Life in the city of Quentaris is never dull. The city's two feuding families, the Blues and the Greens, have just held a battle in the market. There has been a duel between wizards and a burglary at the Villains' Guild. And the Chief Soothsayer has just prophesied another disaster: 'I see a disc of changing colours, passing from hand to hand. I see murder, misery and mayhem. I see the disc destroying everyone who touches it!'