Carl and Donut reach Miriam Dom and the frozen Prepotente less than an hour before dawn after fighting through swarms of bambiraptors, many of them vampires. In the clearing, Prepotente stands paralyzed and fragile while Miriam, clearly exhausted and starving, asks Donut to learn a spell from a book that can wake him. Carl distrusts the situation, especially when Donut reads the spellbook anyway and learns Get Out of Jail, but Miriam proves she is not trying to ambush them by calmly killing incoming bambiraptors and then begging them not to wake Prepotente until after sunrise.

Miriam then explains her attachment to Prepotente by telling Carl about her old life on the farm and how deeply she loves her goats, especially Pony. She says Viscount Fog, the star of a dungeon show called Blood Hunter, began hunting her as soon as she arrived on this floor, and that her vampirism has become an unbearable danger to both her surviving goats and the other crawlers. Miriam reveals that she is the progenitor of the forest's vampire outbreak, that Big Tina's new undead-creating powers are part of that spreading disaster, and that if Miriam dies before the infection becomes permanent, the recently infected crawlers and creatures can still be cured.

After Carl presses for the full story, Miriam describes how Prepotente tried to save everyone with a scroll called Community Pool, which was supposed to transfer her infection to Viscount Fog and make Fog the new prime vampire. Fog countered the spell, Prepotente countered back, and the magic began bouncing between them through their defensive items, including Opposite Day rings, until repeated stun effects left both of them incapacitated and Prepotente became Fragile. Fog eventually received an inverted light-based curse and died at sunset, but the magical backlash also triggered Prepotente's newly equipped Ring of Divine Suffering, which automatically marked Miriam and gave Prepotente the Left to Fester debuff. Because Prepotente cannot heal while his mark still lives, Miriam has realized that her own death is now the only way to free him.

Carl understands that Miriam did not summon him for protection alone; she summoned him because she wants him to kill her before Prepotente wakes and tries to stop it or sacrifice himself. Carl and Donut privately acknowledge the brutal logic of letting Miriam die, since her death would cure the floor's spreading vampirism, interfere with Big Tina's undead plans, and allow Prepotente to recover. Even so, Carl refuses to kill Miriam outright and instead promises to keep both Miriam and Prepotente safe until sunrise.

As dawn finally breaks, Carl secretly slips on his own Ring of Divine Suffering and marks Miriam, taking Left to Fester onto himself while keeping the act hidden from the others. He reflects that Miriam called for him because she knew he would protect Prepotente after she was gone, even though killing them for their bounties would have been easier and more profitable. Miriam leans her head against Prepotente's shoulder as the sun rises, her health drains away, and she turns to dust with a final farewell to her beautiful boy. Afterward, Donut asks whether Carl would do the same to save her, and Carl answers that he would do it without hesitation.