Peakpuddle, a town of some three hundred people in the Fifth Concentric, west. The town is blighted by a curse, and the curse has a name: Quarlo Bregg, corrupt wizard once of the first ring.

Benmelo has marked Quarlo Bregg for death, but the town is big; big enough to smother the master o' the green's keen senses and render him all but useless in the hunt for the Bandavinor. And then there's the nine Shaded Griffelax serving their mystic master, too...

Benmelo needs a plan, and has the germ of a desperate idea which might succeed in liberating Peakpuddle, but only if his friends Paj and Sambal have the courage to play their parts, and can hold their nerve long enough to see it done.

Alas, Quarlo Bregg has a curse of his own waiting for Benmelo, and many forces are now converging on the poor fifth-ring town. Not all of those forces are friendly, and there's more to Peakpuddle than meets the eye...