Previously on Battle for Beyond, six heroes came together in two teams of three to compete in a grand competition in the realm of Polakott. The grand prize? The opportunity to change one moment from their past. If you missed episode 3, here's a recap of the show!

Battle for Beyond episode 3 recap

In the third episode of Battle for Beyond, both teams of heroes meet as circumstance places them all in a single room. They take a moment of respite in a restorative spa, engaging in light leisure activity, before entering the arena once more as one team. There, they encounter someone they’ve met before: a champion, spurred out of retirement by passionate words from Ekon.

Disclaimer: Battle for Beyond contains mature themes and may not be suitable for all audiences.

And then there were six

After a well-fought battle, Lenore, Leila, and Ekon are ushered by Kyshaar, a half-orc porter, to their room. There they find Sestia, Murdina, and Nikhil, freshly showered and cuddled up in bed together with mugs of tea. Kyshaar explains that the room was double-booked and apologizes, as this is actually her fault.

Kyshaar recognizes Leila as a fellow employee, and asks Sestia how to say in Common “snitches get stitches.” Ekon says he’d just like to sleep for a bit. His arms are bandaged from the heavy wounds he sustained in battle. Nikhil occasionally re-warms their tea using hellish rebuke but requires that Sestia slap him for the spell to work.

Murdina asks whether she can get a small in-room pool. Kyshaar mentions that the six combatants have appointments at a spa that has healing and restorative properties, but vows to bring Murdina a pool regardless. As Kyshaar leaves, a female goblin in an emerald tunic and billowy white pants enters, remarking on how many people are in the room. This is Kyshaar’s boss, Liora. The group insists that the packed room was their idea.

Liora is overwhelmed by everything going wrong: double-booked rooms and spa treatments, as well as being short-staffed ever since Leila entered the competition. Nikhil neither recognizes Leila nor that she is a fellow employee. Sestia offers Liora some calming tea to ease the stress. Liora explains that they will all still be fighting on a team, but that inter-team conflict can be good for ratings.

Kyshaar returns with a copper kettle for more efficient tea-making, to Sestia’s delight. Nikhil says the joke’s on her, he likes getting slapped! He asks for Leila’s name again, before welcoming her to Polakott. Leila reminds him that she works here.

Liora is again getting agitated by the group’s buffoonery. She “doesn’t have enough ladles” for their nonsense. She reminds them to keep their hands off the spa girls as she prepares to send them off with Kyshaar to recover. Nikhil wants the group to know that he’s okay with spa men, too.

Treat yo’ self!

As Kyshaar leads the group to the restorative pools, they descend a spiral staircase that surrounds a grove housing the blue-leaved tree that Sestia, Murdina, and Nikhil previously faced. The smells of saltwater and lavender reach their noses. Leila is very excited as she’s never been allowed in the spa before. They approach a mud pool and hot tub, surrounded by beautiful bioluminescent fungi. Nikhil immediately does a cannonball.

Lounging in the hottest part of the pool is a muscular, battle-scarred human male with large eyebrows. Ekon shows off his own scars. The man’s competition days are behind him, he explains. Ekon tells him that “competition is life,” and doesn’t think he will ever believe it to be over for himself. “We are all built with a purpose. And I feel like when your purpose is to fight, you will fight. If a bard was to lose his voice, he will still write songs. If a warrior is to lose his weapon, he will still fight. He’ll just find a new battlefield.”

Ekon is the first person in a long time to garner this man’s respect. Nikhil barges in on the conversation simply to ask whether the man is interested in a towel room tryst. (Nikhil rolls a 29 on Persuasion, with Sestia’s guidance.)

Lenore and Leila watch this in shock. Sestia is ecstatic. As Nikhil retreats to the towel room, everyone hears the sounds of a tiefling being thrown around. As Leila and Ekon dance around the subject of what happened in the towel room, Lenore thinks they should be open about sexual matters. After all, as a cleric of the Life Domain, sex is sort of in her wheelhouse. Sestia fetches Murdina from the hot tub, where she has been submerged this entire time. She notices that Murdina might have been crying while below the water’s surface.

As the group leaves the spa and begins to feast, the blue-leaved tree comes to life and wishes them good luck. Nikhil has some words for “the bee tree,” which speaks up to correct him: “Hornets.” “Oh, we’re just making up bugs, now,” Nikhil retorts. Leila greets the tree as a friend, and cheerfully tells it, “You’ll get ‘em next year!” The tree hints that the group’s next opponent is pretty tough, but doesn’t want to give anything away for fear of getting in trouble. Nikhil threatens to turn it into flat-pack furniture if it doesn’t give them the details. The tree refuses to tell Nikhil, whispering instead to Leila.

Nikhil adds trees to his list of enemies, which so far only contains bees (misspelled "BEASE"). The tree asks what their team name is, because Harpy will be asking for one. While Leila workshops a few names based on the words "wish" and "friend," Nikhil suggests, “This Is a Legally Binding Verbal Contract: A Proceed of 25% of All Merch Goes to the Combatants.” The tree suggests "Treez Nutz" and Nikhil admits that the tree is growing on him.

Leila tells the group that they’ll be fighting the man from the spa. Lenore is confused: “Didn’t he say his fighting days were behind him?” Leila says that Ekon’s speech must have worked and that the terrifying champion of days past has decided to come out of retirement. The group ascends the stairs to prepare for battle.

