Chapter 12 of 99 · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles
Chapter 12 — The Team Roundabout; the Wild Hunt
Book: A Parade of Horribles · Part: Horrible One · Previous: Chapter 11 — The second cleaner bot · Next: Chapter 13 — Lady Dominators; Corcunda; a quest · Floor: Floor 10 — Don't Come in Last · Series: the series
Opening
The garage door opened, revealing a different world than the one we’d seen when the door c
Summary
Hungry Eyes Village opens on a suburban cul-de-sac under a red sun: nine garage doors numbered by heat-one place (the Royal Court's says 7; the ninth wears a runny red skull), cut grass, and a foot portal to a neon town — the Team Roundabout, where safe-room rules apply. Radoslav and Jasha are in lawn chairs with a kiddie pool and 'Smoke on the Water' from their garage; their van came with a magic cooler of never-ending Busch Light that always holds three peach ones nobody wants. Garage four opens on white-and-brown fur ('It’s a bear') and three four-foot ninjas somersault out in a V: the Wild Hunt — a red suit with nunchucks and two black, all in ninja-star bandoliers, unexaminable but for their eyes. Chiyome, a level-80 Razor Fox Mistress of Nunchaku, the first healthy Razor Fox Carl has seen (the card: each picks a weapon in childhood 'kinda like a ninja-turtle thing'; 'You know throwing stars, right, Carl? You still have some in your inventory'). Donut: 'why are there so many dogs in the dungeon!' The dance was form magic — a team casting of Size Up on everyone in the area, 'Sorry, not sorry' — and once the other two flip off through the portal Chiyome pulls back her cowl and drinks four beers: hyenas are closer to cats than dogs; their bear Onikuma has only a never-ending supply of fleas. She wants an alliance against the first three garages — the lucky Tigrans in one, 'the weirdos and the giant dog' in two, and above all the women with the car in three, who will win 'if we don’t do something now'. Garage three opens: 'Two womantaurs and their half-mantaur gimp.' Carl pulls the peach beer into his inventory.
Characters
- Carl — Meets the Wild Hunt and hears the case for an alliance.
- Princess Donut — 'Why are there so many dogs in the dungeon!'
- Radoslav and Jasha (Team Free Love) — Lawn chairs, a kiddie pool, 'Smoke on the Water', a cooler of never-ending Busch Light.
- Chiyome (the Wild Hunt) — Razor Fox Mistress of Nunchaku, level 80; four beers; wants the women in garage three stopped.
- Growler Gary — Named as another dog guy: 'A hyena named Growler Gary, who also drinks a lot'.
Locations
- Hungry Eyes Village — A neon town through a foot portal where safe-room rules apply.
- The garage and the cul-de-sac — Nine garages numbered by heat-one place under a red sun; the ninth wears a skull.
Motifs
- The tenth floor — The Team Roundabout; a team casting of Size Up as a dance.
- Waking the NPCs — Chiyome talks alliance like a player.