A young teenager named Ren learns he is heir to the throne of Octopon when he rescues a old man from a storm, and the old man reveals he is his father, Primus, ruler of Octopon. When Ren is kidnapped by the cowardly monkey-bird Niddler and takes him to the evil pirate Bloth, captain of the most-feared pirate ship "Maelstrom". Ren becomes Bloth's enemy and he sets out to hire a crew, as Ren sets off on a quest to find "The Thirteen Treasures of Rule".

With Bloth in hot pursuit, Ren and company seek refuge within the labyrinth of sea caves where the Pale Warriors make their home. Ren discovers that his companions are not what they seem to be, nor are they all entirely trustworthy.

With both the compass and the first Treasure stolen, Ren and company pursue the thieves to the island of Pandawa, home of the monkey-birds, which is in the midst of an uprising, as Niddler's people seek to free themselves from the slavers.

Ren and Niddler are captured by Bloth. Ren meets one of his father's most trusted captains.

After rescuing Teron from the Maelstrom, Ren and the crew stopped to gather supplies, but are interrupted by Bloth and his men. During the pursuit, they wind up in Andorus, where it is revealed that Tula is an ecomancer and they find the place in ruins. Teron and Tula try to use their powers to restore the island, but something evil is around and guarding one of the Treasures.

While running from Bloth, the crew rescues an old woman named Cray who knew Ren's Father Primus and is an alchemist. She saves them, but offers anything for a sample of Dark Water to use in a potion of hers, but Ren refuses. She then uses one of her potions on Tula to force Ren to do her bidding and uses the Dark Water in a potion to make herself young again in an attempt to reclaim her youth.

Ren sees a vision of his father telling him if he rings "The Bell of the First Sound" that all the Dark Water will be gone forever. But when he rings the bell, he finds out that it was all a trick by an imprisoned servant of the evil Dark Dweller, a creature named Keroptus. Ren swears to re-imprison the monster he freed by accident.

The crew finds another Treasure, but it is guarded by a creature that can only be defeated by feeding it a loac flower (the best cure on Mer for most illnesses). Ren sets off into the swamp guided by creature with a mysterious past given to them by a shady Bio-transmuter.

Niddler is supposed to be a king to a tribe of non-flying monkey birds. What he doesn't know, however, is that he is also the only hope of defeating a giant dangerous creature, which he can't do.

The Wraith is damaged during yet another escape from Bloth and the only nearby port is Octopon, but it's in ruins and overrun by the servants of the Dark Dweller.

Blinded by greed, Ioz tries to steal a treasure from a seemingly deserted ship. Unfortunately, it appears that the ship is full of ghosts, who want to make Ioz one of them.

While washed ashore, Ren and Niddler encounter "the Dagron Master." He offers to help them to find one of the Treasures, but in the middle of journey, Ren finds he has been tricked and is turned into one of the reptiles.

Two strange creatures in control of a moving island interrupt Bloth just as he is about to capture Ren. They then blackmail Ren and Bloth, chaining the two together and making them play their deadly game while competing with their best warriors while betting on the contest.

When Ren and his crew are taking a break back in Octopon, the Queen of the monkey birds shows up asking Niddler for help. She says that there is a plague on Pandawa and that Niddler needs to protect the egg of the future queen. Ren and Niddler fly ahead, but there may be more to this plague than a simple disease.