Sixth Floor: The Hunting Grounds

The Hunting Grounds turns wealthy off-world hunters loose against crawlers. All hunters begin in Zockau and receive a grace-period delay before spreading through a round world of jungle, ruins, rebuilt settlements, traps, and hidden exits. The floor echoes the Third Floor's scale but replaces many abandoned ruins with jungle. Zockau is the named northern city and the hunters' starting point. Trails lead through settlements and dinosaur country toward stairwells, Desperado access, hidden objectives, and the high elf castle where the Butcher's Masquerade gathers hunters and top crawlers.

How the floor changes the story

The Sixth Floor converts Carl's rebellion into a public counter-hunt. The party kills every hunter, moves an NPC army and castle toward the Ninth Floor, and leaves with the Crown crisis threatening Donut and Katia. Victory makes the coming war more personal rather than safer. That consequence is why this location remains important after the immediate route closes.

How to read the map

The red paths show the implied pressure of hunters radiating from Zockau, while the isolated castle marks the Masquerade's separate spectacle space. Stairwell lights are distributed across the jungle because finding an exit is possible, but reaching it safely is the real problem. The rendering is a reader aid, not a claim that the novels provide exact distances or a complete survey.