Chapter Summaries

Elliot learned that Evan’s history had been altered to make him a true member of the Sterling Family and gain supernatural power, then arrived at a Blood Feast amid rising tensions between the Empire’s Royal Family and its nobles. He entered the gathering with Evan despite the host’s warning that attendants were not allowed.

• Evan revealed that secret restrictions and altered history made him a true Sterling and a member of one of the Seven Holy Bloodlines.
• Elliot realized Victoria may have intended to grant Vanessa noble rank so she could access the supernatural, and suspected some force was continually changing history.
• Elliot observed the growing confrontation between the Royal Family and the nobles in the Embassy District and learned that five of the Seven Holy Bloodlines were attending the Blood Feast.
• Elliot arrived at the Blood Feast with Evan, ignored the Trenchard Family host’s awkward objection about attendants, and entered the hall.

Elliot attended a banquet hosted by the heirs of the Seven Holy Families and found its extravagant hall and cloying atmosphere unsettling. He sat with the heirs, identified the gathered families, and challenged them over the absence of anyone who had inherited a noble rank.

• Elliot entered the banquet hall, noticed its overwhelming perfume and lavish feast, and followed Jonas Trenchard away from the minor nobles.
• Elliot used [Spirit Vision] while walking through an ornate corridor with Jonas and Evan, but saw nothing unusual.
• Elliot entered a private dining room, where the sweet fragrance carried a hint of blood from steaks being served.
• Elliot sat at the table with heirs of the Seven Holy Families and named [Silent Sanctuary], [Gatekeeper], [Prophet in the Urn], [Moth That Weaves the Night], and [Clock Tower].
• The heirs remarked that [Reforging Flame] had joined them and that the Fitzgerald Family girl was still absent, while Elliot pointed out that none of them had inherited a noble rank.

Elliot attended the Helms Family’s Blood Feast, where Tobias Helms claimed fate had linked Elliot to Sidney and then prophesied that Crawford would become a tyrant. The other heirs mocked the prophecy, leaving Elliot to wonder whether Tobias had genuinely glimpsed a distorted future.

• Elliot noticed that the heirs at the Blood Feast had strangely hoarse voices and that the hall made him feel sluggish.
• Tobias Helms told Elliot that fate had brought him there and named Sidney as his key node, but Elliot suspected Tobias was trying to drive a wedge between them.
• Crawford, the Fourth Prince, angrily challenged Tobias for bringing Sidney into the conversation.
• Tobias bit off and swallowed part of his finger while trying to read Crawford’s fate, then called him a tyrant.
• The heirs jeered at Tobias’s prophecy, and Elliot considered that Tobias might have received a real but distorted vision.

Elliot discovered that secret aura in the hall heightened emotions and impaired clear thinking, while Evan identified its effects. As the Blood Feast grew more unruly, Elliot noticed the strange food on his plate was a parasite.

• Elliot sensed that the hall’s cloying aroma was affecting his emotions and warned Evan that something was wrong.
• Evan detected secret aura in the air and explained that it caused stimulation and hallucinations without harming supernatural people.
• Elliot questioned Crawford and learned that Sidney had recently been keeping his distance from his own brother.
• Elliot observed the nobles indulging themselves at the Blood Feast as the secret aura made them increasingly excited.
• Elliot gave Evan a trembling, bean-like dish to analyze, and Evan identified it as a parasite.

At a Helms Family banquet, Elliot learned that the Woven Scroll meat was made from people forced to live out fabricated destinies before being served to nobles. He recognized the victims’ pleas for help and wondered whether his own life might also be controlled.

• Evan explained that the twitching beans were Hunger Worms, and destroyed them.
• Tobias described the Woven Scroll Beast meat and its ability to preserve the memories of what it ate.
• Elliot saw the words “Save me!” appear on the meat, while Tobias revealed that the Helms Family cultivated Woven Scrolls from people subjected to hypnotized false lives.
• Tobias described a mage’s scripted life and tragic ending as he and the other nobles ate slices of her memories with wine.
• Elliot saw another plea, “Kill me, please!”, and silently feared that he too might be meat on a plate.

