The episode starts with the archivist Aaron Duscalla retrieving a metal bucket, old popcorn, and a film reel from the mysterious box left on his doorstep. As he contemplates the items, the camera veers back in time to the Doughnuts and Dondurma bakery, where the members of the adventuring party have come face-to-face with the earth genasi that battled two of them at the temple.
She peers at them from her seat on the stool, with a large cake in front of her topped with rock crystal spires. Yet when Domus and Kyuri examine the cake, they don’t see rock crystal; they see metalwork that seems similar to chariots, but the wheels are made of metal and there’s no space for a horse. Domus also notices a candy design resembling fire on the cake.
She offers the paladin a slice. Suspicious, he asks the price. She tells him there’s no cost, but seeing he mistrusts her she take her dagger out and cuts a slice for herself. He asks why she’s so calm this time compared to their last meeting, and she merely responds that he “was never a concern.” They argue semantics as Chonnnk and Rooney tuck into a few pastries.
The genasi cuts a slice of cake for Domus, which includes one of the carriages flipped onto its back. He asks where she found her inspiration for the design, to which she responds with delight and asks what he knows about it. He tells her he’s never seen anything like the metal carriage before, and she visibly dims with disappointment.
She tells him the group has something important—or rather, half of something important. Domus admits they have the haft of karavox and asks why she’s interested. She says she has need of it in its completed form, and that her use of it would benefit everyone. Kyuri asks if she could be more specific, to which she responds she wishes she could. When Domus asks her why she can’t, she only points to the metal carriage on top of the cake and enigmatically responds, “Because you two have never seen that before, and two of you don’t see it at all.”
The party peppers her with questions, but she continues to evade them. Instead, she offers assistance against the marilith whose general they dispatched at the temple in exchange for using karavox once it’s completed. Domus tries to get a read on her motives, but is too caught up in the memories of the smoke and fire from the carriage that the cake before him now evokes.
Kyuri asks if the genasi can at least tell them why letting her use karavox will help everyone. Domus adds that, if it helps, he had indeed seen the carriage before, but only in his smoke-induced dream. She replies that it means his patron Brodin is aware of the situation, and approves of her methods. This answer satisfies the paladin, and he agrees to help her. Chonnnk takes the opportunity to lament the bakery is now out of donuts, and starts in on the pastries Rooney is currently eating.
The genasi swears to each party member in turn, using their names, that if they allow her to use karavox first, they’ll at least be able to strike a blow to the Man In Black, if not destroy him. They’re free to choose not to help her, but she admits it likely means they’ll have to fight her at some point. Rooney asks her position on Tiamat, to which she says she’s not a fan but recognizes the dragon’s importance on the grander world stage.
Kyuri acknowledges the genasi addressed him including his last name, and asks her opinion of his family. She says that, as a whole, the Essler family has made too many deals with devils. Their one saving grace is that those who marry into the family are not bound the same way that those related by blood are—though some choose to make deals anyway. He goes on to ask if she’s heard of anyone in the family dying and coming back; she replies that most people whose souls are bound by contracts tend to become infernal creatures themselves upon their death, making resurrection rare. He decides her answers are honest, and throws his lot in with Domus. Chonnnk decides to devour another tray of pastries, but the genasi gently guides the tray over to the others in the group.
Rooney mistrusts her in-depth knowledge of infernal politics, but she counters that she also knows a great deal about the heavens as well. He asks what her favorite part of the sky, as his is the cumulonimbus. She responds that she likes its “ephemerality”—that it changes, rather than staying solid. He may not trust her, but agrees to go along with the others. Chonnnk tries to speak, but his mouth is full of pastries; the genasi takes it as a sign he also agrees. She formally introduces herself as Xen.
Rooney finally recognizes her as the genasi from the temple. She holds up her arm to reveal several runes on it, though there’s fewer of them now, and replies she had been “waking up.” Kyuri remarks to Domus that the paladin had been mistaken, as the runes didn’t appear to be a skin condition.
Xen admits she doesn’t like being vague with the party, but they’re “not there yet” and hopes next time will be the proper time. Kyuri asks what she means by “next time”, but she only smiles in response and tells them to enjoy themselves in the bakery as it’s all paid for. She asks if they have an agreement, and shakes Domus’ hand before departing.
