Episode 6 of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction story picked up with Oko and his gang infiltrating the vault of Maag Taranau.
Upon entering the first room of the vault, Annie utilizes her eye to detect any hidden traps, and quickly finds a laser grid alarm system. Umezawa deduces that the system is controlled by two switches that would likely need to be pulled simultaneously in order to shut it off. Annie tells the gang that the arrangement of the grid was too narrow for any of them to fit through, but luckily, Tinybones volunteers. Umezawa the produces a drone, which he shows Annie how to control, since she is the only one who can see the tripwires.
With Annie at the helm, she flies the drone through the grid as Tinybones follows. The skeleton successfully makes it to the switch, and he and Umezawa pull them at the same time, disabling the alarm. As the gang proceeds down a set of stairs to the next room, they come upon a heavy door sealed with runes. Kaervek steps forward and begins the slow process of disabling the rune seal, but shortly after he starts, Akul and the Hellspurs emerge from behind the team and an all-out brawl ensues. The gang prioritizes protecting Kaervek, with Oko and Vraska sticking close to him as Rakdos takes on Akul.
Kaervek works fast, and soon the rune seal dissipates, prompting Vraska and Oko to cease fighting an rush through to the next corridor, with Annie and the rest of the gang staying behind to stall the Hellspurs. The pair soon comes upon a floating medallion, which reacts to the keys in Oko’s hand. As the trickster attempts to unlock the medallion, golden vines constrict around Oko and pull him to the ground, the keys sliding out of his control. He looks toward the door to find Kellan and Ral Zarek standing at the top of the stairs. The pair descend the stairs, and immediately Ral and Vraska get into a heated argument that turns into a fight, despite the two being friends. Similarly, Oko retaliates against his son, using his own vines to slam Kellan to the ground.
Before the fight can continue, a blast of lightning from Annie’s rifle strikes Oko’s shoulder, protecting Kellan. As Oko turns to retaliate, Kellan takes the opportunity to use his mind control magic to temporarily stun Oko, but as he reaches out to grab the vault keys, a dark cloud swirls throughout the room and subdues Kellan and, presumably, Ral as well. Ashiok emerges from the doorway, and together with Vraska and Oko, unlock the final barrier between them and the treasure.
As the lock is opened, a void-like expanse appears before the group, and they make their way inside. Before them sits a treasure pod containing something alive, but shrouded in mist to where Oko couldn’t see what was inside. As Oko stares in bewilderment, Ashiok floats up to the orb, musing at the creature within. In that moment, Ashiok’s hood drops, and the illusion breaks, revealing that Ashiok was actually Jace in disguise. Naturally, Oko is stunned, realizing that the trickster had become the tricked. Paying Oko no mind, Jace calmly opens the treasure pod, and removes the sleeping creature inside.
Its body was covered in orange fur, and a single tuft of cream hair sat at the top of its head, wedged between two dark horns. A long tail curled around its legs, hollow at the tip. Inside, a blue orb flickered to life. Its nose twitched, sensing the open air, and a pair of large green eyes fluttered open as if the creature had been asleep for a very long time.”
Wizards of the Coast
As Jace turns to leave, Oko attempts to confront him, but soon finds himself turning to stone under Vraska’s gaze, as she had been on Jace’s side the whole time. Before her magic can seal Oko completely, he planeswalks away, and Jace, Vraska, and the tiny creature follow suit. Moments later, Kellan, Ral, and Annie come to, realizing that Oko, Jace, Vraska, and the treasure are all gone. In that moment, the entire vault begins to collapse, and they waste no time rushing out. Along the way, they find Rakdos waiting, standing triumphant over the body of Akul. The Demon’s jubilant mood changes quickly once he hears from Ral that the vault is collapsing however, and he along with the other remaining members of the gang rush to leave.
Just as everyone makes it out, Akul bursts from the vault and snatches Annie. Without hesitation, Kellan musters all of his magic and delves deep into Akul’s mind, taking full control of the Dragon. He commands Akul to drop Annie and instructs him to march back into the collapsing vault. With no way to resist Kellan’s powerful new magic, Akul reenters the vault just as it fully collapses.
Two weeks pass and it’s revealed that Kellan has been staying on Thunder Junction to recover, help Annie with various tasks around the farm, and also make sure the threat of Akul and the Hellspurs is actually gone. While baling hay, thunder cracks and Ral appears before Kellan to ask him for help on Ravnica, but Kellan declines, as he wants to help Annie but is also waiting for some company. Understanding, Ral turns and heads inside to talk to Annie. As he departs, a carriage arrives at the ranch and Amalia steps out. Evidently, Kellan was able to contact her through Ral’s relay towers and she came by way of the Omenpath to help Kellan map out Thunder Junction.
Read chapter six in full from Wizards of the Coast.
