Spirits of the Tar-Spire

When a submerged holo-projector glazes a prehistoric stilt city in invincible hard-light ancestor holograms who demand micromanagement of daily tribal life, four beleaguered clan representatives must work together to short out the generator before they are nagged to extinction.

When shaman Brandcombe dropped his lucky bone into the sacred tar pit, he expected a blessing. He did not expect twelve-foot-tall, glowing, invincible "ancestors" to march out of the muck and demand to see everyone's residential permits. The hard-light figures can deflect mammoth-ivory axes with a smirk, but worse, they won't stop managing things. They've banned weapon-sharpening during quiet hours, put the warband chiefs on mandatory remedial teamwork workshops, and locked the fishing docks behind glowing barriers because nobody is wearing approved buoyancy vests. To save their way of life, Gougerow, Thatchwick, Brandcombe, and Miltrow must wage an underground war of sabotage against unkillable, patronizing light-ghosts and drown the master crystal in boiling asphalt.