Hazard: the glass storm

In Act 2 the glass storm is a set piece in the field: the player runs between shelters, traces the square half of Facet Seal from the one standing shard that shows it while the storm blows, and casts Facet Seal for the first time. The fight that follows is storm_glint (in Glints). From Act 3 the storm can come back on its own, as the hazard boss below. No glyph shows inside it.

Glass storm — glass_storm (hazard boss)

• Region: The Shardfield.
• Look (VEL-51 concept): A whirling, living storm of wind and thousands of flying mirror shards, spinning into a tall funnel with the rough shape of a giant figure inside it. A warm amber light pulses at its heart, and the shards flash teal and violet as it sweeps across the drained lakebed under a dark sky. Silhouette: a tall, spinning funnel filling the upper middle, with one amber point at its heart. The amber light is the target, and the funnel narrowing is the tell. (Rook lost his arm in one: Story Bible section 2.)
• Behaviour (phases): It isn't a creature but weather, so it has no basic attack. It does damage on a clock, and the player fights the clock.
  1. Shardfall (100–60%). Shards rain every 4 s for 10. A Brace or Facet Seal blocks them. Tell: the funnel's spin slows for 1 s before a volley.
  2. The Eye (60–30%). The funnel opens and shows its amber heart for 6 s in every 15, and only then can it be hurt in full (75% less damage the rest of the time).
  3. The Wall (30–0%). The funnel narrows and lashes for 18 every 5 s. Gale (tier 2) pushes it back a step each time, and each push holds the Eye open for 2 s longer.
• Counters: Facet Seal (tier 3, whole since the Act 2 storm) or Brace (tier 1) for Shardfall and the Wall. Gale and Squall (tier 2) push the funnel and open the Eye, because moving air answers moving air (rule 2). Repel's stagger works on its heart (rule 1). Linger (tier 1, Act 3) slows the volleys.
• Rough stats: HP boss (900). Damage low, then high (10, then 18). Speed fast, then normal (4 s, then 5 s), first volley 4 s. maxHp 900, attackDamage 10, attackIntervalSeconds 4, firstAttackDelaySeconds 4, phases (new), damage taken x0.25 outside the Eye (new), color "#FFC66B"
• Drops: mirror_grit x5.
• Where it appears: Acts 3–4, as a hazard crossing the open Shardfield (glass_storm), with no glyph in it.
• Model notes for Meshy: static, animated in code: particles and instanced shard meshes spinning around a funnel, with an amber light at the heart. No Meshy model needed. The figure inside is a shape in the particles.

From Bestiary › Hazard: the glass storm