Episode Summarization

Rain falls as we watch our six heroes journey towards the home of the allmighty sage, Wort. Because they're running out of time, they decide to cut through the legendary tunnel of the kingdom of stone. Being part of the kingdom of stone, there're more than a few tricks the dwarves who built it put in to keep out unwanted trespassers. In the meantime, the evil Grey Witch (Karla) decides to show up in Wort's study and tell him of how she plans to mess around with the six travelers.

Within the Great Tunnel lies a dragon, fast asleep. Karla uses her magical power to awaken the dragon, who gets mad and attacks the six. The travelers manage to escape the booby traps and dragon within the cage without injury, but their journey has only begun..

In the temple of Marfa, Ghim (a dwarf), leaves to begin his journey. His chosen quest is to find the daughter of the priestess Neese. On his journey, he meets with an old friend, the sorcerer Slayn. The sorcerer, reluctant to leave, eventually agrees to accompany Ghim.

Meanwhile, in another village, a young boy named Parn reunites with his childhood friend, Etoh. Now a priest of Falis, Etoh has acquired certain healing skills in his apprenticeship. Together, Parn and Etoh set out to stop a group of nasty goblins from attacking the local village. While on their way they meet an elf girl who warns them that the goblins are attacking the village as they speak. Etoh and Parn rush back to the village. There, with the help of Slayn and Ghim they defeat the goblins.

A short while later Parn goes back to his house, puts on his father's armor and symbolically sets his home on fire. He has now begun his quest to be a knight. Etoh decides to accompany him, and Slayn and Ghim follow suit. The elf girl from the forest decides to tag along for lack of anything else to do, and the heroes set off on their quest.

Slightly to the south of the island of Lodoss lies another island, Marmo. This island is ruled by the evil Emperor Beld [cue the spooky music]. Beld meets with his most trusted advisors, Wagnard, the evil wizard, and Ashram, the black knight. Beld has been preparing for this, and decides that the time has come to attack Lodoss and take over all the kingdoms of which it is composed. Magically, Karla appears and offers her assistance in Beld's mission.

Parn, in the meanwhile, is trying to bone up on his fighting skills. He decides that pairing up with the dwarf is a good idea.. but he manages to get thoroughly beaten. As he walks around thoughtfully, he encounters the elf, Deedlit. While talking they're cut off by Marmo forces, who are running away from Alanian knights (Alania being the kingdom the five are passing thru). A dark elf appears, and Deedlit takes charge of defeating the dark one as Parn deals with the rest. The Marmo fleet retreats, and Parn and his companions are mistaken for being Marmo and are thrown into prison by the Alanians. There, the five meet a sarcastic thief named Woodchuck. The misunderstanding is soon cleared up, and everyone is released.. except Woodchuck.

Ashram, in the meantime, is worried that Parn's party may have divulged information about the Marmo spies. In order to keep that knowledge from ever getting further, Ashram lays siege to the fortress Myce, where Parn and his group are. The fortress (with the help of Karla) is quickly defeated. Yet Parn and his friends (plus a certain thief by the name of Wood) escape. Parn gapes in horror at the once standing fortress, and looks up to see Ashram watching with cold eyes. Seeing this, Parn begins feeling a hatred totally new to him, and the battle for Lodoss has begun.

After escaping the destruction of the fortress of Myce, Parn and his group head to the capital of Alan to warn of the Marmo siege. However, they are refused entrance. Parn decides his only chance is to go to Vallis.. thru the Forest of No Return, to save time. And why is it called the Forest of No Return? COZ NO ONE EVER COMES BACK! Ahem.. anyway.. since the forest was a dwelling place for elves, Deedlit navigates them thru it easily. Except for the facts that Ghim and Wood almost get themselves killed, everything goes fairly well. However, since Ghim put the group in the most harm, he feels obligated to tell them about his quest. He tells them how he is searching for a young woman by the name of Leylia (you know, daughter of Neese and all..).

