Recaps

Eleanor learned that the Canteen’s Society believed its great being could grant divine revelation and realized she had been counted among its believers since her death. She left intrigued and eager to return, while Dorothea continued to suspect the great being was behind the Society’s uncanny events.

• Eleanor recognized Flora as the veiled figure from her dream and asked Dorothea whether the Society knew her secret and controlled her life and death.
• Dorothea explained the difference between true and evil god churches by prompting Eleanor to identify divine revelation as the deeper distinction.
• Eleanor realized she had been restored after being devoured and asked how she could know whether the experience was divine revelation.
• Dorothea invited Eleanor to visit the Canteen, then told her she had already joined the Society when she died.
• Eleanor left, and Dorothea reflected on the moving corpse of Elsa and watched Vanessa speaking with Flora.

Flora gave Vanessa a borrowing card for the Saint Clair Grand Library, and Vanessa set out to visit it. Her journey into the Crown District was obstructed by new registration rules, and the guard reacted in shock when she named her destination.

• Flora gave Vanessa a Saint Clair Grand Library borrowing card that Elliot had obtained for her.
• Vanessa excitedly left for the library, but a carriage driver explained that public carriages could not enter the Crown District.
• Vanessa rode toward the Crown District through the Dome District, where new Nobles' House regulations required visitors to register.
• A guard handed Vanessa a registration form, and she began filling it out despite his contempt.
• When the guard asked where she was going, Vanessa said she was headed to the Saint Clair Grand Library, and he trembled in surprise.

Vanessa used a library card to gain entry to the Saint Clair Grand Library, leaving the guards terrified after they recognized its significance. She followed a Maid into the vast palace-like building, where she began to wonder whether she had wandered into the imperial palace.

• A guard mocked Vanessa for claiming she was going to the library, then trembled when he saw her library card and respectfully returned it.
• The squad leader examined the card, panicked when Vanessa said its owner cooked in her Canteen, and destroyed her registration form before letting her pass.
• After Vanessa left, the guards explained that the library had once been Isirea Palace and feared the card's owner, whom Elliot served as a cook.
• Vanessa recognized the flame emblem as the crest of the Reforging Flame but dismissed the card as an ordinary anonymous library card.
• Vanessa entered the Crown District and presented her card to professional guards, who let her pass without inspecting it.
• A Maid guided Vanessa through the enormous, lavish library until they stopped at an open doorway.

Vanessa spent the day immersed in the Saint Clair Grand Library, researching [It] and finding only a few clues tied to blasphemy during the Cosmog Dynasty. She returned to the Mansion in the Hearthfire District and discovered Dorothea conducting an autopsy in the basement.

• Vanessa explored the Saint Clair Grand Library, gathered books, and read and took notes until dark beside a mysterious golden-haired girl.
• Vanessa asked whether she could take the books home, then left with her notes and the library's fountain pen.
• The golden-haired girl learned that Vanessa had entered using Young Master Elliot of the Sterling Family's library card.
• Vanessa returned to the Mansion in the Hearthfire District and learned that Allen was teaching at Night School while Clara and Flora were away with the students.
• Vanessa carried Elsa into the basement and found Dorothea holding surgical instruments beside a naked corpse.
• Dorothea told Vanessa that she was performing an autopsy.

Vanessa and the others compared their findings about [It], linking Elsa’s corpse memories to an altar from the Kasmog period and Eleanor’s expedition near the Imperial Capital. Allen then revealed that Simon changed after an outing in the same region, leaving the group with another possible connection to investigate.

• Dorothea and Elsa reported that Elsa’s former corpse showed no physical sign of [It], while Elsa’s [Burial] ability revealed a ritual at a stone altar.
• Flora suggested Elsa had seen [It]’s memories through her supernatural connection to her corpse.
• Vanessa recognized Elsa’s description as typical Kasmog-period altar architecture and connected it to the ruins Eleanor had investigated near the Imperial Capital.
• Allen said Maeve had told him that Simon’s personality changed after he went on an outing in the countryside near the Imperial Capital.

Elsa hired Maeve to work and live at the Canteen to keep her safe while the group investigated the mind-controlling [it]. After Maeve began her new job, Elsa gathered the Believers and told her the Night Watch Bureau was making a big move.

