Recaps

Shade and Mr. Bernhardt negotiated with Princess Margaret Anjou to sell her wine for a gift to the Delarion Royal Family, while Shade used their conversation to build his reputation ahead of meeting her as Hamilton of Leijed. The chapter left Margaret interested in Tobesk and its nobles, including rumors about Hamilton and Duchess Galina.

• Princess Margaret praised Shade’s wine and proposed buying it for the Delarion Royal Family, while Shade claimed his supply was limited.
• With Mr. Bernhardt’s help, Shade agreed to deliver twelve bottles to the Princess by ten the next morning and accepted her Bill of Exchange.
• Shade realized the exchange was worth 75 crowns, far more than he had initially assumed, and considered whether Blood Brew could be profitable.
• Margaret asked Shade about Tobesk before her trip there, and he described its people and praised Hamilton of Leijed.
• Margaret asked whether Hamilton was Duchess Galina’s lover, and Shade said the rumor was widespread but he could not confirm it.

During Princess Margaret’s visit to the White King Club, Earl Sachia died from suspected poisoning shortly after drinking tea in her room. Shade and Mr. Bernhardt joined Colonel Wood in investigating the Earl’s last meetings before the police arrived, while the club’s third floor was locked down.

• Shade and Mr. Bernhardt left Princess Margaret’s room when Earl Sachia arrived to meet her.
• A Royal Guard summoned Shade and Mr. Bernhardt back upstairs after Earl Sachia collapsed and died from suspected poison.
• Colonel Wood explained that the Earl had drunk tea from a pot Shade and Mr. Bernhardt had also used, and the Earl’s death risked drawing police scrutiny to Shade’s identity.
• Shade suggested investigating where the Earl had been and whom he had met before coming to Princess Margaret’s room.
• Mr. Bernhardt persuaded Colonel Wood to delay the police so they could investigate the Earl’s last visitors and protect Princess Margaret’s reputation.
• Colonel Wood led Shade and Mr. Bernhardt to question the three people who had secretly met with Earl Sachia, as Royal Guards sealed the third floor.

After Earl Sachia’s death, Shade and the investigators questioned his three secret visitors and uncovered their criminal dealings. Shade proposed arresting Ms. Martha as the poisoner to keep the scandal from reaching the public, and Colonel Wood detained her while the investigation continued.

• Colonel Wood announced Earl Sachia’s death, prompting Mr. Sanberg, Mr. Francis, and Ms. Martha to agree to separate questioning.
• Mr. Sanberg confessed that he and the Earl had smuggled tobacco and argued over dividing their profits.
• Mr. Francis revealed that the Earl had tried to trade railway intelligence for permission to dock a shipment of illegal herbs from the New Continent.
• Ms. Martha said she was the Earl’s mistress and that he had given her a 200-Crown Bill of Exchange when he ended their relationship; Mr. Bernhardt signaled Shade that her scent seemed abnormal.
• Shade suggested framing Ms. Martha as the poisoner so the guards could detain all three suspects under the cover of a state-secret investigation.
• Colonel Wood arrested Ms. Martha and said she would be transferred to the Gray Gloves.

Ms. Martha revealed herself as Earl Sachia’s murderer and tried to escape, but Shade and Mr. Bernhardt’s attempt to keep the incident quiet was interrupted by the arrival of a dangerous Voodoo Society arcanist. The disturbance brought Emma Sylvia, the Great Witch of the Witch Council’s Thirteenth Seat, into the room.

• Ms. Martha knocked Colonel Wood unconscious, took his handgun, and incapacitated Shade and Mr. Bernhardt with her ring before preparing to escape through the window.
• Shade and Mr. Bernhardt pretended to remain unconscious, but Shade’s Pendant warned them of danger as a vine attacked.
• A bald arcanist arrived to help Ms. Martha escape, and Shade and Mr. Bernhardt fought him while trying to keep the noise down.
• The arcanist revealed himself as Poison Ivy Magis, and the room’s door opened as he struggled with Shade and Mr. Bernhardt.
• Emma Sylvia entered the room, leaving Shade chilled by the unexpected arrival of the Great Witch.

