This episode content warnings for insect infestation of a human body, involuntary unconsciousness caused by violence, restraints, police violence, death, flesh-eating creature, and blood. It wasn't supposed to go like this. It was just a quick stop at the Night Library to research a few topics of interest, a little legwork before the real action begins. But the gates of the Glim Macula are not opened by intent alone. Thus it is that Duvall, Lyke, and Virtue must now face down a quintet of the Macula's most fearsome investigators with the wall to their backs, a deep pit of knowledge below, and light itself turned against them. This week on Sangfielle: The Perpetual Oratorio of Davia Pledge Pt. 2 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places Sapodilla: One of, if not the, largest city inside of the walls of Concentus. Sapodilla rests on the western shore of the vast lake that takes up much of southeastern Sangfielle, and prizes itself as the rare hub of culture in the bloodfields. In recent years, the powerful witch hunting organization called the Glim Macula has grown in power there, owing to the city’s focus on furthering “civilization.” Pledge House: A mysterious manor in Sapodilla’s Hibiscus District. Thirty odd years ago, a fire ravaged its attached (and magnificent) concert hall. In two days time, a rebuilt concert hall will host Davia Pledge’s grand return to the stage. Objects of Interest Sa’Ferna-ta-Fera: Translated loosely to “Talking with Ferna the Cunning,” Sa’Ferna-ta-Fera is an approximate transcription of a long, free-flowing conversation between an unnamed scholar and the pre-Panic Carpana sage, Ferna. The transcriber, a bastard child of a Great House of Aldomina who used his connection to Ferna’s tribe to initiate the process, hoped to capture the wisdom of the sage and rewrite it as a dissertation on the folk knowledge of Sangfielle. When Ferna convinced him to instead attempt to publish the transcript as-is, the bastard scholar found that publishers in both the First and Third Cantons refused to print it.  Facts and Figures Lenore Voivode (he/him): In the pre-Panic heartland, Lenore was the nebbish and prissy human thrall to Lord Asator Crosley, one of Virtue’s many rival vampire lords. Today, he is of the blood in his own right, the Night Librarian of the prestigious Rotundana library, and a member of the Telluricist Union. Lady Zizilliana “Zizi” Esterházy (she/her): Once a well known artist of Sapodilla, Zizi reportedly died during the great fire of Pledge House. According to the book Remembering the Zahir, Lady Esterhazy was the last known owner of the titular Zahir, a painting which supposedly fates the person watching it to develop over time into their apprehension of either the subject of the painting or a striking yet elusive figure in the painting’s far distance. Davia Pledge (she/her): “The mad composer of Sapodilla” who vanished from the public view for decades after the fire of Pledge House. Every year, they say, she invites a select few to a private concert of her newest composition, and getting an invite is either a high honor or a mark of one’s own corruption, depending on which aristocrat you ask. In the past year, her name has become widely known not for her concerts, but for “Pledge Cylinders,” recordings which produce crisp, beautiful music, though by what devilry it is not known. Darling Malice (she/her): Once, Darling Malice hunted Virtue Mondegreen across the whole of the heartland. She even managed to kill her. But that didn’t stick, it seems. And now, Darling’s own ghastly existence is tied to her twice-undead prey’s.  Emma Serchilde (she/her): One of the most successful investigators in Glim Macula’s history, Serchilde made her name ferreting out a group of heritrixes who allegedly served a god of slaughter. Where other witch hunters lean on deductive reasoning or evidence collection, Serchilde’s technique is simple: Intimidate witnesses through sheer force of will, using her loyal underlin