Episode 4: Raiders of the Abyss
Thundarr, Ariel and Ookla are riding through the badlands when they see a squadron of hooded beings carrying glowing staffs and riding on giant bats (freakin awesome). The bat riders are attacking a human stronghold that is a beached luxury cruise ship stuck on the side of a mountain (also awesome), stunning the humans with their staffs and capturing them in nets. The heroes rush to the human’s defense, driving away the bat riders. To thank them the leader of the humans, a sea cap’n, invites the heroes to dinner in his captain’s quarters, pictured. He tells them that they are routinely attacked by the bat riding “Raiders” who capture their numbers and abscond to the local abyss. After Ariel points out that the Raiders’ staffs are powered by sorcery, an angered Thundarr (he really hates wizards) agrees to go to the abyss and attack the Raiders.
This requires the heroes to swim in via a river much to Ookla’s chagrin, and Ariel uses her magic to send a pair of Raiders away in a bubble. We learn that the Raiders are actually shriveled beings who use a magic cauldron of vapor in baffling concert with a jet to syphon the life force from people and restore themselves into non-wrinkled beings who resemble Star Trek Vulcans. The heroes attack the Raiders underground lair but Ariel is captured and her life force drained, turning her to a wrinkled purple horror at the commercial break.
Thundarr cuts Ariel down from the jet and a shrunken down human ushers the heroes to safety in an underground city right next door to the abyss. Ariel restores herself and the humans, victims of the Raiders magic, tell the heroes of a local wizard who has the cure for their shrunken condition. The heroes travel to find the wizard which they do easily, and Ariel convinces Thundarr to allow her to teleport into the wizard’s clearly Satanic lair alone to reason with him. She materializes in the crotchety old wizard’s devil sanctum and convinces him to give her the cure after animating his demonic throne statue against him.
The heroes return with the cure but the Raiders, led by a dude who I think is named Vorag, attack on their bat steeds. The heroes fight the Raiders back and Thundarr squares off with Vorag, resisting the urge to kill the whiny villain and instead leaving him bound and hanging on a rope. Ariel uses the cure to unshrink the humans and they all return home to the cruise ship. The grateful cap’n offers the heroes a tasty flagon of questionable drink and they all toast to freedom.
Another stellar offering, I was sold within 20 seconds when I saw the bat riders. Plus the Satanic wizard side quest was aces and I wish more stories had one. 5 stars.