Recaps

Shade prepared for the Academy’s upcoming identity investigation and discussed his past with the Doctor, then used the Sorrowful Nurse Statue to test his bloodline. The statue identified Shade as human, and Mia’s test showed that she was not a purebred cat.

• Director Anlos told Shade to continue speaking with Princess Margaret about the Stone Masons Association and seek the shipyard opening date while investigating the group’s history.
• The Doctor explained that the Academy’s identity investigation would reach Tobesk around March and advised the group to prepare and avoid misunderstandings.
• Shade told Leisha about his night with Luvia, and Leisha arranged for a lesson and an intimate evening together.
• Grace and Helen used the Sorrowful Nurse Statue to test Shade’s blood, and it identified him as human.
• Shade asked Grace to test Mia’s blood, and the statue found that Mia was not a purebred cat.

Shade learned that Little Mia had a tiny trace of Sun Child ancestry, then received Stone Osenfott’s invitation to discuss clues about Founding. He met Osenfott beside a burning warehouse, where Osenfott confronted him about the Black Gem Ring Shade had returned to his wife.

• Grace explained that the relic reading showed Little Mia was 99.7% ordinary house cat and 0.3% Sun Child, and Shade declined further bloodline tests.
• Shade learned that Osenfott had invited him to Middles Warehouse with clues about Founding, while Luvia planned to help the Church search for Mad Earth.
• Shade spent the afternoon with Luvia discussing the Correspondence Student investigation and left to meet Osenfott.
• Miss Lathers warned Shade that Osenfott was a dangerous man, then lent him a horse to ride to the warehouse.
• Shade found Osenfott’s men burning a warehouse and heard that they were destroying goods at Prince William’s order.
• Osenfott showed Shade the Black Gem Ring and asked whether he had returned it to Osenfott’s wife; Shade admitted that he had found it in a fish’s belly and given it back.

Shade accepted Mr. Olsenford’s offer to find two missing heirlooms in exchange for information about Genesis · Earth, then investigated a stone statue with Miss Benanis. Her comment about Miss Lathers’s father prompted Shade to realize that he had repeatedly overlooked an important question about her cult.

• Mr. Olsenford told Shade he could reveal who possessed Genesis · Earth if Shade found Haila’s missing combat hero badge and sapphire earring, and Shade accepted the deal.
• Shade returned to the city, wondered what was unusual about Mr. Olsenford, and went to the Wilde Opera House to ask about Miss Lathers.
• Miss Benanis said the statue in Shade’s photograph resembled Weilon Lathers, Miss Lathers’s missing father, but the image was too blurry to identify him with certainty.
• Shade asked which Old God Miss Lathers worshipped and suddenly recognized that he had been influenced to forget and overlook the question.

Shade and Vanessa Benanis confirmed that the statue in the hidden Forgotten Church was the petrified body of Miss Lathers's father, who could not be revived. Vanessa asked Shade to tell Miss Lathers the news, and he went to Earl Johnson's banquet, where Margaret directed him toward the garden.

• Shade told Vanessa Benanis about the hidden Forgotten Church and showed her photographs of its statue.
• Shade and Vanessa entered the church, where Vanessa determined that the stone statue had once been a living person and that its soul was gone.
• Vanessa asked Shade to tell Miss Lathers that her father was dead, and Shade agreed in exchange for a favor.
• Shade took Vanessa's invitation to Earl Johnson's banquet and asked Margaret where Miss Lathers was.
• Margaret told Shade that she had seen Miss Lathers take several people to the garden behind the house.

Margaret told Shade that William was linked to a rumored gold mine and that Military Intelligence Section Six had stirred up the stonemasons, then an abnormal earthquake struck Countess Manor. Shade found black mud erupting from a fountain and joined a battle against Blood Spirit School allies and a Stone Heart Demon follower, trapping the unstable giant as his enemies tried to retreat.

