Chapter 26 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 26 — Milk; the Empress marked

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Ramp-Up · Previous: Chapter 25 — Empress, you have visitors · Next: Chapter 27 — Gavrilo Princip · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

Milk awakened to the sound of screaming.

Summary

The Milk interlude: a xenopus — a clawed, winged frog — wakes in a straw nest in the hidden calligraphy guild of a fifth-floor Club Vanquisher to screaming, sirens, demon-stink and blood under her door, with a starvation warning that forbids self-termination and adds time to her indenture. She has muted the announcements with a scroll of her own, skipped whole seasons asleep, not seen a floor supervisor in fifty. Outside, a vampire mother and a caprid son are killing mantaur guards: 'Prepotente Lorenzo De La Rosa! Stop that this instant!' Her door opens for the first time in a very long time. Bianca sets the newsletters and the scroll linen alight; Milk burns a power word into her own wrist to survive the spell; Miriam rubs salve into the burn — Milk has never seen a crawler spend supplies on an NPC — while Prepotente demands the manager and Milk is warned by the system for giving unauthorised information. 'You’re a former crawler?' The words land as an accusation: a coward who sleeps through seasons. 'Fuck it.' 'If you threaten me, I might be forced to give you information' — and Miriam, thanking her with a hand on the shoulder, draws a knife. A map of the club's secret exits, including the one at the back of the room. Her card: Cartographer, Xenopus born Vesper, top level 73, a deal on the tenth; freed only when her services have been used 333 times — six so far; author of the sixth edition; indentured within the dungeon.

The Prism's throne room: the timer will not start while two factions occupy it. D'Nadia's guards are dealt with — two off-worlders splattered by hunter-seekers, a samurai rhino NPC knocked out by the blasts and duct-taped, guarded by Rend. Donut's intelligence on the Empress: ice and water spells, a useless teleport ring, a tech shield, a crown, poorer than the nagas by Rosetta's reckoning. Smoke, a crossbow bolt off Carl's shield, banger spheres that spark her shields and sit her down in a dress spread like an anemone. She keeps herself slightly injured on purpose, because the Ring of Divine Suffering needs full health. Her adjutant is Nihit, the naga reporter Carl once stabbed in the throat with a pen. A pulse from under her gown at Donut; clockwork Mongos tear through three shields and the dress to green tentacled flesh and blue blood, and snap off the tentacle holding the knife she was cutting herself with. Carl heals her to full, and marks her: highest stat Intelligence, thirty seconds. Ten gnoll mercenaries pile out of a tank outside; Louis stands down. 'This is what happens to all tyrants, big and small.' 'I did it for my people.' 'No, D'Nadia. You did it for you.' The white anger burns in all three of Carl's eyes — more than Maggie, more than Quan, more than at the button; the river says it's so loud; 'Quiet'; Donut in chat, 'Please, no. I need you to step back.' The edge, one foot over open air. He steps back. 'Mongo would like to express his utmost disappointment at how you judged him during the pet show.'

Characters

• Milk — The sixth edition's author, asleep for seasons, who opens her door to a vampire and a goat.
• Miriam Dom — In the interlude: salve for a burned NPC, and a knife drawn as a kindness.
• Prepotente — In the interlude: a full name, a formal complaint, and a familiar who burns everything.
• Princess D'nadia — Shielded three times over, keeping herself hurt; marked.
• Carl — Three eyes burning; the edge; a step back.
• Princess Donut — 'Please, no'; a deep growl; a pet-show grudge.
• Nihit — The Prism's adjutant, once throat-stabbed with a pen.
• Mongo — Two clockworks do the tearing; the real one waits.
• Toyotomi — A sai rhino, duct-taped, with Rend circling.

Locations

• Club Vanquisher — A hidden calligraphy guild off a fifth-floor club, in the interlude.
• The Prism headquarters — A throne room with no throne.

Motifs

• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Milk's card: 333 uses to freedom, six done.
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — Needs full health; D'Nadia bleeds herself to deny it.
• The river in Carl's head — 'It's so loud, Carl.' 'Quiet.'
• The Eye of the Bedlam Bride — All three eyes burn with the anger.
• Waking the NPCs — Milk warned by the system for helping; a crawler who heals an NPC.