Chapter Summaries

Dorothea discovered that her family had gone bankrupt and their Canal District house had been sold, then searched their abandoned home in the old district for her sister Elsa. She found Elsa hidden beneath a bed, alive but severely injured and missing all four limbs.

• Dorothea learned from the house’s new owner that her father had gone bankrupt and sold the family home.
• Dorothea told Vanessa and Allen that she had secretly supported them with money she earned and savings from scholarships and work.
• Dorothea led Vanessa and Allen to her family’s old house, where they found it decayed and apparently deserted.
• Dorothea searched the house for her family, broke down when she found no one, and heard Elsa call from beneath a bed.
• Dorothea pulled Elsa from under the bed and discovered that her sister was alive but grievously scarred and had no limbs.

Dorothea reunited with her gravely ill sister Elsa and learned that their father had disappeared after being cheated and driven mad. Elsa recounted how she survived alone until Clara began caring for her, while Dorothea and Allen cleaned and repaired the house; Elsa’s account ended with her lying near death for three days.

• Dorothea found Elsa hiding under the bed and learned that their father had gone missing after losing their money and going mad.
• Clara arrived with wild azaleas and food, and Elsa explained that Clara had cared for her since their father left.
• Dorothea offered Clara cookies, then she and Allen cleaned and repaired the house.
• Elsa told Dorothea that their father had run off searching for a medicine and had never returned.
• Elsa described surviving alone on rice and rainwater, enduring visits from debt collectors, and lying for three days after she thought she was about to die.

Elsa reassured Dorothea that she was happy despite the hardships she and Clara had endured, and the group shared a warm meal in the repaired house. Dorothea then concluded the house could only serve as temporary lodging and began considering the Canal District for a new base, despite having no money to rent one.

• Elsa described how Clara had stolen fish and flowers to help them survive, then told Dorothea she was happy and asked her not to grieve for her.
• Dorothea made dinner while Allen went outside to deal with a debt collector, and the group ate together in the patched-up house.
• Dorothea tucked Elsa and Clara into bed, then activated [Rationality] and explained why the house was unsuitable as a base.
• Dorothea ruled out several districts and recommended the Canal District as the best place to find a concealed, inexpensive base.
• Dorothea revealed that her savings were gone and asked Vanessa and Allen how much they knew about the city's sewer system.

Dorothea proposed moving the group into the Imperial Capital’s sewers, but Allen argued that Clara would experience it as another cage, so they agreed they needed to find money instead. Elliot arranged to return to his family home and use Vanessa’s advancement, where he discovered a redesigned point-allocation interface represented by rows of rag dolls.

• Dorothea explained that the sewers could serve as a spacious, concealed, rent-free base, but Allen objected to making Elsa and Clara live underground.
• Allen reminded Dorothea that Clara had fled an orphanage because it felt like a cage, and Dorothea fell silent as Vanessa suggested finding a way to earn money.
• Elliot told Evan to inform his family that he would return the next day and to bring the Difference Engine Core with him.
• Elliot controlled Vanessa through a lengthy ritual and sacrificed the remaining materials to attempt an advancement by allocating a point to [Vitality].
• Elliot found that Vanessa’s Difference Engine showed a stage crowded with rag dolls instead of the familiar tree diagram, and he began identifying which dolls represented her abilities.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to give Vanessa a point in Vitality, which began reversing her aging and left him feeling unusually energetic. Meanwhile, Holly and the Third Prince discussed Elliot’s ideas and his precarious position, while the prince reflected on the failure of his own reforms.

• Elliot compared Vanessa’s puppets with Allen’s, then activated her Vitality node and saw her Aging condition begin recovering on a countdown.
• Elliot wondered whether the Sterling family’s path could make Duke Sterling immortal and worried about how long he would have to wait to inherit the title.
• Holly told the Third Prince that Elliot’s Razor Principle and other views seemed to hint at a deeper theory, and the prince agreed that Elliot had a broader method of understanding the world.
• The Third Prince said his reforms were doomed to fail and that Elliot had not revealed his real thoughts because he doubted the prince’s chances.
• Holly explained that Elliot faced criticism for refusing Sacrifice and risked becoming a powerless puppet, while the Third Prince noted that he was in an even worse position than they were.
• Elliot celebrated how energetic he felt after adding Vanessa’s Vitality point and resolved to keep increasing his strength.

