And thus, the Thronesitter finds his end, and it’s a fitting one. Or, at the least, fitting the mold everyone was probably already expecting his end to fit. >_>

DM is right, of course, in pointing out that there isn’t much of a plausible reason why there’s an open shaft to the reactor core within the rootwork of an ancient tree…or within a network of sewers, for that matter. So, regardless of which way you chose to interpret their surroundings, the shaft makes little sense – but, heck, it made little sense enough in the Emperor’s throne room in Star Wars, so there was no way I would pass it over. It’s iconic, that’s what matters.

Naturally, this is how far the analogy goes – from here on out, this is not going to follow the set pattern, as evidenced by the fact that DM, unlike Darth Vader, survives the whole thing with nary a scratch, thanks to some sensible and perfectly reasonably precautions he has taken. I will not further speculate on that matter – K’ip and Si’ri seem to have that part well covered, and that’s humiliating enough for DM. The take-away is that DM’s methods worked – and if Darth Vader hadn’t been so firm in his choice of black Calvin Klein’s, he might be alive today, as well.

The other take-away of today’s episode is that Team Evil now has unified leadership and a clear chain of command – combined with the fact that the member of Team Good have been summarily beaten by their opponents, that makes for an even grimmer outlook for our heroes.

More on Monday.