EASTER EGGS

TITLE CARDS:

• The Neverending Nights font is written with the actual Neverwinter Nights font
• The title of the episodes are written in the Tolkien font; and if you know me, you know what a big inspiration J.R.R. Tolkien is to me.

THE MAP (END CREDITS)

• In the 1080p edition; the map has a “dragon home” marked on it that bares an intentional strong resemblance to the Sierra On-Line logo. The map is seen in Episode 03 officially

EPISODE 01: HEROES

• The opening scene is a nod to the Halo machinima, Red vs Blue
• The Blue and Yellow Knight are also a nod to the Halo machinima, Red vs Blue meant to represent my favorite along with Adam’s, which is why they’re colored after Griff (the orange knight) and Caboose (the blue knight). Even the Knight’s names are connected to the characters, Gariff and Kaboose (respectively)

EPISODE 02: 20K?!?

• The name of Peter’s Uncle’s Inn is called The Red Dragon Inn, which is a reference to an old BBS ASCII game called Legend of the Red Dragon (sometimes called L.O.R.D.)
• The line about them becoming infamous (and thinking it’s a good thing) is a reference to the movie The Three Amigos
• The Dragon of Silverlake; Silverlake is one of the locations in the racing game, Burn Out

EPISODE 03: COME ON BABY, LIGHT MY FIRE.

• The title of the episode is a reference to the song by The Doors
• On the HD version, the map that Grayson looks at; the Dragon home is a reference to Sierra On-Line‘s logo

EPISODE 04: A WALK IN THE WOODS.

• The reference to the drawing of the one-eyed elf, with the wisp of hair, is a reference to my inability to draw ElfQuest characters, except for one character (Cutter), who I always draw with hair over one of his eyes, since I can never get the eyes to look symmetrical

EPISODE 05: YE SALTY DOG

• The name of the town, Galana, was randomly selected by spinning a globe of the Earth. Galana is an actual city located in Greece.
• The song Peter begins to sing about “Dating a girl from Galana” is a reference to the Copacabana song
• Poppy the Salt Vendor; all of the notable characters that Peter and Grayson run into have traits based off the people that voice them. In the case of Poppy, who voices Poppy the Salt Vendor, is Poppy’s love of salt

EPISODE 06: HE’S A MAGIC MAN

• The title of the episode is a reference to the Heart song Magic Man
• Alan the Astounding’s trait of drinking and passing out, comes from an incident on a cruise where Chad (who voices Alan) had tried to out drink me, and while leaving the bar, passed out in mid stride. (Don’t worry, other than his pride, not much else was banged up)

EPISODE 07: THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO BOOM!

• The title is a reference to C+C Music Factory’s song Things That Make You Go, Hmm
• The multiple shot of the “Ice Cube Monster” (Gelatinous Cube) exploding is a nod to the general anime cartoons that would frequently show planets, ships, etc blowing up – all from different points of view

EPISODE 08: ON BORROWED GOLD

• When Grayson asks Peter to explain again what he did to make the Ice Cube Monster explode, was a reference to my inability to read the line from Episode 07 (there’s about 30 out takes of me reading that line)
• Amiee the Armorer is a clothes vendor, because of her love of shopping for clothes
• Peter’s desire for “yellow colored armor” comes from me driving a yellow X-Terra

EPISODE 09: IT’S NOT THE SIZE THAT MATTERS

• The original voice actor of this episode who played the weapon vendor, was known for making odd, inappropriate remarks, which is why the lines originally had the overly sexual innuendos (originally called Eric the Elongated, then later recast with another voice actor, with the name changed to Ronald the Wreckless)

EPISODE 10: RACIAL BENEFITS

• Peter refers to the “Ice Cube Monster” as the “Oshaw Monster” which is a reference to Dan from Street Fighter who yells “O-Shaw!” when he blasts a fireball from his hands. (Dan is a favorite of mine from Street Fighter because of how utterly useless he is)
• The discussion between Peter, Grayson and Pawl about hearing and seeing things, is obviously a reference to Racial Benefits from Dungeons & Dragons
• Albert, Bob, and Charlie go searching for Dink. Many of characters that were voice by me, Adam and Paul, were named by the alphabet (Albert, Bob, Charlie, and Dink). This trick continued throughout the series

EPISODE 11: DEEP, DARK, REVENGE

• The title is a reference to the game DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution)
• Obviously Albert represents Grayson (voiced by Adam), Bob represents Pawl (voiced by Paul) and Charlie represents Peter (voiced by me)
• The goblins introduce the saying, “That Kicks Rocks!” This was a nod to our good friend Sara, who one day had meant to say, “That kicks @$$” or “That rocks!” – but it came out as “That kicks rocks!” We all laughed about how that was the ultimate in being cool. We used it in the series to represent just that
  • Ironically, when Neverending Nights was originally released, despite Albert’s protest that the saying would never take off, it actually did quite well

EPISODE 12: WHERE THERE’S SMOKE…

• Pawl the Dorf mentions that his parents took him to the human city of Arkania, which is a reference to Sir-Tech’s game(s) Realms of Arkania
• The line, “I kind of freak out, during claustrophobic times” is a reference to The Blair Thumb (which has the line, “I kind of freak out… during scary times.”)
• Careful observers would notice the entire time, Peter, Grayson and Pawl are discussing lighting a fireplace, you can see several fires lit in the background

