A Ballad of Roses

Story Introduction (Narrator Only)

Of the many creatures that inhabit Eorzea, some of the most intriguing are without doubt those classified as Spoken. The most notable examples of members of this genus are for sure the so-called enlightened species, like the five races of Eorzea, and the beast tribes. However, a species, in particular, has never quite found its place among the civilized, nor has ever been witnessed as having a civilization on its own. Once terrible predators of the sea, the creatures known as Sirens are nowadays practically extinct, following a purge lead by the legendary pirate Mistbeard – or at least one of its incarnations.

Himerope, the Last Siren

This story starts with one of the few survivors of this plumed race. During Mistbeard's eradication about twenty-five years before the Seventh Umbral Calamity, Himerope was but a fledgling chick of five summers. As the pirate's genocide proceeded, he eventually found Himerope's mother's nest and, as his axe fell as swift as thunder, she too lost her life to the pirate king. In an attempt to spare her offspring, however, she clutched onto her only daughter, the fledgling Himerope, hiding her from sight before Mistbeard could see her.

Incapable of moving and paralyzed by fear and by the shock of seeing her mother murdered, she stood there, waiting for the captain and his crewmates to move on to their next target. After hopelessly trying to reanimate her mother, Himerope abandoned her endeavors and, with no other option left, she had to resolve to live on her own.

In the years that followed Himerope resorted to every method possible to survive. As she soon found out, her kind was blessed with innate charming abilities. She learned to prey on isolated groups of adventurers, lured by her chant, and to loot their stocks of food. The years went by and Himerope was always on the run, chased by the few survivors of her raids. Eventually, few months before the Calamity befell, she found shelter in the Isles of Umbra, south of Aleport. The area was once a lominsan outpost thanks to the lighthouse of Pharos Sirius, but as Dalamud reached closer to Eorzea every engineer and caretaker had left their post.

Copyright by Square Enix, all rights reserved.

Unexpected admirers

Things changed when one day a young thavnairian lady found herself ashore, when her ship fell victim to a terrible and sudden storm, unable to navigate due to the lighthouse being abandoned. The sole survivor of the shipwreck, Beatrix, a red-haired bard in search of fortune in Eorzea, eventually made her way to the top of the lighthouse from where, now and then, Himerope was singing alone, to keep herself company. Wary of all the enlightened, Himerope initially threatened Beatrix's life but, to her surprise, she only wished to hear more of her chant. Their common passion for music brought the two closer as Beatrix tried to find a way home, and they spent more and more time together.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst the day of the Calamity. As Dalamud approached Carteneau, the two took shelter in the lighthouse, in hope of saving themselves from the impact. But once the red moon reached proximity with the ground, and as the dreadwyrm Bahamut freed himself from his ancient prison, the lighthouse was struck with one of its shards, and in the ensuing mayhem, Beatrix was caught in a sudden surge of aether from the damaged structure. Himerope miraculously survived unscathed but, she soon found out, Beatrix's body ended up encased in a crystalline structure that had formed at the top of the lighthouse.

The oath to protect

Unable to free Beatrix from her aetherial prison, Himerope resolved to guard her newfound friend, hoping that the crystal energy would weaken over time. Making use of her charming song, she made sure that every inbound ship, carrying explorers that aimed at retaking the lighthouse, would meet an early demise.

As time passed, however, things inside the crystal started developing the opposite way as Himerope hoped. Beatrix's body started to twist as a result of her exposition to the dreadwyrm's aether, and with it, the crystal started to emanate a power of its own. The local fauna gathered inside the lighthouse's structure, driven to madness by the corrupted aether, and the bodies of the shipwrecked rose again as mindless crystal zombies.

As the situation started getting out of hand, Himerope realized that the only way to have her friend back was to let the Lominsans reatake the lighthouse – and destroy the crystal in the process. Swallowing her age-long hate for the people of Eorzea, she donned a magical charm Beatrix showed her during her travels. Using the power of the charm, she took on Beatrix's appearance and started roaming La Noscea as an adventurer, seeking opportunities to join a reclamation party.

Soon after that, a violent, perpetual storm started forming around the Isles of Umbra, making her mission all the more unlikely to succeed…

A few notes on canonicity

The events in this story are loosely inspired by those transpired by the Pharos Sirius dungeon from Final Fantasy XIV. In this variant, I liked to imagine a deeper story to the Siren who lured pirates ashore. After all, there are in-game references of the Siren perhaps captivating her victims in a desperate attempt to soothe her loneliness.

To spice things up inside the lighthouse, I reimagined it as a marvel of Eorzean technology with a bit of Garlean ingenuity in-between, thanks to the aid of a defecting engineer who is, despite his talent, an insufferable prankster. For the sake of the story, I also imagined the crystal shard, visible from outside the structure, as a sort of crystal tree erupted from the lighthouse's aether compressor, and its "corrupted aether" as an emanation of the lingering will of Bahamut, fueled by the Dalamud shard embedded in its structure. The nature of the lighthouse minions has been adapted as well, from being thrall of the Siren to being vicious creatures ensnared by the shard.

While these changes are free creative adaptations, they shouldn't be too drastic compared to the Eorzean canon and should not impact significantly an ongoing faithful campaign. You are, as always, free to adapt the details to suit your needs.

The reward

Should the party succeed, Naldiq & Vymelli's offer 100'000 gils to each participating person or, as an alternative, will accept to forge anything of equal value (within their capabilities). Furthermore, the adventurers have free qualm in reclaiming any spoil they will find within the lighthouse, which was home to intense commercial activity and research before being abandoned in a rush due to the Calamity.

(Not so) Ready for Departure

Before the expedition could start, there is still an important matter to settle: finding safe passage to the Isles of Umbra. Normally, any pirate crew worth their boots would be capable of granting such – however, the perpetual storm around Umbra complicates matters. Therefore the party is given their first task: securing a means of transport, and the way to protect it on its way to the Islands. H'naanza, on behalf of Naldiq & Vymelli's, offers to cover up any expense that might arise as a consequence.

Before the party leaves, she offers a sachet of linkpearls to stay in touch. They are free to call her at any moment should they require assistance or directions within the city. The two tasks are described as two side-quests in the following chapters, that can be run independently or in parallel. From this point on, try to follow your players' reasoning and direct them accordingly. Use this opportunity to show them around the city and its landmarks, trying maybe to avoid already seen places (for example, if the adventure started at the Drowning Wench, suggest them to look at Hawker's Alley instead). If you need a refresher on Limsa Lominsa and its custom, EE1 094 is your best source of information.

Investigation Hotspots

Ferry Docks

Close to Mealvaan's Gate, the Docks are the place where it's easier to find idle privateers waiting for inspection. Several Sanguine members are present as well, including one of the vice-captains bored to death for a particularly long queue. If questioned, she mentions how she hasn't noticed anything unusual from her peers' trade, and that, in fact, things have been going pretty well lately ever since the Red Spear spotted a regular Garlean trade route through Merlthor Strait towards Carteneau. Oddly enough, she comments, the Spear is rumored to have not submitted one single ounce of their plunders' fruit and is considered as having a "bad streak".

Dutiful Sisters of the Edelweiss

Any character more well versed in the underworld would know these outlaw vigilantes. Jacke Swallow, the master of the Rogues' guild, is not one to welcome too nosy people. He does, however, start to open up at the mention of weird affairs going on with the Sirens and Krakens trade. While he does not have any conclusive evidence, he did notice something peculiar: ever since the Bismarck had to shut down under the allegation of serving poisoned dishes, a certain gods-forgotten trade spot – the Bloated Belly – has risen in affairs. Significantly. As in, tenfold the amounts of customers and deliveries. More importantly, it seems to have consistently tried to take the place of the Seventh Sage as the Bismarck and Naldiq & Vymelli's supplier.

The Astalicia

If you want to mingle with the lominsan pirates, there is no better place than the Astalicia. Flagship of the bloody executioners, this imposing vessel is now permanently docked at the lower decks and has since become a gathering spot for bandits, cutthroats, and all sorts of less-likable fellows. And drunkards.

