Chapter 45 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 45 — Prepotente's rant

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Ramp-Up · Previous: Chapter 44 — The Beautiful Place; Blood Hunter · Next: Chapter 46 — Operation Snake Pit: the line of succession · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

Donut and I both had a plan for the moment we transferred back.

Summary

Back in a Shanty Town saferoom, Carl checks the officer list first: everyone alive, everyone furious. Elle: most of the naga army is already dead and rotting in its barracks, found by Edgar's scan, and the moment the team moved in Prepotente 'appeared out of nowhere and went absolutely apeshit on us' — he killed the army himself, somehow, without magic, and is level 99; he called Imani a 'Festering Gutter maggot trollop', threatened them with Bianca, and half the sluggalos, who love Imani, went whooping after a flying goat across naga territory trailing orange slime while the other half stole a cart and are driving it badly. Prepotente's rant, in full: Carl is a feckless imbecile, a ruiner; the goat had defeated the nagas' standing army and was about to finish when they claimed he was an unofficial part of Carl's force, dragged him before a kangaroo court, and though he won he was put in penalty stasis — for threatening the whole quorum, Victory says, herself included — and came back to find the Posse 'pitifully and limply' doing his work; 'SHE WAS MY MOTHER […] THE SULTANA IS MY ENEMY BEFORE SHE IS YOURS'; attacking with 'IGNORAMUS SLUGS' will drive her into hiding and cost Donut the floor; 'THERE WILL BE NO MORE WARM HUGS FROM ME. YOU ARE BANNED! […] I SPIT IN YOUR EYE!' Victory's ruling: he may act on his own, but the Posse may not work beside him or ask him to act for them, so he must join or be dealt with another way; the nagas' complaint, which jailed him, probably saved everyone. Carl sends a third message; there is another way if it fails. Change of plans, minor: the assault goes without the sluggalos against a lightly held castle. Tran is at the Shanty Town border on the naga side; Louis takes off with Donut ('MOVE YOUR BUTT TO THAT TEMPLE'); Florin is three kilometres into Operatic land sweeping Borno-style shrapnel mines toward orcs massing alone; Katia's wire is set; Edgar watches for movement. Mordecai with a line of black potion balls, hundreds now, and Samantha with 'Miss Me?' in lipstick on her forehead: 'We'll be neck deep in gods in a few days […] Don't use those potions on more than two of the same religion.' 'I know how this works.' 'Your plans are always bonkers, Carl. But this one…' 'Hey, only part of this one was me. Come on, Samantha.'

Characters

• Prepotente — Level 99; killed an army alone; jailed for contempt; 'YOU ARE BANNED!'
• Elle McGibbons — Reports a rotting barracks and a goat's vocabulary.
• Baroness Victory — An adjudication she would not volunteer; a jail she helped impose.
• Carl — Three messages to a goat; a saferoom full of black potion balls.
• Mordecai — 'Don't hurt anybody you don't have to.'
• Samantha — 'Miss Me?' in red lipstick.
• Imani — Insulted; avenged by slugs.
• Edgar — Found the dead.

Locations

• Shanty Town — A saferoom on the naga edge; a cart stolen by slugs.
• The naga territory — Barracks full of corpses; a temple to reach.

Motifs

• Faction Wars — An unaffiliated crawler who may act alone but not with them.
• The Blood Sultanate — Their standing army dead by a goat; a castle lightly held.
• The gods — Black potions for gods; no more than two of one religion.
• Miriam Dom — 'SHE WAS MY MOTHER, AND IT IS MY RIGHT.'