Chapter 23

Carl visits Club Vanquisher to find a healer for slugpox, encountering the ram-headed cleric Potsy at the entrance and then Pater Coal, the High Cleric Supreme of Emberus. After a bizarre foot-washing ritual in the secret Temple of the Ending Sun, Pater Coal—revealed to be controlled by the AI itself—conveys a cryptic quest from Emberus about investigating a memorial crystal connected to the goddess Apito, hinting that Katia's crossbow and Donut's oak bracelet hold keys to the mystery. Carl returns to the saferoom cured but banned for three days, where the group prepares to discuss something serious with Donut.

Carl enters Club Vanquisher to seek healing for slugpox, which manifests as parasitic slugs bursting from his body. At the vestibule, the ram-headed cleric Potsy nearly refuses him entry until Pater Coal, a small Hobbledehoy high cleric of Emberus, intervenes and escorts him inside. Pater Coal takes Carl through the club's upper levels, mentioning the strict access rules for non-members, and brings him to the secret Temple of the Ending Sun—a fiery, roofless temple filled with prostrate worshippers. There, Pater Coal performs a ritualistic foot-washing in boiling water while revealing himself to be operated by the AI itself. Through this sacrament, Pater Coal conveys Emberus's message: another memorial crystal exists for the goddess Apito, which should be impossible since she is still alive. The quest requires Carl to investigate this mystery, with hints that Katia's crossbow and Donut's oak bracelet—items the group already possesses—are crucial to solving it. Carl receives the Martyr's Path boon and is cured of slugpox for 10,000 gold before being banned from Club Vanquisher for three days due to breaking an unspecified rule. Upon returning to the saferoom, Carl reports these events to Donut, Katia, Mordecai, and Bautista while deliberately omitting details about Donut's oak bracelet originating from one of Bautista's deceased family members. The chapter ends with Katia about to tell Donut something serious whose ending "isn't set in stone yet."