Geran, a swordmage exiled from the elven city of Myth Drannor, returns home to find the once peaceful Moonsea town of Hulburg under the thumb of greedy and ruthless merchants. Kardhel, a Warlock Knight of Vaasa, stirs the violent passions of a tribe of brutal orcs, and sends them to Hulburg bent on pillage. And Aesperus, the King in Copper, rises from the dead once more to terrorize them all, and protect a secret beyond imagination.