Jumping right in from the danger the heroes were left at, Seraphim wakes up and meets a shrimp person named Scyllus who believes that he has come to help save the group from the vampire infested manor. Seraphim is confused by everything about this shrimpfolk, but the two begin to make their way across the manor to locate the others. Upstairs, the others in the group find themselves in sticky situations. Slate leads Sky to Nil and says they need Astarion and several others as a sacrifice for a ritual. Sky isn’t humored by this, and scoffs that Nil has the audacity to threaten her when she knew what became of Cazador, the last vampire that had attempted something similar with the pair.
Meanwhile, Dreamer learns from Abzu that his mother was a servant of Catbot, and she taunts him for not being able to remember her. She tells him that while his mother was a loyal servant for a long time, she began to question Abzu’s authority and motives within the Everheir Empire. Abzu simply asks Dreamer what it is that makes their group different, as they too are now collecting the spirit cages. As soon as she mentions that Dreamer’s mother was executed for treachory, Dreamer attacks Abzu with his spirit cage weapon and Casper unleashes a powerful display of Quori spirit magic. In a burst of light, Abzu disappears, and Dreamer finds a legendary weapon in his hands.
Soon after, Sky’s allies join her in the room with Slate and Nil. They attack, but Nil fights back with just as much ferocity. She gets ready to execute Sky, but Ren steps in front of the spirit cage’s axe blade to protect her. He is decapitated, and in the chaos, Nil and Slate escape further into the underdark after getting a report that their scouts found what Nil had been searching for.
After ensuring Sky’s coven is safe, the group descends into a cavern heavily obscured by thick red mist. On the far side of it, there lies a dirilect spelljammer ship called the A’Halon-11. The mist spills forth from inside. In front of it, Nil concludes her ritual and returns her brother, Vesk, from the Astral Plane. He seems happy to see her, until she rips his parasite from his chest. With the parasite in tow, Nil and Slate board the spaceship and a number of corrupted creatures emerge from the shadows of the cavern. The party has a hard time surviving the corrupted creatures and nearly all hope seems lost until Xaveria rides in atop an owlbear and they receive a burst of healing and some electrified buffs.