Character · from book 2
Scolopendra
The monster at the bottom of the volcano in the Over City's founding story, whose nine-tier poison cloud transformed ninety per cent of the kingdom; named, never seen. Every mold lion, clown and city-elf superstition on the third floor traces back to the cataclysm.
Race and class, since book 8: Dungeon boss
First appears: Book 2
Series arc
As of book 8. The centipede in the myths, the attack the high elves' castle was protected against, a club for the eighteenth floor's tourists; in book 8 awake, and then in the arena. Her nine-tier attack begins when the AI loses its temper — a wheel of sins, Transformation, Consumption. Carl's first arena pick summons her, level 500, the Dungeon boss, coiling up the white tree, and he phases into her guts to reach her club. A pet biscuit in a banger sphere splatters her; the wrong biscuit makes her a level-1 crawler, Sexy Scolopendra, a human-faced centipede with a red bow: 'Boop'. Rosetta's myth makes her Nekhebit's third child, Apito's sibling; Sydnee Iglacia: 'this story is a tragedy'. Open: seven attacks waiting; a level-1 god in Carl's party.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A memorial crystal for Apito, who is not dead | B5 ch. 77 | open · B8 ch. 98 — Apito's crystal is 0% charged and 'should not exist' (ch. 70); it protected a building from Scolopendra's attack and charged to 11.1% (ch. 82); Taranis pulled it off Prepotente's neck. |
| Justice Light's trap: the Nothing broken into the Ascendency, Sheol and Scolopendra's lair | B7 ch. 87 | open · B8 ch. 28 — A Plenty goat: the trap loosed the Nothing's inhabitants onto three floors — the weakest to the twelfth, nothing seen of the fifteenth, slaughter in Club Scolopendra where the Kyryap and Krakaren Prime are. |
| Scolopendra's nine attacks, two fired and seven waiting | B8 ch. 81 | open — Transformation and Consumption fired; Apito's crystal shielded a building and charged on them until Taranis stole it (B8 ch. 82, B8 ch. 98). Kill her or abandon her and the rest fire at once; she is now a level-1 crawler in Carl's party (B8 ch. 98). Sydnee Iglacia names the old attacks: Control, A Parade of Horribles, This Inevitable Ruin, Bedlam (B8 ch. 99). |
| The quests past the eleventh: the Nine-Tier Attack, and a murder with no answer | B8 ch. 81 | open — The Nine-Tier Attack, part one, is open with seven attacks waiting and a boss who can neither die nor be left behind; Find Out Who Killed My Son is not mentioned again after Emberus dies; Carl means to find the answer anyway, 'something—if I survived this—I would still have to figure out'. Whether the twelfth floor has quests at all, and who sets them now the AI is 'losing control'. |
| Sexy Scolopendra, level 1, in Carl's party | B8 ch. 98 | open — The wrong biscuit: not a pet in a carrier but Crawler #12,953,456, a human-faced centipede with a red bow who boops Carl's nose. Her death or abandonment fires the remaining attacks; she was to be a pet in his inventory that would die if he did, firing the final attacks: a fail-safe against his being killed, and his lever for stalling until everyone was out. |
| The failsafe, and who is trapped in orbit | B6 ch. 49 | resolved · B7 ch. 41 — Disconnected by Carl on Christmas morning (ch. 20); Formidable's crew pressed the button anyway and the Aryl system went dark instead (ch. 41). Formidable was dropped in the ocean (ch. 37). |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 2
Through book 4
Through book 5
The nine-tier attack, Holger says, was everything ever fired at her reflected at once (B5 ch. 16); something in the elf castle protects against it (B5 ch. 28). Her passing turned the female Ursine to dinosaurs and spared the pious (B5 ch. 44); a potion undoes her transmutation, but not for Tina (B5 ch. 57). She dreams on the ballroom dome, a black centipede in a golden geode strangling a white tree — 'when she finally awakens, she will destroy everything and free us all' (B5 ch. 66); soul crystals are the souls filtered through her (B5 ch. 69). A tattoo dragon shatters the mosaic (B5 ch. 75). Prepotente wants the crystal he says protects against her.
