Far from the blood-slicked battlefields of the Mortal Realms, monsters, daemons, and spirits prey on civilians and sow terror in towns and villages.
But wherever there are malevolent beasts and evil wizards, the Order of Azyr isn’t far away. Veteran witch hunters Galen and Doralia ven Denst are two of their number, hunting curious quarry with crossbow, stake, and blade, and they’re back at it again in Temple of Silence by Richard Strachan.
After undertaking a gruelling mission for the Order of Azyr, our heroes seek shelter in the mysterious Temple of Silence, which lies in the woods to the east of the town of Moonhallow – a place whose populace is in the perpetual grip of anxiety.
The pair aren’t even able to catch a tiny break in their downtime before they find themselves drawn into a conspiracy involving the strange priests of the temple, the merciless ruler of Moonhallow, and a forest packed full of fell beasts. Sounds like it’s time for the ven Densts* to get carving some runes of banishment, and sharpening their stakes...
Richard Strachan has already penned a few ven Denst stories, including the novel Hallowed Ground, which takes place straight after the Siege of Excelsis, and the short stories The Orphan of Pale Harbour, The Interrogator, and Shadowglass Creek.
That’s plenty of witch hunter action for you to catch up on while you wait for Temple of Silence to release a little later in the year.
* Ionus Cryptborn was once a ven Denst in a former life. This is a family of movers and shakers.