, and wondered if he was dreaming.

Klein received the first installment of Cattleya’s payment for the Lucky Scales, while Xio attended an East Borough gathering organized by a man calling himself Mr. X. Fors used her divination to identify him as Lewis Wien, a suspected Aurora Order divine envoy and Traveler, and prayed to Mr. Fool to inform Mr. World.

• Walter told Klein that someone had rung his doorbell during the night, and Klein approved asking the police to increase patrols.
• Klein paid Reinette Tinekerr 4,013 pounds in gold coins toward his debt, and she carried the coins away through a portal.
• Xio disguised her height and attended a gathering where its masked organizer introduced himself as Mr. X.
• Xio described Mr. X to Fors, who used her Astrologer abilities to confirm that he was Lewis Wien.
• Fors decided to ask Mr. World whether he would take a mission against Lewis Wien and prayed to Mr. Fool to pass along the information.

Klein prepared for an expected Nighthawk review while Leonard advanced to Spirit Warlock and was assigned to investigate Dawn Dantès. When Alberto entered Klein’s dream to question him, Klein began covering his hidden identity with a fabricated story about making his fortune in the Southern Continent.

• Richardson thanked Klein for giving him a chance to grow, and Klein allowed him to remain in his service.
• Klein learned that The Magician Fors had heard prayers connected to Mr. X and asked her to provide details for an assassination.
• Leonard advanced to Spirit Warlock, and Daly told him she still lacked the merit needed to become a Gatekeeper.
• Soest assigned Alberto to conduct a dream review of Dawn Dantès, and Leonard recognized the target as the undying monster he knew.
• Alberto questioned Klein in his dream, and Klein claimed that his wealth came from adventures in the Southern Continent.

Klein reflected on Alberto’s dream interrogation while Derrick prepared to advance in the City of Silver and Danitz returned to the Golden Dream with news for Edwina. The Tarot Gathering began with Cattleya presenting three pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary to Mr. Fool.

• Alberto questioned Klein in a dream, then used his Nightmare powers to make Dawn Dantès forget its specific contents; Leonard grew wary of the undying monster from the Fourth Epoch.
• Derrick visited the Twin Towers to exchange his achievement for a Spirit Pact Bird’s tail feather and noticed Shepherd Lovia greeting someone behind him.
• Danitz returned to the Golden Dream and told Edwina that Gehrman Sparrow wanted to know whether Siatas’s remains and the golden wine cup had shown any abnormalities.
• Edwina inspected the remains and reported that nothing seemed unusual about the golden wine cup, reassuring Klein while leaving him puzzled.
• At the Tarot Gathering, Cattleya gave Mr. Fool three pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary, and Audrey hoped for a clue about the Hallucinatory Wind Chime Tree’s fruit.

Klein read Roselle’s diary entries about the madness that came with becoming an angel, the need for human praise and faith to anchor powerful beings, and Mr. Door’s revelations about Angel Kings. The diary then turned to Roselle’s return to an unnamed island, where he saw extinct Beyonder creatures performing a ritual and Green appear.

• Roselle wrote that the influence of Beyonder Characteristics drove him toward coldness, cruelty, and killing, but the praise of his subjects helped anchor him and restore his emotions.
• Roselle questioned why gods used symbolic sacred emblems instead of human images and concluded that the pathways to supernatural power led toward madness and despair.
• Roselle recorded Mr. Door’s account of Angel Kings, explaining that some had accommodated the Uniqueness or consumed extra Sequence 1 potions, while Amon and Adam had been born with Uniquenesses.
• Klein inferred that Adam was the leader of the Hermits of Fate and likely possessed the Spectator pathway’s Uniqueness.
• Roselle returned to an unnamed island with three subordinates to investigate Green’s death, and the group found extinct Beyonder creatures gathered in a ritual.
• Roselle saw Green during the creatures’ ritual.

Klein answered Cattleya’s question about Emperor Roselle and helped broker a message between Cattleya and Fors concerning the Abraham Family and Mr. Door. The Tarot Club exchanged leads and discussed their progress, ending with Emlyn admitting that Mr. Fool had helped him defeat a believer of the Moon Primordial.

• Klein confirmed that Emperor Roselle had joined an extremely secretive and ancient organization, without naming it.
• Cattleya offered Fors 350 pounds to pass a request for contact to direct descendants of the Abraham Family, with another 650 pounds if they agreed to cooperate about Mr. Door; Fors accepted.
• Alger offered Audrey a lead on a Hallucinatory Wind Chime Tree that he might obtain in at least two weeks.
• Derrick announced that he had become a Notary, and Alger explained the pathway’s abilities and advised him to seek a suitable mystical item.
• Emlyn showed the club a Moon Envoy and said he had killed its owner, then admitted that he had requested Mr. Fool’s help.

