Carl and Princess Donut retrace familiar corridors near their dungeon entry point, and Carl recognizes that the floor is laid out as a condensed grid of neighborhoods. The Hoarder’s area lies near the goblins and llamas, killed bosses seem to stop local respawns, and low-level rats have become minor nuisances. When Carl and Donut encounter a green slime, Carl learns painfully that unprotected melee attacks are useless against it; the slime dissolves his glove and jacket sleeve before dying to Carl’s Damage Reflect.

Needing to cover more ground before the floor collapse, Carl decides to enter Da Tutorial Guild rather than fight through more dangerous areas. Donut experiments with the party chat interface, annoying Carl, then argues that stairs are probably farther east because the televised map suggested each floor shrinks inward. Carl explains that he does not intend to kill goblins if the passage tattoo he earned from destroying the goblin machine can get them through peacefully.

When three goblins confront Carl and Donut, Carl shows the tattoo, turning the goblins nonhostile. Donut bluntly reveals how Carl got the mark, then uses her enormous charisma to take control of the situation, naming the goblins B.A., Face, and Murdock and ordering B.A. to lead them to the engineers. Carl realizes Donut can persuade low-level, intelligent, nonhostile mobs almost effortlessly, which explains how Donut has been getting special treatment from Tally.

B.A. leads Carl and Donut through goblin territory, past bomb bards and into a workshop full of engineers, steam machinery, murder dozers, and two level-seven Goblin Shamankas. The pierced shamanka initially rejects Carl’s request to buy or commission a vehicle, but Donut’s charisma reduces both shamankas to emotional vulnerability. Donut names them Rory and Lorelai, and Rory agrees to have the engineers make Carl a human-sized steam chopper with a sidecar, though the goblins demand payment.

Carl’s ordinary trade goods fail, but two bags of dungeon-made meth catch Rory and Lorelai’s interest. Carl trades the location of more meth for a reliable vehicle, fuel, and some bomb bard grenades, and Lorelai forces the engineers to begin work. Donut gently asks Rory to come with them, but Rory says mobs cannot leave the floor and dissolve if they descend the stairs. Rory explains that intelligent mobs know the first floor will collapse, but only crawlers die; mobs sleep until the next dungeon, hoping that by killing crawlers they will one day be moved deeper and finally live in peace.