Recaps

Vanessa and Dorothea fought through the plague-infected corpses, with Vanessa using a mysteriously transferred revolver and ammunition to save Dorothea. They returned to the building and found Allen badly wounded while the children were under attack, so Vanessa activated [Secret Art · Trigger] and lost three fingers.

• Vanessa fought off the corpses pursuing her after a mysterious force transferred Dorothea's revolver and ammunition into her hands.
• Vanessa killed the corpses chasing Dorothea and returned the revolver to her, leaving Dorothea confused about how it had vanished and reappeared.
• Vanessa and Dorothea found the building's downstairs door smashed open and fought their way upstairs through more corpses.
• Vanessa found Allen protecting the children while four corpses attacked them, and she shot one of the attackers.
• Vanessa activated [Secret Art · Trigger], causing three of her fingers to separate from her palm.

Vanessa sacrificed three fingers to fire them like bullets, killing the infected corpses and saving the children, but Allen was mortally wounded. As Allen lay beside Winnie’s body, Vanessa prayed to her Lord to help her.

• Vanessa fired three severed fingers through the attackers and the wall, then pushed Dorothea to save Allen while she bandaged her own wounds.
• Dorothea treated Allen’s injuries and told Vanessa he was dying from his wounds and infection, with no time to fetch help.
• Dorothea brought Winnie’s body to Allen, and he accepted his coming death as he looked at her.
• Vanessa knelt amid the blood and prayed to her Lord to help her save kind people from their fate.

Elliot decided he could not change the Empire but might save Allen, and offered the [Elliott Sterling] card in the Difference Engine’s [Sacrifice] slot. Meanwhile, Vanessa drew and activated a flawless blood ritual without naming a target, leaving Dorothea stunned when it worked.

• Elliot considered using his future power as Sterling heir to help Vanessa, then chose to focus on saving Allen.
• Elliot placed the [Elliott Sterling] card in the [Sacrifice] slot of the Difference Engine.
• Vanessa drew a sacrificial ritual on the rough ground with her blood-covered hand while Dorothea watched in disbelief.
• Dorothea realized Vanessa’s ritual was extraordinarily precise and suspected her Path involved flesh and blood.
• Vanessa activated the ritual despite leaving its target blank, and a blood-red halo appeared as the array began to hum.
• Dorothea questioned whether a great being had been watching her all along.

Vanessa’s Ritual succeeded when she offered Allen’s Mad Rat Disease pathogens and accumulated blood as sacrifices, while Dorothea glimpsed an immense supernatural being guiding Vanessa’s hand. Elliot used the result to choose Blessing for Allen, but the chapter ended as he examined the available paths and decided which one to take.

• Dorothea briefly perceived a strange supernatural realm and an immense being guiding Vanessa toward a mysterious door, then returned to the room unable to remember what she had seen.
• Elliot identified Allen’s blood loss, Mad Rat Disease, and infected wounds as urgent threats and devised a way to help him.
• Vanessa offered the disease pathogens and accumulated blood in Allen’s body as sacrifices, and the Ritual markings flashed red.
• Elliot concluded that the pathogens and blood counted as part of Allen, while the Source of Infection could not be sacrificed.
• Elliot selected the Blessing card and studied Allen’s available paths, preparing to choose one.

Elliot sacrificed Allen's card to the Difference Engine's heart slot, granting him Vitality +1 and restoring him from the brink of death. Allen awoke healed but could not save Winnie, while Dorothea learned that Vanessa had a Path card linked to Shengtuo and the Ascension Society.

• Elliot chose the heart slot for Allen's card, and the Difference Engine produced [Vitality +1].
• Vanessa and Dorothea saw Allen's blood surge and his wounds heal as his heartbeat thundered; he awoke with his strength restored.
• Allen realized Winnie was still dead, apologized, and let the grieving children crowd around him.
• Vanessa asked Dorothea to carry Winnie's body and explained that Allen needed a few more sacrifices to cross into the supernatural.
• Vanessa showed Dorothea [Path · Flesh Ascension · Part One], and Dorothea recognized Shengtuo's name and suspected Vanessa was with the Ascension Society.

