Recaps

Shade won the Golden Pearl Earrings at Sin Mansion, learned that four people returned from death threatened the Interstice, and joined the Witches in exploring Gaddis Library. He recovered the Yegge Scroll and began telling the story of a sleeping Princess, leaving its ending—and the promised Spirit Rune—unfinished.

• Shade escaped Sin Mansion’s monsters, bargained with Desire, and won the Golden Pearl Earrings, Sin Fire, and Blood Holy Grail in the master’s Rhodes Cards game.
• The Phoenix awakened Shade and tasked him with removing four people returned from death, while Shade’s Blood Feast exposed the mansion master’s cheating and secured the guests’ prizes.
• Sister Devlin explained that four dead souls would return as Nails, and Shade investigated Joey Barton with Iluna before Luvia ranked Barton, Sister Devlin, and Priest Latt Augustus among the candidates for the Death Chosen One.
• Shade showed Sister Devlin the passage to the Boundary of Life and Death in his home, while Luvia revealed that her Another Me carried a terrifying Curse of Time.
• Shade crossed Black Snow to Gaddis Library, where Miss Olanord saved him, helped stabilize Miss Samuel, and led him to the Yegge Scroll guarded by a Soul-Forging Skeleton.
• Shade gave the Yegge Scroll to the Gray-Robed Sage, and Miss Olanord used her wish to seek a blessing for establishing a library.
• Shade told the guardian god how a witch cursed a Princess to sleep after touching a spindle, but white mist carried him away before he could finish the tale.
• Shade learned that the academy held the original Sleeping Princess manuscript and sensed Enlightenment gathering around his Destiny Ring, anticipating the Spirit Rune Sleeping Beauty.

Shade uncovered the Red Butterfly Twins’ history, then learned that Joey Barton had become the Chosen One of Death and entered the Interstice to pursue resurrection. He helped the Witches restore a seal, gained a blessing and new thaumaturgy, and returned to help temporarily seal the boundary in Saint Derain Square.

• Shade followed Helen into Life and Death Limbo, where she reunited with Grace and Grandma Cassandra explained the twins’ cycle of separation and reunion.
• Shade visited Grace and Helen, learned they had chosen immortality to remain together, and accepted their Red Butterfly marks to help locate the remaining Resurrection Nails.
• Shade questioned Joey Barton about his past and learned that the woman he loved had died, after which he carried her ashes across the Old Continent.
• Shade followed Professor Magis and Barton through the fog and witnessed the Orthodox Church defeat a Truth Society attack with a Divine Ritual.
• Shade pursued the Clown to Lake Bena, where Barton revealed himself as the Chosen One of Death and entered the Interstice with the Clown to try to bring back the dead woman.
• Shade joined Miss Aurora, Grandma Cassandra, and the Witches in the Interstice, crossed the hostile forest and bone bridge, and reached the sealed chamber with the witches.
• Shade answered the Soul-Forging Skeleton’s riddle, helped restore the seal with the witches, and received Violet Marshall’s Sunlight Ray and blessing.
• Shade used Sunlight Ray to complete the seal, returned to Saint Derain Square to help Dorothy, Luvia, and Doctor Schneider temporarily seal the third-floor boundary, and told Luvia about the Chosen One Ritual.

Shade removed the third Nail, investigated Joey Barton’s plan to resurrect Marylin, and failed to stop Barton from trapping him in a Mystic Lock. As the Interstice spread through Middlesburg, Shade entered it to confront Barton and rescued Professor Raven Ogle on the way to the Nature Church.

• Shade and Priest Augustus discovered that Earl of Darak had returned from the dead, and Shade defeated him in a duel before the earl passed into White Ash and the third Nail was removed.
• Shade spent time with Miss Galina, Queen Diana, and Tifa, then learned from Miss Danist that Sleeping Princess could replace the Slumber Spirit Rune.
• Shade and Luvia uncovered the Death Chosen One ritual, and Shade told Sister Devlin she would be the second candidate if Joey Barton died.
• Shade followed the Red Butterflies into the Interstice, found Joey Barton, and learned that Barton planned to fuse Middlesburg with the Interstice to resurrect Marylin.
• Shade fought Barton, but Barton activated his Life and Death Limbo Mystic Lock and trapped him, and Shade escaped the attack in a dream and warned Aurora, Cassandra, and Iluna.
• Shade helped Mr. Beirut leave the Interstice, then watched as earthquakes and evil spirits spread through Middlesburg and the Church began its citywide ritual.
• Shade left the House of the Blind for Middlesburg Mechanical College, entered the Interstice, and destroyed a Ghost-Face Spider before reaching the ritual site.
• Shade rescued Professor Raven Ogle from a Bone Dragon, used the Higgs Dragon Head Stone to destroy it, and set off for the Nature Church with Ogle’s letter.

Shade helped stop Joey Barton’s attempt to cross into death, then returned from True Death to face a new vampire ritual on Sikar Mountain. Sister Devlin became Death’s Chosen One while Shade pursued Grace and Helen to prevent their sacrifice.

• Shade fought through the Church’s defenses as Joey Barton and his undead forces attacked, then entered the Gate of Death to reach Barton and Iluna.
• Shade returned to the past, awakened Fiona Drago, and gained the Sleeping Princess Spirit Rune before coming back to face Barton.
• Shade defeated Barton on the waters of death, and Barton reunited with Marylin Handel before Priest Augustus helped restore her body and soul.
• Iluna judged Barton and Marylin and bound them to redeem wandering souls, while Luvia, Tifa, and Miss Galina opened the Gate of Death from Middlesburg.
• Shade proposed Iluna as a candidate for Death’s Chosen One, and Sister Devlin completed the ritual and became the Chosen One while Iluna gained part of death’s power.
• Shade returned to Middlesburg, learned that Grace and Helen had been taken for a ritual involving the Red Butterfly Twins, and set out to stop it.
• Shade climbed Sikar Mountain as the dead helped him through the fog, and Earl Darak warned him that the Interstice was incubating a final undead aggregate.