Motif · from book 1
The tenth floor
The floor where 'additional rules come into play' and where, Quint warns, a crawler should not bother trying to make a deal. Odette, who reached the stairwell to the thirteenth floor, struck a deal instead of going down. Remex the Grand called himself a tenner and called dying here a mercy next to making it down there. What the deal costs is a question the books read so far have not answered.
First appears: Book 1 · Seen for what it is: Book 2
Series arc
In hindsight, after book 2
The first announcement in book 1 says the tenth floor has rules of its own; Odette says she reached the stairwell to the thirteenth floor and never went down it because she 'struck a deal.' Book 2 shows what a deal on the tenth floor can produce: Quint, a former crawler who is a drug dealer in a nightclub and tells them to push on to eleven; Remex, who calls himself a tenner, has been a battery in a warehouse for years, and says it is a mercy to die here rather than go down there; and a rule that only one wearer of the Sultanate's crown may proceed. Donut's 'I don't want to become an NPC' is the thread's thesis. See the Trace below.
As of book 8. 'Don't Come in Last', as run: seven heats of nine teams, a driver a heat, an upgrade a heat, garages, containment, pit stops and tracks that reroll; last place loses; awakened NPC teams from 'the deep reserves' in every heat until the last, which puts friends against friends. Carl calls it 'a drain designed to catch those of us who’ve been spat out of the bottom of Faction Wars'. 5,501 start it; 203 reach the eleventh.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The tenth floor's rules, and Odette's deal | B1 ch. 29 | open · B8 ch. 88 — The one deal after the floor: a season as a game guide, medical, a stipend, a gag order — Quasar 'wouldn’t trust it'; no exit at the eleventh's end, one at the twelfth's start; 172 take it. |
| The tenth floor: 'Don't Come in Last' | B7 ch. 88 | resolved · B8 ch. 87 — Run: seven heats, a food truck, last place then first, a dachshund at the final line; the Royal Court wins its heat alone and takes the stairs from a lobby full of shells. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 1
Through book 5
Everything Carl has read implied lawyers 'didn’t become a thing until the tenth floor', so his counsel is early — a crawler who reaches it is a Syndicate citizen, and the Syndicate bends citizens over (B5 ch. 3); the crown puts only one of Donut or Katia on the stairs from the ninth floor to the tenth (B5 ch. 12, B5 ch. 78); 'Tenth floor rules apply, but only at the door' of the club (B5 ch. 58); Carl's leverage: get as many people to the tenth floor as possible (B5 ch. 77).
Through book 6
Another season's, in the prologue (B6 ch. 0).
Through book 7
'Don't Come in Last' (B7 ch. 88).
Through book 8
Don't Come in Last: seven heats of nine teams, a driver a heat, an upgrade a heat, 'if more than two teams don’t make it to the finish line' (B8 ch. 2). The wheel gives a food truck (B8 ch. 2); heat one is a tow (B8 ch. 5); heat two a pouch and last place (B8 ch. 21, B8 ch. 22); heat three a skull and first (B8 ch. 32). Containment, pit stops, garage keys, tracks that reroll (B8 ch. 40, B8 ch. 47); heat five two-wide with theft enabled (B8 ch. 51); heats six and seven back to back in an apartment building, three teams to one (B8 ch. 67, B8 ch. 68). The gaps shrink (B8 ch. 33). 'a drain designed to catch those of us who’ve been spat out of the bottom of Faction Wars' (B8 ch. 60); 'What a goddamned floor' (B8 ch. 87).
