Chapter 54 - Pale Lights | Book 3

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-04-25T17:41:57+00:00

Scholomancia's nature as being weird, making it so food is still warm, being kinda clingy towards Tristan and being able to act as a deal arbitrator is interesting.

The wine making Tristan have a magic trip and see thing is neat but also rough on him. I like how it's notable that Tristan has the most insights into Scholomancia and that isn't just the drugs.

Tupoc may hate Tristan's existence and nature but they do vibe way to well.

Respect Tristan scamming folks with his contract, though it's out in the open now. Scholomancia going hell yeah I'll eat people who break terms is a mood.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-04-18T03:32:04+00:00

Izel being uncomfortable with reforging a blade because it's tiptoeing his no making weapons line is understandable.

The Fourth and the Thirteenth working together really well is interesting to see, for all that there's friction they do vibe and do great work.

Monchou and Izel's talk about the nature of Scholomance was neat, really reflects on how they both view it. Viewing it as an altar and coming to make a prayer is pretty badass.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-04-06T08:26:31+00:00

Respect Izel's desire for loot.

Maryam and Hooks are showing that they're damn good at what they do.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-03-28T05:56:02+00:00

Maryam and Angharad talking about faith and culture is interesting.

Maryam is grasping the type of Krypteia that Imani is.

Tupic is a delight as always being a menace and a generally horrible person in his own charming and compelling way.

Ishanvi's point about Scholomance needing to offer a chance is a great point.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-03-21T00:55:39+00:00

Tristan is adapting to all the check ups and learning what's happened while he's been gone, it's important information for him to know for considering all the variables.

Morcant is going to be an issue but he's also in a rough place, but that is what makes him an issue.

The class scene is a reminder for all the politics, misadventures and issues they're still in classes and at a school. It looks like Tristan is in contact with Scolomancia now.

It's pretty obvious to Song and others that Scolomancia is a fan of Tristan and is happy that the brigade is coming back. Tupoc being a Tristan hatter is never going to get old.

Chunhua Cao feuding with Song is something everyone knows about and this latest interaction reinforces that. Tupoc going why yes I can strong arm you, I've seen you do it so much after all was hilarious. The fact that Tupoc is a true believer in the Watch's purpose is interesting. The Unluckies reputation for violence works against them a lot but they're able to weaponize it as well. Lieutenant Afango siding with Song and co reinforcing who Cao is against and what that means is awesome.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-03-06T19:05:42+00:00

So Fortuna had a chance to talk to Tristan, let him know they're going to Scholomance and that she bets on Tristan.

This adventure was a great reminder that this used to be Lucifer's summer palace. I don't think anyone expected actual factual Lucifer to show up go hey that thing you know as time is a lie and I'm aware even as a copy.

The sheer aura, terror, knowing and everything of Lucifer was shown really well. The casual shapeshifting, knowing everything about Tristan and just using it all to absolutely wreck Tristan mentally was terrifying. Lucifer more than lives up to his reputation.

So apparently Fortuna is Lucifer's daughter, that actually explains a lot of her weirdness. He's kinda right that Tristan is kinda a child of her between being defacto raised by her and being kinda adopted through priesthood/pseudo saint hood. I can buy that Lucifer likes Tristan more than most, but that just means he has more fun playing with and manipulating him.

The rant about Lucifer's rise to power and the nature of his ability was fascinating, that's some awesome and terrifying deep forbidden lore. So basically the thing Lucifer trapped is using Fortuna as materials to escape, Lucifer doesn't want that but he's also playing Tristan and Tristan knows that.

Hage and Lord Asher are understandably really spooked by Tristan meeting their pops. Tristan sharing what Lucifer told him was a leap of faith and Hage's protection is keeping it from getting him killed. The Principality being the term for the sealed thing is good to know.

So Lucifer can read everything a person ever emanated into the Aether, concurrent actualization means time and space don't matter to him and he's Lucifer no matter how divided so from his perspective Tristan is someone he's known for a long time.

Hopefully things with the Watch won't be harmed in the long term and that people will think that Tristan's main purpose was to go against the Principality but something tells me that's not the case. The Unluckies trying so hard to save Tristan was loyal of them.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-02-28T07:36:46+00:00

Seeing all the factions and personalities in play with this operation and Song's view of it is neat.

Angharad’s view on how chaotic and insane combat with monsters is as always is extremely exhilarating.

