A lighthouse keeper possessed by an ancient imprisoned elemental is turning Saltcliff’s beacon into a weapon — and a merchant fleet worth more than the town itself arrives in three days.
Welcome to “The Lighthouse Shadows” 5E adventure! Within these pages, you’ll discover everything necessary to embark on this thrilling quest, complete with detailed descriptions of locations, encounters, NPCs and stat blocks, maps, and handouts.
This adventure also features a versatile and scalable system, allowing Game Masters to easily adjust the difficulty and complexity of encounters to suit their players’ preferences and skill levels. Whether you have a party of advanced players or beginners, you can tailor the challenges to ensure an exciting and engaging experience for everyone involved. The scalable system guides modifying creature statistics, making it simple to customize the adventure to fit your party’s level.
In “The Lighthouse Shadows,” a party of 3-5 characters (levels 3-5) is hired to investigate a rash of mysterious shipwrecks in the coastal town of Saltcliff. The lighthouse keeper, Kalli Vale, has been possessed by an ancient water elemental imprisoned within a black pearl she unknowingly disturbed. As her madness grows, supernatural storms and flooding escalate across the town. Saltcliff’s daughter, Sarah, begs the party to save her mother — while the Merchant Guild cares only about saving the ships. A three-day countdown tracked in four-hour increments drives every decision, with escalating supernatural events punishing delay and rewarding urgency. The adventure is divided into three parts.
Part 1: Welcome to Saltcliff
The party arrives in a coastal town gripped by unease — seabirds attacking in the market, wells behaving strangely, unnatural fog rolling off the harbor, and the lighthouse beam flickering blue in the distance. Three NPCs set the stakes: Sarah Vale’s desperate plea at Kalli’s Cottage, Harbormaster Giles Cornwall’s three-day warning about the approaching merchant fleet, and Captain Reed’s request to find her missing crew from a recent wreck. Four key locations reward thorough investigation: the Harbormaster’s Office holds shipwreck logs revealing patterns in the lighthouse failures; the Rusty Anchor Tavern offers sailor rumors and a flooded cellar hiding elemental traces and a Potion of Water Breathing; the Dockside Market features a retired sailor selling a vital cliff map; and Kalli’s Cottage contains her journal, sketches of the black pearl, and — for the most perceptive — a hidden chest with ancient sea legend notes. Four dynamic town events fire based on the party’s timing and choices: seabird attacks, market flooding, mysterious whispers from drains and puddles, and a supernatural wave flooding the tavern cellar — each rewarding action and penalizing delay.
Part 2: The Lighthouse Path
The mile-long cliff path north of Saltcliff is treacherous under ordinary conditions — 200 feet above sea level, five to ten feet wide, battered by salt wind and intermittent heavy rain. Three distinct sections each demand their own checks: a slick Lower Path, a harrowing 100-foot Narrow Ledge where a critical failure means a four-story fall, and supernatural-water-slicked stairs for the Final Ascent. A random encounter table fires every fifteen minutes, with threats including possessed shipwreck debris, a Water Weird trying to drag characters off the ledge, aggressive seabirds, and ethereal whispers luring them toward the sea. Two dynamic events add time pressure: rising tides that may force the party onto an alternate route, and a lightning storm that punishes those who linger too long on the ledge. Three key locations reward exploration — the Flooded Cave bypass hides Drowned Zombies but yields 50 gp, a sailor’s logbook, and carvings revealing the pearl’s origin; the Watcher’s Point plateau offers a lighthouse keeper’s spare key and a fleeting encounter with a Water Elemental scout; and the Widow’s Walk wooden bridge is defended by Animated Ropes above a 150-foot drop.
Part 3: The Lighthouse Tower
The corrupted lighthouse spans three levels, each with its own hazards and enemies — all overlaid by three dynamic events that fire based on how long the party lingers: a collapsing staircase, a blinding supernatural beam, and steadily rising floodwaters that increase every check’s difficulty. On the Ground Floor, the entry chamber holds burnt notes referencing the black pearl while the kitchen hides a Water Weird in six inches of standing water and a lockbox with Kalli’s sketches. The storage room pits the party against Animated Ropes and a coordinating Animated Chain — and a hidden compartment behind them holds Kalli’s personal logbook, the key to the top level, and three Potions of Water Breathing. On the Service Level, a frost-covered workshop offers a reassemblable telescope and marked star charts; a supply room guarded by Ice Mephits in extreme cold contains the critical Magical Lens needed to destroy the pearl; and a mold-covered rest area activates a Drowning Mist trap on entry. At the Lantern Room summit, the mechanism chamber holds Kalli’s final notes on the pearl — then the Lantern Gallery itself opens into the final confrontation: possessed Kalli fights using Control Water and the rotating lens housing for cover, and when reduced to half health the black pearl tears free, summoning two Water Elementals while the room floods one foot per round. Six rotating lair actions — surge waves, lightning through shattered windows, drowning mist, animated standing water, pressure spikes, and watery duplicates of party members — keep the battlefield constantly shifting.
The pearl can be destroyed three ways: lightning damage, focusing the lighthouse beam through the recovered Magical Lens, or a banishment ritual using components scattered through the tower. The outcome determines everything: complete success restores the beacon, saves Kalli, and earns the town’s celebration and 1,000 gp from the council; partial success clears the storm but costs Kalli’s life and drives Sarah away; failure collapses the lighthouse into the sea and devastates Saltcliff’s economy for years to come.
Release Date: 2024
Format: Digital (PDF)
Items Included
- The Lighthouse Shadows 5E (PDF)
- A B&W Printer-Friendly Version (PDF)
- Maps
- Illustrations (Generated with Midjourney)
- Monster Stat Blocks
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