The Pilgrim’s Way is taught by the monks of Pilgrim’s Spire (25.31). The spire is named after the Pilgrim, a god of the Undying Cycles of Creation, and the monks honour the Pilgrim’s journey by sending visitors up its twenty thousand steps.
The martial art is learned by the brothers and sisters of the Spire as they hone their minds and spirits through meditation and fellowship. It allows them to move unseen and anticipate danger. The martial art is popular among thieves and assassins. Masters of the form can slip into one shadow and spring from a different shadow far away (called “shadow leaping”). Rumors tell of grandmasters who can make themselves invisible at whim, regardless of his or her surroundings. Others are said to be prescient enough to know the exact moment of anyone’s death.
The seven of the Shadow Ballet who dance in the Grey Comedy were apparently once firebirds who were turned to stone by the Basilisk at the top of the spire, suggesting that the Shadow Ballet is linked to or part of the Pilgrim’s Way.
The Dust Men are one sect of the Pilgrim’s Way. They teach that this world is an illusion and that only dreams are real and that if you master their arts you will one day wake up from this shrouded land, leave the prison of your body and live eternally in pleasant dream. The Dust Men freely teach the order’s martial arts to every thief and blackguard they come across. Their entry further elaborates on their approach and philosophy.