Chapter 29 of 48 · Book 1, Dungeon Crawler Carl

Chapter 29 — Odette off air

Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl · Part: The Second Floor · Previous: Chapter 28 — The green room · Next: Chapter 30 — Floor two · Floor: Floor 2 — The Second Floor · Series: the series

Opening

The lights of the studio flipped all the way on, and the audience snapped away.

Summary

Off air, Odette takes off her head. The mantis skull is a helmet, the breasts are attached to the desk, the crab is a fresh one killed for each taping, and the woman underneath is sixty, human, legless from a Fiend Scythe on the eleventh floor, floating on a disc. She reached the thirteenth floor's stairwell and took a deal instead. She was Mordecai's trainer, and wants him told to seek her out when this is over.

Her advice: Donut must stay a cute cat; loot is not random — 'if you want pants, you should probably stop bitching about not having them'; Mordecai's contract only counts if a crawler reaches floor four; never trust anyone whose motivations aren't clear. Asked her own: 'The longer you stay alive, the more money I make.'

Characters

• Odette — The real Odette; the eleventh-floor story; the advice.
• Carl — Asks about the drugged treats and her motives.
• Princess Donut — Wearing off, finding the invisible wall.
• Mordecai — Discussed: her trainee, his contract.

Locations

• Production trailers — The studio with the audience switched off.

Motifs

• Loot boxes — 'It's even written into the rules.' The belt that let her take a crab's legs.
• Borant — 'Mud skippers' — the slur, and the bankruptcy.
• Entertainment as machinery — 'This is a for-profit venture in the entertainment industry.'