Scourging of the Lighthouse - Spring 24

The following entries document the adventures at Spring Social 24 and attempted Scourging of the Newhaven Lighthouse. It is primarily chronicled by Malon Faegwyn with addition support from the party. 

The party consisted of Smiggle - a Kobold Warlock, Bronzebeard Lightbringer - a Dwarven paladin, Striga- A Dragonborn Paladin, Ramiel- An Asaimar Stars Druid and myself Malon Faegwyn - An Elven Rogue.

The party had heard tell of some trouble near the frontier town of Newhaven, along the coast from their previous adventuring grounds and so set out by boat to the town to determine if they could be of assistance. Whilst sailing into the town the captain of their vessel provided some more information on the situation - Sea Monsters had been seen near the lighthouse and were kidnapping townsfolk. Despite some (somewhat futile) pleading the captain could not be convinced to bring his vessel direct to the Newhaven Lighthouse (due to a mixture of cowardness and vessel capabilities) and as such the Party heading into the port of Skyhorn to find a braver captain and a more suitable larger vessel. The captain did eventually reveal that one "Sheila (Boat Captain)" had previously made the journey and might be convinced to make it again.

Upon arriving at the dock we found a larger vessel docker along side - "The Anna-Belle Lee (Ship)" with no sign of the crew on deck. Disembarking from our own vessel we headed to find the dock master and whilst walking down the quayside happened across 2 ruffians accosting a human female, listening as we approached Striga observed that the conversation was tense and the ruffians appears to be demanding that the lady in question should give up her vessel. We couldn't believe our luck that we might have found Sheila (Boat Captain) so quickly, so Striga, Ramiel and Malon Faegwyn inserted themselves into the situation to determine the cause of the issues

Everything was as it seemed and we quickly learnt that the leader of this gang wanted Sheila (Boat Captain)'s vessel to go to the Newhaven Lighthouse and seek out the sunken treasure for himself and his crew without any thought for the missing crew of Sheila (Boat Captain)'s vessel or the towns folk of Newhaven. The situation escalated as Striga showed her Glaive and Malon Faegwyn tried to persuade them to leave. Malon Faegwyn caught sight of an imperceptable plea for help from Sheila (Boat Captain) and with their efforts in persuasion apparently having no affect on the gang Ramiel intervened to stop the leader from reaching for his Scimitar with a well timed Heat Metal and we moved to aggressive negotiations. Malon Faegwyn made one last attempt to bring the leader to order at knife point, but in his haste fell on the floor infront - ruining the effect.

Sheila (Boat Captain) took the parties distraction as an opportunity and bolted from the scene leaving only our brave adventures and the ruffians. The party took some initial heavy damage from the gang offering little in the way of return damage - likely due to still finding their landlegs after a long time at sea. Eventually the hits and spells started to land when a larger number of the gang turned up and joined the fray. Finding themselves outnumbered, the party focused enemies and with Smiggle and Striga providing a fearful presence over the attackers the tide finally started to turn in the battle. A few ruffians escaped, one taken down at range by a final arrow from Malon Faegwyn's bow the other two determined to be seen off for good.

The party searched the bodies and were disappointed to find very little, so moved to the local tavern (Unknown Dockside Tavern). Expecting to find the barman (Unknown Dockside Tavern Barman) upset at the loss of his clientele Malon Faegwyn attempted a gift of some 5 gold pieces but found to his surprise that the barman (Also name unknown.. Vibs Note: Either we sucked at finding names or my notes in this area are lacking) seemed distinctly nonplussed at the entire affair. Instead settling for a round of drinks for the tavern to help quiet the town and leave a positive impression the party noticed Sheila (Boat Captain) sitting at a table and joined her for a drink

Conversing with Sheila (Boat Captain) she confirmed to the party that she had indeed visited the island in an attempt to see of the Sea Monsters and instead had fallen foul of them. Her crew had been bound and carried away (Vibs note: How did she escape??!?) before she managed to escape and return to Newhaven. Pooling their combined knowledge of over 1000 years walking on Veloria both Malon Faegwyn and Striga realised from her description that the "sea monsters" being seen were in fact water elementals. As she owed the party a favour for defeating the gang and wanted to help her crew who she believed to be alive she agreed to assist and set sail for the Newhaven Lighthouse aboard the Anna-Belle Lee. 

