The Adventure Zone: Graduation Ep. 16 “Give Me a Hand”

Althea saved Sir Fitzroy’s life, but at what cost? He now has a temporary ward on him in the form of a permanent brand… but if they can’t break the curse in the next six hours, it won’t matter anyway. “Give Me a Hand” picks up in the middle of a disastrous school assignment, but who hasn’t had a group project fall completely apart?

As I expected, Sir Fitzroy is upset about his brand, even asking if there wasn’t some sort of temporary tattoo Althea could have used instead. She’s not amused because now he’s wasting time and they only have six hours to break the curse and save his life.

Remember how the firbolg totally flipped the tent last time? Well, the centaurs are pissed, and the Thundermen have to struggle through a brief battle with the centaurs and Calhain before they’re able to get any of the answers they’re after.

It turns out that Calhain is the one who stole the second apple and planted it in the Thundermen’s tent and the one who cursed Sir Fitzroy. Is anyone surprised by this? I’m not, but it’s nice to be right about something like this when I usually never know what’s going on. He wanted to cause war between the two groups of centaurs, because why wouldn’t he?

I was actually surprised when Sir Fitzroy literally ripped Calhain’s injured, curse-wielding hand off his wrist and threw it into the fire. After Sir Fitzroy talked to Chaos in the last episode, I really thought he was going to be making strides to be a better person and not become evil (as in D&D traditional evil alignment, not Evil according to the Oversight Guild). Surprised and delighted, honestly, but we’ll see where we’re going with this.

I was also surprised and delighted when Sir Fitzroy bit into the second apple, effectively ruining it for the sacrifice, but not quite as surprised as I was when he used a Mending spell to put the two pieces back together into a whole apple. It was a brilliant move, and I’m honestly impressed with it.

Since Sir Fitzroy destroyed (as far as the centaurs know) the second apple, the centaurs had to decide what to do about their two tribes… and they decide to work together, which means they only need the one apple to sacrifice to the Spirit of the Scarlet Woods. And, honestly, this probably means the Spirit will be happier since it got what it thinks is the only apple in existence this year.

(And I do love a good happy ending.)

As for Calhain? He’s dead in a very spooky way, but we still don’t know who hired him to start the war.

I’m afraid of what’s to come after “Give Me A Hand,” but I also can’t wait.

Author: Kate

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