Recaps

Lorne accepted Bishop Utravsky’s commission to confront the brutal inner demon manifested by a magical candle, despite the danger. After opening the fight with heavy gunfire and then evading Utravsky’s sword attacks, Lorne cornered him with a Mental Storm and aimed a Ripper at his cracked helmet.

• Lorne judged the risks of fighting Bishop Utravsky and used a pendulum divination that showed the commission was dangerous but possible.
• Lorne returned to the church with a backpack of equipment, lit the strange candle, and entered a battle against Utravsky’s manifested inner demon.
• Lorne opened fire with two submachine guns, breaking Utravsky’s Dawn Armor and interrupting his attempts to summon a Storm of Light.
• After Lorne’s guns ran out of bullets, Utravsky feinted with a Storm of Light, disarmed him, and drove him into a corner with relentless sword strikes.
• Lorne used Mental Storm to make Utravsky falter, then drew a Ripper and aimed at the cracks in his helmet.

Lorne defeated Utravsky in the candle’s illusion and found the church restored, then caught Emlyn trying to take the candle. Emlyn explained that Utravsky had confined him and used the candle to make him believe in the Mother Goddess, but Utravsky recovered and confronted him as Lorne refused to help.

• Lorne killed the illusory Utravsky, and the damaged church vanished as reality returned to normal.
• Lorne caught Emlyn reaching for the still-burning candle and demanded to know what he was doing.
• Emlyn said Utravsky had imprisoned him and used the candle to implant a suggestion that made him want to believe in the Mother Goddess.
• Emlyn offered Lorne the friendship of the Sanguine and free medical care, but Lorne refused to help him.
• Utravsky recovered, picked up the candle, and silently confronted Emlyn, who remembered his fear of the priest.

Danitz celebrated selling Brando’s weapons in Bayam, while Tracy discovered that a mass-produced shotgun matched the one Brando had left her. Learning the new model came from Backlund, she suspected it might lead her to him.

• Danitz celebrated the successful arms deal and planned to raise prices on the next shipment.
• Tracy mourned Brando’s absence, blamed Edwina, and carefully maintained the coat and shotgun he had left her.
• Tracy found sailors aboard the Black Death admiring a Ripper and demanded to inspect it.
• Tracy recognized the Ripper’s design as nearly identical to Brando’s handmade shotgun, though more refined and mass-produced.
• A sailor told Tracy he had bought the gun in Bayam and that it was a new model from Backlund, prompting her to suspect Brando was there.

Tracy suspected Brando was still alive after recognizing that Lorne carried a gun resembling the one she treasured, and she blamed Edwina for hiding the truth. Meanwhile, Lorne chose a Mystical Item from Father Utravsky and, while walking through the Factory District, hit upon an idea for making medicine from common plants.

• Tracy compared her treasured handmade shotgun with the new Ripper and concluded that Brando might still be alive.
• Tracy blamed Edwina for Brando’s supposed death and vowed to find out more in Bayam before visiting Backlund.
• Lorne chose Father Utravsky’s Master Key, deciding to keep the other Mystical Item and more money for emergencies.
• Lorne planned to ask Teacher Sharron about the Primordial Moon and worried that the medicine Father Utravsky had given him would not last.
• Lorne wandered into the market near the Factory District and remembered a video about making basic medicines from common plants.

Klein asked Charles about advancing after digesting his Sequence 7 Magician potion, while Charles assigned him to help investigate a Devil Beyonder’s murders in Backlund. Charles promised to support Klein’s advancement through a banquet and a calculated appeal to the Spades Intelligence Department, leaving Klein wondering whether Charles was grooming him as a trusted aide.

• After helping Little Sun with Amon, Klein considered searching the Truth Society’s records for information about Amon and the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Charles told Klein that a Devil pathway Beyonder had committed a series of murders in Backlund and assigned him to join a detective investigation team and report its progress.
• Klein accepted the investigation, and Charles privately worried that the killer, a Desire Apostle who had worked as his black glove, might expose him.
• Klein told Charles that he had nearly finished digesting his Magician potion and asked about advancement; Charles explained that Klein’s Seer pathway and Society Faction status complicated the process.
• Charles promised to vouch for Klein and outlined a plan to use an upcoming banquet to pressure the Spades official responsible for reviewing his advancement.
• Klein admired Charles’s political tactics and wondered whether the Director was preparing him to become a trusted aide.

