Understanding The Gravity Of The Situation

You’re on a turret, looking across at a huge rock. Open the chest for more armor, then run down the steps, between the stalagmites (that are technically stalactites), following the footprints along an eerie stream bathed in blue light. Climb up onto the rock outcrop, and face down a Protofleder in combat, close to a small, collapsed bridge. After bettering the vampire, search the area it was guarding, on the perimeter of this cave “ceiling”. Gather some crumpled notes from the corpse of the mage whose footprints you were following (and look nearby for his Relic sword). It gives you clues to your next course of action; to find an offering for the Unseen Elder. The offering is close by; a strange, glowing formation of rock tucked close to the ruined bridge you just leapt across.

Retrace your steps, leaping across the broken bridge, before facing the central “islands” of this cavern, leaping to a higher promontory, and weaving around some more rock formations to a large rocky pillar. You figure out you need to collapse the base of the rock. Access Aard, and blast the rocky pillar; the rock falls upward.

Your only route is to leap off the nearby waterfall. You’re carried down to a cavern you have a passing familiarity with; this is where you first emerged after healing yourself. Now the huge cavern has an additional feature, the rock you dislodged, which has fallen and created a platform you can climb up onto. This, in turn, enables you to reach the remains of the bridge and steps up to the exit archway. Head through, into a cave corridor that winds to the left, and into the chamber of the Elder.