Knights of Legend Youtube Playlist

Videos made specifically for Knights of Legend

I'd Lie // Taylor Swift   made by Karen   [ Christos / Francesca ]
Somebody to Die For // Hurts   made by Chris  [ Desmond Descant + Failboat*, Chpt 1 ]
Just as I Am // Brand New  made by Chris  [ Des/Eterna Jade - "Eternacant" ]
The Curse // Instrumental   made by Chris  [ Des' past, Des/Azrael ]
Someone Else's Story // Lea Salonga  made by Chris  [ Rafael Giovanni/Buffy Summers - "Buffael" ]
The Gentleman is a Dope // Jo Stafford  made by Chris  [ Rafael/Buffy, Des/Jade ] 
Love Lockdown // Kanye West   made by Chris  [ Failboat, Chpt 2, NYC club scene ]
Good Lord Show Me the Way // Lisa Hannigan  made by Chris  [ Buffy, Rafael, Des kidnapped by Iscariot, Chpt 2. finale ]
The Phoenix // Fallout Boy    made by Chris  [ Failboat Chpt 2 finale ]
Never Let Me Go // Florence + the Machine    made by Chris [ KOL couples ]
This is War // 30 Seconds to Mars  made by Brooke [ Luthir tribute / Knights of the Silver Dragon, Chpt 3 opening ]
Big Big Bang // Rock Mafia  made by Brooke  [ Rose Hathaway / Dean Winchester ]
Rule the World // Lorde   made by Brooke  [ Knights of the Silver Dragon + villains, Chpt 3 ]
Do It Like a Dude // Jessie J  made by Brooke [ The ladies of the Knights of the Silver Dragon ]
Seven Devils // Florence + the Machine  made by Brooke [ The Battle for Andres Isle ]
Bleeding Out // Imagine Dragons  made by Ashley  [ Main plot, S3 Angst ]
Touch // Daughter   made by Brooke  [ Rose Hathaway / Dean Winchester ]
Still // Daughter   made by Brooke  [ Rose / Dean ]
Holding Out For a Hero // Bonnie Tyler  made by Chris [ The Knights of the Silver Dragon + allies, Chpt 3 ]
Demons // Imagine Dragons  made by Brooke [ Zarad / Des, Fred / Kat, Jack / Gar, Rose / Dean, Belle / Gold, Faith / Jordan, Rafael / Buffy, Des / Jade, Miles / Jaina, Val'drin/Francesca/Christos ]
Burning Up // Ashlee Simpson  made by Chris  [ Faith Lehane / Quinn O'Connor ]
Red Right Hand // Arctic Monkeys  made by Arden  [ Chicago-Sylar mission ]
Uptown Funk // Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars  made by Tifa  [ Various characters ]
Over You // Miranda Lambert  made by Tifa  [ Dead love interests tribute ]
Last Friday Night // Katy Perry made by Brooke  [ Thanksgiving mission ft. Sam, Dean, Rose, Faith, Fiona and Will ]
Bad Blood // Imagine Dragons  made by Brooke [ Dean + Sam, Rose + Elena ]
Sail // AWOL Nation   made by Brooke [ Dean Winchester's horrible life ft. Sam, Rose, Buffy, & Glasya ]
Shut Up and Kiss Me // Angel Olson  made by Chris   [ Desmond Descant/Azrael - "Dezrael" ]
Heartbreaker // Pink  made by Chris  [ Dezrael ]
Bedroom Hymns // Florence + The Machine  made by Chris  [ Dezrael ]
Take Me to Church // Hozier  made by Chris  [ Dezrael ]
Frozen Heart // Frozen  made by Chris  [ Azrael ]
Youth // Daughter   made by Ashley  [ Elena & Sam ]
Toxic/Feint // Linkin Park / Britney Spears  made by Tifa  [ Keijen Blade's fucked up relationship with his descendants ]
Novocaine // Fallout Boy  made by Tifa  [ Main plot, Chpt. 1-3 ]
Say Something // A Great Big World/ Christina Aguilera  made by Tifa [ Rafael Giovanni / Buffy Summers - "Buffael" ]
Twilight Zone // Golden Earring  made by Chris [ Chpt 3 Finale ]
I Wasn't Prepared // Eisley  made by Alli  [ Myrilandel & Finnick Odair - "Finnyri" ]
Bad Moon Rising // Mourning Ritual made by Brooke  [ Chpt 3 Finale + Chpt 4 Premiere ]
Bring the Light // Mashup  made by Brooke  [ Deaths thru Chpt 3 + general badassery ]
Battle Cry // Bastille  made by Tifa [ Failboat, Chpt 3 ]
To The Hills // Laurel   made by Tifa [ Once upon a Time cast (and close CR) ]
Shake It Off // Taylor Swift   made by Brooke [ General adorableness ]
Gotta Be Somebody // Nickelback  made by Chris  [ Close CR ]
Glory + Gore // Lorde  made by Chris   [ Villains ]
Knights of the Silver Dragon // Mashup  made by Brooke [ The Sects of the Knights of the Silver Dragon ]
Stand Out // Johnathan Young  made by Chris  [ Ruthi's characters ]
Hurricane // MS MR  made by Arden  [ Spike/Dumage ]
The Hazards of Love 2 // The Decemberists  made by Alli  [ Thoster/Felicity ]
She Chose You // Perma  made by Alli  [ Bo/Andrew ]
Possum Kingdom //  Toadies  made by Alli [ Dashiell/Helen ]
Fairy Tale of New York //  The Pogues made by Alli  [A Very Irish Christmas ]
Stronger Than Jesus // A Camp  made by Chris  [ Romantic CR ]
Whatta Man // Salt-n-Pepa  made by Brooke [ The Objectification of Steve Rogers ]
See You Again //  Wiz Khalifa  made by Tifa  [ Castle Attack Deaths ]
Ipswich // Georgi Kay  made by Chris  [ "Witches" ]
David // Noah Gundersen  made by Brooke  [ Dean Winchester ]
Pompeii // Bastille  made by Brooke  [ Sam/Dean/Rose/Elena ]
U R A Fever //  The Kills  made by Brooke  [ The men of the Knights of the Silver Dragon ]
Something I Need // OneRepublic  made by Brooke  [ Dean/Rose ]
Counting Bodies // A Perfect Circle  made by Brooke [ Villains ]
I'm the Bad Guy // Wander Over Yonder  made by Chris  [ Mind Master ]
Time // Hans Zimmer  made by Brooke [ Desmond Descant ]
Unsteady // X Ambassadors  made by Brooke  [ Dean/Rose ]
Jungle // X Ambassadors  made by Brooke  [ Spike & Rose ]
Warriors // Imagine Dragons  made by Brooke  [ Failboat ]

