Chapter 3

Carl kills the remaining goblins and their murder dozer machine, triggering a boiler breach that nearly destroys the guildhall door. Inside, Mordecai reveals his true identity as a Changeling NPC—a former dungeon crawler from floor 11 who was originally a skyfowl and now helps guide new crawlers through the tutorial.

After entering the safe zone guildhall, Carl confronts the goblin-piloted murder dozer. The goblin engineer crashed the machine into the wall, and the remaining two goblins have their backs to Carl. He climbs onto the hot, fur-lined machine and throws one goblin directly into the spinning front blades. The second goblin, a higher-level fighter with a curved blade, attacks Carl in combat. During their fight, the goblin reveals that Carl is speaking Syndicate Standard, a language programmed into his brain by unknown creators. Carl defeats the goblin by striking him with a cooking pot and then jumping down to crush him—the impact triggers a boiler breach warning with a 12-second countdown. Carl sprints back to the guildhall, slams the door, and the machine explodes outside, shaking the entire structure but the reinforced door holds. Inside, Donut has knocked over Mordecai's mother's ashes and defecated in them. Mordecai, frustrated but willing to explain, reveals that he is a Non-combatant NPC and former dungeon crawler who reached floor 11. He was originally a skyfowl but became a Changeling and now takes different mob forms each time the dungeon moves him to a deeper floor. Mordecai explains that this world is human-seeded and represents the seventh or eighth such world to be invaded by the dungeon system. He begins to offer Carl the quick version of what is happening.