Recaps

Lumian used Madam Magician’s advice to devise a plan for exchanging away the Montsouris Ghosts’ attack fate, then questioned Charlie about people he considered deserving of death. He traveled to the Mason Café, where he was preparing to hunt for prey.

• Lumian decided to exchange the fate of being attacked by the Montsouris Ghosts from Fallen Mercury for another person’s good fortune, then later trade that fortune for the fate of encountering the ghosts.
• Lumian spoke with Charlie outside the Golden Rooster Inn, who described his affair with Mrs. Alice and named Baron Brignais, Margot, and Monet as people he hated or thought deserved to die.
• Charlie told Lumian that Margot visited the inn toward evening to collect money from Miss Ethanisse, while he did not know where Baron Brignais or Monet lived.
• Lumian traveled to the Botanical Garden District and entered the Mason Café.

Lumian met Susie at the Mason Café for treatment and discussed the strange dream of Cordou Village. Susie’s questions stirred a buried memory, leaving Lumian recalling evil god believers using their powers inside the Administrator's Castle.

• Lumian arrived at the Mason Café, ordered Ambergris Lemon Water, and waited for his psychologist.
• Susie spoke to Lumian from the booth behind him and explained that his unease came from her reading his thoughts and the corruption sealed inside him.
• Lumian and Susie discussed whether Anthony Reid belonged to the Spectator pathway, and Susie assessed that he was at least Sequence 8.
• Susie explained how the official investigators’ subconscious minds had shaped parts of Lumian’s dream and challenged his assumption that he had learned the evil believers’ abilities from sealed corruption.
• Susie reasoned that Lumian must have witnessed Guillaume Béné, Pierre Berri, and the others use their abilities before Cordou Village was destroyed.
• Lumian recalled the third floor of the Administrator's Castle, where Guillaume Béné, Pierre Berri, and Sybil Berry fought beside a wall covered in bluish-white, transparent faces.

During therapy with Susie, Lumian recalled fragments of the battle against Madame Pualis’s followers and dreamed that Aurora lay in the dead Warlock’s coffin. After Susie warned him about his self-destructive tendencies, Lumian read an obituary confirming Aurora’s death and wept.

• Lumian recalled chaotic memories of Guillaume Béné, Pierre Berri, Sybil Berry, and others fighting Madame Pualis’s followers, while Susie suggested Pualis had been forcibly driven away.
• Lumian dreamed he returned to Cordu, found the village empty, and discovered Aurora’s corpse inside the dead Warlock’s coffin.
• Susie interpreted the coffin as a symbol, ended the session because Lumian’s subconscious resisted, and warned him that Aurora had reasons to keep living.
• Lumian left Mason Café and boarded a Public Carriage, where he bought a copy of Novel Weekly.
• Lumian read an obituary reporting that bestselling author Aurora Lee had died in an accident that April, then hid behind the newspaper as he cried.

After realizing that Madam Susie had arranged for him to confront his grief, Lumian met his neighbor Gabriel and learned about his struggles as a playwright. He then tried to set a trap for Margot, but the gang leader avoided the perfume spilled on the stairs.

• Lumian noticed that the obituary newspaper was from the previous week and concluded that Madam Susie had arranged it as part of his psychotherapy.
• Lumian introduced himself to Gabriel in room 206 and encouraged the struggling playwright, who said Miss Safali had also supported him.
• After hearing a woman upstairs curse her abuser, Lumian recognized that Margot and his men had visited to collect money.
• Lumian deliberately spilled perfume on the stairs to mark Margot and his men, hoping to make Margot suitable prey for his planned exchange of fates.
• Margot leaped over the perfume-stained steps while his three men walked through the remaining traces, and Lumian realized Margot was unusually sensitive to smells.

Lumian followed Margot from the Golden Rooster Inn to the Mill Ballroom, using the scent of cheap perfume to identify him and watching his careful movements for signs that he was a Hunter pathway Beyonder. After Margot left near midnight, Lumian picked out his footprints and continued the tail.

• Lumian suspected Margot might be a Hunter pathway Beyonder and stayed cautious while observing him and his three subordinates at the inn.
• Lumian heard the group mention the Mill Ballroom and followed the lingering perfume there.
• Lumian ate and waited at the ballroom, watching Margot avoid wet patches on the floor while his subordinates stepped in them.
• Margot left the ballroom with his three subordinates near midnight, and Lumian waited before following.
• Lumian tracked the group by their damp footprints and spotted a faint, dry set of footprints ahead of them.