After a short rest in the pub to heal up the Party boarded Sheila (Boat Captain)'s Vessel (The Anna-Belle Lee (Ship)) and headed for the Newhaven Lighthouse

The Newhaven Lighthouse was a short (~ 1 hour) sail from Newhaven and whilst underway Bronzebeard Lightbringer noticed felt that something was amis with Sheila (Boat Captain). Innocently enquiring about a missing captains hat Smiggle discovered that she was not in-fact the ships captain and that Aryn (The real captain) had also been taken by the elementals. She firmly believed them to still be alive and so the party resolved to rescue the crew and towns folk in addition to scourging the Newhaven Lighthouse. On approach to the Newhaven Lighthouse there was no sign of the sea monsters however the Party spotted a cave alongside and the Party decided the best option was to bring the vessel into the cave and look for the treasure mentioned by our transport captain and the ruffians in case it provided any items of assistance for the monsters.

We very quickly ended up unable to go any further with the ship as the cave narrowed to ~20ft height. A minor illusion of a duck from Smiggle revealed that there were 3 sharks swimming in the bay (Newhaven Lighthouse Bay) which would be a problem disembarking from this ship (as we discovered at this point The Anna-Belle Lee (Ship) had no row boat!). Convincing the crew to part with some of the ships stores a plan was concocted to distract the sharks enough to allow Malon Faegwyn to jump to shore across the rocks whilst the Paladins misty stepped and Ramielcarried Smiggle across in a flying wild shape (what shape)?. 

Arriving on the beach the Party strayed to close to the shore looking whilst looking at possible treasure from the previous shipwrecks and due to some lingering wounds from the earlier battle Striga attracted the attention of the sharks and started the next fight.

Retreating slightly the first shark bit Striga but was lurking in the shallows. Striga stood up and bear hugged (Dragon hugged??) the shark to successfully grapple it onto land and stop it swimming away. She tried to drag it further on land but found the creature to be too heavy. Keeping the shark out of the water allowed the rest of the party to bring their spells and arms to bear and the first shark was quickly dispatched. 

With Smiggle firing blast after blast the remaining two sharks dove deep and the Party struggled to see to continue the fight. Ramiel thinking on his feet cast daylight on Striga's handaxe and she threw it into the water. As the axe fell through the deep enough light backlit the sharks allowing Smiggle to keep blasting

With the one shark dead, and another mortally wounded the final shark ran, leaving the bay waters calm. I leave warning for future adventurers that they are likely to return. 

The Water Elemental immediately attacked Bronzebeard Lightbringer and Striga, enveloping both and grappling Bronzebeard Lightbringer. Fortunately Smiggle had cast water breathing on the party so they did not start drowning and the fight started in earnest with Smiggle and Ramiel successfully attacking the elemental with magic from the outside. Initially discovering that the magical arrows did not harm Bronzebeard Lightbringer or Striga, Malon Faegwyn started firing his own arrows into the creature and to his horror discovered that they not only wounded the elemental but also seriously wounded Bronzebeard Lightbringer and Striga and causing Bronzebeard Lightbringer to fall unconscious (Vibs note: did I mention yet again how sorry I am for this!). Trying to maintain his sneak attack advantage Malon Faegwyn then moved out of sight through the broken door to hide in the shadows.

To his horror as Malon Faegwyn settled into the corner he saw shapes congregating in the distance and realised he had entered the main cultist chamber. ~15 cultists, humanoid in shape but with eel like features, all waiting for the response from the elemental looked at him directly and started to move in his direction. (Vibs note: Important lesson that stealth doesn't always work has been learnt :(). Fortunately for the Party Smiggle finally managed to bring down the water elemental with a final triumphant Eldritch Blast and as the others started to celebrate they saw a blur of the Rogue fleeing the room and yelling "get back to the ship, GET BACK TO THE SHIP".

Striga picked up Bronzebeard Lightbringer and immediately started running for the beach and the Party quickly followed Malon Faegwyn out  of the hole and ran for the beach with the cultists following behind them screaming in rage. Swimming the last distance and climbing up the boarding ladders onto the ship which had already started preparing to get underway when the crew heard the battle sounds from the shore they escaped from the Cove and returned to Newhaven.

I am pleased to report that Bronzebeard Lightbringer was healed by Ramiel once we reached the safety of the boat and all of the surviving townsfolk are making a full recovery. Our reputation has improved with the people of Newhaven, but the town must still deal with the Scourge in the Lighthouse in the future. Whilst we have obviously blunted some of their plans I worry that they will only grow stronger in our absence and we must also hone our capabilities and equipment before returning. 

I enclose a map, drawn on the return journey covering my memory of the Cove, so that any future adventure in this direction stands more informed than ourselves.