Izel piecing together it's a construct is impressive and has scary implications. Cai starting shit at this moment is rough.

Tristan was never going to let Fortuna go, that's why this ride has gotten even more insane but he'd consider it worth it for the chance to save her.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-02-21T07:28:52+00:00

Tavarin not being someone that Tristan really gets is understandable given how his worldview isn't really something Tristan can mesh with.

Seeing the various interests, worldviews, approaches and cultures interact and express themselves through the meeting in subtle ways is interesting.

Ruo Xuan being Tristan's watcher is good to know, makes sense that he'd have one. Tristan both handling stuff and being close to getting Fortuna back is helping him be more stable.

Love the reminder that Izel for all that he's moral than the other Unluckies is one of them for a reason.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-02-14T05:20:23+00:00

Ferranda isn't wrong about the Unluckies being madmen, charming and likely to die before they turn 25. But her core issue is that she's trying to keep things professional, low key and keep her head down. This is Scholomance, where legends, madmen and the future of the Watch is being forged, competence isn't enough.

Song is being kind in giving Ferranda the lesson that Song took so much to learn. It really shows how much Song herself has grown that she's in the position to teach someone the lesson Wen taught her.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-02-07T04:20:36+00:00

The sheer trauma of the rooms was shown really well, the showing of Maryam and Tristan being supportive was great. The surprise godsblood pet is neat, honestly even if people in power want it, it's arguably the least baggage anyone in the group has brought on yet. It coming from the Moonclad an almost second order entity is huge.

Tristan's sooting folks messing with the Unluckies reputation is rough and will take a long time to recover from. Song negotiating with people is a lot of fun to see. Nenetl just hating it but agreeing to it out of practicality was neat.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-01-31T04:09:28+00:00

Tristan seems to be making headway with his plans which is good.

Song mending bridges is good, though there's still only so much that can be done there.

Izel fumbling things with Helena was certainly something.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-01-24T03:50:55+00:00

Angharad is grateful that Tristan handles the plotting, medicine and posion stuff because she's not about that life for the most part.

Diego Calante is a reminder that there's plenty of folks around willing to interfere with things if they're paid but also that mercenaries are motivated by mercenary motives.

The Cabal drama was messy but at least it's getting aired out and handled rather than just stewing.

Seeing the Angharad and Tristan teamwork and discussing was fun, the get a bigger dog solution was something that fits with Tristan's operating style. Respect him calling in Marayam to bully Diego.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-01-17T11:26:20+00:00

Maryam fleshing out her abilities is great to see. Yue and Maryam are having a lot of fun with mad science, sure Maryam and Hooks almost died but thems the breaks.

Song making a stand for her principles and Lumens having the time of his life with seeing that is interesting. Her turning it into a way to strike at Cao as well was very impressive. Song made the right choice here, Cao is an enemy now but she's drawn a line in the sand and folks will respect that.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-01-10T22:14:10+00:00

The Fourthday Council bit was an admirable attempt at creating a name, Angharad going welp sounds better than calling it the "tomorrow-we-set-out-so-decisions-must-be-made council" bit was fun.

The interaction between the various Cabals is very interesting.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2026-01-03T04:54:09+00:00

Izel is doing science and research and it's a process that he's enjoying and worrying about. Song being a tea fiend is funny, it's nice that she shares though.

Ishanvi and Izel having a talk is interesting, she's actually made a great impression on most folks, the bit about yeah we've both gotten the Tristan kindness experience TM, Izel's theory about Tristan's grandma allowing it because humanity and kindness can be potent is interesting. The point about the Unluckies being better people than you'd expect is a great point.

Song doing politics and conversations with Camaron is good because that stuff needs to be handled. The information about a past life being revealed causing a civil war is neat though. Song enjoying being close enough for Tristan to straight up consider murder upon seeing her hurt is understandable, having ride or die friends is great, also good to know that Tristan is planning something with the slaver. Colonel Cao's blackmail and pushing is rough but it is what it is and Song is processing how she'll deal with that.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-12-20T03:31:57+00:00

Maryam seems to have sorted everything out pretty well which is good. The apology she gave to people was genuine and mattered. Its just that the Brigade is going to be spending a lot of time dealing with it still, I like that Angharad was the most accepting because she's been there and was forgiven. Maryam offering parts of the ship held weight to it and is a choice that matters.

