Every Enshrouded settlement starts as one cramped hut with a Flame Altar, a bed, and too many crafting stations. In 1.0, the Springlands first base grows out of that stage when a second survivor arrives and the crafters need their own space. In this run, the base sits on a lakeshore with a dock. Balthazar the Alchemist moves in, the Flame reaches Level 3, and Oswald Anders the Blacksmith gets a stone-and-thatch house next door.
Quick answer: Balthazar sleeps in a stasis capsule inside Ancient Vault – Alchemist, northwest of Woodgard. Flame Level 3 then needs 2 survivors plus Wax, Salt, Spark, Shroud Wood, Flintstone, and a Scavenger Matron Helmet.
What an Enshrouded 1.0 first settlement looks like at Flame Level 3
At this point the base is a small camp with real infrastructure. The Flame Altar covers an 80m x 80m x 80m building area, up from the 40m cube of a Level 1 altar. Two craftspeople live on site. Processing stations such as the Grinding Stones and the Charcoal Kiln run in the background while you go out exploring.
The house layout moves away from one-room-for-everything. Balthazar stays in the original wooden house. The Blacksmith’s Forge and Charcoal Kiln move out to a dedicated building on newly leveled ground. That second building matters more than it first appears. Survivors need a roof and a bed assigned to them, and once you add stations, chests, and furniture, a single starter shack runs out of room quickly.
Balthazar and the Ancient Vault – Alchemist
The Alchemist’s vault sits northwest of Woodgard and Braelyn Bridge. The usual route starts with a fast travel to Ancient Spire – Springlands, followed by a glide down over the river valley toward Harvest Homestead. From there, a dirt trail climbs through the hills toward the vault waypoint.
The approach is the real danger. After dark, scavengers and fell wolves roam the road. A fortified wooden outpost surrounds the vault, where scavengers hurl explosive powder balls. Inside, level 3–5 scavengers occupy the chamber’s multiple floors alongside spike floor traps and burning pits. Beyond boarded doors, take the side route across a spike-trap catwalk to reach a chest containing the Shepherd’s Lightning staff and the Ring of Endless Life.
Two scavenger guards stand outside the pod chamber. Past them, Balthazar waits in a cryogenic capsule, and interacting with it wakes him. The vault roof also has one more chest on an outer pillar. You can reach it by gliding, and it holds a Metalstar Mace.
Rescuing him does not place him at your base. Back home, the Summoning Staff puts Balthazar inside a building. He also needs a bed, and a Crude Mattress is enough. Once you interact with the mattress to assign it to him, his crafting menu opens up. Potions, Shroud Core, and the Grinding Stones are available right away, and the Grinding Stones can start turning out Bonemeal.
Balthazar’s role and first quests
Balthazar has 247 recipes, covering potions, spells, mage armor sets, wands, and stations such as the Alchemy Station, Mortar, and Laboratory. Rescuing him rewards the Powerful Alchemy quest. His quest chain then branches into station unlocks and cures for ailments.
| Quest | Recommended level | Reward | XP |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Black Cauldron For The Alchemist | — |  Cauldron | 250 |
| A Cure For Hemotoxin | 10 |  Hemotoxin Antidote | 100 |
| A Cure For The Fell Curse | 10 |  Fell Curse Cleansing Tonic | 100 |
The Black Cauldron quest sends you to the Farmer, Emily Fray, and then to Rattlebleak in the Nomad Highlands. There you follow a trail of calcified statues to the sorcerer Ikora, and the quest ends with an Alchemy Station. The Hemotoxin cure needs spider glands and moths, and moths can only be caught at night. The Fell Curse tonic uses materials found above the Shroud at night among groups of Fell enemies.
Flame Altar requirements for Flame Level 3 and Level 4
Upgrading the altar and strengthening the Flame are two separate actions in the same altar menu. Upgrading the altar enlarges the building area. Strengthening the Flame raises your world-level progression, and that step needs survivors as well as materials.
| Requirement | Flame Level 3 | Flame Level 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Survivors | 2 | 3 |
 Spark | 5 | 10 |
 Wax | 10 | — |
 Salt | 20 | — |
 Shroud Wood | 15 | — |
 Flintstone | 15 | — |
 Scavenger Matron Helmet | 1 | — |
 Goo | — | 15 |
 Indigo Plant | — | 15 |
 Amber | — | 15 |
 Copper Ore | — | 15 |
 Corrupted Boar Tusk | — | 1 |
| Fell Wyvern Head | — | 1 |
Flame Level 3 adds +1 Shroud Passage Level and +1 Character Attribute Bonus, and it raises maximum Shroud time to 6 minutes. The Shroud Wood requirement makes you go into the fog. Shroud Wood only comes from corrupted trees inside the Shroud, so a timed run is unavoidable. The valley under Braelyn Bridge provides Shroud Wood and Mycelium, and its deeper caverns hold glowing Active Mycelium and Archaic Essence. Flintstone comes from hillside veins near Longkeep and the Cinder Vault.
Old altars count against your limit. The Deactivate Altar option in the altar menu removes an abandoned starter campsite altar and frees its slot for a new settlement point.