EPISODE 13: IN & OUT, A HERO’S TALE

• The title is a reference to one of the most inspiring books of my life. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, which was also known as There And Back Again, A Hobbit’s Tale
• The line “Funny ha-ha or funny weird?” is a reference to Sling Blade
• The name of the talking sword is “Pat” (which stands for Paul, Adam, Tawmis)
• Pawl the Dorf mentions the name of the desert as “Arreis Desert” which is simply Sierra spelled backwards, which is another reference to Sierra On-Line

EPISODE 14: HERE COMES THE SAND AGAIN

• The title is a reference to the song Here Comes The Rain Again by the Eurythmics
• Grayson makes a “religious” statement of saying, “By the goddess, Nen!” The goddess’ name is the acronym standing for Neverending Nights. The show was often abbreviated as NeN

EPISODE 15: REACH OUT WITH YOUR FEELINGS

• The title is obviously a reference to Star Wars
• The line that Grayson shouts, “For the love of all sacrificed badgers” is a reference to how we originally filmed that scene (having the green slime attack a badger)
• Alan the Astounding mentions that he wants to get his revenge; he was originally slated to join Andrea the Assassin (in Episode 17), but due to scheduling conflicts Chad (who voices Alan the Astounding) could not commit, so I created a new character (Daniel the Destructive, voice by Mario)
• The statues that Peter and Grayson are standing between when Peter begins summoning an animal companion is a reference to a pose Adam used to do that was dubbed “BGA”
• The pig (Pigwin) is named after one of the users on our forum when we started the series, who was very active on the forums
• Peter has the line, “I hate when they do that walking against the wind stuff” which is a reference to one of my favorite movies, The Crow

EPISODE 16: DESSERT CITY

• The name of the town is Ator, which is Rota backwards (as in Rota, Spain) where I was born
• When Mark recorded his lines, he used the generic laptop mic, which gave it a hollow sound; this is why his character (the guard at the city of Ator) has a helmet, since it sounds like he’s speaking from inside a helmet
• The quests the guards mentioned (rescue a damsel in distress, find a lost artifact, slay a dragon) were intentionally mentioned; because in the Dungeon Magazine guideline, it specifically mentions not writing those modules. Those same things were the basis of Neverending Nights (Season 1, slay the dragon; Season 2, save a damsel in distress; Season 3, find/fix a lost artifact)
• The Blue Moon Inn is a reference to my wife’s favorite beer, Blue Moon
• This episode introduces Lady Lorraine (voiced by Karen) and her son, Conner. I had met Karen while playing World of Warcraft when she joined the guild I was a part of. She and I managed to partner up quite a bit and found a lot of mischief (doing PvP randomly, or falling off cliffs). She is proof that you can meet someone online and develop a strong and lasting friendship
• Lady Lorraine mentions the story of a hero named “Madasiwat” which is “Adam” and “Tawmis” spelled backwards
• It becomes more obvious that there’s a clue being given to the viewers, as the characters keep saying, “The only way to kill the Dragon down at Silverlake is to use this…” and they keep getting cut off
• This episode also establishes the question of whether the Dragon of Silverlake was truly killed, or if it’s still alive, luring foolish adventurers (this becomes very important in Season 3)

EPISODE 17: HEROES BAR & KEEP

• This video introduces Madame Rainbow (voiced by Bethany)
• This episode also introduces Andrea the Assassin (originally voiced by Christi). Due to conflicting schedules, Andrea the Assassin would later (in Season 2 and 3) be voiced by Amanda
• The weapon vendor (originally Eric the Elongated, and later renamed to Ronald the Wreckless) was killed by Andrea (because of the original conflict of schedule of the original voice actor; we figured we’d never use the weapon vendor again, so we killed him off)

EPISODE 18: PEPPER FLAVORED

• Poppy the Salt Vendor’s Salt Route:
  • Galana (we already know that’s a city in Greece)
  • City of Neverending (the city named after the series, where it all began)
  • Logue Bario (the last name of me and my wife)
  • Port Yhni (my wife’s first name)
  • Port Freese (Adam’s last name)
  • Helene Township (Brandi’s first name)
• The name of the salt, Fitch’s Gourmet Salt (Fitch being Poppy’s last name)

EPISODE 19: A LITTLE MAGIC

• As noted in Episode 15, the one who was originally slated to join Andrea the Assassin was Alan the Astounding, but due to lack of time, Chad could not commit. This is why you see Daniel essentially on the pier where Andrea was (and Alan no longer in sight). Originally, Alan was going to wake up from passing out (in Episode 15) and meet Andrea, and join her in her quest to find Peter and Grayson
• Daniel the Destructive is voiced by Mario, who always plays a “magic” class when playing Dungeons & Dragons, and is easily distracted by “shiny” things, and thinks everything’s great and awesome; so that’s what Daniel’s personality quirk is developed from (an exaggerated version)
• The Grouse River is a reference to the street Adam lived on (Grouse)
• This episode also introduces Crimson Draco Mother, voiced by Adam’s mother, Pat

EPISODE 20: VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE… AND DEATH.

