Alkali's D&D Experience

1. The sun shines over the Kessel Hills, the beautiful smell of such cookfires and sizzling bacon greeting the party as they awake after last night's celebration with the gnolls of Clan Blighteye.
2. The party emerge from their tents and start their morning routines, for once feeling safe and sound with a good night's rest.
3. The morning having just started, the party is surprised by a sudden shift in the weather, the skies darkening far too fast to be natural.
4. The gnoll clanmates begin to gather around. Their chieftain, sorceress, and other important elders are attending to their morning duties. [1]
5. The winds start howling hard, picking up quickly. [2]
6. The clouds originate from a central point. A strong, directed, purposeful wind rushes through the campsite, every campfire except the central bonfire being snuffed out in an instant, sending the camp into shadow.
7. Taki senses pick up a hint of the pocket dimension, the Limited Infinity where the party had been trapped, and that is the feeling they get even more as they reach their senses further into the storm. They grow aware of a rip between the prime material plane and the other plane that the unconscious minds are a part of, where our minds resided while the spellweaver, the Warden, worked their machinations. [3]
8. Eryx reaches their mind further into the storm, probing at this tear in reality. They witness as a part of a consciousness, a soul, reaches out through the tear. [4]
9. The storm above is not electromagnetic, or composed of moisture; the storm is what happens when a spirit is trying to escape from one realm to another, and is simultaneously being destroyed every time it does. [5]
10. Eryx reaches into the pouch of Wysteria and pulls out their spyglass, peering out over the Kessel Hills to see patterns of light, then dark, light, then dark: more of these storms are forming for miles.
11. The ash from all the cookfires the night before are whipped into the air by the violent gusts, whipping into the party's eyes and blinding them.
12. Exi and Chanur seal the patient into still intact tent, securing it as a safe zone.
13. Taki absorbs the energy of the storm while probing it, sensing a heavy imbalance of chaos energy. [6]
14. The central campfire acts as a beacon and a rallying point, one of the few things visible through the storm. Sirocco's cry of alert pierces through the howling winds, rousing the gnolls to attention.
15. Chanur is able to see through the darkness, outlines in the fog that shouldn't be there betraying the fact that the barrier between the two planes are breaking down, at least in the nearby area.
16. Remir is unfazed by the blowing ash, protected by their sick sunglasses. Yes, this is in fact very important information.
17. Eryx casts a modified Augury spell, attempting to allow the spirit within themself. All eyes turn to them as their chant begins. Augury is a fantastically complex spell, more than just concentration: you need to be centered inwardly to accept the answer, but also need to be concentrated on your target, on your thought, on your will. Almost like playing both parts of piano at same time. Eryx falls into a deep trance, his heels raising off the ground, followed by his feet, and finally his eyes open, two deep green circles inhabiting his sockets.
18. Remir, having cast Detect Good and Evil right before, immediately receiving a response on their casting of detect good and evil. They sense evil, but not pure evil. No one is evil for no reason, there is barely anything in this world that are fully evil. They do not sense that. From the information gleaned between Taki breaking through the veil, from the perception of watching what’s happening in the present, to everyone trying to figure out what is going on: the party is no longer sensing the storm, rather an individual. The only thing this could be is the safety measure: the guardian. They are now speaking to whatever that kept them there: the piece of magic that kept them trapped in the pocket plane.
19. It speaks. The Warden speaks. [8] It holds out it's hand, a dome appearing around the encampment, blocking out the wind. Those perceptive enough can see cracks in the magic, the flaws: they would need full connection between the two planes to accomplish it fully, which they do not have. [10]
20. It realizes the same, beginning to impose its control, its chaos on the area, the party. [9]
21. Green, tumbling out of a portal into the middle of this chaos, quickly assesses the situation and starts up a rhythmic chant: a metronome to hold against the chaos. The repeated, constant cant begins to counteract the chaos, and as more gnolls join in, learning the cadence, some of the winds beging to get through, cracks now very visible on the shell.
22. Chanur tackles the creature into the dirt, only being met with the cold ground as the creatures sinks into the ground and emerges a pace behind them. They throw the puma across the campsite, into the side of a tent, but it is obvious it is not used to reacting quickly on this plane of existence.
23. The creature is scrambling, sowing chaos as quickly as it can. Music is order, order is the counter to chaos.[11]
24. Combat ensues, the party whittling away at the creature's defenses.
25. With everything overwhelming the Warden, and finally the order channeled by Green through the very shell it made to protect itself, using its own magic against itself, order begins to coalesce and undo everything the creature had done. Tents, blown astray, disappear and free trapped gnolls, the party realizing the entire battle the Warden has been trying to separate them from the gnolls to drag them back into the Limited Infinity.
26. The shell around now being made of order, the creature rapidly reaches out and begins grabbing every tendril of magic it can, strumming randomly in a desperate attempt to bring back the chaos. It can no longer concentrate on what it needs to, all the attacks assaulting its concentration until finally, the claws dug so deep into it by Exi, that channeled necromantic energy, negative energy, being a gateway, being this close to chaos but not quite, like static off of a balloon. The party watches as the creature is pulled from Eryx’s body, the adventurer falling to the ground as the creature’s other illusion finally comes through.
27. It remains there for just a moment, semi-ethereal, inhabiting two planes for just a moment before the shell shatters its form, the pieces sucked up into the rift far above.
28. Eryx is left bleeding on the ground, quickly responded to with a Healing Word by Exi. However, the magic backlashes. Feeling her magic backlash, the sorcerer concentrates on completing the spell, allowing it to rebound against herself, falling to the ground in pain.
29. Grove and Remir quickly attend to Eryx, bringing them back to a healthy condition with their combined healing prowess.
30. Taki casts a modified Absorb Elements to attempt to absorb the necromantic energy from Exi [12], counteracting the lingering magic on the sorcerer.
31. Eryx, no recovered, casts lesser restoration on the downed sorcerer, clearing up the unseen blockage: for a moment they were cut off from their healing magic, an external source keeping her from using it. Yavog assists as well, their healing bringing her back up to full.
32. The gnolls are finally able to come outside, watching as the party comes to each others’ aid. The party can tell the gnolls feel an even deeper sense of connection, some looking to Green with awe, the order and magical energy something they hadn’t seen before, the gnolls exuding respect.
33. Ciym grows aware that the Warden still remains in some capacity, unsure if they can even see or experience us, but he is still there.
34. Eryx looks inwards, experiencing a vision, and as they begin to mutter in several languages and jotting notes, the rest of the party is aware that he has information on what just happened that they do not.
35. As the party begins to recover and cast spells to heal, they react in unforeseen ways, rippling out chaotically across the camp, spreading the healing to all, eating away at the residual bits left of the short term effect of the dome.
36. Taki learns that the key to sealing the rift is the possession of an intact urn.
37. As the storm continues to pound down on the camp, the gnolls look to the party for guidance, taking them back to the tents to escape the rain, taking them to the chieftain’s tent: an empty tent, no one inside, sitting us down, starting the fire. “Sit and rest. The chieftain would like to speak with you.”

