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In the Duke's study, an unharmed but badly shaken Duke Joran is helped off of Murray. Murray, having been stabbed, seems to be processing the events out loud as he circles the room.

Princess Norba, spattered with blood, sloppily sheaths her dripping saber and collapses into a nearby armchair - one of the few in-tact pieces of furniture remaining in the study. Kratos' hulking frame moves over to the destroyed windows, where he notches one of his massive arrows and takes watch.

Just as Lady Ana moves to barricade the doors to the study, Lady Leera and Marigold hurredly walk into the doorway. They seem deeply confused by the destruction in the hallway and the study, but before they get a chance to question, Joran tearfully rushes to embrace them. Lady Ana, fatigued but determined, hurredly closes the large double doors behind them, and begins to freeze the seams of the doorway.

Attention shifts to the bloodied and beaten Major Braxis, who lays flat on his back in the center of the room. The group attempts to question him, but are only met with more sneers and derision. Severen tells Allium to bring Braxis to the window's ledge.

Allium drags Braxis to the window, and holds Braxis by his long gray hair out over the ledge. Just as the questioning is about to continue, Braxis' hair rips, the major plummets to his death, screaming the whole way down. Allium shrugs an apology.

Severen sets out to craft a grim warning atop the Shadowfax Estate. The dragonborn breaks a leg off of the Duke's desk, requests the greatsword from Allium, and drops down into the courtyard below. With a single blow, he removes the head from the corpse of Braxis, and spikes it to the roof of the Shadowfax household. A sign of what awaits those who stand against the good people of Moss End.

Severen flies back inside the study. Yenvalor and Sylceran learn more about the attack on the Falling Star. Princess Norba laughs off the fight, implying they handled the attackers with ease. Kratos steps in, carrying a much more somber tone. The ship was attacked stealthily in the night. Imperial guards boarded from small rowboats, and caught most of the crew off-guard. The were able to defend themselves well enough, until a masked, robed creature landed from above. Many of the crew were killed by the onslaught of dark magic from the Faceless. They managed to finally defeat the creature by pushing it overboard into the ocean below.

As Kratos finishes describing the Faceless attacker, Collazo stands up straight from where she was resting against a wall. She moves swiftly to Sylceren, grabs them by the top of their armor, and violently pushes them up against the wall. She accuses Sylceren of wielding dark magic - not unlike the Faceless - and vehemently demands an explanation. In Ana's free hand, crackling magic promises to deliver on this threat.

Sylceran explains the bargain they struck in a dream - the dream that brought them to the edge of the haunted forest. The best way to hunt the damned is to become one, they say.

Lady Ana looks unconvinced, but Duke Joran persuades her to release Sylceran.

The room begins to discuss next steps. Collazo offers the protection of the Crystal Frostlands, where her people could shelter those seeking refuge. Princes Norba offers passage aboard the Falling Star. Norba stands up from the chair and looks at Severen, declaring she owes his father, Sextan, a debt.

All at once, the heroes notice a change in the room. Murray's incessant muttering has suddenly ceased, and he's nowhere to be found. Behind Severen, a chilling presence is felt.

A Faceless now stands where there was a fallen robe moments before. Norba sees the creature behind Severen and calls out to Kratos. The giant rushes the creature and fires a massive arrow at point-blank range. Norba turns to sprint into the bookshelf portal, calling out for Kratos to flee.

Allium throws the small statue of Murray to Duke Joran, who rushes his family through the portal.

Yenvalor strikes the creature with a blast of magic, badly injuring it. The Faceless turns to throw a necrotic spell at the druid, but Lady Ana catches the spell out of the air, dissolving its magic.

The heroes make a choice - they wait for Kratos to reach the portal, then push in alongside him. Behind Kratos, Lady Ana Collazo holds her ground against her opponent.

The Faceless unleashes a devastating attack on Ana - a nightmarish blast of cold burns and cracks the elf's skin. As she begins to fall to the ground, the doors to the study bursts open, as another Faceless enters and turns to the fleeing party.

The heroes emerge on the other side of the portal in a dark, cavernous room, lit only by monlight streaming down through an overhead grate. The creaking of wood beams and the heavy smell of salt air tells the heroes they have made it aboard the Falling Star. There are long tables, and hallways leading away, and behind them is a large, ornate cabinet containing the portal from which they came.

Kratos demands help from the group to destroy the cabinet. Allium brings down his axe, Severen throws missiles, and Kratos rips at the wood with his bare hands. The portal quakes and bolts of chaotic magic strobe across the room. Two gloved hands start to emerge and claw out of the portal, but an arrow from Sylceren's crossbow sends the Faceless back into the collapsing portal. With a final pulse of imploding magic, the party is thrown backwards and the cabinet collapses into a pile of smoking wood.

Norba makes her way up the stairs above deck, shouting commands to set sail. The crew, still tending to the wounded and dead, springs into action to get the Falling Star to open water. As the heroes watch as the vessel pulls away from the port, they are struck by the quiet of Moss End. The Siren is still. The docks are empty. No windows are lit. Moss End is silent.

Sylceran watches their home shrink in the distance. Realizing they may not see thier parents for some time, they begin to write a message on a small piece of parchment:

"I'm leaving Moss End, I don't know if I can express why just yet. But, I know that in order to protect myself - and by extension, you two - I need to find out more about what happened tonight. You're in good company, and I've found others to help my pursuit. Please take care of yourselves, as I don't know if Moss End will be safe for you anymore. I will check in when I can, or I will find you when this is done."

Sylceren asks Yenvalor for a favor, and he nods in agreement. The druid transforms into a seagull, and Sylceren attaches the messages to his leg. A lone seagull takes flight into the darkness.

Yenvalor circles high above Moss End. The only sign of life is at the edge of the city, where a trail of torches - likely the Macintosh clan - is seen fleeing into the forests. Everything else in the city has gone completely still.

Circling downward, Yenvalor comes to rest on the window sill of Sylceren's childhood home. All is dark inside - no sign of Dara and Asha. Yenvalor carefully drops the note at the door, and flies out of Moss End, back to the ship.

Allium tries to make smalltalk with a man on the helm. He's a broad-shouldered, studious-looking man, dressed in light clothing, smoking a pipe while he studies a series of charts by candlelight. The orc asks about the casualties from the battle, and the man responds simply - thirty nine souls lost. He solemnly gestures to the rows of covered bodies along the deck. Allium attempts to thank the man for accomodating his friends aboard their ship, but the man curtly informs him that he had no say in the invitation.

Kratos warmly invites the heroes of Moss End below deck, where rooms have been prepared for them.

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