This is the second novel in the trilogy The Shangrilla Artifacts, A Tale of Leadership Lost. In the second of the three ancient scroll, King Shang, worried about his only son's accepting "an excursion to the lowlands", which he knows may mean something much more ominous, reveals his own experience on such an excursion to The Woman in Black, who tries to enlist the prince's classmates in an attempt to save him from a similar horror. Dr. Lichtenstein, the translator of the scroll, and his friend Tony Nakamichi endure subtle and not-so-subtle threats from someone who wants them to relinquish the Shangrilla Artifacts.