Carl meets with Donut, Prepotente, Imani, Elle, and Rosetta in the pet stables, a secondary guild room Rosetta says is partly hidden from the gods. The group is under time pressure because Imani's blood bar is nearly gone and volunteers are already gathering in Hungry Eyes for the Pineapple Cabaret plan. Carl reflects that many allies are furious about his newly posted strategy for floor eleven, but he believes he has no real alternative because his Emberus obligation is about to come due.

The group reviews who can safely attempt the Pineapple Cabaret exit. After discussing the risk that magical races, altered bodies, or enhancement-zone-dependent crawlers might die or fail outside the dungeon, they decide only human volunteers with no god ties should go. Because of those dangers, Carl and the others choose to warn everyone about what may happen on the eleventh floor and urge anyone unwilling to continue to take a deal either at the end of floor ten or the start of floor eleven. Linus's farewell gathering is merged with the volunteer assembly, but Carl notes that most public reactions to the plan have been angry and fearful.

Carl then lays out the immediate tactical situation. With only heats six and seven left, the goal is to keep as many NPCs alive as possible in heat six and remove as many crawlers from the board as they can before heat seven, reducing crawler-on-crawler matchups. About two hundred people are expected to try the Pineapple Cabaret, but Mordecai's calculations say roughly fifteen hundred more would need to take deals to meaningfully reduce those deadly races, which the group doubts will happen because many crawlers are waiting for better deal terms on the eleventh floor.

Next, Carl explains what the survivors expect after the final heat. The eleventh floor will likely begin immediately, last only about three hours, and end in an arena boss fight. Carl says the general plan is simple survival, but his personal stake is different: if Hellik is not dead before the floor ends, Emberus will smite him. To protect Donut during that attempt, Carl intends to leave the party temporarily, a choice that has enraged Donut and forced Mordecai to reorganize safe-room ownership and resources.

Finally, Carl asks Rosetta to explain the Scavenger storyline. Rosetta recounts a tangled dungeon myth about older gods, Nekhebit, Apito, Scolopendra, and a mysterious son, emphasizing that the important figure is the Scavenger's Daughter, a being said to have the power to erase the current pantheon and steal divine power. Carl is skeptical that Samantha's sand-ooze child could truly be that entity, but Rosetta admits the war mages may know something the group does not. The chapter ends with Carl turning from Rosetta's explanation to Prepotente, saying he hopes to see the memorial crystal.