Chapter 42

Carl returns from his dimension-crossing battle to find himself in immediate danger from multiple hostile forces in Alucarda. Using deception, explosives, and tactical maneuvering, he orchestrates a chaotic battle that culminates in a direct confrontation with the hunter Vrah, whom he poisons with a magical arrow before escaping into the saferoom.

Carl teleports back into the saferoom tavern in Alucarda and immediately faces attacks from a mantis warrior and a group of nebular priests. He deploys smoke and invisibility potions while triggering all traps in the area simultaneously, using the chaos to his advantage. The plan involved using clockwork copies of Sledge—one to trigger Lucia's teleport trap outside and another carrying a beanie baby to force her hand—allowing Donut to escape with the actual item while Carl deals with external threats. Carl throws berserking and explosive potions into the melee below from atop a temple spire, deliberately turning the various factions against each other. He discovers Vrah has collected multiple severed heads attached to her exoskeleton, including those of the player killer Bogdon Ro and the previously-encountered Langley. In their final confrontation, Carl uses the reanimated heads to distract Vrah long enough to shoot her with the Arrow of Enthusiastic Double Gonorrhea—a poison that inflicts literal genital inflammation and can only be removed through self-castration or transmission to another. Both Vrah and Lucia escape the explosion that follows, but Carl recognizes this as opportunity: Vrah, being a future breeder, will not castrate herself and will need to spread the disease to another mantis. He sends Bomo with a note to the mantis salesman in Zockau offering protection in exchange for all collected gear, betting that the desperate salesman will accept rather than risk infection from Vrah.