Storm Seeker - Rune Sword

(Version 1.01 - Last Modified: 01/01/2006)

Illustration by Mark Poole. ©1993-2004 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Introduction

Long ago, during a dark period of the Time of a Thousand Magics, an evil wizard who's name has been lost to the annals of history gathered together many of the best rune smiths on the planet. They were tasked with crafting a rune sword that would allow the wizard to crush his enemies. Reluctant at first to give such power to any single person, the rune smiths soon fell into the challenge of harnessing the power that the wizard sought. It took the smiths over ten years to finish the sword, but when they had finished the magnificent rune sword they had named Storm Seeker, it was presented to the evil wizard. Taking the sword, the wizard felt its power and with a single stroke, he killed the rune smiths that had created Storm Seeker.

Gathering his armies to him, the evil wizard began his quest to conquer the world. He attacked city state after city state, using the power of the sword to crush his enemies, disperse their armies, and crumble their city walls. But, as with all attempts to conquer the world, his enemies began to band together and the wizard's progress was slowed. His enemies had no choice but to press their attack, no matter how much devastation Storm Seeker would cause, for if they did not attack, the wizard would simply attack them at their city walls. Although badly outnumbered, Storm Seeker turned the tides of nearly all the battles against the evil wizard. And then the evil wizard's fortunes changed.

A group of mercenaries, hired by one of the city states that believed it was to be the next of the evil wizard's conquests, infiltrated the wizard's army. One night, the mercenaries entered the wizard's personal chambers and killed him while he slept. How the mercenaries broke through the wizard's many protective spells and wards is unknown, but it was obvious that the these were no ordinary mercenaries. The mercenaries took Storm Seeker from the wizard's chamber and fled into the night. In the coming months, the late wizard's armies crumbled, leaderless. Without the wizard to control them, his generals began to bicker amongst themselves and eventually fought each other. Within a few years, the wizard's once impressive empire was gone.

As for the mercenaries, they looked long and hard for a place to store Storm Seeker where it could never be found. However, they could all feel the power of the sword and the raw ambition of the power hungry essence trapped within its steel. Some of the mercenaries decided that it would be best to keep the sword, secretly of course, in case another evil conquer should appear. They reasoned that they could use the sword to defeat these evil tyrants before they became a danger to others. In fact, they reasoned that they should rule some of the worst city states, to prevent evil tyrants from ruling them, of course. With the mercenaries in charge of these city states, maybe even all of the city states, no one would ever be in danger from evil tyrants ever again. Of course, anyone who resisted the benign rule of the mercenaries must be evil; they would have to be to not see the logic of the mercenaries. Soon all of the mercenaries were convinced that this was the best course of action, that is all of the mercenaries but one. The lone dissenting voice was a former soldier, the son of a simple farmer. The soldier had no ambition other then to return home and get married, have a family, and start a farm. He recognized what Storm Seeker had done to his friends and he fought against it with every fiber of his being. Unfortunately, it was too late. One night, while he guarded the sword, his friends came for it and demanded that he turn it over to them for they were going to save the world from itself starting that very night. When he refused, they attacked. Normally, the soldier would never have been powerful enough to defeat his companions, but he was not truly alone. With a great reluctance, the soldier drew Storm Seeker and proceeded to kill his former friends and companions.

Now alone, the soldier journeyed to the ends of the world to find a final resting place for Storm Seeker. Eventually he journeyed to the north, into what would become the Sea of Despare. He sailed with a crew of specially picked sailors and found a small, unmarked island far from any shore. The soldier and the ship's crew explored the small island and finding no inhabitants, set fire to their ship, trapping them all on the island. Over the years, the soldier and the sailors built a temple to hold the sword and to keep it safe. Eventually, the soldier and the sailors grew old and died, but not before they witnessed the true power of the sword. Never had Storm Seeker been kept in one location for so long and its power to create storms continued to build upon itself day after day and month after month, until eventually the island was constantly wracked by hurricane force winds, constant rain, and terrible waves. All vegetation on the island was ripped off, leaving nothing but barren rock and a stone temple in the center. The temple itself, in constant contact with Storm Seeker, was safe from the storm, and the remaining sailors were forced to live in the temple and survive off of food they could grow in caves beneath the temple. When the soldier and the last of the sailors were dead, Storm Seeker was left alone and unguarded on its barren island.

The only reason why Storm Seeker is not as sought after as Castlerake is that unlike Castlerake which reappears time after time, Storm Seeker has been trapped on its island since the Time of a Thousand Magics. The sword wants to be free of its prison and wants to conquer and rule, but it has become its own best guardian. The constant hurricane that surrounds the island prevents all but most the determined of seekers, assuming they could even find the island. Storm Seeker cannot stop the hurricane or even weaken its strength, but it will gladly be taken by anyone that reaches the island.

