Of The Storm
It starts on the horizon, creeping over the land. The storm clouds are huge. They fill the sky. They are moving this way; relentless like the tide, faster than they have a right to. They are dark, so dark to be nearly purple. The rain begins to fall near you. You hear it hit the ground. It hits like bullets. The wind gusts; getting in between a person and their warmth. There is thunder that deafens you. It rolls forth like a stampede. The lightning brings the suns brightness for a moment, before plunging you back into the dark.
"What do you do now?"
Ever get a mental image in your head that stayed unbidden? It is vivid. It is loud. It is real. Have you? No matter, this is mine.
It starts on the horizon, creeping over the land. The storm clouds are huge. They fill the sky. They are moving this way; relentless like the tide, faster than they have a right to. They are dark, so dark to be nearly purple. The rain begins to fall near you. You hear it hit the ground. It hits like bullets. The wind gusts; getting in between a person and their warmth. There is thunder that deafens you. It rolls forth like a stampede. The lightning brings the suns brightness for a moment, before plunging you back into the dark.
"What do you do now?"
So, there is the description you as a GM would give.
This is a collaborative piece. I have a starting point... now what would be behind this? Is there an it behind this or is it just coincidence? Is It in the storm or on the ground? Is there some kind of monster or spirit using the storm to attack? What summoned this dark wave of storms here? What would be using it as a cover or a distraction? I want monsters, npcs, plots, or just ideas. Feel free, nay encouraged, to add links to material here @strolens.
Also feel free to add more flavor text to this storm.
My first thought was The Wild Hunt
The Fey are on the Hunt, to destroy someone who has offended a noble of either court. The Horn sounded. The dark things came out of their hidden places. Other fey let loose their wild sides and join the pack running, loping, riding, and flying, howling all the way. The Hunt rides out of the storm, touching ground, following the trail of their quarry. The storm is nature reflecting the mood of the wild fey whom are tied to it. There will be mortal blood spilled tonight. Mostly likely it will be the quarrys, but if others get in the way...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Hunt
The Storm is a creature itself, fallen through some rift in time and space. It is composed the elements of the storm - wind for a body, lightning for thoughts, thunder for roars, and ice and water for its teeth and claws.
It is hunting someone, possibly a character, possibly the possessor of what pulled it here. The players might have moved through a rift recently, thus stink of it and their motion made the tear that brought it here. Someone might have read one of the Lovecraftian books. They might have picked up an object. They might be this worlds counterpart to the Mighty Being that that threw the Storm into the void. Who knows? If the secret is kept, it will come across more as horror than adventure.
The weather will be violent. The attacks will seem directed. The players will have providing tense scenes as an unseen foe tried repeatedly to get inside the shelter or destroying things and throwing the debris at them. Sometimes it will take its fury on others, nabbing up innocents who strayed too close in the meantime.
Check out The Storm
I find that storms are very confusing for players, even in game, because of the real life experience of it. They know exactly how to imagine the weather and it's easy as a GM to play off their primal fears - in this case, fear of mother nature.
The storm is a side effect of the anti-gravity drive of a massive alien ship hidden in the storm. (Perhaps they have intensified the effect to act as cover). The damage is incidental to them.
The aliens are looking for something. They are looking for some spark, something attached to some DNA. It could be from an escaped alien. It could be from one of their escaped or released subjects. There may be an invasion coming and this is the first landing, but they are looking for that x-factor that could interfere with the plans. They might be looking for a crashlander, living among us. They could be looking for a weak spot in the Earth that links to a rift that will allow them to get to where they are going.
The Black Ones might be released, as one would release the hounds. These could be the creatures doing the hunting. Or maybe maybe they are a third faction, having their own agenda for what the Other Aliens are hunting.
This could be the mother of all Zhan Storms. The wing would warp out to reach everyone who could help. They would even risk using the radio at full power. This is the storm that is their nightmare. This is a Zhan Storm that covers an entire Ward and beyond. It will create a grey zone that will be so large, it will never be cleared out and might never be contained. Everything organic under them is about to become dangerous and lethal if they dont stop every dropping Zhan.
