Introduction

You are about to embark on a great adventure that pits heroes against giants bent on reshaping the world. Storm King’s Thunder is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure for four to six player characters. You can start the adventure with 1st-level characters or 5th-level characters. Either way, the characters should reach at least 11th level by the adventure’s conclusion. Because giants figure prominently in the story, at least one character should be able to speak and understand the Giant language.

The adventure takes place in the Forgotten Realms, specifically in a region known as the Savage Frontier, in the northwest corner of the continent of Faerûn. Nonetheless, you can easily adapt the adventure to your home campaign by changing the names of various locations and factions.

We recommend that you read the entire adventure before attempting to run it. This introduction begins with an “Adventure Background” section that summarizes the events that set the adventure in motion. The “Running the Adventure” section tells you everything you need to know to run the adventure smoothly. That section also presents guidelines for character level advancement, outlines the flow of the adventure, and describes its major challenges. Once you’ve reviewed this material and are ready to run the adventure, proceed with chapter 1, “A Great Upheaval,” if the characters are starting at 1st level, or chapter 2, “Rumblings,” if they are starting at 5th level.

Adventure Background

The Savage Frontier (also known as the North) is a cold, rugged, sparsely populated land of snow-capped mountains, rocky hills, sprawling forests, and foggy vales. Isolated strongholds, ancient burial mounds, and the ruins of many forgotten empires dot this vast landscape. Bounded by the Sea of Swords to the west and the desert of Anauroch to the east, the Savage Frontier extends as far north as Icewind Dale and as far south as the town of Daggerford. Old roads stretch across this great expanse, linking the dwarven strongholds and mines in the mountains to the coastal settlements, frontier towns, and fortified outposts of humans and other folk. These roads are long, lonely, or poorly defended, making them dangerous to traverse. In fertile valleys, towns and cities have sprung up, separated by dozens if not hundreds of miles of untamed wilderness haunted by bandits, barbarians, and monsters.

Evil dragons stirred into action by their dark queen, Tiamat, threatened the settlements of the Savage Frontier for a time. Ultimately, they were defeated and forced to withdraw to their lairs, while Tiamat was banished to the Nine Hells. Fear of the dragons' wrath has faded quickly with the coming of a new threat: giants. The peoples of the North are no strangers to giant incursions. Frost giants have long claimed the Spine of the World as their demesne, and hill giants are known to scrounge for food in the untamed hills. But now, in the past couple of months, giants of every kind have emerged from their strongholds in force to threaten civilization as never before-and not just frost giants and hill giants, but also stone giants, fire giants, and cloud giants. All of the giants are in an uproar. Reports of giant attacks throughout the North have reached the coastal cities of Luskan, Neverwinter, and Waterdeep, stoking fears that the giants are waging war against humans, dwarves, elves, and other small folk.

The Ordning

Giant society (such as it is) is defined in large part by the ordning, a caste system imposed upon the giants by their gods, chief among them Annam the All-Father. The ordning determines where a giant stands among his or her ilk. Traditionally, storm giants have stood at the top of the ordning. Tall and powerful, they struggle to keep the weaker races of giants from despoiling the realms of small folk and sparking conflict. The greatest storm giants are powerful seers, skilled at identifying and interpreting cosmic signs and divine omens. The aloof and aristocratic cloud giants, one step below the storm giants, rarely condescend to deal with lesser giants or small folk. Extravagance defines their culture and their place in the ordning. Below them are the tyrannical, warmongering fire giants and the merciless, predatory frost giants. Fire giants rank themselves by their forging skill, whereas frost giants rank themselves by their martial prowess. Near the bottom of the ordning are the xenophobic stone giants, who mostly live underground and regard the surface world as a realm of dreams. How well they sculpt stone determines their place among their peers. The lowest and smallest of the true giants are the hill giants, as gluttonous as they are loathsome. Hill giants are dullards who live in fear of their more powerful giant cousins. In hill giant society, the biggest rule.

Dragons are the ancient enemies of giants. Thousands of years ago, the last great empire of giants-Ostoria-fell after a long and brutal conflict with dragons. Little of Ostoria remains in what is now called the Savage Frontier. The civilizations of small folk have taken over the land once ruled by giants. Although evil giants make occasional forays into territory settled by small folk, their ambitions have long been curtailed by their lack of cohesion and the imposition of good-aligned storm giants and cloud giants whose memories of ancient, glorious Ostoria have faded over time.

