After a failed fight against the Briarwoods, Vox Machina are placed under house arrest at the behest of the influenced Sovereign Uriel. The party holds a key clue to the Briarwoods' machinations in a dark tome that Vax'ildan managed to pilfer from them — a tome that Delilah is determined to retrieve, casualties be damned.
Tropes
- Beat: As the wraiths desperately try and fail to flee the room after Keyleth’s light burns away their magical darkness and the Intangibility that came with it, Vex fires a crossbow bolt through the head of one of them banging on the door, which halts its attempts to flee before turning around to stare at them, both sides spending a second to realize that the wraiths can now be damaged...and require more damage than the usual undead to be put down before the team rips them apart however they can.
- Blood from Every Orifice: People who get ran through by the wraiths bleed black goo from their eyes, nose and mouth.
- Blood-Splattered Warrior: Vox Machina, especially Grog, end up covered in the black goo of the wraiths as they desperately kill them with everything they got.
- Cue the Sun: A magical variation. All seems lost as the wraiths swarm the room, snuffing out Jarret's torch and overwhelming everyone. Cut to outside, silence...and then a beam of light coming from the windows. Cut back inside to Keyleth holding a miniature sun in her hands, which she then brandishes above her and uses to turn the tide of the battle.
- Defiant to the End: As the wraiths swarm everyone in their room, they overwhelm everyone and one lifts Grog into the air by his chest. Cue Pike, who is unable to connect to her patron to create divine light, leaping to grab Grog by the leg to prevent him from rising up and spitting the black goo into the face of the wraith that comes after her. The only time she lets go is when Keyleth summons a light source that forces the wraiths back.
- Dramatic Irony: After Percy manages to open up to the team regarding his Dark and Troubled Past and his issues with the Briarwoods, Vex asks him to promise them that he won't keep any more secrets from them, and he agrees. But even he doesn't know that he made a Deal with the Devil to create his guns as part of a vengeance pact.
- Flipping the Bird: Scanlan and Vax give each other a rapid fire of middle fingers while they're discussing the translation of the book.
- Made of Air: The wraiths that Delilah summons are capable of phasing through walls and bodies alike, with extremely negative consequences for any living person they do this to, as they emit black goo from their orifices and (in the case of the soldiers) shrivel up into mummified husks from prolonged contact. This makes close combat with them extremely perilous, especially with the inability to meaningfully damage them in return, until Keyleth manages to summon a magical light source that forcibly materializes them and allows them to be damaged (although being undead, they still require extensive damage to put down for good).
- No-Gear Level: Much like in the previous episode, Vox Machina ends up having to fight the wraiths without their normal weapons due to their gear being confiscated. That said, due to the wraiths' Intangibility, their weapons wouldn't have been much good in any case, sans Pike's holy abilities from her wrecked symbol. Once Keyleth manages to summon a source of magical light that forcibly materializes them, the team quickly prove that they don't need weapons to deal with monsters like them.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The wraiths stay out of sight of the characters and the camera alike for a good portion of their attack on the keep, being only partially glimpsed hanging around the darkened spots in the rooms or with their visages obscured by shadowy darkness, highlighting their creepy nature.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- While Sovereign Uriel is quick to demand Vox Machina be thrown in the dungeon, Lady Allura soon offers to take over and promises to see to their punishment. While she reminds Vox Machina that they have still caused a host of problems and can't just be allowed to leave, she gives consideration to what they have to say, and upon hearing their accusations against the Briarwoods, she concedes that King Uriel has been acting strange. With that in mind, she orders them placed under house arrest over being thrown in the dungeon until such a time as she can investigate the matter.
- Captain Jarret keeps a firm, but even, hand while overseeing Vox Machina's house arrest and only tightens restrictions on the group when they try to escape. When the house is besieged by wraiths that are slaughtering his guards, he's quick to re-arm Vox Machina to the best of his abilities. And after the danger is dealt with, he soon concedes that there is clearly something to Vox Machina's claims about the Briarwoods and allows them to leave, recognizing they're better equipped to deal with it.
- Stronger Than They Look: Percy does not have access to his guns during this episode, but that doesn't mean he can't hold his own. As soon as the wraiths become tangible he grabs one, pulls it bodily off the wall, then slams it into a wooden support beam with enough force to produce a spray of wood splinters.
- Weakened by the Light: The only way to kill the wraiths is by exposing them to enough light in order to make them tangible...and then making sure their undead bodies are in no state to move around anymore.
