Carl and Princess Donut arrive at the underwater Production Facility without the usual gnoll checks, and Carl’s HUD immediately flickers off. Zev appears as a projection and admits she knew Mordecai diverted their gold to hire and protect vulnerable changeling child NPCs; Borant has even licensed the story to Titan for a dramatized vid. Zev then switches to a secured sponsor-channel and warns that Odette plans to request being their Faction Wars adjutant.

Zev explains an adjutant is a neutral on-field observer with rule access and open comms to other adjutants, usually a flashy celebrity; Odette has done it before. Zev urges them not to accept because Odette and Mordecai have bitter history, and putting them together will likely provoke Mordecai into attacking, risking his removal and endangering the foster kids who depend on his proximity. Carl privately concludes they will still have to take Odette, but he buys time by asking questions.

Carl and Donut are ushered to a round-table meeting by a Mexx robot, U56KL, while learning richer teams attend remotely from their castles. Cascadia appears—tense, exhausted, and openly threatening that she is near activating a failsafe that would kill everyone if the chaos continues. Cascadia briefly disables protections and dares Carl to attack her, forcing Carl to restrain himself, before the other warlord seats fill.

Introductions reveal several Faction Wars powers: Crown Prince Stalwart (hostile and refusing formalities), Voting Admin Cell Mass Number Three (an Operatic Collective amalgam containing Hortense), Rishi representing the Blood Sultanate (coolly noting Donut is “cousins” via the tiara and that he would be bound to follow Donut or Katia), Empress D’Nadia newly on-boarded, Epitome Tagg of the Dream, “Luke” from the Lemig Sortion, a silent viceroy from the Madness, and Warlord Fangs of the Reavers.

The meeting derails when the Madness viceroy suddenly collapses and decapitates, blood spraying across the table. Epitome Noflex—appearing as an NPC in the viceroy’s place—casually claims the viceroy will regenerate at sunset, provoking Tagg into furious accusations and another threatened appeal. Cascadia insists the AI won’t intervene because Noflex is an NPC and not on Carl’s team, leaving Tagg free to try to kill her; Noflex ends by addressing Carl directly: “Hello, Juice Box.”