Motif · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

The bestiary

The system's » This is a… cards — a Kua-Tin, a Safe Zone, a Non-Combatant NPC, a Dungeon Admin, a pet-class mob — and the Crawler # dossiers it prints for people: the dungeon naming what a thing is, in the AI's voice.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — Chandra; the garage
• Chapter 4 — Miss Talulah; Team Free Love
• Chapter 5 — Team Sparkles; the tow
• Chapter 8 — Hats; the Danforth; the godslayer box
• Chapter 9 — Radiant claws; the crupper's rant
• Chapter 16 — The Paramour
• Chapter 19 — One Fine Pig; Penelope
• Chapter 31 — Luca Di's entry; the ghoul cages; a mile of fire
• Chapter 43 — The cannibals; Great Rusty; Pasty Inferno
• Chapter 49 — Mehmet's page; the tubes; the trapdoor
• Chapter 54 — Grigori the Placid; Zhang's only way
• Chapter 62 — Mees Koning's page; to battle
• Chapter 67 — Half a prayer, half a song; one flower
• Chapter 74 — Human shells; Ad Infinitum
• Chapter 81 — Scolopendra's first attack: the Beast of Burden Sin
• Chapter 85 — The Wheel of Fortune; 'Nothing' in quotes
• Chapter 86 — Mimics; the Big Six
• Chapter 91 — The horribles
• Chapter 92 — Chaco on Lamashtu; the AI's history in four parts; Vengeance
• Chapter 94 — Dungeon Boss; the pig in the harness
• Chapter 98 — W-W-W-Winner; Mark of the Damned; the wrong biscuit

Progression

Two applicants 'to be manager of your garage' (ch. 1); 'a special guest creature for the 10th and 11th floors' (ch. 4); 'an Enriched Pet Biscuit. This leaves nothing to chance' (ch. 16); 'This is a pig. Oink, oink' (ch. 19); 'This is a ginger. They hide amongst regular humans' (ch. 43); a mandatory quest, a two-part race, a Nine-Part Quest (ch. 43, ch. 67, ch. 81); an Enforcer for a redacted master (ch. 85, ch. 86); 'a non-combatant. She's not really here because she no longer exists' (ch. 91); 'a mortal, subjugated god', and the avatar of a troll dead since the 3,424th season (ch. 92). Dossiers come back, name first: Penelope 3, Crawler #12,953,454, when Carl examines the pig (ch. 94), and Sexy Scolopendra, Crawler #12,953,456, when she joins the party (ch. 98).