Chonnnk and Rooney continue to enjoy the pastries, while Kyuri once again struggles with the feeling all the memories he’s been recently sifting through aren’t actually his, and they carry a sense of alienation with them. For just a moment, he even feels like someone else. In the meantime, Domus takes a bite of candy fire and is mentally transported back to the vision he had earlier. He sees several metal carriages scattered and on fire; screams fill the air as hands grab at him. He only comes back to the present when he hears the voice of their guide Exuus asking if he’s alright.
The halfling then picks a piece of rock candy off the cake (to Kyuri and Domus’ collective surprise, as they hadn’t noticed the spires) and starts to eat it. Chonnnk sidles over to the tray Xen moved earlier and tries to stealthily grab more pastries; unfortunately he’s also humming his own theme song while doing it in full view of the others, so he fails to be sneaky about it. After a brief discussion of the nightlife in Gol Zenagi, they all agree to settle in at Madame Gritania’s place.
Once there, the group is met by the gruff, no-nonsense half orc called Madame Gritania who agrees to take them to their rooms. Exuus bids them goodbye, turns to leave, and promptly slams several fingers in the doorjamb which fall to the floor as he departs. After a few moments, he returns to retrieve them.
Domus and Rooney double up in one room, with Kyuri and Chonnnk in the other. As the others sleep, Kyuri casts Sending to reach out to his sister Odessa, asking if it was true that he’d died before. She responds that she’d been sworn to secrecy, but admits he did—albeit for a short time—and that their mother nearly died too. After a moment, she adds that she’d been with their father when it happened, but when they came home Kyuri hadn’t been breathing, their mother only barely breathing herself. When Marcella woke up, she had formed a contract.
Kyuri tries to process all of this, and thanks Odessa for telling him, saying he has an apology to make. She responds that their mother didn’t want the event hanging over his head. Kyuri admits Marcella said as much, and that’s why Odessa might be getting a visit from her. His sister merely responds “She can try.”
The sorcerer then uses another scroll of Sending to Marcella herself, apologizing for his earlier actions in light of what he’s discovered. Marcella tells him “What’s done is done” and ponders how they’ll proceed when they next meet, only telling him to be ready. Sensing the danger of his upcoming mission, he tells her they may not ever meet again, but he hopes they do and can mend their relationship. She mysteriously responds that they’ll definitely meet again where he’s headed next.
After Kyuri falls asleep, Chonnnk tries to sneak into Rooney’s room to steal the ranger’s pastry. He does so, and eats it in his own room.
The next day the party finishes their shopping in town, with Domus purchasing a scroll of Bigby’s Hand and Kyuri picking up a set of “experimental” rings of Comprehend Languages for each party member. Domus also tries to see his pet Devon, but it appears the maw demon is playing with Queen Vol’ak. Rooney practices with his new bow, and asks Exuus to help him try it out. Chonnnk looks into buying Boots of Haste, but they’re too expensive.
In the morning, before the breakfast bell, Xen and Vol’ak come to collect the party, informing the group that Gol Zenagi is over Breme. The queen again requests they “say hello to karavox from Arethar” for her. Chonnnk offers a copy of his book to her, to which she gently responds she’s already read it when she touched him, and gives the book to Devon who immediately devours it. The party joins hands, and with one last warning from Vol’ak not to utter Krampus’ name within Breme, they’re dropped thousands of feet towards the town below.
After hurtling through the air for what seems like forever, Feather Fall kicks in and the group gently touches ground moments later. Kyuri hands out the rings of Comprehend Languages, and Chonnnk puts his on his toe. Rooney uses his Primeval Awareness to detect dragons, only to find his detection keeps pinging on and off in the direction of the archway behind the group the entire time his ability is active. He mentions this to the others and says it’s a “no-go”, but Xen points out all the doors must be opened.
Chonnnk takes the opportunity to steal Rooney’s bagel. As he eats it, light explodes from the rainbow henge near the party, bathing them in a colorful glow and extending upwards from the crystal spire. Marcella Essler steps out from the glow. Kyuri asks if this is what she meant by meeting him again where he was going, which she confirms.
He’s the only one who remembers their encounter in Artagan’s smoke vision, so he re-introduces her to the others. Chonnnk then remembers her from the “stick party” and wonders why she didn’t have a stick; Marcella asks Kyuri if she should kill the barbarian first.