• Margaret told Shade that Stone Osenfott's men were rumored to have found a gold mine while working with William, and she shared intelligence connecting Military Intelligence Section Six to unrest among the stonemasons.
• An earthquake shook the manor for thirteen seconds, and Shade urged Margaret to evacuate everyone while he went to investigate the abnormal disturbance.
• Shade found black mist spreading from a fountain that spewed black mud, where Miss Lathers, Orthodox Church priests, and other Ring Arcanists were fighting Blood Spirit School enemies.
• A nearly three-meter gray stone giant named Elsen emerged from the fountain, and a priest identified him as a follower of the Stone Heart Demon.
• Shade used Red Butterflies and Silver Moon's illusion to confuse and surround Elsen while the Nine-Ring Arcanist's companion called for him to retreat.

Shade fought the Gray Stone Giant amid the black mud, then sensed divinity beneath the eruption and plunged into its source. There, he resisted the Shadow of Randall River Valley’s invitation to join the earth and received a new spell and the valley’s blessing.

• Shade used illusions, chains, and Red Dragon Force against the Gray Stone Giant, but the giant escaped into the manor’s darkness.
• The Church and Miss Lathers’s group retreated after their attackers turned into stone statues, while Shade noticed the black mud growing more violent.
• Sensing divinity beneath the mud, Shade told the others to fall back, protected his belongings from petrification, and plunged into the source.
• Inside the earth, Shade encountered the Shadow of Randall River Valley, rejected her invitation to return to the earth, and received the enhanced spell Turn Stone to Mud.
• Randall River Valley granted Shade protection from plague and hunger, and he gained insight into Earth Shadow.

Shade left the black mud after realizing he lacked the Earth Power needed to reach its source, then used the Time Key to return to the Butterfly Festival in the Wormhole Cave. He rejoined the banquet and presented Dorothy and Leisha’s poem, while the Butterfly God continued its test.

• Shade learned that he needed to strengthen Earth Power - Healing Aura to survive deeper in the black mud and decided to seek another way to obtain the divinity.
• Shade opened the stone Door Pendant with the Time Key and entered the Time Corridor’s Fifth Epoch event in autumn of 4791.
• Shade returned to the Wormhole Cave, where the Butterfly Festival guests welcomed him and the butterflies healed his arm.
• Shade greeted the Butterfly God and joined Blanchett, Nun Perry, and Mr. Lehmann in presenting poetry at the banquet.
• Shade recited Dorothy and Leisha’s poem, Crimson Butterfly, and the Butterfly God praised its story and emotion while criticizing Shade’s recitation.

Shade and the other guests completed the banquet’s final butterfly-choosing challenge, and the Butterfly God awarded its last petals to Blanchett and Nun Perry. As the banquet’s music swelled, the god questioned why Shade had remained so wary throughout.

• After the poem judging, the Butterfly God announced that each guest had to choose the most beautiful butterfly among the 178753 circling overhead.
• Shade summoned Grace White and Helen Black as red-butterfly figures, praised them as his own most beautiful butterflies, and asked the Butterfly God to help them.
• Shade gave his final petal to Nun Perry, while Blanchett and Perry chose butterflies for themselves and Mr. Lehmann chose none, giving his petal to Blanchett.
• The guests stated their wishes, and the Butterfly God awarded its final two petals to Blanchett and Nun Perry, leaving Shade with six petals, Blanchett and Perry with five each, and Lehmann with four.
• The Butterfly God asked Shade why he had been wary of it from the start as music and light filled the cavern.

Shade and his companions received the Butterfly God’s rewards, then shared a farewell feast before he returned through the White Fog. The god warned him that a dangerous person planned to use the coming Feast of the Earth Mother God to enter the Material World, while his companions made promises to preserve their memories and help his future descendants.

