Ink and watercolour plate: two gloved hands thrust forward with forked blue-white lightning crackling between them, and a small sketch of a forked bolt.

Spell

Lightning Strike

A short-ranged bolt of summoned lightning that kills weak enemies outright: the first new spell the stranger tamed in Pinewood.

  • The Goblin Invasion
  • Dark Times

Description

Lightning Strike summons the power of lightning against enemies at close range. Its reach is limited and it takes a little longer to cast than other spells, but it kills weak enemies instantly. Lightning can also be channelled into objects: crystal-fitted mortars fire with far greater force when struck by it.

Historical context

The stranger learned it during the defence of Pinewood, when Aurelius judged them ready to tame the lightning, and later used it to fire old mining cannons through the walls and barriers of the Healand Mines. A generation later, claiming the core of lightning atop Storm Eye Lake let the stranger charge the tower's old devices without any generator at all.

In the original game its spellbook upgrades were Chain Lightning, which bounces to nearby targets; Thunderstruck, which stuns the target in the spell's final second; and Double Discharge, which lets both hands be aimed independently.