Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

A year after the fall of the Lord Ruler in The Final Empire, Elend Venture is preoccupied with a proposal to help save the city of Luthadel, where he is now king. He walks the city walls with Hammond (“Ham”), his general. They observe the army led by Elend’s father, Straff Venture, which has just camped outside Luthadel’s walls, threatening invasion.

Elend’s closest ally and protector, Vin, monitors the streets of Luthadel with OreSeur, a kandra (a nonhuman entity that can inhabit the bodies of the dead) who impersonated Kelsier after his death to inspire the skaa—or lower classes—into an uprising. Vin hates OreSeur for using Kelsier’s body for the impersonation, even though Kelsier himself ordered OreSeur to do it. Vin suspects that she is being followed by another Allomancer, but she does not find him. Coins suddenly shoot out from the air to attack Vin.

The attack comes from a group of Allomancers, including Thugs (who can make themselves much stronger and resistant to wounds), a Coinshot (who can push metal away from himself), a Lurcher (who can pull metal toward himself), a Smoker (who can hide the use of Allomancy in a bubble around himself), and a Mistborn (who has access to all the Allomantic powers).