The Light That Wrecks
From a chance meeting
Possible rewards: Ranging Lens Old Kingdom Sunspear
7 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
A Light in the Fog
Right away1Wool-thick fog blankets the jagged coast. Ahead, a bright white beacon shines through a gap in the sea stacks just like a safe harbor light—except your sky chart shows no harbor for leagues, and the surf below the light is littered with shattered ship timbers.
- Fly toward the light with your guns primed for an ambush.The gap in the rocks is a dead-end cliff—and a wrecker corsair ship is waiting behind the sea stack with grappling hooks ready!Battle: Sky pirates · Close range, Fog, no escapeIf you win:+20 silver
- [Lookout 2] Use your upgraded Lookout to spot the reefs below the false beacon and avoid the ambush.Lookout level 2+Your lookout spots the white surf foaming over jagged rocks directly beneath the beacon. You hold off outside the reef until the waiting wrecker sloop gives up and withdraws, revealing a stone tower atop the sea stack.
- [Avian] Send crewmate above the fog bank to scout the source of the light.Crew: Aviancrewmate swoops back down ten minutes later: "There's an ancient stone tower atop that sea stack. The light isn't an oil lamp—it's a glowing golden spear-lens that wreckers have uncovered with a tarpaulin."Reveal 2 waypoints
- Steer wide around the false beacon and fly on.You turn away into the open sky as the false beacon vanishes into the fog astern.The questline ends here.
Wrecks Beneath the Beacon
Right away2Before climbing the sea stack, you inspect the surf at its base. Among the broken spars and staved-in hulls lies a freshly wrecked Guild courier boat—her stern still jutting above the waves and her locked strongroom hatch submerged just below the surface.
- Send divers into the submerged hull to recover the courier boat's pay chest.
- [Lutrine] Send crewmate down to salvage both the pay chest and the ship's fuel crystal.Crew: Lutrinecrewmate dives effortlessly into the flooded hold, returning with the thirty-five silver pay chest plus a waterproof case holding five units of sky-crystal!+35 silver+5 crystal
- Pry loose the courier boat's name-board to report her loss to the Guild.You pry the carved wooden name-board off her stern so the Guild can record the vessel's fate, earning their gratitude.+1 The Guild standing
- Leave the wreck untouched and sail to port to report the false beacon to the Guild.You log the exact coordinates of the wrecker beacon and set course for the nearest Guild port.
The Wreckers' Tollboat
Right away3A small rowboat emerges from the fog at the base of the sea stack, manned by two wreckers with a bow lantern. The older wrecker keeps his hands in plain sight. "That ancient beacon up top doesn't belong to us or to you, captain. We carved the steps up the cliff, and we charge twenty silver to anyone who wants to climb them without our guards up top dropping rocks on their heads."
- Pay the 20-silver toll for safe passage up the cliff steps and local reef charts.Costs 20 silverHe bites a silver coin, pockets the twenty silver, flashed a two-blink signal to the guards above, and marks the safe channels around the sea stack on your chart.Reveal 2 waypoints
- [Vulpine] Have crewmate talk the toll down to a single sack of provisions.Crew: Vulpinecrewmate chats amiably with the old wrecker until he agrees to wave you past the guards and mark the local reefs for just one crate of ship's biscuit.−1 provisionsReveal 2 waypoints
- Refuse to pay his toll and follow his boat's wake to the cliff steps.He shrugs and rows away. "Then the guards on the stairs won't be expecting friends." You follow his boat's wake through the rocks to the base of the tower.
The Guild Agent's Desk
At a port4 Report the wreckers' false beacon to a Guild agent in port.
The Guild agent sets down her pen as you report the false light. "Eleven ships lost on that stretch of coast in two years, and the underwriters have been blaming our pilots!" She unlocks her strongbox. "I can pay you a forty-silver reward right now for the coordinates, or assign an armed Guild cutter to sail back with you and wipe out the wreckers for a share of their loot cave."
- Take the 40-silver reward and keep the tower coordinates on your chart.She counts out forty silver and logs your report.+40 silver+1 The Guild standing
- Lead an armed Guild cutter back to the tower for a share of the wreckers' loot.Within the hour, she assigns a Guild warship to follow your lead: together you'll clear out the wreckers and divide their plunder.
The Old Light
Sail to The Old Light (1–3 passages away)5 Climb the ancient light tower that the wreckers have been using to lure ships.
The ancient stone tower rises seamlessly from the sea stack. At its summit, behind a tattered tarpaulin, a blinding golden light revolves on its own. Wreckers have chiseled stairs up the interior wall and posted armed lookouts.
- Fight your way up the tower stairs past the wrecker guards.Landfall: The Old Light
- [Toll paid] Walk unchallenged past the wrecker guards using the toll-boat's signal.Seeing the two-flash lantern signal from the tollboat below, the wrecker guards on the stairs step aside and let your crew climb to the lamp room.
- [Guild cutter] Let the escorting Guild cutter storm the sea stack first.
- Leave it for now.You pull back from the sea stack while the ancient golden light keeps revolving behind its tarpaulin.
The Lamp Room
Right away6 Decide what to do with the ancient golden Sunspear in the lamp room.
There is no oil lamp at the top of the tower. Instead, a boat-length spear of golden Old Kingdom glass hangs suspended in a brass gimbal, drinking in ambient light and focusing it into a searing beam that has scorched the stone wall black. The wreckers only dared use its stray glow. Unbolted from its gimbal, it can be mounted on your top deck as a devastating lance weapon.
- Unbolt the golden Sunspear and mount it on your ship's gun deck.Your crew wraps the blazing golden crystal in wet canvas—suffering minor burns during the haul—and mounts the Old Kingdom Sunspear on your deck, where its focused beam can slice through three enemy rooms in a line!Weapon: Old Kingdom Sunspear15 damage to a random crewmateThe questline ends here.
- [Fire mage] Have crewmate safely channel the Sunspear's heat down the tower and learn a fire spell.Crew: Fire caster · Magecrewmate carries the golden spear down the stairs bare-handed by absorbing its radiant heat—mounting the Old Kingdom Sunspear on your deck without a single burn and teaching crewmate a new fire spellbook!The questline ends here.
- Leave the Sunspear in the tower and build a proper seaward shutter so it serves as a true lighthouse.Your crew constructs a directional shutter that focuses the beam safely out to sea as a true navigation beacon. Grateful coast pilots and Guild merchants collect an eighty-silver reward for your ship!+80 silver+1 The Guild standing+1 The Free Captains standingThe questline ends here.
The Wreckers' Loot Cave
Right away7In a sea cave at the foot of the stack lies the plunder of eleven wrecked ships. The Guild lieutenant walks down the rows with an inventory slate. "The Guild reclaims the cargo pile, captain, but as the guide who led us here, you may choose one share of the salvage."
- Claim a crate of valuable cargo and a Ranging Lens.You load a crate of valuable trade goods into your hold and mount a precision Ranging Lens salvaged from the wreckers' sloop.The questline ends here.
- Loot the paymaster's lockbox.The iron strongbox holds ninety silver from three sunken courier boats; the lieutenant looks the other way as your crew carries it aboard.+90 silver+1 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- [Quartermaster] Have crewmate audit the lieutenant's inventory list to claim a Ranging Lens and 60 silver.Crew: Quartermastercrewmate spots four valuable crates the lieutenant missed on his tally. Grateful for the thorough count, he awards you both the Ranging Lens and sixty silver!The questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord