THE CRAWLER'S COMPANIONpatch notes for the apocalypse

Interdiction Rapid-Response Railway Repair Cart

First seen: Book 3, Chapter 26

The main workhorse vehicle of the Hobgoblin Interdiction Team, found in a set of ten, never used, parked in station 75's rail yard. Main-passenger-line gauged, with seating up front, cargo space behind, and a raised, ladder-accessed driver's cabin. Its front-mounted blade doubles as a dual-destination selectable portal wide enough to swallow a whole subway car, meant to clear wrecks off the line by scooping everything on the track into either a trainyard or the abyss. Requires a pair of gnoll hands on two separated key consoles to start, since the corporation running the Iron Tangle doesn't trust hobgoblins to run one unescorted. Carl and the party get one running using Growler Gary's own severed hands, meaning to send several down colored lines to pull stranded crawlers out of the abyss.

ContraptionDual-Destination PortalAlarm TrapFixed TrainyardAbyss Portal BehaviorRogue CartsWorking as IntendedWrong Gauge

Appearance

Twice as long as the auxiliary carts, three sets of wheels, a row of seats up front, cargo space behind, and a small, ladder-accessed driver's cabin on a raised platform. A wide metal blade runs along the front, close to the ground, shaped to hug the railsB3C26

Where

A separate spare cart, left running and plugging a hole toward station 24, is recovered untouched and ridden with a six-person crew to trainyard E, its own portal tuned there; the plan is to bait a summoned Grull through it to kill the city-boss mimic waiting in that yard, then switch the same portal to the abyss in time to send the god's second summon there insteadB3C32

The Def Leppard cart, physically hauled off the rails and, once shrunk small enough to fit the hallway, carried into station 36's main chamber and set on the floor's etched Syndicate-logo circle before being expanded back to full sizeB3C31

Purpose

Rigged into a permanent crane at station 36: chain-lifted by its back end until it hangs vertically over the room's central circle, front end anchored against swinging, and its portal switched on and tuned to the abyss so it drains the Krakaren pouring up through the floor once the self-destruct sequence opens the hole beneath itB3C31

Sinopia and Grullo lines both worked as planned, though their abyss gates didn't line up with the matching trainyard track, so the roughly 800 people swept up on both lines never saw their carts again and joined the defenders holding station 36 instead. The Mindaro line failed: its trainyard-bound cart caught up to and swallowed its own paired abyss-bound cart, leaving only one cart running, which crashed near Bautista's group without ever being boarded, stranding them until Carl's own party rescued them in person. Between all three lines, just over 1,400 people end up moved to somewhere safer by the plan's end, Bautista's roughly 600 includedB3C28

Six carts launched in three matched pairs, one pair per line, confirmed live over chat as the Sinopia, Mindaro, and Grullo lines Bautista had already reported; estimated at 8-10 hours to reach the end of the line at five times a normal train's speedB3C27

Planned to send two per colored line, fifteen minutes apart: the first tuned to the abyss to clear wrecked trains and mobs off the track, the second tuned to the trainyard to sweep up the stranded crawlers waiting at the end of the lineB3C26

Connections

Carl:

Climbs into the driver's cabin of the first one and works out that its two key consoles, spaced eight feet apart, need a pair of gnoll hands to start; gets one running using two of Growler Gary's severed left hands, switched to the Sinopia line and aimed at the abyssB3C26

Katia Grim:

A separate one of these carts, disassembled back on floor 4, left Carl carrying most of its body and Katia carrying its mechanical parts; both get put to use building the Royal Chariot on floor 5B4C4

