Dungeon Crawler Carl

Yolanda shoots Jack in the head in an attempt to save the group, but it’s too late. A Level 93 rage elemental is summoned because Jack violated the rule against urinating outside of the bathrooms. Carl tells Donut to summon a fog cloud. Meanwhile, Yolanda and Randall are killed by the elemental. Carl uses his protective shell spell, which briefly blocks the elemental. They run for the safe room.

Halfway to the door, gravity is reversed. Donut, Carl, and Mrs. McGibbons fall to the ceiling. Brandon and Imani are hurriedly tossing the elderly people into the safe room down the hallway. Carl picks up a severely injured Mrs. McGibbons, but when he gets to the edge of the gravity spell, he falls again. The protective shell spell ends, and the three get inside the safe room just before the elemental swipes them with its claws.

The safe room is a chicken restaurant. Brandon, Chris, and Imani are tending to the injured elderly. Carl worries that all they’ve done by helping the elderly people is hinder his own training and delay the inevitable. Then Mrs. McGibbons thanks him for saving her life.

The recap episode begins with Jack’s urination and announces that Donut, Carl, and the Meadow Lark party are trapped. While they watch the episode, the rage elemental does not relent on its attack against the safe room door. After the episode, the announcer tells the crawlers that the safe room will close one hour before the level collapses. This means that they cannot keep the elderly in the room until the level collapses. Carl had originally planned to wait until his protective shell spell recharged, but now, he changes his mind and asks Brandon for help.

It takes five hours to build a launcher that will allow them to drop bombs while driving. Carl keeps his plan to himself because he wants to exploit a bug in the dungeon and cannot risk the AI fixing it. They open the door and avoid the rage elemental. As they mount the chopper and prepare to leave, they reach one trillion views. They have bombs on a trailer behind the chopper. Donut has a seat atop it and is letting the bombs go. The elemental sees them and chases them. The bombs begin to set the hallway on fire. The stairway materializes ahead, just as the chopper warns of a boiler breach. Carl increases his speed. Donut releases the vat of oil that sprays onto the floor, and they jump from the fast-moving vehicle, which plummets into the deep stairway hole. After a scuffle, the elemental slides into the stairway and disappears. (Rory previously told Carl that the dungeon dissolves any mob that descends the stairs, and Carl uses this bug against the dungeon.) Donut is angry they did not receive any experience points for this fight. Carl tells Brandon to get everyone to the stairs.

Donut and Carl kill grubs that have turned into pupae. Then Chris, Imani, and Brandon bring the elderly people into the stairway, where they will be held in stasis until the second level collapses. Meanwhile, Carl and Donut kill kobolds and grubs. They reach a safe room, and an administrator called Mukta states that they will be transported to their interview. Donut asks where Zev is and learns that she was put in time-out. Mukta states that he overrode Zev’s interview decision and put them on a different show. Carl argues, but Mukta hangs up on them. They are teleported onto a smaller boat than the previous interview. The room is the size of a large walk-in closet. They are being interviewed by “The Maestro.” The show is called Death Watch Extreme Dungeon Mayhem.

The audience of Death Watch Extreme Dungeon Mayhem consists primarily of young men and boys who cheer on the deaths of the crawlers. Whenever a crawler dies, they yell “Glurp, Glurp!” Their laughter is described as “a black, malevolent cloud” (365). The Maestro is a huge orc in his early twenties. Carl hates him instantly. There are two other crawlers present: Li Jun and Zhang.

The Maestro shows everyone the screen where Li Jun, Zhang and two other party members are being chased. Just as the four are about to get massacred, the screen freezes. This is a “Death Watch,” where two of the four in the party are pulled from the dungeon during a certain death event and get the “opportunity” to save their party members through a game. The Maestro shows the party member a scene from the main dungeon crawl, and Zhang and Li Jun have to guess whether the crawler dies. If they guess correctly, they can save one person and teleport them to a safe room.

Appalled, Carl tries to leave, but an orc voice tells him that the show is live and there isn’t time for his tantrum. Carl protests. Mukta tells him that if he refuses to sit down, he will be “accelerated,” a euphemism for being killed. Carl asks if he can say what he wants, as long as he doesn’t talk disparage Borant. Mukta confirms this. Carl returns to his seat and tells Donut that he will do the talking during this interview.

Meanwhile, the game has continued. Zhang and Li Jun have earned two of the four teleport points. The Maestro tells them to choose, but Li Jun and Zhang refuse. The Maestro is not happy, but introduces Carl and Donut. The Maestro says that they just broke a record for the most-watched second floor battle in the history of the series.

Carl tells the Maestro that he wants to play the Death Watch; he requests to be teleported to the spot where Zhang and Li Jun were snatched. Carl knows that while he is not stronger than the Maestro, he and Donut are valuable to the show. Carl dares the Maestro to teleport them in, making the Maestro angrier. Carl turns and whispers to Li Jun and Zhang, telling them to leave the sword and run through the crowd that is attacking them; this crowd will be focused on the mob behind them.

The Maestro cannot send Carl and Donut into an ambush, so he abruptly sends Zhang and Li Jun back, expecting them to die, but they grab their companions and run through the mob. The two mobs attack each other, and the four party members survive. Carl looks at the Maestro’s furious face and says, “Glurp on that, motherfucker” (375).

The Maestro shows Carl and Donut’s escape from the safe room, detailing how they killed the rage elemental. While the audience watches, the Maestro is muted but is yelling at someone off-screen. The Maestro suddenly tells Donut and Carl that they must learn their place. He indicates Donut’s crown and tells them that if they make it to the ninth floor, they will understand that his family is royalty.

The Maestro is not a Blood Sultanate, however. He is part of the Skull Clan and will participate in the Faction Wars on the ninth level. As the clip ends, the Maestro tells Carl and Donut that the AI is going easy on them. The Maestro then introduces his two surprise guests, Frank and Maggie.

The Maestro shows a clip of Frank and Maggie entering the dungeon with a teenage girl, their daughter Yvette. Their guide advised them to kill other crawlers to survive. The screen then shows Frank and Yvette being injured. In a brutal mercy killing Maggie chokes Yvette until she dies, then wails in grief.

Another scene shows earlier moments, revealing that Yvette was with Maggie and Frank when they first ambushed Donut and Carl. Later, they followed Donut and Carl, and Frank looted the rat corpse that Carl booby-trapped with dynamite. They tried to run, but the dynamite exploded, tearing off Frank’s hand. Carl realizes that he is responsible for the terrible injuries to Yvette.

Now, when Frank and Maggie join the Maestro’s show, Carl tells Maggie that she didn’t have to kill Yvette. Maggie retorts that he doesn’t know the whole story. Maggie tries to stab Carl but cannot attack him. Carl apologizes for what happened to Yvette but states that their game guide is terrible. Maggie promises to hunt him down and kill both him and Donut.

The Maestro tries to ask leading questions, but all four crawlers refuse to answer, and Donut mocks him. The Maestro is frustrated because his bored audience is leaving. The Maestro tries to draw his audience back in by telling the crawlers that he has presents for them. He gives Carl boots, knowing that they are useless because Carl gets bonuses from barefoot attacks. The Maestro gives Maggie and Frank a potion that allows them to find another crawler by name, no matter where they are in the dungeon.