Chapter 52 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 52 — Two of five

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: The Bedlam · Previous: Chapter 51 — Residuals · Next: Chapter 53 — Flee rules · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

<Note added by Crawler Ikicha.

Summary

'The burning Yenk needs only to embrace their enemies' — some problems are not problems if you think long enough (Ikicha, 11th). Several days earlier, leaving the Temple of the Dying Sun past Yasmine the wisp secretary (a worshipper of Áine) and a mantaur flexing at a mirror ('Fuck the posers! Kill them with power!'): 'But what if we don't go to the healer?' — Then December 26th, four days seventeen hours to collapse: stairwells open, keys dissolve on use, 'Let the fun begin.' Iglesia San Hilarion, fifty kilometres southwest of El Capitolio; five squads in the Cuba zone, two with keys. Carl had come back from Homestead to a subdued guild: Imani's whole squad dead and four new player-killer skulls on her because her own totem did it. The interlude: two Cracker Jack scrolls unlock hunter tech — Carl's Valtay Perso-Shield, Platinum Edition (a Saturn pinback; an inch of protection for two minutes, an hour to charge; Donut covered only if touching him), Donut's Bull Rush Bespoke Personal Shield from Hereford War Machines, a longhorn pin on her collar, bubble and mount options, taken from a Soother hunter who never switched it on. More seals and crabs looted. The Mercenary Arcade: the drill sergeant in multiples, actually killing the strippers who regenerate, and the men fighting each other to the death; Dong Quixote with a lance and no horse; Steve's club; Gluteus Maxx's twin gauntlets; Splash Zone a water mage; Bucket Boy a healer; Doctor Bones, level-90 Skin Skellie Bard, soft-spoken off stage — a skin skellie grows flesh that falls off, for backup dancing 'or if I needed to entertain my patron'; his patron was Astrid, 'Now it's you'; his charm is Conscript, the ninth-floor spell factions use to enslave crawlers, which Carl has read about with revulsion; 'Some are even more powerful than yours.' Elle: barracks hold 20, a hundred costs five million; Carl locks the strippers in the arcade with Doctor Bones, fleshed — 'a team building exercise'; fill every mercenary slot. The recap redacted but for Imani's clip: her Meadowlark squad possessed into fighting, Randall the lutin freezing all four, and her own Amhuluk's poison cloud melting them in place while she screamed; she never faced the final battle in her family home. 'It wasn't our friend […] The enemy of my enemy is my friend was complete bullshit. But it didn't mean I wasn't going to use it.' Ines has the other key. Then the first-day traps at the Capitol fire — an alarm and three teleports — 'I should’ve wired the whole capitol building.' Check-ins: Elle bounced to Olympia with a keyless squad; Katia in Iceland with two, the former daughters keyless in Turkey; Li Na's zone twenty keys to twenty-five without, animal traps already killing; Florin alone with claymores he did not need, Lucia keyless; Prepotente has put four squads to sleep for the rest of the floor. 'Everybody had set traps, but nobody had mentioned it […] It felt significant, and not in a good way.' Imani: two choices — Cuba, or Elle. 'Well, fuck.' No traps, a church: Sister Ines's doorway. And Quan Ch, alone, tried to start a card battle before she got through the saferoom door. 'Stay put. We're on our way.'

Characters

• Carl — Shields unlocked; a plan with Doctor Bones; wishes he had wired the Capitol.
• Princess Donut — A longhorn pin; back in Cuba.
• Imani — Her squad melted by her own totem; four skulls; chose Cuba over Elle.
• Doctor Bones — Skin skellie bard with Conscript; Carl is his patron now.
• Elle McGibbons — Olympia; 'Well, fuck.'
• Katia Grim — Iceland; a key, two squads.
• Prepotente — Four squads asleep in the Bahamas.
• Florin — Alone with claymores; Lucia has no key.
• Li Na — Forty-five squads and animal traps.
• Quan Ch — Alone at Imani's church, dealing cards.
• Sister Ines — The other keyholder.
• Pater Coal — Carl, to him: 'What if we don’t go to the healer?'
• Yasmine — A wisp secretary who worships Áine.

Locations

• Iglesia San Hilarión — An empty church by moonlight, fifty kilometres from the door.
• The Royal Palace of Princess Donut — The Mercenary Arcade; strippers locked in.
• Club Vanquisher — The portal desk and a mirror-flexing guard, days earlier.

Motifs

• The three phases — Keyholders versus the keyless; traps everywhere; Imani in Ines's doorway.
• The Sluggalos — A stripper-DJ's enslavement spell; a locked arcade; 'team building.'
• Mercenaries — Twenty beds; five million for a hundred; every slot to be filled.
• The hunters — Perso-Shield, Bull Rush; Hereford War Machines.
• The System AI — 'It wasn't our friend'; four skulls for Imani.
• Crawler on crawler — 'I should've wired the whole capitol building.'
• SlugPox — The unhealed question, deferred.