Chapter 11 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 11 — The Recital

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Hunt · Previous: Chapter 10 — No dinosaurs of any kind · Next: Chapter 12 — No matter what · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

“This is just not acceptable, Carl.

Summary

Donut renames the Large Ursine Settlement Point Mongo and refuses the title Mayor. To command the guards she must wear the Enchanted Collar Charm of the Effete Bourgeoisie — the middle chain of leadership, a jewel per settlement, a tax stipend every ten days for any jewel still held at collapse; plain turquoise for Point Mongo, +8 dexterity, +4 intelligence, 3,592 gold per ten days, and a Snitch skill that summons the guards to her — in place of the butterfly charm from the first floor ('Do I look like an elderly woman with smoke-stained teeth sitting in a bingo hall?'). A claymore on the road kills a hunter named JayGee and gives Insurgent — 'you're a trap-leaving bitch' — a Trapmaster Box of twenty Fail Safes, and a fat grey hand that Carl waves at the ceiling for JayGee's family: 'you can go fuck yourselves.' 'People out there have long memories.' 'Good.' Donut deletes every rule but the bugbear bath, which Carl makes her drop too: sending the bears to wash at the river's edge, he says, will get them dragged into the water; she will have the guards soap them up instead. Carl arms the six funeral-bell sergeants — Donut has named them Doctor El, Dinallo, Miss Nance, Ice Man — with missile tubes and rings the six gates with alarm traps that each play a different song. Katia by chat: guilds need a guildmaster, Elle thinks Imani will do it if asked, Bautista's man has a stables upgrade; her group is big personalities — Florin brooding like Carl, Gwen wanting to murder Louis and Firas, Britney given up — heading southwest to grind and gather the former Daughters. Tam, a level-45 Light Cleric bear, demands the naiad and dinosaur rules back: the town was safe from the river and the lizards only because it did not sin, and 'a pagan monkey with a pet dinosaur' has ended that. Mordecai's argument with him accidentally triggers a quest, The Recital: dinosaurs are probing Point Mongo and getting bigger; exterminate them or find out what they want; a Gold Quest Box and a free town upgrade. Then Mongo shrieks and bolts with Donut in the saddle, out the southern gate into the jungle, and the shriek that answers is not Mongo's.

In a clearing, forty velociraptors in a semicircle, silent, every eye on Mongo, who growls like an engine; some wear threadbare, blood-spattered purple shawls. Their leader steps out: Kiwi, Mongoliensis Pack Leader, level 60, one-eyed, halberd-scarred, ten-inch claws drumming — a pack of females only, all the dinosaurs in the area female, and a card that notes dinosaur-class monsters did not exist here before Scolopendra's attack: 'Where did they come from?' Her bark freezes Carl in place for fifteen seconds. Mongo and Kiwi leap at each other and do the opposite of fighting. 'He's too young! We haven't even had the talk yet!' Carl drags Donut back to town; the pack lets them go.

Characters

• Carl — Arms the guards, traps the gates, curses a dead hunter's family, chases a dinosaur.
• Princess Donut — Owner of Point Mongo; names her sergeants; will not leave Mongo.
• Mongo — Called into the jungle by his own kind; mates with the pack leader.
• Kiwi — A one-eyed level-60 pack leader; forty females; Mongo's mate.
• Mordecai — Argues with a cleric and accidentally spawns a quest.
• Katia Grim — Guild logistics; her group's personalities; heading southwest.
• Tam — A Light Cleric bear who wants the holy shield of piety back.
• Elle McGibbons — Thinks Imani will be guildmaster if asked.
• Florin — Brooding, 'a good Carl impersonation.'
• Britney Proskurina — Has given up on everything.

Locations

• Point Mongo — Renamed; six gates, six songs, fifty-odd mushroom guards, a row of churches.

Motifs

• The mongoliensis — Females only; not here before Scolopendra.
• The Chains of Leadership — A collar charm with a turquoise for Point Mongo; taxes every ten days.
• Quests — The Recital: dinosaurs probing the town for a reason.
• The hunting trophies — JayGee's fat hand.
• Achievements — Insurgent; Fail Safes.
• The guild system — Who will be guildmaster; a stables upgrade.
• The hunters — The first trap kill on the road; they are moving fast.