Clouds: Those which pass, pass with rain
by Giulio Caroletti"Since the dawn of time, we have searched an answer to many questions. And more than one of these regarded Clouds. Although we may be able to give scientific explanations to their formation and their movements through the planet's atmosphere, and we have been able to describe all their possible forms, and what these forms mean...well, with all of our knowledge we haven't been able to understand why some clouds apparently move discordantly with all that we know- winds, atmospheric currents, physic laws..."
- Augustine Celerine,
professor of Cloud studying,
Air University of Aeria.
NUAGES
"Those will pass who seek the rain
Scatter feathers on the grain
Red blood aching all your brains.
Mind of men can't not conceive,
What I wait for will arrive,
'till the day we all will die.
They don't matter, not at all,
They are just clouds who hear the call
And they come, like the faithful dog
Listen to the Master's voice,
And his will is nothing, he has no choice."
Adrianus Beleu, Thyatian bard.
Description:
Nuages are sky creatures whose consistency is that of clouds. Nuages appear like light white clouds, thin and misty, generally remaining at about 1,000 meters of height over the land they pass. They move very swiftly if there is wind (200 meters/round), at half the indicated speed if there is no wind, and at 1/4 if the wind opposes their movement. However, if there is fog, they become virtually invisible and descend amidst it to feed upon living creatures. If Nuages pass through a region where it is raining, they can sciss their molecules into rain and fall upon the ground. There, when it stops raining, they retain their "body" structure, appearing as vapour that sprouts from the ground, and start to feed themselves on the living creatures of the region.
Generally, Nuages find their sustenance killing the birds they meet in their endless travels through the skies; however, Nuages are inherently evil creatures, and they enjoy bringing death and weakness among intelligent creatures. If they are able to descend on the surface world, in the ways described above, Nuages are able to strike their victims with their water molecules, who have a particular chemical structure that enables them to suck 1 hit point every ten rounds they remain near to the victim. The subject of this attack are not able to understand that they are losing hps: they will just feel a mounting weakness, cold, and a desire to sleep. If they lose more than 5 hit points (and are not dead), the creatures will have to make a save vs. spells or fall into sleep in 1d10 rounds (-1 for every point of Constitution over 14). If the victim falls asleep, it will be killed by the Nuages in 1d10 turns, if not awaken by someone else before.
Fight the Nuages is nearly impossible, because it is nearly impossible to detect them. Nuages are effected by all the spells that affect Evil: Detect Evil will reveal evil in the air around persons who are attacked by the Nuages, and Protection from Evil will prevent Nuages from getting close enough to damage them. A Destroy Evil will kill an entire flock of Nuages (no saving throw). Spells who affect an area will not kill the Nuages, but will disperse them for some time.
Nuages are a race of intelligent but evil elemental-like creatures who originated on Mystara hundreds of years ago. Nuages came into existence in the skies over Greatrealm, but it is uncertain exactly how and why. It is known that about twenty or thirty of them serve the Master, but whether it is their choice or not remains a mystery.
CLOUDKNIGHTS
"Calling from the night,
I hear the echo.
A cloudknight.
He looks strange and pale,
So thin and frail,
But it could break me if he would.
I look out in the wood,
Find no comfort in its cold thick air.
The Cloudknight knows it,
And it will strike again."
Stats:
AC: -2
HD: 9****
Movement: 72 meters (24 meters)
Attacks: 1 cloudweapon
Damage: 1d8
No. Appearing: 1
Save as: Fighter 18
Morale: 12/12
Treasure: none
Intelligence: ?
Alignment: Neutral ?
XP: 3,700
Description:
A Cloudknight is a creature from the Elemental Plane of Air. There are only a handful of Cloudknights in Mystara, and each of them is an unique individual, with his personal traits and appearances. However, all Cloudknights have common traits that make them easily recognisable as such, to those who know of their existence.
Basically, Cloudknights seem to be tall and armoured men, however they are somewhat blurring, and not consistent, making them seem a distorted vision, or a ghost; their skin seems to be pale azure, and all other features' colour goes from light grey to ice white.
Cloudknights fight only if forced to, or to accomplish their duties (see below). If someone with whom they must not fight confronts them, they take on gaseous form and leave the area (however they cannot remain in gaseous form for more than one turn, then they cannot assume gaseous form for 3 hours). If they are somehow prevented to do so, they will first use their magical powers (one cone of cold per day, hold persons three times a day), then attack with their cloudweapon, a sword who hits for 1d10 of damage and can hit any opponent (even those who are immune to magical weapons of whatever power). The sword disappears with the Cloudknight if it is killed.
Cloudknights cannot be stopped by protection from evil or similar spells, and can suffer damage only from magical weapons (the damage, however, will be equal only to the weapon's magical bonus, with no modifiers from Strength), and spells of 3rd level or higher, with the exception of spells of cold, hold, charm, death rays and mind affecting spells; they are also immune to poison.
Cloudknights come on Mystara from the Elemental Plane of Air only when asked to do so by one of the Air Elemental Rulers, to foster their imprescriptible desires (kill or bring back to the Air Dimension elemental creatures, punish mortals who abuse of their elemental powers, or whatever else). They are constructs, created magically by the Rulers in a fashion similar to that of golems on the Prime; however, scholars who are aware of their existence wonder whether elementals of the Air Dimension effectively take possession of these magical bodies. It is not known if Cloudknights are sent to dimensions different from the Prime. In this case, they probably assume a different appearance, that suits best that plane.