Ren

Ren, whose name is Tserendolgor, is a Mongolian crawler and deckmaster who entrusts her cards and resurrecting pet to Carl before choosing death on her own terms.

Biography

The Hunting Grounds and the Masquerade

Ren appears among the surviving crawler teams at the Masquerade and joins wider discussions about the next floor. Her confidence and competitive streak include cheating Donut and Mongo at an earlier pet show, a grievance that remains unresolved when the hunters' crisis ends. (Chapters 214 and 219)

The Eighth Floor and Bedlam

Ren supplies intelligence about Paz's party and later fights Quan with Khulan, Chuluuna, a card deck, flamethrower armor, and her Tummy Acher pet Garret. Quan's card manipulation turns her own death worm against the team and kills Chuluuna, while Donut receives both available keys, leaving Ren and Khulan without an exit. Ren decides not to participate in the forced crawler fight that would follow: she gives Carl her transferable cards, kills Garret so the pet can resurrect and bond to him, confesses the pet-show cheat to Donut, and asks Carl to make the producers suffer. Her final message uses her full name before a controlled detonation places her in the deceased folder. (Chapters 226 and 277–289)

Faction Wars at Larracos

Ren's choices persist through inherited resources rather than survival. Carl receives achievements when her old team triggers his traps, and the reborn pet appears without a name, preserving the obligation she placed on him to care for it. These consequences confirm transfer of responsibility, not Ren's return. (Chapters 298 and 302)

Appearance and personality

Ren is a bald Mongolian woman whom Donut considers striking because of her bone structure. She is competitive and initially willing to cheat for experience, but also candid, pragmatic, protective, and determined to control her own end. She permits herself grief, then turns immediately to arranging her companions' survival. (Chapters 219 and 279–281)

Skills, class, and abilities

Ren is an experienced deckmaster who combines totems, mystic defenses, consumables, a breastplate-mounted enchanted flamethrower, and a large Tummy Acher pet. She counters hand-viewing and forced discards, grants temporary immortality to a death-worm totem, and uses a timed opaque shell and snare to survive its redirected attacks. Her deck remains vulnerable to card-control effects such as Quan's team swap, and most cards cannot be freely transferred; she must remove non-totems and hand them over physically before death. (Chapters 277–281)

Relationships

• Khulan and Chuluuna: They are Ren's remaining squadmates; Chuluuna's death and Khulan's despair help drive Ren's final decision. (Chapters 279–281)
• Garret: Ren kills her resurrecting pet so he can return, bond with Carl, and survive her planned death. (Chapter 280)
• Carl: She entrusts him with Garret, cards, and the demand that he punish the people running the crawl. (Chapters 280–281)
• Donut: Ren apologizes for cheating at the pet show and acknowledges Mongo as the rightful champion before dying. (Chapter 280)

Items

No generated item article is assigned to Ren. She transfers her non-totem cards and drops armor, potions, a spear, books, coins, and the enchanted flamethrower before death; custody passes to the survivors rather than remaining with her. (Chapter 280)