Phase Two

Card-Key Phase

A forty-eight-hour forced transfer into new memory simulations where fixed six-totem squads must seize a distant stairwell key.

Story so far

Phase two begins at 12:01 AM on December 24. Every crawler is teleported from their current activity to a selection room, where the squad leader has sixty seconds to choose among destinations.

The selected area is another memory simulation populated by intelligent deck-carrying mobs. Killing them permits card looting and totem replacement, but squads may never hold more or fewer than six after the phase begins.

All inactive reserve totems vanish at transfer, while non-totem cards remain. Incomplete squads receive a random starting-area totem automatically.

A key location appears ten to fifteen kilometers away. Squads have forty-eight hours to retrieve it. The key only opens the stairwell door beside that squad's original phase-one starting point, and only the keyholder's squad may pass.

Appearance

A forced-transfer chamber offering destination choices, six locked totem slots, and a key marker fifteen kilometers away.

Role

Phase two forces squads into a timed resource and navigation contest before returning them to their original exits.

Relationships

Cascadia — She announces the rules in the daily update.

Princess Donut — As squad leader, she must choose a destination in sixty seconds.

Full Totem Squad — Its six-card roster becomes fixed in size.

Phase Three — Key possession determines the phase-three exit scenario.

Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 3

After fourteen days, every completed squad must choose a different geographic region and fight through it to obtain an exit key.

Chapter 29

A forty-eight-hour forced transfer into new memory simulations where fixed six-totem squads must seize a distant stairwell key.