I lost the lantern when climbing into the Vestry from the Empty Stairwell:
Unfortunately, you have to let go of the lantern, the thick copper key, and the broom in order to hang on; they tumble into the darkness below.
I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now many turns later, I have learned that I need the lantern to navigate with the dinghy.
Do I have any option other than restoring to a very early save? Will I also need the copper key and broom later?
Are you playing the 2018 version of Anchorhead? If so, you can return to the Sewer Tunnel and go southeast to grab all the stuff you dropped; it should still be there.
When I go SE from the Sewer Tunnel, I don’t see any items there.
Sewer Tunnel
The air is damp, and moisture drips from the rusted pipes overhead. Foetid water flows sluggishly through a shallow channel running through the middle of the tunnel. A raised walkway to one side provides somewhat dryer footing, following the channel to the southeast and north.A set of iron rungs embedded in the wall leads up to an opening in the ceiling, letting in a column of dreary daylight.
Part of the wall on the other side of the channel has collapsed, revealing a jagged passage leading southwest.
se
Vault
This half-flooded chamber’s crumbling brickwork must have been built much earlier than the rest of the tunnels. The ceiling is lost in darkness above you, but judging from the echoes it must be very high. Water trickling in from the tunnel to the northwest has pooled at the room’s far end, which is submerged nearly waist-deep.
Do I need to make the water drain somehow?
There’s no puzzle here that I’m aware of. I just tried going NW from the Vault with a bunch of my dropped stuff there and immediately returning SE and all the stuff was still there. If it’s not there now… yeah, restoring from an earlier save might be in order.