The Veiled Vanguard

A gray-hided creature burst into the clearing as the party awakened, prompting the witch to vanish. Renatus and Diablo rushed into melee and took severe hits, while Valerie healed Emelyne—who had been injured reading the skin-bound book—before retreating to safety. Shadow-stepping next to Valerie and Emelyne, the monster struck Valerie down before Naoki revived her. Emelyne cast Burning Hands and took a heavy blow as she withdrew, but held her ground. Re-engaging, Diablo attempted a grapple but was knocked unconscious. Thalia delivered the killing blow by piercing the beast's mouth with an arrow, causing it to dissolve into a blue liquid that left behind part of a golden key bearing the symbol of Casmir, god of barriers and protection. Craum then revived Diablo with a healing potion.

With the sun rising, the witch reappeared in a much younger form, introduced herself as Mara Silverlight, and invited the party into her dimensional mansion home. She served sweet cakes and explained that the golden piece was a key to the Trial of Casmir, located within the same cave as their target monster. Warning that failure in the trial meant permanent death, Mara noted that the trials were created by gods to train mortals for greater purposes. When questioned by Thalia, Mara revealed she bound herself to three oaths: never to harm those who do not wish her harm, never to actively seek power, and to keep certain knowledge hidden. She cautioned that when Casmir sealed away the gods, he failed to anticipate how much of the world was held together by divine power. After Valerie hyped up Diablo about the glory of completing the trial, Mara agreed to read three fortunes. Craum learned the answers to his past lie in the northeastern Xoraxan Wasteland. Emelyne was warned that her future choices could lead to her family's demise. Diablo was told their path would inevitably lead to the Sanguisian Empire, noting that death has touched them and the dead cannot rise.

Mara added that a pre-world creature of darkness called the Weirfell existed in the Feywild—a realm mostly sealed off since the Coven's interference. She also revealed that the Architect's spellbook detailed flesh golem creation, was worth 15,000 to 30,000 aurals, and would continue to inflict psychic damage on readers until they could cast 5th-level spells. Valerie stowed the book in their Bag of Holding, and Mara suggested they visit Lammuld Wood in the future.

Heading north, guided by Thalia through increasingly dense, web-covered woods, Craum failed a perception check and was bitten by a giant spider, though it quickly lost interest upon realizing he was non-organic. Emelyne charmed another spider using rotten meat and an Animal Handling check, allowing Naoki to use Speak with Animals to negotiate passage toward their quarry. In exchange for guidance and a name, the spider agreed to lead them. Along the way, Emelyne and Valerie searched a webbed corpse, finding three gemstones, 21 silver, a rusty dagger, and a child's note reading, "love you daddy." Reaching the cave, Naoki named their spider guide "Beans." Emelyne lit her spellbook with Light and led the group inside, where they encountered a three-way fork. Checking the left path first, they discovered a chamber filled with spider eggs and carefully backed out to inspect the center path instead.