Looming before our heroes, the forward walls of the cloud giant’s fortress rises some fifty feet above the misty islands upon which it rests. With treasure sold off and fresh supplies stocked, our heroes spent some time considering the best approach to the walls, eventually deciding to head straight towards the center at what seemed to them, ‘ground’ level. Alas, invaders had penetrated the inner sanctum of this ancient place and the guards had little trust in their hearts as they tried to keep their watch with the din of their masters fighting desperately to repel the invading swarm of giant locusts that had descended on stone cast down by the taller-than-the-sky bank of inky black storm clouds pouring over the face of the world to consume the cloud kingdoms themselves.
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A brief negotiation with the guard, who would only speak to someone who spoke giant. Hadarai tried to be diplomatic, when the guard wanted a simple answer. Vague threats from the rest of the party in common (which they thought the guard didn’t understand) moved him from suspicious to paranoid and he swung a knot of wood on a rope above his head that gave off a thrumming whistle sound. Cloud sharks came bounding up from the misty mass, to lunge for our heroes.
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Meanwhile, the battle against the cloud chimeras spun away from the cloud-spit, out amongst the carnivorous clouds whirling in the vortex formed outside of the fortress by the huge storm clouds towering over head. Hadarai urged his tame cloud to rile up the others.
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As our heroes begin to cross over the wall, they encounter the strange, insect like creatures for the first time. Long manipulator limbs tear at cloudfolk bodies, shredding them into the surrounding misty fluff. Huge sets of wings hum through the air as the insects flitter about the wall, the starspire and the slowly princes.
Having once again spread themselves thin, with a second conflict blooming behind the wall, things begin to look dire.
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The rescued and their rescuers arrive at last amongst the teleportation stones floating amongst the anchor clouds that undulated in place gently above the hardened face of the cloud itself. Thirian, Thor and Korathank take stock of the battle below while Wolf circled high above the scene in her giant eagle form, calling back to her allies with piercing signal cries. This actually played out as table talk, which I allow for reasons you can find here. What would they have talked about in the seven hours tramping through the plains of cloud other than strategy for surviving what lies ahead and who could do what?
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At last the whole party of adventurers found themselves behind the wall and facing the psychic insects that have descended on the gleaming tower in the center of the cloud giant fortress. A single stalk of gleaming golden stone, Al called it a Starspire, but what precisely that meant, none of the characters could say. No one made their History check alas.
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When several players cast summoning spells at the end of the battle, the dark, liminal forces pulled down by the wall of storms still crashing against the cloud giant fortress, brought forth the mighty Cloudthulu! The fell entity’s consciousness having been somewhat focused on our heroes since his cleric, Korathank, foolishly told the mountain guardian of his service to the ancient one.
With the cloud fortress cleared of the alien insects, and their meddling with the star spire ended, the rains drowning the world evaporate, but the looming mass of inky black cloud still presses forwards…
Will our heroes be able to activate the starspire and reach the heavens where the cause of the fell storms yet lurks?
We’ll let the dice decide, next time in:
Dungeon Camp 2018 Week 2, Shadow of the Star Dragon