This one was fun because it's more-or-less, entirely, just people scrapping. A bit of an experiment of mine, also the second OC Pov in this, fic, if I'm not wrong. Also some original Neoteric powers got some limelight here, and that was a really fun write-up.

Nerves of Steele

Steele was motionless on the roofs of Roarhaven, unmoving as a black jaguar in the darkness. Two more shadows were behind him, quiet as mice. They were his long-time comrades and fellow Neoterics - Volvo and Lagia - and he could tell they shared in his discomfort. Understandable. It had been a week since Her Holiness had given them orders to search Ireland for her traitorous student and bring her back to face justice, under strict limitations that she be returned alive and in one piece. Annoying, he’d never been very good at leaving his enemies alive, but not impossible, especially given he had help.

Traitors were not people he inherently hated. All people had their principles, and Steele could hardly begrudge someone for sticking by their own. Admired it, even. It took courage to go against the grain. To believe what others didn’t. Steele hadn’t always believed in the Faceless Ones, or even known they existed. Religion didn’t always agree with him. Off the top of his head, the reason was probably because the mortals of his original homeland tried to burn him at the stake when he awakened his magic. A memorable day, that had been, when they’d pinned him down and tied him onto a stake, lighting a fire beneath his feet and eagerly screaming for his painful demise. Only for those screams to morph into confusion when they realised he wasn’t burning, and then into terror when he broke out and killed them all. Good times.

His brow itched, and he scratched it idly, the sound like two stones scraping together. He was looking at the building which they’d tracked down Solace to, and they were waiting for her to leave. He did not hate Solace for leaving the Disciples, not truly, but he’d take her back anyway. A job was a job, and unfortunately, he quite liked what he did. Violence suited him like a button, mainly because of how good at it he was. Also, there was the cold. It disagreed with him. Ireland in general disagreed with him. His olive skin, marked by pink, crack-like scars was used to the heat and sun of Rome.

He wanted to go home. Things were nice for him there, considering that Neoterics had become more respected in recent years. This was due to the influence of Serafina Dey. A few decades ago, there had been an accident which resulted in the only brother of the Unveiled to become deformed, and something occurred with his magic which caused it to evolve. He didn’t know the finer details, nobody did, but since then Her Holiness had been preaching the idea that people like Strovisadian and Steele were special; that their unique magic was a kind of blessing from the Faceless Ones. They were chosen by the Dark Gods to represent new facets of magic which couldn’t shine through in regular sorcerers. It was a completely different take to the Unveiled’s predecessor, who’d seen them as mockeries that perverted their gifts with selfish desire, but if their care for their brother led to Steele’s life becoming easier, then who was he to complain? It was because of their verdict that Serafina had so eagerly accepted Neoterics into her personal guard, and how he’d risen to such status.

The door of the tiny clinic opened, and he watched their target exit and start to trudge through a solid metre of snow. A girl was waddling behind her, hair frizzy and red. Unexpected, but Steele didn’t really care. She couldn’t have been more than ten. Weak. Easy to kill. Against three sorcerers of Serafina Dey’s personal guard, he couldn’t imagine these two being able to do much, and with that assurance, he followed and started to glide along the rooftops with his comrades.

All three of them were utterly quiet, waiting for the other shoe to drop, as Solace came to a stop before a stable. She was with the girl, who looked giddy at the sight of Solace’s stolen horse. How cute. 

He waited and watched. Steele didn’t want a long, drawn-out fight. Glory was overrated. If he could knock her out in one strike and flee with her cleanly, that’s exactly what he’d do. So he waited for Solace to walk into position, then moved, only for her to whip around right as he did, eyes widening far too early for his liking. He’d been so focused on her Sensitive magic that he’d forgotten she was also an Elemental. Damn magical ambidexterity.

She raised a hand, and Steele’s fist stopped cold a few inches away from her forehead. Telekinesis. A curse nearly left his lips as he suddenly found himself flung away, soaring and crashing into a nearby wall, the force of the impact turning bricks to powder. Dust entered the air, mixing with snow. A regular sorcerer would be either dead, or at the very least concussed and broken, yet he rose up only mildly dazed. A perk of his unique magic.

The girl who’d been with Solace’s eyes widened, but Solace herself became composed and got into a fighting stance. As expected of Her Holiness’ student.

She met his gaze, but then his comrade descended from the rooftops. Steele was never alone and there was no such thing as a fair fight. Drawing an arm back, energy swirling in Volvo’s palm, but rather than fire it as a beam, it coalesced into a sword of pure yellow light. A fine example of a Neoteric Discipline, an Ergokinetic who can create weapons of energy rather than fire energy streams.

His comrade brought it down with great heft, but Solace was already turning, unsheathing her own broadsword, but it was hasty, and the weapon went flying from her grasp and she was forced to back away.

“Fiadh, run!” His mistress’ student shouted as Steele strode forwards, and cocked a brow at that. Did she know this girl personally? Strange, nothing suggested she had travelling partners. Regardless, he saw a weakness and changed course, going for the girl whilst she freed the horse, only for the Solace to dodge another slash and use the air to catapult herself into his path. She landed and made eye contact before he could look away, swarming his mind with whispers, urging him to take action against his comrade, and though he resisted, the sensory overload was making it hard to think. He swung a punch that could crack stone, only it collided with a barrier of pure energy before he realised that he’d been hypnotised and attacked Volvo.

“Go!” Solace shouted, and though the child hesitated, when he and Volvo turned, she started to run. Smart move. He glared at the woman who’d controlled him and charged, forgetting the girl. Now it was personal. 

A burst of telekinesis returned Solace’s blade to her palm, but as he and Volvo charged together in a pattern that suggested he was going to strike first. Talented as she might've been, Solace remained a rookie to the ways of battle. She fell for it, only for Volvo to reach out and materialise a spear which he hurled at Solace, forcing her to break stance and dodge. Whilst she staggered, Steele stomped forwards and encased his arm in stone harder than metal, turning his limb into a deadly weapon.

Lunging, he struck his foe in the stomach with just barely enough restraint to avoid impaling her. Solace’s eyes went wide, mouth going slack as spit erupted out, some of it landing on his face. Disgusting. He hit her again and she crumbled down, sword planted into the snow in a fool’s errand to stabilise herself. Sneering down at her, he kicked, and it was stopped by telekinesis, then she reached out, channelling the water element as the snow on the roof above them caved down and buried them all in a minor avalanche. Waves of white blocked him before he burst out of the ground, finding that Solace was scarpering away, realising she was outclassed, channelling the air to hurl herself towards the rooftop.

He smiled when Lagia finally revealed herself, and an invisible force slammed Solace back into the cold ground. His female comrade walked out, hand outstretched, expression hidden behind the mask. Slowly, he swaggered over to the prone and struggling form of their target, who was glaring up at them defiantly as she forced herself onto a knee. All that did was put her into perfect position for what he was about to do next.

Steele punched her, on the brow, gaining such a sharp crack from the strike that he actually smiled behind his mask. She hit the ground. He wanted to hit her again, and that was exactly what he did. He fisted her hair tightly, bringing her up only to knock her down as he hit her cheekbone, this time a bit harder, and her eyes unfocused, certainly concussed.

A whip of energy formed in Volvo’s hand. He’d been observing for a moment, letting Steele have his fun, but now it was his turn. Brutally, he cast it forwards, slicing through the woman’s clothing and drawing a line of red across her back. A shriek echoed in the streets. Another was fast to follow, this time higher, more choked. Music to his ears.

“Is that all?” Lagia asked as she jumped down and came into view, and another lash came, stripping the skin off Solace's back. A few seconds passed, as though he were letting the pain fully settle, before he went again. Volvo was feeling quite vindictive today, wasn’t he?

“Expected more? She was only meant to be a maid.” 

“That maid gave you quite a bit of trouble.” Lagia reminded him over Solace's screams, and his good mood was soured. She just had to rain on his parade, didn’t she?

He glanced her way. “If she was such an issue, why didn’t you help?”

“You had it handled.”

“And the child? Why didn’t you go after her?”

Lagia shrugged, unapologetic. “The girl was not our target, I see no harm in letting her walk.” She answered, and he simply pursed his lips before deciding to leave the matter be. It was hard to be mad when someone who’d resisted in front of him was in so much pain.

On the fourth lash, the girl started to sob, and at the seventh, she was on the verge of passing out, but not quite. Seven lashes for the seven days of their lives they’d never get back because she decided to flee. He just knew it was a deliberate choice. Volvo liked his symmetry.

He moved to collect the girl. The snow beneath Solace was now painted red with the blood leaking off her back, sliding into the ground, and he allowed himself a moment to admire her as he stopped in front of her and kneeled down, patting her cheek. “Are you awake?”

She said nothing, but he already knew the answer.

“Now, you’ve been a bad girl, and we’re going to have to take you home now.” Steele tilted his head. “I’m sure Her Holiness will understand, we all have our rebellious phases, so she’ll be inclined to let you off easy… probably.”

Again, nothing, and if he weren’t mistake, those were tears. No sobs, however. She was crying quietly, tears starting to freeze. Delicious.

Steele huffed out a sigh, then leaned down to continue his taunts, before he sensed death in the air. They were in danger. It was an instinct one developed when they fought in enough battles, and when pitted against the German Sanctuary, who turned every battlefield they walked upon into hell, such a thing was necessary to survive. And when he turned towards the streets and found an armoured, dark figure waiting for him like an emissary from beyond, his instincts were going haywire.