• Elsa and Allen left to recruit Maeve and protect her from Simon, while Dorothea planned to contact Eleanor and Vanessa continued researching [it].
• Elsa offered Maeve twenty-five Leo a week to work and stay at the Canteen, and Maeve eagerly accepted.
• Maeve started work at the Canteen and was surprised by the strength and generosity of its people.
• Miss Crow returned to the Canteen with someone, and the two left a private meeting with grave expressions.
• Elsa summoned the Believers for private talks, then brought Maeve in to hear that the Night Watch Bureau was making a big move.

Eleanor learned that [The Thinker] had declared the Hearthfire District a high-risk area, while Elsa told the Canteen’s believers that the Night Watch Bureau suspected the entire district had fallen and ordered them to suspend their activities. Sidney demanded that Elliot explain what had happened, and the chapter ended with a roomful of witnesses listening as Elliot swore he had found no danger.

• Eleanor returned to work, learned the Hearthfire District was under martial law, and went with Dorothea to warn the Canteen.
• Elsa explained the Night Watch Bureau’s response and told the believers to halt all activities unrelated to the canteen.
• Elsa asked Maeve to stay and help at the canteen while the believers dispersed.
• Sidney confronted Elliot on behalf of the King and demanded an explanation for the Hearthfire District’s situation.
• Elliot denied finding any threats and swore on the Sterling name as Sidney asked the crowd in the Reception Room whether they had heard him.

Sidney shielded Elliot during an inquiry into an apparent uprising in the Hearthfire District, while warning him that political enemies would exploit the Night Watch Bureau’s report. After Elliot left, Sidney admitted he had vouched for him because he believed in his work—and said he would welcome a chance to crush an uprising himself.

• Elliot recognized the Court of Judgment’s Executioners and realized Sidney had delayed questioning him to give the Sterling Family time to react.
• Sidney dismissed the Executioners and told Elliot that the Night Watch Bureau’s report had nearly led the Court of Judgment to treat the Hearthfire District as a lost district, but His Majesty had stopped them.
• Sidney warned Elliot that the Night Watch Bureau would overhaul [The Thinker], place the Hearthfire District under headquarters’ direct administration, and station Executioners there.
• Sidney told Elliot that Sterling’s enemies in the Nobles' House would use the incident and his local reforms against him, then sent him away.
• Holly asked Sidney why he had vouched for Elliot, and Sidney said Elliot was sincerely developing his territory and that he would welcome a chance to put down an uprising himself.

As the Night Watch Bureau expanded its crackdown across Saint Clair, Vanessa and the Canteen’s believers feared that [The Thinker] would expose them, but chose to stay and pray rather than abandon those they helped. The escalating restrictions spread beyond the Hearthfire District, and official institutions took control of most of the capital.

• The Night Watch Bureau used [The Thinker]’s alarm to investigate across the Imperial Capital and arrest suspected cultists and vagrants, while ordinary people and Secret Societies lived under tightening restrictions.
• Vanessa told the Canteen’s members that another family had been taken away, and explained that Eleanor had identified them as cultists.
• Elsa worried that [The Thinker] would discover every Secret Society, and Vanessa explained that its headquarters had limited computing power and was currently focusing it on their area.
• Dorothea suggested that the Canteen’s members flee the city, but she and the others stayed because their believers depended on them.
• Vanessa urged the group to trust in the Lord, and they prayed despite their fear.
• As forces behind the scenes intensified the crisis around Elliot, restrictions spread beyond the Hearthfire District, and the Night Watch Bureau, Dome Institute, and Court of Judgment took control of most of Saint Clair.

As the Night Watch Bureau seized control of much of the Imperial Capital, Elliot realized the political upheaval had drawn him into the Third Prince’s factional struggle. With the canteen quiet and the group keeping a low profile, Vanessa ventured out to investigate the Fog Whistle and the Ratway, only to find the Ratway had vanished.

• The Night Watch Bureau expanded its control while the Seven Holy Bloodlines and the Royal Family reassessed their relationship, and Elliot suspected the Third Prince had deliberately entangled him in the conflict.
• Night school and Dorothea’s hospital work stopped, the canteen grew quieter, and Maeve moved into the Mansion for safety.
• Vanessa told the others she planned to investigate the Fog Whistle’s base and the Ratway, then disguise herself and head out.
• Vanessa found the Fog Whistle’s warehouse empty and suspected the Holy Scripture had warned the group to hide.
• Vanessa reached the waterways near the Royal Canal and discovered that the Ratway had vanished.

