Session One Hundred Two: The Cloud Ray Incident

They rested on the mountaintop for the rest of the day. Raco eventually woke up and they informed him that Cheet was dead. Also, that Kraah and Yusef were blinded. And Yusef was missing his left hand.
Dimitria told Yusef that Samsun had cut off his hand and Yusef was furious. Samsun apologized and told him it was an accident. Yusef understood, but was still upset.

Day 11, Week 1, Fifthover, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

In the morning, Dimitria used her magic to restore Yusef's sight. Kraah used his own magic to restore his own sight. Yusef took Samsun's pound of goat butter and said it was his, because Samsun had cut off his hand. Samsun did not argue.
While they burned Cheet's body, the handed out food and water rations. Then, they scattered her ashes on the scant greenery of the mountain tops. Saying goodbye to Cheet one last time, the group hiked into the mountains.

After a lot of hiking and climbing, the group made camp. They were glad that they had not been attacked again. Raco watched most of the night, being a mul, the lack of sleep did not bother him.

Day 12, Week 1, Fifthover, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

This day began like so many others. The clerics preached their sermons, praising their elemental lords, Dimitria pleaded to the land for her magical abilities and everyone else prepared food and rationed their water. Afterward, they began hiking.
They climbed and hiked, climbed and hiked, and climbed and hiked. They saw very little plant or animal life, atop the high mountains. As the sun was nearing a horizon, they saw a plateau. The plateau wasn't completely flat, but flat enough to make walking easier.
They searched for shelter and found none. However, the did spot a cloud ray in the distance. It was slowly moving in their general direction. Most of the group decided to hide from it, just in case it saw them as a meal.

Using her divine magic, Dimitria created an illusionary forest, so the group could hide. She was hoping the cloud ray would not know it was an illusion and allow the group time to sneak away. Kraah disagreed with Dimitria's plan and summoned an air elemental. His plan was to attack!
Samsun and Raco agreed with Kraah and ran toward the cloud ray.
The cloud ray ignored Kraah and attempted to eat the illusionary trees. Kraah marveled at its size and started hitting it around the eyes. The cloud ray was very annoyed and whipped its tail at Kraah. Despite the devastating hit by the cloud ray, Kraah was determined and continued to attack it.
Samsun ran to the cloud ray, but it was hovering forty feet in the air. Raco told Samsun to throw him, so he did. However, he did not throw him hard enough and Raco only went twenty feet in the air, before crashing down to the earth below. Samsun tried throw javelins at the cloud ray, but they were pushed away by an invisible force.
The cloud ray struck Kraah again with its tail and Kraah was badly injured. He started flying away and told his air elemental to continue attacking the cloud ray. Kraah flew much faster than the cloud ray and escaped. The cloud ray turned its attention to the air elemental and quickly destroyed it.
Samsun and Raco were undaunted in their attempts to fight the cloud ray. In an effort to get its attention, Samsun began blowing a horn. This got the cloud rays attention and it flew down to take a bite out of Samsun. As it dove, the half-giant and the mul attacked the cloud ray's face.
The cloud ray retreated, surprised at the ferocity of the attack. It whipped its tail at Samsun and cut off his left arm. Samsun collapsed to the ground, unconscious, bleeding a great deal. Raco was unable to stand, due to his shattered knee and collapsed to the ground as well. The cloud ray dipped in again, Raco tried to fight off the beast, and got a few good strikes in, but it scooped up Samsun and Raco in its mouth.
Seeing this, Dimitria summoned air elementals of her own and sent them to attack the cloud ray. She used her limited magical attacks to harm the cloud ray. The cloud ray was busy with the air elementals and ignored her paltry attacks.
Kraah emerged from hiding, having magically healed himself and summoned more air elementals. He began his attack anew, targeting the creatures head. A particularly accurate strike stabbed the cloud ray in the eye.

The cloud ray attempted to swallow Kraah, but he avoid its maw. He did not, however, escape its tail, which wounded him greatly once again. Kraah fled, but directed his air elementals to continue the attack.
The cloud ray was bleeding badly, from the numerous wounds that had been inflicted upon it. It destroyed two of the four air elementals in quick succession. Dimitria feared the worst and started to run, afraid that she would be the creatures next meal.
The cloud ray destroyed another of the elementals, but the final air elemental struck a forceful blow and the cloud ray began falling from the sky. Everyone on the ground scattered, narrowly avoiding the gargantuan creature's body.
They climbed atop the creature and used their weapons to cut inside of its body, but the had few cutting implements. By the time they reached the cloud rays stomach, it was too late. Raco was nothing but a skeleton and Samsun's bodily remains had nearly dissolved completely.
They took what valuables they could salvage, including two of the intelligent gems Samsun had carried. Yusef took Raco's skull.
The retreated a ways off, knowing that scavengers would be attracted to the large, free meal. They moved a good distance away and found a cave to rest in. Inside was a half-elf. Surprisingly, the half-elf knew Dimitria. 

The half-elf was named Selia and she lived near Dimitria's guarded lands. When Dimitria left and did not return, Selia went to go find her. She saw some fools fighting a cloud ray, and a forest spring from nowhere, but did not realize that one of the fools was her friend.

Join us next time for another exciting session of Adventures Under the Dark Sun. 
2nd edition AD&D Dark Sun Cast of Player Characters 
Dimitria: Human female druid. 20 years old. Played by Mary. Speaks Urikite, Raamin, and Tyrian.
Raco: Mul male psychometbolist. 20 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Dwarf and Tyrian.
Samsun: Half-Giant water cleric/fighter. 37 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Giant and Tyrian.
Kraah: Aarakocra air cleric.17 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Aarakocra, Tyrian, Balician, and Gulgish.
Selia: Half-elf female ranger. 27 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Elf and Tyrian.
Yusef: Human male thief. 24 years old. NPC party member. Speaks Tyrian, Nibnese, and Urikite.