Against the Storms - The Kerren Setting
The Lord Is Weeping
The Adversary has gained the upper hand, the Chosen People become diaspora at best. The Lord is mourning their passing. The Lord is weeping, and His mourning threatens to scourge the world, unless something happens to shock Him from His state of despair.
The Song of Storms
An otherwise incompetent bard has written a new song. And he has performed it poorly enough to anger the spirits, and anger them greatly. Howling for his destruction, they are carving a path of devastation behind themselves as the seek after him. The PCs must find some way to calm them, which is easier said than done.
The Harkening
When one disrupts the mystical flows of the world there is usually a sympathetic disruption in physical weather patterns, since the two follow similar channels.
The Magic users are all crying, screaming, claiming migraines, and acting like they have been gut punched. Only those who are safely in areas of full wards (magical protection) seem to be able to think or function. They are scared. Something has disturbed the world. Most are unable to determine what has done it. Only a tiny handful can sense the location, and to be honest, it is mostly because they were able to look out the window.
You see, they can see The Storm on the horizon. They have put the two things together. Now they have sent word to their mundane friends. There is something happening over there. Something bad. They must brave the storm to find out who or what is performing some great magical task that is disrupting magic as they know it.
PS: While this is going on, all magic users are going to be useless. All magic items will act in... unpredictable ways every few moments. (on 1d6 1-2 a fizzle or minor effect, 5-6 extreme effects or occur without being triggered. Make your own chart, it could be fun.)
Valley of the Clouds
High above, looking over the world, hidden in the peaks of the Worldmeet Mountains, is the Valley of the Clouds. Recently a God of Blood and Brutality has claimed the recently discovered cloud-shrouded valley as a holy site for his foul worshippers. As has the Dwarven God of Mountain Snow, Frost, and Cold Steel. There was a battle between devout worshipers of each. Both sides claiming it to be their Holy Land. The Arkane, the group that rules the Worldmeet Mountains and controls passage to other lands know this valley to be living thing and have warned both sides to stay away. However, much Blood was shed in the Cloud Valley and now an awakened Storm of Vengeace has been risen from the Valley, no longer peaceful and cloud covered, and is seeking a new home...
The Storm, spewing forth everthing from boiling blood and dead animals to snow that melts the skin and vivid purple lightning, ravages in all directions. Soon it will cover the world in a hellish darkness. It is up to Heroes from all over the world to find a way to stop the storm.
Thias can be accomplished a number of ways:
- Find it a new home, perhaps by sending it through one of the various portals on Worldmeet Mountain.
- Clean up its old home, bargain with the gods to get them to leave, or find them new holy spots.
- Tame the Storm using powerful Weather Magic, perhaps ancient magic in the form of a soothing song or ritual dance.
- Leave this world for dead? Try to get as many people as possible to invade an alternate reality. Can you convince the Arkane Ones that this is a good idea?
(More about Worldmeet Mountain its Arkane Guardians to come in the future)
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? Responses (9)
A cool idea for a folio. Need to think about this one...
I am strongly in favor of non-combat encounters,this fits the bill nicely.
(Psst, Aramax: follow the freetext 'Random Encounters', and you might find some more.)
I really wanted to enter this with a post of my own, and I may still do it - but for now, let me just enjoy the thought. Good submission idea.
Yet another good submission from you Moon.
Updated: Updated a word choice or three.
The Catatumbo Lightning, or the Maracaibo Beacon... That is the first thing that came to mind. I believe there are some videos of this neverending storm on Youtube.
Oooohhh yummy. I will search the media.
I remembered one rather insane and disturbing example of a storm (look for a section titled 'Two Examples', it's the second one). It was a storm you can only place in the equivalent of hell... and you still won't forget it.
http://chrysanthemumroad.tripod.com/writing/HellWalk.htm
(Tripod website, opens popups for a stronger impression of horror.)
Ah, L5R's Shadowlands. It is one of the best elements of that game, and I agree with that author... totally underuses and misunderstood.
And that example is... shudder.
