Motif · from book 6
The Scavenger's Daughter
A back patch, a person the war mages took from a castle, and a myth: the child of the Scavenger — Scolopendra, or a son who cleans up souls in the empty plane — with Apito's power to erase the pantheon and start again, who can take the powers of gods for herself. Sewn on Carl's jacket she opens her eyes for gods, is fed by kills, and grants each god's effect; by the end of book 8 the AI that put her together no longer knows what she is doing, and Samantha says she was tricked into bearing a monster.
First appears: Book 6 · Seen for what it is: Book 8
Series arc
In hindsight, after book 8
For two books the Scavenger's Daughter is a patch on Carl's jacket: out of a celestial box on the eighth floor (B6 ch. 3), opening her eyes when a god is near (B6 ch. 16), fed on kills for the Daughter's Kiss (B6 ch. 7), and a voice at the floor's end that needs Carl 'reasonably sane' (B6 ch. 72). Book 7 says she is also a person — a war mage's 'We wished to find the Scavenger’s daughter, who was hidden within the castle, and we found her' (B7 ch. 78) — and Mordecai asks whether Carl means 'the in-dungeon one or the fairy tale' (B7 ch. 78). Book 8 tells the fairy tale: Nekhebit, the Scavenger Mother of Mothers whose name was on Katia's crossbow in book 3 (B3 ch. 24), had three children — Apito, a centipede and a son — and in the myth's versions the Scavenger's Daughter is the daughter of whichever of them is the Scavenger, with Apito's power to erase the pantheon, who can take the powers of gods for herself (B8 ch. 69); Akuma calls her and her father crucial (B8 ch. 38); the AI admits it put the whole thing together and no longer knows what she is doing (B8 ch. 67); and Samantha, in the epilogue, says she was tricked into bearing 'A MONSTER THAT WILL DESTROY ALL OF CREATION' (B8 ch. 99). The patch, the person and the myth are one thread, and Carl's first guess — that the person is Samantha's daughter (B7 ch. 83) — is the one the epilogue leaves standing.
As of book 8. A divine back patch from a celestial box in book 6, a person the war mages say they took in book 7; in book 8 both, and a myth. The patch opens its eyes for every god in range and hands out their effects — Khepri's ninety seconds of immortality is the hinge of Carl's plan — blinks at Lucia without knowing what it sees, and weeps when the gods leave. Rosetta's myth makes her an entity with Apito's power to erase the pantheon; Akuma says 'She’s crucial, as is her father'; the AI admits it built her and no longer knows what she is doing; and Samantha names what she bore: a monster that will destroy all of creation.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Scavenger's Daughter: an undischarged bar and a voice | B6 ch. 72 | open · B8 ch. 98 — The Scavenger's Daughter patch opens for Eris, Grull, Taranis, Emberus and Khepri and grants their effects; it blinks at Lucia 'for she does not know what she sees' (ch. 51); 'has closed her eyes' and 'she weeps'. |
| The War Mage Rebellion, and the Scavenger's daughter it took | B7 ch. 61 | open · B8 ch. 38 — Akuma's account: five mages left, the Cabaret their oasis, the crawlers their third choice, the Scavenger's Daughter 'crucial, as is her father'; he wanted two teams dead so that the heats would pit Carl against a team of his friends and leave him no choice but to help. |
| 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). |
| Eris's coin: four fates and a fifth side on Carl's palm | B8 ch. 35 | open — Four faces, one of which must come true before the Ascendent is chosen: Donut dead; Carl de-feeted; most of his friends dead; Carl hanging by a foot in a ring of player-killer skulls. Carl catches the coin and has picked its fifth side, a swirl on his palm that itches near gods; 'We have until the end of the twelfth to figure out how the fifth side lands' (B8 ch. 97). |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 6
Through book 7
Through book 8
'It was all connected somehow' (B8 ch. 24). The patch opens for Eris and makes Imani's card permanent (B8 ch. 35, B8 ch. 36); it is 'fed' at the skull of Tem (B8 ch. 32); Akuma: 'She’s crucial, as is her father' (B8 ch. 38). It blinks at Lucia and does not know what it sees, and itches near gods (B8 ch. 51, B8 ch. 53, B8 ch. 55). Rosetta's myth makes her an entity with Apito's power to erase the pantheon, and more — she can take gods' powers (B8 ch. 69); the AI admits it built her and no longer knows what she is doing (B8 ch. 67). She opens for Grull, Taranis, Emberus and Eris and grants their effects (B8 ch. 66, B8 ch. 95, B8 ch. 97); 'has closed her eyes' and 'she weeps' (B8 ch. 98). Samantha names what she bore: a monster that will destroy all of creation (B8 ch. 99).