Trace
The thread line by line, in reading order: its presence before anyone could see it, and the lines that made it legible. Each line is verbatim from the cited book.
| Where | The line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Book 1, Ch. 1 | "Additional rules come into play once any crawlers descend to the tenth floor. These rules will be explained when and if any crawlers reach this level." | The very first announcement. The tenth floor is special before anyone knows what a floor is. |
| Book 1, Ch. 7 | Royal members of the Blood Sultanate will be required to slay the Sultan and all other members of the royal family before descending to the tenth floor. | The crown's rule, first stated on its card. |
| Book 1, Ch. 29 | "I never went down the stairs. I'd struck a deal. That's a long story, and it's not for today." | Odette, off camera, on why she reached the thirteenth floor's stairwell and did not take it. |
| Book 2, Ch. 15 | "You two don't bother trying to make a deal on the tenth floor, you hear me? If I could do it again, I'd push my way through to floor eleven." | Quint — a former crawler, now a drug dealer in a nightclub — on what the deal got him. |
| Book 2, Ch. 24 | "Listen, boy. Don't be sad. You didn't know. It's a lucky thing, a mercy to die here." | Remex, an undead battery in a warehouse, on dying before the tenth floor. |
| Book 2, Ch. 24 | "He called himself a tenner. I reckon that means someone who got out on the tenth floor." | Carl works it out; Donut's answer is 'I don't want to become an NPC.' |
| Book 2, Ch. 25 | "Only one of them would be allowed to proceed to the tenth floor." | The tiara's rule, remembered when Mordecai warns she may lose it: the Sultanate's crown is a ticket to the tenth. |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 4/48 | Ch. 1, Ch. 3, Ch. 7, Ch. 29 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 4/26 | Ch. 15, Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 26 · the book's own page |
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 8/78 | Ch. 3, Ch. 12, Ch. 42, Ch. 52, Ch. 53, Ch. 58, Ch. 77, Ch. 78 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 4/74 | Ch. 0, Ch. 2, Ch. 20, Ch. 42 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 14/89 | 1, 6–7, 11, 15, 22, 26, 35, 56, 71, 81, 85–86, 88 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 16/99 | 1–3, 5, 9, 23–24, 40, 52, 66, 69, 73–74, 85, 88, 94 · the book's own page |
By book
The tenth floor in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
The first announcement says additional rules come into play once any crawler reaches the tenth floor (ch. 1); Mordecai whispers that no exit is worth it, 'Not until floor 12' (ch. 8). Odette, who reached the thirteenth floor's stairwell: 'I never went down the stairs. I'd struck a deal. That's a long story, and it's not for today' (ch. 29).
The tenth floor in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Quint, a former crawler who is now a drug dealer: 'You two don't bother trying to make a deal on the tenth floor […] If I could do it again, I'd push my way through to floor eleven' (ch. 15). Remex, who called himself a tenner: 'It is so much better' to die here 'and not make it down there' (ch. 24). Only one holder of the tiara may proceed to the tenth (ch. 25). Donut's words, as Carl remembers them: 'I don't want to become an NPC.'
The tenth floor in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
Everything Carl has read implied lawyers 'didn’t become a thing until the tenth floor', so his counsel is early — a crawler who reaches it is a Syndicate citizen, and the Syndicate bends citizens over (ch. 3); the crown puts only one of Donut or Katia on the stairs from the ninth floor to the tenth (ch. 12, epilogue); 'Tenth floor rules apply, but only at the door' of the club (ch. 58); Carl's leverage: get as many people to the tenth floor as possible (ch. 77).
The tenth floor in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
The tenth floor in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
The tenth floor in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
Don't Come in Last: seven heats of nine teams, a driver a heat, an upgrade a heat, 'if more than two teams don’t make it to the finish line' (ch. 2). The wheel gives a food truck (ch. 2); heat one is a tow (ch. 5); heat two a pouch and last place (ch. 21, ch. 22); heat three a skull and first (ch. 32). Containment, pit stops, garage keys, tracks that reroll (ch. 40, ch. 47); heat five two-wide with theft enabled (ch. 51); heats six and seven back to back in an apartment building, three teams to one (ch. 67, ch. 68). The gaps shrink (ch. 33). 'a drain designed to catch those of us who’ve been spat out of the bottom of Faction Wars' (ch. 60); 'What a goddamned floor' (ch. 87).