The loud voice of a guy way past his tenth mug can be heard from anywhere on the ship. Apparently, he recently found the proverbial golden goose under the employment of the Bloated Belly as a sales representative. The business has been blooming lately, and the owner is hiring more and more people to promote his enterprise. He warmly invites everyone to try and "SHPIN THE WHEEL!", whatever that means.

The Bloated Belly

Close to Fisherman's Bottom, down at Limsa Lominsa's lower decks, lies a less frequented network of rogue shops, black markets, and all sorts of illicit trade establishments. Usually, only the bravest (or dumbest) adventurer would put a step in there – yet somehow lately the place became crowded with commonfolk as well. Everyone seems interested in visiting the Bloated Belly, an easy-to-miss locale amidst the poorly lit alleys.

For sure, the place is not one to forget once you spot it. Its gross, decrepit banner depicts a poor taste representation of a Roegadyn pirate whose stomach burst open revealing a stash of gold coins inside. And the storefront doesn't help much either: empty, dusty, with just a few jars of… something, which might be edible – or used for construction work – or both, you're not quite sure.

The Front Entrance

It doesn't take too much time waiting to see a few customers come and go. If questioned, they mention that, while the store doesn't look much from outside, it has an impressive stock of various goods in its back storage. Some of the regulars, if specifically questioned about unusual events around the shop, also mention the following facts:

• One night, one of them saw a short, hooded figure (the height of a Lalafell) entering the shop way past its closing hour. They are also sure that person dropped something near the entrance by accident, after bumping on the opening door.
• The shop owner has been seen visiting an optic artisan who has a laboratory at Hawker's Alley. He, however, doesn't have any glasses, nor has been seen with a pair ever since.

Indeed, the remnants of half of a broken pair of glasses are found by investigating the front entrance (DC 15 Perception if searching blindly, instant success otherwise). The frame is too damaged to make heads from tails of it. However, the optic clearly remembers the owner's request: a very specific pair of prescription glasses for a lalafellin fellow.

About the glasses

These have been dropped by Lororu one night when she visited the shop in secret to make further agreements with E'ranu. While she did have a spare pair, she handed over to E'ranu a list of specifications for a new one. E'ranu later went to the optic at Hawker's Alley to have them crafted.

Inside the Shop

As much decrepit as it is easy to imagine, there is nothing of interest from the barely 15x15 feet room which constitutes the shop's entrance. The leonine-looking E'ranu Tia (a Scout BR 401) warmly welcomes every patron from behind his counter. He tries to pry out as much information as possible from every customer which is not a regular, before deciding whether to allow them inside or not, in an attempt to filter out potential "troublemakers". His skepticism is easily removed, however, at any proposition of good affairs.

Once his trust is gained, he invites the party inside, through a door behind him. The door leads to a much wider storage room, filled to the brim with goods for sale: there are tall shelves in every conceivable place, that turn its insides into a labyrinthine mess. A crammed desk has an almost miraculous spot amidst this chaos, although it's in no way less chaotic than the rest.

E'ranu lets inside only one person at a time, while keeping close eyes on them. He is extremely vigilant and will react to any suspicious behavior – like trying to investigate the desk – first with a warning and then by calling out two guards from outside (Veterans BR 403). If the fight turns for the worse, he flees for his life without caring too much about the shop.

If he is put out of commission, he doesn't have a lot on his own, except for a prescription for glasses. As for the desk, on top of it in clear sight is the other half of the broken glasses found outside, and, inside a drawer, the following letter:

The message has no recognizable symbol on it, but its writing is so small and precise that it could only possibly belong to a Lalafell – and one quite used to the quill as well. If the players previously investigated the Sirens' accounting book, they will be able to realize (DC 20 Intelligence) that the calligraphy is the same.

The Rear Entrance

While the place looks relatively modest inside from the main entrance, the building itself is fairly large, from which it is easy to deduce that it might be larger than it looks. There is a rear entrance that is guarded by two Veterans (BR 403). The storage is constantly guarded even at late night, with guards taking turns every 8 hours (starting at midnight). If the guards are distracted or taken out of commission, the door is locked but easy to pick (DC 10 Dexterity , allow advantage with locksmith tools). The owner runs the shop between 8 am and 8 pm. He can be seen entering and leaving from the back entrance.

A few interesting facts can be gathered by investigating the surroundings:

• Not far from the rear entrance there is a waste yard with several abandoned sacks. Some of them sport the Sanguine Sirens' logo.
• There is a set of tiny, recent footsteps near the entrance, that can only possibly belong to a Lalafell. This strikes as odd since none of the people seen around there (the guards, the smuggling sirens, or the proprietor) belong to that race.

The Siren Smugglers

Every late night the shop is visited by a few pirates who bring various sacks and boxes of random wares, ranging from weapons to jewelry, to culinary ingredients. The pirates are easily identified as members of the Sanguine Sirens.

If the party manages to capture one of the Sirens, she turns out to be a member of the Red Lance, and she and her crewmates have been secretly smuggling their spoils under Rhoswen's nose.

Pursue Jeff

Asking around about Jeff reveals that he is a low-class swindler of sorts, yet people keep falling for his schemes so there must be some truth to what he claims he can do. He is known to hang around Fisherman's Bottom and is easy to recognize for having a pair of gills tattooed at both sides of his neck.

As expected, Jeff is easily found near the piers. How he reacts depends on the party's approach.

• He is wary when first being called by name.
• If the back-alley deal with the Miqo'te is mentioned, he unsheathes a knife and demands an explanation. The party will need to Persuade him (DC 15) or he will either attack or attempt to flee if overwhelmed.
• He opens up if the party simply states their business – however mentioning the Ironworks will cause him to be defensive again and will refuse to help the party.

He is a Spy BR 402 and calls out two Thugs BR 164 and one Veteran BR 403 to his aid should things go awry.

If the party can get Jeff's cooperation, he leads them in a nearby alley, then into an isolated underground building down a short set of stairs.

It does not take an investigator's mind to smell the scam, but a superficial analysis (Arcana 10, or Detect Magic) confirms the amulet is no more magical than any street pebble, and a contested Insight check (against 1d20+2) confirms that this is all a fraud.

The party can try to Deceive or Intimidate Jeff (DC 15) into actually giving them something valuable – if he has any. Upon success he lets go of the following:

Jeff has not done any direct business with the Goblin, but he knows where he often sets up his shop (refer to the encounter with Swiswix).

Pursue the Miqo'te with the Bomb earring

A passerby saw a Miqo'te fitting the description being cuffed and escorted by the Yellowjackets earlier yesterday, therefore the best bet on where to find him would be to ask them directly at the Coral Tower.

A receptionist is welcoming anyone interested in joining the corps or the Marauders. If questioned about the Miqo'te, he reaches out to Lieutenant Fhilswys, a female Seawolf Roegadyn with short hair and a sidecut. She confirms having taken the Miqo'te into custody but will not discuss any further detail unless otherwise convinced (Persuasion 18, or a contested Deception against 1d20+5). Attempting to Intimidate the Lieutenant or failing to Deceive her causes her to react aggressively and force the party out of the tower.

Alternatively, the party can state to be on official business, but the Lieutenant demands proof for it. Fortunately, Beatrix has an official employment contract with her, which will suffice.

Once finally convinced, Fhilswys finally fills in the party with more information.

• The guy is a certain A'dhewa Tia, a rogue pirate agent previously belonging to the Bloody Executioners, but no longer part of their crew.
• He tried to smuggle a cargo of assorted weapons in the dead of the night but failed to hide well. Apparently, he was convinced his vessel was invisible from outside.
• From the documents on board, it seemed like the weapons were destined to some middleman for the Garleans, probably to Castrum Centri in Mor Dhona.

That is all that they managed to extort him so far, but the party is free to interrogate him if they want.

