Carl, Donut, and Mordecai wake in time for the recap episode, and Carl is horrified by how many crawlers and hunters have already died. The show highlights Vrah and other mantis hunters decapitating human crawlers and looting them, several jungle hazards killing careless victims, and Lucia Mar defeating a dinosaur-like borough boss by reflecting damage through one of her dogs. Carl and Donut immediately recognize that Lucia could become a major asset at the coming Masquerade if she does not turn on them first.

The recap then shows Katia, Elle, Bautista, Florin, Louis, Firas, and Imani raiding a dryad town while hunting Eva. Eva has used charm magic on the town’s NPCs, but Imani counters the spell before Katia’s group enters, preventing a massacre. Carl notices that Imani has grown much stronger and can now fly, and watching the well-coordinated team leaves him feeling isolated even as he tells himself that his and Donut’s path is too dangerous for the others.

Katia arrives alone in their space to make the planned exchange and says she is ready to finally leave Donut’s party. Before they can handle that, a system announcement insists that Borant’s civil war will not affect the crawl, says the Valtay will work with the production, and reveals that hunters are no longer allowed to communicate with outsiders, which pleases Carl because it confirms Quasar’s legal move succeeded. The announcement also delivers patch notes, says top-1,000 crawler rankings will now be visible, and confirms that the Butcher’s Masquerade preparations are continuing.

Carl then opens his fan box and receives a badge making him a special guest at CrawlCon, a virtual fan convention. Zev bluntly tells Carl he must cooperate, and Carl learns he has been scheduled for an art contest judging panel, a discussion panel, and an autograph session. Mordecai explains that using active crawlers this way is highly unusual, and Donut is upset when Zev confirms that only Carl, not Donut, has been selected.

Katia moves ahead with her larger plan and brings Donut’s party into Imani’s guild, Safehome Yolanda, making Imani the guildmaster and unlocking new guild features and room upgrades. Mordecai warns them not to place anything until after Katia fully leaves the party, but an upgraded bed appears anyway. Before anyone can settle in or shop, explosions shake Point Mongo, and Clint, now transformed into a beaver-like castor, rushes in to report that elves are lobbing poison bombs from the forest. Carl heads out, quickly realizes the attack is real, and pauses with a sudden idea before responding.