The Ring of Truth. War is brewing between Northland and Grafton, both of whom have signed treaties with Camelot and expect the kingdom to send its armies to help. King Arthur refuses to choose between his allies until he knows the cause of the trouble. He makes arrangements for the trio to find a diplomatic solution to the problem, not knowing that the rulers of Northland and Grafton both lack a clear sense of what is going on. There is an outside force orchestrating this unrest; this force is determined to use our heroes' deaths to ensure that Camelot gets swept into a war it cannot win.