AU / crack vids made for Knights of Legend

Crack Kink Medley // Various   made by Brooke [ 2014 Kink Meme requests ]
Tear You Apart // She Wants Revenge   made by Brooke [ Keijen / Rose for the 2014 Kink Meme ]
I Surrender // Digital Daggers  made by Brooke [ Keijen/Rose ]
Cracktoberfest // Mashup  made by Brooke  [ Castle Attack ]
Black Black Heart // David Usher  made by Arden  [ Emma Frost/Wolverine ]

Videos previously made for The Celestial Song (the campaign that KoL is based on)

Foolish Games // Jewel   made by Arden  [ Rafael / Jade ]
As the Rush Comes // Motorcycle made by Arden [ General failboat video ]
February Song // Josh Groban   made by Arden  [ Rafael Giovanni tribute ]
Viva La Vida // Coldplay   made by Christine   [ Mark Andres/Andres mission ]

Other videos featuring OCs from KOL

Anything But Ordinary // Avril Lavigne   made by Karen  [ Faith O'Keefe, Fiona Tollins ]
Already Gone // Kelly Clarkson  made by Arden [ Faith O'Keefe / Jordan Reeves ]
From a Balance Beam // Bright Eyes  made by Arden  [ Anastacia O'Keefe, past ]
Can't Help Falling // Elvis Presley  made by Arden  [ Anastacia / Jared ]
A Home // Dixie Chicks  made by Arden [ Anastacia / Carson, past ]
Do I Disappoint You // Rufus Wainwright  made by Arden [ Jordan, Jareth ]
Most of Me // Mandy Moore  made by Arden  [ Anastacia / Jared ]

*Failboat refers to the members of the Main Plot aka Talisman mission

Part One: Ravenloft
Romania
Dovan (mission leader), Paige, Aurelius, Nathan, Willow, Henry | April 2015 (Guest GM: Matt)

The Knights were briefed about a bank of Veil-like fog in Romania where locals were wandering in and going missing.  Wynn suspected it might be the first reported case of the Veil opening the other way.  He spoke to them about the potential risks and they all agreed that it was worth looking into anyway.  They were to explore and take some readings of the fog.

They headed to Romania and found the edge of the fog, and they started setting up the equipment sent by Sir Trinall. They began getting insane readings right away, and Dovan volunteered to walk into it, if they tied him up.  As he walked in, the rope went slack, as he vanished entirely.  They agreed to all go in together to look for him and jumped in together, finding themselves on a road surrounded by dead bodies, savaged by wild wolves, with no sign of Dovan. Henry found a map of Barovia on one of the bodies and a letter from the Burgomaster about his cursed love, Ireena Kolyana.  Aurelius confirmed that Barovia was from the Shadow World, and they decided to head for the village.

They ran across a Knight who was fighting some ghosts called murks.  When they were defeated, he introduced himself as Sir Urik, last of the Knights of the Raven who said he was hunting a sadistic evil dwarf.  They headed on to Barovia, but found the streets full of zombies, which they fought off.  Nathan revealed that he was immortal, and they suggested he scout ahead.  He ran into some vargouilles who paralyzed, kissed, and diseased him.  They made their way into the barrier, where they met Ashlyn of the Lightbringers.  She told them about the zombie plague, which had started at an old church that some of her companions had vanished while investigating. 

They headed into the heart of the town, where Nathan immediately went to buy several hats, since his hair was falling out from the attack. At the local tavern, Paige performed and talked to the tavern owner, Arik, about how the plague had lasted for 10 days and how the Lightbringers had arrived five days ago and not made a difference yet.  Nathan popped in with his new hat and they asked around about the plague, the Lightbringers, and Dovan some more.  The man explained that an old priest used to protect the town but that the "devil Strahd" had tried to enter but been driven off by the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.  He also revealed that Strahd was rumored to be an ancient monster and that the trouble with the undead and werewolves happened right after.  While Paige wanted to speak to him, the man told her that no one could contact Strahd and suggested they seek out Madame Eva of the Vistani, a gypsy tribe. They found out the man was Ireena's brother, Ismark.  Ashlyn pointed them towards where their other friends were at the barricade, and they headed after them (after Nathan made an overture to Paige and got punched in the stomach for it).  Meanwhile, at the barricade, Willow, Henry, and Aurelius found a house where they heard a strange crying coming from.  They broke a window and... a zombie came out.  They headed upstairs and found an old woman crying about her baby Gertruda being taken by the 'master of the castle'.  They took her with them and guided her back towards town.

They all met back up, with the old woman in tow, and filled each other in on what they had learned.  Paige insisted they figure out Strahd's role in all this and decided to start by tracking down Ireena.  they talked to Ashlyn, who told them she was holed up on her family estate.  She also asked if they would go with her to find her companions at the church.  They headed to the Kolyana estate, which was barricaded against the undead.  They talked to Ireena, who told them she was looked over the body of the poisoned Kolyan Indirovich, the town's burgomaster, until he could get a proper burial.  Ireena confirmed that the letter was a fake.  She explained that a thief had also taken the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.  Ireena insisted that she would only leave if they could go to the old church and figure out what was going on.

At the church, they heard a chanting inside.  They peeked in and saw it was the Mad Priest who was conducting a necromantic ritual from the Book of the Dead to create a monstrous undead of terrifying power that carried a terrible plague - a monster created out of a loved one.  Aurelius realized he had already completed it, and that was where the zombie plague had come from.  Nathan exploded the church with grenades but the undead monstrosity came forth and attacked, made from the priest's son, Doru.  They finally killed him, putting an end to the zombie plague once and for all.  They found the dead bodies of the priest and Lightbringers in the ruins and Paige recognized Strahd's handwriting on the page from the Book of the Damned.

They returned to Ireena, and Aurelius was dumbstruck by her similarity to his own twin sister, Aurelian.  She left to talk to Ismark, and Ashlyn brought them a journal she had found.  It talked about something called the Tome of Strahd, which would detail how to defeat him. It also talked about Ireena's mysterious origins as a child found with no memories.

