"I know, I know. This flashback's been going on forever. But you might find this one illuminating. It's The Adventure Zone!"
See here for the main recap page.
We're fairly deep into our trip down memory lane, but our heroes are no closer to figuring out how to stop the ever-evolving force that's pursuing them. With few other options, they'll have to adopt a new, remarkably costly strategy. Magnus helps out some Losers. Taako eats a fateful meal. Merle makes a powerful new friend.
Tropes
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: John doesn't consider what he's doing to be evil. In fact, he's shocked that Merle outright refuses to understand or even consider his point of view.
- Death Is Cheap: As is standard for The Stolen Century arc. However, we do find out why Merle's death count is notably higher than Magnus and Taako's. Merle's attempts to parley with John/The Hunger for a number of cycles inevitably end with John immolating Merle in his Truth Zone boardroom each time, when John no longer is interesting in continuing the conversation.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Magnus' advice to Merle about the approach he should take for his parley tactics.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: The plane as a whole has a rich food culture. Taako and Lup explore this and train themselves while here. One meal in particular is transcendent.
- Out of Focus: The other members of the IPRE have other things they do doing the cycles that Merle parleys with The Hunger, but those don't really matter quite as much. Magnus and Taako have brief sections covering their actions during the first cycle.
- Rousing Speech: The culmination of Magnus' arc. As should be the case for any good sports movie.
- Running Gag: Merle's fixation with Zone of Truth is given an explanation. Sort of.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Merle's reaction to John's Motive Rant. Doubles as Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?