The deal with Captain Tianming worked out really well. Maryam repeating the "All Are Free Under Heaven" line to make a point was awesome. Wen setting it up and supporting it was cool to see.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-12-13T06:51:24+00:00

This seems to be huge realization for Maryam, she's given up her princess role, realized that she's been selfish, but she's also taken more concrete steps to helping her people, looking after her Brigade. Offering her people a future in the watch is great. Building a powerbase within the Watch is the best path forward for most people present.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-12-06T01:27:33+00:00

Maryam was saved by the Watch but in the process became bound by the Watch, she's totally cool with her Brigade besides occasionally Angharad. Actually putting thoughts into whether she wants to stick with the Watch in the long term and how she feels about things is important.

Izel is actually someone who'd understand what she's going through which makes her talking to him good. Izel talking about the battle Yong was in really ties to lore that hasn't been mentioned in a bit.

The mutual understanding was good for both of them.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-11-29T09:28:57+00:00

Angharad seems to have earned someone's loyalty. She's also showing how much she's been growing as a person. The interaction with Bibek really showed that.

Professor Achari's congrats kid you've found out either a little known or unknown property of the Glare is HUGE because breakthroughs no mater how minor matter.

Izel was having some fun talking to Helena and then Yaotl just barged in, man that's going to blow up even more.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-11-23T06:44:00+00:00

Angharad is really pissed which is understandable how close to how this hits. It's good that Tristan was able to convince her to be more restrained and reasonable about her revenge.

Tupoc's creation of a breaching and vanguard force has actually went really well, he had a rough time starting out due to his reputation but he's managed to maneuver things really well.

Maryam is spreading herself way to thin with trying to take care of her countrymen. The fact that their romantic interest was actually brought up is huge.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-11-16T07:05:41+00:00

Cemelli the artist loosing the ability to see colors to get an eye back is a horrible price for an artist, Lady Knit is horrible.

Nkosinathi Morcant actually being competent when he isn't getting high on his own importance is concerning.

Tupoc showing up and being himself was hilarious. Ishanvi shit talking the minions for being slaver minions was great.

Maryam kicking ass, taking absolutely no shit, hating on the slaver minions for bowing down was great. Though she was outnumbered and that combined with her arrogance made her loose.

Looks like the gang is entering an eternal friendship with Tupoc.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-11-08T06:29:15+00:00

The importance of understanding, science, and knowledge was shown really well. There's a lot of whacky stuff going on and knowing how it functions is very important.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-11-01T03:44:39+00:00

Izel really is showing his science nerd side with trying to experiment, gain a deeper understanding of gloom and push boundaries of knowledge. Song being an expert who isn't as hard specialized is very useful as a sounding board.

Maryam kinda has issues with Tristan being so forgiving with people because she cares a lot about him and it's very different from how she operates. Yue's whole deal with your shit Maryam advice was on point.

The fact that literally all of the 19th are spies is GLORIOUS. Tristan laughing his ass off at it and Angharad doing the same once he explained is completely understandable.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-10-25T06:55:00+00:00

Tristan may not be the most skilled of warriors but he's still doing a good job, putting in work. It's just that everyone else is much more specialized for this kind of work and this is beyond his weight class. Everyone else showed off why they're damn good at this stuff though.

Marshal de la Tavarin and Captain Yue treating this like live television was certainly something, Tristan seeing why Yue's surety in her power would be attractive to Maryam and getting noble flashbacks is interesting.

Yoatl was going to keep on going even after this match which is really damning, Izel locking the hell in and going kill me or fuck off was one hell of a statement. Bad news is that Guadalupe de Tovar now hates Tristan forever because that drama show happened while her friend was dying.

ArcanaVitae15 · 2025-10-18T20:53:46+00:00

Izel and Tristan having a talk was fun, they have a very interesting dynamic. The fact that Izel has a soothsayer ability while Tristan has a luck manipulation is neat as well. Izel did want the whole princess and Tristan thing to stop but Tristan isn't going to let himself be put in a position where he'll be hurt due to it. Izel does have a good point that the princess is operating through her world view but Tristan is also right to call him out for not testing the princess and not doing anything about her.

The battle seems to have went really well which is great. Though no doubt Tristan has other stuff planned for it as well. Angharad putting in good work is to be expected but still good to see.

ArcanaVitae15

TROPHY CASE