The recent efforts by dragons to bring Tiamat into the world (as told in the adventures Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat) and the attempts by small folk to thwart them so upset the giant gods that Annam the All-Father shattered the ordning between the giants to break his “children” out of their complacency, pitting the six giant types against one another while keeping some semblance of order within each type. In so doing, Annam has spurred cloud, fire, frost, stone, and hill giants to challenge the established hierarchy and reforge their destiny. All the giants sensed the upheaval instantly, and now the giant types fiercely compete against one another, striving to create a new ordning through their deeds and accomplishments. These giants' calamitous endeavors have not only put the settlements of humans and other small folk in jeopardy but also attracted the attention of the giants' ancient enemies-the dragons-who will not abide the rise of another giant empire.

Small folk can only speculate as to the cause of the giants' unrest. It remains to be seen whether the old ordning between the giant types will be restored, or whether a new hierarchy will replace the old one, knocking the storm giants from their lofty perch.

King Hekaton and His Daughters

Prior to the shattering of the ordning, King Hekaton was arguably the most powerful of all storm giants. From Maelstrom, his citadel deep within the Trackless Sea, he presided over a court that included representatives of every race of giant, from mighty storm giants to lowly hill giants. He used the power of the Wyrmskull Throne -a gift given to him by his wife-to keep the more unruly giants in line.

For as long as Hekaton had reigned, fear of the king’s wrath and respect for the ordning was enough to keep lesser giants from rising up against him. But in recent years, King Hekaton had become convinced that the age of the giants was past, as evidenced by the growing distance between the giants and their gods. Annam the All-Father didn’t answer prayers, and his divine offspring-the lesser giant gods-were out of touch, constantly waging war against one another on the Outer Planes. Hekaton came to believe that the giants were no longer the rightful masters of the world.

Then, several months ago, Hekaton’s fear became reality when the ordning was shattered. The king was profoundly shaken by the realization that storm giants might lose their apex status among giants. In the aftermath of the upheaval, he did his utmost to hold his court together, bullying weaker giants into submission.

Hekaton’s wife, Queen Neri, was particularly fond of the small folk. She visited them often in the years before the ordning was sundered, rising up out of the sea to meet them on the shores of the Sword Coast. Neri continually urged her husband to respect the civilizations of the small folk and leave them alone, if he could not countenance forming alliances with them. Hekaton, inherently distrustful of the small folk, wanted nothing to do with them, but he respected his wife’s desire to treat with them on occasion.

Neri continued to visit the small folk from time to time even after the upheaval-until the day came when she failed to return from one of her trips to the Sword Coast. Hekaton’s younger brother, Imperator Uthor, commander of the king’s garrison, found Neri’s corpse shortly thereafter on a small island where she had been known to meet with humans. It was clear that she had been killed by small folk, and Hekaton wept for days before threatening to unleash his vengeance on the unsuspecting coastal territories.

Uthor couldn’t calm his brother’s rage, so he turned to Princess Serissa, the king’s youngest daughter, for help. Serissa, who shared her mother’s affection for small folk and who stood next in line to inherit the Wyrmskull Throne, urged her father to uncover the truth before lashing out at anyone he encountered. Hekaton was swayed by his daughter’s levelheadedness and wisdom, and once his hurricane-like anger ran its course, he set out to learn how his wife met her end. Unfortunately for the king, he was blind to enemies not only in his court but also in his family.

The seeds of discontent in Hekaton’s family were sown more than a year before the ordning was shattered, when the king divined that his two eldest daughters, Mirran and Nym, were unfit to rule, and saw signs that pointed to Serissa, his youngest daughter, as his most worthy successor. Mirran was tempestuous and prone to emotional outbursts, while Nym was the opposite-as cold and unloving as the sea. While Hekaton adored them both, he doubted their ability to keep the lesser giants in line, so he named Serissa as his heir apparent.

