Mordecai

50^B1C3

Form:

A rock edge skyfowl on floor 5, the first temporary body he's had that's actually close to his own real one, though assigned as a cleric, which clips him to only short-range flight. His true, un-transformed self, per his own account: darker feathers, a larger wingspan, and bigger talons, a centurion rather than a cleric^B4C1

A Grulke Infantry now that his guildhall setup has moved with the party to this station: barely five feet tall, skin gone the muddy brown of a warty toad, with loose jowls and a throat pouch beneath his wide face that can puff full of air. Warns Carl never to call a real Grulke a frog to their face; they're toads, and mean ones^B3C2

An Incubus, well-built, young, dusky gray skin, short devil horns, long gray-and-black hair in a ponytail, a barbed tail, and folded black bat-like wings. Wears a tuxedo he strips out of the second the door closes, having hated every minute of the three hours he spent waiting in it^B2C1

A Bugaboo now that his guildhall has moved to floor 2: a seven-foot, obsidian, bear-like creature with no neck, huge owlish eyes, and comically thin arms and legs. Terrifying and cartoonish at once; Carl nearly punches him before recognizing him^B1C35

A level 50 Rat Hooligan, per its own tooltip, the smartest, fastest, and ugliest kind of Rat-Kin^B1C3

A bearded, rat-like creature, a head shorter than Carl^B1C2

True Form:

A skyfowl, golden-eagle-like, with folded angel-like wings^B1C3

Alchemy Table:

Upgraded to level three using Donut's two table-upgrade coupons; now three times its old size with multiple shelves, drawers, and a faucet, and stinks of burned rubber after a session brewing potions^B3C7

Point Mongo's northern gate by the bridge, directing its defenses while Carl and Donut meet Signet^B5C13

Already scouting Hump Town by the time Carl's party arrives, gathering intel on the floor^B4C1

Spends the party's rest period rebuilding the crafting studio: installing a salvaged repair bench, buying three more benches, a second alchemy table, a metalworking table, and a Bolt-Thrower's Workshop^B3C30

Skids back into the party's personal space the instant his seven-day Naughty removal ends, having experienced none of the time passing; immediately starts reading through a full page of notifications^B3C29

Vanishes from the party's personal space the instant his Naughty violation resolves; gone for a system-imposed seven-day time out, which eats most of the floor's remaining collapse timer once he's back^B3C7

The party's new Enhanced Crafting Studio, studying what's changed in the crafting system since floor 3^B3C4

His own arrival station on floor 4 was station number 317, junction of two smaller lines, the Yellow and the Emerald, and one larger one called the Misery^B3C3

Teleports into Nirula's, the safe room at transfer station #83, once Carl and the others reach it^B3C2

A train station settlement of his own on floor 4, big enough to switch between three separate train routes, including a subway line like the party's and a larger transcontinental-style train^B3C1

In his own room at the One-Eyed Narwhal, which he calls safe, through the whole evacuation^B2C25

In his own room at the One-Eyed Narwhal when the evacuation quest hits; stays put, calling himself safe, through the whole chase to the Desperado Club^B2C24

Already at the Narwhal, walked over from his guildhall on his own, coaching Katia Grim on shaping her Doppelganger face; stays behind training her while Carl and Donut go out that night^B2C21

Teleports back to The One-Eyed Narwhal already plastered, having stayed behind to finish the recap show and getting waylaid by a centauress at the bar^B2C17

The Silk Road market's alchemist booth, then the dance arena's bar, watching the recap show; not present for the alley ambush^B2C16

The Desperado Club's members-only room, hosting Carl and Donut's first night there, collecting potion supplies from an old contact while he's at it^B2C15

The One-Eyed Narwhal for the night, then walking Carl and Donut through the skyfowl settlement's shops the next morning before sending the three of them off alone to grind, telling them to keep in touch and be back before dark^B2C14

The Belly-Rubbed Pug, drugging Gordo and raiding his kitchen overnight for a newsletter and potion herbs, then hungover at a round table with Carl and Donut the next morning^B2C8

The Belly-Rubbed Pug safe room, waiting for Carl and Donut with a pile of potions to sort through^B2C7

Back in his own guildhall room, reachable again by chat; per Carl's own guess, must have teleported there the moment he and Donut left the safe room^B2C6

Teleports into The Belly-Rubbed Pug mid-blackout-drunk, pants around his knees, still mid-conversation with someone else entirely; vomits on the floor and passes out the moment he registers Carl and Donut are there^B2C4

