The party is finally reunited after tracking down Wiinken, who managed to escape the ethereal forager known as Winslow with the help of Elara Cloudwalker, the eccentric self-made scientist who has been living within Winslow for the last five years. Everyone, it seems, shares a common goal: to reach Rambergam. But the Ridgefell Mountains are treacherous -- what awaits them on their journey?
Calico Jack, Zaki, and Zenora have just met Horxim Hordebreaker as they continue to pursue the ethereal forager that swallowed Calico Jack's friend, Wiinken. They are accompanied by Whelani, Arenza, Gruzdan, and two patrolmen. Wiinken, meanwhile, is still inside the belly of the forager. Will the search party be able to find her?
Wiinken has been engulfed by a rogue ethereal forager, Calico Jack is in a ruined, plummeting skyship, and Zaki and Zenora are watching bodies fall from the sky.
After a harrowing escape from Chalcedon as traitors following the murder of Aldmeth Tricorne, Wiinken Fizzlefern and Calico Jack have arrived in the Prehnite city of Rambergam under the escort of the druid Whelani. What kind of life awaits them as Chalcedonian defectors? Will they ever regain the lives they've forsaken? Will the consequences of their betrayal follow them even through the red mist of war? Most importantly, who awaits them in this new city -- who will they meet?