Valtay Acquisition

This article contains unmarked spoilers for Book 5.

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

“Viva la revolución, Carl.” Donut

The Valtay Acquisition is an event that happens on the Sixth Floor. Donut and Zev work together through the use of the Social Media Board to help the Valtay Corporation smuggle secret agents to help the Borant Emancipation Front. The smuggled in agents take over hosts in the Borant Corporation, the Borant Corporation declares independence from the Borant System government, and the Valtay corporation swoops in and transfers ownership of the Dungeon Crawler World: Earth to the Valtay Corporation.

It helps to think of this as a heist movie, with a planning phase (using the social media board), an execution phase (Donut physically smuggling the Valtay Agents) and the results (Valtay taking over the crawl).

Planning

With everything in the Dungeon closely monitored including all communication (both in person and over messaging systems), Donut and Zev worked out a system to talk by using Earth pop-culture references as code.

For example, in Book 4, Zev & Donut used a Gossip Girl TV reference as a code over game chat. Donut was asking Zev if she was pretending to follow the Kua-Tin 'Bloom' party line after her 're-education'.

Donut: TELL THEM I NEED TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO CHANGE THE ROBOT’S NAME. CARL CALLS IT “ROBOT DONUT” AND THAT JUST WON’T DO. I HAVEN’T DECIDED ON CHARLIE OR IVY. WHAT DO YOU THINK, ZEV?
Zev: It’s inconsequential, crawler.
Donut’s claws dug so heavily into the side of my neck, I winced with the pain. Her entire body was rigid. I reached up to pet her.
Loita: Very well. We are done here. Try not to break the next one.
Zev: If you must choose a name, I would go with Ivy.
Donut let out a very slight gasp.

Donut: I THINK YOU’RE RIGHT. BYE ZEV! ^[1]

Donut did an excited little hop on my shoulder. “Okay, Carl,” she said. “Let’s go take out that castle in the sky.”

In the TV show Gossip Girl, there was a character who was an actor called "Ivy" who was hired by Carol Rhodes to pretend to be her daughter, "Charlie" Rhodes, and gain access to her trust fund money. Since Zev choose the name "Ivy" (the pretend name), she indicated to Donut that she was pretending to follow the party line.

Zev's Pep Talk to Donut

Right before the smuggling actually happened, Zev cut into an emotional moment (which is something that would normally be a no-no for production value) to re-focus Donut on the mission at hand. The handoff was going to be right before Odette's show where she brought in Bea.

She’d been on the social media board, reading comments.
“Did somebody say something that upset you? Somebody online?”

Her eyes started to shine, and I knew I was right. Her mouth quavered. “I… I…”

Zev: Hey guys!
Carl: Bad timing, Zev.
Zev: I just wanted to quickly touch base. We rearranged the schedule a little. You’ll be visiting with Odette later today. Try not to schedule a boss battle or anything during that time.
Donut: THE TIME HAS MOVED? IS EVERYTHING OKAY? WILL YOU BE THERE?
Zev: Yes, yes, and yes. I also wanted to remind you, Carl, that you will be receiving some extra scrutiny before you go to the trailer. So just be aware. But you’ll be fine, because you’re both really strong and brave. Especially you, Donut.

Carl: Okay, thank you Zev. But we’re a little busy right now, so kindly leave us be.

But the moment I sent the message, I realized that the timing was no coincidence. Zev rarely interrupted us when we were in the middle of something, especially drama. I knew Zev and Donut were somehow communicating via the social media board, but I had no idea how, and I had no way of safely asking her without putting everybody in danger. Zev’s uncharacteristic interruption was a not-so-subtle warning to drop it. I’d get a chance to ask both of them freely when we were in the production trailer.^[2]

Donut is asking about whether the plan is going forward and Zev is reassuring her that she is very brave.

Execution

After the Valtay Acquisition announcement, Donut says the following:

“This is most distressing,” Donut grumbled. “I certainly would never have smuggled all those Valtay secret agent guys to Zev and the Borant Emancipation Front if I’d known this was going to happen.”^[3]

So how does it all go down?

