Motif · from book 1

The crawler count

The number on the first safe-room screen: 4,322,395 when Carl first sees it, under a million by the middle of the second floor. He tries not to look at it and always does.

First appears: Book 1

Series arc

As of book 8. The number on the first safe-room screen: 4,322,395 when Carl first sees it in book 1, under a million by the middle of the second floor, 32,429 at the start of the war, 20,221 to the tenth. Book 8 opens on 5,501 — three in four gone to deals — and runs it down heat by heat: fewer than 3,000, about 1,200 teams, 989 in 353 teams, 274, 203 to the eleventh; the parade's deals leave 23, and the arena nineteen, all in one party. Carl tries not to look at it and always does. The tally below is every reading the text prints.

Open threads

Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.

Thread	Opened	Status
The tally: nineteen crawlers, and the floors below	B8 ch. 98	open — From ten million to nineteen, all in one party, with the eighteenth-floor door open and the collapse timers suspended. How many reach the twelfth, and whether the AI's 'Remaining Crawlers' screen survives a floor where nobody is meant to die.

All threads: Open threads.

Through book 1

The number on the first safe-room screen is 4,322,395 when Carl first sees it (B1 ch. 9), 4,148,111 after a night's sleep (B1 ch. 10) and 3,594,517 by the time he thinks of it as dripping like a faucet (B1 ch. 19). It is 2,552,085 before the Ball of Swine (B1 ch. 26) and 1,292,526 the second the first floor collapses — 700,000 of them in that second (B1 ch. 31). After the elemental it reads 1,033,992 (B1 ch. 38), and by the end of the floor 990,303: 'We'd gone below one million, and I hadn't noticed' (B1 ch. 44). Carl tries to tune it out and reads every figure.

Through book 2

Just over 700,000 crawlers are alive at the floor's opening (B2 ch. 2) and 649,433 by the Narwhal (B2 ch. 14). The drop is slowing, because 'The people who’ve made it this far mostly know what they’re doing now.'

Through book 3

The counter at the top of the floor reads 389,441, hundreds of thousands having died in the Over City's group quests (B3 ch. 2). By the last days the count is just under 275,000, which Carl thinks is too high for the people anyone can find (B3 ch. 29).

Through book 4

178,887 crawlers at the top of the floor (B4 ch. 1) and 99,754 near its end — under a hundred thousand, nearly half the previous floor's survivors dead: 'We’d fallen under 100,000. This floor had already killed almost half of the survivors of the previous' (B4 ch. 33).

Through book 5

85,223 crawlers and 360 hunters at the start (B5 ch. 1); 83,995 and 1,013 a few days in (B5 ch. 9); 66,000 and a hundred guilds by the middle (B5 ch. 37). At the party the count is 59,259, with 23,385 still on the floor and 73 crawlers and 264 hunters in the room (B5 ch. 64).

Through book 6

The ticker is turned off in the personal space (B6 ch. 61); the floor takes the count from 38,532 to 33,804 (B6 ch. 72).

Through book 7

32,429 crawlers at the start of the war, 1,300 fewer than when they left the eighth floor (B7 ch. 1); 20,221 reach the tenth, a record for the floor (B7 ch. 85, B7 ch. 88).

Through book 8

The floor opens on 5,501 — three in four of the war's survivors having taken a deal — and the AI says so: 'just over 5,500 crawlers who survived Faction Wars and decided they wanted to continue on' (B8 ch. 1, B8 ch. 2). Fewer than 3,000 are left after heat four (B8 ch. 52) and about 1,200 teams after heat five (B8 ch. 67); after heat six the count is 989 crawlers in 353 teams, 715 of them 'planning on stepping into the Outreach Guild and not coming back out', which leaves 274 (B8 ch. 78, B8 ch. 79). 203 reach the eleventh floor and 172 more take the last deals, so the screen reads 'Remaining Crawlers: 23' — 'We were entering the eleventh floor with twenty-three crawlers' (B8 ch. 88). After the arena: 'We had nineteen crawlers left. Twenty if you counted Penny, which I did not' (B8 ch. 98).

The tally

Every count the system posts, in order; the drop is since the previous count of the same kind.

