Chapter 3 of 35 · Book 3, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Chapter 3 — Messages from deceased Crawlers

Book: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook · Previous: Chapter 2 — Transfer station 83 · Next: Chapter 4 — Limp Richard's books · Floor: Floor 4 — The Iron Tangle · Series: the series

Opening

» Entering The Royal Palace of Princess Donut.

Summary

The Royal Palace of Princess Donut: an airplane hangar of a room, doors placed by thought, a restroom, a kitchen with nothing in it, the crafting studio, the training room, and — because the space is level five — a door marked Manager. Mordecai croaks with relief: his own room, no more teleporting. Carl sleeps two hours in Donut's room with Bea's photograph on the bedside table and wakes fully rested (Well-Rested!, +10% to everything for thirty hours). Mordecai's schedule on a whiteboard: wake, eat, buffs, one hour of training a day, crafting, then the tracks. Katia reports the Daughters are at a different station 83 on the Orange and Indigo lines; Mordecai arrived at station 317 on Yellow, Emerald and the Misery — the first entries in his map.

The recap show (trains, disasters, REDACTED where the floor is explained) then reads the top ten with clips: Elle McGibbons is a Frost Maiden, level 17; Li Jun a Street Monk; Ifechi, a healer, travels with Florin; Prepotente is third. The daily announcement: no going down early this floor — the stairwells open six hours before collapse; patron bidding is active; hunting season is open on the leaderboard, with 10% of your own bounty paid if you survive; and 'quit sucking.' Then a folder Carl has never seen before — Messages from deceased Crawlers — and Brandon's last message from the third floor, holding a line against Shade Gremlins twenty minutes from a stairwell: he fought with Chris, Chris left and, Brandon thinks, blocked him, and 'tell him I love him. That's the most important part.' Carl slides to the floor. 'Fuck off, Mordecai.' He goes into the training room and beats his knuckles on wooden dummies. 'You will not break me.'

Characters

• Carl — Homeowner; two hours of sleep; reads Brandon's death message and trains bare knuckles in a rage.
• Princess Donut — Names the palace; makes Carl sleep in her room with the cat tree and Bea's photo.
• Mordecai — His own door at last; the daily schedule on a whiteboard; the map of lines begins.
• Katia Grim — Relays the Daughters' position; trains Catcher.
• Brandon — Dead on the third floor; a last message asking Carl to find Chris.
• Chris — Left his brother's party; alive, and not taking Brandon's messages — blocked, Brandon thinks.
• Elle McGibbons — Tenth on the leaderboard: a Frost Maiden Blizzardmancer.
• Li Jun and Zhang — Ninth; Li Jun a Street Monk, shown with Zhang and his sister.
• Li Na — In Li Jun's clip: an odd, demon-like race who fights with chains.
• Ifechi — Eighth: a Physicker, the sole survivor of a soldiers' party, now with Florin.

Locations

• The Royal Palace of Princess Donut — The Royal Palace of Princess Donut, laid out room by room.
• The Iron Tangle — Station numbers repeat across lines; a different 83 on Orange and Indigo.

Motifs

• The leaderboard — Populated on screen: Lucia Mar 1,000,000 down to Elle 100,000; hunting season.
• The show — The recap's history of trains; REDACTED for the floor rules.
• Meadow Lark (party) — Brandon's last stand; Imani, Elle and the rest got away; Chris left with a few of the men, all dead now but him.
• 'You're not going to break me' — Said into the training room after Brandon's message.
• Achievements — Well-Rested!