Character · from book 4
Samantha
Psamathe, a minor deity banished to the Nothing by her father for bearing a king's child, half of whom escaped into the nearest naiad vessel — a sex doll of the fictional bard Lika — and now lives as a talking, immobile, latex head with fangs, a barrette reading 'Wet for you', and one refrain: 'I'm going to kill your mother.' Hired as the personal space's trainer. Her child is a sand ooze; her mother is a god.
Race and class, since book 5: Half-naiad
First appears: Book 4
Series arc
As of book 8. Psamathe, a demigoddess in a sex doll's head since book 4, Theia's daughter since book 7; in book 8 a driver with the controller in her mouth, undefeated at Mario Kart, and the one person on the floor who knows the gods by their parties. She knows Chachi, the goddess who preaches saving children and kills them; she knows Lammy the donkey; she tells Carl how Britney could get Ysalte out of her. Sam Town is her room with a swing and a lava lamp. She drives with her mouth when Carl is a dachshund, sobs over an affair with Louis she never had, and has a plan 'just like' Carl's. In the arena she whispers to Taranis and leaves with him and Krakaren — the two pieces of Apito Taranis says he is taking, by Carl's guess — and, slipping away from his temple, she names her target: the demon mother and the 'jerk son' who tricked her into bearing 'A MONSTER THAT WILL DESTROY ALL OF CREATION'. Open: what her child is; whether she is a piece of Apito; the body she no longer has.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A goddess's head in the training room | B4 ch. 24 | open · B8 ch. 97 — Samantha leaves the party in the arena, whispering to Taranis and going with him and Krakaren; her message, sent after she slips away at the temple, names her target (ch. 99). |
| What Samantha is becoming | B6 ch. 65 | open · B8 ch. 99 — Samantha leaves with Taranis and Krakaren, the two pieces of Apito he says he is taking, by Carl's guess, slips away at the temple, and means to kill 'THE DEMON MOTHER LADY AND HER JERK SON' who tricked her into bearing a monster. |
| Is Samantha the scavenger, and her child the daughter? | B7 ch. 83 | open · B8 ch. 97 — Eris: four of Apito's five pieces are in the arena and Taranis takes Samantha and Krakaren with him, and Carl thinks both have to do with Apito; Samantha says she bore 'A MONSTER THAT WILL DESTROY ALL OF CREATION' (ch. 99). |
| Louis lives on a naiad's heart that will not work outside | B7 ch. 84 | open · B8 ch. 99 — He could not go to the Cabaret because his gills need magic; he went into the casino's portal instead and woke in Sheol, where Forkith's leech keeps him alive 'As long as it’s on your skin'; whether the heart works outside the dungeon is untested. |
| The Doomsday Scenario: still caged | B8 ch. 10 | open — Built on the third floor as the thing that is not a bomb but a caged one, and one of the big bombs Carl still holds after Bombs Away!, with a tactical nuke on a robot dog. Unused since book 2. When it is opened, on whom, and whether the dungeon lets it be. |
| Ysalte in Britney: a plinth that would bring the goddess back, and two places that might get her out | B8 ch. 79 | open — Britney speaks in Carl's mind, kills Osvaldo at the portal as fast as he moved, takes his Ysalte crystal and a golden skull (B8 ch. 83); Samantha: the gem in a plinth at the Basilica or the Vulgar Temple means 'she’ll be back for good', and Britney must reach the Halls of the Ascendency or Sheol 'to get that crazy Ysalte bitch out of her'. She jumps into the stasis portal after Chris (B8 ch. 85). |
| Who killed Geyrun: Carl lied to Emberus, and suspects a lie in the mystery | B8 ch. 95 | open — Carl named Khepri, then himself; 'I actually had no idea for certain who killed Geyrun'; 'one of the key details of the whole mystery was a lie.' Emberus is dead and his memorial crystal is in Carl's inventory (B8 ch. 98). |
| Four of Apito's five pieces in the arena; Taranis takes two | B8 ch. 97 | open — Eris: 'Four of her five pieces are in here right now'; 'Our mom is going to be so pissed when she fully comes back from the dead.' Taranis takes Krakaren and Samantha to the temple to make her whole and is missing a piece (B8 ch. 99); Samantha slips away to kill 'THE DEMON MOTHER LADY AND HER JERK SON'. |
| The chat: who is left in it | B8 ch. 99 | open — Private messages are off for the tenth floor and the party's channel holds thirty-two voices in book 8; its last line is Samantha's from Sheol, in the chat of a party of nineteen. Whether the channel survives the arena's rule changes, whether the private messages come back, and who else writes in from outside the dungeon. |
| What Signet left: two living tattoos and her mother's body | B5 ch. 75 | resolved · B7 ch. 84 — Answered: Princess Lunette's body, Signet's mother's, gave Louis its heart and lungs; Nadine and young Clint, the two it was opened on, are alive among the children, Clint now a flesh golem. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 4
Half of a banished goddess in a sex doll's head, ejected from Carl's inventory when a spell breaks (B4 ch. 24): Psamathe talked Ghazi into opening the Nothing; her ooze is her child by a king; Mongo's knock stopped her waking as a full deity. Hired as the trainer, she helps with the yam, explains Emberus and Orthrus, and is thrown fifty kilometres to draw off a demon of the Nothing's harem, whom her own mother tears in two (B4 ch. 28, B4 ch. 32, B4 ch. 34). 'I'm going to kill your mother.'
