Book

Book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade

Year: 2022 · Floors: 6 — The Hunting Grounds, 7 — The Great Race The book on its own: The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapters

• Ch. 1 — The vice principal's office
• Ch. 2 — Night weasels
• Ch. 3 — Quasar
• Ch. 4 — Golden Throat
• Ch. 5 — Zockau
• Ch. 6 — Miriam, Pony and Bianca
• Ch. 7 — Whataburger
• Ch. 8 — The Night Wyrm's web
• Ch. 9 — Just Wait Until Your Daddy Gets Home
• Ch. 10 — No dinosaurs of any kind
• Ch. 11 — The Recital
• Ch. 12 — No matter what
• Ch. 13 — Elites in the trees
• Ch. 14 — Were-castors
• Ch. 15 — The kids' menu
• Ch. 16 — Clint and Holger
• Ch. 17 — The security checkpoint
• Ch. 18 — Ten minutes, Odette
• Ch. 19 — Miss Beatrice
• Ch. 20 — Viva la revolución
• Ch. 21 — CrawlCon
• Ch. 22 — Samantha, open wide
• Ch. 23 — Congratulations, Murderer
• Ch. 24 — The rock chucker
• Ch. 25 — Fort Freedom
• Ch. 26 — Wonderwall
• Ch. 27 — Claude Sludgington the Fourth
• Ch. 28 — Premature Questjaculation
• Ch. 29 — Blood and ink
• Ch. 30 — A Valtay landing vessel
• Ch. 31 — The juvenile quickdraw
• Ch. 32 — The Ultimate Training Room
• Ch. 33 — Crawling Through the Ages
• Ch. 34 — How to kill a mantis
• Ch. 35 — Ballroom Blitz
• Ch. 36 — Swole
• Ch. 37 — The rainbow bridge
• Ch. 38 — Edict
• Ch. 39 — Prepotente Town Number Four
• Ch. 40 — Kapitan Whiskers
• Ch. 41 — The Society for the Eradication of Cocker Spaniels
• Ch. 42 — Warrants
• Ch. 43 — The Midnight Epicure
• Ch. 44 — The Recital
• Ch. 45 — The sorting yard
• Ch. 46 — Sierra
• Ch. 47 — My beautiful boy
• Ch. 48 — The Creeping Apocalypse
• Ch. 49 — Kiwi
• Ch. 50 — Uncle Morty's Insta Lawn-Kill
• Ch. 51 — The howdah
• Ch. 52 — Gehenna Bramble
• Ch. 53 — Iota
• Ch. 54 — The blood bar
• Ch. 55 — Save the toraline
• Ch. 56 — Zerzura
• Ch. 57 — I Take it All Back
• Ch. 58 — The last stall in the women's bathroom
• Ch. 59 — The sheriffs of the wild west
• Ch. 60 — The raids
• Ch. 61 — Marked for death
• Ch. 62 — A squirrel with antlers
• Ch. 63 — Enchanted Hammer of Fast Forward
• Ch. 64 — The attendant entrance
• Ch. 65 — The Oak Mother's sacrament
• Ch. 66 — The Sugar Cube
• Ch. 67 — Slate Butterflies
• Ch. 68 — Off-worlders
• Ch. 69 — The prize counter
• Ch. 70 — Anaconda
• Ch. 71 — Jill
• Ch. 72 — Cat-nac the Magnificent
• Ch. 73 — Wonderwall, again
• Ch. 74 — All Eyes on Me
• Ch. 75 — Sic 'em
• Ch. 76 — Cage Fight Extreme
• Ch. 77 — The mask
• Ch. 78 — Epilogue

