The Outpost – The Only Way

By: Patience Kapfer

With Garret (Jake Stormoen) running wild throughout The Outpost we have become afraid for Gwynn’s (Imogen Waterhouse) life. Garret makes his way around the sleeping guards (don’t they know they are supposed to be doing their job, which is, you know, guarding things?) and manages to sneak into Gwynn’s room without being seen. Once inside her room Garret removes his sword and prepares to kill Gwynn while she is still sleeping, but before he can his memories come rushing back to him. He remembers Gwynn telling him to come back to her and swearing that he is hers and tries to fight off the memories. He remembers Dred (Philip Brodie) telling him that the last remaining portrait of Rosamund is in her armoire and goes to see if the portrait does show her with a misshapen face. Instead of a misshapen face the portrait shows a girl who looks just like Gwynn, causing Garret to realize how very wrong he has been. Garret realizes he was brainwashed and treated Gwynn and Talon (Jessica Green) so poorly. He then decides the only way to fix what he has done is to kill himself, but as he prepares to do so Gwynn wakes up and convinces him to put the sword down.

Now that Gwynn is awake she has Garret explain himself to her more thoroughly. He tells her that at the Capital they showed him the portrait with the girl with the misshapen face and once he saw the real version he explains that it was “like a fog just poured out.” Garret insists he cannot stay at The Outpost now and wants to leave because of what he’s done. He tells Gwynn that he must go, that “it’s time that their weapon was turned against them.” Garret also explains that since he has been gone from the Capital for so long that it’s only a matter of time before The Three realize that he has failed and then they will send an army. Gwynn begs Garret to stay, saying she needs him at The Outpost even if a lot has changed since he first disappeared. Once the guards have left Gwynn’s chambers, Garret and Gwynn share a kiss, but Gwynn quickly puts a stop to it. Dejected, Garret then takes his belongings and leaves Gwynn alone in her chamber.

Now that Garret is back to normal, Gwynn needs to really focus on dealing with Lord Milus (Jarren Dalmeda) and his army. It is imperative that they are able to be prepared once The Three realize that Garret has failed them and send the Capital’s army to the Outpost. The optimum outcome would still be for Milus’ army to join Gwynn, but that is highly unlikely with Milus still controlling them. Gwynn decides that the best course of action then is a surgical strike and “kill the snake at the head.” With Milus dead, his army would then become Tobin’s (Aaron Fontaine) and therefore Gwynn’s army. The problem is that in order to get to Milus they would have to go through the exact army they are trying to use.

Garret pays Janzo (Anand Desai-Barochia) a visit in order to ask how he can find Talon to help him kill the people that brainwashed him and sent him to The Outpost to kill the people he cares about. Once Garret leaves with Janzo’s hand drawn map Janzo notices Brogan (Nikola Rakocevic) creeping around through the Nightshade clearly involved in sketchy business. Janzo then proceeds to follow (not so sneakily) Brogan across The Outpost to where he is doing business with The Mistress (Robyn Malcolm) amongst an array of plaguelings. Since Janzo is quite possibly the smartest person at The Outpost, it doesn’t take him long to realize that the Mistress is making colipsum and he plans to tell Gwynn about what she’s doing. To Janzo’s surprise the Mistress is ecstatic about telling Gwynn and says all of what she’s been doing is going to save The Outpost. The Mistress suggests that they release the plaguelings from the sewers and from Janzo’s lab, but Gwynn is quick to make note that unless she can ensure every soldier is taking colipsum it won’t do much good. The Mistress informs Gwynn that she can be sure almost every soldier has been taking colipsum and Gwynn isn’t thrilled to learn that the Mistress has been selling to the battalion that is keeping them hostage in The Outpost. Gwynn also notes that turning the entire battalion into plaguelings is a death sentence as well. However, the Mistress assures her that this way they won’t lose a single soldier if they are all plaguelings. Janzo even admits that he is close to finding a cure and should be able to find one soon.

