Daniel Kravitz, Chosen One (Volume 3)

The third volume of *Daniel Kravitz, Chosen One* picks up about a year after the second volume ended. The main group has relocated to a ranch in Kalispell, Montana and revived the U.L.P. under the leadership of Abby Reynolds. They have a batch of trainees to teach, as well as a new sorcerer, Alfredo, an administrator, Khoo, and the shapeshifting groundskeeper, Voldare.

Some of the students get in trouble right away when Corey Addison, bored with the slow start, summons a smoke demon that will not rest until it devours her. That's not the only danger revealed, as there's a curious Thunderbird statue. And an army of monsters are gathering their forces. But at least Daniel Kravitz seems happy with his new job with less responsibility and no mentor.

Meanwhile, the team still has to handle the day-to-day threats, like zombies and portals, crazy guys with powerful amulets, a Golem, and Daniel and Abby's high school reunion. Plus, The Cult of B.O.B. finds their hideout and reveals that Josh Wallace is not who he appears to be. But who is he?

Alexis Augustus Armentrout disappears when his family is endangered. Rufus Reginald Rochester worries about the cracks forming between Daniel and Abby. And Grezit the Green becomes dissatisfied with the lack of actual fighting he gets to do, instead sparring with young adults he's been instructed not to hurt.

But it all comes to a head when Daniel, Rufus, Grezit, and Not-Josh are sucked into a video game while the ranch is attacked. Not-Josh reveals his true identity. They make it out and fight hard, with few trainees surviving the battle. Corey falls to the smoke demon and in the end, Daniel Kravitz sacrifices himself to wipe out the attackers, amplifying his power far beyond what his body can handle.

## **Production**

The lead cast remains the same as in Volume 2, although they are joined by many new recurring characters.

Midway through Volume 2, Joe Morales temporarily left the troupe, and thus Alexis appeared sparingly for a bit, but then Joe returned a few months later, allowing Alexis to be folded back in. Seamus Talty's Josh Wallace appeared pre-recorded in the premiere, and Alexis was pre-recorded in #3.09. Wendy Parks took another maternity leave, hence Abby's break early in the volume, and unexpectedly missed two episodes due to illness, necessitating Samantha Stark play the role for #3.02 and #3.16, though Wendy later recorded the lines and was edited into the podcast.

More planning went into this Volume than the previous ones, with a six-month break spent hammering out new characters and plots. Jerome Wetzel was assisted in this mainly by Nick Arganbright, though also with input from the story crew. Originally, Jerome, Nick, and Samantha Stark divided up the first few episodes to write. But Nick was inspired and wrote nearly ten stories at once. Most of those scripts made it into the season in some form or other, providing a lot of the framework, although they were spread out and reworked a bit, and Jerome added to them as they went. Thus, it was more of a collaborative effort than past arcs, with Nick influencing a lot of the development, especially of the trainee characters and supporting villain elements.

Cast member Seamus Talty left the show just before the finale, which is why Josh was not seen in that installment, as the production was not yet ready to cast Mortimer. Had Seamus stayed, Mortimer would have remained in Josh's body, and he would have returned as a lead in Volume 4, playing both Not-Josh and real Josh.

Jerome and Nick disagreed strongly on Daniel's ending for this volume, with Nick wanting to keep the Chose One alive but separate from the group, while Jerome didn't believe Daniel would ever willingly leave. Jerome's choice won out.

## **Main Cast**

Nathan Haley as Daniel Kravitz

Wendy Parks as Abby Reynolds

Shane Stefanchik as Rufus Reginald Rochester

Ryan Yohe as Grezit the Green

Seamus Talty as Josh "Not-Josh" Wallace

Joe Morales as Alexis Augustus Armentrout

## **Timeline**

Volume 3 picks up roughly one year later, in the spring of 2019. It primarily covers six months of story. Characters from this segment appeared in-continuity in the *Packer & Ratcliff* anniversary special, and events from that episode affected ongoing plots.

In real-time, it was performed over nearly two years, from February 2019 through November 2020. It ran for 18 episodes, including thirteen full-length episodes, a commercial, and four shorts, plus a portion of another segment's special. The finale was double-length. This makes it considerably longer than past volumes, though the story timeline is more condensed.

* #3.00 "U.L.P. Recruiting Ad" - shortly after Volume 2
* #3.01 "The New Class" - a year later, so roughly April 2019, Monday morning
* #3.02 "Mind If I Smoke?" - Tuesday through Saturday that same week
* #3.03 "Recall Me, Maybe" - June 2019 / flashback 9 years, 4 months, 16 days ago
* #3.04 "...And Sprinkles On Top" - June 2019, a short time later
* for continuity, listen to *Packer & Ratcliff* "The Pursuit of Packer" - July 2019
* #3.05 "Jant Braidley" - July 2019, a couple weeks later
* #3.06 "Cult of B.O.B." - August 2019
* #3.07 "Punch" - August 2019, a short time later
* #3.08 "Witch Hunt" - August 2019
* #3.09 "Deceit of Clay" - August 2019, one day later
* #3.10 "Conspiracy Theories" - 2021, unspecified
* #3.11 "Cave of Wonders" - September 2019, two weeks after "Punch"
* #3.12 "Words You Don't Want to Hear" - a very short time later, so still September 2019. One week before the volume finale.
* #3.13 "Daniel Kravitz of Antique Shop vs. Geralt of Rivia" - just before #3.08, so August 2019
* #3.14 "Maneuvers" - unspecified, but still during that week before the finale
* #3.15 "Young Rufus" - many years ago, when Rufus was 14
* #3.16 "A Chosen One Walks Into a Bar" - a week after #3.12, still September 2019
* #3.17 "Ready Player Chosen One" - continuous, the same night
* #3.18 "With Great Power..." - concurrent with previous and then moving forward, the same night