Alptraum goes with Yodhgorphat Phlagaea to watch a game of Blakatball being played between teams of priestesses from the temples of Gorphat and Blakat. He excuses himself to head off to attent a meeting with an agent of the Savanite Underground – Clenching-Fist. He is given some details on the plan to break into the Tower of Babel. Alptraum hints at how he saw Clenching-Fist in the Sea of Souls, but Clenching-Fist doesn't seem to know what Alptraum is getting at, other than "dreams are important to [Alptraum]," according to what he'd heard from Autumn-Storm.

Alptraum sees the end of the game, then parts with Phlagaea, and tails the Shadow mage (Rorschach) who had been running a Shadow ritual that provided some cover for the clandestine meeting. When he corners Rory back at the Mages' Guild Hall, he asks him about what he was doing at the game. (Alptraum doesn't reveal that he was one of those attending the secret meeting nearby.)