Smuggling of Valtay Agents

Due to the change of security, crawlers are first teleported to a orbital location (controlled by the Valtay Corporation) before being transported to a talk show set. In this situation, it was to Odette's show under the sea. The gnoll guard sneaks the worms into Donut's mouth, who then doesn't talk until after she coughs them up with Zev.

“Is this really necessary,” I asked. “Don’t you have some special AI scanner that can see I’m not carrying anything?”
The gnoll didn’t answer. Behind me, the other gnoll was bent over Donut doing the same. He clutched onto Donut’s collar charm and examined closely.
“It used to be a butterfly, but now it’s this ugly thing,” Donut said. “Ghastly, I know.” The gnoll let it go and stood.
“They’re clear,” he said. The gnoll who’d patted me down nodded and jumped up, flying higher than I expected, expertly moving through the hatch in the ceiling. The second gnoll appeared to scratch Donut under the chin and then he, too, disappeared above.
“Did you just let that dog guy scratch your chin?” I asked.
Before Donut could answer, we teleported away again.
...
We landed sideways in Odette’s familiar trailer. I hit the deck with an oof. Donut landed on the couch, landing right between Zev and Odette... Zev wasn’t wearing her usual diving suit. Just a simple rebreather around her throat. It was the first time I’d seen her outside the thing. I was stricken at how thin she looked compared to all the other kua-tin I’d seen. But I was more surprised at the appearance of the talk show host in the green room.
“Odette,” I said, surprised.
Donut scrambled to her feet, and I clearly saw her tail move through Odette, indicating she was, indeed, a holo. Zev was really here. The couch was already soaked with the mist from her rebreather. She pulled herself off the couch and onto the floor as Donut jumped down beside her. Donut lowered her head and pushed it against the small fish woman in greeting. .... Donut made a hacking noise, and I was momentarily distracted. I thought she was going to puke again, this time right on Zev. ^[4]

This is where the transfer occurs. Donut and Carl go on the Odette show and Zev is "called back to the office" (to transfer the agents).

Results

System Message

Immediately after the interview is recorded, the following message plays across the crawl in regards to the transfer of ownership of Dungeon Crawler World: Earth.

The Borant Corporation, not to be confused with the Borant System Government, has been declared an independent, non-governmental entity by a Syndicate court. As a result, a previously-filed court ruling was automatically executed, granting the Valtay Corporation 51% ownership of the Borant Corporation. The Borant Corporation remains in charge of this crawl, and as far as most of you are concerned, nothing will change. This is nothing more than a courtesy notice. All previous, legal contracts will be honored, including indenture contracts. However, the Borant System Government no longer has any stake in either the planet, the resources, or the production of Dungeon Crawler World: Earth, and regency has been granted solely to the Borant Corporation and their new principal owners, the Valtay Corporation. If you have any questions about how that might affect any debts owed or contract obligations, legal counsel is available free* of charge to all full Syndicate citizens. Have a great day.^[5]

...

“She did it,” Donut whispered. “She did it.”
I looked down at Donut. “What the hell? What happened? Did you have anything to do with this?”
She looked up at me. “Viva la revolución, Carl.”^[5]

Zev successfully smuggled the Valtay agents into the Borant Corporation which declared independency from the Borant System Government (aka the Bloom). This allows the Valtay Corporation more control, but not complete control. As Lexis quickly explains (during the handoff):

“The Valtay did not win full control. They gained 51% of the Borant Corporation, but the collection action on the whole system is still in limbo. Think of the worms as the new babysitter. Or better yet, the new stepdad, and he’s just as strict as the last guy, but in a different way. The Borant Corporation is still in control of the game, and they want it to run smoothly. They always did, but they were being controlled by their crazy government. The Valtay isn’t going to be satisfied with this new arrangement. They are control freaks. They’ll want the top 10 to be crawlers of their choosing. Like a new apex predator taking over a pride. The first thing he’ll do is wipe out everything and start fresh.”^[3]

Lexis is referring to the Butcher's Masquerade Ball.

References

Special thanks to u/Bouncy_Paw for laying this out