The Maximals back in Carriton finish their work, and Paladyne reports his very extensive findings to the commander. Having received word about the downed pod, they now head west, to the mountains of the gnomes.
Shadowraith, Trenek, Scythe and Hulk meet up at the base of the hills. Spending a night there encamped, they have an encounter with a giant who decides that the resting animals would make good food. He changes his mind, however, when he breaks his club over Scythe's drone and discovers that Hulk is more than a match for his strength.
When the travelers catch up to Skystrike, they follow the tracks of the wagon into the side of a mountain and to a marvelous city within. The town is so full of working machines that Scythe wonders for a moment if the Cybertrons have found their second home. However, the gnomes that swarm around, asking them questions as they maximize, seem to prove different. They worm through the crowds to a workshop, where they finally find the stasis pod. The door to the outside is locked, and before they can break it open, they hear the sounds of an activation...being interrupted. As quickly as they can, the Maximals rush into the room and shove the tinkerers aside. Skystrike tries to delay the activation, while Scythe focuses on the broken scanning equipment on the pod. The Maximals soon realize that the interruption has left the protoform unstable, and it will die if it is not activated soon. Skystrike bypasses the life-form scan, just as Trenek points out that the protoform seems to have been modified. When the new Maximal awakes, he not only has no beast mode, but he has iron plating for armor, and a power-pack made from a steam engine. The tinker gnomes, who could not read the Maximal displays to activate the protoform properly, had been pushing buttons and installing parts trying to make the sleeping "golem" awaken.
The new Maximal identifies himself as Clockwork. Designated ship historian, he now has a lot more armor and a little more engine power than his protoform should have afforded, which he has no problem using to break the little gnomes that made him into a freak. However, the other Maximals finally calm him. It seems that the mountain interior has very low ambient energon radiation. As long as Clockwork doesn't leave the gnomish capitol, he is safe, but the moment he steps outside, he'll overload. The Maximals work on several solutions while they wait for their commander to arrive. Skystrike is unlucky in trying to modify the stasis pod to fit the new recruit's now-expanded body. Meanwhile, Scythe tires himself out explaining the concept of the "intelligent golems" to the gnomes, and decides he will find some non-tinkers to help him, instead. He tries to teach a few of the less technologically-oriented gnomes a trick or two about robot repair, but his knowledge is over their heads.
Rift and Paladyne arrive at the gnome city. Paladyne presents his findings at the Carriton library, detailing the histories of the Five Evil Gods of Tristam. One, a black dragon, Threshtar, god of war, leader of the dark gods. Two, a once-aged woman, now become young, Morynth, goddess of plagues and swarming insects. Three, goddess of storms, Zerine, once only represented as a young woman, but, now, also, as a naga. Four, god of lies and betrayal, Hydron, worshipped by drow and represented by hydras and snakes. And, lastly, Dim-duhl, god of the apocalypse, who legends say should not awaken until the end of time. Paladyne states that he believes the dark gods are Predacons, all, and the evidence seems to clearly support it.
Rift reiterates that the Maximals will deal with Threshtar's band when they resolve the problem of their broken engines. There is also the problem, now, of Clockwork, and getting him away from the gnomes that are driving him crazy. The tinkers insist that they could be a lot of help to the Maximals if the Maximals would do them the favor they originally were designing golems to do. All they need to do is break into the gnomes' old vault and retrieve their copy of The Instruction Manual, which explains the usage of their machines and has been lost for years. The keeper of the Instruction Manual, a gnome named Kimble, placed the Manual and many of his most precious inventions in a vault behind very secure traps. However, since only Kimble knew the sequence to outwit the traps, no other gnome had access. Kimble took a wrong step in the vault, and since then, the vault has been called Kimble's Tomb. If the Maximals retrieve the Manual, the gnomes won't have to keep their golem. The Maximals think that the job sounds easy, and if it will give the gnomes something else to be excited about, they will check it out.
The Maximals follow a few of the critters over to their vault, and discover that the first door is not locked. They work their way through several traps in the first room: Rift's strategy to set off as many of the flying spike traps as they can before proceeding works very well. In the next room, there is a puzzle with switches and doors, and flames that shoot from the wall. Scythe disables the flame trap as best as he can, then tries to flip the switch that will in theory unlock the next door. However, he soon finds himself trapped in a hole in the wall when a trap shuts him inside. The box that trapped Scythe is identical to one on the opposite side of the room, so the Maximals work to open it as well. Inside, they find a human ranger named Delric. The rest of his party either retreated or was smashed by the trap-filled room next door. The ranger was almost killed with spikes, but was saved by a Ring of Regeneration, which kept him preserved until the Maximals arrived. He is a little unhappy with the prospect of continuing the adventure, but stays with the Maximals as they go through the next few rooms. They manage to disarm several traps of many varieties, and collect a few treasures from traps in the walls. Skystrike is damaged heavily when she falls into a spiked pit (apparently, the Maximals tease, she forgot that she could fly). However, in the pit there is the body of a gnome—Kimble himself—who has the key that unlocks a later door. That door, however, happens to be in piranha-infested water, a fact Scythe discovers when he and Hulk fall into the water trap. Luckily for the Maximals, the human they encountered is a fair swimmer.