Shadows of Self

In the dusty Roughs town of Weathering, lawman Waxillium Ladrian’s search for outlaw Granite Joe turns into a trap, forcing him and bounty hunter Lessie to fight their way through a saloon and crash into Joe’s hidden basement. Lessie’s apparent betrayal gives way to a choice that reveals her moral line, while Wax’s flair, imperfect gunplay, and stubborn belief in justice earn an uneasy partnership—and a chance to change the town. The chapter balances danger with wry humor, introducing the Roughs as harsh, lawless country and Wax as an idealist learning to survive there.

Seventeen years later, Winsting hosts a covert auction in his Elendel home, using his influence as the governor’s brother to solicit bribes from crime lords and nobles. As mist rolls over the city, a gun battle erupts, killing the guests; Winsting retreats to his saferoom, only to be murdered by Flog after his bodyguard reports that everyone upstairs is dead. The chapter’s atmosphere shifts from smug political scheming to sudden chaos and betrayal.

As Wax and Steris discuss wedding invitations, their dry banter reveals her careful acceptance of his dangerous life—and the distance neither quite knows how to bridge. Wayne and Marasi draw Wax into a high-speed pursuit of the Marksman across Elendel’s streets and skyscrapers; after the chase reaches the Breakouts, Wax spots the face of Bloody Tan, the man he believed he had killed, and loses the criminal’s trail in shock.

In the ash-stained Breakouts, Wayne uses disguises, local knowledge, and a speed bubble to capture Marks while Wax and Marasi struggle to question the wary residents. Marasi pushes for recognition as a capable constable, but friction with Wax and the pair’s easy partnership leave her feeling like an outsider. As they leave with Marks, a sniper kills him; a second attack turns Marasi into a hostage, and she shoots her captor at point-blank range.

After Marasi kills her captor, Wax and the constables leave the slums for a mansion where nearly thirty criminal leaders and other power brokers have been slaughtered. As Wax investigates the chaotic ballroom and the execution of Governor Innate’s brother, he concludes that a trusted Steelrunner likely carried out the killings—and that the massacre was staged as a deliberate challenge, perhaps connected to his uncle. Marasi pushes past Captain Reddi’s attempt to send her home and earns a place in the investigation, while the chapter’s shaken aftermath gives way to mounting political dread.

As Wayne prepares for a dangerous day, he uncovers the killer’s strategy with Wax, then visits Elendel University to deliver money to Allriandre, the daughter of a man he killed, accepting her refusal to forgive him. Wax enters the Terris Village, confronts his grandmother over his identity and his use of violence, and learns that the missing Steelrunner Idashwy may be connected to the murders; meanwhile, Marasi sees public anger over Winsting’s death gathering force and is sent to observe the governor’s speech. Across the city, the chapter balances dry humor with guilt, family wounds, and the growing tension of political unrest.

Across Elendel, Wax confronts the strain of governing a vast city as labor unrest gathers, while he and Wayne search for missing Feruchemist Idashwy and find her murdered. Marasi witnesses the city’s anxiety over food and work, then stops an attempt on Governor Innate’s life with her time-slowing Allomancy. The discovery that Idashwy’s power was stolen through Hemalurgy—and a note bearing the words tied to Lessie’s death—turns the investigation into a personal and chilling threat.

Wax learns from Harmony that the supposed return of Bloody Tan is actually Bleeder, an ancient kandra using Hemalurgy who has gone mad and can evade divine oversight; Harmony asks Wax to stop her and be less dismissive of Marasi. At the precinct, Marasi’s insistence on lawful questioning earns Aradel’s support, while Wax recognizes the captured assassin as a decoy and begins treating her as a partner. A coin hidden in the prisoner’s arm reveals Bleeder’s message, drawing Wax and Marasi toward the governor’s party, where he expects the killer to strike.

Wax recalls how, as a boy, he tried to save a desperate laborer from his uncle’s predatory loan—and how the man’s ruin left him questioning whether his own idealism was ever truly selfless. In the present, Steris affirms that his motives matter less than the lives he saves, and the two travel through the mist to a party atop ZoBell Tower, where Wax’s improvised Allomantic ascent with her reveals both her adventurous spirit and his focus on hunting Bleeder.

At a glittering reception atop ZoBell Tower, Wax and Steris search for Bleeder while Wayne and Marasi sneak in under Professor Hanlanaze’s identity, with Wayne turning the deception into comic chaos. Wax and Steris grow more at ease with one another as they navigate the party, but Wax’s suspicions and memories of Lessie keep him on edge. The tension turns intimate and chilling when Bleeder reaches Wax through his Hemalurgic earring, revealing that the murderer is inside his mind.

