The Elder Scrolls Online's new DLC, Waking Flame, brings two new four-player, three-boss dungeons to tackle: The Dread Cellar and Red Petal Bastion. The latter's all about a bunch of tomb raiders called the Knights of the Silver Rose, who once protected Tamriel from Daedric threats but have since strayed from their righteous path. They've been pillaging the precious relics of nearby temples and piling them high in the bowels of their stronghold. The problem is, those artefacts have been seeping some Daedric nastiness into the place, and the warriors of Red Petal Bastion have become consumed with corruption. Well, it happens.
It's this band of glorified treasure hoarders that I got to battle in a demo session with lead encounter designer Mike Finnigan, creative director Rich Lambert, and dungeon team product owner Shane Slama ahead of the DLC's launch. But one heck of a surprise lay in wait: a boss so imbued with Daedric mischief he turned my crew and I into sweet roll-scarfing goats.
The dungeon starts much as you'd expect. A wronged artefact owner wants his goodies back and the slightly scary Dremora 'Foolkiller' Lyranth will help, but only if she gets to keep one very specific relic. We battle early waves of enemies, like Silver Rose archers, warriors, and pyromancers, in the courtyards outside, one of whom is tormenting a poor doggo by hogging a roast chicken leg. So, in the words of Finnigan, she "deserve[d] all the death for that". Quite right. We pound her and her booty-burgling kind into the ground - y'know, for the oppressed mutts of Tamriel.
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