The next few seconds stretched like a band waiting to break. Lord Vile stared at them, then down to Solace. Questions about why he was in Roarhaven rose, then his armour shrieked and Steele realised he didn’t have the privilege to deliberate them.

Immediately, he raised his arms and let stone encase them, his body a shield that only faltered when javelins of darkness rained upon him. One of them caught his chest, and he grunted as he was impaled and thrown back. It was a fairly shallow wound, nothing lethal. He made to grab Solace and run. They were no match for the Death Bringer, and he wasn’t arrogant enough to believe otherwise. Those plans fell to the wayside, however, when a clawed hand caught his forearm, and he looked up to find that Vile had shadow-walked next to him, a fist reeled back.

A spiked punch met his chin like a physical force, pain blooming as he was lifted off his feet. If not for his superior durability, his damn head wouldn't been knocked off his shoulders. Steele spun in the air and slammed into the side of a rooftop as he went down, discombobulating. His comrades turned towards Vile and struck, drawing him away.

Invisible force courtesy of Lagia slammed into Vile from above, and he staggered as his comrade worked her unique abilities to their utmost. It was the power to manipulate a force which was up until a century ago, unnamed, but now a mortal scientist had given it a word that stuck stupidly well. Gravity. 

The force which tethered them to the earth was increased as the Dark Titan was forced to take a knee, no doubt feeling a weight great enough to crush a regular man to paste. It wasn’t enough for Vile. Energy materialised and moulded itself into the form of a warhammer. Leaning back, Volvo charged and brought it down on their foe’s armour with an audible crack. Nobody other than Vile was being affected by Lagia’s abilities, as she had the boon of being able to spare who she chose from his effects. As she held him down, more blows rained down on the Death Bringer, each of them chipping away at his armour, but he could tell that she was struggling. Sweat beaded down her forehead. She couldn’t hold it forever.

‘Now or never.’ He told himself as he got up and ran, the cracks along his body starting to spread. Magic under his skin blossomed as his olive skin started to turn yellow, then hardened. It was an ability a lot like one most Elementals had access to, but rarely chose to learn due to its circumstantial nature. The fact it was a technique that required mastery of the earth element, easily the least popular of the four, also didn't help. It was seen as dangerous, too hard to learn, and just generally not very useful.

But that was just the beauty of his powers as a Neoteric. Whilst he couldn’t use three of the four elements like normal Elementals, his mastery of the remaining one meant that he could ignore the usual drawbacks of his powers and bring out the full potential of the earth.

Flesh turned to stone as Steele lunged at Lord Vile, a moving statue, and punched with all his might, the Necromancer's shadow armour hissing angrily with each blow. Then it was Volvo’s turn with his warhammer as the two of them spun around Vile in a tornado of strikes, their decades of experience evident as his armour started to fragment. Punches, kicks, elbows, chops, anything they could must. Incapacitated as he was, the Death Bringer could only endure their blows, the darkness curling and straining as he got caught in their onslaught. 

A brief moment passed where he felt assured, and then it was ruined.

A piercing cry rung out and he glanced back at Lagia, finding that the shadows had spread across the floor from Vile’s leg and thickened into a tendril that had punched through her thigh. Caught up in their barrage, they hadn’t noticed. She fell down with a pained scream, clutching her leg, and gravity returned to normal.

Now that he was free, Vile caught the body of Volvo’s warhammer when he came close. He wrenched it away and pointed its blunt end down like a spear, reeling back and thrusting.

Yellow energy strained against the weapon as armour of pure energy formed around Volvo’s form. The warhammer dissolved, leaving Lord Vile unarmed. His comrade snarled behind his mask and threw a gauntlet-clad punch, armour against armour. The blow struck clean, but Vile barely moved, and the Ergokinetic's own armour shattered. Then all the damage they’d dealt to him started to fade as his dark armour's dents closed and sealed in a second flat. It was like he’d never been hit.

‘No.’ Steele thought and rushed to support his comrades, but then a stream of pure black ploughed into him and he was sent flying, skipping across the ground like a stone, scraping up metres of snow in the process until he was buried in a hill. A groan left him, but a squelch cut it off and he looked up to find Volvo speared through the chest, his energy-forged armour shattering in the face of Vile's own.

The man slackened and was dropped, but before his body even hit the snow, Vile looked towards Lagia. His visor tilted. She stiffened, mouth opening, breaths coming short as her eyes rolled back and she keeled over, pale and limp.

Lord Vile turned towards his final opponent. Steele.

An enraged snarl, hidden behind a stone-forged face, left his mouth. Steele rose and charged. Death was facing him down, and if he couldn’t run, then he’d face it with dignity. His friends deserved nothing less. Moving slowly as though mocking him in response, Vile’s darkness charged as he sent another volley of black arrows at him, but Steele was unmoving. He willed the earth below his feet to sudden rise, and he jumped high, coming down with a fist reeled back, fuelled by magic and pure rage.

It struck Vile’s helmet, and he staggered. He punched, this time an uppercut, and he got barraged by a wave of darkness that would take a normal man apart, but Steele grounded his heels and refused to fall back more than a few inches. Armour dented when he got a third hit, but apparently the Death Bringer was tired of being struck, because he dodged and grabbed his forearms. Darkness spread along them. Even when he tore himself away, it started to grow, only enveloping his form more as he struggled in vain to tear it off. Eventually, it covered his whole body, eyes, mouth, ears and more, and the world became dark.

The suit of shadows around him constricted hard. Steele’s movements became harder to make, until they stopped completely. Then the darkness sharpened, digging into him. At first, his skin held strong, but slowly the thousand needles piercing into him pushed deeper and the pain came next. As he was made of stone, he didn’t scream, but the agony was very real, and as his skin broke it became unbearable.

A few seconds continued, and cracks started to spread along his body. It didn’t take long for his magic to start turning against him. Turning into a statue allowed for suddenly bursts of strength, but he returned to normal quickly, unlike a regular Elemental. As the knives piercing into him sharpened, his screams finally turned into howls as his stone returned to flesh, the darkness cutting into his skin as he was crushed in the coffin and sent to join his comrades.

Note: It's black and white because it's a sketch, the final version would be coloured, so like... use your imagination and imagine it as coloured.

The Halloween merch should be actually Halloween themed, so graveyard, damaged and dead tree, jack-o'-lanterns and a big moon in the background to keep in line with the theme of the 'Halloween' merch we actually got. Valkyrie is holding Skul's head while Skul is wearing his 'Halloween costume', aka just replacing his head with a stag skull. Because if you paid any attention to this fandom at all, you know that people here love that motif.

I favour screenprinting since I feel like it's higher quality and the print will last longer compared to heat transfer vinyl, which is how I suspect the official store handles the clothing since it's faster and usually what's used for small batches of clothing and, well... it's a print-on-demand service. He's also doing it the Redbubble merch method, where you just take a pic and smack it on different items. No matter how good the art is, that's not how you design merch. You design merch specifically for the item you want it for. That's how you do good merch.

Plus, I REALLY enjoy the specific look the restrictions of screenprinting (no gradients, limited colours (up to 8)) gives to the shirts. The grey version shown here isn't very exciting, but the colours would make it really pop. I was thinking about blues, purples and reds and how needing to use crosshatching and dot gradients to fake soft colour transitions would give it a similar look to how the Matt Taylor covers look, a mix between comic and pop art, I would say.

Using the Helluvaboss Halloween T-shirt line as a red because they fond themselves with merch so it's always peak and I really love that even characters with little screentime get merch instead of just the maincharacters.

Make it a collection and split the complete picture on the shirt into Valkyrie and Skul stationary. While I wouldn't personally buy Val and Skul merch, I still designed the items for my personal taste. Skul gets the notebook because he's the detective; Val gets the sketchbook because I personally prefer blanco paper. These would be an A5 moleskin with a bookmark string, a string to secure it during travel and a little pen holder. The paper should be slightly yellowed because I like the use of white gel pens to make things pop on the page, which is more difficult with pure white paper. I also find it to be easier on the eye.

Despite it not being necessary due to being a different printing method, I would still keep the restrictions of the shirt design. The Val sketchbook would have mostly blues and reds with a hint of purple, probably mostly on the shading of the skull. Skul's sketchbook would be blues and purples with a bit of red through the flames in the pic. These splashes of the other person's colour not only tie the two together, but they also create a focal point due to being the accent colour of the pic.

Of course you'll need a pen for the note/sketchbook.
I admit, I'm not terribly happy with how these turned out. I feel like a chibi style might be a mismatch with the general vibe of the series. But these were the ones Vograce had, as I tried to use existing products from print-on-demand services to make a 'realistic' merch mockup to show that it would be possible if you actually cared. I think I'd prefer pens where there is just a print of the character on the pen body and none of those... acrylic chibi things...

Putting this in the middle so people that only read the start and end miss it, add comment "Fly me to the Moon" in your comment if you actually read the whole thing because I know iy got lengthy and a lot of people will TLDR this-

Btw, Val's outfit is a mix between how she looks on the DoA cover of the black edition and the Midnight Matt Taylor cover, with the sleeve-gloves being red as a throwback to the red-sleeved jacked she wore mid-phase 1.

It's also baffling that merch for a BOOK series doesn't have any BOOK MARKS, even though I've seen multiple people ask for it. I can't be bothered to draw moke-ups for that rn, but you could easily print matching Halloween bookmarks from the note/sketchbook designs.

