Recaps

Shade entered Life and Death Limbo, found Priest Augustus, and sealed the Gate of Death before returning to reality. He resumed his duties in Middlesburg and accepted new investigations while considering which death-related thaumaturgies to learn.

• Shade reached the Gate of Death, crossed into the realm beyond it, and found Priest Augustus trapped in the gates.
• Priest Augustus explained the three passages to death on Sikar Mountain, and Shade used the Silver Moon and Whisper to reinforce the mountain-foot seal.
• Shade returned to the vampire god’s wine tasting, gained new powers and insights, and escaped Life and Death Limbo with the missing people rescued.
• Shade rested at home, reported Priest Augustus’s rescue, and learned that the Academy was investigating a ritual linked to Death’s Chosen One.
• Shade returned to Middlesburg, played Rhodes Cards with Captain Joel Joseph, and helped the police identify Bain Bennett as the likely killer of a Sete Duchy intelligence collector.
• Shade learned from Priest Augustus that Middhir Fort City’s population and the scarlet gold bonfire sustained the seal around Life and Death Limbo.
• Shade discussed the third Chosen One with Luvia and Iluna, then accepted Leisha’s request to investigate Lieutenant Shuton’s finances.
• Shade received thaumaturgy records from Priest Augustus, gave Sister Devlin information about the Limbo, and accepted Grandma Cassandra’s commission to investigate an antique at Middlesburg Mechanical College.

Shade investigated a murder and a death-predicting boy in Middlesburg, then helped Dorothy complete her advancement ritual while uncovering a link between Grace White and Helen Black and the women he had met in the past. As a Death Outbreak loomed around Sikar Mountain, Shade found machine guns hidden in Leisha’s warehouse.

• Shade solved the serial murders at Middlesburg Mechanical College, exposed Henry Val as the killer, and discovered a relic mirror that could hold corpses and open a mirror world.
• Shade investigated Twin Worship, learned the legend of the red butterflies, and helped Dorothy and Leisha meet across Yodel Palace Street.
• At Night Manor, Shade helped the guests survive the God of Vampires’ wine game, then received gifts from the Saint and returned with a black-and-white ribbon tied to Grace and Helen.
• Shade helped Dorothy complete her ritual and become a Fifth-Ring Arcanist, while a Mirror Ghost attacked her and Leisha inside the mirror.
• Shade and Tifa investigated Simir Passolo’s estate, retrieved a stone figurine from his tomb, and learned that the burden of death would fall on whoever possessed the Eye of Death.
• Iluna told Shade that the earthquake had awakened the Life and Death Limbo and that a Death Outbreak was approaching Middlesburg, while Shade considered possible bearers of the Eye of Death.
• Shade counted Leisha’s crates at Warehouse Number 19 and found disassembled steam-and-gunpowder-powered machine guns hidden among the goods.

Shade returned the Gray Gloves’ stolen documents, investigated Sikar Mountain, and found a demon sealed beneath it. He also entered the Fifth Epoch, gained the Yellow Moon Spirit Rune, and ended the arc arriving at the Raven Club with Sister Devlin.

• Shade uncovered Professor Higgins’s murder, learned the Gray Gloves’ agents had fought over the suitcase, and delivered the documents to the princess’s representative.
• Shade discovered that the suitcase contained plans for a mechanical calculator, and Leisha copied and altered the documents before arranging their return.
• Shade visited Sikar Mountain, where Sister Devlin warned him about Bloodkin, and found the Demon-Slaying Sword sealing Incinerator Sokphis beneath the mountain.
• Shade told Doctor Schneider about Sokphis, while he and Luvia traced several modern religious groups to branches of the ancient Death Church.
• Shade entered a Time Corridor to Year 3024 and met Miss Olanord, Fiona Drago, and Peggy Samuel in the snowbound ruins of Gaddis Library.
• Shade helped the Witches summon the Guardian of the Library, exchanged Silent Moonbeam for Miss Olanord’s Confusion, and gained the Yellow Moon Spirit Rune.
• Shade arranged supplies for the Witches, received Miss White’s final payment for finding Helen Black, and traveled with Sister Devlin to the Raven Club disguised as John and Mary Watson.

Shade hunted a Flame Demon, became entangled in the plans surrounding Middlesburg, and confronted a growing supernatural disturbance at home. Seeking Blood Money in Sin Mansion, he reached its third floor and destroyed a paper creature before the mansion’s trader appeared.

• Joey Barton’s divination showed Shade had died months earlier, while Shade learned about the approaching Interstice ritual and the strange powers of Barton’s eyes.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider defeated the Flame Demon in a mountain hollow, and Shade recovered a sword and artifact as the Doctor gained new powers.
• Shade discovered Sin Mansion near Middlesburg and later learned that it drew sinners inside, while the Witches prepared to inspect Sikar Mountain.
• Shade and Iluna Bayes fought a Truth Society arcanist at the festival, then danced together and discussed the Church’s candidates and clues to the Chosen One.
• A wave of spirits attacked Shade’s home, and Shade, Luvia, Dorothy, and Doctor Schneider concluded that earthquakes had weakened a boundary between life and death beneath the house.
• Luvia foresaw that Shade would meet an old acquaintance in Sin Mansion, and Shade entered the mansion to trade and received a record of his soul and sins.
• An old man escorted Shade to the third floor, locked him in a bedroom, and Shade destroyed a paper creature that attacked him from a drawing.