A few years after helping to end the skaven plot in Shadow of the Horned Rat, Morgan Bernhardt, commander of the "Grudgebringer" mercenaries, continues to take on work for those who have the gold to spare with the Empire. After helping to defend a trading post from a goblin attack, Bernhardt finds himself called to the city of Altdorf for a meeting with Emperor Karl Franz, who reveals to him that orcs have recently begun invading the Border Princes from the south. Agreeing to help Sven Carlsson, a border prince and Bernhardt's old friend and employer, the mercenaries head to contend with the threat, but soon discover that the orcs are fleeing into the empire to escape attack from an increasing number of undead forces.