Chapter 33 of 35 · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

Chapter 33 — Phase three

Book: The Gate of the Feral Gods · Previous: Chapter 32 — Acolyte of Emberus · Next: Chapter 34 — Seeding the pond · Floor: Floor 5 — The Bubbles · Series: the series

Opening

<Note from Crawler Priestly.

Summary

Priestly's 14th-edition note describes Larracos: an inverted funnel of museums, colleges and theatres supposedly built by the Semeru dwarves, who, Priestly believes, tried to reach the Celestials and woke Scolopendra at the volcano's base; pleasure districts where the factions buy from the sixth floor's killers; crawlers and aliens alike expelled before the fighting, less than thirty hours off, and the city and every NPC destroyed by the end. His last entry was gibberish. Phase one works — one feral god too big for its bubble explodes, a giant turkey eats it, three real gods come and go — and phase two moves fifteen bubbles and eight hundred more people. The crawler count reads 99,754: the floor has killed nearly half the previous floor's survivors. The announcement: after 'some unfortunate litigation that we won', the gate method may continue, but secondary summonings are partly blocked — one was Ysalte, the Vinegar Bitch, 'an extinction-level event for this floor and the next' — and the sixth floor is at 33% of projected capacity. With it come class specialisation on descent, a guild system for sharing personal spaces, and a record number of hunters, their entry fees paid by 'a generous, anonymous sponsor'. Carl's reading: 'They needed us to die on their schedule, not ours.'

Fifteen hundred are saved in all; bubbles whose Desperado pub or Vanquisher church was destroyed cannot be reached. The turkey, tripled by eating the god, is killed by Prepotente, now level 55 and the highest in the dungeon, with the vampire Miriam stroking his hair. Florin, freed in the first phase, thanks Carl and walks straight down the stairs. Gwen's team loots the dry tomb, and Quetzalcoatlus's corpse holds a partial map of the sixth floor. Katia tells Carl she must separate on the next floor: Eva is regathering the Daughters and has already got Silfa and her two girls killed, and 'when you're in the Carl and Donut party, you ride on the Carl and Donut rollercoaster.' Gwen, Tran, Louis, Firas, Bautista and Florin will go with her; the guild system may keep the personal space shared. Carl gives her the Left Fang of the Green Sultan to return to its owner. In phase three, at six hours, a portal to the sixth floor sends the Twister through with every surviving changeling and the children. Agatha goes down the stairs without a word. Imani and Elle hand back the gate and run for the stairs, and phase four begins.

Characters

• Carl — Under a hundred thousand; Frogger; the sword given away; the gate back in hand.
• Princess Donut — Glued to the social board; 'What did Carl do?'; a crocodile who smells like a frog.
• Katia Grim — Splitting off on the next floor to protect the Daughters from Eva, but not leaving the party; the Left Fang.
• Juice Box — Warns him he is like her brother; sent home with her people.
• Florin — Three castles alone; freed; 'There is something left to fight for.'
• Elle McGibbons — Told Florin the story; a wink; hands over the gate.
• Imani — 'Send me a message, one way or the other.'
• Li Jun and Zhang — A drowned bubble; watching a tentacle god; down the stairs.
• Li Na — Watching with her brother.
• Prepotente — Kills a level-150 turkey; level 55.
• Miriam Dom — Strokes a screaming goat's hair.
• Eva Sigrid — Regathering the Daughters; Silfa dead.
• Louis and Firas — Ferry changelings across the Lacuna; Britney attached to Firas.
• Britney Proskurina — Latched onto Firas.
• Skarn — A pilot who charges for rides.
• Bonnie — Wants to install upgrades on the house.
• Agatha — Level 12, down the stairs in someone else's bubble, early.
• Gwendolyn Duet — Loots the dry tomb; joins Katia.
• Daniel Bautista — Joins Katia, who says he is 'very lost.'
• Mordecai — 'They love it when you guys do stupid, suicidal stuff.'

Locations

• Larracos — Priestly's poem to it, and its destruction.
• The Lacuna — A dark fog, dead-meat air, two inches of water, rats.
• The Necropolis of Anser — Dry: a goose in a gold crown; a map on a ghost's corpse.
• The Desperado Club — The last meeting; the handoff.

Motifs

• The crawler count — 99,754.
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Priestly on Larracos and his last words.
• The Gate of the Feral Gods — Fifteen hundred saved; Ysalte nearly summoned; Borant lets it stand.
• The hunters — A record number, fees paid anonymously.
• The gods — A turkey god; a god that explodes in its bubble.
• Staying human — Katia's reason for leaving; Florin's reason for staying alive.
• The count — Phase four begins.