Through book 5
A guided missile with a doll's face (B5 ch. 22), a spy in a palace's vents (B5 ch. 26), a torture victim on Vrah's back (B5 ch. 34), and the cousin of an elite who could give her a body (B5 ch. 25). At the party she finds the secret notes (B5 ch. 72), works the castle's security room from the cat tunnels, holds a door against a birthing god, and bites the soul crystals (B5 ch. 73); she surfs into the ballroom on gore and bites Vrah (B5 ch. 75). Her cousin is gone, and from the Nothing that takes her a voice shrieks 'Psamathe, we are coming' (B5 ch. 74); the cousin's mother's empty body is in Carl's inventory, to be finished by a Pulpmancer. She rockets away before the castle leaves.
Open: the body; where she went; her lore on Diwata, Eileithyia and the Vinegar Bitch (B5 ch. 62).
Through book 6
Eaten by a spider and made its best friend (B6 ch. 8, B6 ch. 26); dating a badger and carrying him around a demon's rampage by the arm stuck in her neck (B6 ch. 31–B6 ch. 33); the one who lets Minge out of the Nothing by walking into a casino (B6 ch. 32). She flies, glows and fizzles, teleports a beach when asked for one nun, takes a goddess's pickaxe without a mark (B6 ch. 29, B6 ch. 55, B6 ch. 66), and confesses that she enhances spells she cannot control and is 'a fraud' — 'You're part of the team' (B6 ch. 57). After Elle's hail she mutters about a four seasons path and a tree and someone's mother (B6 ch. 65); Amayon knows who she really is (B6 ch. 69). She carries automatons and Carl inside her and dumps him for her king (B6 ch. 57, B6 ch. 69, B6 ch. 72).
Through book 7
A woman scorned over a child in a drowned castle and a woman named Tish (B7 ch. 4, B7 ch. 5); a stowaway, a forehead in lipstick, a door opened with her teeth (B7 ch. 20, B7 ch. 45, B7 ch. 52); bait for a gate, chased by the god of lust who hates her (B7 ch. 63, B7 ch. 64). A hall pass traded for a rescue with a wife who knows who she really is (B7 ch. 70); a robot dog named Buster, and the nuke she stole from him (B7 ch. 80, B7 ch. 83); her body given up for Louis's heart, and a confession about Geyrun said out loud (B7 ch. 83). Fired at a volcano wrapped in streamers, she stalls a crying god (B7 ch. 86, B7 ch. 87) and remembers Kimaris gave her the potion for her baby (B7 ch. 87). Whether she is the scavenger is Carl's question (B7 ch. 83).
Through book 8
Undefeated at Mario Kart with the controller in her mouth (B8 ch. 25); a lipstick called Pussy Lips and outworlder uppers from Rishi's junk (B8 ch. 11, B8 ch. 30); 'I love it when a man wears the skin of his vanquished enemies' (B8 ch. 22). She knows Chachi — the goddess who preaches saving children and kills them (B8 ch. 52) — and Lammy the donkey (B8 ch. 92), and tells Carl how Britney gets Ysalte out of her (B8 ch. 83). Sam Town: her room with a swing and a lava lamp (B8 ch. 68). She drives with her mouth when Carl is a dog (B8 ch. 82), sobs over the affair with Louis she never had (B8 ch. 85), has a plan 'just like' Carl's (B8 ch. 70), and whispers to Taranis and leaves with him and Krakaren (B8 ch. 97) — to his temple, from which she slips away to kill 'THE DEMON MOTHER LADY AND HER JERK SON' who tricked her into bearing a monster (B8 ch. 99). The AI's reel of those vying for the throne names her (B8 ch. 99).