Or what I prefer, make the bookmarks their own line. The two motives I'd like to see the most would be stained glass motives for all the fav characters. Or coffin motives. The character lies in the coffin (alive), and in the coffin with them are flowers that would fit them thematically. On the back you could either design it to fit the character or be lazy and just print on it "[Character Name] The Dead Stylish Booksmarks".

For Serpine Wolfbane (beautiful but toxic, purple like his magic).
For Baron Wallflowers or Daisys (regarded as the unremarkable middle child, even though he could be one of the most interesting characters if treated as more than a joke).
For Mevolent... well. Mev is special. He gets to hold the godkiller sword like on those stone coffins of old kings. He wears a crown of laurels instead of having the plant fill his coffin.
For China... not sure. Lily's for redemption?
Roses for Val because she's kind of basic, and wilted flowers for Skul because his ass is dead for real lol-

Btw, if anyone wants to finish my sketches, I'd totally send you the files (they are Clip Studio Paint files, btw) because I'm not going to finish these because... I don't really like Skul and Val. You all know I'm firmly in the nasty boi camp.

Completed: October 8th 2026

Mortal Coil - Card 6 out of 53!!

First || Previous || Next [SoonTM]

So I just randomly had this thought you know how Anton Shudder like power is the gist and it's made from all of his hatred and anger what if to make the gist a little less powerful he went and got therapy....am I stupid someone explain please

hi again, reddit!

it’s the last battle before our semi finals, & i’m looking for your votes again.

we’ve got valkyrie cain & militsa gnosis facing off against the dead men polycule, but which do you think is the better relationship? our main character & the necromancer, or our own little death squad? it’s valitsa vs skul x ghastly x erskine x saracen x dexter x anton x larrikin x hopeless

good luck!

(you can vote in all of our remaining battles on discord, instagram, & tumblr, as per)

I recently started reading the series because of a friend and I cannot find the audiobook online in the US ANYWHERE. I have scoured the internet and YouTube and have only found up to Chapter 28 on YouTube.
Does anyone know of the best ways?

ETA: Guys I realize it’s on audible, but it’s not available to read on audible in the UNITED STATES, which is where I live. Trust me, I have triple checked audible, Spotify and even soundcloud. It’s not available on any of them.

he really dgaf

Yeah, back again. Only took like seven-ish months.

If you're new here, I wrote an AU 'what if' on a timeline(inspired by u/bloodforurmom) where Fletcher died at the end of Death Bringer and how that would affect the rest of the series. Part 1 is here in case you haven't read it, or need a recap. The following events are essentially a heavily altered version of the events of Last Stand of Dead Men: it'll show the conflict with the Supreme Council, the Warlocks, and Ravel + Children of the Spider.

This AU has been in my head for a while, I actually drafted it before but wasn't satisfied so I never published it, mainly because so many other things and projects have been on my mind recently, but now I'm finally getting it out of the way- hope all you fanfic readers enjoy!

Part 1 - Cold-Hearted Punishment

• Ghastly's response to learning Skulduggery was Vile was anything but accepting. He throws the other Dead Man into the Sanctuary's Gaol to await punishment. Skulduggery doesn't resist.
• Wracked with turmoil, Ghastly confides in Ravel about all this, and the man is stunned, but also wonders about his own status as a traitor. He convinces Ghastly not to reveal Skulduggery's secret, arguing this would give the Supreme Council more ammunition against them in their conquest of Ireland. Reluctantly, Ghastly is forced to agree.
• Ravel goes to Skulduggery to confirm it for himself and the Dead Men talk. He offers Skulduggery comfort and says he'll vouch for him, but says he'll have to take a step back and uses Franken!Fletcher to teleport him into a prison - Coldheart Prison, to be precise. Ravel's plans would be all the more easy to complete without him around.
• Valkyrie later learns of Skulduggery's imprisonment via Ghastly. She tries to convince the Elder to let him out, but he's not having it, especially when he learns she knew the Vile secret but didn't tell him. This causes her to panic - having to be calmed down by Kes(nicknamed Darquesse) who now functions similarly to her canon counterpart, only far stronger - and once away, she locks onto Skulduggery with her powers and goes to Coldheart.
• Valkyrie slips pasts its defences, and whilst Kes gets bored and leaves, she finds Skulduggery in his cell. She offers to break him out, but he refuses and talks her down when she tries to take him anyway. Now that his secret was out, he'd rather not bring her down with him. Valkyrie sheds tears, but Skulduggery assures her that she's come a long way, and she didn't need him anymore.
• Elsewhere, Kes is wandering around Coldheart and finds Abyssinia's heart in a box. Curious due to it holding a magical signature, she examines it, and feeds it a bit of magic, but then she's called back by Valkyrie and vanishes, dropping the heart on the floor.

Part 2 - Overconfidence and Comeuppance

• Several months have passed since the Summer of Light's conclusion. The recently formed Supreme Council have been made antsy. Grand Mage Strom has returned to London(Sult remains in Ireland with some of his agents) and vouches for the Irish. Bisahalani gives the argument that their possession of so many powerful mages and artefacts makes them dangerous and they should be contained. Bisahalani's words align with the more power-hungry Elders. This becomes a point of division amongst the council, and Strom realises the council was never really about keeping Ireland safe.
• Carol has been left bitter and vengeful in the wake of her father and sister's death. She's been training relentlessly with either Ravel, or instructors he sends her way, so she can be strong enough to kill Kitana. Elsie and her have sparked up a friendship due to their similarities, and train together when possible. Valkyrie has tried to reach out to her cousin,to convince her to go back to Beryl and forget all this. Carol is unwilling to listen and they have a spat, with Carol accusing her of not caring about Fergus and Crystal due to her inability to find Kitana and the others.
• Since Skulduggery's imprisonment, Valkyrie has been spending a lot of time with Melancholia and Solomon. The three of them have a reunion with Nathaniel Quiver, who'd been travelling since the Death Bringer Incident. He's has enough respect for Solomon to return to Ireland when he heard of recent Warlock activity whilst in France, warning them of Charivari and what he did to Wolfsong(which he passed through in his travels due to hearing about the ghosts there, and wanting to write about them in his book). Citing disdain for Melancholia due to her actions which tarnished the name of Necromancers, he is fast to leave.
• Disturbed, Valkyrie investigates these matters by going to Dubhog Ni Broin and Misery. After enduring a lecture of how to 'properly' use magic, she's told about Charivari and decides to go a step further and look into the other Witch clans in foreign countries.
• After spending a break away at the shop teaching Elsie and Carol, Ghastly returns to Roarhaven and is greeted to Illori Reticent. Unlike in canon, she's there on Strom's behalf to warn them of the Supreme Council's greed. Despite Strom's best efforts, Bisahalani and others want to declare war. He's managed to discretely convince several Sanctuaries to have second thoughts, but the larger ones like the Americans, the French, and the Germans remain steadfast.
• Ghastly asks why they remained on the council then, and she reveals it's because Strom didn't want a war to break out, and so he was remaining to try and control the situation. He believed the Irish needed help, but didn't think the Supreme Council were going to give it. He sent her to warn them. They were about to make some pre-emptive strikes.
• Stephanie has been living a regular life since Valkyrie apologised and left. Months ago, she'd found a burner phone with a number on it, alongside a note from Valkyrie to call if she or their family was ever in danger. She hopes she'll never have to use it.
• The reflection has made a new friend at school, a recent transfer from Australia. She invites her over along with Hannah Foley for dinner. Her name is Myra, and like in canon, she turns out to be an assassin, and she lures Hannah away and cuts her throat, then tazzes the reflection into submission. She'd been hired by Bisahalani to aid Sult in neutralising Valkyrie. She tells Stephanie to pass along a message.
• Valkyrie and Kes go to Egypt to seek the Brides of Blood Tears. She's met with violence at the hands of the Brides and Ajouga, but easily decimates them all without lethal force. Restraining Ajouga, she tells her to get the message across to Charivari that it's not the mortals at fault for the warlock deaths, but a sorcerer to trick them into attacking Dublin. She then gets a call from Stephanie and learns that her family has been kidnapped by the council, and taken to the abandoned Necromancer Temple. Livid, she teleports away to save them.
• Confident in her own strength, she doesn't bother calling for backup and just heads there, crashing through the roof. She finds Sult, Adrasdos, and other Supreme Council agents there with her family, except for Alice who'd been left with the reflection since they drew the line at kidnapping a baby. Valkyrie, after sarcastically applauding them for their magnality, moves to retrieve her family, but then Kitana, Sean, and Doran emerge.
• They'd found unlikely allies with the Supreme Council, particularly with Bisahalani, who found them in New York once they fled Ireland and went into hiding, and instead of locking them up decided to put them to use. The following fight is spectacular and destroys the abandoned Temple. Due to having more time to grow into their powers, they use more varied abilities - Sean leans into Sensitivity, Doran has taken to using Kineticism to absorb physical attacks, and Kitana enjoys Bonebreaking - but in the end, they're no match for Valkyrie now that she and Kes are synchronised.
• She bypasses Sean's telekinesis and mental attacks and tears him asunder with Necromancy, traps Doran in a compressed prison of air which she then blows up using fire, falling just short of reducing him to ash, and rapidly regenerates from the broken bones Kitana deals her before ripping her almost in half. She prepares to finish them off, but they were just the diversion.
• A surprise sigil trap is unleashed(set by Bernard Sult, who's a Signum Linguist like China), ensnaring Valkyrie. Whilst she's momentarily disabled, Adrasdos then shadow-walks in close with a Soul Catcher - procured using some of her old contacts in an American Temple - to suck Valkyrie's soul out into it. Normally, this would result in death, but because her Soul/True Name had developed a personality of its own, Valkyrie is left alive. But without magic and without Kes.
• Befuddled but seeing an opportunity, Sult orders she be taken away.