Meanwhile, in Marmo Beld is waiting for the most opportune time to move his main forces. Karla offers to intercept a messenger heading from Vallis to Alania.. who just happens to be Princess Fiana, heir apparent to the throne of Vallis. As the six emerge from the Forest of No Return they witness the princess' kidnapping. Parn mounts a stray horse and chases the perpetrators with Slayn following closely behind. At the overturned carriage they meet the Grey Witch, Karla. Because Karla's got the magical skills, there's no way in hell that Parn and Slayn are gonna beat her, but they try anyway. Karla decides to reward Parn for his bravery anyway, and hands over the princess before magically disappearing. Ghim, meanwhile, realizes that Karla has Leylia's face.. and that she is.. or was.. Leylia. As the find the carriage, the meet the Grey Witch Karla.

Alania, having no hope and no warning falls quickly to the Marmo forces. From a tower in the now fallen Alania, Kardis (goddess of destruction) calls to Wagnard, and the danger that threatens Lodoss increases just a bit more..

After saving Fiana, the six heroes are welcomed into Vallis as heroes. A great party is thrown in Vallis' kingdom, and Parn and Deedlit are all dolled up for the occasion. Altho Deedlit is all done up, she can't seem to capture Parn's attention, as he is busy worshipping the ground that the mercenary king Kashu walks on. But despite all the merry-making, evil is still apparent, with Karla being behind it.

Marmo forces continue to advance, and in Vallis' dungeon Karla enchants a murderer and sets him free. Just as Deedlit manages to get Parn's attention and dance with him, the murderer comes in and crashes the party. After the criminal is dealt with [cough.. killed..cough], the party breaks up a bit. Parn spars with Kashue and gets knocked around a bit, but he picks up a few pointers from the mercenary king. Karla appears again and decides that harassing the annoyed Parn is a good idea. After leaving, Parn decides that Karla must be dealt with. However, in order to learn more about his adversary he must first visit the sage, Wort.

The forces of Marmo, in the meantime, are still advancing as Ashram catches up with Beld and the main army.

The Marmo continue on their indestructible offense, taking fortress after fortress and leaving no prisoners behind them. After returning from Wort's home, Parn and his group see the destruction that has been reeked by Beld's forces. Ghim, Slayn and Etoh stay behind to help the not quite dead while Deedlit, Parn and Wood continue towards Vallis.

As night falls the armies of Marmo celebrate their success. A drunken soldier gazes at a beautiful dark elf. But, being a dark elf, she's not likely to deal with mere humans. The soldier, however, thinks otherwise. After a fight for Pirotess (the elf woman) ensues, Ashram arrives to break it up. Pirotess then looks upon the only man she feels worthy enough for her affections..

In Vallis, Parn has arrived. There he receives the shielf of a holy knight. He also learns the fate of his father, who did not die in disgrace (as popular knowledge goes), but instead sacrificed himself for King Fahn's daughter. Parn reflects on this, thinking away until evening, where he discusses his thoughts with Deedlit. The two find themselves becoming closer. At the same time Ashram and Pirotess are introduced to each other.

The Marmo forces split and ambush Kashue's forces. As they advance, the forces of Vallis set out to meet them.

Parn and Co. follow along with King Fahn's army to meet with the Marmo army. A messenger alerts them of Kashue's failing situation. Altho Kashue is in trouble, Fahn's forces continue to engage in battle with the Marmo lackeys. Fahn and Kashue eventually meet up and join forces, only to realize that they've been surrounded. As soldiers fall on both sides, Karla watches her work from a distance. As the battle begins to wane, Parn and Ashram clash swords. Since Parn is getting beaten, he's narrowly saved when Ashram is forced to leave. The battle flares up again, and soon Beld and Fahn are left to duel alone. In their final battle, two of the original six heroes prepare to end the other's life. As Fahn's Holy Sword and Beld's Demon Sword collide, Parn receives a forewarning from Wort. He must stop Karla, or even greater tragedy awaits Lodoss.

