Stormstruck is an adventure for 5th-level characters and follows events beginning in Sibal and extending into Leuber. It is designed to be run in a single session of several hours with an experienced group. No initial understanding of the setting is expected.

Chapter 1 - Rising of the Seas

The adventure begins in Trapwater Bay, the main harbour of Sibal. This bay hosts Sibal’s largest merchant ships and a good number of casual travelers every day. It is well-protected from strong winds by two artificial breakwaters on either side of the bay and Sibal City Hall, Lord Calas Peesha’s place of governance, is a short ten-minute walk up the main street. Lord Chewan holds the position of harbourmaster in Trapwater Bay, an esteemed and powerful position.

The harbour is bustling with people, as it always is around midday. The skies are clear, and the towers of the Dancers can even be seen in the clouds. The characters should meet here and introduce themselves if they don’t know each other yet.

Once everyone is gathered and familiar, a highly unusual event occurs. Queen Ebb, ruler of the merfolk who live near Sibal, emerges from the waves with four armed merfolk guards and begins to walk wihout a word towards Sibal City Hall. She is immediately recognizable; though she has not set foot on land in over forty years, her image is well known among the population of Sibal and her royal clothing and iconic coral staff additionally mark her as queen. Merfolk normally cannot breathe in air and don’t have legs, so it is clear that Queen Ebb and her entourage have used transmutation magic to alter their forms.

What is not clear, however, is that this is not Queen Ebb; in fact, she and her guards aren’t even merfolk. They are Dancers and humans, transformed by transmutation magic to look like merfolk. Specifically, Queen Ebb is a Dancer and her guards are all humans. Anyone who can see the true form of shapeshifters will see that they are not merfolk, but otherwise it is not possible to distinguish them. Even a Detect Magic spell will only show that the merfolk are affected by transmutation magic, which is expected. The only clue that this is not Queen Ebb is that she looks surprisingly young, considering she is nearly seventy years old.

The not-merfolk march up to Sibal City Hall without a word and the people let them pass. They find Lord Peesha waiting for them in the courtyard and, unless it is rudely interrupted by the characters, Lord Peesha and Queen Ebb’s discussion goes as follows.

Peesha: May the currents bring you fortune, Queen Ebb of the mighty seas, as your visit is an honor. I assume you have a matter you wish to discuss? You look… very well!

Ebb: The currents bring fortune only to you, Calas. This is no time for decency. You must remove your ships from my seas at once.

Peesha: What? Queen Ebb, that is absurd. We need our shipping; Sibal grows no crops, has no livestock. We must import these things from other lands, as we have done for centuries. But I do not wish to make an enemy of you. State your concerns now and we can discuss an equitable solution.

Ebb: There can no longer be any discussion, Calas. My envoys have been repelled from your shores by your greedy harbourmasters, who wish me and my people had never existed. You see us as an annoyance to be pushed aside.

Peesha: That is entirely false, Queen Ebb! My harbourmasters would do no such thing. Please speak your request more clearly!

Ebb: That was not a request, Calas!

Queen Ebb slams her coral staff into the ground. Runes briefly glow blue on its surface and a cold wind blows through the square.

Ebb: You cannot show me ignorance and then beg for forgiveness. Our storm is brewing, and when it strikes your ships will be smashed to pieces where they lie. Flee now with those you care about most and never sail my seas again.

Queen Ebb turns to leave and everyone in the square starts talking at once. Then, in case Queen Ebb’s warning was not convincing enough, scouts begin to report a storm blowing in from the north. The news, both of Queen Ebb’s visit and of the storm, travels quickly through the city and soon people can be seen with spyglasses looking north from any high place. There is indeed a storm there, and it is unusually large. The best estimates say it will hit Sibal by evening.

As Queen Ebb and her guards leave, no-one tries to stop them. Queen Ebb refuses to make eye contact or speak with anyone. If the characters try to stop her and they get physical, her guards intervene on her behalf and try to dissuade the characters without causing real harm. Use the Gladiator stat block for each of them, with the modification that they can use their Parry reaction to deflect attacks against any ally within five feet. They will use force if necessary. The person disguised as Queen Ebb maintains the transmutation magic for the whole group - if she takes any damage, have her make a Constitution saving throw with a +2 modifier to maintain concentration on the spell. It takes 10 minutes for her to recast the spell. When the not-merfolk reach the water, they are seen swimming north before eventually disappearing out of sight.

