Weasel, king of the Golden Empire based on the planet Aurea, is watching the sun set on his palace balcony with his Chief Adviser Ryan as he notices strange, giant, buglike beasts landing on the planet from outer space. He and Ryan rush east from Astrás to the village of Wicomedia to find that it has been torched by the invaders, who were using the beasts as spaceships. When Ryan asks the villagers what happened, he says a huge army of Arachna from Planet Vigam has invaded the planet, led by some guy named Inquisitor Rhys, who is searching for the Key to The Jungle, an artifact from Planet Squid given to Weasel years ago for safekeeping. The villagers say the Arachna have moved east, looking for someone from Planet Squid who can lead him to the key. They follow the trail left by the Arachna soldiers, who have already pushed the Golden Empire military southeast to Wantioch. Weasel and Ryan finally catch up to the Arachna in the city of Wancyra, where they sneak around the city to find Inquisitor Rhys torturing Garett, an immigrant from Planet Squid, for information. Weasel escapes with Garett while Ryan fights Inquisitor Rhys. The fight goes well at first, but Inquisitor Rhys’s stinger pierces Ryan’s armor and injects venom into his bloodstream, putting him in a state of suspended animation. As Weasel and Garett escape the city through the southern gate, the Arachna head northwest from the city, setting their sights on Astrás, the Aurean capital. However, surrounded on 3 sides by water and protected by walls, Astrás proves to be too large of a city for the Arachna to take with a limited siege train, and they are forced to set up camp in Whalcea, a suburb on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, Weasel and Garett have entered the city of Weaselia, where Garett’s friends are located. In Weaselia, Garett introduces Weasel to Maxwell, Nate, and Fundisa Ironhoof, all former space pirates who decided to settle on Aurea a few years back. After everybody explains their origin story, they begin the long journey to Wantioch to meet up with the remnants of the Golden Empire military. They stop briefly in Welitene to stock up on supplies, and they also stop briefly in Waziantep for new clothes. When they arrive in Wantioch, they successfully meet up with the Golden Empire military, who flies them to their airbase in Astrás. From there, they conduct airstrikes on the Arachna camped out in Whalcea while Weasel, Garett, Maxwell, and Fundisa prepare to strike at Inquisitor Rhys’s camp. In the dead of night, they sneak into Whalcea and attack Inquisitor Rhys. Rhys puts up a very strong fight, but is eventually overwhelmed and killed by Weasel. As he dies, however, he warns that Lord Ombra and Lord Whelan, his 2 associates, will invade the planet in 1 year’s time and both avenge him and take the Key to The Jungle. They then go into Inquisitor Rhys’s tent and find Ryan in a coffin and use some strange leaves on Rhys’s desk to heal him.