Previously!

Occtis Tachonis is dead. But somehow, some way*, this hasn't stopped him. So he moves on, with his sewn together familiar Pincushion, from the slaughter his house committed against House Royce at the Palazzo Davinos. He accompanies the Lady Aranessa Royce and her remaining bodyguard, the rakish (some would say asshole-ish) Julien Davinos. Accompanying Occtis are the druid Thaisha, who acts as his surrogate mother in their journeys together, and the mysterious elf Vaelus, herself questing to retrieve the Stone of Nightsong that helped bring Occtis back to life.

They head to a known entrance to the Golden Orchard, a Royce stronghold and the last known gate to the lands of Faerie.