Two swashbuckling stories of intrigue and romance set in Casanova's Italy. In the first, The Stone Cross, The Scorpion discovers that his father was the murdered Pope. When Trebaldi addresses a huge crowd at the end of the mourning period, The Scorpion is there to tell the truth about how the beloved Pope met his end. In the second story, The Devil in the Vatican, Trebaldi claims that the sacred cross of St Peter miraculously appeared in his castle. The Scorpion must find the real cross if he is to prove Trebaldi's treachery.