Recaps

Leonard joined the Church of Evernight’s assault on the Harvest Church despite his personal connection to Emlyn, while Emlyn and Utravsky resisted a dream attack and prepared to face the attackers. The battle began outside the church, where Emlyn tried to counter the Mandated Punisher as Leonard secretly signaled a bat.

• Soest briefed Leonard that the squad would help trap Utravsky, and Leonard weighed whether to return to Tingen after earning enough merit for advancement.
• The Nightmares and Soul Assurers lulled the Harvest Church’s occupants to sleep, but Emlyn woke and found Utravsky resisting the dream attack.
• Emlyn gave Utravsky hurriedly prepared medicine that helped him recover, and the bishop opened the church doors to confront the attackers.
• The Mandated Punisher and the Church of Evernight’s Senior Deacon discussed their failed decapitation strike as Utravsky emerged to fight beneath Emlyn’s blood-moon powers.
• The Mandated Punisher charged toward Emlyn, while a bat noticed Leonard winking and making faces from the shadows.

Emlyn and Bishop Utravsky fought the Senior Deacon and a Mandated Punisher while Leonard maintained the dream, and Emlyn struggled to find a way to help Utravsky. Meanwhile, Maria wounded Crestet Cesimir with a piece of flesh from her companion, leaving him sprouting eyes, faces, and arms.

• Soest rebuked Leonard for letting his figure blur while he checked on the people sheltering in the Harvest Church, then told him to focus on maintaining the dream.
• Emlyn recognized Leonard as The Star and hoped to use him as an escape route, but he attacked the Mandated Punisher with Abyss Shackles and was forced back into hiding.
• The Mandated Punisher broke Emlyn’s shackles and raised a round object that filled the area with intense golden light, countering Emlyn’s moonlight and threatening Utravsky as the Senior Deacon’s dream effects accumulated.
• Maria told Crestet Cesimir she would no longer hold back now that the children had evacuated, then attacked him with a pebble that empowered Bribery and gave him flesh from her companion.
• Crestet’s shoulder began growing eyes, faces, and arms after Maria revealed what she had gifted him.

Maria and Crestet Cesimir fought to the death as the sacred bone sword unleashed its power, while Mr. Z struggled against a nightmare attack. The Red Gloves found both fighters fallen and rushed to save Cesimir as Mr. Z lost control.

• Maria realized her luck and strength were fading as the Darkness Pathway’s effects worsened her condition.
• Crestet Cesimir cut away corrupted flesh, then drew out the bone sword’s power and transformed into a more monstrous form.
• Maria and Cesimir fought at close range, with neither able to retreat and Maria believing she had little chance of winning.
• Mr. Z endured a fierce nightmare assault from the Red Gloves as his memories and thoughts began to collapse.
• Cesimir’s broken sword pierced his throat while its middle section pierced Maria’s chest, and Mr. Z’s will shattered as he witnessed them fall.
• The Red Gloves contained Mr. Z’s rampaging flesh and carried the still-breathing Cesimir away, discovering that the sacred artifact had broken.

Emlyn struggled to escape the Mandated Punisher while Utravsky fought the Church of Evernight’s senior deacon, until Klein’s lightning storm gave Emlyn a chance to flee with the wounded priest. As the pursuers closed in, Utravsky received a revelation and hurled Emlyn away before turning to face them alone.

• Emlyn escaped the Mandated Punisher’s grasp and hid in the shadows while the two deacons fought Utravsky inside the dawn storm.
• The dawn storm weakened, revealing that Utravsky and the senior deacon were both badly injured, and the Mandated Punisher joined the attack on Utravsky.
• Klein summoned a ten-second Lightning Storm, allowing Emlyn to seize Utravsky and flee as the deacons withdrew to alert the Archbishop.
• Emlyn carried Utravsky through concealed paths, scattering potions and driving away spirits, but the deacons pursued them.
• Utravsky said the Mother Goddess had commanded him to clear a path for Emlyn, then hurled Emlyn away and stayed behind in incandescent white light.