Trace
The thread line by line, in reading order: its presence before anyone could see it, and the lines that made it legible. Each line is verbatim from the cited book.
| Where | The line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Book 3, Ch. 24 | » Enchanted Repeating Crossbow of the Scavenger Mother of Mothers | Katia's crossbow, named for a goddess nobody has mentioned; book 8's myth makes the Scavenger Mother of Mothers Nekhebit, Apito's mother. |
| Book 6, Ch. 3 | The Scavenger’s Daughter patch glowed for a moment, indicating it had been properly installed. | A divine back patch from a celestial box, charged with soul essence; the name reads as a label. |
| Book 6, Ch. 7 | The Scavenger’s Daughter has been fed. Unleash her wrath. | Fed on kills for the first time: the Daughter's Kiss. |
| Book 6, Ch. 16 | You are in the presence of a deity. The Scavenger’s Daughter has opened her eyes. She fills with power. | The patch has eyes and a gender; the system treats her as a person. |
| Book 6, Ch. 18 | Katia, and the origins of her crossbow. Princess Donut, and the origins of her oak bracelet. Both are paths to solving this mystery […] neither path can be explored without that memorial crystal. | Emberus's cleric ties the crossbow of the Scavenger Mother of Mothers to the murder of Geyrun. |
| Book 6, Ch. 72 | You did not diffuse your soul power from the Scavenger’s Daughter. That was a mistake. […] I need you alive, Carl. I need you reasonably sane. We have so much work to do. | A voice in Carl's head that knows the patch and needs him sane. |
| Book 7, Ch. 78 | We wished to find the Scavenger’s daughter, who was hidden within the castle, and we found her. She is with us now. | Akuma: the Scavenger's daughter is a person the war mages came for, not a patch. |
| Book 7, Ch. 78 | Are you talking about the in-dungeon one or the fairy tale? | Mordecai will not answer; there are two. |
| Book 7, Ch. 83 | They’d found and taken the Scavenger’s Daughter. Could that possibly be Samantha’s daughter? And if so, did that mean Samantha was really the scavenger? | Carl's first guess. |
| Book 8, Ch. 24 | It was all connected somehow, and I had no idea what the fuck any of it meant. | Akuma's note sends Carl back to Samantha's daughter and the Scavenger. |
| Book 8, Ch. 38 | She’s crucial, as is her father, but for now we need a way to get ourselves back to the Cabaret. | Akuma: the Daughter and her father are the Cabaret's way out. |
| Book 8, Ch. 67 | I have no damn clue about anything that’s going on with that whole Scavenger’s Daughter thing. I mean, I did. I’m the one who put all that together. | The AI built the thread and has lost it. |
| Book 8, Ch. 69 | the Scavenger’s Daughter, is considered one with the same power that Apito had. An entity that has the power to erase the current pantheon and start again. […] She can take the powers of gods and use them for herself. | Rosetta's myth: what the name means. |
| Book 8, Ch. 99 | HE TRICKED ME INTO GIVING BIRTH TO A MONSTER THAT WILL DESTROY ALL OF CREATION BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE DUNGEON. | Samantha on her daughter, in the epilogue. |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 14/74 | 3, 7, 14, 16–17, 22, 27, 39, 42, 58, 66, 69–70, 72 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 25/89 | 1, 4, 17, 20–21, 24–25, 31, 40, 52, 54, 56, 59, 61, 63–64, 69–70, 72–73, 76–78, 83, 86 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 14/99 | 32, 35–38, 51, 53, 66–67, 69–70, 95, 97–98 · the book's own page |
By book
The Scavenger's Daughter in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Won from the celestial predator box, to store soul essence (ch. 3); eyes open for Ogun (ch. 16); a pure bar of one species doubles the Kiss (ch. 27); an itch at nearly full (ch. 39); a hole kicked in the world (ch. 42); dark power for a demon prince (ch. 58); undischarged at the end, and a voice: a centipede in the skulls (ch. 72).
The Scavenger's Daughter in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Soul Poisoning from souls left uncollected across a floor (ch. 1); Daughter's Kiss on a concierge shark, a saccathian in a crater, and a worn mage (ch. 1, ch. 24, ch. 31); Post Nut Clarity (ch. 25). Her eyes open for Khepri and hand out a buff or debuff for every god that pours from the portal (ch. 52, ch. 54); she blinks at the crystal's light and does not know what she sees (ch. 64); she looks away from Yarilo's death and from Meatus's (ch. 73, ch. 77); Pied Piper is permanent by Eris's wheel (ch. 76). Then Akuma says she is a person, hidden in the castle, 'with us now'; Mordecai asks whether Carl means the in-dungeon one or the fairy tale; and Carl wonders whether Samantha is the scavenger (ch. 78, ch. 83).
The Scavenger's Daughter in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
'It was all connected somehow' (ch. 24). The patch opens for Eris and makes Imani's card permanent (ch. 35, ch. 36); it is 'fed' at the skull of Tem (ch. 32); Akuma: 'She’s crucial, as is her father' (ch. 38). It blinks at Lucia and does not know what it sees, and itches near gods (ch. 51, ch. 53, ch. 55). Rosetta's myth makes her an entity with Apito's power to erase the pantheon, and more — she can take gods' powers (ch. 69); the AI admits it built her and no longer knows what she is doing (ch. 67). She opens for Grull, Taranis, Emberus and Eris and grants their effects (ch. 66, ch. 95, ch. 97); 'has closed her eyes' and 'she weeps' (ch. 98). Samantha names what she bore: a monster that will destroy all of creation (epilogue).