• Shade declined the wish despite having won the most petals, honoring his promise to yield it to the others.
• The Butterfly God granted Miss Blanchett and Nun Perry new powers, and offered Mr. Lehmann a chance to win one of the butterfly ladies’ hearts.
• Shade asked Miss Blanchett to pass Earth Power to the Order of the Forgotten and asked Mr. Lehmann to leave clues for his descendants; Mr. Lehmann promised to make the butterfly his family crest.
• Shade and his companions toasted their meeting, and his Earth Power - Healing Aura gained enhanced effects when cast with soil and petals.
• Shade entered the White Fog after the Butterfly God warned him that a dangerous person planned to enter the Material World through the upcoming feast.
• After Shade left, Nun Perry and Miss Blanchett promised to remember him, while Mr. Lehmann offered to pay a price to preserve his memories and leave clues for Shade’s future search.

Shade returned from the past with two Youthful Immortality Leaves and used Father of Infinite Tree’s power to escape the black mud and cast Earth Power - Healing Aura. Mr. Lathers appeared as Randall River Valley’s second Guardian, helped purify the spreading mire, and sent Shade to safety, leaving him wondering whether the Guardians were all dead souls.

• Shade received two Youthful Immortality Leaves and returned to the present, where Father of Infinite Tree’s power protected him from the black mud.
• Shade cast Earth Power - Healing Aura, rose from the black-mud spring, and briefly healed the land and those nearby.
• As Shade prepared to retreat, Mr. Lathers appeared and used Earth Power - Spring Arrival and Healing Aura to strengthen him and purify the mire.
• Mr. Lathers asked whether Shade wanted to avoid the Orthodox Church, then pushed him through space to a safe path near the manor.
• Shade sensed Mr. Lathers’s immense power and wondered whether all the Guardians of Randall River Valley were dead souls.

After helping Miss Lathers escape a battle involving the Blood Spirit School and Stone Heart Demon cultists, Shade learned that her father’s powerful departed soul had saved him. At the Forgotten Church, Miss Lathers saw her father’s statue and broke down in grief, while Miss Benanis warned that Mad Earth was spreading and asked Shade about the Stone Mirror Demon.

• Shade met the departed soul of Miss Lathers’s father, who used several kinds of Earth Power to save him.
• Vanessa Benanis arrived with Golden Dawn’s Followers and embraced Shade, who then resisted the effects of Desire before explaining what had happened.
• Shade told Vanessa that Miss Lathers’s father had helped him and that the battle at the manor involved the Church of the righteous gods, the Blood Spirit School, and Stone Heart Demon cultists.
• At the Forgotten Church, Miss Lathers saw her father’s statue, called out to him, and wept over the years she had spent supporting Golden Dawn alone.
• Vanessa told Shade that Mad Earth was spreading and asked whether he knew of the ancient Evil Spirit Demon called the Stone Mirror Demon.

Shade and Miss Benanis treated Miss Lathers after discovering that the battle had left her legs petrified, while the Butterfly God’s warning and the Evil God Order’s plans continued to worry them. The next morning, Shade woke in Princess Leisha’s bedchamber, where Angelina joined them as Leisha teased him about his interest in women’s legs.

• The witch explained the difference between the evil god Stone Heart Demon and the demon Stone Mirror Demon, while Shade and Miss Benanis discussed stopping Mad Earth and the Evil God Order.
• Miss Benanis noticed Miss Lathers’s distress, and Shade discovered that petrification had spread across most of her lower legs.
• Shade prepared an Earth Mother God's Potion with the Warm Food rune, and Miss Lathers drank it before Shade checked that her legs had recovered.
• Shade woke in Princess Leisha Cavendish’s bedchamber and recalled that Leisha had invited him in after Dorothy felt unwell.
• Princess Angelina entered the bedchamber, and Leisha teased Shade about examining women’s legs while he dressed.

Shade gave Angelina access to God's Gift Box for her upcoming birthday, and she received the Cavendish family’s royal crown. Leisha questioned Angelina about wanting to become Queen of Delarion, while Angelina thanked Shade and asked him to keep the crown safe.

• Leisha teased Shade and Angelina while discussing Angelina’s birthday banquet and gifts.
• Shade decided to let Angelina use God's Gift Box, explaining that her powerful inspiration might soon lead her into the world of arcanists.
• Angelina reached into the box and drew out a golden crown that Leisha recognized as the king’s crown and a symbol of the Cavendish family.
• Leisha asked Angelina if she wanted to become Queen of Delarion, but Angelina was too nervous to answer clearly.
• Angelina chose the task of thanking at least three people who gave her birthday gifts, kissed Shade to thank him, and asked him to keep the crown temporarily.