A'dhewa is spending his time bored down in a cell within the lower grounds of the Coral Tower. He is a resigned guy who knows well that he will probably be sentenced to death for dealing with the Garleans. No amount of persuasion or intimidation will convince him to cooperate, since there is nothing in for him. But if the party is available for putting a good word for him, maybe he can be of help.

From there the party can easily ask around and be directed towards Swiswix's usual hotspot.

Screenshot/Glamour source

Fetching the Gysahl Pickle

Few foods are for questionable tastes like the foul-smelling Gysahl Pickles. Initially invented by accident when a Chocobo breeder forgot his stock of Gysahl greens to rot in a jar of oil for over three months, their smell is so distinct that gate guards can spot an incoming carriage from a malm away – and they often let it pass no questions asked, as long as the owner takes their rotting stench away. Yet, despite their infamy, some connoisseurs consider it, I quote, "An acquired taste".

Given the scarce demand, there is not a lot of availability. However, one particular Goblin – yours truly Swiswix Gillytalx – seems particularly fond of them. The party can find Swiswix setting up shop at his usual spot – refer to Swiswix's encounter for a better description.

He is particularly avid of his precious pickles and will not let go of them easily. He will, however, concede one if the group helps him with a little errand. All they need to do is deliver a sack of clams down at Fisherman's Bottom: the client is a man that has a small workshop near the Fishermen's Guild.

While en route, a young Miqo'te bumps into whoever carries the sack… Which immediately after is gone. As the party chases the thief, they are led into the back alleys of Limsa, where a group of six Thugs BR 164 awaits them for an ambush.

The group can try to parley (Persuasion 25) or menace (Intimidation 25) the thief, but it will not be simple, given the numerical inferiority. If the party decides to fight back, they can attempt to convince the thief leader again during the fight: lower the difficulty by 5 points for every two Thugs defeated (minimum 10).

No matter the approach, either soon after the fight starts or before the party leaves six other Thugs make a theatrical appearance from the shadows, but they are on the party's side and target the seafood thieves instead.

As it turns out, the newcomers belong to the Rogues Guild and have been tailing the Miqo'te and his accolades for a little while. As the Rogues emerge from the shadow, a short debate ensues.

Whether the thieves are defeated or surrender, the Rogues tie their hands and hold them captive. The Hyur woman who seems to be in charge returns the sack of clams to the party.

She then departs, without any further comment.

Back on track, the party can finally reach their destination: inside is what looks like a goldsmith shop, teeming with precision machinery, lenses, and bits and bobs of broken jewelry all over the place.

The owner, a brown-haired middle-aged Hyur is more than happy to receive his goods.

The Hyur man gives the party a receipt note, which they can finally return to Swiswix in exchange for the prized pickle.

Experiment 1 – Shocking Runes

Syhrrael takes her grimoire from her back and a quill from one of her pockets. As she swiftly moves her hand over the overly written pages of her spell book, several markings make their appearance on the floor, twenty in total.

She explains that out of all the runes, nineteen are shock traps that deal damage upon entering them, while only one is safe – roll 1d20 to decide which one it is. She asks for a volunteer to step on a glyph she traced on the ground.

Once the volunteer has decided, Syhrrael snaps her finger, at which point eighteen runes – bar the one which was selected and the safe one – are activated, and a jolt of lightning strikes down on them.

Now that all but two runes remain, and only one is safe, the volunteer is given the option to change their choice or not. After that, as part of the experiment, they need to bet on their choice and step on the desired rune… And either be welcomed by a shocking surprise (1d4 lighting damage) or a sigh of relief.

Experiment 2 – Lightning Search

A volunteer is once again called, and they are shown sixteen illusory, distorted figures, disposed on a line.

Choose 16 random numbers between 0 and 100, which must include number 50, and put them in increasing order. Ask the player to guess where the number 50 is, and each time they make a guess reveal the number beneath. When an illusion is revealed, the glyph below them starts accruing energy. If they make eight mistakes, they are dealt yet another shock (1d4 lightning damage) and the experiment ends.

Experiment 3 – Lightning Dots

As Syhrrael jolts down more notes, she again calls another volunteer. This time an illusion of nine dots, on a three-by-three grid appears.

This is a classic nine-dots puzzle. The key to the solution is to not constrain the lines "inside" the 3x3 square but to extend them outside. There are several solutions to the problem, but here is an example.

Source

If the player can't figure it out within the time limit, again, they receive a lightning shock of 1d4 damage.

That's enough for today!

Syhrrael thanks the players for their assistance, then she performs some adjustments to the experimental glyph. She then grabs a scroll nearby dutifully copying the geometrical pattern.

For all their troubles the party gets a scroll of Protection from Energy (BR 270) and a hint on where to go next.

Upgraded Aether Syphon

The Allagan Tomestone can be brought to the attention of Sebeku, who is very eager to study it. Given a few days, he can decipher its contents: an Allagan essay on aetherology and the aetherial balance of "enlightened" species.

With the newly acquired knowledge, he can refine his Aetherial Syphon into an upgraded version. Please refer to the chapter about entering Pharos Sirius for further details.

Meeting with Novv

After being requested an audience, Clutchfather Novv agrees to meet the party.

Novv disposition towards the party is welcoming and diplomatic. After listening to their pleas, he goes into his thoughts, unsure how to approach the situation.

Before the party's arrival, Novv's Nursery was raided in the night by the Coral Tridents. During the raid five of the youngest of Novv's children were kidnapped (…fishnapped?). Worst of all a batch of eggs, close to hatching, was taken as well. The Clutchfather fears the Coral Tridents intend to summon Leviathan again, and that they might sacrifice his children as an offering to the serpent god.

Exploring the Nursery

Before heading for their rescue mission, the party is welcome to stay and explore the Nursery. It is a small territory the one that the Clutchfather has kept for himself and his own, but one they hold dear. On average, the youngest children (the few who were spared are between 7 and 10 years old) are curious or playful towards the party, while the "oldest" (11 to 15 years old) are either indifferent or wary of them. The clutch is composed entirely of males: female Sahagins are very rare (on average, one is born every ten males), and when that happens, she is immediately sent to the Matriarch's palace, to be groomed as the next queen candidate.

Independently of how Swiswix was employed, he decides to stay around for a while. If asked to, he agrees to help the party in trading with the clutch members, which improves their disposition towards them. Beatrix can employ her diplomatic skills as well to help with the most stubborn types. During her interaction with one of Novv's children, he remarks how she "smells different of other shhhorewalkers, but how ssso I cannot explain".

Side Quest: Kihp and Kohp's secret spot

While on their way to Keeh, the party spots Kihp and Kohp, the two Sahagin kids from before, pestering him with questions about Elbsts. In particular, they seem curious about their weak points and how could one – hypothetical – young Sahagin possibly chase a – even more hypothetical – big one away.

The Elbst master dismisses them quickly, claiming that he has no time to play with them. Disappointed, the two younglings leave for the coast, but not before giving a glance at the adventurers. If the players desire so, they can approach them to start a small side quest.

The two spawnlings have a secret "hideout" in a cave not far from the Nursery. However, a few days ago, a large Elbst decided that that was going to be its new nest, and thus evicted them out. If the party can kill, or chase away the Elbst Kihp promises them one of their treasures – a "shiny rock" they found ashore some time ago.

The Hideout

Kihp and Kohp lead the party along the coastline, until, eventually, they reach a cove that stretches inside a cave formation. The entrance to their hideout is right after a creak in a rocky wall just in front of them. However, the largest Elbst they have ever seen is now taking a nap in front of it, blocking the access.

With some observation (DC 15 Perception) it is possible to notice some droplets of water dripping on top of the Elbst. The ceiling of the cave appears fractured right in front of the entrance and can be destroyed by dealing enough damage to it (consider a resistance of 10 hit points). If that happens, the ceiling collapses on the Elbst which, scared, barely manages to escape and runs for its life under the sea. Much to the children's delight this also creates a timid waterfall which now acts as a natural obfuscation to their hideout.

