Through book 2
You have read through book 2. Nothing on these pages comes from a later book; change the book in the header when you have read further.
The story so far
Book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
One floor, three quests, none of them chosen: the book where the series' machinery — Elites, serials, producers, fan boxes, bounties — is shown from inside, and where Carl's answer to it changes from we were expensive to seeds. Structurally a triptych of inversions — see the arc of the story. It fixes the party's shape (Primal, Compensated Anarchist, Former Child Actor cat, a manager who cannot leave), adds a third member, and ends with a city-killing bomb in an inventory and a number next to every name. 29 of the series' pages first appear here; seven that book 2 makes matter were named in book 1 and are traced back on their pages — the gods and the tenth floor are the first threads marked recognised in a later book.
Book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
The tutorial floors, and the threads the book leaves open: the tiara and the ninth floor, the Skull Empire, the Valtay and Agatha, Maggie's vow, Mordecai's history with Odette, the mantra. Structurally it is two floors bracketed by interviews, each ending at a stairwell with a choice about other people — see the arc of the story. It establishes a method (look for the clues) and an argument (staying human against entertainment as machinery). 64 of the series' pages begin in this book.
The party, as of book 2
- Carlfrom book 1The narrator. Twenty-seven, ex–Coast Guard, a marine technician in Seattle, six foot three; on the night the world's buildings vanish he is outside in boxer shorts, a leather jacket and his ex-girlfriend's pink Crocs, coaxing her cat out of a tree, which is why he enters the dungeon without pants and soon without shoes. Crawler #4,122. He fights bare-fisted and barefoot, discovers a gift for improvised explosives, and gets angrier at the people running the show than at anything in it.
- Princess Donutfrom book 1GC, BWR, NW Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk — Bea's tortoiseshell Persian show cat, carried into the dungeon under Carl's arm. An Enhanced Pet Biscuit makes her sapient, a tiara makes her royalty, a charisma score in the forties makes her a talker of goblins and a natural on television. Crawler #4,119. Carl is, per the system, her Royal Bodyguard.
- Mongofrom book 1The pet Donut chooses from the kobolds' menagerie on the second floor — a seven-inch, pink-feathered 'Mongoliensis' that bites her nose and fights anything it sees. Bonded as her Royal Steed hours before the floor closes. Odette supplies the translation: velociraptor.
- Mordecaifrom book 1The tutorial guide assigned to Carl and Donut: a former crawler, born skyfowl, who chose Changeling and reached the eleventh floor of his own season, now serving out an indentureship as a shapeshifting NPC in a guild room with his mother's ashes and a photograph of his brother. He is bound by rules about what he may say, and he says as much as he can.
- Katia Grimfrom book 2Crawler #9,077,265, a former art teacher and one of Brynhild's Daughters, sent to Carl and Donut by Hekla to level up: a doppelganger who must sculpt her own face and gets it wrong, in a Monster Truck Driver class whose constitution climbs with speed. Level 9 when she arrives at the One-Eyed Narwhal; 21 when she leaves the floor with them.
The supporting cast
- Imanifrom book 1A young nurse from the Meadow Lark eldercare facility in Wenatchee, ninety pounds and level 10 with twelve crawler-killer skulls when Carl meets her: she had to put down the residents the monsters would otherwise have burned. Says almost nothing. Shows Carl how to use the pedicure kit.
- Elle McGibbonsfrom book 1Ninety-nine years old, wheelchair-bound, sometimes calling Carl 'Barry' after her late husband, and fond of telling him what she would have let him do in the tunnel of love. When the Rage Elemental's spell throws her against the hallway ceiling, Carl carries her over his shoulder into the safe room.
- Zevfrom book 1A two-foot-tall kua-tin in a water-filled 1950s space suit: Borant's Assistant Communications Representative, assigned to Carl and Donut as their PR agent once interview requests pile up. Terrified of her own government, starved of anyone to talk to about Gossip Girl.
- Odettefrom book 1Host of Dungeon Crawler After Hours with Odette, the most-tunnelled private program in the galaxy. On camera a crab-taur in a mantis helmet; off camera a legless human woman on a floating disc who was once a crawler, once Mordecai's trainer, and now makes money from Carl and Donut staying alive.
- The System AIfrom book 1The voice that reads every item description, names every achievement and awards every box — snide, profane, obsessed with Carl's bare feet. Distinct from Borant, which runs the season; the AI runs the game.
- Lucia Marfrom book 1A girl of about thirteen in a yellow soccer jersey with two rottweilers, Cici and Gustavo 3, who is the recap show's favourite from the first episode: silver armour, a mace, four crawler-killer skulls by the second floor, and a dog that mauls Odette's producer.
- Li Nafrom book 1Li Jun's sister: one of the two people the Maestro leaves frozen in a hallway scene on Death Watch, whom Li Jun and Zhang are told to choose between with their two teleport points. They refuse to choose, and she escapes with them through the troglodytes into a safe room.
- Li Jun and Zhangfrom book 1Two warehouse workers plucked out of a hallway between hornets and troglodytes to play Death Watch for the lives of Li Jun's sister Li Na and their manager. They refuse to choose, and Carl gets them sent back with a plan instead of a teleport point.
- Prepotentefrom book 2Third on the first leaderboard: a Caprid Forsaken Aerialist, level 27, whom Carl does not know.
- Florinfrom book 2The crocodilian crawler with the mag-fed shotgun that never runs out of shells — a Shotgun Messenger, fourth on the leaderboard, seen only on the recap show.
- Daniel Bautistafrom book 2Crawler #2,165,570, a Tigran swashbuckler with nine boss stars and an orange glowing sword, all that is left of a family of four brothers and sisters and fifteen cousins; his sisters and cousin were the corpses the lemurs left as bait. Owes Carl a debt for avenging them, and tells him the quest Carl ruined by killing Miss Quill is no problem.
Everyone else the books name →
What is still open
20 threads the books have lit and not yet closed. The first eight:
- The Crown of the Sepsis Whore and the ninth floor — Princess Donut, The Blood Sultanate, Prince Maestro, The Skull Empire
- Mordecai's advice to leave Donut before the ninth floor — Mordecai, Princess Donut, Carl
- The parallel crawls: Lucia Mar and Hekla — Lucia Mar, Hekla
- 'There are no gods here. Just those who pay for the privilege' — The gods, Mordecai
- Mordecai's contract, and his history with Odette and his brother — Mordecai, Odette
- The tenth floor's rules, and Odette's deal — The tenth floor, Odette
- Borant's bankruptcy and the Valtay fleet at the door — Borant, The Valtay Corporation, Zev, The Syndicate
- Meadow Lark's survivors, gone ahead — Meadow Lark (party), Imani
All 20, and what each book moved →
Browse
- Characters69The main cast, the people who recur, and everyone else the books name.
- The pantheon6Every god the books have named, by tier.
- Races48Every race a card has named.
- Classes28Every class a card has named.
- Places10Where the books happen.
- The world33Factions, mechanics, objects and running jokes.
- Threads and themes9The long fuses, and what the series is about.
- Floors3The descent, floor by floor.
- Books2One page per book, and each book on its own, chapter by chapter.
- Essays6The series read as a whole.