When the former “soldier of fortune” nicknamed the Duke was brought by chance into the society of “Antiquarians” - hunters for the secrets of antiquity - he did not even imagine what this would lead to. An ancient race called the Departed, a cult of people who worship them, in return for devotion and sacrifice of hundreds of people who receive secret knowledge and artifacts on the edge of magic and technology... And the understanding that the plans of the Departed are not at all limited to power over a handful of cultists. Will the Duke, with the help of his few companions, be able to stop the impending threat? What if you not only stop, but also touch the power that such dangerous, but so attractive secrets of forgotten eras carry?