At a glittering party, Wayne is confronted by a young inventor’s daughter who accuses the man he is impersonating of stealing her father’s work, a rebuke that drains his appetite for mischief. Meanwhile, Wax senses Bleeder among the guests and challenges her as she voices her belief that killing the governor will free the city; when she reveals she intends to kill Wax’s already-dead father, the confrontation erupts into a chase. Bleeder escapes through a shattered window high above the city, and Wax plunges into the mists after her, leaving Wayne to guard the governor.

Wax pursues a fleeing suspect through the mist-shrouded streets, only to be ambushed by a well-armed force and wounded. A mysterious woman from the party reveals herself as MeLaan, a Faceless Immortal sent by Harmony; together they fight off the attackers, and Wax realizes the Set may be involved. Believing Bleeder is targeting Lord Harms, Wax splits from MeLaan and escapes the sharpshooters by plunging into a canal and using Allomancy to surge underwater toward the mansion.

As Wax races through misty Elendel to protect Lord Harms and the governor, Wayne and Steris’s uneasy exchange exposes the loneliness and resentment beneath their banter. News of Father Bin’s gruesome murder draws Marasi into a tense investigation, where she links Bleeder’s calculated violence to the city’s unrest and begins earning Aradel’s trust. Wax and Marasi converge at the church, recognizing a conspiracy aimed at destabilizing Elendel—and perhaps at Wax himself—before setting out to question an unexpected ally.

Sent ahead to scout a temple, Wayne finds workers’ anger threatening to boil over and uses his knack for transforming drinks—and a little spectacle—to ease the room and avert a possible riot. There he meets MeLaan, who explains how dangerous the rogue kandra Paalm is and urges Wax to capture rather than kill her; Wax remains wary, insisting Paalm is deliberate and must be stopped. In a lively pub conversation with Wayne, Marasi, and MeLaan, Wax learns the limits of their tools, confronts MeLaan’s compassion for one of her own, and organizes the group to protect the governor as the hunt intensifies. The mood shifts between comic camaraderie and mounting distrust, with Wax accepting that his own ruthless instincts may be essential.

Wax follows the aftermath of a murdered priest through the misty city, protects a Pathian missionary, and discovers evidence that Bleeder may have accomplices and used a carriage to escape. Meanwhile, Marasi and MeLaan investigate a suspicious dam disaster, as Marasi explains the resentment she faces in the constabulary and finds signs that the executed farmer may have been replaced by Bleeder. Against a backdrop of unrest and growing inequality, the chapter’s tone blends investigative tension with quieter reflections on prejudice and social change.

Wax investigates the shaken carriage driver, Chapaou, and learns that Bleeder transformed into his likeness after killing Father Bin; a faintly glowing powder on the discarded robes offers a new clue. Meanwhile, Marasi and MeLaan confirm Bleeder’s identity to Constable-General Aradel, who prepares to contain unrest and asks Marasi to report on Wax—stirring her doubts about whether her own achievements are overshadowed by her connection to him. Across a mist-shrouded, increasingly volatile Elendel, the chapter balances procedural resolve with dread, emotional unease, and flashes of humor.

Wax confronts Bleeder in the mist-shrouded city, but she races to the governor’s mansion and kills his bodyguard, Drim, before escaping through a hidden tunnel. Though Wax’s attempt to stop her fails, he confirms the governor is truly Innate and sees him choose to stay and face the growing unrest; Bleeder’s cryptic blood-written threat leaves Wax with a deeper mystery about her plan and his supposed “freedom.” The chapter’s tense pursuit gives way to grief, exhaustion, and dread.

After Bleeder’s attack, Wayne and Wax regroup at the governor’s mansion: Wax sends for Ranette, learns from MeLaan that Bleeder’s disguise may be linked to the kandra Homeland, and leaves Wayne and MeLaan to protect the governor while he investigates. Wax then confronts his uncle Edwarn in a coach, discovering that the Set is exploiting the unrest and that Edwarn refuses to help stop Bleeder, even as he threatens Wax’s captive sister. The chapter’s wary banter gives way to a darker confrontation, deepening the rift between family and duty as Wax leaves determined to pursue the kandra and remember Edwarn’s betrayal.

As Elendel teeters on the edge of riots, Marasi watches Governor Innate grant Aradel martial-law authority, then discovers evidence that the governor has traded political favors for bribes. Her find deepens her unease that exposing Innate may serve Bleeder’s plan, even as she refuses to ignore the corruption. Meanwhile, Wax wrestles with grief over Lessie and resentment toward Harmony, but ultimately turns from the darkness beyond the city and accepts the burden of protecting its people.

