Levi the 7th

This article contains unmarked spoilers for Book 3.

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

“No, please. Please don’t get on,” he said as the door hissed open. “Please. Find another way. We’re not open to crawlers.”^[1]

An NPC, Levi the 7th is the engineer of the Dismembered Unlimited and the subject of the Fourth Floor Levi is on the Menu Quest.^[2]

AI Description

Levi the Seventh – Troll Flesher and Hobgoblin Skellie Symbiote. Level 7.
This is actually two creatures. Only when combined do they have intelligence and the ability to speak. The Skellie is your typical, run-of-the-mill reanimated skeleton. In this case, it’s the skeleton of a hobgoblin, one of the few monsters who are much more palatable in skeleton form.

Of all the War Mage spells soldiers encounter during the brutal, mass combat that will occur on the ninth floor, the You're Not Done Yet spell is one of the most terrifying. Fallen soldiers—in this example a Basher Troll—are cast with the spell, and their flesh is ripped from the body. This loose skin becomes a sentient minion called a Flesher. Fleshers are oftentimes tossed across the battlefield, landing in and around the trenches of the enemy. Fleshers have one goal. To find a new set of bones.

Once they have found a victim, the skin unfurls and pounces, covering the body, smothering and melting it. Once dead, the rest of the victim burns away, and the Flesher casts the only spell it knows. Boned, which animates the remaining skeleton.

The creature that eventually forms is no longer a minion to the original mage. Nor is it undead. It is new to the world, oftentimes confused and afraid. And weak. The Symbiote is very easy to kill. After a few hours have passed and the new Symbiote is complete, the combined creature becomes a target for other Fleshers, who are said to be drawn to their former companion’s new bones. If a Flesher kills a Symbiote, this second iteration is more intelligent and powerful than the last.

There are rumors about oft-resleeved Symbiotes. After enough repetitions, it’s whispered they can become quite powerful.

Here’s a neat tidbit of trivia. This is Levi the 7th. This quest has triggered six times now since the floor has opened.^[3]

Description

Levi the 7th is a Symbiote: a Hobgoblin skeleton which has been animated and merged with a Flesher's skin, which in this case once belonged to a Basher Troll. At first glance, Levi looks like "a grim reaper wearing a poncho and mask."^[1] Inspection reveals a pale, sickly creature wearing only an engineer's hat; green-tinged flesh hangs from his bony body like an ill-fitted sheet. There are clumps of black hair on his head, but his face hangs so loosely that he seems to speak through his nostrils; his mouth sags below his chin, his drooping holes reveal yellow bone, and his hooked nose dangles to the side.^[2]

He sits on a little bouncy seat in a lowered glass cockpit inside the blood-soaked engine of the Dismembered Unlimited, and appears to be the train's only occupant until the Levi is on the Menu Quest triggers. Once the quest is active, Dismember, a War Mage, sends a hoard of Fleshers after Levi and any nearby crawlers. When a flesher grabs Levi, it will rip away his flesh and merge with his bones, turning him into Levi the 8th. Dismember wants to level him up to Levi the 15th.^[2]

Levi is very excited when Dismember is decapitated by Donut's Hole Spell and waves at the Royal Court of Princess Donut as they leave the train at station 281. ^[2]

Levi screamed for most of the remaining trip. “You did it! By the gods, you killed him! You son of bitches did it!”^[2]

Speculation

SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7

Due to the way War Mages are created, Dismember is most likely trying to turn Levi into another War Mage. ^[4]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Dinniman, Matt. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Chapter 12) (p. 179). Dandy House. Kindle Edition.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 Dinniman, Matt. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Chapter 12)
↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Chapter 12) (pp. 180-181). Dandy House. Kindle Edition.
↑ Dinniman, Matt. This Inevitable Ruin (Chapter 61)