Through book 6
Through book 7
Through book 8
Awake and only moving, with a club of tourists and loose gods inside her (B8 ch. 1). Her nine-tier attack begins when the AI loses its temper: a wheel of nine sins, Transformation and Consumption (B8 ch. 81, B8 ch. 95). Carl's first arena pick summons her — level 500, the Dungeon boss, an aircraft carrier coiling up the white tree (B8 ch. 93, B8 ch. 94) — and Carl phases into her guts to reach the club (B8 ch. 95). A pet biscuit in a banger sphere splatters her into goo (B8 ch. 97); the wrong biscuit makes her a level-1 crawler, #12,953,456, Sexy Scolopendra, a human-faced centipede with a red bow: 'Boop' (B8 ch. 98). Sydnee Iglacia: 'this story is a tragedy' (B8 ch. 99).
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 4/26 | Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 17, Ch. 24 · the book's own page |
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 2/35 | Ch. 21, Ch. 33 · the book's own page |
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 16/78 | 5, 10–11, 14, 16, 24, 26, 28, 44, 53, 56–57, 66, 69, 75, 77 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 4/74 | Ch. 32, Ch. 46, Ch. 64, Ch. 73 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 14/89 | 7, 13–14, 20, 37, 42–44, 54, 69, 74, 78, 82, 87 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 14/99 | 1, 4, 28, 69–70, 81–82, 93–99 · the book's own page |
By book
Scolopendra in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
The great monster at the bottom of the volcano (ch. 3), named by Signet as the source of a Nine Tier attack (ch. 8) and by the city elves' theology as the origin of the earthbound's hatred of angels (ch. 17); Miss Quill's Final War is modelled on the cloud (ch. 24). Never seen; every monster on the floor is its aftermath.
Scolopendra in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
Scolopendra in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
The nine-tier attack, Holger says, was everything ever fired at her reflected at once (ch. 16); something in the elf castle protects against it (ch. 28). Her passing turned the female Ursine to dinosaurs and spared the pious (ch. 44); a potion undoes her transmutation, but not for Tina (ch. 57). She dreams on the ballroom dome, a black centipede in a golden geode strangling a white tree — 'when she finally awakens, she will destroy everything and free us all' (ch. 66); soul crystals are the souls filtered through her (ch. 69). A tattoo dragon shatters the mosaic (ch. 75). Prepotente wants the crystal he says protects against her.
Scolopendra in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Grimaldi was turned into a vine by Scolopendra (ch. 32); the AI says the Reminiscence Hydra used to be called a Scolopendra Nymph (ch. 46); Allister's note: some say the Vinegar Bitch is the reason for the nine-tier attack, and dwarves call her the centipede's daughter, or sister, or mother (ch. 64); the skulls of Carl's jacket show a centipede (ch. 72); Prime Minister Glory says over half the galaxy's wealth is trapped in the Scolopendra Club, his own children included (epilogue).
Scolopendra in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Scolopendra in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
Awake and only moving, with a club of tourists and loose gods inside her (ch. 1). Her nine-tier attack begins when the AI loses its temper: a wheel of nine sins, Transformation and Consumption (ch. 81, ch. 95). Carl's first arena pick summons her — level 500, the Dungeon boss, an aircraft carrier coiling up the white tree (ch. 93, ch. 94) — and Carl phases into her guts to reach the club (ch. 95). A pet biscuit in a banger sphere splatters her into goo (ch. 97); the wrong biscuit makes her a level-1 crawler, #12,953,456, Sexy Scolopendra, a human-faced centipede with a red bow: 'Boop' (ch. 98). Sydnee Iglacia: 'this story is a tragedy' (epilogue).