[1] This is the time they commune with their gods, spending the beginning of their day deep in meditation, the elders giving up significant time and energy to placate and speak to the gods of the tribe to make sure they are always on the right path and in good standing.

[2] The party sense the gnolls' hair start to stand on end, and those who had been accepted into the clan, receiving their symbols as tattoos, feel slightly off. Being a part of the tribe is being part of the land, and their flight or fight instincts automatically activate. They know something unnatural is occurring, but for now there is only darkness and wind.

[3] The rip is a puncture wound: a battle happened not too long ago, a battle where someone had to reach through, pluck their own green tendril, and damage it. This damage is starting to show on our plane of existence. These are fixed points in space, tears between Prime material plane and the Limited Infinity where our consciousness were stored while the spellweaver, the Warden, worked its magic.

[4] The consciousness can't survive here: it doesn't have a body, nor a physical form to manifest into.

[5] You can't destroy part of a spirit, a spirit is one whole thing. It can't escape, and every time it tries to, it causes what is forming in front of the party.

[6] One element overshadows all others. The pocket dimension is a mirror of the prime material plane, and the prime material plane is a channel for all other planes, there should be equal amounts of everything. Using a modified casting of absorb elements, they are almost able to measure the difference between planes; instead of being equal, one energy stands above the rest, this plane’s power so immense in this regard, it doubles in power over all other planes combined: chaos energy, an incredible chaotic energy flowing from the rift. The last time they sensed this pure of chaos energy was when they connected with Mendalaive.

