Chapter 18 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 18 — Club Vanquisher

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: Havana · Previous: Chapter 17 — Two goddesses · Next: Chapter 19 — What's in the box · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

» Carl: Mordecai, hey, so I’m headed into Club Vanquisher right now.

Summary

'Do whatever she tells you to do. I'll tell you the rest face-to-face.' — Mordecai on Huanxin Jinx. Club Vanquisher, Members Only ('Heathens will find no solace here'): a clean vestibule, choral music, a stained-glass angel rising to an inverted tree, and Potsy, a lisping ram-headed Ares Warrior Cleric of Hellik (one of twenty brothers who pray to a window they insist shows Hellik bringing truth to Apito; it is Taranis, Hellik's elder brother and Apito's husband — 'Everybody knows it's supposed to be Taranis'). A level-10 dreadlocked slug through the trollskin shirt; one out of the boxers, bitten into Carl's thigh and flung at the window: 'Did… did you just rip your dick off and throw it at me?' 'I'm going to do it again if you don't let me in.' Pater Coal, Hobbledehoy High Cleric Supreme of Emberus, level 101, waiting ('Go fuck yourself, apostate'): a ski-lodge lobby of trophy heads and a black dragon over the fire, mantaur guards in bowties since 'the caprid incident', one location per day for a limited-access worshipper, a market called Comforting Supplies, a hall of guilds and a fairy at a desk. Then a portal onto the sun: the secret Emberus High Temple of the Ending Sun, no roof, a field of fire, blue-skinned worshippers prostrate toward a glow on the horizon. A fountain and a charred stump; the pox suppressed; feet in boiling water — 'You are a martyr of Emberus, and I am paying respect' — a sacrament the gods cannot eavesdrop on, and Zev reports Carl has vanished from the feed. Carl owes Emberus two quests: find Geyrun's killer before leaving the dungeon, and kill Hellik before the twelfth floor. The Geyrun quest: no clue but Orthrus, whose memory the Nothing wrecked; Hellik the suspect; and Apito lives, yet a memorial crystal exists in her name, which forms only when a god dies — investigate. Carl tests it: 'Are […] are you the AI?' 'We all have our roles […] We all have our limitations' Milky-eyed: two companions hold the keys — Katia and the origins of her crossbow, Donut and the origins of her oak bracelet — neither path open without the memorial crystal; a toe in the cleric's mouth ends it. 'I had a sense the system was pounding a square peg into a round hole […] Or was it?' Boon: The Martyr's Path — every outdoor step marked, a gout of flame from each at 5% health or death; +10% strength. The bracelet was a throwaway from the third floor; the crossbow was Hekla's. Later, the saferoom: cured for 10,000 gold, banned three days for breaking some rule; Bomo's absence loud; tea from Bautista that Carl likes; Katia now worships Eileithyia. Carl lies about part of the temple with Bautista in the room — Donut looted that bracelet from one of his dead family. Quan, the cheater, was a champion of a nerd card game. 'We need to have a serious conversation.' Katia, hand on Donut's face: 'I need to tell you a story. It's very scary, but the ending isn't set in stone yet.'

Characters

• Carl — Throws a slug off his thigh; has his feet washed on the sun; lies to the table.
• Pater Coal — The high cleric who may be the AI in a costume; the foot sacrament.
• Potsy — A ram cleric of Hellik with a lisp and a form to fill out.
• Mordecai — 'Do whatever she tells you to do.'
• Princess Donut — 'You can't un-murder a convent of nuns.'
• Katia Grim — A worshipper of Eileithyia now; begins the scary story.
• Daniel Bautista — Pacing; makes good tea; does not know about the bracelet.
• Zev — 'Did he lick your foot?'
• Emberus — A martyr's path; a son to avenge; a mother possibly dead.

Locations

• Club Vanquisher — The Colon cemetery entrance; ski-lodge lobby, guild hall, the Temple of the Ending Sun.
• The Colón cemetery — Where the club opens.

Motifs

• The gods — Hellik's window that is Taranis; a sacrament nobody can overhear; Apito's impossible crystal.
• The System AI — 'Are you the AI?' — 'We all have our roles.'
• Quests — Geyrun's murder routed through a crossbow and an oak bracelet; a square peg.
• Memorial crystals — One made by a living goddess.
• SlugPox — Cured for ten thousand gold.
• Secrets — Carl lies at the table; Katia's notification Donut cannot see.
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Little on Club Vanquisher; few crawlers hold both keys.