Chapter 56

Carl and his companions gather in a saferoom to strategize after he's created modified smoke curtain devices filled with Mordecai's anti-undead weedkiller to combat the Odious Creepers. Katia arrives with urgent news that two creepers are cornered in a bush elf village, and the group prepares to deploy Louis with the special potion and Carl with his homemade aerosol bombs to attack from a safe distance.

Carl returns to the saferoom after visiting the bomber's studio, where he's been modifying hobgoblin smoke curtains into aerosol delivery devices. Mordecai expresses concern about Carl eating the ring he'd removed from the creeper earlier. While Mongo and Kiwi socialize in the adjoining pub (along with clockwork copies of themselves), Katia arrives injured and reports that Gwen's group and Eva's crew have two creepers cornered in a bush elf village. She also reveals that Li Jun had been secretly turned into a vampire before being cured when Miriam died. Mordecai presents four large jugs of his modified weedkiller, "Uncle Morty's Insta Lawn-Kill and Undead Repellant," which he's enhanced with anti-undead boosts; each jug can kill two to four creepers. Louis's Extermination Professional class ability, Tent the House, allows him to deliver potions over wide areas from the Twister with a six-hour cooldown. Carl explains his improvised solution: combining four modified smoke curtains into each deployment device, creating three large trash-can-sized packages that must explode over the creature's head. The system doesn't classify them as explosives without the magical charge, removing magical throwing enhancement. The group will attack from at least half a kilometer away, as the creepers can control foliage and shoot poison darts. Samantha volunteers to help with delivery, but Carl declines due to the device size. Multiple system messages confirm creepers are being killed by other crawlers and hunters. Louis and Katia depart with the weedkiller jugs to support Gwen and Eva's groups.