Elspeth, Vivien, and Giada run as New Capenna rages with inter-family war. To save the city—and find answers—Elspeth must escort Giada to safety.
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* Elspeth leads Vivien and Giada to an abandoned warehouse but they're attacked by Cabaretti; Giada had a tracking device in her bracelet.
* They're taken to an Obscura hideout, where Jetmir and other Cabaretti members are hiding out with Obscura support. Kamiz from the Obscura side story is there too.
* Riveteers, or rather agents working with Ob Nixilis, suddenly appear and attack. Elspeth is hurt, but Giada heals her with Halo. After taking it, Elspeth notices that Giada is glowing; Giada is surprised Elspeth can see it too.
* Kamiz leads them to the main Obscura stronghold to escape, but it's a trap and was just meant to separate them from the Cabaretti forces.
* The stronghold is in a cathedral, and looking around, Giada suddenly realizes this is where she's meant to be; this is her home.
* Ob Nixilis arrives and fights Elspeth while Vivien holds off everyone else.
* Ob is faster than expected and Elspeth's sword is large and bulky, so she's defeated.
* Elspeth tells Giada to run, but she says it's her turn to protect her now. With a blast of light, she ascends or something and fades away, telling Elspeth that she already had everything she needed. Elspeth's sword has been replaced by a lighter one with an orb of Halo on the hilt.
* Using this, she easily defeats Ob and he planeswalks away.
* In the epilogue, they go to the Maestro museum, where Anhelo reveals that he's the Maestro leader now and that Xander gave Elspeth full access to his archives.
* There, there's an exposition dump about how the angels and demons went off to fight the Phyrexians long ago. The demons betrayed the angels and turned them into Halo, which they then used to defeat the Phyrexians. Then the demons disappeared, leaving only the family heads.
* Elspeth decides to take some of Xander's hidden stash of Halo back to Ajani and the Gatewatch.
* Vivien says that if Urabrask is to be believed, then there's a revolution on New Phyrexia that might give them an opportunity to attack.
* Until I refreshed just a moment ago, there was a mistaken allusion to Elspeth's childhood being imprisoned on
New Phyrexia ; though it still says she was imprisoned there at some point, which isn't supported by
her Fandom wiki page.
* Elspeth and Vivien head back to Dominaria.
This was a really rushed final story, especially that exposition dump about what happened in the past; which still didn't explain why the family heads don't remember it well or what's the deal with the Phyrexian prison Elspeth spent her childhood in. There's barely any followup regarding what happened to the gangs. And if Giada was this important, it's baffling that they didn't make her more of a focus in earlier parts. And also... is Urabrask still just sitting there waiting to meet Elspeth?
I thought the first three or so parts were solid, but the fourth and fifth parts clearly had to rush to fit in all the remaining plot beats.
Before Kitt Kanto was the darling of the Cabaretti and diva of the Rose Room, she sang in subways. With luck, timing, and hustle, she grabbed her star.
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* This follows Kitt Kanto, a singer for Cabaretti. Which yes, means there are no side stories following a Riveteer.
* She sang in the subway for money then one day caught the attention of Jetmir. He offers her a gig at The Red Room on the condition she delivers some Halo for him.
* She takes the subway to the location. She's carrying a bag that only has a dress in it; she moved the Halo to her coat.
* "There was a single open seat, but no one was sitting there because an unknown individual had left behind a puddle of glistening goo. By its blueish color, the culprit was probably a cephalid."
* The train stops as Riveteers attack it, wanting to intercept Kitt's delivery. She escapes out the window and they give chase.
* As a subway singer, she befriended pigeons, so with her song, they come to her aid and she escapes, but she loses her bag with her dress.
* She makes it to the Red Room in time for her performance, though she has to make due with small adjustments to what she has on, with so little time until the show.
* The Riveteers that were chasing her are in the audience, but they can do nothing but seethe as she sings.
* She ends up being a big hit and Jetmir brings up on full time.
This was a fun story, but again, it's weird that we don't have a Riveteer perspective story.
Looking at New Capenna's story overall, though, I can't help but be disappointed. We don't get nearly enough insight into how life works here or how the different families work, and with the main story, it's super rushed by the end.
