VhalSera and the Borrowed Heart
Break the exposed reliquaries, guide freed prisoners to the Heart and prevent the gaolers from reclaiming them.
Explore Tower of Frozen ShadowThe encounter
VhalSera borrows his protection from two captive souls. Breaking a reliquary frees its prisoner, but the binding ends only when that prisoner reaches the Heart.
The freed spirits are friendly. Protect their journey and control the gaolers; killing a friendly prisoner is neither required nor possible.
Know your role
Everyone
- Stay with the encounter in the upper wing after the conduit preparation.
- Leave the Heart destination and the guidance route clear.
- Move away from Time Owed drops after their warning.
Prisoner guides
- Activate the freed prisoner's guidance interaction and remain nearby along the route.
- If a guide is lost, the prisoner waits at an approved waypoint for a replacement.
- The journey takes at least 15 seconds; do not abandon the spirit after the first interaction.
Gaoler control
- Each rescue summons two 10,000-health gaolers; at most four can be alive.
- Interrupt recapture with damage, stun or distance, or root, mez, tank or kill the gaoler before it reaches the prisoner.
Damage dealers
- Attack the currently exposed 25,000-health reliquary.
- Both prisoners must arrive before VhalSera can pass 25% health.
- After 30%, interrupt the furnace cast.
Healers
- Keep the guide supported without standing on the prisoner route.
- The cold patches tick every six seconds and have no immediate impact hit.
Encounter progression
-
Floor 6A preparation
The lower conduits
Defeat the three conduit guardians to open 6B. The preparation remains complete after a boss wipe.
-
Until both prisoners reach the Heart
Two borrowed lives
A 30-second cycle exposes one reliquary at a time. VhalSera takes only 30% damage while a binding remains.
-
Both bindings removed
Time owed
VhalSera takes full damage. Continue handling the timed cold hazards.
-
30% health
The furnace calls its debt
An interruptible 1,000-damage furnace cast joins the encounter every 40 seconds.
Abilities & mechanics
Open a mechanic for details and any linked spells.
The Borrowed Bindings Break the exposed reliquary, then finish its rescue.
Each exposed reliquary has 25,000 health. Breaking it releases one friendly prisoner and two hostile gaolers.
Reaching the Heart removes a binding permanently for the attempt. Recapture instead restores that reliquary after 20 seconds, allowing another rescue.
VhalSera cannot fall below 25% while any binding remains.
The Gaolers' Claim Interrupt the three-second recapture channel.
A gaoler within eight paces of a prisoner begins a visible three-second channel. Damage, stun or movement outside eight paces interrupts it.
A guide who dies, disconnects or leaves releases the assignment. The spirit waits for another guide and remains vulnerable to recapture.
Time Owed After the eight-second warning, leave the cold patch behind.
Every 30 seconds, up to three distinct living non-tanks are warned. At warning expiry, an 18-second, ten-pace cold patch appears at the approved hazard point nearest each target. Read its visible marker and leave that point.
A patch deals 200 cold damage on each six-second tick, without an immediate impact hit. Overlapping patches do not multiply a single tick.
Hazards use fixed approved points outside the protected Heart destination. They do not follow a player after appearing.
Related spells
TOFS Cold 200
Furnace Debt Interrupt the cast before its 1,000-damage hit.
Below 30%, this interruptible cast occurs every 40 seconds. Its impact is separated from a new Time Owed hazard tick by at least six seconds.
Related spells
Field notes
Expedition access and route
The Unwritten Hour admits 12 to 36 characters of level 55 or higher and is tuned for 24 to 36 level-60 raiders. Speak to Keeper Avel Rimeglass in Iceclad to arrange the expedition.
The expedition lasts eight hours. A 72-hour replay begins when the first raid boss is defeated. That first victory seals the roster; arrange replacements beforehand. Disconnected members of the sealed roster may return before the expedition expires.
The tower uses expedition mirrors and saved checkpoints. Ordinary tower keys, keyring entries and the summit shortcut do not unlock this version. Complete each floor objective before using the next mirror.
Warnings and recovery
Read Event Messages and use the named encounter actors. Color and visual effects supplement the instructions; no required answer depends on recognizing a color alone. Keep the fight and its support inside the current encounter area.
Evacuation returns eligible party members to the entrance of this same expedition. Gate and spells that transport you out of the tower remain available; reenter through the keeper while your expedition and membership remain valid. Binding, shadow steps, summons and transport within the tower cannot bypass its mirrors.
A wipe restores the active boss and its attempt-only objectives. Previously completed encounters and route objectives remain completed. Cleared bosses cannot be repeated for another reward during the same expedition.
An unsuccessful attempt does not consume another raid offering. A reset recreates temporary charges and actors for the next attempt. Return only to a checkpoint the expedition has already unlocked.
Tower inhabitants
Ordinary inhabitants populate the unlocked floors independently of this encounter. Each floor or wing has six stationary inhabitants and two native patrols. Most see normal invisibility, many are genuinely undead, and nearby inhabitants can assist one another.
Killing these ambient mobs does not complete named objectives, open mirrors, remove named protections or award boss equipment or progression items. Follow the named warder/support instructions separately.
Ambient mobs can be rooted, mezzed, stunned or snared. Their saved 30-minute respawns wait near living players and during an engaged named fight on that floor. Native undead-targeted spells and invisibility-versus-undead detection use their actual body types.
Encounter rewards
Equipment reward
Exactly one item is chosen from these four, with a 25% chance for each item. Supporting creatures and encounter objectives do not award additional equipment.
- Undiscovered item
- Undiscovered item
- Undiscovered item
- Undiscovered item