Recaps

Lumian and Franca fought Black Scorpion Roger in the Land of the Undying, using the sun painting, spells, and Mr. K’s finger to survive his attacks. After Fallen Mercury caused Roger to pass out, Lumian killed him, but then spotted Mr. K watching from the stairs before he vanished.

• Lumian and Franca battled Roger as he used the female statue and the Land of the Undying to curse and weaken them.
• Franca froze the statue while Lumian used Mr. K’s finger to form a blood-colored robe that countered Roger’s life-draining flames.
• Fallen Mercury transferred a vagrant’s fate of passing out to Roger, leaving him unconscious.
• Lumian used sedative fumes on Roger, carried him out of the living room, and shot him dead.
• Franca suggested they search for loot and leave quickly, while Lumian wondered why Mr. K’s finger had seemed weaker than expected.
• Lumian saw Mr. K standing at the foot of the stairs, but Mr. K vanished into the shadows.

Lumian and Franca searched Black Scorpion Roger’s estate after killing him, learned about his potions and scythe, and uncovered the prisoners he had been draining to strengthen himself. They freed the prisoners and escaped after leaving a clue for the authorities, then Franca offered Lumian a share of the proceeds from selling Harvest Sacrifice to help fund his advancement.

• Franca used Spiritism to learn the effects of the Bark, Berserk, Healing, and Scorpion Venom potions, identify Roger’s scythe as Harvest Sacrifice, and discover that Madame Moon had ordered Roger to support Hugues Artois.
• Lumian searched Roger’s study, found a wooden case for the scythe, and discovered a hidden prison where Roger had been draining prisoners’ lives to replenish his strength.
• Lumian broke the cell locks and freed the survivors, then wrote “Great Mother” in blood on the wall as a clue for the official Beyonders.
• Franca and Lumian packed Harvest Sacrifice, burned away traces of their presence, and left Roger’s estate with its front door open for passersby to see the scene.
• Lumian killed the unconscious Aersai, and he and Franca returned to the Breeze Ballroom after cleaning up and restoring Lumian’s disguise.
• Franca offered to sell Harvest Sacrifice and split the money with Lumian, noting that he needed funds and materials for his advancement.

Lumian sold the inconvenient scythe, divided potions with Franca, and fully digested his Provocateur potion, opening the way to advance to Sequence 7 Pyromaniac. After returning to the Golden Rooster Inn, he heard Gabriel had sold his script and checked on the madman in Room 310.

• Lumian and Franca agreed to sell Harvest Sacrifice and split their potions while raising money for Lumian's advancement.
• At 126 Market Avenue, Angoulême de François learned that Black Scorpion Roger had sacrificed people and found a crumbling seed inside a statue.
• Lumian suddenly finished digesting his Provocateur potion and realized he could advance to Sequence 7 Pyromaniac without knowing every acting principle.
• Gabriel told Lumian that Mr. Nathan Lope had bought his script and offered him a share of ticket revenue.
• Lumian learned that Fallen Mercury had only about three months left without repairs, exchanged fate with it, and visited the terrified madman in Room 310.

Lumian exchanged Flamang’s fate of encountering the Montsouris Ghosts for Black Scorpion Roger’s fate of drinking alcohol, freeing Flamang from the ghosts and restoring his sanity. After learning about the Pyromaniac potion from Madam Magician, Lumian discovered the next morning that Flamang had died by suicide.

• Lumian stabbed Flamang with Fallen Mercury and exchanged his fate of encountering the Montsouris Ghosts for Black Scorpion Roger’s fate of drinking alcohol.
• Flamang regained his sanity, followed Lumian to the basement bar, and told him about his life and his research into Trier’s rock strata.
• Lumian wrote to Madam Magician about his recent actions and asked for the Pyromaniac potion; she offered the formula as a reward and the Beyonder Characteristic for 30,000 felkine.
• Roul told Lumian that Flamang was dead, and Lumian found him hanging in Room 310 with a note asking to be buried in the Tomb-Lamp Cellar.