The final blows are dealt.. King Fahn has fallen. As Beld staggers away from his dead opponent victoriously, he is struck down by Karla. She wants Lodoss ruled her way, and that way it will neither be unified (as Fahn wanted) nor conquered (as Beld wanted). The Demon Sword beckons to Ashram, as he collects it from the dead king, the forces separate. Karla decides that this is the perfect time to awaken the ancient and powerful dragons of Lodoss. Parn, meanwhile, gazes on the meaningless destruction caused by the war and vows to kill the witch Karla.

The death of the two most powerful kings in and around Lodoss leaves the island in uncertainty. What happens now? However, a few have chosen a purpose that has not yet been fulfilled... to destroy Karla. From one side, Ghim and Slayn wait to confront her. From another direction Parn and his group race to Karla's domain. As they ride, they are accidentally attacked by a pair of mercenaries. After the fight dies down, we come to know that the mercenaries and the six will meet again.

Finally, Ghim decides he can challenge Karla.. alone. Karla, on the other hand, is kinda PO'd to have unwanted visitors in her dank and dreary cavity. Eventually, all the heroes unite to fight her. Karla offers Parn the power of ruling Lodoss with her in an attempt to gain his favor. Parn, being a li'l too good for this refuses. The Grey Witch doesn't like pawns that don't obey her. So, she proceeds to glare at them angrily [she looks sorta like my friend's Doberman at this point], invoking a threatening glow. With an almost overpowering flood of magical power, she attacks. Slayn quickly puts up a force field that barely keeps them safe. Ghim, however, ventures outward to make Karla's shell remember its true self. He drops a gift to Leylia, which distracts Karla long enough to free her from the circlet. Ghim manages to see Leylia return to her true self moments before he dies. Karla, now inside the circlet but without a body. She flies around (as a circlet) and possess Wood. He's not as nice a pick as Leylia, but he'll serve her purposes for now.

All the while, Marmo has gone chaotic.. since they don't have a king and all.. Meanwhile Ashram [who I was personally expecting to lead Marmo] is occupying himself with mastering the Demon Sword, while the faithful Pirotess tries to aid him in taking over Lodoss [this part doesn't make sense to me.. dude's got a kingdom waiting to be taken over (Marmo) and he's gotta go out and capture a new one o_O.. *sigh of exasperation* Men!]. The two decide to initiate their plan by stealing the Scepter of Domination.. Unfortunately, in this day and age you can't just go waltzing into a Safeway and pick up a Scepter of Domination, you have to go to Fire Mountain and get it without waking up the demon dragon Shooting Star.. or by waking it up and then killing it. Since the infamous Karla doesn't want to make Ashram's task too easy, she decides to wake up the dragon. And as we all know, dragons don't like being woken up. We also know that dragons have an affinity for frying people till they're crisper than french fries. And because of these things, Kashue leaves Vallis with his army to deal with the dragon, who's been roasting up nearby villages. Ashram, in the meanwhile decides that now is a good time to leave Marmo for the Scepter.

Parn, etc. are left behind to take care of the well-fare of everything else. They go about doing so until Deedlit is nearly kidnapped. After this li'l episode they learn that the Marmo are headed for da mountain of flame (i.e. Fire Moutain). Because Kashue is unaware of this li'l situation, Parn decides to ride out with his gang to warn the king.

Soldiers and watch-guards stand around waiting for Kashue's orders when.. Shooting Star appears and decides to crash their party (i.e. big lizard breathe big fire kill ~ many men). The dragon is driven off by a lucky shot, but returns to attack the camp.. Only this time, Marmo forces and Parn's forces are already in the dragon's lair fighting for the Scepter of Domination. And if you're a dragon, you dun live for thousands of years only to have a bunch of squirrely humans poking a bout your cave lookin' for treasures in your horde. Especially when you can pick out exactly who has taken your Scepter (Ashram). Ashram, being as brave.. or as stupid.. or just as pigheaded as he is, takes on Shooting Star only with the Scepter (he thinks he'll win coz it's the Scepter of Domination, see?). Course, he prolly would have if it weren't for the fact that one of Wagnard's li'l lackies had to jump in and screw it up. So Ashram drops the Scepter to save Pirotess from falling off a cliff (we all know that they're tons of cliffs in dragon's caves, right?). As Wagnard's lacky makes off with the Scepter, Orson "shoots" at the dragon with an enchanted lance. Soon, two other lances strike the dragon, and Shooting Star dies. But not without spewing fire of course! And he conveniently aims it at Ashram. Does Ashram fry? NO! Then we wouldn't have another tape! Pirotess shields Ashram with all her strength. She ends up dying in the process, but not alone. Ashram stays and holds her while she perishes. A few seconds later, the two of them disappear in an avalanche of rocks and boulders as the cave collapses.

