Chapter Summaries

Klein finished his overnight guard duty, then dreamed that Dunn invaded his dream and ate all the food on the table. After returning to Tingen, Klein arranged a meeting with Dr. Duster at the shooting club and began asking what he wanted to discuss.

• Klein handed Sealed Artifact "3-0782" to Frye and went back to the inn to sleep.
• Dunn entered Klein's dream, ate the food in the Moretti home, and left after giving Klein a thumbs-up.
• Klein returned to Tingen with Dunn and watched Frye prepare the mission report and reimbursement request.
• Klein arranged to meet Dr. Duster at the shooting club and rested before the appointment.
• Duster arrived at the club, rented a shooting range, and let Klein in; Klein reimbursed him and asked what he wanted to discuss.

Klein questioned Duster about Hood Eugen and the Psychology Alchemists, then traded advice on resisting loss of control for Duster’s help obtaining the Mind Reader formula. Afterward, Klein reconsidered the Church of the Evernight Goddess’s history and realized its destruction of the Antigonus Family raised troubling questions about what it had seized.

• Duster told Klein that Hood Eugen remained at the asylum, helping patients, and that the Psychology Alchemists had recently held only a small gathering in Awwa County.
• Klein reasoned that the Psychology Alchemists had not discovered the Acting Method and wondered why the Church of the Evernight Goddess seemed not to have developed it either.
• Duster described his worsening murmurs and hallucinations, and Klein offered to share his experience and the Nighthawks’ methods for preventing loss of control.
• Klein asked Duster to obtain the Mind Reader formula, then explained that a Beyonder should understand and live according to the meaning of their potion’s name.
• After leaving, Klein realized that the Church of the Evernight Goddess had destroyed the Antigonus Family but appeared to have obtained only the Seer formula, despite the family possessing much of the Seer pathway.

Klein weighed the risks of advancing to Clown and divined that he should obtain the potion through the Nighthawks. He summoned Derrick to arrange future contact and introduced him as The Sun at the Tarot Club’s gathering, where Audrey brought two more pages of Roselle’s diary.

• Klein considered why the Church restricted information about the Seer pathway and decided that applying for the Clown potion was an acceptable risk.
• Elizabeth thanked Klein because her nightmares had stopped, then left to visit Melissa another time.
• Klein divined above the gray fog that he should obtain the Clown potion through the Nighthawks.
• Klein summoned Derrick, gave him his titles and instructions for future gatherings, and explained the Tarot Club.
• Klein introduced Derrick as The Sun to Audrey Hall and Alger, and Audrey announced that she had collected two more pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary.

Audrey, Derrick, and Klein arranged a three-way exchange involving the Mind Reader formula, the Bard formula, and Roselle’s diary pages. After Klein received the pages, he learned that certain Beyonder pathways could be exchanged at high Sequences.

• Audrey asked Klein for the Mind Reader formula in exchange for Roselle’s diary pages, and Klein considered how to arrange payment through an anonymous bank account.
• Derrick offered to obtain the Mind Reader formula, explaining that the City of Silver possessed formulas from the Spectator pathway.
• Klein proposed that he give Derrick the Bard formula, Derrick give Audrey the Mind Reader formula within two gatherings, and Audrey give Klein the diary pages.
• Klein conjured the Bard formula for Derrick, and Audrey sent him two pages of Roselle’s Diary.
• Klein read Roselle’s entries describing how certain pathways could be exchanged from Sequence 4 onward, including Sleepless and Corpse Collector, and Reader and Mystery Pryer.

Klein learned from Roselle’s diary that some high-sequence pathways could be exchanged and that an ancient organization possessed the second Blasphemy Slate. At the Tarot Club, Audrey reported progress on public examinations and asked about Mr. A, while Alger revealed that Qilangos had entered Backlund and requested help finding him.

• Klein read Roselle’s diary entries about pathway exchanges, the second Blasphemy Slate, and an unnamed ancient organization.
• Audrey told the Tarot Club that the king and prime minister had approved public examinations and asked Alger for his promised reward in clues about the Psychology Alchemists.
• Audrey asked what the members knew about Mr. A, and Alger explained that he was likely one of the Aurora Order’s letter-named divine envoys.
• Alger told Audrey that Admiral Hurricane Qilangos had secretly entered Backlund and asked her to find his whereabouts without confronting him.
• Alger asked The Fool to provide his blessed one’s help if needed, and The Fool agreed if that person happened to be in Backlund.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Audrey agreed to help find Admiral Hurricane Qilangos after learning about his mystical item, Creeping Hunger, and the Shepherd abilities it seemed to grant him. Afterward, Derrick recorded a Bard formula and prayed to The Fool, while Klein prepared to collect Detective Henry’s final report on the red chimney investigation.

