Tsarina Signet

60^B2C6

Build:

About five and a half feet tall, an extra-thin, humanoid elf-naiad hybrid with long pointed ears, short horns, sharpened fangs, and mildly luminescent skin. Reminds Carl of Lexis, Odette's production assistant^B2C6

Tattoos:

Covered head to toe in thick-lined, old-school tattoo art, mostly Asian and nautical monsters: Oni, small dragons, sharks, octopuses, a three-headed ogre sharpening a curved sword. The tattoos are alive, twirling around each other and rippling her skin, one pausing at one point to look at Carl and hiss^B2C6

Unmarked Skin:

With her tattoos cast off her body as minions, her bare skin glows white, her nakedness starker now that her only adornment is the thong; a very slight blue shimmer, almost like fine scales too small to see, and her face, freed of the tattoos' constant motion, reads easier. Carl can finally see the half sea creature she is^B2C9

The Nothing, after the self-sacrifice that breaks the Masquerade seal^B5C74

Ballroom A at the Butcher's Masquerade, after Apito brings her from the castle dungeon^B5C67

Her jungle camp north of Point Mongo, with roughly seventy forest allies^B5C15

Walking north through the jungle with Carl, Donut, Clint's group, and Nadine^B5C14

Outside Point Mongo near its northern bridge, seeking Carl with Areson and Clint's group^B5C13

Waiting right outside the big top's tunnel exit, polishing a spot on the massive calliope, tattoos already back on her skin; walks into the tent herself once Carl un-bans her, the chapter ending before she gets any further^B2C11

Casts her nightly summon from the second floor of a building across the intersection where Heather dies, then leads her army of Blood and Ink Elementals from there through the circus's outer defenses to the base of the big top, where the assault stalls as always^B2C9

The bottom floor of her own building, an empty shell with broken walls on three of its four sides, then the street outside where Heather lies captive; her building is close enough to the circus that its bottom floor sits practically outside^B2C8

A tall white building near something she calls 'the vine,' close enough that the circus can no longer relocate away from it; points it out from the street after her summon fails^B2C7

Standing alone in a darkened street outside the collapsed building Carl and Donut fell into, near Grimaldi's Traveling Circus^B2C6

Recruit Carl and Donut to help destroy the Naiad Confederacy and the High Elves^B5C14

Nightly, and unchanged for who knows how long: push her summoned army through the circus's defenders to the big top, then stall at its magically protected exterior, which bars her and her minions alike. Tonight, for the first time, she has a ticket-holding crawler who can go inside in her place^B2C9

The Vengeance of the Daughter:

Assault Fort Freedom, kill the Naiad Confederacy's leaders, and reclaim her mother's crown or establish a proper government^B5C15

Ink Marauder: Draws a monster on paper, casts a blood sacrifice on it, and the drawing animates; certain classes, Signet's included, tattoo the monsters onto their own skin instead, letting their own blood keep the minions alive on her flesh until she casts them loose to fight as flat, two-dimensional versions of themselves^B2C9

Water Lily: Heirloom magic taught to her by her naiad mother, called the strongest kind; puts a target to sleep until Signet herself cancels it. If Signet dies first, the sleeping target dies with her^B2C8

Carl:

Calls him an old friend and lets him decide Bravvo's fate after the hunter is captured^B5C13

Nearly attacks him on sight when he staggers out infested, hands glowing yellow, until he explains he isn't family and can still hear Grimaldi. Warns she'll have to kill him if the worms win. Confirms Donut wakes at sunrise, thanks him, says she doesn't know if they'll meet again, and enters the tent once his mouth un-bans her^B2C11

Promises again, in three words, to free Donut if Carl dies inside the big top; warns him the battle squad will only hold for thirty minutes before it fades^B2C10

Thanks him for freeing Heather, calling her family; orders him to follow her army toward the circus and find a Big Top Ticket to go inside where she and her minions can't, and break the three tent poles, one per ring, to bring down the magic protecting Grimaldi in the center ring^B2C9

Ambushes him the moment he tries to leave the floor for good, stunning, paralyzing, and knocking him out; holds a sleeping Donut hostage under Water Lily as leverage and forces him to promise, again, to help her tonight, specifically by killing Heather himself once her own summoning spell is cast^B2C8

Summons six Mold Lions meaning for one of them to kill him and complete a blood sacrifice; the plan fails when he comes through unscratched. Confirms, once he works it out, that he was meant to be the sacrifice all along, since her charm was only ever meant to keep him near her long enough to die defending her. Agrees to meet him and Donut again the following night, an hour after sundown, once she's already finished her nightly summon^B2C7

Charms him with an ambient effect the moment he lays eyes on her; he breaks it by fracturing his own finger on Mordecai's advice. Approaches to say she watched her 'former family' attack them and wanted to check they were okay, then signals the circus to open its animal cages the moment he tries to leave^B2C6

Donut:

Puts her under Water Lily as a hostage, kept asleep on a rotting chair in her own building; warns Carl that pulling her out of place drains her health, and that Donut dies instantly if Signet herself dies first^B2C8

Reaches out to pet her; Donut pulls back with a growl and refuses to engage, too frightened to even examine her properties^B2C6

Mongo:

Cages him alongside Donut, unharmed; Carl frees him from the cage once he's allowed in to see them^B2C8

Pats him on the head while he sits charm-slack in Carl's arms; he snaps out of it and growls once Donut does^B2C6

Grimaldi:

Calls out past Carl toward the tent, angry an outsider was sent rather than family ("This is who you send, Redstone?"). By chapter's end, words addressed to her as "my love" come out of Carl's own mouth, un-banishing her from the tent for what may be the last time either of them sees the other^B2C11

Still refers to preparing his nightly defense, per her own words to Carl ("Do you think Grimaldi would prepare such a defense each night for something other than a real threat?"); banished herself from the tent that protects him in the center ring, unable to enter, and her minions can't either^B2C9

The man she loved, per her own words; offers to tell 'the sad tale of Signet the Bastard and Grimaldi' over a drink, not yet told^B2C7

Heather:

Tonight's intended Blood Magic sacrifice, captured before and always used as the killer rather than the loser of the forced fights her ritual requires, so never yet actually killed for her blood; orders Carl to finish her off once she wakes and the summon is cast^B2C8

Katia Grim:

Cites the still-unresolved storyline, unspecified further, as one of the reasons she thinks Carl and Donut already have too much on their own plate for the next floor^B4C33

Areson the Wise:

Travels with Areson as one of the Elites seeking Carl^B5C13

Clint Smashgrab:

Joined forces with Clint and his brothers against their common enemy^B5C13

Chee:

Recruits their transformed survivors, Clint's group and Nadine, against their common enemy^B5C14

Imogen:

Names her half-sister and High Elf ruler as one of the two cancers she intends to destroy^B5C14