The group sets out from Beeton, following Honeymead Road north until they reach the King's Highway, then travelling west until they reach Cillamar.  En route, they encounter a group of the King's Guards, who warm them that there are ethnic tensions in the city, and that Mai-Ling's coppery skin might draw some unwelcome attention.  The guards also mention that they've heard an order of monks - the Order of the Dawning Sun - has recently reclaimed the ruins of Castle Whiterock, which was once a stronghold of their order.

Cillamar's great stone wall comes in sight late on the second day of travel, though the fortifications are rendered much less impressive by the wide gap along the settlement's southern boundary. Heading down to the city's eastern gate, the group passes through a shaty town of makeshift huts and tents.  One of the dirty inhabitants of these dwellings approaches the group and offers his services as a guide.  He gives his name as "Old Ned", which is a rather curious appelation given he is a human male of no more than 15 or 16 years.

Despite his youth and odd name, Ned proves a capable guide.  When the group asks about places to get magical items identified, he introduces them to Sukuhn the Fortune Teller, a barbarian mystic who not only performs the required service, but offers the group a reward if they should bring her the head of Kaernga, leader of the White Talon Orcs.  Sukuhn offers no explanation for her hatred of this orc, who she says lives beneath the ruins of Castle Whiterock, but the reward she offers is more than enough to pique the party's interest.

Ned then leads the group to the Inn of the Slumbering Drake, where they find lodgings.  They also meet the proprietor, an elven woman named Lady Chauntessa, as well as the alcohol-loving Ixnay, Chauntessa's faerie dragon familiar (though Chauntessa herself calls Ixnay her 'friend').  Lady Chauntessa also proves to have an interest in the ruins of Castle Whiterock.  Describing herself as an 'antiquarian and historian', she offers to pay for any books on history or magical lore that the group might recover from the ruins.  The group points out that the Order of the Dawning Sun might view the books as their property, and Lady Chauntessa indicates her willingness to pay for copies to be made.

After a pleasant night's sleep, the group begins the next day with some trading, which takes most of the morning. William then sets out to stake his claim to the forsaken Temple of Denithae, the one-time lair of Tsathar Rho.  To this end, he meets with the highest ranking Paladin of Justicia in the city, Knight Protector (and Lady) Talbalt.  Lady Talbalt agrees that if the group can remove the taint of evil from the grounds of the closed temple, then she will support William's claim to the property.  She also makes mention of her father, who disappeared in Castle Whiterock some years earlier, though she does not ask the group to search for him.

Rather than explore the temple immediately, the group decides to wait until the next morning.  Instead, they occupy themselves with other tasks.  First, they go to Aunties, wanting to at least meet the woman the Widow Canty told them could be an ally if they need one.  Auntie is an elderly half-elf who runs the most common sort of boarding house.  She proves to the kind of person who can 'acquire' hard-to-find goods.  In conversation, the group ask her about 'Hawk'.  Auntie indicates that Hawk - along with his partner and presumed lover, Raven - was one of the last great 'independant' thieves in the city, before the guild took firm control of all illicit activity.

Aftyer that, Zook seeks out his big city cousins, the Glimers, but it emerges that they have gone to Castle Whiterock, in search of some ancient Gnomish settlement they believe to be there.  For some reason, the rest of the group immediately assumes that they will need rescuing.

The next day, the group at last enters the Temple of Denithae.  They discover that the altar can move, but there is no mechanism to do so.  However, when Mai-Ling, clad in the robes they found in the Outer Gods' temple near Beeton, attempts to push the altar, it smoothly opens.

The group descends into a subterranean complex, where they are swiftly beset by vicious, mutated bats, and an equally mutated tentacled monster known as a darkmantle.  Both threats are easily dispatched.  The group then encounters a dead-end chamber with a very low ceiling.  On the far side of the chamber is a chest.  The chest is unlocked and untrapped, but when it is opened, several animated toy soldiers boil out of it and attack!  The group overcomes this threat as well, however, and is greatly pleased with the loot they recover from within the chest.