Lorne enjoyed his first home-style rice meal since transmigrating and shared some dishes with Sharron before discussing his recent visit to the Harvest Church and the Amon Family Mausoleum. He told Sharron he was recovering from a battle in the mental world, then hinted that he had been conducting a panacea experiment.

• Lorne cooked rice and three dishes in his warehouse and savored the meal despite its imperfections.
• Sharron appeared for Lorne’s lesson, tried his food, and noticed that he seemed spiritually tired.
• Lorne told Sharron about visiting the Harvest Church, accepting Bishop Utravsky’s commission, and fighting a Dawn Knight in the mental world.
• Sharron explained that the Sanguine worshipped Lilith, who was believed to have perished, and discussed the Primordial Moon with Lorne.
• Sharron urged Lorne to explore the Amon Family Mausoleum soon, and Lorne agreed to wait until he had recovered.
• Sharron noticed a strange smell, and Lorne revealed that it came from his panacea experiment.

Lorne experimented with garlic, holy water, and a healing elixir to create a low-cost medicine he hoped could treat infections and restore patients’ strength. After testing a sip himself, he planned further trials and left the story with the formula’s efficacy, proportions, and shelf life still uncertain.

• Lorne used his chemistry knowledge and Robot abilities to extract a crude allicin solution from garlic.
• Lorne mixed the allicin with holy water and Father Utravsky’s herbal healing elixir to make a pale green compound medicine.
• Lorne used a pendulum to check whether the mixture was harmful, then tasted some and noticed no poisoning symptoms.
• Lorne felt slightly refreshed after drinking the mixture and concluded it might help patients, though he still needed volunteers to test it.
• Lorne considered scaling up production, adjusting the formula, improving its shelf life, and keeping its ingredients secret.

Lorne and Sharron entered the Amon Family Mausoleum to investigate its possible connection to the Marauder pathway, but found a recently deceased explorer and a lingering danger. After noticing something suspicious about Sharron, Lorne shot at her.

• Lorne explained to Sharron that he wanted to learn how his Monocle was connected to the Marauder pathway, and Sharron questioned him about Hazel Macht.
• Lorne and Sharron found the mausoleum entrance beneath a secluded cliff and explored its empty passages, following a spiritual pull from the Monocle.
• In a burial chamber, Lorne discovered a corpse with a glowing red Beyonder characteristic shaped like lips and realized its killer might still be nearby.
• Sharron appeared behind Lorne and asked whether he had found anything unusual, so Lorne called her suspicious and fired at her.

Lorne and Sharron explored an ancient tomb, bypassing a deadly Ghost Picture Frame to reach the main burial chamber, where the power of time had aged earlier explorers to death. Wearing the trembling Monocle, Lorne walked toward the coffin as Sharron tried to stop him, but he said the tomb seemed to regard him as one of its own kind.

• Lorne destroyed a Human-Skin Shadow that had imitated Sharron, then collected its characteristic and an inscribed metal badge.
• Lorne identified a Ghost Picture Frame that could seal spirit bodies, and he and Sharron used the Master Key to bypass it through a door in the wall.
• They entered the main burial chamber and found explorers’ corpses aged by a power that had taken their time away.
• The Monocle trembled near the coffin, and Lorne put it on, finding that the tomb’s time-draining power seemed gentler to him.
• Lorne walked toward the coffin despite Sharron’s warning, while she was forced back by the chamber’s sluggish, life-draining influence.
• Lorne told Sharron that his intuition said the tomb regarded him as one of its own kind.

Lorne turned over the Ghost Picture Frame, causing the Mausoleum to awaken and the ancient corpses to decay, while the Monocle appeared to make the place recognize him. He and Sharron explored the empty coffin and a damaged mural that seemed to connect Amon to a mysterious blond child, leaving Lorne planning to show his photographs to the Captain.

• Lorne turned over the Ghost Picture Frame, and the Mausoleum's candles flared as its corpses rapidly decayed.
• Sharron feared Lorne had been harmed, but he revealed he was fine and teased her for worrying about him.
• Lorne concluded that the Monocle had made the Mausoleum recognize him and opened the coffin, which held no body but displayed an embroidered Time of Worms.
• Lorne and Sharron examined a mural showing a huge cross, two twelve-winged Angels, and black-haired and blond babies, and Lorne wondered whether one was Amon.
• Lorne photographed the mural so he could show it to the Captain, while Sharron reacted to his mention of his other teacher.

Lorne and Sharron explored an ancient mausoleum, where they found a mural suggesting Amon had a brother and a mysterious scene linked to the Abyss. After returning with their spoils, Lorne investigated a Marauder badge and discovered it pointed to a gathering in January 1350, then considered speaking with Hazel.