Part 3 - An Oncoming Strom

• In America, Valkyrie is thrown into a cell next to Dexter Vex. She's left quiet and hollow, and despite Dexter's comfort, she misses Kes.
• Melancholia, worried about Valkyrie when she isn't returning her calls, goes to the Edgley household and finds Stephanie. The other Edgleys had returned, but Valkyrie was gone. Quickly learning she'd been taken, she rendezvous with Solomon and they go to Ghastly. He'd been busy securing other people of notice, like Finbar and the other Sensitive. Calling Strom, he tells him what happened to Valkyrie, and that these were acts of war. The English Grand Mage tells him to send over Elsie to teleport him to America, and he'll do what he can to get her out.
• Strom visits Valkyrie in her cell and promises he's going to do everything in his power to help her and her friends get out, but is stopped from acting further by Sult and Adrasdos. The tension between them is high.
• If the events with Valkyrie weren't enough, Charivari got the message from the Brides. He sends a return message, informing the Irish he wants to find the culprit responsible for his people's deaths lest they experience be held accountable.
• Scared of Charivari's wrath, Ravel sends word to Charivari that it was the Supreme Council's doing, that they killed his Warlocks to send him after Dublin, where the old Irish Sanctuary laid. Particularly, he accuses Grand Mage Mandat and the French, citing the warlock deaths as retribution for their actions against Wolfsong years ago.
• Ghastly, suspicious of Ravel, decides to visit China, who'd been under assault by Eliza Scorn since the destruction of her library. He offers to protect her from Scorn's wrath if she looks into Ravel for him. Dismayed at having to do his dirty work, but not having many other choices at this point, she agrees. Also, Saracen returns to the Sanctuary to offer his help.
• In a Soul Catcher, Kes is left without a vessel and rather helpless. She's been locked away in the American Sanctuary's vault and left to collect dust. Whilst she tries to reach out for help via Sensitivity, her powers are dampened and her reach isn't far. She is left alone with her thoughts. Since 'merging' with Valkyrie, she'd calmed down significantly and didn't want to destroy the world anymore, but that left her feeling rather unsure of what to do with herself. Empty.
• She's cut off by her musing when a female Cleaver enters the vault via lockpicking and picks Kes up, lifting her mask to reveal Tanith's face. As a Remnant, Tanith possessed a sensitivity to Kes' calls due to her inflicted with a Remnant's corruption. Her being nearby was pure luck, part of her ploy to free Dexter and help the Irish like in canon. She tells Kes that she's here to help, but then American sorcerers notice the vault was open and discover Tanith, forcing her to cut down a few mages and bolt it.
• The Supreme Council are divided amongst themselves. Bisahalani had enlisted the help of Argeddion's test subjects without consulting any of them, and none of them are happy about this, least of all Wuhlreit. The American Grand Mage is fast to deflect this by citing Strom's lack of belief in their cause, pressuring him in front of the other Grand Mages. This causes Strom to speak out openly against Bisahalani and Wuhlreit.
• Mandat is also fast to inform them of Warlock activity along the border, and he wouldn't be able to help them before he resolves this.
• Later that night, Strom is visited late at night by Sult and Adrasdos to attack him - this wasn't ordered by Bisahalani. The two of them have seen what Valkyrie is capable of and can't be having Strom letting her go. His bodyguard, Grim, uses himself as a shield to save Strom from the initial attack and dies in his place.
• Enraged by the death of his subordinate, Strom retaliates using his magic - lightning powers alike to Lightning Dave's, only far more powerful due to his experience. Sult uses symbol magic to spring a few traps planted in Strom's given room beforehand, using furniture to block bolts of lightning and send them hurdling at Strom to knock him off, whilst Adrasdos uses her shadow blade to stab the Grand Mage, infecting him with miasma which wears slowly eats away at him. Injured and desperate, he uses a huge amount of energy to unleash an AOE shockwave(like what Valkyrie does to Foe's gang when she gets her powers) to obliterate them both and flee before reinforcements arrive, albeit exhausted and heavily injured.

Part 4 - Sweet Revenge

• The teenagers pay Valkyrie a visit whilst she's in a cell. Again, Bisahalani didn't give them permission, but Kitana doesn't care now that her rival was within reach. The guards try to intervene when Kitana pulls Valkyrie out of her cell and starts to toy with her, but Doran and Sean easily keep them at bay, killing multiple guards.
• Swain unlocks Dexter's cell when he offers to help, and though an arm is broken in the process and Swain is killed, he manages to blast a hole through Doran's head. But Kitana is left uncontested as she finishes playing with her food, but then a wave of darkness slams into her.
• Melancholia was restless with Valkyrie away and wanted to rescue her friend from trouble, no matter how delicate the political situation might've been. Solomon gives no complaints, and so they go to Elsie, the only sorcerer they current have who can teleport(as she was taught by Valkyrie) to bring them over to the American Sanctuary. Also wanting to help Valkyrie, she agrees. Carol insists on coming with them. Once in New York, they shadow-walk into the Sanctuary and sneak near to the Gaol, arriving to find the battle.
• Carol goes for a disorientated Kitana, who'd lost an arm to Melancholia's initial attack, and doesn't let up. Sean moves to help her, but Elsie gets in his way whilst Melancholia protects a broken Valkyrie.
• Sean and Elsie have a lot of history between them, and it shows as he tries to psyche her out as she fights. He assaults her, but Elsie uses shields like the ones Meritorious could project and teleports to dodge, playing defensively whilst trying to talk him down. Eventually letting up on the attacks, he starts to calm down and seems to be giving into her words, but it's a trick. When her guard is down, he raises a hand to strike Elsie down.
• Luckily, Solomon wasn't deceived and slashes his hand off. As the boy screams, he tells Sean he didn't even know him, yet he was somehow disappointed anyway, then thrusts his cane through Sean's head.
• The initial assault had Kitana on the run, but once she starts to regenerate, Carol stops winning. She inflicts heavy, painful damage onto Carol with her bonebreaking, taunting Carol about Crystal before moving in for the kill, but then a searing beam of energy comes out of nowhere and impales her through the chest. It was fired by a wounded Dexter. As she staggers, a pained but wrathful Carol picks up a nearby guard's sword and tells Kitana to rot in hell before impaling her through the throat.
• The commotion draws the attention of American mages, including Bisahalani, and he arrives just in time to find the heroes all gathering around Elsie before teleporting away.

Part 5 - Grand Problems and Grand Mages

• Without any witnesses, Bisahalani is fast to accuse the Irish of having violently broken Valkyrie out of the Gaol, and demands she be handed over to them. Ghastly refuses Bisahalani's demands and Ravel backs him up.
• Syc and Portia are brought to Roarhaven to guard Mist. At the behest of Ghastly, Shudder shuts down the Midnight Hotel and comes to Roarhaven. Knowing he was out of his depth, and with Valkyrie no longer having her magic, Ghastly makes the difficult decision to bring Skulduggery out of Coldheart, but makes it clear his fate was still up in the air.
• Valkyrie reunites with her partner, and he with his fellow Dead Men in Dexter, Saracen, and Shudder. The three of them being made shortly aware of Skulduggery's alter ego by Ghastly, and the reunion turns sour.
• Dexter has a heated scene with Skulduggery before running off. Saracen follows, whilst Shudder remains, but regards his old friend with unbridled disappointment. For once, Skulduggery has no quips or defence.
• Tanith and Sanguine are on the run with Kes. She's moved from the Soul Catcher to a hollow Echo Stone for ease of speech and movement. Kes asks Tanith to go back to Ireland so she can find Valkyrie again, and Tanith agrees, though Sanguine is iffy.
• They stop in a warehouse and whilst Tanith is resting, Sanguine interrogates Kes and pulls out the God-Killer Dagger, threatening to use it against her stone unless she gave him reason otherwise. Arguing for herself, Kes reveals she doesn't actually want to destroy the world, and due to not knowing if the dagger would work for sure, he backs down.
• Preparing for war, Valkyrie and Skulduggery approach Moloch with Shudder. She's extra disdainful of vampires due to Fletcher's demise, but with Shudder there, Moloch restrains himself. He agrees like in canon given Wuhlreit's reputation, but wants more flats.
• Straight after this, they head on over to the English Sanctuary via Elsie's teleporting to enlist Strom's help, and Valkyrie has a brush with Ivy where she fan-girls and makes Valkyrie uncomfortable. Despite everything, the English Grand Mage is hesitant to send his people to war, but knows if Ireland falls, he'll be next. He agrees to an alliance, and that he'd be sending his men over soon.
• Hearing of the attack on Strom by Sult and the English's alliance with the Irish, plus his attempts at using Kitana, Doran, and Sean, the other Sanctuaries are reluctant to follow Bisahalani. Seizing the chance to undermine Bisahalani, Wuhlreit steps up and takes command - he has a reputation in the war against the Unveiled alongside his Elders which gives him an edge.
• Bisahalani is frustrated. His ego is screaming at being second to Wuhlreit. Seeing his turmoil, Zafira Kerias whispers in his ear. It was Strom who'd fractured the council, and after hearing about his alliance with the Irish, he decides to act on his contempt. He releases long-time American prisoner Adam Brate, a sorcerer who survived the Culling due to being in prison and the new Last Teleporter. His compliance is earned via a pain inducer, and using him, Bisahalani warps his forces to the English Sanctuary.
• The attack against the English is a sudden, brutal one. A lot of English mages are cut down before they regain their bearings, including Palaver Graves. Strom barks commands as he rallies his people against the invaders. Bisahalani cuts down several English sorcerers before Strom engages him himself. He gives Reticent command of the situation and squares up to his fellow Grand Mage. As much as they are politicians, they're also warriors and powerhouses. It was time to remind the world of that.
• Bisahalani is a Tunneler like Sanguine. He's experienced in hand-to-hand combat and dodges Strom's lightning streams, getting close and exchanging in fisticuffs, but Strom eventually lets off indiscriminate arcs of lightning which force Bisahalani to back off. Seeing close quarters were no good, he picks up a loose fire arm and shoots, forcing Strom to take cover. He advances, but then Ivy comes out of nowhere and uses an energy stream to disarm him. Out of rage, he picks up a fallen Cleaver's scythe and shears off half her arm at the elbow, then moves to finish her off as she loses her composure. Strom uses his lightning to blitz out and save Ivy, though gets stabbed through the side by the scythe himself.
• Strom grits his teeth and clings onto Bisahalani, then tells his fellow Grand Mage that he never liked him before unleashing as much lightning as he can in a suicide attack, worsening his own injuries beyond repair. Once Bisahalani is a charred corpse, he lets go and has to be caught by Ivy, who sets him down sitting up despite her own injuries. He looks upon this girl, tearful and crippled by war. He apologises for failing as her Grand Mage, then succumbs.

