Chapter 22

Chapter 22 — "(untitled)"

TL;DR: Martin and Phillip visit Jimmy’s rebranded London—now “Camelot”—and meet him in full Merlin pageantry, realizing the scale of his control.

Summary: Phillip jumps Martin to London’s gates, where crude wood-and-stone fortifications wear fresh, showy “Camelot” banners and repainted signboards—Jimmy’s edits pasted over medieval grime like a new UI skin. Trumpet fanfares and uniformed guards usher them through muddy streets brightened by pennons and a too-clean heraldic motif, all pointing toward a keep that’s been theatrically staged as a royal hall. Inside, Jimmy appears as Merlin—flowing robe, pointed hat, polished staff with a glowing tip—his smile half stage-magician, half sysadmin who has root. With a flick he live-edits the room—text on banners updates, torches shift to cold-white brilliance, a chair levitates—demonstrating that his macros are faster and broader than anything Martin has tried. He needles Martin by name, sets boundaries (“my city”), and makes it clear he is watching Leadchurch. Phillip keeps the parley short; they step back into daylight past the banners and the politely menacing guards, returning to Leadchurch with the image of a theme-park Camelot burned into Martin’s mind.

Key scenes:

• City gate of “Camelot” (London): repainted signage, fresh banners over weathered palisade; guards in matching tabards halt, then admit the “wizards.”
• Procession through the streets: muddy lanes under bright pennons, vendor stalls and thatch roofs framed by conspicuously tidy heraldry Jimmy has imposed.
• Audience in the great hall: Jimmy/Merlin on a small dais, staff orb glowing; he live-edits décor and lighting as a power flex and warns them off his domain.
• Exit under watch: Phillip and Martin leave past alert guards and a high banner that visibly updates text mid-flap, a final wink of control.

Characters present: Martin Banks, Phillip, Jimmy (as Merlin), unspecified in my training (re: King Arthur’s presence), unnamed Camelot guards

Locations / settings:

• Camelot/London gate: timber gatehouse, rough-hewn stone, fresh banners stapled over age and soot
• Streets of Camelot: thatch, mud, vendor carts, bright heraldic flags that look a shade too clean
• Great hall/keep: long tables, rushes underfoot, torches abruptly turned cool-white, a small dais for “Merlin”
• Courtyard exit: open sky, pennons snapping, guards with spears standing very still

Visual motifs:

• Pixel art, 8-bit-RPG framing; low horizon, hero center-low, distant keep silhouette
• Limited saturated palette: sky-blue, forest-green, sandy-ochre, charcoal, navy hat, yellow hair, dark teal, blue-grey, brown wood, glowing white highlights
• Heraldic reds and blues in blocky banners; Round Table-like emblem as a flat disk sprite
• Staff with a single white pixel orb; torches swapping to white “LED” glow as a gag
• Signboards whose text “updates” in terminal-green pixel glyphs over faux-parchment textures
• Guards in flat-color tabards; muddy street tiles contrasted with crisp banner tiles
• Poster-still staging: hall interior as a rectangular room with a centered dais, banners as repeating sprites
• Bright, flat daylight outside; interior light toggled to exaggerated white for Jimmy’s flex

Emotional tone: dazzled, uneasy, comedic, wary

Confidence: low — I recall the Camelot/Merlin reveal and a first confrontation, but specific staging and who else is present are unspecified in my training