Eschalon II Pacifist Run - The Forsaken Coast & Secret Guild of Crius Vindica

This section covers both the Forsaken Coast area and the secret guild of Crius Vindica, as well as the mostly desolate Northern Mistfell Coast a little further to the northeast.

After you've visited Lockston Hall in Port Kuudad to ask Saint Gilhelm about the strange viewing glass, you'll need to visit the misty Forsaken Coast to find the hidden entrance to the secret guild hall of Crius Vindica.

The Forsaken Coast
The Forsaken Coast (i.e. the map directly north of Port Kuudad) is also a desolate place, but is also the stamping grounds of large and hostile "Mire Trolls," who will chase you if they catch sight of you entering the maze-like labyrinth of crags jutting out of the swamps. (The trolls aren't too difficult to evade, but be careful not to wander into a dead-end and let them pen you in by blocking the only way in or out.) Despite their size, the Sparkling Wonder spell is still reasonably effective on the trolls, as long as you can cast it at a high enough level.

If you work your way through the mires to roughly the central-western part of the map, you'll be able to find a swamp chest and claim its contents, as long as you can evade, outrun, or hide from the trolls.
If you travel up along the northeastern crags right along the coast, you'll also find an impressive half-submerged shipwreck, with another treasure chest to claim at the foot of the ship.

If you use the Strange Viewing Glass in this area, you'll see the same strange luminous display as before, but now inclining in an even more definite direction, varying based on your position relative to a specific point on this map: If you follow the direction of the glow to a location a little way west of the shipwreck, it will center its focus directly on what turns out to be the hidden entrance to the Guild of Crius Vindica.

The Strange Viewing Glass will lead to this location, where you'll find the entrance to the secret Guild

The Secret Guild of Crius Vindica
Important note: Even if you know where the entrance is, you must have the Strange Viewing Glass with you each time you enter the secret guild, or else you might be killed or trapped inside.
The first place you'll come to when you descend into the underground stone passages is a peculiar chamber with a lamp, which will turn green and allow you to pass when it detects that you possess the viewing glass. (If you came into the chamber without the viewing glass, however, it would turn red and trap you inside, releasing some voracious salamander-like creatures to attack you.)
After this trial of admittance, you'll be able to walk into the main chambers of the Guild Hall, and will receive a reward of 2000 experience points, after which you'll be able to talk with two important characters:

Korren Northbow is a Guild leader who you must speak with in order to learn more about the main storyline, and receive the first of several chapters in a quest sequence called "The Crux of Fire."
The first of these quests is subtitled "A Metting With Sparrow," and sounds like a relatively straightforward to meet a Guild ranger named Sparrow in the Broken Blade region, to get a key from her that you will need to enter the Hammerlorne Mines to claim the Crux of Fire. Actually, this quest has a twist in which it turns out you would not be able to complete it without killing someone, but the good news is that you definitely won't have to do that, since you can go elsewhere to get a key to the Hammerlorne Mines without any violent encounters.

Korren gives you the quest to seek out the Crux of Fire in the Hammerlorne Mines

The other person inside the Guild Hall is Erubor the arch mage, who players of the first game will have encountered in Eschalon Book I: Eventually (when you return to the Guild to give Korren the Crux of Fire later on) he will give you a quest called "Assistance from Lorewitch," to venture into the Lorewitch Mage Tower. (You can choose to enter the Tower earlier as well, but won't be able to complete the quest until after Erubor gives you a chalice to bring to its guild leader.)
If you're inclined to explore the secret Guild Hall further, you can find several treasure chests in the adjoining chambers, down passageways in either direction: We're not actually sure whether the other members of Crius Vindica would consider it a crime if they caught you opening these chests, or if they'd let you do so without objection, now that you're on an important quest for the Guild.

The Northern Mistfell Coast (optional map east of the Forsaken Coast)
If you choose to also visit the Northern Mistfell Coast (either before or after visiting the Guild), you'll find that this stretch of marshy land is desolate for the most part, but you can find two chests: The first is found at the end of a watery inlet cutting into the north shore of the coast, but you made want to prepare yourself for an ambush, since opening the chest will disturb a large number of hostile "Black Mold" slimes.

Just northwest of that chest, there is another chest at the north end of a narrow band of evergreens, but we didn't find anything but a skull inside it. (We never found any clues about using the skull in a sidequest, but there might have been more secrets we never discovered.)

The mysterious skull chest on the Northern Mistfell Coast...

Choosing Your Next Destination:
After you've acquired the quest to acquire the Crux of Fire and done everything else you need to do at the Guild, you can choose where to go next. One possibility would be to explore the Eastern Fellpine and the Broken Blade Region (which has plenty of interesting things to find). We covered that region in upcoming sections, but if you're doing a pacifist run, you'll actually discover that there is no nonviolent way to get the Hammerlorne Key at Broken Blade.
Instead, the place you'll eventually need to go to actually get into the Hammerlorne Mines without any violence is the snowy Dwarven mountain town of Durnore, which you can find by traveling to the far northeastern "Raven's Gate," and then crossing the frozen expanses in the north.
When you're ready to make that journey, see the sections on the journey to Raven's Gate & Nor'Land, the the following sections on Durnore Region and the Hammerlorne Mines.