Recaps

Lin fled the Black Sun Cult and prayed to an unknown being for help, unknowingly reaching Aaron. After Aaron purified the crimson corruption in her, they made a deal, and he promised to protect her.

• Lin hid in a cave, frightened, and performed an imperfect ritual asking an unknowable being for help.
• Aaron heard Lin's prayer, connected with her, and used his mysterious energy to cleanse the corruption that had driven her madness and transformation.
• Aaron introduced himself as the Spirit of Unknown Void, the Absolute Neutral Entity, the Silent Observer, and Lin explained that the Black Sun Cult was hunting her.
• Aaron offered to answer Lin's prayer in exchange for a sacrifice, and Lin offered her knowledge of Crimson.
• Aaron received Lin's Crimson knowledge and promised to protect her, warning her not to pray to the being on the moon.

Aaron helped Lin escape Black Sun’s mystical tracking, then tried to summon himself through a ritual using his own blood. He fainted before making contact and, still unable to access spirituality, considered studying herbs to strengthen himself for future rituals.

• Aaron realized he could wash away Black Sun’s mystical connection to Lin, and Lin thanked him before ending the ritual.
• Aaron studied the Spirit of Crimson and concluded that eating could awaken it quickly, then asked Daili to prepare ritual supplies.
• Aaron failed at a Pathfinding Ritual, then used his blood in a summoning ritual and fainted before he could establish a connection.
• Daili cleaned the ritual room, and Scholar Albert examined Aaron and advised him to eat more nutritious food and drink deer’s blood.
• Aaron concluded that he lacked the strength and spirituality to perform rituals, and decided to try studying herbs and making strengthening preparations.

Aaron took Ginny riding through his lands, showed her his improved farming methods, and searched the forest for herbs to make medicines and potions. After Ginny returned home, Aaron suspected her visit was meant to draw him into the Sothoth Family’s conflict and began testing a potion made from Blood Grass.

• Aaron showed Ginny the Curved-Shaft Plow and fertilizer he planned to use to improve his lands’ harvest.
• Aaron searched the forest for herbal substitutes and collected Blood Grass to test as an ingredient for a body-strengthening potion.
• Ginny spotted a rabbit and asked Aaron to have it for dinner.
• Aaron sent the sleeping Ginny home with Sir Alfred and suspected Lady Sonia had sent her to influence him against Colin.
• Aaron prepared a foul-smelling black potion from Blood Grass and decided to test it on small animals.

Aaron successfully made a body-strengthening potion, then returned to Sothoth Castle with spring wheat from his domain for his birthday. He learned that Sylvie had given birth to a boy but was in critical condition.

• Aaron finished making a potion and asked Albert about the domain, learning that his birthday was approaching and a gift had arrived from Sothoth Castle.
• Aaron decided to return to the castle and bring spring wheat from his first harvest as a gift.
• On the journey, Aaron used Danger Perception in his dreams and found that his instincts were growing sharper.
• Theodore welcomed Aaron and was impressed by the spring wheat harvest and its yield.
• Theodore told Aaron that Sylvie had given birth to a boy and proposed holding a tournament to celebrate the birth and Aaron's birthday.
• Aaron learned that Sylvie was in poor condition after giving birth and might soon die.

Aaron offered Theodore medicine to save Sylvie after she suffered a dangerous childbirth, then prepared allicin to help prevent infection. He left Sylvie’s fate unresolved while teaching Ginny how to make the garlic remedy.

• Theodore feared Sylvie would die in childbirth, and Aaron offered him medicine he claimed could stop bleeding.
• Aaron gave Theodore a hemostatic ointment and explained how to apply it before Theodore hurried to the birthing room.
• Lady Sonia warned Aaron that helping Sylvie could bring blame or little gratitude, while Aaron said he wanted to help and denied wanting to become earl.
• Aaron returned to his room and asked Ginny to bring wine and fresh garlic so he could prepare allicin to prevent Sylvie from developing an infection.
• Ginny questioned why Aaron was helping Sylvie, and Aaron explained that he helped because he wanted to; she tasted the allicin and ran out crying about its awful taste.

Aaron attended a tournament celebrating the birth of the new heir, then negotiated with Theodore at the banquet over farming methods and marriage. Theodore agreed to leave Aaron free to choose his spouse, and Aaron called Tia into his room.