Shade Hamilton and Viscount Armand Bernhardt met Great Witch Emma Sylvia, who captured the disguised Ring Arcanist responsible for Earl Sachia’s murder. Sylvia arranged to conceal the incident from Margaret’s delegation and left to explain matters to Margaret, while Shade and Bernhardt prepared to report what happened.

• Emma Sylvia arrived, killed the bald man, and questioned Shade after recognizing his badge.
• Ms. Martha emerged from the washroom, and Sylvia petrified her; the apparent corpse then revealed himself as a mass of vines and Sylvia confined him in midair.
• Shade identified himself and Viscount Armand Bernhardt, then recounted their encounter with the suspected murderer at the White King Club.
• Sylvia planned to alter Martha’s and Colonel Wood’s memories, hand the captured Ring Arcanist to the Orthodox Church, and keep the case separate from Margaret’s delegation.
• Shade repaired the room with his Thaumaturgy, and Sylvia recognized him as the detective from the Detective Hamilton Story Collection before leaving to speak with Margaret.

Shade stayed at Miss Galina’s manor after using the Golden Lucky Rabbit’s Foot and discussed Miss Sylvia’s finances and the Council with her. At the Council, Miss Galina revealed that Shade was her rumored lover and a man Witches could touch, leaving Miss Sylvia to consider what his existence meant for the Council.

• Shade told Miss Galina about the Huntington murder and asked to stay at her manor in case the Rabbit’s Foot caused trouble.
• Miss Galina explained that Sylvia needed money to develop her followers and that the bounty on Poison Ivy Magis could total five figures.
• Miss Galina brought Shade and Tifa to the Council, where she said Sister Devlin might be granted permission to attend its meetings.
• Miss Sylvia arrived and questioned whether Shade was a woman, so Miss Galina kissed him and explained his identity and significance to the Council.

Shade discussed his unusual nature and a possible Poem Chapter Fragment with Miss Sylvia, who agreed to seek Princess Margaret Anjou’s book. Back at the manor, Miss Galina revealed that she wanted Shade to ask Mana Falianna about demigods when he traveled to the Fifth Epoch, hoping to learn about the limits of mortal power.

• Miss Sylvia questioned Shade about his human nature and his Spacetime Spirit Rune, then asked him to cooperate with her research into space.
• Miss Sylvia explained that she had tutored Margaret Anjou and granted her the power of a witch as an investment in the Anjou family’s political future.
• Shade told Miss Sylvia that Margaret’s copy of the Elixir of Immortality might contain a Poem Chapter Fragment, and Miss Galina urged her to bring the book to the Council.
• Miss Sylvia agreed to retrieve the book after reaching Tobesk and arranged to meet Shade the next morning to discuss his Space Miracle Technique.
• Miss Galina told Shade that Sylvia was likely supporting Margaret’s ambitions and asked him to question Mana Falianna about demigods during his coming trip to the Fifth Epoch.

Shade slept at Galina Manor and dreamed of mad rabbits beneath the Silver Moon, while Galina and Tifa quietly visited him. The next morning, he met Luvia at the Seer Association, where they discussed the Elixir of Immortality and the book’s supernatural knowledge, while the Fourth Chosen One still had not appeared.

• Shade’s Golden Lucky Rabbit’s Foot brought him a dream of red-eyed rabbits, but the First Fire and Silver Moon subdued them as they watched him in a wilderness.
• Galina checked on Shade while he slept, kissed his forehead, and left with Tifa; Mia climbed onto his chest before settling beside his pillow.
• Shade awoke feeling well rested, and Galina teased him at breakfast after he mentioned a floral fragrance from his dream.
• Shade visited the Seer Association, where Vice President Mark told him the headquarters could not provide the two Founding Series Rhodes Cards soon.
• Shade told Luvia about the Elixir of Immortality in Serkses, and she explained the book’s importance and agreed to accept his offer to copy its contents.