Walks Carl and Donut through the floor 3 village and out to its ruins gate, then heads off toward a pub, staying reachable over chat^B2C3

His guildhall, relocated to floor 3, behind the golden entrance hallway's familiar door^B2C1

His Tutorial Guild hall, floor 2, hosting Zev's visit with Carl and Donut^B1C36

His Tutorial Guild hall on floor 2, moved along with the rest of his guildhall infrastructure^B1C35

His Tutorial Guild hall on floor 1^B1C2

Get these two through the tutorial without getting in trouble with whoever makes the rules^B1C3

Brews Dolores Doesn't Splat on five minutes' notice as a stand-in parachute, managing three doses instead of the two he'd first guessed at, letting Donut join Carl and Katia's jump; warned Carl he wouldn't like the effect^B4C11

Carl:

Calls him an idiot for joining Emberus's church, then, distracted, reports he's finally cracked the yam and has a potion ready for him back at the saferoom^B4C32

Warns him to keep the lawsuit photographs and stock certificates hidden, and explains Primal Degeneration and a Macro AI's own protected legal status once Carl asks what happens to the system AI at a crawl's end^B4C28

Warns him off the Potion of Bloodlust before Carl can even ask about it, then shuts down the idea of dialing the Gate of the Feral Gods to floor 9, since crawlers can't hop floors even through a gate of their own making^B4C23

Warns him over chat not to let Mrs. Ghazi touch him, since it'll pour sand into every orifice until he explodes, and asks in the same breath whether he's been keeping his hair short, unexplained on the page^B4C22

Curses him out for ruining an hour of alchemy work when the disco ball's smoke rolls over his table; separately guesses Veriluxx's real payoff is funneling money to Borant through Veritan Linkage^B4C18

Studies the Mairmei Mushrooms Carl brought from City Hall's basement and the Toraline Root Vegetable from one of his two new benefactor boxes, unfamiliar with both; promises to dig through his own recipes for a use^B4C8

Reverse-engineers the chemical drive mechanism from a disassembled dromedarian rocket, confident he can now build Carl components for his own sapper's table rockets; explains the saferoom system's actual rules once the Bactrian town starts taking bombs, and shuts down a question about "primary and secondary zones" as unrelated^B4C4

Talks him through the party's achievements and loot after floor 5's welcome broadcast^B4C2

Panics outright when Carl opens with a hypothetical about accidentally summoning Grull, telling him to run and drink his special brew potion before Carl clarifies nothing's actually been summoned yet; answers the follow-up questions in full once reassured, including a formula he seems to know from hard personal experience, though he won't say what that experience actually was^B3C32

Explains over chat that a distant explosion was likely a ghoul generator's own soul crystal popping under overload, smaller and less stable than the fused crystal in Carl's own Doomsday Scenario; flatly refuses to hear out Carl's latest "glorious idea" before he even describes it, comparing it to the Nightmare train capture^B3C31

Spots the Ring of Divine Suffering on his finger and lays out exactly why it's dangerous, then smacks him upside the head when Carl argues back, immediately apologizing for breaking his own just-made promise; gets him to agree to sell the ring on the fifth floor^B3C30

Talked through over chat mid-fight about the cornets' nausea attack and again about the mysterious control sigil off Banshee Station; admits he doesn't fully understand either one but offers what he can^B3C6

Puts him to work setting up the studio's three new tables while he studies the crafting system's recent changes; warns him the Goo-Inator shaping tool weakens whatever it reshapes if pushed too far, and adds Bautista's newly-relayed Azure Line route info to his own growing map of the Iron Tangle^B3C4

Walks him through how personal space levels one through five scale, what's lost if Katia Grim dies or leaves, and lays out a daily training schedule; gets snapped at with "Fuck off, Mordecai" and ignored when Carl skips his buffs to go train alone after Brandon An's death message^B3C3

Already knows how the last quest played out from court decision notifications rather than a newsletter, and briefs him on the fallout: several other group quest events hit across the Over City at once, the third floor's usual 20-day timer got cut to ten across the board, and hitting floor 4 as level 27 (Donut at 26) beats anything he could've hoped for. Walks him through opening boxes, distributing stat points, casting Bang Bro, and spending coupons on the party's first personal space^B3C2

Resumes contact once Carl reaches out over chat, welcoming him back without addressing the unanswered "Congratulations" from the evacuation; tells the party to get off at the next station and find a saferoom or inn^B3C1

Orders every crawler in the group chat to strip off magical gear the instant the first precursor burst hits; confirms he's safe, reports the streets are otherwise empty except the reactivated, single-life-point guards, and doesn't answer when Carl tells him congratulations on the way down to floor 4^B2C25

