Chapter 49

Carl learns from his companions about the mechanics of deity worship and how believers form spiritual connections to gods through Bijou fairies. Using this knowledge and Edgar's ability to sense movement, they theorize that Vinata escaped the stronghold by worshiping a light goddess. After eliminating other possibilities, they conclude Vinata must have chosen the god Khepri, whose strange ritual involves swallowing beetles and birthing them in his temple—a perfect hiding place during Faction Wars. Carl's team prepares to break into Club Vanquisher's Temple of Khepri to kill Vinata and her guards.

Carl explains the mechanics of deity worship, detailing how invisible light tendrils connect new adherents to gods through temples, facilitated by tiny Bijou fairies. He notes that Edgar, an NPC companion with level-15 Sense Movement, can detect when someone worships a deity for the first time. Rosetta theorizes that Vinata escaped the stronghold using a light god's Travel the Path spell combined with Welcome Home, allowing her to follow the bijou's tendril directly to Club Vanquisher's temple. Of fifteen light deities, only six offer this combination, and only four include Welcome Home. This raises a puzzle: how did all seven of Vinata's party (the sultana and six guards) reach the temple if only one worshiped the god? The answer lies in certain gods' church quests requiring recruitment of new worshipers through a Prospect Congregation system. Rosetta identifies two candidates: Theia and Khepri, both light gods with recruitment mechanics. Theia turns prospects into light motes the worshiper carries; Khepri turns them into beetles the female worshiper must swallow, then gives birth to in his temple's infinite buffet room. Normally, Vinata would use Theia, but the Pacifist network has sponsored her this season (to aid Carl, unaware of her connection to the Blood Sultanate). With Theia unavailable, Vinata must use Khepri instead. Within three to four minutes, Vinata and her guards will transfer to Khepri's temple, and Carl's team—Katia, Pony, Samantha, and Carl—will break into Club Vanquisher to kill them all.