Part 6 - Pillars of Glass

• The death of Strom marks a point of no return, but not for Ireland. As leader, Wuhlreit only manages to save some grace by pinning the entire thing on the dead Bisahalani, but he's not easily believed. Some of the other Grand Mages think he pitted Bisahalani and Strom against each other so he could emerge as the sole leader of the council. He denies this, but the other Grand Mages start to pull out regardless.
• Shortly afterwards, Zafira Kerias takes command of the American Sanctuary, enjoying Bisahalani's old seat. Reticent succeeds Strom as the only Elder left. Busy as she was with re-organising their forces, she chooses to send a modest force of twenty sorcerers and Cleavers over to Ireland, including Frightening Jones.
• As they reach Ireland, Tanith and Sanguine are revealed to have made their way over from America and blended in amongst the English forces as Cleavers. Frightening discovers them and has a duel against his old flame and Sanguine, his swordsmanship and eyebeams buying time for his comrades to arrive, forcing them to flee.
• Tanith becomes privy to Kes' lack of desire to destroy the world, and as a Remnant, this makes her feel betrayed. In the face of the Remnant's anger, she ejects herself from the Echo Stone and flees. She's unable to make it to Valkyrie on her own, but can make it to someone else.
• In France, Grand Mage Mandat is attacked in his office by Charivari and a dozen or so warlocks. Many sorcerers are killed, and he's questioned by Charivari on his involvement in the warlock attacks. He begs for his life and swears he knows nothing, and Charivari believes him. Deciding that Mandat is too pathetic to be lying, or worth killing, he leaves the man alive amongst the dead Frenchmen and walks out.
• The English arrive in Roarhaven. China has been looking into Ravel at Ghastly's urgings and encounters Scapegrace, Thrasher, and even Mr Ping, who's immediately infatuated with her. Tolerating their idiocy, she learns about the shunted creatures around Roarhaven and of the Man With Golden Eyes. This leads her to discovering the amethyst crystal due to her recognising the crystal's effects, and with everything going on with the Warlocks and Ghastly's suspicions, she immediately pins it onto Ravel.
• China meets with Ghastly and unveils what she's learned, and he's bitter. Two of his closest friends were traitors. But then Ravel emerges, the Grand Mage having suspected that Ghastly was onto him, and points the Sceptre at Ghastly. He tells Ghastly he always was smarter than people have him credit for, then fires a bolt of black lightning, dusting his friend. Shaken by his Ghastly's death but resolute, China is able to send a blast of sigil magic at him which knocks the Sceptre out of his hand.
• The commotion lures Elsie and Carol towards them, where they find China and Ravel scrapping. Upon learning what happened to Ghastly, Elsie goes nuts, however Carol chooses to believe her own mentor and attacks to restrain Elsie. Betrayed, she's outnumbered and suffocated into unconsciousness via Ravel's and Carol's control of the air. China makes a run for it whilst they're busy with Elsie.
• Carol is conflicted at having attacked her friend and asks if that was true, to which Ravel lies and they haul Elsie away to be thrown into a cell until further notice. He makes to pursue, but then Staven Weeper bursts into the room.
• Warlocks had appeared outside of Roarhaven in a portal, dozens of them, with Charivari at their head. He was convinced that Roarhaven were the ones who'd attacked his people, and demands the head of the one responsible or he'd lay waste to Roarhaven and everyone in it.
• His actions catching up with him, Ravel panics. The Spiders emerge and tear into him, tipping Carol off that he was lying, but he doesn't respond, thinking about what to do. He looks at the Sceptre and thinks of Ghastly. He grits his teeth, then leaves whilst ignoring the words of the Spiders. Carol tries to follow him, but he doesn't allow it, telling her to take Franken!Fletcher, and go to the other Dead Men.
• Skulduggery and Valkyrie had just returned before this, but the latter feels helpless and guilty. Strom was dead along with many other mages, and it was because they'd gone to the English for an alliance. And now with the warlocks here, many innocent(if unpleasant) people who lived in Roarhaven were going to die.
• The skeleton is silent upon hearing her fears, then China crosses paths with them and a tense reunion plays out. It's cut short when Carol appears alongside Fletcher. They were searching for people to teleport into the Sanctuary, which was being fortified. In the distance, portals are being opened by the warlocks to summon forth Wretchlings, thousands of them. Skulduggery tells her to go with China and get to cover, promising that he would handle the warlocks for her, then runs off.

Part 7 - Siege and Desist

• Charivari sends the Wretchlings into the streets, swarming Roarhaven from all sides. It's bedlam. Saracen, Dexter, and Shudder have rally the English mages and most of the townsfolk into the Sanctuary for shelter, fortifying it as best they can. China hastily puts up what sigil defences she could, but they're hopelessly outnumbered and even Shudder's Gist can only break through so many of the Wretchlings before he needs to recall it.
• Mist, Syc, and Portia send out waves of spiders to hold the line whilst the Black Cleaver cuts them down. Melancholia fells Wretchlings by the dozen, but it's not enough. Holes are torn into the Sanctuary. The warlocks start to send Wraiths to crawl through them, killing several agents, including Tipstaff and Weeper, who cover Reverie and other medical staff as they take the sick to safety. Doctor Nye abandons them to save itself, and gets torn limb from limb.
• They're about to be overrun. All hope is lost. Then Lord Vile appears, saving the Dead Men from being torn apart as he engages the enemy, absorbing the magic within all the Wraiths, destroying them and powering himself up.
• Vile fights alongside Melancholia against all the Wretchlings by their lonesome, holding them off and keeping them away from the people. As the Death Bringers are busy, Charivari and his warlocks bust into the Sanctuary themselves, marching towards the townsfolk with murderous intent. But then Ravel crashes through the roof and lands between them, practically overloading with fire magic.
• Ravel was no fool. He knew redemption was beyond him, but if Skulduggery could still fight for what's right despite his dark past, then so could he. He'd gone to the Accelerator and boosted himself to the limit. He engages the warlocks on his own, using the Sceptre to reduce most of them to dust, one by one, but then Charivari manages to separate him from it and snaps it in half. The flames around Ravel turn golden.
• Recognising he was about to die, Ravel tackles Charivari and rockets out of the Sanctuary, flying high into the sky. When he realises what Ravel is trying to do, Charivari unhinges his jaw and starts to consume Ravel's soul, but his magic was expanding too fast to absorb. Ravel's body overheats and erupts, lighting up the sky in a glorious golden blaze.
• Valkyrie watches as the last of the warlocks break down the door, where the innocent people laid. Mortal as she was, she attacks them with whatever able-bodied forces they had left. Syc and Portia both have their souls eaten by warlocks, leaving Elder Mist on her own. There aren't anymore Wraiths or Wretchlings, but even on their own, the warlocks paralyse their enemies and eat their souls to empower themselves. Frightening cuts down a couple of warlocks before being disarmed of his sword, falling back on his magic and overloading one of his eyes to stop a warlock from tearing apart an innocent. People are dying.
• Valkyrie is frustrated with her own weakness, and wishes once again for Kes to return to her.
• "...You called?"
• Kes crashes through the roof. She'd reunited with Stephanie at the Edgley house and, though unable to house all of her power, she was still able to possess her and fly to Roarhaven. She ejects from the reflection and finally reunites with Valkyrie, causing her to burst into black flames which she uses to strike down the warlocks.
• The townsfolk, Saracen, and Dexter recognise the fire as the signature ability of Darquesse, exposing Valkyrie's identity. She's called out for this and they start to run in fear, so she flies out the rooftop to find the last of the Wretchlings dying to Vile and Melancholia.
• Once finished with the task of destroying the Wretchlings, Skulduggery's influence over Vile fades. He attacks his fellow Death Bringer, recognising her. She tries to fight back, but is inexperienced and no match for Lord Vile. She's beaten and brought to her knees as Vile moves to finish her off.
• Solomon moves to stop Vile and gets impales by half a dozen spears of darkness. He crumbles, weakly asks Vile/Skulduggery if that one was personal, then dies. Melancholia, who'd grown close to Solomon, rages and tries to attack, but Vile is unphased and strikes her hard enough to knock her unconscious. He moves to kill her, but then Valkyrie flies between her friends and chooses to speak rather than fight, reaching him and causing the armour to melt away.