Lumian reflected on Flaman’s suicide and learned that the Aurora Order had claimed responsibility for killing the Stinger Gang leaders, prompting an upcoming gang sweep. The chapter ended when Jenna recognized the cleaning woman Elodie as her mother, revealing her hidden family connection to Lumian.

• Police officers investigated Flaman’s death and took his body away, while Lumian reflected on how Flaman’s fate resembled a possible ending for himself.
• Jenna visited Lumian and asked whether he had killed the Stinger Gang’s leaders, but he denied doing so.
• Charlie told Lumian that the Aurora Order had claimed responsibility for the killings and that authorities would sweep the Market District gangs that afternoon.
• Lumian told Jenna he would attend an Occult Gathering and decided not to warn others about the sweep, while Jenna went to find Franca.
• Jenna recognized Elodie as her mother, and Elodie called her Celia and asked why she was there wearing that makeup.

Jenna told Lumian about her family’s hardships and her hope of becoming a stage actor, while Lumian prepared to meet Mr. K. Mr. K initiated Lumian into the Aurora Order and tasked him with investigating Gardner Martin and the Iron and Blood Cross Order.

• Jenna explained that her mother had once been a stage actor and that her family was struggling with debt after her father died from a factory accident.
• Jenna said she planned to work as an underground singer to save for theater tuition and help her mother and brother, and Lumian felt his spirits lift as he listened.
• Lumian performed a ritual seeking the Fool’s protection before setting out to meet Mr. K.
• Mr. K told Lumian to choose three parts of the True Creator’s Honorific Name and pray, and Lumian experienced a terrifying presence behind a curtain of shadows.
• Mr. K welcomed Lumian as a brother in the Aurora Order and revealed that Gardner Martin belonged to the Iron and Blood Cross Order.
• Mr. K tasked Lumian with infiltrating the Iron and Blood Cross Order to learn why it had distanced itself from the True Creator and what significant plan it was pursuing.

Lumian joined the Aurora Order’s high-risk mission to investigate the Iron and Blood Cross Order and received funds and a warning item from Mr. K. After earning more money at a gathering, he returned home to find Madam Magician’s next assignment and the Pyromaniac potion formula.

• Lumian asked Mr. K about the Iron and Blood Cross Order and learned its plans only partly involved Hugues Artois and that Gardner Martin’s transported item required investigation.
• Mr. K gave Lumian ten thousand felkins, preached about the Aurora Order’s beliefs and strength, and handed him a severed finger to use in an emergency.
• Lumian visited the Spiritism magazine library, sold unused monster materials at a gathering, and brought his funds to 14,710 felkins and 24 kopeks.
• Roul told Lumian that scavengers had collected valuable rubbish from a celebration banquet at the Member of Parliament’s office.
• Lumian found a note from Madam Magician telling him to complete Mr. K’s assignment and providing the Pyromaniac potion formula.

Lumian visited Franca to ask her to find supplementary ingredients for the Pyromaniac potion and help locate an Artisan to repair Fallen Mercury. After taking a twelve-thousand-felkin advance from the Breeze Ballroom, he spotted Gardner Martin leaving Hugues Artois's banquet and told him about the money.

• Franca told Lumian that Gardner Martin had helped settle the police sweep of the gangs, while Jenna had avoided it by staying home with her.
• Lumian asked Franca to look for Fire Salamander blood, Magma Pyroxene powder, and red-crowned impatiens, and accepted her offer to buy out his share of the Harvest Sacrifice and lend him money if needed.
• Lumian asked Franca to find an Artisan willing to repair Fallen Mercury, though she warned that its suspected corruption might deter them.
• Lumian took a twelve-thousand-felkin advance from the Breeze Ballroom, bringing his available funds to 26,710 felkin.
• Lumian watched guests leave Hugues Artois's banquet, saw Gardner Martin, greeted him, and then revealed that he had taken the advance from the ballroom.

