Chapter Summaries

Elliot decided to make Lillian a believer so the Difference Engine could reveal her activities, and he asked her to join his friend's Esoteric Cult. Lillian mistook his motives for a conflict between Great Beings and agreed, while Elliot ended by insisting she undergo a required Conversation before joining.

• After learning that the self-aware [Holy Scripture] was behind the Fog Horn Fraternity, Elliot considered using it to deal with the Rose Cross.
• Lillian feared Elliot and offered to become his believer, and he realized the Difference Engine might let him monitor her actions.
• Elliot told Lillian that his friend's Esoteric Cult had no name and required nothing from her, leading her to believe Chi was challenging the Lord of the Relics she worshiped.
• Lillian agreed to join, resigned to the danger and remarking that the Second Era would be destroyed.
• Elliot told Lillian she had to undergo [Conversation] before joining the cult.

Elliot confirmed that Lillian Rose had become a Believer, while Elsa's Corpse summoned Vanessa and Dorothea to question the Holy Scripture. The Scripture answered Elsa and revealed that all Relics were alive.

• Elliot checked the Difference Engine and confirmed that Lillian Rose had become a Believer, though he still could not give Believers orders.
• The Difference Engine reported that Lillian Rose was destroying the Second Era, leaving Elliot confused.
• Elsa's Corpse dragged Vanessa and Dorothea to the Study to inspect the Holy Scripture and ask whether it could communicate.
• When the Scripture did not respond, Elsa's Corpse threatened it with Spirituality Pressure until it answered.
• The Holy Scripture apologized, confirmed that it was a living Relic, and told Elsa that all Relics were alive.

The [Holy Scripture] explained that relics carried their dead owners’ obsessions and that Elliot’s power had let it speak in the waking world. Elliot discovered that Eleanor’s corpse had been entering believers’ dreams on its own and suspected it was taking supernatural materials; he joined Flora’s dream to investigate, where she said she had found none.

• The [Holy Scripture] explained how relics could enter the waking world with an invitation, and Elsa asked Dorothea to use [Rationality] to question it about the Fog Horn Fraternity.
• Elliot asked Vanessa about Eleanor, then found records showing that Eleanor’s corpse had entered the dreams of Dorothea, Allen, and Lillian, among other believers.
• Dorothea reported that believers had recently found far fewer supernatural materials in new dream worlds, leading Elliot to suspect Eleanor had been taking them.
• Elliot found Eleanor in Flora’s dream and entered it himself to search for her.
• Flora greeted Elliot and said she had not found a single supernatural material.

Elliot and Flora tracked down an invisible thief that had been stealing supernatural materials and subdued it with Elliot’s Spirituality Pressure and Flora’s punch. Elliot fed the shadow creature supernatural materials in an attempt to revive it, and it shakily stood up.

• Elliot used Spirit Vision to follow supernatural materials and discovered that an invisible thief was stealing them.
• Elliot and Flora watched a material vanish, then set a trap near a ruined wall.
• Elliot exposed and pinned the shadow creature with Spirituality Pressure, and Flora struck it with a punch that blasted away the ruins.
• Elliot found the creature still alive and discovered that supernatural materials made its shadowy body grow stronger.
• Elliot shot himself to leave the Dream World and fetch more materials, then returned and scattered them over the creature.
• The black shadow shakily rose to its feet as Flora asked whether it was Eleanor.

Elliot and Flora explained to Eleanor that [it] had been killed but that she had died too, leaving her as a paper-thin spirit in the Dream World. Elliot offered to try to bring her back to life, and Flora prepared to take her out of the Dream World.

• Flora tried to protect Elliot from the shadow monster, but Elliot revealed that the creature was Eleanor Bennett, a Night Watch Bureau detective.
• Elliot told Eleanor that [it], the being inside her, was dead, then revealed that she had also been killed and had become a two-dimensional paper cutout.
• Flora and Elliot explained how Eleanor had been killed by Formless Art and had wandered through the ruins stealing things.
• Elliot suggested that a friend might be able to revive Eleanor, and he told Flora to carry her out of the Dream World like supernatural material.