Lumian tracked Margot to an apartment building, then lured him outside by setting a small fire and provoking him into a chase. The two fought in a dark alley, where Lumian used an unusual kick to send his fallen dirk flying toward Margot.

• Lumian followed Margot's footprints to a Nightingale Street apartment building and deduced that Margot's three subordinates had left.
• Lumian bought a drunk man's coat, changed his appearance, and decided to target Margot despite recognizing that corruption made him favor a more dangerous fight.
• Lumian set a small fire behind the apartment building and shouted to make Margot leave his room.
• Margot leaped from a second-floor window, pursued Lumian after being mocked, and followed him into an alley.
• Margot drew his revolver and fired, but Lumian dodged, threw Fallen Mercury, and charged him.
• Lumian blocked Margot's close-range attack and kicked Fallen Mercury out of the barricade toward him.

Lumian escaped after fighting Margot and used Fallen Mercury to exchange their fates, causing Margot to die mysteriously despite Roger’s ritual to guard against curses. Lumian learned that the exchanged fate involved Margot receiving money from his subordinates, leaving him to wonder how it would unfold.

• Lumian kept Margot from using his revolver, then fled when two policemen arrived in the alley.
• Margot went to Black Scorpion Roger’s home and described the attack; Roger used a ritual to sever any connection to the knife bearing Margot’s blood.
• Margot collapsed and died in Roger’s study, while Roger realized the attacker had strong anti-divination capabilities.
• At the Golden Rooster Inn, Lumian confirmed that Fallen Mercury had completed the fate exchange and learned it involved Margot receiving banknotes from his subordinates.

Lumian used Fallen Mercury to exchange away his fate of encountering the Montsouris Ghosts, then found Margot’s wallet and returned 200 felkine to Yisansi. The next morning, Yisansi learned Margot was dead but Wilson claimed control over her, and police arrested Charlie for the murder of Mrs. Alice.

• Lumian exchanged away his fate of encountering the Montsouris Ghosts, recovering Margot’s wallet and taking its money.
• Lumian counted 1,265 felkine and 15 kopeks, then slipped 200 felkine beneath Yisansi’s door.
• Lumian planned to find Aosta Trull and disguise himself, while Charlie told him it was his day off.
• Roul told Lumian and Charlie that Margot was dead and gang members and police were searching the Market District.
• Charlie told Yisansi that Margot was dead, but Wilson arrived and announced that he would take Margot’s place looking after her.
• Police arrested Charlie on suspicion of murder and told him that Mrs. Alice was dead.

Lumian investigated the circumstances surrounding Charlie’s arrest for Mrs. Alice’s murder and learned more about Suzanne Mathis and a mysterious female ghost. After arranging to attend Mr. K’s Occult Gathering, he disguised himself and went to the police headquarters, claiming to be Charlie’s public defender.

• Police arrested Charlie Collent for Mrs. Alice’s murder after finding her diamond necklace and noting that he was with her near the time she died.
• Gabriel said he did not believe Charlie would murder Mrs. Alice, while Lumian observed Suzanne Mathis’s portrait in Charlie’s room and recognized its resemblance to a ghost he had summoned.
• Lumian met Aosta Trull, learned he had permission to attend Mr. K’s Occult Gathering, and asked Aosta about Suzanne Mathis and the blue-green-haired female ghost.
• Lumian disguised himself and went to the Honest Market District Police Headquarters, where he claimed to be Charlie’s public defender and asked to see him.

Lumian used a disguise to meet Charlie as his public defender, learned that Charlie had dreamed about Suzanne Mathis after praying to her portrait, and examined Mrs. Alice’s body. He summoned her lingering obsession and saw her being smothered by an unseen person.

• Lumian forged the name Guillaume Pierre in the police register and persuaded an officer to let him visit Charlie.
• Lumian questioned Charlie about his time with Mrs. Alice and showed him photographs revealing that the woman in his dreams was Suzanne Mathis, not Saint Viève.
• Lumian told Charlie that Suzanne’s connection to his dreams might be more troubling than a haunting, then arranged to examine Mrs. Alice’s body.
• Lumian identified Mrs. Alice’s body in the police headquarters morgue and went to a nearby washroom.
• Lumian performed the Summoning Dance, let Mrs. Alice’s lingering obsession possess him, and saw her being smothered by a pillow with no attacker in sight.

Lumian helped Charlie understand what to tell the police, then realized he could alert official Beyonders to the supernatural case without confronting Suzanne Mathis himself. He summoned a Spirit World Creature to write an anonymous help letter and ended with a printed-looking copy, though its source remained uncertain.