Explains the bereft minion classification once Remex is examined, apologizes for having him waste all the dynamite, and once the evacuation quest fires, directs him to the Desperado Club's second room, confirms Protective Shell won't stop a magical blast, and warns that breaking the soul crystal probably won't cancel the explosion and might set it off early^B2C24

Coaches him and Donut ahead of the warehouse assault: a general lecture on liches as narcissistic cowards who always keep minions and elaborate plans, his changed mind about approaching Remex directly now that his support system is dead rather than just blowing the building, and a guess that this fight is a Borough Boss given the bronze-tier kill already on the board^B2C23

Answers two chat queries mid-fight in the krasue nest: an uncertain guess that headless krasue corpses might be fair game for physical attacks while the ones with heads and purple auras are likely protected, and a firm explanation that spells cast from the menu and scrolls won't work in a muted zone, though magical items, potions, and already-cast spells still do^B2C22

Identifies the Mysterious Letter as a used Suppurating Eye scroll, lays out the Knuckle Cracking feud's manufactured buildup, and reads a stolen Borant newsletter as proof the System AI is quietly reining in overperforming crawlers^B2C21

Locates the 201st Security Group's Apito Education Center while Carl and Donut are stuck at their interview; sets a new rule banning talk of outside politics until after floor six, explains the Dispel Protections fix for anti-charm, and admits, at least in part, why he wanted King Rust needled^B2C20

Chimes in over party chat during the Miss Quill standoff, guessing an anti-charm spell is why Donut's charm isn't working; not shown on the page otherwise this chapter^B2C18

Walks him through brewing a Hair of the Dog potion drunk; identifies Vicente's uniform on sight as belonging to the 201st Security Group, a city elf gang, and explains their beliefs at length. Recognizes the script on GumGum's mysterious letter as necroscript and floats a lich as the likely culprit behind the krasue^B2C17

Takes 500 gold from him to visit the market's alchemist, then hands him a pile of herbs and vials on the way out. Tells Carl and Donut to go straight to the inn while he stays behind to catch the rest of the recap show, saying he doesn't like missing any of it since it sometimes hides important stuff^B2C16

Walks him through the club's layout, its bots, its off-limits rooms, and the shared-instance mechanic behind the members-only room; explains the manager protection package starting on floor four and the stipend incentive behind it, but dodges Carl's question of why he was originally so upset about being chosen as manager^B2C15

Turns GumGum away outright, then explains pub NPCs as an endless supply of garbage quests. Catches him sneaking out to check on her anyway and delivers a hard lesson about not being able to save everyone. The next morning, briefs him and Donut on shop mechanics, insists on a pet carrier for Mongo, and sends them off with a strict day's mission: shop, grind, kill one neighborhood boss, no quests, no elites, back before dark^B2C14

Talks him through healing Mongo when scrolls and potions alone won't work: a whole cinnamon stick into a potion, wait five seconds, add a couple branches of thistle rot, cork it, shake it, and pour it down Mongo's throat without losing a hand. Later explains the newly found floor 4 staircase: stairwells will increasingly only reveal themselves on the map once their gating quest is completed, rather than showing up early but unreachable the way floor 2's borough boss stairwell once did^B2C12

His automatic 20-percent health warning trips for the first time, right as Carl's own business with Grimaldi and Signet wraps up: 'Carl. Donut's health just dropped below 20%. Go. Go now.'^B2C11

Coaches him through the Heather fight in real time, then congratulates him on his first solo boss battle. Reports what Eklund and the town alchemist turned up: the name Vengeance of the Daughter and the Water Lily cure recipe, unavailable in this town. Explains Signet's Ink Marauder spell once Carl describes her tattoo army^B2C9

Explains his one rule as Manager, no direct combat with mobs, everything else fair game, and shows he means it: drugged Gordo unconscious overnight, broke into his kitchen, read the region's physical newsletter warning of a major battle event nearby, and stole a pocketful of herbs, handed to Carl under the table. Warns them to eat, leave, and never come back this way given the warning. Sends frantic messages once Carl goes dark for fifteen hours, relieved when he finally answers^B2C8

