Late at night, while the Maximals rest near Wanderlust Pass, in the confines of their own ship, Scythe goes to action. He sets Hulk by the cargo entrance, holding in his hands a glass vial full of an expensive mystical concoction. Then, Scythe escapes from the ship, and instructs Hulk to break the vial. His plan: to leave the Maximals grounded, and rejoin the Predacon race. Scythe allows Morynth to escape from her bindings, then runs toward the town, where a mage he has paid a good deal of money has offered to teleport him to the jungle continent. However, letting the mosquito go was a fatal mistake. Immediately upon her release, she shoots Scythe in the back with a poison dart, crippling him. Meanwhile, the vial of potion causes Hulk to transform and grow, making a racket in the interior hallways of the ship. Snowshriek goes up to his top velocity, crashing into the monster and pushing it out the back bay doors, as it expands into something not quite dragon or umberhulk, but in between. The Dragonhulk starts to breathe fire on the ship, but it doesn't have wings that enable it to fly. Shadowraith rushes to the bridge, and takes the ship to the air, cruising to an altitude above Hulk's range, and firing with the ship's guns. Snowshriek takes down Morynth as quickly as he can, knocking her unconscious before she can transform and escape back to her swamp dwelling. The Whitestar itself finishes off the Dragonhulk, shooting it down before it can rampage into to the city. Scythe manages to slowly crawl away in the chaos, weakening from the slow-acting poison. He contacts the mage, who teleports him to the jungle...miles from either Threstar or Hydron's holdings. Now incapable of movement, Scythe can do nothing but wait for the jungle creatures to take his life.
The crew has had poor luck with commanders, and now, as next in line, Shadowraith must accept the duty, even though he does not want to bear the weight. He sets the ship course to Falleen, where an elven priest of Threshtar has been allowed admittance to speak with the Maximals. Paladyne and Victoria are distrusting of this elf, named Lucian, but they have no other choice but to accept his aid as a guide into the underworld realms. He instructs them to a place in the jungle, and when they land their ship, he treks them to an entrance slightly buried under a shallow pond. The muddy slope gives way to a seemingly endless cave. Shadowraith, Paladyne, and Snowshriek make the trek, along with Lucian and Victoria, into the jamming zone, where they lose contact with Clockwork and Trenek back on the ship.
Meanwhile, down in the caverns, a creature created by a Drow wizard is on a mission. Called simply Mongrel, he is on task to journey to the wizards' towers that hang from the ceilings of the caves…and bring back spell components for his master. Able to assume other forms in order to blend in with the crowds, this froglike monstrosity assumes the shape of a drow, and journeys upward, into the higher caverns.
The Maximals' trip takes them past the lair of an insectoid creature that feeds on metal. Able to, by sheer luck, avoid the rust monster's corrosive grasp, the Maximals defeat the creature, though Victoria's sword is damaged in the process. Snowshriek lends her his own so the journey can continue.
The Maximals encounter Drow before they encounter their city, and the dark elves are displeased at the disturbance. A short fight occurs, but the Maximals manage to convince the elves they are not there for combat, but only to see their lord and master. The drow state they will speak to the "Guardian." After they return, they inform the Maximals that the Guardian wishes to test them before they can enter the lair. The Maximals walk into the city, a dark, gloomy place filled with homes carved like holes in the expansive caverns, and towers carved from hanging stalactites.
The Maximals reach the entrance to Hydron's Lair, and there, sits the largest snake they have ever seen. The Guardian of the Lair, Hydron's most trusted priest, is nevertheless motivated by greed or treasure, should the Maximals offer it. However, they have nothing to offer, and, so, the serpent strikes, pinning them between himself and a legion of elven wizards. Within the Drow towers, the wizard's beast, Mongrel, becomes aware of a disturbance outside. He follows the wizards to see what is the matter, still taking the form of an ordinary, if slightly tall, Drow, himself.
Snowshriek attempts to run past the snake, and is caught up in the coils of his tail. The noise of his flight engines in the small tunnel start to drop rock and debris into the combat. One such rock pins the giant serpent down, midway through his length, and another is caught by Paladyne, narrow seconds before it might have crushed Victoria. Paladyne and Shadowraith do battle with the serpent while Snowshriek struggles to escape. Finally freeing himself, the owl shoots off into the deeper cavern, leaving the others behind just as the serpent falls. Just then, however, the first round of magic missiles begins to fly near. The heroes race after their comrade...but, they are swiftly joined with the wizard's pet, who drops his Drow disguise. A set of blast doors stands in the caverns, and shuts behind the heroes, and Mongrel as well. The Maximals fear another fight, but it is a real surprise to them when the creature reveals that he is a Maximal. The stasis pod fell in the jamming zone over a month ago, and, undetected, was brought to a wizard for study. Still capable of transforming into a working, if unsightly, robot mode, Mongrel asks the Maximals if he may join their quest.