Motif · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

The Butcher's Masquerade

A party the top fifty crawlers and the surviving hunters are transferred to whether they like it or not, in the high elf castle at the end of the sixth floor — and a spell: one of Apito's holiest sacraments, cast once in a life by the most divine, with a guest list chosen by the goddess to sow discord, a celestial peace seal that feeds anyone who breaks it to the Nothing, goodwill ballrooms in which enemies cannot touch, and a boon nobody has ever won. No masks. The name, Carl decides afterwards, has one butcher in it.

Segment appearances

Progression

First named on a severed hand (ch. 8); a trap for the top fifty, per Lexis (ch. 20); mandatory, seven days (ch. 37); a dance card delivered as lightning (ch. 51); the rules and the plus-one tokens (ch. 56). Then the thing itself: a goodwill overlay and a queen who skips the pet show (ch. 64); a sacrament with a guest list built for discord (ch. 65); sealed rooms and a stage where the overlay thins (ch. 66); 'Violence is blasphemy' (ch. 67); a boon no cleric has earned (ch. 68); the host's most valuable item as a prize (ch. 69); the host sealed in with her guests (ch. 72, ch. 73); the seal broken by a suicide, and Apito turning her back (ch. 74). One butcher; the mask worn the other way (ch. 77).