With the sealed door to the vault's inner sanctum finally open — unlocked by Anton and Forge placing two crescent-shaped pieces of metal together — the party descended deeper into the ruins. Ahead of them in the darkness, the sound of flowing water echoed through the stone corridor.

Before they could get their bearings, Anton spotted something large moving around a corner. Gemma reached out with her Empathic Sense and felt an overwhelming wave of extreme hunger emanating from whatever lurked in the shadows. Moments later, the creature revealed itself: a massive troll with green skin, long razor-sharp claws that nearly dragged the ground, and glowing blue veins crackling with static electricity. With a terrifying shriek, it launched itself at the party.

Anton opened with a powerful Divine Smite that carved a cauterizing slash across the troll's chest. Willa pressed in with heavy blows of her own, and Gemma and Forge lent their magic to the fray — though the troll's regenerative nature meant wounds began closing almost as quickly as they were dealt. The creature bit savagely into Anton, sending a shock of lightning energy through his body, and clawed at Willa before she deflected the blow using a Blood Curse. In the end, Gemma's Fire Bolt struck true, burning through the creature's regeneration and dissolving it entirely. The troll — likely trapped in the vault for ages — was no more.

Beyond the creature's makeshift lair, the party crossed a shallow, fast-moving stream and pressed into a new chamber: a circular room featuring a large stone altar inlaid with a glowing blue crystal orb, four short pillars each topped with a rotating mirror, and a breathtaking mosaic of the night sky on the ceiling above. The star pattern, Anton and Forge recognized, depicted the constellation of Titar, god of the sun.

The puzzle before them required ingenuity. Forge discovered a hidden stone lever on the north wall that, when pulled, flooded the room with sunlight through a narrow panel. With the light streaming in, the party worked together to angle the rotating mirrors so their beams converged on the blue crystal at the altar's center in the shape of Titar’s constellation. When the final mirror clicked into alignment, the crystal flared — and a teleportation circle shimmered to life in the center of the room.

The party took a brief short rest to recover before stepping through.

The teleportation circle carried the party high into the sky, depositing them among the clouds above the Penumbra Hills. Before them floated the ruins of an ancient stone temple — broken pieces of masonry drifting in the air, glittering with blue crystals. And standing at its far end, waiting with wings spread wide, was a towering celestial being: a Planetar, one of the most powerful angels in existence, weapons and protectors of the gods, and utterly incapable of being deceived.

The Planetar confirmed what Anton had journeyed so long to find — the Moonblade of Alaynia — but made clear it could not simply be claimed. The blade had a mind of its own. Anton would have to be chosen.

Willa deployed her spectral wings to carry the heavier members of the party across the floating ruins to the celestial's platform. As Anton stepped into the circle, two spectral, translucent halves of the moonblade materialized at opposite ends of the ring, hovering in the air.

The First Trial: Anton approached the western blade. From its shimmering form stepped the ghost of Sulaine — a young girl he had lost long ago, someone he had never been able to save. Her first words to him were a question he had carried for years: "Why did you let me fall?" Through an emotionally raw exchange, Anton faced his guilt head-on, insisting he had done everything he could to hold on to her and that he had relived that moment every day since. Sulaine tilted her head, considered him, and told him it wasn't his fault — then stepped forward and embraced him. With that, the first blade solidified and took on a warm silver glow.

The Second Trial: Anton crossed to the eastern blade, where the spectral form of Jain, an old knight and former ally who had once hunted Anton before dying at the Battle of Riverhold, waited for him. Jane demanded to know why Anton had fled. Anton answered honestly: he had known no one would believe him over Avario, and he had been right — even Jain had not. Jain admitted there had always been a part of him that wanted to believe Anton had done what was right. In one of the episode's most powerful moments, Anton told Jain he had forgiven him long before he died, and urged him to go in peace. Jain's expression softened into something rare — a look of genuine respect — and he drew his sword and offered it hilt-first to Anton. Anton had to find the strength to lift it, and when he finally did, Jain faded. The second blade solidified.

The two halves drifted toward one another in the center of the circle and hovered, waiting. Anton stepped between them, reached out, and brought them together. They sealed with a magnetic pull — and in a flash of silver and blue moonlight, the Moonblade of Alaynia was made whole in his hands. The Planetar declared that the blade had chosen well, and was transported away from the Material Plane.

Back on solid ground with a moment to breathe, the DM unveiled the Moonblade's full properties. A legendary sentient weapon thousands of years old, the Moonblade of Alaynia has been wielded by only six others in all of history, with an Elvish symbol representing Anton now carved alongside theirs on its blade.

The weapon can shift between two forms at will:

In longsword form, it carries a +3 bonus to attack and damage, deals an additional 2d6 force damage on a hit, scores a critical hit on a 19 or 20, and can be used as a bonus action to briefly blind nearby enemies with a brilliant flash.

In twin short sword form, each blade carries a +1 bonus, deals an extra 1d6 force damage, also crits on a 19 or 20, and can be thrown at range — returning to the wielder's hand automatically.

As a sentient weapon, it communicates not through words but through sensations, visions, and dreams. And as a paladin who has sworn a sacred oath, Anton gains an additional use of Channel Divinity per day while attuned to it.

After the group looted the sanctuary one last time — Willa pocketing a glowing feather, Gemma quietly swiping a chunk of ancient stone, they said their goodbyes to the vault and stepped back through the teleportation circle.

The party returned to the underground chamber where they had first met the dragon eel Mauganax. As they rounded the corner, they found him dead — his enormous scaled body draped across the stones, a massive spear lodged in his neck. Hanging nearby: a single banner bearing the symbol of a red spider.

The Spider Lily had been there.