The aristocratic Pathfinder Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard, Radovan (Pathfinder's answer to Sherlock Holmes and Watson), return for their fifth standalone novel. When Varian is bequeathed a dangerous magical book by an old colleague, he and Radovan are pulled into a mystery that will set them on the path of a powerful necromancer seeking to become the new avatar of an ancient and sinister demigod - one of the legendary Runelords. But in saving the world, will Varian and Radovan lose their souls?

In the deep forests of Kyonin, elves live secretively among their own kind, far from the prying eyes of other races. Few of impure blood are allowed beyond the nation's borders, and thus it's a great honor for the half-elven Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard, Radovan, to be allowed inside. Yet all is not well in the elven kingdom: Demons stir in its depths, and an intricate web of politics seems destined to catch the two travelers in its snares.

On a mysterious errand for the Pathfinder Society, Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard, Radovan, journey to the distant land of Tian Xia. When disaster forces him to take shelter in a warrior monastery, "Brother" Jeggare finds himself competing with the disciples of Dragon Temple as he unravels a royal mystery. Meanwhile, Radovan - trapped in the body of a devil - must serve a twisted master by defeating the land's deadliest champions and learning the secret of slaying an immortal.

This is the story of Ellasif, a barbarian shield maiden who will stop at nothing to recover her sister from a nation of witches, and Decclan, a ne'er-do-well young spellcaster-turned-forger who wants only to prove himself a hero. Together, they'll face monsters, magic, and the fury of Ellasif's own cold-hearted warriors in their quest to rescue the lost child. Yet when they finally reach the ice-walled city of Whitethrone, where trolls hold court and wolves roam the streets as people, will it be too late to save the girl from the forces of darkness?

For elven pathfinder Varian Jeggare and his devil-blooded assistant Radovan, things are rarely as they seem. Yet not even the notorious crime-solving duo is prepared for what they find when a search for a missing pathfinder takes them into the mist-shrouded mountains of gothic Ustalav.