Chapter Summaries

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.

Vanessa’s blood sacrifice gave her a restoration power that drove her into a ravenous, nearly uncontrollable frenzy before her will brought her back. After she learned that eating enough helped her recover, Dorothea and Elliot considered whether she could repeatedly sacrifice her regrown flesh, while Elliot switched to Allen for the remaining sacrifices.

• Vanessa’s severed fingers began regenerating as an overpowering hunger and desire to consume Dorothea nearly overcame her.
• Vanessa regained control, begged Dorothea to find food, and ate until her hunger subsided while her fingers began to regrow.
• Elliot realized Vanessa’s [Restoration +1] was tied to desire and wondered whether he shared the power without suffering its cost.
• Vanessa told the others that her lost flesh might recover if she ate enough, and Dorothea suggested sacrificing the regrown fingers again.
• Elliot considered whether repeated sacrifices could build restoration, then switched Vanessa out and had Allen sacrifice the remaining wild dog carcasses.

After Allen sacrificed a stray dog, he gained a dangerous power that let him cut at a distance and wield his Folding Knife as an extension of his will. The group resolved to take stricter precautions before future sacrifices, then considered relying on Vanessa’s ability to find useful books.

• Elliot chose a pointed knife for Allen’s altar, and the Difference Engine granted him [Sharpness +1].
• Allen’s uncontrolled power severed Vanessa’s left index finger, so Dorothea pulled her away and bandaged the bleeding stump.
• Allen tested his new ability on a stray dog and the stone wall, discovering that he could cut nearby targets and slice through masonry with his Folding Knife.
• Dorothea warned that future sacrifices required strict safety measures, and Vanessa suggested consulting other supernatural practitioners.
• Dorothea dismissed that idea and struggled to find relevant books, then remembered Vanessa’s talent for locating information in libraries.

Vanessa and her companions hunted wild dogs, then joined Damian and the Mourning Poetry Society in bringing food to starving refugees. The convoy reached the wall around Mist Harbor District and stopped at a guarded gate while Damian presented his identification papers.

• Vanessa and her companions rescued a badly injured man who had hunted a wild dog, traded him roasted potatoes for the carcass, and learned that people who ate the dogs were going mad and dying.
• Vanessa's group arrived at the Mourning Poetry Society to help distribute food, and Damian noticed that one of Vanessa's missing fingers appeared to be regenerating.
• Dorothea brought Bryce, leader of the Wild Dog Gang, and his men to help escort the convoy through Mist Harbor District.
• Damian, Dorothea, Bryce, and the others set out with carriages of grain and flatbreads for the refugees.
• The convoy reached a brick wall topped with barbed wire and guarded by Public Security Bureau officers; after circling to a gate, Damian approached the guards and showed his identification papers.

The Mourning Poetry Society’s relief convoy was blocked by Public Security Bureau officials demanding fees and permits until Damian invoked Flora Belenga Lancaster and Master Elliott Sterling. The director violently punished the officer and let the wagons pass, then stopped them again after only a few paces.

• Damian and Dorothea protested as the Public Security Bureau officer demanded payment and accused the society of distributing relief illegally.
• The director arrived and cited the lack of an official emergency notice, while Allen and Vanessa prepared for a possible confrontation and Bryce warned Dorothea to hold back.
• Damian declared that the society was run by Flora Belenga Lancaster and the Holy Communion was being held in Master Elliott Sterling’s name.
• The director slapped and beat the officer, then invoked the Empire Sacred Charter to declare the Sterling family’s demands the highest priority.
• The director ordered the barricades moved, allowing the wagons forward before abruptly stopping them again.

Damian’s charity convoy received a 300-gold-pound donation from the Public Security Bureau after Elliot’s name was mentioned, deepening Dorothea and Vanessa’s awareness of the city’s inequality. As the Mourning Poetry Society distributed food in the Harbor District, an armed group arrived from the east, bringing a new confrontation.

• The Public Security Bureau director gave Damian’s group 300 gold pounds, calling it a contribution inspired by Elliot’s charity.
• Dorothea and Vanessa reflected on how nobles wielded power and how poverty had left the Harbor District’s residents with little strength to resist.
• The Wild Dog Gang helped the society set up its stall and keep order while the society distributed bread and hot porridge to starving residents.
• Vanessa learned how illness, lost work, and the Mad Rat Disease had pushed many people in the Slums toward starvation.
• A crowd of more than a hundred armed people advanced from the east and faced off against the Wild Dog Gang, displaying an emblem of a shining triangle surrounded by rays.