Less than a year has passed since the Fiendflesh Siege, in which Absalom fended off an invading coalition of demonflesh constructs and the living dead. The siege lord offered freedom to any slave in Absalom willing to aid in the city's defense, and since that grand manumission, the city's slave trade has practically disappeared. The Pathfinder Society is one of many organizations that opened its doors to Absalom's newest citizens. However, several of the ex-slaves have been turning up dead, in other cases disappearing entirely. The Society doesn't often investigate serial killings, but one of its newest recruits is the latest victim. It's time for a band of Pathfinders to follow the clues, uncover these crimes, and end this threat.
Although most of the Society's discoveries come from distant lands and enter through Absalom's harbor, some of the greatest discoveries appear in the metropolis's backyard. When an extraordinary relic surfaces in the nearby town of Diobel, the Pathfinder Society dispatches an agent to recover and transport it back to the Grand Lodge. That strategy fell through when the agent disappeared along the road to Diobel. The Pathfinders must learn what befell their comrade and recover the shipment—a task that will take them into the dangerous wilds of the island's interior.
Among the greatest archmages in Golarion's history is Nex, who created an arcane kingdom that shares his name and survives to this day. Although the archmage disappeared under mysterious circumstances millennia ago, his disciples the Arclords have continued his vision—at least what they can piece together from his surviving writings. The capital of Quantium's now abuzz with the news that another of Nex's texts has resurfaced, and already the owner has died under suspicious circumstances. Hoping to avert a political predicament as various arclords fight to inherit the text, the local authorities have hired the Pathfinder Society to untangle the situation as independent investigators.