Zerzura Spell

This article contains unmarked spoilers for Book 5.

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That spell always leads to carnage. Everybody likes carnage when it's not them.
-- Quasar (Book 5, Chapter 3)

Zerzura is a once-per-floor spell which transfers a Dungeon settlement to a deeper floor. It's extremely popular among watchers of Dungeon Crawler World due to the chaos it causes.

Description

Zerzura takes a full city or town, including all of its NPCs and buildings, and transfers it to a "random" location one Floor down. When cast on a Scolopendra floor, the settlement instead skips to the next Scolopendra floor.[1]

It doesn't transfer mobs, bosses, or red-tagged NPCs. It also doesn't transfer Stairwells or other special rooms such as prize rooms.[1]

There are several major flaws with the spell:

  • It can only be cast once, at the end of a floor. If it miscasts you don't get another chance.
  • It takes 5 minutes to cast.
  • It's hard on the caster, leaving them vulnerable for some time after casting.
  • The settlement can't be steered and will land in a "random" place (meaning where-ever the System AI thinks will be most entertaining, like in a monster nest or Boss room).
  • Everything it lands on is immediately killed and resurrected as a type of powerful revenant called Children of Inpewt.
  • Everyone in the settlement, including the caster, are marked and will be hunted down by the Children of Inpewt.[1]

All of this chaos makes the spell hugely popular for viewers, which in turn makes it popular with the showrunners and the AI. Even the Ninth Floor Factions love it because, odds are, it'll happen to someone else.[2] As Quasar explains to Carl:

"You ask for this spell, and they'll fall over themselves to give it to you. And you want to know the beautiful part? All those other pricks won't interfere. Everyone will want you to pull it off. All the factions. All the fans. The showrunners. The AI. Everyone. That spell always leads to carnage. Everybody likes carnage when it's not them."[2]

History

Zerzura was famously used by Remex during his crawl. He got the spell on the fourth floor and used it to send his army of mercenaries to the fifth, then the Sixth Floor Hunting Grounds. Unaware that the spells acts differently on Scolopendra floors, he then sent his army directly to the Ninth Floor Faction Wars, where his mercenaries were killed by the factions and revenants.[1] Borant Corporation profited greatly from Remex's season as a result of Zerzura's popularity.[2]

Story

When Carl is forced to temporarily give up the Gate of the Feral Gods at the beginning of the Sixth Floor, his lawyer Quasar makes a deal for collateral to ensure that the artifact is returned on the Ninth Floor.[3] The deal gives the Royal Court of Princess Donut a Mercenary Quarters upgrade; appoints Bomo,Sledge, Clay-ton, and Very Sullen as Mercenaries, with the ability to regenerate at the start of each floor should they die; gives Bomo the level 15 utility Teleport to Stairwell Spell; and gives The Sledge the spell, Zerzura.[2]

As Quasar predicts, the Kua-Tin admin is extremely happy to give them access to the spell. Even Orren grunts with amusement.[4]

Carl uses the spell to keep his promise to Juice Box to get the Changelings and Bonnie safely to the ninth floor.[5] Shortly before the Butcher's Masquerade, Carl tells the changelings hiding in the Desperado Club that he plans to use Queen Imogen's Elf Castle as the targeted settlement.[6]

During the Masquerade, The Sledge and the Changelings sneak into the castle.[7] Tsarina Signet's last act turns her tattoos into NPCs, including Clint Smashgrab and Miss Nadine. Ferdinand, formerly a boss, becomes a white-tagged NPC.[8] Donut uses the "I Take It All Back" Potion on the pregnant Kiwi, returning her to Ursine form, and turning Big Tina to a white-tagged mob.[9] After Carl warns about the spell's negative effects, The Sledge casts Zerzura and the castle plus all abovenamed NPCs transfers to the Ninth Floor.[8]

SPOILERS FOR BOOK 6
When Carl and Donut appear on Shadow Boxer, Quasar tells Carl that the Elf castle landed right in the middle of the Lemig Sortion's battlefield and splattered half their army:[10]

"The resulting ghoul things from the Zerzura spell are still a problem, but most of your army has gotten away and has installed themselves onto your battlefield. The Lemigs are now squatting in that blown-to-shit elf castle and are using it as their stronghold, but the consensus is they're fucked. They filed a grievance stating the castle placement was an attack, but we successfully argued it was an AI action."

Trivia

  • Zerzura is a mythical city or oasis in the Sahara Desert, most likely in Egypt or Libya. The "white city" or "Oasis of Little Birds" appears in writings dating as far back as the 1200s. The Kitab al Kanuz, a lost Arabic manuscript from the 1400s, describes Zerzura as a treasure-filled city with sleeping monarchs, and guarded by black giants.[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 56)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 3)
  3. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 1)
  4. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 13)
  5. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 52)
  6. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 58)
  7. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 73)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 74)
  9. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Butcher's Masquerade (Chapter 75)
  10. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 12)
  11. ↑ Zerzura. Wikipedia. Accessed 03/12/2024.