Recaps

At the Tarot gathering, Cattleya asked what the Rosellean characters for “Homeland” meant, and Mr. Fool explained them. The gathering continued with intelligence and trades, while Derrick learned that the former Chief’s mausoleum was gradually coming to life.

• Cattleya asked Mr. Fool to explain the two Rosellean characters, and he said they meant the place where one’s heart and spirit belonged.
• Luther, Cattleya, and Alger agreed to pass along intelligence about West Balam’s factions to the World.
• Emlyn announced that he had advanced to Sequence 5, then explained that the Sanguine believed the Primordial Moon was usurping their ancestor’s authority.
• Derrick asked Emlyn for compensation and requested the Sun Pathway’s Sequence 5 formula; the World offered it for 5,000 pounds, and Emlyn accepted.
• Emlyn gave Fors a lead on an ancient Wraith near Backlund, and Derrick reported that the former Chief’s mausoleum was gradually coming to life.

At the Tarot Club, Derrick reported that the former Chief of the City of Silver had failed his advancement to Sequence 3 of the Death pathway and become a monster, while Klein considered what this meant for Ince Zangwill and the recent Death pathway disturbances. After the meeting, Klein and Luther discussed their advancement leads, and Klein revealed that Mr. Azik had traced the abnormalities to the Numinous Episcopate.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club that the City of Silver’s former Chief had likely lost control while attempting to advance to Sequence 3 of the Death pathway.
• Klein realized that Ince Zangwill might switch from the Evernight pathway to the Warrior pathway and resolved to investigate that possibility.
• Derrick said the City of Silver planned to open the mausoleum and eliminate the former Chief, while he also told Klein about a powerful Shapeshifter in the city’s northern reaches.
• Klein considered trading Luther for the Warrior pathway’s Sequence 3 potion formula and identified Ince Zangwill as his target for his Sequence 4 advancement ritual.
• After the others left the gathering, Klein told Luther that Calderón City might contain Spirit World Plunderers and revealed that Mr. Azik had blamed the recent abnormalities on the Numinous Episcopate.

Klein and Luther discussed the Numinous Episcopate’s attempt to create a new god of death and exchanged plans and potion formulas. Back in Saint Millon, Luther brought [Greed]’s captured avatar to the Chaos World above the tide and prepared a Spectator pathway characteristic to question her.

• Klein told Luther that the Numinous Episcopate was creating a new god of death that could already respond to prayers.
• Luther described the realistic dream covering Saint Millon and asked Klein to investigate the Numinous Episcopate.
• Klein planned to join Mr. Azik in tracking Vice Admiral Hell Ludwell, while he and Luther exchanged Sequence 3 potion formulas.
• Luther said he would keep searching for his targets and had captured an avatar of [Greed].
• Luther entered the Chaos World above the tide with [Greed]’s damaged avatar and took out a Sequence 4 Spectator pathway Beyonder characteristic from [Gluttony].

Luther used Gluttony’s lingering psyche to inspect M’s memories and discovered that Greed, Ivanova Einhorn, had created the previous night’s large-scale dream. M proposed reconstructing Gluttony’s personality to learn more, but Luther refused to let her handle the characteristic and decided to learn the process himself.

• Luther used Gluttony’s beyonder characteristic to enter the avatar’s mind and retrieve its memories.
• Luther found a memory of the avatar trying to contact its original body and recognized the carriage in the vision from the previous night’s dream.
• Luther concluded that Greed, Ivanova Einhorn, had created the dream, though he wondered why she had done so and why the Church of the God of Combat had not intervened.
• M suggested using Gluttony’s lingering mental imprints to reconstruct a virtual personality that could reveal memories of Greed.
• Luther refused to let M handle the characteristic and told her to teach him how to create the virtual personality himself.

Leonard entered a tavern in Feysac and learned that the emperor’s failing health had intensified the contest to choose his successor. He heard that Princess Sophia was vulnerable and would visit Vary Ascension Church the next day, giving him a lead to follow.

