Cloud of Hunger (spell)

Cloud of Hunger
Range: One normal sized room
Duration: 1 day

The town of Badgerbrough, located on one of the larger trade routes in the country, was constantly hosting tired adventurers from all over the place. The inns were crowded and the pubs even more so. Tales of bravery, horror, and treasures would fill the smoky halls of every tavern within five miles - all of questionable veracity, of course, but a good story is a good story nevertheless.

One night Billobi heard the story of how a party of four adventurers from far north just barely managed to get out alive from an old tomb they were "investigating". The tomb seemed to be completely empty when they suddenly met a pack of - as they described it - "humans with rotten bodies".

These human-like creatures shuffled across the stone floor towards the party, with their arms stretched, but suddenly stopped. One of them slowly opened its mouth, and spoke with a hissing sound: "Nooo...sooo full...noo mooore..."

The party stood dumbfounded. "No more - what?" they asked, but the human-like creature just repeated what it had said, and shook its head slowly.

"Fools!" echoed suddenly an eerie voice from the darkness behind. "When I command, you obey! Now EAT them!"

"Nooo..." repeated the creatures again while shaking their heads. "Sooo full..."

"Why, oh why, did faith punish me with this imbecile army of undead oafs...", sighed the eerie voice. "Very well then! Taste my anger - and then the intruders!"

A thick smoke suddenly filled the room, which caught the party off guard. They tried to hold their breath, but to no use; their lungs were already filled with the ghastly smoke. But to everybody's surprise, nothing seemed to happened.

Unfortunately, when the smoke cleared, the human-like creatures were on their feet again, moving rapidly towards the party. They managed to knock over and kill the first two creatures, but then the creatures swarmed around the party's newest recruit and started eating him alive. The rest of the party decided to run for their lives, and didn't stop until they hit Badgerbrough.

Billobi thanked for the story, and went home for the night. When he came back to the pub the next evening, the four of them were there again, drinking and eating. They recognized Billobi and gestured wildly for him to come sit with them, but prior experience had taught Billobi that certain types of people - adventurer's mostly - likes to tell the same story over and over again. Despite how much Mr. Rustfoot enjoyed a good tale, he only wanted to hear it once. He waved and smiled back, but went straight to the counter instead.

He asked the bartender if he'd heard their story by now.

"Not once, actually", he answered somewhat busy. He suddenly lowered his voice and said with a big smile: "But I gotta tell ya, they're the most lucrative customers I've ever had. They've been eatin' now for almost two days straight!"

Cloud of Hunger fills a normal sized room with a thick, white smoke. Anyone breathing the air is affected by the spell, and immediately starts craving for food. They don't necessarily glut, but their hunger isn't satisfied.

The smoke smells different depending on the person, but will always reflect their most delicate food memory.