The posse decides that the best thing to do with themselves is find out about Professor Brock and his ectoplasmic calcifier. They go to his lab and find it full of strange equipment and dripping with mucus. It's pretty disgusting. Prof. Brock in fact shoots someone with the calcifier when they startle him, but to no effect aside from a mild shock. Then he realizes that they are people and puts it down again. He's a shorter man with a big nose, and is liberally coated with the slime that drips everywhere in his lab. (They are later told that the slime is a side effect of the calcifier - some sort of background ectoplasm coming out of the air.)

They learn all about the calcifier, how it makes spirits tangible. Brock has a copy of the Malleus Mallificarum, and actually summons creatures into his summoning circle. At which point they get calcified and then a horrific chopping machine chops everything in the circle to bits. Somehow everyone overlooks the summoning part and is happy to hear about the chopping part.

Prof. Brock doesn't believe the spirits are evil - they're just differently moralled. Of course, that means they'd as soon kill you as look at you, and it means he has no qualms about chopping them up. The group tells him about their own possessing spirits, and he's very interested but can't really help, since he doesn't know how to get the spirits out. He promises to send word through Elder Tanner's family in Salt Lake if he thinks of anything, though. They tell him about their adventure with the banshee as well, and he offers them a $50 retainer to write up any future incidents and send them to him, with a payment each time.

"We'd be happy to donate them to science." - Elder Tanner, about the posse's evil possessing spirits

Cady demonstrates making an evil spirit do something by soul blasting a melon (of course having no effect on the inanimate melon). Brock tries to calcify and chop the spirit responsible, and comes up with a clawed hand (which has to be searched for after the violent chopping).

Cady shows off the codes in Hoyle's Book of Games, and arranges to trade studying her notes about Hoyle's for his notes and the Mallificarum. She and Tobey spend the afternoon in the professor's upstairs (thankfully un-sticky) room doing that. Cady's studying bears fruit - she learns of a spirit named The Flayed Dog that she thinks she might be able to summon in place of a manitou. It is particularly good at revelation and divination... at an undisclosed price.

Everyone else goes to the Big Scientist Meeting that afternoon, and it's really boring. Everyone has to say Important Intelligent things. In the end, the group offers to talk to the monks, but refuses to commit to fighting them. Professor Daring is very let down at the failure of the famous gunfighter to want to kill people.

The next day Robert is able to spot a monk up in a tree acting as a lookout, and they (minus Bart, who stays in town) approach the monks. They find a camp with about thirty monks training, and manage to speak to the monks in charge. Brother Wu speaks the best English, a small quick man, but Elder Brother Ho seems to actually be in charge.

The monks believe that ghost rock is an imbalance in the Chi, and that the scientists must leave and stop using ghost rock. They're extremely inflexible on this point. This group of monks turns out to be The Forbidding Palm, who are either temporarily or permanently detached from the 37th Chamber as a more militant branch. Unfortunately at this point Brother Wu notices that Tobey isn't breathing, and says so to Elder Brother Ho. Joseph, who speaks Mandarin, catches the exchange and tries to explain that it's okay because God sent Tobey back...

"Your weak Christian Philosophy disgusts me!" - Elder Brother Ho (in Mandarin, so only Joseph understands)

At this point things go bad quickly. The monks stand and say "prepare yourselves!" as their trainees start running up the hill from the field where they are practicing. James aims at Ho, Wu gets in between them, but James's demonstration stuns the other monks who are near the meeting (good thing too). Elder Tanner tries to protect Tobey, putting up his Armor of God. Robert wisely runs. Ho breaks Elder Tanner's armor with a single strike, and James tries to shoot him but is thwarted by Wu who catches the bullet! Cady stuns Wu at this point with a Filibuster, but unfortunately the manitous make her say the most horrible things.

The next round everyone runs, except Cady who is struck by the enraged Elder Brother Ho with the force of a train and thrown twenty feet. Luckily she is snatched up by the others, who jump on horses and/or run like blazes and get away. The monks don't follow them across the open space - perhaps because they have rifles and range at that point. Elder Tanner heals Cady of her mortal but not yet fatal wound (most of her internal organs were jellified by the strike).

They go back to down and decide to stay for another day to see if they provoked the monks, and if not to go after the next coin which is to the north-east. Robert asks Eagle to show him Lo, and also receives a vision of the 37th Chamber, a temple to the north-west on an island in the maze. Lo himself is south, having a quiet camp for the night.