At the moment of his greatest triumph, being anointed the High King of Eire, the euphoric Parlan vows to make the Goddess Eriu his queen. Angering the Druids with the affront to the Goddess, Eire is placed under a curse that only he can break by fulfilling a quest. Ironically if he succeeds he might also win the hand of Eriu who he loves with all of his soul.

Parlan has one year to accumulate four magical artifacts hidden in dangerous locales. If he succeeds in collecting the sword, spear, cup, and stone, he then must fight and defeat the Black Dragon using the artifacts correctly. If he fails at any point, the Black Dragon will turn Eire into a wasteland.