Enchanted Repeating Crossbow of the Scavenger Mother of Mothers

The Enchanted Repeating Crossbow of the Scavenger Mother of Mothers is a unique, female-only ranged weapon first wielded by Hekla, then looted by Katia and transferred to Donut. Its unlimited stock ammunition, party-based scaling, and compatibility with specialized bolts make it a persistent weapon from the Iron Tangle through the confrontation with Emberus.

History

Hekla's weapon and Katia's inheritance

The crossbow is initially associated with Hekla, whose all-woman party maximizes its defining scaling rule. After Katia kills Hekla during the train betrayal, the weapon is nearly left outside the locked engine compartment. Katia successfully loots it before the opportunity closes and reveals it after the immediate crisis. The transfer is not a ceremonial inheritance: it is battlefield loot from the woman who attempted to sacrifice Katia. (Chapters 67 and 98)

The item's description presents it as the last guardian's gift from Nekhebit, a forgotten vulture goddess whose worshippers abandoned her for Apito. Whatever the underlying history, its mechanics explain Hekla's organization: each female party member adds damage and firing speed. Katia cannot reproduce the full Brynhild's Daughters multiplier, but the crossbow remains a fast, powerful repeating weapon. She uses its endless basic bolts against train attackers, pazuzu, and scorpions, while an encounter with an Extinction Sigil target shows that ordinary bolts can still be ineffective against a sufficiently resistant enemy. (Chapters 98, 103, 112, and 138)

Divine mystery and transfer to Donut

On the eighth floor, Pater Coal identifies the origins of Katia's crossbow as one of two item-based paths into the mystery involving Emberus, Geyrun, Apito, and the memorial crystal. The statement does not reveal a new mechanical power, and Carl remains uncertain whether the connection was planned from the beginning or imposed later by the System AI. The crossbow's narrative importance therefore expands without resolving its divine provenance. (Chapter 239)

Before Katia leaves the dungeon, she transfers the crossbow to Donut. Donut can carry the weapon—despite it being larger than her—by mounting it on Scorpion's Bite, which allows inventory loading and firing. She first demonstrates the combination against Huanxin Jinx with an ordinary bolt prepared by Mordecai, later loads a scarce Danforth bolt during the tenth-floor races, and finally uses the same platform to fire the Bolt of Ophiotaurus into Emberus's eye. Donut remains the last verified custodian. (Chapters 391, 412, and 492)

Abilities and properties

• It is a unique repeating ranged weapon with the Buffet enchantment, so it never runs out of basic ammunition. (Chapter 98)
• It can load and fire other ammunition types, but the crossbow's special bonuses apply only to its stock ammunition. Specialized bolts retain their own effects rather than gaining every crossbow modifier. (Chapter 98)
• Only a female wielder may use it. Carl receives an explicit rejection warning when he touches and examines it. (Chapter 98)
• For each female in the wielder's party, up to thirty, its damage and firing speed rise by 25 percent. Donut later confirms reduced output when she has no women in her current party. (Chapters 98 and 391)
• The wielder's combined Strength and level increase its base damage at 1.5 times the rate of a standard crossbow. While wielded, it grants +15 Dexterity and +10 Strength. (Chapter 98)
• Its stock ammunition casts Birth Defect on monster types that generate or give birth to additional monsters. The local corpus does not demonstrate the debuff's exact effect. (Chapter 98)
• Scorpion's Bite lets Donut carry, inventory-load, and fire the oversized weapon without ordinary humanoid handling, including precision use of Danforth and Ophiotaurus bolts. (Chapters 391, 412, and 492)

Ownership and custody