Mirran and Nym abided by his decision, but nevertheless their unhappiness was clear. Secretly, they blamed their mother for persuading their father to pass them over. Their blame was unfounded, in fact; Queen Neri had actually warned her husband against making any such pronouncement. Mirran and Nym seethed inside but were too terrified of their father to do anything, until a recent arrival to Maelstrom named Iymrith wormed her way into Hekaton’s court and goaded them into action.

The elder sisters, acting in accordance with Iymrith’s counsel, are responsible for both Neri’s death and Hekaton’s disappearance. Mirran and Nym got their revenge against Neri by plotting-with Iymrith’s help-to have her assassinated. Then they urged their father to hunt down the small folk who killed their mother and fed him false information on the whereabouts of the assassins, to throw the king off track and put him in peril.

In the wake of Hekaton’s disappearance, turmoil engulfed his court. After nearly a month of waiting for him to come back, Serissa reluctantly claimed her father’s throne at Imperator Uthor’s urging.

Mirran and Nym

King Hekaton’s eldest daughter, Mirran, is a spoiled brat with the forcefulness and unpredictability of a typhoon. She covets the power of the Wyrmskull Throne and believes it rightfully belongs to her. She is angry with her parents for placing Serissa next in the line of succession, and she has made her feelings plain. Mirran believes she is destined to rule and has seen signs that reinforce her belief. Once she claims the throne, Mirran expects all other giants to kneel before her. She plans to use her newfound power to resurrect the ancient empire of Ostoria, sweeping away the cities and kingdoms of the small folk.

If Mirran is the blustery gale of an ocean storm, then Nym is the undercurrent. King Hekaton’s middle child is cold and calculating. She has always felt neglected by her parents, in part because Mirran was so demanding and Serissa so young. In truth, King Hekaton and Queen Neri loved Nym as much as they adored their other daughters, but they found her distant and difficult to please. Nym wants Mirran to seize the throne-and then, when Mirran makes enemies at every turn and proves to everyone that she is unfit to rule, Nym plans to supplant her. She has received omens that support her bid for power. Unlike her blustery older sister, Nym is worried about the consequences of the dissolution of the ordning. Nonetheless, Iymrith has convinced her that she has an important destiny to fulfill, and that the gods will reward her if she brings about the return of Ostoria.

Serissa

When King Hekaton disappears, Princess Serissa finds herself thrust into power. Unable to find her father and fearing that he might be dead, Serissa can imagine her political influence evaporating quickly. Several giant lords previously under her father’s thumb have abandoned her court and set out to impress the gods in ways that could all but destroy the civilizations of the small folk. Serissa fears warfare among the six giant races as they strive to outdo one another, perhaps in the process reigniting the ancient conflict between giants and dragons. The princess-regent knows that her older sisters envy and despise her, but it has never occurred to her that they were involved in their mother’s death or their father’s kidnapping. Other than Iymrith and her Uncle Uthor, there are few giants Serissa feels she can trust.

Hekaton left behind a piece of regalia called the Korolnor Scepter, a magic item that allows its owner to harness the powers of the Wyrmskull Throne. In accordance with her father’s wishes, Serissa has claimed the scepter and the throne. Even with the throne’s magic at her command, she feels adrift. Serissa wants to reach out to the small folk for help in finding her father, because she knows that despite their size, they are capable of great feats of heroism. But Iymrith and Uthor have advised Serissa to steer clear of them. Uthor believes (incorrectly) that an alliance with the small folk would further anger Annam the All-Father, while Iymrith wants the giants and the small folk to annihilate one another.

Serissa values the counsel of her advisors, but she has her own mind. She wants to see her faith-and her mother’s faith-in the small folk vindicated, so she leaps at any opportunity to use small folk to find her father, who she believes has the power to set things right. She is hoping for a cosmic sign to validate her beliefs, but time is not on her side.

Iymrith

Iymrith is an ancient blue dragon who can assume the form of a storm giant. In this guise, she has infiltrated Hekaton’s court. While concealing her true nature and agenda from the giants, Iymrith offers counsel to Princess Serissa and at the same time secretly feeds the anger and jealousy of Serissa’s older siblings, with the ultimate goal of thrusting the giants into war with the small folk. The dragon also wants to wrest the Wyrmskull Throne from the storm giants and add it to her trove.