Alternatively, the party can inquiry Keeh about Elbst biology. Mildly annoyed, he explains that while most of their body is covered in scales, the tip of their tail is not, and it's also incredibly sensible. A well-aimed attack should be enough to scare one for good.

Lacking both pieces of information, direct assault is always an option. Check the monster block for the Alpha Elbst for details on the encounter.

Conclusion

After their hideout is reclaimed, Kihp and Kohp invite the party inside and name them "honorary members of the clutch brigade", as they like to call themselves. In celebration of their success, they gift them a small white rock, not larger than a thumb. Despite being inactive, a person expert enough in aetherology ( DC 20 Arcana ) realizes it's a shard of auracite. While the whole stone is incredibly dangerous and has fallen into legend for twisting its owners in both mind and body, this small fragment appears harmless, while still having some degree of affinity with nearby aether.

Sapsa Shelfclaw

Medium humanoid (sahagin), lawful evil

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• Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 55 (10d8 + 10)
• Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	17 (+3)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	9 (-1)

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• Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +3, Survival +3
• Damage Resistances cold
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 11
• Languages Common, Sahaginspeak
• Challenge 2 (450 XP)

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Amphibious. The sahagin can breathe air and water.

Lacerate. (3/Day): As part of the sahagin's claw attack, the target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a fail, the target wounds start bleeding for 2 (1d4) turns, causing it to lose 4 (1d8) hit points at the beginning of each of their turn.

Actions

Multiattack. The sahagin makes three melee attacks: one with its bite, two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage.

Sapsa Shelfscale

Medium humanoid (sahagin), lawful evil

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• Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 78 (12d8 + 24)
• Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	9 (-1)

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• Skills Acrobatics +3, Athletics +5, Survival +3
• Damage Resistances cold
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 11
• Languages Common, Sahaginspeak
• Challenge 3 (700 XP)

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Amphibious. The sahagin can breathe air and water.

True Trust. (Recharges 5-6): The sahagin tries to pin down its opponent. As part of its attack, the target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained. The opponent can break out by passing a DC 13 Strength saving throw, or if the sahagin let go of them (no action required). While the target is restrained the sahagin can't move or take actions without first releasing them.

Actions

Enwater. (Recharges 5-6): As a bonus action, the sahagin empowers its next attack, adding 9 (2d8) cold damage to one single attack roll.

Multiattack. The sahagin makes two melee attacks with its trident.

Trident. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) piercing damage, or 14 (2d10 + 3) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Sapsa Shelftooth

Medium humanoid (sahagin), lawful evil

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• Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
• Hit Points 55 (10d8 + 10)
• Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
9 (-1)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)	17 (+3)	10 (+0)

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• Saving Throws Int +3, Wis +5
• Skills Medicine +5, Nature +3, Religion +3
• Damage Resistances cold
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
• Languages Common, Sahaginspeak
• Challenge 3 (700 XP)

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Amphibious. The sahagin can breathe air and water.

Fluctuating Aether. (3/Day) When the sahagin casts a spell it can choose to reroll once any damage or healing roll associated with it. The sahagin must use the new result.

Spellcasting. The sahagin is a 5th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). The sahagin has the following White Mage spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): Mold earth, shape water, thunderclap, resistance.
1st level (4 slots): Mage armor, create or destroy water, cure wounds, shield of faith, entangle.
2nd level (3 slots): Barkskin, blindness/deafness, spiritual weapon.
3rd level (2 slots): Wall of water, tidal wave, mass healing word.

Actions

Multiattack. The sahagin makes two attacks with its quarterstaff.

Quarterstaff. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage, or 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage if used with two hands.

Sapsa Shelfspine

Medium humanoid (sahagin), lawful evil

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• Armor Class 17 (natural armor, shield)
• Hit Points 91 (14d8 + 28)
• Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	9 (-1)

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• Skills Athletics +5, Perception +5, Survival +3
• Damage Resistances cold
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
• Languages Common, Sahaginspeak
• Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

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Amphibious. The sahagin can breathe air and water.

Actions

Multiattack. The sahagin makes three melee attacks: one with its bite and two with its spear.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.

Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, or 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Water Cannon. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) cold damage.

Hydroball. (Recharges 5-6): The sahagin exhales water in a 10-feet cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. On a failed save, a targeted creature falls prone.

A1 – The Serpent's Tongue

Serpent Reavers are prowling this area, for a total of 4 Thugs BR 164 and 2 Veterans BR 403 , thus distributed:

• One thug is guarding a cage where one of Novv's children is held captive.
• One thug is keeping watch for incoming vessels approaching from the coastline. He can potentially spot medium creatures up to 1'000 ft. away through a spyglass.
• One thug is making rounds ensuring that there are no troubles.
• One thug and one veteran are standing guard at the entrance of a small building, the Reavers' headquarters.
• One veteran is guarding the land entrance to the Serpent's Tongue.

Four additional thugs are resting in the building and will come out in pairs of two if they are alarmed.

At nighttime, the Reavers are thus repositioned.

• Both Veterans moved to Sapsa's entrance.
• Two thugs moved inside the building.
• Only two thugs are in the area, both drinking in front of a campfire.
• The cage and the building are unguarded.

The thugs are inebriated: they have disadvantage on perception checks for detecting an infiltrating party. They also have disadvantage on attack rolls should they enter a fight.

Serpent Reavers' Headquarters

As for the building itself, it is a small construction with a single room that expands underground. The entrance is void of ornaments and contains only two tables and some barrels of ale stacked near the walls. A short staircase leads underground where three more rooms are accessible from a cross-shaped crossing: two bedrooms to the sides and a larger meeting room to the front end.

The bedrooms have nothing more than improvised straw mattresses, a few emptied bottles of ale, and a bunch of common weapons (daggers, axes, and longswords). Two Potions of Healing can be spotted amidst the dirt with a DC 12 Perception check.

The meeting room has more furniture to it: a large table stands in the middle, where a map of all La Noscea is unrolled. From the entrance, two torches emit a dim light, while two battle axes are walled on top of it in a crossed fashion. On the northern wall, there is an old, damp, and barely readable parchment, with a prayer to Leviathan inscribed on it:

Leviathan – Endless, Send us.

Leviathan – Breathless, Deathless.

Drifting in the realm beyond all knowing.

Forsaken, shedding tears of glass.

Now tumbling from the boundless heavens, taken.

White moondrops, burning indigo.

Swell ye seas of old!

The prayer is used as a passcode through which Sahagins identify the Serpent Reavers. Keep it at hand should the party wish to disguise themselves as their members.

A5 – Sahagin Vault

What looks like the opening of a natural cavern is obstructed by a wide and weird waterfall: water flows from a thin entrance above and sinks below into what looks like an equally thin fracture in the terrain.

Interaction with the waterfall reveals that it is as solid as cobblestone and impenetrable. Mechanical tests confirm that there is no opening and trying to sway the water flow does not alter it significantly, but just keeps flowing below magically.

On the side of the waterfall, there is a large seashell that is hung with a weak cord. Upon inspection of the wall beside, it is possible to see something written in sahaginspeak, etched on the edge of the rocky surface.

Used on its own, the seashell does not do much. It does not interact with the waterfall, nor emit any sound when blown into. However, if listened closely, the seashell emits a subtle hissing sound. The hiss sounds vaguely like sahaginspeak, but it is unintelligible. The resemblance is evident for anyone speaking the language, or with a DC 15 Intelligence check.

If the shell is filled with water, its surface starts vibrating gently, forming ripples that propagate endlessly at its borders. A person capable of understanding the Sahagin tongue would hear the word "indigo" when nearing his or her ear. Repeating the same word in sahaginspeak in front of the waterfall makes it lose its solidity, allowing access inside.

Here are some ways the party can understand the mechanism and gain access to the inside:

• One of the Coral Tridents can be coerced/charmed into opening the entrance.
• The inside of the seashell is wet. With a DC 12 Nature check, a character knows that some Sahagin words have meaning only when uttered underwater.
• If one of Novv's children is following the party, he can translate the writing and suggest that the seashell is meant to repeat the password but that it does not work for some reason.
• If the group has not revealed its presence yet, a Sahagin periodically (about every half hour) comes checking the vault: he fills the seashell with the water pouring from the waterfall, listens to the password, then repeats it and passes through.