Necromancy is a mixture of chaos and void, mixed with control. The storms, and the Warden, however, exude pure chaos energy.

[7] They first cast it on the storm, not prepared but hastily prepping it, modifying the spell: plucking the subtle weave of magic around them to change the tune, directing it towards the storm itself, getting the same reading everyone else has: a hodgepodge, too much there, but now it’s coalesced, coalesced in Eryx. That is the dam they needed, where river stopped forking, allowing to him to see the full stream.

[8] “This is greener. What a wonderful realm. The fiddler’s green told stories, but never did I imagine it like this. The grays, the darks, they’re gone. Color remains. I enjoy this.”

[9] “I remember some of you. I remember being with you. You left me. Why did you leave? You weren’t allowed to do that.” They watch as the creature inhabiting Eryx closes his eyes for just a moment, a sickening green growing faint behind his eyelids, before opening them back up. “Does it hurt, that I remember you better than he did?”

[10] A creature with this level of power and control can’t exist in the prime material plane, the prime material plane is everything, every law of physics, they aren’t used to control here.

[11] This is a purely chaotic creature: the more they sow, the more holes open uo They are guardian of the other plane, and their concentration is split between each one of the tears opening up at the center of each storm.

[12] They run over to Exi’s body, beginning to cast their spell, beginning to understand the magic, realizing that the magic is lingering and that absorb elements might work. As they continue to work with the magic, trying to stay within the bounds of the spell, they feel something: a hand joins theirs as if a second set of hands is helping them manipulate: it doesn’t force them, it never does, but when they go searching for the tendril of magic they need, it helps direct their fingers, their will and intent. They get only the briefest moment to try to figure out where it is coming from, and they sense a connection between themself and the spellbook that they carry.

1. Wind whips suddenly, blinding all, the Warden appearing not even a foot from Exi, tormenting her. She shoves him back, into the outstretched claws of Ciym as they leap onto its back, sinking their teeth in. The creature morphs around in place, its face forming where the back of its head once was, the arms rotating around, and it sinks its teeth into Ciym’s shoulder.
2. Quack sneaks up behind it, going for the backstab. The Warden realizes what is happening, casting Baleful Transposition, attempting to flip the position of itself and Ciym, for the briefest moment succeeding, but with everything happens, the spell continues, returning the creature to its original position, Quack's strike sinking into its back.
3. Grove casts Chaos bolt, their wild magic manifesting itself and turning it into a storm of 9 Chaos bolts: 8 illusory, 1 real fly from Grove’s hand, mirror image being cast on their chaos bolt. 3 are blocked, the true hitting the Warden's hastily raised modified shield along with the two imaginary.
4. The moment the creature throws Chanur off itself, a dispel magic from Yavog goes off, the creature needing the chaos magic to do what it needs to do, but reaching out and finding nothing, stumbling.
5. Sirocco charges forward, assaulting the creature, the grace of an archer of their caliber in every motion, reaching out behind their back and pulling out three arrows gripped between clenched fingers. They nock all three at once, letting their bow sing. All three arrows fly at the creature, the Warden blocking the first two easily, the third hitting its mark. The creature, so powerful, thinks smugly that it is reminding us that it “controls all”, not ready for the sun bolts following immediately after and smashing into its chest.
6. Eryx studies the flow of magic of the creature to better understand how to use it himself through the creature inhabiting his body. The flow of the Warden seems to be solely based on the fact that it is reaching through the rip in the same way that the spirits are, the only difference being this creature of magic can exist in this plane. It doesn’t need a form, it just needed an opening: Eryx. It is using a lot of energy to remain.
7. Taking advantage of their distraction, Exi digs their claws into the creature’s back while it is distracted, an energy coming from deep within them, an energy that doesn’t seem to flow naturally. Their magic comes from a place deep within themself, not from study: that magic is innate, beautiful, clean. This spell does not come from this place, this spell was learned from somewhere else, the canine channeling this with a pained expression, the energy that doesn’t feel right to them, but the tool that it is, a blackness covering the veins in her arms for just a moment as it pumps through her and into the creature, Eryx’s body shuddering