Rages at them for making a date with Tsarina Signet after he warned them off elites, then admits he never actually gave that warning in time because he was too drunk to answer when the quest first came up. Delivers a long lecture on what elites really are: designed and imprinted rather than autonomous, free to travel between floors unlike other NPCs and mobs, and the center of scripted, writer-driven storylines that launched with floor 3 and will play out with or without a crawler's involvement, with important elites relocating to floor 6 when a floor collapses. Warns that interfering with an elite's storyline, especially a newly launched one, tends to end badly for the crawler rather than the plot. Points out the Divine Guardian on the recap show and tells Carl to ask Odette about the crawler who died fighting it, since the man predates his own time at the guild. Later shows Carl and Donut how to combine certain potions to make them more potent and faster-acting, no specifics given, before sending them off to rent a room for the night^B2C7

Sounds sober and confused when asked about his hangover, seemingly unaware anything happened; once told what he missed, orders them back to the safe room immediately, warning that night comes on fast. Later guesses, wrongly per Donut's own read of the examine card, that Tsarina Signet is a succubus, and talks Carl through the finger-fracture trick for breaking her charm^B2C6

Tries to wake him early in the chapter and gets his tail rising ominously, cobra-style, for his trouble; Carl backs off rather than risk "some weird incubus spell" activating. Remains passed out in his own vomit through the whole chapter^B2C5

Cuts off mid-chat the instant Carl asks about the new quest tab, replying with a drunken non sequitur about their mother and a claim about incubi and alcohol that trails off before he finishes it^B2C4

Gives him a full orientation to the Over City: its rules, its dangers, and a warning that his new, higher charisma will draw horned girls out of the woodwork^B2C3

Greeted with an approving whistle over his new Incubus form; tells him to take a seat and wait his own turn while Donut goes first^B2C1

Runs a full post-boss debrief for him: fight critique, tactical advice, and a warning that facing a borough boss with six crawlers is madness^B1C25

His newest pupil, admitted against the rules with mobs outside^B1C3

Donut:

Walks her through the settlement charm and its attached gem's benefits^B5C11

Suggests she try her sunglasses' heat-signature mode to spot disguised changelings by their hotter brains, warning it'll likely be a subtle difference and hard to read under headscarves^B4C7

Gives her a full tour of the new food synthesizer and marketplace upgrades, warning the food synthesizer can get stuck repeating a choice and that the marketplace doesn't really open until floor 6^B4C3

Uses two of her table-upgrade coupons, with her permission, to push his alchemy table to level three; hands out the resulting potions and potion balls without getting the chance to actually assign the two Special Brews before his attack on Chaco cuts the moment short^B3C7

Tells her to read rather than sell her new spellbook, negotiates the personal-space union fee down with Wendita on the party's behalf, and notes she's closing in on 100 Charisma^B3C2

Walks her through her forced floor-4 class list, recommends Football Hooligan, and afterward explains to Carl the unintended way her Character Actor skill lets her keep trained skill levels between floors^B3C1

Works out, once Carl gets no response to his own "Congratulations," that reaching floor 4 means Mordecai's duty managing them on floor 3 is done, and that he's free to go home once the dungeon itself ends^B2C25

Gives Carl a worried look rather than the picture itself when she opens her fan box prize; concedes to her declaration that they're finishing the quest, calling himself her manager and not her dad, as long as grinding stays the priority^B2C17

Watches her get two sips into a Dirty Shirley and go giddily drunk, then sober right back up on Quint's Hair of the Dog; later watches her dance with a bot ogre on the club floor without comment^B2C15

Woken up hungover and hauled into the secret briefing; she calls him a spy and swears she knew he wouldn't betray her, all caps^B2C8

Runs her through race and class selection; furious once he realizes she's actually chosen Former Child Actor rather than Artist Alley Mogul, and bound him to her as Manager in the bargain^B2C1

Reviews her fight performance, impressed by her strength but warning Carl to keep her out of melee for now given her low health and constitution^B1C25

Deeply unwelcome guest; see: his mother's ashes^B1C3

The Tutorial Guild:

His home and workplace; the guildhall and his body both get moved when floors close^B1C3

Odette:

Referenced, not seen: Chaco tells Carl that hundreds of cycles ago he did something to Mordecai, under orders from Mordecai's own manager at the time, that would have killed him otherwise and was somehow also necessary to avoid losing Odette; Mordecai isn't present to hear any of it^B3C7

Watched over by her, by her own admission, as much as she can; per Odette, he's repeatedly insisted the recent assassination attempt against him stay off-limits during Carl and Donut's on-air interview, and Borant has backed him on it^B2C26

Reacts with genuine outrage to her request that he seek her out, saying he'd rather spend another 2,000 years in his room than have anything to do with her again^B1C35

His own trainer, on his own crawl, long before this season; she still watches him and asks, through Carl, that he seek her out once this crawl ends^B1C29

Zev:

