After Kihrin D’Mon was tricked into giving up the sword Godslayer and waking the demon king Vol Karoth, the Eight Immortals tasked him and his companions with informing the king of the Manol vané that it was his turn to conduct the Ritual of Night. The ritual had been created by the voras to imprison Vol Karoth, and two times since to re-imprison him. It could only be performed by an immortal race, who would be mortal after—the vané were the only race left who could do it.
Not all the vané wanted to cooperate. Kihrin, Janel, Teraeth, and Thurvishar found themselves drugged and dumped into the Korthaen Blight to die. With Vol Karoth awake, the Blight had become a land of unpredictable and wild magic. As a result Thurvishar was unable to cast spells which would allow them to escape. Scrounging what supplies they could find, the four stumbled upon the dragon Rol’amar in a fight with a band of morgage. Realizing these people might be willing to help, Janel ran into the fight and the group was (eventually) able to successfully retreat and hide from the dragon.
But not, unfortunately, from Vol Karoth, whom Kihrin had been sensing ever since waking in the Blight. A projection of the fallen god appeared in the middle of their new camp and began killing everyone, all the while calling for Kihrin to join him. The four fled while the morgage covered their escape, and what resulted was a painful and exhausting trip back to the court of the vané king.
Meanwhile, Kihrin’s mother, Khaeriel, who had kidnapped his father, had taken Therin to the Manol, where she enchanted him to fall in love with her in preparation for retaking her throne. Relos Var visited her while she was at her safe house, but was distinctly disapproving of her actions even as he handed over an object she apparently needed—the harp Valathea. He informed her that her son was still alive. After Var left, Talon appeared and pledged loyalty to the vané queen-in-exile. Together, all three traveled to a vané holy site called the Well of Spirals, where vané can, among other things, make new bodies for themselves. Khaeriel revealed that the harp Valathea was in fact the tsali stone of the real, actual Queen Valathea, the cursed wife of the overthrown Kirpis vané king, Terindel. However, while readying Valathea’s resurrection, Talon helped Therin break Khaeriel’s control. He escaped into the woods, discovering to his surprise that they were in the Kirpis forest—back in Quur.
Meanwhile, Kihrin’s group made their way to the same location (the Well of Spirals) just a short while later, just missing Khaeriel, but instead succeeding at meeting with her brother, King Kelanis. Unfortunately, they discovered too late that the vané who didn’t want them completing the ritual was the king himself. Kelanis had them thrown into a prison known as the Quarry, which kept their prisoners well behaved by keeping them heavily drugged.
A number of forces conspired to break the group out again, from their own efforts to Talon and the now resurrected Valathea. Eventually they escaped, and were reunited with not only Valathea, but her husband (and Teraeth’s father) Terindel, Kihrin’s father Therin—and his mother Khaeriel. But the family reunion only grew more awkward when Kihrin revealed that he didn’t think Kelanis was wrong to refuse the ritual—it was the wrong solution to the problem. Kihrin’s relationship with Janel evolved and he also, finally, admitted his feelings toward Teraeth, but that admission was interrupted by Rol’amar the dragon, who had tracked Kihrin down. In the fight, Kihrin’s father Therin was slain, and Kihrin—channeling Vol Karoth’s powers—destroyed Rol’amar.
Afterward, Khaeriel made a deal with her grandmother, the goddess Thaena: if Thaena would agree to Return Therin, Khaeriel would agree to perform the Ritual of Night. The group split up at this point. Kihrin and Thurvishar left for Kishna-Farriga to try to track down the wizard Grizzst, who theoretically knew the most about imprisoning Vol Karoth. Janel and Teraeth returned with the vané to the Manol capital, intent on taking back the vané throne.
Thurvishar and Kihrin began their search, but ran into Senera, Xivan, and Talea, who were tracking down the witch-queen Suless. Kihrin learned that it hadn’t been Relos Var who’d sent a Daughter of Laaka to destroy his ship so many years earlier, but Thaena herself, framing Relos Var in order to gain Kihrin’s trust. After they continued to run into each other, Thurvishar and Kihrin joined forces with Senera, Xivan, and Talea, who agreed to help with Kihrin’s quest if the two men would help with theirs. They were able to track Suless to the lair of the dragon Baelosh, but not in time to save Xivan’s husband or son, whom Suless murdered. Suless herself was killed during a fight between the dragons Sharanakal and Baelosh, but it was a ruse: Suless had possessed the one person out there readied for such a transfer—Janel.
Meanwhile, back in the Capital, Teraeth, Janel, Khaeriel, Terindel, and Valathea went into hiding while waiting for Parliament to hear their case. They were taken by surprise when Senera, Xivan, and Talea ambushed them to rescue Janel, but Suless escaped in the confusion before they could explain their good intentions, taking Janel’s body with her. Suless promptly took shelter with King Kelanis.
Kihrin and Thurvishar tracked down Grizzst to a brothel, discovering that Grizzst was the leader of the Gryphon Men that Thurvishar’s father, Emperor Sandus, and Kihrin’s adoptive father, Surdyeh, had both belonged to, and was ultimately responsible for Kihrin growing up at the Shattered Veil Club. They also learned that Grizzst had been helping Relos Var this entire time, but after Grizzst realized how closely linked Vol Karoth and Kihrin seemed to be, he switched sides. Kihrin and Thurvishar determined that Relos Var had trapped the last warding crystal—if anyone finished the Ritual of Night, it would free Vol Karoth rather than imprisoning him. Kihrin secretly messaged Terindel, warning him to do whatever it took to delay or sabotage the Ritual of Night.
When the time came for the trial, Janel escaped Suless’s control, but at a high price: Janel was forced to take the final steps toward becoming a demon, and Suless learned the trick from her. Valathea and Terindel double-crossed Khaeriel, taking the crown for themselves. But Teraeth suspected this was something more than ambition when Terindel gave his cornerstone, Chainbreaker, to his wife before she fled. Terindel then called on Thaena and agreed to honor the bargain made with Khaeriel—with Terindel performing the ritual himself. Therin was Returned and Terindel performed the ritual, but it failed. Confronted by Thaena, Terindel finally admitted the truth—the ritual couldn’t succeed because the vané weren’t an immortal race. They were just an offshoot branch of the voras, who became mortal the first time Vol Karoth was imprisoned. They’d been using their magic to artificially prolong their lives using the Well of Spirals, but they weren’t truly “immortal”—so there was nothing to sacrifice. Every race had already given up their immortality. Thaena killed Terindel, forced the vané to crown their son Teraeth, and kidnapped him in order to prepare a new ritual that would sacrifice not the vané’s immortality, but the vané themselves.
Kihrin destroyed the last crystal, forcing Relos Var to help him or let the vané die senselessly. The Immortals fractured, with Taja, Khored, and Tya offering to help Kihrin and Ompher, Galava, and Argas siding with Thaena. A giant battle occurred at the Well of Spirals, and in the aftermath, Taja, Argas, Galava, and Thaena were all dead—with Thaena slain by her own son, Teraeth.
Afterward, Kihrin embarked on a dangerous plan to bring Vol Karoth under control. He broke Talon out of prison and took her to Kharas Gulgoth, where he instructed Talon to kill him so she could eat his brain and perfectly impersonate him afterward. Kihrin’s soul entered Vol Karoth’s prison, secure in the knowledge that he’d be able to overcome a weakened, damaged deity.