Kyuri confronts her with the knowledge he died before and asks why she did it. She says he’d been infernally bound even as a child. So when he died, she made a deal. As she puts it: “What was I supposed to do?” She then says to pay her back, he needs to give her karavox. He declines, saying they’ve already promised Xen the use of it. Marcella counters that it’s not her problem.
Xen tries to bow out of the family drama and take the others to one of the other doors—which concerns Rooney, who’s still worried about dragons. Kyuri presses his mother further until she admits the devils she contracted with have ordered both her and her husband—Kyuri’s father—to retrieve karavox. And if she can’t convince Kyuri to help, his father will take it by force.
Kyuri tries to convince Marcella to come with them, but she says she won’t see him die again. When he tells her giving karavox to the devils would doom everyone, she counters that the two of them and Odessa would still live. He disagrees, saying the cost is too high, and asks her “don’t be like Dad.” She rebuffs him with the fact that his father wouldn’t simply *ask* for karavox.
At an impasse, Kyuri finally asks if Marcella would willingly kill the entire world. Without hesitation, she says she would do so for him. As she says this, she turns her attention to Chonnnk and Rooney and attacks them with lightning. Xen decides she doesn’t want to get involved, and walks into one of the other henges.
Chonnnk grows in size, tucks into a ball and attacks Marcella. Rooney follows suit, shooting his new bow at her before taking to the air. Marcella responds to the attacks by banishing both of them from the battlefield. Kyuri tries again to convince her to stop, but she’s resolute in her decision. Domus strikes her with his spear, following it with a paladin’s smite.
In the meantime, an injured Xen is suddenly expelled from the henge she’d tried to enter. At the same time Kyuri suddenly reels from taking inexplicable psychic damage, but comes to understand he’s also now protected from fae creatures for the next day.
In their astral relocation, Chonnnk sits down and starts to read, but Rooney prepares to attack once they’ve returned to the material plane. Back on Breme, Marcella unleashes another barrage of lightning, this time at Domus. Panicked, Kyuri pulls out a piece of fuzz from his Bag of Tricks and summons a jackal. He tasks the reluctant animal with distracting his mother—hopefully without dying.
Domus attacks again, smiting Marcella, and her concentration on the banishment breaks. Rooney, prepared ahead of time, strikes her with arrows as he reappears. Xen gingerly picks herself up off the ground and once again refuses to get involved in family issues.
Out of nowhere, two fae creatures step out of the same magical field that’s protecting Kyuri from said creatures. They immediately attack the jackal, who falls on the first hit, then go for Marcella—and kill her as well. They try to strike out at Domus, but can’t get past his armor.
Chonnnk sees the fae creature kill Marcella and assumes they’re allies, but Rooney notices how they attacked Domus and fires at them. His spider bow manages to take down one of them, and Kyuri shatters the other one with a cold Chromatic Orb.
Kyuri scrambles to his mother’s body and begs the others to use one of their Revivify scrolls. The spell is within Domus’ wheelhouse, albeit aa higher level than he’s used to casting, so he attempts to use the scroll. Unfortunately it fails, but he asks Rooney for another scroll and the ranger obliges.
The second scroll works, and Marcella breathes again. Opening her eyes, she glances over at Kyuri and simply says, “Go.” He tries to convince her to come with him, but she repeats her order. The other three follow Xen towards one of the other henges. Kyuri attempts to cast Cure Wounds on his mother, but she again refuses and tells him yet again to go. He does so reluctantly, trailing behind the others.
Domus is struck with a realization. The first scroll he tried to use failed, as though something didn’t want him to succeed. But using the second Revivify scroll he taps into every source of power he knows, including that of his patron, the centaur Brodin. Yet it goes even deeper than that: his consciousness expands to sense another, glaive-wielding centaur watching him—yet not him per se. In this moment, he’s just a conduit. Going even further he feels another consciousness; he is, at the same time, both himself yet not. Finally, diving even further, he feels an over-arching consciousness too vast to understand, although he understands its avatar well enough.
But why would an incomprehensibly powerful being take the form of a bucket?
Before the episode draws to a close, the camera pulls back to focus on Aaron Duscalla once more. As he contemplates the bucket and film reel before him, his thoughts are interrupted by a frantic, insistent pounding on his front door.
