A group of young children petition James Hind to recover their puppy. Overcome with excitement at the prospect of being chartered (and probably a little hungover from last night!) the Ebon League leaps into action without ever asking the children their names, nor the name or breed of their dog. The middle child, a boy, gives the Ebon League a human femur, which he explains that his dog carried back not long before he went missing.
The children and the Ebon League return to the orphanage at The House of the Morning, where the intrepid adventurers briefly investigate unusual swaths of farmland where cornstalks have been uprooted. After investigating the temple graveyard looking for a missing femur, they depart for Old Meg's hut, the residence of a deceased old crone. After convincing several drug-addled teenagers to leave the basement and rethink their lives, they find the old tomb at the base of Pillar Rock.
Casting aside the massive boulder that kept the undead from escaping into Eveningstar, the Ebon League entered the tomb and were immediately beset by giant ants with gnashing teeth. Presented with three distinct sepulchers—one dedicated to lost travelers, one the resting place of a wealthy merchant-prince, and the mausoleum of the Eveningstar family, who founded the village—the Ebon League entered the shrine to Shaundakul and were attacked by three zombies, who were frozen to death in a terrible blizzard.