The disguised dragon put Mirran and Nym in contact with representatives of Slarkrethel, a legendary kraken that haunts the Trackless Sea. These small folk belong to a secret yet widespread organization called the Kraken Society. Using information given to them by the evil storm giant sisters, Kraken Society operatives ambushed and killed Queen Neri. Iymrith then planted rumors in the storm giant court that the queen had been assassinated by the Lords' Alliance, a confederacy of cities and settlements populated by small folk and scattered throughout the North. The Lords' Alliance represents one of the greatest threats to dragons in Faerûn, so Iymrith is keen to bring about its end.

The Giant Lords

Convinced that King Hekaton is dead or otherwise out of the picture, five giant lords have struck out into the world to reshape the ordning through their deeds, each hoping to be elevated by the gods to the pinnacle of giantkind.

Chief Guh

Guh, a gluttonous hill giant chief, has raised an enormous timber steading in the hills northeast of Goldenfields, in the central Dessarin Valley. Comfortably housed within her lair, Guh has instructed her husbands to bring her all the food they can carry. Her plan is to consume all that is brought before her and grow to immense size. When she becomes the largest giant in the world, Guh believes the gods will reward her and elevate hill giants to the top of the ordning. Guh has spent the past four months gorging herself, while nearby ranches, farmsteads, and orchards have been pillaged. Not content with the amount of food hoarded thus far, Guh’s mates move to attack nearby settlements and plunder their fields and storehouses.

Thane Kayalithica

After fleeing Hekaton’s court, Kayalithica, an inscrutable stone giant thane, withdrew to her canyon sanctuary of Deadstone Cleft. There, in its hallowed halls, she hoped to elevate her people to the top of the ordning by first seeking divine inspiration. Deadstone Cleft is hidden within the Graypeak Mountains, east of Delimbiyr Vale and the High Forest, and northeast of the mining settlement of Llorkh. After weeks of meditation, Kayalithica concluded that the small folk had corrupted the dreams of all giants by building their wretched settlements on the bones of ancient Ostoria. She intends to wipe the land clean of their “filth,” thus restoring the “dream world” to its rightful state. Kayalithica’s stone giants strike forth from Deadstone Cleft to destroy the works of humans, dwarves, and elves, then return to carve the tales of their accomplishments into the walls for the gods to see and admire.

Jarl Storvald

Storvald, a fierce and adventurous frost giant jarl, traveled to the coldest reaches of the Sea of Moving Ice to reclaim Svardborg, the ancestral home of his forebears. He found a nest of white dragon eggs within the iceberg fortress and successfully enslaved a mated pair of white dragons by holding their eggs hostage. Within a matter of months thereafter, he also freed several gigantic longships from the ice and sent his giant raiders out to attack smaller ships and plunder their supplies, as well as to pillage wood from the mainland to repair the damaged ships and lodges of Svardborg.

Storvald has childhood memories of a legend about the Ice That Never Melts-a powerful, frost-coated golden ring that can freeze the oceans and blanket the world in mountains of snow. Small folk know this artifact by another name: the Ring of Winter. The ring, which grants immortality to its wearer, was last seen in the possession of a human adventurer (and former Harper) named Artus Cimber. Guided by magical runes of tracking, Storvald plans to find the ring and bring about the Age of Everlasting Ice, thus ensuring his place at the top of the ordning. Storvald procured a drop of Cimber’s blood from a Zhentarim wizard named Nilraun, and used the drop to empower his runes. Unbeknown to Storvald, the runes are steering the frost giants not to Artus Cimber but to other, closer individuals who carry the Cimber bloodline-Artus’s living relatives, most of whom know nothing about the Ring of Winter’s whereabouts.

Duke Zalto

Zalto, a fire giant duke, believes that he can become the ruler of all giants by slaughtering their ancient enemies: dragons. Duke Zalto has set his minions to the task of finding and unearthing fragments of a dragon-slaying colossus called the Vonindod (“titan of death”). Pieces of it were lost in battle, while the rest was dismantled at the end of the ancient war between giants and dragonkind. Once all the pieces are found, Zalto plans to reforge the Vonindod and unleash it on the world. Beneath the Ice Spires lies an ancient fire giant forge called Ironslag. Unfortunately for Zalto, Ironslag’s forges aren’t hot enough to repair the colossus. The duke, undaunted, plans to steal Maegera, the fire primordial trapped in the subterranean dwarven fortress-city of Gauntlgrym, and trap it within Ironslag’s adamantine forge. The dwarves rely on Maegera to heat their own forges. Hesitant to storm the dwarven fortress, Zalto has met with drow representatives of House Xorlarrin, who know the layout of Gauntlgrym well. With their aid, the fire giant duke plans to imprison Maegera in an iron flask and transport the primordial to Ironslag-a goal easier imagined than accomplished.

