Chapter 29 of 35 · Book 3, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Chapter 29 — The Bolt of Ophiotaurus

Book: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook · Previous: Chapter 28 — Plan C · Next: Chapter 30 — The Syndicate logo · Floor: Floor 4 — The Iron Tangle · Series: the series

Opening

» Time to Level Collapse: One day and 16 hours.

Summary

One day and sixteen hours. Bautista's sponsor is Jaxbrin Amusements — the makers of Miss Quill's beanie babies: pull the tag like a grenade and a real monster is summoned for fifteen seconds to two hours, the rarer the longer, and a few will turn on you. He has used forty of her thousand; five legendary ones sit in Sheol Glass Reaper Cases he dares not open. Carl's stuffed Kimaris is Unique. 'You can't rely on somebody else's goodwill to keep you supplied.' Tizquick now stands vigil at station 60 guiding crawlers between lines; two 72s and maybe a 12 have blown; the crawler count, 275,000, seems too high for the people anyone can find, and Katia keeps saying they are missing something — 'I don’t understand how there can only be six station mimics.' Sandwiched between two abyss portals on the zomp line, past a station 24 thick with dog-sized Krakaren young, to a Costa Rican saferoom at 59.

Katia's fan box: a Shade Gnoll Riot Forces riot shield ('Get Back'; +5% constitution, Rooted in Place, Rush upgraded to Crowd Blast — a cone, once every five minutes instead of once a day) and a telescoping baton with Cone of Knockback. 'This is like getting an electric litterbox for your birthday' — which is what Carl bought Bea, and what Bea asked for. She gives Carl her Auto Buckler of the Peach Pit with its Shatter enchantment. Her benefactor box from Princess Formidable — Maestro and Stalwart's youngest sister — holds a single crossbow bolt: the Bolt of Ophiotaurus, 1 of 100, which pauses a deity's invulnerability for fifteen seconds if shot into its eye. 'I'm starting to think the sister isn't a huge fan of her big brother.' The recap: a station 48 boss eats twenty crawlers with a pincer of mouths; a new stairwell at 433 where the mimic was, spiralling up as well as down — 'If a city boss is sitting on a stairwell, it’s invisible on the map until he’s gone'; and Growler Gary's death filmed as horror, the rescue cut. The announcement: the next floor scatters everyone, only parties formed before this message travel together; chats go public now; and liquids can no longer be stored outside a container. Mordecai skids into the room, reads his notifications — 'Seven days?' — sees the two skulls, and Katia detonates: every gallon of blood she stored on the front of the train, in every direction, twenty seconds, not a drop on her. 'If you need to borrow a sanitary napkin, just ask.'

Characters

• Daniel Bautista — Jaxbrin Amusements; the beanie summons explained; a Sage Sprite named Atwin.
• Katia Grim — A riot shield and baton; Crowd Blast; one bolt for a god's eye; a blood bomb.
• Carl — Takes the buckler; reads the 433 stairwell; sees himself made a monster on the recap.
• Princess Donut — Electric litterbox; 150,000 gold of hats left on the ground.
• Mordecai — Back, blinking, and immediately drenched.
• Princess Formidable — Sends a bolt made for killing gods.
• Tizquick — Keeps vigil at 60, guiding crawlers.

Locations

• The Iron Tangle — A Costa Rican 'Soda' saferoom; two carts corking the zomp line.
• Terminus — A stairwell under 433, going up as well as down.

Motifs

• The gods — A bolt that opens a fifteen-second window in a god's invulnerability.
• The Skull Empire — Princess Formidable arms a stranger against her brother.
• The show — Growler Gary's killing framed as cruelty; the tribute cut; chats for sale.
• The stuffed figures — Miss Quill's stuffed monsters are true summonings.
• Bea — The litterbox she asked for.