Episode 81: Hoard
Takes place January 10-13
The Team traces a string of petty thefts, and finds a warren of gnomes under the sway of a dragon, Drakul Karfang, who found one of the orange power rings that Paul inadvertently pulled from Okaara. Paul attempts to negotiate with the dragon, but she is too greedy, and they are ultimately forced to kill her. During the fight, Drakul Karfang releases a gas that causes those who can't resist it be overwhelmed by their desires. When Zatanna is affected she tries to use the Star Sapphire to make Paul love her. After the fight, Paul finally puts his foot down and tells Zatanna that they are friends, and that he will never see her in a romantic light.
The title likely refers to a dragon hoard, but perhaps also a pun on the horde of gnomes that it controlled.
- Alternate Universe: Another Paul makes an appearance. This one started out the same as Paul, but instead of meeting Alan Scott, he recharged his ring by consuming a demon. He takes a casual approach to uplifting humanity, spends a lot of time in bed with or without a variety of partners, and calls himself "Sybarite".
- Cold Iron: Gnomes are sensitive to iron. Coldness appears to be optional.
- Freak Out: Hinon is very disturbed to learn that humans were able to bind Dream of the Endless, and then she finds out that Paul knows things about the universe (from his comic experience) that he hasn't told her. Paul isn't exactly sure what was going on with the orange light in her soul after that, but it's possible that she was close to a Rage Breaking Point.
- From a Single Cell: Paul discusses resurrection with one of his Lanterns."There's this one guy called Vandal Savage, tens of thousands of years old. One time he was stabbed, impaled, surrounded by wood, covered in oil and then set on fire. When the fire went out they smashed his skeleton to bits with hammers and then buried the fragments in eleven separate graves." I grin. "That kept him down for a couple of months. If I ever find him I'm going to throw him into a sun." I lean in. "Not our sun, though. The risk's too great."
- Greed: Lantern Karfang produces an orange aura that makes the team obsessive about their desires. Paul is immune and Aqualad resists with Heroic Willpower but the others get very distracted from their mission.
- Soul Jar: Karfang's soul is bound to a large crystal, and its body is invulnerable until that crystal is destroyed. Unfortunately that means the Team can't take Karfang alive.
- Yandere: Zatanna is overwhelmed by orange light and tries to Mind Control Paul into marrying her.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Paul and Controller Hinon travel through the Honden of Avarice, which is implied to look differently for everyone who enters it.
