With the turn of the new year, the Empire planned their next move as they captured Garreg Mach Monastery. However, with Krynn's Vanguard missing, their greatest advantage left them with a struggle to push forward as aggressively as planned.
Meanwhile, underground, Krynn's Vanguard found an underground city made of some sort of slate-like material, and powered lights, with runes that locked doors. After figuring out the runes could be used to create a sigil of the Mark of Flames, they passed through discovering the rest of the city, containing many books, workshops, an immaculate kitchen stocked with cooking supplies and utensils...no food sadly. There were also sleeping quarters and a library that held almost as much information as the Aesthetics held in their library in Palanthas.
Discovering a control room where the electricity was being powered, Krynn's Vanguard decided to press a big red button which, after reviving themselves, they found the city crumbling and decided to escape. Their only route led to one staircase going down, one staircase leading up, and a path in the middle going straight. Taking the logical route, they went up where they were blinded by the light at the top where they emerged.