Magic of Thorn's Mystara: The Eye of Storms

The Eye of Storms is a crystalline disk perhaps four inches in diameter, formed of two teardrop-shaped dragonstones, one blue and one green, nestled one against the other, held together in a fitting of braided platinum, gold and silver. Set within the fitting are three smaller, spherical-cut dragonstones of the red, white, and black variety. 

It is believed that elves created the interior settings of the Eye to defend the Northern coasts from the foulest of the seasonal weather, deflecting storms or sapping them of the majority of their strength.

It was later appropriated by Ellierre Vadaley, who added the braided fitting and three additional stones, turning it into a major weapon in her war against the other wizards of the North.

The device is capable of duplicating the following spell effects:

• Produce Fire D2 (4)
• Create Air MU3 (5)
• Water Breathing MU3 (5)
• Create Water C4 (8)
• Control Temperature D4 (8)
• Control Winds D5 (10)
• Lower Water MU6 (11)
• Weather Control MU6 (11)
• Summon Weather D6 (12)

Each use of the power drains the magical power of the user, requiring an equivalent amount of energy from the casters in the form of a number of spells from their memory.

For example, if the elves wished to use the Create Air effect, they would need to supply the Eye with 5 levels’ worth of spells. If five wizards were working with the device, they could each surrender a single 1st level spell to the Eye. 

Vadaley knew of the “curse” laid on the device that robbed the user of magical power, and thus she grafted the black dragonstone onto the device, allowing her to siphon the life energies of either those nearby, or those trapped within the stone. In the absence of magical energies, the Eye will siphon off half as many energy levels of those within 100 feet of the device.

She also unraveled the safeguards built into the device that only allowed it to function at minimum-required casting level. She could effectively amplify the magic, invoking the effects at higher levels, by feeding the Eye more magical energy. Those drained to 0 or fewer levels are absorbed by the black dragonstone, becoming storm furies tasked with safeguarding the device.

Vadaley tested the device on Archlis. It worked far better than she had imagined. However, in so doing, she drained the item of its power, and the sorceress was destroyed before she could use the device again.

After Skelfer’s death, the Eye was stolen, lost, rediscovered, stolen again, eventually recovered by a squad of arcane warriors and brought back to Archlis, where they set it to rest in the burial vaults in the ruins south of the township.

Unbeknownst to them, the device was still active, absorbing power as its master had designed it over the centuries. In the absence of magical power to draw on, the stone instead began to draw on the life forces of those around it….