SUMMARY
The kids are wandering once more, through the Vale of Mists, in search of a way home. Dungeonmaster appears and tells them about a heartless dragon. “but when the Dragons Heart is in the right place, it may show you the way home.”
They go forward as the mist gets thicker, and fall into a Valley, full of glittering gems, that are being mined by exhausted slaves. There is a stone statue of a dragon, two huge stone Golems, and Orcs!
Nearby, a gnome falls and is harassed by an Orc, but the kids rush in to help and defeat the Orc. The Gnome tells them that no gnome may leave the Valley and live. Only the spellbinder Lukkion can break the spell. Venger imprisoned him in the Swamp of Sorrow, for not revealing the secret of the Dragon’s Heart. The kids promise to find Lukkion and return to help. But Venger soon learns what has happened, and sends Shadow Demon to follow them, thinking that Lukkion may tell them the secret he wishes to know.
As they approach the Swamp, Dungeonmaster appears to the kids, and tells that that the Spellbinder is in the saddest prison of all, the prison without walls.
Eric, grouchy as usual, gets caught but some mushrooms with tentacles, and as the others rush to help, they are caught too. A big muck monster come to help. It saves the kids, but then turns on them. The energy from Hank’s arrow makes it bigger and more ferocious. The kids scatter but it goes after Eric and envelopes the Shield, trapping him for a short time. It’s finally driven off by some weedkiller from the Hat.
Dungeonmaster shows up once again, and tells them they will know Lukkion by what he says without speaking and tells the to hurry.
The kids continue searching the Swamp, and come to a rundown old house. Eric decides to rest, but the house is haunted by zombies who attack the kids. The muck monster reappears and knocks down the house. He turns on the kids again. Hank figures out that the muck monster is Lukkion, as his actions speak without words – he’s saved them twice. But trapped in that form, he can’t say any magic words or do any spells. He’s stuck in a prison without walls.
The monster shows them his store of magic equipment. They also find a gem that beats, like a heart – the Heart of the Dragon. Lukkion wants Presto to change him back, and the magician almost backs out, but Hank persuades him to try. It works and Lukkion appears. He says the way home lies in the Heart of the Dragon, and he’ll show them once the other gnomes are free. He transports the kids off, but Shadow Demon has been eavesdropping, and goes off to tell Venger.
Lukkion and the kids arrive back in Gnome Valley, and set about freeing the Gnomes from the Orcs, and they manage it quite simply.
Four suns are about to converge – the Heart is place in the Dragon Statue, and light glows arouses the valley. A map of the whole universe appears, with each point of light as a gateway to another world.
They have no chance to use the gateways as Venger appears. He uses magic on the two Stone Golems and they start attacking the Gnome village. Lukkion battles Venger as the kids take on the golems. It takes some crafty magic from Presto, who magics up ball bearings and a canon. One statue slips and crashes to the ground, and Bobby uses the cannon as a missile to destroy the other.
Lukkion manages to banish Venger, but part of the walls was destroyed – the part with the gemstone that led home! Lukkion apologises, but there is nothing he can do except give them his thanks.
Dejected, the kids leave, with a few words of consolation from Dungeonmaster.
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INTERESTING INFORMATION
Scatter Count - 1
Presto Hat produces –
Hawaiian style outfit for an Orc, a large packet of weedkiller, a
cannon, lots and lots of ball bearings (instead of a cannon ball)
Goodies – Lukkion
Baddies –
Walk-ons – one harassed Gnome
Monsters – Lukkion/Shambling Mound, two Stone Golems
Groovy Objects – Mystic Gems from the Valley, the Dragon Statue, the Heart of the Dragon
Named Places – Vale of Mist, the Gnomes Valley, Swamp of Sorrow
Starwars References –
Other References – “The Blob”.
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NB - The storyboards have the spelling "Lukyan" for the Gnome Wizard. I'm not going to go through and change the refs, but just note it here :) (Thanks Kimmy!)
There are issues with food again – “Rockburgers”
Here Orcs seem to imply Venger! And there only seem to be 4 orcs – (three soldiers plus a captain) to keep the whole Valley in check.
“Mystic gems” – why are they being mined for Venger? What does he need them for?
In the gnomes’ valley there is the Dragon Statue, and two Stone Golems (that look very like the one from BatB, but they are stone, not metal).
Knock on effect in the first fight with the Orc - Bobby helps the gnome, Hank helps Bobby, Diana helps Hank, Eric helps Diana, and Presto helps Eric.
“Send that Orc on a trip” (Hawaiian style). Presto.
The Swamp of Sorrow is “to the south, beyond the forest”.
How long had Lukkion been trapped?
Venger is still in *that* castle.
Dm agrees with Eric twice in one day.
“Dungeon without floors!” Where does Dungeonmaster hang out?
“It’s oozing all over me, like, like the blob!” Eric. As in “The Blob” (1959). Does that mean Eric likes b/w horror films?
Presto gets weedkiller, and thinks it won’t work. But fortunately for Eric, it does.
Sheila was holding Hank’s Bow for him- aww.
“Crossing of the 4 suns, tomorrow is the only time Lukkion can help you.” Again, a very specific time-frame; as a multiple solar transit can’t happen very often! What are the chances…
Dungeonmaster can walk on water.
The Zombies are not stopped by Hank’s arrows.
Zombies want their house, and their bed, and seem to just want to drive the intruders out rather than do anything else to them.
“Your not gonna trust a mound of killer crabgrass are you? Out voted again!” Eric.
Presto just waves the wand over the heart of the dragon to change Lukkion back – no words were needed anyway!
Uni teleports again – when one of the Golems captures her, she teleports out of harms way, back into Bobby’s arms. So she must be getting better at controlling it.
Presto gets a cannon but no cannon balls, then some ball bearings.
“With each brave deed you grow more worthy, you will be rewarded in time.” Dungeonmaster’s end quote.
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ALTERNATIVES
There were lots of opportunities for something to go wrong – the Muck Monster, the Zombies, the Golems.
What if Lukkion was permanently changed by the spell, or Presto did it wrong and Lukkion had turned evil?
Or what if the backlash of magic had caught one or more of the kids as well as Venger?
What does Venger want with all those gemstones anyway? And how might he have used the ones that had been mined already?
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FANWORKS
Lukion Wallpaper by Wolfman
Vale of Mists (photomanip) by Sealgirl
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Previous Episode : Beauty and the Bogbeast
Next Episode : Servant of Evil
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