Desperado Club
Names: Desperado ClubDesperado Club Casinothe Desperadothe club
First appears in Book 1: Dungeon Crawler Carl, chapter 19 (19)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario
- Ch 15The Desperado Club's members-only area is one shared space across every club location on the level; you exit where you entered.
- Ch 15Most of the club's young, beautiful patrons are bots that vanish when real NPCs or crawlers enter.
- Ch 15The club has rooms including a casino, Jobs for quests, the Silk Road market, Guild-O-Rama, brothels, and stairs to the Hunting Grounds.
Book 3: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook
- Ch 6A Desperado Club is found at transfer stations whose number ends in one; those ending in nine have a Club Vanquisher.
Book 5: The Butcher’s Masquerade
- Ch 5Carl's barrel bombs collapsed the Desperado Club's Zockau entrance, trapping those inside and blocking entry from Zockau.
- Ch 58Crawlers now enter the Desperado Club only on its top floor, separated from hunters after fights broke out.
- Ch 58Hunters who fled Carl's attack on Zockau remain trapped in the club, since Zockau's mantis mayor won't approve rebuilding the entrance.
Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
- Ch 36After Minge's rampage, the Desperado Club is temporarily closed and everyone must leave within fifteen minutes.
- Ch 37The Desperado closure ejected trapped Faction Wars participants into flooded Larracos, where 35 were devoured, including one warlord.
Book 8: A Parade of Horribles
- Ch 40Akuma names the Desperado Club casinos, or a plan involving the shop interface, as possible ways into the Cabaret.
- Ch 90The crawlers leave Clarabelle a note warning that mimics infest the Desperado Club, offering refuge at Safehome Yolanda.
Connections
- related toDesperado Passgrants access to
- has memberClarabelleemployee
- has memberQuintpharmacist
- includesThe Silk Road
- inTransfer Station 131
- containsClarabelle
- led byAstridassistant manager
- related toLarracosreached by a staircase from the club casinoLarracos-level guards; club is on this level
- containsTito
- containsBomo
- inHump Town
- created byHurk
- has memberAstridassistant manager
- includesPenis Palace
- related toAstridassistant manager
- includesPenis Parade
- containsDrug den
- includesThe Hunting Grounds Casino
- includesLarracos
- related toOrrencover identity as manager
- includesCosmic Lounge
- containsMidnight Market
- includesThe Headlamp Colonnade
- inLarracos
- led byNight Wyrmnew manager
- includesThe Hairpin
- containsMitch
- inFloor 10
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 15First visit to the Desperado Club
Mordecai takes Carl and Donut into the Desperado Club, past the bouncer Clarabelle, and explains how the members-only club works.
- Book 2 · Ch 15Deal with Quint
Mordecai's old friend Quint, a former crawler turned drug dealer, trades an alchemy starter kit for moonshine and tells of Lucia Mar's rampage in the club the night before.
- Book 3 · Ch 8Reunion with Elle at the Desperado Club
With hired bodyguards, Carl and Donut meet Elle, now a Frost Maiden, at the Desperado Club.
- Book 3 · Ch 8Imani warns Carl about Chris
Imani tells Carl that Brandon died, and his brother Chris, changed by his igneous race, broke away and is looking for Carl.
- Book 3 · Ch 8Donut attacked at the Desperado Club
While Carl talks with Imani and Elle, a human crawler attacks Princess Donut on the dance floor; she survives near death and kills him.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Aftermath of the attack on Donut
Elle kills the second attacker; Donut weeps over her first human kill; Astrid apologises and grants free security.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Planning with Imani and Elle
Over Mordecai's train map, Elle points out the prime-numbered transfer stations and they divide up the investigation.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Carl spins the Wheel of Fortune
Carl cashes his comp chip at Tito's wheel, narrowly avoids Nothing!, and wins a Scroll of Upgrade for his toe ring.
- Book 3 · Ch 14Building a crawler network
At the Desperado Club Carl persuades about twenty crawlers to exchange chat details so they can share intelligence about the floor.
- Book 3 · Ch 19Frank gives Carl the ring
In the Desperado Club a drunk Frank Q. explains Yvette's death and Maggie's vendetta, then gives Carl the Ring of Divine Suffering as revenge.
