Belly of Stone: Cloud Kingdom Chaos (Day 2)

Within the vast mountains, beyond the reach of Dwarrow or Eagles, our heroes face a band of water wolves, who leap straight from the slime stained creek that runs backwards and, as they soon discovered, loops back onto itself.

Hadarai (woodelf ranger) and ‘Wolf’ (woodelf druid) struggle beneath the current, held fast by canine teeth dug deep into their limbs. Ashore, their allies rally, pushing back the smaller wolves, while Friga (dragonborn druid and giant white wolf fig) tries to stare down the Elder Wolf.

As the battle rages on, the stream is revealed to have transformed into a loop somehow, drawing a nearly drowned and bled out Hadarai back to where his allies can save him. Yet the transformation boggles our heroes, who struggle to understand, even as they struggle against the wolves…

As the pack collapses under the party’s counter offensive, the Elder wolf roars in Frigga’s borrowed wolf face and chases her down the tunnel in a blind rage, ultimately cornering itself between those she’d thought slain by her pack, and those ignored at her flanks…

With Friga taunting the Elder Wolf, the rest of the water wolf pack fell into disarray and was picked off swiftly, leaving the surrounded Elder to attempt a vaillant stand, and then to flee.

Before resting the adventurers split into teams to explore the tunnels (darkvision, wild shaped dire wolves and torch bearers respectively), making certain there were no more foes to be found, and discovering a new side tunnel, leading to a new whirlpool. Assuming this was a portal, they set up camp in a dry patch at a bend in the creek.

After working out who would take which watch, we broke for lunch and boffer sword construction.

Our boffers are made with PVC pipe, pool noodles, rounds cut from foam pads and duct tape. IFGS rules.

While everyone else slept, Frigga prowled the tunnels in her wolf form, discovering that the water wolf pack’s scent grew stronger when she stalked widdershins and stronger clockwise. What’s more, her allies were gone when she made her way back around once, though she found them again when she went back the way she had come. There was a great deal of speculation about what this meant, but ultimately came to naught. Ferran had gone out exploring as well, trying to leave marks which vanished from the walls, and going so deep into the spiral that he lost track of time and space. Somewhere in the depths, the side tunnel leading to the whirlpool, led instead to a impenetrably black wall. Ferran saw a glimmer of his fingers reflected back from the surface before they touched. The wall burst, letting out a wave of water that filled the tunnels, flinging Ferran at the front as it spiraled up to sweep the party from their camp into a newly formed dead end. Quick thinking ‘Wolf’ transformed into a dolphin and began to ferry everyone to the whirlpool, which now spun inwards at the center of the flooded chamber.

While ‘Wolf’ was able to get all of her allies to the portal, their armor and weapons were left pinned to the cave floor. Anything that could float was grabbed as best our herores could.

Not everyone made it all the way to the whirlpool, with a few awry strength saves leaving heroes swirling in the dolphin’s wake, where they snatched at gear, or made for the portal on their own.

Two by two the dolphin ‘Wolf’ pulled her allies to the portal, though the tunnel began to retract as she did, almost crushing her as she reached the portal on the final pass.

The whirlpool fed through darkness and out a spout that spat our heroes one by one onto a narrow ledge above a cliff face. A tower of rock that jutted from the heights to stand above the clouds themselves.

The narrow ledge was host to a view of the distant slopes, some hundreds of feet below, and the span of thunderous, gray clouds that poured torrential rain across the plains.

In the deluge of bodies, two of our heroes nearly had the chance to take a more accurate measure of the cliff’s height (on the way down), save for the quick reflexes of their fellow travelers, Thriran (human monk) and Thorin (dwarrow fighter)

From left to right, Ferran, Al, Thirian, Thor, Wolf, Korathank, Hadarai, and Frigga, take stock of their situation at the top of the world.

As the party spreads out to explore something about the carving of the stone steps reminds him of his ancestral home, or the deep temples, dug millenia past. A natural 20 of a history check has him scurrying up towards the peak to confirm his suspicions.

Another natural 20 on a nature check, and Thor realizes the structure atop the peak looks more like a crystalline mass coated in a layer of granite! A third natural 20 (that set the whole table to shouting) on a religion check, and we rush to the pathway beneath the spire to find…

A hidden chamber, filled with the bodies of dwarrow, slain in battle. Thor insisted that the dead be laid to rest and prayed over before anyone dares to touch the chests, or bookshelves…

Alas, the rest of the party wasn’t feeling so patient. Will they simply reap the rewards of their cunning dwarrow friends findings? or will they reap the wrath of vengeful spirits of the ancestors?

We’ll let the dice decide in:
Enter the Sky: Cloud Kingdom Chaos (Day 3)