• Lumian told Charlie that the autopsy results were as expected and instructed him to recount everything to the police while keeping Lumian's role in discovering the portrait secret.
• Lumian decided that Charlie's case should be brought to the attention of the Eighth Bureau and the Churches of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery.
• Lumian planned to send a help letter to a nearby church but worried that his usual method could connect him to Cordou Village.
• Lumian summoned several Spirit World Creatures before finding a rabbit-shaped one capable of writing Intisian.
• Lumian wrote a help letter about Suzanne Mathis, Mrs. Alice's death, and Charlie's arrest, then had the rabbit copy it in a typeface resembling printed text.

Lumian secretly mailed Charlie’s request for help, then watched police break up a gang standoff on Messy Street. Remembering Aurora’s trust in Hella, he wrote to her and successfully summoned her messenger, a Pure Silver Skull.

• Lumian used the rabbitlike Spirit World Creature to put Charlie’s letter in a mailbox, then ended the summoning.
• Lumian watched a tense gang standoff on Messy Street until mounted police charged and dispersed the gang members.
• Lumian wondered whether Hella knew Aurora had died and decided to contact her through her messenger.
• Lumian wrote Hella a letter asking whether Aurora had said anything suspicious, then tried summoning her messenger.
• Lumian’s second incantation summoned a Pure Silver Skull, which took the letter and vanished into the darkness.

Lumian received Hella’s replies about Aurora, learned she had known more about the Spectator pathway than her notes revealed, and asked Hella to investigate Aurora’s contacts and family. He then went with Aosta to Mr. K’s gathering, where his bandaged disguise startled Aosta.

• Lumian read Hella’s reply and realized Aurora had known about later Sequences of the Spectator pathway that were missing from her Witchcraft Notes.
• Lumian told Hella his account of the disaster in Cordou Village and asked which Psychiatrist Aurora had wanted to approach; Hella agreed to investigate and keep Aurora’s death secret.
• Hella suggested that Aurora’s living family in Trier might provide another lead, while Lumian wondered whether the Society was assessing him for membership.
• Lumian paid Aosta Trull 80 Felkine and traveled with him from the Market District to the Boulevard District.
• Aosta took Lumian to Spiritism magazine’s headquarters and revealed that Mr. K wanted to meet him beforehand.
• Lumian revealed his face wrapped in white bandages, nearly making Aosta’s heart stop.

Lumian attended Mr. K’s Beyonder gathering to seek help repairing a damaged weapon and information about a strange spirit. A participant linked Lumian’s description to a string of deaths near Onet, but the creature’s identity remained uncertain.

• Aosta introduced Lumian to Mr. K, who explained the gathering’s rules and warned that transactions might not be genuine.
• Lumian wrote requests for help repairing his damaged Beyonder weapon and information about a female spirit with long blue-green hair that caused erotic dreams.
• At the gathering, Lumian noticed a request offering 15,000 Felkine for a Sequence 8 Pugilist characteristic and regretted not keeping Margot’s Provocateur characteristic.
• The participants offered no lead on repairing Lumian’s weapon, but one man connected the spirit description to three women who died after repeated erotic dreams near Onet.

At Mr. K's gathering, Lumian saw a dangerous painting linked to a dead Beyonder and considered how Mr. K might investigate him. Charlie was released from custody and said authorities had given him instructions, but that night he returned to Lumian in terror after dreaming of Suzanne Mathis again.

• Mr. K's attendant displayed a painting that caused dizziness and was said to contain a truth about the world and the reason its Beyonder owner died, but no one bought it.
• Lumian left the gathering with Aosta and wondered whether Mr. K would investigate him, hoping an investigation might lead to an invitation into Mr. K's organization.
• Lumian found Charlie back at the Golden Rooster Inn, celebrating his release and explaining that he had lost his job and could not discuss the authorities' investigation.
• Charlie told Lumian that authorities had instructed him to go to an Eternal Blazing Sun church if he dreamed of Suzanne Mathis again.
• After Lumian went to sleep, Charlie knocked on his door and said in terror that he had dreamed about Suzanne Mathis again.

Lumian confronted Suzanne Mathis after she appeared at the Golden Rooster Inn to reclaim Charlie, and he used Charlie and Fallen Mercury to stall her until official Beyonders arrived. Suzanne escaped into the wall, while a Sun Beyonder pinned down her vines and warned that she could reform unless they found where she was born.