- Book 4 · Ch 19Interrogation by Orren
After Loita's death, Carl and Donut are taken to an office in the Desperado Club where liaison Orren accuses Carl of assassinating her and demands his source.
- Book 4 · Ch 32Bubble rescues begin
Imani coordinates the first rescue phase from the Desperado Club, covering eight qualifying bubbles.
- Book 4 · Ch 33Katia's decision
Katia tells Carl and Donut she will separate on the next floor to protect the former daughters from Eva; Carl gives her Eva's lost saber.
- Book 4 · Ch 33Phase four begins
Elle hands the gate back to Carl, and Carl, Donut and Katia share a farewell hug as phase four starts.
- Book 5 · Ch 58Sneaking into the Hunting Grounds level
Donut pressures Clarabelle into revealing a secret stairwell; Carl and Donut descend to the club's Hunting Grounds level, where Carl kills the hunter Haxor.
- Book 5 · Ch 58Meeting the changelings
Carl gives Pearson a map and the plan to bring the changelings into the high elf castle for Zerzura, before Astrid stops them by boiling Carl's blood.
- Book 6 · Ch 24Scouting the Desperado Club
Carl and Katia secretly plan how to lure out and kill Astrid while meeting allied crawlers at the Desperado Club.
- Book 6 · Ch 24Florin's totem card
Florin hands Donut a powerful unique totem card he cannot control.
- Book 6 · Ch 26Donut's new tiara
Carl pays to install Donut's citrine gem into a new tiara, which grants her a Hover skill she delights in.
- Book 6 · Ch 29Katia goes quiet
Katia stops responding after scouting the Desperado Club; Bautista says she is asleep and out of sorts after finding a secret merchant.
- Book 6 · Ch 32Katia's addiction revealed
In the Desperado Club, a sick Katia apologises while Mordecai explains her four drug addictions and begins treating them with Imani.
- Book 6 · Ch 33Samantha gets into the club
Carl smuggles Samantha past Clarabelle into the Desperado Club, where she starts harassing the badger bartender Charles as a planned distraction.
- Book 6 · Ch 33Setting the Astrid ambush
Carl disarms traps in a secret corridor, sets teleport traps and walls off a room of deadly monsters to prepare the ambush on Astrid.
- Book 6 · Ch 34Ambush on Astrid goes wrong
Astrid bypasses the trapped secret passage and heads down the main stairs as an alarm announces a containment breach in the casino.
- Book 6 · Ch 34Emir attacks Carl
A drunk crawler, Emir, punches Carl to the floor; Carl rips off his boot and Zeynep mutes him before dragging him out.
- Book 6 · Ch 34Minge breaks out of the Nothing
The level 225 demon Minge escapes into the club hunting Samantha, slaughtering NPCs while Katia refuses to abandon the Astrid mission.
- Book 6 · Ch 34Minge rampages through the Desperado Club
The demon Minge devours club guards while Sai and croc guards charge her; Carl uses an invisibility potion and an alarm ball playing 'Material Girl' as a distraction.
- Book 6 · Ch 34Astrid reveals her secrets
In the kitchen, Astrid tells Carl she unleashed the vorpals and that the Night Wyrm, Hamed, is her husband.
- Book 6 · Ch 34Death of Astrid
Katia, shapeshifted and using totem cards, attacks Astrid; Carl rips off her wings to break her spell, and Katia kills her, then flees pretending to be a monster.
- Book 6 · Ch 35Vorpals released on Minge
Carl sends an automaton to free the vorpals and hits Minge with holy-water bombs, then flees upstairs with Samantha; the vorpals kill Minge.
- Book 6 · Ch 35Katia completes the orchid quest
Katia retrieves the orchid as the Night Wyrm's assassination job completes, putting their plan to escape the Sepsis Crown problem within reach.
- Book 6 · Ch 35Death of Charles Ellis
Minge grabs the bartender Charles Ellis from Samantha and tears him in half.
- Book 6 · Ch 53Orren explains the 'trap'
In the closed Desperado Club, Orren tells Carl the Pacifist Network set an elaborate trap risking the planet, and that the AI agreed with pulling him out.
- Book 6 · Ch 53Trading away the bin
With Quasar present, Carl trades the Residual's bin to Orren for minor scrolls and keeping four cretins on the ninth floor; Orren refuses to return the Gate of the Feral Gods.
