Carl and Donut return to the Desperado Club and speak with Clarabelle at the entrance. Clarabelle explains that, because of Carl’s earlier attack in Zockau, the club no longer mixes crawlers and hunters: crawlers enter on the top floor, while trapped hunters remain stuck on the Hunting Grounds level until the mayor approves repairs. She also says some hunters and outworlders are still stranded, some have already died, and ordinary NPCs with the right credentials can enter only on their proper floor and cannot move between levels. Carl wants access to the Hunting Grounds level to reach changelings, but Clarabelle refuses to openly let them through.

Donut then pressures Clarabelle by pointing out that Clarabelle kept 100 gold from an earlier security refund. Rather than directly granting entry, Clarabelle reveals a hidden route: a secret stairwell concealed behind a toilet in the last stall of the women’s bathroom. Carl and Donut use the passage to descend to the Hunting Grounds level. Carl briefly tries to continue toward the Larracos level, but the game blocks him with an error message, so the pair leave the lower bathroom and cautiously head out to find the changelings at the main bar.

The Hunting Grounds level is larger and more upscale than the club floor above. Before Carl and Donut can move far, an unaffiliated hunter named Haxor the Destroyer stumbles out of the men’s room, recognizes Carl, and is about to scream. To stop him from raising the alarm, Carl attacks immediately, kills Haxor, takes his body and belongings, and hastily cleans the scene. Soon after, two elves at the bar signal that they are the changelings Carl came to meet; one creates a distraction by shouting about a fight in the casino while the other directs Carl and Donut toward the guild hallway.

In the hallway, Pearson the changeling helps Carl hold a door shut against club guards while they talk. Carl explains that he promised Juice Box he would keep trying to bring the changelings down with him each floor, but the guild hall system only works on some of them. He says he has now found a way to move all of them to the ninth floor using Zerzura, but the spell can only be cast on a town, not on scattered individuals. Because the Gehenna brambles are advancing and the nearby forest towns are gone, Carl says the changelings must gather together, get their children to Carl’s safe area, and eventually reach the high elf castle, the only remaining town in range, so the evacuation can happen in two days.

Pearson remains wary because Juice Box warned the changelings to be careful of Carl, and because they do not know whether Juice Box is still alive. Carl insists that she is alive and asks Pearson to trust the plan. As the guards outside become more threatening, Astrid, the club’s powerful assistant manager, arrives instead and uses cardiovascular magic to make Carl’s blood boil as a warning. Realizing Astrid is dangerous but not yet trying to kill him, Carl tells Pearson to change back into elf form and open the door, ending the meeting with their secret presence exposed.