Carl's Doomsday Scenario

The magistrate’s office is on the fourth floor of a large building. On their way, Carl and Donut see skyfowl, guards, and human NPCs. A human woman named Burgundy chats with them briefly. Finally, they reach the office where the magistrate’s secretary, an older skyfowl woman named Miss Quill, explains that the magistrate is not available, and they may not enter his office.

Carl notices Quill owns stuffed animals of varying colors and shapes displayed on shelves, some in individual glass boxes. He realizes that they are “the dungeon version of Beanie Babies” (220). Donut tries to convince Quill of the importance of their visit, but her Charisma and Charm spells do not work. Finally, Carl pulls the dead sex worker’s body from his inventory and drops it onto Quill’s desk, knocking over her shelves and dolls. Quill screams for guards. However, Carl showed them the body that morning, right after he found it, and displayed the Gate Pass to prove he had the right to move the corpse. They did not object when he put it in his inventory.

Carl demands to see the Magistrate, but Quill still insists he is not there, adding that he usually comes at night. Finally, Carl removes the body and even helps Quill fix the shelves before leaving. Carl and Donut agree to return at night and break in.

In the meantime, they decide to grind, or level up their power, in the ruins. They have time before their mid-floor interview. In the ruins, they find a defeated neighborhood boss, killed by crawler Daniel Bautista 2. Then, giant zombie-like mobs called Shambling Berserkers attack in force, led by two city elves. Overrun, Carl and Donut retreat toward the dead neighborhood boss while Carl throws dynamite. The explosion takes out the elves and half the monsters but also causes the boss’s body to explode, catapulting Carl’s body up onto the roof of a building and knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile, Donut and Mongo are unharmed but covered in guts and gore. Donut joins Carl on the roof and heals him, and they watch Mongo destroy the last of the monsters.

They are still covered in gore when they arrive in the production trailer for their interview and take quick showers in the facilities provided. A program assistant explains the show they will be on, Danger Zone with Ripper Wonton. One other crawler will be with them, and there will be other guests: Princess D’nadia of the Prism, who is a fan of theirs, and a famous singer named Manasa, who is contracted with the Valtay Corporation.

On the stage, they discover the other crawler with them is Hekla. She asks Carl and Donut to help one of her teammates who was separated on the floor change. Donut agrees. As the show proceeds, Donut entertains the audience by mocking another guest, an obnoxious comedian named Tucker who rants about complex politics concerning the Valtay and the Borant. Their host, Ripper, moves the conversation to the Skull Empire, mentioning that after Carl’s encounter with Prince Maestro, the empire’s people began to protest the money spent on dungeon games. Carl shocks everyone by encouraging people to fight to make their lives better, saying, “If you’re unhappy with your government, then kick them out and set up your own, one that represents the people’s best interests” (244).

Suddenly, everything shakes, and the studio feed cuts out. A moment later, it flickers back on. Ripper opens to audience questions, trying to keep the show going while his people learn what happened. One audience member asks Hekla if she regrets abandoning her husband when they entered the dungeon. Hekla insists that he was going to get them both killed. Another audience member asks Donut if she would leave Carl if they find Beatrice alive in the game. Donut insists they would all work together, and Carl does not remark.

Finally, Ripper announces that an explosion caused the feed disruption. Crown Prince Stalwart of the Skull Empire bombed Manasa’s production trailer from a ship in orbit, killing her. However, the intended target was Carl and Donut, as their trailers were switched at the last minute. Ripper displays a message from Stalwart, who claims that he intended to kill Carl in response to his seditious remarks on the show. Moments later, a second report states that the Valtay Corporation has retaliated on Manasa’s behalf. However, Prince Stalwart was not on the Skull Empire ship. Prince Maestro and King Rust’s Queen Consort were on board and are now dead.

The show ends. Speaking over chat for privacy, Carl tells Donut that they were set up. Stalwart planned that attack well in advance and not in response to Carl’s comments on the show moments before. Stalwart was already planning to kill them and used his comments as an excuse. Whoever decided to switch their trailer with Manasa’s likely set Stalwart up as well. The Skull Empire was an ally to the Valtay in their continued conflict with the Borant, but now they may go to war over this, and the Borant system benefits from that split.