Vanessa discovered that the Ratway had vanished so completely it seemed never to have existed, leaving her wondering how much power and history the Secret Societies concealed. Seeking comfort at the Saint Clair Grand Library, she stole paper and pens and met the curiosity of the blonde girl, who quietly ordered more supplies brought for her.

• Vanessa found that the Ratway had disappeared from its former passages and suspected that someone had rewritten history.
• Vanessa left the sewer and went to the Saint Clair Grand Library to read and forget her troubles.
• Vanessa took the blonde girl's paper and asked the maid for more, believing the library offered supplies for free.
• Vanessa gave half the new paper to the blonde girl, assuming she needed help and encouraging her to take it.
• The blonde girl watched Vanessa with growing curiosity and used her power to obtain another fountain pen, then asked for more pens and paper.

Vanessa returned home after spending the day reading in the Crown District library and avoiding surveillance across the Imperial Capital. She brought Maeve papers to study, then told Dorothea about a strange library reader who seemed to maintain [Rationality] all day, before Elsa asked her to explain what happened to the Fog Whistle and the Ratway.

• Vanessa quietly left the library after reading all day, leaving the Crown Princess without a chance to speak with her.
• Vanessa crossed the watched districts of the Imperial Capital and returned to her home in the Hearthfire District.
• Vanessa gave Maeve a stack of papers to practice spelling, and Maeve hurried to her room, moved by the gift.
• Vanessa asked Dorothea to activate [Rationality] and said a strange girl at the library had seemed just like Dorothea in that state for the entire day.
• Dorothea argued that keeping [Rationality] active for so long was impossible, and Elsa asked Vanessa to explain what happened to the Fog Whistle and the Ratway.

Vanessa and Eleanor discussed the Night Watch Bureau’s surveillance system and how it tracked secret societies. Eleanor explained that operating under an unnamed organization made them harder to identify, but [The Thinker] could still flag their actions and supernatural activity.

• Vanessa told the group about the Ratway and Fog Horn Fraternity, and Allen and Dorothea offered to check on their members through their work.
• Vanessa met Eleanor in a shared dream and asked about the Night Watch Bureau’s searches and [The Thinker].
• Eleanor explained that [The Thinker] detected [Evil Names] produced by harmful acts and sent reports for people to sort.
• Eleanor said Vanessa’s original unnamed organization could be detected but would be difficult to pinpoint, while Canteen’s many believers still faced scrutiny.
• Eleanor revealed that [The Thinker] also monitored [Secret Aura] from supernatural activity and could issue reports when it appeared too often.
• Eleanor said she would keep searching for loopholes and believed [The Thinker] could not monitor the Dream World, though the Lord could enter it.

Vanessa reassured Eleanor that the Lord had planned for their dream meetings, then heard how Eleanor’s research group encountered a dangerous entity in ancient ruins. Eleanor said the ruins vanished after Director Randall searched for them, leaving Vanessa to consider how the entity might be used.

• Vanessa told Eleanor that their meetings in dreams were part of the Lord’s plan, then learned Eleanor studied history.
• Eleanor explained that her research group traced the fall of the Cosmog Dynasty to alchemists who had tried to recreate the Philosopher’s Stone and supposedly created the [Thing of Immortality].
• Eleanor recounted how an entity attacked her group in the ruins, after which several classmates died by suicide and she began hearing strange voices.
• Eleanor said the Night Watch Bureau’s underground sanctuary initially suppressed [it], but the entity later tried to control her after sensing its own kind.
• Vanessa concluded that the entity attacked people near the ruins, parasitized them, and became eager to devour others like itself.
• Eleanor told Vanessa that Director Randall’s investigators could never find the ruins again, as though they had never existed.

Eleanor and Vanessa suspected that history had multiple layers and that the Ratway and Daydream Bookshop lay beneath the waking world's surface, then agreed to search for traces of the erased past. Elliot revealed he had ideas for helping them and prepared to ask his Bone Flute how to use the Dream Memory Cards.