• Lorne and Sharron examined a mural that he suspected depicted the Creator and Amon’s origins, then discovered a scene Sharron identified as the Abyss.
• Lorne and Sharron gathered the mausoleum’s spoils, leaving the dangerous Ghost Picture Frame behind, and left near dawn.
• Lorne and Sharron divided their finds, with Lorne keeping the Human-Skin Shadow characteristics and Amon’s Self-Portrait while Sharron sought buyers for the other items.
• Lorne investigated his monocle and speculated that it was tied to the Amon Family and had let him pass as one of the mausoleum’s own.
• Lorne activated a badge taken from a dead Marauder and received the date and location of a gathering: January 4, 1350, at Babur Valley.
• Lorne considered contacting Hazel to ask about her teacher, visit them while wearing the monocle, and warn her.

Lorne tested his green elixir on sick factory workers and confirmed that it cured their illnesses. Old Kohler delivered the medicine to other seriously ill workers as rumors of a miracle cure spread through Backlund.

• Lorne persuaded a sick Assembly Workshop worker to drink the elixir, and the man recovered after sleeping for nearly two hours.
• Lorne paid the worker the promised five soli and confirmed with spirit vision that his health had returned.
• Lorne tested the medicine on several workers and settled on a formula of allicin, holy water, herbal elixir, and purified water.
• Lorne asked Old Kohler to deliver the first batch of medicine to the most seriously ill workers.
• Old Kohler reassured a little girl that the elixir would cure her father while she prayed for Mr. Scott's protection.
• Stories of a miracle cure began spreading through Backlund.

Klein received praise and a thick envelope from Charles for his help in the investigation, while Lorne met Hazel to discuss her role in the Backlund Women's and Children's Relief Fund. After persuading her to oversee its daily affairs, Lorne brought out a damaged monocle and asked if she remembered it.

• Charles praised Klein's useful ideas during the investigation and handed him a thick envelope.
• Lorne waited at a café for Hazel, who arrived alone after Councilman Macht trusted her to meet him.
• Hazel asked what work she would do at the fund, and Lorne explained that Church and government professionals would handle operations.
• Lorne persuaded Hazel to supervise the fund's daily affairs by telling her he trusted her with the important role.
• Before the fund's launch ceremony, Lorne took out a damaged monocle and asked Hazel if she remembered it.

Lorne questioned Hazel about her teacher, learning that the Beyonder had taken the form of a rat and disappeared after Lorne caught her. After attending the Foundation’s opening ceremony with Hazel, Lorne walked through Backlund alone and wondered whether to indulge more as a Winner.

• Lorne used the stolen monocle to prompt Hazel to discuss her teacher, offering to explain why she had been assigned to steal things.
• After Lorne shared basic information about the Acting Method, Hazel revealed that her teacher was a Marauder Beyonder who had taken the form of a rat.
• Hazel told Lorne that her teacher had disappeared the day Lorne caught her, and Lorne speculated that an enemy might have found him.
• Lorne and Hazel attended the Foundation’s opening ceremony, where Hazel stayed to help manage its daily work.
• Lorne saw Hazel off in a hackney carriage, then walked through Backlund and reflected on his public image and slowed potion digestion.

Sharron and Maric brought Lorne to his villa after discovering a hidden underground complex where Maric’s zombies had vanished. They explored its Fourth Epoch ruins and found a sealed stone door that gave Lorne a strong sense of danger.

• Sharron told Lorne that Maric had found problems at the villa under renovation, and the three of them went to 8 Williams Street.
• Maric showed Lorne a hidden door in the basement that led to an underground complex where his zombies had disappeared.
• Lorne chose to explore the ruins with Sharron and Maric, and they froze a swarm of venomous snakes that poured from the walls.
• The three discovered Fourth Epoch architecture, Tudor Family symbols, and statues and emblems of six orthodox deities.
• Lorne sensed something ominous behind a sealed double stone door and stopped Maric from sending another zombie inside.

Lorne weighed the costs of expanding his businesses, chose a four-leaf clover emblem for his soda, and learned that Weller would become his hereditary fief when he was made a viscount. He discussed the coming investiture with Archbishop Anthony and asked him to help secure the release of apothecary Darkwill.