• Charlie told Lumian that Suzanne Mathis had warned him in a dream not to seek help from the Church, and Lumian urged him to return to bed while suspecting the official Beyonders were using him as bait.
• Suzanne appeared in the inn corridor, covered the area with vines, and used her influence to make Charlie believe he loved her and should stay with her forever.
• Lumian provoked Suzanne, then pressed Fallen Mercury to Charlie’s throat and bluffed that its curse would kill Charlie’s wife, making Suzanne halt her attack.
• Suzanne manipulated Lumian into seeing Parish Priest Guillaume Béné, but Lumian recognized the deception and grabbed Charlie again before she disappeared into the wall.
• Lumian told Charlie to lie by the stairway and pretended to sleep in his room as red light filled the inn.
• A Sun Beyonder pinned Suzanne’s writhing vines with a golden longsword and said the threat would return unless they found where the evil spirit had been born.

Angoulême de François’s Purifiers failed to locate the object anchoring Suzanne Mathis and planned to keep searching while investigating the anonymous warning. Lumian sought advice from Hella and Madam Magician, learning that Suzanne was likely a powerful fallen dryad turned evil spirit and that the Mother Tree of Desire was behind her gift.

• Angoulême de François explained that Suzanne Mathis could reform unless the object anchoring her was destroyed, and his team continued searching Messy Street and its underground areas.
• A Purifier reported that Charlie Collent had survived Suzanne’s attack, and Angoulême assigned the team to find her birthplace and the letter’s author.
• Lumian waited until morning, then wrote to Madam Magician and Hella to report his encounter with Mr. K and ask about Suzanne’s nature and weaknesses.
• Hella told Lumian that creatures like Suzanne drained victims through erotic dreams and could kill their partners out of jealousy.
• Madam Magician identified Suzanne as a likely fallen dryad empowered by the Mother Tree of Desire, and said Suzanne had probably died and become an obsessive evil spirit.

After Madam Magician advised Lumian to seek Mr. K’s help against Suzanne Mathis, Lumian went with Charlie to pawn a diamond necklace and continued teasing him with a fake Cursed Blade story. Charlie learned the necklace was worth only 12 Felkine, leaving him stunned and dejected.

• Lumian burned Madam Magician’s letter, abandoned his plan to use Fallen Mercury against Suzanne Mathis, and decided to ask Mr. K for help.
• Charlie asked Lumian to accompany him to a pawnshop so he could turn the necklace into cash, and Lumian agreed because he was heading to the Observatory District.
• Charlie asked about Lumian’s Cursed Blade, and Lumian admitted he had made the story up to bluff Suzanne Mathis.
• Lumian frightened Charlie by asking whether his family was alive, then laughed and revealed he was pranking him.
• Charlie pawned the necklace at Phil Pawnshop, but learned it was fake and worth only 12 Felkine.

Lumian helped Charlie confirm that Mrs. Alice’s diamond necklace was fake, then took it to be appraised by a friend. He sought Mr. K’s protection from Suzanne Mathis’s strange creature and agreed to join a Market District gang and become its boss, receiving Mr. K’s severed finger as a safeguard.

• Lumian urged Charlie to retrieve the necklace and test it at other pawnshops, where appraisers also said it was fake.
• Lumian took the necklace from Charlie to have a friend appraise it without charge.
• Lumian learned from Aosta Trull how to contact Mr. K and went to the Spiritism magazine headquarters at 19 Schell Street.
• Lumian told Mr. K about the creature that had attacked him and asked for protection.
• Mr. K offered protection if Lumian joined a Market District gang and became its boss, and Lumian accepted.
• Mr. K tore off his left index finger and gave it to Lumian to use in a critical moment.

Lumian used Mr. K’s severed finger as protection, rented two safe houses, and disguised himself before approaching Baron Brignais. He secured 1,000 felkine for Charlie’s fake necklace by revealing that he had killed Margot, then told Charlie that only 50 felkine belonged to him and kept the rest as a labor fee.

• Mr. K gave Lumian a severed finger for emergencies, confirmed Charlie’s diamond necklace was fake, and agreed to help him obtain identity documents.
• Lumian rented rooms on White Coat Street and Stone Slab Street, then changed his appearance before visiting Baron Brignais at the Breeze Ballroom.
• Lumian offered Charlie’s fake necklace to Baron Brignais for 1,000 felkine, and stayed calm when an appraiser exposed the fake and the gang members drew their revolvers.
• Lumian told Baron Brignais he had killed Margot of the Stinger Gang, prompting the baron to dismiss the threat of his armed men and question him about the killing.
• Lumian told Charlie the necklace was worth 50 felkine and that he had sold it for 1,000, keeping the rest as his labor fee.