Shortly after Queen Ebb and her entourage leave Sibal, the Eclipse occurs. Since this is a common occurrence, the people of the city are not put out by it. However, there is a certain chill that passes over the streets that can’t be denied. As the sky darkens, the air cools and stills, the seabirds quiet, and everything seems altogether less.

Chapter 2 - Preparation

In Sibal any goods can be purchased at a fair price, making travel preparation a breeze. Before the characters decide what to do, though, they may wish to speak with a few individuals to ask for advice or information.

Onion

Onion is a Dancer scout who specializes in weather reporting. She flew out shortly after the storm was first spotted to determine more details about its size, strength, and speed. When she returns, she can be found in Trapwater Bay telling everyone what she saw. The storm is a couple hundred kilometers in diameter and is moving quickly; Onion estimates that it will reach Sibal in three hours. She also says it looks severe enough to endanger even the largest ships. Additionally, characters watching her who have a passive Wisdom (Insight) score of 14 or higher sense that she is also stressed because she saw something terrifying in the storm that she is not sharing. What Onion is not telling is that she saw the impossible: Dancer towers resting on the storm clouds. Normally, towers built on storm clouds would collapse and fall to the ground or into the sea, but these did not. Onion is holding back this information because she does not want to draw attention to herself and others of her race. This information can be discovered from her if the characters take her aside and make a successful DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Intimidation) check while asking specifically about what she’s not telling them. She also tells them that she suspects the Dancers above the clouds are somehow manipulating the storm, likely with ill intentions.

Mandy

Mandy is a Booksmith meteorologist, a wizard who specializes in the study of weather and weather magic. He owns vast tomes containing records of every storm observed in the past 250 years, descriptions of attempts to control weather with magic, and the steps that were successful. Mandy is by far the most knowledgeable individual in Sibal when it comes to storms. He can be found in his office in the harbour at Trapwater Bay, working with scrying dishes and other divination tools to determine the nature of the storm. His conclusion, which others may have already hastily reached, is that the storm is not natural and was created by powerful magic. However, such a storm far exceeds the capabilities of any known meteorologist and Mandy observes that merfolk do not generally tend toward such spells. He believes there must be some greater force at play, such as a deity or, worse, a hidden cult of powerful druids in Leuber. He suggests Leuber only because the storm is coming from that direction.

Plov

Plov is the “random bystander” of the information-seeking world. In other words, if the characters ask to speak to a random stranger on the street, it’s Plov if they haven’t spoken with her already. Plov is a student at the University of Sibal studying anthropology. She has been studying for two years and has lived in Sibal all her life. Having already heard all the news, she remarks that the relationship between Sibal and the merfolk has always been amicable and she knows of nothing that could have angered Queen Ebb. In fact, Plov suspects that there is foul play afoot. She thinks there must be a third party involved that is either producing the storm, turning the merfolk against Sibal, or both.

When the characters choose to leave Sibal, they’ll need to secure a ship. If one of the characters already owns or controls a ship, this will be easy. Otherwise, they can buy or rent a ship from a number of different people in Sibal.

Domar

Domar is a small-time merchant who regularly sails between Arastes and Sibal with various goods. He’s human, but slightly pointed ears indicate that he might have some elven heritage. He’s open to taking risks and encourages the same in others, all while carefully hiding how insightful he really is. Domar is the captain of Rainbow, a small but fast ship that can hold up to eight people plus the crew of three and himself. It has a top speed of 3 miles per hour. When the news of the storm and Queen Ebb’s warning reaches his ears, he quickly begins preparing to leave. He intends to go to south to Arastes where he knows he can find a friendly dock. For 10gp per day per character he’ll carry the party with him to Arastes, a five-day journey. For 15gp per day per character he’ll instead take the party east to Soale. If the characters ask to be taken north, either into the storm or around it to Leuber, he refuses unless the characters can buy his ship for 10000gp (or equivalent value) and find another captain.

Lord Chewan

Lord Chewan is the harbourmaster of Trapwater Bay and is furiously trying to organize all the ships leaving through the mouth of the bay. He has little time for anything but the most important conversation, but if the characters tell him that they are capable adventurers and that they intend to stop the storm, he will point to a small ship in the corner of the harbour and say: “Take that ship there, the Blue Rat. It’s a scouting vessel, good for a group of your size, and it will carry you either to your doom or to our salvation. May the currents bring you, and all of us, fortune!”. The Blue Rat is a small sailboat with room for six and a small amount of cargo. It has a top speed of 4 miles per hour and can be sailed by as little as one experienced sailor.