• The line, “There are worse things than undead out tonight… me.” is a reference to the line from the first Blade movie (“There are worse things out tonight than vampires … me.”)
• The Eye Tyrant’s line of “None shall pass” is clearly a reference to Monty Pyton Quest for the Holy Grail from the scene with King Arthur and the Black Knight
• The entire episode emphasizes “death” throughout; Grayson believes they’re going to die when they encounter the Dragon; Daniel & Andrea discuss the undead curse for the Plains of Desolation; as well as the Eye Tyrant threatening death to them when they approach him; and Pawl the Dorf meets his end.

EPISODE 21: ACCUMULATION.

• The episode, entitled “accumulation” goes through all the “characters” who have appeared in the series so far
• Throughout the series, the “yellow and blue” gems can be seen; they’re seen outside the dragon’s doors; they’re seen inside the dragon’s cave; they’re seen when we see the spirit of the weapon vendor; they obviously symbolize Peter (yellow) and Grayson (blue)
• The goblins continue to break the 4th Wall (and make reference to their popularity on the forums that we once hosted on the site)
• Peter mentions reading the book The Art of War which is a book written by Sun Tzu; who (get ready), in my youth I had never heard of until playing the Brøderbund Software game, Ancient Art of War (anyone else remember that game?). Ironically, the two who made the game (Dave & Barry Murry) who would go on to work for Sierra On-Line and create Man Hunter: New York and Man Hunter: San Francisco; and by now you should already know my infatuation with Sierra On-Line games.
• Dean the Dragon’s line at the end, asking “Who dares disturb my slumber?” is a reference to Disney’s Aladdin, during the Cave of Wonders scene (“Who disturbs my slumber?”)
• Grayson’s response, “I immediately regret this decision!” is a reference to Anchorman.

EPISODE 22: THIS IS ‘DRAGON’ ON TOO LONG

• If it’s not painfully obvious; the title is a pun intending to say “This is draggin’ on too long”
• Peter mentions he read a book called The Dragonspear Chronicles written by Wickman & Heiss; this is a reference to The Dragonlance Chronicles written by Hickman & Weiss (the first letter of their last names were swapped for our oh so subtle reference)
• The name that the Dragon mentions as the ruler of Blackmire City is named “Khan Shao” which is a reference to the Mortal Kombat character, Shao Khan.

EPISODE 24: THE WATCHFUL EYE

• The blue and white map that Peter and Grayson are given for the cavern is a reference to the old school D&D maps that came with modules for 1st and 2nd Edition D&D (this Easter Egg is in the HD version only)
  • The skulls around the Drider and Duegar names on the map are the logo of my other side project, PirateBooty.net.

EPISODE 25: THE NEW RECRUITS

• Albert, Bob, Charlie, Dink, and Ellen are obvious parodies of Grayson, Pawl the Dorf, Peter, Daniel and Andrea, even their conversations mimic conversations (and jokes) previously seen in episodes by their counterparts (such as the discussion in this episode, as to what side of a wall moss grows on)
• Daniel’s spell is his voice reversed saying, “I summon forth, from the deepest, darkest places of Hell itself, and summon forth a demon to slay all those would oppose me!”
• When the Earth Elemental is summoned, several goblins can be heard saying, “Earth Elemental wins – fatality.” This of course is a reference to Mortal Kombat.
• One of the goblins can be heard saying, “I’m half a body guy!” This is a reference to The Blair Thumb (yes, Thumb – watch it, trust me!)
• A goblin who says, “This doesn’t even seem physically -” but dies before he completes his sentence is making a reference to Red vs Blue where one of them says, “This doesn’t even seem physically possible!”
• The goblins, throughout the series, break the 4th Wall, acknowledging that they’re actors in a show (for example, when Bob explains that they’re only Minor Characters and not Supporting Cast).

EPISODE 26: REUNITED (AND IT FEELS SO GOOD)

• The title of the episodes comes straight from the Peaches & Herb song Reunited
• The Irish song that Pawl the Dorf is heard singing Drunken Sailor – there was a band that Adam and Paul knew who did the cover here in San Diego (I’ve long since forgotten the name of the band)

EPISODE 27: EVEN GHOSTS GET RACIAL BENEFITS

• Star Wars reference right off the bat, with Daniel saying he’s never see a place of retched hive and villainy
• Pawl the Dorf can be heard singing the lyrics to Drunken Lullabies by the band Flogging Molly

EPISODE 28: THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

• Peter takes several references to movies that have ghosts (“I see dead people” – from Sixth Sense, in the original version during the fade out, you can hear Peter ask, “Who you gonna call?” and Grayson says, “Call for what?” And Peter simply shouts, “Ghostbusters!” a reference, of course, to Ghostbusters)

EPISODE 29: THE PLAN

• Another one that has a Star Wars reference when the bartender tells Andrea and Daniel that the goblins will have to wait outside; it’s a reference to A New Hope when Luke and Ben are told that the droids (C3-PO and R2-D2) must wait outside.
• The Blade reference of “There are worse things out there tonight” joke is reused (and called out by Daniel as already having been used)
• This is one of the few times where you see the main characters breaking the 4th wall like goblins frequently do, as they poke fun at the bad writers. The “bad writers” is even a Easter Egg of it’s own. Back in the day there was a magazine published called Dungeon Magazine – and I had hoped to one day submit an adventure for the magazine and get it published (I submitted two, both of which, sadly were declined). But when I began plotting what the series should be about; Dungeon Magazine in their submission guide literally has a thing that says “Do not do these 7 generic adventures” – and I thought, “This will be fun to make the story revolve around these cliche’ story ideas!” So technically, I was being a “bad writer” by doing the 7 generic stories (each one was supposed to be their own season; slay a dragon, rescue a maiden in distress, recover a lost artifact, etc) – but as you know (probably by now), I crunched it down to three seasons.