At the Tarot Gathering, Emlyn explained that Mr. Fool had helped him in exchange for payment, and Derrick chose a dangerous mystical hammer. Meanwhile, Klein continued building his social standing in Backlund, then realized that a newspaper notice about his sold company shares might have alerted a royal faction to his return and put Isengard under surveillance.

• Cattleya was surprised that Mr. Fool had provided Emlyn with direct help, while Emlyn insisted that he had paid for it through an equivalent exchange.
• Derrick reviewed two mystical items in the City of Silver and chose the Roar of the God of Thunder despite its risk of attracting monsters in darkness.
• Klein accepted several social invitations and watched The Ring of the Betrayer to prepare for Backlund's high-society gatherings.
• Melissa bought tickets to see The Ring of the Betrayer in Cherwood Borough.
• Klein noticed an unusual exclamation mark in Isengard Stanton's notice that the Backlund Bicycle Company stake had been sold, and suspected a royal faction was monitoring Isengard to catch him when he collected the money.

Klein used a blue shorthair cat to meet Isengard Stanton and secretly moved the proceeds from his share sale through a sacrificial ritual. The chapter ended with Fors learning that Mr. X had announced a new gathering and a task seeking information about people with abnormal luck.

• The blue shorthair introduced itself as Sherlock Moriarty and asked Isengard Stanton for a private meeting, then requested an empty room and three candles.
• Isengard explained that the shares had sold for twelve thousand pounds and that taxes and expenses left 8,940 pounds in cash.
• Klein's marionette Senor summoned a gate for the Sea God Kavithua and sent the cash and a gold coin through it.
• Isengard returned to find the document bags gone and the blue shorthair alone in the room.
• Xio told Fors that Mr. X's gathering would take place Friday and that he was offering a lucrative task for information about anyone with abnormal luck.
• Fors planned to pass the gathering details and task to the World, Gehrman Sparrow, through Mr. Fool.

Klein realized that Mr. X’s search for people with abnormal luck was part of Ouroboros’s hunt for Will Auceptin, and he consulted Will in a dream. Will explained his way of maintaining sanity, revealed that Leonard’s parasite was Pallez Zoroast, and offered to trade Klein a drop of his umbilical cord blood.

• Klein concluded that Ouroboros was using the Aurora Order to search for Will Auceptin and decided to consult Will before answering Miss Magician.
• Klein wrote questions about Worm of Time charms and Will’s umbilical cord blood, then placed the paper crane beneath his pillow.
• Will explained that each Restart washed away madness and that faith helped anchor his Sequence 1 state.
• Will said he had planted misleading traces with Ricciardo and the Die of Probability, which would soon draw Ouroboros away from Backlund.
• Will revealed that Leonard’s former colleague was investigating Sherlock Moriarty and that Pallez Zoroast was parasitizing him; he also described how Klein could attempt to make a Worm of Time charm, though he did not know the symbols.
• Will confirmed his umbilical cord blood counted as the blood of a Mythical Creature and offered Klein a drop in exchange for something suitable before ending the dream.

Klein created a powerful charm called Fate Siphon that could steal and graft another person’s fate, then watched Hibbert Macht enter the sewers again. By dawn, he had taken on Gehrman Sparrow’s appearance and negotiated terms for accepting a mission from The Fool.

• Klein divined that making the Worm of Time charm would go smoothly and that assassinating Mr. X on Friday would be dangerous but manageable.
• Klein used the symbolic emblem on the back of The Fool’s chair to make a demigod-level charm from the Worm of Time.
• Klein learned through Dream Divination that the charm could steal someone else’s fate and named it Fate Siphon.
• Klein saw Hibbert Macht slip into the sewers again but decided not to intervene.
• Klein, disguised as Gehrman Sparrow, told The Fool he would accept the mission only under specific terms, including a stone from the bracelet, temporary use of the magic book, and the spoils if he succeeded.

Fors accepted The World’s terms to cooperate in an operation in exchange for one bracelet stone and temporary use of Lemano’s Travel Notes. At the Kingdom Museum, Klein noticed Walter react to a man who recognized him, then introduced himself to the man as Dawn Dantès and learned his name was William Sykes.

• Fors agreed to give The World one stone from her bracelet and lend him Lemano’s Travel Notes for a while, accepting that he would attempt the operation only once.
• Klein planned a visit to the Kingdom Museum and reflected on Leonard’s investigation into Sherlock Moriarty and the possibility that his past identity might be uncovered.
• Klein visited the royal collection exhibition with Walter and Richardson, where he noticed Walter falter while looking at a man and woman.
• The man explained the history of a banner used by Prince Harold Augustus in the War of the White Rose, and Klein praised his knowledge.
• Klein introduced himself as Dawn Dantès and asked the man’s name; the man identified himself as William Sykes, a steward at a manor.