Elliot recovered Eleanor Bennett’s Spirit from her dream and reunited it with her corpse, allowing Eleanor to wake in her body before being pulled back into a paper-cutout form. In Hearthfire District, Vanessa restrained Elsa’s corpse after realizing it might contain the hostile will that had once tried to control Elsa.

• Elliot found a record showing he had recovered Believer Eleanor Bennett’s Spirit and obtained her Spirit Card from the dream.
• Elliot equipped Eleanor’s Spirit Card with her Corpse Card, and Eleanor woke in her bedroom before slipping out of her body and being forced back into it.
• Eleanor remembered Flora’s directions and hurried toward Hearthfire District to find the Canteen.
• Flora learned that the Holy Scripture had come alive, then went to the basement and found Vanessa tying up Elsa’s corpse.
• Vanessa explained that Elsa had killed herself during the family massacre to protect Clara and concluded that another hostile [it] might be trapped inside Elsa’s corpse.

Maeve wrote her first letter to her brother Simon Strauss, describing her new job, literacy lessons, and hopes that he would answer. When she tried to give it to him, Simon ignored her and shoved her aside, and her letter and savings were lost.

• Maeve wrote a letter to Simon Strauss about her work at a laundry, the Canteen, and the literacy lessons that had taught her to read and write.
• Maeve recalled her childhood with Simon and confessed that she feared her happy memories and their bond might be an illusion.
• Maeve folded a sheet of paper into an envelope and went into the corridor to give Simon her letter.
• Simon walked past Maeve, then shoved her aside when she blocked his way and begged him to stop researching [it].
• Maeve's letter flew out through the broken window, and Simon threw her saved coins onto the floor as he entered his room.

Vanessa picked up an ordinary letter that seemed to reveal danger involving its writer’s brother and a laboratory. The group considered whether he had become involved with an Esoteric Cult or was already dead, but they had not yet learned what had happened.

• Vanessa suddenly left the house and returned with a letter she had picked up.
• Dorothea inspected the letter and found no supernatural traces, while Flora recognized it as a younger sister’s message to her older brother.
• Vanessa noticed the writer’s fear and concluded that her brother had changed and probably never read the discarded letter.
• Vanessa pointed out that the letter mentioned the brother often going to a laboratory, leading Flora to suspect he had encountered an Esoteric Cult or a [Relic].
• Flora warned that the brother might be in supernatural danger, and Elsa suggested he could already be dead.

Vanessa, Elsa, and Flora investigated Maeve’s home after finding a letter that raised concerns about her brother Simon. Simon denied having a sister and shut them out, so they planned to wait for Maeve to appear at class and consider using Dorothea’s mirror to inspect the house.

• Vanessa, Elsa, and Flora went to the Canteen and learned from Maeve’s neighbor that she lived with her older brother, Simon, on Copper Nail Lane.
• The neighbor recalled hearing Simon shout in anguish months or years earlier, while saying he rarely left the house.
• After Maeve failed to come to the Canteen or her laundry job, Vanessa and the others prepared to investigate her home.
• Simon answered the door, appeared weak but showed no sign of anything supernatural under Vanessa’s Spirit Vision, and denied having a sister before shutting the door.
• Vanessa, Elsa, and Flora found nothing unusual outside the rotten house and decided to wait for Maeve at Allen’s literacy class, possibly bringing Dorothea to inspect the interior with her mirror.

Elliot investigated Maeve and Simon’s apparent conflict but found no supernatural clues, so his believers made plans to watch the situation and learn more. Meanwhile, Eleanor arrived at the Third Community Canteen, reunited with Dorothea, and asked to hear about the secret society.

• Elliot examined the Stage-Play Difference Engine and Simon’s laboratory but found no unusual items or evidence of supernatural activity.
• Elliot suspected Maeve and Simon’s conflict might develop into a larger quest, while Allen, Vanessa, and Elsa arranged to monitor them and investigate Simon’s research.
• Eleanor wandered through the Hearthfire District, uncertain whether she had truly died and returned to life.
• Eleanor recognized Dorothea at the Third Community Canteen, ate a meal, and realized the people there were shielding her from outside attention.
• Eleanor asked Dorothea to tell her about the secret society, admitting that she was interested.

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.