Elliot returned to the Sterling estate and met his heavily mechanized father, Duke Sterling. After approving Elliot’s handling of the Third Prince, the duke assigned him to challenge rival factory owners in the Hearthfire District.

• Elliot rode to the Sterling estate after arranging for Evan to dismantle and pack the Difference Engine Core.
• Conrad warned Elliot that Duke Sterling and Lady Camilla were displeased by his stay with the Third Prince and the rumors surrounding it.
• Elliot entered the machinery-filled mansion and saw his younger brother undergoing maintenance on a platform.
• Duke Sterling questioned Elliot about the Third Prince, and Elliot defended his decision to stay there while saying the Empire might need change but the Sterling Family did not.
• Duke Sterling praised Elliot’s answer, gave him a map of the rival factories on Linoleum Street, and ordered him to show their owners the Sterling Family’s strength.

Elliot gained temporary control of the Hearthfire District’s factories and inspected their operations with Conrad. After identifying poor transport links and harsh working conditions, he spotted signs of an Evil Cult in a factory.

• Elliot accepted temporary control of the Hearthfire District’s factories and set out with Conrad to inspect them.
• Conrad explained the district’s history and factories, and Elliot proposed using short-distance freight tracks to connect them to the docks.
• Elliot toured the factories and learned that workers earned only forty-five leo a week despite long hours and dangerous conditions.
• Elliot warned that workers unable to support their families would seek stability through faith, then used Spirit Vision to spot markings indicating an Evil Cult.

Elliot proposed improving workers’ loyalty and lowering their living costs with factory meals and basic housing, while Vanessa and her companions struggled to find affordable accommodation and income in the Imperial Capital. Vanessa went to the Steam Wharf Tavern casino, where her arrival with two companions and a strange wheelchair-bound figure startled the seasoned gamblers.

• Elliot argued that providing workers with collective meals and basic lodging could improve loyalty and production while keeping costs low, and Conrad agreed to explore the plan.
• Vanessa recovered enough to walk and spent the day preparing dinner with Elsa and Clara.
• Dorothea and Allen returned after finding Imperial Capital housing too expensive, and they discussed earning money through writing papers or medical work for gangs.
• Vanessa abruptly announced she was going to a casino to make money.
• At the Steam Wharf Tavern casino, Vanessa arrived with a taciturn man and a woman in black pushing a wheelchair, and the gamblers recoiled at the strange figure seated in it.

Vanessa and Dorothea entered a casino to win money, where the gamblers mistook Vanessa’s missing fingers for proof of her legendary skill. Vanessa challenged the dealer to try the casino’s games one by one, leaving Hawking terrified as he faced the fingerless gambler he feared from his nightmares.

• George warned his drunken companion not to provoke Vanessa and Dorothea, then described Vanessa as a legendary gambler who had lost all her fingers.
• Vanessa and Dorothea exchanged their money for chips, and Vanessa told the cashier to cut off Dorothea’s fingers if she was caught cheating.
• Dorothea removed her Monocle after a gambler warned her not to use it, but Vanessa insisted they stay and approach the Card Table.
• The gamblers cleared the table for Vanessa, and she asked the dealer what games they could play before proposing to try them one by one.
• Hawking recognized Vanessa as the kind of gambler who haunted his nightmares and panicked as he faced her across the table.

Vanessa inspected a card during a game at the Steam Wharf Tavern and kept winning, unsettling Hawking, who suspected she had a way to spot the Joker. When she asked for a higher-stakes game, Hawking offered roulette, and the first gambler to play was killed by the revolver.

• Vanessa revealed the Joker and told the gamblers it depicted Trist, the creator of [Magic Cards].
• Hawking discarded the deck, opened a fresh one for Vanessa to inspect, and she said it was fine without looking.
• At the Difference Engine, Elliot laughed at the live puppet broadcast and doubled Vanessa’s chips, while Hawking struggled to keep up.
• Vanessa asked for a game with higher stakes, and Hawking introduced roulette, wagering money on shots fired at a player’s own head.
• A scrawny gambler took the revolver, fired, and died; Hawking then offered to raise the roulette stakes as high as eight hundred and ten pounds.

