Herot

This article contains unmarked spoilers for Book 6.

System Message. Posting Book 8 spoilers will result in "acceleration" per our rules.

I’d been re-reading her convoluted, rambling essay on the nature of NPCs recently. I had a nagging feeling that there was genius in there, hidden in her wandering sentences.^[1]

Herot is a former Crawler and author of the Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (16th Edition).

Description

System Message. Herot's pronouns flip-flop each book.  Carl refers to them as "her" in  Book 3, "he" in  Book 4, and "she / her" again in  Book 5.  In  Book 6, Ossie refers to Herot as "he" and Carl only refers to Herot by name.  This article sticks to "they / them."

Herot wrote a long, convoluted, rambling essay about NPCs in the back of the Cookbook. They believed that Quests were easier and survival was more obtainable if you break the fourth wall of Dungeon Crawler World. NPCs who know without intervention that the Dungeon is a construct are dangerous, but programmed or brainwashed NPCs -- even Elites -- can be woken up using the "Worn Path Method."^[2][3][4] Herot went on to hypothesize that once NPCs realize the reality of the Dungeon, they spread the knowledge to other NPCs, suggesting that "self-aware NPCs [are] highly contagious."^[5]

Herot wrote another essay speculating that fans' interested shifted after the Ninth Floor Faction Wars. While the top crawlers would still have their diehard followers, most fans began to pay more attention to the Twelfth Floor Ascendency Wars than the crawl. ^[6]

When Herot reached the Sixth Floor Hunting Grounds, the floor included "tall creatures who bellow[ed] into the sky each night, rumbling the world."^[7]

Cookbook Entries

NPC Essay (Excerpts)

<Note added by Crawler Herot. 16th Edition>

Show them the lie. Show them the seams. Show them the path they’re on is a false one. Think of a trolley on a track. A worn path is easily traveled. The more worn the path, the more difficult it is to get them to look away. Just like the deeper the track, the sturdier the trolley. But even the strongest of minds, even those controlled and relentlessly corrected can be derailed just as a trolley can be derailed by a tiny, properly placed pebble. Find the pebble and place it on the path, and their own momentum will do the work for you.^[8]

In an early paragraph, instructing future crawlers on how to help NPCs break the fourth wall:

Ask them questions, and then challenge them when they don’t know something they should. Be kind but firm.^[9]

On using NPCs as teammates:

Make sure you surround yourself with trustworthy, competent companions. Not too many, but enough to get the job done. Efficient helpers are an absolute must. Remember their true capacity. Fools will get you killed.^[1]

<Note added by Crawler Herot, 16th Edition>

I do wonder, sometimes, how my worn path method will work on the deeper floors with the longer timelines. Tea that steeps too long tends to take on an unexpected flavor.^[10]

<Response added by Crawler Ossie>

Castles

<Note added by Crawler Herot. 16th Edition>

During my studies, I have run across multiple castle variations. So far I have identified three distinct types. The size of the castle doesn’t seem to have a bearing on what type it is. It is more a function of the game’s insistence to forward the narrative, not unlike how the musical key of a Virilean opera movement is a function of the performer’s ability to progress and not necessarily in service to aural aesthetics.

The first iteration is just a regular building like anything else you might encounter in the dungeon. It is a fortified building with monsters, sometimes with a boss within. Sometimes a quest is involved, but the castle is usually an obstacle or part of the environment, not the target of the quest. I have found this to be the most common.

The second type is a governmental entity. Usually, this is a quest target. One must either claim the throne room or kill a boss. Once this occurs, the castle is “conquered” and whatever this castle has dominion over is obtained. It can be a region or a whole country or just the castle itself or simply a quest trigger. Once this goal is met, the castle itself is no longer relevant.

(Incidentally, this second iteration is the type in the faction wars games of the ninth floor. There, each team is gifted a throne seed the moment we crawlers arrive. They are given a day to place the seed, and the game begins. The seed must be placed within a self-contained structure on their property. Oftentimes they have prepared for this by pre-building a castle or using a pre-existing structure. The location of this building cannot be hidden, so placing the seed within a fortified structure is the best choice. Once the castle is conquered, then the associated armies are defeated and dominion is transferred to the conqueror.)

(See my essay on the nature of NPCs for more insight on how conquering areas may be utilized to forward my Worn Path Method of enlightenment.)

The third castle type is similar to the second with a small difference. The castle itself is a self-contained village with an NPC and guard ecology. It is almost identical to the villages and cities of the third and sixth floor. If conquered, the castle will appear in the crawler’s interface as an owned village and taxes will be collected. Guards can be controlled just as if in a regular village.

I have not personally obtained a castle, but a fellow crawler has. They state there are a few differences to the interface regarding town defense and available upgrades, but they have not told me what they are and threatened to punch me in the mouth if I kept asking, so I have refrained. If I learn more, I will update this entry.^[11]

On Stairwells

<Note added by crawler Herot, 16th Edition> - Responding to Milk#On Stairwells

Milk is correct here about the stairwells. It states in the rules manual that while stairwells may be gated until certain conditions are met, the stairwells themselves are not allowed to be removed from the playing field.^[12]

On the System AI

<Note added by crawler Herot, 16th Edition>

I’m starting to believe I have the ability to manifest my own destiny, after a certain fashion. The more unstable the AI running this system becomes, the less predictable it is. Yet at the same time, it’s even more predictable in certain ways. I made a quip about being hungry, and I suddenly received a random achievement notification about my hunger level. I discussed with my friend how I wished we could kill more ghasts, because they often drop knowledge scrolls, and not one hour later, I received a quest to hunt down a certain number of the very same monsters. Beware, however. That same quest killed my friend. The AI is always listening, thinking, plotting, changing the game to suit its desires. At the higher levels, it is not nearly as rigid as it once was. That pliability can be an asset or an extreme danger.^[13]

References

ALL CHARACTERS
Royal Court	Carl • Donut • Mordecai • Mongo • Samantha • Sir Rendlegore
Aliens	All Aliens • Dungeon Admins • Former Crawlers • God Sponsors
Crawlers	Earth Crawlers • Former Crawlers • Former Cookbook Authors
Earth	All Earth Characters • Earth Crawlers
NPCs	All NPCs • Bosses • Deities • Demons • Desperado Club Employees • Pets

Mechanics: Bosses • Crawlers • Elites • NPCs

Keyword Definitions: Feral • Vorpal