Upon entering the door to the tree: you are under the effects of the Alealudic Defense Matrix; if you are reduced to 0hp, you are still standing and subject to variant death save rules, & if you “die,” you are mostly conscious & ethereal with effects similar to “True Resurrection” occurring on you after a period of time of your choosing, with a new body manifesting inside the Tree of Alealudus carrying perfect replications of all your original gear.

In addition, while inside the Alealudic Tree itself, the following magical effects apply to all creatures, objects, spells, etc:

• Banishment. Effects that banish a target inside of the Tree of Alealudus treat the target as if Alealudus were its home plane.
• Extradimensional Space. Extradimensional spaces, demiplanes, and pocket dimensions—such as those created by a Bag of Holding or the Rope Trick spell—function within Alealudus, but those spaces follow these restrictions as if they were part of the tree.
• Planar Travel. Effects that allow interplanar travel, such as the Astral Projection and Plane Shift spells, fail if used to try to enter or leave the Alealudic Tree, with one exception (see “Teleportation Portals” below).
• Summoning. Spells, magic items, and effects that summon creatures or objects from other planes, such as a Ring of Djinni Summoning, instead summon targets from within Alealudus if possible or otherwise fail. Effects that summon a specific target from outside Alealudus, such as the Drawmij’s Instant Summons and Leomund’s Secret Chest spells, automatically fail.
• Teleportation. Most regular attempts to teleport into or out of the Tree of Alealudus fail, but such magic functions normally when teleporting within the tree.
• Teleportation Portals. Permanent teleportation portals exist within the Alealudic Tree, and the gnomes have methods to bypass all of these restrictions if they need to.

Scourge-Aasimar Cleric of Order

Sylvaro doesn’t talk about the past, only the future. He wears a blindfold, removing it only to gaze at the stars. Sylvaro has a celestial connection to the constellations and spends much time contemplating how to decipher a unique divination requiring extreme astronomological attunement. He ventured to Alealudus hoping to use the Alealudic Tree to conduct & harness the unusual messages he receives during his stargazing.

Sylvaro has never raised his voice or wavered in his calm demeanor in front of the staff and they are all terrified of what might happen if ever that were to occur. Sylvaro keeps a library of strange tomes by the front clerk’s desk but never seems to read any of them.
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Warforage Paladin of Watching

Bolstercog awoke in the sand on the outskirts of the Sword Coast with nothing in his mind besides combat training, a yearning for connection, & 10,000 recipes. He is a stoic and practical warrior with a monotone voice who believes in strength through technology, but he can struggle to communicate, is often misunderstood, and regularly offends humanoids.

Durnan was amazed by his cooking and made him the Head Chef immediately upon meeting Bolstercog. Although the Warforage can be annoyed or confused by most culture, he believes magic may help him unlock the secrets of his past. In the meantime, Bolstercog is always trying to make the perfect mushroom dish.
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Winged-Tiefling Warlock-Mage of Witherbloom

Xal’dranath’s reckless curiosity and hunger for knowledge caused him to be ostracized by his fiendish kin so he sought out the University of Strixhaven but they were also uninterested in listening to his rants about wild magic and life & death and other such things so Xal’dranath kept flying around until he stumbled upon this magical interplanar tree and just kind of wandered inside and started playing with things and no one cares because he tips very well.

No one is quite sure who Xal’dranath’s patron master truly is, nor would they ask, but the Tiefling seems generally harmless. Xal’dranath greatly enjoys performances of most any variety.
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Rock-Gnome Alchemist Artificer

Doctor Heinz has been working in the shop longer than anyone except Eldrith. The legend goes that during graduation from an Izzet University, one of his forgotten & unattended potions projects exploded, destroying half the campus, and they refused him his degree. He has been obsessed with controlling wild magic ever since.

With boundless enthusiasm & a whirlwind of energy, Heinz moves from concoction to concoction, often leaving things incomplete and in a dangerous state. However, completion doesn’t stop him from asking hapless adventurers to test his latest recipes & prototypes with reckless optimism.

The Doctor is almost always drinking tomato soda.
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Rock-Gnome Dunamancy Wizard

Eldrith used to be as carefree as Heinz, but a rogue portal mishap that destroyed half of the city where he grew up left him with a cybernetic eye and a deeper respect for the power of wild magic. With no interest in becoming the boss, he is laser-focused on his meticulous enchantment construction and has little patience for those who do not share his reverence for the arcane. He has free scrolls for those that do, and they almost always work perfectly.

Although the noble Gearsnaps were once known for their innovation and creativity, Eldrith bucks this tradition and sticks to traditional methods, unwavering in his commitment to safety. He is quick to dismiss new ideas on most subjects, and tends to micromanage even the most trivial of tasks instead of delegating.

