Ten weeks after returning from their jaunt to the world named C'hou, our four heroes find themselves back on the planet, reoccupying the powerful bodies they'd had to leave behind. Six years have passed on C'hou, leaving the planet almost unrecognizableÑand far more turbulent. A mysterious Black Tower has spread malevolence and monsters over the world, too much for the native warriors to handle. The enfeebled C'hovite gods have imported thousands of outworlders to overcome the Tower and its hordes, but the outworlders spend more time sniping at one another than defending the planet.
Against this backdrop of chaotic violence, the four are charged by the gods themselves to choose a set of outworlders and help them win the war. If they save the world, they'll be rewarded. If they fail, they're stuck on C'hou for the rest of their lives at the mercy of the Black Tower.
Rather a tall order for a quartet of committed pacifists!