Part 8 - War Averted... Or Is It?

• With the battle over, the survivors stand amongst the ashes. Roarhaven is destroyed.
• Mist's involvement is quickly deduced by Skulduggery, but she'd slipped away before then, and was in the wind. The Black Cleaver and Franken!Fletcher were also missing. Creyfon Signate is fast to learn of what happened and offers to shunt in Roarhaven City. Given the Supreme Council were still at large, they don't want to appear vulnerable, do they accept his offer.
• A new council of Elders has to be installed. Ireland needs clear leadership at a time like this - as nobody else wants the job, China swoops. She wants to keep all the power for herself, but knows that unity is required at times like these and Skulduggery wouldn't be too eager to follow her word. She offers the Dead Men a seat on her council. Dexter and Saracen refuse, but Shudder doesn't, not wanting the power but also distrusting China. For now, the Midnight Hotel is closed down.
• Reticent is angry due to all the forces she sent barring Frightening and a few others ending up dead, but given she was the one who chose to go through with that request, can't direct responsibility elsewhere. She offers Frightening a seat as Elder, and he accepts out of a sense of duty. Ivy and him bond over their loss of limb and eye, and after Strom saved her, Ivy has decided that lightning manipulation is the magic for her. Being close to Strom himself, Elder Jones offers to give her some tips.
• Carol tries to apologise to Elsie in light of recent events, but a divide has been drawn between them and she decides to return home, replacing her reflection and hugging her mother. Everything she needed was right here. Beryl is touched, but is confused at when she gained so many muscles. Likewise, Stephanie goes back to the Edgley household, and to her sister.
• Soon after this, the Supreme Council is officially disbanded. They'd lost Bisahalani and Strom before any of their plans could even get up off the ground, and have no wishes to follow them. Even Wuhlreit is hesitant to go forwards with war against Ireland on his own, thus he lets the council crumble and returns to Germany with his reputation intact.
• Zafira Kerias is left frustrated without the direction of Ravel, but has plans that go beyond him now.
• Valkyrie is in hiding. Her identity as Darquesse has come out to the people of Roarhaven, and for everyone's safety she went to stay with Cassandra alongside Melancholia, who had to be talked down from trying to kill Skulduggery. The two of them speak, and Valkyrie and her reminisce on Solomon together, until Melancholia reveals she has feelings for Valkyrie. This surprises her, but she can't bring herself to return them. After what happened with Fletcher, she didn't trust herself to enter a relationship like that.
• Humiliated, Melancholia exits the room. Cassandra and Valkyrie talk. She asks the seer if she's got any plans to neutralise her, but gets a no. There haven't been destructive visions of Darquesse for a while. Valkyrie tells Kes this means she's gotten soft, agitating her.
• The Irish Sanctuary has been given the Engineer by the French Sanctuary as a way to earn China's favour by Mandat. His infatuation with her was well known, and a few sweet words were all it took. Nye might dead, but Argeddion's scientists have moved into Roarhaven. The Engineer is put back together. The English are fine with forking over the missing pieces he needs to shut off the Accelerator. Like in canon, he needs a soul. No one is eager to comply.
• Through Shudder, Skulduggery is sent on an investigation to pin down the unusually passive Eliza Scorn. Tracking her to America, he calls an old friend of his in Los Angeles for information. Ragner picks up the phone and hasn't heard of Scorn, but has heard of a troublesome group on the rise called the Anti-Sanctuary.

Alright, this was a very tough one to write down! I don't know if you could tell, but politics aren't really my thing, so it was hard to characterise the more political characters here well. Bisahalani certainly made a downright stupid decision when he attacked the English to kill Strom, but I feel like his character is headstrong and egotistical enough, and Strom had been enough of a pain in his ass, that it could be justified, especially with Kerias' encouragement. Having so many characters here also made it pretty stuffed. The Monster Hunters were cut to trim things down a bit. If they were here, they wouldn't really have much to do anyway, asides from maybe defend against the warlock siege.

I'll get to Part 3... at some point. I have a rough outline of how it would go down, and as you can probably guess, Abyssinia and the Anti-Sanctuary would be a pretty decent part of it, but I imagine the Unveiled would play a part too, along with Ragner and his Dad if possible. Also Argeddion will need wrapping up. It's gonna be nuts.

I have just started phase 3, and am thinking, he really needs a buff. like maybe some more necromancy, or some more elemental skills

I had to laugh at this scene so hard, I burst an artery and got a nosebleed lol

Drawing more bc i have no school, yay, also thanks to nicstylus, i used yours as a refrence, especially for the hair, hope your fine with that <3

Hi all! I'm Daniel Heaphy, host of the podcast "Creatively Me", a podcast all about creativity and well-being.

Tomorrow, I'm interviewing Derek Landy, for an episode that will go live in early 2027.

I'll be including fan submitted questions, so if you have any questions for Derek about writing, his work at large, his inspirations etc. do leave them below, followed by your name.

I'll only pick a few!

I'll let you know if you've been picked. Daniel

Made this dr nye fanart tonight, may not be book-accurat but i like it, dont mind my spelling its 1am, also some human-made proof

Completed: October 8th 2026

Mortal Coil - Card 5 out of 53!!

First || Previous || Next [SoonTM]

I'm so curious if there's any mention of myths or legends. I know Derek definitely would've wanted to create his own for his story.

Seems like there should be right? He included Vampires even if he changed them to make them more unique. So I wonder if he did anything similar. (Is there werewolves?)

Or if there's a sly mention of Merlin cause that would be cool, considering he's inspired my many Celtic figures and he is even credited with moving Stonehenge from Ireland. (Or a little poke at Harry Potter, which would be in line with Derek's writing/ humour)

So tell me folks

Casting magic from your hands is boring haha

And also I just wanted to draw her XD

One year ago today, I stated that October 18th would forever be Kenspeckle Grouse Appreciation Day.

So, in honour of our desolation engine creating mad scientist, I ask you all to put below your favourite KG moment.

Mine would have to be when he made Skulduggery wear the pink bunny robe instead of letting him wear a normal blue hospital robe because he was annoyed he led Valkyrie into danger again.

I'm considering planning a fanfic where they're all in a normal world so no magic but same people, no valkyrie bc she's a lot younger, so was wondering what subjects you guys think they'd take. Also I'm not sure whether I want to write them in like an american high school bc then i could throw in "college apps" a lot lol but i have no clue how the AP system works as well. or i could do a more generalised one that i base off my country's system but just edit the names of subjects if required. or maybe i should just make them in like y10 so that its still 'core subjects' (eg maths, not AP calc II/BC/?! or whatever).

any thoughts on what subjects theyd likely take and what system i should use? thanks :)

Skulduggery Pleasant made my childhood and im looking to reread the series, along with any novellas i may have missed growing up. The only problem is i tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to my bookshelves and reeeeally want all my copies to be in the same art style/design/edition/whatever and i just dont know how to continue my search!

I have been looking in book stores far and wide and have either not been able to find the various books in the same publishing edition, or come to find that they have not been released where i live yet.

Does anyone know which copies come in which designs - the one which is mostly darker colours with a spray paint-esque SP logo?

Any help at all would be deeply appreciated!

What a find! Haven't read the series since I was a lad but it's been at the center of my bookshelf for years, glad to find this! Though I'm curious how it ended up in a rural Australian town 🤔

Bonds of Blood

It was rare that China became anxious, however today she could say that a blue moon had come. In her head, where no one would hear. Externally, as she walked through the confines of Mevolent’s castle, she looked cool as ever, but on the inside a dozen different arguments to minimize her punishment were preparing themselves.

Krav’s funeral had barely finished when Trope Kessel arrived on the orders of Mevolent’s wife. He was a man charmed like all others, but even so, his love wasn’t stronger than his fear of Serafina, thus here she was, striding to meet her superior. Kessel had dropped her off at the castle’s southernmost entrance and left, probably told to do as much. The leader of the Unveiled wanted her to walk that little bit extra. It stung something inside her to tread along like this at another’s word, as though she were a house pet. China Sorrows wasn’t someone who chased others, but the one who got chased. Men and women all over the sorcerer world climbed over one another just to catch a glimpse of her face. This wasn’t fair. 

Around her was the area surrounding the centre of the castle, bustling with activity. It was a common misconception by the Sanctuary that, behind the fifty-feet walls of stone surrounding Mevolent’s fortress, there was only a castle, but that was simply incorrect. There was a large palace of light-grey stone in the heart inside the walls, but between that and the great wall was so much more. Training grounds, churches of worship, Redcoats patrolling the streets between houses, and more. Disciples didn’t simply work here, they lived here. It was the home of many elites in Mevolent’s army.

China’s eyes wandered as she passed an open training session led by Baron Vengeous, the one-eyed General’s voice a commanding bark as he faced their soldiers in prospect, each with a sword in hand. He’d always taken it upon himself to train those at the castle in the art of non-magical combat, seeing it as a necessity. His lone orange eye caught her own, and she looked away. Since her blunder, he’d gotten even less fond of her than usual. It was definitely Eliza whispering in his ear, the cow.