• Eleanor told Vanessa that ruins she had visited had vanished without a trace, and Vanessa connected the experience to the Ratway and Daydream Bookshop.
• Eleanor recalled Inspector Luke saying that [It] was no longer in this layer of history, and she and Vanessa wondered whether history had multiple layers.
• Eleanor and Vanessa noted the lack of reliable records for the nine hundred years before the First Era and suspected that history had been rewritten.
• Vanessa proposed reconstructing the missing history from surviving traces, including Eleanor, and planned to investigate the Saint Clair Grand Library while Eleanor searched Night Watch Bureau records.
• Elliot smiled at the Brass Dial's message that the Lord would arrange their next meeting, then brought out Dream Memory Cards he had obtained by killing the Lord of Dreams.
• Elliot decided to ask his Bone Flute [Relic] how to use the Dream Memory Cards.

Elliot learned to use Dream Memory Cards to stabilize his dream and built a vast mansion surrounded by forests, lakes, and hills. He invited his Believers into the new dream world, where they awoke beneath a strange sun and wondered if it belonged to the great being.

• Elliot used Elsa's corpse and the Bone Flute in the Conversation slot and learned how to use the Cards.
• Elliot entered his dream with Dream Memory Cards and used spirituality to form a washroom and then an expansive world.
• Elliot decided the dream world could become a sanctuary where his Believers gathered and explored beyond the Night Watch Bureau's reach.
• Elliot placed the Believer Character Cards into the Dream Entry slot to bring Vanessa, Dorothea, Allen, and the others into his dream.
• Vanessa, Dorothea, Allen, and the others awoke in rooms inside the Dream Mansion and saw a coldly burning sun in the sky.

Vanessa and the others found themselves in what Flora suspected was a Great Being’s Abode, while Elliot learned more about Immortals and considered contacting Lillian. He then focused on Vanessa’s investigation and the sacrifices planned for the Festival Commemorating Theresia.

• Dorothea warned the group not to look directly at the Great Being, but Eleanor recognized the sun-like figure as the Lord whose true form she had seen before.
• Flora explained that Abodes were entire worlds belonging to Great Beings and that, according to her reading, only Immortals with permission could enter them.
• Flora privately wondered why she had entered the Lord’s Abode despite not being one of his believers.
• Elliot connected Lillian’s claim to be an Immortal with her presence in another Great Being’s Abode and considered contacting her to learn more.
• Elliot decided to wait and see whether the Difference Engine could detect his dream, while noting that the Canteen might now have an advantage over the frightened Secret Societies.
• Elliot recalled that the Seven Holy Bloodlines planned to sacrifice together during the Festival Commemorating Theresia, with nobles sacrificing other people rather than themselves.

Vanessa questioned Dorothea about the Theresia Festival and learned that the Empire held mass executions alongside its annual free meal for the poor. She left to investigate the festival, the Secret History, and [It] at the library, while Dorothea revealed she might have a lead on the Daydream bookshop.

• Elliot decided to let Vanessa investigate the Theresia Festival because he could not risk being discovered at an altar and the Imperial Capital was under lockdown.
• Elliot had Elsa's corpse speak to Dorothea during her dissection, frightening Dorothea out of her [Rationality] state before Vanessa arrived to talk to her.
• Dorothea told Vanessa that the Theresia Festival offered free meals believed to heal people and included the Empire's public execution of criminals.
• Vanessa connected the festival's executions to the Night Watch Bureau's recent mass arrests, and Dorothea recalled that large arrests had also preceded earlier festivals.
• Vanessa went to the library to search for answers about Theresia, the Secret History, and [It], while Dorothea said she might have a lead on the Daydream bookshop.

Vanessa investigated a strange bookshop reported near the Factory District but could not find it, then settled into the library, unaware that a blonde girl and her golden dog were watching her. The chapter left Vanessa sharing the girl’s secluded book-filled palace, where the girl offered her refreshments.

• A Canteen Believer named Jenny reported that a bookshop had appeared opposite her home near the Factory District, and Vanessa agreed to investigate.
• Elliot placed Vanessa’s Card in the Event Card Slot to trigger [Dream of the Daylight] and controlled her as she searched for the bookshop.
• Vanessa found no bookshop at Jenny’s home and headed to the library, while Elliot suspected she might need to meet certain conditions to enter it.
• Vanessa read in the library, unaware that a blonde girl and her large golden dog were nearby among the bookshelves.
• The girl offered Vanessa tea and desserts, and Vanessa realized she did not know where the tea had come from.

Vanessa learned that the upcoming festival might involve people being consumed and returned to the Mansion with pastries for the others. She found the Mansion dark and, using Spirit Vision, saw Daydream.

