Chapter 25 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 25 — Fort Freedom

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Vengeance of the Daughter · Previous: Chapter 24 — The rock chucker · Next: Chapter 26 — Wonderwall · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

Clint found us as I fished Samantha out of the mud.

Summary

Three Skull Empire orcs ambushed the camp by the all-tree and cast Lightning next to it: 'Any forest-kin within a few hundred meters of an all-tree outcropping is protected from magic attacks. The tree sucks the spell in and turns it on the caster.' The all-tree is one tree, its roots under the whole floor, its body 'far below us, between the disputed lands and the celestial realm'; the high elves' castle sits in a grove of it. Two orcs fried — 'Corpse of Hunter The Talent. Killed by zapping himself with his own Lightning scroll. What a punk' — with 75,000 gold, three Lightning scrolls and, hidden from the loot list, a credit chit; from now on hunters are looted one item at a time. Samantha meets her cousin: 'Niece! Or is it cousin? […] nice tits. You got them from my side of the family' — and asks Signet to die so she can have her body, two or three minutes tops, King Blaine will stop banging her mother once he sees it. Signet promises a summoned body later, which Carl is sure she means none of; Samantha thinks so too and helps anyway, in case it is true.

Fort Freedom: a mile and a half of river, the naiad palace a quarter mile offshore like a drowned skyscraper, a rampart gone, a tattered flag, a two-storey stained-glass window shot full of holes; the slope cleared and mined with alarms, bush elves disarming a path under Edgar the Shell Mage's army-sized secrecy spell. Signet's tears hover a millimetre off her skin and fly away — water does not touch her. 'If they had just waited, they would've gained control anyway […] They didn't have to kill my mother.' The sacrifice is the third orc: Future Huntress, Wire-Haired Orc, level 50, Boring Ol' Fighter, unlevelled, on her first battle — the Skull Empire bought a hunting licence, 'first crack' at the top ten for three days, after which — or at once, if she dies — the Dark Hive may hunt Carl. 'I'm a real person. Not a crawler or an NPC.' A system message: a champion has fallen — Bogdon Ro, and with him Langley and every one of his archers, who had him cornered, to a hunter. 'The only possible reason why Vrah would let you guys go first was because she knew you'd fail.' 'I know.' Her highest stat is charisma. A fist. Signet in a Jesus pose, tattoos spinning into a three-headed paper ogre and more; the were-castors turn; Carl lobs Samantha upstream with an alarm trap taped to her head — the wrong one: 'Wonderwall'. 'For my mother.'

Characters

• Carl — Loots a punk, kills a frightened orc for two stat points, throws a head into a river.
• Princess Donut — Finds a credit chit; 'But you're an orc.'
• Samantha — Asks her cousin for her body; goes into the river with a Wonderwall alarm trap taped to her head.
• Tsarina Signet — Her mother's palace; tears that fly away; the battle squad summoned.
• Future Huntress — A level-50 orc on her first battle, whose highest stat was charisma.
• The Talent — A Skull Empire orc who zapped himself; 75,000 gold and a credit chit.
• Areson the Wise — Carries the sacrifice; stays with the shore team.
• Edgar — A tortoise Shell Mage whose secrecy spell hides an army.
• Langley — Dead with all his archers, hunting Bogdon Ro.
• Bogdon Ro — A champion fallen to a hunter.
• Katia Grim — Reports Langley's team gone.
• Vrah — Let the orcs go first — because, Carl tells the orc, she knew they would fail; the orc agrees.

Locations

• The all-tree — One tree under the whole floor; reflects magic cast near its outcroppings.
• Fort Freedom — The naiad palace, drowned and rotting, a quarter mile offshore.
• The river — A mile and a half wide here; the slope cleared and trapped.

Motifs

• The hunters — A hunting licence: first crack at the top ten; a credit chit; a Skull Empire trio dead.
• The Skull Empire — Three orcs at the all-tree, all dead; 'Thousands' 'Including you, that was three.'
• The Vengeance of the Daughter — The assault begins: from the top down, with paper monsters.
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — A sacrifice that must not be weakened; charisma.
• 'You're not going to break me' — 'I will break you all', for Langley.
• The naiads — A confederacy that could have waited; usurpers who let the palace rot.