The Hunter Territory Map

Story so far

Recovered by Carl from the corpse of Hunter Arwick of The Dream, the map is drawn in colored pencil on the back of a children's menu from a diner in Canada — proof that a group of hunters sat down together in some saferoom and carved up The Hunting Grounds so they wouldn't trip over each other. The Dark Hive holds the bottom left corner; the Dream holds the jungle where Carl and Princess Donut currently stand, including all of Point Mongo. Unaffiliated hunters are relegated to the areas around Zockau. Other named groups include the Crafters, the Nebular Sin Patrol, the Filigree, and — to Carl's grim delight — Skull Empire in the southeast near the elf castle, meaning the orcs have sent hunters into the dungeon.

The second half of the map is worse: a list of about thirty crawler names, all of the Top Ten List among them, each with an arrow drawn to their approximate position and each circled in one or two colors marking which group has claimed them. Carl and Princess Donut are circled in blue and purple — claimed by both the Hive and the Skull Empire — with the line pointing to exactly where they'd camped that morning. Katia belongs to the Skull Empire, Elle and Eva to the Crafters, Prepotente and Miriam Dom to the Nebulars, Lucia Mar to the Hive, and Louis alone to the Dream. It is hard proof that the hunters are receiving live outside information on crawler positions, and Carl immediately relays the whole thing over Party Chat while turning over how to exploit it.

Appearance

A grease-spotted kids' menu from a Canadian diner, its blank back covered in a crude multicolored pencil map, names ringed in blue, purple, and other colors, one name gouged through the paper.

Role

Physical evidence that the hunters coordinate territory and share live crawler locations — and Carl's first real lever against them.

Relationships