EPISODE 30: GOOD ELF, BAD ELF

• The title is a reference to the saying, “Let’s do the good cop/bad cop thing.”
• At the 3:06 mark, you can see one of the invisible camera men being killed by the Dwarves. (That was not an intended Easter Egg…)
• Peter manages to pull 50gp pieces from his pouch, despite that they’re always struggling for money; there’s a reason for that, as it continues to happen throughout the series, until the truth is revealed.
• At the end when the Resurrection Priest is speaking to Dean the Dragon (while in Human form), their conversation is based on the conversation between Obi Wan and Yoda, from Star Wars when Obi Wan’s spirit says that Luke is their last hope, and Yoda says (like Dean the Dragon), No, there is another. This is setting up the surprise for the end of Season 2.

EPISODE 31: SIDE EFFECTS … MAY VARY.

• The girl in the beginning who wishes her mother to return safely from her Salt Route is a reference to Poppy the Salt Vendor, and the young girl voicing that young girl is Poppy’s daughter in real life.
• The idea of taking coins from the wishing well corrupting dreams/wishes comes from a short story I wrote way back in the 6th grade called Wish You Well. (What do you expect for a story title from a 6th grader?)
• The creatures that Poppy the Salt Vendor runs into in the desert are the same creatures Peter the Ranger was summoning in Episode 15.
• When Pawl the Dorf’s spirit jumps into Bob the Goblin’s body, it’s a reference to the fact that Pawl voices both characters; but we had him specifically do Pawl the Dorf’s accent while in Bob the Goblin.

EPISODE 32: EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

• In the HQ Version Only – both Peter and Grayson go to sit in the same seat (one looks like a throne, the other a seashell) and Peter gets to the throne chair first, forcing Grayson to sit in the less masculine looking chair (because, Peter, in his head, thinks of himself as a great hero by this point – he did, after all, kill the Ice Cube Monster).
• All of the mercenaries were originally male roles; and switched to females when we cast the voices. Because the mercenaries were all supposed to be male, originally, you will catch Peter and Grayson refering to “him” but we excuse it as “‘im” (abbrivated from ‘him’).
  • The first one, Henretta was originally Harold. To show that she is indeed crazy (not just because she talks to her axe, the same way that Grayson talks to his sword), she’s voice by two people (Amiee and Myoki) with their pitch slowed way down to give it a weird sound.
  • The second (nameless) mercenary is voiced by Myoki, as is the third, and even Evil Foo (the one Peter and Grayson eventually hire).
  • Evil Foo is a reference (her speech) not just to any “stereotypical” Asian accent, but is actually meant to reference Kim Chan who plays “Uncle Benny” in Lethal Weapon 4 (and if you know me, you know how much I love Lethal Weapon!) The whole “Is your name Evil Fool?” “No, it’s Evil Foo!” is a reference to the rice scene.
  • We see Poppy the Salt Vendor asking if they needed Salt, so we know that she makes it to Blackmire City, where her daughter is, from the previous episode.
• Once again, Peter mysteriously pulls out 300gp to pay Evil Foo, and once again, Grayson asks how he keeps doing that.

EPISODE 33: THERE BE PIRATES!

• The entire episode is basically an excuse for me to do something with pirates. One of my favorite things to do on Halloween is to dress up in my pirate attire.
• This episode is the debut of Jamie King as the “Chambermaid”
• The story (fictional, obviously) that Peter tells to “impress” the Chambermaid (hoping she would go on to tell others what great heroes they were) takes place in the Scarasea Oceans. Scara was Sara’s nickname (if I remember correctly), and as previously mentioned, she was the one who (accidentally) came up with the That Kicks Rocks phrase. So it’s her name we’re using for the ocean. I added some humor (in my mind) by adding sea to it – because it’s obviously the ocean (so the name is effectively the Scara Sea Oceans) which is repetitive.
• Like Peter’s tale, Peter’s voice/accent is clearly way over the top

EPISODE 34: BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE

• Let’s be real. This is essentially a filler episode. But why?
  • The dog that you hear in this episode (Pawl the Dorf) is my dog, Odin.
    • I had wanted to find a way to include Odin in the series, so I wrote the episode of Pawl being resurrected as a Dog. I figured that would be a great way to include Odin (by getting him to bark) and also to play up Peter’s ability to “Speak with Animals.”
    • There’s two versions of this episode – one without subtitles, and one with. I’d recommend the one with subtitles, so you get what’s being “said” as Pawl the Dorf is in the canine form.

EPISODE 37: CRIME DOES NOT PAY

• The “Oh my God! You killed Ellen and Dink! You Bastard!” is clearly a reference to South Park whenever Kenny gets killed (Cartman, Stan and Kyle say, “Oh my God! You killed Kenny! You bastard!”)
• When Albert says, “Two friends of ours just got themselves perished!” is a reference to The Crow when T-Bird tells Top Dollar, “I got trouble. One of my crew got himself perished.”

