Chapter 9 of 35 · Book 3, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Chapter 9 — The wheel of fortune

Book: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook · Previous: Chapter 8 — The Cookbook's first page · Next: Chapter 10 — Landmines on the ochre line · Floor: Floor 4 — The Iron Tangle · Series: the series

Opening

I was out of my chair, gauntlet forming before I realized what I was doing.

Summary

Carl is on the floor with the gauntlet forming before he thinks; the guards are stunned, not dead; the dead man was Ji-Hoon, twenty-five, a level-21 Knife Sharpener. Donut, drunk, sobbing: 'I’m sorry. Nobody is going to like me now.' The woman who cast the stun comes flying out of the crowd with Elle's icicle through her eye — a skull appears after Elle's name and she does not care: 'I get dibs on her gear.' Imani wraps them in her wings (Juiced, Shrouded, Trolled). Carl on Donut's grief: she never blinked at a trainload of monsters, but a person is different, and 'every day she was growing into a more and more complicated creature.' Astrid, a level-125 Bloodlust Sprite in a tuxedo, assistant manager, apologises for security's failure, refunds '400' of the 500 (Clarabelle skimmed), grants free security for good; Carl asks that Bomo and The Sledge be kept and not punished. Elle: 'Now that's what I call entertainment.'

Over Mordecai's map: Elle points out what he circled and Carl missed — the transfer stations are all prime numbers. Imani's team will scout a fifth station; Carl will get an engineer out of a locked engine. Most of the dead man's stat armour will go to Katia; he carried a dozen daggers, each differently enchanted, and the one in Donut's back had a 100% backstab bonus. Rogue guilds are opening (Dodge needs level 7). In the casino — jazz that might be Manasa, crocodilian guards, stairways down to the Hunting Grounds and to Larracos, 'the capital city of the disputed lands […] the prize over which the factions fight' from the ninth floor — Carl spends his 100,000 comp chip on Tito's wheel, where Nothing! is a trapdoor to something with claws. Spin Again, then the Scroll of Upgrade: his toe ring goes to +10 strength and Powerful Strike to 13. 'We're going to crash the shit out of a train.'

Characters

• Carl — Keeps the guards; reads Donut right; gambles the comp chip; Powerful Strike 13.
• Princess Donut — Sober potion; a Shirley Temple, no alcohol; 'What's a prime number?'
• Elle McGibbons — Kills the caster from behind; takes a skull without a flinch; sees the primes.
• Imani — Buffs the party with her wings; plans the fifth-station scout.
• Astrid — Assistant manager, Bloodlust Sprite, level 125; not a non-combatant.
• The Sledge — Spared and assigned; pats Donut.
• Bomo — Spared and assigned.
• Tito — Wheel croupier; 'the guy who will stab you.'

Locations

• The Desperado Club — Astrid's apology; the casino; stairs to the Hunting Grounds and Larracos.
• Larracos — The disputed capital the factions fight over from the ninth floor; below the club.

Motifs

• The Iron Tangle — Transfer stations are prime numbers.
• The leaderboard — 'You come for Donut or Carl, you come for all of us.'
• Carl's bare feet — The toe ring upgraded: +10 strength, Powerful Strike +5.
• Larracos — Larracos and the factions' war, glimpsed from a staircase.