THE CRAWLER'S COMPANIONpatch notes for the apocalypse

Floor 5

also known as The Bubbles

First seen: Book 3, Epilogue

Officially named in its own welcome broadcast: 1,172 self-contained "bubbles," each holding a randomly-assigned batch of roughly 150 crawlers split across four quadrants (Land, Sea, Air, Subterranean), each quadrant with its own castle to storm, over 4,000 castles floor-wide. A bubble's stairwell only opens once all four of its castles fall. Carl's party lands in Bubble #543's Air Quadrant, a sand-blasted desert dome built atop a vast tomb, the Necropolis of Anser, with a 15-day collapse timer.

Air QuadrantDungeon FloorBubble StructureBubble PopulationMarketplace InterfaceWater Quadrant LiberatedAir Quadrant Battered, Not ClearedAir Quadrant LiberatedWater Quadrant SaferLand Quadrant LiberatedUnidentified PredatorBubble PoppedSubterranean Quadrant Liberated

Appearance

Entry Room:

A large, stark, warehouse-like room with four one-way portal doors, one on each wall, and a pair of large, round spinning wheels in the center, similar to a casino wheel of fortune. No notifications work here, and the Valtay implant's own doorway-reading ability is blocked. Team leaders spin: the first wheel randomly assigns the team's quadrant, the second assigns their opponent, and one distant door opens onto that result once both wheels stopB3C35

Where

Bubble #543, Air Quadrant: a sand-blasted desert dome built atop the Necropolis of Anser, home to Hump Town and a rival Bactrian townB4C1

The chapter ends as one door opens onto a sand-swept desert landscape, wind and sand blowing into the holding roomB3C35

Stats

Down to 7 hours, then 6, the mark that triggers phase three of the mass extractionB4C33

Five hours until dark, six until the first of the equinox sandstorms, which will run twice as long as normal with mostly dark days once it startsB4C25

4 days and 22 hours, per the chapter's own headerB4C20

13 days, 13 hours remaining, per the interface's own on-screen readoutB4C8

15 days, per this floor's own welcome broadcast; Mordecai had expected 12 and reads the extra three days as an ominous sign rather than a mercyB4C1

Surviving Crawlers:

Falls under 100,000 for the first time, per Carl's own counter; already almost half the prior floor's survivors are dead despite half the population having already descended to floor 6B4C33

Connections

Carl:

Privately dreads the Nightgaunt option since his own cloak's description warns Nightgaunts would be enraged by the sight of it; relieved when the wheel lands elsewhereB3C35

Dirigible Gnomes:

The Air Quadrant's assigned opponents; per the welcome broadcast's own "Phase One of Four" heading, the gnomes are the first of four objectives standing between the party and floor 6B4C1

The opponent Donut's second spin lands the party against, out of four named choices (Razor Fox Kite City, Dirigible Gnome Wasteland Fortress, Nightgaunt Precipice, Great Dirt Island of the Wind Sirens); the system states the party must storm their Wasteland Fortress to pass the levelB3C35

Donut:

Spins both wheels as team leader, hoping first for anything but Sea, then hoping for the fox option on the second wheel; gets Air and the Dirigible Gnomes insteadB3C35

