Chapter 15

Carl and Donut navigate the goblin neighborhood and devise a plan to travel faster by acquiring a vehicle. They encounter the Goblin Shamankas and, through Donut's exceptional charisma, negotiate for a steam-powered chopper in exchange for meth and information about its source.

Carl observes that the dungeon is organized as a giant grid of equal-sized squares, with neighborhoods corresponding to areas of the city above. After being burned by green slimes in the Hoarder neighborhood, Carl decides to explore the Tutorial Guild and heads into the goblin area. Using his brand marking, Carl and Donut attempt to pass through safely. Donut's high charisma allows her to charm three level-two goblins, naming them B.A., Face, and Murdock, and having B.A. guide them to the engineers. In a large workshop, they encounter two Goblin Shamankas: Rory and Lorelai. When Donut uses her charm abilities on them, she learns they are traumatized by their shamanka training, which required them to consume their own parents. Donut comforts them while Carl negotiates for a vehicle. After rejecting various trade goods, Carl offers two baggies of meth, which Lorelai recognizes as dungeon-made. Carl trades the meth and information about its source in exchange for a human-sized steam-powered chopper with sidecar, coal, and grenade weapons. Rory reveals that the floor will collapse in a couple of days, killing crawlers but sending mobs into hibernation until the next dungeon opens. She explains the mobs' goal is to survive and eventually reach deeper floors where crawlers never venture.