Mystery abound in the Vanguard as the nation reels from first contact with a new enemy: the immortals to the south. A series of murders, with the bodies gone missing, makes the high cleric and eternal council member Elaine lose the backing of her goddess. Sending for her secret police, she entrusts upon them a mission to find and bring the killers to justice. Their search leads to the fallen city of Time, a dark place filled with bandits and danger. They arrive just in time to find the people of the city locked in a death struggle with the armies of Natan, a rival eternal council member. After brokering shaky peace between the two factions, they reluctantly aid the agents of the mad scientist in the acquisition of a powerful yet unknown artifact from the center of the ruins. As this fragile political situation progresses, the group slowly realizes that neither side is responsible for the mysterious deaths that they were sent to investigate. They trace the killer to the dark woods located north of the Vanguard, and after subduing the perpetrator, but losing his accomplice in a grand chase, bring him back for questioning. What started as a simple homicide becomes something greater as the Vanguard becomes aware of a second faction to the North. They find the magnificent spires of the Rythian in the inhospitable mountains beyond their domain, and relations, although a bit shaky at first, hint at a long and lasting friendship between two cultures miles apart. Is this is the answer to the southern threat? Only time will tell.