In the pantheon
Psamathe (Samantha) — a minor deity; banished. Listed with the rest of the pantheon on the pantheon page.
Family and enemies
| Relation | With | Source |
|---|---|---|
| child-of | Theia | B4 ch. 34 |
| banished-by | her father | B4 ch. 24 |
| parent-of | the sand ooze | B4 ch. 24 |
| consort-of | an ancient king | B4 ch. 34 |
| kin-of | Emberus | B4 ch. 28 |
| impersonated-by (reversed) | Yarilo | B4 ch. 21 |
| kin-of | Signet | B5 ch. 25 |
| knows (reversed) | Amayon | B6 ch. 69 |
| mother-of (reversed) | Theia | B7 ch. 49 |
| confesses | a hand in Geyrun's death | B7 ch. 83 |
| friend-of (reversed) | Kimaris | B7 ch. 87 |
| with | Taranis and Krakaren, to his temple | B8 ch. 99 |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 7/35 | Ch. 21, Ch. 22, Ch. 23, Ch. 24, Ch. 28, Ch. 32, Ch. 34 · the book's own page |
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 34/78 | 8, 13, 17, 21–30, 34–35, 37, 39, 44, 50, 55–56, 60–64, 66, 70–76 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 45/74 | 2–4, 8–9, 11, 17, 19–20, 22, 24–35, 40, 47–48, 53–72 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 50/89 | 2–7, 10–11, 14–15, 20–21, 28, 31–32, 40, 45, 47–52, 54–57, 59–70, 73, 78–87 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 40/99 | 6–7, 10–11, 22–26, 30, 34, 36–38, 52–53, 55, 59–61, 68–70, 73, 76, 78, 81–87, 89–90, 92, 96–99 · the book's own page |
By book
Samantha in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
A head
Ejected from Carl's inventory when the crystal spell breaks: a latex sex-doll head with fangs, a chipped chin, white hair and a barrette reading 'Wet for you', possessed by the Withering Spirit of Psamathe — a minor deity banished by her father for bearing a king's child, half of whom fled into the nearest naiad vessel on her first escape and has lived in Lika ever since (ch. 24). Katia works out the rest: she talked Ghazi into opening the Nothing, her other half and her ooze-child came through, the crystallisation trapped her, and everyone thought she was in the ghost. Mongo's knock made her a head instead of a full-powered deity.
The trainer
Carl tunes her jaw until the words come — 'I'm going to kill your mother' — names her Samantha, and Donut hires her as the personal space's trainer so she cannot summon a god by leaving (ch. 24). She helps Mordecai with the yam (ch. 32), explains Emberus and Orthrus ('A puppy! He's a really good boy') (ch. 28), and when a demon of the Nothing's harem comes for her, is fired fifty kilometres on a custom xistera attachment; the god who tears Slit in two is her mother (ch. 34). 'That was my kill!' The harem all hate her; Gash is the one to watch.
Samantha in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
The guided missile
Samantha learns that Signet is her cousin and can give her a body (ch. 17) and spends the floor demanding it. Carl duct-tapes two seeking missiles to her and throws her; she comes back with an ankle (ch. 22). She goes into a river with an alarm trap playing Wonderwall taped to her head (ch. 25), into the vents (ch. 26), is swallowed twice (ch. 27), scouts across the river with a feather in her mouth (ch. 28), is tortured on Vrah's back (ch. 34), thrown like a rocket (ch. 37), used as a football by cubs (ch. 55) and rolled at an anti-air gun (ch. 61). Goddess of unrequited love, she says (ch. 26); she names a beaver god in the Nothing and a god who wears him (ch. 24), slanders Pawna (ch. 23) and knows what Diwata is (ch. 62, ch. 70).
The security room
Nobody goes to the bathroom that much: she finds the secret notes and signs them Psamathe (ch. 72). In the cat tunnels she finds the guards already beheaded, pulls the right-hand crystals so Ballroom A can cast again, shoves the left-hand ones back to disarm the hunters, holds a door against a birthing god ('SUCK IT, BITCH'), and when the door breaks, bites down on the soul crystals and blows out the third floor (ch. 73). She surfs into the ballroom on a wave of bug gore, bites the dying Vrah — 'Remember me, bitch!' — learns that her cousin is gone, and rockets away through a hole in the floor before the castle leaves (ch. 75). The empty body of Signet's mother is in Carl's inventory for her.