Lumian asked Gardner Martin for money to advance to Sequence 7 and secured his help finding the Pyromaniac potion’s supplementary ingredients. After giving his savings to Madam Magician as an advance, he returned to the inn, where Madame Michel woke him with news that Roul had suddenly fallen ill.

• Lumian told Gardner Martin he planned to become a Sequence 7 Pyromaniac, and Gardner Martin agreed to help him find the supplementary ingredients.
• Gardner Martin warned Lumian to check his condition before taking the potion, and Lumian went to his White Coat Street safe house with his money.
• Lumian sent Madam Magician 26,000 felkine as an advance payment for the Pyromaniac Beyonder Characteristic and received her confirmation.
• Lumian passed Flamang’s open room and overheard Roul and Michel dreaming about saving enough money to return to Olmuir and buy land.
• In the middle of the night, Madame Michel knocked on Lumian’s door and asked him to carry the suddenly ill Roul to a clinic.

Lumian took the gravely ill Roul to a clinic and used a Healing Potion to stop a seemingly supernatural disease. After arranging for Roul and Michel to sleep in another room, Lumian woke to Michel’s sobs and learned that Roul had died.

• Lumian carried Roul to the Roblin Clinic, where a doctor treated his high fever while Michel paid the fee.
• Lumian saw blisters filled with pus spread across Roul’s skin and suspected a supernatural illness; Michel insisted on transferring him to Holy Palace Hospital.
• Lumian secretly gave Roul half of a Healing Potion, and the blisters vanished as his condition improved.
• Roul woke and could recall nothing unusual before falling ill, so Lumian found no clear cause and moved the couple to Room 307 for the night.
• Lumian woke to a woman sobbing, went to Room 307, and found Michel kneeling beside the bed; she told him Roul was dead.

Lumian traced Roul’s fatal illness to a contaminated handkerchief and discovered that Madame Michel later hanged herself beside Roul’s corpse. With Franca’s help, he identified the handkerchief’s owner as a member of Hugues Artois’s campaign team.

• Lumian found Roul dead in Room 307 and discovered that a silk handkerchief in the washroom had come from the rubbish and contained phlegm.
• Madame Michel said Roul had kept the handkerchief after washing it, and Lumian carefully wrapped it without touching it directly.
• Lumian carried Roul’s body back to Room 302, where Madame Michel bought food, ate and drank beside him, then set fire to her money and hanged herself.
• Lumian brought the handkerchief to Franca, who detected active spirits on it and divined the identity of its owner.
• Lumian recognized the handkerchief’s owner as a member of Hugues Artois’s campaign team who had stood behind a red-haired woman.

After Roul and Madame Michel died in Room 302, Lumian suspected that Roul’s illness came from a supernatural source and tried to alert the authorities. When the police treated the deaths as ordinary, he traced the obstruction to the Member of Parliament’s office and discovered Tibert was behind the infection.

• Lumian told Franca that he recognized the man connected to Roul and Michel as one of Hugues Artois’s campaign workers, and Franca advised leaving the investigation to the official Beyonders.
• Lumian returned to the Golden Rooster Inn, where he found Roul’s corpse and Madame Michel’s body still in Room 302.
• Lumian explained the deaths and the suspected contaminated handkerchief to two policemen, but they later classified the case as illness and suicide and took both bodies away.
• Lumian followed the police to the Market District Police Headquarters, then watched a chief inspector enter the Member of Parliament’s office.
• In the parliamentary secretary’s office, Tibert collected his recovered handkerchief and admitted that his infectious phlegm had killed people, while the secretary warned him not to cause another incident.

Lumian learned that the MP’s office and Police Headquarters had suppressed evidence of a supernatural disease, but he agreed with Franca to inform the Official Beyonders discreetly. That evening, an explosion at the Goodwell Chemical Factory left Jenna terrified because her mother was there.