Shade traveled from Tobesk to Huntington, where Miss Sylvia tested his mathematical ability and asked him to become her apprentice. He was left to consider the Great Witch’s offer.

• Shade met Mr. Bernhardt at White River Valley Vineyard, where he learned Princess Margaret had hired Bernhardt to store and transport her tobacco cargo.
• Bernhardt gave Shade documents about rumors of the Goddess in the Lake and offered to join him on an adventure.
• Shade rode to Huntington and entered the Owl Bookstore using the password “Large Number Theory.”
• At the Ring Arcanist black market, Miss Sylvia tested Shade with mathematical problems, including a Morse Expansion.
• Miss Sylvia praised Shade’s intelligence and asked him to become her apprentice.

Shade declined Miss Sylvia’s offer to become her apprentice but accepted her invitation to a farewell banquet at Rothschild Manor, then began investigating the Goddess in the Lake legends in Huntington. The chapter left him at the home of Professor Kansas Drake, a disabled folklore scholar who claimed to have encountered the Goddess.

• Miss Sylvia offered to take Shade as her apprentice, and Shade declined while agreeing to consider it; she invited him to the banquet at Rothschild Manor the following evening.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia discussed the Pantanal Voodoo Society, possible political involvement in the attack on an earl, and the danger of renewed conflict across the Old Continent.
• Miss Sylvia shared her expertise in spatial Thaumaturgy with Shade and offered to teach him about the power of Witches after their group reached Tobesk.
• After lunch, Shade started investigating the Goddess in the Lake legends and learned that sightings occurred around lakes between Huntington and the Swamp of Pantanal.
• Shade visited Professor Kansas Drake, a retired folklore scholar introduced by Mr. Bernhardt, at his home in Huntington’s West District.

Shade visited Professor Kansas Drake to learn about the Goddess in the Lake and discovered a cursed photograph containing a hostile woman. Professor Drake said the Goddess truly existed at a lake east of Huntington, though its location shifted and only certain people could reach it.

• Shade met Professor Kansas Drake, who tested him with questions about wishes, their costs, and killing the Goddess; Shade refused to risk a hidden price or murder for his own gain.
• Professor Drake showed Shade an old lakeshore photograph, and Shade sensed a Whisper Element and saw a cursed woman emerge from a shadow behind a tree.
• Shade realized the photograph carried a curse from a Relic Derivative, which targeted him before the First Fire suppressed it.
• Professor Drake explained that his research into the shrinking Pantanal Great Swamp led him to believe the Goddess in the Lake was real.
• Professor Drake told Shade that the lake lay east of Huntington, moved according to a pattern, and could be reached only by special people.

Shade inherited a curse from a photograph of the Swamp Witch while investigating Professor Drake’s mysterious missing legs and the Goddess in the Lake. Miss Sylvia identified the Relic and performed a ritual to remove the curse, but warned Shade to avoid western Huntington because the Swamp Witch might now target him.

• Professor Drake told Shade that he had found the Lake of Sages years ago, lost his memory, and returned with his legs missing below the knees; Shade touched them and sensed a faint Miracle.
• Shade bought the lake photograph and learned that viewing its depiction of the Swamp Witch had passed the Relic’s curse to him, causing a terrifying woman to appear at the edge of his vision.
• Shade contacted Miss Sylvia, who identified the photograph’s subject as the Sage Level Relic Swamp Witch and explained how its curse affected people who viewed records of it.
• Miss Sylvia burned the photograph and performed a ritual in the library basement that freed Shade from the hallucination, but warned that the curse’s traces could draw the Swamp Witch’s main body to him.
• Shade agreed to let Miss Sylvia keep the cursed ashes, and she refused payment while reminding him that they were friends.

Shade attended the Study Group, discussed his plans to attend Princess Margaret Anjou’s farewell dinner in Huntington, and agreed to Leisha’s prank on the Princess. The chapter left Shade and Leisha sharing a kiss in the carriage before his evening at the banquet.