[Skype section: recovering the Sunsword, Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, Icon of Ravenloft, and Tome of Strahd]

Upon returning, they got a letter from Strahd, along with Dovan's hands in a box.  They headed off to deal with the witches of Lysaga Hill, who were summoning a horrible demon.  They interrupted the summoning, and managed to defeat them.  Paige spent the night below to reconsecrate the altar there with the Icon of Ravenloft.  Having fulfilled their end of the bargain with Strahd,  he took them to find Dovan, who had been wandering in the mists and Strahd revealed that the hands had not been his.  Aurelius wanted to know what had happened to Ireena, who he was convinced was his sister, somehow come through the Veil.  Strahd tried to mind control Aurelius into leaving and not worrying about her, but he broke through, and a frustrated Strahd sent a super vampire he had created named Kavan through the Veil so that they would be motivated to go back and take care of him.  An outraged Aurelius swore he would return.  They reunited with Dovan outside the mist and Aurelius brooded about his decision.
 

Hollow's Last Hope
Canada
Logan (mission leader), Abigail, Nels, Miles, Grimrot | March 2015


The Knights were briefed about a mysterious disease plaguing the small town of Falcon's Hollow, in Canada, called blackscour taint.  The disease seemed strangely resistant to clerics (who were few in the area in the first place), but a local herbalist had come up with a cure.She needed assistance gathering the supplies from a dangerous part of the woods that had fallen through from the Shadow World.  

Arriving in Falcon's Hollow, they talked to a local cleric, who told them that there was line of people outside of the herbalist's shop, so it should be easy to find.  She also told them that the locals tended not to trust clerics around here because of the dangers presented in the nearby region transported from the Shadow World, which she called Darkmoon Vale.  They found the shop, Roots and Remedies, and they skipped the line, heading inside to meet Laurel, the herbalist.  She described the disease to them, and the cure she had gotten from a book of her grandmother's, which required three ingredients: elderwood moss that would gross on the oldest tree in the Vale, rat's tail, and seven ironbloom mushrooms.  She suggested they look for those in the woods where there were rumors of dwarven ruins, and for the rat's tail at the home of a local witch, Ulizmila.

They headed out to the woods, passing through a lumber camp, where they talked to some people and got a map of the woods with directions to some of the locations they were seeking.  They were also warned about copious monsters in the forest.

They went into the woods anyway, where Abigail fell into a hunter's pit trap, dislocating her shoulder.  Miles and Logan rescued her,  and they found a little fox caught in a hunter's trap as well, which Miles rescued.  They were attacked by Grung, a hobgoblin, who had been using the fox as bait and everyone talked Logan out of killing him.  Grung told them that the dwarves who used to live in the woods were evil and he marked the spot of the ruins on their map.  They let him run off and went to find the oldest tree. It was a titanic darkwood, which Logan started climbing, before he found dead bodies hanging in it.  He was attacked by a reptilian creature, and Nels threw a blade that sliced it right in the throat.  Logan cut the packs free from the bodies, where they found some gear, and then collected the moss and climbed back down.

Their next stop was the witch's glade, where they found a creepy, ugly cottage that seemed abandoned.  They started searching the hut, when the cauldron abruptly came to life and attacked them. They destroyed it and Abigail found a magic shrunken head called a soulspeaker, as Nels came up with the rat's tail.  

They headed on, past giant mosquitoes,  and found the ruined monastery.  They discovered a partially dismembered body in the yard, and found a mushroom.  Heading inside, they found the mummified remains of a dwarf blacksmith clutching a note asking the dark father of the forge to forgive him.  They were attacked by darkmantles, that they easily dispatched.  They figured out that the place had once had a shrine to Moradin, the dwaven All-Father, but it had been defaced.  In a study, they fought some wolves and then came across a giant talking wolf, named Greypelt, who asked them to destroy the monsters that had taken root in his home, in exchange for his mushrooms.  Abigail had a bad feeling about the deal, and Grimrot recognized the creature as a worg.   They killed it instead and collected the needed mushrooms.

As they were leaving, they were attacked by even more wolves in the courtyard.  They were heavily injured from the fight so they decided to rest in the witch's hut on the way back.  The next morning, they returned to Falcon's Hollow to bring the ingredients to Laurel.  The cure worked, saving the townspeople, and reaping a big reward to send back with the Knights.

Crucible of Chaos
Brazil
Gar, Archer, Alainn, Allison, Penelope, Thoster (team leader). | January 2015 | Played Live, not recorded

The Knights were briefed about some the discovery of a secret pirate compass that might lead to some kind of treasure.  They took Thoster's ship and sailed to a mysterious location in Brazil, a valley that seemed to have dropped in from the Shadow World.  They ran into a gang of lizardfolk who rode on dinosaurs (they wouldn't let Archer buy one).  The lizard people were called Zothians and lived in the jungle valley of Ulduvai.  They made an agreement with them to try to help them and find the treasure.  The Zothians told them about different areas in the valley where they might look, and about potential dangers to look out for.

They headed for the ruins in the valley, a giant city of bizarre architecture and proportions, which they realized was built to fly.  The place was also full of disturbing wildlife, like rats with intestines on the outside or six winged parrots.  They found several towers, each of which was different in a terrible way.  They discovered that there undead lizard people among the ruins and then some bizarre tentacle monsters.

In the library, they fought an undead sorcerer named Banderak. They discovered a book that detailed the history of the city, once a trade and magical center ruled by sorcerer-princes.  The ruins were haunted by a horrific and enormous monster called a shoggoth.  They fought a second sorcerer within the ruins of a palace. In the Needle and Globe Tower, they confronted the final undead sorcerer called Yakmar and his enslaved genie.  Yakmar had illusions on his tower that made it seem as though the city were still flying.

They found a secret chamber that held a staff called the Staff of Rightful Rule, which Allison pulled free with a rope.  They discovered a huge crater housing a dark stone that resonated with chaos magic: a permanent binding spell that kept the summoned shoggoth stalking the streets of the city. Alainn gained control of the Staff and used it to crack the magic on the stone, destroying it and dispelling the monster.

They discovered a vault of riches full of ten million in treasure, which they loaded up to return to Wynn.  They also realized that with the recovery of a few artifacts, they could potentially make the city fly again...  

They returned to England with their huge haul of treasure and were all named employee of the month.

Seeking Sam Winchester
Chicago  (Unofficial mission) 
Buffy, Sam. | October 2014  

Sam Winchester began doing some research into the Sam of this world and talked to Rose about inconsistencies between the two. He also learned that Sam 1.0 had done something terrible, that Dean wasn't willing to talk to him about.  Sam took what he had learned to Buffy Summers, showing her that according to reports, the Winchesters had been responsible for the deaths of Bobby Singer, Ellen and Jo Harvelle, back in 2012.  They decided to pursue the lead about the hunter bar in Chicago that Dean had spent a lot of time at. 