Sapsa Priest

Medium humanoid (sahagin), lawful evil

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• Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
• Hit Points 65 (10d8 + 20)
• Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	14 (+2)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	12 (+1)

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• Saving Throws Int +6, Wis +7
• Skills Arcana +6, Perception +7, Religion +6
• Damage Resistances cold
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
• Languages Common, Sahaginspeak
• Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

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Amphibious. The sapsa priest can breathe air and water.

Fluctuating Aether. (5/Day) When the sapsa priest casts a spell it can choose to reroll once any damage or healing roll associated with it. The sapsa priest must use the new result.

Innate Spellcasting. The sapsa priest's innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: Word of radiance.
2/day each: Shield, acid arrow, crown of madness.
1/day each: Conjure elemental (water), destructive wave.

Spellcasting. The sapsa priest is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). The sapsa priest has the following spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): Mold earth, shape water, thunderclap, resistance.
1st level (4 slots): Mage armor, create or destroy water, cure wounds, shield of faith, entangle, guiding bolt.
2nd level (4 slots): Barkskin, blindness/deafness, spiritual weapon, warding bond, hold person.
3rd level (3 slots): Wall of water, tidal wave, mass healing word, dispel magic, spirit shroud.
4th level (3 slots): Control water, grasping vine, guardian of nature
5th level (1 slot): Maelstrom.

Maelstrom Idol. The sapsa priest, and all allies within 30 feet of the sapsa priest have advantage on saving throws and are immune to the fear condition, and their weapon attacks deal an additional 2 (1d4) damage on their melee or ranged weapon attacks.

Actions

Multiattack. The sapsa priest makes two attacks with its quarterstaff.

Quarterstaff. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage, or 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage if used with two hands.

Leviathan Effigy

Gargantuan elemental (primal), chaotic evil

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• Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 126 (12d20)
• Speed 30 ft., swim 120 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	6 (-2)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)

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• Saving Throws Str +8, Wis +6
• Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
• Damage Immunities cold
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
• Languages —
• Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

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Ephemeral. Leviathan doesn't need to breath and its movement is not impeded by difficult terrain.

Serpentiform. Leviathan's body is 10 feet wide and 50 feet long. Each intermediate segment is 10 by 10 feet wide and must be contiguous to either another segment or Leviathan's head or its tail.

Bound by water. Leviathan can hover on ground but at the end of its turn all of its body parts must be within 30 ft. from any body of water.

Incomplete summoning. At the beginning of the combat, Leviathan can only move or perform Legendary Actions. This effect is lifted after performing Rejoining.

Bonus Actions

Rising tides. As a Bonus Action, Leviathan can rise the sea level. Choose any islet or shore: the water level rises by 5 ft. inward, causing the shore to be submerged. This action can only target one contiguous piece of land at a time, and cannot be used multiple times on it.

Actions

Tail sweep. (Recharges 5-6): Leviathan makes a sweeping attack with its tail. Each creature in a 15 ft. cone must pass a DC 16 DEX saving throw or suffer 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage and be pushed back by 15 ft. On a success, they suffer half as much damage and are not pushed back.

Multiattack. Leviathan makes three attacks: two with its bite and one with its scale darts.

Bite (Head). Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage.

Scale Darts (Tail). Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 60/120 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage.

Reactions

One with the sea. Leviathan can freely control water within 120 ft of its body. As a reaction whenever a creature becomes closer than 5 ft. to any free body of water (exclude those occupied by Leviathan's body), Leviathan tries to grapple it. If it succeeds the target is restrained as tendrils of enchanted water envelope it.

    At the beginning of the creature's turn, if it fails to escape, it gets dragged by 5 ft. closer to water. A creature that gets dragged under water, or is restrained under water, takes 10 (2d4 + 5) bludgeoning damage at the beginning of its turn. After 3 turns it starts suffocating, unless it can breathe under water.

    As an action, another creature can disentangle the tendrils, freeing the target creature.

Legendary Actions

Leviathan can take the following Legendary Actions. Each action can only be used once, at the end of another character's turn. These actions are available progressively, one per each round, and must be expended before the round ends.

1. Liquify. Leviathan loses its corporeal form temporarily and disappears under water. While in this state, it cannot be targeted, suffer damage or perform any action.

2. Rejoining. Leviathan absorbs aether from its believers. Any follower of Leviathan within 300 ft. is immediately killed: Leviathan gains as many temporary hit points as the killed followers had, up to a maximum of 50. It then reemerges from any point of water, becomes targetable again and can now perform all of its actions.

3. Spinning Dive. Leviathan liquifies again. It immediately reappears from any point in water within 300 ft. and comes rushing towards another point in a straight line. Each creature in a 20 ft. wide line must make a DC 16 DEX save or suffer 14 (4d6) damage and be pushed back by 20 ft. On a save, they suffer half as much damage and are not pushed back.

4. Tidal Wave. Leviathan unleashes the power of the sea. Each creature within 120 ft. from Leviathan's head must pass a DC 14 WIS saving throw or gain one level of enthrallment. They must also pass a DC 16 CON saving throw and suffer 17 (5d6) cold damage on a fail, or half as much on a success.

A1 - Landing Area

Once reached Umbra's shores, the ship is relatively safe, as the isle is within what could be defined as "the eye of the cyclone". The pirate ship drops its anchor and the party – accompanied by the ever-present Beatrix and doctor Sebeku – can start exploring the island and looking for an entrance to the lighthouse.

From where the ship landed, the lighthouse is immediately visible to the right. The first and obvious path is a short staircase through a dismissed and rusty gate, which leads towards the main entrance. However, it is not the only entrance to the tall building: one is accessed from the sewer drain, while the other is a slightly more hidden service entrance through a collapsed path.

E1 - Main Entrance

The moment any player even tries to peek through the lighthouse door they immediately realize that the situation does not look good. Rabid monsters roam in and about, growling and howling, and the area is covered in a thick orange fog which makes it painful to breathe. Refer to the ground floor section for a description.

E2 - Sewers

The strip of sand where the party landed extends further to the right. It follows a rocky wall that separates the higher plateau where the lighthouse is located. The path takes a turn following the shape of the island until it stops at a weak stream coming from inside a cave where the rocky wall ends. Following the stream inside leads to a rusty gate, and eventually into the lighthouse sewers.

Lighthouse basement

The stream originates from a larger room in the basement, where a huge machine, the aether pump, is located. The pump collects water from the natural geothermal springs under the island. It then separates the fire and water aether components: the former is collected as fuel and sent upwards to the aether compressor, located on the third floor, while the latter is expelled as pristine water to the sewers.

Past the pump there is a closed but unlocked door, which leads to a set of stairs climbing up, leading to the ground floor.

A2 - The ship graveyard

From where the party landed, the ship graveyard is a short walk forward, through a relatively wide path in the sand enclosed by a rocky wall. The path eventually opens towards the other side of the island, on a large bay littered with the pieces of countless wrecked vessels. Broken crates and barrels are everywhere, their content either lost to the sea, eaten by beasts, or gone to rot.

A few goods can still be salvaged from the most recent shipwreck: among the rubbish, on two opposite sides, there is a crate with some still usable weapons (four common weapons of choice about 5'000 gil in worth) and another with jewels worth 10'000 gil.

A dead sailor's journal lies buried in the sand, almost completely unreadable. Only one entry is somewhat intelligible.

The entry dates back five years in the past and it belongs to a sailor from (the real) Beatrix's ship when she first boarded from Kugane to reach Vylbrand, to whom he refers as "the Thavnairian redhead".

E3 - Service Entrance

From the ship graveyard, a small path leads uphill, up to the elevated level of the lighthouse. Before the bay took its infamous name, the ship graveyard used to be a landing point for the engineers from Naldiq & Vymelli's sent for maintenance. They needed quick access to the building and therefore a service entrance was added in the vicinity.