• Luther left the [Gluttony] characteristic soaking in seawater so its mental imprints could separate before he created a simulated personality.
• Leonard encountered the exhausted maid Valika and quietly used his abilities to help her employer’s crying baby fall asleep.
• Leonard listened as tavern customers discussed Grand Duke Yusupov’s arrival and the rival claims of Prince Ivan Reis and the First Prince.
• The customers said Princess Sophia was in danger and would pray at Vary Ascension Church the next day, and Leonard took interest in the news.

Daly summoned the spirit of Viscount Kozlov Mikhail in a Feysac cemetery to learn how he died and identify his killer, but the ritual spiraled out of control. A figure emerged from an old grave, causing the Underworld’s grasping arms to recoil.

• Daly found Kozlov Mikhail’s lavish grave and noted that the cemetery’s graves faced west, marked with the God of Combat’s emblem.
• Daly opened a Bronze Double Door to the Underworld and summoned Kozlov Mikhail’s spirit.
• Kozlov’s spirit said he had choked on bread, and Daly asked where his murderer was.
• The summoning went out of control as Daly’s spirituality drained away and transparent arms reached through the door.
• White feathers emerged from an old grave, followed by a linen-wrapped figure whose presence drove the arms back.

Daly witnessed a deathly old man emerge from a grave in Saint Millon, and Luther investigated reports of the Numinous Episcopate and prepared to watch Sophia’s blessing ceremony. That night, he entered the shared dream again and met Ivanova Einhorn, who welcomed him into her carriage.

• Daly saw a corpse-like old man with enormous wings rise from a grave, crush a translucent mass, and walk away; she suspected he was a Numinous Episcopate higher-up.
• Daly and Leonard reported their findings to Luther, and Leonard suggested the demigod might be connected to Ince Zangwill.
• Luther dismissed Leonard’s theory and arranged for them to visit Vary Ascension Church the next day during Sophia’s blessing ceremony.
• Luther realized he was dreaming, left Cecilia behind, and entered the shared dream where a parade cleared a path for him.
• Luther boarded the royal carriage and met Ivanova Einhorn, who greeted him as the Blood Bishop.

Luther confronted Ivanova Einhorn over her connection to Miss M, whom he had killed. Ivanova claimed Miss M had been an avatar created to bear the True Creator’s corruption, but Luther demanded to inspect her Mind Island and attacked when she refused.

• Luther summoned a phantom of Miss M and asked Ivanova whether she knew her.
• Ivanova confirmed she knew Miss M and said she did not resent Luther for killing her.
• Ivanova explained that Miss M was an avatar separated from her mind to bear the True Creator’s corruption, and demonstrated her ability by creating a living girl from herself.
• Ivanova projected memories showing that Miss M had gone mad, escaped confinement, and become a follower of the True Creator.
• Luther refused to trust Ivanova’s account and demanded access to her Mind Island.
• Ivanova refused, and Luther spread shadows across the carriage to force her to comply.

Luther attacked Ivanova in the dream city and tried to stop her from escaping, but she fled into the mist as the dream collapsed. Cecilia’s sudden appearance halted Luther long enough for the carriage to get away.

• Luther accused Ivanova of belonging to the Twilight Hermit Order, burned the royal puppet, and fought the citizens after they transformed into dragons.
• Ivanova escaped Luther’s attack by using a black crystal skull to fill him with fear, then drove away in a restored carriage.
• Luther summoned the Death Announcer and caught up to the carriage, but citizens blocked his path.
• Cecilia appeared before Luther and called him “Brother,” causing him to stop as the dream collapsed and Ivanova’s carriage entered the mist.

Luther chased Ivanova through the Sea of Collective Subconscious, where he discovered traces of Ince Zangwill but failed to catch either target. He woke in Saint Millon with clues about Ivanova’s dream and the man she had been traveling with.

• Enraged after Cecilia disappeared, Luther pursued Ivanova’s carriage into the Sea of Collective Subconscious, then realized it was an illusion meant to lure him deeper.
• Luther detected disturbances in the mist and suspected they came from Ince Zangwill, whose hiding place Klein’s divination had placed in the city’s subconscious sea.
• Ince used the Quill of Alzuhod to write about escaping, then fled the Sea of Collective Subconscious as Luther approached.
• In a Saint Millon alley, Ince’s condition worsened, and he wrote that he would regain control before an expressionless old man appeared before him.
• Luther woke in his bed, recognizing that he had encountered Ivanova and Ince but failed to capture either, and wondered whether Ivanova’s dream pointed to Feysac’s royal succession and her carriage companion.