At the banquet, Elliot watched the nobles treat people as playthings, while Isaac offered an old man supernatural power in exchange for flesh. The old man gained strength by eating Isaac’s flesh and began cutting off more of his own, as Isaac continued to match him with larger pieces.

• Elliot felt disgusted as the nobles enjoyed the meat and watched attendants bring people to the table.
• Tobias asked a middle-aged man what he wanted, and the man asked to become Tobias’s servant; Tobias assigned him to carve meat.
• Isaac offered an old man power in exchange for flesh, and the old man cut a piece from his belly.
• Isaac cut off a larger piece of his own flesh, ate the old man’s offering, and told him to eat Isaac’s flesh in return.
• The old man ate Isaac’s flesh, gained supernatural strength, and began cutting off more flesh as Isaac did the same.

Isaac hosted a Blood Feast game in which an old man traded away his flesh for power, but he died before he could claim the final piece. Elliot left with the frail girl Cora, while Isaac decided to tell Tobias about turning the Hearthfire District into a new game.

• The old man repeatedly cut off and ate his flesh in exchange for power, until his lower body was reduced to bone.
• Isaac stopped the old man from cutting himself again, but the man ignored him, died reaching for the largest piece of meat, and was buried with it.
• Isaac told Elliot that the Blood Feast was only a game and claimed the old man had followed its rules but grown too greedy.
• Isaac offered Cora a chance to leave, but she stayed, and Elliot said he would take her to the Hearthfire District, where she could have work, housing, and lessons.
• Isaac praised Elliot's idea and decided to tell Tobias to replace his swords-and-magic game with an Industrial District game.
• As Elliot left with Cora, she asked whether Isaac had been right, and she agreed that the old man had been too greedy.

Elliot listened as Cora explained how her father’s tax debt had cost her education and led her to accept the Helms Family’s game for a job. He showed her how the game’s rules concealed an unequal system, leaving her questioning the Empire’s laws and her own place in the banquet.

• Cora told Elliot that the Golden Tax Court had jailed her father over unpaid taxes and fees, and that the Helms Family had promised to pay her debts if she joined the game.
• Cora said she believed her father’s mistake caused their troubles and pleaded with Elliot to fund her education in exchange for work.
• Elliot pointed out that Isaac kept winning by the rules while growing fatter from the flesh others sacrificed.
• Cora watched the exhausted man cutting meat for Tobias and began to doubt that hard work or perfect laws could make the system fair.
• Elliot told Cora that someone who had reached the banquet table without knowing where to pay should realize they were one of the dishes.

Elliot condemned Tobias’s Blood Feast as depravity and left the banquet with Cora, warning her that joining him might mean fighting beside his soldiers. Outside, he called for Evan to leave by carriage but received no answer.

• Tobias praised Elliot’s insight and explained that the Blood Feast was amusement rather than a way to gain power.
• Elliot denounced Tobias’s treatment of people as food and toys, then left the banquet; Cora followed him.
• Tobias refused the exhausted man’s offering and ordered his servants to deal with him, while Fourth Prince Crawford vowed to kill Elliot last if he became emperor.
• Elliot warned Cora that his return to the Blood Feast might bring soldiers and battle, and she agreed to come with him for now.
• Elliot and Cora reached the hall entrance, where Elliot called for Evan and got no response.

Elliot discovered that Evan had vanished from ordinary sight and suspected he had suffered a loss of control. He took Cora to the Grand Library and asked Victoria to examine Evan and determine whether someone had targeted him.

• Elliot used Spirit Vision and saw Evan beside him, though Cora insisted Elliot had been alone.
• Elliot suspected Evan had lost control, left the Blood Feast with Cora, and saw Evan's glowing figure riding with them in the carriage.
• Elliot told Conrad what had happened, and Conrad suggested seeking help from the Church.
• Elliot changed course and went to the Grand Library, where he woke Victoria late at night.
• Elliot asked Victoria to examine Evan and find out whether someone had set their sights on him.

Elliot told Victoria that he suspected Evan’s loss of control was connected to him, and Victoria used her early Abode to trap Evan for examination. She then told Elliot that the preparations for Vanessa’s Investiture Ritual were complete.

