Previously on Battle for Beyond, our two teams of heroes met by happenstance of overbooked lodging, before relaxing together in a restorative spa. There, Ekon stirred a retired champion — Abaddon, The Architect — to rejoin the competition. Informed that they would further be fighting as a team of six, the group entered the ring to find that they would be facing none other than The Architect. His body engulfed by swirling, face-filled sand, Abaddon weathered countless assaults before standing poised to crush Lenore and Ekon within his hulking grasp…

Battle for Beyond episode 4 recap

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

In the fourth episode of Battle for Beyond, the ensuing battle against The Architect comes to a disappointing conclusion. The non-native members of Treez Nutz learn that they can’t leave Polakott until they win the competition. Leila is confronted by another employee and accused of binding him to the realm, for which he calls her evil. Sestia and Nikhil resolve to dismantle the competition from the inside, and free everyone who is trapped here. Nikhil’s sister, Malini, recounts for him the legend of how Polakott came to be, with his family marked as the chosen people.

Hand in the sand

Still engaged in combat from the previous episode, Lenore and Ekon find themselves standing in the palm of a massive hand emerging from the sand beneath their feet. Both successfully evade the crushing grasp, and are pushed 15 feet away. Murdina notices Nikhil hovering above the head of The Architect, and casts gust of wind to move him even higher, out of harm’s way.

Sestia calls a lightning bolt with her active call lightning, charring Abaddon, and she also hits with another radiant bolt from her Starry Form. Abaddon partially shields the bolt with another lifted piece of battlefield rubble, and uses his reaction to fling the temporary shield at Ekon and Leila. Ekon nimbly dodges, but Leila takes the full brunt of the impact. She uses hellish rebuke.

Ekon casts Adaine’s furious fist, sprinting toward Abaddon in the process, but swinging wide and missing. Lenore asks if Ekon meant to do that, and then casts word of radiance. She swings once more with her active spiritual weapon, but misses. Leila casts command, calling for Abaddon to “Yield!” Abaddon does not yield.

Nikhil attacks twice with his lance, using Divine Smite on both hits. He flies 15 feet straight upward again, dodging an opportunity attack. Abaddon swings a massive fist at Ekon and Murdina, knocking Ekon unconscious, before his previously detached fist soars upward and swipes at Nikhil, missing due to Nikhil’s shield of faith. Murdina scoops up Ekon in her arms, tanking a heavy blow as The Architect swings at her retreating form, and deposits Ekon next to Lenore. As Murdina recovers slightly using her Second Wind and runs back toward Abaddon, Leila wonders out loud whether Murdina can do anything water-related against the sandy form of The Architect.

Sestia takes Leila’s cue and casts tidal wave, using her Cosmic Omen of Woe to reduce Abaddon’s saving throw. Murdina is caught in the wave and falls prone. Abaddon is unaffected in his immense sandy form, and Sestia notices that even the water appears not to have had a great impact. She hits with another radiant bolt. Lenore approaches Ekon with concern, casting cure wounds and healing him significantly. Lenore misses Abaddon — “Eyebrow Daddy,” she calls him — with her spiritual weapon.

Leila casts dissonant whispers, and everybody around her hears the voices emanating from Leila this time, though her lips are unmoving: “You try, you try, you try… Year after year, cycle after cycle, you fail. And you become addicted to that. You love the thrill of the chase. You’re empty inside.” Abaddon is strongly affected, but as the whispers continue, Leila realizes the same words also apply to her, and is filled with her own regret. The Architect stumbles backward, and Murdina swipes at him from the ground, connecting with her claymore despite the disadvantage from being prone.

Nikhil shoots two beams of eldritch blast, hitting with one. Abaddon partially deflects the blow with a piece of rubble and heaves it at Nikhil, who nimbly dodges out of the way. Nikhil notices that the fight seems to have left Abaddon, who turns to the Master of Ceremonies and asks what the point of this all is. “Let them win,” Abaddon cries, before Ekon sits up and attempts to stir Abaddon back into a fighting spirit. “Instead of sitting there like a sad sack of sand,” Ekon prods, “get up and fight.”

Ekon asserts that whenever Abaddon returns to where he came from, he will wonder what would have happened if he had actually tried. “What do you mean, ‘when you return back to where you came from’?” Abaddon asks. “You cannot leave unless you win.” The group is shocked; Abaddon appears to be telling the truth. Leila’s eyes go white and the announcement of Abaddon’s withdrawal emits from her mouth: “Victory goes to Treez Nutz!”

A hollow victory

Leila is excited for their win, but the non-locals on the team appear unsettled. Sestia asks how long Abaddon has been here. He shrugs: “You know, I stopped counting.” Sestia turns around and walks away, muttering “He could still be alive, he might still be—”

Nikhil is nonchalant about the group’s distress. He calmly explains, “If you’re stuck here forever, y’know … You can find people, and you can get married and have families.” He says that generations can be stuck here. “It is what it is,” he says. Murdina has responsibilities to go back to, which seems to annoy Nikhil. He argues that to think the multiverse will make an exception for them is hubris.

