After the talk show ends with a video of Manasa’s final song, Carl and Donut return to the lounge and see that the trailer Manasa died in has been replaced by scanning probes. While waiting for Zev to send them back, Carl admits his speech about rebellion was partly impulse and partly strategy, but he also tells Donut he suspects the assassination attempt was manipulated. Carl reasons that Prince Stalwart seemed too prepared, and that Manasa’s death weakens the Skull Empire’s alliance with the Valtay in a way that could benefit Borant.

Back in the saferoom, Zev and Mordecai get the full story. Zev explains that trailer bookings are public, reports that the Valtay retaliated by destroying the royal yacht, and says public opinion is blaming Prince Stalwart rather than Carl and Donut. Mordecai reacts by banning Carl and Donut from discussing outside political powers until much later in the crawl, because King Rust will now take Manasa’s death personally even if Carl did not intend it.

Carl then refocuses on the dungeon problem. Working from his theory that the 201st Security Group is supporting the town’s undead threat, he decides to hit their local headquarters first, since breaking that support network should weaken the larger plan even before he understands every detail of the murdered prostitutes. On the way, Carl kills lingering shambling berserkers and tests his upgraded hobgoblin dynamite, discovering that it is far more destructive than expected and too dangerous for ordinary close combat.

At the Apito Education Center, which Carl identifies as a corrupt temple, he and Donut find city elves recruiting on the street beside a crowded dwarf household. The cultists already know Carl and Donut and reveal that they tortured GumGum after she started asking questions. When Donut’s enchanted oak anklet becomes visible, the elves panic and decide that Donut is the Oak Fell, a prophetic antichrist figure in their religion. Salvatore and the other magic users consume acorns to trigger Magical Fervor, preparing to attack while Carl waits for a moment that will let the town guards turn on them instead of on him.

The standoff collapses when Eunice, a heavily pregnant dwarf mother from next door, storms out and beats Salvatore with a rolling pin after one of the elves earlier hurt her child. The elves retaliate by freezing Eunice nearly to death, and the village swordsmen move in to execute or finish her while her children try to drag her away. Carl impulsively punches a guard to stop them, which brands him a troublemaker and makes the guards hostile on sight. At the same time Ricky Joe, a dwarf child whose salamander Mongo swallowed, punches Mongo and loses an arm when Mongo bites it off. Carl grabs Ricky Joe, calls for the “Mic Drop” plan, and Donut teleports the group to a rooftop just before Carl’s lit boom jug detonates. The blast incinerates the remaining city elves and sets both the temple and the neighboring home on fire. Carl saves Ricky Joe from bleeding out with a potion, and Mongo immediately coughs the child’s arm back up.