Sponsorship

Mordecai, in the tutorial guild: patrons — usually organisations, not individuals — sponsor a crawler by buying boxes, and only patrons can send Benefactor Boxes (ch. 4). Odette had five sponsors on her own crawl, a record at the time (ch. 29). As the second floor opens the AI announces the change: every crawler limited to three patrons, each slot auctioned for one day as the fourth, fifth and sixth floors open, every slot available from a bid of one credit, and the more a patron pays, the more and better Benefactor Boxes (ch. 31). Mordecai calls it Borant's cash grab, money it does not see until the season is over (ch. 36); the AI reports 'a lot of interest already in the new patron-bidding program' (ch. 39); Zev mentions in passing that a hostile government could 'spring for a deity sponsorship this season' (ch. 44).

Announced in a patch note: the sponsorship program does not officially begin until the fourth floor, but potential sponsors may place early bids now, so 'remember to be as entertaining as possible!' (ch. 7). Mordecai mentions it among the patch notes (ch. 13); Mordecai puts Donut's fight with the dogs after the third round of sponsorships, 'so on or after the sixth' (ch. 21).

Bidding on Crawler #4,122 opens as the floor does (ch. 1); Zev's plans depend on how it goes (ch. 6); the first sponsors arrive on the second day, when bidding closes — the Valtay Corporation for Carl, Princess D'nadia for Donut, Princess Formidable for Katia — with a Sponsorship tab that lets a crawler write to a sponsor but not hear back (ch. 11, ch. 12, ch. 13). The first benefactor boxes follow: a pill, a pair of goggles, one bolt (ch. 13, ch. 15, ch. 29). The Maestro, Carl guesses, bailed on his own sponsorship of Grull after being ejected (ch. 34).

Second sponsors: the pacifists for Carl, Veriluxx for Donut at the highest bid in the series' history, the Squim Conglomerate for Katia (ch. 7); a product sample that must be seen used and an infomercial (ch. 7, ch. 18); benefactors building an item over five floors (ch. 9); Maggie sponsored twice by the Skull Empire and armed through a saferoom (ch. 14); Emberus a locked god no one may sponsor (ch. 31); the Maestro's grenade thrown at Quan (ch. 31); a politburo's warning that antics affecting sponsors will not be tolerated (ch. 34); an anonymous sponsor paying every hunter's entry fee (ch. 33).

Final slots open (ch. 1); a third sponsor who is the Krakaren by another name (ch. 16); the Valtay dropped by a regency change and a replacement auctioned (ch. 19); a winner who could not pay (ch. 40); a goat that bleats and leaves (ch. 41); matching wards against vampires from two sponsors who are clearly working together (ch. 43). Then boxes sent to other crawlers turn out to be for Donut (ch. 57): five gifts from the Apothecary routed through five crawlers over a denied appeal, two of them stamped with a hidden seven, and only Katia's beanie meant for its recipient (ch. 63); Everly's curse on Dictum Waystation Controls (ch. 64); Donut's sponsor, now Empress D'Nadia, judging the talent show and pet contest and promising no favouritism (ch. 66); a note on Laundry Day and a promised replacement potion (ch. 76); Carl welcomed to Faction Wars as a sponsor himself, of the Princess Posse (ch. 77); the sponsors' conspiracy to break a floor, and a hat given away that would have saved Katia from a crown (epilogue).