• Lumian watched Bonno Goodwell leave the MP’s office and saw a Chief Inspector return to Police Headquarters.
• Lumian told Franca what he had witnessed, and she urged him to be patient and report the case to the Official Beyonders through her channels.
• Jenna told Lumian her mother planned to watch her sing, and Lumian suggested a love-themed performance at the Breeze Ballroom.
• Lumian proposed that Jenna and her family collect their accident compensation directly from the factory owner, but Jenna said she needed time to think.
• Jenna arrived at the Breeze Ballroom in a modest evening dress, and a distant explosion shook the café.
• Louis reported that the Goodwell Chemical Factory had exploded, and Jenna said her mother was there.

After the Goodwell Chemical Factory explosion, Lumian helped Jenna find her mother, Elodie, among the injured and used a healing potion to stabilize her. As authorities extinguished the fire and treated the factory, Jenna and her brother Julian prepared to get Elodie to a hospital.

• Jenna rushed toward the burning Goodwell Chemical Factory, and Lumian caught up and persuaded her to search among the rescued casualties instead of entering without protective equipment.
• Lumian found Elodie unconscious and badly burned in the square outside the Steam Whistle Church, and Jenna recognized her mother.
• Lumian gave Elodie a mystical healing potion, which rapidly healed her burns and eased her chemical injuries enough to put her life out of immediate danger.
• A sudden storm extinguished the factory fires and stopped the secondary explosions, then an airship sprayed liquid over the site as the pungent fumes began to fade.
• Julian arrived, and Lumian urged him to find a doctor and arrange a carriage to take Elodie to the hospital.

After Elodie was hospitalized for injuries from the Goodwell Chemical Factory accident, Jenna committed to paying for her treatment and asked Lumian for help. Lumian encouraged her to reconsider how she dealt with the factory owner, then received the supplementary ingredients for the Pyromaniac potion and told Franca that the factory owner had visited a Member of Parliament.

• Lumian told Jenna she could have sought occult commissions and resources to help her mother, and Elodie was taken to Holy Palace Hospital for treatment.
• A doctor warned Jenna that Elodie might need months of care and would remain frail; Jenna agreed to continue treatment and paid a 200-felkine deposit.
• Jenna asked Lumian to lend her money, and he offered help while proposing they kidnap the factory owner to recover the compensation her family was owed.
• Lumian returned to Breeze Ballroom and found Fire Salamander blood, Red-Crowned Impatiens powder, and Magma Pyroxene in the office safe.
• Lumian visited Franca to borrow 4,000 felkine and told her the Goodwell Chemical Factory owner had visited a Member of Parliament's office that morning.

After the Goodwell Chemical Factory explosion, Lumian and Franca learned that Jenna’s mother, Elodie, had been injured but was saved, and Franca went to visit her. Lumian prepared and drank the Pyromaniac potion after defining provocation as defiance, leaving his advancement underway.

• Franca warned Lumian that the factory explosion might have been part of a ritual and urged him to alert the authorities about Hugues Artois’s role.
• Lumian told Franca that Jenna’s mother, Elodie, had been badly injured in the explosion but was saved with his Healing Potion; Franca hurried to Holy Palace Hospital.
• Franca lent Lumian 4,000 Felkine for his advancement and agreed to contact the authorities before visiting Jenna.
• At the hospital, Jenna reassured Julian that her friends would help pay for Elodie’s treatment, and Franca arrived at the ward.
• Lumian received the Pyromaniac Beyonder characteristic and mixed it with the supplementary ingredients to make the potion.
• Lumian resolved that provocation symbolized defiance and drank the Pyromaniac potion.

Lumian endured the painful transformation and advanced to Sequence 7, becoming a Pyromaniac, then tested his new abilities. He left to watch Hugues Artois’s office, determined to start a fire against the man despite the danger.