Greets her formally, visibly relaxing once he confirms she isn't wearing a Bloom party badge; compliments her old-fashioned diving suit^B1C36

Warns Carl not to upset her once she arrives; says she has a lot of power over his fate^B1C35

Gordo:

Drugs him overnight without his knowledge to knock him out for the kitchen raid^B2C8

Ordered to "sheath his sword immediately" the moment he teleports in with his pants down in the middle of the bar^B2C4

Eklund:

Visits him overnight for information; Eklund declines to look up the Water Lily cure but names the storyline behind Signet's battles^B2C9

Clarabelle:

Greets him as an old acquaintance who sees past whatever disguise his guildhall currently has him wearing; he kisses her on both cheeks and tips her a gold coin^B2C15

Quint:

An old friend and former regular customer from his own crawling days; trades him three of Carl's Rev-Up Moonshine bottles for a pharmacist's starter kit, building his own war chest of potion supplies ahead of floor four^B2C15

Fitz:

Plans to get him blackout drunk that same night so he can go through his stores and his newsletter, a plan made right in front of Carl and Donut moments after Fitz breaks down over GumGum's death^B2C17

Katia Grim:

Reads over her expanded train map, identifies the Syndicate's own logo hidden in the pattern of named lines, and tells the H'lene waystation story behind the map's "station mimic" label before she pushes past his own explanation into her own folded-loop theory^B3C30

Notices the golden skull badge over her head and the skull over Donut's the instant he's back and admits he's missed a few things; caught full in the blood spray when a new inventory patch forces every drop she'd been storing back out of her at once, stumbling backward over the couch with his frog legs in the air^B3C29

Examines her new shield-arm, identifies its Shatter enchantment, and reassures her that cashing in her coupons now won't cost her anything if she later leaves the party for Hekla; privately tells Carl he wants her two table-upgrade coupons for himself and will have to ask her for them^B3C2

Discusses the idea of a lich in town with her at the Narwhal earlier that evening, within earshot of Fitz, who raises the alarm and gets half the town armed and watching by the time Carl and Donut move on the warehouse^B2C23

Already giving her tips on sculpting her own face when Carl and Donut arrive; calls her a trainwreck but genuine, floats poaching her from Hekla if she can be trained up, and privately tells Carl to strip her rings off if she dies^B2C21

Chaco:

Still wants Carl to attack Chaco when the Masquerade protection seal breaks^B5C69

Per Clarabelle, spends his time out crying into his cup and naming a short list of scores he wants to settle once he's free again; Chaco comes up more than once. Still serving his seven-day removal, one warning down per Clarabelle's own understanding of the club's rules^B3C8

Attacks him the moment Chaco, mid-introduction to Carl's Prize Carousel segment, spots him in the room, his tongue lashing a kitchen chair across the room hard enough to nearly cave in Chaco's skull before it freezes a quarter of an inch short; vanishes into a system-imposed time out the instant the Naughty tag resolves, without getting to hear Chaco's own apology^B3C7

Louis Santiago 2:

Threatens to have Donut turn him and Firas into zombie meat shields if they don't sober up and listen; brews each a Rapid Detox potion, disguised with sage beetle ichor, and forces them to drink it^B4C5

Chris Andrews 2:

Confirms there's no way to free him from the parasite without killing him outright, short of an antiparasitic he can't brew until reaching materials on the next floor^B4C14

Infiltrators:

Gives Carl the full explainer at last: officially the Scree, parasites that fully annex a living host over a few days, leaving the original person conscious but powerless inside their own body^B4C14

Psamathe:

Recognizes her as a withering spirit, explains the mechanic in full, and talks the party into hiring her as a saferoom-bound NPC trainer rather than getting rid of her^B4C24

Drakea:

Recognizes the name on Carl's new boss box prize and recounts his fate as a fellow bune primal, a famous trap-builder killed by his own backfired trap^B4C28

Juice Box:

Reports she'll likely help evacuate the changeling children through the gate, but not for free, and that she's rightly afraid of the offer to send them all through at once^B4C28

Samantha:

Works with her to finally figure out a use for the yam Carl received back at chapter 8^B4C32

The Borant Corporation:

Reacts to their bubble-escape method being allowed to continue by noting Borant tolerates crawlers doing suicidal, stupid things individually, but gets alarmed once it threatens the whole population, and warns not to expect similar leniency once every sponsorship on the floor has closed out^B4C33

Tam:

Challenges the cleric's demand to reinstate the naiad and dinosaur rules; his question inadvertently triggers The Recital quest^B5C11