Character · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Herot

Author of the Cookbook's 16th edition, whose long essay at the back of the book — the 'Worn Path Method' — argues that quests and puzzles go easier when you deliberately break the fourth wall and wake the NPCs.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 38 — Akuma's account: Herot, Menerva and the Pineapple Cabaret
• Chapter 39 — The Lollipop: a needle over the singer
• Chapter 55 — The cleaner bot plan
• Chapter 61 — Suckira; the cactus; Li Na leaves the game
• Chapter 79 — 715 deals; Britney in Carl's mind; the Nothing in quotes
• Chapter 80 — The final heat: the lobby
• Chapter 83 — The poleaxes; Britney kills Osvaldo; the Cadillac
• Chapter 86 — Mimics; the Big Six

Arc

Alive: a skink trapped in the Pineapple Cabaret with a shop interface and a standing order for every cleaner bot (ch. 38, ch. 55); Tipid remembers him from his game-guide days as 'a real thorn' who always had a crowd of NPCs (ch. 39). Li Na and 227 more crawlers reach him through the cleaner bots (ch. 61, ch. 73); Carl sends a message by Pontiff to keep the god-worshippers in stasis (ch. 83). 'Herot was a cookbook author, and as such, I trusted them' (ch. 83).