They find the trail again and push deeper and deeper into the terrible rust storm. They lose several metal items, rusted by contact with the raging rust storm, including the legendary sack-barrow.
Finally they approach the giant monolith at the centre of the storm. At the base of the monolith they see three large, sturdy and stormproof tents. Two guards in rugged military storm gear hail for them to stop, and ask them if they are friend or foe. They explain who they are, and ask if there is any shelter.
The guards lead them inside, clean them and offer them something to drink. They de-mask and reveal themselves to be two fierce, red-headed twins. They are ushered into the next tent where a Porcelain Prince and a Diesel Dwarf greet them. The Dwarf is in charge, and introduces himself as Laszlo Montague IV and his associate as Guilded 3-Era, a rogue slavebody consciousness.
They mention they are seeking Sky-Keys and Laszlo mentions that the Obsidian Gnomes within the death-facing passage are rumoured to know where one is. Laszlo seems friendly and confident and openhanded, and he explains that he and his companions are archeologists, on a commission to find the tomb of the Dragon That Will Rise Again. Vulcan casually mentions that they have been there, and they agree to take Laszlo and his team there. They are ecstatic, and Laszlo agrees to resupply them in return. Laszlo leaves the twins to guard their supplies and they take their motorcycles, walker, and Laszlo's walker eastwards.
They head out, and head off the road toward where the ruins of the tomb lie. They come over a rise and see a field of humanoid figures moving around in the rust storm. They watch for a while and the figures seem to be moving in strange regular patterns. They decide to get closer and see that the figures are weird biomechanical zombies, who appear to be moving and working in some sort of factory or warehouse, long since rusted away. As they get closer they see the human parts have long since been scoured away, leaving long dead animated zombies. They walk amongst them cautiously but they do not react.
They pass beyond and travel for three days into the wastes, where the storm subsides and they find themselves amongst the huge metal pylons that mark the Tomb of the Dragon that will Rise. They explore for a little bit and Vulcan gasps and pulls Renko's hands back from digging in the wide plain between the pylons - it is a lake of mercury, toxic if ingested. The lake itself is probably worth an an incredible amount, if they had the ability to transport it. It is covered by a thick layer of rusted metal, floating above it.
From the location of the pythons they surmise that the entrance to the tomb is under the lake and they try to work out how they might remove the mercury. Then Vulcan has a brainwave, and utilises all his engineering skill and ingenuity.
He places one porcelain walker at either end of the lake, and strings copper wires between them, and runs a powerful electric current from the power plants of both walkers. It has the desired effect - the mercury parts along the patterns of the magnetic field created, and the rusted metal parts and liquid mercury forms arcs and ridges following the magnetic field, clearing a path to a sealed hatchway at the bottom of the lake.
They hurry down, open the hatch, enter the tomb and close it behind them. They find themselves in a long hallway, lined with coptic jars. Ish opens one and finds it contains small white porcelain ants, which start to come to life - he quickly closes the jar. They check each jar in turn and find semi-awakened mice, rats, birds, cats, snakes and dogs in each jar, in that order.
At the end of the corridor before a great door are three jars, each of a different colour, with a venn diagram on the floor in the middle of them, with each of three circles in corresponding colours. Lisciac looks inside each vessel - it contains odd liquids and oils alongside various bones, organs and fluids. Vulcan deduces that this means they are supposed to mix the contents of the jars, but they decide as a the group that this is the last thing on Earth they will do.
Behind the door is a funeral chamber - a large sarcophagus with terracotta warriors surrounding it. After testing that the warriors will not come to life (they do not) they open the sarcophagus and see a human sized porcelain figure inside.
After checking the hatch that the lake is still magnetised, they together haul the jars and treasure up to the surface by the shore of the lake. Sissy manages to drop the jar with the porcelain ants, and while most fall back into the tomb, some escape out into the lake bed.
The stand beside the lake edge, and Vulcan deactivates the magnetic field. As the magnetic field fails, the mercury falls back into the lake, and the metallic fragments and rust splash down, sinking, and then rising to the surface and within a minute completely concealing the mercury lake as the rust and metal floats to the surface. Sissy notices with annoyance a few white ceramic ants escape from the lake onto the shore, and burrow into the earth. Laszlo is extremely satisfied, and declares that the expedition has exceeded his wildest imagination. However, they have a huge amount of loot, and they are unsure how to get it back to civilisation...
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