Chapter 1 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 1 — The vice principal's office

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Hunt · Next: Chapter 2 — Night weasels · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

» Congrats, Crawler. You have received a Platinum Venison Box.

Summary

The sixth floor opens with two clocks: seventeen days to collapse and thirty hours until the hunt begins. 512 sextillion views, first on the leaderboard, a bounty of three million, 85,223 crawlers left, 360 hunters sequestered in the city of Zockau, a Platinum Venison Box, and one word from the system: 'Run.' Carl does not arrive with the others. He comes into existence in Orren's office — the Syndicate liaison with a Valtay worm in his fishbowl head — where Katia has already been questioned about the item in her inventory and popped away. The three pieces of the Gate of the Feral Gods lie on the desk. Orren, speaking for a room of unseen listeners (Borant, the Syndicate's crawl subcommittee, 'interested parties', and a media representative who may only report a crime), explains the damage: the Dreadnoughts have abandoned Faction Wars after Carl wiped out their army and the war chief killed his own jellyfish-stung wife to end her pain. The AI's creation of the Gate crashed the system's own checks; the rules will not let them confiscate it; they can remove him instead. Three options: a floor-wide anti-portal spell that would kill thousands, acceleration, or hand the winding box over for a receipt redeemable on the ninth floor. Carl asks, for the reporter's benefit, why a caprid liaison helped Maggie cheat, and is told the matter was 'dealt with in the same manner and swiftness as the one before us now.' He says the magic words: 'I want a lawyer.'

The staging area is a football stadium of velvet ropes and hundreds of peep-show doors, nearly empty by the time he arrives. Donut has already chosen a floor-only class in the smelly little room — Legendary Diva, a bard who sings spells — and Katia has taken a HAZMAT endorsement on Monster Truck Driver. The floor announcement: the Hunting Grounds, the third floor's layout under centuries of jungle, 360 hunters expected to double or triple, all bumped from level 30 to 50 'in the spirit of fairness', 2,344 exits to the seventh floor including an unguarded one in Zockau, final sponsorship slots open. A Bush Elf janitor named Ian, once a human crawler, breaks character: stay on the trail, stay out of Zockau, and beware Vrah, a mantis hunter who has killed thousands and wears the heads of the dead, who killed his brother at a food stand last season. In the booth, Carl's Compensated Anarchist must specialise: Revolutionary (strength, melee, Blend into the Crowd), Guerilla (dexterity, the advanced trap table, crossbow, camouflage) or Agent Provocateur (intelligence, the advanced Bomb Maker's Workshop, +2 explosives handling). Mordecai wanted melee. 'Sorry, Mordecai.' Carl, the level 47 Agent Provocateur.

Characters

• Carl — Summoned to Orren's office; three options and a lawyer; Agent Provocateur.
• Orren — A room of unseen listeners; the Gate on his desk; 'You just said the magic words.'
• Katia Grim — Questioned first, popped away; a HAZMAT endorsement; leaving the party.
• Princess Donut — A Legendary Diva who sings spells; a gig after the lunch shift.
• Mordecai — Wanted the melee class; 'Everyone has heard her singing.'
• Ian — A Bush Elf janitor, once a human crawler, who warns him about Vrah.
• Vrah — Named: a mantis hunter with a death count in the thousands who wears heads.
• Ajib — A one-legged level-29 Prodromoi from a popped bubble, second to last in line.
• Frank Q and Maggie My — Orren tells Carl the caprid liaison who helped Maggie 'has been dealt with.'
• Juice Box — Carl's promise to her needs the Gate he no longer has.

Locations

• The Hunting Grounds — The sixth floor: the third floor's layout under jungle; 2,344 exits.
• Zockau — The northern city where the hunters wait; an unguarded exit; 'that's where the aliens are.'
• The staging area — A stadium of velvet ropes and peep-show booths, swept up by former crawlers.
• The Desperado Club — Orren's office is entered through it.

Motifs

• The crawler count — 85,223; 360 hunters.
• The leaderboard — First; a bounty of three million.
• The hunters — Sequestered in Zockau, released in thirty hours, all bumped to level 50.
• The Gate of the Feral Gods — Taken; a receipt for the ninth floor; 'I want a lawyer.'
• Faction Wars — The Dreadnoughts abandon their stake; an open seat nobody can fill.
• The Syndicate — A liaison, a subcommittee, a media rep, and rules that protect inventory but not the crawler.
• Race and class — Specialisation in a booth: three choices, ten minutes; Legendary Diva; Agent Provocateur.
• Sponsorship — Final slots open; bidding on Carl ends in 45 hours.
• The Valtay Corporation — A gondii in the liaison's glass.