Vanessa carried Winnie's body back to No. 37 Pine Resin Alley, followed by Dorothea, Allen, and the children. As she sat beside her dead friend and planned to sacrifice herself, the others quietly made the ruined house warm and lived-in.

• Vanessa rejected Dorothea's assumption that she belonged to the Ascension Society and left the Harbor District carrying Winnie.
• Overcome with grief and uncertain where home was, Vanessa walked through the city until she reached No. 37 Pine Resin Alley.
• Vanessa invited Dorothea, Allen, and the children inside, and Dorothea helped lay Winnie's body on the sofa.
• Vanessa sat beside Winnie and planned to spend time with her before offering herself as a Sacrifice in the basement.
• After Vanessa drifted into exhaustion, the smell of food woke her to find Allen cooking, the children playing, and Dorothea reading in the warmed house.

After waking in the orphans’ warm, newly cleaned home, Vanessa learned that the Mad Rat Disease may have been deliberately created and that Winnie’s death was likely part of a larger crime. She vowed to uncover the culprit and avenge Winnie, while the children and Allen stayed by her side.

• Vanessa woke to find Alice, Dorothea, Allen, and the other orphans had cleaned the house and prepared a meal, and she cried at the warmth of their home.
• Dorothea told Vanessa that the Mad Rat Disease showed signs of deliberate manipulation and that the Circle of Vitas could create Plague Cores to control outbreaks.
• Vanessa recalled suspicious details about the plague’s timing and locations, then realized reporting the crime to the Public Security Bureau might be futile.
• Vanessa vowed to identify who killed Winnie and avenge her, regardless of the powerful people involved.
• Alice said the children would not leave Vanessa, and Allen replied that he was already dead when she asked whether the Wild Dog Gang would let him leave.

Vanessa and Dorothea discussed Vanessa’s supernatural Path, and Dorothea warned that Vanessa’s household could become an Esoteric Cult watched by the Night Watch Bureau. At Sterling Manor, Elliot adopted noble breakfast manners while learning that the Anatomy Act had passed and the Circle of Vitas could gain official recognition.

• Dorothea rejected Vanessa’s attempt to send her away and offered to visit, while revealing that she had investigated Mad Rat Disease and Vanessa.
• Dorothea explained that Vanessa’s Path, base, and followers made her household resemble the beginnings of a secret society, then offered to gather supernatural information at Miskatonic University.
• Dorothea warned Vanessa that the Night Watch Bureau monitored supernatural incidents and might already know of the Mad Caregiver.
• Elliot greeted the servants and ate breakfast properly, surprising Conrad with his unusual display of noble manners.
• Conrad reported that the Anatomy Act had passed, allowing unclaimed bodies to be donated for research and potentially making the Circle of Vitas an officially recognized organization.

Elliot heard the latest news and asked Conrad to invite Miss Elegy again, while Vanessa returned to the hospital after Winnie’s death and found a letter saying the Troy Society had paid off her debts. The chapter ended with Vanessa unsettled by the Society’s unexplained gift.

• Elliot listened as Conrad reported the latest news, then asked him to invite Miss Elegy to visit again.
• Vanessa woke at Winnie’s house, considered the danger of involving the orphans in revenge, and told Allen to study the books about the extraordinary.
• Vanessa left to collect her belongings from the hospital and told Allen they would hold a funeral for Winnie.
• Vanessa found a letter in her drawer stating that the Troy Society had paid off her debts to New Scandinavia General Hospital as a gift.

Vanessa investigated the mysterious letter and went to the hospital to resign after learning her debt had been paid. Sir Everett Chandler demanded payment for Winnie’s corpse, but Norman intervened, and Vanessa left with a debt to him; outside, she noticed a dog with blood-red eyes.

• Vanessa paid Old Razi to ask about the letter, but he said no one had entered the room while he was away and could not explain how it appeared.
• Vanessa took Winnie’s bellflowers and went to Doctor Norman’s office, where she overheard him arguing with Sir Everett Chandler about the hospital’s future.
• Vanessa told Norman her debt had been paid and that she was resigning, but Sir Chandler demanded another payment for removing Winnie’s corpse.
• Norman approved Vanessa’s resignation and offered to cover the one thousand leo charge, then told Sir Chandler he had charged only half the corpse’s price out of conscience.
• Vanessa left the hospital carrying the bellflowers, kicked away a dog with blood-red eyes, and heard Old Razi say it had eaten too much human flesh.

