The Vigil's journey through the ancient temple continues. Room after room of increasing difficulty wears down the party. They decide to take a long rest in order to not succumb to their wounds.

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The undead Ayocuan attacks the party as they enter his resting place. Throughout the fight, the wight seems to target Barren the most almost killing him and moss in the fight. Eventually though, the party destroyed the undead as Barren finishes him off. Upon completion of the fight Barren finds a amulet similar to the one he put on previously and finds it an impossible task. Moss takes the extra amulet and a curse of some time rest upon the two. The party continues to explore their way through the dungeon.

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Upon entering this ancient temple, the party finds themselves in an entrance room with dioramas of the ancient civilization's life and beliefs. Each diorama has miniatures of people and some animals, of which Pinky promptly takes twelve. Alia is able to find a key on one of the figurines and a keyhole in the keystone above the next door leading further in. As soon as the key is turned, the outside door slams shut. After getting past a trap, the party met Pish-ba-ba, a large crayfish, who warned them about the sacred mud and the guardian. After Opal found a way to communicate with him, she asked to talk to the guardian. Kiki, the hermit crab guardian, who turned out to be a big flirt. The party made their way to The Lord of the Snails, beat him up, and almost took his "thing." With The Lord of the Snail's help, they found a burial site, and after Baren disturbed it, they fell into a pit with something undead, happy to see them.

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Continuing down the underground river, the party eventually reaches a pier with a wooden dock and a boat still attached. The party investigates the area and determines it to be the escape route for the Hav, the people captured, and Vance to flee. The boat had been booby-trapped by Vance and became damaged, so the Vigils built a ship out of the Dock itself. Later on, as the party rests, Alia reveals more of her death experience and cautions about the monster attracted to her, the same one who devoured her Father. Ren and Barren find another clue of Vance's direction and have a close encounter, almost turning to go over a waterfall. They eventually find themselves outside where the river meets the surface in a canyon in the Rovine, where they see a giant ziggurat temple in the distance. Barren takes this moment to ask Ren if something ever happened to him, Ren would watch out for his sister. Upon finishing a long rest, the party travels through the dense woods to the temple. Along the way, they see signs of an ancient civilization that used to call this canyon home. They eventually make it to the perimeter of the ziggurat and are fired upon by Vance, who, through a magic mouth spell on his crossbow bolt, warns the party that they should go through the temple. With the pressure of his shots and options running out, the party pushes open the sealed temple door.

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Leaving behind the burning heap that was the old Lord's manor, the Vigils headed out following Acorn, the mother of Chestnut. She leads them to Snow-blanket, an ancient Treant with roots that connect to an underground river. Only a select few of the party can understand his language, so much of what was discussed was lost on the others. One of the things that did get through was when he called Moss a Deathwalker. Finally convinced to move, Snow-blanket gets up and allows the party to access the river. The party all eventually jump in the hole and find themselves floating down a slow-running underground river... well, three of the party members don't find themselves floating. Alia, Opal, and Adilaide spend the next little while trying to not drown, and once Adilaide is unconscious, Barren and Pablo use some of her dresses as flotation devices.

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With the party gathered together, they venture down into the secret complex of the house. They find Vance, who had run down here once the fighting with Barren and the Dryads had started. Opal can see through his bluff and tries to apprehend him. He runs, but only a little before the group catches him. Acting very differently, he eludes that his only job was to delay the Vigils to allow the others to get away. He can get out of his handcuffs and run back toward the surface. The Vigils look around the complex, where they find a child dryad named Chestnut. Clearly in pain, they figure out it is being underground that hurts her. The Party agrees to save the girl and returns to the surface. They meet with the dryads, who explain that their little one was taken, and that's why they attacked. To slow the party, Vance sets the building on fire, and the Vigils follow the dryads somewhere to get help from someone that the dryads know.

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As Alia's spirit enters her heart, she finds herself in a broken landscape of her memories. As the party sees her physical form change to metallic brass, she dies once more inside her heart. She wakes up and meets her father, who was soul trapped inside her when he died. He explains that her physical body was his creation. The rest of the party works to do a ritual to raise her from the dead as her father works from the inside. Alia is brought back, but Adelaide is warned by her god that Vance is gone.

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With anxiety heightened, Barren and Opal find the body of a simple would-be adventurer. Though the individual's throat was slashed, other strange cuts were found. Moving onward, the Vigils push out to investigate the house further. They see strange things afoot, as there are now trees in the yard that weren't there before. Pinky and Opal investigate a wardrobe where they hear ominous whispers. They find a secret bottom inside with a trapdoor leading below. Adelaide and Alia investigate the tapping coming upstairs, where they find an individual tied up, one of the would-be adventurers named Vance. This and other clues signify to Alia that this isn't a Ghost but a natural person. They head down, and none of them see where barren has gone. The party spots him outside being leeched from the trees that were charming him. A fight ensued to get Barren back, but because of his charmed state, he turned on his teammates and killed Alia.

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The Vigils finally made it to the village of Elkay, where they met Sir Fireborn, leader of the Fiefdom. He explained the predicament of missing villagers and discussed the house that is suspected to be hunted. After preparations, the party made their way to the house, where they started to explore the grounds and interior. Somewhere on the floor above was a constant tapping sound, and footprints were found leading upstairs. Barren also located a body on the far side of the house.

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At the end of the formal dinner, Adilaide confronts her mother and stands her ground so she and her fellow Vigils can receive help from her family. Before setting out in the morning, Opal, Ren, and Pinky perform a daring prank on Adilaide involving a peacock, disorganization, and fart sounds to show their appreciation. The team leads out on a ferry the following day, and soon after Adilaide and Barren confront each other for the mistreatment on both of their parts, Alia stepping in before things get out of hand. The team's travels are, for the most part, uneventful, and they take time to bond and talk.

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