Gwynn eventually agrees to the plan, and at night they release the plaguelings who then call their friends from the forest and set upon attacking the soldiers. Gwynn second guesses her choice to do something so destructive, but the Mistress assures her this needed to be done and in making this decision it shows she is a good queen. Even Garret agrees that this plan is ingenious. The plaguelings attack the soldiers’ camp and manage to accomplish the primary goal of attacking Milus. The next day Tobin and Gwynn go to inspect the camp. Tobin finds Milus as a plagueling and drags out his body to show the soldiers. Tobin then tells the soldiers that all of Milus’ lands and titles will pass to him and Gwynn asks the soldiers to join her and she will make sure they are looked after. With the siege broken, Garret leaves The Outpost in search of Talon.

Janzo is now tasked with finding the cure at an even faster rate than before in order to ensure that Gwynn has enough men to comprise a functioning army. While working on his cure the Mistress pays him a visit to demand an apology for not trusting her and underestimating her. While the Mistress gives Janzo an enthusiastic speech, the plagueling Janzo had been studying manages to bite her on the leg which wouldn’t be so bad if she hadn’t been taking colipsum. In Janzo’s quest to figure out what the two people who were cured had in common he develops a mixture to give one of the plaguelings, but to their dismay the mixture kills the plagueling instead of curing him.

Talon and Zed (Reece Ritchie) are still on a hike out in the forest after having found the gem that goes on top of the key. Since Zed still knows more about Blackblood culture and places of importance, he takes her to Vor-Anden. He explains that Vor-Anden was built to honor the seven warriors of old and further explains that if the legends are to be believed the key should unlock what they actually came out on this hike for. Talon still isn’t sure what that is exactly and Zed tells her that it will be the power they need to save their people. At that Talon also reiterates the power will help save the queen, but Zed is much less enthusiastic about that. Once inside Vor-Anden, Talon puts the key together and it releases tendrils of blue light that lead them to a constellation on the wall. Near Bellator (the greatest Blackblood warrior who ever lived) they find a place to insert the key which causes a circular formation to emerge from the floor. The circular formation has seven other smaller holes at the top that Zed searches only to realize they are all empty. But Talon quickly notices one of the smaller holes has yet another hole in the bottom from which a small beetle emerges. Zed puts his hand in the hole with the beetle and it bites his finger, transferring a purple glowing orb into his body that travels all the way up to rest near Zed’s temple.

After leaving Vor-Anden Zed explains that the orb was a Kinj, but it is different than Talon’s. This one can’t open portals, but Zed doesn’t know what this one is or what it does. Or so he says. He also says that he doesn’t know what triggers his Kinj to work and without knowing what it does he can’t just focus on making it do what he wants in the same way that Talon does.

Near the Greyskin border, Zed comes across a group of Prime Order soldiers having breakfast around a fire and decides to take a closer look. Zed focuses on one of the men specifically and telepathically instructs that man to put his hand in the fire. The man does as he is told and leaves his hand there as long as Zed tells him to, all the while his Kinj is glowing in his head. After his encounter with the soldiers Zed asks Talon to rebuild their society with the Blackbloods, but Talon continues to insist that they will rebuild their society once they have Gwynn’s blessing. Talon instructs Zed to bring her his Kinj and fight for her, and then she will give them her blessing. Zed is still against following a queen that cares about the humans and not Blackbloods and says she will never give them her blessing anyway.

Talon later awakens to a Greyskin holding a large boulder over her head. Zed uses his power to force the Greyskin to freeze while telling Talon to get out from under the beast. Talon stabs the Greyskin, but becomes suspicious that the Greyskin seems to be completely frozen in place and notices Zed’s Kinj is glowing. Zed tells her he didn’t even realize he was using his Kinj and denies having any knowledge as to what it does, but Talon knows he’s lying. After realizing that Zed has been lying to her, Talon refuses to open the portal to free their people. She says she believes she can trust humans more than any Blackblood. Then, Zed tries to use his new mind control power on Talon to get her to open the portal, but her Kinj won’t let his Kinj work on her in order to protect her. Now, knowing Zed’s real reason for keeping Talon around, Talon fights Zed in the forest and then forces him back through the portal. But not before Talon realizes she’s been injured by Zed’s blade.