Cinder Vault Walkthrough: Escaping to the Plains in Enshrouded

A new Flameborn starts Enshrouded asleep in a pod deep inside the Cinder Vault, with the surface world of Embervale blocked behind a ruined mine. Getting out means communing with the Flame, working west through a torch-lit shed and a Shroud-filled pit, and clearing a rubble wall before the open meadow finally opens up. Here is the full route, in order, with everything you pick up on the way.

Quick answer: Commune with the Flame, head west through the mine, cross the Shroud pit, clear the rubble with an Explosive Powder Ball, then reach the Plains and build a Flame Altar using Stone x5.

What the mine gives you

You start empty-handed, but the route supplies items in the vault and mine, and Stone x5 is gathered in the meadow. Pick these up as you pass them.

Torch and Bandage x2 from the chest in the wooden shed
Wood Logs from the barrel and the plank wall behind it
Rusty Sword from the skeleton in the cave room
Explosive Powder Ball x15 from the candle table past the pit
Stone x5 gathered loose on the Plains for the Flame Altar

Cinder Vault to the Plains, step by step

Your character wakes in a pod inside the Cinder Vault and the screen reads “New location charted!”. Stand by the fire in the pod room to pick up the Rested buff, which lists Sheltered, Warmth and Comfort beneath it.

Enter the Flame room through its circular doorway, then press E to “Commune with the Flame”. The Flame explains that the Shroud has overtaken Embervale and asks you to make a Flame Altar as shelter. Press Space to continue.

THE FLAME story screen showing the opening narration with a prompt to press Space to continue — The THE FLAME screen delivers the opening narration about Embervale and the Shroud before you press Space.

After the narration, the screen shows “RECIPE UNLOCKED! Flame Altar” and opens the quest “CLAIM A SPOT FOR YOUR BASE” with the objective “Reach The Plains” in the top right. A quest marker appears on the compass along the top of the screen to point you there.

Leave the vault onto a stone terrace that looks out over Embervale. A hint reads “A vast world awaits you, filled with secrets and peril. Press [J] and navigate to the map to track your discoveries.” That opens the in-game map; for the whole world laid out ahead of time, use our interactive Enshrouded map.

Sheer drops border the terrace and the ledges near the mine shed. Falling around 20 metres is fatal; sprinting over the terrace edge or stepping off the ledge beyond the shed will kill your character. Stay at a walking pace near edges.

From the terrace, follow the dirt path running west along the cliff. It leads to a wooden mine shed sitting on a ledge.

HUD showing the Reach The Plains objective while walking past ruined stone structures toward the shed — The Claim a Spot for Your Base objective tracks the Reach The Plains step as you move along the cliff path toward the shed.

Open the chest inside the shed (“E Open”, then “Take All”). It holds Bandage x2 (Common, +4% Healing Per Second) and a Torch. Taking them unlocks the Bandage recipe, and the Torch drops into hotbar slot 1 and is held in your hand.

Break the barrel next to the chest for Wood Logs x2, which unlocks the Campfire recipe and opens the backpack tutorial.

With the torch equipped, attack the plank wall at the shed’s rear using the left mouse button. Around six blows break it, yielding Wood Logs +5 and revealing a gap that leads onto a ledge. This is the fatal drop mentioned above, so do not go out onto it.

Wood Logs +5 picked up after the plank wall at the back of the shed breaks — Breaking the plank wall with the torch drops Wood Logs +5.

Head west from the shed along the path to reach the mine door. Once inside, travel along the wooden boardwalk, go up a brief stairway and descend to the lower floor, then proceed into the westbound tunnel.

The west tunnel ends in a cave room. On a wooden ledge at the far side, a skeleton holds a sword, so press E to “Collect” the Rusty Sword into a hotbar slot. The combat hint here explains “Use a sword to defend yourself. Tap or hold [LMB] to attack, [RMB] to block. A well-timed block will parry an enemy attack. Wait to see a flash on the enemy or projectile to perform a parry.”

Below the sword ledge is a pit full of Shroud fog. Entering it starts the “ENSHROUDED” countdown at 5:00 and adds “Threats nearby” to the status list, with Fell enemies waiting in the fog. Keep to the west side of the pit and walk its length to the far end, where stairs lead up and out. Falling from the sword ledge into the middle of the pit got us killed; the west-side line got through.

The Shroud hint on the misty pit floor below the sword ledge — On the pit floor the game warns that lingering in the Shroud will kill you.

At the top of the stairs is a table with candles, guarded by Fell. Loot the table for Explosive Powder Ball x15 and the message “RECIPE UNLOCKED! Explosive Powder Ball”. A hint reads “Use explosives to forge a path through the rubble. Explosive Powder Balls can be thrown. Explosive Barrels are detonated at range.”

Fell guarding the candle table with the explosives hint on screen — Fell guard the candle table where the explosives hint appears.

Beyond the table, wooden bomb crates sit on a rubble pile blocking the way. Choose the Explosive Powder Ball from the hotbar, aim at the pile, hold the left mouse button for “Throw”, and release it. A single ball clears the blockage. Target the crate-covered rubble: throwing one at the nearby brick wall only scorches that wall.

After the rubble, a short stairway leads through the passage into the lower mine. Continue east along the passage to its end.

A door at the east end opens to daylight on a grassy ledge, where you find the first Return Beacon. Its hint reads “If you fall, you will rise again at your last Return Beacon.”

Quest tracker showing Reach The Plains while looking up through a stone doorway toward daylight — The passage opens through a stone doorway into daylight, with the sword still set in the hotbar.

From the beacon ledge, head down the slope past the tents of the Longkeep camp. The status “On the Road” shows while you walk the road, and you can loot pots and boxes inside the tents with “Collect nearby loot”.

Head north-east from there into the open meadow. On arrival, “QUEST UPDATED: Claim A Spot For Your Base” appears, and the objective becomes “Build A Flame Altar”. The meadow is in the Springlands region.

Open the Crafting menu with V and find the Flame Altar under Essentials. Its recipe needs Stone x5, and loose stones lie around the meadow. Pick them up by holding E (“Collect nearby loot”). Crafting the altar also unlocks the Steam achievement “A place to call home”.

Flame Altar recipe in the Crafting menu needing Stone x5 — The Flame Altar sits under Essentials in the Crafting menu and needs Stone x5.

Put the Flame Altar in the hotbar, select it, and choose a position. Blue indicates a valid location; red and “Not enough free space” indicate that you are occupying its placement spot. Press R to turn it 90 degrees, or toggle snapping.

How you know it worked

Once the altar is placed, the quest objective changes to “Talk To The Flame” and new recipes unlock, including Ragged Boots and three more. The Flame then says “You are not alone. There are other survivors, drowsing in nearby Ancient Vaults. Find them so they may aid in your journey. Go gently – one beckons nearby, just outside of the Shroud’s grasp.” The altar menu now shows Altar Level 1 with a Building Area of 40m x 40m x 40m, along with Upgrade Altar, Strengthen the Flame and Reskill, confirming your first base is live.

A shirtless red-haired character stands before a lit stone Flame Altar on a cobblestone path, with a recipe unlocked notification at left. — The newly built Flame Altar burns in a forest clearing as the “Talk To The Flame” quest appears and the recipe “Ragged Boots (+3 more)” is unlocked.