Chapter 22 of 48 · Book 1, Dungeon Crawler Carl

Chapter 22 — The encampment

Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl · Part: The First Floor · Previous: Chapter 21 — Bitchmeat! · Next: Chapter 23 — Painting over the signs · Floor: Floor 1 — The Tutorial · Series: the series

Opening

“Let’s see if we can find who’s making these signs,” I said.

Summary

The encampment: forty blue dots, almost all level one, almost all elderly, in wheelchairs and walkers and blankets outside the boss gate. Brandon An, Chris Andrews 2, Yolanda Martinez and a silent, twelve-skulled Imani are the night staff of Meadow Lark, an eldercare facility in Wenatchee, evacuated into the street by a fire Agatha set, and pulled into the ramp the dungeon made for her shopping cart.

Most of the cops and firefighters with them went into the spiral and never came out; the ones who went looking for other stairs were picked off one by one. Thirty residents are having a party in a Waffle House and are not coming out. Carl looks at a Special Forces veteran bent double over his walker and decides: 'If I'm gonna die, I might as well do it in the pursuit of a worthy cause.'

Characters

• Brandon — Introduced: the hammer, the signs, the story.
• Chris — Brandon: 'Think of him as Silent Bob.'
• Yolanda Martinez — In scrubs, with a bow, moving among the residents.
• Imani — Level 10, twelve skulls, says nothing until 'And how are we going to do that?'
• Agatha — Introduced with her cart and her spray paint; the ramp story.
• Meadow Lark (party) — The whole party met.
• Carl — Recounts their story; commits to the boss.
• Princess Donut — 'Useless?'

Locations

• The spiral — The drawbridge gate and the courtyard.

Motifs

• Staying human — The four who did not leave their patients.
• The Syndicate — Mistress Tiatha's claim: bosses guard the stairs for the first floors.