What surprises can an ordinary trip to a distant northern province bring? Yes, none! Boredom, that's all. This is roughly what the poet and copyist of the Russian Academy Ivan Barkov thought when he went on an expedition to retrieve ancient Russian chronicles. But upon arrival in Vologda, I encountered something that could not fit into my right mind. Were-dogs, snakes, crocodiles. And also bloodthirsty robbers, malicious nuns and a nest of sorcerers and warlocks... Who can you rely on, who can you trust? “Secret squad” of Bishop Barsanuphius? A mysterious brunette beauty who wields a sword better than a fan? Or a German liar baron, who by chance was brought into the Russian wilderness?.. And this whole strange story ended only 250 years later, in our days. And exactly where it began. But before that, Major Vadim Savelyev and his new acquaintance, young journalist Varvara Ozerskaya, who followed the trail of the mysterious “Book of the Seven Stars”, had to work hard...