Chapter 75 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 75 — Sic 'em

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Butchering · Previous: Chapter 74 — All Eyes on Me · Next: Chapter 76 — Cage Fight Extreme · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

The velociraptors shrieked as one and leaped off the stage and landed amongst the surprise

Summary

'Sic 'em.' Thirty costumed raptors leap into the hunters — a pufferfish decapitates a draconian; Mongo and Kiwi fall on Vrah. Samantha surfs in on a tidal wave of bug gore from a hole in the ceiling: 'Surprise, motherfuckers! […] Remember me, bitch!' Geysers of gore and live nymphs erupt through the floor. Tina leaps off the stage and vanishes into Attendant Ballroom B, reappearing to bite an elf in half. Signet's tattoos cocoon Imogen; Ferdinand — 'I'll protect you, my bride!' — blinks away. Hunters flee through the open doors like cockroaches; mantises block the crawlers' exit. The Popovs' meteor hammer, Prepotente's potions, Li Na's chains with her brother dancing on them, Bautista's chainsaw-armed summons, Florin's shotgun keeping a beat, Lucia cowering behind him with hands on her ears. Two minutes; Hole is useless over a floor of nymphs; Diwata lies below, not moving. The tattoos come out wrong-sized: Di-Wi the three-headed nodling Memory Golem, a Tina-sized hammerhead flopping through hunters, an arm-length dragon whose beam shatters the Scolopendra mosaic and stops its twisting. Imogen's red lightning hits everyone at once. Vrah limbless and leaking, one compound eye a broken honeycomb: 'How.' 'Mongo. Finish her off for me. Make it hurt.' Kiwi presses her head to Mongo's, knowing it is goodbye. The mark completes (dexterity). Samantha, hair burned off like a Barbie from a house fire: 'Are you breaking up with me? Is it because of Louis?' 'She killed herself to save us.' Not all of Signet's tattoos were warriors: young Clint crying in the apron of Miss Nadine, the chee teacher who was once a caterpillar — a health potion works on them — and a sleeping naiad, 'Princess Lunette. Incomplete Flesh Golem.' 'Cousin, wake up!' Nadine: they will last forever, 'She gave us life'; Signet took the memory with her and left the body — take the golem, help Samantha, find a Pulpmancer. Carl pockets the weightless, dotless body. Samantha rockets down through a hole in the floor. Imogen breaks free of the ink, and with a swipe snaps Carl's arm and reels him in bones cracking — until Ferdinand slams into her head, is backhanded bleeding, hat flying, and vanishes. Heal, bones knitting like glass in reverse. 'Come here! Lower your head!' Donut squeezes the bubble hiding the I Take It All Back potion: Kiwi stands up an ursine, naked but for paper bubbles; the raptors' dots go red. Tina roars four times and the fourth is words: 'Mom? Mommy? Where are we?' Still an allosaurus. Quest Complete. The Recital. 'Five seconds. Good-bye.' Feather Fall potions, freed from their prize box on Prepotente's last saferoom-cube zap in exchange for a day as party leader. Vroom. Everything froze.

Characters

• Vrah — Torn apart by Mongo and Kiwi; finished by Mongo; the mark completed.
• Samantha — Rides the gore in; learns Signet is gone; rockets away.
• Princess Donut — 'Sic 'em'; frees Kiwi; the Recital complete.
• Kiwi — Says goodbye to Mongo; becomes a bear again.
• Big Tina — 'Mommy?'
• Mongo — Makes it hurt.
• Queen Imogen — Cocooned in ink; snaps Carl's arm.
• Ferdinand — Saves Carl by accident of devotion; backhanded away.
• Miss Nadine — Living tattoo; 'She gave us life.'
• Clint Smashgrab — The boy, given flesh.
• Princess Lunette — An incomplete flesh golem in Carl's inventory.
• Carl — Arm shattered and healed; takes the golem.
• Prepotente — Potions and a saferoom zap for a day's leadership.
• Florin — Shotgun beat; shields Lucia.
• Lucia Mar — Hands over ears, crying.
• The Sledge — 'Five seconds. Good-bye.'
• The Popov brothers — Meteor hammer.
• Li Na — Chains.
• Daniel Bautista — Chainsaw summons.

Locations

• The high elf castle — Ballroom A in carnage; the mosaic shattered.

Motifs

• The hunters — Vrah dies; the rest flee or fall to costumed raptors.
• Signet's tattoos — Signet's tattoos as golems; her mother's empty body.
• Scolopendra — The dreaming mosaic shattered by a tattoo dragon.
• The Recital — Quest complete; Tina finds her mother.
• Mothers — Kiwi restored; 'Mommy?'
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — Dexterity from Vrah.