• Murdoch defeated his opponent in the tournament, and Theodore named him the winner.
• Aaron learned that Sylvie was recovering well after giving birth, with no signs of complications.
• Theodore raised the prospect of Aaron’s marriage and granting him a noble title, then asked about Aaron’s improved farming methods and fertilizer.
• Aaron and Theodore struck a bargain: Aaron would share his farming techniques, and Theodore would let him choose whom to marry.
• Aaron returned to his room, felt relieved about his freedom to choose, and called Tia in.

Lin offered Crimson essence to the Spirit of Void, who accepted it and answered her prayer. Aaron approved her request to form a cult but postponed helping her rescue Aike, and Lin named the cult the Light of Redemption.

• Lin harvested Crimson essence from a three-headed monster and prayed at her hidden altar to the Spirit of Void.
• Aaron accepted Lin’s offering and sensed that its Crimson spirituality had affected him in an unexpected way.
• Lin asked Aaron to help rescue her brother Aike and purify him from the Black Sun Cult’s corruption, but Aaron said the time had not yet come.
• Lin blamed her weakness and asked permission to establish a cult devoted to Aaron, and he agreed.
• After Aaron ended their connection, Lin left the altar and decided to call the new cult the Light of Redemption.

After receiving crimson spirituality through Lin’s offering, Aaron discovered that it had awakened extraordinary strength and healing in his real-world body, while also intensifying his appetite and desires. By the next day, the influence had faded, leaving Aaron regretful that his world seemed to have no magic.

• Aaron returned to Blackstone Manor after Theodore granted him the empty title of Baron of Blackstone, while Xia Ya became an honorary lord and Colin received no title.
• Aaron sensed that the crimson essence offered in the dream world had entered his body and made him unusually energetic and lustful.
• Aaron ate rare veal and drank deer’s blood, realizing the crimson was influencing his appetite and possibly affecting Daili.
• Aaron trained with his Cross Sword and found that new strength rose within him as he neared exhaustion, while a cut on his arm quickly healed.
• Aaron concluded that the crimson spirituality was fading, and by the next day he watched Daili with calm regret over its disappearance.

Aaron failed to establish a complete supernatural connection to the real world and considered other ways to grow stronger. In Diat, Lin encountered survivors protected by Olivia, whose ritual saved them but left her suffering from corruption.

• Aaron snapped his quill after another attempt to summon himself in reality failed, then planned to explore other elemental paths and rituals.
• Lin searched the ruins of Diat for survivors, hoping to find people who could become believers and offer spiritual items to her Lord.
• Lin sensed a strange powder near a barricaded department store and prayed for help, while Aaron considered the limits of his connection with her.
• Aaron entered the store and watched Olivia use a ritual to summon bewildering dust and invisible threads that sliced the monsters outside into pieces.
• Olivia asked Aldo for a quiet room, then collapsed and writhed as corruption from her ritual overtook her.

Aaron sent Lin to save a soul inside the Department Store, but Aldo and the other survivors attacked Olivia before Lin could reach her. After Lin slaughtered them, she discovered a blood-fed cocoon in the room where Olivia had fallen.

• Aldo and the survivors plotted to kill Olivia and seize her mysterious powers, while Aaron sensed a soul in the Department Store that needed saving.
• Lin answered Aaron’s call and rushed toward the building, but Aldo’s group shot Olivia and left her gravely wounded.
• Lin arrived as the hunters threatened her, severed the burly man’s wrist, and used her blood-form to evade Aldo’s gunfire.
• Lin transformed her arms into cleavers and slaughtered the survivors who had prevented her from saving Olivia.
• Lin entered the room to bury Olivia and found a person-sized cocoon absorbing the dead hunters’ blood as its heartbeat grew louder.

Lin saved Olivia from transforming into a monster by praying to Aaron, and Olivia joined Lin’s Light of Redemption after learning about its mysterious Lord. Lin then declared the Department Store a sect branch, but Olivia learned the sect had only five members and wondered whether she could leave.