Vanessa left New Scandinavia Hospital and went to collect Winnie’s belongings, where she learned that Granny Lynn had not known Winnie was dead. Vanessa packed the remnants of her friend’s life onto her cart and left with flowers and treats from Granny Lynn.

• Vanessa left the hospital with her belongings and a dead dog, then learned it was being turned into an asylum.
• Vanessa visited Granny Lynn and confirmed that Razi was doing well, but could not bring herself to tell her about Winnie.
• Vanessa found Winnie’s note and a bag of fruit outside her room, then broke down in grief and blamed herself for failing to save her friend.
• Vanessa packed Winnie’s clothes and belongings, tormented by her poverty and powerlessness.
• Granny Lynn gave Vanessa flowers and homemade treats for Winnie, and Vanessa loaded them onto her cart before leaving.

Vanessa, Dorothea, Allen, and the orphans struggled to find a place to bury Winnie, discovering cemeteries filled with bodies before finally laying her to rest in the backyard at No. 37 Pine Resin Alley. As they gathered around her flower-covered grave, Vanessa promised to carry Winnie's hopes forward and make the powerful remember her name.

• Vanessa and the others brought Winnie's belongings home, then Miss Crow arrived with a coffin and suggested holding a funeral.
• The group took Winnie's coffin to the cemetery, but Vanessa found a pit full of bodies and blood-eyed dogs feeding on them.
• After finding the other cemeteries equally overwhelmed with bodies, they returned to No. 37 Pine Resin Alley and buried Winnie in the backyard.
• Vanessa decorated Winnie's grave with flowers and told the others that they together represented Winnie's life and everything she had loved.
• Vanessa promised Winnie that one day she would make the important people look up and see Winnie's name.

Elliot discovered that the Difference Engine could help him establish a cult, but its members could not be registered as followers until they completed a secret discussion and accepted founding tenets. After Dorothea met with Vanessa, the girl asked what she thought of Flesh Ascension, which Dorothea recognized as the doctrine of the Ascension Society.

• Elliot found new Difference Engine slots for Hideout, Cult Leader, Followers, and Secret Discussion, and realized a secret society could help him gather supernatural allies and resources.
• Elliot tried placing Dorothea Ramsey, Allen, and Alice in the Follower slot, but the Engine rejected them.
• After the group shared a meal following Winnie's funeral, Dorothea urged Vanessa to address everyone, and Vanessa switched personalities before inviting Dorothea to the study.
• Elliot placed Dorothea Ramsey and Devout Girl in Secret Discussion, then discovered that the Engine accepted Path · Flesh Ascension · Part One as Founding Tenets.
• Vanessa asked Dorothea what she thought of Flesh Ascension, and Dorothea said it was useful but belonged to the Ascension Society.

Elliot created the Path · Doubt card, and Vanessa interpreted its words as an answer to her wish to heal the world. She convinced Dorothea to join the Ascension Society and then brought Allen into the study.

• Elliot wrote “This world should not be this way” and used it to create the Path · Doubt card, bearing the words “Doubt is the first step.”
• Vanessa declared that her path began with doubt and resolved to help heal the world's sickness, believing her lord had shown her a way forward.
• Vanessa told Dorothea that a sacrifice would earn her what she needed, and Dorothea agreed to join while asking to observe the supernatural first.
• Vanessa abruptly brought Allen into the study, leaving Dorothea to exit without a welcome or a chance to speak with Vanessa's other personality.

Vanessa and her companions formed an Esoteric Cult, with Dorothea outlining what the new society needed to survive. When they discussed making contact with another group, Vanessa proposed the Mourning Poetry Society as their first destination.