Arriving at the bar, they split up to talk to people.  Buffy headed out back to find the proprietor of the bar, Robin Wood, who she was shocked to learn recognized her.  And knew that she was a Slayer.  He explained that his mother had been one and she told him how she had come through the Veil knowing nothing about what she was. He did his best to explain some things to her about Slayers, the Watcher's Council, and asked if she had run into Giles, who he told her had been her Watcher. Robin was disappointed to hear that he wasn't here - or at least, not that they knew of.  Buffy explained to him that she was there with Sam Winchester, which surprised him because he had thought Sam was dead.  She explained the situation and was amazed when Robin just took her at face value about it.  That caused him to grow concerned about what she had been doing with herself in these three years, but she diverted to ask how he had known her, and he explained that he had been Dawn's principal, and then her boss, and then they'd gone on a date, and then they'd become allies.  He explained to her what he knew about the Winchester situation: how they had the Sight, how their mother had been killed by a demon, and when they had gotten older, John had gone missing and then people around them started dying, because of some destined quest Dean was on, that required him to withstand extreme suffering. He explained how Dean had died, and then shown back up claiming an angel with a trenchcoat named Castiel brought him back and gave him the quest.  At some point, Castiel had been killed, but Robin wasn't sure how, but the angel had explained that Dean was trying to "absolve humanity" in some way.  He told her that in the end, apparently Sam had sold out Dean and joined up with Hell, selling his soul to Lucifer and become addicted to drinking devil blood.  Buffy refused to believe Sam could ever do anything like that, and decided Sam couldn't hear about the story because it would destroy him.  Des called her then, worried because he couldn't get a hold of Rafael, Burt, or Isabella.

Meanwhile, inside, Sam tried to join in on a game with some hunters, who recognized him and blamed him for what had happened to Bobby, Jo, and Ellen.  They tried to start a fight, and a mysterious woman intervened, cracking one of their heads into a table and scaring them off.  She introduced herself as Gayl and implied she could tell him some things about what he was asking around about.  He texted Buffy that he was going to follow up a lead and went with her, where she led him up to the roof, making more and more cryptic comments that let on that she knew a lot about him and Dean.  She made him look off the roof at the city below, prompting him to look past the superficial, and to see the demons lurking. She explained that they were absolutely everywhere, at all times, pressing into our world and were drawn to suffering and vice, feeding off from them, and producing more.  She admitted she had known Dean and Sam through everything that had happened, and that both of them thought they were going to stop those demons once and for all, and that Sam had stopped Dean from making a huge mistake, at the expense of their relationship.  She told him that it would have made things worse if Dean had succeeded, and erased his memories, and that Sam had to drive him to quit by joining up with Hell and becoming a fiend.  She explained that demons had killed the Harvelles, and Iscariot had killed Bobby.  She also told him that they had been intimately involved,  She told Sam that Dean's quest was over and that if Sam could get his trust back, it might be the healing Dean needed.  When she called him a hero and told him that the other Sam had already made the sacrifice so that he could enjoy this life, he asked her to go home with him to London.  She brushed off his attempt to potentially recruit her to the Knights, but told him it was a good place for him to be and agreed to come to England.  Before she left, she gave him an electrifying kiss goodbye.

Sam headed down to find Buffy, who was having a breakdown about the news from Des.  Sam calmed her down by pointing out that Rafael was live on TV at that very moment on his world tour.  Robin was shocked to learn that Buffy had a romance blossoming with the superstar, and Buffy was still uncomfortable with their inability to call or reach Rafael, but asked Sam what he had learned.  He told her the short version of what Gayl had told him, including that they had been romantically involved, but Robin was clearly unnerved by Sam's phrasing of the Dean story and told Buffy to contact him if she needed help with any ~situations *cough cough Sam*~.    Taking their leave from Robin, they talked in a little more detail, after Buffy called Des to assure him Rafael was alive.  Sam was shocked to hear that Dean had died and been brought back by an angel. Sam told her why Sam 1.0 had joined up with Hell and they debated whether he was still out there or not.  Buffy told Sam about how Robin had known her and then they headed back to London.

Gold, Faye, Emma, Astrid, Mars | May 2014

The Knights were briefed by Hasmed about rumors of a town in Germany where magic did not seem to be working at all.  Convinced that this might be the key to breaking Amara's curse, he was sending them there to investigate the situation and see what they could learn.

Arriving in Heimbach, they decided to split up and ask around.  Gold, Emma, and Faye bluffed their way inside the Town Hall to find records, and discovered some records of a company called Luckman Industries asking for permission to do excavating in the area earlier in the year.  Astrid & Mars headed to a local bar, where they heard rumors of plants withering and dying and strange lights in the sky.  She also learned that the magic had stopped when a construction crew came through to fix the quarry - which didn't seem to need the work done. They also heard about a guy named Franz, who had seemed to go crazy, and talked to his dad and learned it had happened when Franz and a friend were trying to do magic by the quarry.  Astrid texted the others a warning not to use magic while they were here.

They all met back up at the bar, where they put their heads together on what they had found.  They decided to check out the quarry and went to buy a bunch of supplies from the hardware store.

At the quarry, they discovered what seemed to be an underground bunker and started to explore it, and found some kind of high tech mysterious machine shooting out sparks of blue energy that Gold identified as magic.  Emma speculated that the machine was absorbing the magic in the area.  Faye hit a button that closed the doors, sealing them inside and a giant magnet lowered from the ceiling, taking all of their metal items away from them.  When Emma tried to fry the control board, blinding rainbow lights shot out instead.  A voice abruptly spoke up and insulted them, welcoming them to "the Luckman Industries computer-enrichment center".

The AI, GLaDOS, told them that they had been lured there as test subjects in furthering Luckman Industries' research into anti-magic technologies.  She explained that they would be subjected to a series of (lethal) tests, where they would have to cast spells to survive.  When Astrid revealed that she didn't have any magic, she found herself clamped to a track leading her into an incinerator, and the others were forced to rescue her.  GLaDOS explained that they would need to use magic to save her, but that the large machine would cause half of their magic to produce random effects instead. Emma cast a spell that left her reading everyone's thoughts, while Faye managed to slam the incinerator door shut with magic.  They managed to get her shackles off, and were herded into the next testing chamber.

This room was blocked by several big hunks of ice. Faye tried to cast fire, but instead filled the hall with noxious gas.  Gold's attempt to do the same turned all of them invisible.  After ineffectively trying to get through it with brute force, Mars managed to get through with a scorching ray.. only to face another ice wall.  Gold burned through that one, exposing a third.  Emma wound up telepathic again as Faye rolled a flaming sphere through that wall.