The door is completely shut, and no amount of force, nor magical blast seems to pry it open. The door itself has some very odd engravings: six symbols, one for each element (wind, ice, fire, water, lightning, and earth) are piled on a column on the left side. Each is connected to what looks like a meter on the right side, which has four levels.

Left to the door, there is a queer button pad. The pad is a grid of four-by-four buttons. Each column and row is marked with a number from zero to three: 3-1-2-3 for the columns (left to right) and 3-2-3-1 for the rows (top to bottom). When a button is pushed it stays pressed, but it can be pushed again to be un-pressed. Unless the puzzle is solved, the pad resets itself after nine buttons are in the pushed state.

Element conquests and submissions

In the world of Hydaelyn, elements are bound by relationships of superiority over one another called conquests and submissions. In order, they are the following:

• Earth grounds Lightning.
• Water erodes Earth.
• Lightning boils Water.
• Fire is extinguished by Wind.
• Ice is melted by Fire.
• Wind is obstructed by Ice.

If two elements are bound by one of these relationships, they neutralize each other within the door mechanism. For further information, refer to FFWC 12.

Correct code

To open the door, the buttons must be pressed in such a way that the numbers on each row and column is the same as the number of its pushed buttons. Furthermore, out of the six labeled crystals, four of them must also be pressed.

Once the pad is correctly set up, the door emits a mechanical sound, and can now be opened. The entrance leads to a dimly lit staircase that runs through the borders of the lighthouse tower and connects to every floor. Access to the third floor is impossible because the walls have collapsed, interrupting the ascent on the second floor.

Hints

Especially for players unfamiliar with the game's settings, consider showing them a picture of the elemental wheel and provide them with a basic explanation of the elements' relationships.

Button Pad puzzle - Crystal Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

One solution to the puzzle. Elements order are on the lower right corner.

Pharos Sirius

After finding one of the entrances, the adventurers find themselves within the broken and dismissed building of Pharos Sirius. Their steps echo feebly within its empty halls, and the only sounds they hear are the distant dripping of water, the broken pipes hissing as noxious aether erupts from within them, and the howling of those monsters which adapted to the environment and are now feeding on the twisted element.

Once upon a time, during its peak glory, were they to enter these halls they would have looked much different: a peak of human ingenuity, perfectly calibrated machines, and a maze of intricate yet perfectly logical tubes pumping energy into the lighthouse fuel chamber, where it would light its lamp to bring hope and guidance to all ships inbound for Aleport.

But now all that seems lost, and all machines are either malfunctioning, inoperable, or just plain shut down. In all its fury Bahamut and the erupting Dalamud were certainly not concerned with men's machinery or caring for their "after".

The lighthouse is a tall building extending for five floors, not including its sewers. All entrances connect to the ground floor in one way or another, while the second floor can be accessed by bypassing the ground floor using the service staircase. As for the subsequent floors, they must be traversed in sequence.

As soon as the party enters, Sebeku takes an odd instrument out of his pockets.

Control Room

This room is used to regulate the electrical parts of the facility. Furniture is lacking, save for an old damp table without drawers. On its top, there are several blueprints and assorted documents scattered. A toolbox with some metallic tools and spare parts sits in one corner, probably for maintenance work.

Past the room is a door leading to a flooded corridor. One of the panels on the floor was damaged during the shard impact, and it is now exposing some floored wires. As a result, the water is strongly electrically charged. Anyone approaching it would receive a jolt to any metal object it is carrying. Stepping into the corridor is deadly while the current runs: anyone trying to do that receives 10d10 lightning damage. Furthermore, part of the ceiling in the middle of the corridor is collapsed, leaving a small one-foot-high passage that must be crawled through. Tossing any metal object into the water while the current runs (for example, from the toolbox), causes a visible jolt to leap from the water towards the object until it sinks.

Solution

Scattered across the same floor there are hints at which lever is which. Once gathered, they can be summarized as:

• The lever to the aether pump is not the second one.
• The lever to the aether compressor is either green or red.
• The red lever must be below L3.
• The first lever must be pulled to one of the extremes.

The third and fourth clues uniquely identify the red lever as the light system one: it must be at the extremes but not at L3, so it must be at L0. The first clue hints that the aether compressor lever is either green or red, but we just identified the red lever so it must be green. Since the red and green lever have been narrowed down, and the aether pump cannot be the blue lever (second clue), it must be the yellow one. This leaves by exclusion the blue lever to be the main lamp. The final arrangement of the levers is thus the following:

If all levers are positioned correctly when pressing the button, the machine whirrs for a little bit, then quietly shuts down. Testing the water with a metal object confirms that it is harmless.

In all other cases, roll a d4 to determine what happens.

North-West Room

Six sleeping crystal zombies have made this room their un-life house. They do not care about any passerby as long as they are not directly disturbed.

On the ground, near one of them, there are the scattered pages of a log. They mostly contain descriptions of daily maintenance routines and notes on the states of the machine. One of the pages recites the following near the end:

That's it. We are getting rid of Chalito. That insufferable popoto-brained pigmy is out of a job. His latest prank was switching the plates of the control room. One of the new guys tried to boost the Aether Pump, but its plate had been placed on-

the page ends there, supposedly to be continued on the next. One of the zombies nearby is holding tight to a large folder, blabbering nonsense in his sleep. The players can try to snatch it without alerting the zombie (DC 15 Sleight of Hands), but in case of failure the zombie wakes up, screams, and every one of its companions attacks.

Fail or succeed, the folder contains the second part of the report.

-the second lever. That was NOT fun. It could have caused some serious damage!

Control Room Hint 1 : The Aether Pump is not the second lever.

North-East Room

Most of the lighthouse construction is in classical Eorzean fashion, filled with old pipes, pistons, analogical meters all controlled by magic. That is why this room almost looks alien: from side to side, it is covered in screens, electronic meters, and other devices which resemble more Garlean technology. While most of the monitors are dim, the few ones which are still in function emit an eerie pale blue light. The data they emit are almost unintelligible: they seem to refer to some measurements of sort on the local aether, but all values are off the scale.

The room was part of an expansion commissioned by Naldiq & Vymelli's to the former Garlean engineer Chalito Zukalito, infamous among his colleagues for his incomprehensible contraptions and insufferable pranks. During the Calamity, Zukalito died as a result of Bahamut's rampage, out of a job, in the streets of Ul'dah. His strong character and will to live, however, resulted in his ghost clinging to the material plane, sucked in by and unable to escape the monitoring room to which he dedicated so much of his life. Albeit his memories are somewhat foggy the afterlife has not changed him one bit. He haunts the second floor, bored to un-death, waiting for someone, anyone to pass by. And it seems like the occasion might just present itself…

Chalito lies in wait for the adventurers to step inside the room, hidden and incorporeal. He can control the large mainframe of the room to his will, turning lights on and off, printing any form of text he likes, and occasionally zap any adventurer who gets too close, dealing 1d4 lightning damage. He aims to give them a good scare for pure amusement. However, he is also a coward and will come out and be visible as soon as anyone tries to damage the large computer.

He presents himself as the great Chalito, engineer extraordinaire, head of technology of the Sirius Renewal Project, an endeavor on behalf of Naldiq & Vymelli's to modernize the lighthouse to become a center of study on aetherology thanks to the strong underground aetherial currents of the area. He is a loudmouth who thinks too much of himself and spends his time devising ways to confuse and frustrate people to his own amusement.

Once done with his presentation, he gives an offer to the party: his aid in exchange for some of his earthly belongings: a Garlean camera, and his private journal. He does not know where the camera is, since he cannot leave the room, and the trauma of death caused him to lose the memory of where he hid his journal, although he is pretty sure it is on this same floor.

South-East Room

A few scurvy dogs are in this room. Contrary to those on the ground floor, these are mild and don't bother with the party unless they get too close.

