As written, the key problem with the Eye of the All-Father revelation is that there’s no way for the PCs to discover it for themselves. Instead, they just kind of bumble around in Phase 3 until the giant Harshnag shows up, tells them what they “should” have been doing this whole time, and then joins the group as a vastly overpowered GMPC who pretends to be only semi-competent in combat so that he doesn’t make the PCs feel inferior. (That’s literally text, see p. 120.)
Here’s how you fix that:
- The PCs learn what the Eye of the All-Father is.
- They find out where it is.
These two steps can happen simultaneously, but if they’re separated, then the first step will make the PCs appreciate the significance of the second step when it happens.
The big change we’re going to make here is inverting Harshnag’s role in the campaign. Instead of showing up at the end of Phase 3 and telling the PCs where the railroad tracks are, we’ll trigger the encounter with Harshnag early in the campaign. (Perhaps he’s traveling in Zephyros’ Tower, p. 32.) And what he says is: “I’m trying to find the Eye of the All-Father, the true location of which has been lost for many generations of giants. (Insert a bunch of lore about the Eye of the All-Father here.) If you learn anything about it, please send word to me via Blackstaff Tower in Waterdeep.” (Although this is not mentioned in Storm King’s Thunder, Harshnag is a member of Force Grey, an elite strike force commanded by the Blackstaff that enforces the laws that Waterdeep’s normal watch cannot.)
If the PCs now locate the Eye of the All-Father and decide to contact Harshnag, THEY’RE the essential players (pun intended). The more awesome Harshnag is, the more awesome they are for having helped him.
THE EYE OF THE ALL-FATHER EXISTS
- Harshnag’s Quest. The giant Harshnag (p. 118) is seeking the Eye of the All-Father and asks the PCs to send word to the Blackstaff in Waterdeep if they discover the lost location of the Eye.
- Frost-Touched Monolith (Triboar). In the courtyard of the Frost-Touched Frog, there is a stone sarsen that stands about nine feet high. Written in Dethek characters in a Giant (Jotun) language is the message, “Here are the lands of the Hill Giants. Decreed as Law by the Eye of the All-Father. Let no small folk enter here, or they shall find our stomachs are their final destination.” The stone was once one that marked the territory around Grudd Haug, but was removed a generation ago by treasure-seekers and brought to Triboar, where Alatha Riversword, the former proprietress of the Frost-Touched Frog, accepted it as payment for a bar debt on a lark.
- Dwarf’s Quest (Citadel Adbar/Citadel Felbarr). The kings and queens of these dwarven fortresses know the legends of the Eye of the All-Father and that it exists somewhere in the Spine of the World. They suggest that the PCs might want to seek it out.
- Gwent’s Advice (Ironmaster). If the PCs are following Augrek Brighthelm’s quest from Bryn Shander (p. 42) and meet with Gwent Brighthelm, he will suggest that they might seek out the Eye of the All-Father. (His information is rather vague: The dwarves know it was a site in the Spine of the World which was of importance to the giants in ages past, and “perhaps they are using it as a command center now.” He does not know the exact location.)
- Deadstone Cleft – Area 14: Temple. Add Where lies the Eye of the All-Father? To Kayalithica’s Questions, p. 153. (She has not received an answer.)
- 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.”
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.
THE LOCATION OF THE EYE OF THE ALL-FATHER
- Questioning Cartographers (Waterdeep). Count Nimbolo and Countess Mulara, the cloud giant cartographers who visit Waterdeep while the PCs are there (p. 113), have tentatively identified the location of the Eye of the All-Father. They have not yet gone there, but it’s on their list of places to visit (and confirm if their hypothesis is correct).
- Svardborg – Area 4D: Narthex. The ceiling of this building is decorated with a faded mural depicting the peaks of the Spine of the World. (Artistically it makes it look as if the narthex were the root from which these mountains had grown.) Anyone inspecting the mural will note that the peaks have been individually labeled with their names, some of them archaic and/or peculiar to giant nomenclature. One of them is “the Eye of the All-Father,” and indicates the location of the temple.
- Questioning Hekaton. Hekaton knows the location of the Eye of the World, a secret that was passed down to him from his forefathers. (He never had a chance to pass that knowledge onto his daughters, although you might hide a scroll containing the knowledge somewhere within the King’s Tower in Maelstrom, p. 214.)
- Questioning Iymrith. Iymrith knows the location of the Eye of the World. This fact is alluded to in a letter Iymrith sent to Nym (see Finding Hekaton revelations, below). Iymrith might also reveal this information if he ends up allied with the PCs; or if he thinks that seeking the temple might distract them. (You could add the lore book from which he learned it to Iymrith’s Trove, p. 229.)
- 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.”
Note: The players might choose to take a more proactive approach to finding the Eye of the All-Father, rather than simply waiting to stumble across the information. For example, they might head to Candlekeep to do research, attempt castings of legend lore, ask the Blackstaff to consult the spirits of the former Blackstaffs to see if any of them knew the secret before it was lost, or any number of other possibilities. Generally speaking, if they put some effort into this, pay it off by either revealing the location or by pointing the PCs towards one of the clues above. (For example, they might discover that Iymrith stole a book of lore about the Eye of the All-Father from Candlekeep. Or learn that the information would have been encoded in the murals on the ceilings of Ostorian shrines.)
