Chapter 8 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 8 — The Bedlam Bride

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: Havana · Previous: Chapter 7 — Duendes · Next: Chapter 9 — The Mock Battle Arena · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

Almost the entirety of the recap episode was redacted.

Summary

A recap almost entirely redacted: the undead Easter Bunny stuffing crawlers' limbs into plastic eggs, a sentient umbrella in Tokyo and a bus, Elle flagging her sasquatch, Prepotente capturing a giant bat alone, and then a studio with faces in boxes — Prime Minister Glory, the gleener who runs the whole Syndicate, beside Kevin — before an hour of blank. The top ten: Prepotente, Donut, Carl, Lucia Mar, Elle, Katia, Florin, Osvaldo (a level-60 Curupira ranger, whatever that is), Li Na, and Burcu, a badger-headed Porsuk Swashbuckler Carl met at the party. Cascadia's rules, chipper again: six totems to a deck, five card types (totem, utility, snare, mystic, special); combat when aggro starts; deck-to-deck combat is compulsory against a deck-holding opponent; the squad leader loses spells and inventory until every card is played, keeps melee and whatever is in hand; totems cannot attack a leader while enemy totems stand; four random cards, a new one every ten seconds, one discard per thirty; killed totems are out for the fight, timed-out ones return; buffs and snares persist; a practice arena in every saferoom for a fee, consumables gone even there; 'feel free to murder them for their cards.' Thirteen days to the assault. Mordecai's reading: phase two is intelligent mobs with decks, a boss with a key, and a way back. Katia is already listing card types. Then Samantha: good news, she found a mage of the right kind; bad news, 'SHE ATE ME.' A spider, a demigoddess 'SMALLER THAN MOST MINOR GODDESSES', a web over a swamp at the southern coast by the mouth of the big bay, talkative and, Samantha thinks, lonely, looking for her husband, lovely shimmering fangs — Shi Maria, in the Bahamas book's last section under Unique, with permanent insanity and permanent blindness among her attacks and twenty names: the Screamer, the Reviled, Kwaku's Love, the Corrupted Paramour. 'The Bedlam Bride. Now that's a proper name.' Carl: a squad candidate.

Characters

• Shi Maria — Shi Maria: unique, insane-making, looking for her husband.
• Samantha — Eaten by a demigoddess she wants to hire; 'IT'S VERY SQUISHY IN HERE.'
• Carl — Wants the spider for the squad; shivers at the word.
• Princess Donut — 'Yugoslavia or something'; picks the name.
• Mordecai — Knows Prime Minister Glory on sight; 'So, the plan is to abandon Samantha, right?'
• Cascadia — The card rules.
• Osvaldo — Eighth on the board; a Curupira.
• Burcu — Tenth: a badger-headed Porsuk Swashbuckler.
• Prepotente — First; a giant bat flagged alone.

Locations

• The swamp of the Bride — A web over the southern coast at the mouth of the big bay.

Motifs

• T'Ghee totems — The whole rulebook; the leader's spells locked while the deck plays.
• The Syndicate — The Prime Minister on a recap episode; an hour of redaction.
• The leaderboard — Osvaldo and Burcu new in the ten.