Arian

Arian is a highly eccentric elf artificer who has been developing and building a unique vessel for several years with funding from the University of Sibal. The characters may notice flashes of light like lightning strikes inside her workshop near the harbour, prompting comments from passersby. These flashes are from the welding tools she’s using to add the final finishing touches to her vehicle. The door has a sign posted on it saying “Construction In Progress - IMPORTANT BUSINESS ONLY - Arian”. If the characters knock on the door sufficiently loudly, Arian opens it half a minute later. She’s wearing thick chain mail gauntlets and a welding visor, and before any introductions she says “Did you read the sign? It says IMPORTANT BUSINESS ONLY. Is your business IMPORTANT BUSINESS?” and glares at the characters through the narrow slit in her visor. They can see that Arian is standing in a large room, 50 feet on a side and with ceilings 20 feet high, in which a large metal arrow-shaped object is resting on wooden supports.

What Arian is building is an enclosed ship designed to move quickly, up to 5 miles per hour, without wind power. The vessel is long and narrow has no sails - its main mode of locomotion is two wings, reminiscent of those on an eel. This, combined with the low center of mass, makes the vessel extremely resilient to wind and allows it to travel mostly freely with its magically powered wings. Arian has named the vessel Finnigan’s Knife after the legend of how the hero Finnigan split the sea in two to separate warring nations.

If the characters introduce themselves to Arian and tell her they want to travel towards the storm to find a way to stop it, she becomes interested. She tells the characters what she’s working on and how she thinks it might be useful for traveling in stormy weather. She’ll also happily talk about how the device works and offer to take them off the island in it. She emphasizes, though, that she doesn’t know how far it could travel on stored magical power. If the characters still think it’s a good idea, she’ll have them climb in as she rolls it out the service door into the water. The entire vehicle is 30 feet long and 10 feet wide with 10 foot “wings” that emerge from the hull across the length of the vessel on either side. The inside, partially obstructed by large magical equipment, is only 20 feet long and 8 feet wide. Four people can fit easily, but up to eight can pack in if necessary.

The Redtail

Also sometimes known as the Rat Tail, the Redtail is a sleek ship sailed by Captain Rapax and his crew. Their dealings are generally outside of the law and they do not always declare their goods for taxation, but they are honourable and can be trusted. They will carry the party at no cost if they befriend the crew and convince them of the importance of their quest. In particular, Rikkit Stonewing might be found performing or drinking at the Crooked Otter.

Captain Rapax

Captain Rapax is a wise human sailor. He’s about 45 years old and has been at this game for some time. He’s just past his prime, but he knows the criminal world like no other and his contacts keep him in the know of good jobs.

First Mate Rikkit “Featherkeys” Stonewing

Rikkit Stonewing, sometimes known as Featherkeys, is a stoic kenku of about 29 years. An experienced smuggler and the ship’s entertainment, Rikkit is a valued member of the crew and his intuition is well trusted. They say the best songs have a certain magic to them, a lesson which has saved the Redtail’s skin too many times to count.

Lieutenant Elyra Swiftfoot

Elyra Swiftfoot is a dashing harengon, about 25 years of age. She is the Redtail’s most skilled fighter, having a rough upbringing. True to her name, she’s lightning fast, making her perfect for any job on the clock. She and Featherkeys enjoy a close relationship, but their careers prevent them from considering something serious.

The Mystic

The Mystic may have forgotten his own name, but this old kobold is full of tricks. He’s not much in combat, but he has a prophetic knowledge of the sea conditions. The Mystic is always good for a round of cards, but he might need to finish his nap first.

Eli J. Pounce

Eli Pounce is a young tabaxi of about 17 years. He ran away from a career of medicine and landed in the heart of adventure. He can clean the deck, and heal you in a jam. Eli has a strange accent that’s hard to place, but that doesn’t stop him from adopting all the local mannerisms wherever he goes.

Butch Baker

Butch Baker is a kindly minotaur of about 30 years. He’s always good for a laugh and is a great dancer. Awkward around strangers, his heart of gold is unmistakeable, even as a seasoned criminal. His incredible strength often comes in handy, but he can’t help but wonder if this life is the right one for him.