Lumian told Charlie that he had joined the Savoie Gang and that the Golden Rooster Inn was under its protection. He drove Wilson and the Stinger Gang out of Yisansi’s room, leaving Wilson badly injured and Yisansi uncertain about what the new protection would mean.

• Lumian gave Charlie 50 Felkine and revealed that Baron Brignais had agreed to pay 1,000 Felkine for a fake necklace, then confirmed that he had joined the Savoie Gang.
• Lumian heard Wilson and his men demanding protection money from Yisansi and went to Room 408.
• Lumian knocked out two guards, then fought Wilson and another thug, using the thug’s chair to strike Wilson before defeating them both.
• Lumian snapped Wilson’s arm and dropped him from Yisansi’s window, then demanded that the Stinger Gang recognize the inn as Savoie Gang territory.
• Lumian made the remaining thugs pay for the broken chair and left without explaining the new protection arrangement to Yisansi.

Lumian claimed the Golden Rooster Inn for the Savoie Gang after throwing Stinger Gang leader Wilson from its fourth floor. The Stinger Gang and Baron Brignais learned of the attack, setting the stage for a possible confrontation while Brignais chose to wait and see how events unfolded.

• Lumian told Charlie that he had thrown Wilson from the fourth floor and declared the Golden Rooster Inn Savoie Gang territory.
• At the Breeze Ballroom, Lumian told Louis what he had done, and Louis left to report it to Baron Brignais.
• Black Scorpion Roger questioned his enforcers about the attack and sent Harman to ask Baron Brignais whether the Savoie Gang wanted war.
• Baron Brignais decided not to inform the boss yet and saw the Stinger Gang's reaction as a chance to draw the authorities' attention to its backers.

Lumian took charge of the Golden Rooster Inn after the Savoie Gang settled its dispute with the Stinger Gang, and Yisansi seized the chance to leave Messy Street. His defiance of fate helped digest his Provocateur potion further, leaving him ready to consider obtaining the Mendicant Friar gift.

• Louis told Lumian that the Stinger Gang had yielded the Golden Rooster Inn to the Savoie Gang and that Lumian would manage it without further financial support.
• Charlie visited Lumian, learned the inn was now Savoie Gang territory, and went to tell Yisansi she could do as she pleased.
• Yisansi left the inn with 40 felkine, reached the carriage stop, and decided to return to pack before leaving Messy Street for good.
• Yisansi asked Lumian why he had helped her, and he said he could not stand fate's mockery.
• Lumian felt his Provocateur potion digest further and considered drawing on his sealed power to obtain the Mendicant Friar gift.

Lumian performed a ritual in an underground quarry cavern to obtain the Mendicant Friar gift and survived the corruption it unleashed. He gained an intuition for other people’s fortunes and knowledge of sacrificial rites and five ritual magics, while Anthony Reid’s lead about Louis Lund left him eager to pursue the next step.

• Lumian rested, gathered his ritual materials, and heard from Anthony Reid that someone might have seen Madame Pualis’s butler, Louis Lund, on Market Avenue.
• Lumian traveled into the underground tunnels and prepared a quarry cavern as a ritual site.
• Lumian invoked the Power of Fate and endured a violent surge of pain, ravings, and corruption until the ritual ended.
• Lumian discovered that his tolerance for extreme environments had improved and that he could sense other people’s general fortunes.
• Lumian gained knowledge of Animal Transformation, Prophecy, Fortune Transfer, Substitution, and Ghost Exorcism, and doubted whether Substitution could fool Suzanne Mathis.

Lumian assessed the ritual magic he had learned and considered how to prepare for Suzanne Mathis's next attack. A voice inside him revealed itself as Termiboros, who offered to resurrect Aurora if Lumian released the seal, leaving Lumian questioning the purpose of Aurora's descent ritual.

• Lumian realized Ghost Exorcism would require Suzanne Mathis's true name, a long-held possession, and time he might not have during an attack, so he considered finding one of her belongings.
• Lumian evaluated Animal Transformation, Fortune Transfer, Substitution, and Prophecy, and planned to use Prophecy to investigate Charlie's and Louis Lund's futures.
• As Lumian prepared to leave the underground quarry, a voice repeatedly called his name from inside his body.
• The voice identified itself as Termiboros, the Lord's angel, and its words about the Circle of Fate caused Lumian terror until gray fog calmed him.
• Termiboros offered to help resurrect Aurora Lee if Lumian released the seal, prompting Lumian to ask whether Aurora's descent ritual had been intended to give Termiboros a body.