Motif · from book 5

The Guild of Suffering

The cult of the Night Wyrm — a demigod outside the pantheon, 'similar to Samantha' — with outreach centres rather than churches, which keeps memorial crystals and once had a seventh floor given over to raising its god; the elbow tattoo grants access.

First appears: Book 5

Series arc

As of book 6. A sigil on the elbow and a cult with outreach centres in book 5; in book 6 entered through a stripper's tattoo and a purple-shag closet: a contract on skin, a job that fails if spoken, a map for a refusal, Astrid killed in a kitchen, and the client her widower.

Through book 5

A sigil on the elbow that grants access to a cult with outreach centres (B5 ch. 8); a flaming ball of snakes for a temple (B5 ch. 36).

Through book 6

Entered through a stripper's tattoo and a purple-shag closet (B6 ch. 19, B6 ch. 23); a contract on skin, a job that fails if spoken, a map for a refusal (B6 ch. 19, B6 ch. 24); Astrid killed in a kitchen; the client her widower (B6 ch. 32–B6 ch. 34).

Through book 7

Its head runs the club (B7 ch. 10).

Through book 8

Hamed leads it now (B8 ch. 59).

Where they appear

Book	Chapters they are in (of the book's)	Where
5 — The Butcher's Masquerade	2/78	Ch. 8, Ch. 36 · the book's own page
6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride	6/74	Ch. 19, Ch. 22, Ch. 23, Ch. 32, Ch. 33, Ch. 34 · the book's own page
7 — This Inevitable Ruin	1/89	Ch. 10 · the book's own page
8 — A Parade of Horribles	1/99	Ch. 59 · the book's own page

By book

The Guild of Suffering in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade

A sigil on Carl's elbow — the Night Wyrm's Nasty Little Web of Suffering — that grants access to a guild Mordecai calls a cult with outreach centres (ch. 8); a flaming ball of snakes for the Diwata temple (ch. 36).

The Guild of Suffering in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

A stripper's tattoo gives it away; a slip of skin reads itself (ch. 19); a purple-shag closet, a spiderweb door, the Molly Maguires (ch. 23); a map for a refusal (ch. 24); a plan, an IED, a demon and a kill in a kitchen (ch. 31, ch. 32); 'there is always more', and the client is the widower (ch. 33, ch. 34).

The Guild of Suffering in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin

Its leader is Hamed — the Night Wyrm's real name — husband of the late Astrid and father of the strippers Damascus Steel and Anaconda, who are supposedly somewhere in the Desperado Club hunting their own father; he runs the club now (ch. 10).

The Guild of Suffering in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles

Hamed leads it now: the late Astrid's husband, who took over the Desperado Club after Katia and Carl killed her, and whose business Carl has no time to let kick off (ch. 59).