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Library/ The Butcher's Masquerade
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Generic mechanic illustration for Shop Interface
mechanic

Shop Interface

the shop system

A 3D menu in the saferoom that doubles, this chapter, as a seismograph for a corporate takeover.

Story so far

Mordecai uses the Shop Interface as an instrument. Standing on a dented chair and clicking through its 3D screen, he is looking for whether the shop system still runs kua-tin software or has been switched to a The Valtay one — his chosen indicator of how much control the new owners actually have. It looks the same as before.

His verdict is that this is both good and bad. It means Borant is still running things and the dungeon's fantasy theme survives, which matters because a Valtay-styled floor of androids, hovercars, laser pistols and mechanical death machines would alienate the fans, make nonsense of every crawler's spells, abilities and classes, and be blocked by The Syndicate and the AI regardless. For now, business as usual — and Carl should still be dealing with Zev.

Role

The crawlers' shop, and this chapter the clearest available evidence of who really controls the game.

Relationships

Mordecai — Reads the takeover through it, checking whether the underlying software has changed hands.
Borant — Its kua-tin software still runs the shop, which is why the theme has not changed.
The Valtay — A switch to their system would have signalled real control; it has not happened yet.
Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 4
  • The system's in-menu store, currently stocking nothing useful but expected to improve within days.
Chapter 20
  • A 3D menu in the saferoom that doubles, this chapter, as a seismograph for a corporate takeover.
Character portrait