Emlyn escaped his pursuers but broke down over why the gods had chosen him as the Sanguine’s supposed Savior, while Leonard explained his ties to Emlyn and Utravsky to Soest. Elsewhere, Medici and the God of Steam and Machinery prepared to use Third Epoch records to overwrite Cheek’s data, though the plan had only a thirty percent chance of success.

• The Senior Deacon and the Mandated Punisher abandoned their pursuit of Emlyn after he escaped, and they left the East Borough.
• Emlyn reached an empty house and pleaded with the Mother Goddess and the Ancestor for an explanation, then apologized for his outburst and grieved over Utravsky’s sacrifice.
• Leonard admitted to Soest that Emlyn and Utravsky were friends and defended them as harmless, helpful people rather than dangerous cultists.
• Soest explained that Feynapotter’s war and the Earth Mother Church’s role in border unrest had made its followers cultists in Loen, and he urged Leonard to accept that the Red Gloves could only protect themselves and their companions.
• Medici and the God of Steam and Machinery fought Cheek and the Hidden Sage in the Astral World, then prepared to use Third Epoch records to overwrite the Primordial Demoness data with the Red Angel data.

Medici and the God of Steam and Machinery attacked the Primordial Demoness, but the Hidden Sage intervened and began probing the battlefield. Klein and Cattleya were also examined by the Hidden Sage’s eyes, while a Daoist master in the Western Continent revealed that he had discovered the Celestial Worthy’s successor in the east.

• Medici learned from Einhorn’s interrupted message that Sauron and Einhorn had encountered the Chaos Sea, then helped the God of Steam and Machinery trap and burn Cheek.
• The Hidden Sage watched the battle and scanned the God of Steam and Machinery, but departed after encountering the deity’s civilization scrolls and a shifting view of history.
• Klein sent Cattleya back near the Future, where the Hidden Sage’s eyes scanned her and the ship before vanishing; the eyes later examined Klein in his shelter as well.
• A Daoist master woke from a long meditation and told his disciple Si Nan about the world beyond the seal, including the Northern and Southern Continents and their warring nations.
• The master told Si Nan that the Celestial Worthy’s successor was in the east and described him as a black-haired, black-eyed man who was still growing.
• After Si Nan left to summon the master’s colleagues, the old man reflected that the Celestial Worthy seemed different and that his journey had revealed the successor.

Klein recovered in an underground shelter after helping in a battle involving gods, then dreamed of a cultivation world connected to the Hidden Sage. The dream ended when Medici called for the Fool’s support, leaving Klein to consider how to respond.

• Busuanzi’s divination went awry in a Taoist temple, and he and Xiaoyaozi received Heavenly Mechanism’s invitation to meet.
• Klein recovered from spiritual exhaustion while Richardson and Walter watched over him in the shelter.
• Klein dreamed of a Republican-era cultivation world where a master lost control and turned into data, then his disciple entered a small door and returned as information.
• Klein realized the dream was connected to the Hidden Sage and wondered whether its people gained Beyonder powers without potions.
• Medici’s call for more support woke Klein, who cursed the True Creator for spreading the Fool’s Honorific Name and began considering how to help.

Ileana and Mr. A watched Trier’s first electric streetlamp illuminate the city, after which Bornova Gustav transformed its infrastructure and a masked old man spread instructions that helped residents accept electricity. In the Astral World, the God of Steam and Machinery grew stronger while Medici continued his mental contest with Cheek, whose defeat remained unresolved.

• Ileana and Mr. A observed the Machinery Hivemind install and switch on Trier’s first electric streetlamp.
• Bornova Gustav reshaped Trier’s infrastructure, replacing gas lamps and updating the city’s pipes, cables, and trains.
• A masked old man circulated electricity instructions through Trier’s collective minds, easing residents’ fears and encouraging acceptance of the new energy.
• The God of Steam and Machinery gained prayers and power as His form changed, while He waited for Medici’s signal.
• Medici played the Betrayal Banquet card against Cheek, invoking the catastrophe and challenging her record of affliction and despair.

