[Actual RP date: 15 Feb 1999.]

Bambridge (aka the Wooden Shekel), with the aid of his associates, Celine (a Naga) and Aunwin (a Rokuga "tauroid"), secures a line across the Moat of Vipers which surrounds the palace of the Emperor Potentate. He slides across, and then deals with the next obstacle: a room with a floor of sharp spikes, and filled with intoxicating vapors cast off by an acidic goo which discourages climbing the walls to get past.

The Shekel gets past this, but only narrowly avoids getting cleaved by the next hazard – a swinging pendulum blade! He gets past this, and finds that the rest of the blades in this hallway have ceased to function, a further testament to the long-forgotten state of this trapped area in the bottom of the palace.

In the next obstacle, he sends a vermite into a tiled chamber … and the chamber comes to life before his eyes, the mosaic patterns on the walls transforming into the scales of a giant serpent, which kills the vermite. Bambridge uses another vermite as a decoy, and his own natural camoflage, to slip through while the Watcher takes out the smaller prey.

In the last obstacle, the chamber of the Guardian, Bambridge is faced with a giant statue of a multi-armed sword-bearing Naga. It is enchanted to recognize any known species on Sinai … but Bambridge has heard that it is blind to certain Exiles. (His hope is that he's one of them.) He sneaks across the room … but is surprised when the statue springs to life. When everything clears, the Wooden Shekel realizes that he was not attacked … but all of the remaining vermites which he had in a box were obliterated by the golem's attack!

Visibly shaken, the Shekel continues past, at last finding himself in a secluded chamber filled with luxurious trappings, and a wealth of books (as well as shekels). He helps himself to some of the metal coins, and leaves a wooden shekel – his calling card, of course – in their place. That done, he finds a secret passage, and slips on, continuing his quest to rescue the Priest-Queen's sister.