• Lorne reviewed the expenses of expanding his household, pharmaceutical factory, and soda business, then planned to mortgage his colonial lands for a bank loan.
• Lorne rejected his unsettling snake-like emblem design and sketched a four-leaf clover for his soda bottles, considering a lucky bottle-cap promotion.
• Charles examined counterfeit banknotes and instructed Bart to approach Viscount Sheehan and Earl Levin with profitable schemes targeting wealthy moderates.
• Archbishop Anthony told Lorne that Weller and nearby land would become his hereditary fief and explained that his investiture ceremony would take place the following Wednesday.
• Lorne asked Archbishop Anthony to help Darkwill, and Anthony agreed to arrange his release if the apothecary's innocence and the elixirs' destination were confirmed.

A steep tax increase drove Valterik City's exploited residents toward revolt, while Alfred weighed deploying Loenese troops to suppress them. Xize delayed the Society's uprising plans, arranged food aid, and suspected that the Society's support for unrest might be part of a larger effort to destabilize the Northern Continent's economy.

• Valterik City's residents protested the new taxes, clashed with local police, and pushed the square toward a riot.
• A subordinate reported the unrest to Alfred, who ordered soldiers to prepare and instructed them to use warning shots before following the plan discussed earlier.
• Xize discussed the likely deaths and the risks of launching an uprising before the Society's forces were ready, then sent a subordinate to distribute smuggled food aid.
• Xize considered how a Southern Continent uprising could cut off the Northern Continent's market for dumped goods and trigger a severe economic crisis.
• Xize suspected the Society's leaders might be preparing for a continent-wide war and decided to warn them about the Rose School.

Lorne supported Sharron and Maric’s preparations while managing his expanding businesses and seeking materials through his connections. He wrote Antigonus asking about the Fool, leaving the ancient angel curious about why a Wheel of Fortune demigod wanted to know.

• Sharron told Lorne that she and Maric would leave Backlund to search the Spirit World for a place needed for Maric’s advancement, and Lorne gave her a blessing and a charm.
• Lorne handled business with the Church of Steam and Machinery, his factories, and Umbrella, then asked Xio to arrange guards for his villa and help contact Audrey about a loan.
• Fors asked Lorne to find mirror dragon’s eyes, and he agreed to seek them through his channels.
• Lorne wrote to Antigonus requesting Beyonder materials and asking about the Fool, then sent the letter with Antigonus’s Wolf’s Claw Whistle.
• Antigonus received the letter and wondered why Lorne was asking him about the Fool.

Antigonus replied to Lorne’s inquiry about the Fool, identifying it as a High Sequence of the Seer Pathway and sharing intelligence about the Secret Order. Lorne investigated the Society’s materials list, found the mirror dragon eyes Xio needed, and prepared to face a busy stretch of public and royal engagements.

• Antigonus recalled the Fool rumors in Backlund, then wrote Lorne about the Seer Pathway, his own former title as the Half-Fool, and the Secret Order, while also sending a list of materials and prices.
• Antigonus’s messenger delivered the reply, and Lorne reasoned that neither Antigonus nor Zaratul was likely to be the Fool, though he planned to verify the information.
• Lorne wrote back that he had heard about the Fool through rumors spread by Mr. A’s search for believers, then found mirror dragon eyes on the Society’s materials list.
• Lorne told Xio he had found the material for Fors and gave her information about an affordable soda to use as advertising inspiration.
• Xio asked Lorne to help find materials and formulas for her next potion, and he agreed to help while teasingly calling it a favor she owed him.
• Lorne left the Umbrella Security Company in Xio’s hands as he prepared for a press conference and a royal decoration ceremony.

Lorne publicly recounted a fabricated version of how he stopped the Aurora Order’s plot, then was named a hereditary viscount with a landed fief. As Xio and Audrey considered what his rise meant for their own lives and families, Lorne declined political invitations and received a corpse from Bernadette, leaving him curious about the royal family’s actions.

• Lorne told reporters that he had discovered the Aurora Order’s explosives, destroyed their detonator, escaped through the Tussock River, and received help from the Church of Storms.
• A royal representative announced that James Scott had been made a hereditary viscount and granted Viller and its surrounding lands as his fief.
• Xio read about Scott’s ennoblement, imagined how her former noble status might have changed their prospects, and resolved to clear her father’s name.
• Audrey considered Scott’s connections and abilities, hoped Fors would soon obtain the materials she needed, and worried about the political reforms troubling her family.
• Lorne declined invitations and requests for visits until his investiture ceremony was over, then received a corpse delivered by Bernadette and wondered about the royal family’s plans.

