Moonlight Sanctum¶

The Moonlight Sanctum is a dungeon in Lorahn'Kahl, located in an aquatic cave beneath the region's large eastern jungle. It can be accessed from three different caves, most prominently near a bridge just west of Mohta.

The Moonlight Sanctum is a relatively challenging combat area, with strong custom skeleton mobs, guardians, and elder guardians making it the closest thing the map has to a vanilla ocean monument.

Completing this dungeon rewards the player with the Ascendance mythical weapon.

Location

Approximate Coordinates: -618, 66, 4968

Entering the sanctum for the first time grants the "The Moonlight Sanctum" advancement.

Finding the Sanctum¶

The Moonlight Sanctum can be accessed from one of three ocean caves in southeastern Lorahn'Kahl. The paths around Mohta, leading both west and north from the village, contain three wooden bridges in this region, each in front of a prismarine cavern that extends into the mountains. These paths all lead to the Moonlight Sanctum, but the bridge at (-516, 64, 5217) contains the only additional content. This cavern, leading to the sanctum from the southeast, has a small jungle wood hut which contains the Dear Aok book.

Mobs¶

Guardians spawn throughout the water in the Moonlight Sanctum, providing a significant challenge for players who attempt to swim away from the enemies above.

On the prismarine platforms, "Undead Theocracy" skeleton enemies in Protection diamond armor guard the sanctum. These come in three variants:

Undead Theocracy Sentinel: Archers who shoot slowness tipped arrows, and wield Power 16/Punch II/Infinity bows. Iron helmets and Protection I on all armor.
Undead Theocracy Archer: Archers with regular arrows, wielding Power 20 bows and tridents. No helmets.
Undead Theocracy Phalanx: Skeletons wielding Sharpness 15 Tridents and shields. Fully equipped with diamond armor, enchanted with Protection III.

The Moonlight Sanctum is home to three Elder Guardians (Dahrkin Negators), contained within prismarine towers at the northern, southwestern, and southeastern corners of the dungeon. These buildings are all guarded by three Undead Theocracy enemies, with some combination of archers and phalanx variants.

Contents¶

The main goal of the Moonlight Sanctum is to break through the glass in the southern wall, gaining access to the main puzzle which leads to the Ascendance mythical weapon. Players cannot mine through this glass without defeating all three Elder Guardians, then pressing the button in the south labeled "MAGIC WARD CONTROLLER", lifting the Mining Fatigue effect. A dialogue line will play:

[Ascendant Voice] Elders slain. Magic ward lifted.

The player can then break the glass leading into the room behind this wall, and will find a sign that reads "THE FIRST OF EACH RITE IS THE WAY TO THE LIGHT."

The "rites" referred to here are the Ancient Theocracy Rites, a piece of paper found inside of the fourth tower, in the center of the sanctum. Inside of the glass is a structure with valuable blocks hiding a chest with the Ancient Theocracy Rites, which read:

Dahr fahn Lorahn

Ihb fahn Rihelma

Voynath nylsh axh'malrih

Ithlahr harhte

Nari fahn tohsima

Ertahn oul silnar

Puzzle Solution

The 6 arrows on the wall can each point towards one of 8 letters, and there are 6 lines on the piece of paper. If the player turns each arrow in its item frame to point toward the first letter of its respective line in the Ancient Theocracy Rites, spelling out the word "DIVINE," a flooded passageway will open in the ground. Ascendance is found at the end of this tunnel.

Exploit

The glass leading to the Moonlight Sanctum's inner core can technically be broken at any time, but this is simply blocked by the Mining Fatigue effect. As such, this can be circumvented in the same way that a vanilla Ocean Monument can be, using TNT to blow the door without slaying the Elder Guardians.

Stone of Agony¶

A Stone of Agony is also located within this structure. From a tall platform in the northeast of the dungeon, a banner is visible in the cavern's ceiling to the west. Just over the banner is a small alcove, containing a chest with the Stone of Agony.

Lore¶

The Moonlight Sanctum was a construction of the Tri-Moon Theocracy, built to function as a necrotic engine. The goal of this structure was to continually revive and kill a set of subjects, harnessing the energy released from this process to somehow complete the Great Work. How exactly this would have worked is unclear, but this process is heavily tied to the necromantic traditions of the region, inspired by Aok.