Plot summary
Xena intervenes when her old friend Lycus is attacked over a clue to the lost Sumerian treasure. The assassin Thersites kills the pursuer and already possesses two more clues. To continue the search, Xena must also recruit Petracles, a warlord to whom she was once engaged.
The treasure interests the others as wealth, but Xena is concerned about the Titan's Key hidden with it. The key opens the way to ambrosia, which can turn a mortal into a god. She intends to keep it out of dangerous hands.
During the journey, Gabrielle is drawn to Petracles despite Xena's warnings that he is manipulative. He admits that he treated his engagement to Xena as a conquest and claims to have changed. Xena distrusts him and threatens him if he hurts Gabrielle.
The four retrieve a ruby from the Temple of Demeter and use it with the other clues to locate a hidden cave. Inside they find the treasure and confirmation of the ambrosia's existence. Thersites steals the key and takes Gabrielle hostage.
Xena and Petracles follow through a passage where noise can trigger falling rocks. In the ambrosia chamber, Gabrielle creates an opening for Xena to disarm Thersites, but the struggle becomes a three-way fight. Thersites mortally wounds Petracles and seizes Gabrielle again.
Petracles uses his remaining strength to turn the assassin's own dagger against him, saving her. As he dies, Xena accepts that his claim to have changed was sincere. Rather than use the ambrosia or allow another person to seek godhood, Xena and Gabrielle cast it into a volcano.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, A Fistful of Dinars. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.