Recaps

Aaron pursued spiritual advancement, joined Clark Das and Bruce Field on an expedition to the Lotus Eaters’ birthplace, and became entangled in gang and auction-house intrigues. After Chris Toya’s monstrous transformation and the disappearance of the Green Forest Ring of Power, Aaron’s attempt to help Miss White Dove left him cursed and pointing toward the Sothos Mausoleum.

• Aaron bought Miss White Dove’s Dreamwalking Notes, investigated contaminated spiritual materials with Beast, and purified several items to fuel his advancement.
• Aaron attended William Mark’s banquet, met Liliat Thorne and Chris Toya, and followed a clue to Green Forest Cathedral, where he encountered Nicholas Inam.
• Aaron accepted Clark Das’s offer to protect him and Bruce Field on an expedition to the Tangila Mountains, where Clark completed Historical Retrospection by eating his own finger.
• Aaron returned to the underground gathering, where Beast offered a Sothoth Family tomb expedition, then killed Beast when he attacked and took his Shadow Ring and Crimson spirituality.
• Aaron supported Scarface’s Iron Fist Gang after Beast’s death and attended the Auguf Auction House, where Lord Rake bid on the Green Forest Ring of Power.
• Chris Toya transformed at the auction house and was captured by the Investigation Bureau, while Liliat Thorne disguised herself and slipped beneath Lord Rake’s carriage.
• At the next gathering, Aaron learned that the Green Forest Ring of Power had vanished and began purifying Miss White Dove’s curse, but exposed an Evil Spirit and became cursed himself.
• Miss White Dove told Aaron she had dreamed of an underground mausoleum, and Aaron connected the curse to the Sothos Mausoleum while suspecting she might be Lilliat Thorne in disguise.

Aaron advanced to Light Shepherd, explored the Sothos Mausoleum, and uncovered the Bone Worship Society’s connection to Archbishop Roberts. Roberts’s ritual devastated Green Forest Cathedral, while Aaron rescued Nicholas and the authorities began searching for the escaped archbishop and his allies.

• Aaron captured Liliat Thorne, purified her curse through the Spirit of Void, and gained her allegiance and the imitation Green Forest Ring of Power.
• Aaron bought a Sunbird Feather from Nicholas Inam, revealed that Chris had been framed, and sold Nicholas information about the mastermind at Green Forest Cathedral.
• Aaron advanced to Light Shepherd, crafted specialized bullets, and learned from Liliat about her Sothos ancestry and the Green Banyan Council.
• Aaron entered the Sothos Mausoleum, fought the Bone Worship Society, purified and possessed its Evil Spirit, and found the Green Forest Ring of Power anchoring Auclair Sothos’s obsession.
• Aaron and Auclair defeated the society’s defenders, while Oliver revealed that Roberts John Schaller had funded the group and pursued advancement through a ritual.
• Roberts emerged from a cocoon as a monstrous Fourth Primordial and explained to Nicholas how he had manipulated people and events for his ritual, before escaping amid the cathedral massacre.
• Aaron avoided official suspicion, then purified Nicholas of Roberts’s parasites and corruption and directed him to gather information through the Sunset School.
• Aaron asked Liliat to reclaim Sothos Castle and seek Dream Realm knowledge, while investigators appointed Percy captain and concluded Roberts remained in Green Forest City with a secret society’s help.

Aaron uncovered Roberts’s plan to contaminate Green Forest City’s water supply, killed him, and drew Percy into the Invisible Cult. As rival organizations began watching the cult’s members, Aaron planned to use his tomb as bait for the city’s secret powers.

• Aaron discovered Roberts was contaminating the water supply, and the Investigation Bureau launched an assault on the waterworks.
• Roberts escaped the raid, but Aaron possessed him through Auclair, killed him, and gathered his remains before leaving the cordoned area.
• Aaron cured Percy of the Ghoul Mask’s contamination and pressured him to join the Invisible Cult, while the Investigation Bureau withdrew most of its agents from the city.
• Aaron recruited Lilliat and Nicholas into the Invisible Cult and assigned them investigations, then attacked Resno Hamm and left him severely depressed and mentally unstable.
• William Mark told Aaron that an organization had offered to bring him into the extraordinary world, while Aaron discovered a gang planned to scam him.
• At a gathering, Jazz revealed Roberts’s water-supply plot, and Aaron bought spiritual materials and the Secret Tantra of Bones as attendees watched him greedily.
• Lotus Eaters and other watchers tracked the gathering’s attendees, while Aaron decided to remodel his tomb as bait for secret organizations and their powerful members.

Aaron lured the Investigation Bureau and rival factions into the Sothos Mausoleum, where its deadly trials became sacrifices for his resurrection. He emerged as a present-world Longevity Being, destroyed the ruins, and left Lilliat as his spokesperson while preparing to advance further.

• Aaron animated the Sothos Mausoleum, transformed the ruins, and declared the opening of “The Count Returns.”
• Percy revealed the mausoleum’s location to the Investigation Bureau, and Jacob assembled a joint expedition with rival factions to explore it.
• Inside the tomb, the expedition faced curses, mist humanoids, resentful spirits, and gates that demanded blood, flesh, and bones as sacrifices.
• At the pyramid, the factions discovered Aaron Sothoth’s coffin was empty, while Chikatilo proposed sacrificing Lilliat for her bloodline.
• Auclair’s evil spirit and the Blood Cup Archbishop attacked the survivors as Xisthos revealed himself and fought to restrain the spirit.
• Aaron took control of the evil spirit, killed the Blood Cup Archbishop, sent Lilliat and Clark outside, and flooded the mausoleum with blood.
• Aaron destroyed the Sothos Ruins, gave Lilliat a scale as proof of identity, and appointed her his spokesperson to the Investigation Bureau.
• Back in the city, Aaron inspected the spoils and planned his advancement, while Nicholas learned that Sarsrofi had died and Percy questioned Peter about unrest near the Bureau’s holding cells.