Two dogs are playing with their "toys": what looks like a camera, and some sort of journal with the title "MAINTENANCE MANUAL" embossed very clearly (despite the dog's saliva).

On the other side of the room from the entrance, there is a broken pipe exposed from the wall. A pair of dogs is desperately trying to lick the orange liquid which very scarcely drips from it. Right before the broken end, there is a shut close valve.

The objective is to retrieve both objects. These are some ways the dogs can be distracted:

• The same orange liquid drips from a similar pipe in the South-Western room. It can be used to convince the dogs to approach the party without attacking (DC 10 Animal Handling).
• The valve can be destroyed or opened (from distance) causing the orange liquid to quickly spill from the pipe. All dogs converge to it and start licking it.
• The dogs are susceptible to sleep and can be put to a good night's rest with the right magic or toxins.

The camera itself is unusual apparel in Eorzea, so the average player (unless it has knowledge of Garlean technology) will not be able to get heads from tails on how it works. Upon passing a DC 20 Intelligence check, a player gets a rough understanding of its parts and can pry it open without damaging it. Inside there is a self-taken sepia-colored picture of a Lalafell with spiky hair, a pair of opaque pince-nez, and wearing what looks like a work suit. The picture is taken in front of a machine emitting smoke, while several other similarly dressed persons scattered all over the place apparently try to fix it. Contrary to his colleagues, the Lalafell sports a devilish smile and shows his fingers in a V-shaped fashion to the camera.

As for the manual, it is a large collection of blueprints and schematics depicting the machines of the lighthouse. Most are damaged and unreadable, but there is a representation of the shutdown procedure from the control room: it is heavily damaged, but one of the levers (the red one) is shown in a non-clear lowered position. While the exact level is indecipherable, it is clearly below maximum.

Control Room Hint 2 : The red lever must be below L3.

South-West Room

This modest room has one single large machine on the wall facing the entrance. To its left stands an old desk with bits and bobs of mechanical parts, tools, and a non-functional small robot vaguely resembling a large spider.

This room hosts the temperature control system, whose reconstruction was one of the first tasks Chalito was assigned to when he was hired by Naldiq & Vymelli's.

The spiderbot

The spider robot on the table appears powered down and unresponsive. It sports Chalito's signature engraving (his name written with letters and numbers) right on the bottom. The construction appears of Garlean technology: a player passing DC 20 Intelligence check gets a general understanding of the robot parts and realizes it is just missing power, which can be provided by two batteries scattered on the table. The same answer can be obtained by bringing the robot to Chalito as well.

Once activated the robot quickly stands up on its eight mechanical legs, emits a short buzz, then speaks: "AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS". The robot is a tiny creature with 10 HP and AC 10. It understands simple commands and executes tasks to the best of its capabilities. It can perform the following actions if asked to and will list them if inquired about.

The Prankbook

A quick scan of the room (DC 12 Perception) shows that, oddly, there are two air vents in the room, as it is written in Chalito's hidden message. Both vents are located 3 meters above ground, making them inaccessible without a way to climb up the wall. Air flows from only one of the vents, which can be determined by just placing a hand in front of it (if a character can reach it) or with other similar tests.

The vent can be broken using brute force or by unscrewing it using a screwdriver from the nearby table. In either case, the passage is too narrow for any medium or larger creature to fit. This leaves room for magic usage to shrink a player size, or to levitate up the fake vent. As an alternative, the spiderbot can enter the vent as well if asked to.

Inside the fake vent, more in-depth and out of sight from outside, lies a forgotten journal, surprisingly well preserved. The title, embossed in large capital letters, recites: "CH4L1T0's AWESOME PRANKBOOK!". The book itself is a long list of dangerous pranks devised by Chalito himself, which more often than not end up in some machine exploding. One page, in particular, seems to refer to the lighthouse control room.

Control room hint 3: The first lever must be at one of the extremes (L0 or L3).

Back to the North-East Room: Chalito's Vault

Finally reconciled with his memories, Chalito starts losing whatever form he had left while reminiscing his past "glory".

Control room hint 4: The lever to the aether compressor is either green or red.

Accessing the Vault

The last cryptic statement is a hint to access a secret room behind the mainframe: one of the functioning terminals of the mainframe states: "Ceruleum Pump Control". Typing anything on the nearby keyboard makes letters appear onscreen. If the password "BALLS" is typed then part of the mainframe on the far end of the room slides to the side, revealing a secret passage.

Beyond the passage is a closet-sized room, filled with blueprints, schematics, ramblings, and writings of all sorts which are shoved chaotically inside small alcoves all over the walls. In this room, Chalito used to isolate himself in thought, in the company of a bluish lamplight.

On one of the alcoves, there is a small chip with a label attached: "Spiderbot Reconfiguration". It can be inserted on the spiderbot's back (see the southwest room), at which point a few lights on its front (its "eyes") start flashing rapidly. "REBOOT COMPLETE. PLEASE REGISTER OWNER NAME.". The first person to speak will be identified as the spiderbot's owner. The robot will obey the owner's commands, from there on, disregarding the previous limitations. The robot will also refer to its owner with whatever name it was provided, whether it was real or not.

Screenshot/Glamour source

The room has only two exits: one on the other side of the staircase, and one slightly to the left.

The one on the far side of the room leads to another staircase to the fourth floor, but it is inaccessible: a massive, angry-looking, blue feathered bird has made its nest very close to it. The cloudkin (a Zu) is lying on it, protecting its eggs with both of its wings. Its gaze is fierce and will immediately warn anyone approaching it with a shriek. If anyone gets too close to the Zu, it attacks without hesitation (see stat block).

The reason the Zu is so aggressive is that one of its eggs has been stolen. A player who passes a DC 12 Animal Handling check can easily realize so. Similarly, with a DC 15 Nature check a player has the insight the Zus are notoriously protective towards their eggs, and similar behavior can only be explained by worry for their kin. With a DC 12 Perception check, one would observe that part of the nest appears to have been rummaged through, and there are chaotic traces of grease eventually leading to the other exit on the side of the room.

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The Caretaker's Destiny

If your players feel like safekeeping the caretaker's belongings, consider setting them on his tracks. Workers at Naldiq & Vymelli's are bound to know where he retired, who his granddaughter is, and what happened to him.

The Bard's Respite

This room became the real Beatrix's bedroom while she was keeping company with Himerope. After the Dalamud shard fell and Beatrix became encased in the corrupted crystal, the room has been completely abandoned, and last visited by Himerope when looking for the shapeshifting amulet.

If the party chose to rest

The party finds Beatrix and Sebeku near the base of the crystal tree. Sebeku is intent on studying and taking measurements, while Beatrix looks with apprehension at the woman inside.

If the party chose to move onward

Beatrix moves forward to the crystal, without saying a word. Once she reaches the base, she touches gently its surface, whispering "I'm back. Let's get you out of here, Beatrix.".

Facing Himerope

Now finally at her dear friend's side, Himerope (disguised as Beatrix) only cares for her to be freed by her crystal prison. If pressed by the party for an explanation, she lets a long sigh and starts removing her amulet.

The players can further inquiry Himerope about her whereabouts and plans.

• She is one of the last survivors of her species, protected by her dying mother during Mistbeard's extermination.
• She found shelter in the lighthouse right before the Calamity, when the post was abandoned by their former caretakers in light of Dalamud's impending fall.
• The woman trapped within the crystal is the real Beatrix, a bard from Thavnair who shipwrecked on Umbra soon after that.
• She and Himerope became friends, but during the Calamity, as they tried to escape, Beatrix was caught in the burst of aether following Dalamud's shard impact. At that moment, she became trapped within the crystal.
• Himerope spent the next years protecting Beatrix from daring explorers and scouts from Naldiq & Vymelli's by causing any incoming ship to wreck ashore.
• Three years ago, the crystal started emanating a strong energy, and an army of monsters started gathering inside the tower. Noticing that Beatrix's body was being twisted from inside the crystal, she resolved to look for a way to free her.
• Himerope posed herself as Beatrix using a charm that she told her she found in her journeys, in hope of finding the right occasion to destroy Dalamud's shard once and for all.

