"The waves crash angrily against the stones below, and the wind ever threatens to gust and push you over the edges of the cliffs. But there, down against the sleet-grey rock, you can see what was promised: the shining of a strange bronze door, exposed by the falling stone."

As the players pass through the town of Icetower, they come across far more people than they would have expected for such a small town: adventurers, mercenaries, archaeologists and scholars. All have heard what the players have not. That a rockslide on the cliffs just to the south of town exposed a bronze door dating from the time of the Sunderking.

Significant NPCs:

• Captain Veyra Gullhook – Pirate-turned-salvager with a battered ship and a growing crew; she believes the vault holds a royal charter that could legitimize her claim to the coasts near Virhurst Forest.

• Archivist Thomel – Nervy, wide-eyed scholar who wants to preserve the vault’s contents for history and fears they’ll be destroyed.

• Father Malkesh – Fanatic priest who claims the vault contains cursed relics of a forgotten god, and intends to collapse the entire cave system.

Rewards:

• A royal signet that grants political leverage in Cliffton's fractured governance.

• Clockwork blueprints and gears valuable to artificers.

• A sealed scroll containing a forgotten war-crime and the name of the last Tarendian King’s heir — who may still live.

Lore Tie-In:

The vault’s seals bear the same ouroboros emblem found in the ruins of Tol Fallent, indicating a secret movement within the Sunderking's empire - the survival of the Cult of the Ouroboros.