As related by Ujio, Belcoria and Willow on Scaly Eye Isle, after being taken there on the back of Lhammaruntosz and treated for poisoning.
And following on the events of
- Early Deeds of the Dragonslayers (re: Tower of Storms, see "Neverwinter Wood" section)
- and Phandalin in Flames.
(Transitioned from journal entry 5. Darkness All Around)
With Phandalin rebuilding and its situation improving, the Favored Few took to adventuring once more - and their first objective was to try to finish off this "unkillable" Leilon and Neverwinter.
Making a renewed attack on the lighthouse, with greater care and preparedness this time, it turned out the reason this member of the Anchorites of Talos could not be killed was that his heart and lifeforce had been removed then placed within the beacon light of the lighthouse, and until that link and magical machine was broken - he could not be killed either.
Ujio notes this is kind of like what was going on with Gertrude the Night Hag in that cursed Montarthas Manor mansion in the Neverwinter Wood.
After a LOT of trial and error, we worked this out and destroyed the lighthouse beacon and then Cult of Talos.
Of course we were very curious about this, so we headed up the coast to investigate, and captured a fanatical anchorite who was happy to tell us of their glorious victory led by the mighty war priestess named Fheralai Stormsworn.
During the battle in those dangerous waters, both ships crashed into the rocks, but the forces of Talos did not care about their own ship - the purpose of the attack was to steal away this long-time ship-weapon from the undead of the Mere of Dead Men. The massive storm had been summoned from Talos and great destruction was delivered to the undead, even forcing the leader of the Dark Ship to flee, conquering the vessel as a prize for Talos.
Lhammaruntosz shares that the undead leader is likely the powerful necromancer of the Church of Myrkul named Ularan Mortus.
So finding this grim scene - if you can imagine - of the merciless destruction left by the storm god’s forces on the undead, we thought the Anchorites of Talos must have been weakened and so we decided to attack. Unfortunately, we realized too late we were far outmatched and began to try to retreat. I was already struggling at this point, somehow having become poisoned during the battle.
Lhammaruntosz engaged these dark forces with a ferocity. Unfortunately, these bad guys are all storm creatures, and seemed to shrug off her lightning breath. But the attacks from the sky provided the distraction needed for the barbarian and the dwarf to reach safety - only to turn and see no sign of our companions.
That war-priest was on the deck, sizzling with bolts of lightning and her voice booming like the thunder of the storm itself, clear even in the heavy rains and crashing of the waves. She was summoning something - something even more terrible than the storm that smothered the coastline. The poison was not hammering my mind and senses, so from there things are not so clear. Enormous tentacles from the sea's depths lashed out against the ship and toward the Unknown, grasping the ship's hull with a lurch and pulling it off the rocks toward the sea. When we left, it had been capsized - turned upside down and floating just off the jagged rocks on the Sea of Swords.
The Favored Few warriors who brought me to the shore spoke with Lhammaruntosz, who then brought me here. I ask that you might return with the dragon and see that my friends are rescued, or at least found.
(Transition back to 5. Darkness All Around)