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Rock-Gnome Armorer Artificer

Grumble has seen more experimental gadgets backfire than most due to his over-protective habits, so he now prefers to stick to tried and true methods of saving the day. A gruff fellow, he is as protective of his clockwork-armor as he is of the rest of his team. Usually stubborn & methodical at first, Grumble can typically be persuaded to try new techniques if there is enough proof it might work, or if the situation is dire enough.

Grumble is from the same city as Eldrith and they grew up together in rival houses of nobility. The 2 both have a good respect for each other now, as individuals, but Grumble is regularly insulting Eldrith’s family, claiming Gearshift supremacy, and bringing up the incident that destroyed half the city all those years ago.

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Reborn Artillerist Artificer

Hexter was a regular ol’ Rock-Gnome until he died during an experimental gambling game, surging with wild magic, until he was reborn as some sort of undead thing moments later. It was weird & made the rest of the gnomes there uncomfortable so he left and found Alealudus and that’s that. With no fear of death, Hexter is actually the most brilliant inventor in the shop but mostly keeps to himself.

Hexter is also more obsessed with wild magic than anyone else in the the tree, willing to risk the most to unlock the secrets of this mysterious power. Enigmatic & eccentric, Hexter usually talks in riddles & metaphor, shrouding his real motivations & intentions.

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Forest-Gnome Battle-Smith Artificer

Glintspark is Doctor Heinz’ most exuberant apprentice with the same thirst for invention & disregard for consequence as his mentor. Constantly brainstorming new concepts, useful or otherwise, he is eager to please and will volunteer himself (or others) for just about anything. Surprisingly, his impulsiveness usually works out well, even if his creations often have a few minor malfunctions.

This young gnome hails from a forest, not a cave like the rest of the team, and has a much broader propensity for nature’s wisdom. Even still, Glintspark worships Heinz like a hero and name-drops the Doctor at every opportunity he gets, preferring to recommend his mentor’s potions over his own devices. The only things Glintspark loves more than Heinz are his various companion constructs, and he will reward adventurers who bring them back fully intact.

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Mark of Making Human

Markus’ father was Norran d’Cannith, son of Starrin d’Cannith, and Markus’ mother was a tavern wench in Stormreach City named Jerabel. Markus never met his father and his mother quickly abandoned him with the other street urchins. He was a clever child, always trying to help the other kids get food and shelter, but he never found quite where he belonged.

Starving & penniless, Markus was found by the gnomes alone in a swamp stacking rock cairns and they decided to take him home with them because he was just so dang adorable. More concerned with the rhythmic clang of the forge and the aesthetic value of his creations than damage or durability, this dragonmarked human will neglect his sleep, meals, and social life to the point of exhaustion in pursuit of impressing the gnomes that took him in.

He has no way to pay anyone but Markus deeply wishes that adventurers would bring his inventions with them on their travels, even if they don’t use them.
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There are 3 hot air balloons parked on a wooden platform high in the treetop facing the water’s edge, regardless of where you were when you entered the Tree of Alealudus. You can access this area through the Artificer Shop.

The gnomes have magically infused each of these hot air balloons with heavily modified Spelljammer Helms and the balloon fabric is all fashioned from the Well of Many Worlds. As a result, they can now fly to numerous locations throughout the multiverse. Further, they react to magic items and artifacts, allowing those who carry such objects to pilot the hot air balloons to the exact places the items are from. Although they appear small from the outside, the baskets are, in fact, much larger on the inside.

The red & white striped balloon is piloted by Karakas Delmevv, a red Dragonborn wearing white robes. Karakas is a lawful-good wild-magic sorcerer from the Boros Legion who dreams of burning his enemies alive, becoming king of all the realms, and performing a hit musical theatrical show about the entire affair. Click here to read more…

The purple balloon is piloted by Zaw, a small Thri-Kreen (with tufts of ginger fur) wearing a golden suit of armor. Zaw was born a BugBear but is now a member of The Colony. He spent time as a Quasmari student at Strixhaven, studying how to hit things with a stick, and dreams of becoming the greatest battle arena champion in all the realms to bring honor to his new tribe. Click here to read more…

The steel balloon is piloted by a small AutoGnome construct, whom you would likely assume did not do much else besides pilot this hot-air balloon, and will take you to The Battle Arena, in which the party of players will enter and compete as a team against other combatants (no PvP). “Nine Trees”, built by the cleverest Water Genasi in all the realms, dreams of becoming a real gnome. Click here to read more…

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COMING SOON!

Arena competitors wear a device that upgrades their power during tournaments. This device can be further upgraded with “volte-pyramids” which are won in the arena tournaments.

Some of the features are multiple concurrent concentration spells, multiple reactions per round, multiple leveled spells per turn, and other game-breaking rules changes.

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This is Doctor Heinz’ attempt to replicate the Rod of Seven Parts.