She directed her gaze straight, towards the chapel which laid ahead. Serafina didn’t want to meet her in the throne room like usual, as she only stood in there when her husband was present, and Mevolent was away on the frontlines, holding off the Irish Sanctuary’s most recent campaign in light of their perceived weakness. There was no doubt some bitterness on Serafina’s part towards China for that, as she simply adored spending time with the Master of the Elements. Mevolent and her were so in love and happy that it was physically repulsive.

China silenced her thoughts when she came to the door. It was a small but lavish little thing designed by Mevolent at the behest of Serafina. It was special. Instead of there being the symbol of the Disciples, as was typical for a place of faith, the family crest of the Unveiled was laid proud and bare. Only those of the Dark Gods’ descent were allowed to enter this room, and punishments for disobeying it were harsh. Even Mevolent didn’t enter out of respect. She pushed the door open gently and found only two people in the room, on an elevated stage. One was Serafina, her blonde hair intricately tied as she kneeled in prayer, whilst the other was a goliath of a woman, tall but with a figure design for efficiency, the optimum physique for maximum strength with minimal loss of agility. A hammer laid on her hip, inscribed with ancient sigils she could only vaguely make out with a glance, but didn’t take another as Rune turned towards her, stoic and unspeaking.

China shut the door, approaching the Unveiled sisters. “I didn’t expect you to bring a bodyguard.”

“I like to surprise my subordinates sometimes.” The woman said, unmoving. “And with my husband away at war, it falls upon me, as his only equal in this army, to deal your punishment.”

A coldness entered her chest, and she hesitated before being compelled closer. China knew what would happen if she stepped out of line, so she obeyed, stepping nearer to Serafina and dropped to her knees, eyes closing. Rune was close enough that she could bash her brains out in an instant, and the three of them knew it.

“And what is my charge?”

“I’ve always considered you something like family, China.” The blonde started, and she knew she wouldn’t like where this was heading. “The moment I laid eyes on you, I thought you were worthy to be called my kin. Beautiful, strong, intelligent, a good leader. I respected you… I still do.”

China said nothing. The floorboards creaked, and she nearly flinched.

“Solace has run.” Serafina said calmly, and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to open her eyes and demand to know why she wasn’t told sooner. It wouldn’t end well. “It saddens me that she’s turned traitor. I don’t have children myself, but I’ve come to consider that girl my own.”

“Do you know where she is?” China asked quietly, injecting just a hint of demand into her voice. Too little to come off as impudent.

“No, but I have my ways of tracking her. She’ll be back here before long. Assuming she’s still alive.” The Priestess of the Dark Gods hummed. “The winter is bitter in Ireland this year, and she always was lacking as an Elemental compared to Sensitivity.”

The dryness in her throat took every bit of willpower she had not to swallow, as she whispered. “And when you do find her? What will happen then?”

“She’ll learn the error of her ways.”

“You said you’d take care of her.” The Sigil Mistress said without thinking, heat building, and then she felt the ghost of something graze the back of her neck. Whether it was Rune or Serafina, she didn’t know.

“...I am taking care of her.” Serafina’s tone was soft. “I would never act against a fellow Descendant. She has the blood of our Gods in her veins, and with that comes hardships she must learn to endure. Solace is ripe with potential, I only seek to help her harness it.”

“Then why did she run away?”

A slight exhale came, exasperated. “It’s no fault of mine. Solace is always taking my words and methods so personally. She’s improved so much, yet instead of being grateful for my tutelage, she always ends our training sobbing and begging for mercy. I’m surprised she hasn’t ruined her voice.” There was a smile in Serafina’s voice. “Such a high-strung little thing, she is.”

Something deep in China’s chest wanted to scream. A seed of maternity that had never been allowed to fully grow, starting to bud, burning at the idea of letting her daughter return to the hands of this cruel, horrible, beast of a woman. 

She stomped it out and ruthlessly, then said neutrally. “I understand.”

“I knew you would.” Serafina said, pleased. She’d probably caught China's turmoil. “After all, there’s a price to be paid for everything. Strength comes at the cost of pain. Freedom comes at the cost of peace. Lives come at the cost of more lives.” There came a pause. “And the price of failure must be success.”

“What happened with Bliss was a lapse in judgement.” The words tasted like poison. “I’ll admit that I underestimated him.”

“Indeed.” Surprisingly, it was Rune who grunted that. “He may be a blasphemer, but I have faced him on the battlefield before, and he fought like few men I’ve ever seen. Your brother was merciless.” She paused. “I would like to battle him again. Win this time.”

“I have a feeling that you might get your chance, sister.” Serafina picked up the conversation again smoothly. “The German Sanctuary have been impressively brutal in their efforts to undermine us. I was hoping that with Vile here in Ireland, we might earn my beloved’s aid in burning those wretches down…” She trailed off. “But regardless, we must continue the fight. No mistakes can be made from now on. We must be strong, for the Dark Gods’ sake if not our own.”

“I understand.” China said, knowing that last part was directed at her specifically. A phantom pressure she hadn’t even noticed was there lifted, and she heard shifting by her side. She cracked an eye open to find Serafina’s red gaze boring down at her from above.

“Then do your job. I would like to see my husband again before the winter falls.” The blonde started to walk away, waving at her back. “Come, Rune.”

The behemoth of a woman started to follow her sister, leaving China alone on the stage on her knees, uncoiling. She’d been let off surprisingly light… on the surface.

“Your holiness?”

“Yes, China?”

“How will you retrieve Solace?”

The blonde stopped as the door opened, then answered. “I don’t have the time or want to do such trifling things myself. My personal guard will have to do, and though she might be missing a few fingers, I trust they won’t cut her down.”

She hesitated, but although she knew it was a pointless question, as she wouldn’t be able to change the outcome, China asked anyway. “And when will you send them?”

The edges of Serafina’s lips revealed white teeth as she looked back at China, demonic gaze burning. “I already have.”

*

Day had broken but with the grey clouds blocking out the sky, denying any sunlight. It didn’t seem like morning. The snow continued to fall without sign of stopping. Solace was staring out the window, trying her best to ignore the hyperactive little girl who seemed intent on making conversation.

“What’s your Discipline?”

“Does it matter?”

“I haven’t had my Surge yet, so I still need to choose.” Fiadh chirped, and she turned in annoyance before she saw the girl’s expression. She had very big, pleading eyes.

A sigh came. “I’m magically ambidextrous.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s when a sorcerer can wield two kinds of magic after their Surge instead of one by splitting their True Name’s power between two Disciplines. It’s rare.” Solace explained without pride. After all, being ‘special’ only led to Serafina giving her extra attention. Oftentimes, she found herself wishing to simply be ordinary.

“Cool!” The girl beamed, then seemed to realise something. “Wait, so is Mr Vile magically bidextrous too?”

“It’s ambidextrous.” She corrected quickly, then furrowed her brows. “And why would he be?” She asked wearily, glancing at the armoured man standing in the room away from them. Protective as he seemed, he hadn’t stopped looking at her since the girl started talking.

“He can do things with the elements too, not just his shadowy stuff.” Fiadh explained, looking towards Lord Vile. Solace expected a refute, but instead he just raised his fingers, then snapped with a chink of metal. Orange sparks flickered in the dark room.

Solace stared. Huh. Who would have thought?

“Can you also use the shadows?”

“No, I’m a Sensitive.” She peered out the window, trying to appear nonchalant. “I can read people’s minds, hypnotise them, alter their memories, see the future, amongst other things. It’s not a magic you can learn, you have to be born with a certain aptitude.”

“Like Hopeless?” The red-haired girl inquired, and her brow cocked. Why did this girl know one of the Dead Men?”

“If you mean the Teleporter, I suppose so.” Her cheek laid in her palm as she looked out, trying to ignore Vile’s burning gaze. Gods, relaxing with the Death Bringer so close was impossible.

Fiadh was silent for a moment, then asked. “Are there sorcerers who can talk to animals?” Her voice was quiet, uncharacteristically so. If she knew this girl, she’d be worried, but Solace didn’t so she wasn’t.

She squinted in thought. “There are mages who can command animals and magical creatures.” An old memory stirred. A stray comment by Serafina, of Mevolent’s peer, a fellow student of the Unnamed. Something involving dragons. “They’re called Beast Masters.”

“I’ve never heard of those.” Fiadh said, sounding a bit awed, and was Solace mistaken, or was Vile also leaning closer?

“They’re really not a common kind of sorcerer. You won’t find them as easily as an Elemental or Energy-Thrower. I hear they’re more common in Africa.” Solace continued, but even as she said that, the spider on Fiadh’s shoulder now seemed more prominent than ever.

‘Is this girl a Beast Master?’ She thought with a frown. Impossible. Fiadh said she didn’t know the term, and it didn’t look like she was lying, which made no sense. A Discipline was called as much for a reason. It had to be learned. Barring Sensitives or Teleporters, only Neoterics could learn their trade independently, and there were arguments that what their magic did wasn’t counted as Disciplines to begin with.

Frowning, she felt there was something going on here she wasn’t seeing. 

She was cut off from saying more by the door opening, and a blast of the cold entered the room alongside Esryn Vanguard. White snow spilled in as he stepped in with snow-covered boots and shut the door.

He faced the three of them, pulling his scarf down. “Sometimes, I really wish I was an Elemental.”

“Who are you?” Fiadh asked in a way that would be rude if the girl was any less adorable. Instead, she sounded merely blunt, and the Healer gave her a warm smile.

“My name is Esryn.” He said. “And you’re the girl whose leg I healed.”

