Summary:The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

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This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book. This page only summarizes the main chapter text. For summaries of the handbook sections between chapters, see The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (in-world).

Part 1: The White Room

Chapter 1

Characters
Plot Summary

John West wakes up in a field, not remembering how he got there, nor his own name. He is surrounded by a burn mark in the land around him and with the way he is dressed, believes himself to be a cosplayer. He notices a small wooden village nearby and discovers some pages from The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England laying nearby. He learns that he must have traveled willingly somewhere, before hearing voices nearby. He slips into the forest nearby, and listens to two men and a woman discuss the burn mark before heading back to the village. John sees someone else has gathered more of the pages, likely having blown into the town. He decides he will try to get the pages.

Chapter 2

Characters
Plot Summary

John starts sneaking into the village after the people, while discovering that he likes to review things out of five stars. He also remembers he has medical nanites, and possibly other augmentations. John uses the distraction of two men arriving in the village to sneak in, grabbing one of the pages from The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England that happened to be placed outside a stone building, and get into cover beside the towns meeting hall. Here he discovers he is in an alternate dimension, and that he owns it.

Chapter 3

Characters
Plot Summary

Overhearing the end of a conversation between the local lord, and the visitors John had sneaked in after, he deduces the visitors are looking for him. Before he can take any action to show himself to them, he is confronted by two people, a young man and a woman. The man attacks John, but he blocks it with his arm, discovering he must have plating under his skin. Memories disorientating him, he fails to block the wooden plank to the head that the woman swings at him and is knocked unconscious.

Chapter 4

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Plot Summary

Waking up, hanging upside down from the ceiling, John finds himself confronted by the young man and woman he was attacked by. The woman who is called Sefawynn, tries to use poetry against him to nullify his powers, believing him to be an aelv. She sends Wyrm, her brother the young man, to grab the lord of the village. John unsuccessfully tries to talk to Sefawynn, and instead pulls up a visual overlay display to see information about his augments. The lord arrives with Wyrm, and the three discuss John, believing him to be an aelv as he took one of the offerings (the page from The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England). John tries to convince them to let him go, and learns that the two visitors in the town are not looking for him as he thought. The two men leave and Sefawynn claims to know what John is.

Chapter 5

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Plot Summary

Sefawynn confronts John about his scam, believing him to be some con artist. She gives him some advice about pretending to be an aelv, and John does his best pretending that she is right about him running a scam. While thinking about the dress Sefawynn is wearing, he is reminded of Jen, someone he can't remember. Sefawynn frees John, and he remembers that Jen is dead.

Chapter 6

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Plot Summary

Overcome with emotion after remembering Jen died, John tries to alleviate Sefawynn's worries that he is pretending. They head to the lords manor, and John notices the other offerings that were with his page are gone. Sefawynn who is a skop, claims wights took them, and that the page should belong to them after being used as an offering. Entering the manor, John notices one of the visitors with the lord is Ulric Stromfin, someone who wants him dead.

Chapter 7

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Plot Summary

John remembers that Ulric Stromfin is the head of the Fabian Augments cartel, a mobster who supplied augments people couldn't afford. John quickly grabs Sefawynn and hides, surviving being stabbed by her by talking quickly. Explaining to her who Ulric is in a manner she understands, they listen in as lord Ealstan and Ulric discuss the red-headed man Ulric is looking for. Ulric shoots the guard at the door with a gun to motivate Ealstan to do as he says. The other visitor, Quinn grabs Wyrm to take as hostage and the three leave. John stops Sefawynn chasing after the men and her brother.

Chapter 8

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Plot Summary

Lord Ealstan and Rowena plan what has to be done with Oswald's body and who to contact, before John and Sefawynn come out of hiding. Ealstan believes their actions against John may have led to Oswald's death, but Sefawynn has none of it. She requests a horse to chase after the men and rescue her brother. She accepts one guard to come with her and John finds more of the pages of the handbook. John notices weirdness where the pages suddenly become stacked in a neat pile after complaining about them being in a mess. On one of the pages were answers left by the owner to help after the transition to a new dimension, and here John learns his name. John remembers being in a uniform and that he is part of the Seattle Police Department: Anti-Cartel and Illegal Augments Division.

Chapter 9

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Plot Summary

Learning he is a cop, John goes out into the courtyard where Ealstan is readying horses for the chase ahead. John plays around with his augment settings before finding some that can be enabled. He then tells Sefawynn he wants to help get her brother back because he is actually a wizard.