Shade and Luvia discussed the Earth Mother God rituals, uncovered the knowledge and Sloth Thaumaturgy encoded in two leaves, and considered the identity of the cult that taught Luvia the Canon of Sublimation. The chapter left them suspecting that the cult might be the Order of the Forgotten.

• Shade told Angelina to address him by name, and Leisha requested an invitation for Dorothy Louisa and a soundproof resting room for the birthday banquet.
• Shade and Luvia connected Mr. Lathers and Thomas Granger through their Earth Power and discussed finding a special fruit for the Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly ritual.
• Shade used one leaf to learn about the ancient Mermaid race and another to acquire Fiona's Housekeeping Servant, a time Thaumaturgy that summoned contracted Dragons to clean.
• Luvia asked about Shade's plans, and he said he would visit Miss Benanis before asking Luvia the name of the secret cult that taught her the Canon of Sublimation.
• Luvia realized she had never known the cult's name, and Shade suggested it might be the Order of the Forgotten.

Shade and Luvia visited the Wilde Opera House to consult the Order of the Forgotten’s Canon of Sublimation, while Miss Lathers reclaimed the Forgotten Church and resolved to search her father’s belongings for clues to his soul. Luvia found a promising Mid-Ring Word of Sublimation in the Canon and planned to seek Dorothy’s help interpreting it.

• Miss Lathers agreed to let Shade and Luvia read the Cult’s Canon of Sublimation, and Shade learned that the Stone Heart Demon’s cultists had been active locally for nearly a year.
• Shade identified the stone-transformed cultist as a person who needed investigating for possible Earth Power, while Miss Lathers said she wanted to speak with her father and search his belongings for clues.
• Miss Lathers reclaimed the Forgotten Church and offered Shade a choice of the Cult’s ancient treasures, but she had no Time Key to give him.
• Shade and Luvia examined the Canon of Sublimation at the church, where Luvia found the Mid-Ring Words “With pen in hand amid whispers, write The Canticles of Destiny.”
• Luvia decided she would need Dorothy’s help because Dorothy had the relevant writing and Poetry and Prose Spirit Runes at low ring.

Shade and Luvia examined Words of Sublimation before joining the others to investigate clues left by Mr. Lathers about the Earth Guardian. The notebook revealed how Mr. Lathers pursued the Guardian’s inheritance, leaving the group to wonder why the Guardians had kept the secret from the Church.

• Luvia showed Shade two Silver Moon Words of Sublimation, and Shade was intrigued by one found near Randall River Valley.
• Miss Lathers translated her father’s hidden message, which said he had found the previous Guardian’s relic but could not open the door, and urged his daughter to help a new Guardian arise.
• Shade followed the church statue’s gaze and found Mr. Lathers’s notebook hidden in the wall.
• Shade read that Mr. Lathers had followed Thomas Granger’s clues, witnessed the Heart of the Earth, and tried to become the new Earth Guardian, but the earth’s curse prevented him from entering the Hidden Wall.
• Miss Benanis and Miss Lathers concluded that Mr. Lathers had still passed the Guardian’s trial, while Luvia questioned why the Guardians had never sought the Church’s help.

Shade and the witches investigated the Guardians of the Inheritance and traced a possible Heart of the Earth clue to an old auction at Cassandra Auction House. The chapter left Shade preparing to inspect its account books while the witches pursued other leads, and Miss Sylvia hinted at an invention inspired by Shade.

