Book Three of the Dancing Gods series.
Macore starts out this tale by trying to steal a demon gem which results in the demon placing a spell on him that causes him to attempt to break into Ruddygore's vault and ending up trapped in the Magic Lamp. Meanwhile, Joe and Tiana are bored of being worshipped as gods and want some time off. So Ruddy enlists them and Marge, Macore, and Poquah on a mission to stop the Dark Baron and Dacaro the wizard who are causing problems on Earth. But first they must visit the oracle to receive his prophecy about their mission. Naturally they have lots of strange adventures on the trip to see the oracle and there is a lot of body switching. Joe ends up briefly as a nymph and Tiana becomes a mermaid.
The Baron was stripped of his magic abilities by Ruddy as punishment before being exiled to Earth but Dacaro is a skilled wizard and is becoming more skilled under the Baron's tutelage. They have established themselves as leaders of a religious cult and have a large congregation of fanatical and murderous followers.
Ruddygore will not be able to accompany Joe and Marge and the others in their quest to stop the Baron and Dacaro. Macore's task will be to get them past the guards and the guard dogs and the security equipment and into the Baron's stronghold in the forests of northern California. They will be joined on the way by two people from Earth, a New York pixie named Gimlet and a Catholic priest, Father O'Grady, who knows how to perform exorcisms but who has a serious drinking problem.
This was a more interesting story than the first two books in the series. The gang has lots of strange adventures in the first part of the book before they ever get to Earth. There are lots of body changes, so many that I lost track of who looked like what.
But the story bogs down a bit when they get to Earth. Chalker just skips over nearly all of their travels from west Texas to Northern California, a lost opportunity for some fun, in my opinion. But the story picks up again when they take on the two bad guys and their adherents. There is more body switching and Ruddygore makes a surprise entrance at the end.
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