History by chapter
Book 3
Chapter 35
  • TAG Air Quadrant: The quadrant Donut's spin lands the party in, out of four choices (Land, Sea, Air, Subterranean)
  • TAG Dungeon Floor: The fifth of 18 levels; entered through a stark, warehouse-like holding room rather than a normal stairwell descent
  • PHYSICAL Entry Room: A large, stark, warehouse-like room with four one-way portal doors, one on each wall, and a pair of large, round spinning wheels in the center, similar to a casino wheel of fortune. No notifications work here, and the Valtay implant's own doorway-reading ability is blocked. Team leaders spin: the first wheel randomly assigns the team's quadrant, the second assigns their opponent, and one distant door opens onto that result once both wheels stop
  • RELATIONSHIP Dirigible Gnomes: The opponent Donut's second spin lands the party against, out of four named choices (Razor Fox Kite City, Dirigible Gnome Wasteland Fortress, Nightgaunt Precipice, Great Dirt Island of the Wind Sirens); the system states the party must storm their Wasteland Fortress to pass the level
  • RELATIONSHIP Donut: Spins both wheels as team leader, hoping first for anything but Sea, then hoping for the fox option on the second wheel; gets Air and the Dirigible Gnomes instead
  • RELATIONSHIP Carl: Privately dreads the Nightgaunt option since his own cloak's description warns Nightgaunts would be enraged by the sight of it; relieved when the wheel lands elsewhere
  • LOCATION Location: The chapter ends as one door opens onto a sand-swept desert landscape, wind and sand blowing into the holding room
Book 4
Chapter 1
  • RELATIONSHIP Dirigible Gnomes: The Air Quadrant's assigned opponents; per the welcome broadcast's own "Phase One of Four" heading, the gnomes are the first of four objectives standing between the party and floor 6
  • LOCATION Location: Bubble #543, Air Quadrant: a sand-blasted desert dome built atop the Necropolis of Anser, home to Hump Town and a rival Bactrian town
  • TAG Bubble Structure: Over 4,000 castles floor-wide, split across 1,172 total bubbles; each bubble holds roughly 150 randomly-assigned crawlers split across four quadrants (Land, Sea, Air, Subterranean), one castle per quadrant. A quadrant's own castle must be fully taken, throne room occupied or boss killed, before its stairwell opens, and all four of a bubble's castles must fall before the bubble itself pops and its crawlers may travel beyond it
  • STAT Collapse Timer: 15 days, per this floor's own welcome broadcast; Mordecai had expected 12 and reads the extra three days as an ominous sign rather than a mercy
  • TAG Dungeon Floor: The fifth of 18 levels, officially named "The Bubbles" in its own welcome broadcast
Chapter 2
  • TAG Bubble Population: Averaged to roughly the low twenties per crawler, per Mordecai's theory once Katia's find-crawler skill turns up only low-level neighbors; he suspects Carl's level 41 may be the highest in the whole dungeon this floor
Chapter 3
  • TAG Marketplace Interface: The party's newly-bought upgrade doesn't fully activate until the sixth floor; usable now only as a general-store interface
Chapter 8
  • STAT Collapse Timer: 13 days, 13 hours remaining, per the interface's own on-screen readout
Chapter 9
  • TAG Water Quadrant Liberated: Chris Andrews 2 occupies the Bridge of the Akula, the first of Bubble #543's four quadrants to fall; the necropolis below starts flooding soon after
Chapter 12
  • TAG Air Quadrant Battered, Not Cleared: Carl's assault guts the Wasteland's planes, several balloons, and its main gun battery, but the throne room is never taken and no stairwell opens
Chapter 16
  • TAG Air Quadrant Liberated: Carl and Donut kill Denise and occupy the Commandant's quarters, the second of Bubble #543's four quadrants to fall
Chapter 20
  • TAG Water Quadrant Safer: Large snakes that used to come and go from the ocean are gone now, per Firas M, since Gwendolyn Duet's team killed their boss; shark fins and giant blue jellyfish still surface, and the Water Quadrant's own two survivors, Vadim and Britney, still refuse to go back in
  • STAT Collapse Timer: 4 days and 22 hours, per the chapter's own header
Chapter 22
  • TAG Unidentified Predator: Something large and fast cuts through the Water Quadrant's ocean chasing the corpses and debris sinking from the sandcastle's collapse, crunching down on at least one body; never surfaces or gets identified, and Carl swims away rather than risk drawing its attention, bearing out Vadim and Britney's own warning about horrors near the ocean floor
  • TAG Land Quadrant Liberated: Mrs. Ghazi is defeated and a system notification confirms the quadrant open, the third of Bubble #543's four quadrants to fall, in the same instant the sandcastle's own basement collapses on Carl and Donut
Chapter 25
  • TAG Unidentified Predator: Reappears near the Akula, larger than the submarine itself, closing on Katia's own camouflaged position as the chapter ends; still never identified
  • STAT Collapse Timer: Five hours until dark, six until the first of the equinox sandstorms, which will run twice as long as normal with mostly dark days once it starts
Chapter 29
  • TAG Bubble Popped: Bubble #543 pops outright once all four quadrants clear: the dome's top vanishes into a red-hued sky, the ocean and island stay intact below, and all four stairwell locations open at once
  • TAG Subterranean Quadrant Liberated: Quetzalcoatlus, the guardian of Anser's tomb, is killed by the lightning tower plan, the fourth and last of Bubble #543's four quadrants to fall; the bubble notification credits Gwendolyn Duet, Low Thi, and Morris Sp, then notes every crawler who originated in the Subterranean Quadrant is already dead (Low Thi and Morris Sp among them, not Gwendolyn Duet)
Chapter 33
  • STAT Surviving Crawlers: Falls under 100,000 for the first time, per Carl's own counter; already almost half the prior floor's survivors are dead despite half the population having already descended to floor 6
  • STAT Collapse Timer: Down to 7 hours, then 6, the mark that triggers phase three of the mass extraction