Chapter 28

After leaving survivors at station 36, Carl, Donut, and Katia explore station 75 and discover a tavern with a sleeping Shade Gnoll bartender. They plan to take the damaged Vermillion train to the end of the line to distribute escape hats to stranded crawlers. Katia opens her loot boxes and gains powerful items, while Zev visits to deliver concerning news about a rival representative attempting to take over their account.

The chapter opens with Carl, Donut, and Katia debating whether to attempt a dangerous rescue mission to save crawlers trapped at the abyss. They collect over 700 hats and 15 colored-line keys from cooperative survivors at station 75, reinforcing Carl's belief that hope exists among the crawlers. After unhooking the train, the trio explores station 75, finding a cavern filled with ghoul, gnoll, and hobgoblin corpses indicating prior looting. They discover a tavern called "The Downward Dog" with a sleeping Shade Gnoll bartender and retire to their saferoom to clean up. Katia opens her ten loot boxes, receiving the dagger tattoo for Club Vanquisher membership, the Find Crawler skill, and a Platinum Slam Master wrestling belt with strength bonuses and the Avalanche benefit. The recap show focuses on Hekla's death and reveals backstory about Katia and Eva's separation on the third floor due to Eva's accident with caravan travel. After the episode, the leaderboard shifts with Carl at rank 3, Donut at rank 4, and Katia entering the top 10 at rank 8. Zev then teleports into the saferoom to deliver congratulations but also troubling news: a rival representative named Loita, Bloom party member and former representative of Hekla, is attempting to take over their account based on her prior connection to Katia. Zev hints at political difficulties back home and informs them that their chats will become public for paying viewers starting tomorrow before abruptly departing.