This culture doesn’t use much gold because the sales from the workshop & forge to wandering adventurers more than pays for their tinkerer lifestyles; they use Aurixolari coins: tiny circular metallic devices which function as perpetual energy generators in Alealudic machinery. Almost everyone in Alealudus is happy to help with goods, services, or information if you have some extra Aurixolari, and they will likely reward you with these coins if you help them with their quests.

You probably won’t find many other uses for these coins, besides paying Alealudic denizens, but they may cause you some problems if there is a wild magic surge nearby. Furthermore, some people don’t believe that outsiders should be allowed to have Aurixolari. They typically won’t resort to violence to steal them from you, but, either way, the local guards won’t take you too seriously if you try to report it.

Aurixolari coins react whenever a wild magic surge happens within 120 feet of them.

When this happens, the holder rolls 2 wild magic surges on themselves, and the DM selects the worse one. If there are 2 or more Aurixolari within 120 feet of the holder (including on their person), they roll a wild magic surge on themselves as normal. If there are 5 or more Aurixolari within 120 feet of the holder, the holder rolls 2 wild magic surges on themselves and may select either. If there are 9 or more Aurixolari within 120 feet of the holder, the holder may select any wild magic effect from the table to occur on themselves.

If someone assembles 13 Aurixolari into a wand using appropriate tools, it can be used to cast any 1 wild magic effect on the holder once per day using a bonus action, and cannot be disassembled without permanently breaking the coins.

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Everything above this section is stuff that your character would be able to figure out pretty easily by talking to denizens of Alealudus. However, the information in these sections below is not anything your character would have easy access to. If you are interested in exploring any of these topics or subplots, please let me know how your character would likely be connected to them, or how they may be interested in it, or benefit from it, or whatehaveyou, and we will craft a narrative together.

Roll tables for Denizens of Alealudus: Google Sheet

There is a chaos quadrapod shifting through reality trying to find Sylvaro & stop him from understanding the vision.

Xal’dranath’s plant is his warlock patron.

Bolstercog was built by the same Water Genasi as Nine Trees.

Markus & Zaw had the same mom, Jerabel.

There is much political intrigue involving the battle arena tournaments due to gambling and ancient rivalries.

The volte-pyramids are part of a larger pyramid, which was used to trap an infernal abyssal demon type creature of sorts, and the energy they draw for the arena matches continues to weaken the prison holding this beast inside. Volte is an orcish druid deadset on destroying all of civilized society across the realms, restoring true nature.

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The BBEG of my campaign/world is not Vecna. It is The Auditor, a colossal, vaguely humanoid, entity shrouded in swirling bureaucratic forms and nonsensical red tape. The Auditor exists on a higher plane, traveling the multiverse and ensuring every reality pays its cosmic taxes… or else..

They were once a lowly filing clerk in the Department of Multiversal Revenue (DMR). One fateful day, a rogue dimensional stapler malfunctioned, stapling a stack of tax reports directly to The Auditor’s essence. This bizarre incident imbued The Auditor with immense power, but also a warped sense of purpose. The tax reports became their holy writ, and every world, every plane, became a delinquent taxpayer in their eyes. Now, The Auditor travels the multiverse, wielding bureaucratic nightmares and incomprehensible tax codes to collect their dues.

Unfortunately for Alealudus, the gargantuan tree technically exists across multiple planes of existence (its roots deep within the Feywild, its branches reaching towards the Astral Sea). This technicality has flagged Alealudus for a hefty Interdimensional Property Tax.

The true horror of The Auditor lies in the absurdity of their methods. They might unleash legions of DMV demons to audit the souls of Alealudus’ inhabitants, or summon paperwork krakens to crush resistance with red tape tentacles. Players could encounter malfunctioning cosmic calculators that vaporize entire buildings due to rounding errors, or face audits for “insufficient justification of existence.”

The Auditor is not inherently evil, just incredibly misguided by their stapled-on sense of duty. They believe they are simply upholding the cosmic order and ensuring the smooth operation of the multiverse. However, their methods are devastating, and their arrival in Alealudus spells doom for the Starry Shores.

The party might not be able to defeat The Auditor in a straight-up fight. Instead, they could attempt one of the following, or another idea they concoct on their own, using additional information from their character’s experience in the world of Alealudus & all the worlds of the Starry Shores & beyond:

• Appeal the Interdimensional Property Tax: This would require finding loopholes in cosmic tax codes, perhaps by proving Alealudus is a natural anomaly rather than a constructed property.
• Negotiate a Payment Plan: This could involve offering The Auditor something of immense value, perhaps an artifact from another plane or a McGuffin that appeases their warped sense of bureaucratic justice.
• Outsmart the Auditor: This might involve exploiting the nonsensical nature of The Auditor’s powers, using loopholes in their tax codes or overloading their cosmic calculators with nonsensical paperwork.

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