They headed into the third chamber.  The test involved a platform that could lift two of them at a time, but one person would have to stay behind to push the button.  Mars offered to be the last up.  When the others got up, Gold used mage hand to hit the button and raise Mars up as well, with no problems.

The fourth chamber lay in wait: where laser beams blocked their way forward.  Companion cubes were perched far above, and Gold tried to mage hand one down, gaining a moment of prescience.  Faye and Emma managed to get two down, and then Mars tried to cast the same and got turned into a statue - which they didn't realize at first, because they were all invisible.  Gold dispelled the invisibility and they realized what had happened to Mars.  Faye tried to barter for his life, but GLaDOS insisted she both could not do anything and would not even if she could.  They were forced to leave Mars behind.

The fifth chamber involved a massive wall of fire!   Gold got lucky and his wild magic created heavy rain that put it all out.

The sixth chamber involved a pool of water filled with piranhas.  Emma used shocking grasp to fry 'em all.  However, the water was electrocuted and they had to use boxes to get across.  When Gold tried to mage hand one, he accidentally enlarge personed everyone else instead.

The seventh chamber had a hexagonal formation of poles, on top of which were numerous keys.  One of them would open the door, but the wrong keys would get them zapped.  They started mage handing keys down to try but one of Gold's spells went awry, disintegrating two poles and keys.  Faye caused grass to grow all over the floor and Gold tried to melt the door with acid and Emma pried it open the rest of the way, after they discovered that Astrid could also cast acid.

They were ushered into a chamberlock that took each of them to a separate Relaxation Vault for the night.  Emma found a message under her bed that read "The Cake is a lie" and GLaDOS woke them up with a charming speech about how their other friends were plotting to kill them during the testing that day.

The first test of day two involved a long bottomless chasm with a bullseye across the way.  Emma tried to hit it with magic missile and instead illuminated it with faerie fire.  Gold managed to strike with one and it moved their platform a small way across the gap and Gold nearly fell off but was saved by Faye.  When Emma tried to cast again, she was turned into a statue.  Gold again tried to dispel magic on her to no effect and Faye refused to leave her behind as they had Mars.

Meanwhile, in the basement, Mars awoke from being a statue and met a little round eccentric AI called Wheatley, who helped him escape the chamber....

Up in the chasm testing chamber, Faye & Gold kept using magic missiles to move slowly across the room and then Gold released a cloud of noxious poison and Faye accidentally capsized an entire testing chamber below them.  Gold caused heavy rain to start pouring which knocked the Emma statue over and Astrid managed to catch it.  Another spell caused grass to spurt once more and they realized that the room was actually breaking apart, and it began to tip on its side.  Astrid managed to use Faye's gun to shoot them another five feet across.  Inspired by the introduction of bullets into the testing chamber, a portal turret was placed in the chamber as well.  Gold was barely dangling off the platform by his cane, as Astrid tried to shoot it down, but Faye managed to take it out with a ball of flame.  Astrid kept shooting them closer, as more turrets were revealed and Gold tried to burning arc them - only to have his cane turned into clay.  Faye kept murdering turrets with her ball of fire and Astrid finished getting the platform all the way across as GLaDOS chided them for killing the turrets and also Emma.

Faye again refused to leave Emma behind and planned to stay behind with her, but GLaDOS turned threatening, insisting they would all proceed or there would be "a problem".  When Faye wouldn't budge, GLaDOS herself appeared physically and threatened to unleash her deadly neurotoxins, revealing that she was a robot the whole time.

However, at that moment, Mars and Wheatley used a bouncy gel to jump up through the floor... into the room everyone else was in.  This totally threw GLaDOS off - as well as everyone else.  They all jumped down after, just in time to escape GLaDOS' neurotoxins.

They landed on the bouncy gel below, where they met Wheatley and reunited with Mars.  The little robot explained that he intended to rescue them and had dealt with "her" before.  He claimed to have a master plan for shutting her down.  He also explained that Luckman had placed her in charge of the facility after he had found both her and Wheatley and she had convinced him to chuck Wheatley into the scrap pile, even after he used to run a facility.  He suggested they turn off the machine disrupting their magic and then sent them on a service elevator joy ride.  That almost slammed them into a giant wall, but Faye opened it with magic at the last second and they crashed into the Tourism Center where a number of screens were explaining the life of George Luckman, who talked about gaining control over magic so that they could use it like we use electricity.   They found a door that led back to the main hall, but their celebration was short-lived.

Wheatley returned to herd them back towards the magic generator room and told them to plug him into the panel so he could hack into it and turn it off.  Faye did so, and he futzed with the machine, accidentally restoring all their magic first.  They tried it again and this time Wheatley was attached to the machine and could tell how it changed their spell and bent time, creating a temporal disturbance.  And then Wheatley went mad with power. Declaring himself a god of chaos, he seemed unwilling to part from the machine and they attacked, making him angry and he cast random strange effects such as causing Faye's presence to make people lose things, or for them all to lose their sense of smell and taste, or for Gold to become wracked with guilt every time he cast a spell.  This made Gold second guess attacking him and Wheatley made his shoes weigh twice as much with every step.  When Faye angrily said they should burn him to the ground, he transformed her organic tissue into circuitry. When she tried to cast a spell... she vanished.  Gold became convinced that Astrid was deeply in love with him and then Mars' spell caused the local government to collapse amid scandals.  Wheatley tried to alter another spell but was burned out of the socket by a scorching ray from Mars.  Astrid grabbed the damaged AI core, and they headed out.

However, in the lobby was a woman... who was apparently GLaDOS, now trapped in the human form of the woman whose brain had been used to create the killer robot in the first place.  Gold suggested she come with them, because they might be able to find a way to get her back in a robot body.  In return GLaDOS showed them how to get back to the scrap chamber and they got Emma's statue and headed out of there.

...Meanwhile, Faye found herself in the mouth of the tarrasque. Which was, blessedly, asleep. Somehow, she managed to escape and eventually get home.
 

Part One: Sword & Sorcery & Retail (Oxford)
Marty, Matthew, Nels, Miles, Val'drin, Bambi

The Knights were briefed about a mission to Oxford to meet a mage who owned a bookstore, who had received a mysterious shipment, which had  been broken open when he got into work that morning, and was filled with webbing.  Mr. Broggon believed that the escaped creature was still in his basement, and had asked the Knights, as his ally, to come help him clear it out.

Arriving at the bookstore, Broggon greeted them and got them tea and coffee.  Just at that time, another delivery was made and when Broggon bent over to examine the shipping label, a tentacle burst out and grabbed him, dragging him into the crate.  As they struggled to free him, Bambi recognized the creature as an otyugh just as it broke loose.  Val'drin managed to get in the killing shot and spoke to Broggon, who aired his suspicions that he was being targeted for his work with Shadow and magic, and that both crates had been sent from something called "PTC" on the label.  He offered them some equipment that might help before they headed towards the trapdoor where the other crate had been stowed.