Medici challenged Cheek for control of the Demoness pathway by invoking his military achievements, changing into a woman, and beginning to act out its lower sequences, before their mental duel turned into a fight. Elsewhere, George III pursued Sauron through Backlund as the Lord of Storms flooded Intis, then found the Magic Wishing Lamp and rubbed it.

• Medici used his achievements and feminine appearance to shake Cheek’s influence over the Demoness pathway, then confronted her in a battle of disasters and swordplay.
• A young red-haired man bought tobacco from a shopkeeper in Cherwood Borough and vanished in flames after warning him that staying nearby was dangerous.
• George III’s pursuit pinned Sauron beneath the law against flight, but the rising sound of ocean waves heralded the Lord of Storms flooding Intis with the Sonia Sea.
• George III found the Magic Wishing Lamp beneath the Royal Palace’s rubble and rubbed it to test its wish-granting power.

George III tested the Magic Wishing Lamp and asked it to restore Backlund after the War of the Gods. As the Lord of Storms devastated Intis, the God of Combat turned on Death, while the Earth Mother chose Emlyn White as a potential leader for the Sanguine and gave him a mission.

• George III questioned the Magic Wishing Lamp, then wished for Backlund’s destroyed buildings to be restored after the War of the Gods in the emperor’s name.
• The Lord of Storms sent a massive tsunami across Intis, and Bornova tried to hold it back with a growing metal wall.
• The God of Combat ambushed Death and pursued him into the Spirit World toward Calderón.
• Badheil confronted Death and blocked his way, while Death threatened to let the River of Eternal Darkness swallow Feysac.
• The Earth Mother decided to preserve Emlyn White and called on him to help the Sanguine, and Emlyn vowed to become strong enough to save them.

As a tsunami devastated Intis, Hilland sacrificed himself to power the Church of Steam and Machinery’s giant sacred body, which raised a barrier to hold back the waves. Meanwhile, the God of Steam and Machinery remained occupied suppressing Cheek until the Fool appeared in the mental battlefield, startling Medici and the Primordial Demoness.

• Hilland learned from Bornova Gustav that the tsunami had submerged the lands north of the Hornacis Mountain Range and chose to protect Intis and the Lord’s believers.
• Bornova stayed behind to repair the failing alchemical embankment while Hilland entered the giant’s furnace core and sacrificed his body to ignite it.
• Hilland struggled to control the god-sized body and raised its right arm, creating a powerful silver-white wall that blocked the waves.
• The God of Steam and Machinery held back from aiding Tylis because Cheek stirred within him, while Medici fought her in the mental world.
• Cheek taunted Medici about his strength and past achievements, but the Fool appeared through the gray fog and placed a Crystal-Ground Monocle over its right eye.

The Seven Lights questioned the Hidden Sage about Gregrace and the sealed Western Continent while sharing what they knew about the Spirit World. The divine battle ended when Cheek escaped, leaving Medici to help Steam protect Intis and Klein to realize his Bizarro Sorcerer potion had been digested.

• The Seven Lights told the Hidden Sage that Gregrace’s attempted resurrection involved the River of Eternal Darkness and that she had combined the Corpse Collector and Door pathways.
• The Hidden Sage described the Western Continent’s people, language, and organizations, prompting the Seven Lights to debate the origins of Ancient Elvish.
• Cheek broke free from the God of Steam and Machinery’s restraints and fled through the Astral World, ending the battle without a decisive victory.
• Medici told the God of Steam and Machinery to support the old snake while he stayed behind to protect Intis, which was flooded across a fifth of its territory.
• Klein sat above Sefirah Castle and realized he could drink another ten bottles of the Bizarro Sorcerer potion.

Amon watched the gods’ battles from the Northern Continent while Klein returned from Sefirah Castle to dinner in a shelter. Klein realized that impersonating Amon had frightened the Primordial Demoness and instantly digested his potion, then wondered whether the True Creator was guiding him toward becoming the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.