• Elliot explained his suspicion that the Supernatural people losing control in the Hearthfire District were centered around him and described Evan’s disappearance.
• Victoria drew the Library into the Void and found that she could barely sense Evan, while Elliot could still locate him.
• Victoria speculated that Evan’s loss of control might be connected to Elliot, and Elliot joked that he might be a Great Being.
• Victoria trapped Evan in a sphere of golden hair and silk so she could run checks, then cocooned Elliot after he teased her.
• Victoria told Elliot that the preparations for Vanessa’s Investiture Ritual were complete.

Elliot learned that Vanessa could be invested as Victoria’s Knight, then considered Victoria’s request for the Sterling Family’s full support in building her Grand Library. Conrad warned that backing Victoria would tie the family to a weak faction and require rare Dream-related resources, leading Elliot to wonder whether Dream Creatures were involved.

• Victoria told Elliot that Vanessa would be invested as her Knight, though Vanessa would not become an Immortal yet, and asked Elliot to have her come over.
• Elliot felt a faint, unexplained resistance to Vanessa being invested, but left the Grand Library and decided to keep his distance from the Sacred Blood Nobles.
• Elliot told Conrad about Victoria’s offer and asked whether the Sterling Family could help build her Grand Library.
• Conrad explained that supporting Victoria would require the family’s full resources and bind it to her faction, which had few allies beyond the Emperor.
• Conrad said Victoria needed rare materials related to the Dream, now obtainable mainly from the Expedition Frontline because the Dream had become dangerous.
• Elliot wondered whether Victoria’s requested materials had something to do with Dream Creatures.

Elliot considered whether his [Dream Memory] Cards could help Victoria build her Library, but decided to approach her cautiously through the Dream. Meanwhile, Maeve proposed using her tracking ability to uncover where the Circle of Vitas’s corpses were taken, and Vanessa went to have a conversation.

• Elliot told Conrad to pay Victoria’s bills without bringing them to him for review, then considered how to introduce her to the Dream without exposing the Communion’s secrets.
• Elliot instructed Vanessa to approach the Library and bring Victoria into [Dream Entry], then went to bed, still feeling he had forgotten something.
• The Old Butler questioned Cora about the dangerous battlefield job Elliot had promised her and told her she would soon have a new job.
• Vanessa and Maeve reviewed Maeve’s investigation into the Circle of Vitas and the trail of corpses that had gone cold after two middlemen.
• Maeve proposed eating traces of a corpse and the middlemen to track them, and Vanessa stood up to have a conversation, startling Dorothea.

Elliot accidentally sent Vanessa to wake Victoria and bring her into his dream, where he tested whether dream objects could be moved and discovered Victoria had arrived. Victoria trapped Vanessa and herself in cocoons of hair, then realized she was alone in Elliot’s dream.

• Elliot unintentionally sent Vanessa to Victoria’s Library, where Vanessa woke Victoria and prompted her to sleep so she would enter Dream Entry.
• Elliot explored his dream and tested whether its palace objects could be damaged, moved, and transported to the Present World.
• Elliot noticed Victoria’s bed appear in his dream and realized Vanessa had brought Victoria there.
• Victoria woke inside a golden cocoon beside Vanessa, complained about being woken repeatedly, and waited for a Maid to help her.
• Victoria noticed no Maid arrived and struggled to look around.

Victoria found herself in a vast, apparently empty Abode and escaped after taking furniture and decorations for her shabby Library. Back home, she claimed to Vanessa that she had visited a place of supreme eminence, but Vanessa’s familiarity with the stolen desk made Victoria suspect she knew more than she let on.

• Victoria woke in an Abode and used her Spirituality to break free of her bonds, killing Vanessa’s Dream manifestation to send her safely back to the Present World.
• Victoria searched the palace for a library and, finding it empty, decided to take some of its furnishings and decorations back to her Library.
• Victoria Dived out of the Abode with a brick, carpet, furniture, and other items, while Elliot emerged and wondered whether to send her a bill.
• Vanessa woke in the Library the next day and found Victoria reading among the new furnishings.
• Victoria described the Abode as a mysterious, magnificent place, but Vanessa opened a drawer in the newly acquired desk and took out a tissue, leaving Victoria suspicious.