After William Sykes died shortly after meeting Dawn Dantès, police questioned Klein and his servants. That night, Klein followed Walter into the sewers and discovered he was secretly helping the injured Trissy investigate the truth behind Prince Edessak’s death.

• Walter told Klein that William Sykes had served Prince Edessak, the former Earl of Lasting.
• Police informed Klein that William Sykes had died in a hotel and questioned him and his servants about the case.
• Klein watched Walter leave the house in the middle of the night and sent Senor to follow him into the sewers.
• Walter met an injured woman who said she had gotten a lead from William Sykes and was seeking revenge after selling her soul to an evil god.
• Klein recognized the woman as Trissy Cheek and realized she was connected to the secret investigation into Prince Edessak’s death.

Klein used Senor to observe Trissy investigating Prince Edessak’s death and decided to cooperate with her cautiously. Trissy revealed that Viscount Stratford, the royal family’s captain of the palace guards, had ordered Edessak’s murder.

• Klein watched Walter deliver food to Trissy, then saw Hibbert enter the sewers to investigate.
• Klein used Senor to seize control of Hibbert and guide her into a side passage until Walter had left.
• Hibbert regained control, escaped the sewers, and returned home shaken but cautious.
• Senor approached Trissy, who revealed that she had noticed what happened to Hibbert and recognized him.
• Trissy told Senor that William Sykes had forced Prince Edessak to commit suicide on someone else’s orders.
• Trissy named Viscount Stratford, the royal family’s captain of the palace guards, as the person who ordered Edessak’s death.

Klein used Senor to establish a cautious alliance with Trissy, who offered leads on the royal faction behind the Great Smog and revealed that she had sold her soul to the Primordial Demoness. The next morning, Klein learned that Miss Hibbert was ill, leading him to suspect Trissy had advanced to Sequence 5 and spread disease nearby.

• Trissy explained that helping Klein investigate the royal family could further her revenge, and Klein offered to assist her investigation of Viscount Stratford.
• Trissy gave Senor a magical black paste for contacting her, while Klein told her to leave written requests in the sewer or send a message through her earlier contact.
• Klein noticed Trissy's sapphire ring was missing and learned that she had sold her soul to the Primordial Demoness; he warned her to watch for coincidences as she investigated.
• Klein returned home and continued his ordinary routine, but Walter told him that afternoon tea at Member of Parliament Macht's home had been canceled because Miss Hibbert was ill.
• Klein suspected Trissy had infected people nearby with disease and concluded that she had likely reached Sequence 5 of the Witch Pathway.

Klein encountered Leonard Mitchell and Daly at Saint Samuel Cathedral, then prepared for his planned assassination of Mr. X by asking Miss Magician for help and arranging for Arrodes to impersonate him at home. Arrodes warned him to wait until after Thursday, leaving Klein set to carry out his preparations for Friday evening.

• Klein went to Saint Samuel Cathedral and passed Leonard Mitchell and Daly, who both noticed him.
• Soest told the Red Gloves that their mission was to track down members of the Spirituality Religion in Backlund, with Daly assisting them.
• Klein summoned the World above the gray fog and instructed Miss Magician to arrange lodging and help him disguise himself as her friend to enter Mr. X's gathering.
• Klein decided to feign illness on Friday so he could leave unnoticed, and planned for Arrodes to control an illusion of Dawn Dantès if the household disturbed him.
• Arrodes advised Klein to schedule his plan for after Thursday and agreed to answer questions while impersonating Dawn Dantès.

Klein finished recording several powerful abilities in Lemano's Travel Notes and prepared to hunt Mr. X while disguised as Gehrman Sparrow. He infiltrated Mr. X's gathering disguised as Xio, unaware that Fors had delayed Xio by taking her to East Borough.

• Klein successfully recorded Lightning Storm, adding it alongside Paper Angel, Tornado, and numerous lower-Sequence abilities in Lemano's Travel Notes.
• Klein assessed his equipment for the mission, then created a mirror illusion of Dawn Dantès and summoned Arrodes to maintain the appearance while he slipped out.
• Klein changed into Gehrman Sparrow and set out to hunt Mr. X.
• Fors stopped Xio from attending Mr. X's gathering by claiming she needed help searching East Borough for the remains left by ghosts.
• Klein disguised himself as Xio, followed the secret knock to Mr. X's house, and entered the Beyonder gathering.