• Alger explained that Creeping Hunger needed a living person’s soul and flesh every other day and seemed to give Qilangos a range of abilities.
• Derrick identified those abilities as resembling a Shepherd’s, explaining that Shepherds devoured Beyonder souls and used their powers; Klein said Shepherd was Sequence 5 of the Mystery Pryer pathway.
• Audrey accepted Alger’s commission to search for Qilangos, and Alger promised a reward whether or not she succeeded; Klein helped him produce Qilangos’s portrait.
• After the gathering, Derrick wrote down the Bard formula and prayed to The Fool in Jotun, while Klein heard the prayer and chose to respond later.
• Klein left home to collect the final report on the red chimney investigation from Detective Henry.

Klein examined Detective Henry’s report and searched fifteen houses with red chimneys but found no match for the place in his dream. That night, Madam Daly contacted him through a spirit and confronted him about discovering the acting method, leaving Klein to acknowledge that her example had helped him.

• Klein paid Detective Henry the remaining commission and took the investigation report.
• Klein identified twenty-five houses whose tenants had changed and visited fifteen of them, but none matched the house from his dream.
• Klein returned home and prepared dinner for Benson and Melissa before going to bed.
• Madam Daly contacted Klein through a translucent face in his bedroom, and Klein sealed the room with a Wall of Spirituality.
• Daly explained that Dunn had written to her about Klein’s Seer Code, and she told Klein she knew he had worked out the acting method.
• Klein admitted that Daly had served as his example.

Klein learned from Daly that the Church knew about the Acting Method but restricted who could discuss it, and she taught him a ritual for summoning her messenger. The next morning, Klein arrived at the Blackthorn Security Company and went to report something to Dunn.

• Daly explained that the Church had records of Beyonders who advanced by acting, but only those who had mastered the method could discuss it under oath.
• Klein promised to tell Dunn about the Acting Method through his special application, and Daly offered to help him once she learned why the Church concealed it.
• Daly taught Klein a ritual that summoned her personal messenger and warned him not to alter the description of the spirit.
• Daly said she had reached Sequence 6 and left to return to Backlund, while Klein decided not to experiment with the ritual or visit the gray fog that night.
• The next morning, Klein congratulated Rozanne on the new clerical staff member and entered Dunn's office to report something.

Klein explained his insights about potion rules to Dunn, then continued his mysticism studies and searched for the red-chimney house connected to his divination. He visited Azik and revealed a portrait resembling him, prompting Azik to ask Klein to take him to the abandoned castle near Ramde Town.

• Klein told Dunn that following a potion’s implicit rules had helped him become a genuine Seer and stop his murmurs and hallucinations, and Dunn said he seemed to have understood a few things.
• Klein decided to submit a special application to Dunn within two days, then covered the armory while Old Neil slept off the effects of ritual magic.
• Klein continued his training and checked the remaining houses with red chimneys, but none matched the one from his divination.
• Klein visited Azik and told him that an old portrait of the first Baron Lamud from an abandoned castle near Ramde Town closely resembled him, including his mole.
• Azik said he might need to see the castle himself and asked Klein to take him there; Klein agreed after arranging to go home first.

Klein accompanied Azik to the abandoned castle in Ramde, where Azik recovered fragmentary memories and tried to trace the person who had taken his child’s skull. He failed to find the skull’s location but asked Klein to help investigate, and said he planned to leave Tingen once the matter was resolved.

• Klein left Melissa at home and traveled with Azik to the abandoned castle in Ramde.
• Azik recognized the castle from his dreams and recalled his wife, son, and life there before opening the concealed basement entrance.
• Azik opened the coffin and recognized the headless skeleton as his child, then used his blood to search for the missing skull.
• The search showed Klein a vision of the skull crumbling beneath a tree, but Azik could not locate whoever had taken it.
• Azik asked Klein to help continue the investigation, and Klein agreed while keeping his red-chimney lead to himself.
• Azik said he would resign and leave Tingen to search for his lost past after the matter was resolved.

Klein theorized that Azik’s amnesia came from repeated cycles of death and rebirth, and Azik chose to seek his past rather than wait for his memories to return. After arranging Azik’s help with a plan in Tingen, Klein went home, encouraged Benson to study for a possible government examination, and prepared to divine about summoning the Fool.

