The elves of the Mierani Forest have been hiding something from outside eyes for hundreds of years, but now, this sinister secret has escaped! What at first seems to be a sudden uprising in unsanctioned banditry in the Riddleport hinterlands is in fact something altogether more sinister -- the dark elves have come to Varisia. Yet the threat presented by the drow from below may be nothing compared to a new threat from the skies above. Can a new group of heroes save the world from the coming of the Second Darkness? This volume of Pathfinder kicks off the new Pathfinder Adventure Path campaign -- Second Darkness -- and presents a detailed gazetteer of the intrigue-filled streets of Riddleport, reveals for the first time the nature of Pathfinder's drow and their hidden secrets, and presents a half dozen new monsters native to the Riddleport region.

ジェームズ・ジェイコブズが描く本作の真髄は、エルフの輝かしい歴史の裏に潜む「血塗られた罪」を白日の下に晒す、冷徹かつドラマチックな構成にあります。光が強ければ影もまた濃くなるという真理を、退廃的な街と地下の闇との対比で描き出し、読者の知的好奇心を激しく揺さぶります。 空からの脅威と地底の悪意に挟まれる焦燥感は、まさに圧巻です。過去の過ちが世界を侵食する様は、運命の歯車が軋む音を想起させます。隠蔽された真実を暴く覚悟と、絶望の中で放たれる魂の輝き。本作は、ファンタジーの枠を借りて「種族の業」を鋭く問いかける、重厚な叙事詩なのです。