Motif · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

The gods

'There are no gods here. Just those who pay for the privilege.' A war gauntlet that warns it can transfigure a worshipper of the god Grull into the god himself, and Mordecai's solemn insistence that Grull is not real — nor is any god in this game. Zev, in passing, mentions that a hostile government could 'spring for a deity sponsorship.'

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — Chandra; the garage
• Chapter 13 — Lady Dominators; Corcunda; a quest
• Chapter 19 — One Fine Pig; Penelope
• Chapter 28 — The interlocution; the question Orren wanted asked
• Chapter 35 — Eris and the five-sided coin
• Chapter 40 — Heat four: survival containment; Team Flamengo
• Chapter 53 — The key to One Fine Pig's garage
• Chapter 54 — Grigori the Placid; Zhang's only way
• Chapter 58 — Jurgen at the door; Porky's zipper
• Chapter 65 — Upside down: Corcunda
• Chapter 66 — Grull; Dong tilts a giant
• Chapter 69 — The stables: who may leave; the Scavenger myth
• Chapter 70 — The memorial crystal; the Midnight Epicure
• Chapter 82 — Karl the dachshund; Team Sparkles ends
• Chapter 84 — The dachshund walks to the Hairpin
• Chapter 86 — Mimics; the Big Six
• Chapter 89 — Every screen; the Tome of Gatekeeper; the Lucky Shot patch
• Chapter 92 — Chaco on Lamashtu; the AI's history in four parts; Vengeance
• Chapter 94 — Dungeon Boss; the pig in the harness
• Chapter 95 — Inside Scolopendra; Club Scolopendra; 'I killed him'
• Chapter 96 — Emberus explodes
• Chapter 97 — Eris; the wrong biscuit; the gods leave
• Chapter 98 — W-W-W-Winner; Mark of the Damned; the wrong biscuit
• Epilogue — Epilogue: Sydnee Iglacia, Prime Minister Victory, Louis Santiago 2

Progression

Sekhmet's veil and a godslayer box (ch. 8); celestial boons are bodily (ch. 9); Carl's chart fills with Enyo, Grull, Tupa, Donar, Gula and Chachi (ch. 13, ch. 40, ch. 54, ch. 58). The unsponsored roam free near the tunnel nodes and the AI's control of them is off (ch. 28); Eris sits in a fuel stop at level 251 (ch. 35); a crawler relays a goddess's words (ch. 51); the stables are the one room they cannot hear (ch. 69); Grull walks into the Gasworks (ch. 66); Khepri's death cult breaks the game (ch. 75); the AI subjugates a goddess for a donkey (ch. 92). Carl leaves his faith (ch. 95); 'A deity has fallen. The heavens tremble with rage' (ch. 96); the Mark of the Damned (ch. 98); 'each and every one is, as far as you’re concerned, now real' (epilogue). Grull enters the realm as Corcunda's halves rejoin and is unseated by Donut's Laundry Day (ch. 65, ch. 66); Apito, per the AI's aside on a cursed pig, was Taranis's mother and his wife (ch. 19).