Alkali's D&D Experience

1. Our adventurers leave Haldi's Oasis, setting off towards the nearby mines occupied by the Lord of Worms' forces.
2. The mines are half a day's travel away, and they start to cross the distance in-between. [1]
3. Traveling through the lands of Clan Blighteye, hunting trails criss-cross the hills. However, as the party draws closer to the mines, those trails change. Winding paths stalking prey change to straight, methodical trails searching for something or someone.
4. They come upon signs of a scuffle, matted grass and fresh, recent bloodstains denoting a recent struggle.
5. With only a quarter of a day's travel from the caverns, the party starts to notice a change in the scenery, the increasing taint in the air stunting growth. [2]
6. A thick, stagnant scent increases on approach to the mines, and Quack the rogue scouts ahead.
7. They come upon stacks of dead debris piled high, forming a natural embarkment at least meant to slow down an attacking force. A courtyard is dug into the side of the hill where they have broken into a cavern. This is less a gentle slope like the entrance to the party's previous imprisonment in the Limited Infinity, and more of a vertical hole in the side of the hill.
8. A tripod descends into the cavern, ten gnolls working the pulleys to pull up platforms covered in ore and precious gems. The gnolls work with a tune in their heart, singing as they work, happy to be there.
9. A platform is raised with nothing but a singular robed figure, their four hands clutching a crate betraying them as a spellweaver. They insert the crate into the much smaller mouth of a bag of holding, the crate morphing and shrinking to fit. They stash it in their robes, mounting a horse and prepping to leave.
10. Our adventurers decide to ambush a cart exiting the encampment. A singular gnoll singing a victory chant approaches the party lying in wait. Exi casts a sleep spell on the unaware gnoll, Quack jumping up on the cart behind them as they slump into the mud, unconscious.
11. The gnoll wakes up in a panic, quickly quelled by a casting of Calm Emotions. The party questions them, the gnoll being cooperative enough to calmly answer their questions. A green tendril leads from the gnoll back to the encampment. It is something we are quite familiar with: that which connects all of our adventurers together, a sign of our entanglement with the Lord of Worms.
12. The gnoll introduces themself as Dyak. The green tendril pulses when the party questions Dyak, particularly when questioned about their affiliation to Clan Blighteye and the source of the ore they had been transporting.
13. Taki the Kobold necromancer takes ahold of the tendril, attempting to channel the energy into themselves to disrupt the connection. A pulse, like a riverbank overflowing, hits them, the intense amount overwhelming them. They fall to the ground, spewing a black bile as their body filters out the necromantic energy. ¹⁾ For the briefest moment they are able to ride the tendril back to its origin, to an urn deep underground they sense is controlling 30 gnolls including Dyak.
14. Dyak snaps out of their brainwashing, absolutely confused as to how they had ended up there. The last thing they remember is being out with their hunting party, and then waking up with the party crowded around them. They ask the party to help them free their brethren from the mines.

[1] While setting off from Haldi's Oasis, the party senses several prevailing negative energies in the area. Necromantic energy in its pure essence flows through the area, and an overwhelming amount of chaos energy. Chaos in its pure form is necessary for creation of the universe, but tainted chaos contributes to formation of the void, the empty nothingness between planes.

[2] The greenery is starting to look too much like fall colors, as if they have not gotten enough sunlight nor moisture. Even though this area is as fertile as the surrounding lands, something in the air stunts is stunting growth. Thin spindly trees pepper the hills, significantly less leaves covering their branches. The usually fruitful berry bushes bear far less fruit. The area is still alive and vibrant, but the taint is far more amplified here. This energy likely originates from a major node of necromancy, such as a death knight, something that is truly against nature. The latent magic produced by such a presence is likely seeping into the environment itself, the land filtering out the that energy slowly but becoming damaged as a result, much like the blood vines in the Lenten Woods.