Motif · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Ysalte

Goddess of Hopelessness and Insanity, level 250, once of the Dirt, then of Tears; the Semeru dwarves' only goddess, patron of outcasts and bards, half-sister and niece of her former lover Taranis, threatened with the Nothing by Apito and fled to Sheol; Amayon's ex and mother of his child. Sponsored by Pontifex Shine of the Nebular Balance and not driven, she arrives through Sister Ines's corpse as a young dwarf with a pickaxe and a flickering scream, turns every potion to vinegar, enslaves a Demon Prince — and is beheaded by her own totem. A memorial crystal waits on a future floor.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 7 — Donut Holes; the Semeru dwarf
• Chapter 53 — Super Heavyweight Temple Battle Grudge Match Extravaganza
• Chapter 85 — Zerzura

Progression

Arief is Despondent because his goddess is dead (ch. 7); her potions became something else (ch. 2); the Semeru rebuild her shattered statue, a pickaxe over her shoulder (ch. 82, ch. 85).