Chapter 3 - Over Wave and Under Wave

Once the characters have determined their mode of transport they can begin their journey towards the storm. If they haven’t sailed out by the time it hits, they may still be able to travel in Arian’s vessel, Finnigan’s Knife.

No matter the vessel, it won’t take long to reach the storm. From sea level, the Dancer towers Onion saw are obscured by dark clouds. What the characters see instead is an enourmous warship, 450 feet long with six masts, sailing in the center of the storm. Illuminated only intermittently by lightning, it makes for an ominous scene. The ship seems unperturbed by the towering waves and forceful winds buffeting it, and it is certainly larger than any ship seen before in these waters. Without entering the storm, though, more details cannot be discerned through a spyglass alone. Finnigan’s Knife is the only vessel capable of safely traveling through the storm, but creative solutions may be applied to allow other vessels to pass safely. A possible solution might be to drop the anchor of the ship and wait for the storm and the warship to approach; this way at least the challenge of moving the ship in the desired direction is removed.

However they do it, the outcome is the same when the characters approach the warship. As they get closer they can see that a crew of humans and Dancers runs the ship while a storm giant stands at the front of the vessel, looking forward. The storm giant’s name is Acris, and this is in fact only an illusion of her. She is controlling the storm from her high seat in the mountains of Leuber above Firecomb, where she’s using powerful weather magic to drive the storm from afar. Her warship, the High Place, is protected from the storm by the same magic. A Detect Magic spell cast in the storm reveals conjuration magic permeating the air and abjuration magic surrounding the ship, as well as illusion magic projecting her image onto the deck.

The characters’ vessel will have been spotted by the High Place at this point, and the warship will veer towards the characters in order to meet them. When they get within 50 feet of each other, Acris calls out “Ahoy, travelers! Fine weather we’re having!” and laughs in a voice that cuts through the rumbling of the storm. And though the characters can barely even hear each other, Acris hears every word as clearly as though it were whispered in her ear.

Acris will be happy to chat with the characters for a while and will not be shy about sharing information. She believes the characters will not survive the storm and that even if they do, there is nothing they can do to hinder her scheme. Acris will tell them that she is masterminding the storm from the nation of Leuber and that she intends to destroy Sibal. By cutting off trade for Leuber, she hopes to weaken the country’s current government, allowing her to reclaim the lands that once belonged to her people. She is collaborating with the Dancers to empower the storm and to help control it. She has also allied herself with some mercenaries whom she has promised control over Sibal once she has claimed her throne in Leuber. If the characters ask, Acris also tells them that Queen Ebb was in fact a Dancer in disguise and her guards were members of the mercenary group. Role-play Acris as greatly overconfident and condescending towards the characters.

Finally, Acris won’t just let the characters go without a fight. If they try to board the warship first, then let them, but otherwise the High Place will make the first move by shooting out grappling hooks to haul the characters closer. Acris, being only an illusion, can’t engage physically but will continue to taunt and berate the characters. However, whenever a character hits her illusory form with any weapon attack, they are briefly transported to Acris’ location. She is at the edge of a cliff on a mountaintop, standing before a large metal dish filled with water and containing a glass sphere. Inside the sphere is a vision of the High Place in the storm. In the distance below the cliff, a city is barely visible near the foot of the mountain. Someone familiar with maps of Leuber will recognize the long and thin shape of Firecomb. This transportation is only illusory and the character snaps back to reality after just a couple seconds. A character can only be transported this way once.

The High Place is crewed by 30 human mercenaries and there are 10 Dancers flying around in the vicinity. Four of the mercenaries are well-trained and highly capable warriors; for these, use the Gladiator stat block. The other 26 mercenaries use the Bandit stat block. One of the Dancers is a mage wearing an Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location and the other nine can use the Aarakocra stat block, but they have no weapons. In combat, only the four warriors and the Dancers will initially fight, and the other mercenaries will join if things are going poorly. The Dancer mage will try to stay high up and out of the fray and will use her most potent spells with abandon. The warriors will engage the characters on the edge of the ship, trying to restrict their movement and even throw them over the side if possible. The other Dancers will try to distract and pester the characters, granting the warriors a flanking advantage if possible. If the Dancer mage is in trouble, some of them will go to help her. If the warriors seem to be struggling to keep the characters isolated on the edge of the ship, 10 of the mercenaries will equip themselves and join the fight. The other 16 mercenaries continue to manage the ship. If all four warriors and the Dancer mage are killed or captured, the mercenaries and the other Dancers will surrender.

