Two weeks have passed, and the Harbor Lights cabal has some catching up to do in both Awakened society and their Sleeper lives. On the 31st of May, Dorothy and Stephen take the three spirit-inhabited quartz crystals to the curator of a Narragansett tribal history museum. A few very mild deceptions later, the quartz crystals are accepted as authentic and placed on display.

The cabal meets Ferrum at the Emerald Scroll to satisfy the payment they owe him, and to receive rotes from him in turn. Of a list of four rotes, they choose two; Surya learns a rote to dispel magic, and Tommy learns a rote for healing his own wounds that plays to his strengths. The cabal declines teaching for a telekinetic strike rote and and accuracy-altering rote, primarily because the skills that those rotes aren't a good fit for the mages who would learn them. They also receive a lengthy explanation of the Adamantine Arrow, one of the five Orders that makes up the Consilium. (This was handwaved; players may now read the Adamantine Arrow writeup in the rulebook.)

They also meet with Hades at the bar. On behalf of the Gravediggers' cabal, he gives them a weighty tome, with a caveat. He makes it clear, at some length, that the book is strange and difficult to use, but it is intended to be an actual payment, not some kind of white elephant. They also wind up talking about liches, mages of the Tremere Legacy who depend on stealing the souls of others and binding those souls to themselves to stave off old age. These mages are the absolute enemies of the Consilium, by law, though they once held Danvers Mental Institution as their domain.

Dorothy arranges to go on a sabbatical from her work, and discovers shortly thereafter that a scholar from Harvard has been called in to take her place. The man's name is Michael Clarence Harding, and the group immediately begins to wonder if this might be this reality's Madog.

The next day, they arrange a meeting with Potestas, and make the trip out to the Academy. This leads to a lengthy explanation of their mission to the Forest of the Forgotten, Diomedes, and Madog. Potestas is completely taken aback by the idea that a person has crossed over from a parallel, Abyssal reality; even given his lifetime of scholarship, he had regarded such things as only theoretically possible. He is not able to offer them much in the way of guidance on what to do about Madog, but seems distinctly pleased that they came to him with this information. They spend some time theorizing. Potestas also explains the Mysterium in detail. (Again, handwaved; players may not read the Mysterium writeup in the rulebook.)

Back in their sanctum, the cabal discusses options for improving the sanctum's security, though they do not take definite steps in this direction immediately.