• Shade and the witches discussed the Heart of the Earth, the Guardians, and the possibility that the Heart was linked to Mad Earth's contamination.
• Miss Lathers recalled that her father had asked her to find surplus funds before an antique connected to the Heart of the Earth was auctioned at Cassandra Auction House.
• Shade, Luvia, and the witches divided their investigations and agreed to meet at Wilde Opera House on Tuesday afternoon to share clues.
• Shade gained access to Cassandra Auction House's old account records, but Manager Kimberley said the damaged and disorganized books would not be ready until the next morning.
• At the Witch Council, Miss Galina asked about Shade's recent activities, and Miss Sylvia revealed that he had inspired a new product she planned to manufacture.

Emma Sylvia revealed her synthetic-fiber stockings to Miss Benanis and Miss Galina and negotiated potential sales, while Shade traveled to Randall River Valley City to search auction records for clues about the Heart of the Earth and Mr. Lathers’s disappearance. He found an old failed auction record for Osenfott Manor, but the search was still underway.

• Emma Sylvia showed Miss Benanis and Miss Galina her elastic, nearly sheer synthetic-fiber stockings and explained that she had invented synthetic fiber.
• Emma Sylvia said the invention had earned her the Enlightenment Spirit Rune: Weaving, and Miss Benanis and Miss Galina offered prices and help to sell the stockings.
• Shade took Mia to Randall River Valley City, disguising her appearance, and went to the Cassandra Auction House to inspect its ledgers.
• Miss Mirya helped Shade search auction records connected to the two months around Mr. Lathers’s disappearance while he looked for clues about the Heart of the Earth.
• Shade found a 1844 auction record for Osenfott Manor showing that its sale had failed before it was sold to an out-of-town merchant the following year.

Shade questioned Miss Mirya about Stone Osenfott’s suspicious wealth and learned that Osenfott had once sought protection from evil. While visiting Princess Margaret at an auction, Shade overheard Prince William reveal that the rumored gold mine was a cover for a huge silver deposit discovered offshore.

• Shade asked Miss Mirya about Stone Osenfott, who had spent beyond his apparent means and once sought an object that could resist evil.
• Miss Mirya described Osenfott as a bad man with a distant marriage, and Shade learned of rumors linking him to a gold mine and William Anjou.
• Shade reviewed auction records, showed Mia a photograph of an expensive auctioned cat, and went to see Margaret at the auction.
• Margaret welcomed Shade and discussed her plan to buy stone statues before she and Shade began kissing.
• Prince William interrupted them and asked Margaret to invest thirty thousand crown in his mining venture.
• William revealed that the gold mine was a false rumor and that Osenfott’s people had found a vast silver deposit on an island near the West Coast.

Shade and Margaret discussed William Anjou’s proposed silver-mine investment, while Shade and his companions planned their investigation into the Randall River Valley Guardians and the Heart of the Earth. Later, Shade used Fiona’s Housekeeping Servant to prepare dinner and received a note from the Red Dragon offering three more meals.

• Margaret questioned William Anjou’s silver-mine investment and asked for a week to consider it, while Shade overheard their conversation from inside a wardrobe.
• Shade met with Luvia, Miss Benanis, and Miss Lathers, who shared findings about the Guardians and agreed to investigate Mr. Lathers’s trail and three auction items linked to the Heart of the Earth.
• Shade and Luvia traveled to meet Emilia Sinode, and Shade used a ruby to summon the Housekeeping Servant to cook dinner.
• The Red Dragon produced an elaborate meal and left Shade a note offering to provide three more meals in exchange for the beautiful ruby.

Shade read a letter from Mia Goode describing her recurring illness and strange discoveries on her family’s properties, then promised to visit her town in spring. Later, Emilia Sinode traded him research materials and a Time Key, while her Unicorn sensed an ancient evil hidden in Randall River Valley City, which Shade planned to investigate.

• Luvia opened Mia Goode’s letter for Shade, who learned that she had collapsed from exhaustion and found suspicious objects and creatures on her family’s properties.
• Shade decided to visit Mia Goode’s town in spring and considered whether she or her family’s estate concealed a mystery.
• Emilia Sinode arrived with the Unicorn Liana, exchanged materials about Randall River Valley and Mad Earth with Shade, and gave him a Time Key for around the middle of the Fifth Epoch.
• Shade and Emilia agreed to exchange weekly investigation updates for Ancient Elvish lessons, while Emilia read and copied a poem Shade had prepared.
• Liana sensed an ancient evil hidden in the city, prompting Shade to plan inquiries at the Stone Masons Association and with Doctor Schneider.