Below, they found the remains of the crate, and that a door had been busted out, the hall beyond it full of webbing.  They followed it into a hewed out area that forked in two directions.  Val'drin, however, walked right into a web.  They were subsequently attacked by some little spiders, which they managed to kill.

They continued though the tunnels, running into some dog-sized spiders next.  Nels and Val'drin managed to kill it, and Val'drin commented on how he'd prefer not to be the one who killed them himself, because Lolth took special interest in those who killed her beloved spiders.  Under some webs, they found a large chest, which Val'drin picked open, filled with potions and a magic longsword enchanted with a haste spell, which Nels laid claim to.  

They headed forward and found a bear-sized spider, which they immediately attacked, drawing the ire of some smaller ones as well. Upon killing it, they headed into a chamber beyond.  It was full of what seemed to be egg sacs, which they found a way to set on fire.  Broggon told them that he had had no luck finding out who "PTC" was, and they took their leave to grab some dinner.

Dimitri, Lis'sa, Riddick, Ella, Phineas

The Knights were briefed on their mission by Lis'sa:  she spoke of a temple of Four Pharaohs of Ascension who had forged a pact between them to protect their lands via magic, linking their life energies.  This backfired when one fell ill and they turned on him, but they decided to build the temple afterwards to house them as they ascended to godhood.  The temple was believed lost but unearthed by the arrival of an earth elemental beneath the sands.  Treasure hunters were racing there, and Wynn had learned of a man named Raegos who had set eyes on the pyramid.  Lis'sa wanted them to get to it first, to keep dangerous magical artifacts out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them.

They arrived in Cairo, where Raegos' agent, the Mithral Scarab, said she would meet them at an antiquities auction.  Wynn gave them gold to blend in at the auction, where they noticed a rough looking halfling and half-orc hanging near the exits.  Seven large gold coins from the dynasty of the Four Pharaohs were sold to an aristocratic man with a magical rod.  Ella won a bid for charcoal rubbings from the lesser pyramid, with many references to the Four Pharaohs.  A weathered stone figure of a sleeping noblewoman put Ella in a bidding war with the aristocrat, but it ended up going to a man called the Crook Bearer.  Lis'sa identified the aristocrat as Paracount Julistar Thrain, and the Crook Bearer as a prominent collector who had a rivalry with the curator of Cairo's exhibitory, the Arch Docent.  Ella went to speak to the Paracount as the Crook Bearer and Arch Docent got in a bidding war over some veinstones.  Julistar entered into the bidding war, and explained to Ella that his title meant he had rendered special services to the Crown.  They flirted a bit as the Arch Docent won the stones.  A bronze sculpture of a man with a cobra head was next, and they followed the instructions that were meant to draw the Scarab's attention.  Indeed, they saw a woman watching them, and Phineas went off to speak to her as Julistar won the statue.  He flirted with her as well and she offered her services as a translator for the rubbings they had acquired.  11 Papyrus scrolls, starcharts from the Pharaoh of Numbers, went up next, but Julistar went up to examine them and announced they were fakes.  Despite this, Ella got in a bidding war for them with the halfling near the door. He finally won, as Phineas promised the woman, Neferet Anu, that she could come on the expedition with them.   Dimitri noticed that she looked strangely like the woman in the sleeping figurine that had been auctioned off.  A white-shawled woman approached - the actual Mithril Scarab and they followed her to a tent, where she insisted they leave any pieces of paper on their person outside to satisfy Raegos' paranoia.

Inside the tent, they met Raegos, who was blind-folded, and who explained that he had been hired onto an expedition with ten others by a man named Imivus who was obsessed with the stars being properly aligned for the journey.  The man insisted the pyramid was hidden on another plane of existence and the Pharaohs had designed a funeral mask that could call it back into this world.  When Imivus put on the mask, which he claimed was it, the massive temple appeared in the desert.  They saw a warning that anyone who saw the four symbols of the Pharaohs inside would be cursed to remain a guardian of the tomb forever.  Indeed, one of the others saw all four symbols, turned into a mummy, and killed Imivus.  Raegos was the only one to escape alive, with the mask.  He sold it to a merchant in Cairo, happy to be rid of it.  He has lived in fear of seeing the final symbol since.  At that moment, Riddick and Dimitri noticed a shape lurking outside the tent.  Riddick cut a hole in the tent and grabbed the figure - the halfling from before, who claimed he was working with others, and was clearly a thief based on what they found when they searched him.  Phineas realized his journal had been stolen, but the halfling did not have it

Dimitri and Ella discovered that the mask had a replica in the Arch Docent's Exhibitory, but that the real one was in the Crook Bearer's collection.  Ella decided to ask the Paracount to help them go steal it, and secured his cooperation (and the gift of a beautiful new necklace).

At the Crook Bearer's Estate, Julistar met them along with several of his companions, a rifleman and the half-orc from the auction, named Hroken.  After the Knights had substantial difficulty climbing into the place via Julistar's rope, Hroken lowered the rifleman, Ella and Dimitri into the building where the mask was.  The rifleman helped them to steal the object, but Dimitri saw him planting a small book behind the case as well, and picked it up.  They got out, and Julistar admitted that he knew the location of the pyramid, proposing a joint excursion.  Dimitri discreetly showed Lis'sa the book, which she recognized, and showed to Phineas.  Realizing there was some shady shit going on, they agreed to travel together with suspicions raised.

Julistar led them on what he called a shortcut through the desert, led by the rifleman, who was introduced as Scepter.  Dimitri realized they were being led straight into a sandslide and warned them against stumbling into it.  However, at that moment they were attacked by a Hieracosphinx, Keten Hamu, guardian of the pyramid.  Julistar cast a fog bank on them all and then headed off, mask in hand, leaving them to fight the creature.  Phineas managed to headbutt it anyway through the fog with his ram horns from his Amon binding.  Lis'sa revealed to them all that they had tried to frame Phineas back at the scene, and they gave chase.  Hroken slammed his shield into a dune, creating a sandslide to slow them down, and they had to find another way around.

They finally found their way to the Pyramid, which Julistar had already summoned.  The entrance was 300 feet up on one side so it took them quite a bit for Dimitri to climb and drop a rope and then everyone else to follow.  The entryshaft was etched with tens of thousands of names in hieroglyphics, which Lis'sa believed were the names of all their subjects.  At the end of the shaft, they read a rune marked "Point of No Return", and were attacked by a mummy and they managed to destroy it, noticing that it had a note attached to its back: "With love, the Expeditionary".

