Chapter 50 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 50 — The Temple of the Dagda

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Ramp-Up · Previous: Chapter 49 — Bijou, Theia and Khepri · Next: Chapter 51 — Dark Purpose · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

» Warlord Message: A member of your army is occupying the throne room of the Blood Sultana

Summary

A Posse soldier is in the Blood Sultanate's throne room; six hours to capture. Elle: the castle is empty and smells like a neglected hamster cage; Louis gasses the exterior. The ninth floor has two Club Vanquisher entrances and the one in Larracos is always trashed; this season's outside entrance is the temple of the Dagda, a weather-and-masculinity god of bearded fighter clerics, usually sponsored by a self-help guru — a small shack in Shanty Town that smells of stew. Prospects cannot leave Khepri's temple for an hour, 'the dungeon equivalent of going to a timeshare pitch', so speed matters. Donut circles in Party Planner as the contingency if one of the three is not in the room. Prepotente walks pressed against Carl's side, drinks Big Red ('That's where cowboys live'; five a day, his mother's rule), and mentions he has a complete interior map of Club Vanquisher from a guildmaster his mother befriended; they left through a bathroom stall. 'Perfect recall, Carl.' Mordecai's hour-long aura potion: Closed Off, immune to Blessings and Dreads — Imani's wings give Blessings; Li Na's auras are Dreads, and she is up the Extend Aura synergy tower, a manned tower that works during the magic ban, with wires dangling from the clock hands, Mistress Tiatha's exploit; afterwards Toyotomi's builders will raise a very tall, very expensive tower at the lip of the Larracos hole called The Nest. 'I'M NOT THE ONE ABOUT TO UPSET LIKE 100 GODS, CARL.' Inside: harp music, stained glass of a bearded man with a soup ladle, a buff red-haired Welsh cleric and a cauldron of stew for brothers only. Bautista distracts him with talk of joining; Li Jun props the door with a rock; he and Zhang trail wire. Pony is banned from the club — so, a smoke grenade and a question: 'How are your acting skills?' In the vestibule, Mork, a lisping Ares Warrior Cleric ram, level 40, Hellik's: there is a Holy Crusade bounty on the goat, 500,000 gold, and Carl has him in fuzzy unlocked handcuffs. 'My goose has been cooked! Oh woe!' Mork will split it with Hellik and himself; Emberus, insulted, issues a quest — Kill the Blasphemer, 'The more entertained I am by this, the better the boon.' 'One step ahead of you, buddy.' 'Guards! Guards!' 'Katia, you're up. Come on in.'

Characters

• Prepotente — Big Red, a map in his head, fuzzy handcuffs and a performance.
• Carl — A better idea at the door; a quest from his god to kill a sheep.
• Li Na — Up the tower with her Dreads.
• Mork — A ram with a lisp and a bounty to split.
• Emberus — Kill the Blasphemer.
• Mistress Tiatha — The wires are her exploit.
• Daniel Bautista — Chats up a cleric about beards.

Locations

• Club Vanquisher — Entered through a stew-scented temple; 'Heathens will find no solace here.'
• Shanty Town — The Extend Aura tower; The Nest to come.

Motifs

• The gods — The Dagda, Hellik, Emberus and Khepri in one small building.
• The Blood Sultanate — An hour in a timeshare pitch.
• Faction Wars — Synergy towers; a throne room occupied.