Countess Sansuri

Sansuri, a vainglorious cloud giant countess, is one of several cloud giant nobles who have retreated to their cloud castles and embarked on expeditions to map the present-day Sword Coast in search of long-lost Ostorian treasures and battlegrounds. Like archaeologists, they seek to uncover secrets of the past and retrieve relics of their ancient history to impress the gods. Sansuri, a powerful wizard, is searching for something more: a long-lost trove of dragon magic, hidden away by her ancestors. Once cloud giants knock storm giants from the pinnacle of the ordning, she plans to use her newfound magic to destroy her rivals as well as Hekaton’s court. But the countess is not happy at present, because her search for the lost trove has not been going well. Frustrated, Sansuri has used powerful magic and guile to capture a bronze dragon named adult bronze dragon. She is torturing the wyrm for information. The dragon’s terrible roars can be heard emanating from Sansuri’s cloud castle for miles in every direction.

Creating New Giant Lords

This adventure focuses on the machinations of a few giant lords, but they aren’t the only evil giants vying for glory and their gods' admiration. Other giant lords might be engaged in foul plots throughout the North. Here are a few examples of lords you could create:

• A cloud giant wizard planning to cast an apocalyptic spell using a large obsidian rock called a nightstone (see chapter 1) as a material component.

• A fire giant duchess paying hobgoblin warlords to raze northern settlements.

• A frost giant jarl using an orb of dragonkind to lure dragons to its iceberg fortress to be slaughtered.

• A stone giant thane trying to awaken the tarrasque, which slumbers in the Underdark.

• A hill giant chief with a headband of intellect performing rituals that can transform people into pigs.

Factions of the North

The giants' plots have far-reaching consequences for the Savage Frontier and the peoples who live there. Giant castles in the clouds have been seen drifting overhead, casting ominous shadows on the settlements of the North. Caravans and farmsteads have come under attack. Frost giant longships have begun terrorizing the Sword Coast. Various organizations throughout the North are justly concerned, and some have important roles to play in events yet to unfold.

The Harpers

The Harpers are spellcasters and spies who covertly oppose the abuse of power, magical or otherwise. Working alone or in small cells, they gather information throughout Faerûn, discern the political dynamics within each region, and help the weak, the poor, and the oppressed, acting openly only as a last resort.

The Harpers were instrumental in defeating Tiamat and ending the tyranny of dragons, and with reports of giant attacks on the rise, they see giants as an emergent threat to peace in the North. The Harpers don’t know why the giants are becoming so active all at once, or what their ultimate goals are. As yet, no major towns or cities have come under attack, although the Harpers expect that situation to change. Harpers are eager to recruit adventurers to help them combat the giant threat.

The Lords' Alliance

Various settlements of the North have banded together to form the Lords' Alliance, a shaky coalition that proactively eliminates threats to their mutual safety and prosperity. Alliance leaders are often contentious, while their operatives seek honor and glory for themselves and their respective lords. Key representatives of the Lords' Alliance include the canny Lord Dagult Neverember of Neverwinter, the resplendent Lady Laeral Silverhand of Waterdeep, the grave Lord Taern Hornblade of Silverymoon, and the willful Queen Dagnabbet of Mithral Hall.

With the aid of adventurers, the Lords' Alliance thwarted Tiamat and her dragons. Alliance members aren’t about to let giants run roughshod over their settlements and plunder their farmsteads. Alliance members call on adventurers of every stripe to attack and kill giants on sight, promising rewards of 200 to 500 gold pieces for each giant head brought to their gates.

Rumors that the Lords' Alliance was behind King Hekaton’s disappearance have not yet reached the alliance leaders. Were the alliance to learn of these rumors, its leaders would quietly investigate the veracity of the claims while publicly dismissing them.

