With this cast of characters finally all together, the episode is a culmination of the previous three. Though the dialogue is corny and sometimes hard to listen to, the episode is redeemed by its epic action sequences and use of magic to defeat massive beasts.
Be warned: spoilers ahead.
The episode begins with all six of the main characters (that is Mollymauk, Nott, Caleb, Jester, Fjord, and Beauregard) being interrogated by guards. They are suspects, believed to have caused the chaos at the circus in the previous episode, and are responsible for the deaths of six civilians. Each character pleads not guilty to the charges, and the guards throw them all into a single jail cell.
Although the gang doesn’t get along, and Nott is jonesing because she has been without alcohol for too long, Beau rallies the group to come together and attempt a prison break as a team.
In the kingdom, Essek explains to Trent how the beacon works. He says that when someone dies, their soul goes into the beacon. When a baby is born, a soul emerges from the beacon and implants itself in the child. As the child grows up it starts to gain memories from its past life. Trent and Essek begin using live subjects to experiment with the beacon. In their first experiments, they make no discoveries and end up torturing and killing their examinees. Eventually, Essek agrees to teach Trent how to use the beacon.
Back in the prison, the group escapes from their cell thanks to Fjord’s growing magical powers. Though they are chased through the prison, a combination of Fjord and Jester’s magic helps the gang break out. Jester and Nott bond after Jester compliments Nott’s skin. Nott brushes this off and looks for booze, but Jester senses the sadness and loneliness in Nott’s life. Molly finds a path of frog blood, leading the group towards the devil-toad.
As Trent continues to learn how to use the Beacon, Trent goes too far and abuses the Beacon, causing it to destroy the contents of the room they’re in. Essek says that it was a mistake to teach Trent how to use the beacon. Essek aims his magic at Trent, but is stopped by Trent’s foot soldiers. Essek is thrown into a cell in the kingdom.
As the gang searches a boggy marsh, they begin to fight over what they should actually be looking for. They contemplate splitting up, but Fjord spots Toya, the keeper of the devil-toad, with black eyes at the crest of a cave. Fjord calls out to her, but she just sinks back into the shadows. The gang gears up to go save Toya and retrieve Beau’s pearl. In an effort to kill the devil-toad without killing Toya, the group uses their individual skills to attack the frog beast. Fjord cuts off the frog’s tongue, allowing Nott to drag Toya away. Nott and Jester try to heal Toya with the help of The Traveler. Molly uses his tiefling abilities to attack the frog while Caleb tries to summon a fireball. Caleb, Molly, Fjord, and Beau defeat the devil-toad using a combination of melee prowess, epic magic, and fascinating swordsmanship. Jester is unable to summon The Traveler’s abilities to heal Toya.
In the dead of night, Owelia sneaks into the prison that once held the gang and asks to see their prisoners. Molly discovers a rift in the cave, and he theorizes that the devil-toad was trying to escape to another plane of existence. Caleb and Beau build a pyre for Toya’s body. Beau asks Caleb where he learned his magic. Caleb says he picked it up from reading books. The rag-tag group of warriors turned friends now pay their respects to Toya as they watch her burn up.
Essek returns home and looks for his mother, Deirta, who is suffering from a disease called Typhros. Essek’s mother returns home, escorted by her former trainee. The trainee tells Essek that he knows Deirta is experiencing symptoms of Typhros. He assures Essek that he will keep the secret. Essek tells the trainee that he hasn’t been able to find the beacon. He asks the trainee to beg the queen not to go to war without the possession of the beacon. The trainee says the queen will not change her mind.
At daybreak, the gang returns to their prison with the head of the devil-toad, proving that they’re not responsible for the mishap at the carnival. When asked if they have a name, Caleb responds “nein”, and Jester adds “the mighty nein” even though there are only 6 of them. Finally, in the prison, the group is faced with bloody walls and a wrecked building. All of the guards have been brutally slaughtered, presumably by Owelia. As Caleb recognizes the magic left behind, he tells the group that they’re all in great danger. The episode ends with the prison door being blown open by Owelia’s bright green magic and both Caleb and Beau being caught by Owelia.
This episode was fraught with corny dialogue and insults that were extremely hard to listen to: Beau, at one point, calls the gang “chucklefucks.” The show sounds like it was written by young kids who were allowed to use as much gore, sexual innuendos, and curse words as they’d like to. This type of dialogue reaches a point where it’s just too hard to take seriously.
With all of this being said, the epic battle between the Devil-toad and the gang was an exciting and deadly sequence, where we were able to see the full extent of each character’s powers. This sequence alone made up for the extremely cringeworthy dialogue. Each episode thus far has had sequences like this one. Sequences that are episode-stealers and make the show what it is: a sprawling fantasy epic.
Rating: 6/10