Recap / CrafD&D: The Champion's Challenge E1: The Ranger Challenge PT. 1

CrafD&D: The Champion's Challenge Recap Index
Story Arc:
Forrnest | Volkhanom | Lordpact | Elemix | Conjuria | Hemoarloch | Undercove
Episode:
E1: The Ranger Challenge PT. 1 | E2: The Ranger Challenge Pt. 2 | E3: Disarmed and a Leg | E4: Old Flame, New Blood

Air Date: 2/4/2022

In the Grandure continent, five young heroes—Osra, Calum, Cera, Jet, and Ash—start out on their journey through the Champion's Challenge and make some great progress. Their next stop is Forrnest, the home city of Ash, to take on the local champion, Qwill Hox. As Ash reacquaints herself with her old home and takes on Qwill's challenge with her party, she detects that something is on Qwill's mind...

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Break the Haughty: Qwill spends much of the episode acting fairly condescending towards Passione. Later, however, despite the event not completely breaking him, the fight with the Wood Woads humbles Qwill quite a bit, especially since he takes some damage himself—especially his prosthetic leg. In the aftermath, he assures his challengers that his assistance with the Woads doesn't count against them in any way, as they weren't part of the challenge and he wasn't prepared to deal with them. Just before everyone turns in for the night, he, in his own way, earnestly tells the party members that he's proud of them. He also opts to stay up and keep watch for their sake, and when he thinks he's alone, he laments how he's treated Passione... But when he realizes that Ash overheard him, he tries to keep up appearances.
  Qwill: Yeah, that one? That one was on me. So I'm not gonna count that one as a failure on any of y'all... You kids fared pretty good back there, though!
  [...]
  [Everyone turns in for the night as Qwill stands watch. Once he thinks they're asleep, he speaks aloud to himself.]
  Qwill: *Sigh*... Those kids... maybe I was too rough on 'em...
  [Qwill suddenly senses that he's being watched, and he slowly turns to glare at Ash, who is giving him a knowing look from her resting spot.]
  Qwill: ... Y'know, salt in the wound ain't exactly a good thing.
  Ash: [cheekily] I mean... it's only warranted after earlier's salt.
  Qwill: In mah defense, your buddies there? They are hilarious.
  Ash: Well, I mean, yeah...
  [Ash props herself up from the ground and continues gazing at Qwill with concern in her eyes.]
  Ash: You sure everything's okay? Things have been... different since I've come back.
  Qwill: I don't know why you keep askin'; I'm fine.
• Cassandra Truth: As discussed in the recap segment, the first champion that Passione encounters is Captain Cervantes Custer, who leads the royal guard of Osra's hometown, Joughstic. Unfortunately for them, he's too concerned over his suspicions about a local windmill to test them. He's convinced that it's a monster, but the concept of a living windmill menace is so absurd that everyone in town dismisses his claims. Osra and company are just as hesitant to believe him, yet they still decide to help ease Cervantes' mind so he won't be distracted from his challenge for them... And his suspicions turn out to be correct; the windmill is a titanic mimic that puts up quite a fight. Once the creature is felled, Custer fights Passione as their first official challenge. By beating him, they earn their first Champion Emblem.
• Eldritch Abomination: This episode introduces the mystery subplot of The Champions' Challenge, which surrounds a group of amorphous, sand blue entities with beady red eyes and triangular heads. Their exact motives aren't known, but they lash out at anyone who draws near them and are unfathomably powerful. The recap section shows Passione's first encounter with one such creature, who flees after demonstrating what they're capable of.
  [The Passione party members walk a trail to their next destination. Calum watches sadly as a bird's nest falls from a tree, causing its eggs to crack. Before he and the others can continue, Osra suddenly gestures for them to stop.]
  Jet: Yo, what is it, Osra?
  [Up ahead is a strange, abstractly humanoid figure. Osra hurries over to them; her partners are too unnerved to follow her. As soon as Osra gets within a few feet of the creature, they snap their head to face her, glaring back with a tiny, empty red eye.]
  Osra: Uh... Hello...?
  Calum: [hurrying over with his teammates close behind] Osra! Wait!
  [Before anyone can react, the creature blasts Passione with a blast of disorienting energy. Passione's members scream in unison... then abruptly stop as they regain their bearings. Somehow, they've returned to where the bird's nest fell—moreover, they're back at the very moment in which it falls, and Calum wastes no time to dive and save it. The sight of the nest and Calum's chance to rescue it helps everyone else realize what had just happened.]
  Osra: That... Thing... Just flung us back in time...
• Failed a Spot Check: Upon meeting Passione, Dundee is immediately captivated by Cera's snake-like lower body, admiring it as though her teammates caught her in the wild. He fails to notice the person on the other end of the body until she protests his forwardness. He graciously apologizes for his ignorance and immediately gets down to business with the adventurers.
• Foreshadowing: Qwill seems to be dealing with something serious in the back of his mind, and he's doing a terrible job of hiding it. As Passione ventures through the forest that houses Qwill's challenge, Calum spots Qwill contemplating three unmarked graves before moving on with his challengers. Later, a few perception checks reveal that, despite his assurance that he's fine, Qwill is clearly lying. All throughout the challenge thereafter, Qwill continues to be unsubtle about his troubles, but only Ash is willing to press him on it. Exactly what Qwill is dealing with won't be elaborated until the next episode.
• Pesky Pigeons: For much of the episode, Osra is cursed to attract pigeons who use her as a perch. The curse lasts for a single day, and throughout the first half of Qwill's challenge. When the team sets up camp and settles down for the night, Osra wakes up the next morning to find that her pigeons have finally left her. However, they didn't venture very far; they are just outside of her tent, looking very confused about where they ended up.
• Unfortunate Names: The components of Asole Dusbarg's name are phonetically similar to "Asshole Douchebag," a deliberate choice by his conceiver to reflect his temperament. Jet picked up on this unfortunate resemblance and used it to insult Asole before a tournament that their teams participated in, a moment discussed in the recap segment. The same segment also shows that, after the tournament, Jet took Asole aside and apologized to him for this insult.
  [At night, Asole is preparing to leave. Jet appears and gestures for him.]
  Jet: Hey, Asole... I'm sorry I called you an asshole.
  [Asole silently turns to face Jet. After considering the apology for a moment, he turns back around.]
  Asole: I'm sorry for being one...
  [A stunned, blushing Jet silently stares back at Asole.]

---