• Lin realized Olivia was transforming inside the cocoon and prayed to the Spirit of Void to save her.
• Aaron accepted Lin’s ritual and poured dream energy into the cocoon, restoring Olivia to human form.
• Olivia told Lin and Aaron about the Cocoon, its Chrysalis element, and the sect she had left, then asked to join the Light of Redemption.
• Lin welcomed Olivia into the sect and preached that its Lord was humanity’s only hope, while Aaron privately considered learning Olivia’s Secret Lore.
• Lin claimed the Department Store as a branch and admitted that the sect had five members, leaving Olivia to wonder if she could quit.

Aaron woke after receiving Olivia’s offering of Chrysalis spirituality and reflected on the abilities and risks it gave him. Knight Yiman arrived near Blackstone Territory with Monica to arrange a marriage alliance, while his disciple Mika secretly met with a Davis loyalist who opposed the Sothoth Family.

• Aaron tested his heightened senses, skin hardening, and silk threads, but found the threads too weak to hold.
• Aaron learned that Knight Yiman had come to visit and heard Albert describe him as a strong, benevolent lord who had shown goodwill toward the Sothoth Family.
• Knight Yiman halted his convoy near Blackstone Territory and ordered someone to announce their arrival.
• Mika slipped away from the convoy and met a Davis loyalist in a thicket.
• Mika told the loyalist that Yiman intended to side with the Sothoth Family and arrange a marriage alliance for Miss Monica.

Aaron welcomed Knight Yiman, Monica, and Mika to Blackstone Manor, then discovered an assassination plot among their retinue and killed Mika when he attacked. He spared Knight Yiman after judging him innocent and ordered his guards to search the servants for the other conspirators.

• Mika agreed to sow discord between the two sides and start a war so the Davis Family could reclaim Upper Green Forest.
• Aaron welcomed Knight Yiman, Monica, and Mika to Blackstone Manor and hosted them with refreshments before touring the grounds.
• Eight-Fingers and Sanchez reported that suspicious members of the retinue carried poisoned daggers, and Aaron accused Mika of plotting to assassinate him.
• Mika drew his sword, but Aaron struck first and pierced Mika's lung with his rapier.
• Knight Yiman swore he had known nothing of the plot and offered Aaron his sword; Aaron accepted his claim and ordered Eight-Fingers to escort Yiman and Monica to guest rooms and search the servants.

After an assassination attempt, Aaron used an occult ritual to locate the mastermind within his domain. He summoned Knight Yiman and asked him to help bring the culprit to justice, leaving the investigation poised to begin.

• Aaron and his advisers debated how to investigate the attack without provoking Sothoth Castle or turning the Upper Forest against them.
• Aaron performed a divination ritual with a pendulum and found the mastermind's location on a map of his domain.
• The ritual drained Aaron's spirituality, and he noticed that his pendulum seemed to have gained a faint trace of spirituality.
• Aaron recalled his advisers, announced that the mastermind was in the domain, and ordered them to bring Knight Yiman.
• Aaron asked Knight Yiman to help capture the culprit and prove his innocence, and Yiman agreed eagerly.

Knight Yiman and Eight-Fingers uncovered Jon Davis’s conspiracy, while Aaron avoided the danger and sent the matter to Sothoth Castle. In Diat, Aaron connected with the growing Order of the Light of Redemption, whose members then discovered that the Black Sun Cult had reached the area.

• Knight Yiman and Eight-Fingers searched a private residence, found a hidden cellar, and captured Jon Davis, a missing member of the Davis Family.
• Albert reported Jon’s confession and a list of conspirators to Aaron, who ordered Knight Yiman to execute Jon and send a report to Sothoth Castle.
• Aaron connected with Lin, Olivia, and the Order of the Light of Redemption, recognized their growing congregation, and approved a second permanent altar.
• Lin and Olivia discussed their faith and hoped Aaron would grant them a Path, while Aaron reflected on the mysterious energy and offerings.
• Barnard reported that black-robed followers of the Black Sun Cult had attacked the group, and the congregation found an unconscious believer covered in cold, black flame.

Olivia, Lin, and Barnard discussed the Black Sun Cult’s attack as Aaron set out to scout the cultists. He overheard Mas recruiting survivors and ordering Rem to investigate the Light of Redemption and capture Lin, then concluded that the cult’s devoted followers could not be saved.