• Lumian resisted the agony of advancing and recovered as the burning marks on his body healed.
• Lumian discovered that his new Pyromaniac abilities included improved Spirit Vision and Danger Sense, flame control, fire spells, and strong resistance to flames.
• Lumian tested his crimson and white-hot flames, formed a flaming sword, and infused Hedsey’s dagger with fire.
• Lumian changed clothes and went to Market Avenue to observe Hugues Artois’s office from across the alley.
• Lumian considered how to set a fire against Hugues Artois, knowing he was outmatched by the Evil God's Favored around him.

Lumian watched the parliamentary office to learn the routines and locations of Hugues Artois and his associates, then disguised himself as Bonno Goodwell to enter the building. The chapter ended as he reached the office of the coughing assistant secretary, Tibert Jacques, and knocked on the door.

• Lumian observed the parliamentary office and identified the rooms occupied by Hugues Artois, the red-haired lady, and several campaign staff members, including the man who spat phlegm.
• Lumian prayed for protection from divination, burned off his distinctive hair, and bought clothes, a wig, and a false beard.
• Lumian disguised himself as Bonno Goodwell and hid his vagrant clothes in a quarry cavern.
• Lumian returned to the parliamentary office, where the gatekeepers recognized him as Mr. Goodwell and let him pass.
• Lumian reached the second-floor office labeled for assistant secretary Tibert Jacques and knocked on the door.

Lumian attacked Tibert Jacques in his office, killed him with a delayed fire infusion, and staged the scene to implicate the Aurora Order. Hugues Artois and his team found Tibert’s remains, while the red-haired lady noted that Tibert’s recent crimes could also point suspicion toward Hugues.

• Lumian entered Tibert Jacques’s office and discovered that Tibert was weaker than he had expected.
• Lumian engulfed himself in a Flame Cloak, beat Tibert while taunting him, and prevented him from calling for help as his disease-based attacks failed.
• Lumian left Mr. K’s fingerprint beside Tibert, bowed, and escaped through the balcony before Tibert exploded from the fire infusion Lumian had placed inside him.
• Hugues Artois, the red-haired lady, and others found Tibert’s remains, and the red-haired lady suggested that the attacker’s methods resembled those of the Aurora Order.
• The secretary with gold-rimmed glasses revealed that Tibert had caused the deaths of two elderly scavengers, leading the red-haired lady to observe that Tibert’s death could point toward Hugues.

Hugues Artois reassured his campaign team after Tibert’s murder and delivered a speech defending worship of the Great Ones as humanity’s path to a better future. Elsewhere, Lumian destroyed evidence of his attack, Valentine challenged restrictions on investigating Artois, and Jenna’s mother Elodie woke from her coma before falling asleep again.

• Hugues Artois dismissed the threat after Tibert’s death, then urged Cassandra, Rhone, Marguerite, and Bodouva to see their cause as just and the Great Ones as humanity’s route to cosmic civilization.
• Cassandra praised Artois’s speech and said That One’s gifts included a power called “Speaker”; Artois told the team to continue as planned.
• Lumian returned to his vagrant disguise in Underground Trier and used crimson fire ravens to burn the clothes and objects tied to his attack.
• Valentine urged Angoulême to investigate Hugues Artois, but Angoulême explained that a Church-notarized contract limited them to questioning him without compelling evidence.
• Elodie awoke in Holy Palace Hospital, reassured Jenna that she had thought she would see her husband, then briefly spoke with her daughter before falling asleep again.

Lumian admitted to Franca that he had killed Hugues Artois's assistant secretary after advancing to Pyromaniac, while Jenna reassured her mother that her treatment costs were covered. Elodie secretly learned the likely cost of treatment, then jumped from the hospital window and died, leaving Jenna devastated.

• Lumian told Franca he had killed Tibert after taking the Pyromaniac potion, and Franca helped him dye his hair back to avoid suspicion.
• Jenna told Elodie that her hospital treatment would take months and that Franca had lent them the money to pay for it.
• Elodie learned from a doctor that her treatment might last five to seven months and cost several hundred felkine a week.
• Jenna left to buy food while Elodie spoke with Julian, then sent him to fetch a doctor after claiming she felt unwell.
• Elodie removed her IV and jumped from the hospital window, and Jenna found her dead outside.

