Chapter 43 of 48 · Book 1, Dungeon Crawler Carl

Chapter 43 — The Maestro explains himself

Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl · Part: The Second Floor · Previous: Chapter 42 — The Maestro's show · Next: Chapter 44 — What Donut overheard · Floor: Floor 2 — The Second Floor · Series: the series

Opening

“Uh, let’s now watch how our two guests escaped that safe room,” the Maestro said after th

Summary

During the escape replay the Maestro, muted, explains himself: royalty, whose family's Skull Clan has won six of the last ten Faction Wars, and who will be on the ninth floor — where the Blood Sultanate, Donut's house, is almost always the first of the nine eliminated. Then his surprise: Frank Q, one-handed and hollow, and Maggie My, and a recap that shows them murdering strangers with a teenage daughter watching, Maggie strangling that daughter after an explosion, and the explosion: Carl's dynamite, pulled out of a rat by Frank while Yvette stood behind him.

Maggie lunges with a dagger through the holo. 'I am going to find you, and I am going to watch you die. You and the fucking cat.' The parting gifts: tactical boots and socks in Carl's size, which he will never wear, and a Legendary Skill Potion that will let Maggie find any crawler by name. For the first time, the woman smiles.

Characters

• Prince Maestro — The Skull Empire boast; the boots; challenged to the ninth floor.
• Frank Q and Maggie My — Their real story; Maggie's vow; the Find Crawler potion.
• Yvette — Hurt by Carl's trap, killed by her mother.
• Rebecca W — Vindicated by the footage.
• Carl — 'I'm sorry about what happened to your kid. But fuck you.'
• Princess Donut — 'I'm not the one who went all danger dingo on my own kid.'

Locations

• Production trailers — The rental closet, still.

Motifs

• The Skull Empire — Faction Wars, the Skull Clan, 'we are of gods and royalty.'
• The Blood Sultanate — 'You idiots have been dead since the moment she put on that crown.'
• Carl's bare feet — The boots as a taunt.