WH4.1 – Lights on the Water

Night falls quickly over the Zumkend River, and the reeds whisper with every passing breeze. Locals bar their shutters and mutter about the pale lanterns seen drifting across the marsh. Fishermen swear they’ve watched the lights circle their boats like hungry wolves, only to vanish when prayers are whispered.

Tonight, Talric Fenmoor — his face pale and hands trembling — points to the reedy isles just east of town. “There! You see them, don’t you? Flickering, swaying… they want you to follow. They want you drowned.” The air smells faintly of rot and river-mist, and the silence between the croaks of frogs feels far too deep.

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Quest Giver:

• Talric Fenmoor (fisher, anxious, prone to embellishment, but earnest in his fear).

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Truth:

• The lights are will-o’-wisps, feeding on drowned prey.
• At higher levels, a cultist necromancer is attempting to “bind” them with whispered invocations, mistaking them for spirits of the drowned.
  • The cultist is a missionary of the Eye who has travelled far south of Varag Thul’s conclave near Stonewatch Keep. Initially seeking converts he has become distracted in his own path to power.

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Scaling Encounters:

• Lv 1–2: 1 Lesser Will-o’-Wisp.
• Lv 3: 2 Lesser Will-o’-Wisps.
• Lv 4: 2 Lesser Will-o’-Wisps + 1 Cultist necromancer (reskinned cultist, dabbling with binding rites).

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Reward:

• Reedwatch nets treated with druidic oils (+2 to Survival checks for fishing/foraging).
• Optional: PCs who rescue a fisher lured into the marsh gain local favor (advantage on Persuasion with Reedwatchers for a week).

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Stat Blocks (Condensed):

• Lesser Will-o’-Wisp (CR 1/2) – AC 13, HP 13, Shock +2 (1d10), Speed 30 ft hovering. Cannot use invisibility or Consume Life.
• Cultist (Necromancer Reskin, CR 1/8) – AC 12, HP 13, Spellcasting: Ray of Sickness, Thaumaturgy.