Luther suspected Ince Zangwill’s abnormal condition might be connected to 0-08 and asked Klein to lend him Groselle’s Travels. Klein investigated through divination, warned Luther that the Death pathway might be involved, and decided to join him in using the book to find Ince.

• Luther considered whether Ince Zangwill’s unstable spirituality came from the Artificial God of Death or 0-08, then sent Klein a letter through Reinette Tinekerr.
• Klein received Luther’s report that Ince had been found and his request to borrow Groselle’s Travels.
• Klein worried that using the book could resurrect Ankewelt and that Luther might lose control, so he performed two divinations above the gray fog.
• Klein’s divinations suggested a possible Death pathway influence on Ince but revealed nothing about lending the book.
• Klein agreed to lend Luther Groselle’s Travels on the condition that he be present, then sent his reply through Reinette Tinekerr.

Leonard, Daly, and Luther watched the Feysac royal family’s Blessing Ceremony procession in Saint Millon, and Luther suspected Ivanova was using shared dreams to influence support for First Prince Nicholas. After following Princess Sophia’s escort into the palace, Luther prepared to meet her privately.

• Leonard and Daly waited among the citizens as the royal procession emerged from the palace at dusk.
• Luther recognized First Prince Nicholas as the man from Ivanova’s dream and suspected she was manipulating the crowd to help him become emperor.
• The three royals entered Vary Ascension Church for the old emperor’s Blessing Ceremony while the crowd waited outside.
• After the ceremony, Luther transformed into a shadow and followed Sophia’s escort into the palace.
• The royal siblings returned separately to their quarters, and Luther followed Sophia into her residence.

Sophia learned that Marquis Fedorov had switched his support to Nicholas and decided to leave Feysac to escape her brothers' attempts on her life. When Sasha was exposed as having drugged her under threat, a Devil attacked Sophia, but a familiar figure intervened just as she recognized him as her Captain.

• Sophia heard that her father remained gravely ill and Marquis Fedorov had abandoned her to support Nicholas.
• Sophia told Sasha she planned to leave Feysac, possibly to become a pirate again.
• Sophia caught Sasha trying to drug her, and Sasha confessed that her parents had been threatened into forcing her betrayal.
• Sasha's body swelled and exploded, and the guards outside the palace did not answer Sophia's calls.
• A Devil attacked Sophia with overwhelming fear and desire, but someone behind her steadied her heart.
• Sophia turned and recognized the person who intervened as her Captain.

Luna tried to comfort the black-haired man in the blood-red robe, who was lost in hallucinations, then left their home in Backlund to find food for him. She stole two Desi Meat Pies from a woman waiting for Xio and fled with them.

• Luna warmed herself against the black-haired man and soothed his furrowed brow while he murmured strange verses.
• Luna found her uneaten fish and the mice she had brought had been discarded, then tried to get the man's attention.
• Luna's eyes turned black as she sensed something unseen, then she climbed out through a gap onto the roof and crossed the rooftops of Backlund.
• Luna approached a brown-haired woman waiting for Xio with two Desi Meat Pies, pretended to be a friendly cat, and stole the pies.

Luna gave the pies she had taken from Fors and Xio to two hungry boys hiding from the Pasim Party, then followed a mysterious signal to a neighborhood where Leonard and Soest were tracking a cult leader. Their carrier pigeon appeared in Luna’s mouth, threatening to derail their surveillance.

• Fors told Xio that a clever black cat had stolen both pies, and the two women discussed investigating the Pasim Party and rescuing children it had abducted.
• Luna carried the pies through quiet streets and found two starving brothers hiding in an alley after escaping their captors.
• Luna left the pies for the boys, who ate them gratefully, then she followed guidance from beings in the void.
• Leonard and Soest waited nearby, hoping to track a carrier pigeon to a secret organization’s leader.
• Leonard spotted the gray pigeon with neck spots and a message tube dangling from Luna’s mouth as she crossed a rooftop.