• Klein suggested that Azik died and began new lives every few decades, with his past self arranging his identity and finances after each awakening.
• Azik said he wanted to actively recover his memories and agreed to create harmless supernatural incidents near Tingen for Klein.
• Klein asked Azik to target believers of the Evernight Goddess and leave no clues so the Nighthawks would investigate.
• Klein returned home and told Benson about a rumored government recruitment examination, encouraging him to keep studying.
• After eating and bathing, Klein sealed his bedroom with a Wall of Spirituality to divine whether summoning the Fool was dangerous.

Klein tested a ritual to summon himself and discovered that the gray fog responded, but he could not open the incomplete Door of Summoning. After a strange dream featuring Dunn, Audrey recruited Xio to help find the pirate Qilangos in Backlund.

• Klein divined that performing his modified summoning ritual outside was not dangerous, then carried it out in his bedroom.
• Klein went above the gray fog and saw his ritual form an incomplete Door of Summoning, but he could not open it because his spirituality was insufficient.
• Klein returned to his bedroom and fell asleep, where he dreamed that Dunn silently watched him before leaving.
• Audrey visited Philips Department Store with Annie and Susie, then met Xio Derecha while Xio worked as an attendant.
• Audrey gave Xio a portrait of Qilangos and asked her to locate the pirate without alerting him, mentioning the kingdom's bounty of ten thousand pounds.

Xio and Fors planned how to investigate Qilangos, while Klein finished his groundwork at the Divination Club and prepared to ask Dunn Smith for a special application. The chapter ended with Klein telling Dunn that he had mastered the Seer potion.

• Xio studied Audrey's sketch and learned that Qilangos could change his appearance, so she and Fors planned to gather information about his habits and hire a detective to analyze it.
• Klein told Angelica that he would visit the Divination Club less often now that his potion was fully digested.
• Klein received a letter from Mr. Azik saying he would travel to Morse Town from Sunday through Wednesday, and Klein burned the letter after reading it.
• Klein visited the Blackthorn Security Company and told Rozanne that a Seer must revere fate rather than seek improper gains.
• Klein met Dunn Smith privately and said he had completely mastered the Seer potion and wanted to submit a special application.

Klein told Dunn that he had fully mastered his potion and submitted a special application to advance to Sequence 8. He shared his approach with the Nighthawks, and Dunn sent the application to the Holy Cathedral for examination.

• Klein told Dunn about his complete mastery of the potion and his unease over the recent coincidences, persuading Dunn to let him write a special application.
• Klein drafted and typed his application, then told Leonard that he had mastered the potion and planned to advance to Sequence 8.
• Leonard brought Klein to the recreation room, where Klein described how the Mystery Pryer maxim, Madam Daly's example, and his Seer Code had helped him progress.
• Klein submitted the signed application to Dunn, who said he would send it to the Holy Cathedral and told Klein to prepare for an examination.

Klein shared his potion-mastery insights with the Nighthawks and met with Duster Guderian, who reported that Hood Eugen seemed to have gone mad and provided a Mind Reader formula. Dunn arranged surveillance of the asylum and told Klein that the formula could let him obtain the Clown potion once he passed evaluation.

• Klein told Loyao Letting that he had shared his potion-mastery experiences with Frye and the others, and Old Neil admitted that the acting method had come too late for him to benefit from it.
• Dunn Smith gave Klein a letter from Duster Guderian requesting an urgent meeting, then arranged to accompany him while Leonard temporarily guarded Chanis Gate.
• Duster told Klein that Hood Eugen had become strangely uncommunicative and might truly have gone mad, and he handed over a Mind Reader potion formula he could not verify.
• Klein advised Duster to investigate Hood Eugen's recent contacts and report the problem to the Psychology Alchemists, then brought the formula and warning to Dunn.
• Dunn ordered the team to monitor the asylum and told Klein that, after passing evaluation, he would have enough merit to obtain the Clown potion.

Klein returned to his ordinary life after his watch at Chanis Gate and joined Benson, Melissa, and Elizabeth in arranging to hire a maid-of-all-work. The siblings selected three candidates for trial, and Melissa left Klein worrying that he should work harder if he wanted to marry Elizabeth.

