Rules change the Reavers pushed for, whose hidden purpose Elle discovers is a nasty surprise on the naga side.
Carl had asked Elle to find out why the robot guys — the Reavers — wanted pet leveling to be accelerated. At the end of the chapter she chats him to say she found out, and that it constitutes a new problem: they have another nasty surprise ready on the naga side because of it.
The irony is thick, since the entire chapter is Carl exploiting accelerated pet leveling himself — feeding dazed Skank Skunk Warriors to Rend until the meatball reaches level 8, high enough to regenerate on death, which Carl still calls not good enough. Carl, retching in a skunk cloud, can only answer "Can't wait. See you soon."
A negotiated rules change whose true purpose turns out to be a Reaver weapon rather than a concession.