When the ship is surrendered, Acris is furious. She insists that the mercenaries fight until their last breath, but they will not listen. Any surviving Dancers fly back up into the clouds while the surviving mercenaries kneel in submission. When Acris sees that the mercenaries have completely abandoned her, she lashes out with six simultaneous bolts of lightning, one to each mast, and vanishes in the flash of light and sound. The tips of the masts, being made of metal, fortunately do not catch fire, although everyone on the ship takes 2d6 thunder damage and 1d6 radiant damage from the event.

Once the ship is surrendered, the mercenaries will do what the characters ask of them and will tell them what they know. They know little more than what Acris already told the characters, but they will say that they are a mercenary group from Leuber known as Dark Halberd. Acris hired them through the Dancer mage, who’s name is (or was) Orozi. She came to Rosha, the leader of the mercenaries (one of the warriors), and offered him this job. They took it without knowing exactly who Acris was and they felt uncomfortable in the presence of a storm giant, but they were motivated by the prospect of effectively ruling Sibal. The mercenaries will agree to sail the High Place for the characters and take them wherever they like, although they will refuse to go on land at Leuber themselves for fear of Acris.

The hold of the ship contains the equivalent of 500 days of rations in food and a modest array of weaponry. Two sets of plate armor for medium-sized creatures are available, as well as 20 scimitars and 40 javelins. There are also 10 shields, 3 longbows, and 100 arrows. Additionally, there are a couple magic items.

  • One of the sets of plate armor is adamantine - any critical hit against the wearer becomes a normal hit.
  • Five of the arrows, in a special quiver, have a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls.
  • Boots of Levitation, which allow the wearer to cast the Levitate spell on themselves as an action at will.
  • Boots of the Winterlands, granting resistance to cold damage, the ability to ignore difficult terrain caused by ice and snow, and protect the wearer from cold temperatures.
  • A Cloak of the Manta Ray, granting the wearer the ability to breathe under water and a swimming speed of 60 feet while the hood is up.
  • Orozi, the Dancer mage, wore an Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location, making the wearer invisible to all divination magic.
  • Eyes of the Eagle, goggles which allow the wearer to make out details (in clear conditions) of extremely distant objects as small as 2 feet across.

Finally, there is one additional magic item: a sentient sword named Letetetetetic with the abilities of a Dancing Sword. Letetetetetic refuses to be held and insists on always flying wherever it goes. It has a childish personality and tends to sulk if it doesn’t get what it wants. If the characters communicate with it, they find that Letetetetetic can speak Common and Draconic (out loud) and is happy to share its history. It was manufactured by a kobold sorcerer in the fiery mountains of Oro-oro-ponoro-poron as a gift to Tiamat, but Tiamat hated it and killed the kobolds with a catastrophic volcanic eruption. Letetetetetic escaped and flew as far as it could before falling from the sky in Leuber. It was found and restored by Acris, so she added it to her collection of magical possessions as an oddity.

Now that the characters know where to find Acris, hopefully they’ll make their way to Firecomb in Leuber. Sailing the High Place, it will take them two days to get there. If they somehow take another ship, it will be three days.

Chapter 4 - Firecomb

Firecomb is a port city on the south coast of Leuber. It serves as the main shipping contact from Leuber to Sibal and has grown quite large as a result. The city is pressed up tightly between the Encord Mountains and the sea, so all of its growth has only extended it farther along the coast rather than farther inland. Though Leuber itself is ruled by Queen Nevesii, Firecomb city is led by Lady Tenuri. Lady Tenuri recently married Draco Stonewing, the heir to a powerful house that was all but destroyed in an avalanche. Clouds tend to cluster above Firecomb and it is almost always raining, with only a couple weeks of respite in the summer. From afar, all of the wisps of smoke rising from homes make the city appear almost as though it were burning, hence the name Firecomb.

The streets of Firecomb are lined with soot and the buildings are almost entirely grey, giving the whole place a rather grim feel. The people match the buildings, too: mostly hunched and hooded, making it difficult to see that a large portion of the population is Kenku, a race distantly related to Dancers. Many of the streets are covered, providing shelter from the rain at the cost of trapping all the wood smoke just above head height.

Firecomb would be a fun city to explore, but time is pressing. The storm has been squatting above Sibal for a few days now, and the city has only enough food stores for two weeks with careful rationing. The characters will have to climb Skybreak Peak and break Acris’ spell before it’s too late. The hike to the top could take up to a week.

