Some random next-day thoughts on "Chasing Shadows":
Wick is so brave, oh my goodness. This episode was replete with PCs not giving him enough credit, but the Schemers, at the very least, should have had a notion of what he was braving by walking back into his grandmother's clutches.
"I've put too much work into you to kill you just because I'm angry" is a terrifying sentiment, on multiple levels, but it's also so typical of the Sundered Houses' attitude towards their children. Wick wasn't saved by love; he was saved because he's a useful tool.
Life wins over death, yeah? The Sundered Houses are run by old autocrats who will never, ever let go of power - not even to pass it to the next generation, not even after death.
Hero and Shadia are here not just to be delightful, but to act as a contrast: the next orcish generation are the kind of moral, clever, confident young women who can corral thirteen-plus revolutionary cats into an actual coherent plan and reforge god-killing swords with a paintbrush. That's the big magic - the work their parents and community did all these years to raise them right.
Speaking of which: after the trauma of Occtis and everything the Seekers found in Tannesar, I get why we're seeing horrible rituals around every corner, but guys. I will bet you a shiny internet nickel the only ritual going down next episode is the one Thjazi plotted at the Hallowed Round. (Which is not evil, Ashley! Come on!)
The PCs are acting like Primus and focusing too much on magic instead of remembering the importance of the temporal. That big Sundered Houses meeting isn't a ritual; it's to question House Tachonis about what actually happened to House Royce.
In other words, the Sundered Houses have their collective conspiracy, but the individual houses also have their own schemes. The Build a Celestial plot, the attack on the Golden Orchard, and all of the related shenanigans are the Tachonis acting on their own.
Presumably, the payoff the Tachonis are hoping for will make them more powerful than all of the other houses combined. But they're not there yet, so this meeting has a very small but very real chance of really fucking up their plans.
Finally, let's end on another member of the next generation - I'm so, so glad Demodus made it out okay, and I absolutely get why Murray couldn't even consider taking Gus's offer. She still has every other kid at the Penteveral to protect.
