The return to their home city is not as happy of an occasion as hoped.  Instead, moving quickly, the Chasers leverage any advantage, connection or coercion to get as close to their goal as possible.  Once inside the palace our beleaguered travelers finalize their plan and pray The Diamond is kind to harbingers of bad news.  Before they can plead their case, a terrible truth unfolds; someone else has had the same idea and they got here first…