Doom had suspected for some time that the Shadow Lord was influencing the Rithmere Games in some way, so he decided to enter as a fighter in order to investigate. He brought along Dain, who disguised himself as a worker at the Champion Inn. Meanwhile, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine had lost all their money to Queen Bee, and decided to enter the Games in the hopes of at least winning the one hundred gold coins for finalists.