Motif · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

The xistera

A jai-alai scoop from a Gold Fan Box, matched to the Cesta Punta skill an Earth Hobby Potion gave Carl at random: a metallic basket that retracts into a bracer, hurls a hob-lobber at 250 mph, and retires the slingshot. The AI's plan for him, traced back to cherry bombs tossed off a cutter onto Arctic ice.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 4 — The Royal Chariot; Ifechi
• Chapter 12 — Dolores Doesn't Splat
• Chapter 13 — Gerbils
• Chapter 15 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
• Chapter 22 — Mrs. Ghazi
• Chapter 31 — Emberus, summoned
• Chapter 34 — Seeding the pond

Progression

Banger spheres at a thorny devil, a bomb run, a goose (ch. 3, ch. 16); alarm traps sealed in hollow spheres to play Jump Around, though Katia lobs that one by hand (ch. 22); a hob-lobber and a disco ball thrown from a biplane's wing (ch. 31); a potion ball at a puppy's head (ch. 31); and an Enchanted Xistera Extension Slot, custom-made for decapitated love-doll heads, that throws Samantha fifty kilometres (ch. 34).