Krynn's Vanguard searched around the Red Canyon for anything else of note and on the bandit leader's body they found a note that explained that on the Gildember 28, the last Sunday of the next month, that a force from the Western Church along with some of "Those Who Slither in the Dark" were going to invade Garreg Mach Monastery and attempt to assassinate Lady Rhea. This note was signed simply by 'The Flame Emperor'
With this information in hand, they traveled back to the Monastery to inform Lady Rhea of the plots they uncovered. On the journey back, Edelgard confided in Kyan while she was restless and revealed that she and her then 10 siblings had been tortured and experimented on by "Those Who Slither in the Dark" and that she was their 'successful product'. During Orion's watch, he saw two mysterious figures appear. One was in red garbs, with a helmet that had a large plume trailing down the middle and the face was covered with a mask. The mask seemed to be made of porcelin and was white with a flame like red design on it. The eyes were black save for some white rings acting as the iris. To their left, was a knight with gunmetal colored armor adorned with intimidating spikes mounted on a warhorse donning the same armor. There was no indication of any sort of eyes save for red dots, much like Lord Soth, however it was clear that this was not the haunting death knight the party defeated earlier. The two figures stood there motionless, until the figure in red garbs raised their hand and closed it into a fist, and they disappeared in a flash of light.
In the morning, there was no trace of these figures as they left no footprints aside from those where they stood the previous night.
After a few days at the Monastery, Krynn's Vanguard headed to Ker-Manth, a small village southwest of Raekel's Pit to do some digging on what was going on. They ended up exploring a cave where when they touched the walls, it seemed to move almost as if it was alive. Exploring further, they encounted a number of Intellect Devourers along their path and one dropped form the ceiling and landed on its back and curled its legs in much like an insect does when it dies. after poking the creature, it attacked jumping around and trying to take over the party's bodies. After failing to steal the body, but successfully devouring the intellect of Valphire, the party defeated the creature and decided to leave the cave. After they turned around, Kyan noticed a Mind Flayer further down the direction they were initially headed that retreated further into the cave system. The party sealed off the entrance to the cave, leaving the other part of the fork open and returned to town where they stayed for a few days, while Valphire recovered from the attack.