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In Part 1 we broke down the overall structure of Storm King’s Thunder. To briefly recap:

• Phase 1: Nightstone.
• Phase 2: The Three Cities, in which the PCs go to Bryn Shander, Goldenfields, or Triboar (which is subsequently attacked by giants).
• Phase 3: The Savage Frontier, a pointcrawl in which the PCs journey across the North.
• Phase 4: Eye of the All-Father, in which the PCs recover giant artifacts stolen by Uthgardt barbarians in order to convince a powerful oracle to give them guidance.
• Phase 5: The Giant Lairs, in which the PCs raid one or more giant lairs to gain the magical artifact they need to teleport to Maelstrom (the court of the storm giants).
• Phase 6: Finding Hekaton, in which the PCs rescue the king of the storm giants and then hunt down Iymrith in its lair.

Once we understand the structure of the campaign, we can analyze it.

Looking at the totality of Storm King’s Thunder, it’s fairly clear that the pointcrawl is largely non-essential. (This should not be understood to mean that it’s bad or that it shouldn’t be part of the campaign. If our adventures were only made up of what was structurally essential, they’d be pretty dreary and uninspiring affairs.) While the pointcrawl in Phase 3 makes the world feel alive and can be a good way to deliver additional leads to make the scenario more robust, ultimately the campaign requires the PCs to follow the node-based scenario into the funnel that will take them to Phase 4.

So the primary focus of our analysis will be the node-based structure of the campaign, and we can do that by looking at the revelation list.

Because of the auxiliary pointcrawl, it should be noted that there are a number of leads in the campaign pointing to “non-essential” nodes. Their function, as we’ve noted, is to keep PCs moving through the Savage Frontier so that they can continue triggering pointcrawl content. We won’t be including all of these leads in the list below, instead focusing on the campaign-essential revelations and the clues that point at them.

REVELATION LISTS AS PUBLISHED

PHASE 2 – BRYN SHANDER

• Morak’s Quest (Nightstone), p. 31. Morak sends the PCs to Markham Southwell in Bryn Shander to tell him that his sister is dead.
• Blod Stone (Berg of the Frost Giants), p. 156 & 165. This magical artifact points towards the nearest blood relative of Artus Cimber, which is currently Sirac of Suzail in Bryn Shander.

PHASE 2 – GOLDENFIELDS

• Morak’s Quest (Nightstone), p. 31. Morak sends the PCs to tell Miros Xelbrin in Goldenfields that his parents are dead.
• Escorting Ghalvin Dragonmoor (Den of the Hill Giants), p. 144. Freed from the hill giants, Ghalvin asks the PCs to escort him back to Goldenfields.

Note: I’m including Ghalvin Dragonmoor here for completeness, but it doesn’t completely hold up. The function of this revelation is to put the PCs in Goldenfields to experience the hill giant attack. If they’re rescuing Ghalvin, they’ve probably devastated or destroyed the hill giants, making the attack on Goldenfields potentially unlikely. (Although in certain circumstances you might be able to recast it as the hill giants coming to Goldenfields in pursuit of the PCs.)

PHASE 2 – TRIBOAR

• Morak’s Quest (Nightstone), p. 31. Morak sends the PCs to tell Darthag Ulger’s ex-wife, who lives in Triboar, that he was killed.

Note: As written, the DM is supposed to only give the PCs one of Morak’s Quests (essentially choosing which of the three Phase 2 cities they’ll go to).

PHASE 4 – EYE OF THE ALL-FATHER

• Claugiyliamatar (Kryptgarden Forest), p. 96. If the PCs enter Kryptgarden Forest, the green dragon flies out of her lair and informs them the Eye of the All-Father can tell them “what must be done to end the giant menace.”
• Harshnag (Proactive Node: Harshnag), p. 118. If the PCs “randomly” encounter Harshnag, he tells the PCs they should consult the oracle to “learn how best to end the giants’ threat to the North.”