History by chapter
Book 3
Chapter 26
  • TAG Contraption: The Hobgoblin Interdiction Team's main workhorse: only ten exist at station 75, never used, parked in the back of the yard. Moves up to five times faster than a regular passenger car and can only be started by a pair of gnolls, since the corporation running the Iron Tangle doesn't trust hobgoblins to run one unescorted
  • PHYSICAL Appearance: Twice as long as the auxiliary carts, three sets of wheels, a row of seats up front, cargo space behind, and a small, ladder-accessed driver's cabin on a raised platform. A wide metal blade runs along the front, close to the ground, shaped to hug the rails
  • TAG Dual-Destination Portal: The front blade doubles as a mobile, subway-car-wide portal that fills the whole tunnel ahead once switched on, tossing everything on the tracks, including other trains, into either a trainyard or the abyss depending on the selected setting
  • RELATIONSHIP Carl: Climbs into the driver's cabin of the first one and works out that its two key consoles, spaced eight feet apart, need a pair of gnoll hands to start; gets one running using two of Growler Gary's severed left hands, switched to the Sinopia line and aimed at the abyss
  • OBJECTIVE Objective: Planned to send two per colored line, fifteen minutes apart: the first tuned to the abyss to clear wrecked trains and mobs off the track, the second tuned to the trainyard to sweep up the stranded crawlers waiting at the end of the line
Chapter 27
  • TAG Alarm Trap: Fitted with one of Carl's own traps before launch: a one-minute delay on the very first cart sent, then a thirty-minute delay on the rest, set to blast a random song that's ever charted on the Billboard Hot 100 loud enough to warn stranded crawlers a near-silent cart is coming
  • TAG Fixed Trainyard: Each cart's portal is a two-way switch between the abyss and one specific trainyard painted on the cart's own edge, apparently so Hobgoblin Interdiction Team workers know which cart to grab; only one of the ten at station 75 is tuned to trainyard E, kept behind rather than sent out
  • OBJECTIVE Objective: Six carts launched in three matched pairs, one pair per line, confirmed live over chat as the Sinopia, Mindaro, and Grullo lines Bautista had already reported; estimated at 8-10 hours to reach the end of the line at five times a normal train's speed
Chapter 28
  • TAG Abyss Portal Behavior: Hitting a cart's own portal at the abyss's edge doesn't drop anything over the side; it works like an engine car punching straight through to whichever trainyard that cart is tuned to
  • OBJECTIVE Objective: Sinopia and Grullo lines both worked as planned, though their abyss gates didn't line up with the matching trainyard track, so the roughly 800 people swept up on both lines never saw their carts again and joined the defenders holding station 36 instead. The Mindaro line failed: its trainyard-bound cart caught up to and swallowed its own paired abyss-bound cart, leaving only one cart running, which crashed near Bautista's group without ever being boarded, stranding them until Carl's own party rescued them in person. Between all three lines, just over 1,400 people end up moved to somewhere safer by the plan's end, Bautista's roughly 600 included
  • TAG Rogue Carts: The abandoned Sinopia and Grullo carts kept running after dropping their loads, and both got auto-routed into a dead-end engine-holding track at trainyard M, flipping over on arrival; a group grinding nearby righted one and pressed it into service holding a track clear
Chapter 31
  • TAG Working as Intended: Confirmed the moment the floor's self-destruct sequence hits: thousands of Krakaren monsters fall up out of the hole and straight into the dangling cart's portal instead of into the room, and Carl's own stairwell station sees no monsters at all as a result
  • OBJECTIVE Objective: Rigged into a permanent crane at station 36: chain-lifted by its back end until it hangs vertically over the room's central circle, front end anchored against swinging, and its portal switched on and tuned to the abyss so it drains the Krakaren pouring up through the floor once the self-destruct sequence opens the hole beneath it
  • LOCATION Location: The Def Leppard cart, physically hauled off the rails and, once shrunk small enough to fit the hallway, carried into station 36's main chamber and set on the floor's etched Syndicate-logo circle before being expanded back to full size
Chapter 32
  • LOCATION Location: A separate spare cart, left running and plugging a hole toward station 24, is recovered untouched and ridden with a six-person crew to trainyard E, its own portal tuned there; the plan is to bait a summoned Grull through it to kill the city-boss mimic waiting in that yard, then switch the same portal to the abyss in time to send the god's second summon there instead
  • TAG Wrong Gauge: Turns out too narrow-wheeled for the employee line's own track gauge, forcing the plan to physically carry it across dozens of intervening tracks rather than drive it in, a step the chapter ends before the party actually attempts
Book 4
Chapter 4
  • RELATIONSHIP Katia Grim: A separate one of these carts, disassembled back on floor 4, left Carl carrying most of its body and Katia carrying its mechanical parts; both get put to use building the Royal Chariot on floor 5