Chapter 79

Carl's party approaches Warlord Fang's castle on ground transport to rescue Louis from captivity. They discover both the Dream and Reaver adjutants present at the castle entrance, suggesting the missing warlords may be nearby and indicating a potential trap. Juice Box transforms into her invisible Hunter Wraith form and infiltrates the castle to locate and extract Louis.

Carl's rescue team travels across ash-covered plains toward the bombed Reaver castle in a ground transport. The group includes Imani, Katia, Dr. Bones, Holger, Splash Zone, Tipid, and Bautista as driver, with Rend, Donut (on Mongo), Dong (on Gonk), Bigs, Jamal, Elle, and Juice Box accompanying. They have roughly two hours before the Dream castle throne room capture timer expires, which will kill Epitome Tagg. Remaining team members are back at the city repairing defenses. Carl discusses Donut's new Oak Fell class granted by Nekhebit, which comes with both powerful area-of-effect spells and the threat of being compelled to obey the goddess. Donut has learned Raise Forest, a salt-water transformation spell, Gather Ye Vermin, and Map the All Tree—the latter costing only one mana point and providing maps on floors twelve and deeper. Carl notes Louis hasn't moved and his health hasn't changed, suggesting he's being held captive. They arrive at the castle, a plastic-like structure with honeycomb-shaped hallways that shift and create single passageways to destinations. Victory, Drick, and the antlered adjutant Tart appear at the castle entrance, where the group engages in banter about Tart's appearance and name. Imani notices Tart speaking to someone invisible—Dr. Bones identifies the invisible presence as Fopsy, adjutant for the Dream warlord, suggesting both missing warlords may be present. Carl switches the rescue to Plan B, and Juice Box transforms into her invisible Hunter Wraith form to infiltrate and locate Louis, who is confined in a small cubicle-like room adjacent to Samantha's position.