Chapter 10

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Plot Summary

Sefawynn does not immediately understand what he is claiming to be, nor know what magic is. He tells her he is a wise man, and she thinks he is Waelish. She does not believe him, even when he changes his arm red, claiming all his augments are actually just tricks she has seen before, though not understanding quite how he swapped her brothers knife to avoid being stabbed. He eventually convinces her to let him come and help get her brother, and changes his arm back to normal which does impress her. He decides to go by the name Runian, and continues pretending to be an aelv in front of Ealstan. Sefawynn then learns the guard joining them is Ealstan himself and after some convincing, Sefawynn relents and they head off after Ulric.

Part 2: How To Be A Wizard Without Even Trying

Chapter 11

Characters
Plot Summary

Riding after Ulric and Quinn, John searches through the pages of the handbook looking for information about what year he was currently in. Ealstan believes they will catch up to them when they sleep, but John dissuades him this notion, explaining how they don't need sleep like Ealstan and Safawynn as they have stolen some powers of aelefs. Sefawynn does not believe John fully about not needing sleep, believing it to be a trick like what he did with changing the color of his arms. John keeps studying the pages and remembering his past, finding out he is in another dimension. He prods his companions for information about this dimension subtly, and sees similarities with his dimensions Norse mythology. He further finds out he is in something like The Norman Era, post Anglo-Saxon somewhere around five hundred, to one thousand AD. With this knowledge of roughly when he is in time, John tries to think of ways to impress his allies with his advanced knowledge and abilities, but fails until Sefawynn discovers his ability to draw in perspective.

Chapter 12

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Plot Summary

Sefawynn gets Ealstan to look at John's drawings and he is just as impressed, though worried this gives John power over his soul. Ealstan is relieved to learn it doesn't, but struggles to understand the level of skill the other 'gods' must have if John's drawings are not that good. Taking a break from their hunt, John provides information about the people they are hunting to Ealstan while Sefawynn goes and bathes, explaining that they are tough to kill and have guns which are similar to slings, but more powerful. John asks how far to Wellbury, and is surprised to learn how close the towns are from each other, being only a day or so apart. Ealstan explains about the Hordamen, a people that raid the land from the sea. They compare the differences in their lands in regards to criminals, before Sefawynn returns, finding the leather strips and berries that she had left behind before her bathing, bound and gone alike. Overhearing horns from a distance, John and the others go to a nearby cliff to see three ships approaching to the dread of his companions.

Chapter 13

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Plot Summary

John West, Ealstan, and Sefawynn discuss the Hordamen, runestones, and why Woden forbids writing. John West draws the Hordamen leaders in madder root dye.

Chapter 14

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Plot Summary

John West intimidates the Hordamen captain with his drawings, and uses them to bargain for both the Hordamen to leave and for Yazad. The Hordamen captain attacks John West, who then accidentally sets fire to the main Hordamen ship by drawing a rune on the deck.

Chapter 15

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Plot Summary

After jumping ship, John nearly drowns, but Ealstan drags him to shore. Yazad introduces himself as a Zoroastrian who came to England simply because he enjoys sailing. They agree to let Yazad lead them to a preserve, and then they find burning letters on the ground, supposedly from Logna, complimenting John's efforts.

Chapter 16

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Plot Summary

After sunset, the group arrives at Yazad's preserve, which is a small building next to a forest. Yazad explains the situation, and they make hay beds for everyone. While lying in his bed, John reads more of the handbook but finds it unhelpful. During this time, a nearby pile of rocks keeps getting arranged in pyramids and stacks whenever John looks away, and he keeps knocking them over. John eventually falls asleep.

Chapter 17

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Chapter 18

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Chapter 19

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Chapter 20

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Chapter 21

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Chapter 22

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Part 3: Bagsworth Ruins Everything (Again)

Chapter 23

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John reminisces on his past life while taking to Yazad. Yazad asks John what he is and says he assumes he was a God. John says he's from the future and surprisingly Yazad actually believes him and says it makes sense of his gaps in knowledge. John is sad and says he's only helped three people, but Yazad tells him he should feel better about what he's accomplished. Now that he has memories back, he thinks about what he should do next. While thinking to himself, a mysterious voice speaks to him and says he knows he is John from Seattle. He decides he going to try to stop Ulric now anyway.

Chapter 24

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Chapter 25

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Chapter 26

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Chapter 27

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Chapter 28

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Chapter 29

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Chapter 30

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Part 4: No Refunds

Chapter 31

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Chapter 32

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Chapter 33

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Chapter 34

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Chapter 35

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Chapter 36

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Chapter 37

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Epilogue

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Notes

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