To make the trek, the characters will need to purchase some more equipment. They can take food from the High Place and the Boots of the Winterlands will help one person, but the others will need winter coats, hiking boots, and snowshoes to complete the climb. If they have questions about the hike, they will be directed to Ta, an old dwarf who has climbed Skybreak Peak more times than anyone else. He runs an equipment store and he’ll gruffly advise them on what to buy and what path to take. He can even give them a map of the trail. The characters should expect to spend 20gp per person plus 25gp for a climber’s kit to share. Ta will also warn them to “watch the skies” but will provide no further explanation. Any Firecomb local knows this is referring to the chimera named Wexox that marauds the mountainside, but there is a superstition that speaking of it directly will summon it.

Ta will not agree to go with the characters to the mountain’s peak on such short notice, but he says he can find someone for them if they agree to spend the night at the Sad Mouse, an inn owned by Ta’s younger brother Pa. The inn is very small, has no common room, and there are only three bedrooms available. Each bedroom has one bunkbed and a small dresser, as well as a window looking out at a brick wall three feet away. A room costs 1sp per person per night and no amenities are included.

In the morning, as promised, Ta will introduce the characters to his brother Ka, whom he claims is “the second-best guide in Firecomb” (Ta, of course, is the best). Ka will lead the characters to the Skybreak Peak for 1gp per day, plus an additional 3gp if there are any inconveniences.

Chapter 5 - Skybreak Peak

Skybreak Peak is the tallest of the mountains in the Encord Mountains range and rises nearly vertically from the edge of Firecomb. On the other side, it slopes down gently to the plains beyond. There is a 7-day hiking path to the top, which only an experience guide can follow without fail. Fortunately, the combined efforts of Ka and Letetetetetic can lead the party along the correct trail. Once during each of the seven days, or as often as you like, roll on the table below for a random encounter. Each result on the table, other than the nothing result, counts as an inconvenience to Ka.

1d100 Result
1-15 A deep crevasse from which eerie howls and the occasional scream can be heard.
16-25 Loose stones that trigger a harmless landslide.
26-35 Three hibernating bears. They attack if woken.
36-40 A deep cave containing a young red dragon sleeping on a small pile of bones. If woken, it will try to kill and eat the characters but will not pursue them outside of the cave.
41-45 A nest containing two frozen roc eggs. The mother died long ago but the eggs were left undisturbed out of fear that the mother might return.
46-55 An unusually large python. If the characters leave it, it will try to follow them stealthily and eat one of them while they are sleeping.
56-70 A herd of 20 giant goats. They are harmless unless provoked.
71-80 The mummified corpses of two unfortunate climbers, seemingly frozen in huge icicles. If the ice is broken from them, the content’s of a Climber’s Kit can be salvaged from them as well as a pair of Sending Stones.
81-95 Nothing.
96-00 Wexox swoops from the sky and attacks. If it is defeated, it does not return during the encounter with Acris at the peak.

Once the party finally reaches Skybreak Peak, they find Acris standing before a large metal dish filled with water. Inside the dish is a glass sphere, two feet in diameter, in which can be seen a vision of the storm over Sibal. Huge waves thrash the coast, smashing boats both large and small on the rocks. Next to Acris is also a massive warhammer. It appears that Acris chose the highest point of Skybreak Peak for her magic; from here, Firecomb can barely be seen far below. The highest point of the peak is a ledge extending 20 feet over the mountainside.

When the characters reach this spot, Acris is distracted by her magic, which she has been maintaining constantly for the entire duration of the storm. As a result of this, Acris suffers one level of exhaustion. After about a minute, even if the characters are trying to be quiet, she turns around and sees them. When she does, she raises her hammer and faces the characters. She says to them: “So, you have come to me at my mountain peak… and you wish to stop me?”. On her first turn during combat, she summons a thundercloud above the peak. On initiative count 20 each round, lightning strikes a random spot within 20 feet of Acris.

During the encounter, the best way to defeat Acris is to break the ledge she is standing on. If the ledge takes 200 damage or more damage, it (and everyone standing on it) falls down the mountainside to their doom. The storm ends as soon as Acris is defeated.

The storm can also be ended prematurely by hurling Acris’ glass sphere down the mountainside. The sphere is large and very heavy, requiring at least two characters to lift it and slowing their movement by half.