The novels chronicle the adventures of a Dwarven Slayer named Gotrek Gurnisson and his poet/insurrectionist companion, Felix Jaeger. As a Slayer, Gotrek seeks a glorious death in battle to atone for his unknown sins. Felix, bound to him by a Dwarven blood-oath sworn after a drinking binge, is tasked with writing and recording his heroic exploits and ultimately his death. Felix, however, has long since come to adopt the opinion that "anything capable of killing the Slayer would finish me off shortly afterwards". Together they have travelled the length and breadth of the Old World and beyond, fighting against all manners of evil from orcs to undead to the forces of Chaos so that Gotrek might finally fulfill his Slayer Oath by dying in battle.