• Barnard explained that the Son of Burning’s strange flame could only be extinguished with ritual and spiritual power, and Olivia offered to try.
• Lin wanted to retaliate against the Black Sun Cult, but Olivia urged caution while Aaron left to scout their forces.
• Mas preached to a survivor settlement, offering extraordinary power to those who joined the Black Sun Cult.
• Mas told Rem to investigate the Light of Redemption and capture Lin, whom the High Priest suspected was favored by the cult’s great enemy, the Mother Tree of Flesh.
• Aaron overheard Mas’s orders and decided the Black Sun Cult’s devoted believers were too far gone to save.

Rem discovered Lin’s hideout and alerted Mas, who led Black Sun cultists in an assault. Lin’s traps killed two attackers, but Mas used a Dark Seeker ability to overwhelm her, leaving her collapsed as the darkness lifted.

• Aaron decided to let the Black Sun heretics make their own plans and gain combat experience.
• Rem recognized Lin in Diat and went to alert Lord Mas, while Olivia and Lin prepared for the cultists’ attack.
• Mas led three cultists to Lin’s hideout and ordered two men to guard the back entrance before blowing open the front door.
• Lin’s thread trap decapitated the tall Unburnt, and her Blood Blade killed another cultist.
• Mas told Lin that Aike was dead and that the High Priest had turned his bones into an exhibit, then attacked her with black fire.
• Mas activated a stone that brought darkness over the room, and Lin collapsed after the ensuing fight.

Olivia and Lin defeated Mas and his men, while Aaron received the offerings and considered the dangers of Strange Objects and Lin’s desire for revenge. At Blackstone Manor, Albert brought news that the earl had ordered arrests and might make Aaron Xia Ya’s godfather.

• Mas used the Light-Devouring Stone to consume two corpses, but invisible threads strangled him before he could retrieve it.
• Olivia picked up the Light-Devouring Stone, revived Lin with medicine, and told her she had killed Mas and the back-door guards with Barnard’s help.
• Olivia searched Mas and found spiritual materials and the Words of the Sun Chaser, while Lin wanted to offer Mas’s spiritual essence to Aaron.
• Aaron tested the spiritual essence of darkness and reflected on Strange Objects, the Black Sun Cult’s likely response, and Lin’s perilous desire for revenge.
• Albert told Aaron that the earl had ordered the lords of Upper Green Forest to arrest people on a list and might make Aaron Xia Ya’s godfather.

Aaron learned that he might become Xia Ya’s godfather and sensed a strange vision, while Ferry Gato approached Colin with an offer to help secure the Green Forest title. Colin listened as Ferry encouraged him to move against Aaron, leaving his response unresolved.

• Aaron rejected the idea of encouraging rumors that he would become Xia Ya’s godfather and wondered whether his dark spirituality had granted him a glimpse of the future.
• Ginny and Sean worried that Aaron’s guardianship of Xia Ya could put him ahead of Sean in the succession if Colin died.
• Colin went to visit Elaine and found Ferry Gato waiting for him.
• Ferry offered to help Colin become Green Forest’s undisputed count and warned that Aaron could take his place.
• Colin stopped reaching for his sword as Ferry urged him to target Aaron.

Lin tried to gain power by gazing at the Crimson Moon without the Spirit of Void’s protection, but the Mother Tree of Flesh’s corruption overwhelmed her. Olivia attempted to contain Lin and summon the Spirit of Void, but received no answer.

• Olivia refused to let Lin seek revenge against the Black Sun Cult alone and urged her to wait until their cult grew stronger.
• Lin prayed to the Spirit of Unknown Void, received no response, and decided to gaze at the Crimson Moon for power.
• Lin saw the Mother Tree of Flesh on the moon and was overwhelmed by its beauty and corrupting whispers.
• Lin began transforming into a bloodthirsty monster, and Olivia rushed in to restrain her with invisible threads.
• Olivia called on the Spirit of Unknown Void to drive out Lin’s corruption, but the Spirit did not answer.

Aaron answered Olivia and Lin’s ritual just as the Scarlet Moon’s contamination threatened to consume Lin, purged the fleshly corruption, and saved her from the Mother Tree of Flesh’s influence. Lin survived with dangerous occult knowledge, while a terrifying crimson Strange Object formed from the flesh that had covered her.