Recurring cast present

Characters

• Carl — 78 chapters
• Princess Donut — 77 chapters
• Katia Grim — 58 chapters
• Mordecai — 56 chapters
• Mongo — 53 chapters
• Elle McGibbons — 35 chapters
• Samantha — 34 chapters
• Louis and Firas — 32 chapters
• Vrah — 32 chapters — first appearance
• Prepotente — 31 chapters
• Tsarina Signet — 30 chapters
• Imani — 29 chapters
• Zev — 28 chapters
• Lucia Mar — 27 chapters
• Bea — 25 chapters
• Kiwi — 24 chapters — first appearance
• Big Tina — 23 chapters — first appearance
• Bomo — 22 chapters
• The Sledge — 22 chapters
• Britney Proskurina — 20 chapters
• The Popov brothers — 20 chapters
• Eva Sigrid — 19 chapters
• The System AI — 19 chapters
• Chris — 18 chapters
• Florin — 18 chapters
• The Desperado Club cretins — 18 chapters
• Odette — 17 chapters
• Quasar — 17 chapters — first appearance
• Daniel Bautista — 16 chapters
• Scolopendra — 16 chapters
• Ferdinand — 15 chapters
• Miriam Dom — 15 chapters
• Li Na — 14 chapters
• Bianca — 13 chapters — first appearance
• Clint Smashgrab — 13 chapters — first appearance
• Gwendolyn Duet — 13 chapters
• Li Jun and Zhang — 13 chapters
• Areson the Wise — 12 chapters — first appearance
• Circe Took — 12 chapters — first appearance
• Edgar — 11 chapters — first appearance
• Emberus — 11 chapters
• Juice Box — 10 chapters
• Holger — 9 chapters — first appearance
• Meadow Lark (party) — 9 chapters
• Princess D'nadia — 9 chapters
• Ringmaster Grimaldi — 9 chapters
• Tran — 9 chapters
• Tserendolgor — 9 chapters
• Miss Nadine — 8 chapters — first appearance
• Chaco — 7 chapters
• Gideon — 7 chapters
• Prince Maestro — 7 chapters
• Bonnie — 6 chapters
• Frank Q and Maggie My — 6 chapters
• Quan Ch — 6 chapters
• Garret — 5 chapters — first appearance
• Herot — 5 chapters
• Orren — 5 chapters
• Bogdon Ro — 4 chapters
• Drakea — 4 chapters
• Ifechi — 4 chapters
• Langley — 4 chapters
• Skarn — 4 chapters
• Drick — 3 chapters — first appearance
• Everly — 3 chapters — first appearance
• Growler Gary — 3 chapters
• Hekla — 3 chapters
• Ikicha — 3 chapters — first appearance
• Lexis — 3 chapters
• Mistress Tiatha — 3 chapters
• Agatha — 2 chapters
• Astrid — 2 chapters
• Brandon — 2 chapters
• Cascadia — 2 chapters — first appearance
• Coolie — 2 chapters
• Loita — 2 chapters
• Nihit — 2 chapters — first appearance
• Osvaldo — 2 chapters — first appearance
• Ruby — 2 chapters
• Sydnee Iglacia — 2 chapters — first appearance
• Allister — 1 chapter
• Azin — 1 chapter
• Clarabelle — 1 chapter
• Eileithyia — 1 chapter — first appearance
• Epitome Tagg — 1 chapter — first appearance
• Forkith — 1 chapter
• Hellik — 1 chapter
• Kevin and Magnificent Troy — 1 chapter
• Kibben — 1 chapter — first appearance
• King Rust — 1 chapter
• Milk — 1 chapter
• Porthus — 1 chapter
• Prince Stalwart — 1 chapter
• Princess Lunette — 1 chapter — first appearance
• Ripper Wonton — 1 chapter
• The Night Wyrm — 1 chapter
• Tin — 1 chapter
• Volteeg — 1 chapter — first appearance

Locations

• Safe rooms — 46 chapters
• The Dungeon — 38 chapters
• The Royal Palace of Princess Donut — 24 chapters
• The Desperado Club — 16 chapters
• Production trailers — 14 chapters
• The Hunting Grounds — 14 chapters
• The Twister — 14 chapters
• Larracos — 10 chapters
• The Nothing — 10 chapters
• Club Vanquisher — 9 chapters
• The Over City — 6 chapters
• The production facility — 5 chapters — first appearance
• The Great Race — 4 chapters — first appearance
• The all-tree — 4 chapters — first appearance
• Sheol — 1 chapter
• The Penis Parade — 1 chapter
• The Valtay landing vessel — 1 chapter — first appearance

