The fifth volume of Girl Genius continues her adventures with Master Payne's Circus of Adventure and follows her to the city of Sturmhalten, where she encounters Tarvek Sturmvoraus, his sister Anevka and the Geisterdamen as her identity as the Geisterdamen's "Holy Child" is revealed and she becomes a fought-over and reluctant pawn in matters of empire. We meet the infamous Lucrezia Mongfish in person, discover the Storm King and the importance of the Muses, and find what Gilgamesh Wulfenbach has been doing with himself all this time. The Baron has an intuitive leap, and Gil a joyous realization, which ends the volume as he dispatches Ardsley Wooster to find and protect Agatha.