The Beautiful Place

In Houston’s surgical theater Carl watches the Architect fuse himself to the flayed changeling Namico chasing a discovery he calls the Beautiful Place, and as Li Jun sacrifices himself to buy Donut time, Carl phases out through the firetrap, killing Houston and losing Burcu, defeating the Madness and triggering the Peeling Phase, in which Agatha’s War Mage Rebellion seizes Team Retribution’s throne. Interwoven flashbacks from days earlier show Carl trapped in Katia’s dream of the dying child Annie, and Rosetta’s account of Porthus, the Apothecary, and her long road of revenge against the orc Rust.

First appearances (5)

• The Grease Monkey (Item) — viceroy portable surgical automaton
• Containment Breach Trap Mark IV (Item) — sheol-fire trap with a dead man's switch
• Selvi & Tuba (Character) — conscripted crawlers freed by carl
• Fall of the Madness (Event) — houston dies · the madness defeated
• The Peeling Phase (Notification) — final free-for-all of faction wars

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