Dimension 20: The Ravening War - Episode 2 Recap and Review

Author's Note: This post will include spoilers for episode 2 of The Ravening War.

This episode of The Ravening War has touched so many things. We learned more about each of our characters, we discovered how the war progressed, and Matt set us up for the first battle encounter of the season in Episode 3. Overall a fantastic episode that enriches the world of Calorum with extra layers. There's much to discuss, so let's get into it.

What Happened In The Last Two Years?

Matt begins the episode by weaving the last two years between the players' decisions. Each player has been on their own journey, not interrupted by the FDA during that time.

Delissandro and Colin stuck together in a campaign to rally the meatlanders under Deli's mother as a leader.

Bishop Raphaniel's singular focus during the two years was investigating the FDA.

Karna increased her influence as a master spy and utilized resources from the bishop to set up safehouses in Comida and the rest of the region.

Queen Amangeaux tried to survive and used Karna and Raphaniel's connections to persuade the noble houses that she was valuable. It didn't go too well for her, and Karna could only provide a spark of hope for her.

From that point in the episode, Matt leads us to another meeting with the FDA as each player gets another scroll with the infamous seal. Things get really interesting here, as we don't cut immediately to the meeting. There are preparations to be made, and we follow the players as they travel back to Comida from Greenhold and the meatlands. Let's talk about those surprising reveals.

Queen Amangeaux is NOT heirless?!

One big reveal in this episode that Queen Amangeaux has kept from the rest of the party, with the exclusion of Karna, who followed her, is that she has a son. He's currently a baby. But if two years had passed since the last episode, could it be that he isn't the late king's son?

Assuming pregnancy works the same as in our world, she would have been at the beginning of said pregnancy and would have 9 months to deliver. Then the kid would be older than one year at least when she comes to visit Comida for the FDA meeting. Instead, it was described as a "tiny, tiny" grape in a crib.

I'm not sure what to think about this, but maybe tonight's adventuring party would shed some light on this, and I'll come back to revise my opinion on the matter.

Karna and The Hungry One

Karna has been revealed to be a worshipper of The Hungry One. Not only has she suffered by being in the presence of the bulb's light when meeting Raphaniel in the chapel, but she also had her skin rot and offered it with a fresh kill's flesh as an offering to the hungry one.

What does this mean for the future? Will Karna sabotage certain efforts because of her allegiance to the hungry one? Does she, like Raphaniel, have some other grander scheme? Granted, she is a child, but we don't know much else about what's going on in her head.

It will be interesting to see if Aabria will be the player that triggers some big event, just like she did with Laerryn in Calamity! What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Bishop Raphaniel is a Dangerous Radish

The key takeaway from this episode for me was this quote from Raphaniel "I would prefer not to be remembered" - it's what a dangerous fellow with no regard for his future and reputation would say. Raphaniel might hold station in the church as a bishop, but he's actually a mighty figure with everything he can pull off for Karna and the queen.

His visions are disturbing, and I'm not sure if we're seeing memories he wants to repress because he's hiding or whether those are memories about something that happened to him, and he's reliving them.

Either way, Brennan is doing a great job at making me at least raise an eyebrow at Raphaniel whenever he opens his mouth. What about you?

The FDA's Assassination Task

After each player took care of business, with Karna splendidly winning over Count Tomate, the group finds themselves back at the base of the pyramid of food, ready to meet their clandestine employers.

The FDA is informing the group it's time for their first mission. The group dunks on Raphaniel, which has now been confirmed to be part of the group and not just happen to be there.

Among other topics, the FDA introduces the group to "Dishless" - a legendary warrior that Colin Provolone definitely recognizes, according to Matt.

Together they set out to find a figure traveling to Comida to foil the FDA's plan and, therefore, must die quietly.

Traveling there, we close the episode with Matt ominously setting up the battle for the next episode. Who could this person be? What happens next? I'm excited to find out!

Predictions For the Next Episode

I guess the next episode of The Ravening War will feature a battle, but it will be short. They won't invest the entire season's half-point battling with some illusive figure away from prying eyes.

The figure travels from Ceresia, so it could be Deli's crush. Otherwise, it must be someone else traveling from Ceresia that Deli recognizes. Could it also be Sirley that Lou rolled a nat 1 on at the beginning of the episode? That's also a possibility.

For the queen's son, even though Karna sold that fact to Tomate to gain her place at his table, I don't know if he will survive. We understand that The Ravening War ends with Gustavo Uvano taking the throne, and he supposedly died at the beginning of A Crown of Candy when he was in his sixties. This season unfolds only twenty years before, so he should be in his 40s in this season's timeline.

As a matter of fact, none of the characters in the group will be remembered. But they could have influenced some things.

For example, the church's influence before The Ravening War was contained only to Vegetania. After the war, it spread across the continent. Bishop Raphaniel could be the facilitator of this result during this season.

Gustavo Uvano is Fructeran - the queen could be responsible for putting him in that position of taking the throne. She doesn't take the seat of power in Fructera as we know Uvano's daughter Plumbeline is the rightful sovereign of Fructera twenty years later.

There's not much we know about changes in the dairy isles and the meatlands that Deli and Colin could be responsible for, so we'll just wait and see what unfolds next.

Conclusion

This episode was fantastic. I love that it makes me think about how the events we see relate to the future and the season that already happened.

For now, it seems that even though Matt narrates significant events unfolding, he keeps the events the players are meddling with pretty clandestine and hush-hush, so they don't affect the established lore too much.

This could all change as this was only the second episode, and we have four more to go! What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Read the next episode recap right here, or read the season review here.