Alkali's D&D Experience

NOT COMPLETE

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. Eryxfalls 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.

NOT COMPLETE

[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.