• Klein returned home after his watch, slept until noon, and learned that Elizabeth was visiting Melissa.
• Melissa read out her detailed requirements for a maid-of-all-work, and Benson suggested replacing the cooking requirement with a willingness to learn.
• The siblings visited the Help Domestic Servants Association, where they chose three candidates and negotiated the fees for a household trial.
• Klein joked to Elizabeth that he could use divination to choose the best maid, prompting Melissa to watch them closely.
• After they returned home, Melissa told Klein to work harder if he wanted to get engaged to Elizabeth, leaving him bewildered.

Klein continued searching Tingen for houses with red chimneys while Fors and Xio sought Isengard Stanton’s help locating Qilangos in Backlund. Alger learned that Qilangos had gone to Backlund on a commission to obtain a long-desired item, and Klein began another Tarot Club gathering after Derrick advanced to the Bard sequence.

• Benson and Melissa teased Klein about marriage, and Klein redirected their attention toward Benson before Benson denied having a lady he fancied.
• Fors and Xio gave Isengard Stanton information about their target, and he deduced that the man likely lived near the Backlund Bridge Area along the Tussock River.
• Alger tortured a sailor for information, and the man revealed that Qilangos had gone to Backlund on a commission for an item he had long desired.
• Klein searched Tingen for houses with red chimneys but found no match, then entered the space above the gray fog.
• Klein congratulated Derrick on becoming a Bard and summoned Justice and The Hanged Man for a Tarot Club gathering.

Derrick obtained the Mind Reader formula and exchanged it with Audrey for Roselle’s Diary, while Klein supplied annotations and payment details for his blessed. The meeting ended with Derrick revealing that the City of Silver teaches the acting method, including the warning to remember that one is only acting.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club he had obtained the Mind Reader formula, and Klein showed him how to manifest it on parchment.
• Audrey received the formula and thanked Klein after he added annotations explaining alternative names for its ingredients.
• Audrey gave Klein Roselle’s Diary and offered another 300 pounds, and Klein provided an anonymous Bank of Backlund account for his blessed.
• Derrick asked to defer his compensation until he needed a Sequence 8 formula or ingredients, and Audrey learned that the City of Silver teaches the acting method.
• Alger asked Derrick about the acting method’s precautions, and Derrick replied that students were told to remember they were only acting.

Klein reflected on Roselle’s diary, considered the Churches’ secrecy around high-Sequence potions, and heard Alger’s warning that Qilangos was hunting a powerful item in Backlund. The Tarot Club members planned to investigate Qilangos as Klein weighed how to help and explored ways to transfer materials through the gray fog; he ended the meeting focused on advancing and making a Solar Flare Charm.

• Klein read Roselle’s diary entries about High-Sequence Beyonders, the Churches’ potion practices, and the possibility that industrialization could invite an evil god’s descent.
• Alger told Justice and The Fool that Qilangos had entered Backlund on a long-term mission to obtain an item that could help him rise quickly to High Sequence.
• Audrey and Alger discussed their search for Qilangos and reviewed his habits, including his taste for raw ocean fish and hard liquor, his pursuit of women, and his need to stay near water.
• Klein considered recruiting Daly or Azik to stop Qilangos, but found neither option easy to pursue without causing complications or revealing his identity.
• Klein wondered whether he could use sacrifice and bestowal rituals to move items through the gray fog, then ended the Tarot Club gathering.
• Back in his bedroom, Klein looked forward to his Sequence 8 assessment and making a Solar Flare Charm, and expected a report about Mr. Azik’s supernatural incident the next day.

Klein arranged to accompany Leonard and Kenley to Morse Town, using reports of suspected hauntings to secure permission to bring Sealed Artifact 3-0782. He arrived in town with the artifact and planned to make a Solar Flare Charm while the team handled the incidents.

• Klein persuaded Dunn Smith that he should join Leonard on the Morse Town investigation and that the team needed another Nighthawk and a Grade 3 Sealed Artifact.
• Dunn sent Kenley with Klein and Leonard and approved their application to retrieve Sealed Artifact 3-0782.
• Klein waited with Leonard, who warned him not to expect to uncover his secret, and then joined Kenley carrying the Mutated Holy Emblem of the Sun.
• Klein, Leonard, and Kenley traveled to Morse Town with Sealed Artifact 3-0782, and Klein spent the journey handling the artifact.
• Father Syer welcomed the Nighthawks as townspeople gathered, and Leonard reassured them with a display of supposed ghost-hunting supplies.
• Leonard proposed that they have lunch at the church before investigating, while Klein anticipated making his Solar Flare Charm during the daytime.