Isak arrives just as the madness on the streets increases a notch.

He saves Mayel from a blood-crazed mob, and a man is beaten to death for wearing what appears to be a priest's robe. As he watches Ilumene forcing another man into the now-deserted Temple of Death.

Two separate armies arrives on Scree's outskirts, while inside, the White Circle appears to have lost control of its mercenary forces. The Witch of Llehden and the Demi-God Fernal arrive in Scree and encounter Isak, and working together they realise that the new theatre at the city's heart has been imbued with a spell that is increasing the tensions in the city and driving the natives to madness.

In the south, Lord Styrax has also been busy: he has double-crossed the daemon he's been dealing with for several years, freeing himself of its influence, while finding the opportunity to demonstrate his peerless martial skills to the Chetse generals – and he 'accidentally' demolishes the great Temple of the Sun in Thotel, revealing the hiding place of one of the Crystal Skulls.

Back in Scree, all order has collapsed, and even well-trained soldiers are hard-pressed to walk the streets without being overwhelmed by the crazed mobs. Isak, discovering that Isherin Purn was instrumental in Lord Bahl's death, insists on attacking the Red Palace, where Siala has secreted the necromancer. He manages the attack, but is cut off from the bulk of his army by the mobs and forced into a desperate last-stand defence of the Temple Plaza, which the Knights of the Temples are trying to save from attack.

While they are fighting in the north of the city, Rojak puts the next part of his plan in motion. He sets the southern part of Scree on fire, to drive the mobs towards Isak.