The book begins with an extensive background section detailing the recent history of an area of Allansia known as the Trolltooth Pass. A necromancer named Zharradan Marr has been gathering small army; he is particularly feared as a practitioner of marrangha, a type of black magic that involves the transformation of limbs and organs from one creature to another. Three "Vapours" have been stolen from an elven village - these vapours are benevolent spirits which bestow the gifts of reason, languages and elven magic.