High in the placid Snowflake Mountains lies a little-known conservatory for bards, priests, clerics, and others. Cloistered among his colleagues, a scholar-priest named Cadderly must contain a malevolent, consuming essence that's been uncorked, before his own brethren turn against him. Cadderly must put his studies to the test and enter the catacombs far below to save his brothers and himself.