Victoria told Vanessa she would take her to the palace in a few days to meet the Emperor and complete her investiture as Victoria’s knight. Vanessa agreed, and Victoria considered bringing others into her Library as she prepared to make it a lasting Abode.

• Victoria and Vanessa discussed whether Victoria’s furniture resembled the furnishings in Vanessa’s Secret Society base.
• Victoria asked Vanessa to prepare for an audience with the Emperor and an investiture in a few days.
• Victoria asked Vanessa to become her knight and pledge her loyalty while remaining free to return to the Hearthfire District.
• Vanessa accepted, grateful for Victoria’s help and friendship.
• Victoria reflected on her loneliness and considered making room in the Library for a few people.

Vanessa prepared for her Knight Investiture while Victoria arranged etiquette lessons and new clothes, then questioned her about Xixi, the dog Vanessa had taken. After Vanessa asked to keep Xixi and offered to stay with Victoria in the dog’s place, Victoria threatened to have her invested as her dog instead of a Knight.

• Victoria told Vanessa to stay in the Library, learn court etiquette, and prepare for the Investiture in a few days.
• Victoria had maids measure Vanessa for new outfits, embarrassing her by exposing her worn clothes and holey socks.
• Victoria asked about Xixi, and Vanessa admitted the dog could no longer meet them in the Present World while avoiding explaining that Xixi was in the Dream.
• Vanessa asked Victoria if she could keep Xixi and offered to keep Victoria company in the dog’s place.
• Victoria said she would tell the Imperial Palace to invest Vanessa as her dog instead of as a Knight.

Elliot learned how Investiture worked and considered whether to attend Victoria’s upcoming ceremony. While checking the Difference Engine, he discovered that his Path Card’s Ascension had failed because two Important Historical Nodes were missing, then found his Believers discussing Maeve’s investigation into the Creation Society.

• Elliot asked Conrad to explain Investiture, and Conrad described its Rituals, noble surnames, and the Royal Family’s unusual process.
• Conrad told Elliot that Victoria’s Investiture would begin in three days and that he could attend or send a Sterling representative.
• Elliot returned to the Difference Engine, pursued business with New Nobility, and considered visiting the Fitzgerald Family’s machine.
• Elliot found his [Path: Glimmer] Card and read that its Ascension had failed because it lacked two Important Historical Nodes.
• Elliot opened the Believer interface and saw that the others were discussing Maeve’s investigation of the Creation Society.

Elsa and the Communion investigated missing furniture and Maeve reported that tracked corpses had vanished into impossible destinations. The meeting ended with the revelation that one corpse had spread throughout the Imperial Capital, while the other descended beneath the flooded waterways.

• Elsa presided over the meeting, where Dorothea concluded that Maeve’s Golden-Haired Dog had eaten the missing furniture and floor tiles.
• Elsa told Maeve to recruit believers with tracking talents to investigate the Genesis School and the Creation Society.
• Maeve revealed that she had tracked the middleman and two corpses, but the middleman had made no handoff.
• Maeve said one corpse had moved beneath the flooded waterways near the Royal Waterway and descended until she could no longer sense it.
• Maeve said the other corpse had risen into the sky and spread throughout the Imperial Capital.

The Communion discussed a corpse mysteriously scattered throughout Saint Clair and turned to Victoria for help, while the Golden-Haired Dog proved too powerful to catch or drive away. After the meeting, Elsa told Maeve that she had used Nightmare Form in a battle, and Maeve recalled how the transformation made Elsa disappear from her spiritual perception and left a gigantic monster in her place.

• Maeve explained that a corpse had been evenly distributed throughout Saint Clair and that she had found no explanation for it.
• The group decided to consult Vanessa, who was with Victoria, about the mysterious corpse.
• Maeve tried to strike the Golden-Haired Dog, but it dodged her knife and survived a blow from her transformed claw.
• Flora judged that the Golden-Haired Dog might be high rank, and Maeve suggested recruiting it into the Communion.
• After the meeting, Elsa told Maeve that she had used Nightmare Form during a fight with a Believer who had lost control.
• Maeve recalled that Elsa’s Nightmare Form made Elsa vanish from her spiritual perception, leaving a gigantic monster in her place.