Gogi's Gambit

# Blurb

Caldera always existed in harmony between the creatures who walk by day and those who walk by night—until an ancient evil awakened. In the year since the Shadowwalkers' narrow escape from the Ant Queen, the ants' destruction has only spread.

Gogi, a Shadowwalker monkey still learning to wield his fire powers, embarks on a quest with his friends—including a healing bat, an invisible panther, and a tree frog who controls the winds—for a powerful object that can harness the magic of the eclipse to defeat the Ant Queen.

But with just weeks before the next eclipse, Gogi must race to prove that he can control the mighty depths of his talent if he is to protect his friends, save the rainforest, and return home unsinged.

# Plot

Beginning in Sorella the uakari monkey's point of view, she intercepts Banu the sloth on his way to the ziggurat ruins for the shadowwalker meeting. Both of them were a part of the eclipse-born at the Ziggurat a year before. After a brief conversation in which Banu mentions his newly discovered waterpower, the sloth continues on. Sorella is then approached by the Ant Queen with the options to join her or die. Sorella gives her answer, and consequentially dies from the poisonous stings of the Ant Queen's army.

Gogi and his friend Alzo find a large swath of ruin near their troop's home. Billions of ants are ravaging the rainforest, bringing down trees and destroying vegetation. After failing to convince his troop leader about the seriousness of the threat, Gogi packs his woven fiber bag and heads toward the ziggurat ruins for the shadowwalker meeting. He makes it there ahead of everyone else, aside from Rumi who was the only one to stay to study more of the ziggurat's carvings. Through their conversation, Rumi explains that the next lunar eclipse is coming. And with it, a burst of magical energy like the one that created the shadowwalkers. Mez, Lima, and Chumba are next to arrive, and they gather with Rumi and Gogi to discuss. Rumi tells them about the magic lens, a clear framed stone that can concentrate the magic in an eclipse and destroy the Ant Queen. Unfortunately, its location is unknown. Unexpectedly, Sky shows up. Everyone prepares to attack the traitorous macaw, but Rumi intervenes. The frog already spent time with Sky and grew to trust him. Everyone else reluctantly allow Sky to lead them to an old creature called "the boto" who may have information on the lens, not before leaving directions to where they're going for any of the other shadowwalkers if they arrive.

The group meet the boto and learn from her the location of the lens, which is hidden in the Cave of Riddles. They also learn of the Dismal Bog, the only place ants will avoid. The group decides that Sky and Rumi are to go to the Cave of Riddles, and the rest are to investigate The Dismal Bog. Sky's powers have advanced, so he leaves the bog team one of his feathers to communicate and stay in touch. The group splits up. The bog group stop to pick up lyre sap that can protect them from the Dismal Bog before carrying on. They speed up their travel by taking a ride on giant, floating monguba seeds. Unable to wait, Gogi consumes his lyre sap before landing in the Dismal Bog. Having drifted far away from his friends, Gogi starts wandering. He finds a strange female capuchin monkey who he follows to two pieces of fungus-covered wood that are seemingly important according to the stranger. Just as Gogi realizes she is his deceased mother, she disappears. Bringing the wood with him in his bag and fighting against the effects of the bog now that the lyre sap is wearing off, Gogi comes upon Lima. The bat is within the thrall of the Dismal Bog, unable to escape the nightmare in her head. Carrying her in his bag, Gogi finds Mez and Chumba in the same state. Spurred on by his own terrifying hallucinations, Gogi races out of the bog, adrenaline lending him strength to drag the panthers out with him.

After they test the wood from the Dismal Bog on the ants, resulting in them becoming infected and killing each other, the group take the rest of the fungus with them in the direction they believe the Ant Queen is in. They are confronted by Mist, now an ally of the Ant Queen with limited control over ants. He captures them with the threat of the ants' sting and leads them towards his queen. Banu the sloth appears when they are not far from their destination. He rescues them by using a nearby water source to wash away the ants, also interrupting Mist's control over them for the moment. The white panther runs away after a threat from Gogi. The group meets up with Banu and together they head towards the mountain where the Ant Queen resides. They come upon more of the Ant Queen's allies, who run away to warn her. Leaving slow Banu behind to catch up, the group gives chase as the lunar eclipse begins. While Mez and Chumba get into a fight with one of the Ant Queen's allies, Lima helps Gogi drop the fungus wood on the Ant Queen laying eggs on top of the mountain. She responds by killing both healthy and infected ants alike to halt the spread of the sickness. Gogi attempts to use his fire to attack the Ant Queen, but she brings him to a void similar to the one she brought Mez to. She tries to get Gogi to join her as well when Sky breaks into the void and attacks her, freeing Gogi and bringing him back to the mountain. Sky continues to harry the Ant Queen while Rumi deceives Gogi into using the lens to resurrect Auriel. The now giant tree boa, strengthened by the magic given to him by Rumi, Gogi, Mez, Lima, and Sky, battles with the Ant Queen, incinerates her, and disappears in the chaos. Mist runs to where his queen once stood, straight into the magic that got loose in the aftermath. It seizes Mist and lifts him, causing him to disappear into the sky.

The group later find Auriel, reborn as a mute baby snake. After he joins them, Rumi and Sky share what they figured out during their trip to the Cave of Riddles. Caldera is the crater of a volcano that is about to erupt, and they must stop it. Just then, Banu finally catches up.