The Emerald Enclave

The Emerald Enclave is a group of wilderness survivalists who preserve the natural order by rooting out unnatural threats. They struggle to keep civilization and the wilderness from destroying each other, and they help others survive the natural perils of the Savage Frontier.

As sightings of giants become more common, members of the Emerald Enclave begin to realize something is afoot. Hill giants laying waste to vast tracts of forest, stone giants leveling homesteads, frost giants endangering mountain passes, and fire giants rounding up slaves and putting grasslands and forests to the torch are enough to invoke the enclave’s wrath.

The Order of the Gauntlet

Members of the Order of the Gauntlet seek to protect others from the depredations of evildoers. Placing their faith in deities such as Torm, Helm, and Tyr, they bring the strength of their faith, their hearts, and their weapons to bear against villainy.

Knights of the order and their loyal squires can be found throughout the North, gathering information on the giants, searching for their lairs, and aiding in the defense of settlements.

The Zhentarim

The Zhentarim, also known as the Black Network, is an unscrupulous shadow network that seeks to expand its influence and power base throughout the North. Its members crave wealth and personal power, though the public face of the organization appears much more benign, offering the best mercenaries money can buy. Adventurers allied with the Zhentarim are free to profit as they see fit, either by helping or hindering the giants.

The Black Network has spies and operatives in every major northern settlement, and it doesn’t wish to see its footholds destroyed by rampaging giants. As it strives to protect its holdings, the Zhentarim also wants to understand the giants' motivations. The leaders of the Black Network are open to the possibility of establishing trade relations with the giants or bribing them, if necessary, to ensure their own continued wealth and prosperity. At the same time, the Zhentarim profits by selling the services of mercenaries to those who can’t defend themselves.

The Kraken Society

Far from being a benevolent faction, the Kraken Society is a group of spies, smugglers, slavers, and assassins. Only the society’s leaders know that the founder of their organization is Slarkrethel, a magic-using kraken that lives in the depths of the Trackless Sea.

Krakens are forsaken creations of the gods, left behind after a cosmic war that ushered in the dawn of the civilized world. Ancient beyond reckoning, Slarkrethel longs to rejoin its creators in the heavens. For tens of thousands of years, the kraken has been searching tirelessly for a long-lost path to divine ascendancy. In the meantime, it stretches its tentacles across Faerûn, laying low powers that might one day threaten it.

Worship of Slarkrethel began hundreds of years ago on the Purple Rocks. The humans who inhabit these islands cast their young into the sea as part of a ritual to appease Slarkrethel. These sacrificed offspring resurface and return to their villages years later as adults, albeit with piscine deformities. When they reach the end of their natural life span, they return to the sea and their fearsome master. The inhabitants of the Purple Rocks otherwise eke out quiet lives, unaware of the kraken’s vast spy network on the mainland.

The Kraken Society’s widespread organization wasn’t born at the Purple Rocks, but in the cities of the North. The psychic abilities of the kraken are so great that it can reach out to creatures on land up and down the Sword Coast. Over the years, it has telepathically lured exiles, outcasts, and lost souls to its organization with the promise of a better life. Its agents are evil and grasping. When they are not gathering information for the kraken, they lurk in the shadows and indulge in activities befitting their evil nature.

Slarkrethel was old when the giants and dragons waged war against each other forty thousand years ago, and the kraken aims to rekindle that war and destroy the cities of the Sword Coast in the process. When Iymrith reached out to its agents for assistance, Slarkrethel instructed its devotees to humor the dragon by capturing Hekaton, the storm giant king, after slaying his queen. Iymrith wants Hekaton kept alive so that he can’t be resurrected and so that he can be held for ransom if her plans are thwarted.

A seafaring Kraken Society wizard named Tholtz Daggerdark has turned his ship, the Morkoth, into a floating prison. King Hekaton lies bound and chained within, unable to escape without aid. The ship circles the islands of the Trackless Sea, far from prying eye.

