Fry Cook Spongebob flips patties. One patty twirls into the air and changes into a jellyfish, which swims about the Krusty Krab kitchen and escapes out the porthole.
Spongebob likes this. He turns back to the stove and watches all the patties morph into jellyfish. Spongebob himself floats into the air and flies after them out the window. He transforms into a large, square yellow jellyfish. With big round eyes! They cavort in Jellyfish Fields until a voice calling his name awakens him from this wish-fantasy One.
TWO
The stove smokes and Mr. Krabs is yelling. Reality is the Trouble.
We’ve finished the Wyrm Hunt quests and are now invited to enter the castle and meet the Duke. Well, I’m invited. Pawns aren’t allowed.
At the door to the entrance chamber a little jester man in the full bell cap outfit stops me. He’s deeply unpleasant, over-animated and suspicious. (Another unfortunate trope deployed, this time of a dwarf or Little Person who plays the backstabbing Fool.) He puts something on my head.
When I enter, everyone in audience turns and scowls. Reverse angle and I can now see I wear a clown hat with pom-pom topper. The Duke frowns at first, then responds.
He thought about removing my party cap by taking my head, I swear, but ended up making his courtiers laugh instead.
I’m welcomed to continue to assist the Duke. More missions to come! As I leave the castle, a cut scene takes over. Someone is in the garden.
Gender is immaterial. Whatever toon I play, they swoon at this Aelinore meeting. She’s blonde, she’s tender, and she’s innocent. She’s also new to the castle and in over her head. More plot to come for our prototypical Damsel in Distress.
Two more points dropped randomly about the mysterious Duke:
“His Grace is unwell,” Aldous the Chamberlain says to me. He looks hale, but I guess I’m supposed to notice that the Duke is failing in some way.
“He must be a wizened old man by now. He’s of an age with me, if not older,” Iola the hometown shopkeep says. Well, I have a photo and he doesn’t look anywhere near as ancient as Iola does.
We have a fairly substantial One this time. A large anchor is Mr. Krabs’ house. Inside, he sings robustly that “Pearl’s me daughter.” And there she is! Our first time seeing and hearing Pearl! (It is, isn’t it?) It’s her birthday, she’s excited, and daddy is cheap. Instead of the Flipper Slippers everyone’s wearing, he gets her wellies as a present.
Not only is the story introduced, but the Krabs locale and family are established for the series.
TWO
The fishing boots are the Trouble. They were, of course, a bargain. Krabs’ penny pinching and its results drive this episode.
THREE
Cut to the exterior where the anchor house shakes as Pearl scream-cries.
Swarming with goblin and cyclops monsters, the Fort is a bastion the military wants to retake. We’re here to help!
Of the four Wyrm Hunt missions, I saved this for last as it can be tricky. Ballista fireballs rain down and vermin come from a tunnel system under the fort. At the end we face a Goblin VIP who taunts us, saying “Humans want destruction, too!”
The Salvation cult has a far reach, apparently.
I swear I’ve managed to kill him before, but he escapes underground this time. Good game. We didn’t lose the troop commander, which is actually hard to do. He’s a bit of a dolt who insists on standing in the fire.
Remember, this is the name of the two-part episode that includes The Spirit World and Avatar Roku. I assume that, although each separate episode has a Story Enneagram, that the overarching story will also follow one. Let’s see.
ONE
Spirit’s One is also this section of the One. The gang travels north until something interrupts them.
TWO
As I guessed in my Spirit review, the overarching Two is Aang’s sadness and need to talk to Avatar Roku. We already know from the Roku review that the Eight is indeed that meeting. Finding Roku — how do you talk to a spirit? — is the Trouble of the story resolved at the climax.
You’ll remember, though, that this moment in Spirit felt extremely awkward and forced. You’ll also notice, looking back, that the beginning of that story has a lot of padding that isn’t part of the overarching plot. The Two section is sloppy in both overviews.
Finding a chimera in the world is always fun when travelling with pawns who know what to do.
Cleave the poison-spewing snake tail, silence the magic-casting goat head, and kill the lion. It’s fast, satisfying work with plenty of climbing, clinging, and hacking.
When we popped by the Abbey to check on Quina, she said she’s still seeking information about our wound.
As we’re in Part Two, this episode immediately picks up where Part One left off, in the village with the threat of the comet deadline hanging over. Aang has decided to go into the Fire Nation alone.
TWO
Katara and Sokka say nope. They’re coming, too. Appa approves and gives Sokka a big, wet lick.
THREE
Zuko, at the village our gang just left, insists on knowing where they went.
In Part One we had parallel Enneagram structure. Part Two is only Aang’s story. This allows Zuko to influence the plot as its Three/Six.
After Elysion runs away and we kill the zombies, who should be left but Mason. He calls Salvation a “skulk of foxes”. I don’t think he’s playing a double game, but I’m not sure what his agenda is. Investigating evil? Is he the voice of the common man in a medieval world of princelings? He’s portrayed with a sinister edge, and I’m not sure what the developers had in mind with him.
Regardless, he has a captured acolyte and he expects me to deal with it.
(Me? Why me?)
The acolyte has “seen the two of us together”, which is apparently bad. The quest is murky, but basically I must decide to free this fellow or kill him. My Pawns say things like, “It’s your decision, Arisen,” and “We support you whatever you decide.”
Thanks, guys.
Meanwhile, the acolyte is trying to bribe me while saying he was just there for fun with this whole perdition thing. A LARPer, lol. I kill him.
It seems evident that Mason would’ve killed him if I didn’t, and now I’m someone who Mason can trust. I just wish the intention behind this scene had been clearer. I don’t even know what I’m risking!
We wend our way down, fighting skeletons and the undead. Until we arrive at the Gathering Hall this mission is just a straight-up dungeon.
When we’re close, though, we begin to overhear the Elysion. This is the high officiant, presumably, giving his sermon or lecture. It’s an incredibly dense speech, with ten cent words and a ranging philosophy.
Basically, the soul is incomplete in this world of the mortal coil. “Whence, then, is salvation?” Not in pleasure. Equilibrium comes from the dragon. Freedom from pain makes the soul complete. Fear distills the soul to its lofty character. You’re duty bound to cede your souls to it.
You get the idea.
A group of people in creepy robes end up . . . eaten? killed? . . . by the undead who rise from the dirt floor of the catacombs. And Elysion, laughing, escapes.
Is the dragon our main antagonist, or is this fellow?
