Chapter 95 of 99 · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Chapter 95 — Inside Scolopendra; Club Scolopendra; 'I killed him'

Book: A Parade of Horribles · Part: Horrible Two · Previous: Chapter 94 — Dungeon Boss; the pig in the harness · Next: Chapter 96 — Emberus explodes · Floor: Floor 11 — A Parade of Horribles · Series: the series

Opening

I activated Gloom Wraith Phase just as the notifications came.

Summary

Carl's level-13 Gloom Wraith Phase carries him and the pig into the centipede as Taranis and Emberus enter the realm. Inside, the Scavenger's Daughter patch opens her eyes and takes Taranis's effect — lightning up 50%, lightning damage taken doubled — just as Rosetta and Mordecai said. There is no air and Penny's constitution is three, so Carl pierces her by feel with Petey Motteux's Little Secret, an Oxygenated nipple ring from Tiatha's pile; Mordecai then mentions that splooge has no cooldown. With Taranis outside, Emberus, inside, will come human-sized and not melt the world.

Carl crosses the vast chamber in Oozy Form. The plan: every crawler has consumed every lightning spell page they could find, and the twenty-two others and all the mercenaries are crammed in Makana's RV under Prepotente's crystal. 'The plan wasn’t to kill Scolopendra. That was the backup.' Club Scolopendra shields him from outside auras. In a blood-splattered hallway he finds Cerni Pinta, a tourist and vice president of Nova Client Services — medical collections, implant reclamation and indenture captures — flayed in an orange web and begging to be killed; he resists the urge to let her suffer. The second attack arrives, the Sin of Consumption, 30%: Carl and Penny roll green, and Pinta is devoured by worms. Game guides are immune but safe rooms are not — Bucket Boy is hit and healed by Tiatha — and among the mounts Donut saves Gonk while Sweety dies. Carl deactivates a level-13 snare set by the Kyryap. Outside, Taranis stands over the bug, the floor boss is half dead, the tree has broken and a third of the mobs are gone.

Emberus arrives: tall, fifty, bald, with blazing sockets, a smouldering beard and a scorched toga. Carl promises to bring him the two people responsible for his son's death. The first, he says, was Khepri, and he spends his second arena summon on Khepri, who appears outside. Khepri had nothing to do with it; Carl still does not know who killed Geyrun and suspects a key detail of that mystery is a lie. Then he takes off the Emberus ring and leaves the faith; the AI warns of a smite, both hand tattoos burst into flame, and Carl claims he killed Emberus's son with his bare hands, saying 'I’m doing this because your dad is a little bitch.'

Characters

• Carl — Through the centipede's guts; a nipple ring for the pig; leaves his faith: 'your dad is a little bitch.'
• Penelope — 'I CAN’T SNORT'; Petey Motteux's Little Secret; in Katia's kneepads.
• Emberus — Human-sized, bald, a beard of smouldering cracks: 'Show me your proof!'
• Taranis — 'Penelope! My sweet love!'
• Khepri — Named as the killer to summon him; 'Poor bug-headed Khepri.'
• Scolopendra — Tumbles; the resort's dampeners.
• Princess Donut — As close to Taranis as she can get, hair poofed.
• Mordecai — Splooge has no cooldown; safe rooms not safe.
• Florin — Taranis is huge.
• Elle McGibbons — A third of the mobs dead.
• Imani — Moving into the arena.
• Prepotente — The crystal over the RV.

Locations

• Club Scolopendra — Orange webs, numbered doors, a flayed tourist; the lobby where Emberus kneels.
• The arena — Outside: the second attack.

Motifs

• Plan Carl — Lightning in every god description since the Thorn room; 'contingencies upon contingencies.'
• The Scavenger's Daughter — Taranis's effect; Emberus's.
• The death of Geyrun — 'Two people are responsible.'
• The nine-tier attack — Sin of Consumption: Pinta, Sweety.
• Staying human — 'It would never be me.'
• The gods — Left his faith; a smite coming.
• The tourists — Cerni Pinta of Nova Client Services.
• The Kyryap — A level-13 snare set by it.