Book	Chapter	Of	Count	Drop
1	B1 ch. 9	crawlers	4,322,395	—
1	B1 ch. 38	crawlers	1,033,992	−3,288,403
4	B4 ch. 1	crawlers	178,887	−855,105
5	B5 ch. 1	crawlers	85,223	−93,664
5	B5 ch. 1	hunters	360	—
5	B5 ch. 9	hunters	1,013	—
5	B5 ch. 34	hunters	914	−99
5	B5 ch. 50	hunters	673	−241
6	B6 ch. 1	crawlers	38,532	−46,691
7	B7 ch. 1	crawlers	32,429	−6,103
8	B8 ch. 1	crawlers	5,501	−26,928

Where they appear

Book	Chapters they are in (of the book's)	Where
1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl	4/48	Ch. 9, Ch. 31, Ch. 38, Ch. 44 · the book's own page
2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario	1/26	Ch. 2 · the book's own page
3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook	3/35	Ch. 2, Ch. 19, Ch. 29 · the book's own page
4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods	2/35	Ch. 1, Ch. 4 · the book's own page
5 — The Butcher's Masquerade	4/78	Ch. 1, Ch. 15, Ch. 64, Ch. 77 · the book's own page
6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride	1/74	Ch. 1 · the book's own page
7 — This Inevitable Ruin	2/89	Ch. 1, Ch. 86 · the book's own page
8 — A Parade of Horribles	3/99	Ch. 1, Ch. 79, Ch. 88 · the book's own page

By book

The crawler count in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl

4,322,395 on the first safe-room screen (ch. 9); 4,148,111 after a night's sleep (ch. 10); 3,594,517 dripping like a faucet (ch. 19); 2,552,085 before the Ball of Swine (ch. 26); 1,292,526 the second the first floor collapses, 700,000 of them in that second (ch. 31); 1,033,992 after the elemental (ch. 38); 990,303 — 'We'd gone below one million, and I hadn't noticed' (ch. 44). Carl tries to tune it out and reads every figure.

The crawler count in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Just over 700,000 at the floor's opening (ch. 2), 649,433 by the Narwhal (ch. 14) — slowing, because 'the people who've made it this far mostly know what they're doing now.'

The crawler count in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

389,441 at the top of the floor, hundreds of thousands dead in the Over City's group quests (ch. 2); 'just under 275,000' near the end, a number too high for the people anyone can find (ch. 29).

The crawler count in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods

178,887 at the top of the floor (ch. 1); 99,754 near its end — under a hundred thousand, nearly half the previous floor's survivors dead (ch. 33); 'We’d fallen under 100,000. This floor had already killed almost half of the survivors of the previous' (ch. 33).

The crawler count in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade

85,223 and 360 hunters (ch. 1); 83,995 and 1,013 (ch. 9); 66,000 and a hundred guilds (ch. 37); 59,259, with 23,385 still on the floor, 73 crawlers and 264 hunters at the party (ch. 64).

The crawler count in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

38,532 remaining as the floor opens (ch. 1); the counter turned off in the personal space (ch. 61); 33,804 by the end (ch. 72).

The crawler count in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin

32,429 remaining when Larracos opens — more than 1,300 fewer than when the party was pulled into the sky (ch. 1); the remaining crawlers stream into the stairwells to the tenth (ch. 86); 20,221 make it, a record (ch. 85, epilogue).

The crawler count in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles

The floor opens on 5,501 — three in four of the war's survivors having taken a deal — and the AI says so: 'just over 5,500 crawlers who survived Faction Wars and decided they wanted to continue on' (ch. 1, ch. 2). Fewer than 3,000 are left after heat four (ch. 52) and about 1,200 teams after heat five (ch. 67); after heat six the count is 989 crawlers in 353 teams, 715 of them 'planning on stepping into the Outreach Guild and not coming back out', which leaves 274 (ch. 78, ch. 79). 203 reach the eleventh floor and 172 more take the last deals, so the screen reads 'Remaining Crawlers: 23' — 'We were entering the eleventh floor with twenty-three crawlers' (ch. 88). After the arena: 'We had nineteen crawlers left. Twenty if you counted Penny, which I did not' (ch. 98).