• Amon watched Leodero’s battle and the continuing fight between Salinger and the God of Combat, while avoiding the dangerous territory controlled by Leodero.
• Amon sensed that someone had impersonated him and could not influence that person, then looked toward the Loen Kingdom before continuing his walk.
• The Primordial Demoness realized that someone had found Sefirah Castle and that the Lord of the Mysteries was nearing birth, so she considered finding and eliminating that person.
• Klein woke in the shelter, arranged a simple dinner, and reflected on his memories of home and his curiosity about the Republican Era world.
• Klein concluded that impersonating Amon had scared Cheek and fully digested his Bizarro Sorcerer potion, then wondered whether the True Creator intended him to become the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.

Klein realized that Sefirah Castle might be the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings, and that he could be a vessel for its revival. After confronting the possibility that his fate was already arranged, he chose to pursue power so he could protect others and change the world.

• Klein connected the True Creator’s guidance, Amon’s fear of death, and Sefirah Castle to a plan for him to become or replace the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
• While eating dinner, Klein reasoned that Sefirah Castle might itself be the sleeping Celestial Worthy and that its souls could be His avatars or marionettes.
• Klein feared that his Seer pathway had made him the most suitable vessel for the Celestial Worthy, but rejected the idea of transferring that danger to someone else.
• Klein weighed his isolation and the eventual loss of his loved ones against the chance to protect people from injustice and suffering.
• Klein decided to pursue power and set foot on the path ahead, regardless of whether the Creator had anticipated his choice.

Klein planned to challenge Zaratul for a Sequence One characteristic and considered which angels might help him. He left the shelter to contact Saint Tenebrous, then discovered that a divine strike had flattened part of Empress Borough and sent out a desperate summons.

• Klein identified Zaratul as a future enemy and considered Will Auceptin, Ouroboros, and Medici as possible allies, deciding to investigate Medici and the Hunter pathway's Uniqueness and Sequence One characteristics.
• Klein left the shelter alone, refusing Richardson and Walter's offers to accompany him so he could contact Saint Tenebrous privately.
• Klein emerged onto Böklund Street and saw that much of Empress Borough had been flattened, realizing a god had struck the area directly.
• Klein used a charm to contact Saint Tenebrous, and pieces of flesh fell from his arm to form the message, "Is anyone there?! Come help!"

Klein learned that the Churches of Storms and Evernight had cornered Saint Tenebrous and prepared to rescue him without confronting the bishops directly. Leodero stabilized his dual-pathway power and resolved to stop waiting as Adam’s plan to become a god threatened the existing balance.

• Klein received Saint Tenebrous’s distressing report and learned that two archbishops were attacking the Aurora Order’s base.
• Klein decided to rescue Saint Tenebrous and considered how to evade the two archbishops, then summoned his messenger to help prepare.
• Leodero brought his uncontrolled Omniscience under control and realized that Adam was preparing a war across the Northern Continent.
• Leodero regretted delaying his pursuit of greater power and concluded that he might have to launch a War of the Gods before Adam broke the balance.
• Leodero observed the conflicts involving Death, the God of Combat, and the Hidden Sage, but chose not to interfere or unleash a tsunami on the Eastern Continent.

Bornova watched the God of Steam and Machinery save Intis from the tsunami, while Medici assessed the worsening divine war. In Backlund, Klein hired Reinette Tinekerr to rescue Saint Tenebrous, then encountered Traynor just as the messenger returned with a bloody arrival.