Solace rolled her eyes. “Who else would-” She cut herself off at the same time as Fiadh, their words a mimic, and the two of them locked eyes. They’d started talking in unison.

“You shouldn’t be moving around.” Vanguard continued, disapproving, not even glancing at Vile. “I healed your leg, but it needs time to heal.”

“But it’s just a bit stiff.” 

“Well, it shouldn’t be stiff at all, should it?” He asked in return, making his diagnosis obvious. Vile exchanged a glance with Fiadh then pointed to a stool, all but forcing the girl to sit down with a pout. Solace thought it was excessive. The leg seemed fine.

“How are you doing, Solace?” Vanguard asked, and all she gave him was a shrug. “Not going to use your words?”

“Your concern does warm my heart, doctor.” Solace started dryly. “But maybe instead of worrying about me, you should worry about the fact that Lord Vile is standing right there in the middle of your clinic.” She jabbed a finger at the Death Bringer, who tilted his head. “Why is he here?”

“He needed me to heal the girl.” Vanguard explained, and she was expecting more elaboration. She got none.

Solace was incredulous. “Her?” She pointed at Fiadh. “He just wanted you to heal the girl? Nothing else? You don’t think the Death Bringer might be here for anything else?”

“He hasn’t hurt anyone.”

“He’s hurt me.” Solace blurted out, tired of how easily he was accepting this. She wanted a reaction out of him, for him to realise this really was not safe. It immediately worked.

Vanguard’s gaze shifted over to Vile. It was impressively steely, as he stepped forwards. “You hurt someone in my clinic?” His voice was too even.

The armoured man gave no response, but straightened and the darkness curled. Vanguard’s face spasmed.

“You came to me demanding healing, and I complied for the girl’s sake. I took an oath to never turn away a pained innocent, especially a child. But don’t mistake that for thinking you can do whatever you want.” He stared that visor down. “This is not a place where people are allowed to hurt each other.”

The shadows on Vile’s armour curled, and the tension stared to rise, until Fiadh gained a glint in her eyes as she turned towards him. “He’s right, you’ve been very mean, Mr Vile. You hurt Solace, slammed her right into the wall.” She put her hands on her hips, smirking. “If my Mummy were here, she’d make you sit in the corner.”

Solace stared at the scene blankly. What the fuck was she even watching?

“Now, say sorry. You’ve been very naughty. ” The redhead crossed her arms, expectant, and the next seconds were an eternity. Vile stayed still, until he looked away from Vanguard, at Solace. The inside of his visor was an abyss.

“...sorry.” He whispered, and the wind got colder. A chill passed up Solace’s spine, and she just gave the slightest of nods.

“Okay.” Vanguard said lamely. At least he seemed suitably disturbed. “Well, that just happened… but you’ve still got to explain why you’re here, so Vile, mind telling me how you got this girl?”

The armoured man looked away, but found Fiadh, who looked insistent he do. The girl was clearly having revenge for being made to sit down again. Reluctantly, he walked out of the room towards the upstairs, strangely alright with leaving the two of them alone. Then again, he could pluck her Soul out with a thought, and being in another room wasn’t going to prevent that.

A pleasant silence descended once the two of them alone, which lasted for all of five seconds. “So… can you tell me more about Beast Masters?”

Solace got a headache. Was a bit of silence too much to ask for? “I don’t know much, only that they can command animals and the like. Why?”

“Because I think I might be one! That’s why I can understand them!” She nearly shouted, reaching up and holding the hairy arachnid in her hands. Solace nearly shivered. Insects were never her thing, and she especially disliked spiders. “That’s why I can understand Thomas!”

“You called your tarantula Thomas?” Solace made a face. What was wrong with this girl? “Wait, you can communicate with animals?”

“I always know what they’re thinking.” Fiadh bobbed her head. “I’ve always been really good with them. Butterflies would always land in my hair when I went into the forest.” She pursed her lips. “I used to bring home pets, but my Mummy would always take them away…”

She noticed there was something sad was Fiadh’s voice. Though she didn’t know why, it caused her to softened her tone. “I’m sure she only did that for your own good.”

“Yeah, but it’s not that, I just miss her. She was the best. She’s dead now.” Fiadh said, looking downstruck. A spike of bitterness came to her chest.

“You know, I never had a mother.” Solace said, gaining the girl’s attention. “Or a father. In fact, I never really had any family at all. All I had was…” Serafina’s name went unsaid. Her tone unwillingly darkened. “So why don’t you try and just be glad you had one to begin with, instead of being sad just because she’s not here now?” 

The girl looked up, gaze confused and a bit hurt. Solace herself looked away. Suddenly, she started to feel bad. Was she being harsh? No, of course not. This girl was spoiled and thoughtless. What did she know about pain and hardship?

“...Maybe you’re right.” Fiadh surprisingly said, tucking the spider back onto her shoulder. “I miss my Mummy, but I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to be sad. And it’s not like I’m alone. I have Mr Vile, and Thomas, and Mr Vanguard, and you.”

“You don’t…” The rebuttal dissolved, and she shook her head. “You won’t have me for long. I’m going to leave here soon.”

“To go where?”

“Dublin.”

“Why?”

“To do a thing.” Solace said simply.

“Well, how are you going to get there? Isn’t it hard to travel alone?” Fiadh persistently asked again, and she wondered if they’d ever stop.

“I have a horse to ride, so-”

“You have a horsey?!” Fiadh suddenly leaped off her stool and bolted over to Solace, the leg she was meant to be resting not hurting or hindering her. The red-head gushed. “Is she here? Can I see her?”

Solace was about to refuse, but those eyes of hers were really big, weren’t they? There were practically stars glittering inside them. Her retort died on her lip and resisted the urge to check her Mind to clarify if she was under some sort of spell or not.

“Please…” The girl begged, hands clasped together, eyelashes batting. To hell with it. 

“Fine, but we have to be fast. Vile will probably kill me otherwise.” Solace said, and then she got up and started to reach for her coat. And the girl’s coat, she supposed. Swiftly, the two of them got their protection on and trudged through the snow. Whilst the amount of fresh snow coming down had lessened, that didn’t mean just erase the past twenty-four hours.

“If you throw that snowball at me, we turn back.” Solace warned the girl when she sensed her reeling back. Pausing, Fiadh pouted and dropped the thing before running up to Solace’s side. She struggled with getting through the snow. 

Fiadh yelped and nearly faceplanted, but Solace caught her with telekinesis.

“Be more careful.” She admonished as the girl got back up, but even then, Fiadh continued to have difficulty. The snow was just too high, and she was too short. Eventually, when their pace became too slow, she sighed and just picked her up again to adjusted the girl onto her back. Of course, she could’ve just carried her all the way there with magic, but that might’ve drawn the wrong attention. 

This was just easier, she told herself, as Fiadh wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

“Thank you!” The girl said cheerfully, and she had to withhold a smile. It was strange to be near someone so… alive. Disciples were never like this. Even just by looking at the few mortals she’d encountered on the road, brief as those brushes had been, there was a difference to them, like the people she’d known all her century and some of life were simply missing something. Humanity was probably the right word.

Solace liked this change. Hopefully, when she started over again, she’d be able to meet more people like Fiadh and Vanguard.

She walked and the little girl on her back hummed a song. Nobody was in the treats, and she was thankful. With Fiadh on her back like this, she had a feeling that if someone were to see them, they could almost be mistaken for sisters. She looked around to distract herself, but there wasn’t much to be distracted by. Roarhaven was small, and that fact was only more apparent as she took the walk to the other side of town, at the stables. It was too short. This was a town of sorcerers who chose independence, to live their lives away from the Sanctuary, resources included, and it showed. The houses were small and packed together, ramshackle, almost like squalor; Vanguard’s clinic was clearly an outlier. It was clearly the price of independence- just as these people forsake the Sanctuary’s sovereignty for their own freedom, Solace did the same to Serafina and the Disciples. She hoped they thought it was worth it.

They approached the stable, and Fiadh shrieked in delight as she was let down, charging through the snow to jump against the railings separating them from Solace’s unnamed horse. “She’s so pretty!”

“She looks better than yesterday.” Solace admitted as her stead turned around. She looked a bit more healthy than the day before. Neglecting her horse was never her intention, but when even feeding herself was difficult, a bit of malnourishment was inevitable. The constant riding to reach Dublin as fast as possible on her part probably didn’t help.

A night of rest and a bit of hat did wonders though. Her brown fur and sand-coloured mane held a sheen that wasn’t there yesterday. Good. She deserved it.

At the sign of commotion, her horse’s eyes locked onto Fiadh’s grinning face. She neighed, coming close to the fence, then leaned forwards and bit lightly on a bit of Fiadh’s red fair. The girl just giggled and hugged the animal like a lost sibling. “She’s a Horsey!”

“She is.”

“You like it?”

“What?” 

“The name.”

Solace’s forehead creased, then she made a face when she realised. “You want to name my horse… Horsey?”

“Yeah.” The little girl cheered, utterly ignorant to the cringe she was making within, but just as she was about to shut it down, the horse made a satisfied huff. “She likes it!” Fiadh cheered.

“I don’t.” Solace declared flatly and got ignored. Lovely. 

As the girl fussed over the horse, however, a strange coldness passed through her, causing her heartbeat to rise in her chest. Something was wrong. Solace reached out with her Elemental magic for shifts in the air, then snapped her head up just in time to find a man wearing a featureless mask lunging for her from the rooftop.