Luna tried to bring Luther a live pigeon, but after it escaped she used her last divination to rescue two boys from the Pasim Party. The adventure ended with Leonard capturing the cult leader, Audrey promising Luna a reward, and Luther waking from hallucinations unaware of what Luna had done.

• Soest sent Leonard after Luna and the pigeon while he pursued another target, but Leonard's Dream Infiltration failed to keep Luna asleep because she resisted its influence.
• Luna stole Susie's treats from Earl Hall's residence, then used her final divination to find two brothers being abducted by Pasim Party thugs.
• Luna scratched the thugs, drove the horse pulling their carriage into a street chase, and led it toward Fors and Xio, who recognized the pursuers and followed.
• Luna's carriage crashed beside Audrey's coach, and Leonard arrived with the pigeon as the cult leader confronted her; Leonard defeated and captured him while Xio and Fors subdued the Pasim Party members.
• Audrey praised Luna for saving the boys and promised her canned deep-sea fish, while Luther later woke from hallucinations and found the exhausted cat by the fireplace.

Luther rescued Sophia from a Desire Apostle sent by Maxim Vasilyev, a trusted aide of her eldest brother, Nicholas. After Sophia described her dangerous position in the succession struggle, Luther learned that the strange coincidences targeting her had recently stopped.

• Luther saved Sophia from the Desire Apostle and killed the Sequence 5 attacker with the Language of Foulness.
• Luther used Spirit Channeling to learn that Maxim Vasilyev had hired the assassin in exchange for territory and freedom to exploit its people.
• Sophia told Luther that her father was gravely ill and that she had been drawn into the struggle for succession despite not wanting the throne.
• Sophia described unexplained setbacks that had threatened her supporters and safety, then said they had recently stopped.
• Luther connected the disappearance of the coincidences to Ince Zangwill's recent instability and absence from normal activity.

Ince Zangwill accepted a mysterious woman’s offer to help resolve his worsening condition in exchange for his assistance. At the Feysac palace, Luther agreed to accompany Sophia to see her father, while she rejected the idea of becoming Empress and asked to return to the sea.

• Ince Zangwill nullified the Quill’s mocking descriptions of his condition, then listened as a visitor offered to help him if he replaced a missing part and assisted her.
• Sophia told Luther that the court physicians believed her father was simply growing old, and Luther agreed to disguise himself as an attendant and examine the emperor.
• Luther asked whether Sophia wanted to become Empress, but she said she would rather return to the sea with him after her father was cured.
• Luther created a clone to keep communicating with Leonard and Daly while his main body stayed in Sophia’s palace disguised as a servant.
• Sophia planned to visit her father the next day and take Luther with her, and her guards and servants returned to find her alive.

The Chief asked Derrick to recall the rituals he performed while Amon possessed him, hoping to learn how to use two Worms of Time before the City of Silver explored the Former Chief's Tomb. Derrick agreed to try and requested a quiet room.

• Derrick ate breakfast, considered his plans, and headed for the training ground to practice his Notary abilities.
• A figure in the shadows told Derrick that the Chief wanted to see him at the Dome.
• Colin showed Derrick two Worms of Time left behind by Amon and explained that he hoped to turn them into a useful item.
• Lovia told Derrick that he had performed two rituals while possessed by Amon, and that both had received a response.
• Derrick realized Colin hoped to reach Mr. Fool through him, agreed to recall the rituals, and asked for a quiet room.

Derrick and Lovia prayed separately for help before the City of Silver explored the former Chief’s tomb. Colin received the Fool’s aid in making two Fate Siphon charms, and Lovia revealed she could cleanse the mental corruption from the City of Silver’s stored Beyonder characteristics.

• Derrick asked the Fool how to use the Worms of Time, while Lovia sought Luther’s blessing for the tomb expedition.
• Luther heard Lovia’s prayer and decided how to respond to Colin’s request for help.
• Derrick told Colin the ritual materials and the Fool’s honorific name, and Colin used the Fool’s power to make two Fate Siphon charms from the Worms of Time.
• Colin witnessed the Spirit World and its seven lights, then called Lovia in to ask what she had recalled.
• Lovia told Colin she could remove the mental corruption from the City of Silver’s stored Beyonder characteristics by performing a ritual and praying to a great being.

