Carl and Donut examine their squad flag, a tacky miniature pair of heart-covered boxers labeled for Princess Donut’s royal court. Carl notes that the enchanted spike can tag creatures below five percent health, but its practical use will be messy. Carl asks Bomo to locate other stairwells, while Mordecai explains that each area is isolated like a bubble until Phase Two opens the floor more fully.

Carl plans their first steps: rest, reset buffs, determine whether other crawlers are nearby, then map Havana’s monsters. Mordecai wants information from the dungeon newsletter, and Samantha demands help finding a mage for a body. Carl assigns Samantha as recon, intending her to report monster sightings while the group searches for a borough boss and a field guide map.

After preparing, Carl traps the exit stairwell against non-guild crawlers, leaves Mongo in the saferoom, and exits into an illusion-filled Old Havana with Donut and Samantha. Carl is emotionally struck by the recreation of Earth’s lost normal life, but the illusion quickly proves dangerous: ghostlike people can shed real clothes and objects when touched. Samantha ignores instructions to fly, rolls into the city, and searches noisily for mages.

Carl and Donut discover that pedestrians, vehicles, clothing, phones, and other objects create chaotic chain reactions. Donut argues that roadblocks could clear traffic, while Carl worries about cascading crashes like the Iron Tangle. Group chat confirms similar problems in other squads’ areas, including car pileups near saferooms and monsters being hit by vehicles. As crashes and smoke begin spreading through Havana, Carl and Donut hurry toward the second stairwell.

Along the coast, Carl and Donut encounter their first mob: a level 55 creature called the Experience, a warped Taino folklore monster with a doglike body and a human head resembling Che Guevara. Donut overwhelms it with magic missiles, fireball, Mute, and her new self-harm debuff spell before it dies, meaning they miss the chance to test a flag capture. Carl suspects the dungeon’s folklore research is inaccurate and lazily patched together.

After the fight, Donut loots the monster’s magical red beret and finds a very rare consumable T’Ghee utility card that temporarily combines two monster cards. Carl learns cards can only be held by the squad leader. As Donut models the beret, she detects three approaching crawlers, including a cat girl, whose appearance horrifies Donut.