EPISODE 38: MANDATORY FLASHBACKS

• Andrea discusses how she lost someone that meant everything to hear; and that her world had turned upside down. It sounds like someone had passed away, but the truth is revealed in Episode 41.
• In the HD Flashback, we see that Andrea was previously blond. This was done in the HD version, because the voice actress (Amanda) who replaced the original (Christi) had blond hair; and with her character change in Season 3, she would end up keeping the blond look after her change again (at the end of Season 2)

EPISODE 39: CONFESSIONS OF A BLADE

• The title of the episode comes from a Soul Calibur story Paul had written about Ivy and Raphael (our respective favorite characters from the game)
• The blade references that the one that carried him before Grayson is near; this is a set up for the end of Episode 42.
• The Ettin making the reference of “None shall pass” is of course, a reference to the Black Knight from Monty Python

EPISODE 40: SOMETHING’S NOT QUITE RIGHT…

• The bugbears continue the trend of representing Peter and Grayson (with the one that Pawl possessed, representing Pawl the Dorf), as seen by their weapons
• In the HQ version, the blue and yellow crystals (also seen in previous episodes) represent Grayson and Peter (as if they’re guiding them)
• Around the 3:20 mark we see Andrea’s crew running past our heroes in the background, indication that they’re right behind our heroes

EPISODE 41: SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

• The title is a reference to the Ray Bradbury book, and Disney movie, of the same name. When we were kids, my best friend (Charles Stevens) and Mike Day, all made a audio cassette tape version of “Something Wicked This Way Comes” based on Disney’s take of the movie. (The infamous words of Mike saying, “Oh, doo doo” will live on forever in my mind). I wish I still had that cassette tape, but it was lost when I moved.
• When the Resurrection Priest tells Pawl the Dorf to invest some points in “Spot Check” all comes from me (Tawmis), Adam, Paul and Chris playing the Neverwinter Nights on campaign mode. Chris had made a Rogue but put no points in Spot Check to be able to detect traps, so the rest of us did. So we would wait for Chris to step on a trap (that the rest of us could see) and all shout, “Trap!” in unison. Peter and Grayson are heard yelling trap when Pawl the Dorf as a Minotaur had stepped on the trap in a previous episode. This is why Pawl the Dorf makes mention of the last Rogue he traveled with didn’t put any points in Spot Check.
• The threat of taking Mr. Snuggles and putting him in a boiling stew is a reference to the movie Fatal Attraction with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, to represent Andrea’s obsession with Grayson.
• The ship in the underground cave, on the underground lake is a reference to the pirate ship in the movie Goonies.
• It’s because Peter has Pepper Flavored Salt on him that Daniel’s spell of teleportation does not function correctly.

EPISODE 42: OH MOTHER DEAREST

• When speaking of Andrea leaving the Crimson Draco’s Mother’s side, he says, “Search your feelings, you know it to be true.” This is a reference to Star Wars, when Vader tells Luke to search his feelings in Empire Strikes Back.
• The goblins mention that the revelation in this episode about Peter and Grayson was developed in Episode 10; which is absolutely correct.
• When the goblin ends it with, “That’s all folks!” – it’s a reference to Porky Pig’s line at the end of many Looney Tunes cartoon episodes.

EPISODE 43: GOT SOME TIME TO KILL?

• The female prisoner, R’ubine H’uud, was named from a contest we had on the forum (back when we had one) named by Will Taylor. The character is actually voiced by Lindsay Archer who is a wonderful friend of mine (Tawmis!) who is an incredible artist who has done work for Margaret Weis as well as work on the Supernatural RPG for their art; among a ton of other stuff.
• When Peter talks about being with Thorton and Rahnae, and lost in the city – this is a reference to back in 2005; during the 2005 Machinima Film Festival, me (Tawmis!), Adam, Reece and Amanda had been walking around New York City looking for some place to eat (with no clear idea where we were going; and back then I used to drink, and was rather overly intoxicated – as Grayson points out in the episode)!

EPISODE 44: SEEING THE UNSEEN

• This episode was something I wanted to do as a reference to how we record these episodes; where we create a Camera Man that we then put a script that turns them invisible upon being spawned in the game (that we then take control of, to use as a our “camera”) – though I didn’t want to make the Invisible Stalker fully invisible in the episode; so I gave him a semi-transparent image so that the viewers of the episode can see who is supposed to be talking.

EPISODE 45: A FRIEND IN NEED

• Dimi the Bard was another character who was from one of the forum contests we had, suggested by Travis Richards (who you may know does some of our music). Dimi is also voiced by Travis (since he came up with the character name for the contest, and our way to get him in the episode as a thanks for the music).
• This episode begins the part where Peter begins to question Grayson’s sexuality; this is all a reference to a series of photos that Adam used to pose with his hands up around his head, that had been dubbed “B.G.A.” (Big Gay Adam) which became a thing; Amiee even made a calendar of all the photos

EPISODE 46: DUDE, WHERE’S MY SWORD?

