Chapter 25

Carl and Donut prepare for a nighttime infiltration of the magistrate's building after learning about suspicious women being brought to the temple by a female skyfowl. They recruit a new party member—Katia, a doppelganger with a Monster Truck Driver class—and discover that the mysterious letter they found is a spy scroll allowing someone to observe them. They use decoys and smoke bombs to fool krasue guardians while executing their plan to break into the magistrate's office.

After hiding from guards following a rooftop skirmish, Carl and Donut question Ricky Joe about the temple. He reveals that a female skyfowl regularly brings groups of women (elves, dwarves, humans) to the temple before leading them away. The group resupplies at the Silk Road before meeting Katia Grim at the One-Eyed Narwhal, a level-9 doppelganger and Monster Truck Driver who is Hekla's friend. Mordecai explains that Katia struggles with her shapeshifting abilities and is far behind in leveling. After adding her to the party, Mordecai reveals he discovered important information: the System AI is compensating for the shortened floor by providing better loot to crawlers, and they should expect interference from Lucia Mar and her pets, though actual confrontation won't occur until later floors. The recap show airs false coverage of Donut challenging Lucia Mar's rottweilers. That night, Carl and Donut proceed with their infiltration plan. They encounter and defeat Shadow Leak ghosts in an alley, allowing Mongo to level up significantly. Scaling a residential building, they position themselves to jump to the magistrate's roof. Before executing their plan, they discover Mordecai's earlier deduction: the mysterious letter is a Suppurating Eye scroll—a lich spell allowing remote surveillance. They deliberately place it as bait, hoping to lure the caster. When four krasue emerge from below to intercept them, they use Hobgoblin smoke curtains as cover while sending clockwork copies of Mongo as decoys to the magistrate's roof. Carl then detonates hidden dynamite in Miss Quill's beanie baby shelves to breach the office walls.