• Bornova prepared to sacrifice himself to protect Trier, but the God of Steam and Machinery raised immense walls around Intis and drained the floodwaters, leaving Bornova and the survivors to praise their god.
• Medici saw the walls shelter Intis, concluded that the divine war had become more dangerous, and rejected an attempt to turn him against an ally.
• Reinette Tinekerr told Klein that the God of Combat, Death, and the God of Steam and Machinery were fighting, then agreed to discreetly retrieve Saint Tenebrous for three thousand gold pounds.
• Klein gave Reinette the location of Saint Tenebrous, who was trapped in a Mythical Creature Form, and waited in hiding while she went to rescue him.
• Traynor encountered Klein and said the destruction of Empress Borough had resulted from corruption being cleared away; Reinette then returned and dropped a bloody lump into the street as Traynor turned to face her.

Klein rescued Saint Tenebrous from the captured Factory District stronghold, while Reinette Tinekerr warned him to be careful of Traynor. Traynor then confronted a hostile figure connected to Richard Ernst and invoked his status as the True Creator’s son to discourage an attack.

• Traynor recognized Reinette Tinekerr as a powerful, apparently incomplete Angel and left the scene after helping stabilize Saint Tenebrous with a Mind Link.
• Saint Tenebrous recovered his body and agreed to pay Klein three thousand pounds, though the enemy churches had seized the stronghold’s assets.
• Saint Tenebrous said the other people at the stronghold had died protecting him, then planned to retrieve scattered assets and head to the Safe House.
• Klein decided to return to the shelter, and Reinette Tinekerr warned him to be careful of the red-haired boy.
• Traynor sensed a hostile presence and confronted it, claiming his Aurora Order ties and warning that harming him would displease his father, the True Creator.

Traynor waited in Intis under shelter orders as attacks threatened the city, while learning that his father had traveled with the True Creator to the Forsaken Land of the Gods. At the Chaos Sea, Edward questioned God Almighty about the looming deaths of gods and the fate of Medici, and God Almighty considered baptizing Klein Moretti.

• Traynor identified Reinette Tinekerr as a weakened enemy of Richard and chose to stay on a bench rather than flee under the shelter decree.
• Saint Tenebrous asked how he could repent for failing the Lord’s command, but Traynor told him Intis was under attack and advised him to wait or act alone.
• Traynor learned that his father and the True Creator were traveling to the Sanctuary, which he recognized as the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Edward spoke to God Almighty through a stick figure in his notebook and discussed the coming deaths of Death and the God of Steam and Machinery, as well as the God of Combat’s plans.
• God Almighty stated that Medici would not die and considered whether to baptize Klein Moretti.

Edward questioned God Almighty about his plans for Klein, the Celestial Worthy's contingencies, and Intis, while Leodero’s assault devastated the country. The God of Steam and Machinery was struck down, and an unknown voice offered to take his place if he surrendered everything.

• Edward learned that God Almighty anticipated Klein rejecting his role as the Celestial Worthy's successor and becoming a believer, and that he expected the candidates to destroy one another.
• God Almighty explained that attacking the candidates could awaken the Celestial Worthy, then said he would not protect Intis and that Medici would be fine.
• Leodero unleashed his power over Intis, suppressing the Sun's angels, plunging the country into darkness, and attacking the God of Steam and Machinery.
• Ileana urged the Cathedral of Light's priests to flee and save the children, and the Chief Priest led them toward the orphanage and Foundling Home.
• Leodero's strike destroyed the God of Steam and Machinery's Core and left him disintegrating, until an unfamiliar voice offered to protect Intis in exchange for everything he had.

The God of Steam and Machinery willingly died and let the Hidden Sage absorb him in exchange for protection for Intis and his believers. The Hidden Sage became the Knowledge Moor, restored the flood’s victims and reshaped Intis, then confronted Leodero and asked him to end the conflict.

• Bornova and the Workshop’s artisans watched the God of Steam and Machinery die as meteors fell from the sky.
• Hilland ordered the Workshop sealed and prepared it to shelter residents and children from the flood.
• The God of Steam and Machinery discussed his beliefs and the future with the Hidden Sage, then accepted his death and clasped hands with him.
• A tsunami flooded Intis, but the Knowledge Moor turned the water and submerged people into data, restored the survivors, and reshaped the land into mountains and rivers.
• The Knowledge Moor asked Leodero to end the conflict, explaining that he had promised to protect the God of Steam and Machinery’s country and believers.