Leila asks Ekon what he wants to change. He tells the group that he comes from a tribe of warriors where violence and strength equal power. He recognized that his age meant that a blade might soon end him, but he wasn’t ready to die, so he set aside his barbaric ways and learned wizardry. This was the single greatest mistake of his life.  When he returned to the tribe, he was banished for being a coward. Abaddon says he believes in Ekon’s strength, and offers him a home while in Polakott.

Liora the goblin appears and ushers the group off the battlefield, scolding them for the depressing atmosphere they brought to the battle, and telling Leila that the Master of Ceremonies won’t be happy. Murdina asks Liora if it’s possible to win as a group, to which Liora responds, “At the end, only one of you will win.” Liora seems surprised that the group didn’t turn on each other in this last match, eliminating the weaker links. She also wonders why the group isn’t at the celebratory dinner for having made it into the final bracket. Nikhil has a pocket full of itineraries that he neglected to hand out to the others. Liora tries not to cry, asserting that “Strong women don’t cry. They push down their tears and they turn it into fire.”

Lenore wonders whether she couldn’t stay and be helpful to people here, especially since many are being used against their will by somebody else. She asks Leila about the Master of Ceremonies. Leila claims she doesn’t know anything, and that she doesn’t actually remember much beyond this current cycle, before cheerfully parroting, “All I know is that I am here to serve!”

Lenore asks Nikhil about himself. He didn’t appear to be paying attention. Lenore wonders whether he hit his head, since his memory seems to be so poor, but both he and Murdina reckon that it’s just his personality. He says he doesn’t think too hard about who or what is in charge of the RajMedan. The most direct way for him to get answers is simply to win, and then come back and win again. Lenore questions why he wouldn’t leave the cycle, to which Nikhil responds, “Where would I go?” He leaves to look for Sestia.

Sestia is crying in a corner, calling out the name “Tovayu,” which attracts attention from a smokey-eyed half-elf merchant named Bailey. He wraps Sestia in a jacket emblazoned with the words “Wizard Daddy” and an image of Ekon’s face. Nikhil arrives, and it appears that he and Bailey have history, too. Nikhil scalded Bailey’s hand in an experimental prank. While Nikhil is struggling to find the right words to comfort Sestia, she embraces him in a hug, to his confusion. He is not used to this type of situation.

Nikhil has a rare moment of insight, asking Sestia whether she didn’t come here to fix someone else’s mistake. Sestia tells Nikhil that she let her friend come here alone, and wants to undo that decision, but is now trying to envision a scenario that saves everybody in Polakott. She is also worried about fighting the rest of her teammates, because they’re nice. This gets Nikhil heated, shouting that, “Not everybody who comes here has the most heroic impulse. And even if they do, they’re looking for an easy way out!” He doesn’t have patience for outworlders who can’t fix their problems the hard way. He thinks that it would be funny for him to keep winning, shutting down the contest from the inside. Sestia agrees, entreating Nikhil, “Let’s break it. Let’s just ******* break it.”

While the rest of the team relaxes in the spa, Leila asks Lenore what she plans to do when she gets out. Lenore wonders if what she did in her past made her who she is, and thinks that if she changed it, so much else would change in the universe. As Kyshaar arrives to fetch them for dinner, Ekon posits that one member of their group winning might change all of their fates, since the winner would retroactively never have been part of their team. Sestia and Nikhil arrive, and Leila asks whether Sestia has been crying. Nikhil claims that he was the one crying, and though Leila doesn’t believe him, she is impressed that he seems to care about someone other than himself.

Kyshaar leads them to the dining hall, a beautiful circular stone building full of geometric metal tables. A fire genasi named Filendaar stands cooking with rapid speed in the center of the room, preparing a colossal rack of ribs from some unknown beast. Ekon says that where he is from, there is a saying in his native tongue about ribs of this size: “Yabada badu!” When Leila asks Filendaar for food, he looks to the rest of the group and coldly responds, “I don’t serve her, and I don’t serve anyone with her.” They roll initiative.

Food fight!

The fire on Filendaar’s body intensifies, and he angrily pummels Leila with his flaming fists and head, growling to her, “You could at least give me peace in my own domain!” Leila appears confused, and uses hellish rebuke. Nikhil stands there eating a barbecue rib, and greets Filendaar as a friend. Seeing the fury with which Filendaar is attacking Leila, Sestia and Nikhil wonder whether this isn’t a lover’s spat. Leila shouts to them both, “I don’t know how to sex!”

Lenore tries casting fast friends on Filendaar. He tells Lenore that her head is as empty as her smile. Sestia asks Filendaar what the problem is — maybe she can help him. Filendaar says that Leila is the wench who bound him here. Sestia surreptitiously tries to win Filendaar over to her plan to destroy the competition from within.