Powers

1. Storm Generation:
   Storm Seeker constantly creates storm-like conditions around its present location. After being in one spot for one full day, the average wind speed will increase by 10 mph (16.1 km/h) and will increase by an additional 5 mph (8 km/h) for each additional week it spends at its current location. After spending two weeks in the same location, a light rain storm will develop, affecting a 10 mile (16.1 km) radius centered on Storm Seeker's location, increase the radius of the storm by 2 miles (3.2 km) each week that it remains in the same location. If the present location of Storm Seeker is in a cold environment, then the rain will fall as snow. After four weeks in the same location, the light rain will change into heavy rain and thunderstorm. After twelve weeks in the same location, the heavy rain and thunderstorm will change into a hurricane with a 100' (30.5 m) eye centered directly on Storm Seeker's location. The maximum sustained wind speed of the hurricane is 200 mph (321.9 km/h) after 39 weeks and the maximum radius of the hurricane is 100 miles (160.9 km) after 47 weeks.
2. Storm Magic:
   Storm Seeker can cast the following elemental spells: Drought, Earthquake, Hurricane, Tidal Wave, and Tornado. Each spell can be cast once per day at no PPE cost. All spells are cast at 15^th level of experience and range, duration, area of effect, and damage for each of these spells is tripled. Casting one of these spells requires only one melee attack.
3. Combat Magic:
   Storm Seeker can cast the following elemental and invocation spells: Call Lightning (20, invocation spell), Plasma Bolt (60, elemental spell), Shards of Ice (15, elemental spell), and Wind Blast (40, elemental spell). Storm Seeker has a pool of 220 PPE to cast these spells and regains PPE at a rate of 10 PPE per hour. All spells are cast at 10^th level of experience and with a spell strength bonus of +2. Casting one of these spells requires only one melee attack.
4. Combat Abilities:
   Storm Seeker inflicts 1D6x10 points of damage with each hit and provides the following bonuses to the wielder: +1 attack per melee that must be used with Storm Seeker, +3 to strike, and +3 to parry.
5. Bonuses:
   The owner gains +1 to all saving throws.
6. Indestructible:
   Storm Seeker is completely indestructible and cannot be destroyed by any means.
7. Link to Owner:
   Storm Seeker is very loyal it the person it considers its "owner" and takes one full year to bond with a new owner. After this time, the sword and the owner develop a deeper connection then is normal for a rune weapon and the two can sense each other's presence within a 20 mile (32.2 km) radius if separated and the two can communicate instantly across this distance via telepathy. The sword experiences the world through its owner and can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel everything felt by its owner if they are within range of each other.
8. Alignment:
   Storm Seeker is Aberrant, but isn't too fussy about who wields him, as long as the possibility exists to corrupt that person or that person will perform acts of violence or conquest.
9. Personality:
   Storm Seeker has an IQ of 16 and is highly trained in the art of war. It has the equivalent of all the skills from the Military category at 98% and will gladly share its information with its wielder if asked. The personality of the sword manifests as a gruff, highly disciplined, but loyal general. At the first opportunity after it has gained a new wielder, the sword will introduce itself through telepathy and begin instructing its wielder on the best ways to establish a base of operations to begin conquering and taking control of surrounding towns and villages around its present location. This advice will come whether the wielder wants it tor not.
10. Appearance:
    Storm Seeker appears as a beautifully crafted bastard sword. Storm Seeker has a steel-colored blade with dark grey runes running the length of the blade on both sides. The sword also has an intricately carved, golden-hued hilt with a large ruby in the sword's pommel and crosspiece. Whenever one of Storm Seeker's primary powers are activated, the runes change color and glow blood red for the duration of the spell or ability.
11. Corrupting Influence:
    Those that lay claim to Storm Seeker are in danger of falling under its corrupting influence. Stork Seeker lives for only one thing, conquest, and it will try to convince its current owner to conquer the world. Of course, Storm Seeker is very clever and it knows that some owner's need convincing before they are ready to conquer the world, so it starts small. First the owner will be convinced to take charge of his group of friends, or to start or take control of a mercenary company. After that is accomplished, Storm Seeker will help its owner work through each step necessary to take control of the world. Unfortunately, Storm Seeker was created during an era where city states rose and fell almost overnight and there were no major empires, so its view of the world and how to rise in power reflects that. So if its owner followed all of its instructions, Storm Seeker may cause the owner to establish a fledging city state in the middle of the Western Empire, which would be crushed very quickly by that empire's army. Storm Seeker simply has no concept of permanent, well organized empires and does not take them into consideration despite information provided by its wielder, they simply aren't real to Storm Seeker.

    Storm Seekers corrupting influence begins to work after a week of exposure. Each week of contact with Storm Seeker causes the owner to make a roll vs. ritual magic. If the save is successful, the rune sword has no effect on the owner that day, but if the save is failed, the owner begins to experience dreams of power and conquest. These dreams are usually appropriate for the alignment of the character, so an owner with a Principled alignment would likely experience a dream where the owner took control of a desperate city or empire while feeding the hungry and keeping evil monsters away. In contrast, a Diabolic owner could experience a dream where the owner usurps control of a kingdom away from its rightful owner and leading an army on a mission of conquest to take control of surrounding kingdoms. After seven consecutively failed rolls, the desire to control and conquer, for whatever justification the owner needs, will be very great and his alignment may begin to shift in order to meet these goals. If Storm Seeker does not have a current owner, because the previous owner died, it will seek a new owner and it will use its corrupting influence on anyone that comes in contact with the sword and constantly stays within 100' (30.5 m) of the sword. It will do this until one person has been in contact with it long enough to form a link with Storm Seeker.