As the city teeters toward riot, Wayne guards Governor Innate, shares a rare moment of candor with MeLaan, and receives a specially made bullet from Ranette before heading out to investigate the crowds. Meanwhile, Marasi gives Lord High Constable Aradel evidence of Innate’s corruption, and they ride through the mist toward the mansion, balancing duty to the governor against the injustice fueling the unrest. Wax enters the Field of Rebirth’s underground caverns and follows a hidden passage, where an unseen voice tells him it has been waiting.

In the Homeland’s ancient caverns, Wax and TenSoon uncover blood-marked pages from the Words of Founding and realize Bleeder is targeting Harmony—and plans to strike the kandra as they try to calm the city. Meanwhile, Wayne’s attempt to monitor a protest turns dangerous when Bleeder exposes a kandra disguised as a priest, inflaming the crowd and drawing its attention to him. The chapter’s mood shifts from wary investigation to mounting peril, then breaks into a comic Gentleman Jak serial that ends on a cliffhanger.

As Wax and TenSoon flee through the kandra Homeland, they face Hemalurgically altered people; their brutal fight leaves Wax shaken by what Bleeder has done and by Harmony’s view of him as Ruin. They escape through the ancient Pits of Hathsin into the city sewers, while Wayne realizes Bleeder is impersonating someone by recognizing a familiar voice. Wax concludes Bleeder is preparing to unleash Elendel’s fury—and intends to murder the governor before an audience.

At the governor’s mansion, Wax realizes Bleeder has been orchestrating the unrest for far longer than he suspected—and discovers that Governor Innate is the kandra impostor. Their confrontation leaves guards dead and MeLaan wounded, but Bleeder’s metalmind runs dry and she escapes into the mists; Wax finds Wayne alive, and the night ends with the hunt still unresolved.

Wax tracks Bleeder to a garden shed, where she reveals her fixation on him and claims Harmony has shaped him into an instrument; when she escapes as a Coinshot, Wax takes up the pursuit in the misty night. Meanwhile, Wayne, Marasi, and MeLaan discover the governor’s bones in a cottage as an angry crowd gathers outside the mansion, and Marasi proposes that MeLaan impersonate him to calm the city. Beneath the tension, Wayne’s battered irreverence gives way to a brief, vulnerable concern about how little MeLaan thinks of human flesh.

Across the misty city, Wax pursues Bleeder toward the Eastbridge, outmaneuvering her until she reveals Lessie’s face and turns the chase into a devastating personal confrontation. At the governor’s mansion, Marasi recognizes that a hidden Soother is pacifying the crowd while a Rioter may be preparing to incite violence; she recruits Reddi and spots a suspicious carriage as the likely place to begin their search. The chapter’s mood shifts from urgent pursuit to intimate shock, then to tense, calculated alarm.

Wax confronts Bleeder wearing Lessie’s face, torn between his grief and the knowledge that she is not the woman he loved; their struggle tumbles from the mist-shrouded bridge onto its roadway, where the city’s violent red glow burns behind them. Meanwhile, Marasi leads constables against the Set’s forces in a dark alley, then uses her speed bubble and a gun to force the hidden Soother and Rioter to stop manipulating the crowd. Wax finally shoots Bleeder with the bullet made from his earring, restoring Harmony’s control as grief and duty collide.

As a furious crowd threatens to riot, Marasi and Aradel turn the crisis into a popular stand against the corrupt governor, with the constables joining the people. On a mist-shrouded bridge, Wax watches Bleeder die and learns from TenSoon that she was Lessie—and had been sent to guard him years earlier by Harmony. The revelation turns his grief into bitter rage as he realizes he has killed her twice.

At a victory celebration in Ladrian Mansion, Wax remains numb with grief over having killed Paalm, while Wayne and Marasi try to comfort him. Marasi and Aradel confront the limits of justice, and MeLaan reveals that Paalm’s strange spikes point to another god—Trell—while Aradel accepts the burden of governing. Back at the mansion, Steris quietly stays beside Wax until he finally leans on her and weeps.

This reference chapter surveys Scadrial’s sixteen base metals and explains how Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy differ in their uses of metal and Investiture. It then turns to Twinborn, proposing that combining one Allomantic and one Feruchemical ability can produce a distinctive effect beyond the sum of its parts. The tone is scholarly and exploratory, emphasizing the world’s layered magical systems and the promise of further discovery.