Carl enters the Penis Parade, a male strip club inside the Desperado Club, after checking that no other crawlers are watching. A system achievement mocks the establishment and rewards Carl with tip money and hand sanitizer. Inside, Carl sees dancers and drunk NPC patrons, including the troll performer Author Steve Rowland, the coin-collecting Bucket Boy, and a rowdy elderly dwarf named Rosemarie.

Carl draws a privacy bubble and searches for Damascus Steel, identified by a spiderweb elbow tattoo matching Carl's own. Dong Quixote, an elderly human dancer, approaches Carl flirtatiously, then directs Carl to a shadowed man at the end of the bar. Carl also notices Anaconda, a quarter-naga dancer favored by Donut, before finding Damascus.

Damascus Steel is revealed as a level 75 ifrit, assistant lead dancer of the Penis Parade. He recognizes Carl, notes that Donut and Katia have spoken well of him, and examines Carl's spiderweb tattoo and Enemy of the Church tattoo. After Carl says Katia convinced Carl to come, Damascus leads Carl toward the private-dance cubicles.

Amid jokes from the patrons, Damascus takes Carl into a purple shag-carpeted cubicle and slaps Carl as part of maintaining the club facade. Carl immediately detects a hidden portal door and screenshots the other side, which appears to be a brick hallway lit by torches. Damascus opens the secret door, and Carl follows through.

Carl enters the Guild of Suffering, where the Desperado's music vanishes and the temperature rises. At a spiderweb-carved wooden door, Carl receives a long achievement comparing secret societies, labor resistance, and doomed rebellion before undercutting itself by saying this guild is tied to a demi-god's ambitions. Damascus impatiently urges Carl to stop hesitating and enter, and Carl pushes into the room.