The Champion of Shadows is summoned into the office of Arch-Inquisitrix Esther yodh Rahab, Temple Liaison to the Knights Templar. He is offered a choice between four possible assignments for Violet Lance, it being impossible to accomplish all of them in the alloted time, so therefore it being left at his discretion which one to tackle first. Although the Champion expresses grave concerns about the situation of the Bronze Lancers in Bosch, and a desire to help them, lest the Knights Templar lose any more members, he opts to travel to the newly seceded territory of Zahirinee to help with a "monster problem" there, and in hopes of establishing good relations with the fledgling independent territory.