Back at the inn, Mordecai forbids Carl from making any more comments about any political entity outside the dungeon ever again. He is concerned that King Rust may try to have them assassinated in the game. Carl decides to investigate the 201st Security Group.

The group headquarters is a building that shares a wall with an apartment where dwarven children run and play in the street. One boy has a salamander tied to a stick. The city elves guarding the entrance to their headquarters chase the children off by throwing rocks, and the kids scatter, leaving the salamander behind, which Mongo eats as they walk by.

Carl and Donut try to talk to the city elves. The elves call Donut the Oak Fell, their version of the antichrist. Carl realizes that they are afraid of the Enchanted Anklet of the Fallen Oak Donut wears, which she took from the tree-like crawler. He asks the elves if they think Donut is the Oak Fell because she is wearing the anklet, and they confirm it.

The elves prepare to attack. Then the dwarven children and their pregnant mother appear again. The dwarf mother, Eunice, hits the lead elf with a rolling pin. At the same time, Mongo throws up the salamander he ate, and the oldest child, Ricky Joe, yells. The elves attack the dwarf mother, and the guards move in, swords raised to kill her for being the instigator. Carl punches the guard. Now, all the guards have marked him as a troublemaker and will attack him on sight. Ricky Joe attacks Mongo for eating his salamander, and Mongo bites off his arm.

Carl calls out a play to Donut. He lights a boom jug and tosses it. Donut casts Puddle Jumper, pulling Carl, Donut, Mongo, and Ricky Joe to safety on a nearby roof. The explosion kills the city elves and burns the building down. Eunice and her other children are far enough away to avoid the blast. Carl heals Ricky Joe, stopping the bleeding. Then, Mongo throws up the boy’s arm.

They must wait until the guards leave for the night before they can leave their hiding place. While they wait, Carl asked Ricky Joe questions. He says that the city elves often have women visitors, as well as a skyfowl woman who only visits after dark. Carl now suspects that Quill, not Featherfall, is responsible for the sex workers’ deaths. Finally, they can safely leave the building. Ricky Joe returns to his family. Carl and Donut return to the inn.

There, they find Mordecai speaking with another crawler, the member of Brynhild’s Daughters that Hekla asked them to help. Her name is Katia, and though her race is listed as human, her face looks wrong and unsettling. Mordecai explains that she is a doppelganger, which allows her to emulate other races. However, she must shape her appearance and has not learned accuracy yet. Mordecai, whose race during his dungeon experience was changeling, offers to help her learn. Her class is Monster Truck Driver, which gives her “massive constitution and good dexterity” but low stats in everything else (277).

Katia passes on a message to Carl and Donut from Hekla, who asks them to help Katia gain experience and keep her out of danger until they can meet up again. Carl and Donut add Katia to their party. Then the recap episode begins. It shows a clip of Donut, drunk in the Desperado Club, insulting Lucia Mar and her two rottweilers. Then it shows Lucia Mar on an interview show earlier that day, saying “I will find this Donut in the dungeon, where her death will be forever […] And then I will rip Carl to pieces and take all his shiny toys” (280). Donut does not recall her drunken ranting and complains that she does not want to fight Lucia Mar and her dogs. Mordecai remarks that the game AI will find a way to throw them together now.

Carl and Donut prepare to break into the Magistrate’s office. A flashback reveals that earlier in the day, Mordecai discovered that the Mysterious Letter in their possession has been spelled so that the caster can see where they are and hear what they say when they have it in their hands. Additionally, when they previously entered the Magistrate’s building and knocked over Quill’s shelves, Carl secretly planted dynamite among them.

Now they enact their plan: Removing the letter from inventory, Carl and Donut perform a prepared dialogue claiming that they intend to break into the Magistrate’s office from the roof to steal valuables they might be able to sell. Soon after, four krasue fly to the roof to wait for them. Then Donut uses Clockwork Triplicate to make copies of Mongo, giving one the letter to hold in his mouth before it jumps to the roof to make it look like they are all headed that way. A swarm of krasue move to intercept. With the decoy planted, Carl detonates the dynamite hidden in Quill’s shelves.