- Book 7 · Ch 2Containment Interface installs
The enhancement begins installing a Containment Interface letting Carl trip the fuse and destroy the system; Carl is then sent to Orren's office.
- Book 7 · Ch 13War council with Juice Box
In a hidden room at the Desperado Club, Juice Box shares maps and plans, explains Shanty Town and reveals Ferdinand controls her team's systems with Drick as adjutant.
- Book 7 · Ch 13Louis and Juice Box agree to marry
Coached by Donut in chat, Louis declares that he and Juice Box should marry right away and tells her he loves her.
- Book 7 · Ch 14Crawlers banned from the Desperado Club
Clarabelle tells Carl's group that the new manager, Hamed the Night Wyrm, has banned all crawlers from the Desperado Club.
- Book 7 · Ch 14Trade for Shanty Town
Carl gives Ferdinand a temporary bowler hat in exchange for the mayorship of Shanty Town, and the alliance is renamed The Good Guys.
- Book 7 · Ch 14Louis and Juice Box marry
Louis and Juice Box hold a small changeling wedding in the entrance bar, whispering private vows; the Confirmation will follow in a month. Florin then summons Carl to headquarters as recruits flood in.
- Book 7 · Ch 44Carl transferred to the Desperado Club
As the Operatic Collective's defeat is announced and the enemy retreats, Carl is abruptly transferred to the Desperado Club.
- Book 7 · Ch 45Interrogation by Orren
Pulled into the liaison office at the Desperado Club, Carl learns Rosetta stole billions from Rust, and Orren demands to know how Carl's implant disabled the failsafe.
- Book 7 · Ch 45Orren creates a zero zone
Orren sets off a device creating a zero zone outside the AI's control and begs Carl to say whether the failsafe can be re-enabled, until Growler Gary interrupts.
- Book 7 · Ch 46The AI's avatar reveals itself
The system AI, in Growler Gary's body, breaks Orren's zero zone and confirms it has disabled the failsafe, refusing to reveal its intentions.
- Book 7 · Ch 46Formidable pulled from her ship
The AI teleports Princess Formidable into the office, tells her that her father is dead, then sends her down to Earth's surface at her choice.
- Book 7 · Ch 47The AI asks Donut for relationship advice
The AI summons Donut and, through a metaphor about girlfriends and an imprisoned ex, seeks advice; Donut urges caution, and the AI declares the game will go on.
- Book 7 · Ch 47Growler Gary released
The AI departs Gary's body; the confused, drunk, level-175 gnoll asks for Rory and teleports away.
- Book 8 · Ch 62Strippers vanish at the Desperado Club
Splash Zone, Gluteus and Doctor Bones can't be contacted after going to see Hamed at the Desperado Club.
- Book 8 · Ch 82Britney's telepathic warning
Leaving the Desperado Club, Britney evades Carl's concern and speaks directly into his mind, telling him he just needs to survive.
- Book 8 · Ch 82Pontiff's casino discovery
Pontiff reports the Wheel of Fortune now shows a quoted 'Nothing', casting doubt on Akuma's casino escape plan.
- Book 8 · Ch 88Entering the Desperado Club
The crawlers enter the remodelled Desperado Club; Clay-ton, now in the band, backs Chris and the guards stand aside.
- Book 8 · Ch 88Chris and Britney enter the Nothing portal
Carl bribes Mitch to open the Nothing portal for a test; after a farewell with Imani, Chris goes in, and Britney jumps in after him uninvited.
- Book 8 · Ch 88The trap springs
Donut spots something wrong with her magic-flow glasses, and Mitch signals his men; the table tries to eat Donut.
- Book 8 · Ch 89Mimic ambush in the casino
Everything in the Desperado Club casino turns out to be mimics; the crawlers, with Mongo and his clockwork copies, kill around fifty of them.
- Book 8 · Ch 89Mitch dies
Pinned by Donut's missiles, Mitch reveals the mimics wanted crawlers for the Cabaret, then lunges; Carl's Eye freezes him and Donut kills him.
- Book 8 · Ch 90Louis enters the Nothing portal
After the mimic fight, Imani reopens the wheel portal; Louis says goodbye and jumps in, and Carl swears to free those sent away.