• Shade visited Mr. Bernhardt and accepted his invitation to attend the farewell dinner at Rothschild Manor with him.
• Shade attended the Study Group, where Doctor Schneider discussed credits and the upcoming year-end examination, and Shade mentioned Miss Danist’s offer to help with his Practical Credit.
• Leisha, disguised as Dorothy, postponed Red Butterfly Day until the nineteenth of the Month of Frost's Descent and planned to meet Shade at Princess Mona Cavendish’s wedding banquet.
• Leisha gave Shade a note telling Princess Margaret Anjou that the purple cabbage was still delicious and explained its connection to the Wilundell Purple Cabbage Incident.
• Leisha warned Shade that Military Intelligence Section Six would likely be present at the Huntington banquet, then offered to arrange winter firewood for him.
• Leisha kissed Shade in the carriage after insisting that he let her help with his household needs.

Shade attended a royal farewell banquet in Huntington with Mr. Bernhardt, after receiving an invitation from Miss Sylvia. He entered the manor and noticed that many of the guests were Ring Arcanists, leaving him curious about the evening ahead.

• Shade explored White River Valley Vineyard while waiting for Mr. Bernhardt and considered asking Princess Margaret whether the estate was for sale because of its Hidden Wall.
• Mr. Bernhardt arrived, and he and Shade traveled to Rothschild Manor for Princess Margaret Anjou's farewell banquet before her delegation departed by airship.
• At the manor gate, Shade presented Miss Sylvia's Invitation Letter, and the Old Butler recognized him as a specially invited guest.
• Mr. Bernhardt was surprised that Miss Sylvia had invited Shade, and Shade said she valued his talents.
• Shade entered the banquet hall with Mr. Bernhardt and spotted several Ring Arcanists among the guests.

At a banquet in Rothschild Manor, Shade heard Bloodkin discuss Earl Sachia’s murder, the Heart of Pantanal, and the Truth Society’s arrival in Huntington. As Princess Margaret began her address, Miss Sylvia’s maid summoned Shade, and he left the hall to meet her.

• Shade joined Mr. Bernhardt’s Bloodkin acquaintances and listened as they shared news about Earl Sachia’s murder and a church arrest connected to Pantanal.
• Viscount Lamadi said Earl Sachia’s herbal business had obstructed a path tied to the Heart of Pantanal.
• Baron York revealed that three members of the Truth Society had arrived in Huntington with an illegal religious group’s clergyman and had bought banquet invitations.
• A local noblewoman gave Shade a handkerchief bearing her name and address, while Baron York teased him about her marriage prospects.
• Princess Margaret began her farewell address as Shade stood with the Bloodkin at the banquet.
• Miss Sylvia’s maid summoned Shade, and Mr. Bernhardt watched as Shade followed her away.

Shade met Miss Sylvia to learn what the Elixir of Immortality’s Poem Chapter Fragment revealed about the Chosen One of Wisdom and Knowledge. After discussing its five trials, they talked about their incomes, and Shade considered investing with Sylvia after she arrived in Tobesk.

• Miss Sylvia confirmed that the Elixir of Immortality contained a Poem Chapter Fragment and shared its two decoded sentences with Shade.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia concluded that the fragment concerned the Chosen One of Wisdom and Knowledge, who would face five riddles held by a Keeper of Secrets.
• Miss Sylvia offered to repay Shade for providing the intelligence, and Shade suggested they discuss it after she reached Tobesk.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia compared their earnings, and Sylvia explained that her research expenses made her seek additional income.
• Shade told Sylvia he was considering investing his money and said he would be interested in working with her on a promising venture.

Shade received a tarot reading from Miss Sylvia, then hid in her wardrobe when Princess Margaret arrived. Margaret found Shade’s prank note and mistook it for a clue about the Gray-headed Eagle, while Shade learned that Baron Lewis led a Gray Gloves team accompanying the delegation.