After Elodie died by suicide following the news of her treatment costs, Lumian and Franca helped Jenna face her grief and pointed to the people and institutions responsible for her family’s suffering. As they returned from the hospital, Jenna resolved to visit Bonno Goodwell that night.

• Franca told Lumian that Jenna’s mother, Elodie, had jumped from the hospital’s sixth floor after learning the cost and duration of her treatment.
• At the hospital, Lumian told Jenna that neither she nor her family was to blame, and accused Bonno Goodwell, the factory owner, and the government of causing their suffering.
• Lumian suggested that the Goodwell Chemical Factory explosion might have been a murder or sacrifice involving evil god worshippers, prompting Jenna to break down in tears.
• Jenna and Julian prayed during Elodie’s last rites and decided to cremate her and take her ashes to the Catacombs once the crematorium was available.
• On the way home, Franca encouraged Jenna to support Julian, while Lumian reminded her to watch her own mental state.
• Jenna told Lumian and Franca that she wanted to pay Bonno Goodwell a visit that night.

Lumian, Franca, and Jenna confronted Bonno Goodwell and forced him to admit that he arranged the chemical factory explosion after being encouraged by Member of Parliament Hugues Artois's secretaries. They fled when someone arrived, and the Purifiers began questioning Goodwell about his faith and his visit to the Parliamentarian's Office.

• At a banquet, Bonno Goodwell asked Inspector Travis Everett for police protection, while Everett warned him that injured workers and their families were still waiting for compensation.
• Lumian, Franca, and Jenna entered Goodwell's bedroom, subdued him and his wife, and forced Goodwell to drink Truth Serum.
• Lumian bluffed that he knew Goodwell had caused the factory explosion, and Goodwell admitted that he had arranged it.
• Goodwell named Rhone and Tibert, secretaries to Member of Parliament Hugues Artois, as the men who persuaded him to blow up the factory for insurance and rebuilding funds.
• When someone rang the gate bell, Jenna wounded Goodwell, and the three intruders escaped through the garden.
• Angoulême, Valentine, and Imre questioned Goodwell about his faith and his visit to Hugues Artois's office, leaving Goodwell pale with fear.

Angoulême arrested Bonno Goodwell for the chemical factory explosion but lacked evidence to pursue Hugues Artois’s secretary, Rhone, and planned to let wild Beyonders investigate instead. Jenna returned home to find her brother Julian traumatized by their mother’s death and seemingly losing his sanity.

• Angoulême questioned Bonno Goodwell under a notarized divine oath, then arrested him for arson, causing an explosion, and murder while freezing his assets for compensation.
• Angoulême explained that the Church lacked evidence to arrest Rhone and proposed exploiting wild Beyonders to investigate the parliamentarian’s office.
• Lumian and Franca discussed vengeance with Jenna, who vowed not to spare Rhone but agreed to wait for a safe opportunity.
• Jenna returned to 17 Pasteur Street and found Julian terrified, blaming himself for their mother’s death, and apparently going mad.

Jenna cared for Julian after his breakdown and worried that he remained at risk despite seeming calmer. She was drawn to Hugues Artois's sympathy banquet, while Franca and Lumian waited for her; the chapter ended with Jenna arriving in tears to say Julian had gone mad again.

• Jenna soothed Julian through the night, then covered him with a blanket as he fell asleep.
• In the morning, Jenna saw Julian acting calm but stiff and decided to seek a Psychiatrist, while encouraging him to take his time finding work.
• Jenna read Hugues Artois's comments about the Goodwell Chemical Factory explosion and laughed as she reached the ruined factory.
• A woman from the hospital told Jenna that Hugues Artois was hosting a sympathy banquet, then led her to his office, where Jenna entered after a search.
• At the Golden Rooster Inn, Franca told Lumian she planned to check on Jenna, but Jenna arrived in tears and said Julian had gone mad.