AFTERWORD

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Overview

Carl and Katia successfully build the Royal Chariot, a tracked all-terrain vehicle for traversing the desert bowl. While testing it outside the town gate, the gnome airship the Wasteland unexpectedly attacks the distant Bactrian village with bombing runs, and the group witnesses the town's destruction from afar. Later, they watch a recap show revealing how crawler Ifechi was killed by the insane top-ranked crawler Lucia Mar using a powerful Rubber spell that reflected Florin's shotgun blasts back at his partner.

Summary

Carl and Katia design and build the Royal Chariot using the engineering and metalworking benches, solving the tire problem by creating tracked treads similar to snowmobile designs. The vehicle is crude but portable, breaking into two pieces for inventory storage. After a half-hour of tweaking, they test it outside the town gate on sand dunes with successful results. During the test, three flares rise from the distant Bactrian village, and anti-aircraft guns fire from Hump Town. The Wasteland fortress, contrary to Mordecai's intelligence about its schedule, is positioned over the other village instead of the expected location. Bombs fall on the Bactrian town in the distance as Carl and Katia disassemble the chariot and return to safety. Back in The Toe bar, Mordecai explains the saferoom mechanics—NPCs are only protected if crawlers are present in the room. The group then watches a recap show featuring Ifechi's death. The footage shows Ifechi and Florin, a romantic couple, encountering the unstable top crawler Lucia Mar at a stairwell station. When Florin shoots at Lucia and her dogs to defend themselves, a Rubber spell reflects his shots back, killing Ifechi. Florin survives only because Ifechi had cast a protection spell on him first, leaving herself unprotected. The dungeon credits Florin with the kill. After the show, the top-ten rankings appear, with Carl at number two, Lucia Mar at number one, and Florin still in the rankings despite his defeat.

Characters

  • CarlDesigns and tests the Royal Chariot vehicle; witnesses the bombing of the Bactrian village; watches the recap show and discusses Lucia Mar's threat
  • KatiaCo-designs the Royal Chariot using the engineering table; test-drives the vehicle; questions knowledge from hobby potions and watches the recap show
  • MordecaiPurchases dromedarian weapons and supplies; explains saferoom mechanics and the Rubber spell's vulnerability; analyzes footage from the recap show
  • DonutNames the vehicle the Royal Chariot; goes shopping with Mordecai; watches the recap show and comments on the crawlers' situations
  • MongoAccompanies Donut and Mordecai while shopping
  • IfechiAppears in recap show footage as a healer crawler who uses a leech-summoning staff; killed by Lucia Mar's reflected gunfire from Florin's shotgun
  • FlorinAppears in recap show as Ifechi's partner; uses an automatic shotgun in combat; credited with Ifechi's kill despite her being killed by his own reflected shots
  • Lucia MarAppears in recap show as the number-one ranked crawler; kills Ifechi using a Rubber spell that reflects Florin's attacks; demonstrates insanity and hears phantom voices
  • CiciLucia Mar's enlarged rottweiler dog; attacked by Florin in the stairwell station
  • Gustavo 3Lucia Mar's regular-sized rottweiler dog; attacked by Florin in the stairwell station
  • PrepotenteAppears in recap show footage battling a giant province boss with stacking debuffs
  • Quan ChAppears in recap show interrupting Prepotente's team fight; shot the province boss and fled
  • Elle McGibAppears in recap show as part of the group that fought Grull; re-enters top-ten rankings
  • Li JunMentioned as having a team that participated in the Grull fight
  • Miriam DomAppears in recap show casting debuffs on a giant province boss; shown entering the fifth floor pyramid quadrant
  • Fire BrandyMentioned as being at the controls of the falling train; not shown in recap footage
  • TizquickDwarf mentioned as being at the controls of the falling train; not shown in recap footage
  • ImaniMentioned in Carl's thoughts as a healer who would have made the same sacrifice as Ifechi