By agreeing to help in the expedition, Himerope aimed at bringing Sebeku to the top of the lighthouse, hoping he would find a cure. But the look on the lalafellin scholar is all but reassuring.

Sebeku extracts a small, round device from his pockets which, according to him, can be used at the root of the crystal tree to destroy it. However, doing so will likely results in Beatrix's death, no longer sustained by the crystal's aether.

As it is to be expected, Himerope doesn't like the proposal and intimates Sebeku to give her the device. At this point, the party can try to parley with Himerope to convince her to abandon hopes for saving Beatrix, and that a merciful death is the best she can hope for. However, they soon notice a fiendish glow in her eyes: her body, and the crystal, start both to glow. The fear of losing Beatrix, the anger for her failed efforts are weakening her mind, as the lingering will of the dreadwyrm takes hold of it...

Himerope, The Canary Rose

Medium humanoid, chaotic neutral

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• Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 91 (14d8 + 28)
• Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	18 (+4)	20 (+5)

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• Saving Throws Wis +7, Cha +8
• Damage Resistances psychic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
• Damage Immunities thunder
• Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14
• Languages Common
• Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

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Bonus Actions

Lunatic Voice. (Recharges 6): As a bonus action, all creatures within 30 ft. from Himerope that can hear her must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be paralyzed for one turn.

Reactions

Song of Enthrallment. Himerope chooses one ally that can hear her. As a reaction when that creature attacks during their turn, they deal an additional 12 (2d6 + 5) damage of the same type of the attack.

Actions

Dreamy Voice. (Recharges 5-6): Himerope chooses one target that she can see that can hear her. The target must pass a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or obey Himerope's command: the target must move up to its speed in a direction of Himerope's choice and / or perform one attack action against a target of Himerope's choice if the target can perform multiple attacks in one turn, it does all of them.

Song of Torment. Himerope chooses one target that she can see and that can hear her, which must pass a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, the target takes 12 (2d6 + 5) psychic damage and an additional 3 (1d6) psychic damage at the beginning of its next two turns. On a success they take half as much damage and no damage on subsequent turns.

Legendary Actions

Himerope can take the following Legendary Actions. Each action can only be used once, at the end of another creature's turn. These actions are available progressively, one per each round, and must be expended before the round ends.

1. Song of Gathering. Himerope calls to her all creatures of Pharos Sirius. Four crystal zombies (Zombie BR 161) appear and attack. Four additional zombies crawl from the platform below and move up to their speed to a location of Himerope's choice. These zombies do not attack unless provoked.

2. Dreadwyrm's Echo. Himerope's voice is empowered by the nearby crystals. All creatures within 120 ft. must pass a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for one turn. The crystal at the center of the platform shatter and Beatrix, The Crimson Rose, is released.

3. Voice of the Underworld. Himerope combines the forces of her undead minions. All eight zombies summoned during Song of Gathering die on the spot. Two of them rise again, more powerful (Ghast BR 311).

4. Tinnitus. Himerope's songs affect a creature's very soul. For 1 minute all of Himerope's actions no longer need their target to hear her.

The Twin Roses

Failing to accept Beatrix's fate, and quickly losing control of her actions, Himerope sends a burst of energy towards Sebeku, knocking him and the device to the verge of falling down the lighthouse. She emits a bone shattering shriek which reverberates through the entire structure, as the distant wailing of the undeads follows suit.

As Himerope attacks the party, Beatrix's crystal pulsates more and more until, after a few rounds, it bursts open, letting go of the transfigured hyur within, who joins her partner in combat.

For the duration of the fight, Himerope focuses on keeping the players occupied, preventing them from reaching Sebeku and its device or doing harm to Beatrix. The thavnairian bard, instead, has completely lost her mind, and unleashes her fury on the nearest target.

In this fight the party should aim at destroying the crystal's influence. As Sebeku suggested his device can be used on the floor below to destabilize it once and for all. However, things are complicated by waves and waves of weaker crystal zombies (use the Zombie BR 161 stat block for them) clogging the way downstairs.

Beatrix, The Crimson Rose

Medium humanoid, chaotic evil

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• Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 75 (10d8 + 30)
• Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	12 (+1)	16 (+3)	13 (+1)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)

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• Saving Throws Wis +6, Cha +7
• Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
• Languages Common
• Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

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Bonus Actions

Dreadwyrm's Talon. As a bonus action, Beatrix manipulates the local aether to create a new crystal spike. Any creature in a 10 ft. radius around a point of choice within 60 ft. must move to an unoccupied space and make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or suffer 4 (1d8) piercing damage. The spike persists after the attack. If this action is used again, the previous spike dissipates.

Reactions

Dreadwyrm's Judgement. As a reaction whenever a creature willingly enters the space within 5 ft. of a crystal spike, they must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or suffer 9 (2d8) lightning damage.

Actions

Multiattack. Beatrix makes two attacks with her claws.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.

Legendary Actions

Beatrix can take the following Legendary Actions. Each action can only be used once, at the end of another creature's turn. These actions are available progressively, one per each round, and must be expended before the round ends.

1. Aetherflow. Beatrix disappears in the local aether currents, and reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 ft. of any crystal spike.

2. Draconic Resonance. Beatrix causes the crystal spikes to resonate. Each character in direct line between any two crystal spikes must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw and suffer 9 (2d8) lightning damage on a fail, or half as much on a success.

3. Mediated Megaflare. Beatrix summons Bahamut's power using the power of the crystal. All character within 10 ft. of a crystal spike must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or suffer 18 (4d6 + 4) fire damage on a fail, or half as much on a success.

Beware of the spikes!

Most of Beatrix's actions are based around the creation of crystals and manipulation of local aether. All pre-existing crystals spikes depicted in the map are to be considered "crystal spikes" for the purpose of her attacks. The fractures on ground which connect some of them are not to be taken into account.

Fight Outcome

However the crystal tree is shattered, the corrupted aether dissipated from the lighthouse, and all minions retreat. As a consequence, the perpetual storm around the island dissipates as well, allowing an easier return home.

The player choices on how to deal with Beatrix and Himerope are relevant in the conflict's resolution. Here a few things to take note.

Conclusion

The lighthouse has been thoroughly investigated by the party and they can now return to Limsa Lominsa to claim their reward. Now that the crystal has been disposed of the perpetual storm around the Isle of Umbra has calmed down: in the upcoming days, Naldiq & Vymelli's are able to dispatch subsequent clean-up missions to prepare the restoration of the lighthouse, and the trade route to Aleport is secured once again.

Within the Pharos Restoration Team, rumors and legends start spreading about machines similarly acting of their own volition, intricate and incomprehensible mechanisms that change their patterns by the day, and similarly unexplainable automation-related phenomena…

Appendix A – Magic Items

Staff of the Whorl

Staff, Rare (Requires Attunement by a White Mage, Blue Mage or Red Mage)

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This staff has 10 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spellcasting ability modifier: shape water (1 charge), water breathing (3 charges), control water (4 charges).

The staff regains 1d6 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff liquifies and turns into water, lost forever.

Sahagin Scale Armor

Armor (scale mail), uncommon

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This suit of magic armor has been crafted using the Sahagin's own scales, which when they become hard enough fall off naturally from their body and can be used for crafting. The base armor class for this object is 14. While wearing it, you can apply your full Dexterity modifier (instead of a maximum of +2) when determining your Armor Class. In addition, this armor does not impose disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

Siren's Deception

Magic Item, Rare (Requires Attunement)

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While worn, this item can be used to alter one's appearance, the same way as the Alter Self spell. The effect is persistent until the amulet is removed. The owner can change its form only once a day as an action, gaining the benefit of any option from the Alter Self spell. Alternatively, it can dispel its effect, but the amulet cannot be used again until next dawn. Removing the amulet counts as dispelling its effect, and likewise cannot be used again until next dawn.

Appendix B - Achievements

Appendix C – Loot Summary