The King's Knight and his warhorse, Flank, for all intents and purposes, have been put out to pasture. King Nebeus commends Ash, hands him the key to a “manor house,” and assigns him oversight of a remote sector of the realm. The manor house proves to be a small, stone cottage in the southwestern Cut of the Vastern, an arid wasteland that, bizarrely, encompasses Macabre Marsh from where Xzerfen, an inept wizard, plots Ash's downfall. Gambit after gambit he attempts to best Ash but to no avail. “He will pay,” mutters the brooding wizard. “My day of opportunity will come!” And so it does!