• Olivia and Lin received no answer at first, and Lin was nearly engulfed by flesh as the Scarlet Moon’s presence descended.
• Aaron Sothoth connected to the ritual and poured his mysterious energy into Lin, recognizing the influence of the Mother Tree of Flesh.
• Aaron used his power to cleanse Lin’s contamination and drive the flesh away, warning her not to look at the moon again.
• A lump of flesh detached from Lin, devoured a chair, and transformed into a crimson staff that Olivia identified as a terrifying Strange Object born directly from a true god.
• Aaron also removed hidden contamination from Olivia, while she scolded Lin and Lin apologized for putting them all in danger.
• Lin remained burdened with forbidden knowledge, including occult methods for advancing her path and crafting Strange Objects.

Lin and Olivia discovered the Scepter of Flesh’s powers and dangerous side effect, while Aaron recovered from the Scarlet Moon’s influence and learned that bandits were targeting Blackstone Territory. After Aaron sent Eight-Fingers and Sanchez to deal with them, the bandit leader Wild Wolf prepared to attack on behalf of their hidden masters.

• Lin and Olivia named the Strange Object the Scepter of Flesh, recognized its power to animate living and inanimate things, and locked it away after discovering its growing object fetish side effect.
• Aaron woke from a disturbing experience of the Scarlet Moon and reflected on his pursuit of the extraordinary.
• Eight-Fingers told Aaron that bandits had robbed Dave’s garden, and Aaron ordered him to pursue them with Sanchez and ten men.
• A wandering farmer secretly sent a raven carrying news of Aaron’s response to the bandits.
• Wild Wolf learned that Aaron would not act personally and announced that he would attack Blackstone Territory that night.

After Old Kru and his family were murdered and marked by the Wild Wolf Bandit Group, Aaron prepared to confront the bandits but sensed the supposed trail might be suspicious. He used his followers to gain spiritual energy and divined that the coming operation involved the Wild Wolf, fire, blood, and potentially fatal danger.

• Eight-Fingers reported that Old Kru, his wife, and daughter had been murdered, and Aaron found the Wild Wolf Bandit's claw-mark symbol at the scene.
• A guard reported that Aaron's men had picked up the bandits' trail, but Aaron ordered everyone back to the manor to prepare before pursuing them.
• Aaron fell asleep and contacted Calvin through the Light of Redemption, asking him to offer dark spiritual energy as a sacrifice.
• After awakening with spiritual energy, Aaron performed a crystal-ball divination about the operation and saw the Wild Wolf's marks, flames, blood, and darkness.
• Aaron interpreted the visions as a warning that the operation could put his life at risk.

Aaron raised a militia force after suspecting a conspiracy behind the attempt on his life, then pursued the Wild Wolf Bandit Group. He trapped the bandits with Knight Yiman’s help and ordered their hill set ablaze.

• Aaron ordered every household to send an adult man for conscription and had a house searched before leading his force out.
• Wild Wolf prepared an ambush with well-equipped bandits, but scout Fast-Leg Rosen reported that Aaron had brought more than a hundred men, so Wild Wolf abandoned the trap and fled.
• Aaron found the bandits’ empty camp and learned that Wild Wolf had escaped toward Knight Yiman’s Emerald Territory.
• Aaron asked Knight Yiman to help encircle the bandits, and three days later their forces cornered the group outside a hill.
• Aaron ordered the hill set on fire, prompting One-Eyed Dragon to flee downhill as Wild Wolf despaired.

Aaron and Knight Yiman uncovered evidence that the Wild Wolf Gang had military weapons, while Colin learned the failed attack could expose his involvement. Feli urged Colin to strike first against Aaron, and Elaine’s pregnancy further inflamed Colin’s resentment toward Sylvie and Xia Ya.

• Aaron apologized to Knight Yiman for the damage caused by the operation, then showed him Wild Wolf’s corpse and the gang’s military-grade weapons.
• Knight Yiman agreed to add his name to the testimony about the weapons, while Aaron returned to watch over the dream world.
• After receiving news of the attack’s failure, Colin confronted Feli, who warned him that the missing military supplies could not be concealed.
• Feli suggested that Colin strike first against Aaron, but Colin ordered him out of the study.
• Elaine told Colin she was pregnant, and Colin vowed that things would get better while raging against Sylvie and Xia Ya.