It seems like everything'd go back to normal, what with everyone back safely, a dead dragon and what was seemingly their main opposition gone. Meanwhile, we see Shiris looking pathetically hopeless as she tags along with Parn.. but of course, it's coz she's in love with him.. Parn has [finally] managed to pick up on the fact that Deedlit likes him, and is busy doing the same thing (liking Deedlit, not himself o_O). In other areas around Lodoss, things begin to revive. Ashram is alive, and pissed. He sets out to majorly hurt Wagnard for causing his love's death. While he's on his way to Marmo, Parn, Deedlit, and the two missionaries journey to distant kingdoms doing singing telegrams for King Kashue (not really.. they're just delivering scrolls and stuff).

Of course, this is a prime time for Wagnard to go after the high elf (who he needs to resurrect Kardis). And coincidentally, the high elf is Deedlit! And it's not a fair fight either, coz Wagnard's got the Scepter of Domination. So, he kidnaps her. Parn barely gets by with his life, but he's definitely pissed off, and he swears to get Deedlit back. Parn and his partners make their way to Marmo in chase of the wizard, with Parn now wielding the Holy Sword.

Wagnard is preparing for Kardis' resurrection by screaming chants and lighting lamps and whatnot. Deedlit, meanwhile is on a table-type-podium thingy, but in her official "ready for sucking the life outta" outfit (i.e. it's skimpier!). Wagnard begins to sink deep into Marmo on a li'l floating island of his very own. Meanwhile, forces from Lodoss begin to close in on Marmo. Parn and his group infiltrate Marmo's castle first. A short distance away, atop a stone mountain, Ashram strikes down the freaky creatures of Marmo with the Demon Sword, which he has finally managed to control.

Unfortunately, soon after Parn and his group enter the castle, Marmo's ancient dragon Narse appears to defend its island from outsiders. Just when things are lookin' bad for the Lodoss forces, the golden dragon Mycen arrives, and the two dragons begin to duke it out. But let's not forget about Wagnard.. the twisty evil guy is still carrying on with his resurrection ceremony despite all the chaos surrounding him.. until Ashram interrupts him. Ashram isn't much concerned with Deedlit, but he is set on killing Wagnard to get his revenge for Pirotess' death.

Parn goes off alone to find Deedlit and arrives to see Ashram and Wagnard duking it out. While they fight, battles across Marmo's countryside are going on, and the battle in the sky thunders quietly in the background. Parn manages to give himself away and ends up being attacked by the evil wizard. While Wagnard is busy beating Parn into a lovely little ball of pulpy flesh, Ashram strikes him down. Parn struggles towards Deedlit (who's pretty close to dying right now)... only to be blocked by Ashram [oh the humanity!]. Parn isn't really into fighting at the moment, and tries to appeal to Ashram's more human side by talking about how Marmo will be destroyed if Kardis is resurrected. Which would be just fine if it weren't for one teeny detail.. Ashram hasn't got a human side. He proceeds to almost kick the crap out of Parn when Wagnard comes back. Ashram takes the big, nasty looking Demon Sword and shoves it into the wizard's chest, but Wagnard clenches onto Ashram's throat... and... they both die.

Parn wields the Demon sword, and with both the swords of light and darkness, he saves Deedlit. The living undead that have been messing around with Lodoss' forces begin to crumble, and Narse, the dragon of Marmo, takes a nasty plunge into the sea where it dies. Parn is revered as a hero, but he gives up the honor and prestige of being a Holy Knight and journeys to seek his own adventures. Does he go alone tho? Of course not.. that'd be depressing.. he takes leave with the high elf to accompany him on his trek.

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