Vanessa won 845 pounds at a deadly roulette table after Elliot noticed that lost chips glowed under Spirit Vision. The next morning, she took Dorothea and Allen to a factory in the Hearthfire District, declaring it their new home and asking about jobs, housing, and a settling-in allowance.

• Vanessa wagered five bullets in roulette, and Dorothea fired the revolver at Vanessa while Elliot used his ability to ensure the chamber was empty.
• Vanessa spotted lost gambling chips glowing faintly white and asked Dorothea who owned the casino, then the group left with 845 pounds.
• Dorothea suggested that they go house hunting, but the next morning Vanessa insisted that their house was in the Hearthfire District.
• Vanessa led Dorothea and Allen to a factory recruiting workers, where she asked whether the factory could offer her children work, housing, and a settling-in allowance.

Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen secured a factory job contract, an advance of ten Gold Pounds, and a furnished house after qualifying for a family housing clause. They planned to move Elsa and Clara in and use their new stability to treat Elsa, though they still needed another Hideout.

• The clerk discovered Vanessa's family qualified for advance housing and a settling-in allowance, and Vanessa signed the factory contract.
• Dorothea received ten Gold Pounds, prompting the waiting crowd to surge forward and compete for the limited jobs and benefits.
• A factory worker led Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen to a detached two-story house and explained its work and residency conditions.
• Dorothea and Allen admired the house, while Vanessa said they would live there but still needed another Hideout for their occult practices.
• Vanessa said they would bring Elsa and Clara to the house and could now treat Elsa.

Elliot sent Vanessa to investigate the Hearthfire District’s secret marks, but she encountered a mysterious bookshop that may be a living [Relic]. After Vanessa returned to her new home with Dorothea, Allen, Elsa, and Clara, Elliot prepared a sacrificial Ritual and noticed a new book-holding doll in Vanessa’s [Blessing] interface.

• Dorothea went to collect Elsa and Clara while Allen bought supplies, and Vanessa searched the Hearthfire District for secret marks under Elliot’s direction.
• Elliot found that flute-like marks appeared throughout the western area but not the eastern area, where textile mills offered workers better conditions.
• Vanessa entered the hidden Daydream bookshop, read the glowing Sevenfold Record of Broken Oaths, and later found the shop and her memory of the book had vanished.
• Elliot watched Vanessa’s visit but could not control her inside the bookshop, and he marked the alley on his map as a possible living [Relic].
• Vanessa returned to the new home, where Dorothea, Allen, Elsa, and Clara were waiting, and Elliot began drawing a sacrificial Ritual before noticing a new book-holding Vanessa doll.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to grant Vanessa [Concealment], which let her alter her appearance without changing her aged body. He then considered using the ability to enter Dream Worlds discreetly and decided to treat Elsa so she could use [Dream Entry].

• Elliot found a book-holding doll on Vanessa’s Supernatural stage and allocated its point, gaining [Concealment +1].
• Vanessa’s appearance turned faceless before she regained her younger appearance, though her body remained aged and her apparent fingers passed through Dorothea.
• Dorothea tested Vanessa’s altered appearance with [Rationality] and found only a slight, difficult-to-identify flaw.
• Elliot recognized that [Concealment] might let him enter Dream Worlds without being exposed while searching them.
• Elliot began Elsa’s sacrificial Ritual and considered advancing her to First Rank so she could use [Dream Entry].

Elliot chose Elsa’s First Rank advancement and selected the Resurrection talent, restoring her limbs and healing her scars. Elsa embraced Dorothea and Clara as she began adjusting to her recovered body.

• Elsa agreed to advance despite Dorothea’s fears, and Dorothea accepted her decision.
• Elliot chose frost-themed offerings for Elsa and selected Resurrection from her First Rank talents.
• Elsa’s wounds reopened as her limbs and new skin rapidly grew back.
• Elsa struggled to sit up, then hugged Dorothea with her newly restored hands.
• Elsa beckoned Clara over and embraced her despite Clara’s protests.

After learning that her new talent would revive her after death, Elsa reassured Dorothea and Clara that she would remain herself. Elliot discovered that the New Nobility’s campaign against the Sterling Family was part of a broader business boycott, then heard Conrad propose a wage cap as a supposedly fair response.

