Returning from their successful quest to find Odin, Thor and his companions are surprised to see Loki sitting on the throne of Asgard. The God of Mischief is backed by the Enchantress and the Executioner as well as old cronies Kroda the Duelist, Magrat the Schemer, and Snaykar the Skulker. Thor challenges his brother and Loki calls for the Cask of Sovereignty; within is a scroll from Odin which gives the right to rule to whichever of his sons is first to sit on his throne. Thor, at a loss for words, leaves, his friends following him. Loki gloats how easy it was to seize the throne with a forged document. Elsewhere, Amora and Skurge, on orders from Loki, abduct the sleeping Odin, bed and all, while hoping for the chance to overthrow the new usurper…
Thor, brooding over this turn of events, dispatches the Warriors Three to protect Odin while he, Sif, and the Recorder ride to the land of the Norn Queen, Karnilla. On the way they encounter Storm Giants in the Forest Primeval. Thor easily defeats them and soon they are standing before Karnilla on her throne. They ask for Balder but the Norn Queen informs them that the brave one remained in Asgard when she departed for home. Deducing the Loki was lying they head back to the Golden Realm….
Meanwhile, the Warriors Three have discovered Odin missing and trailed the abductors through the tunnels. There is a scuffle and the Executioner falls into a pit; rushing to his rescue, Amora trips over a dagger and plunges in with him [foreshadowing: Hogun does not know how his dagger ended up at that spot. Dun dun dunnnnn….] Loki, watching via magic shrugs off the loss of two of his allies and moves on the plan B….
In the dungeon, Balder broods over how he was deceived by Kroda magically disguised as Thor and how Karnilla was hypnotized into forgetting this and sent home. Then several guards come to take him from his cell….
Thor confronts Loki in the throne room but the villain vanishes away as there comes against Thor…the Destroyer….