Tendays and the Roll of Years

In the Forgotten Realms setting, a week is ten days long and is referred to as a tenday. There are three tendays per month, and twelve months in a year. For more information on the calendar of the Forgotten Realms, see “The Calendar of Harptos” sidebar in chapter 1 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

This adventure isn’t set at a specific time but is assumed to take place sometime after 1485 DR, the Year of the Iron Dwarf’s Vengeance, during which a horde of orcs waged war on the North before being driven back into the mountains. This conflict is referred to in this adventure as the War of the Silver Marches. The years that follow the Year of the Iron Dwarf’s Vengeance have similarly colorful names:

1486 DR, the Year of the Nether Mountain Scrolls

1487 DR, the Year of the Rune Lords Triumphant

1488 DR, the Year of Dwarvenkind Reborn

1489 DR, the Year of the Warrior Princess

1490 DR, the Year of the Star Walker’s Return

1491 DR, the Year of the Scarlet Witch

1492 DR, the Year of Three Ships Sailing

1493 DR, the Year of the Purple Dragons

Running the Adventure

To run this adventure, you need the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. Take a few minutes to reread the section on giants in the Monster Manual, since it contains important information about giants. The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, while not required reading, has extensive information on the Sword Coast and the North that can help you flesh out the adventure’s default setting. It also presents new character backgrounds that work well for this adventure.

Text that appears in a box like this is meant to be read aloud or paraphrased for the players when their characters first arrive at a location or under a specific circumstance, as described in the text.

The Monster Manual contains stat blocks for most of the monsters and NPCs found in this adventure. When a monster’s name appears in bold type, that’s a visual cue pointing you to the creature’s stat block in the Monster Manual. Descriptions and stat blocks for new monsters appear in appendix C. If a stat block is in appendix C, the adventure’s text tells you so. That appendix also provides new action and trait options for the giants in the Monster Manual -options that you’re free to use or ignore when running this adventure.

Spells and nonmagical objects or equipment mentioned in the adventure are described in the Player’s Handbook. Magic items are described in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, unless the adventure’s text directs you to an item’s description in appendix B.

Adventure Synopsis

Figure 0.1 is a flowchart that illustrates the intended flow of the adventure. It also shows the level for which each chapter is designed.

The adventure begins with chapter 1. The adventurers arrive at the fortified village of Nightstone, shortly after a cloud giant attack. After securing the settlement, the characters locate several missing villagers in a monster-infested cave complex north of the village. The chapter concludes with the characters rescuing the villagers and gaining a quest that leads them to one of three locations: Bryn Shander, Goldenfields, or Triboar. Zephyros, a friendly cloud giant wizard, offers to transport them to their destination with the aid of his flying tower. En route, the characters fend off a group of evil air cultists as well as a Lords' Alliance strike team that mistakes Zephyros for a hostile threat. After delivering the characters to their intended destination, Zephyros bids the party farewell before taking his leave.

In chapter 2, the characters defend Bryn Shander, Goldenfields, or Triboar against a giant attack. Quests gained at the end of the battle prompt them to explore more of the Savage Frontier. The characters eventually cross paths with another friendly giant: a frost giant adventurer named Harshnag. These events are described in chapter 3.

In chapter 4, Harshnag leads the characters to a temple under the Spine of the World, wherein they consult a divine oracle. The oracle requires that the adventurers retrieve some lost relics buried under Uthgardt ancestral mounds scattered throughout the North. If the adventurers complete the oracle’s quest, it tells them what must be done to end the giant threat. As the characters leave the temple for the last time, Iymrith appears and attacks them. Harshnag holds the ancient blue dragon at bay while the adventurers escape with or without the aid of mysterious dragon cultists and an airship.

Chapters 5 through 9 describe the lairs of five giant lords threatening the North. Players choose which giant lord they wish to confront. This villain has a conch of teleportation that the characters need to reach Maelstrom, a storm giant stronghold in the depths of the Trackless Sea. Chapter 10 describes the politically charged court of the storm giants and the challenges faced by its current ruler, Princess Serissa.

If the characters earn Serissa’s trust, she tasks them with finding her father, King Hekaton. The search for Hekaton is handled in chapter 11. Once freed from captivity, he joins forces with the party to slay the dragon Iymrith in chapter 12. If Hekaton survives this final battle, he reclaims his throne. Otherwise, his daughter Serissa becomes queen. In either event, the storm giants forge an alliance with the small folk against the enemies of giantkind: dragons. This act might be enough to restore the ordning as it was, or the future of the ordning might remain an open question in your campaign.

