Cover of The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #6)

Dungeon Crawler Carl, #6

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

by Matt Dinniman


Genre
Fantasy, Science Fiction, Humor and Comedy, Horror
Year
2025
Pages
833
Contents

Chapter 41

Overview

Carl and Donut defeat the seventh deckmaster when the Visitor, a cloak-enraged Nightgaunt, ignores its deck and is devoured by Donut’s new Jola card. The win gives them another token and useful snare cards, but it also reinforces that the encounters are behaving erratically.

The next location, an overheated turkey barn, becomes a trap when Mongo’s feeding frenzy accidentally activates a hidden turkey deckmaster while also waking the visible spiked ogre. Carl and Donut are forced into a dangerous double deckmaster fight whose reward would qualify them to challenge the key boss.

Summary

Carl and Donut climb onto the unstable Dallas County, Iowa section, a muddy farm-and-trailer area suspended above the ocean. The ground is already crumbling, and Carl accidentally worsens the erosion when Donut spots invisible moth-like enemies on a farmhouse roof and Carl reflexively destroys the roof with an explosive.

The explosion starts the fight against the seventh deckmaster, the Visitor, a Nightgaunt aggravated by Carl’s cloak. Because the Nightgaunt fixates on Carl instead of playing cards, Donut summons Jola, the Yule Cat card Katia gave them. Jola’s candle reveals the invisible Nightgaunt and its Quench Moths, then the enormous cat attacks and kills the deckmaster directly while the moths destroy themselves against the candle.

After the fight, Carl and Donut loot the Visitor’s deck, gaining useful Lamp snare cards and another token. Carl notes that more enemy deckmasters are failing to use their decks properly, suggesting the card-system encounters are increasingly unstable or bugged. With the ground still eroding, Donut releases Mongo and points them toward the next opponent inside a large farm building.

Carl and Donut enter the hot, foul-smelling barn and find tens of thousands of living turkeys, many already suffering from the overheated conditions. Carl realizes the setup is likely a trap and considers clearing the birds before engaging the visible spiked ogre deckmaster deeper inside the building. Before Carl can act, Mongo discovers the turkeys and begins slaughtering and eating them in a frenzy.

As Carl wades in to retrieve Mongo, Mongo attacks one turkey that his teeth cannot bite. Donut realizes too late that this turkey is another card-wielding opponent. Combat begins, the turkey flies into the rafters, Mongo collapses unconscious, every turkey in the barn turns silent and faces Carl and Donut, and the spiked ogre also activates. A system achievement confirms Carl and Donut must fight two coordinated deckmasters at once, and victory would give them enough tokens to face the key boss.

Who Appears

  • Carl
    Climbs into Iowa, defeats the Visitor, analyzes traps, and accidentally enters a double deckmaster fight.
  • Princess Donut
    Spots invisible enemies, summons Jola, manages Mongo, and identifies the hidden turkey opponent too late.
  • Mongo
    Donut’s dinosaur; devours turkeys uncontrollably and is knocked unconscious when the hidden fight begins.
  • Jola
    A gigantic Yule Cat totem whose candle reveals invisible enemies and who devours the Visitor.
  • The Visitor
    Seventh deckmaster; a Nightgaunt enraged by Carl’s cloak and killed before using its deck.
  • Hidden turkey deckmaster
    Disguised among the barn turkeys; activates the mass of birds and starts the double fight.
  • Spiked ogre deckmaster
    Visible opponent inside the turkey barn; awakens alongside the hidden turkey deckmaster.
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