Recaps

Elliot uncovered Victoria’s connection to the Dream and learned that history’s important nodes were shaping events, while Vanessa’s Investiture exposed the rot on Emperor Thorne’s throne. As the Communion and Machine Priests attacked the Genesis School, Maeve went into the sewers to find the sacrificial victims, and Elsa raced after her before freezing at what she saw.

• Maeve and Elsa found Warren’s body beneath the Abode and uncovered a water-producing flask, but Victoria stopped the resulting flood with the Tin Flagon and decided to conceal what she had learned about the Abode.
• Victoria prayed to Elliot, entered his Dream, and reported that Thorne had failed and the expeditionary army was in danger, and Elliot wondered whether Sidney would be sent to reinforce it.
• Vanessa denounced the rotting flesh on Emperor Thorne’s throne during her Investiture, fulfilling an important historical node and ensuring she could never become a noble.
• Elliot found Retainer Cards for Victoria and Xixi, discovered Victoria’s Prayer slot, and connected her warning about the expeditionary army to another possible historical node.
• Dorothea and Maeve traced a flesh-and-blood pill to a Genesis School gathering place, and Elsa organized the Communion’s assault with Machine Priests and the Factory Guard.
• The Machine Priests blasted into the hideout and overwhelmed the cultists, but a giant flesh maw attacked, prompting Fisher to order a retreat.
• Maeve used [Wild Hunt] and Clara’s [Spirit Vision] to reach a room of ritual tools and a writhing Cultist, while Elsa tore apart the maw and rushed into the sewers after her.
• Elsa found Maeve in the sewer room and froze at the sight.

Maeve ascended as the Worm descended, trapping Elliot and the believers in a dream besieged by Lords of Dreams. As the defenders fought to survive, Elliot uncovered signs of a broader crisis and Victoria and Vanessa questioned the dangers of gaining power in dreams.

• Elsa rescued the children from the Genesis School altar while Maeve fought the cultists, and Elliot confirmed Maeve had reached middle rank.
• Elliot used the Difference Engine to give Maeve Physical and Blood Ascension, then selected [Shadow of the Lunar Eclipse] and [Blood Cocoon] as her abilities.
• Maeve tested her new strength with Flora and experimented with Clara, Dorothea, and Elsa, finding ways to combine their powers against the Genesis School flesh.
• The Worm’s Descent countdown reached zero as Dream Creatures attacked Victoria’s Abode, and an unidentified Immortal helped drag the Lords of Dreams away.
• Elliot discovered that Elsa had died after tasting powder from the pill, then realized that he and the believers could not leave the dream and might die there.
• Elliot mobilized the Communion and Hearthfire District to send reinforcements into the dream, while Conrad reported that people across the world had fallen ill and lost contact with the Great Beings.
• The reinforcements helped stabilize the battle, but an intelligent Dream Creature killed Maeve before Vanessa and Victoria fought it off, and Maeve’s blood-moon ability then allowed her to recover.
• Elliot refused Michel’s invitation to join the expedition, while Lillian told Sidney that she was leaving to pursue Phoenix after his betrayal and disappearance.
• Victoria explained that Formless Arts and sacrifices failed in dreams and could cause irreversible transformation, while Vanessa worried that Elsa’s resurrection might worsen her Nightmare Form and Victoria noticed something was wrong with Evan.

Elliot and his allies prepared for an expedition to the moon while Vanessa and Victoria faced a powerful Nightmare in the Dream. After the expedition crossed through a lake, Elliot became trapped beneath the Lunar Surface and discovered that the surrounding monsters and the passage through Nightmare followed strange rules.

• Vanessa saw a powerful Nightmare acknowledge her before Victoria killed it, while Elliot suspected it might be a fragment of a larger Lord of Dreams.
• Evan solidified, attacked Dream Creatures, and regained control of his body after Victoria reunited it with his Spirit.
• Elliot rejected Sidney’s carefully arranged offer to join the expedition, stayed in prison by choice, and later agreed to go after Sidney apologized and promised political reforms.
• Elsa explained to Allen that the expedition’s true purpose was to fight humanity’s enemies and that the party would travel to the moon.
• Elliot joined Michel and Sidney at the expedition camp, where Michel began a ritual that turned the lake into a passage beneath its mirrored surface.
• Elliot crossed into the passage and became stranded underwater among monsters, while Michel, Sidney, and Cora searched for him.
• Elliot found that he could not ascend without suffering severe pain, then hypnotized monsters and discovered that commands involving communication caused them to die.
• Elliot sent a hypnotized Monster through an opening that widened to admit it, and recognized the surrounding walls as Nightmare.

Elliot returned from the Sea of the Moon with Elsa’s spirit body and learned more about the expedition, the Difference Engines, and the Blood Moon plan. Meanwhile, Lillian entered the Dream Courtyard, where her search for Winnie and attempts to leave revealed the Abode’s mysterious master, whose name she could not remember.

• Vanessa discovered that the hypnotized Dream Creature obeyed her, while Michel learned Elliot was missing and arranged for Cora to impersonate him as he and Sidney searched.
• Elliot found the cave leading to the dream again, entered the Courtyard, and discovered that Dorothea and the Believers were feeding on Maeve’s regenerating flesh.
• Elliot took command of the Lords of Dreams, crossed back to the seabed, and experimented with Elsa’s spirit body, the creatures’ healing motes, and the damage caused by ascending.
• Lillian followed Phoenix’s trail to the seabed, plunged into the opening to escape the Dream Creatures, and was carried into Victoria’s web in the Courtyard.
• Cora met Duke Sterling and Lady Camilla while posing as Elliot, but Michel returned with the real Elliot before the deception could be exposed.
• Elliot reunited with Lady Camilla, learned that she could see Elsa’s spirit, and was ordered by the Old Duke to prepare to command the front line and undergo his Ritual.
• The Old Duke explained how Difference Engines gathered information from dreams and could calculate possible futures, while Sidney described the Sea of the Moon, the Ascent Curse, and the Blood Moon expedition’s purpose.
• Lillian arrived in the Courtyard, escaped Victoria’s web, asked Dorothea about Winnie, and urged Vanessa to seek the truth beyond the Veil before repeatedly trying to leave, and she ultimately forgot the name of the Abode’s mysterious master.