Place · from book 1
Safe rooms
Restaurants, bus stations and storm shelters lifted whole from the surface and set into the maze, where no violence is possible, food is served by surly Bopca Protectors, and three screens count down the collapse, the next episode, and the living. Mobs that attack inside one are teleported out — a rule that cuts both ways.
First appears: Book 1
Series arc
As of book 8. Fast food and a blank door in book 1, personal spaces for sale on the fourth floor, doggie doors between a college, a bait shop and an espresso stand on the ninth. In book 8 the race closes them until a heat ends, the Blood Bar governs the time between heats, the party plays Mario Kart in one, and on the eleventh they are not safe from the nine-tier attacks.
Through book 1
Seven seen; their rules used as weapons three times. From B1 ch. 39 they close an hour before collapse.
Through book 3
Through book 4
Through book 5
A pub where a tree-like creature watches Carl carried in (B5 ch. 2), a Whataburger (B5 ch. 7), the Scuttlebutt's hallway of doors (B5 ch. 5). Lucia Mar finds the loophole: a teleport cast inside dumps the room's occupants outside (B5 ch. 35); Lucia peppers every town she enters with Loop-de-Loop traps (B5 ch. 37); a third attack inside sends the attacker naked to a nest (B5 ch. 38). Then the blood bar: full to enter, ten hours of rest, a random teleport when it empties (B5 ch. 52, B5 ch. 58).
Through book 6
Everywhere in Havana; one is someone's house (B6 ch. 20).
Through book 7
Through book 8
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 28/48 | 5, 8–10, 12–14, 18–20, 22, 26–32, 36–44, 47 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 17/26 | 1, 3–8, 14–15, 17–21, 24–26 · the book's own page |
| 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook | 20/35 | 1–4, 6–8, 10, 12–13, 15–16, 18–21, 25, 29–31 · the book's own page |
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 25/35 | 1–4, 6–7, 9–11, 13–15, 17–18, 20, 23–24, 26–32, 34 · the book's own page |
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 46/78 | 2, 4–10, 12–13, 15–17, 20–21, 28–30, 32–40, 43, 45, 49–53, 55–58, 60–61, 64, 69–70, 72–73, 75 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 30/74 | 1–4, 7–8, 10–11, 15, 17–20, 22, 25, 27, 34, 38–40, 48–49, 52–54, 60–61, 63–64, 72 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 38/89 | 1–2, 4–8, 10–12, 14–16, 29–33, 39–41, 45–46, 49, 56–57, 59, 61, 69–70, 76, 78, 81–82, 84–87 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 37/99 | 1–2, 5–7, 9–10, 12, 14–17, 23–26, 37, 39, 44, 54, 56, 59–61, 63, 67–69, 78, 81, 85, 88–90, 94–95, 98 · the book's own page |
By book
Safe rooms in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
Seven in the book: Tally's Polish McDonald's (ch. 9), the bus-station room with experience cookies (ch. 19), an Alabama Waffle House the residents will not leave and a Peruvian Taco Bell (ch. 22, ch. 26), a French storm shelter with a mailbox (ch. 30), Big Shot Chicken under siege (ch. 38–ch. 40), and an industrial kitchen with a rude toaster (ch. 41). Their rules do the plot's work: no violence, so Frank and Maggie freeze (ch. 20); mobs teleport out when they attack, so the elemental can be baited through the door (ch. 40); explosives are inert inside, so the MOAB can be built (ch. 40). From ch. 39 they close an hour before collapse.
Safe rooms in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Safe rooms in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Back to fast food: Nirula's, Arby's, J.CO Donuts, a mall food court, Everest, Soda (ch. 2, ch. 7, ch. 13, ch. 15, ch. 19, ch. 29). Personal spaces for sale at 50,000 behind the blank door (ch. 2). A Cookbook note passes on the rats' word that the toilet stalls are unwatched — 'Dunno if it’s true' (ch. 8). A station-only bar with a personal-space door but no rooms is not a saferoom (ch. 25). The transit stations stop being safe when the mobs are in withdrawal (ch. 16).
Safe rooms in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
Not every bar is one — the Toe is not (ch. 4), the A.O. in Weird Shit Alley is (ch. 7, ch. 9) — and a saferoom protects Borant's NPCs only while a crawler is inside, which is why Growler Gary died (ch. 4). The personal space is the only real shelter for forty children (ch. 10). A pub in Pandinus; a hatch called the All-Seeing Spleen (ch. 32). The saferoom's shrine appears when Carl takes a god (ch. 32). Monkey soup and crackers for the rest of the floor (ch. 31). Access closes an hour before collapse (ch. 34).
Safe rooms in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
A pub where a tree-like creature watches Carl carried in (ch. 2), a Whataburger (ch. 7), the Scuttlebutt's hallway of doors (ch. 5). Lucia Mar finds the loophole: a teleport cast inside dumps the room's occupants outside (ch. 35); Lucia peppers every town she enters with Loop-de-Loop traps (ch. 37); a third attack inside sends the attacker naked to a nest (ch. 38). Then the blood bar: full to enter, ten hours of rest, a random teleport when it empties (ch. 52, ch. 58).
Safe rooms in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Everywhere in Havana: Donut finds one a few blocks into a less touristy neighbourhood (ch. 7), and one is someone's house (ch. 20); a shrimp shack (ch. 40). Mordecai wants a real saferoom with a bopca so he can reach the dungeon newsletter (ch. 4); Carl's view counter spikes inside one, which is unusual (ch. 3).