Born-in-Shame, the "Silent One" cheetah from Abaddon, returns from his adventures in Sylvania in the guise of a slave, in order to return the copy of the Sylvanian Heresy that he was loaned by Zoltan Cambio. In the Shiny Shoppe, Zoltan learns something of the adventures in Sylvania, from Born-in-Shame's broken narrative, and he pieces together that Born-in-Shame is actually planning on going to the Forbidden Zone of Bosch on a quest with the water mage, Scarlet, to dispose of a cursed sword.

Zoltan tries to warn Born-in-Shame of the dangers of Bosch, and, toward this end, takes him to Golgotha – the base of operations of the Knights Templar – where he introduces him to an aged ex-warrior-priest, Brother Dante. The aged Rath'ani (raccoon), a veteran of campaigns against Bosch, tells what he can of the horrible place, causing Born-in-Shame to reconsider the wisdom of his quest. However, the cheetah is bound by honor, and he certainly can't allow Scarlet to travel to Bosch alone.