Into the arena

The tunnel to the battlefield appears to have grown in size since the last time the characters traversed it. They step out into what is now rolling waves of coppery sand, the scent of coconuts and dates in the air. Oases dot the landscape, and ruins of clay-baked brick lie before them. Harpy’s booming voice announces that The Architect, Abaddon, has emerged from retirement for this match. Leila gives Harpy their team name, Treez Nutz. Few in the audience get the joke.

The team watches as the sand around them roils, and a throne bearing the shirtless figure of The Architect rises from beneath. Abaddon addresses Ekon, thanking him for inspiring him to fight once more, and asking, “Will we draw blades together, as brothers?”

To Ekon, this is probably the most enticing offer of his entire life. He says, “But the story began with the ones at my side. It is too late to rewind that story.” Abaddon counters that this whole contest is about rewinding story. For Ekon, a regret even greater than the one he seeks to change would be to give up the chance to fight the greatest warrior he has ever met. He also feels a responsibility to elevate Leila, and to make sure that she is at the final battle.

The architect of destruction

The sands around Abaddon and his throne begin to move once more, transforming him into a giant swirling tempest covered in faces. He picks up the throne and places it on its head like a crown.

Leila casts aid, targeting Ekon, Sestia, and Murdina. Leila senses the telltale scent of mud in the area, indicating terrain that might be difficult to navigate. She quickly tells the others before taking cover behind an outcropping of ruined brick, gaining total cover from The Architect. Nikhil flies straight upwards, pointing his golden lance at the tempest and casting eldritch blast, connecting with one beam. Abaddon uses a reaction to partially reflect the beam using a piece of ruined architecture. Nikhil casts expeditious retreat and continues flying upwards, out of reach. Abaddon grins. “My turn," he says.

The Architect throws a piece of a crumbled wall at Nikhil, who deflects it with shield but is still pushed back 15 feet. Fragments of boulder and brick rain down around the group below. Lenore wonders aloud whether the ferocity of this attack against Nikhil says anything about his performance in the towel room.

Murdina charges headlong at Abaddon, striking twice with her claymore. Sestia sticks with the strategy that worked for her in the last battle, casting call lightning while in her Starry Form. Abaddon dodges the full impact but is hit by a starry arrow Sestia manifests from her form. A new face appears in the hole left by this radiant bolt, and Sestia notices glee and excitement in the faces adorning the body of this tempest. Disarmed by this reaction to injury, she runs in the opposite direction.

Ekon mutters, “Let’s make this battle one for the ages,” and casts witch bolt at 3rd level. Abaddon once more shields himself partially from the blow with debris lifted from the battlefield, before hurling the remaining piece at Ekon, hitting squarely and knocking him back 15 feet. The impact pushes Ekon into a sinkhole, and he begins to slowly be enveloped. Lenore shouts that — this time — she’ll fight and save Ekon. She casts spiritual weapon, which resembles a great blue heron in the shape of a sickle, and carves out a small piece of the tempest, while also extending her mace to Ekon and pulling him free.

Leila hops onto the wall and casts dissonant whispers. Abaddon retreats, harried by the malevolent voices in his head: "You are nothing. Your glory days are over. You’ll never make it again." All the faces in the sand appear more melancholic than before. Murdina doesn’t expect Abaddon to leave so suddenly and fails to connect with the swipe of her claymore as he hurries away from the battle.

Nikhil taunts The Architect, calling for him to yield. Abaddon refuses, and Nikhil attacks once more with two beams from eldritch blast. Both miss. “Don’t pull your punches, Nikhil!” shouts Abaddon, before submerging into the sand in an instant. He reemerges among the grounded group, knocking Ekon, Lenore, and Murdina prone as they fail to maintain their footing.

The Architect slams his heavy fists down, narrowly missing Lenore but critically hitting Ekon, knocking him unconscious in a single blow.

Murdina, thinking Ekon is dead, seeks to avenge him, slicing through the fist of the seemingly remorseful Abaddon. Sestia moves her lightning storm overhead once more, using her Cosmic Omen of Woe to reduce Abaddon’s saving throw against the strike. Lightning explodes pieces of the giant arm still shrouding the crumpled body of Ekon. Ekon rolls a success on his first death saving throw. Lenore runs over to Ekon and casts cure wounds at 3rd level, reviving him in a fury.

Lenore’s spiritual weapon swings and strikes true again. Leila calls upon the name of the ruler of this arena, using her Channel Divinity, Order’s Demand. Abaddon unfortunately is immune to being charmed. She casts shield of faith on herself, calling for him to yield. The Architect chuckles, and calls to Nikhil, “Come at me, big boy!” Nikhil is insulted that Abaddon would be so disrespectful.

Nikhil drops into freefall like a diving peregrine falcon, and carves heavily through the tempest form with his lance, cleaving off the entirety of its injured arm. The arm scatters into the sand below, before rising up as a hand, clenching Lenore and Ekon tightly in its grasp…

Tune into Battle for Beyond

Battle for Beyond airs every Friday at 4 p.m. PST on our YouTube channel. The mini-series will air for six consecutive weeks from its premiere on Friday, November 12.

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Cameron (@CameronRPowell) is a Discord moderator for D&D Beyond. He is a real-life bard who accidentally dumped Charisma, and has played Purloque the loxodon cleric on Dice, Camera, Action!. When he’s not behind the DM’s screen, he enjoys hiking Icelandic volcanoes, knitting, and creating his hundredth unused character on D&D Beyond.