Shade visited the Randall River Valley Stone Masons Association under the alias John Watson to investigate rumors about moving sculptures while browsing stone statues. There, he met playwright Mr. Antonio, who offered to connect him with craftsmen specializing in nude sculptures.

• Emilia left Randall River Valley on her Unicorn after copying the Ancient Elvish poem, and Luvia told Shade she believed Emilia used an ancient passage to visit once a month.
• Shade attended a wedding banquet in Tobesk, where Queen Diana announced that she was expecting twin boys.
• Shade traveled to the Stone Masons Association in Randall River Valley to investigate reports of moving sculptures and browse statues for possible gifts.
• Shade arrived at the association during a worsening snowstorm and examined its sculpture hall and paintings of nude statues.
• Mr. Antonio greeted Shade and explained why the association displayed revealing sculptures only in paintings, then offered to introduce him to craftsmen who made them.

Shade and Mr. Antonio investigated rumors of moving stone statues at the Stone Masons Association, where a witness blamed a legendary founder for a statue he claimed to have seen. The witness offered a more verifiable lead: the Sun Church had investigated the association and performed an exorcism in its warehouse last autumn.

• Shade and Mr. Antonio discussed rumors of animated stone sculptures and agreed to investigate the Stone Masons Association together.
• Mr. Antonio told Shade the police had identified Prince William's would-be assassin as a disabled victim of the Wilundell Colossus collapse and warned him about the Gray Gloves.
• Shade and Mr. Antonio questioned stone mason Peter Torlfou, who claimed he had seen a moving statue in the warehouse in 1853.
• A Nun statue slid toward the warehouse entrance on a cart, and Torlfou insisted that his earlier sighting had been real.
• Torlfou claimed the legendary Silent Old Fleming haunted the association, then recalled that the Sun Church had investigated the building and performed an exorcism in the warehouse last autumn.

Shade and Mr. Antonio investigated the Stone Masons Association’s history, including an old death linked to a Church exorcism, while Margaret arranged to question Uncle Huck about the association’s feud with the royal family. The chapter ended with Margaret asking Huck to help her resolve the longstanding hatred in exchange for seeking a reduced sentence.

• Peter Torlfou told Shade and Mr. Antonio that Old Stone Mason Humphrey had died in an accident during last autumn’s earthquake, and that Uncle Huck knew the association’s history but had been arrested after the banquet assassination.
• Shade and Mr. Antonio agreed to investigate separately, with Mr. Antonio looking into Humphrey’s death and the exorcism while Shade sought a meeting with Huck.
• Margaret agreed to take Shade to meet Huck at the Randall City Police Station, where she questioned him about the depth of the association’s grievances.
• Huck told Margaret that money alone could not undo the past, and that the association needed both the delayed construction payment and an apology from the royal family.
• Margaret promised to seek a reduced sentence for Huck if he helped her understand the association and communicate with its members.

Shade questioned Old Hack during the journey back to prison, learning about divisions within the Stone Masons Association and clues connected to an ancient evil entity. He gave Margaret the information and planned to investigate the association’s founders’ contract with Luvia that night.

• Shade questioned Old Hack about the assassination attempt, suspicious foreigners, and the sixty-thousand-Crown price, learning that the association’s accountant, Mr. Joan, had suggested the amount.
• Old Hack told Shade stories about the Stone Masons Association, including its bargain with a Demon and the founder Mr. Fleming, who had vanished unexpectedly.
• Shade handed Margaret a record of the conversation and said she could seek help from people within the association who might cooperate with her.
• Shade told Margaret that Old Hack knew the Stone Osenfott Family and that he wanted to see the association’s original founders’ contract.
• After declining Margaret’s invitation to dinner and the opera, Shade planned to visit the association that night with Luvia and search for the contract.