Lovia performed a ritual in the City of Silver’s sealed storeroom, seeking the God of Blood and Shadows’ power to cleanse contaminated Beyonder characteristics. As the ritual opened a passage to a misty world, Colin sensed a terrifying divine presence, and pure light began shining from the blood mirror.

• Colin brought Lovia to the storeroom and used the Proof of Glory to protect the chamber while she prepared her ritual.
• Lovia lit three candles, prayed to the God of Blood and Shadows, and severed one of her fingers as a sacrifice.
• Her blood hovered over the altar and formed a mirror-like passage into a misty world with a vast expanse of water and a towering structure.
• Colin glimpsed a powerful presence beyond the passage, sensed danger, and compared its intense divinity with the Fool’s.
• Lovia asked the deity to remove the contamination from the Beyonder characteristics, and clear light shone from the blood mirror.

Luther used the Sunless Cross to purify the contaminated Beyonder Characteristics in the City of Silver, and the resulting golden light filled the Round Tower and moved its residents. The next day, Sophia visited her recovering father in Feysac with Luther concealed in her carriage.

• Luther channeled spirituality into the Sunless Cross and purified the contaminated Beyonder Characteristics in the City of Silver.
• Colin felt the golden light's warmth and benevolence, while Derrick and other residents watched the Round Tower shine like a lighthouse.
• Lovia told Colin she did not know what had caused the light, then directed his attention to the newly purified Beyonder Characteristics.
• The next morning, Sophia set out by carriage to visit her recovering father, while Luther remained hidden in the shadows inside it.
• Sophia and Luther arrived at the Feysac Emperor's bedchamber.

Sophia brought Luther to examine the dying Feysac Emperor, but Luther found only signs of natural aging. Klein accepted Luther’s request to divine the cause and saw the emperor in his prime before an unfamiliar red force appeared.

• Sophia asked the attendants to leave the Feysac Emperor’s bedroom, but they refused to let her be alone with him.
• Luther used his power to control the attendants and examined the emperor, finding no poison, curse, or abnormal erosion.
• Luther told Sophia he could not cure her father and suggested asking Klein to investigate through divination.
• Klein accepted Luther’s commission and asked him to send something belonging to the emperor.
• Klein divined using the emperor’s hair and saw him healthy on the battlefield before an unfamiliar red surged into the vision.

Klein’s divination suggested that an angel connected to the Feysac royal family might be hastening the emperor’s decline. Luther shared the result with Sophia, then followed her and Second Prince Ivan Reis Einhorn out of the emperor’s bedchamber.

• Klein dreamed of a red shroud over the emperor, endured its bluish-purple flames, and concluded that a Sequence 2 angel might be involved.
• Klein relayed his divination results to Luther, who considered the possibility that the Feysac royal family’s angel was implicated in the emperor’s death.
• Luther told Sophia that an angel’s involvement was highly likely, and she realized that the church and royal family might be tacitly allowing her father’s decline.
• Luther sensed powerful visitors approaching, released his control over the attendants, and hid in the room’s shadows.
• Ivan Reis Einhorn visited the emperor, then invited Sophia to walk with him in the garden; Luther followed them.

Second Prince Ivan Reis approached Sophia after she survived Nicholas's assassination attempt and proposed an alliance against him. Meanwhile, Leonard sought information in a tavern but noticed a group of the God of Combat's Glory Guards arriving.

• Ivan Reis told Sophia that her defeat of a Sequence 5 Devil had made her worth recruiting.
• Sophia claimed she had returned with hidden means to defend herself, while Ivan argued she could not oppose Nicholas alone.
• Ivan invited Sophia to work with him to bring Nicholas down, and Luther recognized that he was seeking an alliance.
• Leonard questioned drunken tavern patrons about the Blessing Ceremony and heard them praise the God of Combat.
• Leonard spotted a group of the Church of the God of Combat's Glory Guards approaching at the end of the street.