• Elsa told Dorothea and Clara that her talent let her revive after about a month, without changing who she was or limiting how often she could revive.
• Elliot heard Conrad report that New Nobility factories in the east district paid higher wages and had recruited most skilled textile workers.
• Conrad said the New Nobility’s textile factories operated at about a five-percent gross profit margin, suggesting they were selling below sustainable costs.
• The Old Butler explained that the New Nobility had joined forces to attack Sterling Family businesses across industries in retaliation for the family’s past tactics against factory owners.
• Conrad suggested capping textile workers’ weekly wages at forty-five leo, and Elliot questioned whether that counted as fair competition.

Elliot disguised himself and entered Dorothea’s Dream World to invite her to the Raven Parliament. Dorothea agreed to attend a gathering, while the masked man vanished from her dream.

• Elliot told Conrad to keep investigating the workers’ case and look into possible Supernatural involvement, then prepared a masked disguise.
• Elliot entered Dorothea’s Dream World and surprised her by addressing her as Miss Crow.
• Dorothea used [Rationality] to assess the mysterious masked man, but he warned her that the ability was unreliable at lower ranks.
• The man offered Dorothea an invitation to the Raven Parliament and explained that its members gathered in dreams.
• Dorothea agreed to attend a gathering at midnight on Wednesday, and the man disappeared from her Dream World.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to fabricate the Raven Parliament and draw Supernatural people in the Hearthfire District into shared dreams so he could gather information safely. After Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen compared their experiences, they decided to attend ordinary gatherings but keep Dorothea’s invitation secret.

• Elliot entered Vanessa’s and Allen’s dreams in disguise and told them that the Raven Parliament held gatherings and recruited newcomers.
• Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen compared what they had heard and concluded that the Raven Parliament drew nearby people into dreams, while its members issued recruitment tasks for supernatural materials.
• Dorothea showed Vanessa and Allen an invitation from a powerful figure, but neither of them had received one.
• Vanessa advised them to keep attending ordinary gatherings, avoid revealing Dorothea’s invitation, and proceed cautiously.
• Elliot revealed that he had invented the Raven Parliament to pull Hearthfire District’s Supernatural people into dreams and eavesdrop on their conversations through the Difference Engine’s stage scenery.

Elliot used the new Difference Engine to identify supernatural people and Secret Society bases across Hearthfire District, then gathered more than a dozen strangers in the Dream World. The newcomers questioned a gloomy man’s explanation of the Raven Parliament as he dismissed their threats.

• Elliot found that the new Difference Engine could let him send dolls of people near Vanessa into [Dream Entry], even without knowing much about them.
• Elliot controlled Vanessa as she searched Hearthfire District, marking Secret Society bases while Machine Priests investigated a factory and people slipped away ahead of them.
• After Vanessa finished her rounds, Elliot disguised himself and entered [Dream Entry] that evening.
• Vanessa, Dorothea, and Allen woke on an island in the Dream World among strangers who had been pulled from their beds.
• A gloomy man told the gathered people that the Raven Parliament had brought them into the Dream World and assigned him to explain its tasks and rewards.
• When the newcomers questioned him and some drew guns, the man dismissed their threats because they were in the Dream World.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to observe a Dream World gathering and investigated the Fog Whistles carried by its members. Vanessa met Jin Gareth of the Fog Whistle Fraternity, exchanged information about the Raven Parliament, and received an address for contacting the Fraternity in the Hearthfire District.

• After leaving the Dream World gathering, Elliot woke and used the Difference Engine to watch the people discuss the Raven Parliament and the Holy Scripture.
• Elliot examined a Fog Whistle through a magnifying glass, saw that it had supernatural power with Spirit Vision, and recorded details about the nineteen people present.
• Jin Gareth approached Vanessa's group, introduced the Fog Whistle Fraternity, and learned that they had encountered someone explaining the Raven Parliament.
• Vanessa gave her group the improvised name Wild Dog Gang and suggested trading with the Fraternity through the group's alchemist.
• Jin said the Fraternity had no leader, agreed to trade, and gave Vanessa an address in the Hearthfire District where she could contact its members during the day.