The Ley Storm at Hallow Keep

Your buyer is a breathless loom hand from Hallow Keep waiting on the dock. He starts counting the whalebone shuttles before the crate lid is even off. "A fierce ley storm has parked right over Hallow Keep! The mana surges have shattered six loom shuttles in two days. If our wards fail, every corsair in the region will raid us before nightfall. Fly these shuttles up to the keep yourself, and our Warden will reward you well!"

An hour into the climb, the loom hand checks the crate again and goes pale. "There are twelve shuttles here, and one is cracked along the grain! A cracked shuttle will explode in a storm weave and rip the ward thread apart. I need all twelve intact!" He glances hopefully toward your ship's Ward Loom.

A crackling ley storm churns directly above Hallow Keep like a second, blinding sky. As you approach, the keep's defensive wards flicker and fail layer by layer—and a corsair raider sloop is already swooping in toward the exposed loom tower from the far ridge!

Hallow Keep's wards now hold steady at three full layers beneath the storm. The keep's Warden—a broad-shouldered woman with thread-burned hands—meets you in the courtyard. "You brought twelve whalebone shuttles, and I only needed eight to stabilize the weave. You can take the four spare storm-shuttles for your own Ward Loom, or have the steward pay you in silver."

Watching from a mile off, you see Hallow Keep's wards drop completely for one long minute—just long enough for the corsair sloop to swoop over the loom tower and snatch a cargo net full of plunder. As the keep's wards finally flicker back on, the heavily laden pirate sloop flees straight toward your position, dragging its loot net in tow.