Chapter 61 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 61 — Marked for death

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Butchering · Previous: Chapter 60 — The raids · Next: Chapter 62 — A squirrel with antlers · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

<Note added by Crawler Milk.

Summary

Milk's 6th-edition note: a country boss drops a persistent Treasure Map showing every piece of magical gear nearby; four hundred fought the boss in a low cave, fifty survived, and the map started a second slaughter — 'Don't pick it up.' Sixty-six trophies; three more marks, all constitution, twelve base points, five stat points a kill now; Carl level 59 with nine points into strength (eighteen, Swole), Donut level 50 with three trophies; 254 base points to Donut's 278, and when he passes her she loses control of the party — Firas said so, and she has been foul since. The raid: traps and alarms, Ping, fifteen dots; Chris lava's the rifleman and wrecks the gun; Donut taps twenty spiders; Samantha rolls at the anti-air gun with two spiders chasing her and it geysers red, her hair on fire again. Imani's twenty from the north, Katia and Elle from the west, the Twister rising over the trees with enough explosives to level the town; hunters bunch for safety and scatter when attacked. Two Saccathians on mechanical legs lead the spiders back at Carl; Kiwi and Mongo pounce together and the bots turn away. Five kills for Donut. Tina roars in the woods, held back by the pack. Six or seven minutes; four raids to get it right. One level-63 in magical plate is left, in the temple, with Katia and Tran at the front door and Bautista and Gwen at the back. Then a red glow over Carl's head, a pulsing X of antlers: 'The God Diwata has made an appearance in the realm. Diwata has marked you for death […] Flee for your life, apostate.' 'Abort! Abort! […] It's a god!' The centre of town erupts.

Characters

• Carl — Nearing Donut's stat total; marked for death by a god.
• Princess Donut — Five kills and a grudge about party control.
• Samantha — Rolled at a gun and blown into the sky.
• Kiwi — Pounces with Mongo.
• Katia Grim — At the temple door when the god arrives.
• Chris — 'Lava-d him.'
• Louis and Firas — In the Twister with the bombs.
• Diwata — In the realm, hunting an apostate.

Locations

• The Selva — A town's big temple, erupting.

Motifs

• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Milk on the Treasure Map.
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — Five points a kill; twelve constitution.
• The gods — Diwata arrives; the antler X.
• The hunters — A method that works, four raids in.
• The blood bar — With the brambles: terrible at first, then exactly what they needed.