A group of adventurers stand beneath the dragon's den. To the west, they can see the lands of the Angevins, with which France is tentatively at peace. Dragon quartz litters the ground, the glassy product of the dragon's breath, making the difficult slope to the dragon's cave even more treacherous. Quentin Marlough, Redden Altmere, Durn of the Unseelie, the Dragon of the Romany and Sir Francis of Rheims.
The Dragon, priest of St Michael, suddenly goes into convulsions. The company is a man short even before the battle commences.
The cave suddenly bursts out with dragon fire, and an enormous red-scaled dragon strides forward out of the cave, naming itself "Flame of Death". It wears a magical third eye on its forehead. The palpable sensation of evil reminded the company of a similar situation years earlier on the Mediterranean. They were coming back from the Crusades when their ship was attacked by a Leviathan. The dragon radiated the same evil.
The company had held their ground, and none strode forward into the trap, The dragon mocks them, their country, and their religion. Battle ensued. The dragon falls on Sir Francis, pinning him beneath its great weight.
The sorcerer Quentin Altmere summoned a giant demonic serpent to wrestle the dragon, only to be surprised when the serpent almost defected on him. The dragon made short work of the serpent.
In the end, the battle turned into a standoff. The dragon had inflicted grave wounds on most of the Company, but the dragon was also grievously injured. Finally the dragon, torn between safety and the agony of leaving its hoard, decided to abandon its lair and fled from the scene, winging toward the Italian Alps.
Durn heads into the lair to scout the hoard, but trips a magical trap. Most of the hoard vanishes into a magical pentagram and falls into Hell. The company scoops up the remainder.
The Company descends the mountain, where they encounter a small party of Angevin knights led by a young knight named William Marshall. Given that there's relative peace (for the moment) between the Angevins and King Louis, the encounter is reasonably cordial. Hospitality ensues. The Dragon of the Romany remains unconscious and fitful.
The Company arrives several days later in Paris, only to discover that the infant Prince Phillip Augustus has been kidnapped. The Unseelie are blamed. The Captain of the Guard (and the heroes' old comrade), the Raven Knight, has been arrested and charged as an accessory to the crime.