Chapter 18

Carl, Donut, and Mongo settle into The One-Eyed Narwhal pub for the night and witness a recap show featuring other crawlers. The next day, they shop in town to sell inventory and purchase supplies, then spend the afternoon grinding on mobs and defeating a neighborhood boss. On their return, they discover GumGum the orc disposing of dead female bodies, who asks them to investigate a serial killing affecting the town's sex workers—a quest Carl reluctantly accepts despite Mordecai's earlier warning against taking on additional quests.

After leaving Mordecai's guild room, Carl seeks out a quiet, inconspicuous pub called The One-Eyed Narwhal to avoid the attention they've been receiving. Mongo has successfully equipped the golden fang chompers, which now generate electricity when he bites. The group checks into the pub, run by the level-30 human Fitz. Over dinner, they watch the recap show featuring other crawlers, including an alligator-headed man with a shotgun and a goat lady who has transformed several of her goats using enhanced pet biscuits—one becoming a powerful hellspawn familiar. An old orc woman named GumGum approaches their table asking for help with an unspecified quest, but Mordecai refuses and instructs everyone to ignore her.

The next morning, Mordecai directs Carl to shop, grind on mobs, find a neighborhood boss, and return before dark. At Lucky's General Goods and other shops, Donut proves herself a master negotiator, selling their excess inventory for premium prices and acquiring 50,000 gold total. They purchase alchemical supplies and a magical pet carrier for Mongo to allow him proper rest. Mordecai walks them to the town's edge and instructs them to kill only regular mobs and neighborhood-level bosses.

The afternoon grinding session proceeds smoothly against floating squid-like creatures called brain boilers. Carl levels his Iron Punch skill to ten, gaining the Breadbasket stun effect. The neighborhood boss, a giant manta-ray creature called the Dispenser, is defeated using their new tactic of sending a clockwork Mongo with dynamite (dubbed "The Boomy Boy"). Donut levels to 16, Mongo to 11.

On their return to town, Carl notices an NPC and a large cluster of indicators on the map. Investigating, they discover GumGum disposing of a pile of approximately fifteen dead bodies—all apparently female sex workers. She explains that new bodies appear each morning, drained of most blood, twisted as if by giant hands, and of unknown origin. Despite Carl's earlier resolve to avoid complications, he accepts her quest: "The Sex Workers Who Fell from the Heavens," which offers a Silver Quest Box reward. Donut reminds Carl that Mordecai will be unhappy with this decision.