Jynx arrives at the docks, where he boards The Winning Grin, an airship borne for Sylvania … and the only one he could afford, after the Audit hit him with considerable taxes on his new castle, and after he found out that iron isn't quite worth what it used to be.

Jynx is accompanied by Born-in-Shame, the Abaddonian "Silent Ones" cheetah, who helps him with his luggage. He finds that Madame Xanadu (the fortune-telling crow) and her Rhian assistant, Bruno, are aboard as well (with Madame Xanadu's wagon).

They are soon joined by a foppish fox bard, and his companion, an Aelfin Water Mage by the name of Scarlet. The fox insists that such a hero as Jynx needs a bard to sing his praises, and that he needs the wisdom of a mage. Jynx protests that he can't afford to cover their passage, when Eve rolls up in her pink heart-shaped carriage (pulled by a couple of pink drokars). Eve pays the way of the fox and the Aelfin as a "going away present" for Jynx.

So, Scarlet gets to accompany a great hero, and Jynx has a full adventuring party! (Warrior, mage, cleric and thie – er, bard!)