It took us an age to row the boat back to Freeport. We entered the harbour as dsawn broke, revealing an enormous number of vessels in the harbour.
The scaffolding of the white marble lighthouse had been taken down, and the lighthouse gleamed in the early light. We paddled back to the docks and disembarked, heading to the temple district.
No inns had any vacancies, much to our disgust, as we were most tired.
We made our way to the temple of Boccob without any difficulty, although the streets were filling even in the early morning.
We went into the temple, to see K�Stallo (aka Thuron). He took us into the cellars underground. He announced that the City Watch were looking for us, after Milton Drakh had decided that we were his enemies.
Thuron�s researches showed that the lighthouse was to project a gigantic yellow sign into Freeport�s harbour, sending every major power�s naval forces totally insane. Thuron�s suggestion was that we remove the gem from the lighthouse, and replace it with the Jade Serpent, which would annul the symptoms of the yellow sign, and destroying every servitor of the Yellow Sign.
Finally, he pointed out that there would be no moon, and laid out the basic plan of the lighthouse. There were 4 archways in, but they would be heavily guarded. The bulk of the interior would be one enormous room, with a stairway running up th einside of the wall.
We arranged for the priests to sell our excess equipment, and asked them to try to replace Hodash, whilst we rested. When we awoke, there was a dwarf standing there leaning on a sword about as long as he was.
He introduced himself as Taggur Battlehammer. He was a dwarf mercenary, hired by the temple to aid us.
We headed out to the docks, and collected our boat. When we came into sight, we spotted that the lighthouse was lit up like a Christmas Tree, especially near the top. We decided to check if the light was as bright on the other side, and began rowing out through the fleet assembled around us.
We rowed to the edge of the �exclusion zone�, which was guarded by a quartet of clippers. We waited for full dark, which took about an hour to occur. We rowed onwards. We made it to the island without incident, and circled to the darker side of the isle, and noticed that the big doors of the base appeared not to be guarded on the outside, although we were fairly certain that they would be on the inside.
We sprinted across to the base of the tower, and fortified ourselves with magic. We used potions and spells to ascend, sticking to the walls like spiders.
In the main room on top (which we attacked first), there was Lord Drakh, and 2 others (both members of the Council of Captains), with one serpent man. We used a potion of clairvoyance to discover that there were 4 more serpent men patrolling the stairs within the tower itself. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a terrible amorphous mass of flesh � a Gibbering Mouther, and some guards. The entire inner part of the tower seemed to be lined with ritual candles.
One of the humans inside was wearing a breastplate. Another wore hide armour, whilst the serpent person wore robes. Drakh was also in robes, carrying a sickle and with three skulls on his belt. He also had a pendant in the shape of the symbol of the yellow sign.
The tower shook ominously, and the platform and column quivered. A beam of light shot straight up, and formed the dark mark of the Yellow Sign. Veit took out the window, whilst Hugo began a chant of confidence.
Somehow, the evildoers inside knew that we were coming, and spouted slightly out-of-context nonsense as we all climbed through the window.
Somehow, they knew we were coming, and the fight began. Lightning arced (straight into me), and blades were flung around the room. The halfling mage was dropped almost immediately, although Rhia�s bold efforts restored him to consciousness. I was blasted with more foul and damaging sorceries than I could care to remember, and only remained standing because of the potions which I had consumed.
Finally, I saw a moment as Huey�s efforts to (invisibly) use the statue. I leapt on it, and placed the Jade Serpent of Yig. The entire city was bathed in green like, and the serpent-worshippers before us collapsed as piles of ash, dust and bones.
We could dimly hear the cheers of celebrating citizens in the city beneath us. We took items from the bodies of the fallen, and fled the island, having just slain the ruler and his immediate cabal.