In light of befriending the orphan in last week’s episode, Archie is distraught about being marked as the “Red Paladin.” When he meets up with Betty and Jughead at Pops Diner, things only get worse when they reveal that they found multiple quest cards.
So, Archie turns to the all-knowing Hiram, who admits that he printed “at least a dozen.” Go figure.
When Archie realizes that tracking down the rest of the cards is nearly impossible, he comes up with an alternative plan with Jughead and Betty. If they alter the rules of the quest, Archie will be in the clear. Instead of killing the Red Paladin, the players will need to challenge Archie, who has to “defend the mountain for 12 hours.”
Betty pulls Jughead aside and brings up the Fizzle Rock situation. When he points his finger at Hiram, Betty lets him down gently, saying, “My source tells me your mom is stepping in, Jug.” Although he claims he’ll look into it, something’s not right.
With the help of Hiram (barf), Archie finds a location to hold the Red Paladin fight: a hole-in-the-wall boxing gym.
It doesn’t take long for a herd of people to arrive to challenge Archie, who—of course—pulls through with a “W.”
Even better, Hiram lets him keep the keys to the gym to make amends for distributing the cards.