Ascent to the Plateau
As Izz prepares to progress towards the giant and attempt to secure safe passage, he notices something strange: the cave is covered in spiderwebs. The webs are incomplete - disappearing for a few feet at a time - yet there is tension. Izz suspects that these are Phase Spider webs... but there is only one way to be sure.
Casting etherealness to enter the Ethereal Plane, Izz takes a good look down the tunnel. There are five spiders sitting perfectly still upon their webs. Four are Phase Spiders, while one is entirely unfamiliar to him. The party resolves that this is not a fight to pick while a Stone Giant looks down upon them.
Having failed to gather any substantial information from the banshee Miraal about the giant or the spiders, the party hatches a plan: Aust will shapeshift into a Giant Spider and carry Izz across. He will then return for Jorund, while Merric contemplates whether to grapple across or take the level-headed approach.
Plateau and Rooftop
Reaching the wall of the lighthouse, Izz attempts to scout by climbing to the rooftop. With great success - hammering the pins in under the cover of wind gusts and rumbling thunder - he scales the building. On the roof, he is met with a sight which can only be described as ritualistic. A Talosian priest in ceremonial garb is accompanied by an armour-clad warrior whose very being crackles with electricity. They flank a halfling who is restrained on a lightning rod. Izz secures his rope out of sight for later use and returns to the plateau.
Meanwhile, Merric grows impatient. He fires a grappling hook from his crossbow at the lighthouse exterior and attempts to reel himself across. Unfortunately, the Stone Giant takes note of this and opens fire on the would-be intruder. A gargantuan arrow sails past the frantically reeling Merric, and a second hits him clean in the torso. It tears a chunk of flesh out and leaves a gaping, grievous wound as he scrambles the rest of the distance to his companions.
Jorund heals Merric's wound as the party pause for a moment, waiting to see the giant's next action. There is nothing but the chaos of the storm.
Lighthouse Interior
The party decide to investigate inside before picking a fight on the roof. They find the building abandoned, along with a number of unsettling discoveries:
- The northern room features a barnacle-encrusted operating table which is stained with blood. The table is propped against the southern wall of the otherwise featureless room.
- The southern room is adorned with frescoes which depict ships being tossed on stormy seas, with a dark and terrible god looming above them and smiling. The party recognise this god as Talos himself. The room also features a shrine into which the lightning rod on the roof feeds, and onto which something has been hastily etched. Aust points this out to Merric who casts a spell and attempts to read it. As he runs his fingers across the runes, he finds his body imbued with the terrible power of the Stormlord. The writing reads, "What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. He is not dead who can eternal lie."