| “ | Go on, get help. Tell them you couldn’t tie up a weakling boy and a no-handed woman by yourself. Or come in here, and I will tie “you” up. | ” |
–Luguselwa baiting Gunther to come into her cell in The Tower of Nero. | ||
Luguselwa is a Gaul employed by Nero as a part of Triumvirate Holdings.
History[]
At one point in her life, Luguselwa was saved by Nero, who she would later serve. Later on in her employment she trained and became the legal guard of Meg McCaffrey. She performed parental tasks such as taking Meg to the doctor and signing permission slips, as well as helping her fake the deaths of those Nero wanted her to kill and released them afterwards with Nero suspecting nothing.
The Trials of Apollo[]
The Tower of Nero[]
Luguselwa and a team of seven Germani hide as Amtrak workers on a train Apollo and Meg take from Washington, D.C. to New York City. After the two are taken into their custody she tells them to use the bathroom when they enter New York. They do so and she and Meg have a mock sword fight as Apollo holds the doors closed and separates the car from the rest of the train. She guides the two through the maintenance tunnels to avoid the cameras and gets a little lost along the way. They emerge from a manhole cover on the Upper East side and watches Apollo and Meg in confusion as they argue about going to Percy Jackson for help.
When they reach his apartment, they are greeted by Sally Jackson, Paul Blofis, and their daughter Estelle. When they learn the son of Poseidon has went west a few days before, she is adamant about leaving, until she smells lasagna and accepts an offer to stay for dinner. She is given an old shirt owned by Gabe Ugliano to wear while her clothes are washed. As Meg tells their hosts about their quest, she tells them about an underground entrance into the tower that a small team of demigods can infiltrate as Apollo and Meg turn themselves in as a distraction with the promise of her releasing them when the time is right. Apollo objects, but she says if he doesn’t find them he will destroy the city and anywhere there harbored. When Apollo asks how she will get Nero to still think she is on his side, she says he will push her off a building. The following morning she brings them to a building under construction across the street from one of Nero’s properties. She tells them she and the daughter of Demeter will have a mock fight for a few minutes before Apollo pushes her off the roof. She elaborates on the capture by explaining the holding cells are close to the vault housing Nero’s Fasces. She gives Meg a coin for the Chariot of Damnation before they put their plan in motion. Things start out okay, but she quickly gives into a killer instinct and slashes Apollo’s forehead and stabs the daughter of Demeter in the thigh. Apollo’s strength returns and he throws her ten blocks before the Gaul lands on a car. She is brought before Nero on a stretcher, who quickly forgives her for “failing” and orders eleven of his children to be ready to burn New York in forty eight hours.
When the time comes Nero reveals he knows about her treachery and, after revealing his plan to burn the city and have his children replace the Olympians and, orders one of his adoptive children to chop off her hands, which he reluctantly does. She is bandaged and ordered to be locked in a cell with Apollo as the daughter of Demeter is “re-educated”. Her leg braces are removed and her wrists are poorly wrapped as she is thrown into a holding cell with Apollo. She develops a fever and Apollo gets to work saving her. She is knocked out with chloroform as he cauterizes her wounds and summons his power to heal her. She stabilizes a few hours later and asks Apollo about Meg. Gunther soon arrives with lunch and informs the two they will be tortured later that night. They eat their lunch, with the Gaul feeding herself as best as she can. She explains that, if Nero hadn’t caught on, she would have disabled the security system and taken them to the vault. When Apollo asks about the guardian, Lu says she saw it when Nero had it put in and never wants to see it again. She suggests Apollo use his dreams to gather intelligence on the situation, as she guesses they have eight hours to go, and falls asleep. She wakes up before Apollo and, when Gunther brings them dinner with metal eating utensils, she does what she can to tie a for and knife to each stump. When Apollo wakes up he improves on her work and tells her about what he saw. When he finishes she informs him she has a plan. They smear the floor by the doorway with ointment and when Gunther comes to bring them to the party, they trick him into coming into the cell and when he slips, they use him as a bridge before he is pinned down by the door. They make their way to the prisoner’s weapons closet and, after Apollo finds his things, she tells him to find the daughter of Demeter as she goes to confront the Leontocephaline to give it her immortality so they can destroy the fasces.
Her plan works and she gets the fasces, on her way to the throne room she meets up with Will Solace, who changes her bandages and attaches daggers to her stumps, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who she hands the fasces over to, and Screech-Bling, who has just disabled the Sassinid Gas pumps, and they make their way to the throne room. When Nero sees his fasces, he begs them not to destroy it and they tell him to surrender. As Nero orders his forces to attack, she slashes away at them and watches as Apollo revokes Nero’s immortality and the emperor dies. When Apollo leaves to fight Python, she remarks that he is is a worse state then her as he goes over to Nero’s adoptive children.
Two weeks later she relocates to Aeithales with the imperial children and is given a pair of mechanical hands by the Hephaestus Cabin. When Apollo visits she greets him before going back to putting together a rocking chair.
Appearance[]
Luguselwa is a muscular woman with tattooed arms and a partially shaved head.
After her treachery is revealed to Nero, her hands are chopped off as punishment. They are replaced with a pair of prosthetic hands she received from Cabin 9.
Personality[]
Luguselwa is a fierce warrior and a kind friend. She is also driven and intuitive, being able to use utensils as improvised weapons.
Abilities[]
- Prowess in Battle: Luguselwa has centuries of battle training behind her. Being skilled various forms of armed and unarmed combat. Even after her hands were amputated, she is a skilled fighter and a dangerous opponent.
Etymology[]
- Luguselwa means "beloved of the god Lugus" in the ancient language of the Gaul people, as stated by Apollo, who later also confirmed the existence of the ancient Celtic Deities and referred to them as "a strange, fierce bunch".
Trivia[]
- She likes lasagna and cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches.