At the Mushrump, Mr. Moochick explains that the coins came from the treasure of a troll named Niblik, and their magic can only be undone by him. This may take some doing, however, as trolls are an antisocial lot and Niblik himself a particularly surly person, and he lives on the far side of the Jewel Desert to boot.
Megan's team sets off across the desert, suffering under the intense heat until Wind Whistler figures out that there's water inside the crystalline cacti around them. They encounter a jumping humanoid named Puck, who offers to be their guide, and are ambushed by a group of goblins. Megan uses a coin to scare them off with a flash of light, and for once the magic works as intended.
Megan's group eventually reaches Niblik's house, where they find him to be a greedy and unpleasant fellow who refuses to let anyone pass the drawbridge he controls without a hefty fee. The heroes get him to let them cross with the promise of getting his lost treasure back to him, but on the way across let slip that they used up most of the coins. Niblik, furious, raises the drawbridge again, leaving everyone hanging from it and over the gorge below.
This episode contains examples of:
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with the heroes dangling helplessly over a ravine after Niblik raised the drawbridge under them.
- Crystal Landscape: The Crystal Desert is filled with growths of giant purple crystals, crystalline plants, and very little else.
- Furry Confusion: When the heroes reach Niblik's house, they find a human prince already there and trying to purchase passage... and the prince's steed, a regular-sized, regularly-proportioned horse with a unicorn horn and no evident ability to speak. Nobody comments on this.
- Our Goblins Are Different: In the desert, Megan and the ponies are ambushed by a group of aggressive goblins depicted as squat, blue-skinned, long-armed and neckless humanoids, and terrified of bright lights.
