A group of exiles leave their home in Soruto in the west of Parthis to undertake the Shadow March. The caravan is made up of a half-dozen different groups, all of them looking for forgiveness.
They are led by a cancerous ecclesiast and his 2nd in-command, a worried cenobite. Various private guards accompany the group, as do a handful of vendors and other angers-on.
The March is ambushed by a plagi Atramentists, before they reach a distant market-town that takes them in. Following this, the March is attacked by slavering al ghuls, during which many of its members are injured. A final attack by a keratin hireling leaves the march devastated, with all but a single person remaining, who must decide whether continuing in the name of the others is worth risking his life for.