After rappelling down from the cloud the guardian of the peak had placed them on, our heroes made their way across the vaporous planes to the edge of a gap between cloud banks. A gap at least 100 feet across left a channel through which dozens of smaller clouds flowed on a strong breeze from the west.
Eight layers of fluffy clouds rushed by at speeds varying from 50 feet per turn to 15 feet per turn, depending on the size of the cloud. Our heroes, bound to one another by 45 feet of rope between each, began a long and treacherous game of leap frog in the sky.
Taking a long moment to consider their options, our heroes try to organize the party by size and strength, with Hadarai, the ranger I generously suggested take ‘Sky’ as a favored terrain, in the lead.
I drew a height map and talked the players through their options after doing a narrative description of the mountainous cumulus banks rambling up into towers ahead of them. It was an eighth of a mile to the towering cloud walls. The purple hashmarks are roughly ‘ground level’ on the planes of cloud. The stacks above rise as high as 120 feet overhead.
Hadarai guessed that there would be a village or town of some kind about where the blue X marks are on the left and right hand sides of the map. Our heroes argued at length about which way to go, whether the river of passing clouds was the safest route. They even considered staying right where they were to rest instead of making for a village, several of them were very low on hit points after all…
The 28 mm river of clouds.
And a zoom in on that part of the map.
Unfortunately the smaller of the clouds rushing by were a carnivorous variety not native to the material plane, and rare in such tremendous numbers.
Every step on the bloodthirsty clouds left red prints behind (made with a hand mixed dye on pulled cotton clouds)
Those already wounded had the worst time of things, though their allies worked hard to aid them.
Missed leaps and ropes pulled unexpectedly taut began to take their toll as the carnivorous clouds circled hungrily.
Which clouds were safe and which weren’t became quickly obvious, first because the blood stains were so easy to see.
It became evident (by process of elimination) that the carnivorous clouds were (thankfully) only the smaller ones.
The ropes drawn between our heroes proved both their salvation and nearly their doom as they alternately saved those who missed their leaps or were dragged down by the attacking clouds.
Those at the end of the line had the most trouble with taut safety lines and enraged, ravenous clouds.
A few helpful allies and a timely casting of the spell ‘Fly’ rescued the operation, as swarming clouds managed to capture Al, who fell unconscious into the clouds below.
The last desperate survivors sprint, leap and fly to escape the clouds, which seem unwilling to move beyond the shore of the vast stratocummulus the players had finally cross to.
Friga discovers that ‘Destroy Water’ will annihilate a carnivorous cloud instantly.
Hadarai anchors the rope, utilizing his ‘Sky’ Favored Terrain ability.
After a ‘theater of the mind’ style visit to the cloud village atop the vast rolling plains of mist, they stand upon the shore opposite the great Cloud Giant fortress. Within a tower rippling with lightning, beyond which a wall of dark, thunderous cloud towers from the peaks below to the wrack the stars themselves.
Can our heroes find a way to penetrate the mighty fortress and discover the source of the scourge of rain born floods that threaten to drown the world?
We’ll let the dice decide, Next time: A Storm of Locusts: Cloud Kingdom Chaos (Day 5)
After rappelling down from the cloud the guardian of the peak had placed them on, our heroes made their way across the vaporous planes to the edge of a gap between cloud banks. A gap at least 100 feet across left a channel through which dozens of smaller clouds flowed on a strong breeze from the west.
I drew a height map and talked the players through their options after doing a narrative description of the mountainous cumulus banks rambling up into towers ahead of them. It was an eighth of a mile to the towering cloud walls. The purple hashmarks are roughly ‘ground level’ on the planes of cloud. The stacks above rise as high as 120 feet overhead.