Once Iymrith is defeated, the storm giants are happy to let the characters deal with the remaining evil giant lords as they see fit.

Storm King’s Thunder is not a “ticking clock” adventure, meaning that the characters are under no pressure to end the giant threat quickly. The plots of the giant lords take months to unfold, giving the characters time to explore the North, travel from place to place, and entertain distractions.

Some players might feel a sense of urgency and stick to the main story line as much as possible, missing out on many elements of the adventure. Others might be willing to follow loose threads and stray from the main story, hoping to take the adventure in interesting new directions. The adventure allows for a fair amount of wandering. If you begin to think the party has wandered too far away from the main plot, you can use Harshnag (see chapter 3) to help steer characters back to the main story. You can also have the characters meet faction members (see the “Factions in the North” section) who can provide a sense of growing urgency and point characters in the right direction.

Starting at 5th Level

You can begin the adventure with 5th-level characters by skipping over chapter 1 and starting in one of the three locations described in chapter 2. Appendix A suggests ways in which you can transition characters from the D&D Starter Set adventure or one of several other D&D adventures to chapter 2 of Storm King’s Thunder.

Character Advancement

Rather than have you track experience points, this adventure assumes that the characters gain levels by accomplishing certain goals. At the end of each chapter is a “Character Advancement” sidebar, which tells you the circumstances under which the characters advance in level. The adventure flowchart (figure 0.1) shows what level the characters are expected to be when they begin each chapter. Once they reach 9th level, they don’t advance to 10th level until they’ve completed the goals in both chapters 10 and 11.

Of course, you can ignore these milestones and track XP as normal.

Deadly Encounters

Many of the encounters in this adventure are deadly by design. They test the players' ability to make smart, informed decisions under pressure. A deadly encounter might be the only encounter the characters have on a given day (and assumes the party is at full strength), or it might be so overwhelming that the characters are expected to avoid combat at all costs.

A total-party kill (“TPK”) need not herald the end of the campaign. Giants and other intelligent creatures are fond of taking prisoners. The first time a TPK occurs, you can have the characters miraculously awaken as prisoners with 1 hit point each. Give them every chance to escape their captors. If necessary, use NPCs such as Zephyros, the cloud giant wizard in chapter 1, to help them get out of tight spots. With luck, the players will take the hint and be wary of repeating the experience.

Treasure

Storm King’s Thunder contains a generous amount of treasure. This section provides guidance on how to handle certain kinds of treasure found in this adventure.

Random Coin Amounts

The number of coins in a creature’s hoard is often represented as a die expression with a multiplier. For example, a giant might have 3d6 × 100 gp in a sack. To determine the number of coins in the sack, roll 3d6 and multiply the result by 100 to get a number between 300 and 1,800. Instead of rolling to determine the number of coins, you can pick an amount that falls within the specified range. If the characters have more loot than they known what to do with, take the minimum. If they seem light on treasure, take the average (in this case, 1,000 gp) or the maximum.

Random Magic Items

Sometimes a treasure hoard contains one or more magic items determined by rolling on the magic item treasure tables in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. When determining a random magic item, roll a d100 (or have a player roll for you) and consult the specified table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. If your players have a “wish list” of magic items, or you think a particular item might be useful to the party, you can forgo the roll and select an item from the table. For example, if the characters find a magic item tied to Magic Item Table B, and the party is light on water-breathing magic heading into chapter 10, you might decide that the item is a potion of water breathing or a cloak of the manta ray, both of which appear on Magic Item Table B in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Giant-Sized Treasures

Scattered throughout the adventure are art objects crafted to giant scale, including giant-sized pieces of jewelry, articles of clothing, and room decor. Although such art objects are often quite valuable, their size and weight make them difficult to transport. Characters must decide for themselves whether it’s worth the trouble to carry these items. If the characters get greedy, use the variant encumbrance rules in the Player’s Handbook to track what they can reasonably carry.

Giants' Bags

In addition to treasure, giants often possess mundane items that they carry around in leather sacks or store in old chests. As the characters loot corpses and plunder giant hoards, throw in a few items chosen or rolled randomly from the Items in a Giant’s Bag table. Items that are not giant-sized are sized for Small or Medium characters.

Items in a Giant’s Bag