The Spell Wars raged for more than a century, leaving behind ghostly remnants that often require exorcism. Master Wizard Durill, his feckless apprentice Arpad Zen and his irritable familair Morasha are shipwrecked. Arpad Zen finds magical challenges ashore with wreckers, Morasha, bound to the body of an ogre, is pursued by irate villagers, and Durril becomes the love slave of the beguiling sea nymph Rusalka. In his efforts to escape a fate that gives new dimensions to the phrase "a fate worse than death," Durill risks drowning at any instant, unleashing magicks so potent they could reignite the Spell Wars.