Dungeon Crawler Carl

Carl and Donut kill kobolds and brindle grubs on their way to the neighborhood boss. They reach Level 12 before getting to the boss chamber. As they get closer, they see cages with injured dingoes. This boss chamber is set up as a dog fighting ring. Carl gives one of the injured, caged dingoes a biscuit. After eating the biscuit, the dingo’s dot turns white, which shows that it is no longer an enemy. They feed a biscuit to each caged dingo.

The doors open, and 40 kobolds come out with a cage, which releases a Level 11 Frenzied Gerbil named Ralph. The gerbil attacks, while Carl throws Carl’s Jug O’ Boom at the kobolds. An injured kobold releases the injured dingoes. One dingo eats Ralph. The dingoes rip apart the kobolds in seconds. The dingo that ate the gerbil stands frozen. Then the gerbil bursts out of the dingo, making its head explode, and rockets toward Carl. Carl stuns it with a punch, a move that has only a 2 percent chance of success. Then Carl stomps the gerbil to death with his bare foot.

The dungeon groans in satisfaction when Carl stomps the gerbil to death. He and Donut loot the neighborhood map and the kobold bodies. The kobold who released the dog has a master pen key, which will open one bait animal’s cage. When they enter the inner boss room, they discover that it is a pet reward room. There are cages with pets in it and 10 bait animals to choose from.

Donut wants the pet in the last cage, which “looked like a raw piece of chicken with a few, random pink-hued feathers attached to it” and has “two tiny forearms instead of wings, and a long, serpentine tail” (411). The creature is a Mongoliensis and is hostile to them. Donut names the pet Mongo, and it promptly bites her on the nose. Carl tells Donut to figure out how to bond with Mongo because if it attacks them in the training guild, it will be teleported away.

Donut tries to bond with Mongo for the rest of the second level. Videos of Mongo chomping Donut, as well as the fake video with Maestro, are widely viewed and make Donut and Carl very popular with the audience. They visit Mordecai, who explains the process of choosing races and classes, which they must do on the next level. Mordecai says that the AI will recommend a class and race, but this recommendation does not account for how their choice will affect their social ratings.

Mordecai mentions that his brother had chosen a skyfowl class at Odette’s recommendation. He glumly looks at the photograph of his brother. Carl had not realized that Mordecai’s brother was also a crawler. Mongo attempts to bite Carl and is teleported away. Donut immediately goes after him. They find Mongo crying like a baby in the main hall; he immediately runs toward Donut and then chomps her nose.

The next day, Donut and Carl kill creatures to gain experience. The recap episode mentions that Mongo is a pack hunter, which gives Carl an idea for helping Mongo to bond with Donut. Donut shows Mongo how to kill a bug, and he excitedly kills and devours it. By the time they kill three grubs, Mongo’s dot has turned from red to white. He is not bonded to Donut yet, but he attacks Donut and Carl less often.

Mordecai explains that unless they bond with Mongo, he cannot go to Level 3 with them. Mordecai also urges them to teach Mongo restraint. They teach him some commands, but with 10 hours left to the level collapse, Mongo is still not bonded with Donut. Donut and Carl both reach Level 13 in their own skillsets. During a fight, Mongo is captured, and Donut saves him. Her actions officially allow her to bond with Mongo.

Seven hours before the level collapses, Carl waits near the stairs and goes through his inventory noticing several items: a communication device, personal shield, and pistol, which are all manufactured by the Valtay Corporation. None of the items can be used in the dungeon, but Carl can sell them. He realizes the items must have come from Agatha’s cart.

A blue dot approaches; it is Agatha, who is still only at Level 4. Carl knows that whatever mysteries Agatha is involved in, he cannot understand them. Agatha is about to go down the ramp when Carl tells her to wait and asks her about her shopping cart. Agatha pauses, and her eyes tell him to stop talking. He tells her to fix the squeaky wheel. Agatha is clearly relieved, and she continues down to Level 3. Zev arrives, panicked, and asks if they are okay. When Donut reassures her, Zev mentions that there was an outage, and she could not see their feed. Zev tells them that Odette is ready for them. They go down the stairs to Level 3.

Odette asks if Carl realizes that Mongo will get them killed. She mentions that there are magical pet carriers that would allow Mongo to be put in their inventory. During the interview, Odette discusses the pair’s escape from the rage elemental and the fake video of Carl and Maestro. After the show, Odette tells them that if they can keep Mongo alive, he is a good choice for a pet. Carl tells Odette that Mordecai was not pleased with her request to work with him. He asks what happened between them, but Odette tells him there’s no time to explain.

Odette tells him to make sure that the race and class he chooses has a pathfinder skill or advanced mapping. She advises them that Donut should choose her race and class first. Carl asks Odette if she knows about the Valtay Corporation. Odette tells him to be very careful because Valtay Corporation currently has a fleet outside the Borant system to collect on Borant’s debt. The next season will be run by the Valtay Corporation.

Odette reveals that Mongo is a velociraptor. She also gives the cryptic advice that during class selection, one particular option is often offered to crawlers with high charisma, and it could be hidden among Donut’s choices. However, if Donut picks that class, someone will be very angry.