(Jasmine is upset with Aabria for Sestia having used this tactic, because this was going to be a really cool fight.)

A vicious cycle

Filendaar still questions why they are all with Leila, stating, “I do not know her relation to the creators of this place, but this is a being of pure evil.” Leila stammers that she only folds towels. Filendaar realizes that she isn’t lying, but says this is still some cruel trick, telling Nikhil, “You don’t know who she is.”

Leila asks who she is — she truly doesn’t remember much from before this cycle. She only remembers Olin, and that she is here to serve. Nikhil asks from which deity Leila gets her abilities. “The Creator. The god of the games,” she says. Leila asks Filendaar who he is, and why he’s in Polakott. He leads the group downstairs, to a room called the Vestibule of Valor, where they find mementos of past champions. Filendaar points out various elaborate statues, the last of which is a spitting image of Filendaar himself.

Ekon realizes that Filendaar must have once won the competition, but ended up back in Polakott somehow. “That is what I asked for,” explains Filendaar bitterly, “To feed the hungry. That’s what you don’t get … There’s nothing you can ask for that they won’t twist somehow.” Filendaar becomes enraged, shouting that Leila was in the commentator’s box that time, that he slew her, and he won. Leila says that whatever he once knew her as, she’s a different person now. Filendaar calls her a fool and a puppet.

Ekon realizes that the creators of this place must be gaining something from this never-ending cycle. Lenore reminds them that this place runs on applause. Filendaar asks what Sestia came here for, and she tells them of Tovayu, a human man who came here to ask for more time for them together. Filendaar knew him, telling Sestia, “He won the competition after me … He asked to live forever. What’s more immortal than a legend?” Sestia collapses.

Ekon wants to understand the underlying magic of Polakott, and casts detect magic. Sestia offers guidance and her Cosmic Omen of Weal, and Nikhil helps. Ekon is asked to roll an Arcana check, and rolls a total of 32. Ekon sees that while there is a physical component to this realm, much of the coliseum is comprised of illusion and transmutation magic. The group resolves to figure out a way to stop the cycle of the RajMedan.

As the group retreats to their quarters, Nikhil’s sister Malini pulls him aside. She’s worried that he’s getting too attached, but he says he can take care of himself, before asking if she can remind him of the legends that their parents told. Malini tells him the stories she remembers being passed down by their family.

Sahengaria and her chosen people

Sahengaria was a goddess of ambition, of victory over tyranny, of knowledge … And she shined her light on Polakott, and it gave way to one of the greatest kingdoms of mortals. Where previously we were wanderers and lost, whatever plane we were a part of, we had purpose. And we had knowledge. We banded together and bent the land to our will; put down roots; tamed the wild animals, and made them carry out our will. And her light pushed away the darkness of ignorance, of complacency, of just scratching by … Because she implanted in us this light, our people wanted to know more. Why is it just enough to be fed? Why not learn everything, the secrets of the universe, the meaning of life? Understand the nature of mortality, the ethics of morals?

We gave rise to the greatest schools and the greatest wisemen of thoughts who wanted to unravel these secrets. And they studied and pursued this knowledge with a hunger that made them question everything, including she who had given them everything. And they wondered, "If there’s Sahengaria, what other gods and goddesses are there? Why do we think she’s always right? Why not peel back this curtain and look beyond it?"

We grew interested in other deities, in other philosophies, and a great pantheon came to Polakott to hold counsel with our ancestors. To speak to them, wiseman to wiseman. We erected temples, we gained new knowledge, and Sahengaria felt that her chosen people no longer favored her the way they once had. She conspired with the lord of fate, Nassavani, and the goddess of rebirth, resurrection, and purification, Aagshni. These three hatched a plan to steal away Polakott and its chosen people, away from all of these other deities, and keep it for themselves, in a special little pocket. So they ripped it out of the earth, and brought us here.

— Malini

Nikhil seems to really be paying attention, much to Malini’s surprise.

Nikhil questions whether being chosen by Sahengaria is necessarily a good thing. Malini urges him to keep his head in the game. Nikhil replies, “I might be doing that for the first time.” Nikhil asks Malini what she thinks about all of this. She wants Nikhil to win, so that he can ask why their people were ripped away from the chosen land that they ruled over and hidden away in a pocket dimension. Nikhil says that part one of the plan was Malini remembering the stories. Part two relies on him. Malini clasps his forearm, calling to him, “We live forever…” Nikhil finishes the phrase, “...as legends.”

As Nikhil retreats back to the dormitory, Leila notices a chest at the foot of the bed that was not there previously. She opens it to find a pair of golden hands holding aloft an amethyst in the middle: The crown of the Master of Ceremonies…

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.

Check out the Battle for Beyond Digital Dice Sets

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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.