Oswald Anders’ Blacksmith house: materials and layout
The Blacksmith’s house uses only early materials, and the work is mostly about shaping the ground and stacking blocks. The base sits on a hillside slope. Tiered foundations of Rough Wood Blocks and Rough Stone Blocks, with stairs built in, turn that slope into a flat terrace. Boulders, trees, and terrain that poke through the build get removed with a pickaxe, an axe, or the Construction Hammer’s removal tool.
The floor starts as temporary wood and is replaced with Rough Flintstone Blocks. These are crafted from Flintstone at the Workbench, which explains why the Flintstone mining runs come up so often.
The finished building mixes materials so it doesn’t read as one flat surface:
- Rough Wood Block corner columns as vertical supports
- Rough Flintstone and Rough Stone walls with window and door openings left open
- Single stone wall blocks as trim around windows and corners
- A pitched roof of 4m and 2m Plant Fiber Roof Blocks with eaves one block past the walls
- Interior stone lintels along the upper walls to frame the ceiling
- Wooden Window Frames, a Wooden Door, and exterior wall torches
The roof is much easier to place from fly mode, under Building Mode, because you can float beside the eaves instead of climbing the structure. The Forge goes under a window and the Charcoal Kiln goes in a corner. A small magic chest, a bed, a table, a bench, a nightstand, and tableware fill out the interior, and wooden benches line the porch outside. The final step uses the same Summoning Staff routine as Balthazar. Oswald Anders is placed indoors and bound to his own bed, and from then on that house is his.
Scrappy Axe and Scrappy Pickaxe from the Blacksmith
Shroud Wood also opens the first tool upgrade. The Blacksmith crafts the Scrappy Axe and the Scrappy Pickaxe, and each costs 3 String, 4 Metal Scraps, and 1 Shroud Wood. Both are level 5 Common tools with 200 durability. The axe deals 17 Cutting damage and the pickaxe deals 17 Piercing, and together they replace the stone tools from the opening hours.
Springlands loot on the way: item stats
The trip from Harvest Homestead to the vault drops a lot of gear. In the crypt under Woodgard, a tomb chest holds the Greatsword Of The Old Order and the Sleek Daggers, and opening it sets off a wave of green skeletons. A nearby sarcophagus holds Noble Pants and Noble Boots. The Seed Of Suspicion chest at Harvest Homestead is buried under the porch of a ruined farmhouse. You dig it out with a pickaxe, and it contains the Wolf’s Snarl Longbow.
| Weapon | Rarity / class | Damage (lvl 1 / 5 / 55) | Key perks |
|---|---|---|---|
 Greatsword Of The Old Order | Legendary, Warrior | 16 / 25 / 138 Cutting | Critical Strike Damage 12% |
 Sleek Daggers | Legendary, Ranger | 7 / 12 / 65 Piercing | Backstab Damage 12%, Crit Chance 6% |
 Blunt Knives | Legendary, Ranger | 7 / 12 / 65 Piercing | Sneak Attack Damage 12%, Crit Chance 6% |
 Apprentice Wand | Common, Mage | 7 / 11 / 61 Ice | Renewal 1, Mana Leech 3 |
 Wildwood Shortbow | Common, Ranger | — | Renewal 1, Headseeker 10, Stamina Leech 2 |
 Explosive Powder Ball | Common, throwable | 25 Fire (item level 10) | Throw Interval 1 s |
Greatsword Of The Old Order swings once every 0.774 s and has Parry Power 1. It is a slow, heavy option for Warriors.
Sleek Daggers and Blunt Knives share the same damage curve and the same 0.4 s attack speed. Both include Riposte Kick, a kick shortly after a parry that deals Stamina Damage to the enemy’s Stun Bar. Only their 12% bonus differs. The Daggers reward backstabs and the Knives reward sneak attacks. The Knives carry most of the fighting here, from wolves at the build site to the crypt skeletons.
Apprentice Wand casts Ice and attacks every 0.6 s; its 12% Overcharge can randomly raise damage by as much as 12%. Wildwood Shortbow sacrifices damage for a 0.6 s draw speed and 7% arrow speed. Either weapon is easy to salvage once your backpack is full. You learn Explosive Powder Ball by picking up Charcoal; it stacks to 20 and deals damage based on Dexterity. The ball can also break stone rubble, revealing hidden alcoves and cellars throughout Harvest Homestead and Woodgard.
Health rings and Noble cosmetics
One of Woodgard’s hidden cellar chests holds a Lesser Ring of Health. Its larger version shows how the line scales.
| Ring | Item level | Health | Health Regeneration |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lesser Ring of Health | 5 | 20 | 4 |
 Ring of Health | 10 | 25 | 5 |
Both are Uncommon Warrior rings and both include Veteran 1 and Battle Heal 1. Health Leech goes from 2 on the Lesser ring to 3 on the full Ring of Health.
Noble Boots and Noble Pants are Common clothing from the Noble Dress Set. Their recipe unlocks when you craft under a roof, and the recipe comes from the Lunar New Year Trader. They change your character’s appearance only.
Once two survivors each have a house, the Flame is at Level 3, and the tools are no longer made of stone, the settlement has moved past the starter stage. Flame Level 4 is next, and it asks for a third survivor along with Copper Ore, Amber, and a Fell Wyvern Head. Those requirements lead out of the Springlands.
