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Generic creature illustration for The Krakaren
creature

The Krakaren

The Apothecary (suspected) · the collective mind

A collective mind creeping across the universe, whose dungeon caricature is an octopus and whose real shape nobody knows.

Story so far

Carl has met Krakaren twice over, in a sense: the weird caricature version the dungeon puts in front of crawlers, and the real thing behind it — a collective mind slowly making its way across the universe. He has no idea what she actually looks like and doubts very much that she is an octopus thing. The only other place he has encountered the name The Apothecary was in a mob description back on the fourth floor, and when that name turns up as his third and final sponsor, it is Krakaren he thinks of immediately.

The rumor Carl attaches to her is financial: she is said to be involved with the company that runs the tunneling system, which is owned and operated by The Plenty, the goat people. If the Apothecary collective is the Plenty's silent partner, then the money behind the name is effectively bottomless — enough to buy up most of the Top Ten List at once as a piece of political theatre.

Appearance

Unknown in her true form. The dungeon's version of her is an octopus-like caricature that Carl is confident bears no resemblance to whatever she really is.

Role

Off-page cosmic power whom Carl believes is the identity behind his new sponsor, backed by tunneling-system money.

Relationships

The Apothecary — Carl's near-certain identification of the sponsor's true identity, based on a single mob description he read on the fourth floor.
The Plenty — Rumored to be entangled with the goat people's tunneling company, either as partner or silent backer.
Carl — Has encountered only her dungeon caricature; now finds her name, or her front's name, attached to his own feed.

Earlier in this series

Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 16
  • A collective mind creeping across the universe, whose dungeon caricature is an octopus and whose real shape nobody knows.
Character portrait