The Soul Survivors spent a restful evening in the Barrel & Bucket after their meeting with Vildash, settling in with a stack of pancakes and a night cap, while discussing Willa’s lineage, the meaning behind the Vowbound Vigilant, and Vildash’s proposal to locate magic bracers within the town’s abandoned tunnels. They agreed that before delving into danger, they needed answers.

Before falling asleep for the night, Willa attempted to contact her long lost parents with the Eardrop, having just learned their real names. There was no response, leaving the blood hunter questioning and longing for understanding.

The following morning, the Soul Survivors visited the Scribes’ Guild library, where they met Rilda Silveraxe, a fellow ex-imperial and manager of the guild’s archives. Over the next five days, the group researched various topics within the archive. Willa focused on the Cindersworn cult and their history within the Khoririan Kingdom, learning of their abandonment of Moradin, the dwarven god of fire and strength, to worship the Red Dragon, Eodroansag, the Flamemother. She was not, in fact, asleep nor dead, but rather, she is imprisoned beyond a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Led by the fire genasi mage Thrazadon, the cult seeks to release her from her prison back to Galatalon. The cult also holds a grudge against the Stoutbrand Clan for forging the items that the Vowbound Vigilant used to seal her away centuries ago.

Anton used the week to learn more about the Moonblade of Alaynia, the item he was charged by his goddess to claim. Forged thousands of years ago by an unknown elven metalsmith of Alaynia – a city lost to time within the Undying Forest – it was last wielded by an elf named Miralar Elderlight, a member of the Vowbound Vigilant. Miralar died in the fight against Eodroansag, but his Moonblade was placed in an ancient tomb called the Vault of the Oath-Forged, located about a two days’ journey from Vuldohr. Anton also learned the key to the vault’s puzzle and that the blade was separated into two parts.

Gemma focused on finding more information on Vuldohr, its history, and the tunnels that ran beneath it. Upon founding Vuldohr, the Stoutbrand Clan became a powerful exporter of weapons and armor for the Kingdom – seemingly overnight. When Eodroansag reigned across the Kingdom, the Stoutbrands assisted the Vowbound Vigilant by crafting the Anvil of Sealing and the Shackles of the Flameforged, which still remained within Khorir. The tunnels below the town’s hill were a part of an unfinished sewer system project, which are now abandoned. Other pieces of information – fragments – of Vuldohr’s history remained missing or hidden, sealed away within the guild’s underground private archives. A bribe to Rilda wasn’t enough for them to gain access.

Armed with knowledge and a rough map, the Soul Survivors returned to Vildash’s homes and descended into the abandoned tunnels below the city. The air grew thick with dust and decay as they passed collapsed chambers, leading to the sewers. One tunnel entrance glowed purple – the way to Willa’s bracers locked until they found its round key.

Anton led the party through a tight tunnel which led to a large cavern lit by a small opening overhead. Within were the grimy remains of corpses, the smell of death, and the hulking silhouette that haunted it: an undead ettin mockingly named Pancake, had been reanimated by dark magic and fed corpses of victims from above. Willa and Anton slashed and smashed their weapons furiously against the creature while Gemma kept her distance, casting fire bolts. 

At last, Pancake collapsed into a stream of water that fed into the sewers. The cavern grew silent, and as the echoes of battle faded, the Soul Survivors realized this was only the first of many horrors lurking beneath Vuldohr – and that somewhere deeper still, answers to Willa’s history awaited discovery.