• The title is a reference to the movie Dude, Where’s My Car?
• When Peter & Grayson try to recall how they got stuck in the prison; and Peter says, “I remember that halfling” – and for a quick moment, we see Alan the Astounding before Grayson corrects him and says it was a gnome (then it changes to Daniel the Destructive) – this is a reference how the entire time, it was supposed to be Alan the Astounding who teams up with Andrea; but Chad was not able to commit to recording additional lines (so Daniel the Destructive voiced by Mario was created)

EPISODE 47: A NEW HOPE

• The title is a reference to Star Wars: A New Hope
• When Peter says, “Aren’t you a little short to be a Crimson Draco Legion member?” And Amiee replies, taking off her helmet, “My name is Amiee and I’m here to rescue you” is all a reference to the scene when Luke Skywalker rescues Princess Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope
• The line of Amiee saying, “I prefer to call myself a Rogue, not a thief” is a reference to Neverwinter Nights being based on 3rd Edition D&D, in which the Thief class (from 2nd Edition D&D) was renamed to Rogue (beginning in 3rd Edition & going forward)
• When Amiee calls Grayson’s sword The Blade Of Destiny – this is a reference to one of my all time CRPG (Computer Role Playing Games) called Realms of Arkania, in which the first game was called Blade of Destiny

EPISODE 48: THE ASSASSIN STRIKES BACK

• We continue the Star Wars reference, with the title of this episode obviously referencing The Empire Strikes Back
• The detention block is another reference to Star Wars, when Luke discovers she’s in a detention block
• The detention block number AA-23 is a reference to Amiee’s birthday (11-23, 1=A first letter of the English Alphabet)
• We reference the Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper type joke and have Andrea break the fourth wall
• Pawl the Dorf makes a reference to recognizing Andrea, and that a hair job won’t trick his dwarven senses
  • This is actually a reference to the original Andrea the Assassin voice actress (which was Christi Molina) who only voiced Andrea for Season 1. Christi had dark brown hair. Amanda Host who took over the role of Andrea the Assassin is actually a blond in real life. So when I wrote Andrea dropping her “Andrea the Assassin” title and resuming her original name of Ruth, I figured switching her hair to blond to also show she’s shed the “darkness” with a little extra and to make it look closer to Amanda.
    • This might seem unusual that “Andrea” (Ruth) is suddenly blond; but go back and look at her flashback in Episode 38. Talk about some foreshadowing, huh?
  • Andrea/Ruth notes that Pawl the Dorf sounds different too (after he comments on her hair) – this is because it’d been Paul Molina who voiced Pawl the Dorf in Season 1 and Season 2, but did not have the time to return to do the voice for Season 3. So I had my other friend, Stephen Crouch, take over for the voice. When Stephen asked if I wanted him to try and mimic Pawl’s voice, I said, “Do whatever you want with the character. Would still love a bad accent, but do what you will. It will be explained that the explosion at the end of Season 2 knocked Pawl the Dorf’s head and made him talk the way he does due to the head injury!”
• When Dimi (after the Elsewhere) is heard humming; it’s an intentional reference to a screensaver produced by Sierra On-Line called Johnny Castaway.

EPISODE 49: RETURN OF THE GOBLINS

• Keeping with the Star Wars theme of the previous episodes, the title is a reference to Return of the Jedi
• The intention of having the three main goblins start in prison this episode is a reflection of having Grayson, Peter and Pawl the Dorf (their “counterparts”) having started this season in prison as well
• The entire “You don’t vote for a king”, getting the sword from a woman in a lake, the “watery tart handing out swords”, “wielding supreme executive power” lines are all directly from Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail
• The reference of the slain characters “getting perished” is a reference to the character T-Bird from The Crow referencing how “Tin-Tin went and got himself perished”
• The bodies of Ellen, Dink, and Evil Foo are dragged from the main courtyard into an alley (as seen in this episode) so that the bodies would not be quickly discovered, the flashback happening after Andrea and the others killed Evil Foo (which is why we don’t see Andrea or Daniel; since the goblins had been commanded, off screen to hide the bodies)
• The Resurrection Priest’s lines are all reused (no new lines) from when he originally appeared
• We once again – much to Bob’s dismay – saying the “Stormtrooper shortness” reference
• This is the third time that a woman has broken the men out of prison this season (see a trend here?)
• Charlie breaks the 4th wall knowing that Peter, Grayson & Pawl the Dorf had all been rescued by a female from prison
• Because I used so many references in this episode, I used Ellen’s dialogue (breaking the 4th wall also) to mock my writing of this episode
• When Bob cites the god of bugbears; Charlie quickly injects with the notion of the god of trolls; this is a reference to them constantly saying “Bugbear!” “Troll!” respectively; and the gods mentioned are from D&D’s Deities & Demigods from 2nd edition; as are Demogorgon and Orcus (Orcus being a favorite of mine)
• Albert begins to mention something about the Dragon of Silverlake but gets cut off; this has been an ongoing joke since Season One – and there’s a reason for it. But you will figure that out when we finish this season.
• I had set this up (over throw the goblin king) as a potential 4th season of the show; even though I knew how this would end. When we reach the end of this season, you will see why.

EPISODE 51: WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE

• The title is a reference to my obsession (back when I used to drink) and go on cruises; I would, without fail, sometimes more than one night on the same cruise, find the Karaoke bar, and with Liquid Courage in hand, sing Bon Jovi‘s Wanted Dead Or Alive.

EPISODE 52: THESE AREN’T THE HEROES WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• The title is a reference to Star Wars where Obi Wan uses his Jedi Mind trick to convince the Stormtroopers that R2 and 3PO were not the droids they were looking for (his line being, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” To which the Stormtrooper then says, “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.”
• There was an idea that the two Knights (Gariff and Kabewse would be time traveling versions of Peter and Grayson, but that idea never came to fruition in the series)
• The reference Amiee the Armorer makes about “I’d rather be called a Rogue than a Thief” is a reference to D&D – and how D&D changed the title of “Thieves” to “Rogues” in 3rd Edition
• The line that Peter says, “But with the helmet on, I can’t even see. How am I supposed to fight?” is a reference (again) to Star Wars when Obi Wan is training Luke and has Luke put the blast shield down on his helmet during his training against the Marksman-H Combat Remote (yes, that’s it’s official name… who knew, right?)