Samantha in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
MaeMae's friend
Samantha is swallowed by a spider and spends weeks in its stomach, planning a bachelorette party with matching shirts and a torrid affair with Louis (ch. 8, ch. 26). The spider becomes her best friend and promises her a body; she believes it. She drinks dirty Shirleys, dates a badger bartender to third base, carries him through a demon's rampage with his arm stuck in her neck, and watches him torn in half (ch. 31–ch. 33); she lets Minge out of the Nothing by wandering into a casino (ch. 32).
What she can do
She floats, then flies; she glows like a small sun and fizzles (ch. 29); she teleports an entire beach when asked to bring back one nun (ch. 55); a goddess's pickaxe bounces off her (ch. 66). Made to confess, she says she enhances spells and cannot control it, cannot teleport, reached the swamp by sticking to a train, and is 'useless' and 'a fraud' — and is told she is part of the team (ch. 57). After Elle's hail she mutters about the four seasons path, the tree and the river, and someone's mother to kill (ch. 65). Amayon knows who she really is (ch. 69).
The carnival ride
She carries spider automatons inside her for Carl's teleports (ch. 57), carries Carl himself a foot off the ground between a demon's legs (ch. 68), and has him land head-first inside her for twenty seconds of acid — 'the second weirdest sex I ever had' (ch. 69). She breaks up with him afterwards to go back to her king (ch. 72). 'We need to go clubbing more often!'
Samantha in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
A woman scorned: she rolls off to kill Tish, Ghazi's ex at the college, before Tish can steal Louis from her the way she tried to steal Ghazi, and blackmails Louis with his 'affair' (ch. 4, ch. 5). She stows away on the bomber to save Louis from himself (ch. 20), gets dropped out of it (ch. 31), wears 'Miss Me?' and then 'Fuck the Cheese Dicks' in lipstick on her forehead (ch. 45, ch. 59), coaches Bautista to throw Katia on the ground and offers to kill Katia's mother (ch. 47), opens a god's temple door with her teeth (ch. 52), and comes out of Club Vanquisher a charred husk wanting help against the skyfowl wearing her mother (ch. 55). Left at the Gate as bait, she names the dragon a Bleached Drake and gets chased across the plains by Yarilo, who hates her ('By his left tit, stop running!') and gives up 'LIKE A BIG WUSSY' (ch. 63, ch. 64, ch. 66). She trades Juice Box a rescue for a body and a hall pass (ch. 70), bonds with a jawless robot dog named Buster (ch. 80), falls from the sky as a comet with one white curl left (ch. 80), and, believing her daughter died in the acid, gives up Princess Lunette's body so Louis can have its heart: 'Louis deserves it more than I do' (ch. 83). Then she says aloud that she may have had a hand in Geyrun's death, and Emberus enters the realm (ch. 83). Fired from the xistera wrapped in streamers, she stalls a crying god at a volcano until he lets go of her, and comes back charred (ch. 86, ch. 87). She remembers, and cannot say why she forgot, that Kimaris gave her the potion that put her baby in her (ch. 87). Whether she is the scavenger, and her daughter the Scavenger's Daughter the war mages took, Carl does not yet know (ch. 83).
Samantha in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
Undefeated at Mario Kart with the controller in her mouth (ch. 25); a lipstick called Pussy Lips and outworlder uppers from Rishi's junk (ch. 11, ch. 30); 'I love it when a man wears the skin of his vanquished enemies' (ch. 22). She knows Chachi — the goddess who preaches saving children and kills them (ch. 52) — and Lammy the donkey (ch. 92), and tells Carl how Britney gets Ysalte out of her (ch. 83). Sam Town: her room with a swing and a lava lamp (ch. 68). She drives with her mouth when Carl is a dog (ch. 82), sobs over the affair with Louis she never had (ch. 85), has a plan 'just like' Carl's (ch. 70), and whispers to Taranis and leaves with him and Krakaren (ch. 97) — to his temple, from which she slips away to kill 'THE DEMON MOTHER LADY AND HER JERK SON' who tricked her into bearing a monster (epilogue).