Chapter 21

The party's train successfully passes through a portal into a massive underground train yard (Station E) overrun with Festering Ghouls—creatures born from failed vitamin shot addiction withdrawal. Widget, a Grease Gremlin mechanic, helps them escape the yard but is killed by a reanimated spider ghoul. Donut operates the turntable controls from a tower to redirect their train, and they rescue Madison, a human HR associate fleeing the burning Iron Tangle Substation, before continuing down the track system.

Carl, Katia, and Donut arrive at Station and Repair Hub E through a portal, finding an enormous trainyard filled with thousands of Festering Ghouls—NPCs who devolved from addicts suffering critical stages of the Rev-Up vitamin shot withdrawal (the DTs). The ghouls are supposed to be contained but have breached a section of wall. Widget, a small Grease Gremlin and train technician, descends via chain to inform them the station is closed due to ghoul infestation and orders them out. He directs them to take a turntable to an employee line that leads to service stations and stairwell connections. Widget informs them that Brandy, the train engineer they left alive, is pregnant and that the Escape Velocity train at Station 83 Tangerine and Plum goes to stairwells. As ghouls attack the train, Widget is killed by a reanimated spider ghoul that Donut had previously defeated. Donut climbs the chain to the tower and operates the turntable controls, redirecting the train onto the correct track despite accidentally opening gates and toppling freight cars. The party steams through the trainyard exit, passing the burning Iron Tangle Substation where they rescue Madison, a level-10 human HR associate fleeing a flaming wolf ghoul. Madison reveals she manages benefits for "Station Mimics" and mentions a Terminus trap at station 433 that they should avoid. As they pass stations 11 through 18, Carl deduces Madison's memories are false constructs—she has never actually been to her apartment or Yard A—suggesting the NPCs were created with incomplete backstories. They stop at Station 24 to investigate and question Madison further about reaching Yard A or Station 60.