The Gate of the Feral Gods

The Gate of the Feral Gods is a LitRPG adventure novel set within a mysterious dungeon system where humans and alien races are forced to climb through procedurally generated floors filled with monsters, traps, and other crawlers competing for survival. The protagonist, Carl, is a resourceful and morally complex crawler who has reached the fifth floor—a massive bubble-shaped arena containing a necropolis and four distinct quadrants (Air, Land, Water, and Subterranean), each dominated by a hostile castle that must be conquered before the stairwell opens. What begins as a straightforward castle-siege narrative evolves into something far more consequential: Carl discovers that three magical pocket watches are pieces of an artifact called the Gate of the Feral Gods, a forbidden device capable of opening portals to other worlds and dimensions. As Carl and his allies—including the steadfast Katia, the unpredictable Donut, and the mysterious Mordecai—pursue these watches, they inadvertently set in motion a chain of events that summons feral gods and demons from the Nothing, threatening not only their bubble but potentially the entire dungeon system. The story explores themes of survival, moral compromise, friendship, and the corrupting influence of power, all while maintaining a darkly humorous tone and surprising emotional depth beneath its absurdist surface.

Carl and his party emerge onto the fifth floor into the Air Quadrant, a vast desert region containing the settlement of Hump Town, built against the Necropolis of Anser. They learn that four castles must be conquered in their bubble before the stairwell opens, requiring cooperation with other underpowered crawlers. After looting achievement boxes from their previous victory, Carl discovers that a gnome named Wynne is imprisoned in the town hall and is being held hostage by dromedarian changelings to ensure peace with the gnomish Wasteland fortress floating above. When other crawlers kill Wynne to steal his knowledge, Carl realizes the gnomes will bomb the town in retaliation, setting off a desperate chain of deceptions and actions.

Carl orchestrates an elaborate scheme involving a makeshift resurrection of Wynne's corpse, a fake identity exchange with gnomish negotiators, and a coordinated assault on the gnomish airship. The plan succeeds in crippling the Wasteland fortress and saving Hump Town, though it attracts the attention of the Syndicate—the mysterious governing body of the dungeon. During this operation, Carl defeats a boss creature named Ruckus and learns that another crawler, Chris Andrews 2, has liberated the Water Quadrant by occupying an underwater submarine called the Akula. This liberation immediately floods the subterranean quadrant and seals its exits.

With Hump Town secure, Carl focuses on conquering the Air Quadrant's castle, which is actually Commandant Kane's floating house suspended by magical balloons. Inside, he discovers Kane is already dead, killed by a white goose named Denise who is magically keeping the house aloft by suppressing all magical abilities. After deducing that only non-magical solutions work against the boss, Carl defeats Denise by forcing her head into a garbage disposal, liberating the Air Quadrant and securing one of the three pocket watches—a piece of the Gate of the Feral Gods.

Carl's victory is complicated by a terrifying discovery: Chris Andrews 2, the crawler who liberated the Water Quadrant, is actually possessed by a parasitic infiltrator race called Maggie My, the wife of Frank Q. Maggie has been hunting Carl since floor three and intended to summon a pain god named Algos to destroy him. Unable to kill Chris directly, Carl drops both Chris and Maggie into the sealed catacombs below the town, intending to rescue them later with an antiparasitic potion.

As Carl prepares for the assault on the Land Quadrant castle—a sandcastle containing the mad mage Ghazi—he receives crucial information from Juice Box, a changeling prostitute and principal who reveals the true nature of the Gate: opening it requires all three watches placed in a winding box, and doing so creates a portal that can tear into the Nothing, releasing feral gods. She explains that Quetzalcoatlus, a ghost-like queen in the necropolis, is the target of her people's resurrection efforts, as her plant-altering powers could cure compression sickness afflicting changelings.

The assault on the Sandcastle requires Carl to electrify a lightning-conducting door during a sandstorm, revealing a glass hallway into the castle's depths. Inside, he discovers Ghazi is actually the victim in his own story—his wife has been transformed into a sentient ooze by the banished deity Psamathe, whom Ghazi accidentally summoned while drunk. The ooze consumes Ghazi daily while he transforms into sand during storms. After an intense battle involving Carl using his Sticky Feet ability to walk on the ceiling and apply burning gel to defeat the sand ooze, the castle collapses. Carl and Donut are swept away by flood waters into the submerged Water Quadrant, where they nearly drown before reaching safety.