The evening's festivities began when a messenger arrived for Duke Aeric, wishing to speak to him outside.  The duke returned a short time later with a handful of puzzle pieces.  He told of how the messenger was there to take the duke to his Caerna dagger, which had been missing since the past week.  Duke Aeric followed the messenger, but stopped when he came across a group of eight men assaulting a young woman.  The messenger went on without the duke, who remained to give the brigands a sound thrashing, saving the girl's dignity and most likely her life from the men.  In gratitude, the girl gave the puzzle pieces to Aeric, claiming that she had been told she would know who she was supposed to give them to, and that she felt it was him.

One by one, each of the Companions received a similar message, and faced a similar test, each receiving a varying amount of puzzle pieces before returning to Court.  Even His Majesty, who arrived late in the e'en, had a handful; according to the king, he and Marquessa Catalyn had succeeded in rescuing the girl Adameyre, but halfway back to the Citadel from the Mages' Tower, she inexplicably transformed into a small bag filled with the pieces.

Eventually, all of the pieces were earned and the puzzle was completed.  Written upon the puzzle was an oath that Ohmahlourd F-f-f-fritz had sworn upon earning his first knighthood, with one difference: the addition of a final line, something about the Companions' light being a shield that all innocents could hide behind.

In the end, Bridgitte DuLac appeared to inquire after her missing daughter; when informed that Adameyr had transformed into a bag of puzzle pieces, she seemed not at all concerned.  At that point, she revealed to the Court that she was an old and powerful sorceress from the time of Arthur, and that she can created all the tests--including the missing daughter--to judge if the Companions were worthy of her gift to the Court.  The gift was a new crown, forged from the same vein of gold that King Arthur's crown was forged from.  Laid upon the crown was an enchantment which prevented the wearer--assuming that he/she is the rightful sovereign of Warwick--from any sort of mind-effecting magic or enchantment.  The Lady placed the new crown upon the head of King Mordecaii, and then took her leave of the Court.

This puzzle and it's solving took up the majority of the evening's time, but there were but two other pieces of business for the Court.  The first was a suprise visit from Magius Fangorn Flynnarel, a Companion currently residing in the northern kingdom of Anders.  Gone were his usual crimson garments and mask; Flynnarel explained their absence by saying that the borders of Ahrothen were so heavily guarded that he had to slip by incognito.

The second was a visit from a mage, a representative of a newly formed cabal of wizards who had been removed from the Mages' Tower.  They had been removed, apparently, as part of Marquessa Catalyn's "house cleaning" for questionable loyalties and/or ethics in their research.  The mage came to inform the Companions that the cabal would now be operating out of a tower to the south of Windsor, dangerously close to the infamous necromancer's school and its skeletons.  The former mages of the Tower will now charge fees for their services, including any incompleted projects taken on at the request of any Companions.