Inside the Beast

Carl phases through Scolopendra's hide with Penny in the carrier and finds himself in an airless chamber inside the boss. The splooge will not let the pig breathe and her constitution of three makes a second potion dangerous, so he pierces her with a confiscated nipple ring for its Oxygenated benefit — an achievement flashes with no title attached. Oozy Form gets them fifty meters through the organs and under a door into Club Scolopendra, where the resort's protections block external deity auras but not the boss's own attacks. Taranis has been summoned outside, bellowing for Penelope; Emberus, summoned inside, appears at human size. In the corridor Carl finds a flayed alien guest, Cerni Pinta, hanging in orange webbing and begging to be killed. Scolopendra's second attack lands mid-conversation: the wheel gives Sin of Consumption, worms burst out of everyone who rolls red, and Pinta thanks the gods as she dies. Mordecai reports that safe rooms are no protection and game guides are immune; out in the arena the mounts are hit and Sweety dies. Carl reaches Emberus, promises to deliver both of his son's killers, spends his second arena summon on Khepri, then renounces his faith on purpose and tells the god he killed Geyrun with his bare hands.

First appearances (4)

• Cerni Pinta (Character) — Non-Player Tourist · a bristle · guest of Club Scolopendra
• Petey Motteux’s Little Secret (Item) — Nipple ring · Oxygenated + Bawdy benefits
• Sin of Consumption (Notification) — The second of Scolopendra's nine attacks
• Nova Client Services, LTD. (Lore) — Medical collections agency · client: the Viceroy system

Browse

• Back to A Parade of Horribles — all chapters