Motifs

• The hunters — 64 chapters
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — 37 chapters
• Quests — 29 chapters
• Borant — 23 chapters
• Explosives — 23 chapters
• The Butcher's Masquerade — 23 chapters — first appearance
• Elites — 21 chapters
• Sponsorship — 20 chapters
• The bestiary — 18 chapters
• The changelings — 18 chapters
• Warnings — 16 chapters
• Faction Wars — 15 chapters
• The Valtay Corporation — 15 chapters
• The gods — 15 chapters
• The Entering notices — 14 chapters
• Samantha's body — 13 chapters
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — 13 chapters
• The chat — 13 chapters
• The leaderboard — 13 chapters
• The show — 12 chapters
• Carl's family — 11 chapters
• The Dream — 11 chapters — first appearance
• The Krakaren — 11 chapters
• The Syndicate — 11 chapters
• The clock — 11 chapters
• The Skull Empire — 10 chapters
• "Goddamnit, Donut" — 9 chapters
• Donut's songs — 9 chapters — first appearance
• The river in Carl's head — 9 chapters — first appearance
• Loot boxes — 8 chapters
• The tenth floor — 8 chapters
• The blood bar — 7 chapters — first appearance
• The xistera — 7 chapters
• Player-killer skulls — 6 chapters
• The Nebulars — 6 chapters — first appearance
• Waking the NPCs — 6 chapters
• Carl's bare feet — 5 chapters
• Race and class — 5 chapters
• The Princess Posse — 5 chapters
• Pawna's Tears — 4 chapters
• The Anarchist's Battle Rattle — 4 chapters
• The Blood Sultanate — 4 chapters
• The Celestial Ascendency — 4 chapters
• The Gate of the Feral Gods — 4 chapters
• The Open Intellect Pacifist Action Network — 4 chapters
• The crawler count — 4 chapters
• Addiction — 3 chapters
• Carl's Doomsday Scenario — 3 chapters
• Memorial crystals — 3 chapters — first appearance
• Primal engines — 3 chapters — first appearance
• The Crown of the Sepsis Whore — 3 chapters
• The count — 3 chapters
• "You're not going to break me" — 2 chapters
• Lucia's voices — 2 chapters — first appearance
• The Guild of Suffering — 2 chapters — first appearance
• The stuffed figures — 2 chapters
• Seeds — 1 chapter
• The Great Consensus — 1 chapter
• The Walk-On List — 1 chapter
• The death of Geyrun — 1 chapter
• The kinder facility — 1 chapter — first appearance

Themes

• Entertainment as machinery — 8 chapters
• Staying human — 1 chapter
• The mobs are victims — 1 chapter

The clock

The countdowns the system posts, in order.

• B5 ch. 1 — Time to Level Collapse: 17 Days.
• B5 ch. 1 — Time Until the Hunt Begins: 30 Hours.
• B5 ch. 4 — Time until Hunter Release: 21 Hours.
• B5 ch. 9 — Time Until the Hunt Begins: 3.5 Hours.
• B5 ch. 24 — Time to level Collapse: 11 days 8 hours.
• B5 ch. 48 — Time to level collapse: Six days, fifteen hours.
• B5 ch. 52 — Time to level collapse: Five days and 21 hours.
• B5 ch. 59 — Time to the Butcher’s Masquerade: 62 Hours.
• B5 ch. 60 — Time to the Butcher’s Masquerade: 60 Hours.
• B5 ch. 63 — Time to the Butcher’s Masquerade: 8 hours.
• B5 ch. 64 — Time Until the Butcher’s Masquerade: 1 hour.
• B5 ch. 64 — Time Until Level Collapse: 31 hours.
• B5 ch. 78 — Time to Level Collapse: 20 Days.

Places entered

Every » Entering card, in order.

• B5 ch. 1 — the Desperado Club
• B5 ch. 1 — the Staging Area
• B5 ch. 2 — the Selva
• B5 ch. 2 — Medium Dryad Settlement
• B5 ch. 5 — Zockau
• B5 ch. 5 — the Selva
• B5 ch. 10 — Large Ursine Settlement
• B5 ch. 17 — Security Checkpoint
• B5 ch. 29 — Alucarda
• B5 ch. 30 — Security Checkpoint
• B5 ch. 30 — Production Facility
• B5 ch. 35 — Alucarda
• B5 ch. 35 — Temple of Diwata
• B5 ch. 39 — Prepotente Town Number Four
• B5 ch. 40 — Production Facility
• B5 ch. 45 — Small Dryad Settlement
• B5 ch. 58 — the Desperado Club
• B5 ch. 66 — Ballroom A
• B5 ch. 78 — Pole Position Chamber

In the series

The hunt, and the party at the end of it. A thousand off-world hunters loosed on the sixth floor, a lawyer hired with four words, a river in Carl's head given a name, and a masquerade that turns out to be a spell with one butcher in it — see the arc of the story. It is the book in which the hunters die to the last one, in which Signet learns who watches her and dies of her own free will, in which a cat is charmed for real and a god is stripped off the woman driving it, and in which Katia kills Eva and receives a crown for it. The seventh floor lasts ten minutes. 39 of the series' pages first appear here. Its NPCs — a beastmaster keeping a habitat alive, a merchant who chooses death, a barmaid with cubs, a teacher who was a caterpillar — carry the mobs are victims into the hunters' own ranks.