Dungeon Crawler Carl, #6
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
by Matt Dinniman
Contents
Chapter 16
Overview
Ogun personally punishes Paz and Anton for failing him after Carl chose to restore Yemaya’s shrine, killing Anton and leaving Paz to die. Carl’s attempted intervention fails, deepening Carl’s guilt and showing how powerless the crawlers are against the gods.
Before dying, Paz reveals that Sister Ines has a race-based influence skill and a past as a mass murderer, forcing Carl and Donut to reassess their ally. Sister Ines then refuses to let Paz die and turns him into a card just as Yemaya and Eileithyia arrive, sharply redirecting the crisis.
Summary
Ogun arrives in the repaired temple through a lightning strike, appearing as an invulnerable level-250 deity. His presence empowers Carl through the Scavenger’s Daughter effect, but Ogun focuses on Paz and Anton, declaring that they failed him by allowing Yemaya, his sister, to return. Donut and Carl prepare an escape plan, but Carl hesitates because Ogun is targeting the two men, not them.
Sister Ines tries to intervene, insisting Paz and Anton were charmed and that Carl and Donut repaired Yemaya’s shrine. Ogun ignores the accusation, freezes Sister Ines with a Shelved debuff, and turns to punish his worshippers. Ogun burns Paz’s face, removes Paz from his grace, and makes Paz unable to heal the fatal condition affecting him.
Carl tries to save Anton by casting Black Nimbus and using healing scrolls on Anton and Paz. Ogun explains that Black Nimbus only removed Anton from Ogun’s protection, not from Ogun’s wrath, then crushes Anton’s head while staring at Carl. Ogun warns Carl that only respect for Emberus keeps him from killing Carl too, tells Carl to welcome Yemaya back for him, and vanishes.
As Carl tends to the dying Paz, Paz reveals that Ogun briefly cured his mind but left the Inevitable debuff and then withdrew the ability to heal it. Paz also warns Carl and Donut that Sister Ines is dangerous: her race has a skill that makes others like and protect her while forgetting the manipulation. Paz explains that he and Anton worshipped Ogun in hopes of resisting that control, but it failed.
Paz further reveals that Sister Ines was not a worker but a prisoner known as the Reaper of Havana, imprisoned for poisoning all the sisters in her convent. Donut wants to kill Sister Ines before she wakes, but Carl refuses to execute someone for what she might do now, deciding instead that they must separate from her and warn others. Paz accepts death and refuses another potion, believing he has found forgiveness.
When Sister Ines wakes, she begs Paz to fight and blames Carl for failing to save him. Paz tells Sister Ines that he revealed her past, then asks to be let go. Panicking at the thought of being abandoned, Sister Ines stabs Paz with a flag and turns him into a common green card. As everyone stares in shock, Yemaya and Eileithyia both appear in the realm.
Who Appears
- Carltries to save Anton and Paz, feels guilty, and decides not to kill Sister Ines.
- Pazpunished by Ogun, reveals Sister Ines’s secrets, accepts death, then becomes a card.
- Sister Inesdefends Paz and Anton, is frozen, then turns dying Paz into a card.
- Oguninvulnerable deity who punishes his worshippers, kills Anton, and condemns Paz.
- Donuturges caution, wants Sister Ines killed, and manages Mongo during Carl’s SlugPox.
- AntonOgun’s worshipper; Carl attempts to protect him, but Ogun crushes him.
- Mongoguards against Carl’s SlugPox slugs and awaits Donut’s orders about Sister Ines.
- Yemayanewly restored goddess whose return provokes Ogun and who appears at the chapter’s end.
- Eileithyiagoddess announced as appearing in the realm at the chapter’s cliffhanger.
- Katiamessages Donut that another god is coming with an unavoidable quest.