Chapter 19 of 35 · Book 3, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Chapter 19 — Frank Q at the bar

Book: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook · Previous: Chapter 18 — The PVP coupon · Next: Chapter 20 — Planet Beautiful · Floor: Floor 4 — The Iron Tangle · Series: the series

Opening

» Time to level collapse: 4 days, 20 hours.

Summary

The Nightmare turned around on a sideways-T of track; the show delayed six hours; the train parked at station 41 (a Greek café saferoom). Meadow Lark rode the conveyor into Trainyard D, fought through the ghouls, and are holed up in its administrative building; Bautista's four hundred have neutralised the Kravyad's hypnosis with a 'Voca Nye' and now she is threatening to kill herself, with a former police negotiator talking through the door and half the group without hats. In the club Bomo has bought a shield spell to match The Sledge's; ten more contacts; and at the bar, drunk, one-handed, level 17, a Night Elf Blood Assassin in a Seahawks beanie: Frank Q. Maggie left him after the Maestro's show, took her own class without him, and, he thinks, blocked him; he sits at station 101 'gonna be brave this time. And more drunk.'

His revenge is a gift: the Enchanted Night Wyrm's Ring of Divine Suffering — +5% to every stat and the Marked for Death skill, which pays a permanent stat point for a marked crawler's death and forbids all healing until the mark dies. A jeweller offered 300,000 for it. He made Yvette wear it; Maggie chose the mark — Carl; the dynamite hurt her, and she could not heal while Carl lived. That is why her mother killed her. 'Sometimes parents can cast a shadow so thick, you can drown in it.' Customs Enforcement and Seattle PD, separated five years, in a sheriff's parking lot at two in the morning when the world sank; they went in fighting; Frank choked out the brother-in-law, and rat-kin killed him while he was unconscious. Maggie still has the Find Crawler potion. Donut returns from Penis Parade with a feather boa on The Sledge and a pin. 'I'm sorry your daughter had to die.' Carl puts the ring on his left index finger. 'Vengeance is mine.'

Characters

• Carl — Ten more contacts; sits an arm's length from Frank; takes the ring.
• Frank Q and Maggie My — Frank alone, a Night Elf, level 17, one hand; the ring's history; Maggie has the potion and a class. Named at last as the mark-bearer: why Maggie strangled her.
• Princess Donut — Tours the strip clubs with The Sledge; glares at Frank from The Sledge's shoulder.
• The Sledge — A cowboy hat and a boa from Penis Parade.
• Bomo — A shield spell he bought himself: 'I cast smack protect.'
• Daniel Bautista — The Kravyad neutralised and suicidal; a negotiator at the door.
• Imani — Meadow Lark rode the conveyor into Yard D and survived.

Locations

• The Iron Tangle — Everest, a Greek café; the Desperado Club where Frank drinks.
• The Desperado Club — Bitches and Penis Parade on floor one.

Motifs

• The Ring of Divine Suffering — Marked for Death: the ring that ruined Frank's family, now on Carl's hand.
• Staying human — 'He was one of us, and he'd turned against his own'; a father who made his daughter a weapon.
• The leaderboard — Bounties and coupons; Maggie 'more biblical.'