Five-Sided Coin

A metal coin the size of a poker chip that Eris spits into her own hand, blank at first but for her laughing face and a swirl. Turned, it reveals four fates, one of which must land before the Ascendent is chosen: Donut dead, Carl's feet taken, most of his friends dead, or Carl strung up by one foot and grinning under a rim of player-killer skulls. She has her robot pet throw it so nobody can accuse her of weighting the toss; Carl grabs it out of the air instead and holds on while it burns him. Eris calls that the fifth side, which she defines as any, all or none of the other four, and the coin dissolves into a slowly turning swirl tattooed across his palm.

Book 8 appearances

• Chapter 35 — Even Dr. Metcalf cannot read the swirl the coin leaves behind, and says as much.
• Chapter 36 — Carl shows the swirl to the group and cannot work out whether grabbing the coin improved his odds or ruined them.
• Chapter 97 — Eris leaves two riddles on her way out: every exit is an entrance, and do not forget about the coin — they have until the end of the twelfth to work out how the fifth side lands.

Related entries

• Eris (Creature)
• Carl (Character)
• Princess Donut (Character)
• Robot Uzi Jesus (Creature)
• Eris's Offer (Event)
• Dr. Metcalf (Character)

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