• Vanessa offered pastries to the blonde girl in the Library, who warned her not to go out on the festival day and described the Empire as a place that consumed people.
• Vanessa searched for more information about the monster she called [it], then took most of the pastries back to the Hearthfire District.
• On her way home, Vanessa wondered whether the festival's executions and use of corpses explained the blonde girl's warning, but she still felt something was wrong.
• Vanessa reached the Mansion, noticed that it was unusually dark, activated Spirit Vision, and saw Daydream.

Vanessa entered the Daydream bookstore and, following Chi’s order, spent thirteen hours drawing a ritual so she could sacrifice its books. Her first offering worked, advancing the sacrifice progress bar by more than halfway and confirming the books were valuable to Elliot.

• Vanessa entered the Daydream bookstore after Chi told her to perform a sacrifice there.
• Elliot waited at the Difference Engine, hoping a sacrifice would let him remain connected to Vanessa inside the bookstore.
• Vanessa struggled to draw the ritual herself, repeatedly correcting it and using her blood until she completed it after thirteen hours.
• Vanessa sacrificed a book, and the ritual succeeded.
• Elliot saw the sacrifice progress advance by more than halfway and estimated that the single book was worth over a hundred supernatural materials.

Elliot realized Vanessa had sacrificed a fragment of an Abode called the Overflowing Garden, then took control of her to escape the bookshop as its books awakened and a powerful presence pursued her. Vanessa made it back to Flora, while Elliot concluded the Daydream was an Abode with an owner and noted that the quest remained unfinished.

• Elliot saw that Vanessa's sacrifice was identified as a fragment of the Abode, the Overflowing Garden, and realized the bookshop might belong to a Great Being.
• As Vanessa reached for another book, an eye opened on it and overwhelmed her; she covered it and fled as eyes appeared across the bookshop's books.
• The bookshop began to collapse around Vanessa, and an unseen being blocked the exit, but her Spirituality Pressure held it back long enough for her to escape.
• Elliot sensed that Chi had noticed Vanessa and used the Combat Platform to control her and get her out of danger.
• Vanessa reached the doorway of her home, where Flora greeted her, while Elliot considered the power of Spirituality Pressure and noticed the Dream of the Daylight quest was still active.

After Vanessa recovered from passing out, she told her companions about her visit to the Saint Clair Library and her encounter with the Great Being. Elliot learned that Victoria had arranged Vanessa’s access to the Crown District and concealed the truth about the library.

• Before Vanessa passed out, she sacrificed a second book, gained a free [Concealment] point, and Elliot gave her [Spirit Vision] +1.
• Elliot noticed Vanessa was absorbing knowledge as she recovered from mild blood loss and mental trauma, then Dorothea and Flora put her to bed.
• Vanessa woke the next day, ate porridge, and told her companions what had happened during her trip.
• Dorothea questioned how Vanessa had entered the Crown District and suspected her library card had helped her.
• Elliot revealed that Victoria had vouched for Vanessa’s library card and ordered guards and servants to let her pass unnoticed.

Vanessa and Dorothea discussed the Theresia Festival and decided to ask Maeve for information that could help locate the red-moon altar. Dorothea picked up one of Maeve’s fallen Leo, and Maeve hesitated to take it from her.

• Conrad warned Elliot to keep his distance from Victoria, whose status was unusual.
• Dorothea inferred that the blonde girl Vanessa met at the Library was a high-ranking noble who kept her servants out of sight.
• Dorothea explained that the Theresia Festival featured a parade, church representatives, and a speech by His Majesty, with no supernatural rituals.
• Vanessa said she had researched Cosmog Dynasty altars and believed Maeve could help her pinpoint the altar’s location.
• Dorothea picked up Maeve’s fallen Leo, and Maeve shrank back when she noticed the difference between their hands.

Maeve recounted how Simon changed after a terrifying encounter in the countryside, giving Vanessa and the others clues about what may have happened to him. Vanessa connected the incident to the Cosmog Dynasty’s moon worship and suspected the moon could be the key to saving Simon.

• Dorothea brought Maeve to Vanessa, who asked her to describe the countryside trip with Simon.
• Maeve recalled that Simon screamed after she woke, then ran home and shut himself in his room; afterward, he stopped speaking to her and seemed like a different person.
• Elsa and the others discussed whether [it] had already affected Simon and whether he could still be saved, but they had no clear plan.
• Vanessa linked the countryside incident to the Cosmog Dynasty’s moon-related altar and suggested the moon might be connected to [it].