Note: Claugiyliamatar lies at the end of a short quest line which originates in Goldenfields (p. 52). Naxene Drathkala sends the PCs to a dragon expert in Waterdeep, who then sends them to the Kryptgarden Forest to look for the green dragon.

PHASE 5 – DEN OF THE HILL GIANTS

• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. Oracle gives them directions.
• Questioning Giant Raiders (Goldenfields), p. 51. PCs can intimidate the giants to lead them back to their home base.
• Questioning Giant Pillagers / Ogres (Random Encounter), p. 70 & 71.
• Questioning Giant Raiders (Uluvin), p. 112.
• Questioning Moog (Random Encounter – Old Tower), p. 116-17.

PHASE 5 – CANYON OF THE STONE GIANTS

• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. Oracle gives them directions.
• Silixia (Grayvale), p. 88. This young brass dragon will point the PCs towards Deadstone Cleft.
• Questioning Giants of Grayvale Run (Grayvale Run), p. 88. This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Deadstone Cleft.
• Questioning Giants in Llorkh (Llorkh), p. 96. This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Deadstone Cleft.
• Questioning Zorkh (Orlbar), p. 103. Mute stone giant can point characters towards Deadstone Cleft.

PHASE 5 – BERG OF THE FROST GIANTS

• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. Oracle gives them directions.
• Questioning Bryn Shander Raiders (Bryn Shander), p. 41-42. This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Svardborg (and could also be tracked back to their ship).
• Questioning Fireshear Reavers (Fireshear). This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Svardborg.
• Questioning Helm’s Hold Reavers (Helm’s Hold). This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Svardborg.
• Questioning Luskan Reavers (Luskan). This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Svardborg.
• Questioning Port Llast Reavers (Port Llast). This is not indicated as a lead in the text, but these giants are from Svardborg.

PHASE 5 – FORGE OF THE FIRE GIANTS

• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. Oracle gives them directions.
• Track Triboar Raiders (Triboar) p. 60.
• King’s Request (Citadel Adbar), p. 78. King Harnoth asks the PCs to raid Ironslag.
• King and Queen’s Request (Citadel Felbarr), p. 79. King Morinn and Queen Tithmel ask the PCs to raid Ironslag.
• Questioning Drow Raiders (Gauntlgrym), p. 85-86. Drow thieves from Ironslag can be caught in Gauntlgrym.

PHASE 5 – CASTLE OF THE CLOUD GIANTS

• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. Oracle gives them directions.
• Random Encounter, p. 69. The PCs see Lyn Armaal flying above them.

PHASE 6 – A GOLDEN GOOSE COIN WAS FOUND NEAR QUEEN NERI’S BODY

• Serissa’s Mission (Hold of the Storm Giants), p. 209. If Serissa is convinced the PCs want to help, she gives them the coin.

PHASE 6 – LORD HEKATON IS HELD ON THE MORKOTH

• Questioning Lord Drylund (The Grand Dame), p. 219.

CONCEPT REVELATIONS

In addition to the structural revelations, there are also a few key concepts that the PCs need to learn.

THE ORDNING HAS BEEN DISSOLVED

• Questioning Giants. Hypothetically, you could talk to almost any giant in the campaign and they’d be able to explain that the Ordning has been dissolved. (This includes Harshnag, p. 118.)
• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. If the PCs ask why the giants are rattling sabers, the oracle will tell them the Ordning has been dissolved.

LORD HEKATON IS MISSING

• Questioning Nirva & Jaral (Secomber), p. 107. These cloud giants know that Hekaton is missing.
• Questioning Harshnag, p. 118. When he shows up, Harshnag can tell the PCs that Hekaton is missing.

IYMRITH IS ACTUALLY A BLUE DRAGON

• ???

MIRRAN & NYM ARE CONSPIRING WITH IYMRITH

• ???

YOU NEED A CONCH TO REACH MAELSTROM

• Eye of the All-Father, p. 151. The oracle tells you.

Go to Part 2B: Revising the Revelations