Fog, Screaming

Description

The origins of this terrible force are rumoured to be the lifeforce of an individual whose hatred of his people was so great that he clung to unlife when he died and became this terrible being.

From a distance, a Screaming Fog looks like a strange, thick mist that swirls towards you. Once up close, people are overwhelmed by a cold, clammy feeling. They percieve faint objects moving within, but they can’t pinpoint them. If one looks at it with true-seeing however, it’s true form is seen. With true seeing, it looks like a giant, billowing yellow fog with hundreds of screaming faces of trapped souls that the fog has devoured. Occasionally, a body will try to haul it’s way out of the mass, but the eventually get sucked right back in. Most people seeing this sight flee in terror, but by then it is usually too late and they would already have joined the screaming hordes.

Combat

The Screaming Fog attacks everyone that it sees. It can only move quite slowly, so it can be easily outrun provided the players haven’t let it circle them completely.

For every 5 cubic feet of fog, the Screaming Fog can attack once with a tendril. This attack automatically hits unless the target can make a successful dexterity check. If successful, the target avoids any damage, otherwise they are struck by a numingly-cold tendril and drawn into the heart of the cloud. The heart of the cloud is always at the centre and the person is dragged closer to the centre at a rate of 1. Each round, they can attempt to break free by making a bend bars/lift gates roll and succeeding, otherwise, upon reaching the heart of the creature, their soul is devoured and they join the gibbering masses.

Once every three rounds, the fog can emit a cacophany of screams. One need not hear to be able to sense those screams, the noise penetrates the very soul and shocks one to the core. Those affected must save vs. spells or immediately flee for 1d6 hours. This gives the fog a chance to hunt them down one by one without unessecary personal risk.

A fog cannot attack someone who does not look at it, so it uses it’s scream attack. All who flee are assumed to open thier eyes to see where they are going.

The fog is completely immune to all flame and cold-based attacks. Any spell that requires a physical form to strike are useless against it. It is immune to all forms of charm or sleep-related spells much in the same way as an undead beast. Any spell that requires a physical form to strike fails also. Any spell that affects a bank of fog will affect a Screaming Fog. They have a rudimentary mind and can be contacted with psionics, as any other form of communication is useless.

The only way to hurt the fogs is with +1 or better magical items. Even then, it only does half damge. A Holy Avenger, wielded by a Paladin or Lawful Good priest does Triple damage on the creature. The prescence of such an individual always makes the fog flee.

Habitat/Society

This evil fog was first discovered when an adventuring party was shipwrecked on an island in the middle of the Tethys Ocean on the World of Tethius. On the first day, they discovered an entire crumbled civilisation of humanoids that had simply disappeared without any trace. When night came, the fog slowly picked them off one at a time until finally, only one remained. He was forced to blind himself with burning embers to avoid gazing at the fog and letting himself be consumed by it. In the end, he was rescued by a group of Saran pirates, but the mist must have followed. A week later, a Raveiran Ironclad discovered the drifting ship just off the coast of Skara Brae, and inside, was a blind madman babbling insanely about a mist that came to devour him and scream in his mind.

All that is known is that this evil fog has travelled to other worlds, seeking vengence against all who live for some long-forgotten cause. Those who have contacted thier minds sense feelings of pure hatred, bitterness and jealosy centred around the living.

Ecology

The Screaming Fogs do not need to nourish themselves. This throws away any concept that they can still posess a shred of reason or humanity. They kill for the pleasure. Like all fogs, however, direct sunlight causes it to go into hiding, but it cannot be destroyed in this way.