The Quest Review: A Traitor in Saenctum

Flawed heroes, race to find the orbs and Verlox’s location is revealed in this week’s episode of The Quest.

The second installment in the Everealm epic picks up where its predecessor left off: with the discovery of a magical spying orb floating around the castle. The spy himself —eerily reminiscent of everyone’s favorite spy, Grima Wormtongue —is captured relatively (read: surprisingly) easily, but Sir Ansgar realizes that there are seven more magical spying orbs floating somewhere around the castle. The Paladins exhaust themselves trying to find them that night, but come up empty-handed.

Hawkeye

As befits The Quest’s weekly theme, Sir Ansgar picks up the slack and finds three of the missing spheres overnight. When the Paladins wake up, they’re told to use magical masks to see through the eyes of a hawk and find the remaining four orbs. Simple enough, right?

After some babble about how cool it is to be able to actually see through the eyes of a bird (please), the Paladins begin the race to find the orbs. Andrew, Shondo, Lina, and Patrick start things off impetuously and take to the streets the moment they see a location they recognize, choosing not to wait for the bird to reveal the exact locations of the orbs. Adria, Leticia, and Bonnie seem more patient, and wait for the bird to hone in on specific locations before joining their comrades in the hunt.

The following challenge is a series of missed opportunities and frustrating close calls, but ultimately Lina claims the first orb and the Mark of Observation, and Bonnie, Shondo, and Patrick find the remaining three, leaving Adria, Andrew, and Leticia to face the Fates.

MapQuest

Sir Ansgar and the Paladins visit Grima Wormtongue and find a very carefully torn-up map in his cloak. The Paladins cannot seem to piece together the parchment, and finally Crio appears and takes the pieces of the map to the Fates. The Paladins soon follow, unsure as to what they will be facing.

They don’t have to wait long, though, because the Fates are relatively forthcoming about the challenge. Andrew, Leticia, and Adria have to arrange swords (each with a hole in its pommel) in such a manner that a laser can pass directly through the entire set, revealing on the now-completed map Verlox’s location. It seems like a lot of work, when the Fates could just as easily point to the map that they themselves completed, but it’s the journey that counts and all that.

Andrew’s worried that his ADHD will hamper him in this challenge, but he rises above the rest and exempts himself from the vote. This is really Andrew’s first moment of vulnerability, and I found myself liking him substantially more than before. There’s something to be said for flawed heroes, and Andrew’s starting to grow on me.

This is the first time I’m not willing to say goodbye to any of the Paladins, but the Fates are unforgiving and Everealm’s version of tribal council does not wait. The voting Paladins split evenly between Leticia and Adria, but Andrew’s deciding vote sends Adria into the smoky beyond. Her farewell voiceover is genuinely heartbreaking, and I can say that for the first time this season, I’m not ready for these people to leave Everealm.

Until Next Week…

The Paladins return to Saentum and partake in what I can only suppose is mead with Sir Ansgar, which certainly means that something bad is going to happen. Sure enough, immediately after the surly knight opens up about his deceased wife and unborn child and his relationship to the spy —whom he saved from death years earlier —Saenctum falls into turmoil.

The Paladins rush outside, and the Queen appears, demanding to know what is going on. We don’t have to wait long to find out, though, as she quickly realizes that Verlox has arrived. The Paladins had better be ready to fight.

Check out the photo gallery for “A Traitor in Saenctum” below:

The Quest “The Dragon Lair” airs Thursday, SEPT. 4 at 8|7c on ABC