Sir Hamral presents his henchman, Oswald, with the suit of chainmail once worn by Prince Briareus, as well a potion that, when drunk, can bolster Oswald's health for a short time. St. James is given the short sword taken from Prince Typhon. Vandoren gives his own studded leather armor to Jacob as a reward for the lad's diligence and bravery.

Purer Grundy prays to the Five and is granted a vision of St. Iseltis, who reveals that Hecatesseus is not behind the recent attempts to kidnap little Agnes. St. Iseltis also says that Grand Master Alan, head of the Seeker Order, is bewitched and will attack King Tereus before the crusaders arrive.

Based on this knowledge Vandoren and Mendelor travel to Heremac to seek an audience with Master Edric. They visit the Bristling Boar Inn and find Dame Ellen Golding still distraught over the death of Sir Will Garnfellow. Vandoren convinces the Seeker ministers to allow a meeting with the Grand Master. There Vandoren tries to sing up a charm to break the enchantment, but instead these efforts drive Alan into a rage and the Grand Master orders his guards to seize hold of Vandoren and Mendelor. The minstrel sings up another magick charm and transports himself and the woodsman back to Upchurch.

Valerius and Dominic journey to Grimall Keep, where they meet with the mysterious Lady. She reveals that she is the source of the powerful enchantment gripping Alan, and urges Valerius not to interfere, asserting once more that Heremac is destined to fall. She says that Hecatesseus seeks to rouse Hraust, the Dragon of the Sheldings, from his centuries-long slumber. She claims to remember how St. Tolbert drove off the dragon during his last awakening.

Meanwhile, Prince Nestor and his captain, Phoebus, meet Sir Hamral. The Bailiff of Upchurch urges the ruckish prince to take his Pentian troops and lead them into his father's kingdom, where they may lay siege to the Yron Citie itself. Nestor agrees to this plan, despite its obvious danger. As a symbol of his devotion to the Five, Nestor casts off his old ruckish name and is renamed Jonam, after a legendary Pentian warrior who led his people out of slavery.

Renton and Owen are sent ahead to Canglen, where they met with Sir Dunstan, Vandoren's father and minister to Bishop Martin. Dunstan tells them all that is known about the attempted kidnapping. The minister gladly assigns Renton and Owen to the Agnes's bodyguard, which had already been tripled. The two heroes direct the defenses of the young girl, and are at her side when two black-masked intruders break into her apartments in the middle of the night. Renton and Owen spring to Agnes's aid, and one intruder is slain while his companion flees into the night.

After the rest of the group arrives, it appears that no more kidnapping attempts will be made in the foreseeable future. Valerius investigates an old house that had been used by a magician a few years ago, but finds that a family has moved into the space. The new owner is rather reluctant to allow strangers into his home until Noxumbra persuades him otherwise. Valerius examines the basement but finds no signs of recent activity.

Dominic skillfully uses his contacts amongst the merchants of Canglen to determine where the two kidnappers stayed and with whom they had met. It appears that the men paid with Rhemish gold coins, an unusual currency normally only available to extremely wealthy traveling merchants. The escaped kidnapper, it seems, paid a healthy bribe to be let out of the city where he fled north.

The group considers pursuing the kidnapper north, but some party members argue that Hecatesseus is a much more urgent threat. With this in mind, the group uses powerful magick to travel swiftly to the location of Hraust's lair, a great cave hidden high in the Sheldings.

After carefully casing the mountainside around the lair, Hecatesseus is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile the ancient dragon sleeps on in a cavernous hall at the bottom of an enormous fissure. After some debate, and with no small amount of trepidation, Valerius and Dominic lower themselves down into the steam-cloaked fissure.

At the bottom they catch their first glimpses of the great worm himself, his enormous red-black form coiled atop several king's ransoms—and no sign of Hecatesseus. The dragon sleeps deeply, but just his breath is so deadly as to almost overcome the two magicians, who retreat to the surface to report what they have seen.

Once more Purer consults with St. Iseltis. She provides a few bits of useful intelligence: removing some of the treasure will not necessarily awaken the dragon, Grand Master Edric's attack on Tereus's army will happen in the next couple of days, and Hecatesseus is currently sleeping back in his mountain fastness.

After some consideration, the group decides to travel immediately to Hecatesseus's lair and slay the wizard once and for all. Valerius and Dominic cast their spells of transport, but some strange warding magic warps their spells, and the group arrives in an altogether unexpected destination: a dreary underground maze. After spending several hours wandering through the labyrinth, it become apparent that some sort of powerful charm is confusing the way. And at several junctures the explorers find grim tidings of what might lie ahead: the crushed corpses of ruck-men, broken weapons, and suits of mail empty except for the piles of dust within them. Footsteps and low moaning are also heard infrequently.

The group finds a small stone pyramid, inscribed with writing in Tynan, Herachean, Aeptetean, and a fourth, unidentifiable language, each inscription seeming to state the same message, welcoming a powerful being known as the Theraltean Guardian.

In another room is an enormous stone crypt, four feet high and ten feet long, its heavy stone cover cast aside, and inside a gold sarcophagus, some nine feet long, smashed open.

The band presses forward and enters a strange chamber decorated with alien art depicting crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and other exotic animals beside a mighty river. And waiting in the room is an ancient horror: A towering mummy with the head of a bull, its dry linen wrappings limned with strange glyphs, and eldritch markings carved into its great, copper-tipped horns.

The very sight of this monstrosity paralyzes Valerius, Hamral, and Mendelor, leaving Renton undaunted. The bold warrior charges forward to battle with the horror, which exhibits enormous strength and unholy toughness. Meanwhile Dominc calls up charms of fire to blast the monster.

Renton is badly hurt, but he holds the line long enough for his paralyzed comrades to regain their faculties. The combined might of the entire group is enough to force the creature to transform into a whirling cloud of undead sand, but even this transformation is not enough to save the monster from its ultimate destruction.

Relieved by this victory, the group turns its attention to finding an exit when suddenly, Renton's very flesh blackens and rots away from a terrible wasting disease. Renton falls dead, and within moments his corpse has been utterly corrupted and fallen into dust.

His sorrowful friends collect his belongings and scoop up his remains. They soon find an exit to the surface, where they discover that this maze is far, far from the mountain fastness of Hecatesseus—and that they are instead within sight of the Yron Citie itself.

The Roleplaying Award (RP) includes PBM responses as well as participation in the live session. Negative XP awards under other represent XP costs for item creation.