An uneventful hike along the coast gets the adventurers to Porto Oro, where they are greeted by two guards at the gates of the village who ask what business they have in Porto Oro. After some initial attempts at deception, the adventurers reveal that they are there to help with the lighthouse problem, which the guards are happy to hear. They then lead the adventurers through the village to talk to the Mayor Andrea. While walking through the village they notice that it is a very wealthy place with clean streets, fancy buildings and well dressed people who look at the scruffy adventurers with suspicion. The main street through the village is lined with expensive shops and leads down to a small harbour with luxury recreational boats, bars and restaurants. A big building overlooking the harbour is the office and residence of the Mayor.
The Mayor Andrea is very happy that her advertising campaign to find adventurers for the lighthouse problem has been successful and explains the situation. The lighthouse is two hours sail out to see from Porto Oro and it is the responsibility of Porto Oro to maintain it. It is very important for trade routes in the area since it helps lead boats through a sequence of islands at night. A week ago the beam suddenly went out. After there was no word from the lighthouse caretaker, Andrea sent the village Sheriff to investigate. After waiting a few days with the lighthouse still extinguished and the Sheriff yet to return, Andrea sought additional help, hence the advertising campaign for adventurers. She says that she can give an 80gp reward (for the whole group) for relighting the lighthouse and an additional 20gp for information about the Sheriff and caretaker. After agreeing to help, Andrea gives the adventurers a note to give to the village Captain Russel, who can take them to the island.
The adventurers find Russel right at the end of the harbour around a corner where the luxury vessels make way for a few small fishing boats and one more militaristic ship with a small sail and harpoon gun at the front which is protected by a metallic shield. Russel is on board this ship. After showing him the note from Andrea, he agrees that he will take them to the island and they agree that they will leave the next morning. Russel is a weathered old sailor who looks just as out of place in Porto Oro as the adventurers. He tells them not to expect to be welcomed in the village and invites them to spend the night on the boat where they don’t need to put up with judging eyes. The adventurers agree, but not before taking a small walk through the village. The shops all seem to pricey for them, and anyway don’t stock any items suitable for an adventurer. Archie is interested in the hot spring bath house that is famous in the village, but he is not welcomed when he arrives. The receptionist looks at him with a hint of disgust and asks what he wants. Archie asks how much it is to use the baths. The receptionist asks how much he has. Archie says 20gp. The receptionist says it costs 40gp (and anyway, the baths are for members only). Discouraged and disgruntled, Archie and the others return to the ship.
The next morning the group is ready to set sail. Kai predicts that the weather will be good and they begin their journey towards the island. Russel is capable of piloting the ship himself, leaving the adventurers to watch the waves and horizon. After an hour or so of sailing, Russel points out a small dot in the distance that he says is Argento island (where the lighthouse is). Looking towards the island, the adventurers eventually see two smaller dots in the sky that are slowly getting bigger. Eventually they see that they are two creatures flying towards them and the group prepares for an attack. The creatures have the body and wings of a vulture but heads and upper torsos of women. After a brief discussion about whether these creatures might be friendly, the group decides they are probably not and to attack as soon as they are in range. Ellea mans the harpoon gun while Archie and the crossbowmen open fire and Kai produces a flame that he intends to throw at the creatures. A few of the arrows land hits, Kai luckily avoids causing a fire on the ship and Ellea hits one of the creatures square in the chest with the harpoon bolt. The creature falls into the sea. The bolt is attached to a rope, which is attached to the ship. They see the rope moving through the water until it is eventually dragging behind the ship. Russel shouts to Ellea that there are more bolts in a hatch next to the gun (these ones not attached to a rope) and she reloads. Another round of ranged attacks fails to take down the second creature and it arrives at the ship. Seemingly enraged at the gun for hitting its companion, it attacks the harpoon shield, scraping its claws down the metal. The group closes in for melee combat and after a few rounds of attacks with the creature still focussed on the gun, they take it down, falling into the waves. They then winch in the harpoon rope, which is still dragging behind the ship, which reveals the creature still with the bolt through its chest and spluttering blood from its mouth. Archie puts the creature out of its misery leaving the corpse attached to the front of the ship as a morbid figurehead.
The group arrives at the island where they find a small beach to the west of the island with a pontoon. The north coast of the island has tall, sheer cliffs and the south coast is full of large rocks and boulders that the sea crashes against. The rest of the small island is filled with trees on a steep hill leading up to the lighthouse at the top of the hill on the north east side of the island. The lighthouse is painted silver with gold detailing and they see that there is no light coming from the top of it. A path leads from the beach through the trees in the direction of the lighthouse. At the pontoon there is another small boat with the crest of Porto Oro on the side. Russel can tell the group that this is the Sheriff’s boat. The boat also has a harpoon gun which is covered in claw marks. The boat seems empty and has a small cabin with a locked door. The group smash the window of the cabin and gain entry. In the cabin they find a red potion (which Archie later tastes to discover that it is a healing potion), some maps of the area and a diary. The most recent entry of the diary talks of an encounter with a creature (similar to those the group encountered) which was fended off but returned injured to the island, as well as arriving to the island but being too afraid to continue up to the lighthouse. Below the entry were some strange symbols that the group didn’t recognise. Feeling similarly afraid, the group decides to return to Porto Oro and bring all this information back to Andrea. The sail back goes without incident.
The group arrives back in Porto Oro with the dead creature still attached to the front of the ship. This shocks the village people who are not used to such monstrosities, but it also seems that some are impressed or in awe of the adventurers bravery. The adventurers report back to Andrea and she agrees that backup is needed and increases the reward to 100gp (relighting) + 20gp (information about Sheriff and caretaker) per adventurer in order to attract more people. In the following week, Kai takes the strange symbols to Xenia the translator. She says she vaguely recognises them as a very crude language (they used it as practise during her training as a translator) of a cult that was in the area about twenty years ago. She doesn’t know much more about the cult other than this. Meanwhile, Archie tries to gain entry to the bath house again, this time being more welcomed due to his increased celebrity in the village. They give him a free one week membership to the baths, as long as he agrees to take a long shower before using them. The warm waters make him feel revitalised, temporarily giving him an additional 2hp. Ellea instead likes the idea of working in a bar by the harbour. She asks a few places, but it seems all the bars are well staffed and aren’t interested in someone with no experience. After all this rejection, Ellea is surprised that the last bar she goes to at the end of the harbour is interested in her services. However, as she begins work she is surprised to not have to do much, or even any, actual bar work, and instead spends the evenings with locals asking about her stories as an adventurer (being completely ignorant of adventuring, the villagers don’t realise that Ellea is only level 1 and most of her stories are made up). From a small wage and tips, Ellea receives 1gp per day for her work.
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