Motif · from book 7
The Pineapple Cabaret
A pocket dimension built by two former crawlers, Herot and Menerva, behind the seventeenth floor as an oasis for awakened NPCs — outside the playing field, so a crawler inside at collapse is 'lost', not killed — now infested with the Ogre Imperium, shadow mimics and 'things that Agatha can and will wake'. No god-worshipper may enter. Two hundred and twenty-eight crawlers go by cleaner bot; the casino's holding-area door sends the rest to Sheol instead.
First appears: Book 7 · Seen for what it is: Book 8
Series arc
In hindsight, after book 8
The name is said once in book 7, by the AI wearing a bartender's body, as a mercy offered to an orc princess — 'Death. Scolopendra Club. The Cabaret backstage. Or Earth’s surface' (B7 ch. 37) — and Formidable, who does not know what it is, chooses the surface. Book 8 makes it a way out of the crawl: a war mage's note names it (B8 ch. 23), Carl remembers where he heard it (B8 ch. 24), and Akuma explains a pocket dimension behind the seventeenth floor, built by two former crawlers as a place for awakened NPCs (B8 ch. 38). Read back, the four choices were three punishments and a door.
As of book 8. One of four fates offered a princess in book 7; in book 8 the way out. A pocket dimension behind the seventeenth floor, built by two former crawlers as an oasis for awakened NPCs, closed to anyone who worships a god, infested while its builders' allies were away, and reached through the Desperado's casinos or Herot's shop interface — so Carl sends crawlers to it in pet carriers inside cleaner bots Herot has a standing order for. A flower on a cactus says Li Na made it; 227 follow. The AI: 'Beware exits that seem too good to be true'; Eris: 'Every exit is an entrance'. The trace below has the book-7 lines.
Through book 7
One of the four choices the AI, in the body of the fourth-floor bartender Growler Gary, gives Princess Formidable in Orren's office: 'Death. Scolopendra Club. The Cabaret backstage. Or Earth’s surface.' Asked what the cabaret is, he says 'The Pineapple Cabaret? First off, it’s backstage at the cabaret. Not the cabaret itself. Not a bad choice.' She chooses the surface (B7 ch. 37).
Through book 8
The name arrives on a war mage's invoice (B8 ch. 23), and Carl remembers hearing it once before, as a banishment offered to Princess Formidable (B8 ch. 24). Eris says Akuma's way in is real and 'so much more' than an exit (B8 ch. 35). Akuma's account: a pocket dimension behind the seventeenth floor built by two former crawlers as an oasis for awakened NPCs, now infested, closed to anyone who worships a god, and reached through the Desperado's casinos or Herot's shop interface (B8 ch. 38). The party builds the cleaner-bot exit and does its arithmetic (B8 ch. 55, B8 ch. 61); a single flower on a cactus says Li Na made it (B8 ch. 67); 227 more follow (B8 ch. 73); the volunteers are limited to the godless and the still-human (B8 ch. 69). The AI: 'Beware exits that seem too good to be true' (B8 ch. 67); Damien of the Syndicate disavows it (B8 ch. 78); the shadow mimics wanted crawlers for its back door (B8 ch. 86). Eris's last word on it: 'Every exit is an entrance' (B8 ch. 97, B8 ch. 98).
Trace
The thread line by line, in reading order: its presence before anyone could see it, and the lines that made it legible. Each line is verbatim from the cited book.
| Where | The line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Book 7, Ch. 37 | I’ll give you four choices. Death. Scolopendra Club. The Cabaret backstage. Or Earth’s surface. Pick. | The first time the words are said: one of four fates, offered by the AI in Growler Gary's body to a princess who has just lost her father. |
| Book 7, Ch. 37 | The Pineapple Cabaret? First off, it’s backstage at the cabaret. Not the cabaret itself. Not a bad choice. Tick tock, Miss Piggy. | The AI's only gloss in book 7. Akuma's note in book 8 offers Carl the same place. |
| Book 8, Ch. 23 | We don’t have to be enemies, Carl. We want the same thing. I can smuggle friends to the Pineapple Cabaret. We can escape this chaos. Come alone. | A note signed Akuma on a C&W&U invoice, read through Escape Plan; Carl remembers hearing the name once before (B8 ch. 24). |
| Book 8, Ch. 38 | They were building an oasis, a place for mobs and NPCs to escape to. […] The two crawlers sacrificed the possibility of ever getting out […] That is the Pineapple Cabaret. | Akuma's account: what the seventeenth floor is a front for. |
| Book 8, Ch. 38 | It was fine until we left. […] the moment we left, they moved in. And now we need to fight to get it back, […] There’s only five of us left. It’s not enough. The dimension is infested. | Why the war mages need the crawlers. |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 1/89 | Ch. 37 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 21/99 | 23–24, 35–36, 38–40, 55, 61, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 78–79, 83, 86, 88, 94, 99 · the book's own page |
By book
The Pineapple Cabaret in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
One of the four choices the AI, in the body of the fourth-floor bartender Growler Gary, gives Princess Formidable in Orren's office: 'Death. Scolopendra Club. The Cabaret backstage. Or Earth’s surface.' Asked what the cabaret is, he says 'The Pineapple Cabaret? First off, it’s backstage at the cabaret. Not the cabaret itself. Not a bad choice.' She chooses the surface (ch. 37).
The Pineapple Cabaret in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
The name arrives on a war mage's invoice (ch. 23), and Carl remembers hearing it once before, as a banishment offered to Princess Formidable (ch. 24). Eris says Akuma's way in is real and 'so much more' than an exit (ch. 35). Akuma's account: a pocket dimension behind the seventeenth floor built by two former crawlers as an oasis for awakened NPCs, now infested, closed to anyone who worships a god, and reached through the Desperado's casinos or Herot's shop interface (ch. 38). The party builds the cleaner-bot exit and does its arithmetic (ch. 55, ch. 61); a single flower on a cactus says Li Na made it (ch. 67); 227 more follow (ch. 73); the volunteers are limited to the godless and the still-human (ch. 69). The AI: 'Beware exits that seem too good to be true' (ch. 67); Damien of the Syndicate disavows it (ch. 78); the shadow mimics wanted crawlers for its back door (ch. 86). Eris's last word on it: 'Every exit is an entrance' (ch. 97, ch. 98).