They found runes that had been destroyed on the walls with acid, presumably by Raegos' expedition.  They branched off to the left at a split, and found 4 different runes crudely painted on the wall: which Ella read as the Rune of Fealty, of Subjugation, of the Desert, and of Reckoning.   They discovered a chamber covered with hieroglyphics on every wall and the ceiling, which told of the curse of the four encircled runes - if anyone saw all four, they would be cursed to undeath.  Neferet blanched at one wall, which read that Ankana's true line would be known by the symbol they bore - which matched a birthmark on her back.

They moved on to find something almost like an elevator shaft of green stone and Dimitri noticed a platform parked at a higher level.  As Dimitri began climbing up, Julistar gave the command to send the platform down on the back of the golem that controlled it - which matched the figurine Julistar had won at the auction.  He was pushed down below the others' level and trapped in the shaft and they realized how to control it, all heading down below to meet Dimitri on the ground floor.  There, they discovered a sea of treasure, and Ella ignored Lis'sa's warning not to touch any of it, attracting the attention of the guardian of the chamber - a large mummified blue dragon which killed her in one bite, tearing her body apart.  They tried to fight it, but found it too strong, and Lis'sa yelled for them to get Ella's body and flee. However, the body turned to dust and ash in the dragon's teeth, and Lis'sa ordered a full retreat.  The dragon unleashed a breath of lightning at them, and Neferet collapsed on the platform as they rode it up to safety.

They headed up to the higher level, and ran into the Paracount and his crew, who asked if they needed help.  He offered use of their healing wands, revealing that the way out was blocked, and asked that they put aside their rivalry to find a way out of the place.  Julistar healed them all, and then revealed that "Neferet" was actually Lonicera, a spy they had placed in the Knights' ranks.  He believed that there must be a way of breaking the spell to exit the pyramid in the burial chambers of the Pharaohs.

They headed further up, to a windowed corridor.  Outside the windows, they could see the illusion of a city from Ancient Egypt.  They followed it to a rainbow colored chamber, where a woman rose from a sarcophagus - Ankana, one of the four Pharaohs.   She said she would let them live if they could best her in a contest of strength, and became trapped into the room, which transformed into a giant scale, threatening to crush them if they didn't keep their side balanced.  A golem on Ankana's side began removing weights from the wall to lower their side.  Julistar summoned a giant mantis to help them pull down weights as Lis'sa created a pulley system to bring down weights.  Annoyed at their progress, Ankana summoned a second worker on her side, and they continued to pile on weights - until the two golems were crushed on Ankana's side. They realized Ankana had fled, and searched her sarcophagus, Dimitri grabbing the book within.  They pursued her up a ladder, and Dimitri unfortunately noticed one of the Four Runes on the rungs of the ladder, warning the others, who all avoided looking at it except for Julistar.  

Above, they found another sarcophagus in a room covered in mathematical formulas, where Ankana was summoning something.  They tried to stop her, but out of a whirl of sand manifested... Ella, though she was now undead.  She fought off Ankana's attempts to control her, however, and an angry Ankana broke the seal on the sarcophagus beside her.  They attacked her, as the lid broke open, releasing a mummy that disintegrated into a cloud of ashes, which poured itself down Dimitri's throat, ripping at his internal organs.  Lis'sa thought it might be a belker, but was unsure, and Dimitri managed to cough it out so they could keep fighting it.  They managed to destroy both the Pharaohs and they made sure that Ella was alright, so to speak, before searching the tomb, while Julistar voiced some concerns about what Ella might have come back as.

Lis'sa demanded to see the mask, which now had two cracks in it.  She suggested that if they destroyed all four Pharaohs, they could escape.  They found a telescope pointed at Jupiter and Lis'sa photographed the room.  In the next chamber, the wall was covered with hieroglyphics that seemed to change - they realized that it was a countdown clock, to something that was going to happen relatively soon, although it had to have been counting down for centuries.  

They proceeded to confront the fiend pharaoh, who had been chopped into 56 jars of entrails, which animated into swarms and attacked them.  They made a plan to take on the dragon below, and with the help of the Expeditionary, destroyed it, although Hroken was killed by an exhalation of electricity from the beast. Realizing that the mask still had not cracked, they found a false bottom in the sarcophagus, full of pieces of blue dragon scale and obsidian, that created a puzzle.  Ella nearly put together an image of one of the Four Runes, but stopped herself, and Dimitri created the hieroglyph for "exit" with the blue dragon pieces.  The mask shattered and the pyramid began rumbling around them.  They raced towards the exit through a gauntlet of traps, and the Expeditionary's selfish approach to escape backfired on them when they all fell in a pit.  The Knights risked their life to get them out and escaped at the very last second from the Pyramid, climbing down the treacherous outside.  Phineas nearly fell to his death but was saved by Riddick, and Lonicera was caught by Dimitri when she fell.

Julistar, however, also fell, and though Ella managed to grip his hand for a second, he slipped free, plummeting to his death below.  The pyramid sunk into the sands below and they headed back with Hroken's body, Scepter, and Lonicera, who blamed them for Julistar's death.  Lis'sa spoke to Ella about her strange undead condition, believing it to be some sort of lost necromantic art from centuries ago.  She said she would try to discover the truth.  Back at the castle, Wynn spoke to Ella about it as well.  He gave her a ring that would allow her to disguise her new condition.

Belle, Gold, Lila, Emma S., Hook (Erky)

Gold gathered together a group after doing some digging on Amara, the Homo Magi's, situation.  He explained that he had learned of a set of ruins that had come through the Veil in an old-fashioned village in Scotland, infested with golbins, but that yielded an apple every midsummer that could heal any affliction that magic couldn't, perhaps even Amara's curse.

They sailed to Scotland on Hook's ship and entered the ruins, which were marked with a Dwarven alphabet, but using the Goblin language - as a threat against intruders.  They climbed down into the ruins and fought off some dire rats, and discovered the top of an underground citadel buried under the earth.  They had to leave Milah the crocodile behind since she could not physically get across the ledge to enter.  Inside they found inhuman remains from a battle - goblins.  They made their way through a trapped door, where they were attacked by some skeletons.  