• Vanessa recruited Dorothea, Allen, and the orphans into the secret society, and Elliot's cards changed to identify them as followers.
• Elliot filled the Difference Engine's slots, establishing an Esoteric Cult and receiving new cards, including one called [Evil Name].
• When Elliot discarded [Evil Name], the machine returned it and placed it in a [Night Watch Bureau] slot as the investigation counter began to fall.
• Vanessa and the others agreed that revenge for Winnie would bind the cult together and chose their house as its base.
• Dorothea said the cult needed steady income and exchanges with other secret societies, and Vanessa proposed visiting the Mourning Poetry Society for communion.

Dorothea wrote Elsa a letter describing her life in New Scandinavia and her discovery of a possible supernatural way to heal Elsa, involving Vanessa. After deciding to accept the Sisterhood’s offer to meet a distinguished guest, she found an invitation waiting outside her door.

• Dorothea checked her room for signs of intrusion, then sat down to write to Elsa.
• Dorothea described Miskatonic University and New Scandinavia, reflecting on the corruption and kindness she had encountered across the city.
• Dorothea told Elsa she had found a possible way to heal her and connected that hope to Vanessa’s supernatural abilities.
• Dorothea admitted she wanted to take a risk, despite Elsa’s warnings, and wondered whether the world was truly meant to be this way.
• A visitor offered to arrange an introduction to a distinguished guest through the Sisterhood, and Dorothea agreed.
• Dorothea opened her door after hearing a knock and found an invitation lying in the empty corridor.

Flora tried to avoid the Mourning Poetry Society’s backlog, but Damian confronted her about her responsibilities and the enormous payment Young Master Elliot had given her. Despite Damian’s suspicions and concern over Flora’s worsening condition, she decided to accept Elliot’s invitation again, hoping to secure more money.

• Flora woke exhausted and considered going back to sleep before Damian entered and demanded she address the society’s growing backlog.
• Flora claimed Young Master Elliot had invited her over, and Damian told her Elliot had given the society a bank draft for five hundred gold pounds.
• Flora was astonished by the sum, while Damian worried the Sterling Family had an ulterior motive for helping the society.
• Flora revealed that the wounds covering half her face had worsened and said she probably did not have much longer to live.
• Despite Damian’s concern, Flora insisted on visiting Elliot again and wondered whether she could persuade him to give her another five hundred gold pounds.

Flora prepared for her appointment with Elliot, masking her injuries beneath makeup and an elegant black mourning dress before traveling to the Sterling estate. At the banquet, she saw the gulf between herself and the nobles grow undeniable, while Elliot stood before her with a keen gaze.

• Flora worried with Damian over whether the five hundred gold pounds were a large sum and insisted she could protect herself.
• Flora spent nearly an hour dressing, admired her veiled appearance in the mirror, and quietly lamented that she was going to die.
• Flora boarded the carriage sent by the Sterling Family and traveled through the estate to meet Elliot.
• Flora observed how the estate's servants were kept apart from the mansion and compared their position to her own.
• Flora spoke with Elliot at the banquet, reflected that they could never truly be friends, and watched him rise and look at her intently.

Elliot invited Flora, the veiled Elegy, to stroll through his mansion’s garden at night, hoping to see proof of her supernatural nature. After Flora revealed her face, Elliot admired her, leaving her flustered and unsure how to interpret his sincerity.

• Elliot invited Flora to walk with him through the mansion’s lamplit garden after the servants had left.
• Flora suspected Elliot was romantically interested in her and decided to reveal the truth about herself before he could pursue her.
• Flora removed her black veil and braced for Elliot to react with disgust.
• Elliot exclaimed that her supernatural glow was wonderful, mistaking her revealed face for proof of supernatural power.
• Flora blushed at Elliot’s reaction, and he took her veil away and sincerely called her beautiful.

Elliot paid Flora, also known as Miss Elegy, to teach him about the Supernatural and the Mourning Poetry Society’s Path. Flora explained the ranks, sacrifices, and Formless Arts, ending with the claim that one had destroyed Old Scandia’s East District.

• Elliot saw Flora’s uncovered face and noticed the flecks of light across it, then asked whether she was a Supernatural practitioner.
• Flora warned Elliot that the Supernatural was dangerous and that the Mourning Poetry Society’s Path had serious flaws.
• Elliot offered to make a personal donation in exchange for future explanations, and Flora agreed.
• Flora explained that Supernatural power came from sacrifice and that practitioners were divided into thirteen ranks, though none above the tenth were known to exist.
• Flora described Formless Arts as uncanny manifestations of Supernatural power and said one had supposedly destroyed Old Scandia’s East District.