• Miss Sylvia divined that Shade’s answer might appear unexpectedly nearby, drawing the Unexpected Gift card.
• When Princess Margaret knocked, Shade hid in the wardrobe and left Leisha’s note on the carpet.
• Margaret found the note, recognized the phrase as connected to her past, and asked Miss Sylvia to divine its origin.
• Margaret interpreted the Numerology 6 and Gray-headed Eagle cards as signs that the Gray-headed Eagle had left the note and was active in Tobesk.
• Margaret revealed that she had arranged for Gray-headed Eagle to protect her, while Shade realized the order had not yet reached him.
• Shade learned that Baron Lewis was the Gray Gloves team leader and decided to keep the information from Military Intelligence Section Six for now.

Shade overheard Princess Margaret asking Miss Sylvia to take her as an apprentice, but Sylvia explained that a young, self-taught genius in Tobesk was a better successor. After Shade returned to the banquet, Margaret invited him to join a coin-tossing game, leaving him among seven contestants as the crowd gathered to watch.

• Princess Margaret asked Miss Sylvia to make her an apprentice, but Sylvia said Margaret lacked the spatial talent and mathematical ability she wanted in a successor.
• Miss Sylvia described a young, self-taught woman in Tobesk whose spatial abilities and mathematical insights made her an ideal apprentice, and Margaret accepted that Sylvia would not choose her.
• After Margaret left, Shade emerged from the wardrobe and told Miss Sylvia he would not meet the candidate in Tobesk; Sylvia said she would prevent it and wondered where the Fourth Chosen One's next stage of fate would appear.
• Shade returned to the banquet and found Mr. Bernhardt playing Rhodes Cards against Baron York, then went to keep watch on Princess Margaret.
• Princess Margaret invited Shade to join a banquet game in which blindfolded players tossed three gold coins into separate glasses for a prize of the coins and her earrings.
• Seven people entered the game, and the crowd gathered as Princess Margaret set up the tossing area.

Shade won the coin-tossing game at Princess Margaret’s banquet and danced with her, learning that she had invited him to win back a pair of earrings wagered by her cousin. Later, Shade noticed a Ring Arcanist at the ball and hoped the rest of the evening would pass peacefully.

• Mr. Helius, Baron Galar, and a duke’s grandson took turns tossing coins blindfolded, with mixed results.
• Shade tossed all three coins into the wineglasses and received the earrings and the gold coins from Princess Margaret.
• Mr. Helius objected to Margaret dancing with Shade, then backed down when Shade challenged him to Rhodes Cards.
• Shade danced with Margaret, who explained that her cousin Irene had wagered the earrings and arranged to retrieve them later.
• Mr. Bernhardt told Shade that a woman had won two special cards at Rhodes Cards, and Shade recognized her as a Ring Arcanist.

Shade and Mr. Bernhardt discovered that Princess Margaret had vanished during a covert operation at the banquet. After a Pantanal Voodoo Society Arcanist unleashed a monstrous snake from a relic, Shade fought it in a darkened corridor and struggled to understand why his attacks passed through it.

• Shade and Mr. Bernhardt discussed Moonlight Slash in the courtyard, where Mr. Bernhardt demonstrated a technique that transformed him into a crimson arc.
• A flash of light appeared behind the manor, and Shade and Mr. Bernhardt found the entrance sealed by a powerful lock.
• Shade opened the door with Door Key, and they learned Princess Margaret had been summoned away; the two split up to investigate.
• A Pantanal Voodoo Society Arcanist confronted Shade, admitted his group had been hired to search for an item, and swallowed the relic Undying Snake Skin.
• A giant Black Snake emerged from the Arcanist's corpse, grew stronger as the corridor darkened, and struck Shade while his Moonbeam Greatsword passed through it.

Shade defeated the snake-skin relic and found that Miss Sylvia was missing from her room. He entered a sealed subspace through an oil painting and reached an ancient temple chamber, where a horrifying plant-made statue stood on a stone platform.

• Shade used the Great Sin Chains to restrain the incorporeal snake, then stabilized space and killed it with the Moonbeam Greatsword.
• The snake’s corpse burned away, leaving a headless man’s body and the snake-skin relic, which Shade collected before restoring the damaged corridor.
• Shade found Miss Sylvia’s room empty and saw The Church fighting hired Pantanal Voodoo Society Arcanists in the dark garden.
• Shade sensed Miss Sylvia’s presence and Witch power in a strange oil painting, then pierced it with his yellow greatsword and entered the sealed subspace.
• Shade traversed an overgrown, decaying passage and reached a stone temple chamber with a horrifying statue made of plant remains.