EPISODE 53: FORGING DESTINY

• In the bar, you can see a very colorfully dressed elf, and a balding human in white and grey clothes; these two characters make an appearance and reveal themselves in the next two episodes (but it’s special to note that they’re there!)
• In this episodes, Amiee notes that she knows where the “Sons of Arlyn” are – I can’t remember what the Arlyn reference is, but I do know that it’s a Gaelic term meaning “a pledge” or “an oath/promise” – so I am wondering if I was using that as a reference to their oath to save the world?

EPISODE 54: BACK BY (SOMEWHAT?) POPULAR DEMAND

• Alan the Astounding mentions he used to buy endless rounds of drinks for people, before his Magical Pouch of Replenishing Gold Coins was stolen from him. Now if you’ve paid attention, from time to time, Grayson kept asking Peter where he was getting all this gold from (for example when he paid for Pawl the Dorf’s reincarnation (all the way back in Episode 30, for example). So now we know where the endless coin comes from. And to think, Peter and Grayson, had they known, could have used the coin purse to open their bar when they originally “acquired” Alan’s pouch back in Episode 06!
• The town mentioned by Sara called “PomTom” comes from – I can’t remember who started it, but they’d start by saying, “Paul” then say “Tom” – and ended up saying, “PomTom” so that became a running joke, and a fitting name for a town in the series so that the joke lives on (even though I can’t remember who originated it)

EPISODE 55: ALL TIME ‘LOWE’

• Low is intentionally spelled as “Lowe” because of the special guest in this episode, Al Lowe of Leisure Suit Larry fame lending a voice
• In the HD version, Peter can barely be told telling a story – the entire story can be heard post credits, and is a reference to a D&D game Paul had DM’ed in which I (Tawmis) managed to not only get my character killed, but Chad’s character as well, by shouting, “I have a plan!”
• The reference Grayson makes about Peter taking a shower and smelling beer on his skin hours later, is a reference to when Adam and I went to New York City in 2005 for the Machinima Film Festival. I, at the time, when I used to drink; got so intoxicated (drank way too much Rum) – the next day, despite taking a shower, the smell of Rum was literally seeping out of the pores of my skin in the airplane
• Grayson when telling the story of Andrea’s side kick, describes him as a Halfling (this is intentional, as it’s actually a gnome; but as stated before originally, Andrea’s side kick was supposed to be Alan the Astounding; but the actor could not commit to doing the voices so the role was changed, and Daniel the Destructive, a gnome and a student of Alan, took on the role).
• The role Al Lowe plays is clearly supposed to be a reference to Larry Laffer himself, from Leisure Suit Larry, as you can (hopefully) tell by his appearance. The (horrid) advice provided was something I found on a website called The Player’s Society or some such – it was a “bro’tastic website” about “how to score with babes at the club.” I figured someone like Larry Laffer would be full of bad advice on ladies, so I grabbed some of the “tidbits” I found there as advice to be given to Grayson.

EPISODE 56: FUNKAFIED!

• The title is a reference to Toejam and Earl, because Greg Johnson lends a voice in this episode
• The elf in the colorful outfit is voiced by Greg Johnson. The colorful outfit represents the colorful planet of Funkatron from the Toejam and Earl games.
• In the HD version, in the background, there’s a woman with blue skin, blond hair, and a green outfit who is supposed to represent Namorita from Marvel Comics (my comic book crush)

EPISODE 57: PAWN OF THE DEAD

• The title is a reference to the movie Shaun of the Dead

EPISODE 58: VISIONQUEST

• The title VisionQuest is a reference to a story line in one of my favorite Marvel Comics titles, West Coast Avengers, ironically citing one of the worse stories that happened in the original run.
• The opening line by the Mushroom Man (I am he as you are he as you are me, And we are all together; (Peter/instead of “Man”) you’ve been a naught boy, you let your hair (instead of “face”) grow long)
• As noted at the end; originally when this episode was released in the “low res” versions before I began re-making them in 1080p, the “Double Rainbow” thing was still a viral video. I thought about removing it in the remake, when I realized, Paul “Bear” Vasquez who filmed that video in 2010, passed away this year (May 9, 2020), which was just a few months ago, so I left it in as a nice nod to him.
  • The initial parts Peter is speaking, is nearly “word for word” the words spoken by Paul Vasquez in his original video (though, as Peter, I clearly tried to over emphasize and take it over the top)
  • The over the top portion where Peter is going off about “What does this mean? What does all this mean?” is a reference to The Blair Thumb (no, that’s not a typo)

EPISODE 59: THESE ARE MY CONFESSIONS

• The title of the episode is a reference to the Weird Al song by the same name (which is a parody of a song called Confessions by Usher)
• Andrea the Assassin was originally voiced by Christi Molina, who had dark hair; when Amanda took over the voice for Andrea, Amanda has blond hair, so the reference for her dying her hair blond is actually a reference to make her look more like Amanda. I just wrote it in that she had to dye her hair black to be “more evil.” (Which is cliche’ which is something the series purposely tackles as a part of it’s show)
• The other legions (Azure, Ebony, Emerald, and Frosted) are all references to the evil dragons of D&D (Blue, Black, Green and White) with the Crimson being the Red Dragon.
• The dwarves Pawl the Dorf mentions –
  • Flint Fireforge is a character from Dragonlance
  • Thorin, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori and Ori are all the dwarves who appear at the door of Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit … and if you’ve not figured out I am a big Tolkien fan by now, I don’t know what to tell you.