Elliot learned from Flora that a plague had devastated the East District and raised the possibility that the Circle of Vitas and the authorities were involved. After Elliot donated aid to the Mourning Poetry Society, Flora returned to find an unexpected group eating at its Communion gathering.

• Flora told Elliot that the East District was ruined, a plague had killed many people, and the Circle of Vitas might be connected to it through New Scandinavia General Hospital.
• Elliot suggested that the authorities might be targeting the East District, and he and Flora fell silent as they considered the possibility.
• Elliot gave Flora a white rose and instructed Conrad to donate money in his name to help the poor through the Mourning Poetry Society.
• Conrad refused to give Flora a Sterling Family token, prompting Elliot to wonder why circulating one might cause trouble.
• Flora returned to the Mourning Poetry Society and found seven figures eating at the Communion table, including a girl who turned toward her with food stuffed in her cheeks.

Flora recruited Vanessa and her companions to help the Mourning Poetry Society distribute sponsored Holy Communion in the Harbor District, while Damian suspected they belonged to a new secret society. Flora ended the conversation by telling Damian to stop trying to save her.

• Flora confronted Vanessa for freeloading and recruited her group to help distribute Holy Communion to the poor.
• Flora told the Mourning Poetry Society that a sponsor had funded food relief, and the members agreed to organize the distribution.
• Allen suggested asking local gangs to maintain order, and Dorothea offered to contact the Wild Dog Gang.
• Damian arranged for Vanessa's group to guard the perimeter while the Society's core members handled the Holy Communion; Dorothea left to contact the gang.
• Flora told Damian that Elliot was only curious about the supernatural, then asked whether Vanessa's group could be trusted.
• Damian suspected Vanessa's group had formed a secret society with its own Path, and Flora stopped him from trying to save her.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to develop Vanessa’s supernatural power through sacrifices, while planning roles for the other members of his secret society. His first offerings produced little power, so he tried sacrificing ordinary household goods, leaving Vanessa and the others bewildered by the altar’s appetite.

• Elliot concluded that the Difference Engine’s cards represented real people and that Vanessa’s supernatural powers were linked to him.
• Elliot planned Allen as a combatant, considered Dorothea a potential strategist, and decided to keep Winnie’s orphaned children out of danger.
• Elliot made Vanessa sacrifice a fingernail, but the golden thread barely moved and yielded almost no power.
• Elliot controlled Vanessa again and had her carry a sack of potatoes to the altar as an offering.
• Vanessa sacrificed potatoes and various household items, including a chair, a dead rat, raw meat, and Dorothea’s burnt porridge, while the others came downstairs to watch.

Elliot tested sacrifices through Vanessa and discovered that an offering’s emotional significance affected its power, while a stray dog’s corpse produced an unexpectedly large increase. The next morning, Vanessa led her companions out to collect stray dogs for sacrifice.

• Elliot had Vanessa sacrifice various objects, and the golden thread advanced more for Alice’s rabbit doll and the children’s treasured wooden club than for ordinary belongings.
• Elliot concluded that a sacrifice’s power depended on how much its owner cherished it and wondered whether sacrificing oneself would be more effective.
• Elliot found that a man-eating stray dog’s corpse advanced the golden thread far more than the other offerings combined.
• Vanessa told Dorothea and Allen that they would collect stray dogs to sacrifice, and they agreed to follow the Lord’s will.
• Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen left the house after breakfast to search for stray dogs.

Elliot explored the Difference Engine’s second-level choices and selected the blood icon, which granted Restoration +1. In the basement, Vanessa felt the effect and became hungry, leaving the nature of her new ability unclear.

• Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen gathered dead feral dogs and carried them to the basement altar.
• Vanessa sacrificed the dogs until the offering stopped at the fourth one.
• Elliot studied how the second-level icons connected and chose the blood icon, which produced Restoration +1.
• Vanessa felt a strange burning sensation and realized she was hungry.