Sea Lion (merchantman)

Sea Lion was a Ravenian merchantman ship that sank in the Dragon Reach, north of the Ravens Bluff Harbor, in 1351 DR and was widely rumored thereafter to haunt the waters of the living as a ghost ship.Port of Ravens Bluff (pp. 42, 45) states that Charles O'Kane became Mayor 20 years ago, which would set it in 1361 DR. The sinking of the Sea Lion is stated to have occurred 10 years prior, therefore it would likely have to be 1351 DR.
==Description==
A broken stump from the ship's mast and a piece of its smashed hull could be seen just barely breaking the water's surface whenever the tide was low.
==History==
Circa 1351 DR, the Sea Lion went on a rather dangerous voyage spanning five tendays, leaving them to fall behind schedule. As they made their way back home to the city of Ravens Bluff it was midway through the month of Uktar, the height of gale season in the Dragon Reach, making for stormy waters to sail through. The Sea Lion made its way into the waters of the Ravens Bluff Harbor at around midnight. The crew was quite weary at that point, longing for the pleasures of Ravenian taverns, and the captain was hoping to make it into the Ravenian anchorage well before dawn hit.
But a thick fog rolled into the harbor, leaving the Sea Lion's crew to lose all sense of direction and sail in circles, searching in vain for the light of the Ladyrock Lighthouse. As the fog began to give the merchantman found itself to the north of the harbor, sailing into shallow depths. It came about carefully, the crew edging it back towards the Dragon Reach's deeper waters, but out of nowhere a violent storm rolled in and tossed the Sea Lion against 
rocky shoals. Its hull fractured from the impact, nearly splitting in two. Too exhausted to escape their sinking vessels, the entire crew of the Sea Lion perished with the merchantman as into disappeared into the depths.
The storm that brought about this demise was brought forth by Locaath Blackmanta, a powerful sea elf conjurer that delighted in using storms against his enemies. In light of increasing sea traffic towards the city of Ravens Bluff, the wizard wanted to manufacture a shipwreck from which he could obtain some treasure and establish a lair within. His existence would go unknown to the people of the surface for over a decade, though would be well known among the aquatic races that inhabited the Dragon Reach.
As time passed the sinking of the Sea Lion became a common tale among Ravenian sailors, who told of the captain wailing a curse upon the Lighthouse with his dying breath and that ever since that day the gales of Uktar became stronger. Whether or not the alleged curse was the cause, experienced captains could could confirm that the Uktar gales of the Dragon Reach were worse than they were before that fateful night. 
Others told of the Sea Lion living on as a ghost ship, patrolling outside the harbor on nights of thick fog, still searching for the light it couldn't find all those years ago. A variation of that tale described the ghost ship as being faintly luminous in the fog and its captain standing on the foredeck, wailing his curse upon any pulling into the harbor. Some of the sightings of these ships were instances of the spectral force spell, casted by Locaath to act as distractions and cause confusion among those he targeted. Many other sightings were hoaxes perpetrated by smugglers in an effort to keep prying eyes off their vessels, occasionally employing use of light spells to better give their ships a ghostly luminous appearance.
In the , a series of boat sinkings occurred within range of the Ravens Bluff Harbor. The ghost ships said by sailors to appear in the harbor on foggy nights were linked to these sinkings by the city's Nightwatch.
Around that same year, Locaath Blackmanta learned of the power Calvan's Bell held to conjure undead and stole it from the Ladyrock Lighthouse. He subsequently moved out from the wreckage of the Sea Lion, thoroughly moving everything out from his lair and into a nearby cave after driving off a group of mongrelfolk that had been living within it.
A group of adventurers were quickly hired by Lord Mayor Charles Oliver O'Kane and Lady Lauren DeVillars to track the wizard down and retrieve the bell. The adventurers would travel down to the undersea restaurant Sharkey's Bar & Grill in hopes of learning Locaath's last whereabouts. There they would learn from some locathah and sahuagin patrons of Locaath's hideout within the Sea Lion. Unbeknownst to the adventurers, Locaath himself was in Sharkey that night there in disguise as another sea elf and would send various sea creatures to intercept them. These were variously said to include octopi and giant octopi, ixitxachitls, sharks, and scrags.
When the adventurers finally made it to the Sea Lion it was clear to them that something had been living in the shipwreck until recently. However, they could found nothing of value within the wreckage, save for a few stray rocks from the cave Locaath had moved to.
==Reputation==
The physical remains of the ship, visible during low tides, was considered by some to be an eerie reminder of how powerful and dangerous the gales that occured in the month of Uktar could be.
Many people laughed off the posthumous myths surrounding the Sea Lion as no more the many tall tales that sailors typically spun, but just as many others swore by the tales. Because of the myths some sailors would avoid the Ravens Bluff Harbor on foggy nights and warn others to do the same.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Ships and vehicles
Category:Watercraft
Category:Ships
Category:Merchant ships
Category:Sailing vessels
Category:Ghost ships
Category:Items from Ravens Bluff
Category:Items from Toril
Category:Items
Category:Shipwrecks
Category:Locations in the Dragon Reach
Category:Locations in the Sea of Swords
Category:Locations on Toril