Cloud Island is a mile-wide mass of solid cloud, shaped rather like an egg. It was settled long ago and is currently ruled by a Cloud Giant sorcerer. The island serves as a free port and marketplace for ships and creatures that sail the sky or venture through the ether.
ENCOUNTERS ON THE CLOUD ISLAND
(Roll 1d20 if the characters are moving about the island, 1d10 if they are stationary.)
- Roll Twice and Combine
- Plot-advancing encounter: The adventurers meet someone or something connected with whatever reason has brought them to the Cloud Island.
- Fungi From Yuggoth: 1d4 aliens like winged crustaceans, with the frost of interplanetary space still thawing on their wings. They are armed with ray-projectors and have come to trade for rare minerals, human brains, and arcane secrets.
- Gremlins: 1d4 gremlins have decided to bedevil the player characters with sabotage and mischief.
- Invisible Stalker: This unseen horror was conjured up by a wizard to assassinate a particular person, but the magician's instructions were unclear and he died soon after. The Stalker remains bound by the dead wizard's spells, has long ago become completely insane. It stalks the island, selecting victims according to some mysterious criteria.
- Mischievous Sylphs: 1d6 air elementals who mean no serious harm but delight in annoying and taunting "groundlings."
- Pterosaur Pirates: 1d8 goblins with trained Pterosaur mounts, armed with crossbows and grappling-hooks. They normally raid towns and ships on the surface, but if nobody's looking they might snatch something here on the cloud island.
- Sky Dwarves: A group of 1d6 Sky Dwarves, who live within cloud islands and build sky ships which seldom touch the ground. They are lawful merchant sky sailors, armed with shortswords. They may have exotic items to trade.
- Storm! The island has floated into a storm system, and gets pelted with hail and lashed by 100-mph winds for 1d4 hours.
- Winged Apes: 1d6 semi-intelligent creatures like chimpanzees with huge bat wings. They lair in caves on the underside of the island, and fly up to snatch food and loot. They are armed with spears and crude swords.
- Electric Spider: A giant spider with an electricity-generating organ has spun its web across the path. Anyone touching the web gets a powerful shock and must resist paralysis.
- Ether Tower: Within this enchanted tower there is no air, no gravity, no warmth. It is home to visiting space-dwellers who find it comfortable.
- Giant Eagles: 1d4 great golden eagles have nested here on the cloud island. They protect their nests fiercely but have a tremendous amount of knowledge to share about the world and the sky.
- Ki-Rin: A noble aerial unicorn of East Asian legend, this semi-divine beast will help those in danger.
- Lightning Deposit: A section of the island 100 yards across has developed a powerful electrical charge. Anyone entering gets hit by 1d4 lightning bolts per round.
- Lightning-Peddler: A grizzled old sky-sailor selling jars of lightning, sealed bags of wind, and bottles of distilled aurorae from a small handcart. Note that if the cart overturns his wares might spill . . .
- Novice Thief: A young lad who got up to the island somehow and is determined to slay its giant ruler.
- Ruined Observatory: Savants built this tower to study the sky and the atmosphere, but their group dissolved and the building is abandoned. It may hold valuable information, and possibly dangerous items.
- Yeth Hounds: 1d4 demonic hounds of the Wild Hunt, living as feral scavengers on the Cloud Island. If they catch you alone, you're prey.
- Tracks/aftermath (reroll to see what you find traces of)
SITUATIONS ON THE CLOUD ISLAND
(Roll 1d6 to determine the situation, then roll on the table above to identify the people or creatures involved.)
- A desires B
- A wants to capture B
- A wants B dead
- A wants to go somewhere
- A wants to solve a mystery
- A wants X
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