EPISODE 60: BUT I’M A LOVER, NOT A FIGHTER

• David the Delinquent mentions that John the Journeyman can do a move called “Akumaito Kousen” – where he can punch a person in the heart, and if they’re evil, they explode; this is a reference to DragonballZ (that’s pretty much all I know; I don’t know anything about DBZ – just looked for the most over the top, powerful character and looked up one of their moves to say John the Journeyman could do it)
• When Grayson says “But with this helmet on, I can’t even see” – is a reference to Star Wars when Luke first trains on the Millennium Falcon against the Marksman-H training sphere
• When John follows up with, “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them” – is the following line from Ben Kenobi from Luke’s training in Star Wars
• At the end of the training montage where John the Journeyman says, “You have learned much… remember your training, save you it can” is a reference a reference (well the last part) to Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back

EPISODE 61: REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD (WAIT, DIDN’T WE USE THAT LAST SEASON?)

• While in the tavern, if you look behind Peter and Grayson, a wizard can be standing at a table with thirteen dwarves and a halfling – this is a reference to The Hobbit – representing Gandalf, Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin and of course Bilbo.
• In the background of the tavern, several characters can be seen that had appeared elsewhere (even in a special one off we did for Poppy; for example, a halfling with green butterfly wings is from a school project we for Poppy we did using NWN)
• Fun Note – not really an Easter Egg – the entire time they’re talking about “Sam” in the tavern – the gender is purposely avoided, to spring the surprise that Sam is short for Sami/Samantha.
• In the HD version, when Madame Marie is standing at the door; the Red Dragon sign is seen hanging by the door – I thought this was a fun reference to show this is where the ending truly begins (since the entire adventure started in the Red Dragon Inn way back in the first episode) – it also shows to further drive home that when Ruth the Redeemed mentioned, during her time with the Crimson Draco, she was familiar with the town (showing that the town had been under the thumb of the Crimson Draco Legion)
• When Sami starts to mention the Dragon of Silverlake, and says “You do realize-” and then is cut off from Ruth the Redeemed – this has been going on since around Episode 13, where there’s clearly something up with the Dragon of Silverlake – and we purposely kept cutting people off before it’s revealed.
• Andrea’s line before they’re all teleported, saying, “Make it so” is a reference to Star Trek

EPISODE 63: THE FALL OF A HERO

• The scene with Peter counting monsters and Grayson asking him what he’s doing is a reference to the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King movie where Legolas and Gimli are counting monsters they’ve killed near the end of the movie (Peter being Legolas, and Pawl being Gimli, when Pawl tells him to stop counting and get going)
• The Secret of the Dragon of Silver Lake’s conflicting stories mentioned throughout the series (some saying he’s alive, some saying he’s dead, but usually being cut off) – reveals that he’s undead (so both living and dead)

EPISODE 65: EPIC-LOGUE

• The slow zoom in of “Previously On Neverending Nights” is a nod to Stranger Things and if you listen very closely you can hear the theme song faintly played behind the Neverending Nights theme
• Not really an “Easter Egg” – but all the voices being heard when showing the line outside the tavern is mostly everyone’s who lent a voice to the series over lapping one another to give a “crowd” sound except for a few lines I specifically recorded
• When Ruth mentions the bard “Snape Smith” it’s a reference to Travis Richards who joined us from Season 2 on and provided some music for the series. Travis has gone by the name of “Snafe” – the Smith portion is a reference to me, more than once, incorrectly crediting him as “Travis Smith” rather than Travis Richards. I can only blame the fact that I am old.
• The whole banana thing came about way back in Episode 05, when we named the town “Galana” (literally picked by spinning a globe – which is a river located in Kenya) and I began humming, to the beat of Copacabana “There’s this girl, from Galana, the things she could do with a banana…”
• When Grayson says, “Now there’s someone I never thought I’d see again” when speaking of Alan (The Astounding!), this is actual a reference to real life, as we rarely got to see Chad, who voiced Alan (which is the whole reason Alan’s original role to be Andrea’s side kick, got switched to a new character, Daniel the Destructive)
• The joke with Grayson’s “questionable sexuality” comes from a long running inside joke; Amiee had once taken a photo of Adam in a weird pose, that we all deemed “Big Gay Adam” – and have since then (back then, anyway) had “BGA Birthday” type themes.
• The ending with Peter – I had wanted to leave it open in the event we were ever going to go back and continue the series. I even had the idea of the fourth season opening similar to the show Supernatural, since I love giving nods to things I love – where Pawl the Dorf would come find Grayson and say, “I need to talk to you in private” and Grayson would reply (with Ruth next to him), “Anything you need to say to me, you can say in front of her.” And Pawl the Dorf replies, “Peter’s on a … hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days.” Grayson would turn and say, “Ruth, excuse us.” And then the following season kicks off. That, unfortunately, never came to be.