The Hidden Sage ascended as the Demon of Knowledge, ending the immediate threat of the War of the Gods and bringing sunlight back after Intis’s devastation. He proposed peace to the Lord of Storms, then departed for the great workshop outside Trier while Klein watched the barrier vanish in Backlund.

• The God of Combat hesitated to kill the weakened Death after the Hidden Sage’s ascension, and Salinger escaped into Calderón to recover.
• The Demon of Knowledge restored the Spirit World’s sky and surveyed the world, judging that mysticism had returned and that technology remained stunted and polluted.
• The Demon of Knowledge learned that the God of Steam and Machinery had left Roselle’s Creative Manuscript at a workshop outside Trier and set out to find it.
• The Demon of Knowledge told the Lord of Storms that they would eventually face a war of convergence, but proposed making peace for now.
• The clouds parted and sunlight returned as the Demon of Knowledge vanished toward Trier; Klein saw the barrier disappear over Backlund.

Klein wrote to Mr. Azik about Backlund’s recovery and his plans to advance to Sequence 3, while persuading Saint Tenebrous to help him obtain the formula and ingredients. At an afternoon tea gathering, Klein learned that George III would display miraculous power to repair Backlund, and he suspected Zaratul was involved.

• Klein gave Saint Tenebrous valuables for Miss Messenger and learned the Aurora Order had reestablished contact with its members in Intis.
• Klein persuaded Saint Tenebrous to let him remain in Backlund as an informant, then revealed that he had finished digesting his Sequence 4 potion and wanted to advance to Sequence 3.
• Klein wrote Mr. Azik about his life in Backlund, Meager Manor, Major General Qonas Kilgor, and his plans to become a Scholar of Yore, then sent the letter with Reinette Tinekerr.
• Saint Tenebrous gave Klein a Secrets Suppliant communication charm before leaving for another safe house.
• At the East Balam Veteran Officers Club, Councilman Macht told Klein that George III would demonstrate power to repair Backlund at the victims’ memorial ceremony.
• Klein wondered how such a feat could be done and suspected Zaratul was in Backlund.

Klein learned that George III planned to hold a public ceremony in ten days and resolved to stop his apotheosis, while preparing to advance and recruit allies. On the way back to Intis, Medici learned that Saint Tenebrous was seeking a Sequence 3 Seer potion formula and offered to help, suspecting the Seer was a Blessed of the Fool.

• Klein worried that Zaratul might be in Backlund and decided to avoid Loen when advancing to Sequence 3.
• Klein learned from Councilman Macht that George III’s public ceremony was tentatively scheduled for ten days later and renewed his resolve to stop the king.
• Medici and Traynor discussed the losses from the War of the Gods, including the deaths of the God of Steam and Machinery and many people in Intis.
• Saint Tenebrous contacted Traynor to ask for the Seer pathway’s Sequence 3 formula and ritual requirements.
• Medici concluded that the rapidly advancing Seer was likely a Blessed of the Fool and said he would help obtain the formula.

Danitz confirmed Alger Wilson’s identity with the Fool and received a divine revelation ordering them to rebuild the Sea God Church, with Alger in charge of its affairs. In Backlund, Earl Hall told his family he planned to send Hibbert to Intis while the rest stayed in Loen, dividing their assets and family prospects between the two countries.

• Danitz recognized Alger Wilson as a believer of the Fool, heard his account of escaping the Church of Storms, and went to pray for confirmation and instructions.
• The Fool ordered Danitz and Alger to help the Resistance Army rebuild the Sea God Church to the standards of an Orthodox Church, and placed Alger in charge of its affairs.
• Danitz and Alger discussed concealing Alger’s identity, establishing the church, and compiling a Holy Bible based on the Ten Commandments.
• Earl Hall told Audrey and his family that he intended to send Hibbert to Intis to inherit a noble title while the rest of them remained in Loen.