The cabal takes a week off of anything that could be called "labor" to rest and replenish their mana. On the 8th of June, a Tuesday, the Hallow and all five mages have full reserves of mana. They get a phone call from Rabid Annie, who lets them know that Diomedes would like to meet with them at the Emerald Scroll. Dorothy stays behind to work on something or other obscure and probably very scholarly, while the other four head over to the bar. They find Diomedes encamped in one of the back rooms; he orders a round of drinks before launching into his spiel.

He explains that a treasure of great personal importance to him, called the Iron Grip, was taken from him before he was lost in the Forest of the Forgotten, but he believes he has found where it is hidden. He promises that he will hold no grudge against anyone who walks away from his request. There is a vault, he says, in the sewers of Boston, that was once owned by the Lantern Bearers. Though largely forgotten fifteen years later, the Lantern Bearers were Diomedes's enemies, and he holds them chiefly responsible for his long imprisonment. This vault may, however, be under new management now; though he has found the vault, he has not ascertained the identity of its owner. Therefore, he wants the help of the Harbor Lights cabal in breaking into the vault; in exchange for their help, he forgoes all claim to any treasure in the vault other than the Iron Grip. After only a little deliberation, the four agree to help him with this.

Diomedes leads them out a back exit to avoid notice, and from there across town. Surya and Tommy recognize this as roughly the same part of town where Surya broke out of an asylum during his Awakening. A nondescript door in the side of a building opens to a stairway leading downward, below street level. They are surrounded by rats, possibly thousands of rats; Tommy is quick to recognize this as the urban legend of a rat king. They notice signs that vagrants have taken shelter down here as well. As the mages do not relish the notion of being swarmed by nigh-infinite rats, they make it clear that they don't want any trouble and will be moving on.

They continue deeper down, stepping through a ruined wall into the sewers. Again they are challenged by strange creatures - humanoid shapes clinging to the ceiling and moving in the shadows. Again the mages state their intentions to pass through peacefully. The creatures - sewer mutants of some kind, to be sure - continue to lurk in the shadows, and do not attack when the mages advance.

They reach the spot that Diomedes believes to be the door to the vault, and with some considerable mystical effort, they breach its seal. Inside, they find a worked stone chamber. The door closes behind them again once they have entered - and then the room is filled with fire, the flames spouting from gems inside the maws of gargoyles. An instant before the flames burn them to ash, Surya controls the flame to flow around each of the mages, leaving them entirely unscathed. Intense as the heat is, his control proves the greater, and he maintains it with ease until Tommy and Volchik can remove the gems from the gargoyles, severing their connection to their mana source and snuffing their flame. One of the gems is recovered intact.

Through the doors into the next room, the group sees three massive suits of armor stationed as guards. When the mages pass through the door, the suits of armor (to no one's surprise) animate and attack. Tommy blocks them from passing through the doors and engages them with his fists, while Surya and Saint shoot at them, and Diomedes and Volchik attack with psychic force. It takes awhile, but the suits of armor eventually collapse, leaving the five mages free to enter the chamber where the Lantern Bearers stored their treasures.

Diomedes immediately claims the Iron Grip, a length of barbed wire. He wraps it around his arm, and its barbs pierce old scars. The other three treasures are closed coffers. Surya detects latent Space magic on one of them, and concludes that someone placed a magical trap to attach a thread of sympathy to anyone who disturbed it. He dispels the trap and pockets the box, and the five mages depart from the vault.