Lorne interrogated Finkel’s spirit and uncovered evidence that MI9’s leadership and possibly the royal family had allowed the Backlund catastrophe to happen. He gave Xio the Sequence 7 Interrogator formula, urged her to cultivate her MI9 contact, and prepared to meet the king.

• Lorne channeled Finkel’s spirit, learned the Interrogator and Judge formulas, and discovered that Finkel had monitored Prince Edessak and arranged for him to be killed during the catastrophe.
• Finkel revealed that MI9’s upper ranks had ordered him to prepare to withdraw and silence witnesses, leading Lorne to suspect that the military and royal family had enabled the attack.
• Lorne rejected social invitations and hired two veteran soldiers through Xio to protect his villa from intrusive reporters.
• Xio brought Lorne personnel files, and he gave her the Sequence 7 Interrogator formula; she accepted it as an advance against her future salary and bonuses.
• Lorne instructed Xio to keep engaging her masked MI9 contact and seek greater access to military intelligence, then set out to prepare for his visit to the king at Sodela Palace.

Fors felt jealous when Xio told her that Scott had found her a Sequence 7 potion formula, then tried to hide her feelings. Meanwhile, Lorne examined his formal attire before his investiture at Sodrak Palace and considered who might pose a threat.

• Xio told Fors that Lorne had given her the Sequence 7 potion formula after she had mentioned it to Scott.
• Fors envied Xio’s connection with Scott, caught herself imagining that he might be especially kind to her, and pretended to focus on his advertising request.
• Xio reassured herself that Fors was in love with her pen pal and was only overthinking their friendship with Scott.
• Lorne tried on his formalwear at a tailor’s shop and worried that something might go wrong at his investiture the next day.
• Lorne considered the king’s limited Sequence and decided that the military’s upper ranks and hidden high-Sequence members of the Augustus family were greater threats.

Lorne attended his royal investiture and became Viscount Scott, but his demigod intuition detected something deeply abnormal about King George III. At the ensuing palace banquet, he kept his suspicions to himself and noticed Earl Hall appeared to have suffered bad luck.

• Doctor Aaron read that James Scott was alive and would receive a viscount title, then joked that he might become the Allens' baby's godfather.
• Lorne arrived at Sodela Palace and felt uneasy as he entered the Throne Room to meet King George III.
• Lorne's Misfortune Mage intuition reacted strongly to George III, though the king seemed ordinary and the Church demigods showed no sign of noticing anything unusual.
• George III formally made Lorne a viscount, presenting him with a coronet, a noble's ring, and a deed to his fief in Weller City.
• At the royal banquet, Lorne avoided asking Archbishop Anthony about the king and noticed that Earl Hall seemed to have had poor luck lately.

At a banquet, Earl Hall tested Lorne’s political loyalties, then offered him a favorable bank loan after recognizing the value of his reputation and influence. Lorne later met royal adviser Hervin Rambis, a demigod who noticed Lorne’s brief reaction and wondered whether he had sensed something.

• Earl Hall asked Lorne whether he supported the Reformists, but Lorne deflected by emphasizing his business ties and friendships among the nobility.
• Earl Hall reflected that Lorne’s role in saving Backlund gave him exceptional public prestige and protection from attacks by either political faction.
• Lorne praised Earl Hall’s banking success and raised his need for financing, and Earl Hall offered a preferential loan from Bavart Bank pending review of the collateral.
• Lorne met Hervin Rambis, the Royal Family’s chief adviser, and recognized him as a demigod through his spiritual intuition.
• After their polite conversation, Hervin noticed Lorne’s momentary reaction and wondered whether the viscount had realized something about him.

At a Backlund banquet, Lorne cautiously navigated political alliances while the royal adviser Hvin Rambis inexplicably abandoned an attempt to probe him. At sea, Klein recognized his own bounty poster under the name Monkey Brando, while Leonard arrived to release the imprisoned Darkwill.

• Lorne spoke with Prime Minister Aguesid Negan, who asked him to help mediate tensions during the Conservative Party's transition and reforms; Lorne gave an ambiguous, positive response.
• Hvin Rambis approached Lorne intending to inspect his subconscious, abruptly froze, and walked away without realizing he had apparently forgotten something.
• Aboard the White Agate, Klein heard Elland describe pirate news and examined a faded ten-thousand-pound bounty poster bearing the name Monkey Brando, which he recognized as himself.
• Darkwill complained in his cell beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral and offered Leonard potions in exchange for help getting released.
• Leonard unlocked Darkwill's cell and told him someone had come to bail him out.