They continued exploring the Citadel, and found a door with a dragon in stone relief on it with a keyhole.  They realized the Citadel was not built by the goblins, but rather humans from the Shadow World.  The goblins seemed to have moved in after the fact.  They found a massive chamber covered with bright green glyphs and symbols and a metallic cage with a gaping hole in the side.  Belle recognized the glyphs as Draconic, and translated "Here There Be Dragons".  They then discovered a hapless kobold named Meepo, who told them that the kobolds were fighting goblins there.  He said that he was supposed to be the Keeper of Dragons and protect the clan's dragon, Calcryx, but that the goblins had stolen it.  Meepo offered to take them to meet his clan leader, Yusdrayl, who could grant them safe passage if they would rescue the dragon.  Gold was heavily suspicious of making deals with kobolds, but they went to meet with them anyway.  Meepo seemed to have gotten in trouble with his clan for losing the dragon, and Yusdrayl questioned them about why they were there.  They learned that she had brought her clan there because it was a place where dragons were worshiped years ago, and kobolds considered themselves heirs to dragons.  Yusdrayl agreed to give them a key and two treasures if they returned the dragon.  She sent Meepo with them, and he took them the "back way" after Calcryx.

They discovered a dragon fountain, and were attacked by more rats.  The doors in the room were inscribed with "Channel good, open the way".  They found some treasure in the rat nest and moved on.  A rigged door sounded an alarm that alerted some goblins to their approach but Gold killed them quickly.  They ran afoul of more goblins and managed to capture one.  They interrogated it and learned that the dragon was in the trophy room and how to get there.  They also took a key from it that led to an area where the goblins had prisoners, which they swore to free.

The prisoners were kobolds, except for one battered gnome named Erky Timbers.  He was grateful for the rescue and explained that he had been imprisoned for a year, starved and abused, but that he was a cleric and had kept himself alive.  He informed them that he'd heard the goblins talk about a "Twilight Grove" below where an evil druid named Belak tended an enchanted garden and harvested apples from the Gulthias Tree, which terrified the goblins.  They sent the kobolds back to their clan, and Erky went with them.  

They continued on and found a trophy room full of mounted animal heads, including kobolds, where thin patches of ice coated the floor.  They pushed their goblin prisoner into the room to check for traps, which disquieted Belle.  Abruptly a tiny white dragon attacked them - Meepo's dragon, Calcryx, who the kobold insisted they must knock out gently, overjoyed to see his "pet".  Calcryx, however, seemed to hate Meepo quite a bit, so it wasn't an easy task, and it kept blasting them with its little ice breath.  Emma managed to knock the dragon out and Lila tied it up, having become attached to the little guy.  She lobbied to free him as Belle healed the kobold, who had been knocked out in the fight.  

The goblin prisoner let them know they could reach the Grove through the nearby hall of the goblin chief.  Meepo was angry that they weren't taking Calcryx straight back, concerned that if the goblins took the humans, they would also take the dragon back again.  Emma insisted Meepo help them in return before they took him back.  They used magic to try to sound like a larger group than they were, and some of the goblins in the hall scattered.    In the throne room, they still had to fight off numerous goblins, as well as the hobgoblin chief, who protected a shaft down into the grove.

Belle argued that they shouldn't force Meepo to stay, when he had nearly died twice, and they agreed to let him take Calcryx back.  Emma got poisoned by a trap dart, and they realized that they needed to get their hands on an apple to heal her.

They headed down to the grove, where two gaunt cloaked figures shoveled earth and turned out to be skeletons, which attacked, and so did the trees themselves.  A huge angry bugbear and his pet dire rat came out as well, threatening to put them in his cookpot.  They defeated him and decided to rest for the night.  During the night, several more walking trees attacked and they had to fight them off.

The next morning, they decided to head in the direction the trees had come from, and moved down a long tunnel where a strange geologic rift rent the earth.  At the far end, they fought a bizarre worm creature.  They continued exploring, and found an area with stone walls and bas-relief carvings of terrified Shadowkind with fire raining down on them.  Gardening implements were visible and they realized they were close to their druid.  

They found some goblins collecting fungi in baskets, with another bugbear, who they also took down.  They ran into another arboretum populated with the same, and had to fight them too.  They found a chamber with a huge statue of a red dragon, whose runes read "Let the sorcerous power illuminate my mind".  As Gold read it aloud, he gained a magical boost to his sorcerous power.  However, a Shadow creature arose to attack them and Gold burned it to a crisp.

They found a destroyed library, which made Belle sad, but found some intact scrolls within, and a tome on draconic lore.  They heard more goblins up ahead, who called for the aid of the "Protector of the Twilight Grove" as they killed them.  They discovered a collapsed wall into a cavern with the top of a gargantuan tree that was pale with spindly briars and barbs and surrounded by more walking trees.  They ambushed them and killed them before moving on to the final grove itself.

In the grove rested a blackened evil tree, surrounded by some men and a woman, as well as a large tree frog.  One of the men and women wore blank looks, and the last man, in a simple brown cassock with a sickle in hand, cautioned them as they entered to tarry before taking action, and warned them that they trod on hallowed ground.  The druid, hearing that they had come for the fruit of the tree, explained that it ripened only two fruits every year, at the summer solstice.  He explained that in order for the Gulthias Tree to bear fruit, certain conditions must be fulfilled.  The tree was the the site of a place where a vampire had been staked to the earth, and that the wooden stake was green and had grown into the tree.  Its dark power was tied to the vampire's nature, and gained power from the life of others.  Lila, realizing what it meant, offered to sacrifice her life to get the apple, but the others stopped her.  Emma noticed the human-shaped dips in the tree, and the druid told them that those who were supplicants to the tree maintained their life but were bound to the grove and became mindless protectors of the place.  He gestured to the two beside him who had done the same.

He told them that if they could provide him with two supplicants, the midsummer apple that would be produced would be theirs.  He also admitted that the reason he gave the goblins the fruit was to disperse the fruit on the surface, and he intended to colonize the surface with the Children of the Gulthias Tree.  Hook, horrified and angered, shot at the man, who also told them that the midsummer apple might heal any ill, but the one from midwinter killed with a single bite.  Hook told them that they'd find another way to break the curse - that this one wasn't worth the price.  They fought and killed the protectors of the grove, as the druid turned the entire grove against them.  He said that if they would not volunteer, he would make them supplicants by choice.  Emma tried to keep the druid alive, but he bled out, losing them any chance of the apple.  Belle proclaimed that it was for the best, as the magic of this grove was evil, and taking one of the apples would have made them the same.  Erky agreed that taking any of the seeds out of the grove would have been an act of great evil, and that they should burn it.  Emma agreed that they should find the trees on the surface and destroy them as well. Erky suggested they enlist rangers and druids, and clerics of nature gods to help them. Emma blamed Gold for their failure, and he burned the tree to ashes.

They explained the Knights to Erky, who agreed to help them in their task.