Chapter 42

Carl and Donut appear on "Death Watch," a cruel game show hosted by the Maestro, an orc who forces crawlers to guess whether other crawlers will survive encounters. When Carl witnesses the sadistic nature of the show targeting young male viewers, he initially walks out in protest but returns to confront the Maestro on air, using his and Donut's popularity as leverage to force a rule change that saves two crawlers and their companions from certain death.

Carl and Donut are transported via hologram to a television studio for the show "Death Watch." The audience consists entirely of cruel, young pre-teen and early teen males chanting "Glurp, glurp!" The host, Maestro, is a muscular orc in his early twenties with a gold tusk and gaudy attire. Two level-seven crawlers, Li Jun and Zhang, are brought on the show after being rescued from a deadly encounter with troglodytes and Brindled Vespas. The Maestro forces them to play a guessing game: correctly predicting crawler survival earns teleport points they can use to save themselves or companions. Carl initially leaves in disgust at the show's cruelty but is threatened with drowning by an administrator if he doesn't participate. He negotiates to appear immediately, interrupting the game. Upon returning to the set, Carl demands that Li Jun and Zhang's two earned teleport points be used to transfer him and Donut into the deadly hallway, appealing to the crowd's support. The Maestro, enraged at losing control of his narrative and audience, impulsively transfers Li Jun and Zhang back into the frozen battle scene. Carl had predicted this outcome and quickly whispers instructions to the men: run toward the troglodytes and ignore the sword. When the scene unfreezes, the three crawlers and their manager exploit the monsters' infighting and escape to safety, with Zhang administering a healing potion to their injured companion. The segment ends with Carl mocking the Maestro, having successfully subverted the show's outcome.