Shade used First Fire to destroy the Pantanal Temple’s evil idol and free Miss Sylvia, then learned that Margaret was on Rothschild Manor’s rooftop. Miss Sylvia and Shade headed there to rescue her after the captured Arcanist revealed the Truth Society’s interest in the Heart of Pantanal.

• Miss Sylvia warned Shade that the Pantanal Temple’s vines suppressed power and asked him to burn its statue while she remained trapped with a hawk-nosed Nine-Ring Arcanist.
• Shade entered the temple, invoked the Primordial Fire, broke free of the vines, and burned the idol, briefly witnessing the terrifying Pantanal Evil.
• The temple vanished and Rothschild Manor’s corridor returned; Miss Sylvia killed the Arcanist and seized his soul, which revealed that Margaret was on the rooftop and that the Truth Society had sought the possible location of the Heart of Pantanal.
• Shade let the Arcanist’s damaged soul escape through a spatial rift, and Miss Sylvia changed their appearances before leading him toward the rooftop.

Shade and Miss Sylvia arrived on Rothschild Manor’s rooftop during a battle over Princess Margaret, where The Truth Society revealed it wanted something mysterious connected to her. The eyebrowless cultist opened the Angel Level Relic Wrath of Fury, and as it gathered a devastating storm above the rooftop, Shade reacted with wild delight.

• Miss Sylvia brought Shade to the rooftop, where Mr. Bernhardt, Viscount Lamadi, and a Peace Church priest defended Princess Margaret from three members of The Truth Society.
• Miss Pawo explained that the Blood Spirit School had divined Princess Margaret possessed something important, while insisting The Truth Society had only intended to question her.
• Miss Pawo revealed that the eyebrowless cultist carried Wrath of Fury, and he opened the relic as the clouds covered the moons.
• Wrath of Fury froze the rooftop’s occupants and summoned a storm that locked onto them, while the Nine-Ring professor fled with his companions.
• Emma Sylvia prepared to divert the coming Thunder, but Shade squeezed her hand and stared at the sky with wild delight.

Shade willingly took the full force of the Dark Black Thunder, surviving through the Youthful Immortality Leaf and discovering that the lightning carried the divinity of the evil god Raging Storm. As Huntington’s factions dealt with the aftermath, Shade left determined to pursue both newly revealed sources of divinity.

• Shade threw his coat to the Great Witch, swallowed the Youthful Immortality Leaf, and leaped into the storm to meet the Dark Black Thunder.
• The thunder struck Shade, dispersed the storm, and ended the rooftop battle; Miss Sylvia carried his apparently charred body away.
• Shade revived in Miss Sylvia’s room, recovered from his injuries, and learned that Wrath of Fury contained divinity likely belonging to Raging Storm.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia discussed The Truth Society’s attack on Princess Margaret and the unrest likely to follow in Huntington and Tobesk.
• Shade recognized that he had found clues to two sources of divinity and declared that he wanted both.

After the banquet, Shade learned that Karl Leipzig and other cultists would head to Tobesk in connection with Margaret Anjou, then prepared to use the Time Key for another trip into the past. He stepped through the fog door into the year 5177, hoping to avoid an encounter with an evil god.

• Shade returned from White River Valley Vineyard with copied materials, and Mr. Bernhardt joked about wishing for a good harvest.
• Shade showed Luvia the electric arcs he could produce after being struck by divine Thunder, then used the blue Dandelion Coin for her divination.
• Luvia learned that Karl Leipzig, a low-ring priest of Raging Storm, would travel with cultists to Tobesk after their failed operation in Huntington, arriving before the following weekend.
• Shade saved his remaining coins and told Luvia he planned to use the Time Key the next morning.
• On Sunday morning, Shade entered the fog door and traveled to the year 5177, at the end of the Fifth Epoch.